In This Issue:  | | • | 2 from Taking Note: WHO ARE THE REAL EDUCATIONAL “REFORMERS”? + LEARNING FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES | | | • | ACCEPT IT: POVERTY HURTS LEARNING - SCHOOLS MATTER, BUT THEY'RE NOT ALL THAT MATTERS | | | • | The Schott Report: FAILURE IS THE RULE | | | • | BACK TO CAMPUS WITH LOFTIER GOAL: The school district passes the API's 700 mark for the first time. | | | • | HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources | | | • | EVENTS: Coming up next week... | | | • | What can YOU do? | |
Featured Links: | | | | Today, Sunday Sept 19th is International Talk like a Pirate Day ...and 4LAKids is going to go there.
Even Wikipedia ...an authority of questioned geography lying well to the windward of the Encyclopedia Britannica and The World Book - and perhaps into the totally uncharted waters ("Danger, here be Pirates!") of The Onion and The Daily Show themselves - calls the day a "parodic holiday".[http://bit.ly/iEJlb] Why would such a respected educational authority as 4LAKIds - especially one with Political (uh-uh!) Ambitions - wander so far abaft of the poop deck?
Because we are all more like Bart than Lisa Simpson -- and saying and seeing "poop deck" is more fun than "the partial deck above a ship's main after deck". Because, gentle readers, there is a pirate in all of us. Not a Somali speedboat and AK-47 pirate... but a Treasure Island Robert-Newton-as-Long-John-Silver pirate:
"There!" he cried. "That's what I think of ye. Before an hour's out, I'll stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh upon the other side. Them that die'll be the lucky ones." - from Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson
Stevenson was a poet and he wrote no better poetry than that!
But to stretch logic and credulity let us go farther in deconstructing our shaky motive for having fun and raising th' ol' skull 'n bones. International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is closely aligned with another parodic celebration: The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. 'Created in 2005 by Oregon State physics graduate Bobby Henderson, it was originally intended as a satirical protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public schools. In an open letter sent to the Kansas State Board of Education, Henderson parodied the concept of intelligent design by professing belief in a supernatural creator which closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs.' - from Wikipedia (visit http://bit.ly/9EnIp to further pursue Henderson's revelation - but note the uncanny resemblance between Michelangelo’s depiction of the Creator and Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. http://bit.ly/16VXX Coincidence? I think not!)
Al Gore, are you reading this? - THE CORRELATION OF THE DECLINE ON PIRACY TO THE RISE OF GLOBAL WARMING: http://bit.ly/FfLDG
PIRACY & CHARTER SCHOOLS: Sailing onward into uncharted waters with the freebooters in Wikipedia, the article on the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730) [http://bit.ly/9u5Hli] ascribes the outburst of pirates due in part to the excellent job the Royal Navy did (in its Golden Age) in training sailors and captains and the ineffective governance by European powers of their overseas possessions. It doesn't take a Ed.D. to connect-the-dots between the leaders and expectations raised in California’s Educational Golden Age (c.1960) to the lack of governance and fiscal commitment in today's educational K-12 outlands.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and we all enjoy a pirate. And what is a Charter but a Letter of Marque?
¡Onward me hearties/Adelante e Hablar como un Pirata! We started out school this year already a week behind - next week we've gotta get serious! - smf
2 from Taking Note: WHO ARE THE REAL EDUCATIONAL “REFORMERS”? + LEARNING FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
WHO ARE THE REAL EDUCATIONAL “REFORMERS”?
by Richard Kahlenberg from Taking Note: A Century Foundation Group blog | http://bit.ly/9yWLqT
September 17, 2010 | All sorts of people are interested in education reform – very few are content with the status quo. Yet in the press, only those who embrace a particular type of reform get the label. To be a “reformer” you have to embrace ideas that teachers and their unions don’t like – ideas such as non-unionized charter schools and teacher pay based on test scores.
Consider, for example, a recent article in the New York Times depicting the battle in three New York state Senate primary races. On the one hand were hedge fund managers and supporters of non-unionized charter schools who were identified as favoring “education reform” on four occasions, “school reform” on another, and simply “reform” on yet another. Opponents of charter schools were never given that label, even though teacher unions and others who don’t think the track record of charter schools is very good in fact favor lots of reforms – such as teacher peer review to weed out bad educators; rigorous national standards; expanded pre-K programs; reducing economic and racial isolation in schools, and on and on.
What’s particularly galling in the Times story is that in any other context, it is doubtful that the paper would have employed the good-guy “reformer” label to a group of extremely wealthy hedge fund managers who wrote enormous checks to influence the political process, while withholding any positive label from a grass roots effort by workers to resist change that they thought would be harmful to both them and their clients (schoolchildren.) (Reality check: research finds only 17% of charter schools outperform regular public schools.)
Fortunately, rank and file voters appear to see through this false labeling. In New York, all three so-called “reform” candidates lost.
See N.Y. TIMES: LOCAL LOSSES SHOW HURDLES FOR SCHOOL REFORMERS
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 9:00 PM
Despite donations from Wall Street investors, three charter-school advocates lost their New York State Senate races by large margins | http://nyti.ms/9B5Hs7
LEARNING FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
by Gordon Macinnes from Taking Note: A Century Foundation Group blog | http://bit.ly/c06sdZ
September 17, 2010 - The Los Angles Times ignited a local firestorm by publishing its rankings for six thousand teachers in the Los Angeles United School District (LAUSD) on August 30. Its reporter team employed the “value-added method” (VAM) on seven years of test results for students in third through fifth grades, connected those results to classroom teachers, and graded teachers on a spectrum from “most” to “least” effective. If a student’s performance on the California fifth grade math test jumped eleven or more percentile points from last year’s fourth grade math test, the teacher was labeled “most” effective; if it fell by eleven or more points, the teacher was on the “least” effective list.
With all the controversy around VAM, there is a growing consensus between hard-core pay-for-performance advocates and teacher union activists:
* the current teacher evaluation system is close to useless, since just about every teacher is judged to be at least “satisfactory” if not “excellent”;
* VAM is a potentially promising method that might improve teacher evaluation and development, but it requires additional research and refinement;
* even when fine-tuned and more reliable, VAM should never be the sole measure of teacher effectiveness (the disagreement focuses on whether VAM should count for 30 percent or 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation); and,
* the other factors that should be incorporated in an improved teacher evaluation system are much squishier as they rely on professional and personal judgments from classroom observations or analysis of student work that are not uniform and quantifiable like standardized tests.
Remember these points of consensus in the analysis that follows.
Secretary Duncan supported the disclosure with the question, “What’s to hide?” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, declared she was “disturbed that teachers will now be unfairly judged by incomplete data masked as comprehensive evaluations.” The local president criticized the Los Angeles Times for “journalistic irresponsibility” for making public “deeply flawed judgments about a teacher’s effectiveness.”
The Los Angeles Times’ name-the-names disclosure accelerates and focuses the growing national discussion about the value-added model as a vehicle for improving teacher evaluation. Finally, proponents argue, we have data from standardized state tests that can be used to make evaluations of teacher effectiveness more objective. It seems hard to argue with using the results from uniform, validated tests to grade teachers as well as their students.
To get a better handle on that question, I took a look at the results for Fries Avenue Elementary School in Wilmington, the port district of Los Angeles, from whence I was promoted from sixth grade a long time ago (none of my teachers are around to be evaluated). I also checked to see how our rivals at Gulf Avenue Elementary a few blocks away performed. Here is what I learned:
* Despite all the qualifiers offered by the Los Angeles Times about the incompleteness of VAM and the warning by its respected RAND scholar/consultant that VAM should not be employed as the sole measure of a teacher’s effectiveness, a parent visiting the Los Angeles Times’ database would be given a single measure of their child’s teacher—results from the California assessments with a category for effectiveness. The reporter team argues that “no single number” is used to measure teachers. Correct. Two numbers are offered—reading and math results—plus the label. No other information is offered, and the reader would be hard-pressed to find verification that other factors should be included to be fair in assessing teacher performance.
The Los Angeles Times follows the script of VAM advocates: “Well, of course, VAM is not yet sophisticated enough to be used as the evaluation standard for teachers, but let’s just take a look at how VAM works with the following teachers/schools.” In fact, the policies of the Obama administration mandate that states have no statutory or regulatory obstacle to tying teachers to standardized test results. This requirement was one of only four absolute pre-conditions for applying for the Race to the Top. Subsequently, Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered the now-standard qualifier that he never intended that test results would be the only measure of teacher effectiveness.
* The school profiles are clear about enrollment, economic status, and ethnicity, but are confusing regarding how academic performance figures in ranking the schools. Fries and Gulf are almost identical: both about 97 percent Latino, 90 percent receive free and reduced lunch, and about 58 percent English Learners, with their test scores almost as closely matched. Fries out-performs Gulf on reading by eight points, and Gulf is better at math by nine points, but Gulf is ranked as a “4/10” on the California performance index, while Fries is a “3/10.” Then to further confuse parents, Fries is characterized as “more effective than average” at instruction, while Gulf is just “average.”
* There is nothing random about student classroom assignments, an essential prerequisite for reaching reliable conclusions about individual teachers. For a fuller discussion of the problems created by this fact, Bruce Baker’s “School Finance 101” blog is a valuable stop. Let us consider what happens with the poverty indicator being free or reduced lunch eligibility. As we have discovered with dozens of evaluations, the intensity of poverty in any school or classroom can affect outcomes significantly. It would be useful to know the concentration of “free” versus “reduced” lunch students. Then, considering that over half of all students are English Learners, we have no confirmation that they are randomly distributed among all teachers. It makes a huge difference if one teacher has two English Learner students while others have ten or twelve. And, there is no evidence at all—at least not in the Los Angeles Times profile—of students classified as disabled.
You can bet that classroom assignments next year will be anything but random. Many parents now will lobby the principal to have their child placed only in a classroom taught by a “most” or “more” effective teacher.
Another note on the potential unreliability of the Los Angeles Times’ disclosure is that there is no way to determine the educational influence of other teachers such as reading specialists, bilingual, special education, or English as a Second Language teachers who may offer “pull-out” or in-class tutoring. How should the contribution of these specialized teachers be measured? No one knows how to do that. There also may be summer or after-school programs offered by the schools or community organizations that emphasize reading and math instruction that some students may take and others may not. This information is absent. Most importantly, there is no way to capture the influence of the home environment and the intensity of encouragement offered by parents.
* The Los Angeles Times’ disclosures are limited to teachers who have taught long enough to have had at least sixty students take the state tests. One would expect that elementary schools, with their self-contained, grade-level classrooms, would have a high percentage of teachers evaluated. In fact, only about one-third of teachers at Gulf and Fries made the cut. This underscores a very large problem for pay-for-performance advocates: the vast majority of teachers do not teach a subject or a grade level that is tested. Bruce Baker’s analysis of New Jersey teacher certification and classroom assignments suggests that at least 80 percent could not be evaluated using standardized tests, and that the same proportion holds true in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and other states.
VAM advocates are not anxious to emphasize this pattern. In most states (California is an exception), teachers from pre-kindergarten through third grade are excluded because there are no tests given to establish the baseline until third grade. There is no way to use a high school exit examination in math to judge the contributions of teachers of algebra, algebra II, pre-calculus, and geometry. The same applies to science tests that consolidate physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and environmental studies in one test. No one would think it fair to use these results to judge the teacher of biology in a course given two years before the test. In most states, at most grade levels, there are no tests for social studies or science. In no state are there tests for art, music, drama, dance, physical education, psychology, sociology, wellness, media studies, woodworking, computers, business, and so on.
The take-home lesson is that the value-added method is not ready for prime time. Yes, VAM can be used to help identify teachers who might need tailored support, by listing teachers whose students score in the bottom percentiles. This attention would be a part of teacher development and retention objectives, not public accountability.
If teacher unions are willing to have 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation based on test results (when available), the hard question is how to fashion the remaining 70 percent. Observing teachers as they teach surely should be a part of that effort, but being fair and certain about the reliability of the observers is a problem that must be worked out locally. Analyzing samples of student essays, science experiments, math problem-solving, or spoken French might also be included, but, again, must be worked out locally. These suggestions will not be warmly received by those who believe that teaching is an easy, almost mechanical craft, the results of which can be fairly captured by a single test given once or twice a year.
The Los Angeles Times has added to the evidence that, for the value-added method, it is back to the drawing board.
ACCEPT IT: POVERTY HURTS LEARNING - SCHOOLS MATTER, BUT THEY'RE NOT ALL THAT MATTERS
By Pedro Noguera | OpEd in NY Daily News | http://bit.ly/9f02Oo
Thursday, September 2nd 2010, 4:00 AM -- There has been a fierce, ongoing debate among educational leaders about how to teach poor children: One side has argued that we must address the wide variety of social issues (like poor health and nutrition, mobility, inadequate preparation for school, etc.) that tend to be associated with poverty. The other side has argued that schools serving poor children must focus on education alone and stop making excuses.
For more than 20 years, I've been associated with the first camp - and I remain baffled about why we are still debating such an obvious point. We've long known that family income combined with parental education is the strongest predictor of how well a student will do on most standardized tests. There is abundant evidence that in schools in the poorest communities, achievement is considerably lower than in schools with more socioeconomic diversity.
Studies on literacy development in small children show that middle-class children arrive in kindergarten literally knowing hundreds more words than poor children.
And schools alone - not even the very best schools - cannot erase the effects of poverty.
In recent years, policymakers have focused on how to achieve higher test scores without addressing the influence of poverty. The results have mostly been discouraging. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan claims that thousands of schools across America are chronically underperforming; in New York, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have shut down more than 100 schools in eight years. Inevitably, the struggling schools serve the poorest children and experience the greatest challenges. It will take more than pressure and tough talk to improve these schools.
Under both Presidents Obama and George W. Bush, the federal Education Department has largely avoided addressing the socioeconomic challenges that impact schools. Instead, they've championed reforms like performance pay for teachers, raising academic standards and creating charter schools. Seeking to avoid poverty as an excuse for low achievement, Klein and other educational leaders wrote the following in The Washington Post in April:
"[M]any believe that schools alone cannot overcome the impact that economic disadvantage has on a child, that life outcomes are fixed by poverty and family circumstances, and that education doesn't work until other problems are solved.
"Problem is, the theory is wrong. ... [P]lenty of evidence demonstrates that schools can make an enormous difference despite the challenges presented by poverty and family background."
While it may seem like a good sign that our (NYC schools) chancellor (who's done a good job, despite the recently recalibrated test scores) refuses to accept poverty as an excuse for low achievement, it's disappointing to see that he doesn't understand that it will take more than higher standards to bring about real improvement. Acknowledging this reality is not the same thing as making excuses for failure.
In Newark, I and others have recently embarked on a reform strategy, inspired in part by the Harlem Children's Zone, that we hope will confront the effects of poverty on children. Called the Newark Global Village Zone, the effort is being supported by partnerships between seven schools and local universities. Hospitals, nonprofits, churches and city agencies will work with the schools to provide services and support community and parent engagement.
We believe that by addressing the academic and nonacademic needs of students, extending learning opportunities and improving the quality of instruction, student achievement will improve.
There's growing support in Newark for the approach we're taking. The Brick City has some of the most successful charter schools in New Jersey, and we aim to build partnerships between successful charter and public schools so that the best practices can be shared.
I have been working with urban schools long enough to realize that the obstacles to success are formidable. Newark schools have a history of failure, and despite significant investments in private and public resources, success has been difficult to realize. Unfortunately, the Promise Neighborhood initiative - a federal effort to expand on the good work of the Harlem Children's Zone - will likely see its funding drop from a proposed $210 million to something closer to $20 million. The initiative would have provided seed funding to cities willing to take a more integrated approach to addressing the needs of impoverished communities, similar to what we are doing in Newark.
That setback need not deter us. No city has made a concerted effort to support schools by addressing the effects of poverty while simultaneously making a concerted effort to improve learning conditions.
We must end the either-or debate. In Newark, we intend to prove that we can raise student achievement and mitigate the effects of poverty. We need cities like New York to join this effort wholeheartedly.
- Dr. Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University.
The Schott Report: FAILURE IS THE RULE
Editorial in The Philadelphia Enquirer | http://bit.ly/9003Rs
Mon, Sep. 13, 2010 -- A new study that examined the alarming graduation gap for black and Latino males in Philadelphia offers a starting point to address a growing national crisis.
A task force spent 10 months looking at the dropout problem in the city. It found that only 45 percent of black males graduate in four years, according to 2009 statistics.
Latino males fare even worse, with only 43 percent getting a high school diploma.
Overall, only 56 percent of district students graduate on time in Philadelphia public schools. That means that nearly half flunk out.
Philadelphia is not alone in the racial divide. A study released last month by the Schott Foundation for Public Education found that the graduation rate for black males nationally was only 47 percent, compared with 78 percent for their white counterparts.
In hearing the statistics, Mayor Nutter aptly called the dropout crisis one of the most serious issues facing Philadelphia and the 167,000-student district.
The task force established by School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and commissioner Johnny Irizarry looked beyond sounding another alarm by releasing the troubling statistics. In the most compelling finding, former students said they felt pressured by the district to leave before graduation. Still others complained that their requests for help were ignored.
The panel not only cited entrenched practices that may contribute to the abysmal failure rate, but also recommendations to create an environment for success. They include changing the status quo and removing barriers that inhibit learning.
Among the recommendations that merit consideration: single-sex classes, music and arts programs to whet students' interests, mentors, and internships.
Some recommendations may need further study or require more funding. Others can be implemented immediately - such as including dropout rates for black and Latino males in the district's annual School Report Card and setting up an advisory board to monitor progress.
The suggestions provide a blueprint for Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who has promised to do more to help the scores of minority students being left behind.
Ackerman should also look to successful models in other urban districts. Like Urban Prep Academy in Chicago, the city's only public all-male high school, which made headlines last spring when its entire first senior class was accepted to four-year colleges.
Replicating such best practices makes a lot of sense.
more:
►THE SCHOTT REPORT : A BLEAK REPORT FOR YOUNG BLACK MALE STUDENTS | http://bit.ly/9ldysM
Monday, September 13, 2010 10:50 PM
Broadcast on NPR: Talk of the Nation | September 13, 2010 | http://n.pr/c4kJQW Listen to the Story [30 min 19 sec] Add to Playlist Download John Jackson, president and CEO, the Schott Foundation David Sciarra, executive director, Education Law Center Noah Ovshinsky, education reporter, WDET Detroit September 13, 2010 - A report from the Massachusetts-based Schott Foundation
►THE SCHOTT REPORT: NEW REPORT SHOWS AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAIL OVER HALF THE NATION’S BLACK MALE STUDENTS + Link to Report + California & LAUSD Data | http://bit.ly/c1xDtp
Monday, September 13, 2010 10:49 PM
Schott Foundation Press Release | http://bit.ly/cU5tXz Schott Foundation Releases Fourth State-by-State Data Set Showing an Overwhelming Majority of U.S. School Districts and States Are Failing to Provide the Resources Black Males Need to Close the National Racial Graduation Gap Report Also Highlights Measures Needed to Address This National Crisis New York, August 17, 2010 – “Yes We Can:
BACK TO CAMPUS WITH LOFTIER GOAL: The school district passes the API's 700 mark for the first time.
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/aMLZDM
9/13/2010 07:36:58 PM PDT -- Los Angeles Unified students continue to make steady gains in academic achievement, surpassing a key milestone on a closely watched state benchmark test, according to data released by the Department of Education Monday.
Los Angeles Unified scored 709 on the Academic Performance Index, up 16 points from the previous year and exceeding 700 for the first time.
"There is much to celebrate in LAUSD with the release of this data," Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said in a statement.
The statewide score was 767, up 13 points from last year.
And while Los Angeles Unified still trails the statewide score, the gap between the two is just 58 points, compared with 91 points three years before. In addition, LAUSD made the most significant gains of all urban districts in the state.
The API serves as a barometer of academic achievement, with scores ranging from 200 to 1,000 points.
After years of dismal test scores, nearly one-third of LAUSD campuses reached or exceeded the state's target goal of 800, and more than half topped 750.
"The API data also demonstrates that this district is focused on teaching and learning," Cortines said.
"We will continue to place the students at the center of everything we do. We will continue to stay the course on the reform elements we have in place that are clearly working with our students in our classrooms."
State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell said he was very proud of gains achieved by schools in California, despite budget cuts that forced reductions in staff, services and even the school year.
"This is another example of how resilient our educational system is and I have to applaud every teacher, principal, classified employee, parent, student and school board member for working very hard even during these very difficult and nearly impossible budget situations," O'Connell said.
O'Connell said as more districts hit the 800 target, there is debate over raising the goal. But he said that higher expectations would have to be matched by increased state funding for education.
"Under my watch I will not allow any excuses, such as funding, to shortchange the preparation of students ... but schools could do even better if they had proper funding," he said.
Despite the gains made by California and LAUSD on the API, more campuses statewide and locally failed to meet their federal academic benchmarks.
The API score helps determine whether schools meet their federal Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks, or AYP, set up under the No Child Left Behind law.
The federal benchmarks are important because if schools - or districts - fall behind, they are labeled Program Improvement schools, and become subject to a myriad of interventions, including a state or district takeover.
The federal AYP report, measures the percentage of students who are proficient in English and math at all schools.
Unlike the API, which measures the progress made by students every year, the AYP sets a target every year that all students are expected to meet. So while students improved on test scores, they did not improve enough to meet federal targets.
This year that target was a proficiency rate of 56 percent in English and 56.4 percent in math.
This year just 22 percent of LAUSD schools met all of their federal benchmarks while the overwhelming majority fell into Program Improvement, although state data for high schools will not be complete until November, state officials said.
Regardless of the federal marks, the increase in API scores allowed five local schools to avoid being put out to bid under the district's School Choice plan, which lets outside operators compete to run public campuses.
Those schools are Woodcrest Elementary; Audubon and Harte Prep Middle school and Huntington Park and Los Angeles Senior High schools. None are in the San Fernando Valley.
Local charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run campuses, continued to have some of the highest API scores in the district, including Granada Hills Charter High School, Ivy Academia and Magnolia Science Academy - all in the San Fernando Valley.
More than 100 schools increased their API scores this year by more than 30 points, including Roscoe Elementary School in Sun Valley, where scores rose by 52 points.
Richard Lioy, Roscoe's principal, said the secret to his school's success was a very simple formula.
"It's like the adage says `a three legged stool is only as strong as all of its three legs'," Lioy said.
"We have dynamite kids, parents who are very supportive and very dedicated teachers who work very hard to meet the needs of kids."
Despite uncertain financial times for schools, Lioy said that teachers at Roscoe simply kept their eyes on the prize.
"Sometimes you just have to take all the things you have no control over and put them aside to work on the things you can control," he added. "In our case that means keep providing the best education possible and doing better every year."
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
● “NO EXCUSES” vs. ACKNOWLEDGING REALTY: Themes in the News for the week of Sept. 13-17, 2010 By UCLA IDEA | http://... http://bit.ly/bpM1Fb
● EDUCATED GUESS: The Week that Was in CA: by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/co89gG Larry ... http://bit.ly/c85bT7
● EdWeek HEADLINES: The Week that Was: K-12 Policy Shifts Loom in GOP Surge Republicans running hard to take Con... http://bit.ly/dDaVYK
● DIANE+DEB: Why Civil Rights Groups Oppose the Obama Agenda + On Not Letting Facts Interfere With a Good Argument: ... http://bit.ly/bVZiGV
● NO MORE LOOKING BACK | PRIMERA ESCUELA EN 85 AÑOS ABRE EN EL ESTE DE L.A.: New Torres High Open to the Future. Aft... http://bit.ly/agCJkN about 5 hours ago via twitterfeed
● Value addled - A RETIRED L.A. TEACHER PONDERS HER RATING: Faye Ireland is being followed into retirement with the ... http://bit.ly/dsrRia
● OBAMA TO STUDENTS: ‘EDUCATION HAS NEVER BEEN SO IMPORTANT’ – includes advance text of President’s annual address t... http://bit.ly/asfmaC
● Update - L.A. SCHOOLS DOING BETTER: Students' API test scores improve enough that five schools come off a takeover... http://bit.ly/d0yFbz T
● Update – SAT SCORES RISE FOR STATE’S 2010 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES: They topped last year's seniors' and the national... http://bit.ly/9uGcy2
● LAUSD STUDENTS START OUT THE SCHOOL YEAR: Ruth Frantz | Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report |the USC Annen... http://bit.ly/91qTSa
● BUDGET CUTS SHORTEN YEAR: Back to school ... finally: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News | http://b... http://bit.ly/9WeJBw
● WHY THE RttT CONSENSUS HAS LED US NOWHERE: By Deborah Meier | EdWeek Bridging Differences blog |http://bit.ly/bCd3... http://bit.ly/cwm8lB
● BACK TO CAMPUS WITH LOFTIER GOAL: The school district passes the API's 700 mark for the first time.: By Connie Lla... http://bit.ly/cXBQRK Monday, September 13, 2010 11:05:03 PM via twitterfeed
● CALIFORNIA S.A.T. SCORES UP SLIGHTLY, NATIONAL RESULTS FLAT FROM 2009: -- Larry Gordon | LATimes/LANow | http://la... http://bit.ly/d9eAek
● RISING TEST SCORES ALLOW 5 LOCAL SCHOOLS TO THWART OUTSIDE TAKEOVER: -- Howard Blume | LA Times/LANow | http://lat... http://bit.ly/aYdBNE
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
● SAVE THE DATE: Sept 29th: STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS CANDIDATES FORUM: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidates... http://bit.ly/9ppdTS
________________________
Tuesday Sep 21 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
SOUTH REGION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL #5 Groundbreaking Ceremony
Location: South Region Elementary School #5
3232 Saturn Ave.
Huntington Park, CA 90255
♥ I hope to see you there! - smf
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • 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.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE.
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT.
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