Big Education Ape

Friday, February 12, 2010

Houston Approves Use of Test Scores in Teacher Dismissals - Teacher Beat - Education Week

We've officially entered the brave new world of teacher accountability based largely on student test-score growth: Under protest from some teachers, the Houston board of education last night approved a policy to permit the nonrenewal of contracts for teachers whose students make insufficient academic growth on the state test.

There are a couple of reasons why this is an important story to follow. First, as Ericka Mellon has reported, the district has already identified over 400 teachers whose students have scored far below expectations for several years. Assuming some are ultimately removed, this would become one of the first widespreadhigh-stakes uses of teacher "value added" or "effect" data. Currently, such data are used mainly to determine eligibility for performance-based bonuses (pick any number of cities' programs) or for a career-ladder program (as in Springfield, Mass.), but not for a formal accountability purpose.

Aside from Houston, I can think of only two other large-scale examples. The District of Columbia's IMPACT evaluation system, which just debuted in the fall of 2009, uses student-achievement data for anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation.

California still an AP leader, for now The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

California still an AP leader, for now

Posted in Achievement Gap

While California schools have lagged behind the nation by some performance measures, it has been a leader in one significant area: the percentage of high school students who take Advanced Placement courses and then pass the AP exams. This has been true in every subject, from AP physics to AP psychology.
During the past decade, the numbers of students taking and succeeding in AP courses – an indicator of readiness for rigorous college work — have continued to rise, though not as dramatically as in states that have pushed AP, particularly among minority students.
And now the budget crisis facing California schools, compounded perhaps by sanctions of the No Child Left Behind law, could further erode AP participation, to the detriment of students competing for admission to the University of California and other top colleges. (Read more and comment on this post)

Schools Matter: NY Times publishes 5 letters attacking NCLB

Letters
‘No Child Left Behind,’ Revisited
To the Editor:
“Making ‘No Child’ Better” (editorial, Feb. 5) misses the point that the No Child Left Behind law is founded on faulty assumptions of top-down mandates, zero tolerance, narrow forms of assessment, and privatization. These are all popular nowadays, but have been shown to be ineffective in other sectors (health, corrections, welfare and so on) and have a dismal track record so far in education.
“Tightening up” the law will only prolong the agony.
President Obama’s appointment of Arne Duncan as education secretary instead of the education scholar Linda Darling-Hammond has set authentic reform in education back by at least a decade. Educators aren’t the villains; we might actually know something about education and how to reform it. Consult us. Gary L. Anderson
New York, Feb. 5, 2010
The writer is a professor at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University.

Teach for America's federal funds threatened by grant competition proposal - washingtonpost.com

Teach for America's federal funds threatened by grant competition proposal - washingtonpost.com:

"Teach for America, which enlists recent college graduates for two-year stints in some of the nation's most troubled public schools, would lose its uncontested claim on $18 million in federal funding under an Obama administration proposal to launch a grant competition for teacher training programs."

At first blush, the proposal to end Teach for America's noncompetitive grant seems a surprising setback for a program viewed favorably by federal officials, lawmakers and philanthropists with influence in public education.
But Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the proposal to merge that funding with other programs, if approved by Congress, would make $235 million available for initiatives to recruit and prepare teachers for high-need schools.
"We think there's a chance for programs that are doing a great job to actually increase their funding," Duncan told reporters last week when asked about Teach for America. "It's an expanded pool of resources and we want the best to rise to the top. . . . There's a big, big opportunity out there for high performers."
But leaders of the 20-year-old nonprofit organization, based in New York, have expressed concerns about the budget proposal because they are counting on federal funding to help finance an expansion. So a dedicated grant could be more valuable to the organization than the chance to win more money.

"We're really hopeful that Congress will put us in the budget," said Teach for America spokeswoman Kerci Marcello Stroud, "so we can take advantage of this tremendous opportunity for us to grow and reach more kids."
Stroud said the proposed grant competition could raise difficulties for the organization. "It's hard to plan," she said. "We have to plan so far in advance."

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Va. is for virtual, not charter, schools

Charter school advocates like me are going to make a big deal out of Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's plan to expand those publicly funded, independently run educational alternatives. But I predict the most important part of his Wednesday education announcement will not turn out to be about charter schools. It will be what he said about virtual schools, the growing segment of programs in which students learn online.

McDonnell's virtual education proposals are in sync with a new report from the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. Brookings, often described as liberal-leaning, might seem an odd fit with Virginia's new conservative Republican governor. But the report reveals that some school choice advocates on McDonnell's side of the issue are ready to accept the reality that some of their favorite reforms don't have as much potential for growth as they would like.

That is certainly true of charters in Virginia. As McDonnell pointed out, his state has only three of the independent public schools (a fourth is scheduled to open this year) while the nation has more than 4,600. He wants to stimulate their growth in Virginia, as President Obama is trying to do nationally, by giving the state Board of Education the power to approve charters denied by local school boards that are reluctant to create independent schools that would compete with their own.

Continue reading this post »

Private schools to make up some snow days

There is a joke among families who spend $30,000 or so send their kids to private schools that the more they pay in tuition, the fewer days their kids are in class.

There is no ratio of dollars to school days, but at least some private schools don’t have to stay open as long as public schools do each year.

State legislatures mandate how many days public schools must be open, and state officials have to grant permission for a reduction in that number if an emergency has forced schools to close for an extended period.

Continue reading this post »

Washington Teachers' Union president George Parker, responding toMonday's story about corporal punishment allegations, said the actual number of substantiated cases is much lower than the 220 incidents reported to D.C. police by Hawk One security.

How much lower? Like other key players in this issue, Parker doesn't say. Here's his statement:

The Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) takes the well-being of D.C.'s students very seriously. To that end, we have worked closely with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to establish clearly defined procedures for the investigation of corporal punishment and other teacher misconduct. Our procedures outline the process for bringing official charges, conducting investigations and--if the charges are substantiated--swiftly removing the guilty party from the classroom.

To be clear: Allegationsof corporal punishment are not official charges. Still, because the safety of our children is involved, we must be

Gorman: CMS approves when staff translates for parents - CharlotteObserver.com

Gorman: CMS approves when staff translates for parents - CharlotteObserver.com:

"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools encourages bilingual employees to translate for parents who don't speak English, Superintendent Peter Gorman said in the wake of a lawsuit alleging that a secretary was forced to quit after speaking Spanish to parents at Devonshire Elementary.

Gorman declined to discuss specifics about that school, citing the pending lawsuit in federal court. But he emphasized the district's support for staff who can communicate with parents who speak other languages: 'We want our folks to translate. Bilingual staff is a beautiful thing for us. It helps moms and dads out, and it helps kids.'"

State details MPS failures - JSOnline

State details MPS failures - JSOnline:

"Milwaukee Public Schools has failed to fulfill multiple elements of its state-ordered educational improvement plan, according to newly released documents from the state Department of Public Instruction that detail why the district is at risk of losing millions of dollars of federal funding.

Though the main standoff between the state and its largest district continues to be a disagreement over how MPS imposes remedies of an ongoing special education lawsuit, the new documents specify where MPS hasn't met other state orders, including literacy instruction, identifying students who need extra help or special services, and tracking newly hired, first-year teachers and teachers hired on emergency licenses.
The district's lack of compliance with what are known formally as 'corrective action requirements' - imposed by the state because MPS repeatedly has missed yearly academic progress targets - is what led Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers last week to initiate the process of withholding up to $175 million in federal dollars.

Legally, the greatest leverage Evers can exert against a poorly performing district under the federal No Child Left Behind law is to withhold federal dollars. To take that action, he said, he first had to"

State exam results to help determine whether 700 teachers win tenure

It's teachers who now have to sweat student test scores.

State exam results will help determine whether 700 teachers win tenure this year, city officials announced yesterday, prompting the teachers union to threaten a lawsuit.

"It is clearly bad educational policy to evaluate teachers through the use of state test scores that the state itself has deemed unreliable," said teachers union president Michael Mulgrew.

City Education officials fired back, defending the plan. "It's hard to imagine how anyone could object to looking at a teacher's impact on student progress as a part of a comprehensive evaluation," said spokesman David Cantor.

Fourth- through eighth-grade teachers who are up for tenure and have two years' worth of state math and English scores under their belts will be stacked up against educators at schools with similar demographics.

They will then be ranked based on how much students improved their test scores, with the top 25% of the teachers considered "tenure likely" and the bottom 25% deemed "tenure in doubt."

In each case, a principal "will be asked for additional rationale" if they overrule the

State meddling hamstrings schools | state, school, education - Opinion - The Orange County Register

State meddling hamstrings schools | state, school, education - Opinion - The Orange County Register:

"SACRAMENTO To show the results of union dominance of the public education system, John Stossel, host of Fox News' 'Stossel,' on a recent show held up a convoluted chart that detailed, in small print, the amazing lengths to which New York school administrators must go to fire an incompetent teacher. The viewer sees a long and detailed chart filled with boxes connected by arrows. Then, Stossel reveals that what he's holding up for the camera is only the beginning, as he lets falls to the floor several more pages that had been hidden, accordion-style, behind the first page of the termination procedures chart.

The joke – actually much sadder than funny – is on us, as we realize that there's no way that even the worst teacher can get sacked and that it's basically impossible to reform the public school system as it is currently structured. Yet local, state and federal officials go on proposing reforms that will surely turn the nations' bureaucratic, government-controlled public school systems into models of efficiency and high-performance learning."

Georgia Schools Inquiry Finds Signs of Cheating - NYTimes.com

Georgia Schools Inquiry Finds Signs of Cheating - NYTimes.com:

"ATLANTA — Georgia education officials ordered investigations on Thursday at 191 schools across the state where they had found evidence of tampering on answer sheets for the state’s standardized achievement test."

The order came after an inquiry on cheating by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement raised red flags regarding one in five of Georgia’s 1,857 public elementary and middle schools. A large proportion of the schools were in Atlanta.
The inquiry flagged any school that had an abnormal number of erasures on answer sheets where the answers were changed from wrong to right, suggesting deliberate interference by teachers, principals or other administrators.
Experts said it could become one of the largest cheating scandals in the era of widespread standardized testing.
“This is the biggest erasure problem I’ve ever seen,” saidGregory J. Cizek, a testing expert at the University of North Carolina who has studied cheating. “This doesn’t suggest that it was just kids randomly changing their answers, it suggests a pattern of unethical behavior on the part of either kids or educators.”
Professor Cizek praised Georgia for conducting the analysis, saying that many states do not monitor erasure rates to check for potential cheating.
Kathleen B. Mathers, the executive director of the state Office of Student Achievement, which is separate from the State Department of Education and is controlled by Gov.Sonny Perdue, a Republican, said the statewide analysis was done after a smaller one — prompted in part by articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — led to an inquiry that found cheating at four schools.

Wi-Fi Turns Arizona Bus Ride Into a Rolling Study Hall - NYTimes.com

Wi-Fi Turns Arizona Bus Ride Into a Rolling Study Hall - NYTimes.com:

"VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates)."

But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.
Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.
“It’s made a big difference,” said J. J. Johnson, the bus’s driver. “Boys aren’t hitting each other, girls are busy, and there’s not so much jumping around.”
On this morning, John O’Connell, a junior at Empire High School here, is pecking feverishly at his MacBook, touching up an essay on World War I for his American history class. Across the aisle, 16-year-old Jennifer Renner e-mails her friend Patrick to meet her at the bus park in half an hour. Kyle Letarte, a sophomore, peers at his screen, awaiting acknowledgment from a teacher that he has just turned in his biology homework, electronically.
“Got it, thanks,” comes the reply from Michael Frank, Kyle’s teacher.
Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet

L.A. Unified schools' chief works for district supplier - latimes.com

L.A. Unified schools' chief works for district supplier - latimes.com:

"Supt. Ramon C. Cortines sits on the board of Scholastic Inc., which supplies a district reading program. Officials say he is not involved in decisions pertaining to the publisher."

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines earned more than $150,000 last year for serving on the board of one of the nation's leading educational publishing companies, a firm with more than $16 million in contracts with the school district over the last five years.

Scholastic Inc. provides the main reading intervention curriculum for the Los Angeles Unified School District, a program that is part of the company's fast-growing educational technology business.

Cortines has disclosed his relationship with the New York-based company, and officials say he has avoided any decisions on Scholastic contracts.

Cortines' role, however, has generated criticism among some former senior officials and current employees. They said the corporate tie creates an appearance of impropriety.

"My objection is the perception it creates and the door it opens for others to do the same thing," said former school board member Marlene Canter, who sits on the city ethics commission and who said she admires Cortines.

YourNabe.com > Archives > Queens > Queens reps seek school holiday on Lunar New Year

YourNabe.com Archives Queens Queens reps seek school holiday on Lunar New Year

A group of New York state lawmakers has called for legislation to establish the Asian Lunar New Year as an official school holiday in New Year in recognition of what they called the largest Asian population in America.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and state Sens. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and Daniel Squadron (D-Manhattan) were among the elected officials and representatives of more than two dozen Asian-American organizations who gathered last Thursday on the steps of City Hall.

“As the only Asian American in the New York State Legislature, I believe that making Lunar New Year an official school holiday will help recognize the important role that Asian Americans have played in our city and state,” Meng said. “Our city and our country prides itself as a multicultural nation and our children want to be able to celebrate both Rosh Hashanah and Lunar New Year with their families and friends.”

Stavisky agreed.

“Asian Americans play an integral role in our community and

City’s new tenure plan uses test scores, but for few teachers | GothamSchools

Department of Education officials debuted a new tenure process today will affect only one in ten teachers up for tenure this year, but for the city’s teachers union, that’s one too many.

Answering Mayor Bloomberg’s demand that test scores be used in tenure decisions this year, the department has broadened the criteria that principals use in evaluating teachers to include teacher data reports. These reports rank teachers based on their students’ scores on the state’s math and English exams and compare them to others teaching similar students over several years. Department officials say the reports will only be used to alert principals to teachers who are at the top and bottom of the rankings.

When Chancellor Joel Klein first introduced the data reports in 2008, he made an agreement with former United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten that the reports would not affect tenure evaluations or teacher pay. Today Klein doubled back on that agreement, sending a letter to principals that said including the data reports would make tenure more “meaningful.”

Generation 'Text': FB me - CNN.com

Solana Beach, California (CNN) -- I dont tlk on th fone. txt im fb me.

I tried to reach my teenage daughter the other day. I left a voice mail, sent an e-mail message and finally texted her and told her to check both and call me back.

Seconds later, she texted back one letter: "K." She is 19 and has been sending and receiving upwards of 3,000 texts per month. One month, she hit 7,500! She is not unusual at all.

According to Nielsen Mobile, in the first quarter of 2009, the average U.S. teen made and received an average of 191 phone calls and sent and received 2,899 text messages per month. By the third quarter, the number of texts had jumped to a whopping 3,146 messages per month, which equals more than 10 texts per every waking non-school hour. (At the beginning of 2007, those numbers were 255 phone calls and 435 text messages.) Preteens sent and received 1,146 texts per month.

Austin school district dual language proposal raises concerns for some

Austin school district dual language proposal raises concerns for some:

"Proposed reforms to the Austin school district's bilingual education program have threatened what some say is a tenuous relationship between new Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and some members of Austin's Hispanic community.

By moving from a transitional bilingual education model — where students still learning English get an increasingly limited amount of instruction in their native tongues — to what's called a dual language approach — where students are taught in two languages through high school — district officials say their goal has changed from producing graduates who are bilingual to graduating students who are biliterate.

'It's really an incredible opportunity to really lift the overall performance of both English language learners and native English speakers,' said Carstarphen, who can speak Spanish and has used it in speeches.

The dual language program, to be tested with Spanish at seven schools starting in the fall, would benefit English-language learners as well as English-speaking students whose parents want them to"

Religious Indoctrination Presented as Fact: Fresno City College Professor Challenged By the ACLU | ReligionDispatches

The ACLU has requested that Bradley Lopez, a professor at Fresno City College in California, cease and desist from offering his religious views in his health science classroom.
When Inherit the Wind was published in 1955, the Scopes trial upon which it was based was 30 years old, McCarthyism was rife, and intelligent design was not yet the well known (though oxymoronic) phrase it has become. Since then, the play has been filmed four times, with all-star casts. Often thought to be about science and religion, one of the play’s authors, Jerome Lawrence, noted in 1996 that the play was in fact a “parable” about mind control.

Religious Indoctrination Presented as Fact

In the decades since 1955, science and pseudo-science have accounted for a wide array of lawsuits about the place of religion in education at all levels. Meanwhile (though we may rarely use the phrase “mind control”), concerns regarding a new McCarthyism have received a lot of play in recent years—especially as the internal policing of ideas has ratcheted up in the years since 9/11. Many of these cases have related to religion as it has been entangled with violence.

Today’s lawsuits similarly bring together concerns about the relation of science, religion, education, and the state, mixing in more obvious connections to gender and sexuality. The latest potential case is in California, not in Tennessee. And it is not about evolution. It is about whether an employee of Fresno City College may teach his religious beliefs as health science. Thus, the Northern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has written to Fresno City College (in a letter dated February 8, 2010) requesting formally that Professor Bradley Lopez—who through his employment at the community college qualifies as a state employee—cease and desist. Or, perhaps more accurately, ACLU demands that Fresno City College act to ensure that its “Health Science I” courses are accurate and unbiased. As the ACLU Press release puts it:

“The college classroom of a state school should be a welcoming environment for all students, and courses, especially health courses, should be based on objective and

UCI hecklers: 'Speech for me, not for thee' | university, publishingcontact, boston - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Of the many intellectual perversions currently taking root on college campuses, perhaps none is more contradictory to what should be one of higher education’s core values than the suppression of free speech. With alarming regularity, speakers are shouted down, booed, jeered, and barrage with vitriol, all at the hands of groups who give lip service to the notion of academic free speech, and who demand it when their speech is at issue, but have no interest in listening to, or letting others listen to, ideas that contradict their own world view.

Coincidentally, last week two Israeli officials, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon and ambassador to the United States Michael Oren had the unpleasant experience of confronting virulent anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Muslim students whose ideology on academic debate seems to be “free speech for me, but not for thee.”

Ayalon, who spoke at Oxford University, had his speech interrupted by several audience members, including one who yelled incessantly and called Ayalon a “racist” and “a war criminal” while waving a Palestinian flag. Another student who loudly read passages of the incendiary Goldstone Report. There were calls from one charming scholar to “slaughter the Jews,” and the intrusion of a third student who remained standing for the entire balance of the lecture while she hurled anti-Israel invective. Still another radical brat who threatened to Ayalon with: “We will do to you what we did to Milosevic.”

The genteel, soft-spoken Ambassador Oren did not fare much better during his visit to theUniversity of California at Irvine, a notorious hotbed of radical anti-Israelism by Muslim students. During the aborted speech to some 500 people about U.S.-Israeli relations, which was loudly interrupted 10 times, boorish hecklers screamed over Oren’s talk such profound observations as “Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech,” “I accuse you of murder,” “How many Palestinians have you killed?” and “Israel is a murderer.” Even

Proposed cuts will diminish opportunities The Guardsman

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a $10 million cut from the Extended Opportunities Programs and Services budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, leaving those in need with even fewer resources. During a time when everyone is looking for help and the needy are worse off than usual, slashing the funding for EOPS is like taking crutches away from a one-legged man.

The EOPS program is aimed at individuals affected by varied circumstances. Those new to the country, single parents with low incomes, people dealing with legal trouble, and individuals of low educational levels may all benefit from EOPS services.

The 2009-10 EOPS allocation was an estimated $70 million. While that may sound like a lot of money, it was stretched between 111 California community colleges, including some of the largest in the nation. Los Angeles alone has seven community college campuses with EOPS programs, whose allocations last year added up to just under $6.5 million.

EOPS provides counselors, tutors, child care programs, extra computer labs, assistance for academic planning and assistance buying books.
“It would be devastating,” City College EOPS Director Alvin Jenkins said. “We are not going to let it happen.”

There is no way to look past the obvious truth that almost everyone is in a bad way right now. From faculty to

North state programs complement first lady's childhood obesity campaign Redding Record Searchlight

First lady Michelle Obama launched a national campaign to combat childhood obesity this week, and north state health groups want people to know they're already participating.

Healthy Shasta, in partnership with Shasta County Public Health, the McConnell Foundation, the Shasta Family YMCA and three local elementary schools, has a Healthy Students Initiative in its first year that mirrors the goals of Obama's campaign, spokeswoman Amy Pendergast said.

"A lot of what she talked about in announcing her new initiative overlaps with Healthy Shasta," she said.

The Healthy Students Initiative is a seven-year project to develop and implement solutions to address and prevent childhood obesity in Shasta County. A 2004 study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy showed 23 percent of children in Shasta County are overweight. A separate study conducted in 2006 showed the cost associated with obesity and physical inactivity was nearly $253 million during that year.

The program has equipped participating schools with kitchen supplies and physical

GUEST OPINION: In defense of school librarians | PressDemocrat.com

I have worked in public schools for 14 years now, just “hanging out in the library,” as one Santa Rosa trustee recently summed it up, with students in grades pre-K through 12.

Unfortunately, the role of a school librarian is frequently misunderstood. Like custodians, cafeteria workers and campus security staff, much of our work takes place behind the scenes. Though school librarians have master's level training in best educational practices, we are not assigned official classes, nor do we test or grade students.

The way I see it, every student is my student. I am responsible for ensuring that every student I serve graduates with highly developed critical thinking skills, an appreciation for literature and the knowledge of how to effectively locate and evaluate information from both print and electronic sources. In a nutshell, I am a specialist in information literacy. School librarians collaborate with teachers, administrators and staff to ensure that students are efficient and effective users of ideas and information.

School Matters: 7,000 Head Start Spots At Risk - NAM

When 3-year-old Aaliah Sandoval began preschool at Good Beginnings Head Start in Los Angeles, she was very shy and did not talk much, even to her mother. But Aaliah quickly made friends, and now she can count up to 10, sings her ABCs every night before bed and understands the daily routine at school – all skills that prepare her to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

Aaliah is one of 7,000 California children who attended Head Start and Early Head Start programs thanks to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. But even with the new federal stimulus funds, many of our lowest-income children are still waiting – over 70 percent of eligible kids still do not have access to the programs.

The recession has been especially tough on low-income families, many of them families of color. They may be squeezed further by proposed state budget cuts to CalWORKS child care and Proposition 10, which funds First 5 California’s education, health services and other critical programs for young children.

That’s why President Obama’s recent fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, which included significant investments in early learning programs, is such good news. Building upon his earlier commitment to a comprehensive plan for children from birth to age 5, the president proposed a $989 million increase to the Head Start and Early Head Start budget to maintain stimulus funding levels, allowing us to continue serving the 7,000 children in California who started the programs last year. The proposal also included a $1.6 billion increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant and support for pending legislation that would provide $8.9 billion over 10 years for an Early Learning Challenge Fund.

We have already seen these investments being put to good use in local communities. As with Aaliah, stimulus funds made it possible for 4-year-old Jesus Florez to attend Head Start in South El Monte, where he has learned to sing songs, and play games that teach him alphabet letters, an important skill that will help him learn to read.

Latinos upset at Maldonado rejection - Local - SanLuisObispo.com

Several local Latinos said Thursday that while they may not have agreed with all of state Sen. Abel Maldonado’s political decisions, they would like to see him seated as lieutenant governor, and they expressed disappointment about his rejection in the Assembly.

The Latinos interviewed said they support seeing a Hispanic politician in such a prominent role, noting that Cruz Bustamante also formerly held the second-highest-ranking state office.

Latino Outreach Council member Joe Quiroz, a Paso Robles resident and a Democrat, said he supported the Republican Maldonado’s confirmation.

“I haven’t always agreed with his voting record, but he has been willing more recently to move toward the middle,” Quiroz said. “I think a basis for our whole problem in California is political robots in the Legislature. Too many people blindly follow agendas and, to his credit, Abel hasn’t done that.”

Quiroz added that most Hispanics are Democrats in California because of traditional Republican views on immigration and bilingual education, and that Maldonado is uncommon as a Hispanic Republican.

Torrico unveils gang prevention program - San Jose Mercury News

In an effort to thwart the increase of gang violence on several California high school campuses, Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, introduced the "Cops on Campus" program Tuesday morning.

The assemblyman made the announcement at Independence High School in San Jose, a campus that has had its share of gang issues in the past.

He was joined by brothers Cesar Torrico, principal at Franklin Elementary School in San Jose, and Fabian Torrico, a veteran of the San Jose Police Department.

"As I've traveled the state over the last year, I've spoken to hundreds of county sheriffs, local police departments, city council members and high school administrators and students," Assemblyman Torrico said. "And I was astounded to hear that crime clusters around high school campuses. And the reason for that is gangs are using high schools to recruit new members and sell their products drugs."

The assemblyman's Cops on Campus program will put uniformed police officers on 100 California high school campuses.

He said schools will mostly be eligible due to poverty levels around the campus, single parent households in the district, and the population of English as a second language students, among other criteria.

Cuts, layoffs spark teacher protest San Mateo Daily Journal

San Mateo Daily Journal
Cuts, layoffs spark teacher protest

Previously approved salary increases to cabinet-level employees irked teachers when layoffs are part of the plan to cut $4.3 million in South San Francisco, a move protested by many at last night’s Board of Trustees meeting.
South San Francisco Unified School District is facing a $4.3 million budget deficit. Part of the tiered-cut approach includes increasing class sizes through teacher layoffs, losing arts programs and reductions in summer school programs. In January, the Board of Trustees approved salary increases for many higher district positions, a decision many took issue with last night as the district prepares to make large cuts later this year. In closed session last night, officials who were granted the increases agreed to have any increase during this school year returned to the district general fund — a move that caused applause. Despite this, there are concerns from teachers that the district does not have a united front when dealing with budget issues.
“Let the light in; let the sun shine on all the parts of our work together,” said Jan Speller, South San Francisco California Teachers’ Association president. “Come out from behind your PowerPoint slides and engage in a dialogue with us in a genuine, direct manner.”
Speller said the teachers are willing to work with the district to make instructional changes, but will be hesitant to make changes without trust and open dialogue.
South San Francisco is in the second year of program improvement, a designation given to a district under the federal No Child Left Behind program when test scores for some subgroups do not make goals. With this in mind, the district’s focus is education reform and aligning the finances with human resources, explained Ron Little, associate superintendent of business services.
South San Francisco is projecting a $71.3 million budget next year, a 5 percent decrease from last year, said Little.
Among the first $1.78 million in a tiered plan proposed to alleviate cuts includes reducing deferred maintenance contribution, reducing

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