The California State University System has set an ambitious  goal of raising student graduation rate 8 percentage points, including 10 percentage points for low-income and minority students, over the next six years. Currently, only 46 percent of students overall and 40 percent of  minorities – Hispanics and African Americans primarily — attain a degree after six years. By 2016, CSU wants grad rates to rise to 54 percent overall and 50 percent for underserved minorities.

That average combines separate goals for each of the 23 CSU campuses.  Schools like Cal State-Monterey Bay (overall 14 percentage point increase), San Jose State (12 percentage points for minority students) and Cal State-Chico (14 percentage points for minorities) face an even more daunting goal. (See  CSU graduation initiative for each campus’s target graduation rate.)

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By John Fensterwald on January 30th, 2010

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Toddlers of America are counting on U.S. senators to take a cue from the president – and the rest of pissed-off America — and stick it to bankers.  They’re hoping that Congress restructures the federal college student loan program.

Here’s why: President Obama has asked Congress to end the Federal Family Education Loan program, in which the government has subsidized banks’ loans to college students. Instead, Obama wants the U.S. Treasury  to issue the loans directly.

The federal government has been underwriting loans for 45 years in order to encourage banks to make  loans they’d consider risky. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the federal government could save $87 billion over a decade if it took over the program. Other experts say that’s too high while acknowledging there would be some savings. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 29th, 2010

Comments on Obama: Cut banks out of college loans

President Obama admitted mistakes, and issued a few mea culpas in his State of the Union address this week. But he also rightfully took credit for a  fundamental change in approach to  federal education policy, and promised more of the same.

Obama’s approach to education hasn’t been bipartisan as much as it’s been entrepreneurial. With Race to the Top, Obama used a relative pittance when it comes to federal spending — $4.3 billion out of $70 billion in last year’s stimulus package for education – as bait to drive some big changes in the states.

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By John Fensterwald on January 28th, 2010

Comments on Education is where Obama can claim success

If you’re within 50 miles of San Jose on Saturday, consider attending the Charter Summit at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Along with fostering frank dialogue between charter leaders and district officials on the issues that divide and could potentially unify them, the summit will include a return to California appearance by keynote speaker Russlynn Ali, President Obama’s assistant secretary of education for civil rights and former director of Education Trust-West, along with remarks by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and state Secretary of Education Glen Thomas.

County school trustees have organized the event, which will include panel discussion and breakout sessions on charter school facilities and finances, the role of competition and flexibility in public education and best practices that district and charter schools can share.

The goal is a better understanding and collaboration between what’s often viewed as rivals. More than 200 people are expected to attend.
The summit will run from 8:30 to 4 p.m. at the county office, 1290 Ridder Park Drive, in San Jose (right off Interstate 880 in North San Jose).
The cost is $40. Go here for a schedule and details. You can register online or at the door. I’ll be moderating one of the panel discussions.

(In preparation for the summit,  you might read Emily ‘Alpert’s piece on the  special financial problems facing charters amid state budget cuts. Emily write for Voice of San Diego.)

By John Fensterwald on January 28th, 2010

Comments on Charter summit Saturday in San Jose

Two-thirds of adults surveyed in a Public Policy Institute of California poll say they support higher taxes to maintain funding for K-12 schools. And a full 82 percent, including a majority of Republicans polled, oppose cutting K-12 education to reduce the state budget deficit.  No other part of state spending comes close to engendering such support in the poll, which was released Wednesday.

Gov.  Schwarzenegger should keep those numbers in mind, because they’ll only go up  in coming months, as school districts lay out next year’s severe budget cuts and, in March, when they send out layoff notices to teachers.

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By John Fensterwald on January 28th, 2010

Comments on PPIC poll: Tax us to protect K-12 schools

A study that found that math-anxious female teachers pass on their fears to young girls underscores the need for more teacher training programs like Intel Math and, even better, the hiring of math specialists in early grades.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the study, which was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Two University of Chicago psychologists interviewed  seven female first and second grade teachers who displayed a discomfort and expressed a lack of confidence in their math abilities. Their students were tested at the start and end of the school year.

By spring, girls in those classes ended up believing the myth  that boys are naturally better than girls in math, and their test scores had fallen relative to the boys in their class. Girl students in classes with self-confident female teachers – and most teachers in those grades are women – showed no gap in test scores with boys. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 26th, 2010

Comments on Like germs, math phobia spreads in 1st grade

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has given thumbs down to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s idea of a constitutional amendment to permanently reverse prison and unversity spending – and did so with strong language. The proposal is “an unnecessary, ill–conceived measure that would do serious harm to the budget process,” the LAO concluded.

A University of California vice president immediately criticized the LAO report, while mischaracterizing it as an endorsement of fee increases in lieu  of state support. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 26th, 2010

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By John Fensterwald on January 26th, 2010

Comments on Derek Mitchell, Partners in School Innovation, on teacher collaboration

In Silicon Valley, where some of the world’s smartest people live, many of the best young minds are wasting. The dichotomy is as stark as the Route 101 divide – a geographical shorthand for class and race (east, poor; west, rich) – separating them.

• A youth unemployment rate that one workforce nonprofit executive estimates at 35 percent;
• A high school dropout rate of about 27 percent;
• A minuscule number of Hispanic students in a six-county area – 182  out of 13,700 – to pass the CSU Early Assessment Program in math.

For seven hours last week, more than 100 school, business and non-profit leaders in the valley heard leaders’ pleas to reach out to disengaged youths, and discussed how to do so at a conference co-sponsored by Cisco Systems, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, James Irvine Foundation and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 26th, 2010

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Twenty-two of state Sen. Joe Simitian’s colleagues in the Senate are co-sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow lower the threshold for passing a local school parcel tax from two-thirds to 55 percent.

That’s an impressive number, except that Simitian, a Democrat from Palo Atlo, needs 27 votes – two-thirds of Senate – to move SCA 6 forward. And so far, as in years past, he can’t find one Republican willing to let voters decide for themselves.

Not willing to wait any longer, a new Bay Area-based group, Californians for Improved School Funding, has started circulating an initiative  that would achieve the same thing. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 25th, 2010

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