In This Issue:
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The view from the other coast - LOS ANGELES: GROUND ZERØ IN THE FIGHT OVER CLASS SIZE AND ©ORPORATE ®EFORM |
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STATE BOARD OF ED DELAYS VOTE ON PROPOSED SCIENCE STANDARDS FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS |
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AB 357: TEACHER DISMISSAL BILL BLOCKED OVER SEVEN-MONTH TIME LIMIT |
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CA TO APPLY TO FEDS FOR WAIVER OF “DOUBLE TESTING” MANDATE & SCHOOLS+STATE STRUGGLE W/ LCFF ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINES |
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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 storming and fall of the Bastille 224 years ago
today is a moment rife with metaphor, filled with pathos and betrayal
and the unintended+inevitable consequence. The prize was even then
little more than a symbol: A crumbling fortress guarded by pensioners
and taken by a mob of not-very-many relying more on luck+subterfuge than
siege – and possessing no military skill. Once taken the prison
contained a mere seven inmates. After a suitable grisly parade of (by
French Revolutionary standards) a few heads atop spikes – and a
fruitless search for fiendish torture chambers (Not unlike the illusory
WMD) the symbol Of All That Was Bad with L'Ancien Régime– and All That
Was Noble in The Popular Uprising (culottes or no) was torn down stone
by stone. Napoleon later considered building his Arc de Triomphe on
the site. But Bonaparte wasn’t really a republican – and there was a
better location.
So about a quarter of the UTLA membership has sent Dr. D a bad report card. Let the silliness begin!
Like les citoyens de Paris we begin to pull up the paving stones around le Bastille de Beaudry.
Like candidates ahead in the polls we begin to compile our lists.
The parlor game of “Who will the next superintendent be?” has begun.
And like Mme. Defarge or Ko-ko the Lord High Executioner we have that
other little list -- and “They’ll none of them be missed!”
The kids are out of school the Board of Ed has taken the summer off and
the LAUSD community theater production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s lost
masterpiece of “The Pirates of Pedagogy” is in rehearsal.
Not so fast I say
It’s far too early for any of this. There are other shoes to drop. But
another voice calls me from the past: Is it my scoutmaster from the
fifties? ...or Tom Lehret from the sixties?
“If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind,
And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined:
Don’t be nervous, don’t be frightened, don’t be scared.
Be prepared!”
●● 4LAKids WILL MISS THE EXCELLENT BLOGPOSTS, NEWS AGGREGATION AND
COMMENTARY IN UCLA/IDEA’S "THEMES IN THE NEWS". The rants of the
hopelessly academically advanced against the injustices of educational
injustice will be missed as TitN goes dark after 4 or 5 years or so of
reform, counter reform , economic downturn and occasional bright
flashes of light.
In the valedictory TitN reminisces upon some Themes for the Themes [http://bit.ly/17cQRqc]:
● UCLA/IDEA’s FIRST THEME was the chronicle of California education
during the great recession. California’s families and public schools,
colleges, and universities were in crisis. Tint wrote about how
instability and insecurity outside schools made young people’s lives
harder and created new challenges for California educators. Tint also
highlighted the many ways that cuts to California’s (already
substandard) education budget diminished learning opportunities and
supports, particularly for the state’s most vulnerable children.
● A SECOND MAJOR THEME was the rash of new reforms that promised
dramatic improvement in educational outcomes even as the state pulled
dollars from public schools. Charter schools, teacher evaluation based
on student test scores and school turnaround models consumed the
attention, energies, and resources of educators and the public. The
momentum of these reforms was striking given the lack of evidence in
their favor.
● THE THIRD MAJOR THEME was the resistance of many Californians who
refused to accept an inevitable decline of public education in the
state. Teachers questioned the misuse and overuse of standardized
tests. Young people joined mass rallies protesting diminished services
and rising tuition. Unions, CBOs, and parents forged an unexpected and
powerful electoral coalition supporting reasonable tax increases. All
were propelled by a deep sense of hope—a belief that our state can be
better, but only if we invest in our collective future through public
education.
IN SUM, the past four years of TitN have confirmed that accepting the
status quo is a sign of despair while critique and resistance are the
hallmarks of hope. Thank you.
¡Onward/Adelante/Aux barricades! – smf
The view from the other coast - LOS ANGELES: GROUND
ZERØ IN THE FIGHT OVER CLASS SIZE AND ©ORPORATE ®EFORM
by Leonie Haimson in the NYC Public School Parents blog | http://bit.ly/15ElW6Z
Saturday, July 13, 2013 | 1:32PM EDT :: The Los Angeles school board
has a new president, Dr. Richard Vladovic, and a new member, Monica
Ratliff, a working fifth grade teacher, who won her seat despite being
hugely outspent more than 10-1 by the corporate reform crowd, including
$1 million from NYC Mayor Bloomberg.
Vladovic was elected president by 5-2. The two votes against him came
from outgoing president Monica Garcia and her ally Tamar Galatzan.
The Los Angeles school district also has, for the first time in years,
an increase in funding from the state, and has decided to spend a large
portion to reverse the increase in class sizes that has driven class
sizes in many classrooms to 30 to 40 students or more.
Here is a video of the June 18 school board meeting, [http://bit.ly/16BfeeT]
showing Los Angeles parents, many of them Mexican-American, pleading
with the school board to pass the resolution that had been introduced in
support of reducing class size. It is well worth watching in its
entirety:
At the behest of some LA parents and activist Robert Skeels, I wrote a
short research brief supporting the resolution that is posted here: http://bit.ly/1aDhY35
The class size reduction resolution was approved by the board 5-2. The
two votes against it came, again, from Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan.
The board postponed a vote on a competing resolution, introduced by
Galatzan and supported by Superintendent John Deasy, that would have
given schools more “flexibility” in spending these funds.
Deasy had already pushed through a program to give iPads to all LA
students, and expand digital learning to teach the common core, all
favorite experiments of the corporate reform crowd and especially the
Gates Foundation.
Deasy was appointed straight from the Gates Foundation, which, despite
the voluminous evidence for its efficacy in boosting learning and
narrowing the achievement gap, remains the nation’s most powerful
opponent of reducing class size.
After the vote of the school board in favor of reducing class size,
Deasy said he would ignore their wishes and would implement Galatzan’s
resolution:
“The Board voted down the directive to have me come and do it,” said
Deasy, referring to Galatzan’s local spending resolution: “…we’re doing
it anyway. If they had voted to prevent me from doing it… well they
didn’t think of that.”
He said his spending plan will somehow combine both resolutions,
including the one supporting class size reduction, which he derisively
described as a “directive to hire every human being on the West Coast.”
The LA principals and teachers unions subsequently sent a letter of
protest to the board about Deasy’s intention to defy their decision.
Below is [a link to a]video clip of the most dramatic part of the
board’s debate over class size, as Steve Zimmer, the new vice-president,
also a former school teacher, explains the hypocrisy of those who
opposed this resolution by showing how many LA charters boast about
their smaller classes. (Deasy is proud of the fact that LA is now the
largest charter authorizer in the United States.)
Here is a description/explanation from a LA insider, originally posted on Diane Ravitch’s blog:
With mounting irritation, Zimmer starts shouting—quoting and
throwing the paper printouts from the charters websites wildly over his
shoulder (where the charters’ websites’ main page touts and specifically
cites their exact student-to-teacher ratios.)
This was breathtaking. You can’t see this because of the camera
angle, but Board Member Galatzan was visibly angry at this point. A
little subtext here.
Both Galatzan and Monica Garcia have strongly backed the private
charters in general—and the ones mentioned by Zimmer in particular,
while at the same time, lambasting teachers in the traditional public
schools and those teachers’ union, UTLA for doing a lousy job, and
“obstructing reform” and being “defenders of a failed status quo,” and
on and on… (In the process, Galatzan and Garcia are parroting the
talking points of the “reform” organizations who pumped millions into
their campaigns… but that’s another story).
In 2009, Galatzan and Garcia also voted to raise class size in the
traditional public schools—and saying nothing about the ratios at their
beloved charter schools. While the state budget was a contributing
factor to the vote, Galatzan and Garcia also cited in part the following
reasons for raising the class size in the traditional public schools:
1) “Lowering class size is just about teachers unions wanting more
members and more dues, and more power… with no proof that it helps
kids.”
2) “Lowering class size is about advancing adult interests at the expense of children’s interests.”
3) “Lowering class size is just so teachers, who have it easy enough
already, will have it even easier, with less work required from less
students.”
Zimmer makes brief reference to these objection ”to those who think that (lowering) class size is solely about jobs.. ”
For Galatzan and Garcia, they take a seemingly contradictory
(hypocritical?) stance on this, as again, they bend over backwards
supporting and praising the charter schools whose success is in part due
to their low class size—the low class size the charters tout on their
websites.
Anyway, back to the video.
Galatzan starts picking up the papers that Zimmer flings
indiscriminately over his head and slapping them down angrily on the
counter, and says to him, “Are you gonna clean this up?”
Not flinching a bit, Zimmer continues his laser-like focus, not even
looking sideways at Galatzan as he snaps, “I’ll clean it up!” as if to
say, “Don’t butt in… I’m on a roll here.”
Again… a breathtaking performance.
It is especially breathtaking for those of us here in NYC, whose
children continue to suffer from rising class sizes because of mayoral
control and a lack of democracy, with a school board whose decisions are
in lock step with their master, Michael Bloomberg.
STATE BOARD OF ED DELAYS VOTE ON PROPOSED SCIENCE STANDARDS FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS
EVERYONE LIKES ‘EM, BUT IMPLEMENTATION IS POSTPONED.
PROPONENTS SAY NEW SCIENCE STANDARDS INCLUDE MORE HANDS-ON
EXPERIMENTATION.
By Kathryn Baron | EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/1ak5dH3
July 10th, 2013 :: It was a rare moment of harmony in education reform
at the California State Board of Education Wednesday morning. Everyone,
from business leaders to university deans and educators to advocates,
praised the new science content standards and urged the State Board to
implement them. Board members agreed that the standards are excellent,
but delayed the vote to formally implement them until their next meeting
in September.
The reasons: To give teachers an opportunity to comment on them, to
ensure that standards are aligned to tests and to provide time for
professional development.
“The concerns we’re getting are not with the content,” said Sherry
Griffith, a legislative advocate with the Association of California
School Administrators, whose members support the new standards. “We
think that it would benefit the State Board to provide that full breadth
of time and have the next 90 days to solicit input from the
on-the-ground teachers that will be impacted.”
California was one of 26 states that developed the Next Generation
Science Standards: For States, By States (NGSS). The voluntary
consortium was concerned that too many students in the United States
graduate without the knowledge and critical thinking required for 21st
century jobs. NGSS were designed as an alternative to the current
standards, which teachers have complained are too dry and uninspiring
because they rely on book learning rather than experimentation. The new
standards call for more hands-on work both in classroom labs and in
nature.
The proposed standards also contain “learning progressions” to ensure
that students learn the big concepts in one grade that they’ll need to
know the next year; subsequent courses build on one another.
“Science is not a list of facts, it’s a way of thinking about the
natural world; ask questions, gather information, find patterns, make
predictions,” said John Galisky, a longtime science teacher at Lompoc
High School in Santa Barbara County. ”These next-generation science
standards require students to think like a scientist, to do science.”
An example of a sixth grade science standard. The blue box tells what
the students will do, orange is what's known about this discipline and
green is how it fits into the big picture of all the fields of science.
(Source: California Dept. of Education). Click to enlarge.
An example of a sixth grade science standard. The blue box tells what
the students will do, orange is what’s known about this discipline and
green is how it fits into the big picture of all the fields of science.
Source: California Dept. of Education. (Click to enlarge)
Despite the overwhelming support for the new standards indicated at
Wednesday’s meeting, some critics have assailed the proposed change.
Last month, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gave the new standards a “C”
grade and gave California’s current science standards an “A.” The
Fordham evaluation said 13 states, including California, have current
science standards that are “clearly superior” to those being proposed.
The Institute praised the effort of NGSS, but said they lacked
substance, didn’t include teacher preparation and were missing an
effective implementation system.
California teacher Paul Bruno expressed similar concerns in a commentary
for EdSource. California already has “some of the strongest science
standards in the country,” Bruno wrote, and the new ones are overly
confusing.
The 400-plus pages of standards were released in April, when teachers’
attention was focused on wrapping up the school year, administering or
preparing for state tests and getting students ready for final exams.
It wasn’t until June, when most schools had let out for the summer, that
the state posted the science learning progressions for middle school.
These took longer to develop because of differences of opinion among the
26 states involved in developing the new standards.
Phil Lafontaine, the point person at the California Department of
Education working with the other states to develop the NGSS, said that
about a third of the states wanted specific standards for each grade,
while another third wanted standards for middle schools and to let
districts figure out where to teach them. The final third, including
California, wanted grade-specific standards, but wanted to make sure
that what students learned in one grade would properly follow what they
studied the prior year and would give students the knowledge they needed
to be successful in their next science class.
California’s science standards are also correlated with the new Common
Core math standards, said Lafontaine, to ensure that students have
already learned the math they will need for scientific experimentation.
They won’t be faced with a physics problem that requires math that won’t
be taught until the following semester or grade, for example.
TESTING QUANDARY
State Board of Education President Mike Kirst said the new science
standards are "really impressive," but delayed the vote to give teachers
time to review them.
There is time to address these concerns. Although some schools may start
teaching the new science standards in the next school year if theBoard
approves them in September*, it’s not required that they do so. Senate
Bill 300, the 2011 legislation that established the process for
approving new science content standards, which was introduced by Loni
Hancock, D-Oakland, gives the State Board until November to adopt them.
* smf: LAUSD resumes school mid August with many students receiving
tablets in August with the standards-based curriculum content preloaded.
While changing-out and uploading the new content to the platforms is
possible…”unteaching” the old stuff isn’t!
“We’re not in a hurry-up mode. We’re not going to require that districts
implement these next year,” Lafontaine said. “We’re going to try to be a
little bit more thoughtful on the process because it’s really a state
process and not a federal process.”
Another reason for holding off until the fall to adopt the science
standards is to ensure that California’s tests are in some way aligned
to the new standards once they are adopted. State Board of Education
President Michael Kirst was particularly concerned that students not be
tested on something they haven’t yet learned.
Because California does not have a waiver from the No Child Left Behind
Act, the state is bound – Kirst said “forced” – by the federal education
law to test students from grades 3 to 11.
He asked the State Department of Education to come back at the September
meeting with some options to address “this glaring juxtaposition that
what you’re testing is not what you’re teaching.”
“The next generation standards demand next generation teachers,” said Harold Levine, Dean of the UC Davis School of Education.
Some speakers encouraged the board to delay implementation, saying it
would give the state more time for professional development. Unlike the
$1.2 billion in the new state budget to help implement the Common Core
state standards, there is no money allocated for professional
development, instructional materials or technology for the science
standards.
Harold Levine, dean of the School of Education at University of
California, Davis, also said teacher education programs need more time
to develop a new curriculum to instruct the state’s teachers in training
how to teach the new standards.
“The next-generation standards demand next-generation teachers,” Levine
said. Most of them learned science the old way, which is what these new
standards are designed to change.
“In order to break this cycle, teacher education programs must evolve
innovative ways of educating our new teachers into a world of hands-on
learning, interactive teaching and new habits of mind that prioritize
conceptual understanding, learning how to learn and learning across
academic fields,” he said.
AB 357: TEACHER DISMISSAL BILL BLOCKED OVER SEVEN-MONTH TIME LIMIT
by Brianna Sacks, LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1duvFgW
July 11, 2013 :: After nine months of hearings and amendments,
legislation aimed to quicken and streamline teacher dismissal procedures
failed to pass in the Senate Education Committee by one vote.
The Chair of the Senate Education Committee Carol Liu (D-Glendale) — the
only LA-area lawmaker on the committee — decided not to vote for or
against the bill because of district administrators and attorneys’
concerns. Many other lawmakers followed suit.
Liu did grant the bill reconsideration, however, but it now will not be reconsidered until at least January.
Unless the process is changed at the state-level, bill sponsor State
Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-San Ramon) says LAUSD and other districts
will continue to wade through onerous dismissal procedures that can
last 18 months or longer.
However, Edgar Zazueta, the director of government relations for LAUSD,
said that while Buchanan’s bill would be a great improvement to the
current law there are some serious flaws that could damage the district
if the bill passed as is.
The Buchanan legislation has been supported by the teachers union, among others.
Assembly Bill 357 was expected to pass with strong support from
teachers’ unions and student advocacy groups. It would have made it
easier for districts to suspend and fire teachers for serious offenses,
an especially pertinent issue given the continuous slew of child
molestation and teacher misconduct cases that continue to crop up
throughout LA Unified.
First reported by EdSource Today, the failure of the Buchanan
legislation was a repeat of the failure of similar legislation in 2012.
Last year, Buchanan voted against the legislation, SB 1530, which was
championed by Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima). This year, she developed her
own legislation and was joined by Padilla, but was met with similar push
back by the state Senate.
What is really holding the bill back, from perspective of LAUSD, is the
proposed seven-month time frame for dismissing teachers accused of
misdeeds in the classroom.
“This bill says that if the seven months pass without a resolution, a
district gets another 30 days,” Zazueta explained. “But ultimately that
time period may lapse, and the bill states that the district would have
to refile the case. That’s a big concern for us.”
“It doesn’t make sense for us to have to start from scratch, put people
back on the stand and do the whole thing over,” he added.
District lawyers warned that Office of Administrative Hearings, where
the dismissal cases are heard, has a difficult time putting these on the
calendar from the get go, according to Zazueta. To district
administrators, a seven month dismissal resolution seems like a long
shot.
“What our lawyers told us is that the Office of Administrative Hearings
(where the dismissal cases are heard) has a difficult time putting these
on the calendar from the get go,” said Zazueta. “Just because we say it
will happen in seven months, will it actually happen?”
Buchanan disagrees with this assessment, saying that most dismissal
hearings actually take days or a week once they are scheduled at the
Office of Administrative Hearings because their deadlines are written
into statues, and that forces the OAH to make sure cases are concluded.
“It works,” said Buchanan. “So to say you cannot get it done in seven
months’ time, I don’t believe is correct, since these cases are not part
of judicial branch.”
United Teachers of Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher said the union
will continue to support the bill despite the recent setbacks. The
administrators’ union also said they support the bill, though they also
have concerns about the hard-set time deadline, among other details.
“Yes the process should be faster, but I think [the bill's sponsors]
tried to make it faster than would be possible,” said AALA President
Judith Perez.
Perez said that she was concerned at the speed teachers could be
dismissed if the bill passed and explained that putting such a specific
length of time could backfire for school districts.
Buchanan acknowledges that’s what prevented the bill from passing.
“The bill stalling really hinged on one law firm who testified and said
the process cannot be completed in seven months so cases will get
dismissed and end up costing districts more money,” said Buchanan.
Depending on the severity of the charges in a teacher dismissal case,
the process can drag on for a year or more, costing districts money they
don’t have.
Buchanan says the biggest problem facing schools is actually not the
sexual abuse and misconduct cases like Miramonte, but the dismissals for
unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance which are less
cut-and-dry, harder to prove, “drag on for extended periods of time” and
often costs districts hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On this issue, Buchanan and LAUSD agree.
“Sometimes cases last over a year,” said Zazueta. “Some cases have even dragged on for multiple years.”
These delayed dismissal cases can cost LAUSD anywhere from $150,000 –
$300,000 for one case, he said. If the district loses a case once it
finally gets to trial, Zazueta says the district has to pay the two
panelists it finds to sit in for the hearing about $7,000-$9,500.
Under Supt. Deasy’s administration, Zazueta says the district has tried
to “be more aggressive to see which employees should be in the
classroom,” which can result in more teacher dismissal cases.
With months until the January consideration, Buchanan says she will do whatever it takes to get the bill ready to pass.
“I need to sit down individually with every member of the Senate
Committee on Education to make sure they truly understand what the bill
really does,” she said. “If we need to amend it we will.
CA TO APPLY TO FEDS FOR WAIVER OF “DOUBLE TESTING”
MANDATE & SCHOOLS+STATE STRUGGLE W/ LCFF ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINES
► CA TO APPLY FOR FEDERAL WAIVER TO REMOVE “DOUBLE TEST’ REQUIREMENT NEXT YEAR
By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/12zVWEp
Thursday, July 11, 2013 :: As California transitions from its existing
student testing system to one based on new national common standards,
school administrators face the unhappy prospect next year of subjecting a
large number of students to both assessment programs next year.
But state officials said Wednesday that U.S. Education Secretary Arne
Duncan has offered states participating in one of two consortia
developing the new assessments a waiver allowing them relief from double
testing.
There are no guidelines yet governing how the waiver would work and
expectations are that Duncan would be considering them state by state.
But the good news, said Deb Sigman, deputy superintendent at the
California Department of Education overseeing student achievement
issues, is that federal officials recognize the problem.
At a hearing before the California State Board of Education, Sigman
noted that California would be applying for the waiver and expected to
have additional information about the proposal for the board to consider
in September.
Pending legislation aimed at positioning California for transitioning to
the new assessment system by the 2014-15 school year calls for the
suspension of the Standardized Testing and Reporting program – or STAR –
as of this month.
The bill, AB 484 Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, includes an
exception for those tests still required for federal accountability
purposes or used for the Early Assessment Program.
Meanwhile, California has committed to participating in the pilot and
field testing of the new, computer-based assessments being developed by
the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. That includes testing both
in 2012-13 and in 2013-14.
While only a sample of California students would be needed to
participate next year in the field testing of the new system, Sigman
estimated that there could actually be close to 700,000 students – a
number that could pose serious complications for schools, she said.
Duncan’s offer would appear to be consistent with the Obama
administration’s ongoing effort to give states relief from the most
rigid performance requirements of NCLB.
Since the fall of 2011, Duncan has approved waivers for 39 states from
NCLB requirements that include all students attaining proficiency in
reading and math by 2013-14.
In exchange for the waivers, states have agreed to develop and implement
new benchmarks for college and career readiness and to adopt
teacher-evaluation systems linked to student test scores.
Duncan made the offer for the waiver from double testing last month when
he also announced new flexibility for states already given NCLB waivers
to meet the teacher evaluation requirement.
Under that plan, Duncan would give states until 2016-17 to begin using
student test scores as a factor in making personnel decisions – a delay
of one year.
California has not received an NCLB waiver but a group of districts –
the California Office to Reform Education, or CORE – has an application
pending on Duncan’s desk.
► SCHOOLS, STATE MAY STRUGGLE TO MEET LCFF ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINES
By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/18gV0Ol
Thursday, July 11, 2013 :: School districts along with state agencies
face a challenging timeline for planning and implementing new
requirements of the Local Control Funding Formula, according to a
schedule presented to the California State Board of Education Wednesday.
As a condition for receiving a share of slightly more than $2 billion
set aside in the 2013-14 state budget under the LCFF program, districts
will be required to annually adopt an accountability plan developed in
consultation with parent advisory groups that will detail how the money
will be used to benefit targeted students.
But a statewide template also needs to be developed by the state board
no later than March 31, 2014 – a deadline that incorporates a number of
interim steps tied to the development and promulgation of new spending
regulations and performance benchmarks.
Getting all of that done – along with a new tool for evaluating local
educational agency compliance with new accountability rules by October,
2015 – has some board members concerned, even though new state law
contemplates schools using much of the coming nine or 10 months as time
to prepare.
“I’m comfortable with districts working through this year as the
development year – they have a great deal of experience with planning
and then implementing requirements of a new program by a date certain,”
said Pat Rucker, a member of the state board since Gov. Jerry Brown took
office in January, 2011.
“What will be different this time is that none of the requirements will
be waiveable,” she noted. “And they are relying on a state agency to
give them direction that has to assume that the work they are doing
right now will be aligned. That’s where the actual pressure is.”
The new funding formula was the centerpiece of Brown’s education agenda
this year – which drastically restructured California’s complex maze of
programs for funding K-12 schools into a far more simplified system of
block grants aimed at supporting basic educational services as well as
providing additional money for disadvantaged students.
Concerned that the governor’s original plan did not include enough
assurances that grants for low-income, English learners and foster youth
would actually be spent as intended, legislative leaders added a number
of requirements that LEAs must meet or face sanctions.
In order to make the funding available beginning this fall and put into
motion program mandates, a number of state and local agencies will be
pressed to meet a challenging timeline.
First, state schools chief Tom Torlakson, along with the governor’s
Department of Finance and State Controller John Chiang, will need to
update spending standards and policies that schools use in the adoption
of their local budgets.
That needs to happen on or before Jan. 1, 2014.
The Local Control Funding Formula also came with requirements that
districts begin tracking small subgroups of students for the purposes of
reporting through the Academic Performance Index – including for the
first time foster care students.
An advisory body to the CDE and the state board, the Public Schools
Accountability Act Advisory Committee is required to make recommended
changes to the API by Jan. 30, 2014.
At the same time, on or before Jan. 31, 2014, the state board will need
to adopt new regulations governing how LEAs can spend the new formula
grant money to serve the high needs students.
To meet the mandate for having accountability plans that cover three
years – the state board is also required to have in place by March 31,
2014, plan templates for use by districts, county offices and charter
schools.
Finally, the state board faces a deadline of Oct. 31, 2015 for adopting
an evaluation rubric that provides a “holistic multidimensional
assessment” of how an LEA has done to meet the new accountability
mandates. The rubric would also be used to help the state and county
offices with intervention if needed for those districts that are not
meeting their goals.
The hearing Wednesday about the new funding perimeters drew a
significant number of school officials and representatives. Most praised
passage of the new system while also cautioning the board to move
slowly, perform ongoing outreach to districts and remain flexible.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
L.A. UNIFIED’S HISTORICAL COLLECTION: from
Mesopotamian artifacts to report cards: Jed Kim | Pass / Fail | 89.... http://bit.ly/1bbNbtB
CA TO APPLY TO FEDS FOR WAIVER OF “DOUBLE TESTING” MANDATE & SCHOOLS+STATE STRUGGLE W/ LCFF ACCOUNTABILTY TIME... http://bit.ly/13eRsDo
The view from the other coast - LOS ANGELES: GROUND ZERØ IN THE FIGHT OVER CLASS SIZE AND ©ORPORATE ®EFORM: by... http://bit.ly/15shsOB
CA BdOfEd Pres Kirst: Because CA does not have a waiver from NCLB state "forced" to test students from grades 3 to 11|http://bit.ly/1ak5dH3
DESPITE DROP IN NUMBERS OF FOSTER YOUTH, SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES REMAIN: By Kathryn Baron, EdSource Today | htt... http://bit.ly/1aCvN1O
DR. V INQUIRY UPDATE: One investigation still ongoing: Claims that Vladovic verbally abused at least 2 employees | http://bit.ly/UXHVhZ
LARGE DONATION WILL BENEFIT ARTS PROGRAMS IN LAUSD SCHOOLS + smf’s 2¢: $750,000 committed to the arts for Los ... http://bit.ly/13cWhNh
The Hollywood Sign: 90 years old today. pic.twitter.com/hMqHAGu7wC
GROUPS DEFEND DEASY AFTER TEACHERS GIVE HIM BAD GRADE: By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1aAnROE Su... http://bit.ly/1aAvEfe
@howardblume: L.A. board prez Vladovic cleared of link to alleged management missteps in molestation case: http://ow.ly/mV8HD
The results of the UTLA members’ Performance Review are in and…. (drum roll please): FAILING GRADE FOR SUPERIN... http://bit.ly/16vslOO
Letter from ULTA & UTLA presidents to the Board of Ed: WE WISH TO RAISE A CONCERN ABOUT RECENT STATEMENTS BY S... http://bit.ly/13Rlqn1
REPORTING SUSPECTED SEX ABUSE: Re District slow to report sex allegations, July 8, 2013*, 9:21 p.m. Re: Tea... http://bit.ly/134c8h4
£everaging $chool ®eform: HOW TO MAKE BIG BUCKS IN THE CHARTER SCHOOL BIZ: a tip o’ th’ 4LAKids cap to Diane R... http://bit.ly/1atREs1
“I BELIEVE IN STANDARDIZING AUTOMOBILES. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN STANDARDIZING HUMAN BEINGS.” — Albert Einstein: F... http://bit.ly/16svvCU
Ex-Mayor Tony a highly sought-after guest at former GOP candidate Mitt Romney's gathering of donors in Utah, | http://lat.ms/12DQ667
L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGES BEGIN TO DEAL WITH SANCTIONS: By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer |
Common Core: CALIFORNIA TO WEIGH SCIENCE STANDARDS STRESSING EXPERIMENTATION: California Board of Education wi... http://bit.ly/1ap3tjp
JUDGE REFUSES TO THROW OUT MIRAMONTE LAWSUITS AGAINST LAUSD, Insurance Companies Will Contest Previous Settlem... http://bit.ly/12XXmsc
ODSON MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, SON OF LAUSD'S RICHARD VLADOVIC, UNDER FIRE FOR CUTTING CHOIR: By Rob Kuznia S... http://bit.ly/12XV64d
COMMISSION ON TEACHER CREDENTIALING CONSIDERS DANCE & THEATER CREDENTIAL: published by CAAE Staff | California... http://bit.ly/13KrKwG
NCLB, ESEA & ARTS ED: The Congressional Meat Grinder Cranks to Life: Posted by Narric Rome to the ARTSblog/Am... http://bit.ly/15cwWGj
Broad misses an important fact: OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM HAS BEEN HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL: Letter to the Editor of th... http://bit.ly/16oj5vS
Day One: LAUSD SUMMER SCHOOL A “SORRY” EXPERIENCE WITH LIMITED OFFERINGS: By Barbara Jones. - LA Daily News h... http://bit.ly/159q5xj
“Listen to my song, it isn't very long. And you’ll see before I’m gone
that everybody’s wrong.”: by smf for 4LALids with apologies to Buffalo
Springfield | ... http://bit.ly/1ajiaob
WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN HOUSE ‘NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND’ RENEWAL DEBATE: By Alyson Klein in Education Week Politics ... http://bit.ly/16kOvDn
Common Core State Standards: COSTS TO IMPLEMENT NEW STUDENT TESTING SYSTEM STARTING TO PILE UP: By Kimberly Beltran... http://bit.ly/1aTu07C
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
Monica.Ratliff@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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