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Thursday, June 3, 2010

'Race to Top' fizzles in O.C. school | reforms, county, district - News - The Orange County Register

'Race to Top' fizzles in O.C. school | reforms, county, district - News - The Orange County Register

    • Nicholas tutoring centers target expansion

      SANTA ANA – UC Irvine and the two Nicholas Academic Centers, started by Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III, will enter a partnership that could lead to the expansion of the after-school......

      Comments 7

    • Fountain Valley cuts crossing guards at four intersections

      FOUNTAIN VALLEY – The City Council on Tuesday voted to eliminate crossing guards at four intersections in the city, a move that will save $35,500 a year....

      Comments 3

    • 'Race to Top' fizzles in O.C. schools

      One district in Orange County – Santa Ana Unified – will join the 300 others statewide in applying for the second phase of a federal Race to the Top funds....

      Comments 11

    • Golden West College awards 770 degrees

      HUNTINGTON BEACH – -- Golden West College awarded about 770 students an Associate of Arts degree and 620 students a certificate of achievement this year....

      Comments 0
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Notes from the news, June 3 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, June 3 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, June 3

by Erika Owens
West Philly won't be Ren. School next year The Notebook blog
West Philly High will be an Empowerment School for the 2010-11 school year.
See also: District delays overhaul of West Phila. High The Inquirer
West Philadelphia High School Concerned Communities UC Review
New education standards approved by Nat. Governors Association WHYY
The Common Core standards are one way states are working to better prepare students for college and career, and keep education quality more consistent.
Pa. takes another shot at federal schools money The Inquirer
Pennsylvania applied for round two of Race to the Top funding to try to bring in $400 million.
General George G. Meade School Team Win Adele Magner Memorial Award, Given 6/7 Broadway.com
Eighth grade student Jamekea S. Lee, teacher Lori Odum, and teaching artist Dwight Wilkins won an award from the Philadelphia Young Playwrights.
'If I were a rich man' The Notebook blog
F reflects on why rich men supported State Sen. Anthony Williams' gubernatorial campaign with large contributions, and how he can make his voice heard as loud as theirs.
Second Grader Wins Annual Fire Prevention Contest KYW
Future of proposed Hebrew language school uncertain WHYY
Thoughts on Facebook Privacy Philly Teacher blog
Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.
Click here to get Notes from the news in your inbox every day.
Notes from the news
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Superintendent Carole Smith suggests several changes in Portland high school reorganization | OregonLive.com

Superintendent Carole Smith suggests several changes in Portland high school reorganization | OregonLive.com

Superintendent Carole Smith suggests several changes in Portland high school reorganization

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

June 02, 2010, 9:12PM
Reacting to community criticism of her high school redesign proposal, Portland Superintendent Carole Smith on Wednesday proposed several modest changes, including keeping vocationally oriented Benson High as a four-year school but shrinking it to 400 students.

She also called for a series of attendance boundary changes to help decrease socioeconomic gulfs between high schools serving either a large concentration or a small fraction of low-income students.

And she raised the possibility that every high school in the district might have to switch to a common schedule. That would be a big change from the current mix of trimesters and semesters; six-, seven- and eight-period days; alternating-day block schedules; and other customized features.

Smith's plan, unveiled in April, would close Marshall High and convert Benson into a two-year technical center. The aim was to create eight larger and more equitable neighborhood high schools so that each could offer a full spectrum of classes, including advanced academics, fine arts and world languages, as well as catch-up classes for struggling students.

Most Portland Public Schools high schools are missing at least one of those elements, and those that serve mostly poor and minority students have the fewest offerings.

School board members worried that the district could not afford the full spectrum of courses on eight campuses, averaging about 1,250 students apiece, especially given looming cuts in state funding. Across the three-
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National Academic Standards Are Released - NYTimes.com

National Academic Standards Are Released - NYTimes.com

States Receive a Reading List: New Standards for Education

By SAM DILLON
The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released final recommendations for what students should master in English and math.
Denise Wadler, center, at Brooklyn Brownstone School, sent out nearly 50 rรฉsumรฉs last week.

New N.Y. Schools Face Extra Pain From Layoffs

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Union contracts require layoffs to be by seniority, especially burdening the city’s new, small schools and their typically young, recently hired staffs.
At New York City schools for the gifted, like the Brooklyn School of Inquiry, 56 percent of kindergartners are girls.

Gender Gap for the Gifted in City Schools

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Though the school system over all is 51 percent male, its gifted classrooms generally have more girls.

States Create Flood of Education Bills

By SAM DILLON
Colorado’s law on tenure and evaluations was the most comprehensive of a spate of similar laws in other states.

A Private School’s Ads Imply Public School Slippage

By RICHARD Pร‰REZ-PEร‘A
At a time when New Jersey public schools are cutting back, Saddle River Day School is scrambling for students.
YOUR MONEY

Placing the Blame as Students Are Buried in Debt

By RON LIEBER
Is it really worth $100,000 in debt to graduate from a top school? And is it responsible?
Nitya Rajendran at the survivors breakfast at Trinity School in Manhattan. The event is a tradition for seniors who started at Trinity as kindergartners.

On Graduation Day, Seniors Take Time to Feel Like Kindergartners Again

By JENNY ANDERSON
At an annual breakfast for graduating seniors, students at Manhattan’s Trinity School gathered to reminisce with their first teachers.
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Christie snubs union deal in Race to the Top bid | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/02/2010

Christie snubs union deal in Race to the Top bid | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/02/2010

Christie snubs union deal in Race to the Top bid

By Rita Giordano and Maya Rao
Inquirer Staff Writers
The Christie administration submitted its application for federal Race to the Top aid Tuesday but - on the governor's orders - removed key compromises reached with the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.
Last week, state Education Commission Bret Schundler and NJEA officials announced that an agreement had been reached and that the union would support the state's bid for up to $400 million in education stimulus funds. The compromises involved merit pay - the union is against it, Gov. Christie is for it - and other issues.
Some of the issues on which compromises were reached last week had led the union to withhold support from the state's first Race to the Top application, which failed to secure federal funds.
The Christie administration was critical of the union's failure to support the state's first application, saying the lack of union buy-in hurt the state's prospects. Federal application evaluators noted the application's lack of labor support.
On Tuesday, however, the deadline for submitting the second-round application, Christie announced that he had instructed Schundler on Friday to restore the former provisions after learning about the deal his education chief had helped broker with the NJEA.


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100602_Christie_snubs_union_deal_in_Race_to_the_Top_bid.html#ixzz0pn72jkEG
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A school where everyone performs

Give a 6-year-old a violin. Or ballet shoes. Or a chance to act on stage. And what happens? At Philadelphia's Performing Arts Charter School, all the kindergartners get to perform. In fact, they have to - with weekly violin, ballet, and singing lessons.

Phila. educator Ramirez takes top post in Milwaukee

Heidi Ramirez, an urban educator and outspoken former Philadelphia School Reform Commission member, has been named the chief academic officer of Milwaukee Public Schools.
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Kindergarten age may be raised to 5 in California | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education

Kindergarten age may be raised to 5 in California | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education



Kindergarten age may be raised to 5 in California

Jason Kobely Last updated 10 hrs ago
MORE EDUCATION NEWS:
PHOTOS & INTERVIEWS:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California may soon close its kindergartens to 4-year-olds.
The state Senate on Wednesday approved a bill requiring children to have turned 5 by Sept. 1 to begin kindergarten during that school year. The current cut-off date is Dec. 2, one of the latest in the country.
The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates SB1381 could save the state $700 million per year by reducing enrollment. About 100,000 children start kindergarten before their 5th









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The Education Report

The Education Report

Weinberg: Myths about standardized testing

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 10:27 am in Steven Weinberg, test scores
9 Comments »
Steven Weinberg, a retired Oakland teacher and regular Education Report blogger, tells us what standardized tests can’t measure, in his view, and why. -Katy
Steven WeinbergIn my last 10 years working for Oakland Unified School District, I spent considerable time investigating the California Standards Tests and their results to help my school make sense of the data the tests generated. During that time I became aware of a number of myths have been built up about these tests, many propagated by the state or the test makers themselves.
Knowing the facts about these tests is important for drawing reasonable conclusions from their results and for making sound educational decisions for the future.
I know that most readers of this blog are already fairly sophisticated about the nature of standardized testing, but the results of these tests are so often misused, it is worth taking some time to review these misconceptions.
Myth 1: The California Standards Tests (CSTs) measure what teachers are supposed to teach.
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The Educated Guess Let the common-core debate begin

The Educated Guess

Let the common-core debate begin

Posted in Common Core standards
The drafters of the common-core state standards released their final versionWednesday with fanfare and the endorsement of a slew of educators and political leaders in Atlanta. The debate now shifts to state capitals, including Sacramento, where the question that must be answered in two months can be reframed: Is what’s good for the nation – K-12 academic standards in math and English language arts that are more demanding than most states now have – also good for California?
Preceding that question is another: Can Californians who care about these matters engage in a dispassionate analysis of common core standards and associated issues of cost and testing without becoming defensive and retreating to the positions they had in the ‘90s, when they fought over the current state math standards?
The answers are critical, because the standards will determine what students are taught, which textbooks are used, what tests are written and how teachers are trained. Until now, it’s been each state for itself, making comparisons among states and nations difficult and often inaccurate.
In California, the sides, while not yet hardened, are forming.
(Read more and comment on this post)
By John Fensterwald on June 3rd, 2010

Still missing: common-core nominees

Posted in Common Core standards
The final national common-core standards are due out today, but Gov. Schwarzenegger has still yet to announce his nominations for half of the members of the committee that is supposed to recommend by mid-July whether the state should adopt, reject or modify them.
The continued delay has led to speculation on which way Schwarzenegger is leaning – or whether he’s still making up his mind.
(Read more and comment on this post)
By John Fensterwald on June 2nd, 2010

Schwarzenegger: We’re too big to ignore

Posted in Race to the Top
In their Race to the Top applications, some states have downplayed the lack of union support for their reforms. You have read deep into the applications to get the real numbers.
Not California. In his May 28 cover letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncanaccompanying the state’s second-round application (download pdf), Gov. Schwarzenegger wears union opposition as a badge of honor.
He wrote that the California Teachers Association “actively worked to prevent union support” for the state’s effort. Then he added, “I urge you not to penalize states like California that have submitted a detailed plan meeting all the goals of Race to the Top but have not gotten unanimous support of teachers unions. To do this would not only put at grave risk the ultimate goals embodied in Race to the Top, but it would send a message to some unions that their obstructionist tactics can work.”
(Read more and comment on this post)
By John Fensterwald on June 2nd, 2010
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Grand Jury: San Diego schools improperly siphoning student funds | California Watch

Grand Jury: San Diego schools improperly siphoning student funds | California Watch

Grand Jury: San Diego schools improperly siphoning student funds

June 3, 2010 | Corey G. Johnson
Student money earmarked for band, cheerleading and other extracurricular activities are being improperly raided by San Diego Unified school administrators to pay for faculty supplies, equipment and events, according to a grand jury investigative report released Wednesday.
Photo by Karl-Erik Bennion
From March 2008 to October 2009, at least $107,882 in student extra-curricular funds were used by various schools to benefit the faculty.
The practice is so widespread, the Grand Jury reports, that 75 percent of district schools routinely take from the student funds.
This occurs while students at nearly all district schools are required to pay fees to participate in extracurricular activities, in apparent violation of district policy and a 1984 state Supreme Court ruling banning the practice.
In one instance during the 2006-2007 school year, San Diego's School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) snatched its students' entire extracurricular savings – $65,568 – and deposited it into the schools' main account.
A 2009 School District audit of SCPA discovered additional withdrawals from the students' account were used to pay for the staff's Christmas party, drinking mugs, polo shirts and other unauthorized expenditures. School officials denied that the money was ever student funds, but repaid $19,000 at the urging of district auditors. The rest remains unpaid.
At the same time, music students at the school were required to pay for their own instruments and performance clothing, the probe found. According to the report:
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Ownership Society school reform

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Ownership Society school reform

Ownership Society school reform

by Mike Klonsky
Debunking the "Portfolio District"

Latest from EPIC/EPRU comes from DePaul prof, Ken Saltman who exposes the latest business-model reform model whereby school district leaders compile and run a "portfolio" of independently operated schools. It is currently being used in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington D.C., and it is being considered by other districts. Yet little or no evidence supports the expansion of such radical experimentation, a new Policy Brief reports.
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