March 4th statewide events NATIONAL CALL FOR MARCH 4 STRIKE AND DAY OF ACTION TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION

NATIONAL CALL FOR MARCH 4 STRIKE AND DAY OF ACTION TO DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION 

March 4th statewide events

Regional Events

Los Angeles Regional Rally

• 3 pm Rally @ Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A.

• 4 pm March from Pershing Square to the Governor’s office

• 5 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (300 Spring St.)

East Bay/Oakland Regional Rally

• 12 pm-4 pm Rally @ Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front ofOakland City Hall, 14^th & Broadway)
• March to the Ogawa Plaza Rally from:

-UC Berkeley: 12 pm Rally @ Bancroft & Telegraph, followed by March

-Laney College: 11 am Rally, followed by March

-Fruitvale BART: Assemble @ 11 am, March @ 11:30 am

• Travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing below)

San Francisco Regional Rally

• 5 pm Rally @ San Francisco Civic Center

Sacramento/State Capitol Rally

• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)

San Diego Regional Rally

• 3 pm Rally @ Balboa Park, followed by March to governor’s office

• 4 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (downtown)

San Fernando Valley Regional Rally

• 3:45 pm gathering @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

• 4:15 pm March

• 5 pm Hands around CSUN

• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

Local Events

UC Berkeley

• 7 am-12 pm Pickets

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally/Action @ entrance to Sproul Plaza(Telegraph & Bancroft)

• 1 pm-3 pm March from UC Berkeley to Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

UCLA

• 10 am Pickets

• 11:30 am Walk Out

• 12 pm Rally @ Bruin Plaza

(UCLA invites high schools and community colleges in the Westside area to join)

UC San Diego

• 11:30 Walk-out & Rally @ Gilman Parking Structure

• 12:30 pm March from Gilman to the Silent Tree outside Giesel Library and Rally there

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

UC Santa Cruz

• 6:00 am Picket at the entrances to campus

• 9:00 am Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)

• 12:00 pm Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)

• 5:00 pm General Assembly @ main entrance to campus (Bay and High)

UC Riverside

• 1 pm gathering @ UCR Bell Tower

• 2:30 pm March from UCR to downtown

• 3:30 pm Rally @ University Ave and Market St. (Downtown Riverside)

CSU Bakersfield

• 11:30 am-1 pm @ the Student Union Patio (rain: Stockdale Room in Runner Café)

CSU Channel Islands

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to the San Fernando Valley to participate in San Fernando Valley Regional Rally @ CSU Northridge (See regional listing above)

CSU Chico

• 8 am sendoff for students, faculty, workers and campus community traveling to State Capital Rally (See regional listing above)

CSU Dominguez Hills

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Wilson High School Long Beach and Los Angeles Regional Rally (See Long Beach details below or regional listing above)

• 11 am-1 pm students hold a fair on CSUDH East Walkway (Games to learn about public education costs, access and quality)

CSU East Bay

• 12 pm Rally/Open Mic/Speack Out @ Agora Stage

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

Fresno State

• 10:30 am March from NW corner of Blackstone and Shaw, go down Shaw to Fresno State

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Peace Garden

CSU Fullerton

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

Humboldt State

• 3 pm-5 pm Rally @ Humboldt County Courthouse-Eureka with CSU and K-12 faculty and students

Cal State Los Angeles

• 9:30 am Rally @ the USU area (Free Speech area)

• 2 pm March to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

CSU Long Beach

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ South Campus, Upper Quad,

• 1 pm-2 pm Parade

• 4 pm Rally with K-12 and Community College (see below)

Long Beach: Wilson High School

• 4 pm Rally @ Wilson High School Gymnasium (4400 E. 10th St.)

• Music by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman)

California Maritime Academy

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally and Sacramento/State Capitol Rally (See regional listing above)

• 12 pm Street Theatre/Mock “Die-In” @ Maritime’s main quad

CSU Monterey Bay

• 11 am-1 pm Rally/March

• Followed by car-pools to Community Rally

• 4 pm Community Rally @ Colton Hall (570 Pacific St. between Madison & Jefferson)

- Contact: Kat General, 415-728-8927

CSU Northridge/San Fernando Valley Regional Rally

• 3:45 pm gather @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

• 4:15 pm March

• 5 pm Hands around CSUN

• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

Cal Poly Pomona

• 1:30 pm- 2:30 pm Send off Rally @ - as CFA members, students and campus community board buses for Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

Sacramento State/Sacramento/State Capitol Rally

• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)

- Contact: Kevin Wehr, 916-541-2125

CSU San Bernardino

• 11:30 am March @ Marquee entrance (NW corner of University Pkwy and Northpark Blvd)

• 12 pm Rally @ Pfau Library

San Diego State/San Diego Regional Rally

• 11:30 am-12:00 pm collect video testimonials from students and campus community next to Aztec Center (Large “scoreboard” showing the loss of students, teachers and classes at SDSU due to budget cuts)

• 12:00 pm Rally by Aztec Center

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

San Francisco Sate

• 7 am Campus Shutdown

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

San Jose State

• 11 am gather at San Jose City Hall

• 11:45 am March to San Jose State Tower Lawn (7th Street Plaza entrance)

• 12 pm Rally @ San Jose State Tower Lawn

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

• 3:30–5 pm Rally @ Office of state Senator Abel Maldonado (1356 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo)

CSU San Marcos

• 10:30 am-11:30 am Teach-in on State Budget @ Academic Hall (ACD) 102 (simulcast to other classrooms)

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Kellogg Library

Sonoma State

• 11:30 am Student Walk Out

• 12:00 pm-1:30 pm Rally near Stevenson Quad

CSU Stanislaus

• 11:30 am-1pm Rally @ campus Quad

Original list compiled by Steve Seltzer

Modified by Jonathan Nunez

What works in middle schools The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

What works in middle schools

Posted in Program innovation, Research

Districts aiming to raise scores of middle school students shouldn’t count on hiring a messianic principal or jiggling the grade configuration of a school or making vague commitments to excellence – or any single tie-it-in-a-bow policy.
The hard work – and success – come from aligning instruction in every grade to state standards, setting measurable goals, committing to see that all students are prepared for the rigors of high school and staying true to the practices that bring results. Lower-income schools that follow these strategies can overcome the drag of demographics and achieve the success of middle schools in middle-income neighborhoods.
That’s among the key findings of an extensive study of 303 California middle schools covering 204,000 students – the most comprehensive survey of those grades – by the non-profit EdSource and Stanford University Professor Michael Kirst, the lead researcher.  With an unusually high 88 percent response rate, 3,572 English language arts and math teachers, including teachers at 27 charter schools, 303 principals and 157 superintendents filled out a survey with 900 specific items on school strategies.
(Read more and comment on this post)

The Central Falls, RI Turnaround: Fire All the Teachers Schools Matter

Schools Matter

The Central Falls, RI Turnaround: Fire All the Teachers

by Jim Horn

The most constant and reliable predictor of standardized test scores is the income level of student families. Central Falls, RI has lots of families in poverty, almost 3 times the state average (30.1% compared to 12%). The percentage of families with income below 50% of poverty is more than twice the state average (12.5 to 5.2 percent). These numbers were from before the Wall Street banksters ruined us.

Central Falls has only high school, Central Halls High, and it has been on the NCLB "Needs Improvement" list for several years now. It is one of those schools that Arne Duncan has sworn to turn around, despite the fact that he nor anyone else plans to do anything about the grinding poverty that is the primary reason for the schools' low scores to begin with.

And so it is that the dope in charge, Frances Gallo, picks one of Arne's possible solutions for turnarounds. Photo from Sandor Bodo for the Providence Journal.

From the NYTimes:

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — A plan to dismiss the entire faculty and staff of the only public high school in this small city just west of the Massachusetts border was approved Tuesday night at an emotional public meeting of the school board.
The board voted 5 to 2 to accept a plan proposed by Schools Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire the approximately 100 faculty and staff members at the chronically underperforming Central Falls High School on the last day of this school year in June.
The plan will also create a new school governance structure and requires the high school’s new teachers to take part in “professional development” that meets federal standards.

Entertainment Properties: Excited About Charter Profits

by Kenneth Libby

Entertainment Properties, a public real estate investment trust, is seeing profits on the rise these days thanks to a booming movie industry (thanks, Avatar) and the expanding charter school market. EP owns 27 schools run by Dennis Bakke and the Imagine Schools, and you can be mighty sure EP will continue expanding into the charter school market until regulators put a halt to their shenanigans.

Here's a recent clip from the Wall Street Journal, which touches on the giddiness of EP as Duncan and Obama push for more and more segregated charter chains implementing a hefty dose of test-based mania and "no excuses" pedagogical approaches for poor, black, and brown students:

Constant Surveillance at Lower Merion School District

by Jim Horn

From HuffPo:

It's a story that won't go away. Last week the family of 15-year-old Blake Robbins filed a lawsuit against Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia, alleging that the school district activated the Webcam in the student's school-issued MacBook to photograph him in his own home. The school district admitted that it did have the capacity to remotely turn on Webcams and said that it did so 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to "locate a laptop in the event it was reported lost, missing or stolen so that the laptop could be returned to the student."
In a civil complaint (PDF), the Robbins family claims that an assistant principal at the district's Harriton High School accused young Blake of using drugs and cited as evidence a photograph of him taken in his own home via the Mac Webcam. Blake said that the "pills" he was accused of taking were Mike and Ike candies.

Among city’s contract demands: flexibility to lay off teachers | GothamSchools

Among city’s contract demands: flexibility to lay off teachers | GothamSchools

Among city’s contract demands: flexibility to lay off teachers

by Anna Phillips

A much smaller pool of jobless-but-salaried teachers and slimmed down rubber rooms are two of the requests on the city’s list of contract demands.

The list of demands, which had been kept secret for months as the city and United Federation of Teachers tried to reach an agreement, was included as part of a legal complaint filed against the city by the UFT. The complaint was sent to reporters yesterday by Department of Education spokesman David Cantor. The uniondistributed its own list of demands to chapter leaders back in September.

Many of the demands are recycled from years past, but there are several new ones tucked into the three-page document. For years, Chancellor Joel Klein has trumpeted Chicago’s method of laying off teachers, which gives out-of-work teachers a year to remain on salary and find a new job in the schools. Klein’s new list of demands would shrink that window to four months.

Another provision would force any teacher who’s been charged with misconduct or incompetence off of the city’s payroll while their case proceeds through termination hearings, effectively decreasing the rubber rooms’ ranks.

The city’s decision to release its contract demands is yet another sign that the city and teachers union havegiven up on negotiations and resigned themselves to state mediation. In a letter sent to the state Public Employment Relations Board, attorneys for the city agreed with the union’s determination that the two sides had reached an impasse.

The next step is for the state’s Public Employment Relations board to confirm that talks have indeed stalled and then bring in a mediator to re-launch negotiations. Failing mediation, a fact-finding panel would then be called in to make recommendations for a settlement.

I’ve summarized some of the city’s demands below:

Salaries

• The city wants to pay teachers more for working in hard-to-staff schools, in specialties that are in demand, and for having a “proven ability” to raise student achievement.

Rise & Shine: Just 3 teachers fired under city’s recent campaign | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Just 3 teachers fired under city’s recent campaign | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Just 3 teachers fired under city’s recent campaign

by Philissa Cramer

• The UFT’s own charter schools have fewer than expected special ed students and ELLs. (Daily News)
• After two years of investing in mechanisms to fire more teachers, the city has only fired three. (Times)
• The city’s list of contract demands would slim the rubber rooms and the ATR pool. (Post,GothamSchools)
• Two schools sharing an UES building, Lower Lab and PS 198, are racially segregated. (Village Voice)
• The Panel for Educational Policy will meet tonight to decide on school co-location plans. (NY1)
• The Albany Times-Union condemns a charter school’s strategy of admitting students selectively.
• A turnaround plan that requires firing every teacher at a Rhode Island high school was approved. (Times)
• D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee explained the firings she has ordered since 2007. (Washington Post)
• More than two-thirds of Los Angeles schools getting new managers will be run by teachers. (L.A. Times)
• Kansas City is considering closing half of its schools for budget reasons. (USA Today)

This Week In Education AM News: All Eyes On Central Falls High School

This Week In Education

AM News: All Eyes On Central Falls High School

Teachers fired, labor outraged Providence Journal:  The state’s tiniest, poorest city has become the center of a national battle over dramatic school reform.

A Vote to Fire All Teachers at a Failing High School NYT:  Central Falls High is one of six of the state’s lowest-achieving — the only one not in Providence — and has a four-year graduation rate of 48 percent. It has 800 students.

Kansas City considers closing 31 of 61 schools USA Today:  Faced with declining enrollment and a $50 million budget shortfall, the Kansas City, Mo., schools chief wants the school board to close as many as 31 of the city's 61 schools and lay off one-fourth of its employees — including 285 teachers.

Maryland schools get a break on making up snow days Washington Post:  Spring break is in significantly less peril for public schools in Maryland after the State Board of Education decided Tuesday to allow schools to request waivers for the minimum number of days they must be in session this year.

2 teens injured in Colorado middle school shooting AP:  A teacher tackled a man armed with a high-powered rifle just after two teenage students were shot Tuesday at a suburban Denver middle school that's just miles from Columbine High School, the site of one of the nation's deadliest school shootings, authorities said. 

Black students graduating at higher-than-average rate at UC Riverside | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Black students graduating at higher-than-average rate at UC Riverside | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

Countering a longtime national trend, African-American students at UC Riverside have a higher graduation rate than students from any other group, recently released data shows.

Seventy-five percent of black students who entered UCR in fall 2002 graduated by 2008, compared with 67.5 percent of all students. UC Riverside is the only one of the 10 University of California campuses where black student graduation rates were higher than average.

"This is the first time we've seen this super success of African-American students," university spokeswoman Marcia McQuern said. "We don't really know why it spiked this year."

The graduation rates are compiled by the UC system.

The gap in graduation rates between black and other students has been narrower at UCR for years. In at least one other year, 2004, the black graduation rate was also above average, but only narrowly. Last year, black students' graduation rate was 5 points below the overall rate.

BEATS NATIONAL STATS

Nationally, only about 38 percent of black students at public four-year universities graduate within six years, compared to nearly 54 percent of all students, according to 2007 data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In the UC system, UCLA has the highest gap between black and 

UC Merced: Student's art offensive to chancellor - San Jose Mercury News

UC Merced: Student's art offensive to chancellor - San Jose Mercury News

MERCED, Calif.—Is it "Bad Romance" or bad art?

A series of photographs spoofing censorship and the chancellor of the University of California, Merced by using common campus objects and words from the Lady Gaga hit are causing a stir after they were banned from the school's Bobcat Family Art Show.

The offending stroke by artist Irene Tang, 19, is a condom placed over a microphone into which Chancellor Steve Kang is speaking.

School officials found the series of seven snapshots altered so that Kang is wearing a label with the words "Ooh," "Want," "Gaga," and Rahh" from the Lady Gaga song "distasteful and disrespectful."

In the photos with the condom, Tang gives Kang silver glasses and ribbons similar to something the flamboyant singer would wear.

University spokeswoman Patty Istas says the show is family oriented and that the piece is not appropriate for children to view.

In her defense Tang, an economics major, has said the piece is about students' love of two idols: Kang, who self-censors himself, and Lady Gaga, whom she says refuses to.

The State Hornet - Black churches open services for CSU recruiting

The State Hornet - Black churches open services for CSU recruiting

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed had one message to black families during the Sunday morning service at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church: Black children can get into the CSU system.

Reed spoke to about 1,000 parishioners at the church in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood, emphasizing that good college education is a necessity in today’s competitive job market.

“You as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can give no greater gift to your children than a college education,” Reed said.

Sunday’s event was part of the annual CSU Super Sunday event, an initiative to inform black communities across the state about preparing and applying for college. Also present was Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez and Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Joseph Sheley relayed the same message on Sunday at two different black churches in Sacramento. This year’s Super Sunday took place at 22 black churches in Northern California, according to a CSU press release.

“Our focus is doing everything that we can for African-Americans to understand what it takes to go to college,” Reed said.

Reed said black students face two major challenges in getting a college education.

America's First Muslim College

America's First Muslim College

WASHINGTON – As interested students race to beat the fast approaching enrolment deadline, Muslims are turning their sights to the Zaytuna College in California to see if America's first ever Muslim college will live up to the high expectations.
"We’ve been waiting for this time," Imam Zaid Shakir, a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute and a co-founded of the college, told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.
"It’s been a long road to get here, Alhamdulillah, and to know that we’re in this final part to getting freshman class set is very exciting."
Zaytuna College, a brainchild of Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Shakir and Professor Hatem Bazian, will stop accepting applications for its first freshman class of 2010 on March 1.
With the application process coming to a close, a committee is readying to study the applications and admit between 20-25 students as incoming freshmen.
And although the college is seeking Muslim students, it is not exclusive to Muslims.
There will be no gender separation at the college and academic pursuits and freedom will be paramount.
Course subjects have been decided on, but educators are now writing syllabi and mapping out teaching methodology for the subjects.
Currently only two majors are being offered: Arabic language and Islamic law and theology.
As the class size increases and more educators are hired, other majors will be offered, Imam Shakir said.
Zaytuna College is in the rigorous process of seeking accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a process that will take a number of years and one that Imam Shakir hopes will be completed by the time the freshman class graduates.
He noted that they have been able to achieve the goal of raising nearly $4 million needed for its temporary location at Berkeley.
Now they face the challenge of raising upwards of $65 million for an endowment fund that will ensure a consistent monetary support

Read more:http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2010-02/24/02.shtml#ixzz0gSonTkl2