Monday, April 19, 2010

Double duty: Teaching by day, students by night | Recordnet.com

Double duty: Teaching by day, students by night

College offers master's degrees for those who want to stay ahead of the class

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Edison High School business teacher Connie Castillo, center, is working on her graduate degree through the Teachers College of San Joaquin.CALIXTRO ROMIAS/The Record

By Roger Phillips

Record Staff Writer

April 19, 2010 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Mondays are long and busy for Connie Castillo. She awakens at 5:30 a.m., arrives at Edison High shortly after 7 and begins teaching her first class at the school's Academy of Finance and Information Technology before 7:30.

School ends at 2:15 p.m., and then, if she's lucky, there's enough time to stop somewhere for a quick bite. Otherwise, dinner might be an apple and a banana on her way to the San Joaquin County Office of Education, where her next class begins at 4 and doesn't end until 8:30.

But unlike her daytime classes, Castillo is a student at night, not a teacher. She's one of about 75 students, mainly teachers, working on master's degrees at Teachers College of San Joaquin.

More online

Teachers College of San Joaquin is enrolling students for its summer session. For more information, visit Teachers College's website at teacherscollegesj.org, or call (209) 468-9116.

"It's a college for teachers, from teachers and by teachers," Castillo said. "Every class is designed to help the teacher. It makes me a better teacher."

Teachers College, located in one of the buildings on the sprawling county office campus near Arch Road, is nearing the end of its first year of classes. It was established to provide teachers the opportunity to pursue master's

Glendale News Press > PTA News: Council members will attend convention

Glendale News Press > Education

PTA News:
Council members will attend convention

By Jo Ann Stupakis

Published: Last Updated Sunday, April 18, 2010 10:09 PM PDT

The Glendale Council PTA has about 26 delegates who will be attending the state PTA convention in Sacramento from April 29 to May 2. During that time, Glendale Council PTA will be receiving a legacy award for its 100th anniversary. In addition, the Glendale Council PTA was also awarded Outstanding Council in First District PTA, which spans West Covina to Burbank.

Glendale Council PTA invites the community to hear more about the future of public education by attending the Save Our Future Education Briefing sponsored by California School Board Assn. Region 23. This forum will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at San Gabriel High School, 801 S. Ramona Road, San Gabriel.

Speakers include Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Assemblyman Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) and Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park).

For more information or to make reservations, call the Alhambra Unified District Office at (626) 943-3330.

LINCOLN ELEMENTARY

Families are invited to enjoy the Brock Edwards Magic Extravaganza at 7 p.m. Friday in the auditorium. The program’s purpose is to teachchildren decision-making skills and nonviolent solutions to their problems. Tickets are $7 advance sales and $9 at the door.

Do young children write “Wash Me” on your car? Wouldn’t it be great to sit back and have someone else wash your car and support Lincoln? Do this until Tuesday at Foothill Car Wash, 2355 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge, and a portion of your purchase will be donated to the school.

Students will get the opportunity to show their appreciation for the great teachers during

Improvements don't keep Wilson Elementary School off list - ContraCostaTimes.com

Board members wary of state correction plan

Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/18/2010 09:23:10 PM PDT

Updated: 04/18/2010 10:26:02 PM PDT

When Wilson Elementary School Principal Nelson Togerson came on board three years ago, he inherited a school with low test scores and students he knew could do better.

He immediately focused on proven interventions to turn the school around.

As a result, Wilson's Academic Performance Index rating climbed a whopping 78 points from the 2006-07 school year to the 2008-09 school year.

Still, the school was recently designated as one of the lowest-performing schools in the state, leaving the principal and staff unsure of what comes next.

"The state created this formula for low-performing schools for the purposes of Race to the Top, looking at five years of API, instead of just looking at the last three years

Fifth-grader Daniel Rivera, right, works on a school project during math class at Wilson Elementary in San Bernardino on Wednesday. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

of improvement," Togerson said. "So we were identified for corrective action."

Wilson is one of 11 schools in the San Bernardino City Unified School District and 188 statewide that made the list released in March.

The list was compiled using a three-year average proficiency rate for English-language arts and mathematics and progress on the state's Academic Performance Index, or API.

Schools that gained 50 points or more on the API growth score over the last five years or met the statewide goal of 800 during the last school year were deemed to have shown enough progress and were not included.

The designations require school districts to implement one of four corrective actions at each school to obtain $500,000 to $2 million in grant money. All of the options require replacing the principals, and one also calls for replacing at least half the teachers. Schools can also

Can the U.S. government officially protect Jewish students? - Haaretz - Israel News

Can the U.S. government officially protect Jewish students?

Are Jews an ethnic or a religious group?

This perennial question is now at the heart of a Jewish communal effort to get the U.S. Department of Education more deeply involved in probing allegations of anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Thirteen national Jewish organizations have sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan arguing that the department's Office for Civil Rights has adopted a policy that fails to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment on college campuses.

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The March 16 letter urges the department to address incidents of campus antisemitism under its mandate to investigate instances of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The Jewish groups' letter expressed concern that the department is treating campus antisemitism solely as a manifestation of religious bias, over which the Education Department lacks jurisdiction.

"Jewish students? should have some recourse and some remedy if they?re subject to intimidation or harassment on the basis of their identity of being Jewish," said Richard Foltin, director of national and legislative affairs at the American Jewish Committee. "We want to make sure that the resources of our national institutions, our federal government, are in place for those students when they're needed."

Along with the AJC, signatories to the letter include the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of

Bill would move kindergarten cutoff date from December to September - Whittier Daily News

Bill would move kindergarten cutoff date from December to September

By Tracy Garcia, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/18/2010 07:02:58 AM PDT

The state's youngest kindergartners - some of whom don't turn 5 years old until two months into the school year - would have to wait an extra year to start classes under new legislation being proposed in Sacramento.

The legislation, SB 1381 by Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, would require all incoming kindergartners to be 5 years old by Sept. 1.

That's two months earlier than the state's current Dec. 2 cut-off date, one of the latest in the nation.

Simitian - along with local school officials, policy experts and education advocates - says the change could be a "win-win-win" because kindergartners will be better prepared to succeed.

In addition, the move would save the state an estimated $700 million in annual education spending because there would be fewer children in school - and half of those funds would go toward preschool programs for kids who have to wait another year before starting kindergarten.

The other half would go toward alleviating the state's continuing budget shortfall.

Budget cuts erase summer school classes | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Budget cuts erase summer school classes

Programs primarily offered where needed to graduate

Summer school programs have been slashed at Coachella Valley school districts — yet another victim of California's public school budget crisis.

The valley's local school districts are mostly limiting summer school to high school students who need extra classes to graduate.

Gone are nearly all programs for elementary and middle school students.

“They're just not the luxuries we can afford,” said Cathy Doyle, administrator for assessment & accountability at Desert Sands Unified.

Local school districts expect to cut $5 million to $16 million to be solvent for 2010-11 as a result of less money from the state and other funding sources.

All three districts are offering summer school for high school students who have fallen behind.

“We want to afford our high school students every opportunity to graduate,” said Christine Anderson, superintendent of educational services at Palm Springs Unified.

That's what summer school is supposed to be, Cathedral City High School senior Amanda Eversz said.

But senior Dylan Rodarte said a summer class he took before sophomore year helped him get ahead —

Dublin, California (CA) 94568 | California To Make Second Attempt in Race to the Top | Around Dublin Blog

California To Make Second Attempt in Race to the Top

by John M. Zukoski | Topics: Schools

arne-duncan

Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion federal initiative to reshape America’s educational system and to prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace. The US Department of Education’s goal with Race to the Top is to spur progressive reforms in K-12 education at both the state level and local district level. California was one of 40 states seeking Phase One funding from Race to the Top. Unfortunately, California did not make the cut in this round of the competition. “I am disappointed that California was not selected as a finalist in Phase One of the Race to the Top competition,” shared California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.

As noted by Theresa Harrington of the Contra Costa Times, each school, district-run or charter, that participated in Phase One of Race to the Top signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that outlined the following requirements:

Pilot new student achievement growth accountability data.
Train teachers in using data to enhance teaching.
Improve teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance.
Turn around lowest-achieving schools.
Collaborate in statewide reform efforts.

Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) was one of 813 California school districts and charter schools that

Editorial: - San Jose Mercury News

Editorial:

Mercury News Editorial

Posted: 04/18/2010 08:00:00 PM PDT

California's politicians haven't shown much interest in regular old taxpayers' protests over the disastrous state of public schools. But lawmakers tend to listen to business leaders, so the results of a new survey of executives should lift the spirits of education advocates.

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group's annual business climate survey — which this year drew responses from 153 top executives at employers as varied as IBM, Wells Fargo, NASA and SunPower — sends an unmistakable message: Fixing schools should be the state's top priority. Sacramento needs to listen.

Asked to name five things the state could do to improve the business climate, 60 percent of respondents cited improving K-12 education as one of their choices — the largest percentage of any of the survey options, which included limiting frivolous lawsuits and lowering certain business taxes and fees.

California needs to regain the more than 1 million jobs lost during this recession. But listening to some politicians, you might think that just lowering taxes and reducing regulation would bring jobs pouring back. Valley executives recognize that the reality is far more complex.

A majority in the survey, 53 percent, did place high importance on the state's research and development tax credit; 48 percent cited business taxes as a challenge. But only about a third said streamlining regulations was crucial. Many placed quality-of-life issues

— housing, traffic, schools — high on their list of priorities for government.

Good schools are needed to recruit the best employees, who can work anywhere in the world and often balk at the area's combination of high home costs and weak schools. Longer term, the K-12 system is central to developing a

More school districts look at whether to switch to online textbooks | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Texas Regional News

More school districts look at whether to switch to online textbooks

12:00 AM CDT on Monday, April 19, 2010

By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com

At a time when Facebook and iPad are the rage and information updates with a click, some policymakers are trying to take textbooks off the shelf and onto the Internet.

Sophomores Eric Menlendez (left) and Eli Flores worked last week on an online tutorial at the Jack E. Singley Academy in the Irving school district. " style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; cursor: pointer; ">

TOM FOX/DMN

Sophomores Eric Menlendez (left) and Eli Flores worked last week on an online tutorial at the Jack E. Singley Academy in the Irving school district.

Electronic textbooks are imperative, advocates say, because they offer inexpensive, interactive lessons that engage today's tech-savvy student and keep content fresh. Opponents worry that more free-flowing material will affect quality and remain unavailable to poorer students without computers.

Texas could help lead a textbook transformation if Gov. Rick Perry's recent proposal to abandon traditional texts takes hold. He already has support in the Legislature, which passed two bills last year increasing schools' access to digital content. But the process won't happen with the click of a mouse, warn educators, who may be the faction that needs the most convincing.

"Some of the headaches that come with computers won't be any cheaper than traditional textbooks," said Gail Lowe, the state Board of Education chairwoman. "You know what a drain the maintenance of

Diverse opinions and a plan of action at youth summit - Los Angeles Times

Diverse opinions and a plan of action at youth summit - Los Angeles Times:

Diverse opinions and a plan of action at youth summit

Teen leaders from across California gather to define their priorities -- education, budget reform, immigration, social equality -- and make plans to do something about it.

April 18, 2010|By Carla Rivera

Matthew Hwa is fed up with the perception that today's young people are only interested in the latest iPhone application and the collection of friends on their Facebook pages. The 16-year-old high school student is taking a hard look at the state of politics in California and is not liking what he sees.

"The politicians," Matthew said, "are going to have to compromise more, ignore what's on their personal agenda and do what's best for the state. They're also going to have to listen up a little bit. We are the next generation of leaders, and we have a voice."

That was the prevailing message Sunday on the closing day of the first California Youth Summit, a gathering of about 175 young people representing the Junior State of America, the California YMCA Youth & Government program and the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project. The event was also sponsored by the Endowment for California Leadership.

High school and college students from throughout the state met over three days at the Sheraton Gateway hotel near LAX to address what they believe are the most pressing political and social issues, with the goal of turning their agenda into political action during the fall election campaign.

The event follows a recent California Youth Poll that found that students are increasingly alienated from and distrustful of state government. Among the 630 respondents, most of them members of the youth organizations, 81% said California is on the wrong track; 63% said they don't trust their elected leaders; and 66% said local and state representatives don't value their opinions.

They were acutely aware of another meeting being held across town, the state Democratic Convention, also in its final day at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Many students at the summit said they hoped to be role models for an older generation of Democrats and Republicans.

California's university system: What went wrong? - San Jose Mercury News

California's university system: What went wrong?

By Lisa M. Krieger

lkrieger@mercurynews.com

Posted: 04/18/2010 12:00:00 AM PDT

Updated: 04/18/2010 06:23:12 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Students listen to a lecture during a General Chemistry section at San Jose... (Pauline Lubens)

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Fifty years ago this month, California promised a low-cost, high-quality university education for every qualified high school graduate in the state. But that promise — inflated by growing populations and academic aspirations — expanded beyond the state's willingness to pay for it.

What went wrong? How did the university system that was long the envy of the world suddenly become the focus of angry street protests, overcrowded classrooms, soaring tuition and a monumental debate over whether the state can ever make good again on its groundbreaking mission?

While the recession turned a slow-brewing problem into an instant crisis, a Mercury News analysis of California's higher-education mess reveals that many factors drove the inevitable and ugly collision between the university system's ambitious and uncoordinated growth and the state's declining ability and desire to pay for it. Among the most critical:

Plummeting state support: Since 1990, state spending per student has dropped by half in inflation-adjusted dollars. While the state paid about 90 percent of a student's education 40 years ago, it now pays 69 percent for California State University students and 62 percent for those in the University of California system.

No guaranteed funding: Unlike K-12 education, universities are not guaranteed a steady stream of funding. In the last 40 years, higher education's piece of the state's spending pie has been sliced in half — even while enrollment has jumped 2 1/2 times.

Continued expansion: In the past eight years, despite declining state support, UC added a new campus, seven new schools and at least 45 new programs. Cal State added a campus, many new science centers and even a Ph.D. program — adding a research emphasis that was not part of its original mission.

Kids are lining up for breakfasts of corn dogs,...

Kids are lining up for breakfasts of corn dogs,...
Kids are lining up for breakfasts of corn dogs,..

Kids are lining up daily for breakfasts of sausage pizzas and corn dogs at Sacramento elementary schools, according to the April 18, 2010 Sacramento Bee article, by Melody Gutierrez, "Sacramento area schools try to serve healthier food."

If the only place parents and teachers have to look is the U.S. Senate, then the nutrition guidelines pending there currently may be a step toward getting salty, fatty, and sugary processed foods out of public school lunch menus in Sacramento. You have to contend with what kids eat for breakfast in school and what they eat for lunch.

School meals are a big issue with the government. Michelle Obama has been traveling across the USA or broadcasting on television for schools and families to take some action to prevent or reverse childhood obesity. Our children will be the first generation to develop chronic diseases related to diet and lifestyle at an earlier age than our grandparents did in the 1940s.

You can't turn on your TV set without seeing reality shows about school cafeteria workers or comments about the quality of food served in public schools. It's going to take people with the power the change standards to make any improvements in the local nutrition standards of what's served in Sacramento's elementary school cafeterias.

Instead of serving choices of raw food diets or lots of fruit and vegetables other than fried potatoes or battered zucchini and fried corn hush puppies, in most of the local and national elementary schools a large number of packages of frozen, processed foods arrive with the only cooking being done is a batch of salty, processed foods full of fat, salt, and sugar getting warmed up in an oven. Who's really cooking meals in the public school cafeteria kitchens?

Most of the foods are processed. Once the food is processed, it's dead food. It's not sprouted grain, and not green leafy vegetables that are raw or balanced. It's food that has lost most of its nutritional value and taste. On one hand, you have Sacramento City

Monday, April 19, 2010