California Chronicle | California Faculty Association Continues to Mobilize for Education

California Chronicle | California Faculty Association Continues to Mobilize for Education

California Faculty Association Continues to Mobilize for Education

California Desk

March 17, 2010

Sacramento, CA – Just a week after historic March 4 protests launched a nationwide movement to fight for the future of public education, the California state agency that tracks the health of California´s public higher education system will release a report revealing a drastic loss in access to college by the state´s students.

The California Postsecondary Education Commission will release tomorrow, Thursday, March 11, "Ready or Not, Here They Come," which finds among other things more than 275,000 eligible California students will be turned away over the next nine years from the state´s community colleges, California State University, and University of California.

In the CSU, the chancellor is in process of turning away 40,000 eligible students by the end of this year. The chancellor implemented enrollment cuts as the state reduced funding to the CSU by about $1 billion over the past two years. The governor proposed to restore a fraction of that funding —$305 million— in his 2010/11budget plan.

"California´s future is on the line and this report shows how drastic the situation is," said Lillian Taiz, President of the California Faculty Association.

ACTION FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION CONTINUES

Today, the California Faculty Association (CFA) announced the "Mobilization for Education" continues for its members as lobby days, rallies, and a CFA conference speech by U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis are planned this month.

"March 4 was a wake-up call for our nation´s leaders, who were sent a loud and clear message that citizens are fed up with the lack of support for public education in this country," said Taiz.

"The March 4 Day of Action for Public Education was just the beginning. Our coalition will not stop until appropriate action is taken to ensure that every student in America has an opportunity to get a quality preK-16 education that will prepare them with the skills they need to succeed in today´s economy."

The Pearl Post - Daniel Pearl Magnet High School - UCs Look to Eliminate the SAT in the Future

The Pearl Post - Daniel Pearl Magnet High School - UCs Look to Eliminate the SAT in the Future

UCS LOOK TO ELIMINATE THE SAT IN THE FUTURE

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 By Elizabeth Cabadas

There are three letters that strike universal anxiety among high school students. S-A-T.
The infamous SAT, formally an acronym for Scholastic Aptitude Test, was developed in the early 1900s to give colleges an idea of how well students would perform in college. Then the SAT Subject Tests (SAT II), which test your knowledge on specific subjects, was added into the mix.
Now, over 800 colleges no longer require the SAT and the University of California public university system has decided they will join this movement starting with the students who will apply for the fall term of 2012.
The idea of eliminating SAT tests has been circulating through college channels for years. Time magazine’s online article “Is This The End For The SAT,” by Andrew Goldstein published Feb. 26, 2001, stated that Richard Atkinson, a testing expert, cognitive psychologist and formal president of the University of California would “recommended that the University of California… no longer use the SAT in its admissions process” because “America’s overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our educational system.”
“I anticipate many of the students will still be taking it. From the students end, I can see how if they are applying to a UC, they might feel at a disadvantage [because other students will be taking it]. I look at it as a symbolic gesture because it says they [University of California colleges] look at the complete student,” said Advanced Placement (AP) Literature teacher and part-time freshmen application reader (for the University of California, Los

Opinion Shop : Open Forum: Good-bye, California

Opinion Shop : Open Forum: Good-bye, California

« Open Forum: Will the... | Main

Open Forum: Good-bye, California

By Laurie Stephenson

I write this with tears in my eyes. I feel betrayed, bewildered and it's as though the world is completely off its axis.

I'm referring to the college application experience in the once-great state of California. What for me was a happy time, a time of excitement, of anticipation, of possibility, has been anything but for us and my heart aches for the young people who will never know the college experience that was mine.

Our daughter graduates from high school this year. My husband and I have been preparing for this moment since the day she was born. We had always planned that when the time came, we would make a list of colleges and universities that appealed to her; we would visit the campuses, prepare and submit the application paperwork and then, in due time, she would have choices from which she would make a selection. That's how it was in my day, back when California was solvent and when there was a place for everyone who wanted an education.

When our daughter was born, we researched and started a college fund for her to which we have religiously contributed over the years, the goal being to have enough to fully finance her higher education. I've always been a saver. It's just something that is hard--wired into my personality. I don't like debt -- financial or personal -- and relish the liberation of being unencumbered, of not owing and therefore not being owned. My husband is the same way. We have worked hard to pay as we go, to live within our means, to not depend upon anyone but ourselves and to set aside for our daughter's education as well as for our own retirement years.

When the time came to go into high gear on the college applications, we made a list of public and private schools to which our daughter might be interested in applying. I am a product of Catholic education and would have loved for her to attend my alma mater. The tuition and expenses there are exorbitant now and, as we have too much income/assets and not enough offsetting debt/expenses, we would not qualify for much in financial aid. Our college fund investments took a major hit in late 2008-early 2009 with the collapse of the economy, and a major portion of it is gone forever.

So, to foot the private school bill ourselves would mean that we would either have to borrow or liquidate a good chunk of what we have saved for our retirement years. With the economy in such turmoil, and our daughter's employment prospects after graduation thus so uncertain, we feel it would be foolish to encumber her, and ourselves, with education loans. And we believe that to liquidate our retirement assets would also be foolish, in that we cannot depend on the

The State Hornet - ASI calls on students to aid in protest

The State Hornet - ASI calls on students to aid in protest

ASI calls on students to aid in protest

By Kalie Barnes-Young

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Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, March 16, 2010

State Hornet

This word cloud represents the topics addressed in the State of the Student address. The size and color of the words indicate those most commonly used and emphasized by ASI president Roberto Torres in his speech.

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• ASI President Roberto Torres says funding CSU would fix California

Students were urged to get involved to help prevent more budget cuts by Associated Students Inc. President Roberto Torres at the annual State of the Students Address on Thursday.

Nearly 80 students attended this year’s spring address, compared with the audience of five that attended the last address this past fall.

“We need students to get involved through ASI and the lobby corps are a very effective way of doing that,” Torres said. “ASI is only as strong as the students involved.”

Torres highlighted lobbying efforts to encourage more student involvement such as the ASI Strike Force and the California Higher Education Student Summit, which will take place in April.

The ASI Strike Force is used by ASI to help train students on how to lobby effectively. As members of the Strike Force, students will also be educated on state politics.

“Joining this committee would give you greater insight on how decisions are made within the state and within the CSU,” Torres said about the lobby corps.

The California Higher Education Student Summit, also known as CHESS, will also give students a “crash course” in lobbying and leaning about the issues that affect higher education. Students will also be able to use the skills they’ve learned during the summit in practice at the Capitol for California State University Student Advocacy Day.

According to the California State Student Association, the statewide organization of which ASI is a part, the goal of the summit is to allow students to “learn by personal experiences and become certified student leaders.”

Students from every CSU will be participating in the summit, with Sacramento State’s ASI sponsoring around 40 to attend.

Torres also said student involvement is the key in making statewide events, such as the March 4 protest, more successful.

On March 4, the state Capitol saw a crowd of more than 1,000 protestors expressing their frustrations over the budget cuts affecting higher education. At the same time, more protests were taking place on various CSU and University of California campuses throughout the state. The California Faculty Association estimates that more than 35,000 people

Charles Kerchner: The LA Compact: A Dollop of Hope for Our Schools

Charles Kerchner: The LA Compact: A Dollop of Hope for Our Schools

The LA Compact: A Dollop of Hope for Our Schools

Get Los Angeles Unified, the mayor, unions, and universities together to help schools get better? Yeah, we've heard that story before. They've got the attention span of a moth and fly away toward the next political flame.

This time it might be different.

Last month these worthy parties signed something called the LA Compact: A Collaboration to Transform Education in Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, the school board sent layoff notices to 5,200 teachers, the District got sued, and the feds began to investigate how the schools do or don't teach English language learners. No wonder hardly anyone noticed.

But the LA Compact is worthy of notice and a dollop of hope. Modeled after the Boston Compact, which guided reform there for 20 years, the Los Angeles version tries to create the kind of big issue, unitary politics that gets beyond parochialism and pettiness. It's built around three high sounding goals: Getting all students to graduate from high school, to have access to college and be prepared for it, and to have access and pathways to careers.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is a long way from reaching any of those targets, but the Compact has some interesting characteristics that may allow it to avoid some of the pitfalls of past reforms.

First, there are no unrealistic timelines. Nothing like "first in math and science by 2000," which President Clinton famously declared. Nothing like "everyone proficient by 2014," which is now embedded in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Instead, the Compact creates benchmarks and annual progress indicators. By this fall, it pledges to have measurements in place, and some of them are spelled out in the agreement itself.

This anchoring in known and actionable goals makes the Compact vastly different than the soaring language of LEARN and LAAMP, the large scale reforms of the 1990s. Unlike these

Report: Schools at the bottom stay at the bottom

Report: Schools at the bottom stay at the bottom

Report: Schools at the bottom stay at the bottom

As the Obama administration seeks to turn around failing schools, a new report released Wednesday on California schools underscores the difficulty of boosting the academic achievement of low-performing schools.

The study by the Brown Center of Education Policy compares the rankings of 1,156 public schools in California in 1989 with their rankings in 2009.
The researchers found that 63 percent of the 290 schools that ranked in the bottom quarter in 1989 were still at the bottom 20 years later. Only 1.4 percent of those schools moved to the top quarter.
In contrast, the study found that 63 percent of the 289 schools that ranked in the top quarter in 1989 were still at the top in 2009. And only 2.4 percent fell to the bottom quarter.
"It's extremely difficult to turn around these low-performing schools," said Tom Loveless, the report's lead author. "Within the state, schools that were laggards 20 years ago are still lagging, and the ones that were leading the state are still leading the state."
More research would be needed to determine if the same dynamic holds true in other states or time periods, said Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brown Center, which is part of the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Loveless, who taught in California public schools for nine years, said the "persistence of school culture" — created by teachers, administrators, parents and students — could help explain why so few low-performing schools become high performers.
"We don't know how to sever this link between past and future," he said. "We need to learn a lot more about how schools create their cultures."
John Rogers, co-director of University of California Los Angeles' Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, noted that 20 years is a long period in which to look at a school's performance.
"There was a rapid decline in conditions in California schools during this time, we had a
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/16/state/n210043D30.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0iR1d81Cn

Thousands of California teachers, faculty, face lay-offs | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Thousands of California teachers, faculty, face lay-offs | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Thousands of California teachers, faculty, face lay-offs

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by Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau | 03/17/2010 7:37 PM

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SAN FRANCISCO, California - Close to 22,000 teachers and school employees in California received pink slips yesterday.

For the past month, Filipino students at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in San Francisco have been worried about losing their teachers.

“It feels so sad,” said elementary school student Robert Manuyag. “If we don’t learn, we won’t know anything.”

Not all of the pink slips will mean layoffs. Last year, 40% of the 26,000 teachers that received layoff notices kept their jobs. But with the current economy, some are not as optimistic this time around that the pink slips will be rescinded in May.

Over 300 school administrators throughout the state went to Sacramento to lobby lawmakers and find answers to the budget cuts, especially the deep cuts in education. California faces a US$20 billion budget deficit.

Bessie Carmichael Principal Jeffrey Burgos was at the State Capitol to lobby. Burgos believes pink slips will be near-guarantees for being laid off.

“In this case, it’s very real, these pink slips. But when you have no money, how are you able to keep anybody? Everyone is in limbo; even I’m not sure right now,” Burgos said.

Parents have been worried, too, holding meetings, trying to make back-up plans in case the cuts do go through this time.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the state over the pink

Educators march to Sacramento | visaliatimesdelta.com | Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register

Educators march to Sacramento | visaliatimesdelta.com | Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register

Educators march to Sacramento

BY VICTOR GARCIA AND ERIC WOOMER • VDGARCIA@VISALIA.GANNETT.COM AND EWOOMER@VISALIA.GANNETT.COM • MARCH 17, 2010

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A group marching from Bakersfield to Sacramento to protest education cuts made its way through Tulare and Visalia on Tuesday.

Seven people are walking 352 miles as part of a "Marching for California's Future" effort, which is backed by the California Federation of Teachers union and other labor organizations. They started March 5 and plan to be at the state Capitol building April 21.

The group's message: California will be in trouble unless it restores threatened educational funding and other public services. The marchers started on Foster Drive in Tulare, near Sunrise Estates, and moved north on Mooney Boulevard to College of the Sequoias. COS will feel the effects of California's cuts, said Jim Miller, a San Diego City College professor and member of the group.

"We need schools like College of the Sequoias because we have more than 2.9 million students attendingcommunity colleges," he said. "However, if the state continues to spend money the way it is and cut money for schools, students aren't going to be able to afford schools like College of the Sequoias."

Some students agreed that the state must find ways to make education more affordable.

"I don't get financial aid, and school isn't cheap," said COS student Justine Valencia. "I am paying for everything out of pocket and have had to cut back on things, a lot of personal expenses. Hopefully, these marches can bring attention to the problem in the schools."

A signature-gathering event at the college will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Melissa Arrington, the group's field organizer, said the signatures will be added to the Majority Budget Act, which would allow the state budget to be approved by a simple majority rather than a two-thirds majority.

Supporters of that act hope to see it added to the November ballot.

"We are going to fight for what we believe in and show that education is important," Arrington said.

Why teaching is 'not like making motorcars' - CNN.com

Why teaching is 'not like making motorcars' - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Sir Ken Robinson says our education system works like a factory. It's based on models of mass production and conformity that actually prevent kids from finding their passions and succeeding, he said.

"The problem is that educating young people is not like making motorcars -- at all," the author and educator said in a recent interview. "And one key difference is that motorcars have no interest in how they're made, and young people do."

Robinson, author of "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything," spoke to CNN after a recent lecture at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California.

TED is a nonprofit group dedicated to "ideas worth spreading" which makes talks from its conferences available online.

Watch a 2006 "TED talk" with Ken Robinson

Instead of trying to mass-produce children who are good at taking tests and memorizing things, schools should emphasize personal development, Robinson said. Not all kids are good at the same things, and the education system shouldn't pretend they should all turn out the same, he said.

"We can't just improve [schools]," he said. "We have to radically transform them."

Schools today are "preoccupied with certain types of ability," he said.

The comments came before the current debate over education policy erupted in the United States. President Obama this weekproposed an overhaul of the U.S. education system, and a school board in Rhode Island made headlines after it fired all of the