In This Issue:
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LAUSD BOARD'S NURY MARTINEZ WANTS TO RESTORE -- AND INCREASE -- ARTS FUNDING IN SCHOOLS |
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[more about] EDUCATION REFORM + ARTS EDUCATION ...than you ever wanted to know |
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The demise of AB 5: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO REFORM TEACHER EVALUATIONS |
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LAUSD’s TABLET PLAN DOESN’T COMPUTE …and “the legality is somewhat sketchy” |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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The young girl ran up to her mother, who was having a
boring conversation with another adult – breathless with the
realization of previously unknown truth.
“Mom,” she said; “ Listen to this: If you take the “ART” out of “EARTH”, all you have left is “EH…!” Isn’t that cool?!”
Her mom was nonplussed, embarrassed by the interruption.
[Interrupting adults’ boring conversations with newly uncovered truths
is a basic responsibility of childhood, protected by scripture; (“Out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.”).
Discouraging it is a self-perpetuating failure of adulthood. ]
The girl ran off. Her mom apologized. I stole the line.
In LAUSD we seem to be quite intent on taking the arts out of education. Because we can’t afford it.
Arts+Music Ed costs money. It isn’t tested. Oh sure, it’s there in the
California Standards and in Subpart #15 of No Child Left Behind, it’s
the “F” in A-thru-G and it’s a graduation requirement – but allow me to
repeat myself: It isn’t tested.
If we can’t measure progress, how do we know if we’re getting anywhere?
How do we know who the good and bad arts teachers are? Where are the
Arts+Music in AYP and API?
Art is very hard to define, we rarely agree on what it is …or what is it.
A story well told. The world well observed, well portrayed on the page,
the canvas, the screen, the dance floor or the stage. Something that
makes you think in another way. A musical experience we hear in our
soul. A fourteen year old finding Yorik and the Bard on the boards or
in the seats. A photograph that transcends the moment; a dance step that
defines a moment. A phrase well turned, turned inside out.
Art the most important product of humanity. To not teach Art to our
children is to close the doors through which we have come and through
which they must pass. Is all we need to know when to pick up the pencil
when to put it down and how much time we have to take the test?
Eleven years ago LAUSD embarked on a ten year Arts Education Plan that
was second to none. Other school districts came to study and marvel and
emulate it. The Board President spoke of its wonderfulness and
importance. She accepted awards for her visionary leadership of it - and
slowly began to dismantle it with Rightsizing, RIFs+Budget Cuts. In
about year eight the Powers-That-Be began to dismember it; by year nine
it was an empty shell. Despite all the claims of it having been saved
today Arts+Music Ed is a chalk outline on the sidewalk alongside school
nurses and school libraries and health education and adult ed and
afterschool programs –the few survivors are held back by the crime scene
tape.
ON TUESDAY THE BOARD OF ED will vote on a resolution to make Arts
Education part of the Education Core and 4LAKids supports that
resolution and every whereas and therefore.
But without genuine commitment – without funding and staffing and
classroom teachers and supplies– a board resolution – no matter how
artfully crafted +unanimously supported can end up an empty promise and
the waste of an agenda item and copier paper+toner.
I welcome and do not question the good intentions and/or commitment of
the Superintendent, the Mayor, the Board and The Trust for LA Schools
…but if Arts Ed is really Core it must be embedded in the curriculum and
have guaranteed funding in the school district budget– not reliant upon
philanthropy and the kindness of others or the PTA bake sale. The LA
Trust has not been all that successful at fundraising up to now – and
its budget is not accountable to elected officials. No outsotcing.
Outsourcing Arts+Music Ed makes it a charity case – and The Core is part of the apple one doesn’t eat.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
●● 93 Candles on his Birthday Cake: SHERIFF JOHN ROVICK 1919-2012 - In
the time between Howdy Doody and Sesame Street there was Sheriff John.
Any Angeleno of my age would be remiss in not wishing Godspeed to John
Rovick. | 'Sheriff' John Rovick dies at 93; popular L.A. children's TV
host - latimes.com http://lat.ms/Q57FH9
LAUSD BOARD'S NURY MARTINEZ WANTS TO RESTORE -- AND INCREASE -- ARTS FUNDING IN SCHOOLS
By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/UvaQy7
10/06/2012 :: Third-graders listen to teacher Steven Baxter during
their drama class at Carlos Santana Arts Academy on Oct. 5, 2012, in
North Hills. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)
NORTH HILLS -- Accompanied by teacher Darlene Abiog on the guitar, the
second- and third-graders at the Carlos Santana Arts Academy sang the
lyrics written on the board, their reading lesson set to music.
In the campus auditorium, drama teacher Steve Baxter coaxed a group of
third-graders to perform the actions for "lumbering" and "empathy," the
kids gleefully unaware they were also learning new vocabulary words.
Down the hall, meanwhile, stacks of donated keyboards, guitars,
woodwinds and drums sat along the walls of a classroom, idle since the
day that funding was cut for an instrumental-music teacher.
"If you're going to have arts in school, you have to find ways to pay for people," said Leah Bass-Baylis, principal
Students sing along with teacher Darlene Abiog during a reading lesson
at Carlos Santana Arts Academy on Oct. 5, 2012, in North Hills. (Andy
Holzman/Staff Photographer)
of the K-5 campus that bears the name of the legendary guitarist.
"You've got to have money if you're going to make art part of
everything."
And that's what Los Angeles Unified school board member Nury Martinez
hopes to accomplish on Tuesday, when she introduces a resolution seeking
to restore and even increase the district's arts programs that were
gutted during the 5-year-old budget crisis.
She also wants a commitment to make arts a component of the new Common
Core curriculum, integrating skills like drama, drawing and dance into
the teaching of math, English and science. The national standards are
set to take effect in Fall 2014, and the district is slowly phasing in
the lessons.
"The timing for this couldn't be better," said Martinez, who represents
the east San Fernando Valley. "We'll be talking about a whole new way of
teaching that's more rigorous, where children don't just memorize
information but learn to solve problems."
The Common Core standards, which have been adopted by 45 other states
and the District of Columbia, emphasize critical thinking,
communication, collaboration and creativity, with the goal of preparing
students for college or a career.
Martinez noted the close connection between math and music and suggested
that the arts would help provide a real-world context for the tougher
academic standards that are at the heart of Common Core.
"This is a social justice and education equality issue," Martinez said.
"Those who are exposed to these skills at an early age will be able to
do better in mastering the Common Core."
Among those backing Martinez's resolution is the nonprofit Los Angeles
Fund for Public Education, which on Monday will announce details of a
fundraising campaign to support arts education.
"This resolution can really set the stage for reviving arts education,"
said Executive Director Dan Chang, explaining that the fund will help
provide professional development for district teachers and resources for
integrating arts into the Common Core.
He added that one of the biggest challenges for the fund is selecting
which programs to support from among the hundreds offered by the
nation's second-largest district.
"A little bit of philanthropy can go a long way," he said. "We try to
find programs where philanthropy can get the district over the hump in
terms of major initiatives."
During Tuesday's meeting, Martinez hopes to win support from her fellow
board members to stabilize funding for the Arts Education Branch and add
courses that would prepare students for jobs in Hollywood.
She'd eventually like to build funding back to levels seen in 2008, when the Arts Division
Carlos Santana Arts Academy principal Leah Bass-Baylis laughs while
visiting with students in a third-grade class on Oct. 5, 2012, in North
Hills. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)
had 345 instructors teaching visual and theater arts, music and dance.
Arts chief Steven McCarthy said the division today has just 210
teachers, like Baxter, who rotate among the district's elementary
schools. Kids typically get one day a week of arts instruction, but not
every medium is offered at every campus.
High schools must offer arts classes because students have to take two
semesters in order to graduate. Instructors' salaries come out of the
school-site budgets.
Middle schools are not legally bound to offer arts education, and the cuts there have been the most severe, McCarthy said.
Still, principals are scraping together the money and getting help from many of Los Angeles' renowned cultural institutions.
A ceramic mural at the Santana Academy, for instance, was completed with
a Music Center grant, while the Getty Museum funds visits for all 600
students and their families.
"Many admirable principals have found ways to keep arts alive and at the
forefront," said McCarthy, who previously taught drama at San Fernando
Middle School.
"It's important for students who excel at visual and performing arts to express their knowledge in other key disciplines."
"Some children will excel in arts before they excel in other things," he
said. "And once they're able to experience success, it's contagious."
Bass-Baylis knows that feeling well.
Now 58, she can't remember a time that she didn't dance. She was
accomplished enough to become a professional, working as a dancer in New
York while earning her master's degree in special education from
Columbia University -- one of two advanced degrees she holds.
"You dance because you have to," she said. "It's a part of your being."
As an arts educator, she started the dance program at the Millikan
Performing Arts Magnet in Sherman Oaks and took a troupe of students on a
trip to China.
She has similar aspirations for her students at Santana Academy, who are
well-versed in the "Artist's Pledge" voicing the hope to be a lifelong
learner, college bound and on a quest for greatness.
"Arts opens doors," said Bass-Baylis, who has been principal of Santana
Academy since it opened in Fall 2011. "And there's nothing that does
better than the arts in helping kids engage and pushing them to take
what they learn and make it their own."
[more about] EDUCATION REFORM + ARTS EDUCATION ...than you ever wanted to know
Americans for the Arts | http://bit.ly/UM8sxs
The arts (dance, music, theater, and visual arts) are considered “core
academic subjects” under federal law—the Elementary & Secondary
Education Act (ESEA). This means that changes in federal education
funding and policy affect opportunities for local arts programs and
teachers. Below is an overview of some of the big changes to the
education landscape and how they affect the arts.
ESEA
The reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) is now long overdue. This body of federal education policy, last
authorized in 2002 as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), has resulted
in a narrowing of the curriculum (described in this report|) http://bit.ly/OMrzdP and arts education has struggled to remain in many schools across the country.
Each year, through the national Arts Advocacy Day, a large coalition of
national cosponsors of arts and arts education advocacy organizations
releases their legislative recommendations for the reauthorizations of
NCLB | http://bit.ly/VNxUpy
(110 KB). These national cosponsors continue to work with House and
Senate committee staff to incorporate these recommendations into the
reauthorization drafts.
RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE:
• Retain the Arts in the Definition of Core Academic Subjects of Learning;
• Require Annual State Reports on Student Access to Core Academic Subjects;
• Improve National Data Collection and Research in Arts Education;
• Reauthorize the Arts in Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education.
The Arts Education Federal Resource Guide|http://bit.ly/TiljLE
is a report produced by Americans for the Arts on the arts-related
aspects of No Child Left Behind. The document includes information on
arts education policy under NCLB and information on grant opportunities,
including program descriptions, Department of Education contact
information, and links to many other resources.
STATE WAIVERS
Because the No Child Left Behind Act expired in 2007 and is currently
authorized through a temporary provision, many advocates have been
calling on Congress to reauthorize it. However, as of 2012, no bills
have been seriously considered by either chambers of Congress.
In absence of legislative movement on the issue, the Obama
administration has been issuing “waivers” from certain provisions in
NCLB to states in exchange for statewide reform efforts. More than half
the states have received such waivers.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted a panel in August 2012
titled “The State of State Education Reform: What’s Happening, What’s
Next?” that reviewed the impact of the U.S. Department of Education
state waivers and the Elementary & Secondary Education Act. Their
report, No Child Left Behind Waivers, is now available|http://bit.ly/RofvvU.
So what reforms are the states planning? The major waiver-based reform efforts that affect arts education are:
• Creating assessment strategies for subjects other than English, language arts, and math.
• Creating highly qualified designation for teachers and teacher evaluation.
• Using extended learning time to combat the narrowing of the curriculum.
• Here is an infographic|http://bit.ly/PMcKTo summarizing the differences between NCLB and the state waivers.
• This short video clip|http://cs.pn/SFZ8iR
from the CAP event shows Senior Director for Federal Affairs and Arts
Education Narric Rome discussing the impact of the state waivers on arts
education and the narrowing of the curriculum. Watch the panelists,
including U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary
Michael Yudin, respond.
COMMON CORE
The Common Core State Standards Initiative| (http://bit.ly/OgePL1CCSS)
is a partnership between the Council of Chief State School Officers and
the National Governors Association to develop a set of “common” (not
national or federal) academic learning standards for students. The
standards address English, language arts, and math, and were released in
June 2010. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted
them.
The standards are meant to prepare students for both college and career,
and they contain an emphasis on higher order thinking skills. These
standards are not curriculum, and they do not dictate how to teach the
content. Two consortia are developing assessments| http://bit.ly/RK3JxJ to complement these standards, with an emphasis on digital and performance-based assessments for students.
There are several possible ways that CCSS will affect arts education:
• Arts teachers could provide training to general classroom teachers on
how to use performance-based assessments and portfolios for student
assessment;
• Arts teachers could partner with English and language arts teachers to
find curricular connections between the new non-fiction reading
requirement and the historical/cultural connections in the arts;
• CCSS emphasis on English, language arts, and math could produce an even narrower curriculum;
• CCSS emphasis on integration could result in an expanded, project-based curriculum;
• And many more possibilities that will come with implementation of CCSS.
Here are a few resources to help you understand this new initiative:
• Presentation by Arts Education Partnership Director Sandra Ruppert
provides information about Common Core and other standards issues. | http://bit.ly/Rogvjm
• Americans for the Arts blog salon about the intersection of the arts and common core. | http://bit.ly/SVFLNa
• Education Week article, “Districts Gear Up for Shift to Informational
Texts,” addresses how the non-fiction reading requirement lends itself
to integration with content in science, social studies, and the arts.| http://bit.ly/Ta3qJA
• A video clip of David Coleman, a main author for CCSS, during an event
called “Truant From School: History, Science, and Arts.” | http://bit.ly/Ta3wAV
ADDITIONAL REFORM INITIATIVES
• Americans for the Arts has also joined peer efforts to improve
education in America. We have signed onto the following coalitions, each
advocating for a well-rounded complete education for all students.
• Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind | http://bit.ly/VBqUxB
• Broader, Bolder Approach to Education | http://bit.ly/VNBeBc
• Statement on College, Career, and Citizenship Readiness | http://bit.ly/SGeUZ3
• Time to Succeed Coalition | http://bit.ly/RK4hnw
The demise of AB 5: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO REFORM TEACHER EVALUATIONS
By John Affeldt, EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/VByN65
October 3rd, 2012 :: The Chicago teachers’ strike is the most recent
example of how bloody the ideological debate over teacher evaluation has
become in this country. Though not the only issue in Chicago, how to
evaluate teachers and the role of standardized tests in that process has
been at the core of the contentiousness in the Windy City. In
California, we recently saw our own version of the teacher evaluation
debate turn toxic with the demise of AB 5.
Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes’ bill sought to significantly reform the
Stull Act, the moribund 41-year-old process for evaluating teachers.
With one day left in the legislative session, Fuentes pulled his bill
after dozens of inside interests and some outside advocates created a
near hysteria over the fear of expanded union rights and diminished
achievement measures.
AB 5 was not perfect, but for the community groups and advocates who
supported it, its demise represents the loss of a much-needed reform of
the state’s teacher evaluation system. In its stead, our public schools
are left with the status quo of drive-by evaluations under the Stull
Act, where teachers go years without meaningful feedback and rarely, if
ever, have their professional development informed by the evaluation
process. In figuring out a way forward, it’s worth examining the loudest
arguments opposing AB 5 and whether and how to address them.
First, it’s interesting to note that 10 days after AB 5’s defeat, State
Superintendent Tom Torlakson’s Task Force on Educator Excellence
released its Greatness by Design report, proposing the most significant
overhaul of teacher quality in a generation for California. The Task
Force that Torlakson convened was a cross-section of superintendents,
principals, teachers, researchers, labor, student advocates, and
policymakers. Among its recommendations on teacher evaluation were many
of the exact reforms AB 5 had come so close to enacting, including
ensuring districts adopt systems that:
• utilize multiple measures to examine both student learning and
teaching practice but without relying on unstable and unreliable state
standardized test scores;
• must be based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession;
• are sophisticated enough to distinguish between excellent teaching and
merely satisfactory (versus only the current satisfactory vs.
unsatisfactory distinctions);
• feed into professional development and support for educators who need assistance; and
• necessarily grow out of a collective labor/management vision for improving instructional quality.
NOT ENOUGH TESTING?
The two primary arguments opponents asserted against AB 5 were that it
watered down the role of standardized tests in measuring student
learning and that it dangerously expanded union rights to collectively
bargain evaluations. Though some opponents never stopped repeating the
testing-dilution straw man, in fact the bill was amended to ensure that
it did no more or less than the Stull Act or the recent Doe v. Deasy
decision in Los Angeles as regards the use of standardized tests. The
bill required that state and local standardized tests be used in
measuring student learning but left the precise role of such tests to
local discretion.
In fact, for some opponents increasing the use of ill-suited state
standardized tests for individual teacher evaluation is a major piece of
their agenda. Groups like Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and Democrats
for Education Reform want to see students’ scores on state standardized
tests make up as much as 50 percent of a teacher’s performance rating. A
key goal for many so-called “education reformers” these days is to
require not just the use of some type of appropriate standardized test
for evaluating teachers, but the significant use of state standardized
achievement test scores. When I have had frank conversations with some,
it’s clear to me that being able to compare teacher quality judgments
across a given state is more important to them than making sure each
district actually has in place a meaningful, high-quality evaluation
system.
Yet, as pointed out in the Educator Excellence Task Force report,
leading research organizations like the National Research Council
strenuously warn against using state standardized test scores to
evaluate any unit lower than school-level performance. These tests prove
entirely too unreliable and variable when measuring individual teacher
performance. About half of top performers one year score below average
the next, and the same proportion of the bottom performers
simultaneously jump to average or above. Also, teachers of students with
disabilities and new English Learners are systematically penalized with
low ratings based on state standardized test scores, no matter the
supposedly sophisticated statistical machinations employed to control
for such factors. The fact that teachers who are effective with such
students can still be penalized for teaching them creates a huge and
troubling disincentive for serving in our neediest classrooms.
Finally, many state tests, like California’s, are not “vertically
aligned,” which is a psychometrician’s way of saying they only tell you
if a student is proficient or not at a given grade level and are
incapable of illustrating a student’s growth outside that grade span.
As an advocate for kids, I’d really like to make teacher quality
comparisons across districts too, but the technology just isn’t there
yet. Our highest priority, instead, has to be on developing good systems
for districts rather than first promoting comparable but questionable
metrics to satisfy someone’s reform agenda.
TOO MUCH BARGAINING?
The most understandable fear of many AB 5 opponents was that it would
have subjected the evaluation process to collective bargaining in new
and untold ways. There is more than a little greyness under California
law about what exactly must be bargained in the teacher evaluation
process.
Personally, I did not read AB 5 as expanding the reach of collective
bargaining beyond existing law, which requires evaluation processes be
bargained and allows districts to set performance standards, but
admittedly the statute was not a model of clarity on the point. Still,
AB 5’s collective bargaining language was placed in the bill in the
summer of 2011, and no one claimed the provision would alter the
education universe as we know it. Only when the bill was close to
passing last month did the collective bargaining doomsday scenario
suddenly surface. When Fuentes agreed to amendments in the last few days
that sought to placate district concerns, it was too late to unpoison
the atmosphere. The safest future course would seem to be language
clarifying that the existing bargaining balance in the Stull Act should
continue.
On the merits of the collective bargaining question, I have to ask,
though: Is all the fuss really well-considered? Long Beach Unified is
thought to have a model teacher evaluation program; it has been
collectively bargained. I now sit on the Emery Unified school board.
District relations with the teachers union have generally been good but
have seen tensions rising lately. Nonetheless, I don’t see how it makes
any sense for a district to impose an evaluation system unilaterally on a
workforce that hasn’t bought into it. How are the underperforming
teachers in any such district going to believe in the judgments that say
they need to improve?
The fact is AB 5 fell victim, in significant part, to the standoff
between John Deasy and United Teachers Los Angles over whether and to
what extent state standardized test scores should be part of LA teacher
evaluations. But the answer for those districts where labor relations
are sour can’t be to give one side all the power to impose a system or
the other side all the power to resist one. There have to be some middle
ways to facilitate conciliation between distrustful parties. Perhaps
this should be an area of focus for the next run at an evaluation bill.
STATUS QUO FOREVER?
AB 5 had room for improvement. We and our grassroots partners in the
Campaign for Quality Education and PICO California would have preferred
that it had required that the multiple measures of student growth be a
“substantial” part of the teacher’s evaluation and that appropriate
student and parent input be a part of every evaluation. But passage of
AB 5 would have enabled us to argue for those refinements on a
district-by-district basis as well as in future statutory tweaks to
apply statewide.
Having missed the opportunity to accomplish the heavy lift, I fear the
pro forma Stull Act evaluations that our state’s hundreds of thousands
of teachers are currently subject to will continue for the foreseeable
future. I pray the education community will rise above the fears and
even fear mongering of recent weeks. I hope we can focus next year on
passing a bill that again promises to reform our state’s teacher
evaluation system in a way that produces truly robust evaluations that
support teacher development and a higher standard of instructional
practice. Our students deserve nothing less.
• John Affeldt is Managing Attorney at Public Advocates Inc., a
nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the
systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening
community voices in public policy. He is a leading voice on educational
equity issues and has been recognized by California Lawyer Magazine as a
California Attorney of the Year, The Recorder as an Attorney of the
Year, and a Leading Plaintiff Lawyer in America by Lawdragon Magazine.
LAUSD’s TABLET PLAN DOESN’T COMPUTE …and “the legality is somewhat sketchy”
SUPT. JOHN DEASY WANTS TO PROVIDE A TABLET COMPUTER TO EVERY TEACHER AND
STUDENT. BUT HE DOESN'T HAVE A REAL PLAN; IT'S MORE LIKE A NOTION — AND
THAT'S NOT ENOUGH
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/QOyjTZ
October 5, 2012 :: Superintendent John Deasy wants to buy every
teacher and student in Los Angeles Unified School District a tablet
computer within a year or two — 700,000 of the electronic devices, he
figures — and pay for it with bonds that were passed by voters to build,
repair and update school facilities.
Deasy isn't the only one eager to use bond money to buy tablets, though
L.A. Unified's purchase would be uniquely ambitious in its size and
reach. In fact, though the legality is somewhat sketchy, this is
becoming as much a trend as starting up charter schools.
So far, though, Deasy doesn't know which tablets he's interested in
buying or have an estimate of how much they might cost. He hasn't
figured out whether students would take their tablets home to do their
homework and, if they do, how the district would keep them and the
devices safe (it would be widely known that students were carrying
expensive equipment around) or who would pay if the tablets were lost or
broken.
Despite the lack of details, Deasy is forging ahead with a request for
"conceptual approval." The school board will discuss the matter next
week, and the bond oversight committee will consider it the following
week.
The problem is that the superintendent has yet to develop a concept worthy of approval. It's more like a notion at this point.
Spending money on tablets would be a departure from the usual school
bond expenditures, which traditionally fund construction of new schools
and renovation of buildings so decrepit that teachers have to place
garbage cans under leaky ceilings during rainstorms. The money can be
used for in-school equipment such as desks and computer wiring but not
for instructional materials such as textbooks, copied worksheets, papers
and pens. When voters supported L.A. Unified's bond measures in recent
years, it's safe to assume they didn't have tablets in mind.
That said, it might be time to expand the definition of equipment that
can be bought with bond money. In the near future, standardized testing
and in-class lessons will require computer use, though this doesn't
necessitate a computer for every student.
We'd love to see the best, most helpful equipment in the hands of L.A.
Unified students, but Deasy has not laid out a persuasive argument for
this purchase. Though it might sound preliminary, "conceptual approval"
puts the district on a path from which it's hard to deviate. The
oversight committee needs to take its role seriously as the bulwark
against imprudent expenditures of bond money; it should require the
superintendent to do his homework and return with a better proposal.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
Los Angeles: THE PROVING GROUND OF EDUCATION ®EFORM:
By Catherine Cloutier, fellow, News21 - The USC/Annenberg S... http://bit.ly/QIIxqr
SOUTH LA SCHOOLS TEAM UP TO FIGHT RECONSTITUTION: By Vanessa Romo, KPCC Pass-Fail | http://bit.ly/PZTTGL ... http://bit.ly/QzMGwZ
POLICE PEPPER SPRAY BREAKS UP FIGHT AT NARBONNE HIGH SCHOOL: A fistfight between two girls that drew a crowd of ... http://bit.ly/VqrnTh
LAUSD’s TABLET PLAN DOESN’T COMPUTE …and “the legality is somewhat sketchy”: Supt. John Deasy wants to provide... http://bit.ly/UmRdrS
Expand
GRADING TEACHERS: L.A. Youth’s staff writers say there are better ways to evaluate teachers than using students'... http://bit.ly/QOkncM
IN CHICAGO, THE TEACHERS’ LAST STAND: Photograph by Michael Hitoshi/Getty Images By Drake Bennett Bloomberg Bus... http://bit.ly/T7IDf0
VETO PITS CHARTER SCHOOL AUTONOMY AGAINST REDUCED PRICE MEALS: Joanna Lin California Watch | http://bit.ly/PB1zw ... http://bit.ly/T6fNM8
“THE TEXAS MIRACLE” v.2.0: EL PASO SUPERINTENDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO PUSHING LATINO STUDENTS OUT: El Paso Superint... http://bit.ly/VAEuzC
FACT CHECK: On education, gains difficult to demonstrate: By Howard Blume LA Times Politics NOW | http://lat.m... http://bit.ly/UizPEP
INGLEWOOD HIGH GRAD TAKES OVER CITY’S TROUBLED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Kent Taylor, who graduated from Inglewood High i... http://bit.ly/Wp8mys
Fading Dreams: COMMUNITY COLLEGES’ CRISIS SLOWS STUDENT’S PROGRESS + New Law: THOSE RESPONSIBLE HELD UNACCOUNTAB... http://bit.ly/VzDrzT
PARENT COUP: INSIDE THE NEXT PUBLIC EDUCATION SHOWDOWN. Moms in the Mojave Desert are trying to take over an ele... http://bit.ly/UfAl6n
The Presidential Debate: EDUCATION ISSUES BARELY BREAK THE SURFACE: by Emily Richmond/The Educated Reporter - Co... http://bit.ly/VxEDDW
Ed®eform LoveFest @ #Debates:Obama likes Race to the Top.Mitt likes Arne
Duncan+Vouchers Kids lose, Arne gets 2B EdSect no matter who wins?
An Education: HOW PROP 32’s BACKERS HAVE TRIED TO DITCH PUBLIC SCHOOLS: by Matthew Fleischer, Frying Pan News: H... http://bit.ly/QrqmFB
EDUCATION FUNDING REFORM STALLS IN CALIFORNIA: DAN WALTERS - Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/VggqU9 October 02... http://bit.ly/VueJ3Q
ARNE DUNCAN WOULD STAY ON FOR 2nd OBAMA TERM, TRIES TO PATCH RELATIONS w/TEACHERS, CALLS FOR MOVE TO DIGITAL TEX... http://bit.ly/Uc7Bv9
LAUSD “RUNNING ON FUMES” GOING INTO NOVEMBER TAX VOTES: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News from the P... http://bit.ly/QDrvZr
MIRAMONTE ATTORNEY CALLS FOR MORE AGGRESSIVE MEASURES, CRITICIZES ART: Did Picasso made him do it …or make kids ... http://bit.ly/SX8Eha
Teaching+Learning Artfully: ARTS INTEGRATION FOR DEEPER LEARNING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL: video and articles from Eduto... http://bit.ly/Po5XyP
Art In Public Schools: COULD A MORE CREATIVE CURRICULUM LOWER DROPOUT RATES? + FANNING THE FLAME OF CREATIVITY: ... http://bit.ly/STtAph
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
*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:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
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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