California District Implements Writing Program Throughout Elementary Schools -- THE Journal

California District Implements Writing Program Throughout Elementary Schools -- THE Journal

Technology-Based Learning Tools

California District Implements Writing Program Throughout Elementary Schools

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 02/26/10

Stanislaus Union School District in Stanislaus, CA, reported that it implement Vantage Learning's MY Access! writing software for the 5th and 6th grades in all of its five elementary schools. The program is being funded through the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program.

The software analyzes more than 350 characteristics of an essay, categorized under semantics, syntax, clarity of discourse, and style and scores the work and provides feedback on it, which is designed to help users to improve focus, organization, content and development, use of language, and overall writing proficiency.

Tom Freeman, principal of the district's Prescott Senior Elementary School, actually a middle school enrolling 700 students in 7th and 8th grades, learned about MY Access! some years back at a middle school partnership meeting. He said he thought the software presented an ideal opportunity for students to practice their writing skills independent of teacher supervision.

"Our teachers have 180 kids a day in their classrooms," said Freeman. "They would 

EDITORIAL: Budget eliminates vocational programs - Opinion

EDITORIAL: Budget eliminates vocational programs - Opinion:

"Recently, Cosumnes River College's partners in spirit - Sierra College - facing an overwhelming budget deficit of $11.2 million, proposed the cutting of their construction, automotive and agricultural programs to help alleviate the damage.

Further, the President of San Joaquin Delta College, Raul Rodriguez, will suggest to the campus' board of trustees the elimination of their GED program, which allows high school dropouts to obtain an equivalency diploma.

Why does this matter?

State leaders and advocates of advancing education - including our very own congresswoman, Doris Matsui - have repeatedly emphasized that colleges should aim to provide three essential course fields - vocational education, remedial education and classes preparing students to transfer to four-year institutions"

New program combines Olympics and innovation to create educational tool - SGVTribune.com

New program combines Olympics and innovation to create educational tool - SGVTribune.com

California Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell, speaks to a Life Science class at Clifton Middle School in Monrovia, Friday February 26, 2010. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini)

MONROVIA - With their arms held behind their back as they glide over the ice, Olympic speed skaters make it look so easy.
But when 2006 Olympian Maria Garcia first crouched in that familiar speed skating position, her muscles gave out in about 15 seconds, she said.
It took strenuous muscle training, including crouching for hours at a time, before she was able to summon the muscle power to skate upwards of 30 miles per hour.
On Friday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, Garcia and educators from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation gave students at Clifton Middle School a high-tech education about the physics of the human body.
The lesson was built around the NBC Learn and

Education

Get the scoop on schools, teachers and students. Visit our Education pagefor more articles and photos.

The National Science Foundation's "Science of the Olympic Winter Games."The new program gives teachers free access to thousands of lesson plans.
"It's a win, win," O'Connell said. "Having the innovation and the fact it is free."
The Foundations "Lessonopoly" program helps teachers organize, plan and create educational activities and lessons.

Colleges’ diversity push heads to church - SignOnSanDiego.com

Colleges’ diversity push heads to church - SignOnSanDiego.com

Colleges’ diversity push heads to church

CSU outreach effort seeks black applicants

BY JOHN WILKENS, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 AT 12:04 A.M.

Already flooded with enrollment applications, administrators at the two local California State Universitycampuses hardly need to beat the bushes for more.

So why are the schools’ presidents heading out to local churches tomorrow morning, encouraging students to apply?

It’s part of a CSU initiative to increase the number of African-American students — a thorny issue throughout higher education, as evidenced by upheaval at the University of California San Diego that was started by a recent party mocking blacks.

Launched in 2005, the “Super Sunday” program sends university officials to dozens of African-American churches statewide during February, which is Black History Month.

Tomorrow, SDSU President Stephen Weber will be at Christ United Presbyterian Church in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. On the same day, Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes will join the congregation at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Oceanside.

Reasons to Expect Big Tuition Increases |

Reasons to Expect Big Tuition Increases |

The cost of a college education has increased at a faster pace than the cost of most other goods and services over the past several years. Parents with young children today who plan to fund a four year education during the next twenty years or so can expect to pay in the six-figure range for each child attending college. It used to be that these costs were expected if your child was attending a private institution but there were also public schools that offered tuition at more reasonable rates. A public university is still a more affordable option, but the cost of tuition even at in-state, public schools is expected to skyrocket beginning in 2010.
The average cost of a year of education at a public university this year is expected to be just over $7,000 while the average cost at a private university is now more than $25,000 a year. There are several factors leading to higher college tuition prices for both public and private schools and their impact is going to be felt by college students sooner rather than later. Here are some things to consider.
State Budget Cuts: With the economy just emerging from one of the biggest financial disasters in history, state budgets are a mess. Part of the reason tuition at public universities has been historically cheaper than private universities is that individual states subsidize funding for residents to attend these schools. Budget cuts are looming in most states, and college tuition subsidies are being slashed to make sure that essential programs and services can be maintained. The University Of California, for example, is anticipating tuition rates being between twenty and thirty percent higher this year compared to a year ago because of California’s ongoing budget crisis. States that have been hit the hardest during the most recent recession will probably see their tuition prices increase by the highest amounts but very few universities will be immune from the price hikes.

Education cuts may lead to U.S. brain drain San Francisco Chronicle

Education cuts may lead to U.S. brain drain: 

"While California and other states cut higher education budgets, many countries are spending to boost the number and quality of their graduates, setting the stage for brain drains and brain gains as the global economy emerges from the Great Recession, according to a UC Berkeley research paper."



China, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, France and Brazil are among the major industrial nations that have continued to boost education spending despite the recession, while the United Kingdom and Ireland have joined the United States in making cuts, said John Aubrey Douglass, who wrote the paper for Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education.
"Over the last decade we have seen higher education elevated to a top policy concern in many nations, where it is seen as vital for economic development and competitiveness," Douglass said.
But the United States has lagged in this regard, partly because its higher education system is decentralized and controlled by state governments, whereas in many other nations the central government coordinates spending, Douglass said.
In economic downturns, some of these international competitors have chosen to borrow to fund education, whereas U.S. states generally can't engage in deficit spending.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/26/BU1E1C7S61.DTL&type=business#ixzz0gjo9LG8B

Late-night protest at UC Berkeley turns violent - washingtonpost.com

Late-night protest at UC Berkeley turns violent - washingtonpost.com

BERKELEY, Calif. -- A late-night demonstration over budget cuts turned violent in Berkeley when protesters broke into a campus building, torched trash cans, smashed windows and threw rocks and bottles at police, authorities said Friday.

Police arrested two people near the University of California, Berkeley campus, said Officer Andrew Frankel, a spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department.
The unrest began around 11 p.m. Thursday after a crowd of more than 100 people gathered on campus for an open-air dance party to build support for an upcoming statewide protest over education funding cuts.
Students and activists have staged demonstrations in recent months at public colleges across California to protest deep budget cuts that have led to steep tuition hikes, enrollment cuts, faculty furloughs and reduced course offerings.
In Berkeley, about 50 people broke through a fence surrounding Durant Hall, which is closed for renovation, and about 20 entered and occupied the building, said Cpt. Margo Bennett of the UC Police Department.
The group smashed windows, sprayed graffiti, damaged construction equipment, knocked over portable toilets and hung up a banner promoting the March 4 rally, UC officials said. Others blocked police from entering the building.

Protests could lack focus, but not energy - San Jose Mercury News

Protests could lack focus, but not energy - San Jose Mercury News

BERKELEY — Some worry that the shattered windows at a Subway sandwich shop on Telegraph Avenue could be a harbinger of more damage Thursday, when demonstrations against education budget cuts will take place statewide.

Some hope protests scheduled for that day do not overshadow the message.

The protests will come less than a week after rioters defaced buildings on and around the UC Berkeley campus between late Thursday night and early Friday morning. Some student leaders have urged calm behavior for next week, worrying that Berkeley's protesters could influence widespread riots. Participants in the riots at UC Berkeley posted signs reading "March 4."

"There's a lot of good activism planned for (Thursday)," said Reid Milburn, a student at Sacramento City College and president of the statewide Student Senate for community colleges. "But I'm nervous about the idea of people getting out of control."

Milburn and others were worried even before the Berkeley riot. Rather than backing next week's protests, student-government leaders with the community-college and California State University systems are focusing on a March 22 event in Sacramento.

An October meeting in Berkeley on next week's demonstrations — coined as a "Day of Action" — was chaotic, said Steve Dixon, a Humboldt State senior and president of the California State Student Association.

"We felt the message wasn't totally educational," Dixon said,

Protests could lack focus, but not energy - San Jose Mercury News

Protests could lack focus, but not energy - San Jose Mercury News

Manteca Bulletin - You’ve got to love those #%&•@! state lawmakers

Manteca Bulletin - You’ve got to love those #%&•@! state lawmakers

You’ve got to love those #%&•@! state lawmakers

California has a $20 billion deficit, is releasing tens of thousands of hardcore felons early from prison, education funding is being slashed, public college tuitions are soaring, and unemployment is at 12 percent statewide.

It is against this backdrop that the California Legislature finally takes up a serious subject – cussing.

The Assembly, which has been known to do perverted and obscene things in the name of government has passed a resolution calling for the first week of March to be known as “Cuss Free Week.” If the State Senate agrees next week, California will have become the first state in the nation to take an official stance against cussing.

Now you’re probably asking yourself why are they spending time worrying about cussing when there are county hospitals ready to close, thousands of handicapped people posed to lose benefits, and the ranks of public safety being slashed because of the hi jinks the state has been pulling with our money over the past 20 years that’s finally catching up with Sacramento.

The answer is simple. The #!%&?# politicians are incapable of fixing the #*^%$#%! budget mess they’ve created.

Schools Matter: White Hat Not Renewed in Florida

Schools Matter: White Hat Not Renewed in Florida

White Hat Not Renewed in Florida

by Kenneth Libby

David Brennan and his White Hat charter management company recently had a charter oversight board decide not to renew one of their schools in Florida, and the shenanigans of the Life Skills Center East are truly shocking. You can check off a laundry list of violations the school has racked up, including, but not limited to, accusations of financial mismanagement, failing to education English language learners (only 1 in 72 received a diploma), and the governing board's lack of due diligence in selecting Brennan's management company. This isn't the first closure for one of White Hat's Life Skills Centers - White Hat had their Life Skills Lakeland (just miles from the Center East location) charter pulled, and they billed the oversight board for $500,000 as they exited from the school. It's not about profits, it's all about the kids, right?

Oh - and 97% of all sc

SCUSD Community Engagement Budget and Strategic Plan Survey Results

Surveys  SCUSD > Community Engagement > Surveys

Click on the above image for video of Press Conference

Budget and Strategic Plan Survey Results Remarks by Superintendent Raymond at February 18, 2010 Press Conference:  "...We have made real public engagement – truly having our community involved in and part of the decisions about their public schools – as one of the very highest priorities of the district. We are committed to community engagement, to a transparent, open and honest dialogue with our community about what is expected from its schools." ...read more NEW! Comprehensive Survey Report 02/26/10 Preliminary Survey Results 2/18/10 Preliminary Survey Results 2/18/10 press release Full Narrative of 2/18/10 Press Conference

Remainders: Gillibrand wants to train more female engineers | GothamSchools

Remainders: Gillibrand wants to train more female engineers | GothamSchools

Remainders: Gillibrand wants to train more female engineers

by Maura Walz

• “New York City schools is closed!” read the sign on one school building door today.
• Apparently the snow day was caused by a number of people sleeping in inside-out pajamas.
• How do teachers spend their snow days? BronxTeach gives an inside look.
• Kirsten Gillibrand is sponsoring a Senate bill to promote engineering education.
• Arthur Goldstein parses the city’s proposals for the teachers union contract.
• C.W. Arp: “Good teachers do feel their frustration as if it is the first, the only.”
• An editor at EdWeek is leaving to head a union-management reform project at the AFT….
• While Education Sector is looking for a new writer/editor.
• A policy analyst for FairTest calls attention to value-added models for teacher evaluation “hype.”
• The pre-kindergarten admissions process for soon-to-be public school students begins on Monday.
• Chaz posts a DN cartoon showing Klein using test scores as boxing gloves against “the Mighty Mulgrew.”
• CityPragmatist is launching a new series examining the pros and cons of charter schools.
• And a TFA’er teaching in the South Bronx will be filing weekly dispatches over at GOOD magazine.

School Turnaround “Fresh Start” Teacher Seniority = Lawsuit � The Quick and the Ed

School Turnaround “Fresh Start” Teacher Seniority = Lawsuit � The Quick and the Ed

School Turnaround “Fresh Start” + Teacher Seniority = Lawsuit

February 26th, 2010 | Category: Accountability, Teacher Quality

This Wednesday, the ACLU brought a lawsuit against Los Angeles Unified to stop anticipated layoffs at three low performing schools that were decimated by last year’s layoffs. We will be featuring one of the schools, Markham Middle School in an upcoming report on school restructuring and know some of the details about the schools recent experience. The situation that Markham has faced over the last couple of years illustrates the need to carve out schools from collective bargaining contracts in order for school turnaround to have a chance. This concept of creating partnership zones that carves out a small group of schools from the collective bargaining agreement has been one of the key elements of the turnaround model that Mass Insight and others have been advocating, and the Markham example clearly illustrates why this is such a key element of a turnaround strategy. The federal government is about to invest $3.5 billion to support school turnarounds using one of four strategies including school closure, charter conversion, school turnaround through a “fresh start,” or school transformation.

Starting in the 2008-09 school year, Markham Middle school was given a “fresh start” after a decade of continuous failure under the federal accountability system. The school was turned over to the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a nonprofit organization started by Mayor Villaraigosa. The Partnership was a concession after the mayor‘s failed attempt at mayoral control of LAUSD. The partnership took over 

Oakland Unified Board, Administration and Labor Unions to Host “March 4th Statewide Day of Action for Public Education” Press Conference

 Oakland Unified Board, Administration and Labor Unions to Host

“March 4^th Statewide Day of Action for Public Education” Press Conference

OUSD joins students, educators, teachers, staff and education advocates from across California

 in protesting school funding that ranks 47^th in the U.S. and is $2,400 per student less than the national average

Oakland – February 26, 2010 – On Thursday, March 4, the Oakland Unified School District will support the “Statewide Day of Action for Public Education” with a series of events culminating in a 4:00 PM press conference at the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building (1515 Clay St. Oakland, CA). Oakland Board of Education Directors will lead OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith and the following labor unions in denouncing the crippling cuts to public education:

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 257 Morris Tatum

• American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 771 President Ana Turetsky
• Oakland Education Association (OEA) President Betty Olson-Jones
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 President Mynette Theard
• United Administrators of Oakland Schools (UAOS) Executive Director JoAnna Lougin

OUSD’s Board, administration and bargaining units are acting in solidarity with hundreds of other local, state and national organizations to ensure that public education is prioritized, not marginalized, and that schools receive adequate funding. The joint statements at 4:00 PM will cap a day of activities highlighting the injustice of school funding cuts and the danger they pose to California’s future. Activities include:

• 7:30 AM to First Bell: Peaceable leafleting and picketing will occur on school campuses prior to the beginning of class.

This is an opportunity to engage the community and:

• • Inform them of the scope of education funding cuts
  • Explain the impact of funding cuts on children
  • Discuss structural issues (e.g., 2/3 budget passage requirement)
  • Advocate for pressure on elected officials to support education

• 9:15 AM: Simultaneous Fire Drill at All Schools

• OUSD and its labor unions are joining districts throughout California in holding a fire drill – at all schools – at 9:15 AM on March 4^th. The simultaneous fire drill is meant to symbolize the “state of emergency” afflicting public education.

• All-Day: “Teach-In”

• OUSD and OEA have jointly created curriculum that secondary English and History/Social Studies teachers can use to bring discussions of budgeting, educating funding, equity and political action into the classroom. The lesson plans can be downloaded from the OUSD website at: http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us/March4lessonplans.

• 4:00 PM: Press Conference at Elihu M. Harris State Office Building (1515 Clay St.)

• OUSD’s Board, administration and unions will hold a press conference in front of the State Building to protest the deepest school funding cuts on record – reductions that leave California 47^th out of 50 states in per-pupil funding for K-12 education.

OUSD and its partners are taking action to protest the education cuts enacted by the Governor and the California legislature – reductions which are unprecedented in scope. Despite schools which rank at the bottom of all states in staff-to-student ratios and nearly last in per-pupil spending, California reduced funding for education by $18 billion in 2008-09 and the first half of 2009-10. As a result, California’s schools face an average net funding cut of $470 per pupil, roughly $11,750 for every classroom. In addition to slashing budgets, the state also delayed the release of funds, restricting the ability of districts to plan and to manage cash-flows.

OUSD alone has trimmed $40 million dollars over the past 18 months, but still must make $85 million in reductions for the 2010-11 school year. In addition, the District is in the midst of cutting $100 million over three years. These deep budget cuts threaten to stifle the progress of districts such as OUSD, California’s most improved urban school district over the past five years.

While it’s true California is in the midst of an economic crisis, children are bearing a disproportionate amount of the burden for the state’s financial problem. Education funding accounts for 40 percent of the state budget, but schools have suffered 60 percent of the cuts. As a result, more than 20,000 teachers and administrators and more than 10,000 support positions have been eliminated statewide, along with countless programs like arts, music, sports, afterschool, summer school, vocational, adult education and Advanced Placement classes.

“The most vulnerable students are taking the biggest hit,” explained OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith. “Schools are where we’re creating community today and preparing for the future. Not funding children has disastrous short-term and long-term effects on the state of California.”

Event Details

Title: OUSD’s March 4^th Day of Action for Public Education Press Conference

Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010

Time: 4:00 PM

Venue: Elihu M. Harris State Office Building - 1515 Clay St. Oakland, CA

Contact: Troy Flint at troy.flint@ousd.k12.ca.us or 510.473.5832

UC Berkeley’s recipe for preparing principals The Education Report

The Education Report

UC Berkeley’s recipe for preparing principals

By Katy Murphy
Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm in leadership changes
No Comments

UC Berkeley’s Principal Leadership Institute faculty say they have a darn good recipe for effective, stable school leadership: finding strong, ”home grown” candidates and supporting the new administrators in their first three years on the job. 

The local institute celebrated its 10th anniversary this month. It has graduated 343 school leaders, and cites a 95 percent retention rate (though I’m following up to see exactly what that means).

[Home grown, defined: Candidates to the program "should" work at a public school in the Bay Area and have three years of teaching experience; they also must commit to working four years at a California public school after they graduate.]

Who are these graduates? you ask. Here’s a list of PLI leaders now in Oakland schools, courtesy of the PLI: Read the rest of this entry »

City releases new teacher reports it says are simpler, fairer | GothamSchools

City releases new teacher reports it says are simpler, fairer | GothamSchools

City releases new teacher reports it says are simpler, fairer

by Anna Phillips

Teachers' data reports place them in one of five categories depending on how much they were able to boost their students' test scores over the course of several years.

Reports ranking teachers on how much they were able to increase students’ test scores from one year to the next arrived in principal’s inboxes this week, and this time Department of Education officials say the reports are simpler and fairer than in years past.

First released in 2008, teacher data reports have rankled teachers who object to being judged solely on test scores and confused principals, some of whom found the reports too complicated to use. The reports released this week cover 12,000 teachers and address some of those concerns. They contain less information, are easier to read, and use a new formula to calculate teachers’ value-added scores.

This year, Chancellor Joel Klein has made it clear what should be done with the data: one in ten teachers who are up for tenure will have their reports used as a criteria in their tenure evaluations.

On Tuesday morning, principals with students in grades 3-8 — the state gives yearly math and English tests to these students — were given school summary reports. Teachers won’t receive their individual data reportsuntil next week. The vast majority work in traditional public schools, as less than a dozen charter schools 

Central Falls Journal - A Jumble of Strong Feelings After Vote on a Troubled School - NYTimes.com

Central Falls Journal - A Jumble of Strong Feelings After Vote on a Troubled School - NYTimes.com

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — Like many other teenagers in this troubled city, Sheila Gomes said she found a surrogate family outside her home at Central Falls High School.

But with the school board’s decision on Tuesday to dismiss the entire faculty as part of a turnaround plan for the chronically underperforming school, some say they are losing one of the few constants in the state’s poorest city, where 41 percent of children live in poverty and 63 percent of the high school’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

“My teachers, they’re there for me. They push me forward,” said Ms. Gomes, a 17-year-old senior whose father is largely absent and whose mother works long hours at a factory. “My parents, they tried to, but they don’t know how. I don’t think they fully know me as a person to help me.”

This former mill town of about 19,000, where unemployment is 13.8 percent, is now embroiled in a battle over school reform similar to those that have taken place in troubled districts in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, where officials have tried to fix failing schools by starting over with new staff members. Seventy-four teachers and 19 staff members in Central Falls will lose their jobs.

“The status quo needs to change,” Secretary of EducationArne Duncan said in an interview. “This is not the kind of stability I want. I’m looking for improvement.”

Teachers acknowledge that change is needed — the school’s 

Home | Central Falls Kids Deserve Better

Home | Central Falls Kids Deserve Better

A great deal has been reported about the situation at Central Falls High School. The Superintendent of Schools has issued 88 termination letters at the high school - firing the entire teacher faculty - a move that is unprecedented in the United States and that threatens students just as they're showing improvement.

We felt it was important to get the rest of the story out regarding this unfortunate and unnecessary proposal.

We are the Central Falls Teachers Union, an affiliate of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals. We represent the hard working, dedicated teachers at Central Falls High School. The proposal to fire these teachers does a grave disservice to their ongoing efforts to improve the lives of the students at Central Falls High School.

The Superintendent has attempted to portray the teachers as the problem at the High School. The facts speak differently ».