In This Issue:
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L.A. UNIFIED GETS LOWER PRICE FOR THOUSANDS OF iPADS |
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LA SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE IN THE DARK OVER COMPUTER INVENTORIES + smf’s 2¢ |
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California Dream Act: STEPS TO COLLEGE CONFERENCE HELPS DREAMERS IN EDUCATION PATH |
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THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF THE UNION + THE STATE OF ADULT ED IN LAUSD |
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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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FADE IN:
THE SCENE: Early morning - A hotel room in Punxsutawney, PA. on the morning of February 2nd.
CLOSE UP: A clock radio on the nightstand. It clicks on as the digits switch from 5:59 to 6:00
MUSIC UP: I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher: “They say we’re young and we don’t know….”
If you know the scene, you know the movie. You know what will happen,
endlessly until the protagonist gets it right. Déjà vu meets Dante’s
Purgatorio.
Groundhog Day.
Fiction is something that never happened, not something that isn’t true.
George Santayana warned if we don’t learn from history we are doomed to
repeat it. Italians say “è vero è ben trovato” – roughly: “if not true
it ought to be”. Fiction often gives us our history before we live it.
The object lesson to be learned. If we are paying attention we can learn
from tomorrow’s news today.
Either God created novelists or novelists created God.
“And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The Ed ®eformers and the ©ommon ©orpsmen+women have downgraded fiction and upgraded non-fiction.
(Television has already denigrated Reality to anything-but.)
The future, we are told, belongs to those who can decode technical
manuals and treatises and longitudinal studies – to he or she who can
write code rather than stories. Tomorrow is not for those who can
interpret Shakespeare or Faulkner, Dostoevsky or Emily Dickinson.
Artists and Dancers and Musicians need not apply.
Will the ability to write code be the gatekeeper Latin and Greek once was?
Never mind that the coders who can incorporate right-brain
creativity+imagination to write games also write their own big
paychecks. Or that Hollywood creative artists who can also do the nerdy
stuff make even more money than plastic surgeons or Lamborghini
mechanics. But they are millionaire anomalies.
We want our future college ready and career prepared; not for the
manufacturing factory floors of the past but the industrial service
cubicles of the future. Dilbert, meet Winston Smith. And, so sorry
Malcolm Gladwell, but no outliers please. A place for every widget and
every widget in its place.
Q: But “Wait!” you say: What about all the independent thinking – the
deeper thought and authentic learning - that Common Core promises?
A: Look again at the promises. They are about Articulating Expectations,
Aligning Textbooks & Digital Media and Professional Development to
International Standards; Evaluating Policy to meet the standards through
Rigor, Accountability, a Common Metric and Portability. Enough buzz
words to staff a beehive …but nothing about children, creativity,
curriculum or independence of thought.
Standard means standard.
STAND•ARD
[stan-derd]
noun
1. something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison; an approved model.
2. an object that is regarded as the usual or most common size or form
of its kind: We stock the deluxe models as well as the standards.
As an adjective:
3. usual, common, or customary: Chairs are standard furniture in American households.
- From Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
Common. Standard. We are paying an awful lot here to educate our most treasured assets; our societal investment in the future.
Aren’t we looking for the deluxe model? Isn’t that what all this
Reform, Choice, Change, Empowerment and Testing – all this drama and all
these iPads are about?
Or is this just another edition of the textbook, next-year’s version
of the test? Another move from vinyl to disk to digital; four-track to
cassette; floppy to hard-drive to the cloud; textbook to iPad? A
platform change pretending to be a paradigm shift.
Today in New York City a football game will be played again. In
Punxsutawney a groundhog will or won’t see his shadow again. A clock
will click over from 5:59 to 6:00 again
“They say we’re young and we don’t know…”
These children will never be in kindergarten or third grade or middle
school or high school seniors again. Not if we or they or their teachers
can help it.
READING BELOW YOU WILL FIND THE USUAL ASSORTMENT OF STORIES, mostly true
– some to be taken with a grain of salt …some excessively salty. Most
carry the shadow of déjà vu – reminiscent of other stories or the
same-old/same-old. The annual Academic Decathlon had the Super Quiz –
with El Camino and Marshall High Schools unofficially in the lead.
(4LAKids got excited that Uni High won the JPL Science Bowl … but it’s
the University High in Irvine. Drat! but congrats nonetheless –
Saturday’s SUPER Quiz + Science BOWL rates Roman numerals!) The
®eformers took their story to court in Vergara v. CA. The judge forbad
iPads in his Court. John Deasy was on the stand for three days. Ex-Mayor
Tony made a surprise appearance, The Internet went down and court was
adjourned early. The plaintiff’s bought+paid-for friends released a
study that says what bought+paid-for friends always say. We now know
that an LAUSD iPad costs $504.+tax without the Pearson content. We
either will have too many
or too few iPads for testing. The internet connections, wireless or
wired, either will or won’t work. We will be prepared on the day …or we
will
not.
A TIMELINE: …or what could possibly go wrong?
• By APRIL 1ST (an unfortunate choice of dates) all the iPads will have been delivered.
• Also APRIL 1ST: Every elementary and middle school student is
guaranteed Breakfast in the Classroom from here-on-out – a promising
program that seems to now be branded (at least in the media) “Mandatory
Breakfast”. The districtwide rollout of B.in the.C. in itself could be a
logistical nightmare. - made no easier by the program’s unpopularity
with UTLA in the middle of contentious UTLA elections.
• On APRIL 7th the six week Common Core/Smarter Balanced Testing Window
opens; (an event the president of the Board of Ed has already described
as a logistical nightmare) The CC/SB tests are another unpopular item in
the Deasy/Reform agenda …along with the iPads and B.in the C.
• From APRIL 14th-APRIL 18th the Testing and the B.in the C. windows
will close for Spring Break. (If I worked in the LAUSD IT Dept I
wouldn’t plan on taking a cruise or a ski trip that week!)
• From APRIL 21st – MAY16th the CC/SB Testing and B.in the C. windows reopen…
• ….complicated by the fact that from MAY 5th – MAY16th the ADVANCED
PLACEMENT and INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE test windows open – and those
schedules are rigorously regimented and enforced. The words: “No
Exceptions” are written on every page!
NOTE: The AP and IB tests ARE HIGH STAKES TESTS – and are critically
important to the high school and middle school students who take them;
they must be studied for.
Conversely, the CC/SB tests are utterly meaningless to absolutely
everyone who takes them. They will not be scored this year at all – and
even in the future scores will not appear in a student’s record.
Any teacher , administrator or superintendent who pressures kids this
year with “how important this test is “is guilty of dishonesty– and any
stress inflicted is equivalent to child abuse.
There is a lot of work left to do and LAUSD is nowhere near ready. I’m
not convinced that principals and school staff know what is expected of
them to get ready; schools in the B.in the C. roll-out will get double
helpings of chaos. Every school in California and 44 other states
is-or-should-be working like crazy to get ready. Some are readier than
others
LAUSD probably is better off than some other districts. But the widely
over reported investment of a billion dollars in devices and
infrastructure upgrades puts the magnifying glass squarely on LAUSD. If
24% of the students in XYZ Unified can’t take the test no one will
notice; if 24% of the kids in LAUSD can’t take the test the four TV
networks and all the cable channels will notice. There will be late
night talk show jokes and a Sixty Minutes story.
The urgency and the intoxication of purpose – the faith in the beauty of
one’s weapons and the hubris and the politics and all the rest are
starting to form the signature counterclockwise swirl in that telltale
cloud formation.– with a predicted landfall in early April.
And it’s always 6:00AM somewhere. “They say we’re young and we don’t know…”
Goodbye Ned Ryerson wherever you are.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
UPDATE: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this AM. Six more weeks of this insufferable 65°F winter,
L.A. UNIFIED GETS LOWER PRICE FOR THOUSANDS OF iPADS
By Howard Blume, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/Mm8wXf
January 30, 2014, 4:24 p.m. :: The Los Angeles Unified School District
will pay substantially less for thousands of iPads under the latest
deal with Apple. The cost of the tablets that will be used on new state
tests will be $200 less per device, although the computers won’t include
curriculum.
The revised price will be $504, which compares to $699 for the iPads
with curriculum. With taxes and other fees, the full cost of the more
fully equipped devices rises to $768.
The iPads are part of a $1-billion effort to provide a computer to every
student, teacher and administrator in the nation’s second-largest
school system. In response to concerns and problems, officials have
slowed the districtwide rollout, which began at 47 schools in the fall.
L.A. Unified also has been under pressure to contain costs; it recently
became clear that the district is paying more for devices than most
other school systems. The higher price results mainly from L.A.
Unified’s decision to purchase relatively costly devices and to include
curriculum.
District officials recently restarted negotiations with Apple and
achieved two concessions. The first is that Apple would provide the
latest iPad, rather than a discontinued model for which L.A. Unified was
paying top dollar. The second is that Apple agreed to consider a lower
price on machines for which curriculum was not necessary.
Deciding what that reduced price would be took several weeks.
The Board of Education authorized the latest iPad purchase on January
14, when price negotiations already were under way. At the time, L.A.
schools Supt. John Deasy said he needed immediate board approval, so the
district could purchase the iPads in time for this spring's state
standardized tests. These exams are being administered by computer for
the first time.
After the protracted negotiations, the purchase order finally went out Wednesday.
The lower price applies to about 45,500 iPads. If these devices ever
need curriculum, the district would have to pay the the balance of the
original price. A three-year license to use the curriculum would begin
when it is activated. This alleviates some concerns that have been
voiced about the curriculum. Critics have worried that the curriculum
license could expire before teachers made much use of it.
Officials are hopeful that the new iPads will be set up in schools by April 7, the first day of testing.
Another issue is whether campuses will be able to connect properly to
the Internet. Other school systems face similar challenges.
L.A. Unified plans to address this challenge with the help of carts that
are used to store and charge the iPads. Each cart will be plugged into a
school hard-wired network. Then, the cart will become a “hot spot” to
which all the devices in a room will connect wirelessly.
“According to the specs, this will work. Now, the district needs to go
out and check that it’s that way in the real world,” said Thomas A.
Rubin, a consultant for a district committee that oversees the spending
of voter-approved school construction bonds. These funds are being used
to pay for the iPad project.
“Each school has to have a plan on how it’s going to do the test,” Rubin
said. “There is no cookie cutter. And at most schools, no one is
capable of putting this plan together. The district still has a whole
hell of a lot of work to do to make sure this succeeds.”
LA SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE IN THE DARK OVER COMPUTER INVENTORIES + smf’s 2¢
Annie Gilbertson | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/1cAEjOu
January 30th, 2014, 8:29am :: Los Angeles Unified School District
officials said they don't have a complete accounting of computers at
schools because they stopped counting during budget cuts - and a new
survey meant to get an accurate accounting is incomplete, according to
records, statements at public meetings and interviews.
With new computerized state standardized tests two months away,
Superintendent John Deasy wants to rush order as many as 67,500 iPads to
allow students to take the tests. The district released a new survey to
KPCC on Monday showing only 38 percent of schools have necessary
computers. But the survey only asked how many wired computers schools
had - leaving out tens of thousands of laptops and tablets - and about a
quarter of the district's schools failed to respond to the survey.
For instance, according to the district's new survey, the Diego Rivera
Learning Complex in South Los Angeles has thousands of students but no
wired computers. What the survey leaves out is that every student at the
school received a wireless iPad earlier this year.
District administration put together the survey after school board
members repeatedly asked for a computer inventory and report on testing
readiness.
This spring marks two firsts for California standardized testing: the
exams will be given on computers and based on new learning standards
called the Common Core.
At an L.A. Unified school board meeting earlier this month, board
president Richard Vladovic assured school principals he understood their
misgivings, having once been a principal himself.
"The logistical nightmare I would be having during testing period would
not only skew results, but drive me - as a site administrator - crazy,"
Vladovic said, as he lobbied the board to let the superintendent buy all
the testing tablets he deemed necessary.
"I believe you are going to be prudent - that you are not going to throw away our money," Vladovic said.
The board essentially agreed to issue Deasy a blank check, allowing him
to purchase as many tablets as he found necessary for testing - and
thousands more to expand the one-to-one iPad program to 38 additional
schools this year. With that increase, the project will have been rolled
out to 85 of the district's 800 schools.
Despite months of questions and concerns by some board members, parents
and educators, Deasy has not retrenched on his desire to provide all
students an iPad.
“I’m sick and tired of hearing that because of the zip code you live in
you could possibly have something less," Daisy said when the program
began last fall. "That’s not what this administration is about.”
Counting Computers
But Steve English, a member of the district's Bond Oversight Committee,
has repeatedly complained the district's projected iPad needs do not
take into consideration the tens of thousands of devices schools already
own.
Granada Hills Charter Academy, for instance, has 2,000 computers for its
roughly 4,000 students. Yet none of its inventory showed up on the
districts latest survey; Granada Hills didn’t respond.
Junior Nicole Valderas said the school has been snapping up computers
for specialized classes - such as video production - since she started
in 2011.
"We have a lot of laptop carts," Valderas said. "We use it for projects and research. It's becoming a thing."
Granada Hills senior Pranathi Rao said she uses laptops every day in her computer science classes.
"I use it for business statistics," junior Derek De Leon chimed in as
the three gathered outside the campus on a warm, late January afternoon.
"We use Excel programs and Word documents on daily basis."
L.A. Unified's head of data and accountability, Cynthia Lim, said taking
computers away from classes like these for testing disrupts the ongoing
instruction.
But only juniors are tested at the high school level. At Granada Hills,
that means 1,000 students would need a few hours to sit for an exam at
some point during a six week testing period. A calculator provided the
test manufacturer Smarter Balance estimates Granada Hills testing could
be completed with fewer than 150 computers used only 2 hours day.
Yet the district estimates the school will need 450 iPads to hold exams.
English has scrutinized fragmented computers inventories from several
schools, including Granada Hills, and urged the school board earlier
this month not to waste its money buying too many iPads.
"There are thousands and thousands of devices out there in the district
right now," English said, estimating the real number of need is 38,535 ,
about half of the number officials have requested.
English declined to comment for this story, but reported to the school
board repeated instances of the district overestimating need.
English pointed out that Ivanhoe Elementary is slated to get iPads for
testing, but all 4th and 5th grade students already have laptops.
Huntington Park High recently scored 1,000 new tablets, but accounted
for none on the district's most recent survey.
Without accurate inventory, L.A. Unified may be overlooking schools were the need for more technology is urgent.
"Harbor City Elementary has only one computer lab that services 28
students," the school's staff reported on the testing readiness survey.
"We do not have the capacity for small group testing or testing
students with testing accommodations."
But district estimates don't account for such gaps: testing iPad
requests are loosely dictated by the number of students rather than the
number of computers already on campuses.
District officials did exclude schools that were part of the iPad pilot
from getting extra tablets for testing. But, they didn't exclude the
seven high schools scheduled to get laptops for all students from
getting extra iPads.
"It does impact the integrity of the entire program," English said at
January's board meeting, speaking the district's sputtering initiative
to equip every student with an iPad. "The initiative is being closely
watched."
English also reported the district is asking for test-taking tablets at
schools were kids don't take standardized tests - like Primary Centers,
which serve only kindergarten through second grade, and one school that
only offers a-la-carte online courses for students attending other
schools.
"When the district made its estimate that it needed 67,500, it did not
take any of those devices into account for the very good reason that the
district does not at this moment have a count of how many devices are
out there," English told school board members.
L.A. Unified did not provide inventory records and did not respond to
requests for an interview, but officials have discussed the issue
publicly in school board meetings.
They said L.A. Unified doesn't have an inventory of computers because
after the recession budget cuts, they couldn't afford to take inventory.
The district's annual budget is over $6 billion.
The sticker price for Deasy's request of 67,5000 iPads is over $30
million. That doesn't include the staffing and network upgrades needed
to establish the new fleet.
District officials said they are negotiating an iPad contract this week,
but won't disclose the number of devices they are requesting.
"We’re still negotiating everything," said Shannon Haber, a district spokeswoman, in an email.
Providing all students and teachers with an iPad has been estimated to
cost the district well over a billion dollars, $11.2 million of which is
set to come out of general funds next year.
Lost Connection
New Smarter Balanced state tests are hosted on the web. L.A. Unified's
readiness survey reports 11 percent of schools have infrastructure
concerns, including issues with reliable internet connection.
“Connectivity of wireless prevents us from using wireless computers for
testing,” Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood reported in the
survey. Reed is scheduled to get 227 iPads - but those devices would
also need good connections to administer the test.
“Some computers are slower than others they do not have equal
bandwidth,” said staff at Bellingham Elementary, also located in North
Hollywood.
“Some computers would not load the assessment (it kept spooling),”
commented administrators at Garavanza Elementary in Highland Park,
adding that the internet speed is slow.
L.A. Unified work orders for upgrading school networks show the problem is more widespread than the January survey indicates.
A report shows only 208 of the districts approximately 800 campuses are
wifi ready, Another 486 are scheduled for modernizations before the end
of 2014, averaging $736,000 in construction costs per school.
Only 59 more school sites will be fully wifi ready in time for tests in April.
The district is planning to spend over $500 million to pull wire, buy
serves and connect antiquated schools to a data grid over the course of
2014.
●●smf's 2¢: Some of the concerns expressed in this article were
addressed in Thursday’s Bond Oversight Committee meeting. As is usually
the case some questions were answered and new ones emerged.
QUOTE: District officials said they are negotiating an iPad contract
this week, but won't disclose the number of devices they are
requesting.
UPDATE - Total: 45,500. 28,100 at $699 each (with Pearson content)
and 17,400 at $504 each without Pearson Content – plus keyboards for
all plus previous from Phase 1 at cost tbd.
The next opportunity for Q&A will be the Common Core Technology
Project Committee meeting - February 6, 2014 at 1:00 pm | http://bit.ly/1bbrExw
The challenge is going to be when the new devices are delivered and
whether each school has a plan in place to accomplish what Dr. Vladovic
identified as the “logistical nightmare”: The roll out and initial
implementation of the tests at the school sites between April 6 and May
16.
The Tests this first time out will test the system+network of
devices, connectivity, training, preparation, the tests themselves and
the advance planning – a “stress test” of the system. The only scoring
of this years tests will be of how many students were able to complete
the tests – not how well they did on the tests. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT WILL
NOT BE MEASURED OR REPORTED TO SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, PARENTS, SCHOOL
DISTRICTS OR MYSTERIOUS OFFICES DOWNTOWN OR IN STATE CAPITALS. TEACHERS
WILL NOT BE JUDGED.
If anything, this is a test of how well throwing iPads at it solves anything.
My favorite slide in the PowerPoint that explained the District's strategy started out:
What can go wrong?
the answer was:
Everything.
Stay tuned.
California Dream Act: STEPS TO COLLEGE CONFERENCE HELPS DREAMERS IN EDUCATION PATH
By Sammy Caiola, Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/1nE6Mr5
Feb 2, 2014 :: Hordes of families filed in and out of the Mexican
Consulate in North Natomas on Saturday, waiting patiently to fill out
applications for financial aid – an option only recently made available
to undocumented students determined to attend college regardless of
legal status.
More than 3,000 California high school students and their families
received personalized guidance and bagfuls of pamphlets from school
recruiters Saturday at the third annual Steps to College conference. The
consulate, the California Student Aid Commission, UC Davis and other
groups sponsored the event.
Students without proof of citizenship have been eligible for non-state
financial aid since the passage of the California Dream Act in 2011, but
it was only in January 2013 that they became eligible for state money
such as Cal Grants, institutional scholarships and community college fee
waivers.
It’s all part of CSAC’s Cash for College program, which provides up to
$9,000 to California high school students who meet the GPA requirements
and can display financial need on either the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid or the Dream Act application. Undocumented students
need only to prove they have started on the path to citizenship to be
eligible for state aid.
“These are great options that never existed in the past,” said Kurt
Zimmer of CSAC. “We’ve been fighting for a long time to have a program
like this.”
Perla Zapata, an undocumented Highlands High School senior who came to
the United States at age 3, is determined to be the first in her family
to go to college. She attended the conference with both of her parents
and five younger siblings, who gathered around an iPad for more than an
hour as Zimmer helped her fill out the Dream Act application.
“At first I thought I’d go back to Mexico, but then I started to learn
about the opportunities here,” she said. “The thought of being able to
go to college and to be able to pay for it – it feels really good.”
Recent numbers from CSAC report that more than 17,000 students handed in
applications during the 2013-14 academic year, more than 8,000 of whom
received Cal Grants.
At Saturday’s conference, students received information about state
scholarships and privately funded Latino-specific scholarships from
organizations such as Cien Amigos, La Familia and the Association of
Raza Educators.
Jose Ballesteros of Raza Educators said smaller scholarships like these
are necessary to make up for a lack of available state funding for
undocumented students.
“The funding there for undocumented students is somewhat limited,” he
said. “It’s there, but it’s first-come, first-served and they’re the
last priority.”
Seven Mexican universities were represented at the fair, offering a
college experience that Consulate General Carlos González Gutiérrez said
is sometimes more affordable and accessible for Mexican nationals.
Juan Muratalla, a Ripon High School senior who was perusing the CETYS
Universidad materials, said he would like to go to Mexico for financial
reasons, but would struggle with the language barrier. Muratalla was
born in the United States and learned Spanish in high school, but still
feels connected to his heritage.
“When I go over there, I feel more comfortable,” he said. “Here you bump
into someone and they give you a disgusted look. There, even if you
don’t know them, they say, ‘Hi.’ ”
Only 7 percent of Latino males in the U.S. go to college, a number that
González Gutiérrez said can be greatly improved by wider dispersal of
information and more accessible funding. The consulate has launched its
own private scholarship fund, which last year provided 186 students with
a total of $150,000 for school.
“There’s a significant gap to be filled,” he said, “and I think it is
our responsibility as a society to help young Mexican Americans and
Latinos to get to college. I think we at the consulate want to do our
share.”
While the path to education has gotten easier, attaining citizenship
remains difficult. Three immigration workshops at the conference
addressed the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, which
protects anyone brought to the U.S. before age 16 from deportation for
up to two years. Neither DACA nor the Dream Act ensures permanent legal
status.
THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF THE UNION + THE STATE OF ADULT ED IN LAUSD
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update Week of February 3, 2014 | http://bit.ly/1igKGaE
Thursday, January 30, 2014 :: In President Barack Obama’s State of the
Union speech on January 28, 2014, he referenced education less often
than in previous years, but stressed it as a means to improve the
economy and decrease poverty. Specifically, he called on Congress to
expand preschool to more 4-year-olds, improve job-training programs and
make postsecondary education more effective and accessible. The focus
was not on education per se, but more on improving the lives of the
American people. There were no new proposals for K-12 education in this
speech and although he has addressed it in previous years, Congress has
yet to pass any of his initiatives. Vowing, this time, to bypass
Congress and use his executive power, he said, “So wherever and whenever
I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more
American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
The President pushed for Congress to enact a major initiative that
encourages states to offer prekindergarten to more 4-year-olds, improve
program quality and increase access to Head Start programs. Recognizing
that preschool programs are crucial for success and are one avenue to
close the achievement gap and overcome inequality, lawmakers have
introduced legislation to make these goals a reality, but due to the
cost, it has not garnered enough support. Therefore, Obama said he would
pull together a coalition of business leaders, philanthropists and
elected officials to help expand pre-K for the neediest children.
JOB TRAINING
He called for a need to bolster job-training programs and help high
schools and postsecondary institutions prepare students for careers in
the STEM fields. In 2012, the President presented a plan that would
revise the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act which the House
education committee is just now starting to discuss. However, $100
million has been allocated for schools to partner with businesses to
increase their STEM offerings. The deadline to apply for these funds was
January 26, 2014.
COLLEGE ACCESS
President Obama has allocated more than $150 billion in federal
financial aid to help pay for post-secondary education and is calling
for an expansion of income-based loan repayment plans, stressing that he
did not want any middle-class student to be priced out of a college
education.
EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
The President called for an increased investment in the nation’s
infrastructure, particularly as it relates to technology and to speed up
the implementation of the ConnectEd program. The existing E-rate
program needs to be improved to meet the increasing technology demands
from schools. The president mentioned that he wanted 99 percent of the
nation’s schools to have access to high-speed broadband within five
years.
SCHOOL SAFETY
The President again asked for new gun laws to reduce violence. Last
year, he called for a ban on military assault style weapons, more
background checks and new resources for mental health and safety in
schools. None of the proposals related to curbing access to guns made it
through Congress this past year, although some funds were allocated for
school safety and mental health.
Notably absent from the speech was any mention of the reauthorization of
ESEA or of the Common Core State Standards, although he did mention
that Race to the Top caused states to raise their standards. Education
officials and education organization officials praised the speech for
focusing on expanding opportunity and closing the income gap, subjects
to which education is fundamentally connected.
UPDATE ON ADULT EDUCATION
A joint committee of members from both legislative houses in Sacramento
is meeting this week to review the status of adult education in the
state. Governor Brown proposed last year to shift administration of
adult programs to community colleges because K-12 districts were
reducing their offerings. Lawmakers rejected this plan but compromised
by advising school districts to maintain services for two years while
providing funds to plan for the development of better ways to serve the
adult education needs regionally. While this is taking place in
Sacramento, LAUSD’s DACE has continued to face budgetary cuts. We do not
know the Superintendent’s plan for the expenditure of the additional
revenue that the District has received or if adult ed will be the
recipient of any new funding, but the letter below from an adult school
administrator shows the current state of adult education in LAUSD.
• Luisa (not her real name) wants to learn more English to help her son
and daughter. Her daughter has just begun high school and her son is in
elementary school. She would like to be better able to communicate with
school staff and help or at least better understand her children’s
homework.
• Zhi Peng (not his real name) has a family and would like to take a
Powerline Mechanics program and get a lucrative job with Southern
California Edison. Both of these parents are on waiting lists because
the classes are full.
• Roger Medina (not his real name) is a concurrent student who needs a
health class to graduate. Unfortunately, all the classes at his nearby
Adult Education Service Area are full. Since many Adult Education
classes for concurrent students are in Individualized Instruction Lab
settings, Roger will have to wait until someone finishes so he can
enroll.
In fact, there are more than 14,000 adults and concurrent students on
waitlists for classes in the Division of Adult and Career Education.
Such is one of the effects of the major budget cuts to Adult Education
funding.
As you can see, cuts to Adult Education are cuts to us all.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
EL CAMINO, MARSHALL #1 & #2 IN LAUSD ACA-DECA
SUPER QUIZ, A TIE IN LA COUNTY SUPER QUIZ, IRVINE UNI HIGH WINS ... http://bit.ly/1fNoSl1
NINE LAUSD SCHOOLS COMPETE IN HEALTHY-COOKING CONTEST: By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/1fNrMGd
HOW WE TEACH KIDS TO CHEAT ON TESTS By Vicki Abeles from Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet/The Washington Post | http://bit.ly/auDNT3
VERGARA v. CA: EdSource Today editor, attorneys for plaintiff and respondent interviewed on KQED about trial c... http://bit.ly/1fL7yx0
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STUDENTS BATTLE IT OUT IN ACA-DECA, SCIENCE BOWL QUIZZES: By David Zahniser, LA Times | ht... http://bit.ly/1acX4bo
Firing Our Way to Finland: WEEK ONE OF VERGARA v. CALIFORNIA - from the LA Schools Report + MORE COVERAGE | http://bit.ly/1i5oDTC
FEB IS NAT'L SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CARE AWARENESS MONTH. Thank a school
nurse or health educator. Visit a school clinic
pic.twitter.com/fo7wlSkHug
IS THE AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM DAMAGING OUR KIDS? Education has become an American institution—of the worst kin... http://bit.ly/1kpmbJa
Surprise!: NTNQ STUDY CRITICIZES CA’S TENURE, DISMISSAL LAWS: by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report | http://... http://bit.ly/1klkg8q
Rep. George Miller: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CO-AUTHOR SAYS HE NEVER ANTICIPATED LAW WOULD FORCE TESTING OBSESSION... http://bit.ly/Lx0ESM
THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF THE UNION + THE STATE OF ADULT ED IN LAUSD: From the Associated Adminis... http://bit.ly/LwWRos
COMMON CORE TESTING IN #LAUSD: “Each school has to have a plan on how it’s going to do the test. And at most (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1s076ie
L.A. UNIFIED GETS LOWER PRICE FOR THOUSANDS OF iPADS: By Howard Blume, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/Mm8wXf Jan... http://bit.ly/LussHr
LA SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE IN THE DARK OVER COMPUTER INVENTORIES + smf’s 2¢: Annie Gilbertson | Pass / ... http://bit.ly/1kgo4rB
LAUSD REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH MOTHER OF CINDI SANTANA, 17-YEAR-OLD STUDENT STABBED TO DEATH IN 2011: ... http://bit.ly/1nsfxV8
NINTH CIRCUIT RULES AGAINST LOS ANGELES UNIFIED IN CASE ABOUT JAILED SPECIAL ED STUDENTS: Written by: shelley... http://bit.ly/1nmUtiK
EX-EMPLOYEE ACCUSES LAUSD OF “CORRUPTION, CRONYISM” IN SEX ABUSE SETTLEMENTS: The lawsuit stems from settlemen... http://bit.ly/1nmy2Ky
RANDOM WISDOM IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS: “The teacher is the chief learner in the classroom” - Donald Graves.
Vergara v. CA judge: Trial on teacher jobs protections must be covered
by pen&pencil, says @stephenceasar. No iPads or laptops allowed!
●●smf TWEETS FROM THE 2014 CA STATE PTA LEGISLATION CONFERENCE MON & TUES (read from bottom↓ to top↑)
Sigman: Smarter Balanced Common Core practice tests are online. Parents should take them with their kids. #PTA4Kids
↑
Bonilla: "Teacher credentialing programs not preparing new teachers for common core."
↑
Deb Sigman Deputy SPI: Smarter Balanced field test is "test of test" in environment where we expect mistakes. #PTA4Kids
↑
Assemblymember Bonilla on testing: "It was sort of fun to have Arne Duncan annoyed with us!" #PTA4Kids
↑
@4LAKids: Ron Bennett of School Services of CA: There are 3 kinds of
adults in our schools. Teachers & those who support teaching.
#PTA4Kids
↑
Ron Bennett of School Services of CA: Local Control now trumps the Funding Formula. #PTA4Kids
↑
Simpson: Not convinced that school bonds are the way to find technology - using iPads as example.
↑
Simpson: Local taxation is answer to increased school funding. 2016 is
probably right election year for constitutional revision #PTA4Kids
↑
Simpson:: LCFF is not school finance reform. Prop 98 requires CA be in top 10% - not 47th. #PTA4Kids
↑
Speaker's asst chief of staff Rick Simpson addressees CA PTA Leg
Conference. Subsidiarity and local control are good ideas but not
proven.
↑
@Straus: common core = better classroom practice. #PTA4Kids
↑
CA BoardOfEd VP Ilene Straus speaks on LCFF&LCAP and need for public input #PTA4Kids
↑
Torlakson: LCFF & Common Core are hopeful change. #pta4kids
↑
Torlakson: There is cause for optimism. #pta4kids
↑
2014 CA State PTA Legislation Conference kicks off in Sacramento with comments from SPI Torlakson
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• Budget, Facilities, and Audit Committee-February 4, 2014 - CANCELLED
• Successful School Climate; Progressive Discipline and Safety Ad Hoc Committee - February 4, 2014
Start: 4:00 pm
• Ad Hoc Board Committee Meeting Regarding Board District 1 Representation February 4, 2014
Start: 6:00 pm
• CCTP COMMITTEE: Common Core Technology Project Committee meeting - February 6, 2014 at 1:00 pm | http://bit.ly/1bbrExw
________________________________________
►COMING UP: RSVP & SAVE THE DATE◄
Please join Dr. John Deasy, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified
School District (LAUSD), on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 from 9 a.m. -
10:30 a.m. for an important briefing on the NCLB/ESEA waiver that was
granted to districts who are members of the California Office to Reform
Education (CORE). This is an opportunity to hear the District’s
perspective on the new federal waiver and the important changes that
will be taking place in the future. We hope you will join us in learning
about this important issue and will continue to support the District's
leadership in improving student achievement in the LAUSD.
To RSVP and view more event information click here: http://bit.ly/1fO5XGI
(Parking information will be provided after you have RSVP’d)
*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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