Monday, February 8, 2010

We Draw The Lines We’re giving you 4 extra days! CA Citizens Redistricting apps now due 2/16 at 5 pm! Apply now

We’re giving you 4 extra days! CA Citizens Redistricting apps now due 2/16 at 5 pm! Apply now

Welcome to We Draw the Lines. The California State Auditor's webpage for information about California's FIRST Citizens Redistricting Commission.

You can apply today!

Apply for the Commission Online—December 15, 2009 through February 16, 2010.Learn about the general application and selection process and timeline. You can apply by clicking on the icon to the right:

If you have questions or comments or need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this process, call us toll free at 1-866-356-5217 or send us an e-mail at votersfirstact@auditor.ca.gov. We'll be happy to answer any of your questions. We encourage as many applicants as possible to apply and take advantage of this exciting, once-in-a-decade opportunity to be on this new Commission!

You can see how many applications are being submitted!

Do you want to know how many applications we're receiving and where they are coming from? We are tracking that information on a daily basis and will be providing weekly updates:

You can also subscribe to this RSS feed to receive notifications of Web site updates.

A Firing Over FERPA? - Inside School Research - Education Week

A Firing Over FERPA?

By Debra Viadero on February 8, 2010 12:30 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The movement to build longitudinal-data systems on student achievement has long butted heads with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, better known as FERPA, a 1974 law created to protect students' privacy.

The conflicts got to be so frequent that the U.S. Department of Education, under Margaret Spellings, even updated its regulations on the law last year to make it clearer that schools may share student data with outside contractors who perform work that school employees would otherwise do, such as electronic recordkeeping and testing.

This story from Inside Higher Ed suggests, however, that the conflicts haven't gone away. In the Feb. 1 article, the Education Department's top FERPA watchdog, Paul Gammill, contends that he was fired because he argued in internal meetings and documents that the agency's approach to spurring states to expand their longitudinal-student-data systems was running into conflict with the privacy law. In the story, department officials made no comments on Gammill's allegation, which they say is a personnel matter.

But there is one congressman who is outraged. U.S. Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a statement issued Friday that "the allegation that the U.S. Department of Education is making an end run around student-privacy laws is a serious

Charter Schools vs. Traditional Public Schools: Which One is Under-Performing? - Public School Review

Charter Schools vs. Traditional Public Schools: Which One is Under-Performing?

Published July 10, 2009

Written by Grace Chen

Charter schools have becoming the modern rival of public schools, but does the reality of charter performance match the hype? According to Change.org, "Charter schools get overwhelmingly positive press and make a lot of claims about their success. But actually, numerous studies confirm that their achievement is indistinguishable from that of traditional public schools. Some are very successful, some are troubled and struggling, and the rest are somewhere in between just like traditional public schools."

In a closer examination, charter schools, as the US News and World Report explains, are publicly funded institutions that operate under their own standards of conduct and curriculum. Although these institutions are funded by tax dollars, charter schools are ultimately given the freedom to establish their own methods of operation, similar to how many private schools are able to operate their instructional and social practices.

Yet, despite these freedoms, many experts argue that the charter schools are under-performing in comparison to public schools. On the other hand, supporters of charter programs argue that the data used to draw negative attention to charter school scores is mis-leading, biased, or falsely computed. With staunch supporters on both sides of the debate, charter schools and public schools are continually being thrown into the boxing ring.

Test Scores: Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

In evaluating some of the statistical studies that seek to compare charter vs. public school performance, recent investigations conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University reveal that students' test scores may prove that public schools are now outperforming charter schools. As CREDO, a national organization devoted to charter school research reveals, the Stanford analysts compared reading and math state-based standardized test scores between charter school vs. public school students in 15 states, as well as scores in the District of Columbia. In fact, in further evaluating the data, experts found that 37 percent of charter schools posted improvements in math scores; however, these improvement rates were significantly below the improvement rates of students in the public school classrooms. Furthermore, 46 percent of charter schools experienced math improvements that were "statistically indistinguishable" from the average improvement rates shown by public school students.

Ultimately, this data surmises that in the category of math alone, only 17 percent of charter schools have reported achievement rates that surpass public school performance results. Similarly, charter school students' reading scores improvement rates were also below their public school counterparts.

Looking Between the Numbers

While recent reports seem to support the triumphs of public schools, a deeper assessment of various studies and statistics reveals that students who come from lower-income families and / or students who are English language learners revealed higher success and performance rates in charter schools than their public school counterparts.

Politics K-12 - Education Week

The Department's Budget 'Plan B'

As we've already reported, the U.S. Department of Education put out a bold new budget proposal last week that includes major program consolidations and sketches out the preliminary details of the administration's plan to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

That reauthorization would have to pass this year for many of the budget proposals to become reality. Many folks think that's a long shot. And it appears that the department is at least preparing for the possibility that the bill won't make it to prime time this year.

Buried in the mega-thick budget document is the administration's budget contingency plan, in case there's no reauthorization. (For the full proposal gohere, then click on the link that says Fiscal Year 2011 Education Budget Summary and Background Information. The chart is on page 33.)

The headline? The contingency request seeks $900 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund, more than double the $400 million the program received in fiscal year 2010. That's about the same level as the $950 million Teacher and Leader Innovation Fund, which is one of the new funding streams proposed in the department's budget.

HAITI: Schools slow to reopen African Press International (API)

HAITI: Schools slow to reopen African Press International (API):

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, ) – A call by Haiti’s government for schools to reopen in areas spared by the earthquake has gone largely unheeded because of parents’ fears and financial woes.

“I want to send them to school, but how could I pay?” said Sauver Jean-Baptiste, a cobbler by trade who used to keep five children in private education at an annual cost of just over US$800.

“My clients are now either dead, have left the capital for their home villages or have lost all their belongings, including their shoes. Shoes are the last thing on anyone‘s mind,” Jean-Baptiste told IRIN.

Some senators were opposed to the call to reopen some schools, on the grounds it was disrespectful to students and teachers still buried in collapsed buildings.

But Education Minister Joel D. Jean-Pierre told IRIN: “Life continues and schools can be places of healing.”

Healing for people like Jean-Baptiste’s 15-year-old son, Jude, who lost two friends in the earthquake."

Early childhood education: Dumb product division. The Educated Reporter

The Educated Reporter

Early childhood education: Dumb product division.

Does anybody ever read a press release? Is that even a remotely effective way to get your message out to journalists? Do PR people think about whether the recipients of their releases would really, truly be interested in them? Did the person who sent me a release about this have any idea I would only publicize it in order to mock it? (Oh, any press is good press, I know.)

The one lesson I have learned from new motherhood is that 65 percent of the products you think you need are absolutely dispensable, if not totally worthless. From now on I plan to give my newly expecting friends one of those Must Buy Baby checklists, relentlessly annotated: Borrow, Borrow, Don’t Need, Don’t Need, Borrow, See if You Need it Later and Then Borrow, Don’t Need, and so on. A prenatal iPod waistband would go into the Please Don’t Tell Me You Just Bought That category. When you are eight months pregnant, do you really need your belly to be even wider? Can’t you just turn the stereo on?

Here at Educated Reporter we are big on the misuse of research, so the website’s implication (backed with many quotes from experts that may or may not have anything to do with this product) that not buying the Lullabelly shortchanges your child’s

BallerStatus.com � The Game Slams Education System: ‘School Was a Government Plot To Keep Track of Us’

The Game is not one to bite his tongue, no matter what the topic is. Most recently, the Compton rapper slammed the education system, saying that once you hit a certain grade level, school doesn't help much.

He even adds that school is Uncle Sam's way of keeping tabs on kids on a regular basis.

"After you learned how to read and do addition, what else did we need school for that we use in everyday life as an adult?" Game asked in a tweet (@IHateGame).

"I think school was a government's plot to keep track of us and program our lives. Up at 7, out at 3PM five days a week."

While Game questioned a school's use in life as an adult, he did explain why he thinks it great -- it gives him a break from his kids.

" ... Them two dudes is animals!" he tweeted, regarding his two sons. "I get it, school is a babysitter. Martin Luther King said: 'The reason we in school 13 yrs is because, that's how long it take to DESTROY a child's mind."

Before ended his rant, Game made sure to send a message to the kids following his tweets ... that is to "STAY IN SCHOOL!"

Is Race to Top Fueling Skepticism of Common Standards? - Curriculum Matters - Education Week

Is Race to Top Fueling Skepticism of Common Standards?

By Catherine Gewertz on February 8, 2010 12:13 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm not telling you anything new when I mention that many people are less than thrilled when federal officials start exerting a broader influence on local schools. This skepticism has long roots, and has cropped up time and time again in education debates.

As I track the development of the common-standards initiative, it's certainly one of the themes I hear. I saw it again while reading my colleague Lesli Maxwell's new blog on state policy. And the message comes across loud and clear in this story, too.

What does this mean for the common-standards initiative? Skepticism toward a large federal government role in shaping education was one of the factors that helped doom recent previous efforts to create national standards. That's why the organizers of the current initiative bent over backwards to let people know that this effort is completely voluntary and "state-led." They avoided the loaded term "national standards" in favor of "common standards."

So what accounts for the persistence of the notion that common standards are being imposed on states by the feds? One hint came from a remark a state school board member made to me during a break in the NASBE meeting in Las Vegas last week. "Race to the Top has co-opted common standards," she said. She was referring to the ardent support federal officials have expressed for common standards and assessments, and the fact that they dangled Race to the Top money in front of states that would commit to them, too. In a similar vein, I heard folks at this meeting grumble that support of common standards doesn't feel wholly voluntary when your state needs money so badly that it pretty much has to apply for Race to the Top funds and has to commit to them in order to improve its chances of winning a slice.

I keep hearing people joke about the "race to the trough," the idea that states

Feds Asked to Withhold Race to Top Funds From Boston - Learning the Language - Education Week

Latino advocacy groups asked U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week to ensure that the Boston school system doesn't get any Race to the Top funds until it brings its programs for English-language learners into compliance with federal laws. The Boston school district would stand to receive federal stimulus funds if Massachusetts gets its application for such funds approved.

Lawyers from Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy, Inc., an advocacy group for ELLs based in Somerville, Mass., sent a letter to Secretary Duncan on Feb. 3 expressing "deep concern with the ongoing history of violations of the basic civil rights of Latino and other English-language-learner students in the Boston Public Schools." The letter was also signed by representatives of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Latino Justice, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Council of La Raza.

The letter asked Secretary Duncan not to transfer Race to the Top money to Boston schools unless it improves its programs for ELLs in several ways, which were spelled out in an attached letter that had been sent to Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester on Dec. 30. Among the points for improvement are that the school system would ensure that all ELL students who haven't been receiving special help to learn English would be identified and receive such instruction by a certified English-as-a-second-language teacher by September of this year. Another point is that Boston should hire no fewer than

California’s Women’s Political Mud Wrestling Squad California Progress Report

California Progress Report

California’s Women’s Political Mud Wrestling Squad

By Peter Schrag

The California Republican Party is still dominated by white males, both in its leadership and in its rank and file. But when it comes to political eye-gouging and no-holds-barred knees-to-the-groin campaign combat, there’s little glass ceiling left. Whatever shards Sarah Palin had missed, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina took care of them last week.

Both are also showing that they can be manipulated, suckered and exploited by political consultants as shamefully as the guys. Since both are also multi-millionaires as well as arrogant and eminently pluckable, is it any wonder that voters have nothing but contempt for the people who want to be their leaders?

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SB 918 (Pavley) - Safe, Environmentally Sound Water Supply

By Traci Sheehan
Planning and Conservation League

Last Friday, Senator Fran Pavley introduced SB 918 which is currently co-sponsored by the Planning and Conservation League and Water Reuse California . This bill would help improve the availability of safe recycled drinking water by requiring the Department of Public Health to develop and adopt uniform health standards. If passed, the bill will help California develop a new drought-proof source of safe, clean water.

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Assemblymember Block - Bill Closes Cayman Island Tax Loopholes

By Assemblymember Marty Block

One of my top priorities when I came to the Assembly was to eliminate corporate tax loopholes.

With a grim economy and no-win budget choices, it’s clear that making big business pay their fair share of state tax is more important than ever.

To do this I’ve introduced the Cayman Islands Tax Loophole Bill, AB 1178.

You might have heard about a single building in the Cayman Islands that houses almost 19,000 shell corporations.

Corporations transfer their profits to these fake companies so they don’t have to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the rest of us get stuck paying more for the services our state needs.

Look at college students and their families.

For too long now they’ve struggled to afford higher education in our state – the higher education needed to attract jobs and keep vital industries here at home in California.

Textbook prices are through the roof. And students just got hit with yet another fee increase so they pay more now for fewer classes.

That’s not right.

Jindal wants to cut red tape at low-performing schools - NOLA.com

Jindal wants to cut red tape at low-performing schools - NOLA.com:

"BATON ROUGE -- Low-performing public schools that are under threat of state takeover would get new freedom to waive some state regulations under a proposal unveiled Thursday by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Local school districts would be allowed to seek four-year waivers from curriculum requirements, textbook requirements, teacher tenure rules, salary schedules and other regulations authored by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In exchange, schools where more than half the students are performing below grade level would have to implement 'turnaround strategies,' such as replacing principals and other key leaders or reopening as a charter school."

School districts would not be allowed to get waivers from federal regulations or those that affect student safety or the state's existing accountability programs.

Each of the waiver requests would be considered individually by BESE.

Jindal said the proposal is aimed at giving school districts the ability to improve struggling campuses before their test scores are so low that they get taken over by the state and become part of the Recovery School District.

"Schools should not have to wait until they are in the RSD to begin their turnaround," Jindal said.

The governor said high-performing schools also would be able to apply for greater autonomy, which Jindal characterized as a way to reward them for strong results.

There are 55 Louisiana public schools designated as "academically unacceptable," and 30 of those are in the state-run recovery district. The rest have either signed agreements with the state to make specific changes or are on a list that makes them vulnerable to a state takeover if they don't show major improvement.

The proposal will be up for debate during the three-month legislative session that kicks off March 29. It already has support from BESE, the Louisiana School Superintendents Association and at least a handful of legislators who were on hand for the announcement.

PBS: Next "Golden Age" Of Arts In America - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Spearheaded By The Surge In New Media, PBS Prez Announces "Major Online Initiative" Bringing Arts To Wider Audience In An Impassioned Speech In Los Angeles.

"I believe we have an opportunity to usher in another golden age of arts in America. I think in part, it begins with new media. . ."

"Advocates point out that art education boosts students' cognitive development, improves their confidence, and strengthens their problem solving skills. Students with a strong background in the arts tend to have better grade point averages, score better on reading and math tests, and have lower dropout rates."

". . .public schools aren't just putting history classes on the back burner;
they're taking them off the stove completely.
This is heartbreaking, and I think this is also a huge issue for us as a country."

--- Paula A. Kerger, President & CEO, PBS

The following are excerpts of an important speech by Paula A. Kerger, President and CEO of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service. It was delivered to Town Hall, Los Angeles on January 12, 2010 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.

Kerger shares some thoughts on the importance of arts in public education, the disturbing realities and statistics of U.S. committment to the arts compared to other countries, the ramifications of budget cuts and NCLB (No Child Left Behind), and asks us to rise to the