Sunday, August 29, 2010

School for S.J. school boards | Recordnet.com

School for S.J. school boards

Training sessions for prospective, current trustees

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By Roger Phillips

Record Staff Writer

August 29, 2010 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - They come from all walks of life for little or no pay and usually with no experience at running organizations that handle hundreds of millions of dollars and affect the futures of society's most precious natural resources.

When a school board is operating well, all those involved - parents, students and staff - are able to focus on the core goal of maximum academic achievement.

But when a school board falters, the troubling results can range from academic woes to ill-advised selections of superintendents to athletic scandals.

Suggestions for board members

• Remember that your job is to set policy, not to carry it out.

• Have one foot in the now and one foot in the future.

• Build on programs that are working.

• Support risk-taking and innovation.

• Ensure that there are opportunities for stakeholder perspectives to be incorporated into the district's beliefs and vision.

• Provide support while the superintendent and staff develop and implement action plans to accomplish the district's goals.

• Evaluate the superintendent based on progress on goals.

— Source: California School Boards Association

And children pay the biggest price.

"Having a well-functioning board can make all the difference in the world for a school district," said Deputy Superintendent Gary Dei Rossi of the San Joaquin County Office of Education.

With this in mind, the county office joined forces with the San Joaquin Business Council and University of the Pacific to arrange two training sessions to help prepare current and prospective school trustees for their complicated and crucial job.

The opening three-hour session was five nights ago at Pacific's Janet Leigh Theatre.

The second session is 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the same site. The focus in the second training session will be on student achievement and on building strong relationships with the community.

The topic at the opening gathering was different - a discussion of the separation of board and superintendent duties. Sixty-five people attended, including current and prospective board members. Twenty-eight of the county's 81 seats on education boards will be contested in the November election.

Grading teachers | Press-Enterprise Editorials | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Grading teachers


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10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

California needs a better method of evaluating teachers than infrequent, pre-announced classroom visits by school principals. School districts should provide more comprehensive and valuable teacher assessments by including student test scores, as well as less objective measurements, in that process.

News reports this month that analyzed test scores to grade teachers in Los Angeles put the issue directly in the public spotlight. Not surprisingly, some teachers excelled while others lagged.

More troubling than the results of that analysis, however, was the revelation that the Los Angeles Unified School District had the same information, but did not use it in evaluating teachers. Superintendent Ramon Cortines said last week the district would develop a method for incorporating test scores into teacher assessments, though the teachers union would have to agree to any such approach.

But there is no good reason to exclude testing data from teacher evaluations.

State of Our Schools: Budget cuts stretch support staff thin; Maintenance, libraries among those struggling - San Jose Mercury News

State of Our Schools: Budget cuts stretch support staff thin; Maintenance, libraries among those struggling

By Cathy Kelly - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 08/28/2010 07:04:51 AM PDT

Updated: 08/28/2010 01:53:28 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Raul Gonzales tosses cardboard into a recycling bin, just one of his... (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)

The three-day series takes an in-depth look at education in Santa Cruz County in a time of unprecedented financial hardship |About the series

WATSONVILLE — Pajaro Val ley school district groundskeeper Michael Rebelo is learning how to say “no” these days.

He has to. Rebelo is one of just 13 remaining groundskeepers in a sprawling district that had 19 last year.

He hits two schools each day, traveling in a rusting, district -issue 1982 Ford F-250, which he calls “a hazard to the road.” Rebelo, 30, said he is happy to have a job, but hopes some of the groundskeepers who were laid off can be hired back.

It's tough to spend four hours at a school and keep telling teach ers and principals he doesn't have time to do the extra landscaping duties they want done, he said.

“It's pretty much mow, blow and go,” said Rebelo, who earns $13.85 an hour. “We are running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and I think we are underpaid for the work we do.”

In lean funding years, school leaders strive to keep budget cuts away from the classroom. Rebelo is one example of what happens when the budget ax falls else where.

In the third year of plummet ing funding for education, losses are being keenly felt in school counseling, library and adminis trative offices and seen in deteriorating building and overgrown landscaping.

Can California keep achievement high as funding drops? After public schools take $17 billion hit, the question looms large - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Can California keep achievement high as funding drops? After public schools take $17 billion hit, the question looms large

By DONNA JONES djones@santacruzsentinel.com -

Posted: 08/29/2010 01:30:41 AM PDT

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Calabassas third grade teacher Deborah Wine keeps her students well... (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)

WATSONVILLE

During the next three years, Calabasas Elementary School will get $2 million in federal money to improve student achievement.

The extra money will pay for three additional teachers to boost the literacy skills of struggling students and to organize and train parents to help out at school and with their children's assignments at home.

Principal Terry Eastman also will pay classroom teachers to work longer so they can help colleagues in an after-school program reinforce lessons taught earlier in the day. There's also money to provide teachers with training and coaching.

"I'm thrilled," Eastman said after the grant was announced Wednesday. "This is going to help us a lot."

But Calabasas, which was eligible for the grant because in March

Race to Top shows the reach of Big Brother | Our View

Race to Top shows the reach of Big Brother

By Editorial Board

Published Aug 29, 2010 12:00 am | Last updated Aug 29, 2010 12:00 am

Our formula is as simple as it is sweeping: The federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the workplace. That is why we will abolish the Department of Education and end federal meddling in our schools..."

— The Republican platform, 2000.

Yes, times do change. Last week it was mainly Republicans and conservative organizations that were lambasting Maine's failure to obtain federal Race to the Top funding for the state.

It's hard to imagine a more meddlesome, top-down, heavy-handed government program than this one.

The Department of Education dangles the usual carrot — money — and the states, badly in need of money, must comply with detailed guidelines to obtain it.

All-star roster of education researchers: Test scores unreliable, unfair and unhelpful in evaluating teachers | Get Schooled

All-star roster of education researchers: Test scores unreliable, unfair and unhelpful in evaluating teachers

9:21 am August 29, 2010, by Maureen Downey

In the midst of a controversial LA Times series linking teacher performance in that district to test scores, a new briefing paper was released today by the Economic Policy Institute cautioning against the use of test scores, the Value Added Model, to judge teacher performance.

The 27-page paper — by a blue ribbon collection of educaion researchers including Eva L. Baker, Paul E. Barton, Linda Darling-Hammond, Edward Haertel, Helen F. Ladd , Robe rt L. Linn, Diane Ravitch, Richard Rothstein, Richard J. Shavelson, and Lorrie A. Shepard - lists many negative impacts from judging teachers largely on student test scores. They also point to studies that cite the unreliability of scores.

My first response to this paper is wonder if there is any school system with the time, resources or staffing to conduct the thoughtful and deeper evaluations that these researchers recommend. The comprehensive evaluation model they suggest could be applied in many professions, except that it calls for resources and time that I don’t think too many companies have any longer. And I certainly don’t think schools do in this current bleak climate that will likely persist for a few more years.

Here are key passages, but please read the entire paper. I think many of you will be applauding

Los Angeles Teacher Ratings - Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Teacher Ratings

About 6,000 Los Angeles elementary school teachers and 470 elementary schools are included in The Times' database of "value-added" ratings.

Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers who taught at least 60 students from the 2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years were evaluated in the Times analysis. Most of Los Angeles Unified School District's elementary schools are included. Test scores for charter schools that do not report directly to the district were not available.

A teacher's value-added rating is based on his or her students' progress on the California Standards Tests for English and math. The difference between a student's expected growth and actual performance is the "value" a teacher added or subtracted during the year. A school's value-added rating is based on the performance of all students tested there during that period.

Although value-added measures do not capture everything that goes into making a good teacher or school, The Times decided to make the ratings available because they bear on the performance of public employees who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to the information.

20 area districts hiring or looking for new school superintendents - The Boston Globe

Many changes in school leaders

20+ local districts hire or are looking

By Katheleen Conti

Globe Staff / August 29, 2010

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Nearly two dozen districts in the region will kick off the upcoming school year with new superintendents or searching for new ones, analysts say, in the most dramatic leadership overhaul the area has experienced in more than a decade.

Superintendent retirements last school year are the main reason behind the seismic shift at the helm throughout districts north of Boston, said Michael Gilbert, field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

“In terms of the north of Boston area, it was their turn,’’ Gilbert said. “I think it

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Four new charter schools propose to serve south suburbs

A total of 42 proposals for new charter schools were submitted to the state by this month’s deadline, three times the 14 submitted at this time last year, state education officials say. Four of the 42 — Southeastern Entrepreneurial Leadership Regional Charter School, Greater Life Academy of Performing Arts and Technology, Excel Academy for Scholastic Achievement, and Boston Global Leadership ... (By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent)

200 turn out to meet Randolph’s new school superintendent

RANDOLPH — About 200 residents and local officials welcomed Oscar Santos as Randolph’s new school superintendent at a dinner reception Tuesday night hosted by the School Committee. (By Wendy Chow, Globe Staff)

Burlington High principal plans to incorporate more technology in learning

Patrick Larkin envisions a day when all students bring to school is a laptop, iPad, or cellphone. To the dismay of schoolchildren everywhere, snow days would be a thing of the past since students could complete their class work even when snowbound. (By Sara Brown, Globe Correspondent)

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Principal brings world to Revere

Lourenço Garcia has come a long way from his days as a Cape Verdean native growing up on his family’s farm in Angola to his new role as principal of Revere High School. (By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent)

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Sunday, August 29, 2010