Why I believe in Public Education

4LAKids: Sunday,April 1, 2007 - No foolin' In This Issue: • Why I Believe in Public Education • ….and reason to not believe in much else! • LAUSD HITS NEW LOW ON API: High schools fall 20 points • Size Matters: SMALL CLASSES AREN'T A CURE-ALL • L.A. UNIFIED REJECTS CHARTER EXPANSION: Despite lawyer's warning, board turns down Green Dot's plans for eight schools. • Highlights, Lowlights & The News That Doesn't Fit: LAUSD SUES OVER PROJECTED SHORTFALL + CHAVEZ WALKOUT + LEGISLATIVE RELIEF or A RAID? • Coming up next week: MONDAY APRIL 2 – THE APPEAL ON AB 1381 MENDOZA v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA / LAUSD v. VILLARAIGOSA • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • 4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved! • 4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc. Why I Believe in Public Education by Jon Samuels | from the Public Education Network Newsblast In 1832, Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to assess the notion that our democracy was a beacon for the world. His astute observations remain a classic guide to America’s success. American prosperity, he concluded, was founded on several conditions unique to this society. First, we did not let class determine a person’s stature. A ruffian with a good idea and a work ethic could exchange places with a son of wealth who felt innovative thought and labor were beneath a gentleman’s dignity. Second, movement within the country was unfettered. This lack of internal passports, documents common in eighteenth century Europe, was essential to the vibrancy found in American society. Regardless of their station, Americans could go where opportunity beckoned. Third, our system of public education, raucous as it was, provided the skills and knowledge that our citizens could employ to take advantage of a classless and mobile society. Unlike old Europe, we did not fear an educated proletariat. Despite our flawed application of these principles, opportunity, mobility and education remain the pillars supporting American democracy, and education makes the others worthwhile. In the truest sense, we do not pay taxes to support the education of our individual children, we pay taxes to support the role public education plays in civilizing and enriching our society. Writing today, de Tocqueville might note the erosion of our public schools and the roles played in that by racism, failed discipline, missing parents, rote teaching and testing gone berserk. But, he would be confident in our defense of public education. He would argue that it was not within the American character to shrink in the face of challenge. He would expect that we would tax ourselves sufficiently to provide for the common educational good. He would not be surprised when we raised the station of our teachers. He would anticipate our solution of the dropout problem and our reinstitution of discipline and mutual respect in our schools. He would expect that we would use tests surgically to expand an improved curriculum. de Tocqueville loved an America whose citizens cared little for self-pity but cared much about bringing in the harvest. That is why I support public education for it may well produce our most important harvest. That is why I do not support any “choice” that would further impoverish our public school system, that, however unintentional, could result in a few fleeing the problems that affect the many, that could create educational slums to warehouse an overwhelmingly poor and minority population. That would not be the America that enthralled de Tocqueville. That might be a fatal harvest. I am sure that those who disagree with me are acting out of the courage of their convictions. I would ask, however, that they also have the courage of the consequences of their convictions. I have no children in our schools and I have reached an age when it is tempting to leave the driving to someone else. On the other hand, I remain a passenger on our national bus and I would like to ensure the driver knows the route. Public education is one of the bedrock guarantees that America will continue down freedom’s road. Jon Samuels is a Board Member Public Education Partners Aiken, SC [http://publicedpartners.org/] and a founding partner of Synergem Emergency Services ….and reason to not believe in much else! 4LAKids CANNOT ARGUE with the above and gladly yields the opening soapbox to Mr. Samuels. As we enter the holy week of Eastover (and spring break for the traditionally calendared) let us remember that Revealed Truth illuminates all darkness. THE API TEST SCORES are in – we track these like the ups-and-downs of the stock and commodities markets. Things are bullish for LAUSD Elementary sector– and for the first time ever, LAUSD Middle Schools. But the Dow Jones average of LA Unified High Schools has fallen by twenty points …and shareholders are looking to hedge their bets in Charter Schools. This would be a humorous analogy if the capital wasn’t young lives. And gentle investor, please remember we are looking at a long term investment strategy — we’re not looking for kids that that do well in school or in tests; we are looking for kids who do well in life. CHARTER SCHOOLS are all downside-up as the Board of Ed voted thumbs-down on Green Dot’s expansion into Watts, nixing takeover of Locke High School - and yet allowed the questionably performing/politically correct Academia Semillas to continue – in spite of poor performance and some questionable business practices. I am no fan of Green Dot and its CEO/Master-of-the-Education-Universe Steve Barr – but when the Charter Office says there is no data ...but “trust us” Green Dot is doing well – and there is data that says Academia Semillas is doing poorly but the Charter Office says “trust us …they’re doing OK too” – what does it any of it mean? Except perhaps: “Don’t trust the Charter Office” and “Poorly informed officials make poorly informed decisions”. THE TIMES gets it wrong on class size reduction. Kids walk out because the unions won’t give themselves Cesar Chavez’ birthday off. And THE LAUSD PAYROLL FIASCO – now news so old that the papers don’t even cover it anymore – continues on while the Board and the Superintendent mull it over in closed session. There are only three things that can be legally discussed in closed session: Real estate. Personnel. Or lawsuits. As they’ve already sold the farm on the paroll program, my money is on the next two. —smf LAUSD HITS NEW LOW ON API: High schools fall 20 points by Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer, LA Daily News Already lagging behind their statewide counterparts, Los Angeles Unified high school students took a precipitous plunge on newly released Academic Performance Index scores, dropping 20 points from the previous year. The LAUSD's elementary and middle school students made steady progress on tests that measure math and English-language skills, but still were well below the statewide averages, according to a California Department of Education report released Tuesday. In a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he is lobbying for more federal money for education, Superintendent David Brewer III said the high-school score reflects the stubborn achievement gap between white and minority students. "Seventy-two percent of our population is Latino and about 8 percent is African-American and nationwide (they) are underperforming in math and science," Brewer said. "That's a reflection of that population." Brewer also noted that growth of Los Angeles' public elementary schools continues to outpace that of the state, and that middle-school scores rose faster than the state for the first time since the test was implemented. "That demonstrates that the programs are now taking effect in middle schools, but at the high-school levels we clearly have some tough work to do." Other Los Angeles Unified officials attributed the decline in high-school scores to changes in how the results were analyzed, noting that science, history and social-science tests were given more weight in calculating the averages. But that didn't explain why the statewide average rose from 680 to 693 from 2005 to '06, while it dropped from 622 to 602 for high-school students in Los Angeles Unified. Esther Wong, the district's assistant superintendent of planning, assessment and research, suggested that the drop could be related to the number of new high-school campuses that opened last year. "They're brand new and haven't had a chance to work with their group of students," Wong said. "And the rigor of the API continues to increase what our students are expected to know and it's getting harder and harder to move up." Brewer and other Los Angeles Unified officials expressed optimism that students will benefit from the creation of more than 300 "small learning communities" that allow students to receive more personalized attention. "I think with these scores, it reinforces what we know: we have serious challenges in the secondary level," school board member Monica Garcia said. "These efforts tell the public the school district is aware of the challenges and we're moving forward aggressively." A total of 115 of the more than 600 Los Angeles Unified schools met or exceeded the state benchmark of 800, up from 96 in the 2005 testing, and from 68 in 2004. By comparison, about 40 percent of the schools in neighboring Ventura County posted scores of 800 or better, up from 33 percent last year. "I am confident that the staff, students and parents of our Ventura County schools will continue in their efforts to help all students succeed," said Charles Weis, Ventura County's schools superintendent. A spokeswoman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose administration has made education reform its No. 1 goal, said the lagging LAUSD scores affirm the need for change. "Only with a real sense of urgency and a commitment to excellence and accountability will these low test scores start to improve and our schools start to compete," spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said. API SCORING The Academic Performance Index shows how each school performs academically compared with other schools. It is used to determine whether California schools are meeting federal benchmarks set by the No Child Left Behind Act, President George W. Bush's education-reform initiative. Scores range from 200 to 1,000 points, with 800 being the goal of all schools, as well as for all subgroups within each school, including minority, disabled and disadvantaged students, and English-language learners. In previous years, target scores for the subgroups were lower because the students were already struggling to achieve proficiency. This year, however, the goals for the subgroups were as rigorous as for the overall student body: 5 percent of the difference between a subgroup's score and the target of 800, with improvement of at least five points each year. "While our schools are showing steady overall progress, I am deeply concerned that significant gaps exist between the API results for different subgroups of students," state Superintendent Jack O'Connell said. "I have begun an intensive effort to find ways to close the gap that exists between successful students - who are often white or Asian and financially well off - and struggling students - who are too often poor, Hispanic, African-American, English-learners, or with a disability." Brewer said he also hopes that No Child Left Behind will be amended to give districts and individual schools more flexibility in meeting the subgroup targets, particularly with English-language learners. "Children are not machines," he said. "We have to make sure we give them enough time to get up to speed ... without having to call them failures." OFFICIAL API REPORTS FOR SCHOOLS, DISTRICTS, COUNTIES & THE STATE | This year & prior years | (updated 27Mar’07) Size Matters: SMALL CLASSES AREN'T A CURE-ALL LA Times Editorial: SANTA ANA'S ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO FALSIFY CLASS SIZES SHOWS HOW CALIFORNIA'S MANDATORY CLASS SIZE REDUCTION EXPERIMENT HAS FAILED. March 31, 2007 — Santa Ana schools deserve a public spanking if, as alleged, they created phantom classes to pull the wool over state officials' eyes. The idea was to make it look as though there were no more than 20 students per teacher in the primary grades so the schools could receive the full $16 million they were entitled to from the state for reducing class size. As lowdown as such a trick would be, it sheds light on one of the more rigid and expensive regulations governing public education in California. The decade-old class-size reduction program was a poorly planned experiment that is no longer useful. It ought to end, with the state giving the money to local districts to spend in whatever ways will best benefit their students. California launched its ambitious program for primary grades back when the tech bubble was nourishing state coffers. Costing close to $1.7 billion a year, the program capped kindergarten through third-grade classes at 20 students. For better or worse, education in the state hasn't been the same since. The reform was begun in an era when many educators believed that if they could get students off to a good start, the rest of the academic years would take care of themselves. The theory has merit, but reality has proved more complicated. Suddenly, schools needed extra classrooms, so portables took over athletic fields. The program created a huge demand for teachers, triggering an immediate shortage. Schools hired almost anyone who could procure an emergency teaching credential. With so many jobs opening up at better-equipped, affluent schools, many qualified teachers moved to the suburbs. Beyond that, the rules were rigid. Classes could not go above 20 students, so academically dubious mixed-grade classes began to take care of any overflow. (If there were 18 students in a first-grade class and 22 in a second-grade class, a quick "transfer" could put the ratio back into compliance.) Meanwhile, state funding covered less and less of the cost, and school districts made up the difference by increasing class sizes for older students. The rules have become more flexible, but not enough to meet everyday realities. There is still no evidence that the multibillion-dollar investment in small primary classes has made more than an incremental difference in achievement. Well-intentioned and popular as it has been, the class-size reduction program represents another restriction on schools that need to be more creative, not less. When state officials bemoan the lack of innovation on the local level, while also requiring public schools to comply with a state Education Code that is measured in feet, not inches, it rings a little hollow. Instead of dictating how every dollar is spent, the state should allow school districts to use the money from this program as they see fit — and then the state should hold them accountable for their students' achievement. If the districts fail to spend the money wisely, they would face sanctions from the state, possible takeover and a drubbing of the local school board at the next election. The state's necessary and rightful role in education is to set standards, shape the curriculum, monitor progress and hold schools responsible for performance. If state officials spent less time monitoring the minutiae of the Education Code and more time ensuring that the schools prepare students well, California would be better off. _________________________________________________ ▲ 4LAKids 2¢ |RE-READ THAT SUBHEAD: Santa Ana schools may be cheating, therefore class size reduction has failed. I know the Times editorial page staff is challenged – but that is a conclusion of absurdist logic worthy of Beckett or Ionesco. Let’s continue our logical deconstruction: “There is still no evidence that the multibillion-dollar investment in small primary classes has made more than an incremental difference in achievement.” What does The Times need for evidence, sworn testimony from The Burning Bush? Michael Rennie arriving in a spaceship? • Test scores are gospel for bashers of public education. The greatest improvement in California Education in the past decade has occurred in K-3 – in those very 20:1 classrooms the Times would repopulate. • Performance drops off precipitously when the 20:1 kids move into the 30/35:1 classrooms above 3rd grade. Believe me, neither phenomena was caused by Open Court, NCLB or standardized testing! California has almost the highest class sizes in the nation. Without mandatory CSR we would have the world championship! Yes, the law needs tweaking. Yes flexibility and averaging are needed. Yes, mixed grade classes are suboptimal. But to allow school districts to end CSR and implement whatever reform they choose as is proposed would mean the teacher’s unions would pay the money to themselves almost as quickly as the Sacramento politicians would “borrow’ from this new funding “windfall”. • National PTA (parents+teachers) supports efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to reduce class size in the early grades for the purpose of improving children’s academic achievement. • The NEA (teachers+administrators+college types) supports a class size of 15 students in regular K-12 programs and even smaller in programs for students with exceptional needs. There are states and school districts that accomplish this. There is a name for those kinds of schools and programs: they’re called “successful”. If The Times wants us to be like them, we have to do like them. —smf THE NEA ON CLASS SIZE – includes the evidence The Times can’t find! L.A. UNIFIED REJECTS CHARTER EXPANSION: Despite lawyer's warning, board turns down Green Dot's plans for eight schools. By Joel Rubin and Adrian G. Uribarri, LA Times Staff Writers March 30, 2007 — A split Los Angeles Board of Education on Thursday rejected the expansion plans of one of the city's leading charter school operators — a move that almost certainly violates state law and firmly sets back future collaboration between the charter group and the school district. The unexpected 3-3 vote by the Los Angeles Unified School District board defeated Green Dot Public Schools' application for eight new charters. The group had planned to use several of the charter licenses to open new schools this fall in the Watts neighborhood around Locke High School — one of the city's worst. The board's seventh member, David Tokofsky, recused himself because he works for Green Dot. Board members and teachers union allies Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, Jon Lauritzen and Julie Korenstein voted against the charters, saying that despite the promising results Green Dot has produced at its other charters, they remain skeptical of the group's reform model. Their vote enraged Green Dot founder Steve Barr, who said it essentially ended months of talks between him, Supt. David L. Brewer and board President Marlene Canter aimed at a joint reform plan for Locke. "There is nothing to collaborate on … now we're outsiders," Barr said. "We've spent hours and days and nights trying to collaborate…. I really have a hard time finding any reason to continue talking with this district." Charters are publicly financed, independently run schools that are freed from many of the restrictions imposed on traditional schools in exchange for improving student performance. Barr is the largest charter operator in Los Angeles and has won strong support from such wealthy philanthropists as Eli Broad. He has clashed in the past with district officials over his aggressive push to expand. The rejection also infuriated board member Mike Lansing, who represents Watts voters and has pushed unsuccessfully for dramatic reforms there. Lansing accused his colleagues of bending to the wishes of the influential United Teachers Los Angeles, which largely opposes the charter movement. "It's really disappointing that we keep talking about wanting to do what's best for children first, when without a doubt that vote was about a teachers union and three board members not having the backbone to stand up and do the right thing for kids over their ties to the union," Lansing said after the vote. In their recent reelection bids, Poindexter LaMotte and Lauritzen relied almost entirely on a total of about $1 million in union contributions. Korenstein has enjoyed similar support in the past. Korenstein and an aide to Lauritzen said the votes were based largely on concerns about Green Dot's academic record and more generally about the financial toll if students — and the state funding that follows them — leave the district for charters. Poindexter LaMotte could not be reached for comment. UTLA President A.J. Duffy denied that he or other union leaders pressured board members to vote against Green Dot. In the past, Duffy has been sharply critical of Green Dot, making unsubstantiated claims that they handpick students to enroll and overwork teachers. Before the vote, a senior district lawyer and the director of L.A. Unified's charter office, Gregory McNair, repeatedly counseled the board to approve the charters. State law is clear, they said, that a school board can reject charters only if they fail to meet one of several criteria. Green Dot, the officials said, met all the criteria. Barr said he would appeal the board's decision to county education officials who could approve his charter plan. He pledged to open two charters that were previously approved near Locke and said he would continue to push to open others. Parents and students from the impoverished, gang-ridden community also implored the board to approve the charters, saying they were desperate for an alternative to the low-performing, often unsafe district middle and high schools in the area. One middle school student tearfully recounted how she often is beaten up at school by gang members but refuses to fight back out of fear that she will be punished. The board dealt with another potential controversy Thursday when it voted to renew an El Sereno school's charter less than three weeks after district staff advised against doing so. In a March 13 report on Academia Semillas del Pueblo, the staff cited low test scores, unconventional instruction and potentially conflicting school governance. About two weeks later, facing growing political pressure from former City Councilman Richard Alatorre, former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg and others, the staff changed course. McNair said his staff reversed its recommendation on Semillas in light of new details that reflected more favorably on the school's progress since it opened five years ago. He said the school's multilingual curriculum, which includes Spanish, English, Mandarin and Nahuatl-Mexicano, can't be judged against existing research and needs more than the board's initial five-year certification to show results. "This is a seven- or eight-year program," McNair said. "I think we've reached an agreement that allows them to carry out their program to fruition. Now, we want to see some improvements." Under the five-year renewal conditions, Semillas must meet benchmarks that for three years would place it at least at the median of comparable schools in terms of state and national standards. Data show Semillas ranks lowest among similar schools. Lansing, who voted not to renew the Semillas charter, said he was puzzled by how the staff switched its recommendation despite evidence of poor performance. The 5-2 decision came after more than several hundred school supporters marched downtown from the Olvera Street plaza to the district headquarters. Heath St. John, a Semillas teacher and parent, said opposition to the school was based on selective standards. "Some people don't understand our model," he said. "This is the third charter school that I've worked for in California, and it's the tightest-run ship." The school has come under criticism for its unorthodox style of instruction and low standardized test scores. Highlights, Lowlights & The News That Doesn't Fit: LAUSD SUES OVER PROJECTED SHORTFALL + CHAVEZ WALKOUT + LEGISLATIVE RELIEF or A RAID? ►LAUSD SUES OVER PROJECTED SHORTFALL Daily Breeze | from staff and news services Saturday, March 31, 2007— The Los Angeles Unified School District has sued the county and every city redevelopment agency within its boundaries, alleging a shortfall in property tax funding for education that could reach $2.4 billion over the next 45 years, according to court papers obtained Friday. The suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks that the county as well as 10 redevelopment agencies in Los Angeles, Carson, West Hollywood and other communities be ordered to pay more in property taxes to the school district and stop withholding the money in the future. Bill Wynder, Carson's city attorney, had not seen the lawsuit when contacted Friday evening. "I have not seen it, and I am not aware of the issues raised in it," Wynder said. Los Angeles County collects property tax increment -- the difference between the value of property when the project area was established and its current assessed value -- and disperses it to other taxing agencies. The money is then used to help finance incentives to attract development to blighted areas. Traditionally, school districts receive a slice of the money if their schools sit within the redevelopment area. According to the suit, schools are entitled to a share of property tax revenues that are being diverted to nonschool redevelopment projects through accounting devices created by the Legislature called Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds. The school district claims that for more than a decade, the county has retained some of the money that should have gone to the LAUSD, or given it instead to cities and special development districts. County officials were not immediately available for comment because of the Cesar Chavez holiday. The Carson redevelopment agency currently manages two project areas under a program designed to remove urban blight. Together, these areas cover 3,065 acres in the city. The first area follows an L-shaped pattern in central and northwest Carson. The second area covers portions of east and south Carson. Los Angeles Unified has schools in Carson, Gardena, Lomita and Rancho Palos Verdes. ▲smf notes: All politics being local, the Daily Breeze understandably makes this a story about Carson’s redevelopment; but it’s really about the LA City & County Community Redevelopment Agency and the Grand Avenue Project. __________________________________________________ ►L.A. STUDENTS WALK OUT IN CESAR CHAVEZ PROTEST By Dan Whitcomb | Reuters Fri. Mar 30 — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of students, some waving Mexican flags or chanting in Spanish, walked out of Los Angeles-area schools on Friday to demand national and state holidays honoring migrant labor activist Cesar Chavez. More than 650 students, mostly from heavily Latino neighborhoods of east Los Angeles, walked out of classes in a demonstration organized by the immigrant-rights group By Any Means Necessary, school officials said. Two hundred other students walked out of schools in Orange and San Diego counties, south of Los Angeles. There were no reports of injuries or arrests and the protests ended peacefully. Last year, thousands of students staged similar protests across Southern California, pouring onto a busy freeway and converging on City Hall. That demonstration came just weeks after huge marches in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants as Congress debated an immigration-reform bill that ultimately failed. Eight U.S. states, including California, and many counties and cities have holidays for Chavez, who died in 1993. Organizers of the walkout said the protesters wanted a U.S. national holiday and additional states to recognize him. In California, Cesar Chavez Day is March 31, his birthday. State government offices and colleges observed the holiday this year by closing on Friday, but Los Angeles public schools were open -- which drew complaints by many protesting students. "We're trying to get them to give us this holiday because Cesar Chavez helped our people a lot by marching for equal rights," 16-year-old high school student Corina Vigil said. "He believed in us, so now we're asking the school district to show they believe in us too." A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said officials were aware of the planned protest and had asked students to stay in class. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Latino activist turned politician who, while serving in the California Legislature, co-wrote the law creating the Chavez state holiday, agreed. "I think our kids should stay in school," Villaraigosa said in a statement. "I believe we can get a lot more information about Cesar Chavez and the contribution that he made to this great country by going to school, by learning about those contributions." ▲ Calling the Irony Police: Which holidays are observed in LAUSD is determined by collective bargaining. The teachers union determined whether or not to recognize Chavez Holiday – celebrating the union organizer – but instead they chose California Admission Day on Sept. 9th. Seeing so many of them are not being paid in the payroll snafu it amazes me that there wasn’t a work action Friday. - smf __________________________________________________ ► LAUSD MAY GAIN FUNDING: Bills would change ways state would split money by Harrison Sheppard, Sacramento Bureau | LA Daily News 19 March 2007 – SACRAMENTO - Grappling with a public education system that desperately needs more money, California lawmakers are targeting new funding formulas designed to help Los Angeles Unified and other urban districts. The bills come after landmark studies, released last week, found California schools from kindergarten through 12th grade need a top- to-bottom overhaul and an additional $24 billion to $32 billion every year just to remain competitive with schools in other states. "The report validated what a lot of us have already known: that it does take more resources to educate a poor child than a middle-class or high-income child," said Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon, D-Los Angeles. "That being said, at the end of the day, we as legislators in the Senate and Assembly, as well as the governor, will be tested. Ultimately it's a political decision, not an academic one." But at the local level, Los Angeles Unified School District officials would be satisfied if they could just get a bigger piece of the existing pie for schools that are overcrowded and have more disadvantaged students. Officials have long complained that state formulas shortchange the LAUSD, which is in the middle of a massive building program to relieve overcrowding and eliminate the need to operate schools on a year-round or multitrack basis. DeLeon has authored a measure that would change state formulas for funding school operations to benefit districts with the highest number of impoverished and minority students. Currently those formulas are based on average daily attendance. DeLeon's bill would create a "weighted" formula that would attach varying funding levels to different types of students. It would specifically give more funds to districts and schools with more minority and low-income students. But some lawmakers, especially Republicans who tend to represent rural and suburban districts, are likely to be skeptical of proposals that shift more funds to urban districts. Such proposals, they say, can harm suburban and rural schools that are doing a good job educating students. Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, said the state already has categorical programs that provide more funds for some poor and minority students. "At the same time, you've got to decide you don't want to punish people for doing a good job," Runner said. Runner agreed that more money needs to be spent educating children who have language challenges or other obstacles to learning. But he said race, ethnicity and economic status alone should not automatically mean a child or district needs that extra assistance. "I think it's wrong just to say we need more money because these children are poor and of color," Runner said. "If there are certain learning issues, like language, then I think that's a different issue. But I don't think it's just because of the socioeconomics (or) the minority status," he said. Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, has authored a bill that would provide Los Angeles and six other districts with more funds to operate year-round schools. Under current law, when districts accept state grants for construction of schools, they lose grant funds toward extra costs of operating schools still on the multitrack system. The theory is that the new schools will relieve overcrowding at the multitrack schools, so extra operating funds will not be necessary. But LAUSD officials say it takes three to five years to build a singLeonew school. Meanwhile, they say, existing schools continue to suffer from overcrowding, even though they lose the funds to deal with it. The district expects to lose at least $70 million over the course of its school-building program because of the funding formula. Superintendent David Brewer III, who was in Sacramento last week to testify in favor of Romero's bill, said $70 million is equivalent to giving the district's teachers a 1 percent raise. "As a superintendent, when I have to reach into my general fund to pay that differential - the extra cost of operating a multitrack vs. a single-track school, it costs money," Brewer said. "And that means I have to take it away from other things that are very important to running a school." Some members of the Senate Education Committee expressed skepticism, noting that changing the formula would mean taking money away from other districts. "If we give some districts more money, then it follows that some districts will get less money," said Chairman Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena. Scott also has a bill that would alter formulas and base funding on monthly enrollment, rather than average daily attendance. Tracking daily attendance, he said, burdens educators with too much paperwork and districts with high administrative costs. A simpler measure would allow schools to dedicate employees' time to more important functions, he said. Such a change also could reduce penalties on districts that have higher absenteeism, such as LAUSD. Scott's formula would be based on how many students are enrolled in a school, not how many regularly attend. Another bill sought by LAUSD changes the formula for funding school construction and modernization projects that are now being financed with a $10.4 billion education bond approved by voters last year. Under current formulas, districts that are expected to face declining enrollment in coming years, such as LAUSD, receive a lower level of funding. But LAUSD officials said the district is already facing severe overcrowding, and the formula underestimates the need for funding of new projects. A measure by Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, would alter that formula to lessen the role that reduced enrollment plays. "It would definitely benefit LAUSD, but we believe it will also (help) some of the other large urban areas as well," Bass said. "Some of the new construction money is geared to support school districts where enrollment is increasing. L.A. Unified's enrollment is decreasing, but all of us know that L.A. Unified is severely overcrowded." "The main point is to make sure Los Angeles and other urban areas, like San Diego and the Bay Area, get their fair share." ▲ MORE MONEY: Here are some of the bills pending in the state Legislature that would change state school-funding formulas, potentially to benefit Los Angeles Unified: • SB 121 by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles: Districts that accept grants to build new schools lose state money for operating year-round campuses, even before the new schools open. The bill would let them keep the operations money. • AB 179 by Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon, D-Los Angeles: Would use a "weighted" formula to provide more funds to districts with more minority and low-income students. • AB 1014 by Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles: Would reduce the size of funding cuts to districts with declining enrollment, including LAUSD. __________________________________________________ ► NEW SCHOOL PACT LEADS TO A RAID By Dan Walters – Syndicated Sacramento Bee Columnist Friday, March 30, 2007 — Los Angeles Unified is, by far, the state's largest school district. It has more than 700,000 students -- three-fourths of them Latino -- and is demonstrably one of the state's most troubled, with very low academic test scores and very high dropout rates. This month, the district's board and United Teachers of Los Angeles, its most influential union, finalized a new contract calling for a 6 percent increase in teachers' salaries for one year, plus extra money to reduce class sizes. Given the district's immense size, the cost of the contract will be hefty. LAUSD officials said the 6 percent raise will increase its salary costs by $240 million a year, the health care segment of the contract will cost another $60 million and class size reduction carries a $135 million-per-year price tag. Some of the additional cost will be covered by projected increases in revenue from local property taxes and state aid, but the district's newly hired superintendent, David Brewer, said the contract will create a $213 million shortfall over three years -- not counting what salary boosts might cost in the other years of the agreement. As Brewer and A.J. Duffy, the teachers union president, jointly announced the new contract, a reporter asked where they would find the money to finance it. "I don't know," the Los Angeles Times quoted Brewer in response. "Anybody else want to talk?" Later, Brewer assured reporters, "I think we will be able to find the money to do what we want to do." The plain fact is that school trustees presumably elected to govern prudently have approved a legally binding contract that commits them to shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars more than they know they'll have. One could dismiss such fiscal foolishness, of course, by adopting the everybody-does-it attitude, citing the federal and state governments' perennial deficits. But, as good parents constantly remind their children, just because everybody does it, it's still not good behavior. Five days after the new LAUSD contract was ratified, the other shoe dropped. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Los Angeles legislators have introduced a series of bills aimed at increasing the district's share of state school aid. Assemblyman Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, for instance, has a measure to "weight" state funding formulas to direct more money into districts with high numbers of non-white and low-income students -- with LAUSD the most conspicuous beneficiary. And of course, the money would come from other districts since the school finance pot is, in any given year, a fixed sum. While de León and others carrying bills to divert more money to LAUSD cite all sorts of rationales -- including, of course, the recently released foundation study on California schools' failings -- it's difficult to escape this cause-and-effect conclusion: The new teacher contract costs more than the district can muster, so Los Angeles' big legislative delegation, backed by union political muscle, would pay for it by taking money from other districts, their students and their teachers. That's not to say, certainly, that the state's school aid is either sufficient or fairly distributed now. The foundation study made the case for massive reform, not only spending more money, but redirecting it to schools with the greatest needs and getting rid of the cumbersome "categorical aids" that ignore real priorities. If the state's politicians were willing to undertake that infinitely difficult chore, a good starting place would be to declare a moratorium on legislation, such as the bills being pushed for LAUSD, that treats state school funds like pirate's booty to be plundered by those with the most guns. Coming up next week: MONDAY APRIL 2 – THE APPEAL ON AB 1381 MENDOZA v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA / LAUSD v. VILLARAIGOSA The hearing in the court of appeal is scheduled for Monday, April 2, at 9:30 a.m. The court of appeal is located in the Ronald Reagan State Office Building on the third floor, at 300 S. Spring Street in LA. The hearing is open to the public. The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel. This time the mayor's (Appellant's) side will get to go first and last; the Respondents go in the middle. It will be similar to the trial court hearing, although somewhat more formal. This is the only action on the court's calendar, it will probably start right away, Security at the courthouse is tight, arrive early! The plaintiffs believe we have the facts and the law on our side - we are confident that the action was decided correctly in the Superior Court and in the strengths of our argument and our legal team. We understand that the law is a surprising thing and that our adversaries are strong and capable of the unexpected. The issues haven't changed much since the trial court, but we'll just have to see how it goes. - smf Map to Ronald Reagan State Office Building/Courthouse What can YOU do? • E-mail, call or write your school board member: Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Mike.Lansing@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Jon.Lauritzen@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 David.Tokofsky@lausd.net • 213-241-6383 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600 • Call or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • Register. • Vote. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids. • FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. • To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.

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4LAKids: Sunday, March 25, 2007 In This Issue: • Dropouts I - Setting the Record Straight: DROPOUTS ARE TRUANTS ACCORDING TO THE LAW • Dropouts II - L.A. UNIFIED IS COUNTING ITS TRUANTS: Monthly attendance reports are seen as critical to curbing dropouts. • Dropouts III - MAYOR'S DROPOUT PLAN ONLY LOOKS NEW: LAUSD is already trying some ideas • HOW TO GO TO M.I.T. FOR FREE: Online 'intellectual philanthropy' attracts students from every nation on earth. • SCHOOLS VIE FOR AID, BUT MAY GET LEMONS + ¡CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL WINS ACADEMIC DECATHLON! • EVENTS: Coming up next week... • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • 4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved! • 4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc. I am out of town at a conference, and while I am away Bingo the Homework Eating Dog – also famous for appearing in the New Yorker “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog” cartoon. – has hacked into the 4LAKids server and posted the following two jokes. - smf NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND — FOOTBALL VERSION 1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If, after two years, they have not won the championship, their footballs and equipment will be taken away until they do win the championship. 2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, lack of desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities from themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL! 3. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time for the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability, or whose parents don't like football. 4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 3rd, 8th, and 11th games. It will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go to school with bad football players. A LEGAL HYPOTHETICAL Students unfurl a banner across the street from a school. It reads: "Antonio Villaraigosa is a big poo-head." Is this: 1. Protected free speech? 2. Prohibited hate speech? 3. A passing essay in the California Kindergarten Exit Exam? The New Yorker cartoon: “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog” by Peter Steiner Dropouts I - Setting the Record Straight: DROPOUTS ARE TRUANTS ACCORDING TO THE LAW By Dan Basalone in the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Newsletter March 12, 2007 — For months, politicians in Los Angeles and Sacramento have used dropout statistics as a means to bludgeon LAUSD as a mediocre, failing district. Even worse, it has been implied that the district, meaning all employees, don’t really care whether students finish school or not. In the broader sense, all urban and rural school districts with high dropout rates have been castigated as failing districts. First, let’s set the record straight: Dropouts are actually truants according to the State Education Code …if any politician cares to read the law. In its continuing effort to educate politicians and the general public, AALA provides the following information from the Education Code of the State of California: • Section 48200. Each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not exempted under the provisions of this chapter or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) is subject to compulsory full-time education. • Section 48430. Children who hold work permits shall be exempted, but such children shall be subject to compulsory attendance upon part-time classes. • Section 48450. Each parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of any minor required to attend special continuation education classes, shall compel the attendance of the minor upon the classes. He shall retain a copy of the permit to work and shall present it upon request of any officer of the law, or other person authorized to enforce provisions of this chapter. • Section 48460. (a) Any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof, is a truant and shall be reported to the attendance supervisor or to the superintendent of the school district. • Section 48291. If it appears upon investigation that any parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of any child has violated any of the provisions of this chapter, the secretary of the board of education, except as provided in Section 48292, or the clerk of the board of trustees, shall refer such person to a school attendance review board. In the event that any such parent, guardian, or other person continually and willfully fails to respond to directives of the school attendance review board or services provided, the school attendance review board shall direct the school district to make and file in proper court a criminal complaint against the parent, guardian, or other person, charging the violation, and shall see that the charge is prosecuted by the proper authority. AALA encourages every citizen, including illustrious politicians, to go online to the California Government Code website and read the complete text of the sections dealing with compulsory school attendance that are referenced above. It is a disservice to the many hardworking teachers, administrators and classified staff personnel of LAUSD to blame them for dropouts when the primary responsibility for attendance is parental. AALA acknowledges that schools have a legal and professional responsibility to provide the best education possible given the resources available. Districts also have the responsibility to provide the counseling and intervention programs mandated by the State, as well as district initiated retention strategies. Secondary schools especially need to implement a comprehensive curriculum in order to meet the learning needs of all students. Career education, the arts, physical education, industrial arts and other curricula are needed in addition to A – G academic classes. Motivation for learning comes in many forms depending on individual needs because one size does not fit all, and it must be culturally relevant. AALA reminds the naysayers that the thousands of students who matriculate through the grades and graduate annually should be applauded for doing the daily work of attending school and learning. The parents of matriculating students and the graduates should be praised for making sure that their children attend school on a regular basis and complete work assignments. Isn’t that what all parents are supposed to do? Any politician who says that it is the school’s responsibility to keep students in school, blithely dismisses this parental role in their pathetic attempt to make a political point. They also contribute to the denial of those parents who are neglectful of their children’s education. AALA encourages parents, nonparent community members and politicians to visit their local schools in LAUSD and other districts to discover the learning that is taking place. At the same time, they will observe the thousands of dedicated students who are attending school and learning because their parents or guardians make sure that they attend to their learning activities. It is sad that other students are not in attendance; however, that is not the fault of the school because it is truancy and the responsibility of the parent or guardian. AALA encourages school officials and parents or guardians to follow the compulsory education laws referenced above and to be their child’s primary advocate and cheerleader. If a parent is unsure of the advocacy role, 10th and 31st District PTA chapters provide the support needed to learn this role. Learning is work and by its very nature not easily acquired. It takes persistence and fortitude to deal with failure that is inevitable when attempting to learn new skills. Despite any learning frustration, the Education Code is very clear that not attending school is TRUANCY. ▲ smf opines: Thank you Dan; PTA’s role IS to advocate for kids and to educate parents – I thank AALA for the plug and for reminding their members what PTA is supposed to do! PTA is NOT a fundraising engine to make up for budget shortfalls and wish lists! WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS: In California we have a compulsory education system. Parents are compelled by law to send their kids to school until they are 18 and/or graduate. Children are compelled to attend school; like gravity and Dan said earlier: IT’S THE LAW! In the good old days, when Lucy was still married to Desi and television (if not the world entire) was in black-and-white there were truant officers. Boys in blue from LAPD – city employees – enforced compulsory attendance. They stopped kids on the street between 8AM and 3PM and asked questions; they hauled students without an excuse back to school. Later truant officers became Pupil Services and Attendance (PSA) Counselors, school district employees who sought out truants, chronic absentees, “skippers” and “ditchers” – and their parents – and brought them to school and saw that they kept coming. The advent of year ‘round calendars made the work a little harder (one third of a given school's student body could be legally out of school at any one time) – but that in itself didn’t make the job impossible, only harder. But when the budget needed cutting those PSA jobs were the first to go — the focus was on the classroom and PSA Counselors doing their job weren’t there. Laudable on the face of it; but dumb. Dumb because it served to allow those kids not in the classroom to remain that way – and dumber still because the PSA program was fiscally self-sustaining: Every truant returned to school produces revenue in the form of Average Daily Attendance money. ADA IS the school district’s primary source of revenue …the PSA program paid for itself and more! Rounding up the dropouts and truants isn’t the only answer; school needs to be made more relevant and appealing to kids at risk of being lift behind. Parents that allow their kids to skip school and drop out should be held accountable. And maybe the cops on the street in their radio cars need to turn off the air conditioning, roll down the windows and do the most basic of community policing: “Excuse me …why aren’t you in school?” Ed Code sections dealing with Cumpulsory Attendence Dropouts II - L.A. UNIFIED IS COUNTING ITS TRUANTS: Monthly attendance reports are seen as critical to curbing dropouts. by Mitchell Landsberg, LA Times Staff Writer March 21, 2007 — Although the Los Angeles Unified School District has ramped up its efforts to keep students in school, a new report shows that thousands are still skipping class routinely, and the problem is rampant in a few low-performing schools. The report is the first in what is intended as a series of monthly accounts that will track truancy and absenteeism in every middle and high school in the district — something that has not been done in such a systematic way before. The information is considered critical because students typically begin skipping school sporadically before dropping out altogether. L.A. Unified is trying to tackle a dropout rate that is officially 24.1% but has been estimated at close to double that. Several numbers leap out of the first report, which tracked students who missed school in January. A single school, Washington Preparatory High School near Inglewood, had 170 students with 10 or more "unresolved" absences that month. Another, Belmont High, just west of downtown, had 167. An unresolved absence is one for which a student does not bring a written excuse and the school doesn't contact the parents. And a middle school, Bethune in South L.A., listed 335 students with three or more truancies, far more than any other school. A truancy is an unauthorized absence, one for which the school has determined that the student had no legitimate excuse. An assistant principal at Belmont, John Newton, said the school, where 4,045 students are enrolled, welcomed the report. "It should allow us to improve student attendance and track down those students who may drop out because of attendance problems," he said. "So we think it will be a real benefit, even though it looks negative the first month." One reason the number of absences may be so high, Newton said, is that the district has rolled out a new computerized attendance system that keeps track of students' presence in every class. Before, attendance was taken once a day, in homeroom. "So we literally have, in a school this size, thousands of attendance marks every day," he said. That means, among other things, that whenever a student cuts a single class, it is classified as an absence. Without an excuse, it becomes "unresolved." Bethune's assistant principal, Beverly Byrd, said the high numbers at her school, which enrolls 2,300 students, were partly the result of an especially tough approach to absences fostered by the school's participation in an anti-truancy program run by the city attorney's office. Under that program, Operation Bright Futures, absent students were declared truant unless they returned to school with a note from a doctor, she said. Once the district report came out, Byrd said, Bethune administrators decided to mark absences "uncleared" until they could reach the parents and find out whether the student had a legitimate reason to miss school. She said the school has a fairly high attendance rate — between 93% and 94%. But she also said students sometimes skip classes, a practice that contributes to high truancy numbers. Even before its release, the attendance report caused a stir when Deputy Mayor Ramon C. Cortines accused the district of dragging its feet in releasing the data. He complained on Feb. 21 that the report was ready but had not been made public "because of the damn bureaucracy." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa repeatedly attacked the district because of its dropout rate last year as he was attempting to gain control over the school system. The report was made public within two days of Cortines' complaint. A deputy to Cortines, Marshall Tuck, said recently that its release represented "good progress," although he added that it was too early to draw any meaningful conclusions because there are no earlier, comparable data to show whether the district is improving or not. "You need, first and foremost, to have the data," he said. Debra Duardo, the director of dropout prevention and recovery for the district, agreed that it was difficult to tell much from a single month of reporting. However, she said it did point her toward some schools — she declined to name them — that might be doing a sloppy job of record keeping or failing to aggressively respond to unexplained absences. She called the reports "a great tool" that will help the district rein in the problem. Over the last year, the district has taken several measures to keep closer track of its attendance and dropout problems. It has added attendance clerks and counselors to nearly every high school, and the new computer system that tracks students period by period eventually will be available to parents to keep an eye on their children's attendance. That system has also allowed the district to begin producing the monthly reports. The January report shows that out of nearly 386,000 middle and high school students, 3,533 had 10 or more unresolved absences that month. Dropouts III - MAYOR'S DROPOUT PLAN ONLY LOOKS NEW: LAUSD is already trying some ideas by Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer, LA Daily News 3/21/2007 — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has proposed a detailed nine-point plan aimed at dramatically improving Los Angeles Unified's dropout rate - a plan that is virtually identical to efforts already in place in the district. The plan, part of an 18-month review of best practices at schools across the country, proposes everything from boosting after-school programs to improving tracking of at-risk students. But the district already began implementing such measures last year, raising questions about whether Villaraigosa's vision of school reform is a blueprint that will truly make a difference. And even though the district and the mayor's efforts appear similar, UCLA professor John Rogers said it's too early to conclude they are the right steps. "All of the ideas are positive," he said. "Whether they're enough to make a substantial difference is a harder question." The Mayor's Office defended its dropout proposal, saying it differs significantly from district efforts because it emphasizes ending the practice of promoting students to the next grade even if they're not ready. Officials also note the district's dropout efforts have been sporadic and the mayor's plan would emphasize creating smaller, more personalized schools to reduce dropouts. "There is no evidence that the district has moved to implement a dropout reduction plan with the required urgency to solve the problem," said Marshall Tuck, education adviser to the mayor. "What we need is leaders committed to a total realignment of the organization." To be fair, the mayor's demand for closer involvement and efforts to gain control of the district appear to have been a factor behind the district boosting measures to stem dropouts. The problem has been a lightning rod for criticism for years, with several studies finding that more than half of LAUSD students don't graduate. FOCUS TURNS TO AT-RISK While a study by the California Department of Education placed LAUSD's dropout rate at 24percent, the differing figures spotlighted a poor district tracking system. It also was Deputy Mayor Ray Cortines' pressure that pushed the district to begin a computerized attendance tracking system that lets teachers more closely monitor absences. In August, amid attacks from the mayor, LAUSD rolled out a $10million program designed to keep at-risk students at school and to re-enroll those who leave. The district hired 80 "diploma project advisers" and placed them at 46 high schools and 34 middle schools that have dropout rates above the state average. Counselors are tasked with reviewing attendance data and grades to identify at-risk students and even visit students' homes to try to bring back those who have dropped out. LAUSD also has started better tracking dropouts to find out why they left, and it's developing better records of the actual dropout rate. District officials are training teachers and principals to interpret the data and have implemented districtwide policies on when to call an absent student's home and when to set up parent conferences. The district is also looking to expand alternative education programs such as part-time school attendance to retain students who don't necessarily want to attend college. All of those district efforts are mirrored in the mayor's nine-point plan. Tuck, education adviser to Cortines, credited the district for moving forward but emphasized that implementation and results rely on the details. "We need to ask questions like: Are the strategies being implemented districtwide? How many dropped out? What's the goal to get them back into schools? How many kids are they bringing back? Why are they coming back? Why aren't they coming back? What are the district's measures of success?" Tuck said. "There's not one silver bullet. We're looking at a comprehensive, integrated, districtwide strategy that spans from pre-K to the 12th grade," he said. "Unless you're doing all the strategies and implementing them comprehensively ... it's very difficult to stall the dropout problem." District officials acknowledge their dropout strategies are not in effect at all district schools, but they said the problem has been funding. Each diploma project adviser costs $100,000, so "it boils down to how many resources you have," Superintendent David BrewerIII said. Still, Brewer said principals have been made aware they will be held accountable for improvements at school sites. Brewer cited efforts at Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, which created ninth- and 10th-grade centers with counseling services to help students transition to the next grade level. FAILING THE EXIT EXAM Rogers, who has been studying Exit Exams throughout the state, said that despite LAUSD's efforts to reduce dropouts, the percentage of students who graduated was substantially smaller in 2006 than in the previous five years. The Exit Exam, which all students are required to pass to receive a diploma, became mandatory for graduation last year, and that had a negative impact on the district's graduation rates. As part of dropout prevention and recovery efforts, the district launched massive intervention programs and boot camps to get more students to pass the exam. So far, the district only has comprehensive tracking data for January, which showed 3,533 middle and high school students with 10 or more unresolved absences. The data also showed 307 withdrawals and 3,217 students with three or more truancies for the month. But district officials said it's too early to draw conclusions because there are no comparative data yet. Rogers credits LAUSD for taking steps to counter the exam's effect on the dropout rate, but he said it is too little, too late. "There's only so much impact extra tutoring will have in the student's 12th-grade year if you haven't provided sufficient learning opportunities in the seventh grade, eighth grade and ninth grade," said Rogers, who also is co-director of the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at UCLA's graduate school of education. Ultimately, some say what's really needed at the district - beyond improved tracking and mentoring - is funding for programs that will reduce the dropout rate. Debra Duardo, director of LAUSD's dropout prevention, intervention and recovery program, said her effort also could use the mayor's help to deal with students' social issues. "We have homeless students, safety issues, poverty and gang violence and so many other issues that we need to work together with the Mayor's Office and anybody else who wants to come to the table." HOW TO GO TO M.I.T. FOR FREE: Online 'intellectual philanthropy' attracts students from every nation on earth. by Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor By the end of this year, the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at one of the world's most prestigious universities will be available online to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world. Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted. The cost? It's all free of charge. The OpenCourseWare movement, begun at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002 and now spread to some 120 other universities worldwide, aims to disperse knowledge far beyond the ivy-clad walls of elite campuses to anyone who has an Internet connection and a desire to learn. Intended as an act of "intellectual philanthropy," OpenCourseWare (OCW) provides free access to course materials such as syllabi, video or audio lectures, notes, homework assignments, illustrations, and so on. So far, by giving away their content, the universities aren't discouraging students from enrolling as students. Instead, the online materials appear to be only whetting appetites for more. "We believe strongly that education can be best advanced when knowledge is shared openly and freely," says Anne Margulies, executive director of the OCW program at MIT. "MIT is using the power of the Internet to give away all of the educational materials created here." The MIT site (ocw.mit.edu), along with companion sites that translate the material into other languages, now average about 1.4 million visits per month from learners "in every single country on the planet," Ms. Margulies says. Those include Iraq, Darfur, "even Antarctica," she says. "We hear from [the online students] all the time with inspirational stories about how they are using these materials to change their lives. They're really, really motivated." So-called "distance learning" over the Internet isn't new. Students have been able to pay for online courses at many institutions, either to receive credit or simply as a noncredit adult-learning experience. Many universities also offer free podcasts (audio or sometimes video material delivered via the Internet). But the sheer volume and variety of the educational materials being released by MIT and its OCW collaborators is nothing less than stunning. For example, each of the 29 courses that Tufts University in Medford, Mass., has put online so far is "literally the size of a textbook," says Mary Lee, associate provost and point person for the OCW effort there. The material provides much more than "a skeleton of a course," she says. Visitors to Tufts' OCW course on "Wildlife Medicine" call it is the most comprehensive website on that topic in the world, Dr. Lee says. What OCW is not, its supporters agree, is a substitute for attending a university. For one thing, OCW learners aren't able to receive feedback from a professor - or to discuss the course with fellow students. A college education is "really the total package of students interacting with other students, forming networks, interacting with faculty, and that whole environment of being associated with the school," says James Yager, a senior associate dean at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He oversees the OCW program there. His school of public health now offers nearly 40 of its most popular courses for free via OCW. The school's goal is to put 90 to 100 of its 200 or so core courses online within the next year or so. In November, learners from places such as Taiwan, Britain, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands logged some 80,000 page views of OCW course material, Dr. Yager says. MIT's initiative began with the idea of giving faculty at other universities access to how professors at MIT approached teaching a subject. But after the OCW project went online, the school quickly realized it had two other huge constituencies: students at other colleges, who wanted to augment what they were learning, and "self learners," those not pursuing a formal education but interested in increasing their knowledge. Along with course content, MIT also wanted to showcase its teaching methods. Many schools follow a traditional model, teaching the theory first, then allowing students to practice what they've learned. MIT has a "practice, theory, practice" way of teaching, Margulies says, that aims to get students engaged and energized immediately - before delving much into theory. Younes Attaourti, a physics professor in Marrakesh, Morocco, stumbled upon MIT's OCW site while surfing the Net. He's used the materials as the basis for courses he's taught on statistical physics and quantum theory of fields. And for his own learning, he's downloaded theoretical physics courses and one on ultrafast optics. "I don't think there is another university elsewhere in the world that is more generous," he writes in an e-mail: "[T]his is the first time that many people around the world are able to have access to top-quality courses." Phillipa Williams is an adult (40-something) student at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, studying mathematics ("don't groan, I love it!" she writes in an e-mail). She's worked her way through many of the OCW undergraduate mathematics courses, she says, because they provide "a different viewpoint, another explanation of material," as well as different practice questions. MIT's OCW website features even more glowing feedback from learners. "[B]ecause of money, many good students with great talent and [who are] diligent do not have the chance to learn the newest knowledge and understanding of the universe," says Chen Zhiying, a student in the People's Republic of China. "But now, due to the OCW, the knowledge will spread to more and more people, and it will benefit the whole [world of] human-beings." "The MIT OCW program is a generous and far-sighted initiative that will do more to change the world for the better than a thousand Iraq-style invasions," the MIT site quotes Leigh Pascoe, a self-learner in Paris, as saying. "It does much to restore my faith in the enlightenment of the American people and their great experiment in democracy. This program should be emulated by every university worthy of the name." Besides MIT, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins, the OCW consortium (ocwconsor tium.org) in the United States includes among its members Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Utah State. Internationally, members include groups of universities in China, Japan, and Spain. So far MIT has published 1,550 of its courses for OCW and plans to get the rest online by the end of this year. The materials for each course vary. Full videos of lectures, one of the most popular features, are available for only 26 courses, about 1,000 hours of video in all. "We'd like to do more video because it's really quite popular and our users love it," Marguiles says. "But it's quite expensive." The program relies on "generous support" from foundations, individuals, and MIT itself for funding, she says. Schools like Tufts and Johns Hopkins were able to jump-start their OCW programs quickly because the schools had already committed themselves for many years to putting all their classroom materials online for use by their own students. The biggest job has been to vet the materials for copyright issues, so-called "copyright scrubbing," Lee and Yager say. If permission cannot be obtained for a specific photo or chart, it must be left out of the OCW version or a substitute found. The OCW effort is part of a wide range of dynamic educational content emerging on the Internet, says Dan Colman, associate dean and director of Stanford University's continuing studies program and host of the website oculture.com, which highlights what's happening in Web-based education, with an emphasis on podcasts. Full-fledged online courses "might eventually offer a viable alternative to the classroom, but right now we have a ways to go," he writes via e-mail. Podcasts, for example, let learners hear a lecture, but they don't require that the listener write a critical essay or take part in a classroom discussion - activities that are a key element of the learning process, Mr. Colman says. And technology still needs to advance a bit more too. "We'll need a very fast fiber network and communication tools that give courses a greater degree of immediacy and sociability before this [online] model will become a real option educationally and economically," he says. "In the meantime, the traditional classroom is fairly safe." For example, lab work, which usually requires close hands-on collaboration between an instructor and students, remains problematic online, Yager points out. The losers in putting free content online aren't likely to be universities, which will continue to attract young students, Colman says. But free podcasts and OCW courses may pull adult learners away from other leisure activities, he says, such as reading books, watching educational television shows, or buying recordings of books or lectures. "All of these entities could suffer as users find free high-quality information on the Web," Colman says. ▲This program offers a great opportunity for extended learning for high school students — even ESL students! College and graduate school level courses - many translated into Spanish... inspired teachers and administrators will figure out a way for these courses to earn credit for the students that take them! —smf EXAMPLE COURSE: » MIT OpenCourseWare » Comparative Media Studies » Media, Education, and the Marketplace SCHOOLS VIE FOR AID, BUT MAY GET LEMONS + ¡CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL WINS ACADEMIC DECATHLON! ▲SCHOOLS VIE FOR AID, BUT MAY GET LEMONS: The state has a jackpot of nearly $3 billion to spend, but in L.A. and elsewhere many needy campuses will get nothing. By Howard Blume | LA Times Staff Writer March 18, 2007 — Santee High in South Los Angeles ranks at the very bottom of high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, but it won't get a penny of the most substantial infusion of new state funding in years for low-achieving schools. Nearby Belmont High, another struggling school to be sure, almost certainly will get these funds — some $1,000 per student for seven years. So it goes with the big-stakes, lottery-like Quality Education Investment Act, the result of a $2.9-billion litigation settlement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Teachers Assn. and state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. Because the goal was to provide enough money to have a significant effect, the funds will be narrowly targeted, going only to about one-third of the 1,455 California schools that rank in the lowest 20% in student achievement. The Los Angeles Unified School District, which dwarfs other school systems, is expected to receive funding for about 80 schools. How many local schools will receive money — and which ones — is up to the state, although most slots will be filled by a lottery. L.A. Unified, for its part, is responsible for listing its schools in order of priority and making sure applications are accurate. The school board is scheduled to vote on that list Thursday, with the state announcing the final picks in early May. The money starts flowing in the next school year, which for year-round campuses begins in July. The priority ranking of schools has been the subject of debate. And so have the requirements: The district will need to hire many more experienced teachers, for example, and classroom space is an issue. Unavoidably, there will be losers. As for the winners, they will enjoy relative plenty for seven years. They will have that time to prove that a major influx of resources works, that class-size reduction, intense teacher training and adding counselors — three mandated features of the program — will raise student achievement. These campuses could embody the argument that other low-performing schools need a lot more money, too. But if these richer times are squandered, then these schools could become evidence that money is not the issue, weakening the case for substantially greater education funding that a small army of researchers made in high-profile reports released last week. Decades-long federally funded efforts have yielded unpersuasive results, as have state-funded initiatives of recent years, critics say. L.A. Unified school board member David Tokofsky called the infusion "the most significant investment in public education" since President Johnson made federal aid to schools part of his war on poverty. For the winners, that is. "This is not permanent money, and this is not a very well thought-out program, but it is being driven by all of our feelings that we can wait no longer," said Tokofsky, who chaired last week's special school board meeting on the subject. "That the kids most in need — the students at Locke, Jordan and Garfield, schools overburdened by the number of kids and the intensity of poverty — can wait no longer." This attempt also is a bet on particular strategies, especially class-size reduction, and a wager that failing schools and the state education system are ready to succeed where they haven't before. Doubters abound. "Pouring more money into failing schools doesn't work," said Caprice Young, head of the California Charter Schools Assn., offering one critique. "If you've got money to improve the quality of education in a neighborhood, the best thing you can do is start a new school." She, of course, favors publicly funded, independently run charter schools. Santee High, a traditional school, suffers precisely for its newness. Eligibility is first determined by 2005 test scores. Santee didn't open until July 2005 — after that year's testing. Jefferson High and Jordan High, also in South L.A., follow Santee as the next lowest academic performers. They would appear to be certain winners, but both schools lack space to reduce class sizes in core academic subjects to 25 students or less. But such schools are not automatically out of the game. The rules set aside 15% of the program's total student enrollment for schools that would have to submit alternative plans, such as putting more than one teacher in a classroom. These alternative strategies, say state officials, must be supported by research. And they must be in state hands by month's end. In recent months, community groups have entered the debate, descending on district headquarters for demonstrations or meetings three times last week. At some schools, they've found principals who either knew little about the program or showed a lack of interest, said parent Martha Sanchez of the grass-roots group Los Angeles ACORN. District officials insist that all schools will be required to submit applications and that schools applying under the alternative program will get the help they need to submit top-notch proposals. Another worry is that the district's ranking system could unfairly deny some schools in the poor neighborhoods south and east of downtown, said Sheilagh Polk of the group Community Coalition. Activists said they worry about irresistible pressures to spread the money to schools represented by each of the seven board members. At last week's meeting, Tokofsky asked the groups to bring to Thursday's meeting any specific injustices they identify. He has some issues of his own, including the automatic preference district staff gave to middle schools over elementary schools. An added challenge will be filling 2,000 new teaching positions in L.A. Unified over the next four years for this effort and other initiatives. And under this reform, the teaching corps at participating schools must be at least as experienced as elsewhere in the school system. The settlement ended a lawsuit over Schwarzenegger's 2005 decision, during a budget crisis, to reinterpret his agreement to fully fund K-12 education. CTA and O'Connell sued. The resulting 2006 settlement restored the contested funds, while undermining portrayals of the Republican governor as a foe of education just when he was running for reelection. Although the money technically belonged equally to all schools, the parties to the lawsuit opted for a targeted plan. "We're trying to clearly help the most challenging schools," said O'Connell recently. "We'll help a generation of students in the next seven years. We know we've underfunded education for far too long." ► Thank you to Howard Blume for a fine piece of reporting; California's Byzantine system of school finance gives that ancient empire a bad name. What is missed is that the money being dispensed in what David Tokofsky says is "the most significant investment in public education" since the war on poverty is the exact same money cut in years past from school budgets because of the legislature and governor's "borrowing" from the Prop 98 constitutional guarantee of adequate funding to schools. First, a math lesson: Less than "adequate" is "inadequate". Second: School Boards up and down the state made painful local decisions over the past few tears where to cut from their budgets when the state cut the amount it paid for public education. Now the state is paying back what it borrowed, but on a lottery basis ...to only some schools and with strings attached formulated by politicians in Sacramento. Pay back the money to the programs it was cut from. - smf EL CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL WINS ACADEMIC DECATHLON Mar 18, 2007 (CBS) LOS ANGELES A team of brainiacs from El Camino Real High School won the 2007 California Academic Decathlon, it was announced Sunday. The eight-member team scored 50,486 points out of a possible 60,000 points in the competition. The students will represent the Golden State at the 2007 U.S. Academic Decathlon April 25-28 in Honolulu. Granada Hills Charter High School finished second with 50,276 points. Moorpark High School in Ventura County, which won the Super Quiz Relay portion of the competition, came in third. Six of the eight teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District finished in the top 10. North Hollywood was fourth, Palisades Charter fifth, Marshall seventh and Garfield ninth. Taft came in 18th and Narbonne 23rd. In all, 483 decathletes representing 55 high schools from across the state competed over two days with multiple-choice tests, interviews, speeches and essay writing. This year's study topic was "China and Its Influence on the World." ________________________________________ ▲ ¡CAMINO REAL HIGH SCHOOL WINS ACADEMIC DECATHLON! Mar 18, 2007 (CBS) LOS ANGELES A team of brainiacs from El Camino Real High School won the 2007 California Academic Decathlon, it was announced Sunday. The eight-member team scored 50,486 points out of a possible 60,000 points in the competition. The students will represent the Golden State at the 2007 U.S. Academic Decathlon April 25-28 in Honolulu. Granada Hills Charter High School finished second with 50,276 points. Moorpark High School in Ventura County, which won the Super Quiz Relay portion of the competition, came in third. Six of the eight teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District finished in the top 10. North Hollywood was fourth, Palisades Charter fifth, Marshall seventh and Garfield ninth. Taft came in 18th and Narbonne 23rd. In all, 483 decathletes representing 55 high schools from across the state competed over two days with multiple-choice tests, interviews, speeches and essay writing. This year's study topic was "China and Its Influence on the World." ▲ On to Honolulu ECR - and victory! - smf EVENTS: Coming up next week... Save The Date: THE APPEAL ON AB 1381 | MENDOZA v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA | LAUSD, et al v. Villaraigosa, et al The hearing in the court of appeal is scheduled for MONDAY, APRIL 2, AT 9:30 A.M. The court of appeal is located in the Ronald Reagan State Office Building on the third floor, at 300 S. SPRING STREET IN LA. The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel. • Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 CENTRAL REGION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL #20: Site Selection Kick-Off Meeting Join us as we kick off the site selection process for this new school. 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Frank del Olmo Elementary School 100 N. New Hampshire Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90004 • Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 Central Los Angeles Middle School #1 aka John H. Liechty Middle School: Community Update Meeting 6:00 p.m. Gratts Elementary School – Auditorium 309 Lucas Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90017 • Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 SOUTH REGION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL #12: Site Selection Update Meeting Join us at this meeting where we will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project. 6:00 p.m. Lillian Elementary School 5909 Lillian St. Los Angeles, CA 90001 . • Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 VALLEY REGION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL #14: Site Selection Update Meeting Join us at this meeting where we will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project. 6:30 p.m. Columbus Avenue Elementary School 6700 Columbus Ave. Van Nuys, CA 91405 • Thursday Mar 29, 2007 CENTRAL LOS ANGELES NEW LEARNING CENTER #1 (Ambassador/RFK-12): Project Update Meeting 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Berendo Middle School – Auditorium 1157 S. Berendo St. Los Angeles, CA 90006 • Thursday Mar 29, 2007 Combined Community Meeting For: • VALLEY REGION BYRD HIGH SCHOOL Reconfiguration – CEQA Draft Environmental Impact Report • VALLEY REGION MIDDLE SCHOOL #3 – Project Design Update • EAST VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL #1A Construction Update 6:30 p.m. Francis Polytechnic High School 12431 Roscoe Blvd. Sun Valley, CA 91352 *Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________ • SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: http://www.laschools.org/bond/ Phone: 213.633.7493 ____________________________________________________ • LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR: http://www.laschools.org/happenings/ Phone: 213.633.7616 • More info on AB 1381 Mendoza v. California court case What can YOU do? • E-mail, call or write your school board member: Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Mike.Lansing@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Jon.Lauritzen@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 David.Tokofsky@lausd.net • 213-241-6383 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600 • Call or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • Register. • Vote. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. 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