Thursday, February 21, 2013

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, February 21, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee group donates $250,000 to candidates in LAUSD races

Education Headlines

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Report suggests broadly expanding federal K-12 education spending

In a sweeping vision to broaden educational opportunity, a panel of national education leaders has recommended boosting teacher pay and training, widening access to preschool and adding an unprecedented level of federal involvement in schools.

Ramona district, teachers head to fact finding in contract talks

After nearly 18 months of unsuccessful contract negotiations between the Ramona Unified School District and the teachers union, talks are moving to a state-supervised "fact-finding" phase next week.

Sacramento City board appears split over tonight's vote on closing 10 schools

The proposal to shutter 10 elementary schools in Sacramento City Unified School District tonight appears headed for a split vote after numerous critics questioned the method used to decide which schools should close.

More students in L.A. taking and passing AP exams

More students in the Los Angeles Unified School District took and successfully passed an Advanced Placement exam last year, reflecting a rise in success on the college-level tests in California and nationwide.

Lawsuit filed to end yoga instruction in Encinitas schools

A civil rights lawsuit was filed Wednesday aimed at stopping the teaching of yoga in Encinitas public schools on the grounds that yoga represents religious indoctrination.

More California students taking, passing AP exam

California students ranked in the top 10 nationwide for their passing rate on last year’s Advanced Placement exams.

L.A. Unified set for funding boost under new state formula

After five years of crippling budget cuts, the Los Angeles Unified School District would receive an estimated $820 more per student over the next two years under Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed new funding formula.

School funding plan won't be easy sell

While legislators on both sides of the aisle say they agree with the governor's goals, Brown's Local Control Funding Formula faces a political minefield as he tries to steer what could be the biggest impact on public education since 1978's tax-slashing Proposition 13 through the Legislature.

Gov. Jerry Brown releases funding data for K-12 districts

Gov. Jerry Brown's Department of Finance released a long-awaited table today that shows how each K-12 district fares in his new plan to direct more money to schools with low-income students and English learners.

In California, thousands of teachers missing needed credentials

Nearly 1 in 10 teachers or certificated personnel -- more than 32,000 school employees -- did not have the credentials or authorization for their positions from 2007 through 2011, according to data compiled by the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Alvord to vote on teacher furloughs

Teachers and managers would have 1.6 percent of their pay restored in 2013-14 with the furlough days reinstated for nonstudent teacher workdays.

More money for poorest O.C. schools in new plan

Orange County schools that teach poor students and those who don't speak English would get more money under a new formula released Wednesday.

Michelle Rhee group donates $250,000 to candidates in LAUSD races

A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school system.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

SLO's Teach Elementary can stay, for now

San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s board of trustees Tuesday night unanimously took the middle road in its decision to keep the controversial school open.

Audit says Monterey schools not ready for autonomy on financial matters

The largest K-12 school district on the Monterey Peninsula does not have the capacity to become semi-autonomous from the Monterey County Office of Education, so it should withdraw its application to try, an auditor is saying.

District adopts plan for possible cuts

Despite increased taxes and growing government revenue, teachers in the Desert Sands Unified School District should prepare for the possibility of layoffs or furloughs next school year. The Desert Sands school board adopted a plan for upcoming negotiations with the district teachers association during its meeting Tuesday night.

Sacramento City board appears split over tonight's vote on closing 10 schools - Education - The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City board appears split over tonight's vote on closing 10 schools - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento City board appears split over tonight's vote on closing 10 schools

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Last Modified: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 - 7:36 am

Several sources said newly appointed board member Jay Hansen could be the deciding vote on closures.

"I haven't made up my mind on each of the 11 schools," Hansen said Wednesday night. "We do have to make decisions. We can't kick the can down the road. I've talked to past board members who have said we should have done this a long time ago."

Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond is recommending 11 underenrolled elementary schools be closed to address declining enrollment that he said has left the district with

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/21/5205581/sacramento-city-board-appears.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

Mother Crusader: Poking Holes In A Charter Puff Piece; Waters, Perez And APP Say Charters Deserve More $$

Mother Crusader: Poking Holes In A Charter Puff Piece; Waters, Perez And APP Say Charters Deserve More $$:

Poking Holes In A Charter Puff Piece; Waters, Perez And APP Say Charters Deserve More $$

by darciecima

Once again, Laura Waters infuriatingly tells only part of a story. In this case, she was aided and abetted byAsbury Park Press reporter Alesha Williams Boyd, who did a lazy job reporting a story about facilities funding for charters, using Academy Charter High School in Lake Como as a case study. The APP story feels like little more than a New Jersey Charter Schools Association (NJCSA) infomercial. It is chuck full of tales of charter woe from Carlos Perez and even has a video of the lackluster facilities at Academy.

“I have a school which has not had the ability to hire guidance counselors,” Perez said. “Some simply cannot afford to hire teachers’ aides. Larger square footage for classrooms…chemistry labs, those sort of things you expect as part of your high school education.

“Facility funding is the single biggest challenge in starting or sustaining a charter public school and our

UPDATE: Evidence? They Can’t Handle the Evidence – @ the chalk face

Evidence? They Can’t Handle the Evidence – @ the chalk face:

I have little sympathy for the defense department #sequester

by Chalk Face, PhD

There’s a great deal of hand-wringing over this upcoming sequester which, according to most news outlets, could lead to around $85 billion in across-the-board cuts. The defense department is particularly upset, mentioning on CNN the possibility of furloughs.
It’s hard to say who would ultimately be affected:

But Hale said Defense Department civilian foreign employees would be exempted from pay cuts. There are about 50,000 foreign worker employees overseas employed on U.S. military facilities.
“They’re governed by status-of-forces agreements and probably would require some negotiation,”

Sitting next to teachers doing some planning at a coffee shop…

by Chalk Face, PhD

When did teaching become so boring? Right now, I’m writing a book chapter for a social studies methods text. Working on the part about having schools build vegetable gardens. We’re planning side by side, oddly enough. But man, what they’re doing is so freaking boring that I might want to kill myself right now. I’m hearing PowerPoints and handouts. Oh, and a little task analysis thrown in there. Brilliant!

Thanks to @rexcharger for posting our show with Nancy Carlsson-Paige

FEBRUARY 21, 2013 BY CHALK FACE, PHD LEAVE A COMMENT

The radio station that we were broadcasting Sunday shows in Wisconsin went through a bit of a program or format change over the holidays that I think is still being settled. In the meantime, the great shows we’ve recorded are trickling out. For now, you can listen to one on Sound Cloud here. If you have an hour, I highly recommend it.

Evidence? They Can’t Handle the Evidence

by plthomasedd

In the spring of 2005 several months before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, I attended the annual ASCD conference in that city—for my first and only time. Sessions at ASCD were not only sponsored by vendors, but vendors themselves were presenting. That conference was a disturbing lesson in the commodification of education.
Fast-forward to the December 2012/January 2013 issue of Educational Leadership, the flagship journal of ASCD: Common Core: Now What? The entire issue consists of primarily articles scrambling to implement Common Core State Standards (CCSS), all wrapped in a series of advertisements touting the requisite materials educators must have to make that implementation work.
During the stampede to out-implement others in regards to CCSS, I have confronted the failure of unions and particularly professional organizations to reject the move to CCSS and the eventual battery of national high-

Districts as the Engine of School Reform: Past and Present (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Districts as the Engine of School Reform: Past and Present (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Districts as the Engine of School Reform: Past and Present (Part 2)

by larrycuban

Districts have again become the darlings of school reformers. Where once reformers, past and present, skipped back and forth lining up their cross-hairs on the best targets for improving schooling such as individual teachers and principals, whole schools, and districts, today’s school reformers generally target districts. Many reasons explain the shift to districts but one, in my opinion, that accounts for the current passion among self-proclaimed reformers to turnaround failing schools and a mediocre national system of K-12 education is the increased authority that state and federal officials have accumulated over time to make local decisions.
Historically, states have the constitutional duty to provide education. States created districts and delegated authority to run schools. U.S. education, then, has been a decentralized operation for two centuries. In the early1930s, there were nearly 130,000 districts in 50 states. Since then, the trend has been to merge districts into larger ones (there are now 14,000 districts). Mergers continued and since the 1960s with the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, federal and state authority over district schools have become more and more centralized. State and the federal authorities now mandate what curriculum standards have to be taught in

Latino Voices Sidelined in Texas School Reform Debate | NewsTacoNewsTaco

Latino Voices Sidelined in Texas School Reform Debate | NewsTacoNewsTaco:

Latino Voices Sidelined in Texas School Reform Debate

by Texas Observer

By Patrick Michels, Texas Observer

Latino-Coalition-for-Educational-Equity-712x475

Outside the Senate chamber Tuesday afternoon, advocates for minority students laid out their priorities for public education this session—and wondered why so few Latino experts have been invited to help shape this session’s biggest school reform bills.
The press conference, heralding a new Latino Coalition for Educational Equality, fell midway through a long day of hearings on bills that would scale back school testing and rework Texas’ graduation plans. Texas HOPE director Joey Cardenas worried that lawmakers are sidelining Latino voices as they rush ahead with those plans.
“I’m just amazed by the lack of participation of Latino experts in the process,” said Cardenas. “I think you’re leaving a significant part of the equation out.”
He said it’s time lawmakers include Latino leaders “not as an afterthought, but as decision-makers in that process.”
MALDEF attorney Luis Figueroa chimed in that there are, for instance, no Latino members on the House Appropriations subcommittee that handles public school funding.
As the fastest-growing demographic in Texas schools, Figueroa said, Latino students need a system that serves their needs—including schools that are better funded, measured by more than test scores, and support students still learning English. He said Latino students need schools that put them on a track to college, and keep

School Board Report – Feb. 20, 2013 « PWC Education Reform Blog

School Board Report – Feb. 20, 2013 « PWC Education Reform Blog:

School Board Report – Feb. 20, 2013

February 21, 2013 — pwceducationreform

School Board Report for February 20, 2013

The meeting began a 7:24 with all members present.

Consent Aganda

All items on the consent agenda were approved unanimously. The items on the agenda include the following:

Adoption of the consent agenda
Music in out schools month
Theater in our schools month
Youth art month
MOU between PWC BOCS, PWCPS, and Prince William Crew Association
National playground safety week
Purchasing month
Land acquisition for replacement of Kilby Elementary School
Proffer funds for site acquisition and construction purposes
Approval of School Board meeting minuted from Feb 6, 2013
Approval of Disciplinary hearing minutes from Feb 13, 2013

Citizen Comments

Five citizens addressed the board.

Carlos Rivera is a student a Lynn Middle school and spoke about the Rachel’s Challenge Club at Lynn. Carlos said that the club is in honor of Rachel Joyce, the first student killed at Columbine, and offers a series of student empowering programs and strategies that equip students and adults to combat bullying and ally feelings of isolation and despair by creating a culture of

Tonight in Hampden: The Neighborhood School Event of My Dreams! | Re:education in Baltimore

Tonight in Hampden: The Neighborhood School Event of My Dreams! | Re:education in Baltimore:

Tonight in Hampden: The Neighborhood School Event of My Dreams!

by Edit Barry

Not your mama’s PTO meeting.

Scrap the MAP Forum with Diane Ravitch « Seattle Education

Scrap the MAP Forum with Diane Ravitch « Seattle Education:

Scrap the MAP Forum with Diane Ravitch

by seattleducation2011

Scrap the MAP Organizing Committee presents:

Scrap the MAP Forum:

The Struggle for Quality Assessment

Featuring: Diane Ravitch – Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (via Skype)

DATE: Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 6:30PM

LOCATION: University of Washington — Physics & Astronomy Bldg room A102

Seattle teachers at Garfield High School, Ballard High School, Chief Sealth High School, the Center School, and Orca K-8 School voted to stop administering the widely used, yet highly unfair standardized Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. They are now facing threats of “consequences” for refusing to give the test. Students and parents are joining the struggle in defense of their teachers and their right to a quality education. The outcome of this grassroots movement will have an enormous impact on the future of resistance to high stakes testing around the country.

PANEL:

Diane Ravitch – Educational policy analyst, New York University professor, previous U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (via Skype)

Wayne Au – Assistant Professor at UW-Bothell, Editorial Board Member of Rethinking Schools

Jesse Hagopian – Garfield High School teacher, founding member of Social Equality Educators

Dora Taylor – Founding Member & Board Director of Parents Across America, editor of Seattle Education blog

Parents and Teachers from boycotting schools will also be participating

RSVP on Facebook

See Scrap the MAP website for more information.

Email: scrapthemap@yahoo.com

Sponsor:

Scrap the MAP Organizing Committee

Co-Sponsors:

Social Equality Educators

Parents Across America – Seattle

Last-ditch effort: Parents, students protest possible school closures | News - KCRA Home

Last-ditch effort: Parents, students protest possible school closures | News - KCRA Home:

By Claire Doan

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Last-ditch effort: Parents, students protest possible school closures

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —It was a last-ditch effort to save their schools: More than 100 people protested the possible closure of 11 Sacramento City Unified School District elementary schools on Wednesday.

View photos

Parents, students and other community members marched from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento to the Serna Center, where board members will make a final decision on 10 of the 11 schools at their meeting Thursday night.

“This plan is flawed, deceptive and disingenuous to our children and the entire community,” said Sue Vang, an organizer from Hmong Innovating Politics, or HIP.

“If I shed a tear, it is because I am so frustrated with all the secrecy and double talk coming from the district office,” said Maricela Sanchez, president of the Parent Teacher Association at C.B. Wire Elementary School.

The district has said school closures are a cost-saving measure prompted by underenrollment. According to the district, elementary schools are operating at only 56 percent capacity, which strains resources and causes a loss

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-21-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch

Who Was Behind the Jeb Bush Twitter Kerfuffle?

by dianerav

Yesterday I opened my Twitter account to discover that Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education claimed that I likened school choice to the Nazi invasion of Poland.
This was absurd, so I wrote a post about it.
I find that the best way to respond to outrageous attacks is to put them into the sunlight, the mighty disinfectant.
Happily, Jersey Jazzman figured out who wrote the post for Jeb Bush’s Foundation and explained the long and interesting back story.
Read it here.

Battle Creek Editorial: High-Stakes Testing Is Killing Our Schools

by dianerav

This editorial in the Battle Creek Enquirer is exactly right. High-stakes testing is ruining education.
Testing kids more and blaming their teachers doesn’t improve education.
The editorial rightly points out that Michelle Rhee–the advocate for high-stakes testing and every punitive measure she can dream up–is no model for Michigan.
Her teacher evaluation system in DC has produced

York County, Pa., Wants to Copy New Orleans

by dianerav

A report by the York County Community Foundation proposes that the answer to the county’s educational needs is an all-charter school system. York county schools have below average performance and many students are impoverished.
The study group cited the inflated claims of New Orleans charter boosters and decided that York county could achieve great things by copying the New Orleans model.
Had they done a bit more research, they would have learned that the New Orkeans Recovery School District is the lowest ranked district in the state of Louisiana, and that two-thirds of its charter schools received a grade of D or F for academic performance.
Eliminating public education does not solve the problems of poverty.

Be a Hero: Speak Up for Garfield High Teachers

by dianerav

Tomorrow February 22 is the day the superintendent of the Seattle schools will decide whether to punish the teachers at Garfield High who refused to administer the MAP test. They are conscientious objectors. They are defending their students against malpractice. They have bravely defied orders to do what they know is wrong.
Today is a day to send emails to the superintendent. Urge him to stand with his teachers. Encourage him to do the right thing. He too can be a national hero. Seattle can join Selma, Seneca Falls, and Stonewall as a symbol of resistance to unjust authority. Also, like them, it starts with an S.

Federal Commission on Equity Dismisses Bush-Obama Reforms

by dianerav

In a stunning surprise, the federal Commission on Equity and Excellence dismissed the reforms of the Bush-Obama era and called for a fresh approach. What is remarkable about the commission report is that the members were appointed by Secretary Duncan. Its members include a solid bloc of corporate reformers, but clearly they did not prevail.
Quite frankly, I was expecting a reprise of the corporate reformer mantra: more charter schools, more vouchers, more competition, more inexperienced teachers, more testing, and more online learning will end the deeply

A Florida High School Student Speaks Truth to Power

by dianerav

What lessons do we teach young people about government when they see the lies told about their schools and their teachers by public officials? Are we teaching them that elected officials can say anything at all, with no regard for truth or reality?
This is a letter from a high school student in Florida. Please read it. She makes more sense than the deciders in

Is This What Democracy Looks Like?

by dianerav

In Los Angeles, Robert Skeels is running against Monica Garcia, the school board president.
Garcia and two other candidates (including Kate Anderson, who is opposing Steve Zimmer), have received $1 million from NYC mayor Bloomberg, $1.5 million from Eli Broad and friends, and $250,000 from Michelle Rhee’s group.
Here is what Skeels says, responding to another reader, as he watches the massive campaign fund grow:
“…the ratio of plutocrat to union spending in this race is in orders of magnitude. All bidders indeed. My campaign has raised $17,245.22 with just contributions from working class families and community members of $25—$50.

Schneider: Evaluating the Evaluators

by dianerav

This is the 17th in Mercedes Schneider’s reviews of the board of the National Council on Tracher Quality. In this post, Schneider posts grades for all the board members. She includes links to the earlier posts.
She has undertaken this mission because the NCTQ has assumed the role as the arbiter of the quality of teacher education programs in the U.S. Like any other sector, there are undoubtedly good ones and bad ones,

Conservative Think Tank: Why Standardized Tests Are Great

by dianerav

Kathleen Porter-Magee of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute explains here why the anti-testing movement I wrong. She describes what she calls four “myths.”
Myth #1: teachers should be allowed to teach what they want, or “let teachers teach.” This is a very bad idea, she says, because teachers will have low expectations if you don’t tell them what to do.
Myth #2: emphasizing testing causes “drill and kill” instruction. Nothing could be farther from the truth, she says,

If You Believe in Tinkerbell, Clap Your Hands

by dianerav

Steve Strieker, a veteran teacher in Janesville, Wisconsin, has written a fable about the Free Market Fairy.
The Free Market Fairy solves all education problems.
When the Free Market Fairy sprinkles its magic across the community, the problems of poverty and segregation

Privatizers Now Targeting Pittsburgh Public Schools

by dianerav

Yinzercation, one of the best blogs in Pennsylvania, has an alarming post.
The Pittsburgh Public Schools have given a $2.4 million contract to two consulting companies to deal with the district’s equity and financial issues.
Some of this was underwritten by the Gates Foundation, as well as local foundations (Gates gave Pittsburgh a

NY Times: Online Colleges Are a Sham

by dianerav

The New York Times’ lead editorial on February 19 was a slashing critique of online colleges.
The editorial ripped apart the hype and spin about these colleges.
Their attrition rates are 90%. And, “courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.”

Diane in the Evening 2-20-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: Breaking News: Rhee’s StudentsFirst Dumps $250,000 into Los Angeles School Board Race by dianerav Three candidates who support Superintendent John Deasy received a gift of $250,000 from M. Rhee today. This is added to the $1 million supplied by Mayor Bloomberg, and the $1.5 million raised by Eli Broad and his friends (including Joel Klein). Clearly there is an all-out effort to make sure that corporate reform policies favored by the Gates Foundation win Good News: Indiana Senate Panel Scraps School Grading System by dianerav The Republican controlled Se... more »

Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Education Headlines

Sacramento City board appears split over tonight's vote on closing 10 schools

Thanks to @rexcharger for posting our show with Nancy Carlsson-Paige

School Board Report – Feb. 20, 2013

Last-ditch effort: Parents, students protest possible school closures

Sacramento City Unified School District trustees expected to decide Thursday