Fifteen states and the District of Columbia made the cutoff for Race to the Top, the Department of Education announced today. As predicted by education reporters and observers who compared states’ applications, California wasn’t among them.

The finalists, which will argue their case this month in Washington, included the expected front-runners: Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, the District of Columia, Massachusetts and Louisiana, plus Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky,  New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell didn’t make an outright commitment to reapply for the second round, when several billion of the $4.35 billion competition should still be on the table.  But he indicated that the state might, after reviewing the unnamed judges’ critique of the state’s application. The state will get that seven-page document next month. Second-round applications will be due June 1.

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By John Fensterwald on March 4th, 2010

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Tomorrow, they march. Today, they read.

In honor of the 13th annual Read Across America event, thousands of retired teachers and California Teachers Association leaders joined classroom teachers in reading aloud from their favorite books to elementary students across the state. Many were reading from Dr. Seuss books, since today’s celebration of the art of reading aloud coincides with author Theordore Geisel’s birthday.

In Los Angeles, CTA Vice President Dean Vogel and noted L.A. chef Paul McCullough  read this  year’s featured book for state events,  “Armadilly Chili.” At my wife’s school in San Jose Unified, a half-dozen retired teachers shared books with kids. It was a great event.

Reading Dr. Seuss was a good prologue for tomorrow’s Day of Action that the CTA and the other members of the Education Coalition have organized to protest continued budget cuts. Dr. Seuss would be honored if teachers surrounded the Capitol and read aloud one of his early books, still apt 60 years later: “If I Ran the Zoo.”

By John Fensterwald on March 3rd, 2010

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From neocon Irving Kristol to anti-communist crusader Whittaker Chambers, there’s been a history of true believers turned full-throated denouncers. Now, education has a celebrated convert, Diane Ravitch.

Before an approving audience of union teachers in San Jose on Saturday, the education historian , respected author and blogger (“Bridging Differences) denounced all of what she once believed in: pay for performance, the school accountability movement, standardized tests, public school choice.

The New York University education professor and fellow affiliated with the Hoover and Brookings institutions especially laid into her erstwhile allies: think tanks and foundations  that are “demonizing unions, scape-goating teachers and undermining education.”

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By John Fensterwald on February 28th, 2010

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The word from Sacramento is that Gov. Schwarzenegger will soon name Bonnie Reiss, long-time friend and adviser, as his sixth — and, I hope, last  — secretary of education.

Reiss served as a senior adviser for the governor from 2003-07. He nominated her to the UC Board of Regents two years ago.  In 1992, Reiss established Schwarzenegger’s non-profit After School All Stars, and ran it for six years. Reiss is currently a partner in the Pegasus Sustainable Century Merchant Bank.

There had been speculation that  the governor might leave the job vacant or appoint Undersecretary of Education Kathy Gaither-Radtkey, who was his point person for the Race to the Top application. Or he could have abolished the office altogether, as a gesture to budget cutters and let the next governor fight to reestablish it, since the office, with little statutory power, has become a revolving door of frustration.

But with need for another Race to the Top application likely, the governor will want his hand in shaping it.

By John Fensterwald on February 19th, 2010

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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

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Some stories worth checking out:

• Compare teacher salaries in your district: Five of the top 10 highest paying districts are in high-cost Silicon Valley, starting with Mountain View-Los Altos Union School District, where teachers are paid an average of $95,365, nearly $30,000 above the average in the state of $66,965. Using state data, the Sacramento Bee has made it easy to compare districts across counties and the state.
• The Obama administration’s big plans for No Child Left Behind: Haters of the law may be pleased with some of the changes the president has in mind. He’d abolish the “utopian goal” of  requring that all children  everywhere be proficient in math and reading by 2014, and he’d replace Adequate Yearly Progress, the federal measure of districts’ progress, with a different, broader accountability tool (easier said than done, no doubt). And there would be pats on the back for high achievement, not just lashes for bad scores. New York Times reporter Sam Dillon offers a preview, based on conversations with those privy  to the plan. All of this assumes Congress will act on the proposal this year.
• CSU students squeezed out of classes: Saturday’s The Educated Guess discusses the California State University trustees’ goal of significantly increasing the graduation rate at their 23 campuses. Sacramento Bee reporter Laurel Rosenhall’s reporting on troubles that Sacramento State students are having getting into classes they need illustrates why that goal will be hard to reach. Last fall, CSU schools cut 7 percent of sections, on average. It looks like more of the same this spring. The story explores the impact on students at one campus.

By John Fensterwald on February 1st, 2010

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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

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Parcel taxes are one of the few ways that cash-strapped school districts can raise money for schools. Few districts try, in part because it takes a two-thirds majority of voters to pass one. And most often, it’s wealthy communities that succeed.

In its report, Educational Opportunities in Hard Times, UCLA’s Institute of Demcracy, Education and Access looked at the 29 districts that put a parcel tax on the ballot last year. In the 20 districts that passed a parcel tax, the average percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunches — a measure of poverty — was 15 percent. In the nine districts in which the parcel tax lost, an average of 56 percent of students received free or reduced lunches. In not one of the districts that passed a parcel tax was the average percentage of students received free or reduced lunches above 40 percent.

Parcel taxes are a desperate source of revenue for school districts. But they’re not a solution for low-income communities — at least not in their current form.

By John Fensterwald on January 21st, 2010

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Three, articles, two analyses and one opinion piece, are worth reading in case they escaped your notice:

Market fixes for California Schools: In a paradigm shift, Democratic leaders like Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has bit the hand that fed him – unions – and embraced charter schools and choice. UC-Berkeley education and public policy professor Bruce Fuller writes about the phenomenon in the San Francisco Chronicle.

California’s School Budget: The Race to Mediocrity: In the California Progress Report, columnist and former Sacramento Bee editorial page editor Peter Schrag lays into the claim, in the Race to the Top application, that the state stands behind public education. What the application “doesn’t tell the feds is that despite the scandalously low funding of its schools and colleges, California has resolutely refused to increase revenues, even in good times.”

What makes a great teacher? The Atlantic’s Amanda Ripley reports on Teach for America’s quest to define the qualities of teaching excellence in hopes of applying them prospectively in choosing the right candidates for the classroom. “The results are specific and surprising. Things that you might think would help a new teacher achieve success in a poor school—like prior experience working in a low-income neighborhood—don’t seem to matter. Other things that may sound trifling—like a teacher’s extracurricular accomplishments in college—tend to predict greatness.” As for what makes a great teacher? “First, great teachers tended to set big goals for their students. They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness.”

By John Fensterwald on January 19th, 2010

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The Obama administration’s push for uniform, common-core standards for math could end up conflicting with the president’s call for more college students majoring in STEM: science, technology, engineering and math.

At least that’s the view of an emeritus professor of math at the University of Maryland and of one of the original creators of California’s math standards. At a panel discussion at a math conference in San Francisco last weekend, both criticized the high school graduation standards for college and career readiness that were published last fall by the national organizations leading the common-core initiative.

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By John Fensterwald on January 19th, 2010

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