In This Issue:
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A year of change: TOP FIVE CALIFORNIA EDUCATION STORIES OF 2015 + NEW LAWS WILL TRY TO HELP CALIFORNIA'S VULNERABLE STUDENTS |
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THE ONGOING WAR ON CHARTERS + SELECTION BIAS IN CHARTER SCHOOL SUCCESS |
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Ref Rodriguez: LOCAL LAUSD BOARDMEMBER FOCUSED ON MIDDLE SCHOOLS |
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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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I have just finished reading THE PRIZE, Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools by Dale Russakoff.
The plot is quite simple: Here’s the pitch:
Cory Booker, The charismatic democratic mayor of Newark, Chris Christie,
the ambitious republican governor of New Jersey and Mark Zuckerberg,
the twenty-something year old billionaire founder of Facebook decide to
make-over/take-over the Newark School District. It’s like an E.L.
Doctorow novel, where people who would never be in the same room find
each other and have an adventure!
• They decide to do it with $100 million in Zuckerberg’s money and
another $100 million in yet-to-be-identified/other-people’s-money
• They decide to do it in five years; start-to-finish. “It’s destiny
that we become the first city in America that makes its whole district a
system of excellence.” – Cory Booker
• They announce their plan on the Oprah show on Sept 24, 2010 – with
Arne Duncan piped in by satellite. It’s a “bold new paradigm to put the
people of Newark in the driver’s seat” …of a self-driving car.
Q: What could possibly go wrong?
A: What didn’t go wrong?
If the plot sounds familiar you might be remembering the charismatic
democratic former mayor of L.A, the ambitious republican former governor
of California, their billionaire friends Richard Eli …and their plan to
make-over/take-over LAUSD in 2006?
…or maybe it’s your déjà vu-all-over-again recollection of
five-years-later/five years ago when you first saw or heard-about
Cory+Chris+Mark+Newark on Oprah?
…or maybe you’re thinking about the recently released rough draft of the
script of the remake: Eli Broad’s $480 million Great Public Schools
Now Initiative? Of course, Eli’s plan is two-point-four times more
money over eight years, LAUSD is twelve times bigger than Newark and no
one has committed to contributing any of the money.
"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." – Karl Marx
…and maybe the third time as a Sit-Com, the fourth as an I Love Lucy
rerun and the fifth as Reality TV?
There is Ambition and Greed and Ego and Hubris and Politics.
It’s not a particularly happy story, though there are some laughs and a heartwarming moment or two.
There are appearances by
famous/infamous/well-and-little-known/fabulously-rich players in the
field of school ®eform …and dots connected and ill-gotten gains
leveraged+hedged. There is Action without Planning and Best Laid
Plans/Best-of-Intentions all gang aglee. There is the Reality TV “We
don’t have a script, let’s just shoot whatever happens!” ethos …though
there is pathos and bathos too! There is $200 million spent with
little-or-no accountability or transparency. There are stories of good
people doing good things against the odds. What it isn’t (¡spoiler
alert!) is a story about the first city in America that makes its whole
district a system of excellence. The futures of
tens-of-thousands-of-children are not changed.
“Listen to my song
It isn’t very long
And you’ll see before I’m gone
That everybody’s wrong”
- Stephen Stills
I highly recommend The Prize. DO go out and buy it at your local
independent bookstore – or at Amazon – or download it to your Kindle –
or check it out at the public library (a gift of the billionaire
philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie that actually keeps on giving a century
later!).
But I am also advising you that it was serialized in the New Yorker and
the substance of it is contained in “SCHOOLED!: Cory Booker, Chris
Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark’s schools.
They got an education” (May 19, 2014 Issue) http://bit.ly/1YMAxLo .
And the price is right.
INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE of 4LAKids is the inevitable New Year’s
list+tally of successes and legislation from 2015. I’m sure we all had
horses in all those races: The NCLB Rewrite, the New Test, the Economic
Returns from the Recovering Economy, the Prevention of Sexual
Exploitation and Promotion of Sex Ed Legislation and new Protections for
Homeless+Foster Children.
MY PERSONAL HIGH POINT IS: STATE CAPITOL THE SCENE OF VACCINE SHOWDOWN.
It was not a pleasant fight to mandate immunizations – and there were a
lot of good people on both sides of the issue. Ultimately the greater
good for children and society prevailed – but not without deep+thorough
discussion, acrimony, name calling and compromise …and some major hurt
feelings along the way. I still encounter folks who ask
Q: “How could you support such an abrogation of parent’s rights?”
A: Parents may have a limited right to endanger their own children; they have no right to endanger other people’s children.
I was there in the State Capitol for the last stage of the fight,
testifying in support of AB 277 – and wondering to myself (we are all
the stars of our own movie) – what the hell was I doing with my
compromised immune system hanging in the hallways with hundreds of
unvaccinated kids with only their red t-shirts and their parents
disbelief to protect them (and me) from Diphtheria, Measles, Rubella and
Whooping Cough? ¡Good Grief! My doctor doesn’t want me eating from a
salad bar and my friend Chiara forbids me from using a stepladder and
I’m surrounded by ankle-biter vectors!
THE DISCUSSION OF THE UC STUDY OF LAUSD CHARTER SCHOOLS, begun in these
pages last week [“Students at Charters Start off Higher Academically,
But Some Also Learn Faster, and Study Finds”], continues with the L.A.
Times Editorial Board going all hand-wringy schoolmarmish …with EdWeek
and the peanut gallery weighing-in about selection bias and feedback
loops.
A frequent 4LAKids correspondent writes: “If there is one single person
in the charter division of LAUSD whose job it is to analyze and report
and recommend to the superintendent or Board any practices from charters
that could be applied to public schools, I would like to meet him or
her. As it is, the charter division seems to be nothing but charter
cheerleaders and our elected officials need to take action now. They
should start by asking any superintendent candidates what specific
experience they have in closing that feedback loop so the school
district benefits from the experimentation of charters.”
SO 2016 STARTS OFF RIGHT WHERE 2015 LEFT OFF with no
superintendent-in-sight but with plenty o’ fingers pointing in lots o’
directions. Let’s just be careful which finger we use (the kids are
always watching) …and move onward mindfully, relentlessly and
courageously. Maybe outrageously too; you make the call!
Thank you for reading – if not this far, as far as you read – and Happy New Year!
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
A year of change: TOP FIVE CALIFORNIA EDUCATION
STORIES OF 2015 + NEW LAWS WILL TRY TO HELP CALIFORNIA'S VULNERABLE
STUDENTS
►EDSOURCE'S TOP FIVE CALIFORNIA EDUCATION STORIES OF 2015
By EdSource staff | http://bit.ly/1P0BbdD
December 30, 2015 :: This year brought several changes to public
schools in California, beginning with a robust economy that added
billions of dollars to boost K-12 per-pupil spending. In a year of
multiple developments, EdSource has selected its top five stories of
2015. As lawmakers in Sacramento crafted the state budget in the
spring, more than 3 million students took on a new challenge — the
Smarter Balanced assessments aligned with the Common Core. This month a
partisan Congress united in the passage of the Every Student Succeeds
Act, signed by President Barack Obama. The new law replaces the No Child
Left Behind Act and gives local school districts more control while
reducing the number of standardized tests.
Two laws passed in the waning days of the 2015 Legislature, and signed
by Gov. Jerry Brown, will have an impact on students and parents. Under
one, former high school students who failed the state exit exam can
receive their diplomas retroactively, beginning Jan. 1, 2016, if they
met all other graduation requirements. The other law, which also goes
into effect on Jan. 1, passed despite protests from hundreds of parents
and eliminated the “personal belief exemption” that had allowed parents
to enroll their children in school without having them vaccinated.
1. STUDENTS TAKE SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENTS FOR FIRST TIME
California joined 16 other states around the country in administering
assessments in the spring of 2015 to measure student achievement based
on the new Common Core State Standards in math and English language
arts/literacy. The standards, which stress critical thinking and
problem-solving, aim to ensure that students acquire 21st century skills
in grades K-12 and graduate college and career-ready.
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium created the computer-adaptive
tests, which adjusted questions based on students’ answers, to more
accurately pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. Questions were more
difficult for students who answered them correctly and less difficult
for those who did not. Students in 11 other states and the District of
Columbia took a different set of tests aligned to the Common Core that
were created through the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers, or PARCC. California’s tests are part of the
California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress that also
includes science tests and alternative assessments. Students’ scores
will be used when measuring future growth.
The state released the scores in September for the more than 3 million
California students in grades 3-8 and 11 who took the tests for the
first time following a field test in 2014. The results revealed an
ongoing achievement gap between white and Asian students and those in
other racial or ethnic groups, as well as between students who qualify
for free and reduced price lunches and their peers who did not and
between English learners and fluent English speakers.
2. EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT APPROVED BY CONGRESS TO REPLACE THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LAW
Last summer, it looked like California would be stuck with the No Child
Left Behind Act until President Barack Obama left the White House. The
U.S. House and Senate had passed very different rewrites of the nation’s
primary education law, President Obama threatened to veto either
version, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced he was
resigning.
But, led by skilled consensus builders Sens. Lamar Alexander, D-Tenn.,
and Patty Murray, D-Wash., negotiations came together quickly last
month, and on Dec. 11, President Obama signed NCLB’s successor, the
Every Student Succeeds Act.
A wide range of state educators and advocacy groups have given thumbs up
to the new law’s framework. The new law will allow the Legislature and
the State Board of Education to downplay the role of standardized tests
in measuring school progress and, in keeping with the shift to local
control, give school districts flexibility in setting school improvement
goals and propose their own fixes to problems they identify.
But state leaders are also worried there may be trap doors in the
complex blueprint. Among their initial questions: Will ESSA, as the new
law will be called, require the state to re-create the Academic
Performance Index, the 3-digit measure of school performance that the
State Board of Education would like to kill? And will California have to
keep giving a standardized test based on old science standards until
the state creates a new test based on new standards, which may be three
or four years from now?
Look for some clues in the coming months.
3. STATE CAPITOL THE SCENE OF VACCINE SHOWDOWN
A protest against school public health measures erupted this year after
the introduction of state Senate Bill 277, a proposal to eliminate the
“personal belief exemption” that allowed parents to enroll their
children in school without having them vaccinated.
The number of parents whose kindergartners hold a personal belief
exemption to state-mandated vaccinations is small — 2.5 percent in
2014-15 — but they organized a vocal opposition. Hundreds of parents
queued up at microphones at legislative hearings to say they should have
the right not to vaccinate their children, a position that the U.S.
Supreme Court has rebuked. The court has ruled twice that the
government’s interest in protecting the public from communicable
diseases overrides individual decision-making.
Dozens of education and medical groups supported the measure, including
the California School Nurses Organization, the California School Boards
Association, Children Now and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Supporters noted that the rate of students holding personal belief
exemptions rose from less than 1 percent in 2000 to 3.2 percent in
2013-14, with the rise in unvaccinated population clusters linked to
disease outbreaks, including the Disneyland measles outbreak that began
in December 2014.
Senate Bill 277 passed the Legislature and was signed into law by Brown.
The longstanding immunization requirements stand: Children will not be
admitted to public or private child care or schools unless they are
immunized against 10 diseases — diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type b
(known as bacterial meningitis), measles, mumps, pertussis (known as
whooping cough), polio, rubella, tetanus, hepatitis B and chickenpox.
The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, also eliminated a religious
belief exemption.
Two exemptions exist: a medical exemption and a homeschooling exemption,
which includes students enrolled in independent study with no classroom
instruction. As of last week, it is still uncertain whether students
who receive special education services, and are thereby federally
entitled to those services, are required to be fully vaccinated. The
California Department of Public Health says parents should consult their
local school districts for information.
4. DIPLOMAS AT LAST FOR STUDENTS WHO FAILED HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM
Tens of thousands of former high school students who failed the
California High School Exit Exam learned in October 2015 they would at
last receive their diplomas.
Brown signed into law Senate Bill 172, which requires that school
districts across the state retroactively award diplomas to students who
met every other graduation requirement, but failed the exit exam. The
new law goes into effect Jan. 1.
“My reaction is just pure joy and happiness,” former Santa Rosa High
School student Telesis Radford, who failed the test in 2006, said
following the governor’s signing of the bill. “I will be able to take
the phlebotomy course that I want to take and get the job I want to get
afterward. I’ll be living my dream now.”
It’s estimated that at least 40,000 students statewide will qualify for
the retroactive diplomas, including at least 8,000 from the Los Angeles
Unified School District.
The new law also suspended the exit exam through the end of the 2017-18
school year, while lawmakers and educators determine if the state should
create a new version of the test that’s aligned with the Common Core
State Standards, or eliminate it altogether as a graduation requirement
in the future.
“The high school exit exam is outdated and does not reflect California’s
new, more rigorous academic standards that emphasize skills needed to
succeed in college and careers in the 21st century,” state
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in October. “I
look forward to convening a task force of teachers, parents, students,
and education leaders to find a more thoughtful approach to high school
graduation requirements that better suits California’s modern education
system.”
Nearly 5 million students took the exit exam since it debuted in 2001.
It became a requirement for graduation starting with the class of 2006.
Students who failed the exit exam but met all other graduation
requirements were often awarded certificates of achievement, which are
diploma-like documents. Still, many were prevented from applying to
four-year colleges, vocational training programs, military service or
for jobs that required a high school diploma.
Supporters of the test said it ensured that more students graduated with
basic skills in English and math, helping close the achievement gap.
Meanwhile, opponents argued that the exit exam discouraged some students
from staying in school and that it disproportionately punished some
low-income children and English learners who were unable to pass the
test.
5. SCHOOLS REAP BENEFIT OF STRONG ECONOMY
If EdSource were to name a Person of the Year for 2015, it would be The Taxpayer.
Revenue from taxes on capital gains, dividends and top income earners
continued to feed state coffers this year, and Proposition 98’s rules
for funding education in high-revenue years steered most of the increase
to K-12 schools and community colleges. Spending under Prop. 98, the
chief source of revenue for education, rose $7.6 billion in the 2015-16
budget, to $68.4 billion.
Gov. Jerry Brown, in turn, gave his Local Control Funding Formula an
extra $6 billion. That helped raise per-student funding an average of 11
percent, or $1,011 per student, although, under the formula, districts
with few low-income children and English learners saw less and those
with high proportions of those students received an increase of 15
percent or more. In addition, Brown sent districts about $5.5 billion in
one-time money with few strings attached. He did dedicate about $1
million over three years in competitive grants for career technical
education partnerships between districts and businesses.
Brown budgets conservatively; the Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts
there will be $2 billion more in revenue than the governor included in
the state budget. That money will flow to schools in 2016-17, starting
in July. Next year, while not promising to bring as great a financial
bonanza, the LAO predicts an average increase of $530 per student.
______________________
►NEW LAWS WILL TRY TO HELP CALIFORNIA'S VULNERABLE STUDENTS
Sonali Kohli | L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1O1DzkB
Dec. 31, 2015 :: Among the many state bills that passed in 2015, and
take effect Friday, are a number that focus on some of the state’s most
vulnerable students —those who are homeless, in foster care, potential
victims of sexual assault and those kept out of advanced classes which
hurts their ability to go to college.
Here are some of the new laws that politicians and education activists hope will help those students.
PUNISHING AND PREVENTING SEXUAL ASSAULT
Sexual assault on college campuses has become a national issue over the
last few years, particularly after the U.S. Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights opened investigations into more than 100
universities for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse reports.
A new law addresses sexual assault on community college campuses,
allowing those schools – which are typically commuter campuses -- to
expel or discipline a student for an off-campus sexual assault.
THE ONGOING WAR ON CHARTERS + SELECTION BIAS IN CHARTER SCHOOL SUCCESS
►THE ONGOING WAR ON CHARTERS + Caveat 1 & Caveat 2
BOTH TRADITIONAL AND CHARTER SCHOOLS IN L.A. UNIFIED COULD LEARN FROM THIS STUDY
by The Times Editorial Board | http://lat.ms/1mTvLdY
Dec 31, 2015 :: Charter schools: good or bad?
There are few subjects on which school officials, parents and advocates
for students are more impassioned and divided, which is why the proposal
to open hundreds of new charter schools for Los Angeles' students is
shaping up as an epic education battle. But now a new study out of UC
Berkeley — looking specifically at charter school performance in the Los
Angeles Unified School District — provides a more nuanced view, showing
that the yes-no, either-or attitude that tends to dominate the debate
is not only misguided but also counterproductive.
The study found that students who enter charter high schools within the
district are already higher achievers than those entering traditional
public schools. The same was true of elementary schools, though it's
harder to estimate the differences there. Middle school students started
out no more advanced.
Once students are enrolled in charter schools, their academic growth was
slightly steeper in elementary schools than it would have been in a
traditional L.A. Unified school; far steeper in middle school; but not
better at all in high school.
What does all this mean?
Most importantly, it says wonderful things about the work that
independent charter schools are doing with middle schoolers. Those
students are at the same level as their district school counterparts
when they enter sixth grade, but surge ahead of them over the next three
years. Less happily, the research suggests that charter schools haven't
managed to follow that act in high school.
The Berkeley study also backs up a long-held contention of charter
opponents: Simplistic comparisons of student test scores from both kinds
of schools, charter and district, don't necessarily give the public
useful information — because the students begin at different levels of
achievement. Most likely that's because parents who are savvy and
proactive about their children's education — the kinds of parents who
give their kids a head start on their schooling — are more likely to
find out about charter schools in the first place, attend their
meetings, enter the lotteries for admission and then help their children
succeed at those schools.
Policymakers, school officials and charter supporters should all be
paying attention to the new research. There have been previous studies
on L.A. Unified's charter schools, the most important of which came from
Stanford University and found that when similar students attended
charter and district schools, the charter students learned more. What
the Berkeley study adds is a first look at differences between students
when they arrive at the schools and at which grade levels charters offer
the most advantage. This information can help educators determine which
kinds of schools will do the most good. L.A. Unified leaders, rather
than viewing the charter push with dismay, should be figuring out what
makes charter middle schools work better and emulating them.
Policymakers, school officials and charter supporters should all be paying attention to the new research. -
The California Charter Schools Assn. also reacted defensively when the
new research was released. Instead, it should try to figure out what it
can learn from the new data. The researchers aren't saying that charter
schools are without value; on the contrary, they're praising the middle
schools that work so well and suggesting that perhaps they have
something to offer to improve education for disadvantaged students at
all levels. Charter schools should be willing to change their ways in
response to new data; their defensiveness makes them seem a lot like the
traditional public schools they criticize as being hidebound and
self-interested.
More study is obviously needed, both to confirm the Berkeley findings
and to understand the effect of charter schools on education in Los
Angeles Unified. For instance, what's the effect on district schools if
charter schools draw off higher-achieving students? Obviously, the
district schools lose money when state and federal dollars follow those
students to their new schools, but another important question as the
number of charter schools grows is what the effect will be on the
culture of schools and on their achievement levels as more motivated
parents and their children abandon district schools.
It's tempting to imagine a district in which the two sides worked
together to enhance education. The school board could welcome
outstanding charter middle schools, and learn from those that do the
best job. Charter management organizations could take steps to recruit
more low-achieving students, to level the playing field between their
schools and district schools.
Better yet, the district and charter schools in it could make the
confusing landscape of school options easier to navigate by creating a
one-stop online shop where parents could find out all about the
educational offerings reasonably close to their homes, including the
neighborhood schools, magnet and pilot schools and independent charters.
That site could include research from studies like those at Stanford
and Berkeley, and information about the rules governing the different
schools. Parents might not realize, for example, that even though some
charter schools have told parents they have to volunteer in order for
charter schools to enroll their children, state law prohibits such
requirements.
Or both sides — the charter supporters and naysayers — could keep arguing, but that way, everyone loses, especially students.
______________
• CAVEAT 1: Disclosure: The Times receives funding for its digital
initiative Education Matters from the California Endowment, the
Wasserman Foundation and the Baxter Family Foundation. The California
Community Foundation and United Way administer grants from the Eli and
Edythe Broad Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the
grants, The Times retains complete control over editorial content.
• CAVEAT 2: "You get what you pay for." - John Arbuckle
______________
►SELECTION BIAS IN CHARTER SCHOOL SUCCESS + smf's 2¢
By Walt Gardner in Reality Checks/EdWeek | http://bit.ly/1ZFb6bv
January 1, 2016 9:21 AM :: It seems that the debate about the success
of charter schools will never cease. A new UC Berkeley study claims to
break new ground by finding that students who enter charter schools in
the Los Angeles Unified School District are already higher achievers
than those entering traditional public schools in the district ("Both
traditional and charter schools in L.A. Unified could learn from this
study," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 31 :: 4LAKidsNews: L.A. Times
Editorial: THE ONGOING WAR ON CHARTERS + Caveat 1 & Caveat 2 http://bit.ly/1R0GQX0).
I always try to keep an open mind when allegedly new evidence appears.
But I was disappointed after reading about the study. Most students who
enter any school other than the neighborhood traditional public school
tend to be higher achievers. Why wouldn't they be? The fact that their
parents have taken the time to investigate their choices is evidence
that they are involved in their own children's education. Study after
study has shown that parental involvement is absolutely crucial to
achievement.
Unless the Berkeley study controlled for selection bias, it is not nearly as informative as claimed.
That's unfortunate because it found that students in charter elementary
schools posted slightly greater academic growth than those in
traditional public elementary schools, far greater gains in middle
school, but not at all better gains in high school. These differences,
if valid, need to be investigated further.
Why would the gains be so much greater in middle school than in
elementary school? I would think just the opposite because elementary
children are so much more malleable. Although the Berkeley study looked
at charter schools only in the LAUSD, I would expect that further
studies looking at charter schools in other districts would post similar
results.
• Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School
District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education.
Don't take Walt's word for it - or mine - or the Times Editorial Board's:
Ref Rodriguez: LOCAL LAUSD BOARDMEMBER FOCUSED ON MIDDLE SCHOOLS
by Sheila Lane, Los Feliz Ledger Contributing Writer | http://bit.ly/1Opf58z
December 30, 2015 :: Ref Rodriguez, the newly elected Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD) School Board Member for District 5,
faced what he called “a sort of surreal” day on December 15th when all
schools in the LAUSD were closed due to a perceived terrorist threat
that was later revealed to be a hoax.
“Ultimately, I felt that it was handled really well,” said Rodriguez.
“If we had done nothing and [the threat was acted upon,] parents would
have been thinking, ‘What were you doing playing with our kids’ lives?’”
Rodriguez acknowledged that there were problems in alerting parents and
teachers in a timely manner, but that the LAUSD is working to improve
that process.
On more typical days, Rodriguez has been working with the schools in his
district that includes Silver Lake and Los Feliz to the northeast, and
to the southeast, Vernon and South Gate.
“Because the needs and the communities and context are so different, we
approach [these areas] in different ways,” Rodriguez said.
In the southeast—which Rodriguez is less familiar with than the
northeast where he lives—Rodriguez’s team is working to better
understand the area and “to help people determine what are the best
approaches to do great work.”
In the northeast, it’s more about helping to facilitate programs and
ideas already working well and supporting new ones, he said.
As an example, Rodriguez pointed to Silver Lake where some parents are considering starting a middle school.
“I love the fact that we have a parent initiative that the district is
supporting,” he said, “rather than a district initiative that we’re
trying to get parents to support.”
A native Angeleno who, in 1999, partnered with another educator to open
the first public charter middle school in Los Angeles, Rodriguez went on
to create 15 more charter schools under the “Partnerships to Uplift
Communities” banner.
Elected to the school board last May, Rodriguez—who beat incumbent
Bennett Kayser—has been targeted by critics who say that he is too
beholden to the charter school movement to be impartial on the issue.
Rodriguez says that is not the case.
“I look at schools,” he said, “through the lens of, ‘[Which] are the
schools that are doing the most innovative things and getting results?’”
Rodriguez said that he believes charter schools—which are publically
funded and accountable to the district, but are managed
independently—can be a great vehicle for the overall district to learn
innovative educational and management approaches, but that there are too
many charter schools that do not live up to that promise.
Conversely, Rodriguez said, he has seen some outstanding models within the traditional LAUSD system.
“What’s interesting to me is that in places where you have parents and
teachers who feel empowered in L.A. Unified,” he said, “they are doing
some of the most innovative things that I’ve seen—even compared to
charter schools.”
Close to his heart are middle schools, which typically serve students at an impressionable and often difficult age.
Rodriguez has spearheaded a proposal to create a team of educators,
researchers and parents who, within six months, will study current best
practices and imagine new ones that will be the most responsive to the
needs of those in grades 6 through 8. Areas under study will include
grade level configuration—that is, which grades should be combined in a
school, social emotional supports and practices that motivate and engage
middle schoolers. His proposal is on track to be passed by the School
Board in January.
But more recently, Rodriguez and his fellow six LAUSD school board
members have been focused on the search for a new LAUSD Superintendent.
The new leader, he said, will face a host of serious challenges, but
Rodriguez said he believes the first priority of the new superintendent
is to address the hundreds of millions of dollars in budget deficits the
LAUSD will face in coming years.
“The job requires a leader who sees the situation as an opportunity
[and] knows how to bring people together,” said Rodriguez. “Because when
there are financial issues, it means that we need to do things
differently.”
Rodriguez referred to the powerful teachers’ union.
“[L]abor has to think of themselves differently. The bottom line with
our labor partners and all these folks who have long-term commitments
is, ‘Either we fix this together or there isn’t going to be anything to
fix,’” he said.
Rodriguez acknowledged that the public may not have a lot of faith in
the district, but that many people stood by its decision to close
schools on December 15th, which caused a potential loss of $29 million
for the district, but which is expected to be covered by the state.
“They’re not willing to give up on [the district] just yet,” Rodriguez said. “That’s an opportunity.”
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
MY DAUGHTER’S HOMEWORK IS KILLING ME: What happens
when a father, alarmed by his 13-year-old daughter's nightly workload,
tries to do her homework for a week (I wanted to include this is this
newsletter, but it was a little too long – but I suggest you click
through and read it anyway!) …and thank you Franny!
http://bit.ly/1ODEehw
NEW LAWS WILL TRY TO HELP CALIFORNIA'S VULNERABLE STUDENTS
http://bit.ly/1SsEEXN
"Ongoing War on Charters" goes on: SELECTION BIAS IN CHARTER SCHOOL SUCCESS + smf's 2¢
http://bit.ly/1P69nES
Ref Rodriguez: LOCAL LAUSD BOARDMEMBER FOCUSED ON MIDDLE SCHOOLS
http://bit.ly/1ReyERM
▲Dec 31, 2015 > Jan 1, 2016 Happy New Year Everyone from @4LAKids!
“You’ve got to Believe that with the right script, budget, schedule,
cast and crew - plus a good editor, and some special effects along with
suspension of audience disbelief and a few lucky breaks - that Anything
is Possible.”
L.A. Times Editorial: THE ONGOING WAR ON CHARTERS + Caveat 1 & Caveat 2
http://bit.ly/1R0GQX0
A year of change: EdSource's TOP FIVE CALIFORNIA EDUCATION STORIES OF 2015
http://bit.ly/1RS4ntt
Hope&Despair: CAN SCHOOLS BE FIXED?
http://bit.ly/1SmNSF9
SCHOOLS EVALUATE THREATS, QUESTIONING WHEN TO SHUT DOWN
http://bit.ly/1JecptP
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL SCORES TIED TO ATTENDANCE, NOT PROFICIENCY
http://bayareane.ws/1JHAAMd
NO MORE AYP, BUT ESEA REWRITE MAKES SCHOOL ATTENDANCE A NATIONAL PRIORITY ...AND WHY http://bit.ly/1R6pTJf
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
TUES. JANUARY 5, 2016 – 9 AM - Special Board Meeting -
Including Closed Session Items - December 19, 2015 - 8:30 a.m. - Negotiations -
Recessed to 9:00 a.m., January 5, 2016 - also - Special Board Meeting -
Including Closed Session Items - December 6, 2015 - 8:30 a.m. - Recessed to
January 5, 2016 - 9:00 a.m.
NOTE: Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Equity
Committee Meeting - January 5, 2016 - 10:00 a.m. POSTPONED TO JANUARY 14, 2016
- 10:00 A.M.
*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:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-8333
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@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 the Superintendent: (when+if)
superintendent@lausd.net • 213-241-7000
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state
legislator, 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. Volunteer in the classroom.
Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child -
and ultimately: For all children.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!
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