Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, June 22, 2013

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-22-13


4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

A thru G: LAUSD STUDYING NEW CURRICULUM PLANS + smf’s 2¢

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | Pasadena Star-News http://bit.ly/16mWxxx 06/20/2013 06:03:21 PM PDT    Los Angeles Unified's incoming freshmen class will be the first that will have to pass a rigorous college-prep curriculum with a "C" in order to get a diploma, which has district officials scrambling to identify and replicate successful programs that can get and keep students on

FIRST DETAIL OF THE iPad DEAL FROM LAUSD & APPLE + smf’s 2¢

smf: as a member of the LAUSD Bond Oversight Committee – School Construction and Modernization bonds are controversially the exclusive source of all funding for this project – I resent the fact that my questions yesterday about the contract award were unanswered because negotiations are in progress - and that far more detail as to the software and educational content of the deal is

ED. SECT. DUNCAN LETS STATES DELAY USE OF TESTS IN DECISIONS ABOUT TEACHER’S JOBS

By MOTOKO RICH, New York Times | http://nyti.ms/10zmkUq June 18, 2013   ::  Acknowledging that the nation’s educators face large challenges in preparing students for more rigorous academic standards and tests, Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, told state education officials on Tuesday that they could postpone making career decisions about teachers based on performance evaluations tied to

The Deasy iBooks/iPad Video: THE CLIP AND THE WHOLE SHEBANG

from January 2012 In fairness, he above clip is out of context – but shows the Deasy segment in its entirely. For the entire context of the 2012 Apple iBooks textbook presentation view the following. The Deasy segment begins at 44:56

THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 18th – or how I spent Paul McCartney’s birthday (+ additional coverage)

By smf for 4LAKids NewsJuneteenth, June 19, 2013  ::  Yesterday’s (seems so very far away) school board meeting started late - 25 minutes after noon - and ended far, far later – after dark. I don’t know how late – I didn’t stick around. I gave my speaker card to another speaker who had better things to say – she had waited in line since the morning and hadn’t been able to get in until late in

NCTQ: NEW TEACHER TRAINING STUDY DECRIES CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITIES + smf’s 2¢

A controversial policy group singles out teacher training programs at UCLA and Loyola Marymount as hardly worth attending. But the schools say the report is flawed. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/14gBevW June 18, 2013, 12:05 a.m. ::  A new front is opening in the education wars as a report released Tuesday derides California's teacher training schools as among the worst in a

LA Times Edito®ial: TOUGH CHOICES AT LAUSD + smf’s 2¢

Proposals to restore staffing to pre-recession levels and cutting class sizes don't make sense. What's workable is extending the school year. By The Times editorial board | http://lat.ms/12GXDpj Money is flowing again to the Los Angeles Unified School District after years of budget cuts and officials must decide how to spend the money. Above: Marshawn Martindale, from Crenshaw High School

PREVIEW OF TUESDAY’S LAUSD BOARD MEETING: Controversy, Budget, P-Rev, Charters and iPads …w/footnotes +smf’’s 2¢

  Controversy Awaits $30 Million iPad Vote by Hillel Aron- LA School Report http://bit.ly/16cTfwz Posted on June 17, 2013   :: The School Board will face a mini controversy tomorrow when it votes on whether or not to to purchase roughly 31,000 Apple iPad tablets at a cost to LAUSD of $30 million. The appropriation would be the first step in Superintendent John Deasy’s ambitious plan of

NEW LAUSD BOARD MEMBER MONICA RATLIFF SEEKS END TO ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/17iez8E Teacher Monica Ratliff is the newest member of the LAUSD Board of Education. Dateline:  6/18/2013 - Posted:   06/17/2013 06:43:07 PM PDT - Updated:   06/17/2013 07:47:26 PM PDT  ::  Having spent more than a decade teaching in a Los Angeles Unified classroom and chatting with colleagues, Monica Ratliff's perception

AS POVERTY INCREASES, ®EFORMERS CLING TO THE “NEW STATUS QUO”

By Tim Walker, NEA Today | http://bit.ly/1bOgq1E June 17, 2013  ::  A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education released new data that confirms what every advocate of public education has been trumpeting for years: poverty is a growing scourge on public schools. According to its 2013 Condition of Education report, one in five schools in the United States are considered high poverty.

Local Control Funding Formula: SCHOOLS WITH FEWER NEEDY STUDENTS DECRY CALIFORNIA FUNDING CHANGE + smf’s 2¢

California's new funding formula gives more money to districts with more needy students and less to districts with fewer needy students. By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/11jzYJS In their first year of learning English, English Language Development students, from left to right, Norma Hernandez, 18, Kavidha Peoyashani, 16, and Yoola Lee, 17, work on reading skills

FIGHTING FOR OUR CLASSROOMS, AND FOR THE HUMAN BEINGS INSDE THEM

  By Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed,  http://bit.ly/126Ad6p Sunday, 16 June 2013 10:17  ::  It seems as if the same battle is being fought in every aspect of American society. On one side are the forces of egalitarianism, economic opportunity and self-determination. On the other is a well-funded and entrenched elite bent on hijacking our media, our political process and

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW, I LEARNED IN MUSIC CLASS

As the Toronto District School Board votes on major cuts to music education, the Star reconnects three successful musicians to their instructors to talk about music's impact. The Star talks to musicians and their teachers, as the Toronto District School Board tables a plan to cut its music instructors. By: Paul Hunter Feature reporter, The Toronto Star | http://bit.ly/10qjK3e Sat Jun 15

AALA Update: AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR ON SCHOOL FINANCE + PARENT TRIGGER LAW NEEDS A SECOND LOOK

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update for the Week of June 17, 2013 | http://bit.ly/16wcuC6 FINAL AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR BROWN REGARDING SCHOOL FINANCE 14 June :: Last week, we shared with AALA members the remarks that Dr. Judith Perez, AALA President, made to the Board of Education regarding Governor Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula and the

STATE BOARD OF ED HANDED JOB OF DEFINING RULES OF NEW FUNDING SYSTEM + smf’s 2¢

By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/10ipL1R June 14th, 2013 | The Legislature will vote today on a bill establishing Gov. Brown’s historic school funding system that punts to the State Board of Education some key decisions on how dollars for disadvantaged students must be spent and accounted for. The language for implementing the Local Control Funding Formula is SB 91>>

GROUP URGES TEACHERS’ RAISES BASED ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

The local chapter of Educators 4 Excellence - part of the warp+weave of ®eform, Inc.– and a component in the new CLASS Coalition, offers a couple of plans …on the very day Superintendent Deasy must reveal the details of his budget proposal prior to next Tuesday’s board meeting. By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/16ju9N8 June 13, 2013, 8:00 a.m. ::  A local advocacy group is pushing

ANOTHER PRINCIPAL AT CORTINES HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS - The school formerly known as High School #9 - RESIGNS

The parents at LAUSD’s flagship school for the visual and performing arts are growing restless as another one bites the dust. from a posting masquerading as communication with all stakeholders on the Cortines VAPA website

INGLEWOOD UNIFIED'S FINANCES WORSEN DESPITE A STATE TAKEOVER AND AN INFUSION OF CASH: There is even talk of dissolution

By Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/11K1Zdi Kindergarten students listen to their teacher as she reads them a story at the Bennett¿Kew Elementary School in Inglewood in December, 2011. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / June 10, 2013) June 9, 2013, 5:31 p.m.  ::  Many in Inglewood thought the city's struggling school district had been handed a lifeline last year when the

DIANE RAVITCH’S REPLY TO BEN AUSTIN’S OPEN LETTER TO HER

by Diane Ravitch, from her blog | http://bit.ly/1bxB8mi 7 June 2013 Diane Ravitch wrote: Earlier today, Ben Austin wrote an open letter to me on Huffington Post. He expressed dismay about my characterization of him and his group Parent Revolution. Read his letter here. << Diane Ravitch Ben Austin>> Here is my

BROWN’S BUDGET COMPROMISE SLOWS PACE OF SCHOOL DEFERRAL REPAYMENT

By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/14wNCdt Wednesday, June 12, 2013  ::  Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders joined Tuesday to applaud agreement on next year’s budget at a Capitol news conference – a plan that would seem to include the lion’s share of what the governor wanted. A close review, however, suggests the governor had to give up a cherished element of his

NEW EDUCATION FUNDING COMES WITH STRINGS: State wants accountability plan, lower class sizes for extra money

Written by Roberto M. Robledo | The Salinas Californian |  http://bit.ly/11H4H33 Gov. Jerry Brown discusses the budget compromise reached with Democratic leaders, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento left, and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, right, during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento on Tuesday. / AP Jun. 12, 2013 4:34 AM   ::   According to the US

MICHAEL KIRST, FATHER OF THE LCFF, LOOKS BACK AND AT THE WORK AHEAD

By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/172AbWg June 12th, 2013 | It was the morning after the evening of the last revision, and the father of the Local Control Funding Formula looked upon all that the governor and Legislature had made, and declared, “Hey, not bad.” Michael Kirst>> Michael Kirst is relishing the all-but-certain passage later this week of the comprehensive

LA Times: BUDGET DEAL MIXES HOPE+RESTRAINT, CEMENTS BROWN’S LEGACY …or at least his reëlection

California budget accord balances restraint, social services Lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown announce a $96.3-billion deal, with new spending on welfare grants, tuition aid and dental care for poor adults. But they agree to pare some outlays until next year. By Chris Megerian and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/11VWbJt Senate leader Darrell Steinberg is all smiles as he