Superintendent of Public Instructions Jack O’Connell can legitimately claim some accomplishments during his seven years in office: enacting and successfully defending the high school exit exam; broadly expanding career academies in high school with courses approved for UC admission; drawing attention to disparities of achievement among ethnic and racial groups and creating strategies, through his P-16 Council, for narrowing them; and cheerleading a modest growth in test scores.
But even with debilitating cuts in school funding beyond O’Connell’s control, his last year could be his best – if the state wins hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Race to The Top money.
Listening to his finalState of Education address, you’d think that it already has. He’s clearly jazzed at the possibility, devoting the bulk of his speech to Race to the Top – even though there’s no saying California will get a penny. It’s one of 40 states that applied to the competition this week.
When the man overseeing the common-core standards initiative in math admits that the deadlines for completing the work are “insane,” you know we may be headed for trouble.
And if a panel discussion at a national mathematicians conference in San Francisco over the weekend is an indication, William McCallumand a group of 45 mainly mathematicians drawing up K-12 national math standards are in for withering criticism. (Update: There are actually 51 members of the panel drawing up math standards. Go here for a list of who they are. )(Read more and comment on this post)
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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.
The triumvirate responsible for the state’s application to the Race to the Top made one last push Monday to persuade local districts to join in. But they’re giving the boards of trustees, local teachers unions and superintendents only until Jan. 8 – 3 ½ weeks from now – to sign a memorandum of understanding,and they are requesting a letter of intent by Dec. 31.
Even after reading a long letterfrom Superintendent Jack O’Connell, State Board of Education President Ted Mitchell and Schwarzenegger’s secretary of education, Glen Thomas, discussing likely elements of the state plan, district superintendents and charter school principals may still be wondering if there is a there there. The letter is light on details and heavy with flattery. (“Our state includes some of the most diverse and innovative school and district practices in the nation.”)
As expected, the Assembly passed its version of Race to the Top legislation Thursday, largely along partisan lines, 47-25. Even before the vote, Gov. Schwarzenegger vowed to veto the bill, saying, “It’s not a race to mediocrity, it’s a race to the top. We want to make sure we get a good bill out there.”
So what would it take to get a bill that Democrats and Schwarzenegger could live with? Probably not all that much: some word changes to Assemblywoman Julia Brownley’s ABX5-8 blended with some pieces of Sen. Gloria Romero’s SBX5-1. (Read more and comment on this post)
Jumping ahead of the expected release today of the Assembly’s version of Race to the Top legislation, Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert has introduced three bills of his own.
Two deal with alternative ways to bring teachers into the profession. The third would make it slightly easier to get rid of those who end up performing badly.
Perhaps in response to criticism that the Assembly was dawdling, Speaker Karen Bass has pushed up by two weeks a hearing on possible Race to the Top legislation and indicated that she might call members into a December special session — “if need be” — to help the state compete for a share of the $4.35 billion federal competition.
The state’s application is due Jan. 19. The success of California’s bid for as much as $700 million will depend largely on the persuasiveness of the state’s as yet unformed plan – and the willingness of school districts to join it. But legislators can strengthen the application by committing to reform in four key areas of Race to the Top: (Read more and comment on this post)
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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