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Assembly passes monumental reforms

Posted in Race to the Top, Standardized tests

Talk of  Race to the Top will soon be superceded by all-encompassing anxiety over the state budget. But make no mistake: The two bills the Assembly passed Tuesday were historic; they will have long-lasting and far-reaching effects, whether or not California wins a dime of the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition.

Despite full-bore opposition of the heavies in Sacramento – the school boards’, teachers union’s and school administrators’ lobbies – by this afternoon, the Legislature will have finally adopted measures thought implausible months ago. As a result, the state will be poised to:

By John Fensterwald on January 6th, 2010

Comments on Assembly passes monumental reforms

Pete -- apologies for the name confusion. Maybe 33 districts is too many, but I remain very skeptical of ...
- RDT
[...] Educated Guest, John Fensterwald observes California’s efforts to pass reforms aimed at winning Race to the Top funding. The ...
- Read: New Year Edition || Dropout Nation
But RDT is right: "I can think of no other field where the expertise of day-to-day practitioners is so routinely ...
- CarolineSF
Agreed -- and a valid point. Every disagreement shouldn't be dismissed with labels of self-interest. But I would apply the ...
- John Fensterwald
RDT- First and foremost it is Pete or Pedro, but please NOT Peter. Stop being lazy! You are correct that ...
- Pete Carrillo
Second, a comment on Peter Carrillo's comment... Is there any evidence that district consolidation produces better schools. I ...
- RDT
First a comment on the main post... John -- Please try not to get pulled into the "reformer" mindset that believes ...
- RDT
Yes a good step forward; but how does "Giving parents stuck in terrible schools a new right to send their ...
- Pete Carrillo
 

California’s NAEP enigma: it’s not just demographics

Posted in Standardized tests

California ranks near the bottom of the states, along with Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the biennial  test in math and English language arts known as the “nation’s report card.”

So it’s hardly a surprise that students in Fresno Unified and Los Angeles Unified did  worse than peers in most of the 18 large urban districts that participated in a NAEP math study released this week. What’s disappointing is by how much. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on December 9th, 2009

Comments on California’s NAEP enigma: it’s not just demographics

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About The Educated Guess
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
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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.
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