FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, May 17, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Gov. Brown, lawmakers still apart over details of school funding plan

Education Headlines

Friday, May 17, 2013

Claremont school district board passes recommendation to offer career technical education course despite opposition

The Claremont Unified School District passed a recommendation Thursday to offer a career technical education course as an optional high school graduation requirement in lieu of visual and performing arts or world language course.

Robert P. Taylor named new superintendent of Walnut Valley Unified School District

Robert P. Taylor has been appointed superintendent of Walnut Valley Unified School District. He will take over July 1 in the high-performing district that is facing a difficult fiscal future.

Chico teachers jam board meeting over contract conflict

Wednesday night, members of the Chico Unified Teachers Association filled the Chico City Council Chambers, where the Chico Unified School District board of trustees conducted its regular meeting.

California struggles to assess teacher training programs

A high-quality teacher can make all the difference to a student who is struggling, according to a growing body of research that has found teachers are the largest in-school factor affecting student achievement. And there’s an emerging consensus that how teacher candidates are chosen and trained can make all the difference in developing teachers with the knowledge and skills to propel their students ahead.

Jim Yovino to replace Larry Powell as Fresno County schools superintendent

The Fresno County Board of Education trustees voted Thursday to appoint deputy superintendent Jim Yovino to serve as superintendent of schools until the end of the current term, which expires in December 2014.

San Juan names fill-ins during school chief probe

The San Juan Unified School District tapped two top officials to run the district while Superintendent Glynn Thompson is on paid leave pending an investigation of employee complaints.

Schools superintendent selected

Trustees in the Rocklin Unified School District have named Roger Stock as the new superintendent, replacing veteran Superintendent Kevin Brown, who is retiring after more than a decade in the job.

ACLU to high school: twerking not sexual harassment

The ACLU has urged Scripps Ranch High School to reconsider the suspensions and sexual harassment charges handed down to 31 students for their role in the now-infamous twerking dance video posted on YouTube last month.

Grand jury calls for adult-child bully policy

The county’s 19-member civil grand jury released a report on Thursday calling on the San Diego Unified School District to create policies to better investigate and address adult-to-child bullying, harassment or intimidation by employees or volunteers.

On Campus: A map to the school bond

Anyone whose hand has cramped while signing real estate documents knows the sticker shock of those huge numbers. Spending school bond money, on the other hand, usually happens with an "aye" and a community cheer. The disconnect of paying and spending isn't lost on California League of Bond Oversight Committees co-founder Michael Day, who calls it one of two central problems with the school bonds process.

Fewer teachers lose jobs for next school year

Fewer California teachers found pink slips in their mailboxes this week, but that was scant solace for Denair Unified teachers. May 15 is the deadline for final notice to teachers of a layoff. March 15 is the date that warning notices must be given.

STAR test scores raise questions, but don't prove cheating

Two school districts in the South Bay and East Bay showed dramatic swings in standardized test scores in recent years, similar to the fluctuations in the troubled Atlanta Public Schools, where 35 educators have been charged in a cheating scandal.

State bill seeks to reduce school suspensions for defiance

The Los Angeles Unified school district isn't the only government body seeking to reduce the number of student suspensions. The Center for Public Integrity reported in a story today that a bill working its way through the California legislature, AB 420, would limit schools' ability to suspend students for defiance. In 2011-2012, 700,000 California students were suspended -- half of them for defiance.

Gov. Brown, lawmakers still apart over details of school funding plan

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, of Sacramento, and fellow Democratic senators intend to continue pushing back against Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide extra “concentration factor” funding to all school districts in which at least half of all students are from low-income households, are English learners or are foster children.

Jerry Brown's plan could increase future school costs

Even as Gov. Jerry Brown pledges to chip away at the state’s debt, his budget plan will leave California on the hook for billions more in school funding down the line.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

As budget prospects improve, no furloughs expected for Ventura teachers

The Ventura Unified School District's 800 teachers won't get raises, but will have better health insurance coverage and face no furloughs, the School Board decided Tuesday in approving the salary contract for next year.

High school district teachers ratify contract

Teachers in the Salinas Union High School District voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to approve a new contract with their employer.

Barbs fly at Alisal board meeting

As promised, teachers in the Alisal Union School District turned out by the dozens Wednesday night at a school board meeting to extend their protest over contract negotiations they say are going nowhere.

Hypothetical (or not) exercise on inBloom, data, and student privacy – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Hypothetical (or not) exercise on inBloom, data, and student privacy – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Hypothetical (or not) exercise on inBloom, data, and student privacy

by Chalk Face, PhD

Here’s a little thought experiment.

Big Data advocates like inBloom are proposing to collect about 400 data points on every student in states that contract with this company. That’s a pretty long list. Presented as such, it may seem fairly innocuous. Your child’s school already has this information on file for the most part. All that needs to be done is to compile it from various documents and databases into one comprehensive source. That way, a host of multiple-regression analyses and other advanced statistical techniques can be used to operate schools from a boardroom, not a classroom.

But imagine a parent’s severe displeasure if this information was actually presented beforehand in a single survey and the parent was actually asked about these data points in one sitting. I liken this to a discussion of taxes. Normal folks pay all sorts of taxes. What if we were able to keep every penny of our paychecks and had to write one check on April 15th for all of the taxes we paid, sales, payroll, everything? Imagine the outrage in that instance.

Here’s what I’ve done. I examined a list of “data fields” from inBloom’s own website. I picked a few easy ones, then compiled several of what I thought to be the most provocative data points. Rather than this being done nefariously, in 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's latest catch phrase: 'Balancing equity'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm's latest catch phrase: 'Balancing equity':

Rahm's latest catch phrase: 'Balancing equity'

by Mike Klonsky

'Some will pay less. Some will not.' That's balance. 

"We balance those equities. Do it in a thoughtful and sensitive way...What comes with the office is, you've got to make the tough decisions that balance a lot of different equities and do what's best for the city and everybody involved...Our early retirees--we're giving them a runway until 2017 as we transition people to the health care exchanges that will offer them the opportunity to buy health care. Some will pay less. Some will not." -- Rahm quoted in today's Sun-Times

Preckwinkle for mayor? Someone's got to run.

 “What was the point of having public hearings? Was it all a charade? If you weren’t going to pay any attention to the outcome of the public hearings or the recommendations of the public hearing officers, why would you bother to waste everyone’s time?”

 “I think he [Rahm] came into office critical of the teachers. If you spend the 

Child mental health experts to speak out on school closings Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » Child mental health experts to speak out on school closings:

Child mental health experts to speak out on school closings

by admin

With the help of the wonderful CReATE members Diane Horwitz and Ann Aviles de Bradley, PURE is putting on a press conference next Tuesday, the day before the May 22 school closings vote, to present the concerns of child mental health experts about the negative impact of school closings on children.
Here’s the press alert we just sent out:
Press Alert May 17, 2013
Contact:

• Julie Woestehoff, Parents United for Responsible Education. 773-715-3989
• Diane Horwitz, Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education (CReATE). 847-332-2756
• Ann Aviles de Bradley, member of CReATE; Assistant Professor, Northeastern Illinois University. 773-339-8479

Child mental health experts raise serious concerns

about the impact of proposed mass school closings on children

Who/What: Social workers, counselors, and child mental health professionals from prominent Illinois and Chicago organizations and universities will present statements of concern about the negative impact of school closings on Chicago students social-emotional health, and will identify needed actions. Among those speaking will be

• Dr. Erin Mason, President of the Illinois School Counselors Association.
• Dr. Francisco X. Gaytan, Assistant Professor, Social Work, Northeastern University.
• Dr. Cassandra McKay-Jackson, the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois-Chicago.
• Erika Schmidt, Director of the Center for Child And Adolescent Psychotherapy of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Their statements will be delivered to the members of the Chicago Board of Education for their consideration prior to the school closing vote on May 22.
When: Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 10 am
Where: Room 244, Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University, Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway.
Why:The proposed school closings and consolidations will affect as many as 47,000 children in mostly low-income, under-resourced communities. Mental health experts know that these children and their families are already disproportionately affected by the cumulative effects of multiple stressors, impairing students’ ability to engage positively in school. Their expert research and experience substantiate the concerns raised by thousands of parents and others at school closing hearings for the emotional well-being, safety, and social adjustment of our children.

Open Letter to Secretary Duncan from PAA Michigan affiliate leader | Parents Across America

Open Letter to Secretary Duncan from PAA Michigan affiliate leader | Parents Across America:

Open Letter to Secretary Duncan from PAA Michigan affiliate leader

by pureparents

Submitted by Steven Norton, head of Michigan Parents for Schools, 05/07/2013

Sec. Duncan visited two schools in Detroit, one of them an EAA school, and the Perry Child Development Center in Ypsilanti. Our letter points out the conflict between the educational values Sec. Duncan has espoused, and which are the foundation of Perry’s High/Scope model, and the urgent direction of education policy in Michigan.

---

Open Letter to US Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Dear Secretary Duncan,

On behalf of Michigan parents and others concerned about public education here, I would like to welcome you to our state. Michigan is home to some of the best ideas and programs in education as well as some of the most serious challenges our schools, and communities, face. We welcome your effort to learn more about the hopes we cherish and the obstacles we confront in our local efforts to educate our children.

Unfortunately, I fear that your tour may leave you with an incorrect impression of what is in fact happening in our state. The current direction of state policy is not to offer an excellent education to all children. Instead, key Michigan policy makers have adopted an extremely narrow and barren notion of “education” and have focused on how to deliver it at the lowest cost possible. These proposals take us in precisely the wrong direction.

A distorted vision for schools

The most recent example: Parents and concerned citizens across the state have been appalled by stories emerging from our state capital about a secret “skunk works” project to create bargain-basement schools. Their plan has two key parts: the first is a voucher-like debit card that students could use to “buy” bits of education here and there. Schools would become simply vendors. If a student “purchases” a bargain education, the balance on the card could be used for extras like sports fees, music lessons, and so on.

The other part of the plan is to create the value-priced school where students could find these “value menu” bargains. The skunk works group hopes to create schools that could operate with $2000 less per pupil than the current minimum funding – but still allowing for vendors to make a profit.

As their documents make clear, the only real way to do this was to depend on fully online education, with a small number of teachers overseeing a large number of students in an internet-based program. What makes this so cheap, of course, is that much of the time students are interacting with canned videos and worksheets.

This “skunk works” group, including top advisers to Gov. Snyder, other government officials, former voucher school advocates, and online education vendors, has been working under the radar since December, using private emails. They explicitly excluded anyone who might argue that our local public school systems don’t need to be tossed in the garbage.

Is this what education means these days? Watching videos on a computer and asking chat room questions of a teacher somewhere else who is managing fifty, seventy or one hundred other students? When do our children learn to think creatively or work in groups? How do they learn to get along with and even lead a group of people very different from themselves? How can a teacher figure out what might spark the interest or imagination of a child?

Our schools should do more than simply pour “stuff” into the heads of our children and call it education. Our young people need to be able to adjust to a changing and uncertain world. We’re not just educating future workers, but also citizens and members of our communities. That is what we are working for in our state and what we wish for every American child.

Genuine education

As you said in a speech just one week ago: “Ultimately, a great education involves much more than teaching children simply to read, write, add, and subtract. It includes teaching them to think and write clearly, and to solve problems and work in teams. It includes teaching children to set goals, to persist in tasks, and to help them navigate the world.”

I could not agree more. That is the reason why I am so glad that you will be visiting the Perry Child Development Center in Ypsilanti, home of the famed Perry Preschool Study and the High/Scope early childhood education model which grew out of that early work.

This is how the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation describes the model developed in the Perry study and in wide use today: “[A]dults encourage children to to make choices, solve problems, and engage in activities that contribute to their intellectual, social, and physical development…. [Teachers] do not provide children with prescriptively sequenced lessons that cover a defined subject matter. Instead, they listen closely to children’s plans and then actively work with them to extend their activities…. Adults rarely ask questions merely to test children’s grasp of letters, numbers, or colors. Instead, they ask for self-generated descriptions or ideas: What happened? How did you make that? Can you show me? Can you help another child?”*

These kinds of ideas should be the foundation of our efforts. Instead, we are marching resolutely in the opposite direction.

“All politics is local”

Mr. Secretary, please be aware that what you say and do has consequences all the way down to the classroom. Sadly, those who wish to turn education into rote learning and remove the public from our public schools have been bending the Obama Administration’s policy initiatives to their own agenda. Your calls for accountibility and equity have been used in our state as cover to erode and defund public schools and to attack the very idea of public governance of public education. As you reflect on your visit here, I urge you to think about the reality of what is happening in Michigan schools and discount the highly scripted presentations developed for a press event.

Our schools are at the breaking point. We cannot afford to engage in make-believe.

Sincerely,

Steven J. Norton
Executive Director
Michigan Parents for Schools

* From Schweinhart, Montie, et al., “Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40″ (Ypsilanti: High Scope Press, 2005).

Michigan Parents for Schools is a non-profit advocacy group helping parents and others speak up in support of quality local public education. http://mipfs.org

The Malloy/Pryor Education Reform Consultant Full Employment Gravy Train - Wait, What?

The Malloy/Pryor Education Reform Consultant Full Employment Gravy Train - Wait, What?:

The Malloy/Pryor Education Reform Consultant Full Employment Gravy Train

by jonpelto

While it’s true that Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, has failed to fill some of the most critically important administrative positions in his agency that actually serve Connecticut’s schools and children, such as a Bureau Chief for the Special Education Division, Pryor’s dedication to retaining corporate education reform consulting companies and corporate education consultants is impressive.

Yesterday Wait, What? explored a $123,930.00 taxpayer-funded payment to Mass Insight Education, an education reform consulting company that has been retained to help develop Commissioner Pryor’s “Turnaround Network.”

Although the total magnitude of the consulting contract with Mass Insight hasn’t been reported, that initial six figure payment is chump change compared to the amount of taxpayer money that is being spent on the salaries and benefits of the consultants and 

A big thanks to all who have donated, support for What, What? is greatly appreciated!

by jonpelto

The May 2013 “Wait, What? Fundraising Campaign” is underway. A huge thank you to all who have donated to date! Please give what you can to help support Wait, What? and Advocacy Journalism in Connecticut Making a donation is easy… Simply visit my campaign page and click donate. Any amount makes a difference! Jonathan Pelto You can [...]

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Do we have to choose between student voice and teacher voice?

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Do we have to choose between student voice and teacher voice?:

Do we have to choose between student voice and teacher voice?

by noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen)

It turns out my support of student activist Jeff Bliss caused at least one teacher to announce on his blog that he wants to quit Tweeting and blogging.  

Friends bombarded me with the link, accompanied with comments like, “This is great. We don’t need someone like that representing our profession.” Or, “Wow. He must really be threatened by students being heard. I think that’s a good sign.”

I represent, apparently,all that makes him want to quit. The problem however, is that what he expresses in his blog is a poorly articulated, almost despondent rant. The discouragement that he is feeling is completely understandable; he sees Bliss’s attack as one more on the pile laid upon teachers whose hands and voices are tied tighter every day.  But what he expresses can have a dampening effect on those trying to amplify the voices that matter.

This is about more than one frustrated student’s angry words, and the shouts of praise and derision that followed. This is about whether a voice representing one view can marginalize or even erase another.

In his blog, Red Lines and Highlights, he says:

People like Nielsen, Seth Godin, et al would rather trump up the “Student Voice” for their own purposes and marginalize whatever contrarian teacher voice may exist in the conversation.  And this is so prevalent that it has led me to ramble on incoherently on a Sunday night about how I just don’t think I can do *this anymore.
(Note: “this” refers to blogging and tweeting)

Let me give short shrift to the actual accusations:

Have I concocted a story with an intent to deceive?

In my post I was clear that I was responding to a particular video that I verified as authentic as well as reactions

A Little Test for Test Junkies (and Time Traveling with Vonnegut) – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

A Little Test for Test Junkies (and Time Traveling with Vonnegut) – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

A Little Test for Test Junkies (and Time Traveling with Vonnegut)

by plthomasedd

f you are a proponent of testing, please take the following test:

1) Do you think public education is currently fulfilling its purpose in the U.S.?

[If you answer "No," please continue.]

2) Did you know that public schools began to depend heavily on testing in the early 2oth century?

[If you answer "Yes," please continue.]

3) Did you know public schools have focused on high-stakes testing as part of holding those schools accountable since the early 1980s?

[If you answer "Yes," please continue.]

4) Choose the best answer: High-stakes standardized testing has

a) not solved the problems facing public education, but has likely done great harm.

[If you chose "a)," please continue.]

For your successful completion of this quiz, please read the following as a reward 

Chicago students are fighting back!

by Chalk Face, PhD

There’s some really creative resistance happening in Chicago. The massive school closures there have ignited a great conflagration. For all of the Mayor’s apparent political wisdom, how could city officials assume this would happen without a fight? Well, I have a few links for you. First, watch the video. Then, check out At the Chalk […]

Important endorsements for Monica Ratliff for LAUSD Board of Education

by rdsathene

Professor Diane Ravitch — Monica Ratliff for Los Angeles School Board There is a big race in Los Angeles on May 21. It is a run-off that will determine who controls the board. There are two candidates. One–Monica Ratliff–is a working classroom teacher, the other worked on the staff of corporate-friendly Mayor Villaraigosa and has […]

Common Core Meme Break

by Kris Nielsen

A little more light-hearted way to sum up the reality. Yes, I need a little brain break. Filed under: KRIS NIELSEN: First, Do No Harm Tagged: common core

If tweeting is an art, Weingarten is no Picasso. She's barely a George W.

by Chalk Face, PhD

Reblogged from Fred Klonsky: "Tweeting is an art." Randi is to Twitter as George W is to painting.  The trouble all began when American Federation of Teachers President issued a statement in support of the We Are One/Cullerton bill. The bill, SB2404 is Senate President Cullerton's attempt to circumvent the pension protection provision of the […]

UPDATE: Thousands of Philly students marching down Broad Street now + If tweeting is an art, Weingarten is no Picasso. She’s barely a George W. | Fred Klonsky

If tweeting is an art, Weingarten is no Picasso. She’s barely a George W. | Fred Klonsky:

Thousands of Philly students marching down Broad Street now.

by Fred Klonsky

Thousands of Philadelphia public school students are marching down Broad Street as I am writing this.
“We are willing to break the stereotypes and expectations of urban youth, and are taking this opportunity to tell the world that urban school districts deserve funding, and it is your responsibility under the Commonwealth Charter to provide us with more than a ‘bare bones education.’”
Read the back story in The Nation.

If tweeting is an art, Weingarten is no Picasso. She’s barely a George W.

by Fred Klonsky

“Tweeting is an art.” Randi is to Twitter as George W is to painting. 
The trouble all began when American Federation of Teachers President issued a statement in support of the We Are One/Cullerton bill. The bill, SB2404 is Senate President Cullerton’s attempt to circumvent the pension protection provision of the Illinois Constitution.
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel also issued a statement in support of it.
All this is not surprising. Both the Illinois affiliates of the NEA and the AFT are part of the We Are One coalition.
Van Roekel’s statement was boiler plate. All about collaboration and working together to solve problems.
Weingarten was no better.
But she didn’t stop there.
She started tweeting about it. And making stuff up.
About how retirees weren’t covered by the bill.
About how it represented shared sacrifice.
How it was fair.
And was brother Mike called her on it.
And we pointed out the falsehoods.
She backed down and admitted she was wrong.

Modern School: Greece Outlaws Teachers Strike

Modern School: Greece Outlaws Teachers Strike:

Greece Outlaws Teachers Strike

by Michael Dunn

The Greek government has outlawed a teachers strike set to begin on May 17. The government signed a civil mobilization order banning the strike, something that previously had only been used in times of national emergencies, according the WSWS. This is the first time the tactic has been used preemptively before a strike has even started. Workers who violate the order are subject to being fired, arrested and jailed.

Since the imposition of austerity in 2008, the Greek government has relied on such heavy handed tactics to crush any opposition and keep the public in line. Civil mobilization orders, with the support of riot police, were used to violently suppress strikes by subway, rail and tram workers earlier this year. The teachers’ strike ban follows the Greek government’s latest deal with the European Commission, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank, attacking teachers’ pay and benefits, and working conditions (including the demand they work an extra two hours per week without pay). 10,000 teachers also face being laid off, according to the WSWS.

So far, no civil mobilization order has been defied by the unions, thus encouraging the 

Gov. Corbett Taps William Harner as New Education Secretary | PoliticsPA

Gov. Corbett Taps William Harner as New Education Secretary | PoliticsPA:

Gov. Corbett Taps William Harner as New Education Secretary

Written by Kevin Horne, Contributing Writer

 Broad Superintendents Academy 2005

Governor Corbett confirmed yesterday what the Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week — Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis is on his way out.

Tomalis will leave his post on May 31 to become Special Adviser to the Governor on Higher Education, per a press release from the governor’s office, making the same salary that he did in the cabinet. Tomalis has held the position since January 2011.

“Secretary Tomalis has worked hard to make Pennsylvania’s public education system benefit all of Pennsylvania’s students to ensure their success beyond graduation,’’ Corbett said.

Dr. William Harner, currently the superintendent of Cumberland Valley School District in Mechanicsburg, will take over for Tomalis pending Senate approval. Harner spent 20 years in the military and has garnered an impressive resume in education since then. He has served as a middle school principal, a superintendent and as the deputy chief executive officer of the School District of Philadelphia. Harner was also an administrator at a New Orleans school district designed to deal with underperforming schools, overseeing nine school buildings post-Katrina.

“From his days at West Point to his service at Cumberland Valley, Dr. Harner has 

There Is Much to Get Right—or Wrong—About the Common Core | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

There Is Much to Get Right—or Wrong—About the Common Core | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

There Is Much to Get Right—or Wrong—About the Common Core

by American Federation of Teachers

By Marla Ucelli-Kashyap, Assistant to the President for Educational Issues, American Federation of Teachers(AFT)
Last month, AFT president, Randi Weingarten called for a moratorium on the stakes associated with Common Core-aligned assessments. Let me be clear, the AFT has long been a supporter of higher common standards and expectations for all students, regardless of ZIP code.
From the outset, we've maintained that the standards themselves would only be as good as the system that supports them: aligned curricula and classroom resources (including state-of-the-art online tools); meaningful, sustained professional development; time for teachers and other staff to adapt to the new standards; aligned and timely assessments that support college and career readiness and inform instruction; and participation of family and community stakeholders in the awareness-building, advocacy and support needed for the standards to truly change teaching and
read more