Friday, March 12, 2010

2nd Banana THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sacramento Press / Students compete for National Poetry Recitation Contest

Students compete for National Poetry Recitation Contest

Thousands of students across the country are bringing poetry to life by competing in this year's Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest.

This is the contest's fifth year, and it is growing rapidly, influencing thousands of high school students to learn and perform poetry.

Kristin Margolis, the California state contact from the California Arts Council, said that "there is an incredible demand for the program, with 300,000 participants nationwide this year."

"California has the most competing in the nation," Margolis said. "We will have 40,000 students from 27 counties, which is a big jump from the 24 counties that competed last year and 20 counties the year before that."

The program itself was founded to inspire high school students to read poetry and learn, not just from today's poets, but from many poets before the 20th century.

"It is really important to encourage students to pick the poem and find something that has meaning for them," Margolis said.

The National Recitation Contest begins in the classroom, where students memorize poems and compete within their schools through their ability to remember, connect and perform their chosen poems.

Winners from each school continue on to compete in county contests and then state and national finals, where a single winner is chosen.

Margolis explained that it is such a great program because it can start by a parent, student or teacher hearing about it and deciding to get an entire school involved. There are no boundaries to who can participate because,

Eduflack: "Teacher Preparation: Who Needs It?"

"Teacher Preparation: Who Needs It?"

Without question, teacher quality is one of THE hot topics in education reform these days. Logically, we recognize that teachers are the ones primarily responsible for boosting student achievement in the classroom. Programs like the US Department of Education's Teacher Incentive Fund have thus been designed to reward those teachers whose students demonstrate success. It is a simple equation, outcomes result in rewards.

But what about the inputs that result in that achievement? What do teachers need to know, be able to do, and experience before they ever become a teacher of record? Those are the sorts of questions that the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is trying to tackle with a new series of policy briefings it launched today, titled "Teacher Preparation: Who Needs It?"

In today's episode, AACTE offered up The Clinical Preparation of Teachers: A Policy Brief, a document that provides some of the history, the research, and the vision for how to best address clinical preparation. Chief among the recommendations — all prospective teachers, regardless of their pathway, need at least 450 hours of clinical training (or a full semester).

Full disclosure, Eduflack has worked with the folks over at AACTE for years. Regardless, today's briefing offered some interesting recommendations for the federal government, state government, and those preparing the next generation of teachers, including:

For the feds:

Revise the “Highly Qualified Teacher” definition within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to require that teachers must establish not only their content expertise, but their ability to teach it effectively, as measured by their actual performance in classrooms, following extended clinical experience;

Contract impasse with Elk Grove teachers Elk Grove Citizen : News

Elk Grove Citizen : News

Contract impasse with Elk Grove teachers

School district budget crisis

By Citizen staff

Published: Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:37 PM PST

After more than 200 hours of negotiations and meetings with the Elk Grove Education Association that represents his school district’s teachers, Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) Superintendent Dr. Steven Ladd said the district decided to call an impasse in negotiations.

The district filed documents on March 9 with the California Public Employment Relations Board to certify that the Elk Grove Unified and the EGEA are at an impasse and to request the appointment of a mediator from the State Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Faced with a $62 million shortfall for the 2010-11 school year, the district is seeking two furlough days for 2009-10 school year and seven furlough days for 2010-11, freezes on step and columns, lottery changes and a health benefit freeze.

Class sizes will be increased for kindergarten through sixth grades, and 12 elementary schools will be reverting from year-round back to traditional scheduling.

Class sizes proposed by the district would be up to 28 students to one teacher for grades K-3.

EGEA President Tom Gardner said that would leave about 200 teachers without jobs. Currently K-3 has a class load of 20 to one. Class sizes for grades seven and eight would remain at 26 to one, and 32 to one for the high school.

“In the meantime, EGUSD remains committed to working collaboratively with the EGEA and other bargaining units to resolve this unprecedented financial crisis in the most equitable

GothamSchools - Breaking News and Analysis of the NYC Public Schools

Remainders: Bake sale protests, union elections, and more RttT

by Anna Phillips

Ed Week has a cool map of the Race to the Top finalists and info about their applications.
Rick Hess says Arne Duncan and Diane Ravitch are missing the point of accountability, charter schools.
City Council is holding a hearing this Friday on how MetroCard cuts will affect education.
Tomorrow is the application deadline to run for seats on two citywide councils on ELL and Special Ed.
The EVP of Wireless Generation has some tips for Race to the Top finalists on their data systems.
Sherman Dorn writes that Kristof’s latest column makes it important to remember that TFA is not scalable.
Diane Ravitch’s new book should make reformers think twice, writes Sara Mosle in Slate.
The UFT election is coming up and Norm says district reps are intimidating the opposition groups.
Texas is accusing Fox News of inaccurately reporting on its revisions to state social studies standards.
A teacher gets “awesome” results on her data report and wonders what effect these reports have on peers.
Parents in the Mission District, CA aren’t any happier about school turnaround plans than ones in NY.
More than 100 middle schoolers took part in the Daily News New York spelling bee that began today.
Two parents are planning a bake-in at City Hall to protest new bake sale policies.
When he brought data-driven methods into his classroom, he lost his spark, a new teacher writes.
And Room for Debate takes up the question: how does the size of a school affect its students?

'Big Brother' watches Sacramento Valley students | News10.net | Sacramento, California | News

SACRAMENTO, CA - A warning for thousands of students in the Sacramento Valley: If you took a test or failed to turn in homework today, your parents may already have that information.

Students at Natomas Middle School in Sacramento are well aware that an Internet Web site known as Power School is helping parents keep tabs on them.

Sixth grader Orlando Hyppolite said his parents log in to the site to see his grades, progress reports, upcoming dates for projects, homework assignments and exams.

"It's good but sometimes it gets a little annoying and weird," Hyppolite said. "Having somebody that's always around and knowing what you're doing is a little weird."

Those somebodies are parents who can check out what their child is doing 24 hours a day.

"I just love it because parents can find out immediately," said history teacher James Weaver. "If they know you have a test coming up, they can ask if you're studying. It also shows scores from

Sacramento School District Gets Grant - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Sacramento School District Gets Grant

Matsui Makes Announcement

POSTED: 4:17 pm PST March 11, 2010
UPDATED: 4:42 pm PST March 11, 2010

EMAIL: Sacramento School District Gets Grant

PRINT: Sacramento School District Gets Grant

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento City Unified School District is getting $250,000, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, announced Thursday.

The funding was awarded to the district as part of its Summer of Service program.

The goal of the program is to engage low-income students in projects that address local environmental issues.

Up to 500 students will take part in the program.

Governor's ties to charter schools driving Race to Top goals? - ContraCostaTimes.com

SACRAMENTO — Charter school advocates were livid. The Assembly's "Race to the Top" legislation was trying to "change the DNA of charters," as one charter school leader put it, by clamping down with "stifling" oversight provisions.

They had little doubt, however, that they'd have a potent weapon to beat back the proposed changes: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger's deep ties to the charter school movement haven't been a secret. He has taken at least $1 million in contributions from charter school advocates, stacked the State Board of Education with charter school educators, overseen since taking office in 2003 more than a doubling in the number of charter schools and steered hundreds of millions of construction bond money to charter schools.

Now, with a potential $700 million in federal cash dangling before lawmakers who have seen $17 billion drained from public schools over the past two years, some critics say Schwarzenegger has used the Race to the Top competition to further his long-term goal of cutting into the powers of traditional public schools while elevating his own sacred cow — the charter movement.

"One can say that the charter school lobby has defined how the governor tries to craft school reform," said Bruce Fuller, director of the Policy Analysis for California Education at UC Berkeley. "Because he's got well-heeled donors that remain very supportive of charter schools, it's a no-brainer for the

governor, given his affection for market remedies."

Schwarzenegger has blasted the Assembly's Race to the Top plan for tightening oversight measures for charter schools, calling it a "poison pill" that makes it "impossible for charter schools to survive." He has repeatedly vowed to veto the bill, ABX5-8, if it came to his desk.

Supported by most public school educators, the Assembly legislation includes tighter auditing requirements on charter schools than current law, stronger tools for measuring academic progress, and prohibitions against renewing continually failing charter schools.

"We believe charters should be held to the same accountability standards as public schools since they're on the public dime," said Dean Vogel, vice president of the California Teachers Association. "If I believe my charter school is high-performing, I should have a measure to prove it. You've got to demonstrate that high achievement and they don't want to do that."

Schwarzenegger's own plan, SBX5-1, shepherded through the Senate last month by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, seeks to streamline the authorizing or renewal of charter schools, bolster their ability to obtain state funding, and codify their own standards of auditing.

Supporters don't deny that Schwarzenegger has been an unapologetic ally of charter schools.

"It's fair to say that Gov. Schwarzenegger has been the most important champion California has ever had for charter schools," said Jed Wallace, president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association. "He understands and is focused on making sure nothing comes forward that would compromise charter schools."

Under Schwarzenegger, the number of charter schools operating in California has more than doubled — from 382 in 2003-04 to the current total of 809. Though the state is nowhere near its maximum of 1,350 charter schools, he wants to lift the cap — a provision in both the Senate and Assembly bills.

Schwarzenegger has packed the nine-member State Board of Education with five leaders of the charter school movement, including board President Ted Mitchell, who is president and CEO of the NewSchools Venture fund, a national San Francisco-based firm that provides startup money for charter schools.

Other state board members with ties to the charter school movement are Yvonne Chan, a principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, which focuses on "conversion" charter schools; Jonathan Williams, founder and co-director of the Accelerated School; Jorge Lopez, executive director of the Oakland Charter Academy; and Rae Belisle, president and CEO of EdVoice, a school reform lobbying group with strong ties to the charter school movement. Belisle defended the constitutionality of charter schools while serving as chief counsel to the State Board of Education.

EdVoice board members have rewarded Schwarzenegger, contributing at least $1 million to his various campaign committees.

Eli Broad, a co-founder of EdVoice and billionaire Los Angeles developer who has run a Superintendent Academy, which trains CEOs how to run schools, has contributed $430,000 to Schwarzenegger.

Don Fisher, the late Gap founder and a co-founder of EdVoice, and his family have donated $245,000 to Schwarzenegger, and Netflix founder Reed Hastings, also a co-founder of EdVoice, gave $251,491 in stock to the Proposition 1A-1E campaign pushed by Schwarzenegger this year.

Many of the same donors are beginning to bring Romero, the Los Angeles senator who is pushing Schwarzenegger-backed Race to the Top legislation, into their orbit. Romero, who is running for state superintendent of public instruction, has received at least $72,000 from various members of the EdVoice board, including $13,000 from Broad's wife, Edyth, and $6,500 from Hastings.

The Fisher family, deeply involved in school reform causes, has contributed $45,500 to her campaign.

EdVoice is likely to dig deep into their political treasury to finance Romero's campaign through unlimited independent expenditures against state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who will likely have the backing of public school teacher unions.

"We haven't determined to what degree we'll support her," said Bill Lucia, EdVoice's policy director and Chief Operating Officer, "but Gloria Romero is clearly the strongest candidate for education reform and promising parental choice and not continuing to be apologetic for persistent failure."

Education Schools Project Educating School Leaders

Education Schools Project

Report #1
Educating School Leaders
March 2005

This report—the first in a series of policy papers on the education of educators—offers a candid, no-holds-barred analysis of the university-based programs that educate the vast majority of the nation's school principals and superintendents.

Of the roughly 250,000 school administrators currently employed in the United States, nearly all were trained at schools of education, mostly in programs devoted to educational administration. Over the last 15 years, however, those programs—currently numbering more than 600—have faced a steady stream of criticism, their reputations have plummeted, and their hold over the licensure of administrators has begun to loosen, as districts and states explore alternative forms of recruitment and training.

Drawing from a four-year study of leadership programs at schools of education across the country, this report provides new insights into the ways in which those programs operate, the incentives that drive them, and the steps that must be taken if they are to improve.

Executive Summary (PDF)
Full Report (PDF)
Methods and Survey Manuals
Educating School Leaders Powerpoint (PPT)
Tables and Graphs
Colleges & Universities with School Leadership Programs (HTML)
Press Release (PDF)

National Standards for Family-School Partnerships | PTA

Family-School Partnerships: National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships
Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community—Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.
Standard 2: Communicating effectively—Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student learning.
Standard 3: Supporting student success—Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students’ learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.
Standard 4: Speaking up for every child—Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success.
Standard 5: Sharing power—Families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs.
Standard 6: Collaborating with community—Families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families, and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation.
See below for more information and resources to build family-school partnerships.

L.A.'s Inner City Schools Struggle With Layoffs : NPR

L.A.'s Inner City Schools Struggle With Layoffs

by INA JAFFE

Listen to the Story

Morning Edition

[3 min 57 sec]

text sizeA A A

March 11, 2010

Teacher layoff's in the Los Angeles school system have hit inner city schools especially hard, and more layoff notices are being sent out this week. Markham Middle School in Watts has lost at least half its faculty since the last round of layoffs. In many cases, school officials haven't been able to find new full-time teachers and have to rely on subs.

On the Same Page Summit

WATCH the EPIC and NYS PIRC Documentary

"On the Same Page - Families and Schools as Partners"

Click here to watch the full video

A Collaborative of:

The New York State PIRC - Parental Information and Resource Centers

EPIC - Every Person Influences Children, Inc.

New York State PTA - Parent Teacher Association

Purpose:

On the Same Page is a summit to support systemic change in the New York State Educational System through strategic dialogue and action on family engagement as a catalyst for closing the achievement gap in Title I schools. EPIC – Every Person Influences Children, the New York State Parent Teacher Association, and the New York State Parental Information & Resource Centers (PIRC) have partnered to host this second annual summit. (For more information visit the Purpose page)

Family Engagement Definition:

Our definition of Family Engagement is as follows:

First, family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children's learning and development.

Second, family engagement is continuous across a child's life and entails enduring commitment but changing parent roles as children mature into young adulthood.

Third, effective family engagement cuts across and reinforces learning in the multiple settings where children learn- at home, in prekindergarten programs, in school, in after school programs, in faith-based institutions, and in the community.

This definition comes from Dr. Heather Weiss in a November article on the Harvard Family Research Project website. It is the most concise, broad based statement that supports our efforts at systemic change covering all Action Team goals. This expanded definition of family engagement, which has already been adopted by the Family, School, and Community National Working Group, reflects research showing that families play significant roles in supporting their children's learning, in guiding their children successfully through a complex school system, and in strongly advocating for their children and for effective public schools.

Family Engagement Standards:

As a means to measure Family Engagement in Education, we will use as reference the National PTA Standards, Goals, and Indicators For Family-School Partnerships click here to view the document

2,000 grades boosted at CPS' Hyde Park Academy :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education

2,000 grades raised at Chicago Public Schools' Hyde Park Academy

SUN-TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Hyde Park Academy, which also lowered 1,100 scores, among many schools being audited

Comments

March 10, 2010

BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters

Last school year at struggling Hyde Park Academy High, more than 2,000 grades were boosted at least one notch — including more than 870 F’s that were changed to passing marks, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows.
And this school year, blanket A’s were ordered issued to all students of five new Hyde Park teachers after the students suffered through a string of substitute teachers for most of the first quarter, a letter obtained by the Sun-Times shows.

“I would say it’s shocking that all those students got automatic A’s,’’ said former Hyde Park teacher John Kugler, who served as the school’s union delegate last school year. “There’s other things that could have been done.’’
Hyde Park is one of several schools Chicago Public School officials say they are auditing for what appears to be excessive grade changes entered into a new electronic grading system, called GradeBook, after the close of each marking period last school year.
However, Hyde Park’s numbers jump out from high school data obtained under a Freedom of Information request. Last school year, it:
• Had nearly three times more grade changes — 3,162 — than the next highest school, Farragut Career Academy.
• Had more than twice as many F’s upgraded to passing grades — 873 — as any other high school.
• Saw the equivalent of nearly one grade changed upward per student, or 2,031 boosted grades.
To be fair, an additional 1,129 Hyde Park grades were changed downward, raising questions about whether some or all of the grade changes were based on mechanical problems teachers encountered as

GothamSchools - Breaking News and Analysis of the NYC Public Schools

Who will New York’s Race to the Top dream team be?

by Maura Walz

The names of the five people who will make the final pitch to federal officials in New York’s bid for coveted Race to the Top funds are due at noon tomorrow. But state education officials are still finalizing who will take the field trip to D.C.

It’s an important decision. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that the competition’s judges are looking to see whether states’ representatives are capable of carrying out the reforms they’re promising. Thatcould make all the difference in determining the winners, he has said.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch will be appointing members of the team, she told GothamSchools today, but she said she was still in conversations with possible representatives.

States can bring up to five people “with a deep knowledge” of the application and may not bring consultants, according to the rules USDOE officials sent to finalists. “State teams may include elected officials, State

Really, UC Regents? Really? � Student Activism

Really, UC Regents? Really?

March 11, 2010 in Students

Tuition policy for professional schools in the University of California currently requires that fee increases raise tuition no higher than those at similar public universities’ programs. The UC Regents have the power to grant exceptions to this policy, like they did last November when they raised fees at 44 programs, 24 of them to levels above the permitted averages.

But now the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Regents are thinking about going further, much further, with an astoundingly ill-considered plan.

Currently the professional school tuition policy requires that any proposed increase conform to “the total tuition and/or fees charged by comparable degree programs at other comparable public institutions.” But according to the Chronicle, the Regents are going to be voting later this month on a proposal to drop the word “public” from that passage.

Yes, you read that right.

The UC Regents want to use private universities as their

Schools Matter: Broad Academy Alum, John Covington ('08), Shuts Half of Kansas City Schools

Broad Academy Alum, John Covington ('08), Shuts Half of Kansas City Schools

The Kansas City School Board was enthused when they hired John Covington (Broad Class of '08) as Superintendent. So was the Kansas City Star's Editorial Board:

Covington earned good reviews for his work as superintendent of Pueblo City Schools in Colorado over the last three years. He also is a 2008 graduate of the Los Angeles-based Broad Superintendents Academy, a program aimed at improving education in urban school districts.
School Board President Marilyn Simmons said the Broad experience, which includes continuing support and advice, was a plus for Covington.

Yes, that continuing support and advice from Eli and the Boys. Now with half the schools empty by this coming Fall, they will be ripe pickings for the property-hungry corporate welfare charters that will likely kill off most of the remaining public schools. The Board voted 5-4 to support the Broad plan to pull the Kansas City Public Schools into the bath tub for drowning. From the AP:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City's school superintendent said Thursday the plan to shutter nearly half the district's schools, while "painful," will move forward quickly so that all the closures will be complete by fall.

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