In This Issue:  | | • | 'Value-Addled'/New+Disproved: TIMES UPDATES AND EXPANDS VALUE-ADDED RATINGS FOR LOS ANGELES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS | | | • | DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM | | | • | FREMONT, JORDAN & MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOLS WILL LOSE MILLIONS IN QEIA FUNDING | | | • | BROKE L.A. SCHOOLS ARE GIVING TEACHERS A HALF DAY TO PROTEST | | | • | 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: | | | | • Race to Nowhere: Mothers' Day and the Kentucky Derby kick off testing season. Memorial Day and the Indy 500 end it.
• Today's Mothers' Day Gift from their brand new publisher?: The Times publishes its 'Value Addled' Teacher Ratings.
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A 4LAKids READER - a retired principal/a teacher of principals - asks:
"WHERE is the vision for what a public school should be like regardless of the money? You can always work towards a goal if you know the goal.
"We have already seen the effects of the billionaire philanthropists on the District. I hope that you haven't forgotten that Eli Broad made the District hire his own architect and raise the cost of Central HS for the Arts through his dramatic enhancements with the promise of funds that to my knowledge haven't materialized to date -- but the District expended the money to woo him when it could have been spent on refurbishing older schools. My bigger question - which I hope you will expand on in an article - is why we even need a Board of Education if they are ceding schools to charters and other outside entities and allowing outsiders to hire the leadership of the District?
"WHY do we need them?
"They obviously don't have the wherewithal to problem solve and lead....or else why in the world would they turn the District over to outsiders who are outside of their accountability?"
Where and why, indeed.
The very public goal, repeated as mantra, is "100% graduation - with every graduate career prepared and college ready". Three buzz-word aphorisms stung together are not a goal - they are a slogan. "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Or "No child left behind."
The only way to reach 100% graduation is to make a diploma an attendance certificate and then enforce attendance. The charter (and other) schools who claim 100% graduation graduate 100% of their graduates - NOT 100% of the kids who showed up on day one of the 9th grade. They don't count the kids who transferred out, were pushed out, didn't come back from summer vacation, returned to their home school, weren't a good fit, needed the special attention of other programs (special ed - English Language Learners) offered elsewhere. They don't count the kids who just moved away or got a job or went on American Idol. They choose not to count the students who chose to choose something else.
Many high school graduates are not college ready. Many (if not most) need remedial classes ("Dumbbell English"). This is ancient problem (See the Burden of Bonehead, The Problem of the Inadequately Prepared College Student - The Journal of Higher Education - Vol. 28, No. 1, Jan., 1957 | http://bit.ly/kM78if) The problem isn't recent: "Freshmen who read badly, write poorly and figure inaccurately, if at all…" wasn't new (or news) in 1957.
Not one but two reports this month from the California Budget Project conclude: "A college degree or industry-recognized vocational certificate is now the principal pathway to a well-paid job. Increasingly, remedial English and mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs are the gateway to college and skills training. These programs are of increasing importance because many recent high school graduates, high school dropouts, and low-skilled working adults lack the fundamental English and mathematics proficiency required for postsecondary education. Until recent cutbacks, California’s basic skills programs –which provide remedial education – served more than 1.5million students a year at a cost to the state of more than $1.0billion."
And the entire state of California doesn't have enough places in college for just LAUSD graduates should they all apply - even at our current grad rates. And as long as LAUSD accepts a "D" as a passing grade (colleges and universities don't!) the A-G graduation requirement in a not a farce but a fraud.
Our high schools offer no courses-of-study in their normal K-12 curriculum that prepare a graduate to the level of being career ready; There is no embedded Career Technical Education - less so in the era of A-G and Small Schools. Even McDonalds must additionally train new hires.
MAYBE OUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO SIMPLY COMPLY WITH THE ED CODE. Maybe we should address the Curriculum Content Standards and provide a quality education in ALL the core subjects. Not just English Language Arts, Math and a smattering of Science (i.e.: the stuff that's tested) - but also:
● Career Technical Education,
● English Language Development,
● Health Education,
● History & Social Science (including Civics and basic Economics),
● Physical Education,
● Science,
● The Visual and Performing Arts - including Dance, Music, Theatre & Visual Arts (not either/or!) - and
● World Languages.
We want a well-rounded citizenry, not an inadequately tested one. We need to abandon the "If it's not tested it's not taught" mindset.
California's high content standards were designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level. The Content Standards are like gravity - not just a good idea …but The Law!
THERE'S A KEWL NEW MAP TOOL that shows the devastating effects of cuts on California Schools - no matter where - by School, Assembly or Senate district, here: http://bit.ly/lgI70h
TUESDAY EVENING there was a meeting of elementary and secondary arts teachers, pink-slipped/programs cut/riders on the storm like arts teachers and counselors and nurses and librarians. They were worried about their jobs, which is understandable - but they were worried more for the future for the children of L.A. who will not hear and feel and make music.
To twist the epigram: "First they came for the substitute teachers and I did not speak out because I was not a substitute teacher.
"Then they came for the librarians and I did not speak out because I was not a librarian.
"Then they came for the art and music teachers and I did not speak out because I was not one of those." And so it goes.
They are taking away the futures of our children, one cut, one job, one position, one furlough day, one test at a time.
LAUSD Elementary Music Ed: As good as it used to be, as bad as it is, it could get worse. Please Watch this video: http://bit.ly/ioyzpL
Ironically, two encouraging reports on Arts Education came out of Washington this week. From The White House/The Presidents Committee on Arts and the Humanities: Re-Investing in Arts Education and from The Dept. Of Ed: A Snapshot of Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools | http://bit.ly/jfe5dn
CURIOSITY MEETS CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER. 4LAKids has not been covering the Jamie Oliver v. LAUSD ruckus in great depth. Essentially it's a Hollywood story about the reality TV. Reality and Hollywood are mutually exclusive - and LAUSD is no match for the star-maker machinery/publicity mill. I've been watching though - tracking the manufactured outrage from Bangalore and Bombay and Ypsilanti of how poor Jamie and his million-dollar-food-truck are being kept out of LAUSD.
Recent developments have been arresting. The New Superintendent (one of the stories labels him the "Superintendent of Tinseltown") shows new openness. There was the Headline Grabbing (I was Hollywood hack once, the Capital Letters and hyperbole come easily) Meeting of The Minds on Jimmy Kimmel Live - and chocolate milk is poured down the drain like bootleg beer in a speakeasy raid.
"Jamie Wins! Jamie Wins!" the media shouts. A little late perhaps - Jamie's show "Food Revolution" plunged in the ratings despite the media frenzy (it IS opposite "American Idol") and has been 'temporarily replaced' by reruns of "Dancing with the Stars". Reruns. Food Revolution is in turnaround; a turn few shows recover from.
Meanwhile Superintendent Deasy is out promoting his educational and poverty fighting foundation - The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education - like the New York City's Robin Hood Foundation - populated (in NYC) by venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, educators (Geoffrey Canada, Marian Wright Edelman) and media/show-biz-peep (Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Zucker, Diane Sawyer, Brain Williams) committed to ending poverty in NYC by "finding and funding the best programs and partnering with them to maximize results".
I agree that poverty is the problem - but aren't there are plenty of programs already in place - including United Way and Liberty Hill and a raft of family foundations - committed to this work? Isn't the need in L.A. for something more like New York City’s Fund for Public Schools - chaired by Chancellor Walcott and Caroline Kennedy - which directly supports public education?
Rumors are unlovely things that fester and grow into plots around water coolers, on the playground, in teachers' lounges and the company cafeteria. Curiosities are just that. Rumor has it that the wife of the producer of Food Revolution has been named CEO of The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education, aka Robin Hood West. "Aha!" one says momentously …or "So what?" L.A. is a company town, and a small one. Sometimes circumstances are circumstantial. Perhaps the connected dots are just dots.
My correspondent - the one who wrote this week's opening challenge - ended by requesting that I "stay well …and stay thirsty, my friend!" If any of this ends poverty and improves the lives and health and diet of children in LA I'll drink the Kool-Aid! Or plain milk. Whatever.
"Traer el whisky de mis caballos, y agua para mis hombres!"
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
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Endorsement: BENNETT KAYSER FOR SCHOOL BOARD
IF YOU LIVE IN NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES, EAST L.A. OR THE CITIES OF THE SOUTHEAST (Board District 5): 4LAKids supports Bennett Kayser for School Board in the May 17th run-off election. Please Vote Early + Vote Often + Vote for Bennett. It amuses me that the Chief of Staff for the Board President (I can't imagine a loftier bureaucrat title) calls Bennett "a favorite of the Beaudry bureaucrats!"
As they say on the schoolyard: "It takes one to know one!"
'Value-Addled'/New+Disproved: TIMES UPDATES AND EXPANDS VALUE-ADDED RATINGS FOR LOS ANGELES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
NEW DATA INCLUDE RATINGS FOR ABOUT 11,500 TEACHERS, NEARLY DOUBLE THE NUMBER COVERED LAST AUGUST. SCHOOL AND CIVIC LEADERS HAD SOUGHT TO HALT RELEASE OF THE DATA.
By Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/mjj051
May 7, 2011, 11:29 p.m. - The Los Angeles Times on Sunday is releasing a major update to its elementary school teacher ratings, underscoring the large disparities throughout the nation's second-largest school district in instructors' abilities to raise student test scores.
The posting — the only publication of such teacher performance data in the nation — contains value-added ratings for about 11,500 third- through fifth-grade teachers, nearly double the number released last August. It also reflects changes in the way the scores were calculated and displayed.
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•• smf: When will The Times post all their employee evaluations online?
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Overall ratings for about 470 schools also are included in the release, which is based on student standardized test scores from the academic years 2003-04 through 2009-10. To obtain the rating of a teacher or school, go to latimes.com/valueadded and enter the teacher's or the school's name.
The initial release of teacher ratings last summer generated intense controversy — and some praise — across the country, and this round has already met with some opposition.
The Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent and other civic leaders, in a letter to the newspaper's publisher, recently asked The Times to reconsider publishing the ratings, saying in part that individual teachers' performances should be addressed in private conversations.
More than 1,000 teachers responded to The Times' invitation to view their scores before publication, but few took the opportunity to write comments alongside their ratings. Instructors were strongly advised not to do so by their union, United Teachers Los Angeles, which has opposed publication of the ratings.
Some of those who did comment said they saw the information as valuable but added that it did not reflect the sum total of their performance.
"Being a relatively new teacher, I welcome feedback that will help me to adjust my teaching to best fit my students' needs," said Amy Miller, who has taught fifth grade at Park Western Place Elementary School, one of about 140 teachers to write comments in the database. "It is, however, only one data point."
Others denounced the newspaper, calling its statistics "invalid" and its ratings "a scarlet letter."
"Once again you have violated the right to privacy of thousands of teachers," wrote Patricia Hill, who has taught at Windsor Hills Math Science Aerospace Magnet School.
One teacher offered a suggestion: "How about publishing the names of the highly effective and effective teachers only," said Steven Butts, who has taught fourth grade at Broadway Elementary School. "I do … believe that more positive recognition for the successful teachers would encourage all teachers to strive for excellence and seek the guidance from those who have proven results year after year."
Value-added analysis attempts to estimate a teacher's contribution to student learning by tracking students' progress on standardized tests from year to year. Each student's performance is compared with his or her own in past years, an approach that experts say largely controls for influences beyond a teacher's reach, such as poverty, parenting and prior learning.
Because value-added is, like any other statistical approach, subject to error and is based only on test results, most experts agree it should be used as just one gauge of a teacher's overall performance. But many say it is the most objective measure available, and districts around the country are adopting it, largely because of federal incentives.
In the interest of greater clarity and accuracy, The Times made several changes in its approach. More information is now shown about the precision of each estimate and how a teacher ranks relative to other teachers in the district. The analysis also takes into account additional variables related to a student's socioeconomic background and the composition of a teacher's class. As in the first release, The Times used data obtained from the district through the California Public Records Act.
The changes have not altered the broad conclusions reported by The Times last summer, and the ratings for most teachers changed very little overall.
As before, effective teachers were spread more or less evenly throughout the district. But there were often large disparities among instructors who taught similar students in similar schools — even within the same schools. The differences among teachers were more than three times as great as those among schools.
The vast majority of teachers' ratings were not significantly influenced by the characteristics of the students they taught, and a teacher's background and training had little to do with his or her performance, according to a study of the updated ratings prepared for The Times by economist Richard Buddin.
Many experts say it's not enough for a value-added approach simply to compare a student's performance to that in previous years—one must adjust for other factors such as race and ethnicity, parents' education or classroom composition. Different value-added formulas adjust for different things—leading to different results.
To convey how much difference such adjustments can make, The Times is publishing a comparison of results from four value-added models for each teacher. Each model uses a slightly different combination of variables to estimate a teacher's contribution. On average, the results are very similar but, in specific cases, they can vary sharply.
For its analysis, The Times adopted the model that included the most variables available.
More than a week ago, the newspaper received a letter from civic leaders requesting that The Times reconsider publication of the ratings. The letter was signed by John Deasy, L.A. Unified superintendent; Monica Garcia, Board of Education president; Elise Buik, chief executive of United Way of Greater Los Angeles; and Gary L. Toebben, chief executive of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Among their concerns was that the ratings were likely to confuse educators and parents because the district has done its own value-added analysis of the data. It recently released overall school ratings to the public and it is planning to confidentially release individual ratings to third- through ninth-grade teachers by the end of the school year.
The model used by the district, which is seeking to persuade the union to include the ratings in formal teacher evaluations, is broadly similar to the one adopted by The Times. But The Times analyzed seven years of data, while the district analyzed up to four. The district and The Times adjusted the data to control for slightly different variables.
In addition, the civic leaders wrote that individual teacher evaluations should be conducted privately for the purpose of helping teachers improve.
Times Editor Russ Stanton said the newspaper went ahead with publication because it is confident of the reliability of its analysis and believes the public has a right to the information. Posting the database, Stanton said, "is a service to the people of Los Angeles."
DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM
By Connie Llanos, LA Daily News, Published Online in Education Week: May 4, 2011 | http://bit.ly/kcRCRk
Published in LA Daily News: May 3, 2011
May 3, 2011: Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy is proposing to overhaul the district's Public School Choice reform program, eliminating a controversial public vote and limiting the campuses that can be included.
Deasy also wants to streamline the teachers contracts at schools in the program that end up being run by internal district-based groups.
That would give school management more flexibility, similar to charter schools, but is likely to be opposed by unions because it could eliminate some hard-fought workplace rules.
Public School Choice, launched in 2009, allows outside groups to compete with LAUSD-based teams to run some of the district's lowest-performing and newest campuses.
The process allows the community to vote on its preferred bidder, a nonbinding ballot that was criticized for being too open to manipulation. Deasy wants to do away with that vote.
"Through this process we have opened the doors to a variety of innovative school models in order to accelerate the learning and achievement for students across the district," Deasy wrote in a memo to the school board drafted earlier this month.
"As we move into the third round of this process, it is important that we pause and analyze where we are...with that in mind I offer the following recommendations, which I believe will improve the Public School choice process."
Deasy is in Washington, D.C. this week and was unavailable for comment but in previous interviews he stressed his support for the program and said his changes were simply a way to ensure its success.
His proposed changes, scheduled for a school board vote May 10, also include:
• Limiting the new schools that can be included in the process. This would avoid including campuses that draw children from high-performing schools.
• Increasing parent participation in the process through more district-led workshops and more involvement with community groups;
• Providing more district staff and resources to Public School Choice campuses when they open
• And giving the superintendent the power to decide what happens at a school that only receives one application.
At least some of Deasy's changes could lead to tensions with the teachers union.
A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he couldn't comment on Deasy's proposed changes until he had more opportunity to analyze them.
But he reiterated the union's opposition to the overall reform effort, calling it "destructive to public education."
Duffy also criticized the district's fascination with the streamlined teachers contract, which Deasy wants to make a requirement of all in-district applicants.
The so-called "thin contract" is a 70-page document that was created to grant pilot schools more local control.
These district schools are usually smaller and have charter-like freedoms that let them control their own budget, calendars, professional development and staffing decisions.
The streamlined contract is considered thin because the traditional LAUSD teacher's contract is some 300 pages long.
Emphasis on Reform
The thin contracts also make it easier to let go of teachers or administrators, although that individual would still have rights to a job somewhere else in the district.
"I think there is too much emphasis on contracts and not enough emphasis on successful education reform and how we bring that about," Duffy said.
Many of Deasy's changes however, have already earned the strong support of some board members including Tamar Galatzan, who represents a large portion of the central and West San Fernando Valley.
Galatzan said she withdrew two resolutions she planned to introduce to the school board which mirrored several of Deasy's recommendations.
"This is a tweaking and a cleaning up of Public School Choice."
While 55 LAUSD schools have gone through the Public School Choice process in its first two rounds it remains unclear how much change this has brought to these campuses.
Galatzan is one of several who have voiced concerns about the community vote element of the process, which is advisory.
In its first round, the election had loose voting guidelines that allowed many voters, especially school employees, to cast more than one ballot and electioneering tactics included threatening undocumented parents with deportation if they didn't vote to support a certain plan. The second round showed some improvements, but parent participation remained at just 1 percent.
"This vote became exactly what I thought it would, a mini political campaign that brought out the worst in everyone involved," said Galatzan.
Gauging Community
Raquel Beltran, executive director of the League of Women Voters, which has been contracted by LAUSD to handle the vote, said she did not see the elimination of the election as a problem.
However, she said the school board should make its decision quickly to ensure it comes up with a new plan to gauge community sentiment in time for the third round of school choice.
A total of 38 schools have been targeted for the third round of the reform process, including 22 existing and 16 new campuses. Among those are three new schools in the San Fernando Valley: Valley Region Elementary #13, Valley Region Span K-8 #1 and Porter Ranch Community School.
The list also includes four existing local schools: Maclay, Sun Valley and Vista middle schools and Fulton College Prep, a grade 6-12 campus.
In October 34 initial applications were submitted from local teachers, nonprofits and charter school operators for these seven sites, which are expected to open under their new leadership in fall 2012.
FREMONT, JORDAN & MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOLS WILL LOSE MILLIONS IN QEIA FUNDING
-- Howard Blume, LA Times/LANow | http://lat.ms/muw3oi
May 5, 2011 - Three struggling Los Angeles high schools face sharp funding reductions over and above those expected as a result of the state budget crisis, The Times has learned.
Fremont, Manual Arts and Jordan high schools are going to lose millions in supplemental funding because they failed to hit improvement benchmarks.
The funding, through the Quality Education Investment Act, has provided an additional $1,000 per student to lower class sizes and provide extra counseling, among other measures. The grants were never permanent, but had the potential to last as long as seven years.
Instead, these three schools will lose the money three years early amid a state budget crisis that has hit schools hard.
The original goal of the funding was to see what a struggling school could accomplish with an infusion of resources in key areas. Instead, the money has allowed these schools to hold the line against deep statewide cuts to schools over the last three years.
All told, 101 L.A. Unified schools received the funding, and the money also could be at risk at some other campuses if test scores fall short of required targets in the fall. The three high schools that have already lost money failed to meet milestones that the schools had set for themselves, a district spokesperson said.
Moving forward, these campuses will no longer be spared from the effects of the state budget crisis at key moments in their efforts to improve. Fremont High, the largest of the schools, will lose an estimated $4 million a year. That school, located south of downtown, reopened in July after a “restructuring” that resulted in the displacement of more than half the faculty.
Jordan High in Watts is supposed to reopen next year, with part of the campus run by a nonprofit under the control of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Another portion of the campus would be under the management of one or more independent charter schools.
Manual Arts, just south of downtown, has struggled with administrative turnover as well as sluggish improvement. It’s under the control of an independent nonprofit but still operates under L.A. Unified's union agreements.
(story continues/emphasis added): DISTRICT OFFICIALS REALIZED THAT THESE SCHOOLS WOULD LOSE FUNDING LATE LAST YEAR, BUT THE BAD NEWS WAS NEVER MADE PUBLIC. THE TIMES LEARNED OF THE SITUATION IN INTERVIEWS WITH CURRENT AND FORMER OFFICIALS WHO ASKED NOT TO BE IDENTIFIED BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT AUTHORIZED TO SPEAK ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
●●smf: So much for transparency and accountability.
NOTE: QEIA was an out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit brought by CTA against the Schwarzenegger administration for failing to pay back funds 'borrowed' from the Prop 98 guarantee. Essentially it allows schools receiving the QEIA funds to reduce class sizes. It has proved very successful at other schools - including Hollywood High.
BROKE L.A. SCHOOLS ARE GIVING TEACHERS A HALF DAY TO PROTEST
Liz Dwyer, Education Editor - Good.is | http://bit.ly/kH7sPO
May 4, 2011 • 5:00 pm PDT - Just how bad is California's education budget crisis?
In an unprecedented move, the Los Angeles Unified School District plans to dismiss students early on Friday, May 13 so that teachers and other school staff can protest proposed cuts to education. In fact, the nation's second largest school district is in such a financial crisis that they're actually working with the local teacher's union, UTLA, to make the protest happen—a very rare thing.
Teachers originally planned to hold their anti-cut demonstrations in the morning before school and during the first hour of classes. But Superintendent John Deasy and other district officials suggested shortening the school day and moving the protests to the afternoon so that the administration of state standardized tests won't be affected. Deasy has also pledged that teachers can protest the state cuts to schools "without loss of pay or other consequences."
Why is LAUSD being so accommodating? California's schools have already endured almost $20 billion in cuts over the past three years. If state legislators don't agree to put a measure on an upcoming election ballot to extend the taxes that fund schools, there will be an additional $2.3 billion in cuts. LAUSD alone is looking at a deficit of almost $408 million this year. This spring more than 5,000 teachers and 2,000 other district staff received layoff notices.
On top of the teacher and staff layoffs, Deasy told Voice of America News that unless the budget situation improves "We are cutting all of our librarians, our nurses. We would be forced to close and consolidate schools." And, if the cuts go through, there are rumors that the district will need to shorten the school year by 20 days.
Teachers plan to first protest in front of schools and then hold a huge city-wide rally in Downtown Los Angeles. All this protesting will cut into class time, of course (the district made it clear that teachers need to make up the time they spend protesting later in the school year). But not protesting might mean the collapse of Los Angeles's school system.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
SPEAKING OF TEACHER APPRECIATION
Themes in the News for the week of May 2-6, 2011 by UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/lrdDxB
This is Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers receive thank-you notes and cards, snacks, donations for classroom supplies, and other sincere tokens of appreciation. Dignitaries, editorial writers, and other opinion leaders reflect on the crucial role that teachers have played in their own lives and in building the nation. In spite of their deep worries about education and learning opportunities, most people hold positive views of teachers. ….
PROGRESS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/j7OKg8
May 6, 2011 | In unheralded corners of California, Latino and African-American students are busting the averages, producing higher scores and larger numbers of college-ready graduates. This is happening in places like Val Verde Unified and Desert Sands Unified in Riverside County and Sanger Unified in Fresno County.
They were among districts with outstanding grades in “A Report Card on District Achievement: How Low-income, African-American, and Latino Students Fare in California School Districts,” a comprehensive ….
ANTI-CHARTER BILL RUNS INTO TROUBLE: Financial impact would become factor
John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/mtggam
May 5, 2011 - A bill sponsored by the California Teachers Association to radically change the state’s charter school law and give districts unappealable power to reject charter petitions failed to win majority support of the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday.
That doesn’t mean the end of AB 1172, but its author, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, a Democrat representing Whittier and…
California Budget Project: TWO REPORTS ON BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION: By smf/4LAKids from The California Budget Pr... http://bit.ly/lkEz9F
CA TAX REVENUE: $2 Billion More Than Projected: from SFist | http://bit.ly/ljbgN0 The math wizards in Sacramen... http://bit.ly/kM0nu4
EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer: http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/inHp2e
WHITE HOUSE PANEL CALLS FOR ‘’REINVESTING IN ARTS EDUCATION + 2 Reports: By Erik Robelen - EdWeek Curriculum Mat... http://bit.ly/jfe5dn
This is 'Teacher Appreciation Week', but that does NOT mean the other 51 are 'Teacher Dis' weeks.
LUNCH WITH SAL CASTRO:The Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice Fri, May 13, 2011 [State of Emergency Day] Noon-2PM http://bit.ly/iAGrm5
DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: By Connie Llanos, LA Daily News, Published Online ... http://bit.ly/lNWIUt
FAILING GRADES ON CIVICS EXAM CALLED A ‘CRISIS’: Failing Grades on Civics Exam Called a ‘Crisis’ By SAM DILLON ... http://bit.ly/lsPtnv
A CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING MAP TOOL: Estimated loss in per-pupil spending would be under an all-cuts budget.: N... http://bit.ly/lgI70h
RHEE THE REFORMER/“ERASE TO THE TOP” -- The Michelle Rhee Test Score Scandal in Seussical Verse: by Sabrina Stev... http://bit.ly/kwuYZa
LAUSD ELEMENTARY MUSIC ED: As good as it used to be, as bad as it is, it could get worse. Please Watch this vide... http://bit.ly/ioyzpL
BLAME A TEACHER DAY: By E.D. KAIN | American Times blog at Forbes.com | http://onforb.es/iCX1yE May. 3 2011 - 7... http://bit.ly/l4Ahg8
THE OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK: Posted by Diane Ravitch to the EdWeek Bridging Differences blog | http://bit.ly/lc4vvM ... http://bit.ly/jVfSEm
BETH BARRETT, L.A. WEEKLY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, WINS AWARD FOR BEST PUBLIC SERVICE SERIES: "The Dance of the L... http://bit.ly/mCIA9g
May 3, 2011: HAPPY WORLD ASTHMA DAY + HAPPY NATIONAL TEACHER DAY/TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY: Happy World Asthma Da... http://bit.ly/lhH8Af
‘PARENT TRIGGER’ LIMBO: The pilot program enabling parents to petition for changes at low-performing schools was... http://bit.ly/lk8yT2
THREATENED WALTER REED MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAMS BRING HOME MORE AWARDS: Teachers told they may not come back... http://bit.ly/jyXBVt
THE HIGH COST OF LOW TEACHER SALARIES + A NEW MEASURE FOR CLASSROOM QUALITY: The High Cost of Low Teacher Salari... http://bit.ly/lYKjlq
TWO FAMILIES WEIGH IN ON PATHS TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/jB0... http://bit.ly/kBQm0F
New EdSource Q&A Publication – CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL CRISIS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR SCHOOLS?: from EdSource: http:/... http://bit.ly/kyjpNj
9,000 LOW INCOME KIDS WON'T HAVE SUMMER JOBS, CITY OF L.A. ACKNOWLEDGES: By City News Service from the Beverly H... http://bit.ly/mthsrA
The A-plus Act: LAWMAKERS REINTRODUCE BILL ALLOWING STATES TO OPT OUT OF NCLB: By Alyson Klein, EdWeek | http://... http://bit.ly/knR7F9
L.A. UNIFIED SUES CITY OVER CONTAMINATION AT TAYLOR YARDS HIGH SCHOOL + smf’s 2¢: The district says solvents and... http://bit.ly/lgOlvA
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• TUESDAY MAY 10TH IS CALIFORNIA DAY OF THE TEACHER, not to be confused with National Teacher Day/Teacher Appreciation Day - which was last Tuesday. WWT?
• EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer + more info. http://bit.ly/inHp2e
*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 Brown: 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. THEY DO!.
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