In This Issue:  | | • | LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS TO REVAMP THEIR BAN ON SOCIAL PROMOTION | | | • | TALENT RUNS DEEP IN DISPLACED TEACHER POOL: The real story behind educators who find themselves without a position. | | | • | U.C. Studies: L.A. CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER, STUDENTS AT CHARTERS, MAGNETS & NEW SCHOOLS MORE LIKELY TO STAY | The news+the studies | | | • | ARE PARENTS WHO SKIP VACCINES PUTTING OTHERS AT RISK? | | | • | HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources | | | • | EVENTS: Coming up next week... | | | • | What can YOU do? | |
Featured Links: | | | | A recent poll shows that just over half of the American people believe that if we raise the debt ceiling it will be too high to paint.
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ON A BLOG on the the ASCD.org (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) website 'Looking Ahead' blogger Walter McKenzie asks: "Is thinking differently the new 'wrong'?" | http://bit.ly/rg7PXs
Walter's article is essentially about new social media applications and platforms like Google+ - and their applications in education and in Professional Learning Communities (PLN):
"Social media is so quick, so easy, so disposable, it’s easy to become intellectually lazy and not think about what we are thinking. I see this already happening to the point where people resist having their thinking pushed. So I have to ask: are we kidding ourselves that being surrounded with like-minded thinkers makes us "right"? Is thinking differently the new "wrong"?
"Ask yourself this: what is a good working definition of what is "right"?
“While there’s comfort in consensus, isn’t the determinant in what is right and true found in outcomes? We may embrace a certain philosophy or pedagogy, but does it really matter if it doesn’t translate into real world results that are valued by the community at large? The false certainty that comes from talking only to people who agree with us can fall apart when our ideas are tested in the real world. Want your ideas to withstand rigorous reality checks? Factor in the entire range of thinking on the subject and find the reasonable center...somewhere therein lies the most possible, most effective solution. This requires a tolerance for differing voices in your PLN."
All very 'Inside Ed'. But Walter's question is far deeper and existential than Google+ v. Facebook v. Twitter. It is about tolerance and free exchange of ideas and all the rest of the progressive/liberal-artistic good-stuff/do-goodery. When educators are guilty of intolerance and not being open-minded and diverse we are well on our way to identifying what a truly 'bad teacher' just might be!
A recent LAUSD school board meeting touched uneasily on racism and intolerance – we Angelinos look too hard for people who look and think and act like us. We are a melting pot where our melting point is high and our flash point notoriously low. In this multiculturally diverse city how we define ourselves needs to extend beyond our our narrow circle, our demographic profile and our 'hood ...unless L.A. cosmopolitan is simply a cocktail of vodka, triple sec, cranberry and lime juice.
Our society and the information revolution has made us more informed. We know more in a narrow range ...but we are also more insular in the way John Donne meditated against. We surround ourselves with like-minded-thinkers and like-minded-thinking – in the break room and in our lives. We get our news from MS/NBC or Fox News or NPR/PBS or AM talk radio. We are for charter schools or against them. For union teachers or against them. If you are on a first-name-basis with five Republicans you probably are one. We have begun to believe that the middle-of-the-road is a no man's land.
We need to get our thinking pushed. Change the station. Sit at another table for lunch. Test our own comfort level. Reread "Walden". Think differently.
I was at a plant sale last weekend and there was a plant with the name "Ambigua" in its Latin name. Genus: Sphaeralcea - Species: ambigua: the Desert Mallow. Orange flowers with foliage more gray than green - a California native and homegrown metaphor that grows differently in different climate zones. You can learn a lot from a plant ...or at least at a plant sale.
BOARDMEMBER TAMAR GALATZAN HAS BEEN DOING SOME DIFFERENT THINKING. She has tended in that direction for the past four years – often questioning District staff or assumptions or direction – and always the 'way things are in LAUSD' … and occasionally the 'reform board' majority’s (of whom she is a member) own agenda. That 'bit-of-a-loose-cannon' attitude was tolerated by the powers-that-be when the majority was 5-2; now that it's 4-3 the tolerance is intolerable ...and Ms. Galatzan's power is increased.
Last week and this she took on LAUSD's (non)policy of Social Promotion [see: Los Angeles Schools to Revamp Their Ban on Social Promotion] – which is a way of not holding students (and by extension, teachers, parents and administrators) responsible+accountable for their own learning. We know – both from data and anecdotal observation – that students who aren’t reading at grade level when they leave the third grade are headed for calamity or prison.* Research shows that children who fail to learn to read by age 9 cannot do well in other subjects and rarely catch up./"Reading by 9"|http://lat.ms/qLuCi6. But we don't retain them in the third grade and we don't create special interventions for "Non-readers at 10" – we just push then forward, undereducated and unprepared. And we build more prisons.
Social Promotion is against LAUSD policy – but the District hasn't the money, wherewithal or gumption to properly address the issue or its own existent policy with programs. It staving off insolvency we bankrupt our kids.
It's about time the Board of Ed addressed this real issue of reform.
Ms Galatzan correctly points out that “Having a child repeat the same grade the same way doesn’t produce stellar results" - this won't be easy or cheap or more o' th' same or or handled by giving away schools or the challenge to someone else. JFK didn't send us to the moon because it was easy, ...but for the very reason it it was hard.
This is not a new issue. Boardmember Galatzan isn't the first to engage in it – but she is absolutely the right person to do something about it. I have sat in committees and task forces and advisory groups for years talking about this. But the money, wherewithal and gumption has always been absent.
Here are some notes from a decade of chin music and hand wringing:
1. Students who cannot read at Grade Level at the end of Grade Three need to get helped right then. An intensive summer school 3rd-to-4th Grade bridge program might be a start. There are some – (and I may be one of them) who call for a 3rd Grade Exit Exam to measure reading ability. If you don't pass you take it again. Or go to summer school. Not a punishment, an opportunity. All decisions made in cahoots with parents.
2. English Language Learners who are not reclassified at the end of Grade Three as Fluent-English-Proficient (RFEP), should also get extensive full immersion ELL support every summer – and where Reading and ELL needs exist (how could they not?) both must be addressed. Obviously this depends on testing and scoring CELDT tests in the spring.
3. Retention should be used as an option where it can be correctly and effectively applied. Keeping in mind that we don't want to repeat the same instructional mistakes the second time around.
3a. Gifted Kids need help too. There is probably no more effective (or cheaper) way of addressing the needs of and challenging gifted students than skipping a grade. Early GATE identification and intervention – identifying gifted and high-achieving kids in K and 1st Grade – and allowing them to skip 1st or 2nd Grade needs be implemented where it works.
4. We need to eliminate the Grade of "D"; good enough never is. Kids who don't pass should be expected to take remediation and intervention programs to make up for what they didn't learn in every grade. Colleges don't recognize "D" grades as passing – LAUSD shouldn't either.
5. Classes taken in Middle School need to be given weight. If you don't pass a class you need you take it again. If you don't earn enough credits in Middle School you don't go to the next grade or the next school. It isn't easy being 12 and 13 and 14 – but it counts for something. Otherwise we are just warehousing kids while their hormones rage and they grow into their feet.
6. We need to have Bridge Programs for students moving from Elementary-to-Middle-School and from Middle-School-to-High-School. These programs must be available to all students – and we need to insist that those who need them take advantage of them.
FOR A BIT OF A LARK AND A FEW SCARY MOMENTS: Google “Rupert Murdoch” + Education. Yes, another billionaire philanthropist/entrepreneur – the one who's brought us “Fox News” (of-the-World) and The British Phone Hacking Scandal – has figured where the next big thing is ...and it's Public Education!
A news story in Bloomberg News [http://bloom.bg/pQ3EJZ], announcing the appointment of a special internal investigator at Murdoch's News Corp into the hacking scandal said: “The 66-year-old Grabiner 'will bring his undoubted experience and intellect to this very important role,' News Corp. Executive Vice President Joel Klein said in a statement.
Wait ...THAT Joel Klein? Yup. And not only is Joel a former NYC Schools Chancellor, he's a former federal antitrust prosecutor – prosecuting Microsoft no less! A good guy to have on your side in a firestorm.
Murdoch's made a speech to the G8 about Education [http://bit.ly/nd4Qq6], invested in Wireless Education [ http://bit.ly/q8khCt], picked up no-bid contracts to create test-score databases for NY State and NY City Schools [http://huff.to/qsyftd + http://wapo.st/oyVToJ] – and hired Joel Klien away from (Mayor) Michael Bloomberg (News') subsidiary, The New York City Department of Education [http://bit.ly/oaN9fI]. See also: Klein: Murdoch’s Secret Weapon | http://bit.ly/pXeiYX
Stay tuned and be prepared to follow as public money gets privatized. Warning: There will be lots o' zeros and lots o' commas!
NOT WITH MY PROGENY I DON'T!: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (who runs the schools, appoints the school board and hires the superintendent in the windy city) Chooses Private School For His Kids | http://bit.ly/n0zYjr
¡Onward differently/Alelante diferentemente! - smf
* "Jails and prisons are the complement of schools; so many less as you have of the latter, so many more must you have of the former." Horace Mann (1796-1859)
LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS TO REVAMP THEIR BAN ON SOCIAL PROMOTION
ONE APPROACH TO ENSURING THAT CHILDREN ARE ACADEMICALLY READY FOR PROMOTION WOULD BE TO PROVIDE EXTRA HELP FOR STUDENTS IN KEY GRADES.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/qn80Db
Tamar Galatzan in photo caption: “Having a child repeat the same grade the same way doesn’t produce stellar results,” said board member Tamar Galatzan, who proposed the board action. “Making sure that students have learned the material when they move from grade to grade is something this district needs to do a better job of.”
July 18, 2011 - The nation's second-largest school district officially launched itself once more into an ongoing national debate over social promotion, the practice of moving students to the next grade even when they're academically unprepared.
The Los Angeles Board of Education agreed last week to begin revamping a policy that bars the advancement of unqualified students to the next grade. The rules have been loosely enforced. One proposal is to focus more intensively on struggling students in grades three, five and seven, considered key transition years.
"Having a child repeat the same grade the same way doesn't produce stellar results," said board member Tamar Galatzan, who proposed the board action. "Making sure that students have learned the material when they move from grade to grade is something this district needs to do a better job of."
The issue was to have been settled in 1998, when a state law was passed requiring school districts to retain students who don't meet academic requirements.
Despite the law, California students continue to be moved along, regardless of academic achievement.
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, only a small percentage are held back, although, according to state test results, large numbers perform well below grade level.
After the state law passed, local education officials debated who should be held back, when and why. And they worried about angry parents and overcrowded classrooms. These fears did not materialize, although classrooms have remained crowded for other reasons. Meanwhile, the focus on how to improve academic achievement shifted elsewhere.
The issue of social promotion arises cyclically nationwide, especially in large, low-performing urban districts.
In New York City, ending social promotion has been a tenet of reforms advanced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. There is debate over how thoroughly the policy has been enforced and over its effectiveness.
A recent Rand study of practices in New York City found some benefits, at least in the short term, although they could result from better academic intervention rather than retention. Some experts cite research suggesting that short-term gains are offset by long-term harm, such as increased dropout rates when older students, stigmatized as academic failures, fall grade levels behind their peers.
In 1998, L.A. Unified sent a delegation to Chicago to study that school district's policy of keeping back students who aren't academically ready for the next grade. It's still in place for students in grades three, six and eight.
In the last decade, the Denver public school system took a different tack under then-chief academic officer Jaime Aquino. Administrators viewed social promotion as a symptom of the district's failings so officials were, in effect, reluctant to retain students, Aquino said.
"There was a systemic failure of meeting the needs of students," said Aquino, who recently joined L.A. Unified as deputy superintendent for instruction. "It would have been really unfair to hold students accountable for their learning when we were not delivering."
Many educators agree that it's best to catch up students with specialized instruction before they need to be held back. Experts also talk about concentrating on students' specific shortcomings rather than simply repeating all the material in a grade.
Los Angeles officials say students need to accomplish certain academic milestones by particular grades. In third grade, for example, students should be reading fluently.
"If a child is not reading by the age of 9, the likelihood of not making it through school is huge," said Judy Elliott, the district's chief academic officer.
Similar attention in fifth grade makes sense, Elliott said, because of a notable drop in student test scores in sixth grade, after most students enter middle school. And the attention in seventh grade would be aimed at making sure students are ready for high school.
In high school, students must earn credits to graduate, and if they fail classes in ninth grade, for example, they aren't promoted to 10th grade.
Overall, about 7.5% of L.A. Unified students have been retained for a year by the third grade.
The decision to retain students in Los Angeles seems to have some benefits, at least in the short term, according to researchers Jill S. Cannon and Stephen Lipscomb in a report from the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California.
"Students retained in the first or second grade can significantly improve their grade-level skills during their repeated year," Cannon and Lipscomb wrote. The extra year put many held-back students in better position to move to the next grade, but they typically did not catch up entirely.
These benefits were noted in results from before the worst of the state's economic crisis, which caused cutbacks to programs for struggling students. One casualty in L.A. Unified has been summer school and intercession classes in which more than 225,000 students had been enrolled. Summer classes remain available mainly to small numbers of high schoolers completing graduation requirements.
The loss of summer school, which also affected other California school systems, was a driving force behind the L.A. Unified's decision to reexamine its promotion policy.
In New York City, by contrast, summer school remains an important component. At the end of the summer session, students targeted for retention can test to win promotion to the next grade level.
● Letter to the editor of The LA Times | http://lat.ms/qZhkqo
published 23 July - The Los Angeles Unified School District's renewed effort to end social promotion is a crucial element in easing the out-of-control financial crisis facing education. With a significant number of college freshmen needing remedial English before they can move on, the district's action takes on increased significance.
If non-readers were not allowed to advance beyond third grade, the social promotion problems in the fifth, ninth and 12th grades would ease significantly. If necessary, to avoid the stigma and parental wrath of holding children back, the district could develop a reading program irrespective of grade level that encompassed different ages. Passing would be a requirement of moving on.
Allowing non-readers to advance grades only kicks the problem down the road, a common trend with too many of our dilemmas.
Glenn Egelko
Ventura
TALENT RUNS DEEP IN DISPLACED TEACHER POOL: The real story behind educators who find themselves without a position.
Editorial From United Teacher • www.utla.net | http://bit.ly/oovvEh
July 15, 2011 - Being displaced from a school is painful enough for most teachers and health and human services professionals, but the damage is made worse by the unfair stigma of these educators as “damaged goods.”
The truth is, with more and more employees being displaced by budget cuts, declining enrollment, and misguided reform efforts, talent and experience runs deep in the displaced teacher pool.
Michele Levin, a 20-plus year veteran and experienced science teacher, was displaced because the funding was lost for her technology coordinator position at Emerson Middle School, where she worked for 16 years. Instead of bumping another staff person out of his or her job, she voluntarily accepted displacement.
Levin, who has served as a mentor teacher and BTSA evaluator, has been attending the job fairs that LAUSD holds to fill open positions, where she has seen former colleagues who she knows are strong educators—people she met through the L.A. Science Initiative and at various trainings and conferences.
“There’s a perception that displaced teachers aren’t good teachers,” Levin says. “But the truth is that a lot are displaced simply because of politics and it has nothing to do with performance. Part of what is happening is that schools are being given away to charter management organizations. That’s a decision that I have no say in. It has nothing to do with how I’ve been doing my job.”
Displacement can occur because of a host of factors that are out of the teachers’ control, including declining student enrollment, program or budget cuts, and schools being “restructured” or given away to outside operators as part of Public School Choice.
Teachers returning from illness or parental leave are part of the same pool of teachers who have been displaced.
As part of a takeover by L.A.’s Promise, one of the “partnerships” LAUSD has entered into, Muir Middle School has been undergoing the incredibly destructive— and unproven—process of restructuring.
In the spring the staff had to re-interview for their positions, and only a fraction of the faculty—an estimated 20 percent—were kept by the new operators, who cut loose more than 50 educators who cumulatively had decades of experience in the classroom and deep connections in the community.
Among the people displaced were a 26-year veteran who was named 2010 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Education Consortium of Central Los Angeles, a former dean who created a well-regarded technology lab and has taught generations of Muir students, and the teacher-librarian who had overhauled the library and has been invaluable in supporting teachers in the implementation of the Accelerated Reader program.
Adding insult to injury, no rationale was given for why staff members were rejected, says Muir Middle School chapter chair Bill Judson, who was also not picked by the new operators.
“It was a nasty experience to be rejected after 28 years of receiving only kudos,” says Judson, who is National Board Certified and a former BTSA evaluator.
“These people never stepped foot in my classroom. They didn’t do a lot of due diligence.”
These Muir teachers—and dozens of others from reorganized schools—joined the list of hundreds of displaced teachers looking for new positions.
At the job fairs, Judson, like Levin, says he ran into quite a few teachers he knows who have top-notch skills.
“What is the opposite of the dance of the lemons? This was the waltz of the golden apples,” says Judson, who eventually found a position at a new Valley school, one of the Public School Choice sites awarded to teachers who had crafted a plan for the school.
Displacements and attacks on seniority
Throughout California, permanent teachers with sufficient seniority are guaranteed positions somewhere in their school system. Displaced teachers who do not find positions are assigned by LAUSD to specific schools; teachers without permanent assignments work as substitutes at their regular pay rate.
The undeserved stigma attached to displaced teachers has a negative effect on more than just the employees themselves. It leads some principals to try to “hide” vacancies from central Human Resources staff responsible for assignments. This impacts the rehiring of RIF’d employees, since displaced teachers must be placed before additional RIFs can be rescinded.
It also has been seized upon by people who want to undermine seniority protections.
A recent Bill Gates-funded report by the National Council on Teacher Quality recommended that displaced teachers who don’t find a job within a year should be let go permanently.
UTLA strongly rejects the study’s findings, says UTLA President Warren Fletcher, because it ignores the reality of why teachers are displaced and the damage the loss of experienced, veteran educators would do to LAUSD.
“In what other profession is experience seen as a liability rather than an asset?” Fletcher asks. “These and other attacks on seniority undermine the protections that give us the freedom to speak out, to be unpopular with administrators, to question budget expenditures— to act in the best interests of our students instead of the bureaucracy.”
Physical education instructor Ben Merchant is one of those teachers who did not receive a permanent assignment in his first year of displacement. He lost his position at Gardena High in the fall after being bumped out of his small learning community by someone who had two years more seniority—32 years versus his 30. He spent the past year in substitute service at a school assigned to him and he is staying positive, although he worries about taking a job from a regular substitute teacher and for the kids he left behind.
At a school like Gardena, with a revolving door for administrators, a steady, consistent staff is key to a stable learning environment for the students.
“It’s doing the kids a disservice,” Merchant says. “The kids hated to see me go. They took my students and disbursed them.”
But when it comes to the media misrepresentation of displaced teachers, Merchant takes it in stride.
“The press is not there every day,” Merchant says. “They are not there to witness it themselves. Displaced teachers are not bad teachers.”
U.C. Studies: L.A. CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER, STUDENTS AT CHARTERS, MAGNETS & NEW SCHOOLS MORE LIKELY TO STAY | The news+the studies
U.C. Studies: L.A. CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER, STUDENTS AT CHARTERS, MAGNETS & NEW SCHOOLS MORE LIKELY TO STAY
►L.A. CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER
By CHRISTINA HOAG Associated Press/from the San Jose Mercury-News | http://bit.ly/oU4fle
07/19/2011 11:59:37 AM PDT - LOS ANGELES—Teachers at Los Angeles Unified charter schools are up to three times as likely to quit their jobs as their counterparts in traditional district schools, according to a University of California, Berkeley study released Tuesday.
Teachers at charter high schools in high-poverty neighborhoods are particularly likely to leave their schools—40 percent as compared to about 18 percent in regular inner-city high schools, according to the study, which was presented to LAUSD officials
Study co-author Xiaoxia Newton, an assistant education professor, called the inner-city charter turnover rate "alarmingly high" and noted that it likely stems from difficult teaching conditions.
Charter school teachers often have to grapple with students entering with very low academic skills and an evaluation system based on standardized test scores, which may not show student improvement because the student started at such a low level and will take several years to reach grade level.
"The demands of the job are much higher in these schools," she said. "It's easy to get burned out."
Elementary charter teaching staffs were more stable, but still more likely to quit than traditional-school teachers—22 percent as compared to about 17 percent, the study found.
The study analyzed seven years' worth of teacher retention data reported by about two-thirds of LAUSD charter schools to the district from 2002 to 2009. LAUSD has nearly 200 charter schools, the highest number of public, independent schools in the nation.
Charter school advocates noted that the study does not present a complete picture of charter school staffs because independent charters are not required to report staffing to the district. Most of LAUSD's charters are autonomous startups; the remainder are affiliated with the district.
"This is very heavily skewed to affiliated and converted charters," said Myrna Castrejon, senior vice president of the California Charter Schools Association. "It masks a lot of the bigger stories."
Castrejon added that her organization would encourage autonomous charters to report their staffing data in the future.
In a separate study also released Tuesday, researchers found charter school students to be more loyal to their campuses—up to 80 percent of students were less likely to leave than students at regular schools.
Study co-author Luke Dautner said the quality of facilities played a key role in keeping students. Students attending a new traditional high school were almost one-third less likely to leave than students at older schools. Magnet schools also had high student retention rates.
Latino students and teachers were less likely to switch schools than African-Americans, the study said.
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►STUDY: TEACHER TURNOVER MUCH HIGHER AT LA CHARTERS THAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC | http://bit.ly/nwGwL2
Download Audio File/MP3 | http://bit.ly/n3yhp3
July 19, 2011 | A new study released Tuesday finds that teacher turnover at Los Angeles charter schools is nearly three times higher than in the district's traditional public schools. The findings contribute to the current debate over teacher effectiveness.
Teachers leave schools for personal and professional reasons. At traditional L.A. Unified schools, teacher turnover hovered at about 15 percent during a recent six-year period, says UC Berkeley scholar Xiaoxia Newton.
At charter schools, she adds, it was about 40 percent. "One of the implications is that with nowadays' teacher evaluation and accountability and also teacher development focus, if we have such a mobile teaching force, how are we going to calculate value-added?"
That’s the new teacher evaluation method that’ll likely be part of L.A. Unified’s major overhaul of the way it evaluates and retains teachers.
Some teachers leave because they’re not cut out for teaching, Newton says, while others are good teachers who hit the burnout wall because of the seemingly endless demands at charter schools, including more hours. She suggests that’s too bad, because with the right support and professional development those good teachers could become great. Turnover is also higher among white teachers compared to minority teachers.
UC Berkeley’s Bruce Fuller oversaw the research. "We have seen earlier results showing that working conditions are tough and challenging in charter schools," says Fuller. "Charter teachers wear many hats and have many duties and are teaching urban kids, challenging urban kids, but we were surprised by the magnitude of this effect."
Fuller says that charters do "breed a lot of loyalty among parents and students, so the students are sticking around, the parents are committed to charter schools throughout L.A." Fuller says that teacher turnover "cuts into relationships. These parents and kids, by and large, expect to have strong links to these committed teachers. For whatever reason these teachers are leaving and that's going to undercut the motivation of kids and the commitment of parents."
L.A. has independent charter schools, but also Charter Management Organizations like Green Dot, which manage lots of campuses and become de facto school districts.
Turnover at schools in the 4,500-student ICEF Public Schools network in Los Angeles ranges from about 10 percent to 50 percent, says its recently-appointed chief executive, Parker Hudnut.
"Turnover is something that we’re absolutely focused on, to make sure that we keep the teachers we need to keep," says Hudnut, "but it’s very important for us to focus on keeping, to use a quote from Jim Collins, 'keep the right people on the bus.'"
Hudnot says that some turner is a good thing, with people looking different jobs or moving out of the area. "The question is what is the magical value of appropriate teacher turnover." ICEF runs 15 schools in and around L.A.
L.A. Unified includes the highest concentration of charter schools in the state. The UC Berkeley study is the first to examine teacher turnover in a sample of the district’s 163 charter schools.
Researchers chose L.A. Unified charters because it offered a large sample size. LAUSD is an epicenter for charters, with 163 in the district and 67,000 students. The district's also been home to big money supporters of charters, much debate about policies and clashes with critics like the teachers union.
Kate Beaudet’s been an L.A. Unified teacher for 16 years except for one year in which she taught at the Accelerated School, a charter campus in L.A. She liked the ability to deviate from the district’s scripted reading program but didn’t think management provided much support to teachers.
"We were not unionized and that was a huge thing," says Beaudet, "which I didn’t realize at the time how much my union meant to me until I was at this charter school, and that is huge. Now it happens to be unionized, many charter schools are."
Beaudet explained what not being unionized meant. "Having no representation, and then on top of it, most charters have these year-to-year contracts where you’re essentially an at-will employee, and for any reason whatsoever they can rescind your contract or they can just not offer you one, and they do not have to offer you a reason."
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►LOS ANGELES CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER
Howard Blume - LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/qkf8Ij
July 19, 2011 | 6:16 pm - Local charter schools serving middle and high school students are losing about half their teachers every year, according to a study of the Los Angeles Unified School District released Tuesday. The rate of turnover is nearly three times that of other public schools, although they also are seeing high rates of departures.
La-me-lausd-charters The picture is different for students, although less conclusive: If they attend a charter school, they are more likely to remain there than students in a traditional public school. Magnet schools are even better at retaining students.
The conclusions are based on data from the Los Angeles Unified School District as part of two companion UC Berkeley studies -- one on teachers and the other on students.
The findings about teachers are especially noteworthy, said study co-author Bruce Fuller.
“Earlier research shows that student achievement rests in part on strong, sustained relationships with teachers,” Fuller said. “High teacher turnover rates, at the eye-opening levels we discovered, are worrisome.”
This research does not address why teachers left or how this affected students. Many charters have posted strong results on state tests.
Charters are independently operated schools exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools, including union work rules. Magnets are special programs initially designed to promote voluntary integration; teachers at magnets work under standard district rules.
The California Charter Schools Assn. said the studies examine important issues but questioned whether their findings derive from a true cross-section of charters. L.A. Unified has more charter schools than any school district in the country, about 10.5% of total enrollment in the nation’s second-largest school system.
The researchers said the data on instructors is broadly representative because nearly all charters report teacher data to L.A. Unified or the state. The findings on students are somewhat less representative, because fewer charters report that information.
In the 2007-08 school year, the most recent in the six-year study, 45% of charter secondary teachers-- those in middle and high schools -- had exited before the next school year. The range of annual departures was 41% to 55% over that period. The range for other public schools was 14% to 23% over that period.
Charters fared better on the study of student enrollment. For the 2007-08 school year, about 2% of students left a magnet school, about 4% left a charter school, about 5% left a newly constructed school and about 6% left all other schools. These are not dropout rates, but rather an indication of what percent of students left a particular school for any reason.
One purpose of the study was to see if L.A. Unified’s $20-billion new school construction program reduced student departures. Over the six years of the study, student turnover was slightly lower overall in the new schools.
The studies were supported with $110,000 in grants from the New York City-based Ford Foundation, the Menlo Park-based Hewlett Foundation and the Spencer Foundation in Chicago. L.A. Unified contributed staff resources and data.
Full Reports:
PACE LAUSD STUDY: Teacher Stability and Turnover in Los Angeles | http://scr.bi/pyYh9X
PACE LAUSD STUDY: How diverse schools affect student mobility | http://scr.bi/pkEXsM
ARE PARENTS WHO SKIP VACCINES PUTTING OTHERS AT RISK?
DESPITE NEW LAW REQUIRING STUDENTS TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST WHOOPING COUGH, SOME PARENTS WILL CHOOSE NOT TO VACCINATE THEIR CHILDREN.
Opinion By Ann Gunvalsen Saks / Mom's Talk | Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch | http://bit.ly/rjG9VS
July 20, 2011 - A new law for the 2011-12 school year requires all students entering 7th through 12th grade to provide proof of a Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine or Tdap booster shot within the first month of the school year.*
Inevitably, the debate over vaccines will continue. Do vaccines cause Autism? (Editor’s note: both the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Institute of Medicine have taken the position that vaccines do not cause autism). Does the government have the right to require that my child be vaccinated? ... etc.
Let me just start by saying that I hate taking my kids in for shots. It’s hard to watch your kid in pain (I take them to Target to reward them for being brave). I don’t like it, but I still do it. I don’t do it because I am required. I do it because I believe it’s best for my children and society at large. Vaccines do a very good job of preventing all sorts of serious diseases.
There is a lot of fear that vaccines cause Autism. According to Easter Seals Disability Services, there are about 3,000 new cases of Autism reported in California each year and medical professionals are mystified as to the cause. On the other hand, the diseases vaccines prevent are very scary too. According to the California Department of Public Health, more than 9,000 new cases of Pertussis were reported in 2010 in California alone. In all, ten deaths were attributed to Pertussis, and all were babies too young to be immunized. It’s reasonable to assume that Pertussis was passed to these babies by someone who lacked immunity to whooping cough.... perhaps they didn’t get the vaccine because of the fear that vaccines cause Autism.
If you chose not immunize your child, you are not only putting your child at risk, but you are putting every baby, elderly person and person with a compromised immune system at risk. There are more than 4,000 new cases of leukemia diagnosed per year and still many other cases of cancer, blood disorders and other immune compromising diseases. There is a child at my kids’ school fighting a serious blood disease. He was healthy enough to come back to school while he continues to battle the disease. He and his parents worry about every child in the classroom with a cold. With his compromised immune system, a simple cold could send him to the hospital.
The fears of Autism are very real. 3,000 new cases a year is a big, scary number, but not when you weigh them against the fear of harming a person with a compromised immunity or having your child contract one of these diseases, it doesn’t compare. Also, living in a society where most people are immunized, your child benefits from others having gotten vaccinated. Please don’t refuse to immunize your child unless you would be willing to let your child live in developing country like Chad, where only 30% of the children are immunized and vaccine-preventable diseases are taking many lives and causing immense pain and suffering.
smf notes: The governor has not yet signed the bill (SB 614) allowing the 30 days grace. Right now the law is that kids MUST be vaccinated ON OR BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. No shot/No school.
School officials recommend looking up clinic locations at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/ip/IZclinics/clinics.htm and getting more information about Pertussis at http://pertussis.lausd.net or http://www.shotsforschool.org.
You can view video examples of whooping cough at http://youtu.be/wuvn-vp5InE
and http://youtu.be/C1B7Q2XrYXw, as well as read the history of the recent epidemic at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/Diseases/Pertussis.htm.
●● smf: Students are encouraged to get vaccinated by their family physician.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
I hereby move: THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND THE NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION JOINT RESOLUTION CALLING FOR ESEA REGULATORY RELIEF …do I hear a second? | http://bit.ly/qjC6jY
College Parenting - Empty nest+Empty wallet: PARENTS ARE DROPPING OUT OF THE COLLEGE COST FIGHT + THE MASTER’S AS THE NEW BACHELOR'S. | http://bit.ly/qLQVYT
Incomplete grade – LAUSD STILL HAS WORK TO DO TO MAKE SCHOOL REFORM PROCESS FUNCTIONAL: Daily News Editorial | h... http://bit.ly/q28pNG
DR. DEASY DOES HIS HOMEWORK! ...or reading other people's mail: from the Associated Administrators Weekly Update... http://bit.ly/oTsqMi
Letter to the editor: REAL LEARNING: Re " L.A. SCHOOLS TO REVAMP BAN ON SOCIAL PROMOTION http://bit.ly/ol2Nt3 ... http://bit.ly/nQ6dfq
CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL CHOOSES PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR HIS KIDS: By Valerie Strauss | Washington Post Answer Shee... http://bit.ly/n0zYjr
SCHOOLS THAT SUSPEND, EXPEL, DENY + Report: Breaking School Rules: Themes in the News for the week of July 18-22... http://bit.ly/o8yDD1
THE HARD BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS AND LOW PRIORITIES: By Gary Ravani – Thoughts of Public Education/TopED | h... http://bit.ly/oVkZeZ
THE ATLANTA SCHOOL CHEATING SCANDAL: NY Times Editorial: “Are They Learning?” + Letters to the Editor: Are They ... http://bit.ly/oyC2aY
STATE, FEARFUL OF MAKING NEW LONG-TERM FUNDING COMMITMENTS, WEIGHS EARLY ED RACE TO THE TOP: By John Fensterwald... http://bit.ly/qaQgkF
EDUCATION’S FUTURE: By Katie Rodman in Santa Barbara News/EdHat | http://bit.ly/pTch3u updated: Jul 22, 2011, 6... http://bit.ly/ngpzvm
MORE STATES DEFYING FEDERAL GOVT ON NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press | http://bit.ly... http://bit.ly/qXegnB
On again, 0ff again – again: LAUSD HOMEWORK POLICY – includes previous policy and suspended Bulletin 5502: ... http://bit.ly/qJH8C5
It’s the same in LAUSD, only more so: DELAYED MONEY COULD PUT SAN DIEGO SCHOOLS IN RED + The Easter Egg and the ... http://bit.ly/qU2bpE
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE SYSTEM IN DECLINE, STUDY FINDS +Study: "Consequences of Neglect": The state no longer is a le... http://bit.ly/mVyLV8
STARCHITECTURE HIGH - Coop Himmelblau’s wildly ambitious L.A. high school opened to great acclaim and local cont... http://bit.ly/qb6PBg
U.C. Studies: L.A. CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER, STUDENTS @ CHARTERS, MAGNETS & NEW SCHOOLS MORE L... http://bit.ly/pD1gFM
A NEW VOICE ATOP L.A.’s TEACHERS UNION + smf’s 2¢: New UTLA President Warren Fletcher is a welcome change from h... http://bit.ly/quwsGG
2 pieces of most excellent news: L.A. SCHOOLS TO REVAMP BAN ON SOCIAL PROMOTION + MONDAY HOURS MAKE A COMEBACK ... http://bit.ly/ol2Nt3
Letters to the Editor of The Times: GAYS IN TEXTBOOKS: July 19: History's facts and figures | Re "Textbooks to... http://bit.ly/nlhE4s
DETAILS START TO EMERGE ON NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND WAIVER PLAN – Race to the Top Lite?: New Details Emerge on Dunca... http://bit.ly/r1gWbe
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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