Golden Gate [X]press : Campus organizations join forces to rally on City Hall

Golden Gate [X]press : Campus organizations join forces to rally on City Hall:

"Campus organizations from colleges across the city are joining together to gather on the steps of City Hall at noon on Oct. 15 to call attention to the mayor's office the fact that higher education was not a topic in the gubernatorial campaign.

The 'Take a Stand' rally is the last event planned for this week's political days of action, October 14 and 15 that tried to bring further attention to this year's budget cuts to higher education across California.

'We expect upwards of 500 students, faculty and staff,' said Brigitte Davila of the raza studies department, who is helping organize the event.

Participants of the rally include SF State's California Faculty Association chapter, Students for Quality Education, City College of San Francisco, Education Budget Advocacy Committee-SFSU and the California State University Employees Union-SFSU."

University ‘forced to ration’ education - SignOnSanDiego.com

University ‘forced to ration’ education - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"“We are being forced to ration educational opportunity,” Weber said at a meeting with the Union-Tribune editorial board, which editors and a reporter attended. The board regularly meets with newsmakers to discuss current events. The university requested the meeting weeks ago, not long after making the policy change in September. The change affects prospective students who are applying now for admission in 2010. Hundreds of qualified applicants — perhaps as many as 1,000 — may lose out on an SDSU education next fall as a result of the policy change, Ethan Singer, associate vice president for academic affairs, said in an interview. Last fall, the university said, about 4,500 members of its freshman class were from the service area that includes high schools south of state Route 56 and all of Imperial County. In the past decade, an average of about 37 percent of SDSU's first-time freshmen came from the service area each year, although that number has topped 54 percent the past two years."

What it would take for state to reform education | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun

What it would take for state to reform education MyDesert.com The Desert Sun:

"Assemblyman Brian Nestande's blueprint for education reform (Valley Voice, Sept. 28) is flawed and has the potential for destroying public schools, meaning that education in the future will be reserved only for those who can afford it. Every argument he makes is based on false premises.

Using test results to evaluate teachers is not “necessary.” Parental involvement, public safety and language barriers are not within the control of teachers, so linking test scores and teacher evaluation does not measure what a teacher is doing in the classroom. If you've ever said, “I don't do well on tests” you acknowledge that a single test administered on a given day doesn't measure what a child has actually learned, in a single year or over a lifetime"

Test scores are not tied to promotion or graduation in any way, so unless a student is intrinsically motivated to perform at a high level, there is no motivation to do so. Excessive testing causes students to fill in bubbles on their answer sheets creating patterns or spelling out words.

Third-grade teachers must spend valuable instructional time teaching students how to fill in bubbles so responses will be recorded accurately. None of these measure student learning, thus cannot be a valid measure of teacher effectiveness.

The “enhanced accountability” model is archaic, deceptive and undemocratic. Successful school models encourage collaboration amongst teachers searching for best practices to increase student learning. Framing principal autocracy as “accountability” would allow teachers to be fired simply for disagreeing or clashing personally with a single supervisor. This would breed a culture of fear amongst teachers, so their focus would be on retaining their jobs instead of doing what's needed to help children learn.

South Bend Tribune: Kids left behind

South Bend Tribune: Kids left behind:

"Fortunately, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has started talking about overhauling No Child Left Behind. Though the details have not been worked out, Duncan has found the right focus: The law's method of determining whether schools have met their goals is rigid, unrealistic and counterproductive.

Under the 7-year-old law, a school is considered to be 'failing' unless a certain percentage of students score as proficient on standardized state tests each year. And raising the number of proficient students isn't enough; schools are given targets for each demographic group, including ethnicity, socioeconomic level and special education needs. A school that misses any of the targets lands in the failure category."

Under these restrictive rules, many a school that is making real headway is nonetheless tarred. And because the law gives states the authority to define proficiency, they have an incentive to set the bar low. Some of them have.With its insistence on proficiency as the only determiner of progress, the law is out of touch with the realities of struggling schools. It is practically impossible for students who start out at the bottom levels of achievement to rise to proficiency within a year or two, but schools get no credit for significant improvements that fall short of that mark.

The result: Many schools put their biggest efforts into raising the achievement of students who are just below proficient, because those students give them the best chance of meeting federal targets.

Most States Fail to Adequately Protect the Legal Rights of Abused Children, New Study Finds | Reuters

Most States Fail to Adequately Protect the Legal Rights of Abused Children, New Study Finds Reuters:

"The peer-reviewed study -- A Child's Right to Counsel: A National Report Card
on Legal Representation for Abused and Neglected Children -- was released
today on Capitol Hill by First Star and the Children's Advocacy Institute at
the University of San Diego School of Law (CAI). To view the full report,
visit www.firststar.org, or www.caichildlaw.org.


'The federal government reported that nearly 800,000 children were abused or
neglected in 2007,' said Amy Harfeld, Executive Director of First Star. 'In
the current economic recession, these children are suffering more than ever -
reports of child abuse have skyrocketed while resources to help them have been
placed in jeopardy. Most of these children will go through court proceedings
that will determine their lives and futures. Yet while the state and the
allegedly abusive or neglectful parent stand in court with attorneys by their
sides, the children often stand alone and silent. They are herded through the
system without a strong voice to advocate on their behalf. This is a troubling
double-standard.'"

WSN-US of A News-California Governor Vetoes Kirpan Bill

WSN-US of A News-California Governor Vetoes Kirpan Bill:

"SACRAMENTO: In a surprise blow to the Sikh community, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have made it mandatory for law enforcement officers to be educated about Sikh kirpans.

The Governor’s decision came as a shock to dozens of organizations, individuals and lawmakers who supported the bill."

The veto that came Sunday night was particularly surprising given the unanimous, bipartisan votes in favor of the bill through both houses of the legislature (77-0 and 36-0 in the Assembly and Senate respectively).

“This loss for the Sikh community is a reminder of our serious lack of political clout in this state. After months of hard work and 100% support from our lawmakers, the Sikh voice was still not strong enough to overcome the whim of one man. We have been here for over 100 years. We need to learn to exercise our political muscle. It’s a shame that we haven’t been able to get even a basic education bill passed,” said Prabhjot Singh, the Sikh Coalition Board Chairman.

'USF Steps Up' to Offer Half Price Courses | Reuters

'USF Steps Up' to Offer Half Price Courses Reuters:

"The University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university, will offer a limited number of general
education courses for half price at its regional campuses starting in January
2010. The courses are offered through USF Steps Up, a new program to help
non-USF students trapped by the devastating budget cuts at California's public
universities and give them the classes they need to graduate.

Budget cuts at the University of California and California State University
systems have resulted in layoffs, course reductions, and higher fees and left
students scrambling for classes, many of which have been cancelled. 'I've
heard heartbreaking stories from my colleagues at state schools,' says
Jennifer Turpin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of
San Francisco. 'Students are begging to get into classes, but they can't
graduate because they can't get the classes they need. We realized we could
help these students and California by offering these classes at our regional
campuses, where USF already has a presence.'"

Opinion: What California, New York can learn from one another - San Jose Mercury News

Opinion: What California, New York can learn from one another - San Jose Mercury News:

"What New York teaches California, in turn, is that a constitutional convention can fail to achieve any reform at all, as happened in the Empire State in 1967. New Yorkers called a convention charged with reapportioning the state's legislative districts, but the debate quickly expanded into bitter fights over welfare policy, state funding of religious schools and racial discrimination in education. Voters split along partisan and geographic lines when convention delegates presented them with an omnibus package of proposed constitutional changes, and they rejected it at the polls.

California cannot afford to waste this moment of reform by failing to learn the lessons of New York. That is why scholars and political practitioners from New York and across the country are coming to Sacramento this week to inform California's constitutional debate at a conference, jointly convened by Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley and Sacramento State University and to be broadcast on the California Channel."

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » School Beat: The Fiduciary Responsibility of School Administrators

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » School Beat: The Fiduciary Responsibility of School Administrators:

"Last year, the principal of Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Sandy Leigh, and teacher Kelly Clark, walked 109 miles to Sacramento to bring attention to the fact that their school site had only 32 dollars in the budget for school supplies for the whole year. 32 dollars for all the paper, pencils, erasers, markers, and everything else the 215 children at their school would require for an entire year. So Ms. Leigh, Ms. Clark, and a few parents walked, for 5 days, with blistered feet, in 90-degree heat, to let our governor know that this situation was unacceptable."

Through a recent standard “request for Information" form request resulting in 450 pages and a $45 charge at 10 cents per page, San Francisco public school parents have uncovered a host of indefensible spending practices that have occurred at the same moment when our schools are too strapped to cover the basics.For instance, just one month before Ms. Leigh began her walk to Sacramento, seven SFUSD administrators were at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, to “discuss” leadership. This lavish weekend retreat cost the students of SFUSD thousands of dollars. They ordered a 200-dollar cheese tray and a 120-dollar dessert platter. An elementary school in SFUSD had only 15 cents per student for supplies -- yet SFUSD administrators sat on the veranda at the Claremont Resort, ordering seven deluxe “boxed lunches” at 35 dollars each and 6-dollar bottles of water.

Dear Richard Riordan -- latimes.com

Dear Richard Riordan -- latimes.com:

Dear Richard Riordan
An open letter to the former L.A. mayor on making parenting education part of public school reform.

"What's needed -- the sine qua non of improved learning -- is parenting education. Honestly and truly, in terms of real literacy, the home is more important than the school.

You know you can't build a good house without a good foundation. Similarly, family literacy is all the activity in the home that provides kids with the foundational experiences on which comprehending the written word is based.

What parents need to be taught specifically is how to support the linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional development of their children. That means no-cost activities such as conversing with kids, asking thoughtful questions, reading aloud, modeling reading and writing, exposing them to the larger world, showing them how to find and use resources, loving them, hugging them and speaking kindly to them.

I believe young parents can be shown, taught, encouraged and supported in learning to do these things. They love their kids deeply. They want success for them. Often they just don't know the best ways to help them, and that goes for wealthy parents as well as poor ones."

Teaching: Missionary Stint or Profession? | The Cornell Daily Sun

Teaching: Missionary Stint or Profession? The Cornell Daily Sun:

"Two year teaching stints may be gratifying for the bright, well-meaning young adults who sign up for them. They may learn important life lessons that will guide them for years to come. But if socially aware, good hearted, intelligent novice teachers really want to help our neediest youngsters I suggest they sign on for the long haul. Only by remaining in the classroom can they develop into the master teachers they may very well have the potential to become. And in time that may ultimately lead to a genuine revolution in the quality of our schools."

Op-Ed Columnist - Our Three Bombs - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Our Three Bombs - NYTimes.com:

"I am a 56-year-old baby boomer, and looking around today it’s very clear that my generation had it easy: We grew up in the shadow of just one bomb — the nuclear bomb. That is, in our day, it seemed as if there was just one big threat that could trigger a nonlinear, 180-degree change in the trajectory of our lives: the Soviets hitting us with a nuke. My girls are not so lucky.

Today’s youth are growing up in the shadow of three bombs — any one of which could go off at any time and set in motion a truly nonlinear, radical change in the trajectory of their lives."

The first, of course, is still the nuclear threat, which, for my generation, basically came from just one seemingly rational enemy, the Soviet Union, with which we shared a doctrine of mutual assured destruction. Today, the nuclear threat can be delivered by all kinds of states or terrorists, including suicidal jihadists for whom mutual assured destruction is a delight, not a deterrent.

But there are now two other bombs our children have hanging over them: the debt bomb and the climate bomb.

Think before you speak. Don't say "That's So Gay."

Think before you speak. Don't say "That's So Gay.":

"LATEST STORIES & VIDEOS
Have you been reminding others to 'Think B4 You Speak' at school or in your community? Tell Us Your Story. Or come up with a video to tell people it's not ok to say 'that's so gay', and it could end up right here. It's easy... Upload Your Video."

Parents play a crucial role in teaching their children about the negative impact of bullying and harassment. Talk about these issues with your children and within your community. Parents are also encouraged to Say Something Original and pledge to support safe schools efforts, and speak to your children’s teachers about using the Teacher's Guide to the Campaign (available in the For Educators section of this site).

GLSEN has created a teacher’s guide to assist middle and high school educators in presenting the various components of this campaign to students, framing and discussing the ads in class, and extending student learning about the negative consequences of homophobic language and anti-LGBT bias. The core of the guide consists of six educational activities that increase awareness and knowledge of the issues, develop skills for addressing them and promote social action. The activities can be used sequentially or as stand-alone experiences in the classroom, as part of Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) meetings, with students in diversity clubs, as part of a school diversity day or as part of other extracurricular activities that promote respect and equality.

City Insider : Newsom gives KJ lots and lots of San Francisco treats

City Insider : Newsom gives KJ lots and lots of San Francisco treats:

"There's yet another development in the ongoing saga of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his lost garment bag - and it involves an eye-popping array of 'We're sorry' gifts.
We told you earlier this week that Johnson lost his bag while helping an elderly man into a taxicab in Union Square - and then blogged that he would give Mayor Gavin Newsom his word nothing like this would happen in Sacramento.

Well, Newsom's aides not only recovered the bag, but found unnamed friends of the mayor to deliver it to Johnson personally in his Sacramento office. And, apparently to make sure all is forgiven (and maybe score a gubernatorial endorsement from the former NBA star?), Newsom tapped his business friends to put together a very, very nice gift basket."

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... School Board Backs Rule Reversal on SDSU Admissions

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... School Board Backs Rule Reversal on SDSU Admissions:

"The San Diego Unified school board unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night urging San Diego State University to keep giving local students an edge in admissions to the school this year. The university has announced it would stop allowing local students to get in with lower test scores and grades than outside applicants.

SDSU has argued that local students will still get priority because of a new system that gives them extra points during the admissions process. SDSU President Stephen Weber sent a letter to the school board explaining the changes as a way to keep a good mix of local and outside students while the freshman class shrinks due to state budget cuts."

Education Week: Meetings Are Just Tip of Iceberg

Education Week: Meetings Are Just Tip of Iceberg:

"I have spent a career scrutinizing and analyzing events and topics in education, writing literally millions of words about my observations in books and articles. I confess that I took school boards for granted, regarding them as appendages to the process of teaching and learning. Then, in 2008, driven by a sense of curiosity and public service, I got elected to my local school board in central New Jersey, providing me with a box-seat view that even the most informed observer cannot obtain."

Politics K-12: Duncan to CA: Don't Count Your Race to the Top Funds Yet

Politics K-12: Duncan to CA: Don't Count Your Race to the Top Funds Yet:

"Duncan to CA: Don't Count Your Race to the Top Funds Yet

Just because California has removed its teacher-student data fire wall, thereby making itself eligible to compete for Race to the Top Fund grants, that doesn't mean the state is a shoe-in for the money.

In fact, it seems that Education Secretary Arne Duncan is trying to temper expectations by building a larger narrative that any changes prompted by Race to the Top also could put states in better position for other stimulus-related education grant competitions. After all, the Education Department realizes it can't give $4 billion in Race to the Top money to every state. (But, it's worth pointing out that California was often singled out by Duncan for having the firewall, and did act swiftly to get rid of it.)"

Education Week: Pre-K Lessons Tied to TV Shows Found to Spur Gains

Education Week: Pre-K Lessons Tied to TV Shows Found to Spur Gains:

"Video and interactive games are effective in teaching disadvantaged preschoolers the literacy skills they need for kindergarten, according to a large-scale evaluation financed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The randomized controlled study looks at a technology-supported literacy curriculum that involved video from “Super Why!,” “Sesame Street,” and “Between the Lions,” programs that are produced by PBS as part of the Education Department’s Ready to Learn Initiative. The study also included online games produced by the programs' producers, which targeted some of the same literacy skills as the shows themselves."

Education Week: Successful Schools Avoid False Choices

Education Week: Successful Schools Avoid False Choices:

"I know I am not the first to notice that education as a field tends to get whipsawed between what seem like incompatible alternatives: We can teach phonics or surround children with literature; we can teach skills or content; we can prepare students for the workforce or for college; we can provide schools that are equitable or schools that are excellent. The examples are endless."

For the past five years, I have been examining schools that have, for the most part, sidestepped these battles. They are schools I have visited as part of my work for the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. The job involves identifying and writing about schools with significant populations of low-income children and children of color that are also high-achieving or rapidly improving. In many of these, just about all of the students meet or exceed state standards, and achievement gaps are narrow, or sometimes nonexistent.

Ultimately, there’s no magic to how these schools achieve success. As one teacher told me, “It’s not rocket science. You figure out what you need to teach, and then you teach it.” She makes teaching sound easy, the way Tiger Woods makes golf look easy.

Education Week: NAEP Math Scores Idle at 4th Grade, Advance at 8th

Education Week: NAEP Math Scores Idle at 4th Grade, Advance at 8th:

"After marching steadily upward for the past two decades, students’ scores in 4th grade mathematics have stagnated on a prominent nationwide exam. That result seems likely to prompt calls for an inspection of state and federal efforts to boost elementary instruction in the subject.

Scores among 8th graders on the exam, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, continued to rise, meanwhile—a fairly consistent trend since the early 1990s.

Yet the scores on the 4th grade NAEP, a federally administered test touted as “the nation’s report card,” are bound to receive close scrutiny. Federal officials released the results at both grade levels today."