A few noteworthy articles and announcements that have come to my attention:

KQED Forum to explore college issues

Tune in KQED radio’s Forum at 9 a.m. Wednesday for a two-hour exploration of issues faced by first-generation college students and their families. Host Michael Krasny will  broadcast live from Downtown College Prep in San Jose, the first charter school in Santa Clara County and a 10-year successful partnership between the school and San Jose Unified. The largely Hispanic school recruits students who aspire to college but have not done well in middle school and prepares them for a four-year college.

Panelists will include Michael Kirst, Stanford emeritus education professor, writer and an authority on the transition between high school and colllege,  Downtown College Prep founder and executive director Jennifer Andaluz, principal Michael DeSouza, counselors from James Lick High in East San Jose and from Santa Clara University, as well as graduates of the charter school.

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By John Fensterwald on March 9th, 2010

Comments on Worth hearing and reading

Members of the Full Circle Fund, a Bay Area philanthropy made up of socially active leaders and entrepreneurs, has joined the call for giving school districts more autonomy and taxing authority.

Granting local voters the power to pass a limited surcharge of the property tax rate  is one policy recommendation of “EACH: A Vision for California’s Future.” The 11-page policy platform is the product of nine months of work by the 60-member Education Circle, one of four study groups within the Full Circle Fund.

A property surcharge would directly challenge of the limits imposed by Proposition 13.  It also could create equity problems – and likely lead to a lawsuit ­– since rich communities would more readily pass such a measure. So the Education Circle also urges establishing a state matching fund as an incentive for  low-wealth communities to raise revenue. The platform also urges bringing up California’s level of funding to the “national norm” and includes a useful graph  that compares states’  per student spending relative to its teachers’ salaries.

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By John Fensterwald on February 17th, 2010

Comments on Full Circle Fund’s Rx for schools

In directing $80 billion in stimulus dollars over two years to the nation’s elementary and secondary schools, the Obama administration made a big deal about tying the money to school reform. States were required to make four assurances in accepting the money, including, most importantly, a commitment to make progress in producing more effective teachers and seeing that they are equitably distributed in low-income schools.

But those assurances, it turns out, were vague and unenforceable. California got 90 percent of the money without having to tell the feds what steps it planned to take, and the Obama administration had no way to hold it accountable anyway.

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By John Fensterwald on February 16th, 2010

Comments on Stimulus law’s futile goal of reform

Here’s some provocative reading to ruin  – no, enrich – your long weekend in between watching the Nordic combined and the biathlon.

Texas rules: Size matters when it comes to textbooks. I’m talking about the population of states that buy them, not the tonnage of the tomes that middle schoolers carry on their backs.

California is big enough to push its weight around with textbook publishers and control its autonomy. But pity small states that are prey to the looney dictates of the self-righteous majority  on the Texas State Board of Education.

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By John Fensterwald on February 12th, 2010

Comments on Hot off the press

Embarrassed by a Los Angeles Times story revealing teacher tenure has been all but automatic in Los Angeles Unified, the district is tripling the number of probationary teachers who will be fired this year.

The extra scrutiny will help weed out bad teachers before they gain due process rights that make it very difficult to fire teachers for poor performance. But L.A. Unified’s ability to identify effective teachers is still hampered, as in many districts, by a poor evaluation process and a problematic, two-year probationary period. The district is in the process of changing the former, but only the Legislature or voters can fix the latter.

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By John Fensterwald on February 11th, 2010

Comments on Tenure not quite automatic in L.A.

In a notable break from the past, the president of the nation’s second largest teachers union has committed to changing laws that drag out procedures for firing teachers charged with incompetence or misconduct.

On Tuesday, the same day that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten made that promise in a Washington, D.C., speech, a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles ordered the immediate firing of an LA Unified teacher whose case offers the most egregious example of  what needs fixing. 

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By John Fensterwald on January 14th, 2010

Comments on Seven years later, teacher ordered to be fired

Four years ago, Gov. Schwarzenegger failed to persuade voters to change the tenure laws for teachers. But that hasn’t deterred him from pushing again in his final year in office.

In his budget message, the governor said he’d propose eliminating the law requiring that teacher layoffs and reassignments be done strictly on the basis  of seniority. He also wants school boards, not the Commission on Professional  Competence, to have the final say on teacher firings. (Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on January 11th, 2010

Comments on Governor targets seniority protections

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 letter from 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.”)

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By John Fensterwald on December 15th, 2009

Comments on The give and the get from joining Race to the Top

A majority of parents at a low-performing school could force a district trustees to turn it over to a charter school operator or take other dramatic actions, under an amendment that Sen. Gloria Romero has added to her Race to the Top legislation.

The Assembly Education Committee will take up a competing bill, ABX5-8, sponsored by Chairwoman Julia Brownley, and possibly Romero’s SBX5-1, tomorrow. Assembly leaders haven’t indicated  whether they’ll seriously consider Romero’s bill.

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By John Fensterwald on December 7th, 2009

Comments on Race to Top bill would give parents more power

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.

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By John Fensterwald on December 2nd, 2009

Comments on Bill would expand who could grant a teaching credential