Rather than write merely for my own amusement and an audience of one, I’ll be writing only occasionally through the holidays. 2010 promises to be incredibly challenging for schools and the Legislature, so let’s all take a deep breath and enjoy time with friends and family.
I started The Educated Guess just two months ago. Thanks to all of you who have followed the blog; I welcome your comments, suggestions and criticisms.
Early next year, you’ll be seeing changes to the site, as I turn what has been a one-way conversation into a dialogue with many voices. More on that in coming weeks.
Meanwhile, if anything exciting happens on the Race to the Top bill still lingering in the Legisalture (Keep working, Rick Simpson, and members of the Assembly Education Committee!), I may put up a post. Or you can sign up to follow me on Twitter for all the news in 140 characters or less.
Comments on Stephanie Couch on STEM Education in California
While the acronym STEM is powerful, unfortunately it really boils down to mathematics instruction in California schools, as LEA's scramble ... - Fred Jones
As long as we’re down to last-minute Christmas lists, consider Gov. Schwarzenegger’s. He’s hoping Uncle Sam will be his Secret Santa, with a gift certificate for $8 billion.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the governor will ask Washington for a big piece of what would be the government’s second stimulus. And if the $8 billion doesn’t come, he vows the end of welfare as we know it, with the abolishment of CALWORKS, along with — listen up, big business — the rescission of the $2 billion in corporate tax cuts the Legislature and the governor himself snuck in this year.
No mention so far of education, although the Sacramento Bee reported that Schwarzenegger, as expected, will seek a waiver from the Obama administration to reduce K-14 spending. At the same time, he will cite, as one cause of the state’s troubles, the requirement under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the first stimulus program, that states maintain their level of education spending — or face penalties.
The Obama administration hasn’t committed to a second stimulus package, but the House passed a $175 billion jobs and infrastructure package before adjourning for the year.
It’s certainly no surprise that United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union in Los Angeles Unified, would sue to thwart charter schools from participating in the district’s bold program of reform.
What’s surprising is the union couldn’t make a more artful argument.
This week, the UTLA sued the district to try to prevent charter operators from competing to run up to two dozen new schools that the school board voted 6-1 last August to put out to bid. Applications to operate the schools, which will open next fall, are due Jan. 11, and charter operators have indicated they’ll be bidding for all of them. The board will also consider applicants for an additional dozen persistently low-achieving schools, including Garfield High of “Stand and Deliver” fame.
[...] Los Angeles local is suing L.A. Unified over its school reform plans. John Fensterwald’s response? The suit is merely ... - Read: Happy Holidays Edition || Dropout Nation
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass’ office has been mum about whatever progress there has been in resolving differences over SBX5-4, the compromise Race to the Top bill that the Senate passed last week.
One part of the bill that needs fleshing out through amendments involves a significant expansion of parental choice that Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen. Gloria Romero have pushed hard for.
Romero’s original bill, which died in the Assembly, would have given parents in the lowest 30 percent performing schools the right to transfer to a better school in another school district. The current bill scales back that right to the bottom tenth. But it still marks a major shift in state policy and philosophy – and a victory for Los Angeles parent groups that made their voices heard in Sacramento. (Read more and comment on this post)
Of all the reforms that legislators are on the verge of passing to enhance its Race to the Top application, the most consequential also has been the least discussed.
California is about to commit to junk its decade-old, much ballyhooed system of K-12 academic standards by Aug. 2. Doing so will the require writing new assessments and curriculum frameworks and adopting new textbooks over the next few years– at a cost that easily run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
What’s amazing is not the state’s consideration of the Obama administration’s push for “common core” standards. The concept of internationally benchmarked academic standards to which students in all states can be measured and compared is certainly sound.
But, in the hopes of scoring extra points in the Race to the Top contest the state is saying it will adopt common core standards as article of faith, essentially sight unseen.
The problem I see with that argument is that decisions made concerning content affect the later "educated" decision the student ... - Lisa Jones
John,
You may be right in that the publishers will not need to adapt their textbooks to Calif., although there is ... - Ze’ev Wurman
Ze'ev: One advantage of a consortium of states is spreading the costs. And the feds are setting aside $350 million ... - John Fensterwald
In theory, yes. In practice, this is quite improbable especially given where the consortium effectively put its "end of high-school" ... - Ze’ev Wurman
Does that mean once the "back-mapping" is done it might turn out that CA has nothing to change? - Paul Muench
"Common Core" are a set of standards in English Language Arts and in Math defined by a collaborative started by ... - Ze’ev Wurman
Is "common core" a standard or a program? If it is a standard and CA's standards are already "tougher" ... - Paul Muench
Dr. Kirst's concern is well founded. It is important to dispel the myth that "ready for college is the ... - Fred Jones
Measuring Success, Making Progress is a new site that pulls together data on student outcomes in one of the clearest presentations I’ve seen. It includes: current data on high school graduation rates, college readiness, college enrollment, community college progress and college completion rates. It makes the first stab at a six-year dropout rate, tracking students form seventh grade on.
The effort was led by MPR Associates of Berkeley and its senior researcher Jay Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer is nationally recognized for creating Florida’s longitudinal student data system and is the first to acknowledge that the new site will have more complete and accurate data once CALPADS, California’s new student data system, is up and running.
Excellent reporting last week by the Los Angeles Times and the online publication Voice of San Diego offers powerful evidence for why the Obama administration has made reforming teacher development its number one priority for K-12 education. The articles expose fundamental flaws in the hiring and transfer of two of California’s largest districts. And those policies and practices are representative of districts in the state.
Removing the annual cap on charter schools is out; giving parents in failing schools the right to transfer to another district is in. And so is a public commission, with plenty of teachers on it, to review proposed changes to state academic standards.
In the latest twist in a battle of wills and education lobbies, the Senate yesterday passed a new version of Race to the Top legislation – SBX5-4 – and sent it to the Assembly. It’s not a done deal, but the bill followed intense negotiations involving aides for Gov. Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speak Karen Bass. Bass, in a statement, said “we have resolved all of the essential issues.’’ And the Legislature knows it has all but run out of time, with the state application for a piece of the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition due Jan. 19.
Over the years, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has developed a sixth sense for steering clear of political potholes. So it was puzzling to hear him call for $9.9 billion worth of bonds for school construction one day after state Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned that California is already bonded up to its eyeballs — at its peril.
“There is an obvious need to improve school facilities throughout California, and we cannot afford to wait to meet this need,” O’Connell said in a press release after testifying at a Senate hearing on school facilities.
The Educated Guess is a forum on education policies in California and Silicon Valley. It is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and sponsored by the Silicon Valley E Read more
About John
John Fensterwald is a journalist at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation,
which he joined in September 2009. For 11 years before that, he wrote editorials at the Mercury News in San Jose, with a focus on education. Read more
The College Puzzle Stanford Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration Michael Kirst explores policy issues relating to the preparation for and success in college.
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