By Carla Rivera | LA Times
The few dozen nonresident eighth-graders who won't be going to Beverly High as planned say they're left in limbo, not sure where to enroll or how they'll adjust to new academic and social standards. | http://bit.ly/94YYWQ
Monday, February 08, 2010
FOR UC’s COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE, NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE
By Larry Gordon | LA Times
With California's public university system shackled to a shrinking budget, a group of chancellors, students and others considers ideas -- from banal to radical -- to keep quality up and costs down. | http://bit.ly/aKOVTe
CHARTER SCHOOL NAMED FOR NIKKEI EDUCATOR: William and Carol Ouchi High School named for management and education reform expert.
The Rafu Shimpo | Los Angeles Japanese Daily News
Sun, Feb 7 2010 | Veteran education reformer William Ouchi, known for his innovative management theory and tireless efforts to improve Los Angeles public schools, today added a significant new title to his resume: charter school namesake.
Dr. Ouchi and his wife Carol, a lifelong advocate for young people, are the inspiration behind the naming of the “William and Carol Ouchi High School.” Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, which operates the high-performing high school, made the announcement today at a celebration in the Crenshaw District attended by local leaders in education, elected officials, students and community leaders. The Alliance also highlighted its extraordinary successes since its first school opened in 2004, and its goals for moving forward during a time of great opportunity.
Ouchi High School, which opened at a temporary site in 2006, continues the Alliance’s commitment to bringing high-quality education to underserved areas of Los Angeles. Located in the Crenshaw District, a historically low-income and underachieving community, Ouchi High School achieved a 2009 Academic Performance Index (API) score of 799, making it one of the highest performing public high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). | http://rafu.com/news/?p=9469
Sunday, February 07, 2010
REACTION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATE OF THE UNION PROPOSALS ON SCHOOL "REFORM"
posted by Stephen Krashen [bio] from The Fair Test National Center for Fair & Open Testing | www.fairtest.org/
January 27, 2010
President Obama deserves praise for proposing increased funding for the nation's public schools, particularly if the additional money goes to classrooms serving children who have been left behind.
However, the President's plans for a national competition to improve schools embraces the failed high-states testing policies embodied in "No Child Left Behind." The "Race to the Top" program actually intensifies the damaging consequences of over-reliance on standardized exams: declining graduation rates and increased dropouts; good students and teachers turned off by dumbed-down learning; and too many classrooms becoming little more than test prep centers. Misusing tests to rank and judge teachers will make these problems worse.
A "world class" education requires major assessment reform. Other nations which produce superior performance test far less and attach far lower stakes to those tests.
A cosmetic makeover of "No Child Left Behind" is not adequate. The fundamental approach must be overhauled, as candidate Obama recognized in his campaign speeches. Washington needs to start helping schools get better, not piling on more tests and punishments. Otherwise, the Administration will just be repackaging warmed-over educational snake oil.
for more information, contact
Dr. Monty Neill (617) 522-0801
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
President Obama's comments on education in the State of Union address:
Fourth, we need to invest in the skills and education of our people. (Applause.)
Now, this year, we've broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching a national competition to improve our schools. And the idea here is simple: Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform -- reform that raises student achievement; inspires students to excel in math and science; and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to the inner city. In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. (Applause.) And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.
When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all 50 states. Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. That's why I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. (Applause.)
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) - A nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preventing the misuse of standardized tests - advances quality education and equal opportunity by promoting fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial evaluations of students, teachers and schools. FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede those goals.
Transparency takes a furlough: RESULTS IN L.A. SCHOOL REFORM ELECTIONS COULD BE WITHELD UNTIL FRIDAY + smf’s 2¢
by Howard Blume | LA Times/L.A. NOW
February 6, 2010 | 7:53 pm
Ballot counting began Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles for an election over school-reform plans; results will be available by Monday but might not be released until Friday, officials said. A delay in releasing the results is likely to create yet another controversy over this school-reform strategy.
The purpose of the unprecedented election was to give parents, students, school employees and others -- each voting group tallied separately -- the chance to express a preference regarding who should run 12 long-struggling schools and 18 new ones. The process is part of a groundbreaking school-control plan approved in August by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education. The plan will affect nearly 40,000 students.
The main competitors are groups of teachers -- often with the backing of union officials and district administrators -- and private charter operators. Charter schools are independently managed and not bound by some rules that govern traditional schools, including union contracts. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also is trying to claim more schools for his nonprofit education organization.
The first round of polling occurred Tuesday, and voting concluded Saturday. The results are not binding, either for Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, who will make his own recommendations, or for the school board, which will make selections later this month.
Cortines on Saturday countermanded plans to post results as they became available. He preferred not to have partial -- and possibly inaccurate -- tallies made public, said his special assistant Ana Fernandez.
Results might be withheld until the end of the week, at the district’s request, said officials with the League of Women Voters, which conducted the election.
From the start, Friday has been the deadline for certified results, but unofficial counts are typically made public in an election as soon as they are ready, said Raquel Beltran, the league’s executive director. She said unofficial tallies would probably be ready Monday.
Friday also is the scheduled day for the release of professional evaluations of each reform plan. So if they are released Friday, the election results will have to share the spotlight with related news.
The notion of a mandated delay bothered some who were observing the counting at the Chamber of Commerce building west of downtown.
“The district should have nothing to hide,” said Joel Jordan, director of special projects for United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union. "The public has a right to know the results as soon as possible.”
From the start, the school-control process has been both celebrated and maligned. The elections prompted additional complaints over electioneering, alleged voter intimidation and voting rules that left critics questioning the validity of the results.
●●smf’s 2¢: CONTROLLING THE RESULTS
A writer to 4LAKids writes: “Reforming the politics of education is not the same as reforming education.” Truer words have never been written, we are currently fixated on the process and politics of reform and not on the outcome for kids.
On Tuesday The Daily News reported:
Official results of the districtwide advisory votes will be presented to the LAUSD on Feb. 12. Community members are welcome to visit the league's headquarters at 3303 Wilshire Blvd. to get an unofficial count Saturday [Feb 6] afternoon. [http://bit.ly/9SYifj]
There is a quantum difference between “community members are welcome to visit…” and embargoing the results.
One is transparent – the other is how they do it it Afghanistan.
The LA LWV HQ is 3303 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 310 – and eagle-eyed 4LAKids readers will recognize that address as also the HQ of UTLA – United Teachers Los Angeles owns the building, UTLA Plaza, and rents office space to the LWV.
Apparently – and this is unconfirmed – when Superintendent Cortines – or someone well connected to to 24th floor of Beaudry (LAUSD HQ) - heard that the vote count would be held at 3303 Wilshire they insisted on a change of venue – to the Chamber of Commerce building at 350 South Bixel Street – in the very shadow of LAUSD Beaudry - a building where LAUSD is a tenant.
It’s nice to know that someone at LAUSD is trying to keep up (or avoid) superficial appearances of fairness and/or the taint of conflict of interest – but at the same time manipulating where the vote is counted approaches the urban legend of the Bush v. Gore Florida Vote Count & the Screenplay of the 1940’s movie Key Largo:
GARFIELD, MARSHALL, GRANADA HILLS TIE IN ACADEMIC DECATHLON SUPER QUIZ
by Howard Blume | LA Times/L.A. NOW
February 6, 2010 | 8:31 pm -- The Super Quiz portion of the local Academic Decathlon competition resulted in a three-way tie for first place. Sharing top honors were Granada Hills High in the San Fernando Valley, Marshall High in Los Feliz and Garfield High east of downtown.
The Super Quiz is only part of the competition, but it takes place in public with the excitement of a game show. All three schools scored 59 out of a possible 60 points.
Sixty-four teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District competed in the event at the Roybal Learning Center, west of downtown. Schools from other Los Angeles County districts compete in a separate event.
This year’s topic was the French Revolution. Other parts of the competition include questions about art, economics, language and literature, math, music, science and social science. Total results will be announced Thursday. The top teams travel to Sacramento for the state competition in March.
Garfield’s success is a particular point of pride for the school, which was defined last fall as among the worst in the district and therefore eligible to be taken over by outside operators. A final decision on future reforms at that school is scheduled for this month.
Marshall has twice won the national Academic Decathlon. Its team was especially hardworking this year, even meeting 60 hours a week over the winter vacation, including on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Superintendent Cortines on Patt Morrison: “I will look at the votes, but that is not how I will make my decisions.”
KPCC-FM 89.3 | show date: Feb. 5, 2010
Getty Images
There are never any dull moments when it comes to the Los Angeles Unified School District, but the past two months have been particularly hectic. President Obama’s changes to No Child Left Behind, charter schools, the removal of ineffective teachers, redesigned school report cards—Patt talks to LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines about the latest developments in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
WHEN MIDDLE SCHOOL IS TOO LATE FOR SEX ED: Abstinence classes may help delay the start of sex but students need more emphasis on the health risks and resisting peer pressure.
by Sandy Banks | LA Times columnist
February 6, 2010 - The latest salvo in the morality freighted battle over sex education landed this week, giving a boost to the beleaguered abstinence-only camp.
When it comes to getting young adolescents to delay sex, classes stressing abstinence may work better than other modes of sex education, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. It's been billed as the first real evidence that "Just Say No" stands a chance against the raging hormones of adolescence.
Tens of millions of federal dollars have been spent on abstinence-only programs in the last decade. But academic studies -- and real life -- have pronounced the effort a failure. New data released last week shows that sexual activity, pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are increasing among teenagers.
This new study may re-energize the debate. But chastity zealots might want to hold off on the celebrations.
The curriculum studied didn't rely on "I'm Saving It for Marriage" pins or make a prize out of virginity.
It was designed to be "not moralistic," its authors said. Aimed at sixth- and seventh-graders, it stressed the health risks of sex and taught students how to resist peer pressure.
That strikes me as a common-sense approach for kids so young they can imagine getting sick better than they can envision getting pregnant.
What shocked me most was not that abstinence classes helped delay the start of sex -- but that it was too late for so many of these middle-school students.
::
I don't think I'm out of touch. I've raised three daughters. I've seen "Juno," and "Precious." I've watched more episodes of "16 and Pregnant" on MTV than I'd like to admit.
Still, I was shaken to discover that among the study's 12-year-old subjects, 1 in 4 were already sexually active before the abstinence classes even started.
That finding, however, can't be broadly applied. The subjects of this study were all low-income African Americans attending urban public middle schools in Northeastern states.
Still, other research I found into the sexual practices of preteens suggests that 12% to 20% of middle-schoolers around the country are sexually active.
These are kids who just finished those embarrassingly blunt fifth-grade classes about penises and ovaries, egg and sperm, body odor and underarm hair. Now, we find out what they really need is information about oral sex, pregnancy and HIV.
Markham Middle School counselor Margaux Williams has counseled dozens of students at the Watts campus who are wrestling with the fallout of early sex. She told me that kids "understand the mechanics. . . . They know how to do sex, but that's about it."
"They don't know about sexually contracted diseases, how they can affect you, how they're spread. About the emotional process, the feelings involved, what happens when he doesn't want to be with you anymore," she said.
Williams has counseled the brokenhearted girls who stopped coming to school because a sexual partner dumped them and the promiscuous children excited by changing bodies and surging hormones.
"Somebody needs to explain to them the pros and cons, the big picture, the long-term effects," she said. "They only think for the here-and-now. We need to play the 'What if . . .' game with them."
A game, I think. Because they're 12 years old.
::
Even the study's author was a bit unnerved by what he found.
John B. Jemmott III is a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has spent years studying adolescent sex. He's also the father of two daughters, ages 11 and 13.
He expected that abstinence classes, properly constructed and taught, could help prevent adolescent sexual involvement. And in fact, one-third of the middle-schoolers taught abstinence hadn't had sex two years later, compared to more than half of the students enrolled in other sex ed classes.
That's considered success, he said. "But when we began with these young adolescents -- sixth- and seventh-graders -- 25% of them had already had sex," he said. "That means you have to start younger . . . and I'm having a hard time imagining what an intervention would look like for fourth- and fifth-graders."
And I'm having a hard time counting as a victory getting a 12-year-old to put off sex until ninth grade.
L.A. TEACHERS, PARENTS VOTE EARLY – AND OFTEN
By John Fensterwald in The Educated Guess
February 5th, 2010 -- On Saturday, parents, teachers, students, neighbors – truth is, anyone who feels like it – will have another chance to vote on who should take over 30 Los Angeles Unified schools.
If the balloting is anything like Tuesday’s fiasco at the polls, Superintendent Ramon Cortines should take all the votes and shred them. That chaotic exercise in democracy threatened to discredit the district’s bold experiment in school choice.
In a move that has drawn national attention, last fall the school board agreed to open up 12 failing schools and 18 new schools to bids from charter schools, community organizations and in-district groups of teachers and administrators. It’s the first round of a multi-year process that promises to transform the nation’s second largest district – and one of the nation’s most intransigent.
Holding public presentations on applications for each campus, then having community residents vote their preferences is the first layer of review that is supposed to inform Cortines’ recommendations and the school board’s final decision later this month. Cortines also has appointed a large panel of evaluators to review all of the proposals. But Cortines won’t be bound by its findings, and few doubt there will be some behind-the-scenes deal-making.
It’s fortunate that the people’s vote will be advisory, because the electioneering, particularly by teachers and district staff pushing their proposals, turned the balloting at school sites on Tuesday into a farce. According to reports in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News, there were complaints that elementary school children were brought in to vote (there was no age limit), that teachers were instructing impressionistic immigrant parents on how to vote and that school employees voted more multiple times (once in the teacher category, once as a community member; again, no explicit prohibition). In the weeks leading up to the vote, administrators received enough complaints – of administrators wearing No Outsiders buttons, of parents being told that charter schools would cast out handicapped students – that Cortines issued a caution against campaigning.
All this and more from those who teach civics.
Signs of changing times
But all of the craziness shouldn’t overshadow a monumental process that could shake up L.A. Unified. After years of bemoaning failing schools, trustees are doing something radical about them. After long battles with charter schools over facilities, charter operators are competing for newly constructed schools. After resisting change though their union, groups of United Teachers Los Angeles members spent weeks designing schools that would require significant changes to their contracts.
The time frame leading to operators taking over the schools in September was compressed, and the process of deciding the requirements for running the schools was contentious. That’s one reason fewer than expected charter school operators submitted applications by the deadline last month. And only one prominent charter operator, ICEF Public Schools, bid for an existing school – much to the disappointment of the community activist group Parent Revolution.
At least one charter school bid for nearly every new school, and there were multiple bids for several schools. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools bid for three schools. The local district administration joined with union teachers to bid for most of the sites. If the selection process is perceived as fair, there will be pressure for more charter operators to compete for existing schools in the next round.
The hard-core campaigning by UTLA could signal hard battles ahead, when Parent Revolution starts organizing families to exercise a “trigger” mechanism that the Legislature adopted as part of its Race to the Top legislation. Under the trigger, a school board must consider inviting in a charter operator as one of several options for a struggling school if a majority of parents sign a petition demanding a change.
This week’s voting is the latest skirmish in an escalating war over control of L.A. schools. Cortines’ and the school board’s actions later this month will be watched closely by charter activists, superintendents and union leaders across the state – and beyond.
Comments on L.A. teachers, parents vote early – and often
- The California Teachers Associations is wealthy enough to hire full time lawyers to do their work. Does that man its not a teachers group? No. BTW, here's a link to the CTA website job posting if you're looking. http://www.cta.org/about/employment/M62.htm
- Paul Muench - I am a parent in venice and I find it insulting that someone would suggest that parent revolution is just a college kid. I am a member of Parent Revolution, so were the three thousand parents who marched to the LAUSD last summer to pass the choices resolution, and so were the thousands of parents who called our assemblymembers to pass the parent trigger.
- laura - Parent Revolution is not a parents group. It is run by 3 people, one of which graduated from college about a year ago. There are many good organizations doing work in the community--this ain't one.
- Skip
DEBATE HEATS UP OVER REPLACING AYP NETRIC IN ESEA/NCLB
By Alyson Klein | EdWeek
February 5, 2010 -- The Obama administration’s proposal to revamp the signature yardstick used to measure schools’ progress under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is being seen as a bold step toward revising a key feature of the law, even as questions loom about how a new system would work.
Under the plan, adequate yearly progress, or AYP—the accountability vehicle at the heart of the current version of the law, the 8-year-old No Child Left Behind Act—would be replaced with a new metric that would measure student progress toward readiness for college or a career.
Though many details remain up in the air, some education advocates say the administration proposal outlined in its fiscal 2011 budget request earlier this week is a good first step.
The administration is “conceptually headed in the right direction,” said Kati Haycock, the president of the Education Trust, a Washington based organization that advocates on behalf of poor and minority children. “They’re trying to drag states to more rigorous expectations, … and they’re moving toward a more nuanced set of decisions that don’t make it just pass/fail.”
But some practitioners in the field already are voicing qualms about the feasibility of the proposal.
Mark Bielang, the superintendent of the 2,300-student Paw Paw school system in Michigan, said that injecting such an as-yet-undefined standard of college and career readiness could prove vexing, given how many different skill sets are represented in the spectrum of careers.
“I don’t know how you collect the data that’s meaningful to say that a school is achieving [the equivalent of] AYP, especially when it comes to a career-readiness standard,” Mr. Bielang said. “Different skills apply to different careers. It seems a lot more like a portfolio-based [assessment] system would be appropriate.”
He added, “How do you determine, for a special education student, what career-ready means for them?”
Those and other questions abound about the proposal: How would college- and career-ready be defined? How would schools—and students—be assessed? What sanctions or interventions would be employed for schools that failed to hit the targets?
And, just as critically, what will Congress make of the plan?
Measuring Achievement
Adequate yearly progress has been among the most publicly visible—and widely debated—portions of the No Child Left Behind law since its inception, with states and districts retooling their assessments, instructional plans, and even schedules in order to meet AYP targets.
Under the current law, schools must test students in reading and mathematics at least once a year in grades 3-8, and once in high school.
Schools that fail to make adequate progress, both for the student population as a whole and for individual subgroups, such as students who are in special education or are members of racial or ethnic minorities, are subject to increasingly serious sanctions.
The law sets a goal of bringing all students to proficiency by the end of the 2013-14 school year, a target that critics have deemed highly unrealistic.
The U.S. Department of Education has not yet determined whether it would keep in place the current law’s 2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency, Secretary Arne Duncan said earlier this week. And he has given few other specifics on just how a new metric would work, saying that it is still being discussed on a bipartisan basis with members of Congress and that “everything is on the table.”
Congressional reaction to the proposals has been muted so far, with education leaders in both houses still studying the proposals.
The plan leaves quite a lot for lawmakers and the administration to discuss, education observers say.
Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy, a research organization in Washington, said many educators see the AYP model as “an unfair measure of a school and its effectiveness.” Mr. Jennings, who served as an education aide to House Democrats for nearly three decades, said the challenge will be figuring out what to replace it with.
Charles Barone, the director of federal legislation for Democrats for Education Reform, a New York City-based political action committee, said that while the proposal is “better marketing,” it remains unclear just what “college- and career-ready” would mean.
For instance, he asked, how would states be able to tell whether their 4th graders were on a trajectory to meet that goal?
Mr. Jennings said the administration is right in trying to overhaul AYP, “the provision that has created all the problems.” Educators see the system as “an unfair measure of a school and its effectiveness.” The challenge will be figuring out what to replace it with, he said.
Vic Klatt, a longtime aide to Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee who now works as a lobbyist for Van Scoyoc Associates in Washington, wanted to know: “What standards are they talking about here? Is there going to be an accountability system based on common standards that don’t exist yet?”
And he said the administration hasn’t yet specified how it would gauge student achievement. For example, would the new law continue to rely primarily on state standardized tests, or would other measures, such as portfolios of student work or local tests, be in the mix?
Question of Enforcement
The proposal also isn’t specific on what sanctions would apply under the revised law for schools that are missing the law’s achievement targets for one or two particular subgroups of students, Mr. Klatt added.
Guidance for the NCLB law’s $546 million School Turnaround grants, which became final late last year, makes clear how the administration wants to transform struggling schools. But it’s less certain what it would do to ensure the students served by those schools are getting a good education in the meantime—particularly if the administration decides to scrap school choice and tutoring provisions in the current law.
Under the plan outlined in the budget proposal, states would be called on to adopt standards that build toward college and career readiness, and implement assessments that were aligned with those standards.
That step would address a perennial criticism of the NCLB law: that it inadvertently encourages states to lower their standards to meet the current targets.
“What we’ve seen in far too many places under No Child Left Behind is that, due to political pressure, … states have dummied down standards [in] what we call a Race to the Bottom,” Mr. Duncan said in a conference call with reporters following the Feb. 1 release of the fiscal 2011 budget plan. “And this dummying down of standards ... absolutely leads to even those students who are graduating being much less prepared to be successful in college.”
Continued Push
The push to include a role for higher standards in the revamped ESEA’s accountability system is likely to build on efforts already under way, Mr. Duncan said.
They include the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association to craft common, rigorous standards across states. So far, 48 states have signed on to the initiative. ("State School Boards Raise Questions About Standards," Feb. 3, 2010.)
The department also has begun work at helping states revamp their assessments, directing $350 million in federal economic-stimulus funds toward grants to states to develop richer, more uniform tests.
For its part, the fiscal 2011 budget plan includes a proposal to provide $450 million to states to develop assessments. The program would be paid for by combining two smaller programs that last year were financed at a total of $410.7 million.
Teacher Effectiveness
The budget proposal also calls for states to establish a definition of “teacher effectiveness” that is based “in significant part on student learning” in order to tap money from the $14.5 billion in Title I grants to districts, which would be given the new name of College-and-Career-Ready Students.
States would also be called on to put in place a system that links students’ achievement and academic growth to their teachers and school leaders, according to the budget documents.
Although that requirement isn’t a part of the current AYP system, this isn’t the first time the federal government has put pressure on states to link student and teacher data.
States that have laws on the books prohibiting such links are automatically ineligible to compete for a slice of $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund grants, which were created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment to reward states that make progress in certain education redesign areas.
Some states, including California, reworked their data laws to boost their shot at snagging a grant. But others, such as Nevada, with arguably similar laws did not.
A revamped ESEA should retain the current law’s focus on using student outcomes to gauge schools’ progress and on closing achievement gaps, Secretary Duncan said. But schools would also be asked to track other measures, including student growth, as well as high school graduation and college-enrollment rates.
“We know that is a lot to track,” Mr. Duncan said. “But if we want to be smarter about accountability, we need to look at all of these factors.”
The secretary has also said that he envisions a new role for incentives in the law’s revamped accountability system.
For instance, if lawmakers pass the ESEA reauthorization this year, the administration would propose a $1 billion budget amendment that would include new money for Title I grants to districts, aimed at rewarding those that have made significant progress in boosting student achievement.
The amendment would also call for new money to help states develop assessments and an increase for after-school programs.
The U.S. Department of Education could unveil its ESEA proposal as early as this month.
Assistant Editor Michele McNeil contributed to this report.
CAL STATE TO USE $51M TO RESTORE CUT CLASSES
from Associated Press/Ed Week
5 February 2010 -- LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — California State University students could have better luck getting into classes next fall.
Chancellor Charles Reed said Friday that CSU is giving campuses an extra $50.9 million for the fall 2010 term. The money will add as many as 8,100 classes, retain instructors and provide student services.
The money comes from $76.5 million in federal stimulus money received by the 23-campus system, where deep budget cuts have made it increasingly difficult for students to get classes.
In October, CSU released $25.6 million of that money to add about 4,000 classes this spring.
Reed says CSU decided to release the remaining $50.9 million because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for 2010-2011 restores some of the funding cut last year.
NO WONDER TEENS ARE SO DROWSY – THEY NEED MORE ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
By Marissa Cevallos | San Jose Mercury News
02/04/2010 -- When Glorianna Klyce's radio blasts hip-hop at 5:45 a.m., the 17-year-old rolls over and hits snooze. If it weren't for the second alarm clock that goes off at 6, she might have a much harder time getting to Kennedy High School in Fremont for the 7:35 a.m. first block bell.
When she's running late, she skips breakfast and doesn't do her hair. "I wouldn't care what color socks I pick out," said Klyce. "Yesterday, I wore cat stripes on one foot and pink flowers on the other."
She's not the only 17-year-old struggling to get to class. Emerging research shows that puberty upends sleep cycles, making snoozing into the late hours as natural for teens as hairy armpits and embarrassing voice squeaks. When teens hit puberty, their internal circadian clocks wind forward 1-3 hours, meaning they need 9 hours of sleep on average, a couple more hours than their younger siblings.
Now a growing number of schools are pushing back the morning bell so class times and students' energy are better aligned.
Last month, the Sequoia Union school board in southern San Mateo County voted for its high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.. New Haven Unified in Alameda County pushed back its start to 8:40 in 2007 and has seen about one percent fewer absences in its 4000 student school. In the Fremont school district officials are surveying students and parents on whether to start later than the current 7:35 start time. And in Santa Clara County the bells still toll at the same times.
Have your say
[Mercury News site]
"The good side is, students are more awake," says principal Amy McNamara of Logan High in New Haven. But a few parents complain that sports and extra-curriculars can spill into dinner time, and in the winter, into the dark. "That is a concern," she says. "It's not perfect, but you can't please everybody."
Sleep research
Proponents of accommodating the pubescent sleep cycle cite research that teens perform better on tests, get in fewer car crashes, and enjoy more shut-eye when allowed to function on their natural biological clock.
"Momentum is building," said Shannon Sullivan, a pediatric sleep specialist at Stanford Sleep Medicine Center who sees sleep deprived teens every week. In 2005, almost one-fifth of schools nationwide had considered chiming the start bell later in the morning
"Often times, there aren't enough hours in the evening for students to get sleep, said principal Sandra Prairie at Mission San Jose in Fremont. "I'm definitely in support of a later start time."
It sounds obvious: students don't test well at the crack of dawn. In one Illinois study, every high school senior performed better when tests were given in the afternoon than the morning. But most standardized tests, like the SAT, start at 8 a.m.
"Their brains just aren't awake then," said Sullivan. "Young people are so horrifically sleep-deprived."
Teens don't necessarily stay up later when school starts later. In studies in Kentucky and Minnesota, when schools pushed the bell by an hour, high school students slept an extra 30 minutes per night.
More sleep means fewer drowsy drivers, suggests another study. Car crashes dropped 16.5 percent among 17 and 18 year olds in a Kansas county after schools there moved their start times forward by one hour. The rest of the state saw a 7.8 percent increase in car crashes. Most teen deaths are in car crashes, and about a fifth of auto accidents can be traced to drowsiness.
Some challenges
Not everyone is pushing back the clock. Shifting the school day would cause chaos at San Jose Unified, because the large school district would need to reschedule buses for 40 schools. Officials fear that after-school activities, sports, and jobs will suffer, according to Karen Fuqua of the San Jose Unified School District.
If Fremont schools start an hour later next year, Silvia Amico will have to find a carpool for her freshman son so she can be on time for her teaching job in San Jose.
"I can't show up to work late," said Amico. School buses don't run in every district, and carpools are hard to find in Fremont, where Amico says the community isn't tight-knit, and not all of the A/C bus stops are safe.
Some Fremont teachers doubt the extra hour will be useful. John F. Kennedy High School in Fremont already starts school an hour later on Wednesdays, but anecdotally, teachers haven't seen a drop in tardies.
"I don't think it would help," said Sharon Kinkler, who teaches 11th grade history and who has taught in the Fremont district for 30 years. "Wednesday's attendance isn't any better. Just as many students come in tardy."
But Kennedy and Washington, which both start one hour later once a week, aren't great test cases, says Fremont school board president Lara York, because they don't address the mounting sleep debt that teens accrue the rest of the week before crashing on the weekend.
Kennedy senior Andrew Vardas admits he occasionally spaces out in his morning classes. Cross country or swimming has him sweating until 5 or 6 p.m., and then he has homework in his AP classes before hitting the sack at 11 p.m. He has a love-hate relationship with his 6 a.m. alarm.
"Sometimes I'll switch off my alarm clock and be late for school," said Vardas. Or one morning, he was still snoozing while his friends were piling into buses to Sacramento.
"I was the only one to miss the field trip to our state's capital," said Vardas.
Vardas is all in favor for moving the school bell forward. But not every student minds the morning alarm ordeal — even the sleep-challenged Glorianna Klyce, who takes cat naps in the afternoon, wouldn't want a change.
"I like getting out earlier," she confessed.
SOME SAN PEDRO AND OTHER HARBOR AREA LAUSD KIDS LIKELY TO RECEIVE OPTION TO STAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN SIXTH GRADE OR MOVE ON TO MIDDLE SCHOOL
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO GROW AND MATURE BEFORE HEADING OFF TO THE BIG CAMPUS LIFE: LAUSD LAUNCHES A PILOT PROGRAM THAT SHOULD RECEIVE APPLAUSE!
By Diana L. Chapman | The Underdog for Kids
Thursday, February 04, 2010 -- Classes were in session at Dana Middle School in San Pedro. The main hallway sat long, empty and quiet – except for one thing. There, standing outside a classroom door, was a little guy, named David, all of 11-years-old and just beginning at the middle school.
Popping out of a classroom and surprised to spot David hanging out in the hallway, I asked: “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for my next class to start,” David stated shyly, shifting his backpack uncomfortably between his feet.
“But class isn’t for another twenty minutes. Where were you before this?” I prodded. He was scared.
“P.E. I was sitting on the bench,” he explained, “so I left so I wouldn’t be late for my next class.” That was the beginning of David’s career at middle school. He was shy, behind in reading, an absolutely wonderful kid, but not quite prepared for the big-world campus of some 1,800 plus students.
For all the David’s in the world – for which there are thousands– I can actually applaud LAUSD for launching a pilot program beginning this fall that will allow hundreds of children the choice to remain in the sixth grade at ten local elementary schools; Another 19 in South Los Angeles will -- on a mandatory basis -- adopt the same program in the fall due to severe overcrowding issues at its feeder schools.
For years now, typically sixth graders are shunted off to large, intimidating campuses that are often overcrowded, difficult to fit into socially, harder academically and come with a pile of negatives they might not have dealt with in the first tier of their education, such as drugs, alcohol and bullying.
Los Angeles School Board Member Richard Vladovic, an educator for 40 years, had long wanted to change this “from the moment he arrived on the board,” and it became his second priority, said David Kooper, his chief of staff. Vladovic’s first mission was to get students off a year round calendar system that was not nearly as effective in educating as the traditional fall to spring school calendar.
“By 2012, the schools he represents will be off of the multi-track calendar,” Kooper said. “Now is the time to make the push for K-6.”
If the proposal for the ten local schools meets with parental approval – which I suspect it easily will – the program begins in the fall. It must also pass muster with school site councils. Schools were selected partly if they had enough space to accommodate the additional students.
“I want the parents to have a major voice in the education their children receive,” Vladovic said in a statement. “This decision will be made at the school level. I insisted on a parent component with this pilot. Parents need to be engaged and play a major role in their child’s education. This entire process needs to be parent driven and parent supported. I have always believed in an equal partnership with parents.”
Ever since 1985 – when Vladovic served as a principal at Locke High School -- and watched the newly designed configuration of sixth through ninth grade, he believed it wasn’t healthy for the students.
“As you know, I sponsored the ‘Small School Resolution’ which aims at personalizing schools and providing more individual attention to students, he said. “This is a continuation of that philosophy. This is a partnership with parents, community, and staff and it is aligned with our call for quality school site personnel.”
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines encouraged the action adding: “"I am very
supportive of local communities coming together and talking about important
instructional issues like grade configuration. This is a great way to involve parents,
teachers and administrators in important conversations about student achievement.”
The action, Kooper explained, was in no way meant to attack the operations of middle
schools – just the size of the campuses.
All of the elementaries included in the pilot are under Vladovic’s jurisdiction, which stretches from San Pedro and Wilmington through Carson, Lomita the Harbor Gateway and includes parts of Gardena and South Los Angeles.
The ten campuses targeted for the pilot in the Harbor area with their principal’s blessings include: Crestwood , White Point, Bandini, Barton Hill, Taper, Leland, Park Western – all in San Pedro – and 156 Street in Gardena, Annalee in Carson and Van Deene Avenue in the Harbor Gateway.
Along with those schools, the nineteen elementary schools in South Los Angeles will become mandatory in the fall due to severe overcrowding at the middle school complex that feeds into Fremont High School. Those campuses include: 61st, 66th, 68th, 75th, 92nd, 93rd,96th ,99th, Florence, Graham, Holmes, Lillian, Manchester, Parmelee, Russell, South Park, McKinley, Miller and Miramonte.
Parents will have the choice to send their children on to their middle schools or retain them at their current campus.
Over the years as a volunteer – I watched parents including myself -- fitfully turn over their youngsters starting at age 11 to gigantic, public middle schools.
Parents are right to be concerned – especially if they have no time to become involved. Middle schools are a place that can make or break a kid. The campuses are often overcrowded. Some students are just too young coming out of sheltered environments and are influenced by older peers.
They also switch from one teacher all day to having sometimes as many as five teachers a day in 50 minute slots where it’s hard to bond with friends, much less connect to a teacher. Instructors , on average, might teach 150 kids in a single day leaving them little time to get to know more than a handful of students personally.
In my book, there simply is just not enough adults to go around at most middle schools to help guide children, who now might be coping with social ineptness, academic hardship and an inability to ask teachers for help. Schools at this age level should never have grown so large in the first place. It’s unfair as a child develops to be swamped with so much change at once.
For the most part, middle schools turn off the tap as far as fun and nurturing and kids are pushed through the chute like they are cattle -- with little personalization.
Allowing them one more year of maturity before that happens is not a solution to the struggles of a middle school child. It is, however, a respite that gives them a better chance to survive an onslaught of change.
YESTERDAY I WAS REMOVED FROM CLASS IN HANDCUFFS
by Leonard Isenberg in PerDaily.com | his bio is here.
5 February 2009 -- Although I was removed from my classroom today -- after being put in handcuffs in front of my students -- I had an excellent day of teaching to go out on. Nobody has ever really tried to teach my students. Rather, they have been moved through grade after grade, where they have been allowed to copy out of books that they don't understand or spend hours doing graffiti to occupy themselves. So today, I decided to do LAUSD pedagogy and state standards for real. LAUSD always emphasizes that you should use students' prior knowledge, which in the case of my students is very limited. However, we had just finished reading Richard Conan's The Most Dangerous Game, so I decided to do a lesson on point of view.
Given that we had all experienced yesterday's confrontation between myself and AP Martinez, I decided to download the posting from www.perdaily.com and give it to the students with the following prompt: This is my point of view as to what happened yesterday. Do you think AP Martinez sees it the same way? How do you see it? For the students who had been absent or truant yesterday, I modified the prompt to, "This is my point of view, do you accept it or do you think that there might be another way of interpreting these events?" We had some discussion, where some of the students present said they did not agree with me, while others said they did. I said, "Good, go ahead and write how you see it."
Student B with the cellphone from yesterday's story refuses to do the assignment, "I don't have to do anything you ask me to." At about 8:50AM, she walks out of class. She comes back at 9:20AM and says, "We don't have to do anything you say, because it's not on our contracts." This student and others have been mindlessly copying material out of their various workbooks, where they know absolutely nothing about the subject when they are finished. Nonetheless, they have been given credit and passing grades in these courses -- no wonder they have no concept of learning as a precondition for mastery of knowledge. At this point, Student G voices a variation of the attitude of many of the students who never do any work in class, "I'm here because my mother wants me here; I don't want to be here." In retrospect, Student B must have called AP Martinez and Principal Seary when she walked out of class, because they arrive at 9:52AM. Principal Seary immediately picks up all of the POV assignments along with the work of the few students who have already passed it in.
Principal Seary leaves the room for about a half hour with AP Martinez guarding the fort and I revert to teaching the subject and predicate exercise from the previous day to the students who were truant/absent yesterday -- it's also a good review for the students who were there -- since these students are not able to master any idea with only one presentation. At about 10:30AM Principal Seary returns with a one paragraph letter on LAUSD stationery signed by her superior Janice Davis that orders me to immediately report to LAUSD District 6 Office in the City of Commerce at the corner of Eastern and Slauson. As I go to gather my things, I am told that I cannot take the laptop computer that I have used for the last 2 years for both my personal and school work. I agree that it is District property, but request that I be allowed to download my personal documents. I could either do it now in another location at East Los Angeles Occupational Center or return it later in the day, which seems reasonable. Principal Seary says no and tells me that I must leave immediately without the computer.
At this point, I am told that either I leave without the computer or I will be arrested. I tell the officer that I think that this is unreasonable and that I will not leave without the computer. At this point Principal Seary orders him to arrest me. So Officer A Velasco, badge #667735, puts handcuffs on me in front of my students, while Officer P. Cid and my students watch. At this point, after Principal Seary has already asked me if I have any students work in my backpack and I have given it to her, she proceeds to go through my personal effects in my backpack without my permission. There is no LAUSD or student property in my backpack, just my personal and highly sensitive files, which Principal Seary goes through. Do I have 4th Amendment rights or am I to be treated like a student with Principal Seary in loco parentis?
After the cuffs are taken off of me and I start to head to Local District 6 with no directions and an incorrect phone number on the directive Principal Seary handed to me, I begin to wonder: Do I have academic freedom to give my students an article I have written in aid of teaching an English lesson and requiring them to think about something they had experienced in writing a point of view essay for English?
When I arrive at Local District 6 Richard Tardaguila, the Operations Coordinator, tells me that I no longer work at Central High School and that I will report to this office until the District decides what to do with me, which most likely will be a move for my dismissal as a District employee, according to an attorney from Larry Trygstad's Office that represents members of UTLA that find themselves in situations similar to mine. Mr. Tardaguila tells me that I was removed from Central High School because:
1. "Posting concerns on a website [perdaily] that involved issues of student confidentiality";
2. "Alleged disruptive behaviors during school activities."
I guess this is what AP Martinez meant earlier, when he told Student A that, "Isenberg's just making a fool out of himself." If you remember, Principal Seary could have either called the student whose confidentiality was involved to find out that I had a signed release from both him and his mother or waited for the scheduled 3PM meeting to see if I would produce these documents, which she has no standing to ask for.
As for "disruptive behaviors," the general level of disruption in my class during the lessons of the last few days was actually less considering the engagement of at least some of the students until Principal Seary and AP Martinez arrived with the police. As I came home tonight after a 23-year teaching career both here and in France, I reflected on the real possibility that I might have just taught the last class of my career. While it might prove to be of little consolation in the future as this stressful nightmare unfolds, the one consolation that I cherish is that I have never gone along with the dishonest standard practice of LAUSD to socially promote students with inflated grades that are derived from intimidating teachers.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Update: SUPT. CORTINES TO TAKE MONDAY AS A FURLOUGH DAY + smf’s 2¢
L.A. schools chief to work for free for a day
by Jason Song LA Times|LA NOW
February 5, 2010 | 4:29 pm --L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has decided to go to work on Monday, a day he had originally planned to take off, although he will not be paid.
Cortines announced Thursday that he would take a furlough day to encourage others to do the same. The district is facing a deficit of up to $670 million, and officials have been urging union members to take four unpaid furlough days before June. If every L.A. Unified employee took four furlough days, the district could save an estimated $60 million.
But Cortines decided he had too much work to do and will go to the office. He will not be paid for his time.
-- Jason Song
●●smf’s 2¢: Here lies a moral dilemma: Is Cortines setting a good example by working unpaid? …or a dangerous level of expectation? (…employees are expected to work unpaid) Cortines is the #1 employee of the District – he is not an elected official. He is very well compensated – both by the District and as a Director of the Scholastic Corporation. Governor Schwarzenegger – who forgoes his salary as as an elected official (he’s paid a dollar a year to keep things legal) seems to be expecting state employees to work on furlough days when needed. If that is the expectation/requirement it is doubtful (as in: No way, José!) the courts will support this – ultimately triggering back pay being paid, fines, interest, penalties and court costs.
Update: THE ECONOMY, THE MAYOR AND THE CITY OF LA: Good Grief
- February 6, 2010 | LA Times
-
...day after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the elimination of 1,000...of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich that Villaraigosa lacks the power to compel city department...judgments and settlements. He added that Villaraigosa doesn't "have any intention of trying...
L.A. city official says mayor doesn't have authority to order layoffs 'on his own'
By Maeve Reston- February 5, 2010 |LA Times L.A. NOW
-
...day after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the elimination of 1,000 jobs...of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich that Villaraigosa lacks the power to compel city department...judgments and settlements. He added that Villaraigosa doesnâ t â have any intention of trying...
Showdown brewing between L.A. mayor and city attorney over layoffs [Updated]
Friday, February 05, 2010
LOBBYING BY BANKING INDUSTRY THREATENS STUDENT LOAN OVERHAUL
By JACQUES STEINBERG | from The Choice, a NY Times Education blog
February 5, 2010 -- We’ve been talking all week on The Choice about President Obama’s plans for financial aid, including his proposal to phase banks out of the student loan business and to use hundreds of millions in dollars in government savings to boost the Pell Grant program.
But in a front page article in Friday’s Times, Eric Lichtblau writes that “an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest student lenders has now put one of the White House’s signature plans in peril, with lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall-style meetings and petition drives to plead their case and stay in business.” He adds:
House and Senate aides say that the administration’s plan faces a far tougher fight than it did last fall, when the House passed its version. The fierce attacks from the lending industry, the Massachusetts election that cost the Democrats their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and the fight over a health care bill have all damaged the chances for the student loan measure, said the aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
>>Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the lending industry's lobbying campaign had been anticipated. John Amis/Associated Press>>
Mr. Lichtblau said that supporters of the measure were preparing a counterattack, but that opposition to the president’s plan was deep-pocketed. For example, Sallie Mae, a publicly traded company that is the nation’s biggest student lender ($22 billion in loans originated last year), “led the field in spending $8 million on lobbying in 2009, more than double the year before,” Mr. Lichtblau writes, adding that “other lenders spent millions of dollars more, according to an analysis prepared for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics.”
ROLLING BACK BROWN v. BOARD OF ED, ONE CHARTER SCHOOL AT A TIME + OTHER COVERAGE OF THE UCLA CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT CHARTER STUDY
by Gabriel Arana in Tapped, the blog of The American Prospect | http://bit.ly/9TYeZC
Charter schools are often touted as labs for novel approaches to education, but one of these innovations isn't so new at all. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA today released a report showing that charter schools have become bastions for racial re-segregation.
The racial segregation cuts both ways. In certain states with high minority populations -- in the West and South in particular -- the composition of charter schools is overwhelmingly white. In other places, it is primarily black or Latino. And because these schools operate independently of state school districts, they are more free to skirt guidelines for racial and economic diversity.
The Civil Rights Project suggests turning to magnet schools for the specialized approaches to education currently offered by charter schools. But it's an incomplete recommendation: Magnet schools function just like charter schools, but operate within the purview of school districts -- and draw on their students. There is no guarantee that they will draw a representative sample of the district's students. So unless school districts make it an active goal to ensure a diverse student body, they just become segregated charter schools with an institutional blessing.
Personally, I have never understood why specialized educational initiatives can't be implemented as programs at public schools. My high school, on the U.S.-Mexico border, was plagued by many of the problems that school districts serving high-immigrant, low-income students face (35 percent ELL learners, low college grad rate). And yet the school offered the International Baccalaureate program, allowing nerds like me to get the specialized education we needed without having to be shipped off to another school.
Study: Charter school growth accompanied by racial imbalance
By Nick Anderson | Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 4, 2010 -- Seven out of 10 black charter school students are on campuses with extremely few white students, according to a new study of enrollment trends that shows the independent public schools are less racially diverse than their traditional counterparts.
The findings from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, which are being released Thursday, reflect the proliferation of charter schools in the District of Columbia and other major cities with struggling school systems and high minority populations.
To the authors of the study, the findings point to a civil rights issue: "As the country continues moving steadily toward greater segregation and inequality of education for students of color in schools with lower achievement and graduation rates," the study concludes, "the rapid growth of charter schools has been expanding a sector that is even more segregated than the public schools."
Gary Orfield, a UCLA education professor who oversaw the study, said that racially segregated schools tend to face more problems than integrated schools in teacher retention, graduation rates and other areas. He also said charter schools have not been proven to be better academically than regular public schools -- a conclusion some researchers debate.
Charter school proponents say that their movement is giving families options they would otherwise lack.
"I'm less concerned about the comparison of the racial composition of the charter schools to public schools generally, than I am in looking at whether charter schools are getting the job done in providing a viable, meaningful alternative to the regular public schools," said Brian W. Jones, vice chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board.
In the District, about 28,000 students attend charter schools; the school system has about 46,000 students. Recent data show that 84 percent of the city's charter school students are African American, compared with 78 percent in regular public schools.
Nationally, according to 2007-08 federal data that the study cited, black students account for 32 percent of charter school enrollment. That is roughly twice their share of enrollment in regular public schools.
The study also found that 70 percent of black charter students are in schools in which at least 90 percent of the student population is nonwhite, and 43 percent of black charter students are in schools with virtually all-minority enrollment. For black students in regular public schools, the comparable shares were 36 percent (in the high-minority enrollment schools) and 15 percent (in virtually all-minority schools).
The study recommended that federal and state governments push for racial diversification of charter schools.
"We actually are very proud of the fact that charter schools enroll more low-income kids and more kids of color than do other public schools," said Nelson Smith, president and chief executive of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, based in Washington. "We're happy to talk about those demographic issues. We're also happy to talk about how to increase diversity overall in all facets of public education. The real civil rights issue for many of these kids is being trapped in dysfunctional schools."
Study finds segregation in charter schools
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles said a study of segregation at schools nationwide found racial divisions exist in charter schools.
The UCLA study found compared with public schools, charter schools nationwide more commonly showed signs of de facto segregation, particularly in terms of black student enrollment, The San Francisco Chronicle said Friday.
Study results indicate nearly 75 percent of all African-American students who attend charter schools in the United States are in schools with student populations where minorities make up at least 90 percent.
UCLA Civil Rights Project researchers said study results indicate those numbers doubled the findings from regular public schools nationwide.
The Chronicle said the study found among those black charter school students, nearly a third attended schools where white students made up as little as 1 percent of the student population.
The researchers said such charter schools are "the very kind of schools that decades of civil rights struggles fought to abolish in the south."
Specific study details, including the margin of error, were not reported.
Google News:
Charter schools' growth promoting segregation, studies say
Los Angeles Times
A UCLA study is one of two finding that the increasingly popular campuses skew toward racially separate student bodies. Charter advocates criticize the ...
Study: Segregation rife at charter schools
San Francisco Chronicle - Jill Tucker
De facto segregation is alive and well in public schools in virtually every state, but is more common in charter schools - an educational option ...
Charting new course for IPS?
Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White argues that charter schools have an unfair edge over the traditional schools he manages. ...
Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms
Democracy Now - 7 hours ago
In education news, a new study suggests charter school growth is increasing classroom segregation. According to UCLA's Civil Rights Project, ...
Charter schools segregated, UCLA report warns
89.3 KPCC - Feb 4, 2010
Public charter schools in the Southland and the rest of the country are increasingly segregated, UCLA researchers outline in a report released today. ...
New report: “Charter schools' political success is a civil rights failure”
The Progressive Pulse (blog) - Rob Schofield - Feb 4, 2010
Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles' Civil Rights Project (Proyecto Derechos Civil
The Sky Isn’t Falling—-Despite the Hype
Posted by Joe R. Hicks | LA Jewish Journal
Is the growth of the nation’s charter schools a throw-back to the racially segregated schools that once consigned the children of minority families to separate, but mostly unequal, educations? This is the alarming claim today of some civil rights advocates. But raising false alarms is mostly what the advocates of “social justice” do these days—-with or without facts.
Case in point is UCLA’s Civil Rights Project which argues that charter schools have increased segregation for black students. Nationally, 70% of black students attending charter schools are at schools where approximately 90% of the students are black. Researchers at the UCLA group say that in Los Angeles, a typical black student goes to a charter schools where three out of four students are black. Gary Orfield, the director of the UCLA advocacy group, argues this means we’re in a new era of “enforced segregation….a race to the past”
Not addressed by Orfield or his group is the reality that the LA public school district is only 9 percent white. Given this, how would he suggest we go about “desegregating” schools - without resorting to some version of the old, bankrupt notion of cross-town bussing and even then, you would need lots of mirrors to spread 9% of students among the other 91%?
The Superintendent of LA’s public school district bravely addressed the claim that LA’s charter schools are “segregated.” Ramon Cortinas (sic) said “If charter schools are doing the job for the student, and it is a better job … I’m not as concerned about racial isolation.” >>">>>>more|http://bit.ly/d8Fuoc>>>
smf: racial isolation / segregation /ghettoization / redlining / discrimination/ profiling – we should be ‘so concerned’ …all are antonyms for equity
SUPT. CORTINES TO TAKE MONDAY AS A FURLOUGH DAY; SANTA CLARITA DISTRICT DEADLOCKS ON HEBREW LANGUAGE CHARTER
City schools chief to take next Monday off
Jason Song Reports in the LA Times LA Now Blog
February 4, 2010 | 5:50 pm -- L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said Thursday that he plans to take a furlough day next week and hopes other district employees follow his example.
The district is facing a deficit of up to $670 million and officials have been urging union members to take four unpaid furlough days. If every L.A. Unified employee took four furlough days, the district could save an estimated $60 million.
Four unions have agreed to take a monthly furlough day until May. Senior staff and non-union members must also take the time off. Teachers union officials have said they are willing to consider furlough days but want to make sure all other possibilities have been exhausted.
Cortines often reports to work before 5 a.m., so it remains to be seen whether he can resist making a few work-related phone calls Monday. It seems unlikely that he'll attempt to run the district electronically, however, as the famously non-computer savvy superintendent doesn't type his own e-mails.
Proposed Hebrew-language school dealt a setback
Ann M. Simmons Reports in the LA Times LA Now Blog
02/03/2010, 10:52 p.m. | Trustees in the William S. Hart Union High School District in Santa Clarita deadlocked on the proposed charter facility. Backers said they would appeal to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. [smf: A proper appeal would be addressed to the County Board of Education]
Report: CHARTER SCHOOLS TOO SEGREGATED: Study finds inequities based on race, class and language.
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Newspaper Group
02/04/2010 -- Charter schools nationwide could be violating the civil rights of students because they are increasingly separating them by race, class and language, according to a report released Thursday by the Civil Rights project at UCLA.
The study finds that black and Latino students enrolled at charters - schools that are publicly funded but independently run - are more likely to be isolated with classmates of their same race.
"We are seeing a lot of charters as segregated as schools in the old South that were the target of the civil-rights movement," said Gary Orfield, co-founder of the Civil Rights project.
"We are not saying that there are not good charters, or that there shouldn't be more, but they should not be funded if they are not providing basic civil rights."
In California and Los Angeles - which has the highest concentration of charters in the nation - charter campuses also attracted a higher proportion of white students than traditional schools. Based on a sample study, charters also failed to report enrollment for English language learners and low-income students or provide services to meet the needs of those students.
The study is among several recent national and local reports that have found inequities in the enrollment practices of charter schools, which largely do not take students based on attendance boundaries. The studies have sounded alarm bells about the campuses even as they are being touted as keys to education reform by officials who are creating incentives to open more.
Charter school operators and advocates, however, refute the study's findings.
"The civil rights issue here is the persistent achievement gap and high dropout rates for these students when they are left to languish in traditional schools," said Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association.
Los Angeles Unified School District currently has 152 charter schools serving some 58,000 students. More are expected to crop up under a new reform plan that allows outside operators to vie for district campuses.
Currently in LAUSD, 76 percent of all students are Latino, 9 percent black and 7 percent white, while local charters are 61 percent Latino, 17 percent black and 15 percent white. Also, LAUSD has 32 percent English language learner students compared to 22 percent enrolled in charters.
Enrollment in individual charter schools varies greatly by campus. For example, Vaughn Next Century Learning Academy, a K-12 charter school in Pacoima, is 97 percent Latino; Ivy Academia, a K-12 charter school with campuses throughout the West Valley, is 44 percent white and 27 percent Latino; and Granada Hills Charter High School is 30 percent Latino and 32 percent white.
"We have charters that are very representative of the areas they serve. Some are more mixed and others have more of one student population than another," said Jose Cole Gutierrez, LAUSD's director of charter schools.
Gutierrez said that district policy is not to require charter schools to be integrated, but simply to match the population of the communities they serve.
Many local charter advocates questioned the validity of a report on racial segregation in Los Angeles, where the majority of students hail from ethnic minorities and full integration is virtually impossible.
"Many of these charter operators in Los Angeles are specifically targeting communities that are predominantly minority ... the whole district is predominantly minority," said Maria Casillas, executive director of Families in Schools, a local education advocacy organization.
"If this study is trying to say integration is the answer, it's not. We already tried busing in this district. It did not solve the achievement gap for African-Americans or Latinos. In fact it perpetuated it. ... At least charters are now bringing additional choices."
New Report: CHARTER SCHOOLS’ POLITICAL SUCCESS IS A CIVIL RIGHTS FAILURE
from the civil rights project @ ucla
February 4, 2010 - CRP's analysis of the 40 states, the District of Columbia, and several dozen metropolitan areas with large enrollments of charter school students reveals that not only are charter schools more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every instance, but troubling data gaps also make it impossible to assess charter schools enrollments of low-income and English Learner students.
_________________________________________
 | Download the report, "Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards," by E. Frankenberg, G. Siegel-Hawley, and J. Wang
|
Editorial: PARENTS SHOULD SHARE BLAME FOR STUDENT FAILURE
By EGP News Service| Eastside Sun / Northeast Sun / Mexican American Sun / Bell Gardens Sun / City Terrace Comet / Commerce Comet / Montebello Comet / Monterey Park Comet / ELA Brookyln Belvedere Comet / Wyvernwood Chronicle / Vernon Sun
In reporter Gloria Angelina Castillo’s story on local school achievement report cards in this issue [link follows] , there are some startling results on the achievement scores for East and Northeast area schools.
Disappointing is the least offensive word we could think of when it comes to assessing the School Report Cards for schools in many of Los Angeles Unified schools. No, we aren’t talking about the schools up for an advisory vote this week under the Public School Choice Resolution, but the schools that are not and should be.
For generations, parents and community residents have complained about the lack of progress by students in areas such as El Sereno.
But once you allow for overcrowding in these schools, inexperienced teachers and a lack of supplies, you have to look at perhaps the most important group that continues to shirk responsibility for students’ failure to achieve: Parents.
What are the differences that have allowed students of Multnomah Elementary to succeed while students at Farmdale fall so far behind? Both of these schools have similar student populations, yet the students of Multnomah have shown significant achievement improvement, while those at Farmdale continue to do poorly.
How can a math achievement average score of 38 percent and 30 percent in language arts be explained, much less tolerated? Are the teachers at Farmdale to be blamed for these low scores? We don’t believe so. At least not completely. Is LAUSD solely to blame, budget cuts from the state? Perhaps in part, but it is time to face the fact that many parents are also to blame for their children’s failure to succeed, much less excel in school.
How can parents of these very low-performing students not know what to do about these low scores? Perhaps they could start by contacting the teachers and administrators at their schools to demand a plan for helping their child improve, and then following through on the plan, not just at school, but at home as well. If we want our children to achieve we must start having higher expectations for them.
We expect to hear the usual complaints about how we are blaming the victims, but we believe the students are the victims and it is the responsibility of the parents to work with children as a way to have them improve in school. Parents need to be involved, know what is going on, and not accept that what they are getting is good enough, either from the school or the student. Demand that your child complete homework, show you graded papers, and talk to you about how things are going at school. And yes, tell them you expect them to graduate from high school.
We believe its time to stop the blaming of everyone and everything for our children’s low scores and assess some of the blame to parents in these communities for some of the lack of support our schools receive.
Interest and caring can make up for a lack of resources, look around, it happens everyday.
also in the February 4 EGP papers:
LAUSD Report Cards Show Failing Schools
For the second year in a row the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) last week mailed School Progress Report Cards to over 600,000 parents in the country’s
... Read more »
Gov’s Cuts Still Hit Classrooms, Say Local Officials
The next few years are looking “pretty grim” for schools, despite assurances by the governor that education is “fully funded” in his budget proposal, say
... Read more »
Cifras Sorprendentes: Reportes de Progreso Escolar Demuestran Éxito y Fracasos
Por segundo año consecutivo, el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Ángeles (LAUSD) ha enviado Reportes de Progreso Escolar a más de 600 mil padres por los siete... Read more »
Decisiones del Gobernador Afectan las Aulas, Lamenta MUSD
Aunque el gobernador asegura que la educación pública será “totalmente financiada” en su nuevo presupuesto estatal, el futuro inmediato de las escuelas de... Read more »
A BUDGET APPROACH UNWORTHY OF OUR STATE
By MARY JANE BURKE, Marin County Superintendent of Schools
With great sincerity and pride in his State of the State message on January 6, 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that "education will be protected" in the new budget.
Two days later, when the budget was presented, the Governor revealed that this "protection" consists of continuing manipulations of the system to avoid providing what the State Constitution requires and what the Governor promised to our children. Instead of placing faith in our people, believing that we can understand the economic crisis in our state and in our nation and communicating with us honestly, the Governor prefers deception.
<< Superintendent Burke | Photo by Tim Porter | Marin Magazine
After cutting funding for public schools $18 billion over the last two years, the new budget purporting to "protect education" reveals the following facts:
· General purpose funding for schools, would be reduced by $1.5 billion. (This represents a cut of about $250 per student). Other cuts to child development programs, county offices of education, K-3 class size reduction programs and a negative cost-of living adjustment total another $997 million for total cuts of almost $2.5 billion. (This adds another $150 per student for a total proposed cut to public schools of $400 per student in the 2010-2011 school year.)
· The Governor is including $7 billion in his budget in anticipation of receiving additional federal funds. The nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Analyst says, "The likelihood of Washington agreeing to all of the Governor's requests is almost non-existent." If these federal funds are not provided, additional cuts in health and welfare resources affecting children and families and the elderly and homeless will be made.
· Despite signing legislation in July, 2009 to certify the minimum funding level for public schools, the Governor is now reneging on that promise.
The Governor plans to manage these cuts and still meet the Proposition 98 minimum education funding required by the State Constitution using blatant manipulation. He proposes a gas tax swap to purposely create an additional reduction in the minimum guaranteed funding for schools. Use of such gimmicks is insulting to the intelligence of the people of our state. Most of all, it is irresponsible because of the negative impact on our children in public schools. The final insult is that these cuts would result in permanently lowering base funding for schools in years to come.
In the last two years, schools which in 2009-2010 represent about 40% of the state budget have absorbed 60% of the cuts. Last year, schools made the required cuts with the promise that they would then be able to plan on stable funding at drastically reduced levels until the economy allows programs to be restored. Once again the Governor's promise was only words. In recent years, thousands of teachers, support staff and administrators have disappeared from our schools. Counselors, librarians, nurses, instructional assistants, custodians, grounds-keepers, cafeteria workers, principals, instructional specialists and other staff have been lost.
To divert attention from his convoluted manipulations, the Governor is attempting to use "divide and conquer" tactics by pitting various interests—cities, towns, counties, education, social services, child care, law enforcement—against each other. The good news is that such tactics will not work. On both a state and local level, coalitions have been formed to insist that fairness prevails and to insure that all agencies are working together to provide the best possible support for all of the residents of our community and our state. The crisis in confidence in government and the cynicism about elected leaders comes from the lack of honesty with the residents of our state.
Today, the demands for a world-class education are increasing exponentially, as they should be. The issue confronting us is whether or not public schools, which have been the foundation of our democracy and the common experience that has molded a diverse people into a nation, will survive. In California, we risk losing an entire generation of our youth. In Marin County where support for schools is unprecedented, this budget will mean that fiscal solvency for our districts will be a challenge. Now is not the time for tricks or dishonesty or demagoguery. It is time for bold leadership and action. Trust begins with honesty. We must let our elected leaders know that we will accept nothing less.
This budget approach is unworthy of our state.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
THE ECONOMY, THE MAYOR AND THE CITY OF LA: Good Grief.
by smf for 4LAKids
I went to art opening on Monday, I’ll write about that in Sunday’s 4LAKids.
I spoke to an LA City Councilperson at that event. She was out of her bailiwick, in someone else’s council district - doing her best to appreciate the art and how it maybe changes young people’s lives. But if you’ll remember – Monday was the day city government came face to face with how deep in recession red the city is. She was not the cheerful happy camper politicos-in-public are supposed to be.
The news was bad and she had moved beyond denial (where we all have been languishing) on to another phase – somewhere perhaps between anger, bargaining and depression. The light at the end of the tunnel was undeniably an oncoming train.
In the next few days we saw the city council hesitate – agreeing to save some art programs, arguing about whether to cut police. I don’t think Posturing is one of Kubler-Ross’s stages of Grief …although maybe at City Hall it is.
Where I going is this: The city is today where LAUSD and school districts throughout California have been for the past few years. Even in boom times California Public Education has been taking a hit because of a lack of vision, commitment and political leadership in Sacramento. School districts need to have their budgets balanced three years out – a burden the state, city and counties don’t have. The bursting of the bubble has hit education hard – but we are unfortunately used to it.
Today – like about and hour-and-a-half ago – I got an email blog from Mayor Villaraigosa. It was kind of scary – Mayor Tony too has moved beyond denial:
“Unfortunately, instead of making progress, we are headed in the wrong direction…up until today.
“With the authority invested in me by the City Charter and the people of Los Angeles, I’m taking immediate action toward balancing this fiscal year’s budget….”
I don’t know what version of the City Charter hizzoner is working from, the City of Los Angeles has a weak-mayor (ceremonial) form of mayor–council city government. This isn’t New York City. Or Chicago. He can look it up here on Wikipedia. Or here in the charter.
I don’t doubt the mayor’s new-found urgency…or the depth of the hole the city is in. But he’s got to play his plays-well-with-others-card, not his man-on-a-white-horse card..And he’s got to play it well. And maybe – just maybe – he needs to focus on being mayor rather than educator-in-chief …or even Tony-on-the-spot.
His entire message is here. It’s informative to dial back in his blog to a week ago, to the time before ‘up until today’ - before the urgency struck.
Meanwhile, this is still on his website:
- JOINLAPD.COM
- 866-444-LAPD
Now Hiring! |
BOARD WITH SCHOOL: The Hollywood middle school teacher behind a unique gang diversion program seeks new backers, after the Los Angeles Unified School District pulls financial support.
Participants in Le Conte Middle School's after-school skateboarding program pose with their boards last year. The city may help the program get back on track after the school district announced that it could no longer back the program. (Photo by Greg Delger)
By ARIN MIKAILIAN, Staff Writer | Los Angeles Independent
Feb 3, 2010 at -- Since 2004, Joseph Le Conte Middle School teacher Greg Delger has supervised the school’s after school makeshift skate park, which he believes curbs gang membership.
But the program is now on hold.
Around the beginning of the current school year, Los Angeles Unified School District officials pulled its support from — as well as the insurance it provided to — Delger’s program, leaving him without the coverage needed to run it.
The educator and skateboard enthusiast said he’s not the most disappointed about it.
“The kids are upset,” he said. “They all want the program.”
He founded the skating program when he discovered that kids who skate are less likely to join gangs. Gang members usually don’t try to recruit skaters, who are virtually left alone, Delger said.
“Some people find their identity through skateboarding,” Delger said. “Gangs, too, accept — and usually leave them alone because those kids have already found their identity through skateboarding.”
This is not to mention, he added, the physical activity that kids get through skating.
About 30 kids a day would show up after school each day to skate on the different types of mobile skateboarding equipment that goes back into a storage trailer at the end of the day.
The equipment was donated by Beyond the Bell, a branch of the LAUSD that helps sponsor after-school activities throughout the district.
Tim Bower, a Beyond the Bell administrator, said the district isn’t against Delger finding a source for insurance elsewhere.
“[The skating program] is no longer something the school district is going to operate,” he said. “A third party may operate the program and there is a process where they have to acquire insurance and verify the steps along the process.”
Delger said he isn’t out of options yet, and will seek insurance coverage through Lacer Afterschool Programs, which coordinates other after school activities at Le Conte Middle School.
But the city does plan to step in another fashion.
Back in the September, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved at $56,000 grant to develop a permanent skate park at the school, one Delger hopes will be completed by June.
City officials have praised Delger’s efforts, and have positive things to say about having a full-fledged skate park in Hollywood.
They cite the potential benefits for students at neighboring Hollywood and Bernstein high schools.
“Greg is an example of our strengths and continues Hollywood’s legacy of people who have helped to build our sense of community,” said Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti at his annual State of Hollywood address on Jan. 21.
As for Delger, he just wants the have his students back grinding on the rails as soon as possible.
“I was driving past the high school and I saw two kids that used to skate after school,” he said. They put on 20 or 30 pounds because they haven’t been skating.”
smf: The late John Liechty was a champion for skater 
kids and skateboard parks and programs at schools that keep kids in school. After John – maybe the best middle school educator this district ever made – died far too young - LAUSD held a memorial service in Disney Hall for him – and named our brightest, newest middle school for him.
And promptly forgot everything he he ever taught us.
A JOKE OF A VOTE: LAUSD board should take reform advisory election with a grain of salt
LA Daily News Editorial
4 Feb 2010 -- SPECIAL ed teacher Randy Ebelhar perfectly summed up the advisory election held Tuesday at 30 LAUSD schools slated for takeover by outside operators: "a joke of a vote."
What else can you call an election in which people were allowed to vote more than once on which bidder they want to run that particular school? Or one in which it was perfectly acceptable to drag strangers in off the street to cast a ballot into a cardboard box? Or one that had virtually no restrictions on age or place of residence? Or one fraught with charges of electioneering and nasty campaigning by competing bidders?
Farce might work. Fiasco might be even better.
What you can't call it is a legitimate election, with results that truly reflect the desires of stakeholders. The only good thing about it is that the results are advisory and in no way binding.
Officials and board members at the Los Angeles Unified School District concocted this two-day election (voters can vote again on Saturday - and many probably will) as a goodwill gesture.
The idea was to give parents, students, teachers and staff a voice as the district embarks on its School Choice reform plan, which opens up the operation of the district's lowest performing school to a competitive bidding process involving teacher groups and charter schools. Undoubtedly, the lives of the stakeholders in the 36 school choice campuses will be upended when they are handed over to yet-to-be-determined outside operators.
But it was a flawed concept from the beginning, one that politicized what should be an educational decision. An election with such lax rules is a prime candidate for manipulation, and those concerns were raised at a few of the schools voting this week. At San Fernando Middle School, for example, most of those voting Tuesday morning was done by school employees, not parents or other community members.
The campaigning before the election set a negative tone. Competing operators reportedly verbally attacked each other, stretching truths and in some cases even lying about what the other bidder would do if it won the bid. In addition, there have been reports that teachers have lobbied students to vote a certain way.
Yes, democracy is messy. But in this case it is just a mess - and not the best way to handle a decision that is the responsibility of the school board.
When voting reopens on Saturday, we encourage parents and community members of San Fernando Middle School - and all of the school choice campuses - to go vote to ensure a fair representation of stakeholders.
Still, LAUSD board members, who will ultimately award the bid for each of the 36 school sites, should take the results of this joke of a vote with a grain of salt - a very large one - and make the right decisions for the students, and not for their own political careers.
RACE TO THE TOP AND REALITY: In applying for the federal funding program, California's proposal on how to rate schools' performance could serve as a national model +smf’s 2¢
LA Times Editorial
February 4, 2010 -- In California's effort to qualify for up to $700 million in federal Race to the Top school funding, there's been a lot of talk about open enrollment and linking teacher evaluations to student performance. As they are framed in the state's new school reform law, however, neither of those provisions is likely to bring dramatic improvement to the schools that need it most. Instead, the most promising idea is contained in the state's application for funding: a request to change the way school improvement is measured.
For years we've railed against the provision in the No Child Left Behind Act that credits schools solely for how many students test as "proficient," one of five levels of achievement. From the bottom, those are: far below basic, below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. A school might bring the majority of its students from the lowest level to basic and still be categorized as failing. Conversely, it might target a small number of students who are slightly below proficient, bring them up a notch and be called a success. The system has encouraged schools to ignore their most troubled students, as well as already proficient students who could reach advanced.
California is asking for permission to instead measure how much each student's achievement improves year to year. This could serve as a model for revising No Child Left Behind, which is a goal of the Obama administration. The U.S. Department of Education should approve the request.
In other ways, though, Race to the Top will bring a muddle of change. More than half the state's school districts have not signed on to the application, saying the money they might receive isn't worth the new demands. They would continue to measure performance by the current system. They would not participate in the new curriculum standards the state is proposing to create or the new tests it would administer. They also would not move to link teacher evaluations to student achievement.
This means that, at least for a while, California's public schools might operate in two parallel universes, with two sets of standards, two sets of tests and two different academic performance indexes, the chief measure of school achievement -- making school-to-school comparisons even more baffling than they are now. Even school districts that signed the state's application wouldn't necessarily change teacher evaluations; they are required only to look into making the change.
This is all far more complicated than it needs to be. But the opportunity to escape from the rigid and unrealistic measuring system of No Child Left Behind is too tempting to resist. It's worth the price of the confusion that will ensue.
●●smf’s 2¢: This may come as news to The Times Editorial Board, but California has been asking that student performance be measured by improvement rather than levels-of-achievement since NCLB was first implemented a decade ago. While The Times hasn’t been paying attention California's public schools have operated in two parallel universes, with two sets of standards and two different academic performance indices …that is the dichotomy between California's API (Academic Performance Index) and the fed’s AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress).
In this application, California is asking again. Maybe with majesty of The Times behind us in an election year something will come of it. Probably not.
NATIONAL PTA ACTION ALERT: PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION BUDGET ELIMINATES SOLE FEDERAL PARENT ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM
PTA “Under this consolidation, the sole funding stream for family engagement would be redirected to charter schools.”
smf: This is the smoking gun for charterization – the tell tale crumbs-left-behind by the ‘Arne Duncan Donut-ization®’ of public education.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION BUDGET ELIMINATES SOLE FEDERAL PARENT ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM
link to the Alert: http://bit.ly/aufoPY
On February 1, 2010, the Obama Administration released its FY 2011 Budget Request, which included an unprecedented $3 billion increase for education. While PTA applauds the historic investment in education, we are greatly concerned about the consolidation and proposed elimination of the Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs). There is at least one PIRC in every state and territory. This program elimination affects all PTAs and parents. Under this consolidation, the sole funding stream for family engagement would be redirected to charter schools. Placing PIRCs under this fund means that there is no longer a dedicated funding stream for family engagement and PIRCs will not be able reach all families with children in public schools.
Elimination of PIRCs negatively impacts PTAs, schools and parents.
Why PIRCs matter:
- They provide schools and districts with tools to effectively partner with parents.
- They empower parents to advocate for their children and school reform.
- They provide training and professional development on effective family engagement to districts and school staff.
- They collaborate with state PTAs to engage all public school parents in their children’s education.
- They train family engagement coordinators in schools.
- They convene parent leadership academies to equip parents with skills needed to help their children to succeed.
Annually, PIRCs served over 16.4 million parents by connecting them to their schools to improve their child’s education. Parents need PIRCs. You can help! Please urge the Obama Administration, both of your Senators and Representative not to eliminate PIRCs.
PTA’s Take Action Center makes it easy for you to send this alert, within a few minutes.
Tell your elected officials how you feel: Change the message if you are not a PTA member – this proposal would eliminate ALL parent, family and community engagement support programs.
SOME SOUTH-BAY/SAN PEDRO SIXTH-GRADERS WOULD STAY AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS UNDER LAUSD PLAN
By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer | Daily Breeze
Members of The White Point Elementary Student Council put together Valentine's Day gift bags Monday afternoon. From left are students MacKenzie Winkle, Lexi Cassillo, Christina Barlow and Katie Haase. Principal Lisa O Brien is in the background. (Chuck Bennett/Staff Photographer)
4 February 2009 -- Next fall, sixth-graders at 10 local schools may be able to stay an extra year at elementary campuses under a plan unveiled this week by Los Angeles Unified School District officials.
The 10 schools, most of them in San Pedro, would offer parents the choice of keeping their children at tight-knit neighborhood campuses or sending them on to large middle schools.
It's a way to give students who are just entering adolescence a more individualized educational experience in a safe environment where they - and their parents - are comfortable, officials said.
"The idea is in a smaller setting, there's greater opportunities for nurturing," said Michael Romero, an administrator overseeing elementary schools in LAUSD's Gardena-based Local District 8.
The move will also help elementary campuses address declining enrollment, but administrators said that was not a major motivating factor.
The change must still be approved by school site councils at each campus.
On Monday, principals who had expressed interest in the concept met with district officials to begin the planning process and address unanswered questions about class scheduling, curriculum and after-school offerings. The next day, the principals pitched the concept at faculty meetings.
Parents of the nearly 600 students affected are being notified this week. Some are overjoyed.
"Many of our parents were very excited. Two of them were jumping up and down in the hallways," said Shelly Miller, president of the parent-faculty organization at White Point Elementary, one of the affected schools.
Seven participating campuses are in San Pedro: Bandini, Barton Hill, Crestwood, Leland, Park Western Place, Taper and White Point elementary schools. The others are 156th Street Elementary in Gardena, Annalee Elementary in Carson, and Van Deene Avenue Elementary in the unincorporated strip east of Harbor Gateway.
Most of the schools post significantly higher scores on the state's testing-based Academic Performance Index than the middle schools into which they feed.
The elementary schools would be the first LAUSD campuses in the South Bay to return to a K-6 configuration since the district reorganized schools in the 1980s and '90s. In recent years, schools elsewhere in the sprawling district have been reconfigured to K-6 - about 12 percent of LAUSD elementaries.
The local plan is sort of a pilot project that could eventually be expanded to other schools with adequate space for sixth-graders, Romero said. The initiative has the approval of Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who was unavailable to comment.
The change has been spearheaded in part by Board of Education member Richard Vladovic, who represents the Harbor Area, Carson, Gardena and Lomita. A longtime educator, Vladovic said he never embraced the idea of middle school.
"We're forcing kids to grow up too fast," Vladovic said. "In 40 years, I've heard it so much: Why are we rushing them? Many have said to me, `Wouldn't it be nice if we could keep them back?"'
Vladovic calls the process "deconfiguration," and frames the issue as a matter of parent choice.
"I think most parents would agree - they would like to keep their youngsters back," Vladovic said, "This gives us another shot to work with them in that small environment. And it gives parents a little bit more times to spend with their kids. Once you get into a middle school, they're overly influenced by peers."
At White Point Elementary, Miller said she would have welcomed a chance to keep her daughter at the coastal campus instead of sending her to sixth grade at Dana Middle School last fall.
"She and those girls were overwhelmed," Miller said. "It's a critical time for the kids."
That sentiment is echoed by teachers and administrators at White Point, which has three unoccupied classrooms and a fluctuating enrollment that depends in part on deployment from nearby military housing.
"The transition is precarious," said fifth-grade teacher Carolyn Johnson. "There is a lot of panic. People talk about moving home-schooling."
A few weeks ago, Johnson and other teachers heard about Vladovic's plans to push for K-6 campuses. They asked their principal, Lisa O'Brien, if White Point could participate.
"There are many of us who felt sixth-graders should never have been moved," said teacher Tim Howe, the school's union chapter chair. "We feel we can do a better job for them here at White Point."
O'Brien has wholeheartedly embraced the plans, but she said there are drawbacks. The school doesn't offer the award-winning marching band that Dana Middle has, for one thing. And it's unclear how teachers will provide elective courses to students.
O'Brien and several teachers have formed a team to manage the change.
"We want to give them an authentic sixth-grade experience," O'Brien said. "Planning is very important. I do not want it to be a repeat of fifth grade."
Students have a mix of reactions. Some were excited about middle school, while others are thrilled to stay where they're known.
MacKenzie Winkle, a fifth-grader in student government, said she was happy to have a chance to stay. But not all her classmates agree.
"It's mixed emotions. They wanted lockers. They were looking forward to culmination," MacKenzie said, referring to the fifth-grade graduation ceremony. "But my mom was happy because she thought we're, well, too young to go into middle school and experience all that drama."
What drama? Bullying, "boyfriend-girlfriend stuff" and girls being mean to each other, MacKenzie and other White Point students said.
Those, too, are the concerns of educators who have for decades debated the proper place for students who are experiencing physical and emotional changes at the cusp of adolescence.
In the early years of the 20th century, public education was typically divided into K-8 and four-year high school campuses. Junior high schools - grades seven and eight - began appearing in the first half of the century.
By the early 1970s, the sixth-to-eighth-grade "middle school" concept was spreading, supported by the notion of developmental appropriateness. Now middle school is by far the most prevalent configuration, education researchers say.
In Los Angeles Unified, a behind-the-curve realignment that moved sixth graders to middle schools and ninth graders to high schools was completed in the mid-1990s. Parent protests at San Pedro schools helped make the community's campuses some of the last to convert.
In recent years, particularly in urban school districts, a trend has emerged to create K-8 campuses, according to Al Summers, director of professional development at the Ohio-based National Middle School Association.
Summers said he hasn't seen a particular trend toward K-6. More important than configuration, he said, is making sure educators understand the children's developmental stage.
"If I'm going to put them back in K-6 and treat them like a large version of elementary kids, it's not going to be a good situation," Summers said.
In promoting the new plan at local LAUSD campuses, officials have cited a 2005 internal district study that found sixth-graders who attended K-6 schools posted higher test scores gains than their peers at middle school campuses. Scores declined after a transition to seventh grade, but overall achievement gains persisted through middle school, the study found.
A 2007 paper published by Duke University found sixth-graders placed in middle schools were more than twice as likely to have discipline problems than those at K-6 schools. Sixth-graders in elementary schools had higher test scores that persisted as they moved up to ninth grade, the study found.
But Summers said the Duke study had been "exceedingly controversial," adding that there's no definitive research showing one configuration is better than another.
Romero and Vladovic said they felt the research was on their side.
In the next few months, they'll be preparing for the switch.
If parents at all 10 schools elect to keep their current fifth-graders on elementary campuses, some 30 sixth-grade teachers would probably be moved from middle schools because of lost enrollment there, Romero said.
For now, there are no concrete plans to expand the initiative. Parents whose children are at schools not making the change will have to send their children on to middle school as planned.
"Simply because it's new, we wanted to do it well and in a limited fashion," Romero said. "We want to try this out, learn from it and, if we do expand in 2011-12, we have a knowledge base."
What's next? -- Ten local LAUSD elementary schools may offer sixth grade next year: 156th Street, Annalee, Bandini, Barton Hill, Crestwood, Leland, Park Western Place, Taper, Van Deene Avenue and White Point.
- First, school site councils must vote on the reconfiguration before Feb. 12.
- Then parent meetings will be held by Feb. 19.
- Parents must return commitment forms by March 12.
TRUANCY POLICY: Cleveland High School Principal Responds | AUSENCIA DE POLÍTICA: Director de Cleveland High School Responde
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 - Last week, the San Fernando Valley Sun/El Sol reported on the "Day of Action" rally held at Cleveland High School in Reseda. The rally, and similar rallies held at other LAUSD campuses including Manuel Arts and Westchester High Schools, was in conjunction with the release of the report, "Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need for Accountability and Alternatives." The concerns raised at the rally and report were that school police currently assigned to Cleveland practice racial profiling and discourage students from coming to school by regularly issuing truancy tickets to students who may be only a few minutes late and trying to get to campus. Students were also concerned about the school policy of shutting the door on students who were on campus but late to class. They were sent to the cafeteria where they received a pink slip. Students who were off campus and late ran the risk of receiving a $250 ticket, being handcuffed and brought to the campus in a police car where they were turned over, while still in handcuffs, to school administrators. Cleveland High School Principal Herman Clay is in his first year at Cleveland high school. But he was principal at Van Nuys High School for six years before coming to Cleveland. Clay doesn't dismiss the points raised in the article, but he does think they are overstated. "I believe some of the claims, some of the tenor of the article is somewhat exaggerated. But I think it's understandable that if you are placed in the position where you are either cited or handcuffed, you're going to feel that you've been treated unfairly," said Clay. On the issue of truancy tickets, Clay says that the policy is not to issue tickets if the students are on campus but late to class. Off campus, it's an issue for the LAPD. "What I'm saying is that the issuing of truancy tickets is usually something done by city police. It is enforcing L.A. City ordinances. There is a city ordinance that invokes this and this is why they end up going to court. School police have not issued truancy tickets, per our policy, I believe for the last three or four years," Clay said. He added that he believes only one or two tickets a week are given out to Cleveland students. According to Manuel Criollo, an organizer with the Strategy Center, the number of truancy tickets issued in the last five years tells a different story. "LASPD has refused to give where they give specific tickets, so we can't give the exact number given to Cleveland but LASPD alone, between 2004 and 2009 gave out close to 13,000 tickets," said Criollo. "LASPD has refused to give a break down by year. That's just one bulk number they've given us. LAPD from 2004 to 2009, gave out close to 34,000 tickets. That's 47,000 tickets in five years." So while the number of truancy tickets given to Cleveland students remains in dispute, no one is disputing the fact that ticketed students are returned to Cleveland High School in handcuffs. Clay confirmed this but again pointed to LAPD. "When the city police take a young person into custody, they return them to campus in handcuffs and they release them to us in school. That's a city policy because the individual is in custody. You'd get a better explanation from the city police as to why that's their practice or policy," said Clay. But when asked directly by the San Fernando Valley Sun/El Sol how he personally felt about having handcuffed students delivered to his school by the police, Clay's only response was, "That's their (the City of Los Angeles') policy not a district policy." Clay says he's not sure that methods like ticketing are effective ways of getting students to school. "I think it's always better to use positive means to get young people to school. Obviously, attendance is something everyone in the community has to be concerned with, because when young people are in school, hopefully they're doing some positive things," he said. "When they are not, they sometimes get into mischief and some negative things."
In the two years prior to this year, Criollo said, Cleveland didn't rely on the police as much. "The school had much better programs where instead of LAPD or LASPD picking up young people if they were hanging around the campus, I know an administrator would grab a truck, pick them up and take them to school," said Criollo. Cleveland had very good programs in terms of what they had until this year when they cut it.They had important programs, mental health programs, that other schools didn't have. Because of where it's located, it has much more resources than most." Now Cleveland students complain about the Police presence on campus. One student, Eric Fuentes Casas, a senior, said that "Right now, there are many more police officers than school counselors." "That was somewhat misleading," Clay responded, "because actually, on this campus we have seven academic counselors, two school psychologist, and two school police officers." Racial profiling is an issue cited by both students and Strategy Center organizer Criollo as a problem at Cleveland with police coming down hard on students of color while turning a blind eye to the activities of the mostly white Magnet students. "From my point of view, I don't see that as the case," Clay said but he pointed out some other problem areas. "We have issues with vandalism( and) we have some issues with substance abuse." One policy which Clay wholeheartedly defends is the locking out of students who are late to class and funneling them to the cafeteria where they are issued pink slips. He doesn't view this as a dire consequence. He feels that it is a necessary process that works. "One of the things we're trying to do is teach punctuality, because punctuality is one of the attributes employers look for, and we want young people to be punctual. School begins every day at three minutes before eight, 7:57 am. What we do is ring a warning bell seven minutes before and for the last minute we're giving students warning so it helps them, if they are on campus, to get inside. I think punctuality is a very positive trait for people," said Clay. Over all, Clay said, the police play an important role in campus life. "Their function is they do participate in law enforcement. They assist in situations where laws or ordinances are broken. In any community where they have over four thousand people there are going to be infractions. They also help us secure the campus from outside interruptions or disruptions." The San Fernando Valley Sun/El Sol attempted to contact Los Angeles School Police Chief Michael Bowman and LAUSD Board member Tamar Galatzan for this story. At press time, Chief Bowman had not returned the phone call and Board member Galatzan was unavailable. Their comments should appear in next week's edition. |
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 - La semana pasada, el San Fernando Valley Sun/El Sol report sobre el "Día de Acción", una protesta realizada frente a la Cleveland High School en Reseda. La demostración, y otras similares llevadas a cabo en otros planteles del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles [LAUSD], incluyendo las secundarias Manual Arts y Westchester High School, fueron realizadas en conjunción con la publicación del reporte "La Policía en las Escuelas del LAUSD: La Necesidad de Responsabilidad y Alternativas". La preocupación expresada en ese reporte y en las protestas es que la policía escolar actualmente asignada a Cleveland High School practica el perfil racial y desanima a los estudiantes a que vayan a la escuela regularmente dándoles infracciones de vagancia a los alumnos que llegan apenas unos minutos tarde a la escuela. Los estudiantes también dijeron estar preocupados por la política de la escuela de cerrar la puerta a estudiantes que llegan a tiempo al campus, pero tarde a sus salones de clases. Al llegar tarde, se les envía a la cefetería donde reciben una notificación. Los estudiantes que llegan tarde al campus reciben una infracción de $250, son esposados y llevados a la escuela en una patrulla de la policía escolar, donde son entregados, aún en esposas, a administradores del plantel. Herman Clay, director de Cleveland High School cumple su primer año en el cargo. Antes fue director de Van Nuys High School por seis años. Clay no desmiente los puntos que se presentaron en el artículo, pero sí considera que han sido sobre mencionados. "Creo que ciertos alegatos, ciertos puntos del artículo son un poco exagerados. Pero considero entendible que si estás en una posición donde te están dando una infracción y estás esposado, sientes que te están maltratando", dijo.
Sobre las infracciones de vagancia, Clay dice que la política es no dar estas infracciones si el estudiante está en el plantel a la hora, pero llega tarde al salón de clase. Al estar fuera del campus, eso es algo que le corresponde a la policía. "Lo que estoy diciendo es que dar infracciones de vagancia es algo que usualmente hace la policía. Está llevando a cabo las ordenanzas de la Ciudad de Los Angeles. Hay una ordenanza municipal que invoca esto y es por eso que terminan yendo a la corte. La policía escolar no ha emitido infracciones de vagancia, creo por los últimos tres o cuatro años", dijo Clay. Agregó que cree que solo uno o dos de estas infracciones se emiten a estudiantes de Cleveland High School cada semana. Según Manuel Criollo, organizador del Strategy Center, grupo que organizó las demostraciones de la semana pasada, el número de infracciones de vagancia emitidas en los últimos cinco años cuenta una historia diferente. "LASPD se ha rehusado a dar el número específico de infracciones, así que no podemos dar la cuenta exacta en Cleveland, pero solo el LASPD, entre 2004 y 2009 emitió cerca de 13,000 infracciones. LASPD se ha rehusado a dar los números por año. Entre 2004 y 2009 el LAPD emitió cerca de 34,000 infracciones. Eso es 47,000 infracciones en cinco años". Así que mientras el número de infracciones de vagancia que se dan a estudiantes de Cleveland continúa en disputa, nadie niega el hecho de que los estudiantes a los que se les dan estas infracciones son llevados en esposas a la escuela. Clay confirmó esto, pero una vez mas responsabilizó al LAPD. "Cuando la policía toma custodia de un joven, lo regresan a la escuela en esposas y nos lo entregan. Tendrías una mejor explicación de eso por parte de la policía porque esa es su política", dijo Clay. Cuando se le preguntó directamente cuál era su opinión sobre esto, la respuesta de Clay fue, "Esa es su política [de la ciudad de Los Angeles], no una política del distrito". Clay agregó que no está seguro de que métodos como las infracciones son efectivos en hacer que los chicos vayan a la escuela. "Creo que siempre es mejor usar métodos positivos para llevar a los alumnos a la escuela. Obviamente, la asistencia es algo que debe preocupar a toda la comunidad, porque cuando los jóvenes están en la escuela, ojalá estén haciendo cosas positivas. Cuando no lo están, a veces se meten en problemas y cosas negativas", dijo. En los dos años previos, Cleveland High School no dependía tanto de la policía, dijo Criollo. "La escuela tenía mejores programas en vez del LAPD o LASPD recogiendo a los jóvenes que estuvieran fuera del campus. Sé que un administrador tomaba su camioneta, los recogía y los llevaba a la escuela. Pero eso terminó este año. Ellos tenían programas de salud mental que otras escuelas no tenían". Ahora los estudiantes de Cleveland High School se quejan de la presencia policial en el plantel. Eric Fuentes Casas, un estudiante de la escuela, dijo "Ahora hay más policías que consejeros". "Eso no es cierto", dijo Clay. "Porque en realidad, en este campus tenemos siete consejeros académicos, dos psicólogos escolares y dos agentes de la policía escolar". El perfil racial también es una acusación expresada tanto por estudiantes como Criollo, que dicen que la policía arremete más duro contra estudiantes de color que los anglosajones en Cleveland High School. "Desde mi punto de vista, yo no veo que ese sea el caso", dijo Clay, quien apuntó a otros problemas. "Tenemos problemas con el vandalismo y con el abuso de sustancias". Una política que defiende totalmente el director es cerrar la puerta a estudiantes que lleguen tarde al salón de clase y llevarlos a la cafetería. El considera que esto es un proceso necesario y efectivo. "Una de las cosas que estamos tratando de hacer es enseñar puntualidad porque es algo que los empleadores buscan y queremos que nuestros jóvenes sean puntuales. La escuela empieza todos los días a tres minutos antes de la ocho, a las 7:57 a.m. Lo que hacemos es que sonamos la campana de advertencia siete minutos antes y les damos advertencias a los alumnos en el último minuto, y si están dentro del campus, creo que la puntualidad es algo bueno para los jóvenes", dijo Clay. En general, Clay dijo que la policía juega un papel importante en la vida del plantel. "Su función es participar en la ejecución de la ley. Ellos asisten en situaciones donde se quebrantan las leyes u ordenanzas. En cualquier comunidad donde tengan más de 4,000 personas habrá infracciones. También nos ayudan a mantener la seguridad en el campus y evitar interrupciones del exterior". El San Fernando Valley Sun/El Sol intentó contactar al jefe del Departamento de Policía Escolar, Michael Bowman y a Tamar Galatzan, miembro de la junta directiva del LAUSD que representa el área. Hasta el cierre de esta edición, Bowman no había regresado las llamadas y Galatzan no estaba disponible. Sus comentarios aparecerán en la edición de la semana entrante. |
PARENTS VOTE ON PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PLAN | PADRES DECIDEN SOBRE EL CONTROL DE SAN FERNANDO MIDDLE SCHOOL
Written by Alex Garcia, Sun Contributing Writer
Elvia Tellez votes in the Public School Choice Plan at San Fernando Middle School. She said the vote is important because it's a decision that will affect the future of her daughter and other children at the school. Wednesday, 03 February 2010 - Tuesday was a voting day for Catalina Serrano. But the San Fernando resident wasn't voting for an elected official or a proposition. On her ballot was the educational future of her daughter, a seventh grader at San Fernando Middle School. "This is very important. This is where we define the education of our children, their future in college," said Serrano after voting on the School Choice Plan. As reported, the Los Angeles Unified School District [LAUSD] approved this plan last year, which allows outside agencies to take control of so-called "focus" schools, campuses that have not met academic achievement goals in the past three years. The plan covers 12 existing schools and 18 others that will open in the fall. San Fernando Middle School fell into this category after their Annual Performing Index [API] went down three points in 2008-2009 [from627 to 624] and where students have 21 percent or less proficiency in English and Math [SFMS is 20.5 percent proficient in Math and 24.1 percent proficient in English]. Vying for the school are two proposals, one from the San Fernando Middle School Collective, a partnership made up of the majority of the school's current teachers and administrators and another from the Youth Policy Institute [YPI], which calls for a pilot school emphasizing technology. Serrano said she voted for the Collaborative because she liked that proposal better. "The other plan doesn't receive handicap children and students who don't come out well in tests are sent to other schools because they want to have a certain academic level," she said of the reason why she didn't vote for the proposal fromYPI. She added she likes the school and the education her daughter receives there and hopes the vote puts "pressure on the school so they can improve some things." Those were the same sentiments of CesarAcosta, another parentwho showed up Tuesday afternoon to vote at the school's auditorium entrance.
Cesar Acosta gets ready to vote in the Public School Choice Plan at San Fernando Middle School. "I didn't like what I heard in the meeting from the outside group," said the parent of a seventh-grader. "It didn't seem to me they were focused on the students." Acosta also voted for the Collaborative because his son has special needs and YPI "sounded like a charter school and they don't give much breaks to kids with special needs," he said. He said he hoped the vote would prompt the school "to get their act together." "They're losing precious time," said the father. "It's not only for now. It's for the future. If parents don't speak up, nothing's going to change." Another point he disliked about the YPI proposal was its emphasis on computers and technology. "Computers is fine, but you got to have more options," he said. "Personally, I think they should go back to basics, having more cooking and workshop classes for a blue collar community. Boys especially need something to stimulate their minds." Getting parents' imput on their children's education is the goal of the vote, said LAUSD board president Monica Garcia, who earlier this week called the vote "historic." "Parents have been asking for more say and this vote is going to tell the superintendent their preference," she said. She noted the plan's goal is to have 100 percent high school graduation and help ensure children's get the best education. Garcia added the results of the vote will be evaluated by a review panel and superintendent Ramon Cortines, who will make a final determination on Feb. 23. In total, over 38,000 students are affected by the Public School Choice Plan, which has been riddled with controversy and accusations from organizations that support it and decry it. The vote was being supervised by the League of Women Voters and allowed parents, students, schools' faculty and staff, as well as community members to choose between the proposals. But it's obviously parents who feel the strongest about it, given their children's education is at play. That's why Margarita Osorio, mother of a student at San Fernando Middle School Tuesday, took time to vote, choosing also the collaborative. "They say there's going to be more parent involvement, that parents are going to be more vigilant of whether the teachers are doing their job and if the children are learning and I like that," she said giving the reason for her choosing one proposal over the other. Elvia Tellez, another parent who also chose the collaborative, said the vote was important to put pressure on the school. "It's worth it," she said of the vote. "Because you have to wake parents up and give the school a good ear pulling as well."
If you didn't get to vote, you can still do it on Saturday, when polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. If you have any questions, you can also call a bilingual hotline at (213) 368-1616. | Written by Alex Garcia, Escritor contribuyente del San Fernando Sun
Catalina Serrano vota por el Plan de Opción a Escuela Pública en San Fernando Middle School. Ella dijo que escogió el plan presentado por la Colaborativa ya que le gusta lo que está haciendo la escuela y espera que cambiar algunos puntos la mejoren. Wednesday, 03 February 2010 - El martes fue un día de votación para Catalina Serrano. Pero la residente de San Fernando no estaba votando por algún puesto político o propuesta electoral. En su boleta estaba el futuro educativo de su hija, una estudiante del séptimo grado en San Fernando Middle School. "Estoy es muy importante. Aquí es donde se define la educación de nuestros hijos para el futuro de la Universidad de ellos", dijo Serrano después de la votación sobre el Plan de Opción de Escuela Pública. Como lo hemos reportado, en Agosto, la junta del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles [LAUSD] aprobó 6-1 el Plan de Opción de Escuela Pública, que permite a agencias no lucrativas hacerse cargo de escuelas denominadas de "enfoque", planteles que no han cumplido con metas de aprovechamiento académico en los últimos tres años. El plan cubre 12 escuelas existentes y 18 más que abrirán en el otoño. San Fernando Middle School cayó en esta categoría luego que su revisión anual de rendimiento académico [API] bajo tres puntos [de 627 a 624] en el año escolar 2008-2009 y donde menos del 21% de los alumnos sean competentes en matemáticas o inglés (SFMS tiene competencia del 20.5% en matemáticas y 24.1% en inglés). Se presentaron dos propuestas para hacerse cargo de la escuela, una del San Fernando Middle School Collective, una alianza compuesta por la mayoría de los maestros y administradores actuales de la escuelas, junto con Project GRAD y L.E.A.P. y otro por parte del Youth Policy Institute [YPI], que promueve cuatro academias, una de artes visuales y de representación, otra de ciencia y matemática, una más de leyes y justicia social y una de escuela piloto multimedia llamada San Fernando Institute of Applied Media. Serrano dijo que voto por el plan de la Collaborative debido a que le gusto la propuesta. "El otro plan no recibe a niños discapacitados y estudiantes que no salgan bien en los exámenes, que los Mandan a otras escuelas porque quieren tener un cierto nivel académico", dijo ella de la razón por la cual no votó por la propuesta de YPI. YPI ha mantenido que se ha propagado este tipo de desinformación sobre su propuesta, la cual han dicho no es verdad. Serrano agregó que le gusta la escuela y la educación que recibe su hija actualmente en San Fernando Middle School y espera que el voto "ponga presión para que mejoren algunos puntos". La Collaborative mantiene en pie mucho de la instrucción actual. Cesar Acosta, otro padre que se presentó a votar el martes por la tarde a la entrada del auditorio de la escuela, también hizo eco de esas palabras. "No me gustó lo que escuché del grupo de afuera en la reunión que hubo en la escuela", dijo el padre de un hijo del séptimo grado. "No me pareció que estaban enfocados en los estudiantes". Acosta también votó por la Collaborative ya que sus hijo tiene necesidades especiales y YPI "sonaba como una escuela charter y esas escuelas no le dan muchas oportunidades a niños con necesidades especiales", dijo. Dijo que espera que el voto haga que la escuela "arregle sus problemas". "Están perdiendo tiempo valioso", dijo el padre. "No solo es para ahora. Es para el futuro. Si los padres no levantan la voz, nada va a cambiar". Otro punto que no le gusta a Acosta sobre la propuesta de YPI es el énfasis de ellos en las computadoras y la tecnología. "Las computadoras están bien, pero tienes que tener otras opciones", dijo él. "Personalmente, creo que deberían regresar a lo básico, tener más clase de cocina y talleres para una comunidad laboral. Los chicos especialmente necesitan algo que estimule sus mentes". Obtener el punto de vista de los padres sobre la educación de sus hijos es la meta de este voto, dijo Monica García, presidente de la junta del LAUSD, quien a principios de esta semana calificó el voto como "histórico". "Los padres han pedido tener más voz y este voto le va decir al superintendente cual es su preferencia", dijo ella. Indicó que la meta del Plan de Opción de Escuelas Pública es tener una tasa de graduación del 100 por ciento y ayudar asegurar la mejor educación de los niños. García agregó que un panel de revisión y el superintendente Ramon Cortines evaluarán los resultados del voto antes de tomar una decisión final el 23 de febrero. En total, más de 38,000 estudiantes son afectados por el Plan de Opción de Escuela Pública, que ha estado lleno de tanto controversia como acusaciones. El voto del martes fue supervisado por la Liga de Mujeres Votantes y permitía a padres de familia, estudiantes, maestros y administradores de las escuelas, así como miembros de la comunidad votar sobre las propuestas. Pero es obvio que son los padres los que tienen más que perder y ganar con el voto. Es por eso que Margarita Osorio, madre de un alumno de San Fernando Middle School tomó tiempo el martes para emitir su voto y escogió el plan de la Collaborative. "Ahí dice que van hacer más para involucrar a los padres, que los padres van a vigilar si los maestros están haciendo su trabajo y si los hijos están aprendiendo y me gusta eso", dijo ella sobre la razón de su voto. Elvia Tellez, otra madre de familia de San Fernando Middle School, dijo que el voto es importante para poner presión en la escuela. "Vale la pena", dijo del voto. "Para despertar a los papás y dar un jalón de orejas a la escuela también". Si aún no vota, todavía puede votar el sábado en San Fernando Middle School, 130 N. Brand Blvd. en San Fernando cuando las urnas estarán abiertas de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. Si tiene preguntas, puede llamar a la línea bilingüe (213) 368-1616 para más información. |
STOP L.A. UNIFIED’S ‘CHARTERIZATION’: Handing over L.A. schools to outside operators will turn out to be yet another failed attempt at reform. Expanding vocational education holds more promise.
By Gloria R. Lothrop and Ralph E. Shaffer | Blowback Op-Ed in the LA Times
February 3, 2010 | As The Times continues to lead the parade to charterization of the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the most overused and misunderstood phrases on the paper's editorial page is "reform." Change is not necessarily reform. Genuine reform produces lasting, beneficial improvements and isn't concocted by editors or frustrated school boards willing to try just about anything.
That was never more evident than during the debate over the current plan to allow outsiders to operate dozens of LAUSD campuses. As The Times notes in its Feb. 1 editorial, "Bidding to run L.A.’s schools," the district's mislabeled Public School Choice initiative has resulted in ugly misinformation campaigns and popularity contests over which organizations should run several L.A. Unified schools.
Change, yes; reform, hardly.
Privatizing public education is but one of many elixirs offered over the years as panaceas for whatever ails California's schools. One fad after another has been foisted on children, their parents and teachers by supposed do-gooders, many of whom really wanted to promote a particular ideology or seek financial gain.
The once tried but eventually discarded fads include "new math," single-sex classrooms and the nearly forgotten 6-4-4 plan, under which students spent the final two years of high school on a junior college campus. Other reforms tried over the last century include the look-say approach to reading and integrated English and social studies classes. Today we have vouchers, charters, the No Child Left Behind Act and the Obama administration's misnamed Race to the Top fund.
Some "reforms" have been reinvented through the generations. Bilingual education was a problem some 160 years ago when English-speaking Americans moving to Los Angeles overwhelmed the existing schools -- in which the language of instruction was Spanish. Modern reformers have attempted to solve the problem of multilingual classrooms by immersion, sheltered instruction, the use of a native language to teach basic subjects and so on. The method varies with the political mood of the day.
One of the genuine reforms, championed by early 20th century progressives, was vocational education. A 1901 Times editorial called for the establishment of a polytechnic high school in Los Angeles emphasizing manual training. Such instruction was not part of the traditional curriculum, as teaching young people a trade had been the responsibility of the home, craft guilds and unions or private businesses.
Times Publisher Harrison Gray Otis was no progressive, but as a businessman he realized the need for high school graduates trained in occupations that an industrial society needed. When such a school, Manual Arts High, opened in 1910, The Times was ecstatic.
Now, ironically, vocational education doesn't have a place at Manual Arts, an L.A. Unified school operated by a nonprofit organization. At Locke High School in L.A., a campus operated by charter school organization Green Dot, everyone must take a college-bound curriculum. Both schools are at the forefront of the "everyone goes to college" movement.
The possibility of economic improvement appeals to parents and students who desperately want to escape the circumstances they're in. But assigning unprepared and disinterested students to a University of California or California State University curriculum is a disservice to them. Furthermore, the wisdom of offering vocational training is demonstrated by high enrollments at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, DeVry and similar institutions. Even Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa now supports expanding vocational education classes at public schools.
It won't be long before the folly of today's experiment of putting control of schools up to bid is seen by another set of editors and school board members who will have to undo the damage done by today's "reformers." Unfortunately, legal and financial barriers will keep the schools in the hands of entrepreneurs long after the public, Times editors and school board members realize that this "reform" was more detrimental to our children than any of the failed experiments of the past.
- Gloria R. Lothrop and Ralph E. Shaffer are, respectively, professors emeritus of history at Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
SCHWARZENEGGER’S EDUCATION CABINET SECRETARY STEPS DOWN
by greg lucas - from CaliforniasCapitol.com
February 2nd, 2010 -- Veteran educator Glen W. Thomas is resigning as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education cabinet secretary in order to care for his ailing mother.
Schwarzenegger appointed Thomas, 63, to the post – the primary education advisor to the governor — in January 2009. The date of Thomas’ departure has yet to be set.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be Secretary of Education,” Thomas said. “With the governor’s leadership, we accomplished a lot more than some people thought possible. Things like Race to the Top and digital textbooks.”
A triumvirate of entities shape public school policy in the state: the State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the governor’s education cabinet secretary.
Previously, in the Schwarzenegger administration and previous administrations there has been friction between the three entities. One of Thomas’ goals was to create a more collaborative relationship.
The cabinet secretary also helps shape the administration’s education policy and analyzes more than 300 pieces of education-related legislation each year.
In explaining his departure, Thomas said:
“My 96-year-old mother is not well. Twenty-four years ago I cared for my father and I told my mother that when the time came I would do the same for her. It’s been the highest honor to serve in the administration but family is always first priority.”
John Mockler, a former education cabinet secretary under Gov. Gray Davis who has worked with — and sometimes against — Thomas for several decades described him as “an honorable professional.”
A native Californian, Thomas is a former classroom teacher. He has also been a local school administrator and worked at the state Department of Education in a variety of posts including executive director of the State Curriculum Commission. He also helped develop the High School Exit Exam.
“Parents are students’ first and foremost teachers and therefore full partners in their children’s education,” Thomas’ biography says.
Over 30 years in the field of education, Thomas has advocated for better teacher preparation, stricter accountability to measure both teacher and pupil success and stronger academic content.
A supporter of expanding preschool, Thomas co-chaired Senate president Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg’s committee to help improve the quality of early learning programs. He has also pushed for the expansion of vocational training.
Thomas’ teaching career began working with children of migrant farm laborers in the Central Valley.
For more than eight years, Thomas served as executive director of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, which represents the interests of the state’s 58 county superintendents of schools.
Thomas’ wife, Connie, is a Sacramento elementary school teacher. His two daughters are products of the state’s public school system.
Thomas is Schwarzenegger’s fourth education cabinet secretary. He replaced Dave Long.
HEBREW LANGUAGE CHARTER SCHOOL CONSIDERED IN SANTA CLARITA VALLEY: The proposed school would be open to students of all faiths and not allied with a synagogue, but skeptics worry about separation of church and state.
By Ann M. Simmons | LA Times
February 3, 2010 -- A proposal to open the first Hebrew language charter school in the state will be considered Wednesday by school trustees in the Santa Clarita Valley, some of whom have raised concerns that the institution would violate separation of church and state.
DUNCAN APOLGIZES FOR SAYING “THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN NEW ORLEANS WAS HURRICANE KATRINA”
The U.S. Secretary of Education said it was "dumb" for him to characterize the hurricane as the "best thing" that has happened to New Orleans' education system. http://bit.ly/9e6t25
GOOD REPORT, FOR THE MOMENT, ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT’S FINANCES
By John Fensterwald | The Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/9foase
February 1st, 2010 - Call it remarkable management or, more likely, the lull before the crash. The number of school districts in financial distress actually decreased from a year ago, according to report issued last week by FCMAT, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. That’s the agency that intervenes when districts are struggling financially.
For the reporting period ending Oct. 31, only a dozen districts – out of about 1,000 – reported a negative status, compared with 19 in the last reporting period of 2009 and 16 in the comparable period a year ago. The latest total is preliminary, since county offices of education have yet to certify that the districts’ self-reporting is accurate. (View FCMAT’s latest report for a 15-year comparison of the number of districts in financial trouble.)
School districts, unlike most forms of government, are legally required to produce a three-year balanced budget, which is hard to do considering the state’s volatile revenue and unpredictable conditions.
A negative certification means that a district probably won’t be able to meet its financial obligations this year or the next. A qualified rating means that the district projects it will have financial problems in year two or three. In the latest period, about 10 percent of districts – 105 – reported a qualified rating. That ‘s 31 more than the same period a year ago and 14 more than the last reporting in 2009, but still below the record 108 districts in 2007-08. And it’s fewer than some experts had predicted.
An infusion of federal stimulus dollars for K-12 schools – about $6 billion over three years – probably has staved off trouble, for the moment. But many districts apparently are using most of the money this year, so next year could be rough. Add to that the minimum $200 to $400 per student cut in revenue under Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for next year, and the number of distressed districts in the next reporting period, which ended Jan. 31, is expected to rise. In 2011, temporary state sales and income taxes are due to expire, further worsening districts’ financial outlook.
State law prescribes a serious of interventions for districts in negative status, including a state-appointed administrator, as happened with districts in Oakland and Compton. For districts with qualified budgets, the county superintendent can recommend actions on union contracts and other financial issues.
The state hasn’t released the names of this year’s fiscal dirty dozen. In the last 2009 report, Pajara Valley Unified, with a budget of $192 million, and Vallejo City Unified ($154 million budget), were the largest districts with a negative certification.
UNION, NAACP SUE OVER NYC SCHOOL CLOSINGS
The union said the plan to close the schools violates state law because it fails to consider the impact of the closings on the community | http://bit.ly/9BrC3J
LAUSD BEGINS REFORM PROCESS OF LOW PERFORMING (…and brand new!) SCHOOLS
89.3 KPCC - [Go to story and podcast]
Feb 2, 2010 -- A first-of-its-kind experiment began today at dozens of Los Angeles Unified School District campuses. Teacher-led groups are competing with non-profit ...
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE VOTING BEGINS
“Charter school operators and some community groups are urging LAUSD officials to discard the idea of having a parent advisory altogether.”
Voting begins in new LAUSD reform program
By Connie Llanos Staff Writer | LA Newspaper Group [Daily News/Daily Breeze] Staff writer Melissa Pamer contributed to this article.
Parents, staff and students were among groups of people voting Tuesday at San Pedro High School on whether to accept proposed reform plans. Community members cast their votes during the evening voting session. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)
Posted: 02/02/2010 08:06:57 PM PST -- In a voting process that appeared riddled with flaws, parents, teachers and community members cast ballots Tuesday to help Los Angeles Unified School District pick operators for 36 schools under a new reform program.
But the district's guidelines for voting were so loose that it appeared many voters, especially teachers, were allowed to cast more than one ballot.
The vote was advisory only, meant to help LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and the school board understand public opinion as they choose outside groups to run the new and underperforming schools under the School Choice reform plan. Results were not released Tuesday, as more voting is scheduled for Saturday.
But its advisory nature didn't stop an aggressive campaign by some of the groups bidding for school control.
During the morning voting at a middle school in the San Fernando Valley, for example, most voters were school employees, rather than parents or community members.
More than 165 votes were cast during a three-hour stretch, but many voters were requesting two ballots - one for the teacher category and one for the community member category.
The ballots, color-coded for the different categories, were dropped into cardboard boxes that organizers with the League of Women Voters were expecting to bring home until after Saturday's balloting.
Even the postal carrier who delivers mail to the middle school was persuaded to vote.
"Anyone can cast a vote as a community member," one teacher told the postal carrier as he picked up letters from the school's main office.
The mailman cast his ballot before rushing off to finish his route.
The League of Women Voters is running the voting at 30 election sites at a cost of $50,000. Parents, school employees and community members will have another chance to vote Saturday.
Raquel Beltran, executive director of the League of Women Voters, verified that at least four voting sites experienced several problems. Those included electioneering, children brought in to cast ballots and school employees casting more than one ballot.
Voters who cast more than one ballot were doing so thanks to a loophole in the voting process that includes multiple voter categories, including a "community members" group that does not require any particular tie to the school or residency.
Beltran said election supervisors were "discouraging" people from casting multiple votes, but because the league did not specifically state in the rules that people could not do this, election site volunteers could not prevent it.
District officials said they will look at revising the voting process.
"The superintendent will debrief after the votes are over, we will learn from it and get back to the original intent of this plan: that is to create quality schools based on thoughtful plans and creating a space for open and honest parent and community engagement," said Matt Hill, a special aide to Cortines who is supervising the reform effort.
A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said his union did not encourage teachers to take advantage of the loophole, although the union Web site does mention that school employees are eligible to vote twice.
Duffy, however, said the "chaotic" voting process was created by district officials.
"We are following all the rules and guidelines," Duffy said.
"This voting process was created out of the dictates of a school board majority. It was ill-conceived and carried out in a chaotic way."
LAUSD board member Yolie Flores, who authored the district's reform plan, said she was also extremely "disappointed" and "disgusted" with some of the issues she'd heard about the voting Tuesday.
But she urged parents and community members to study the proposals that have been drafted by school applicants over the next three days, so that they can make an informed decision if they hadn't done so already.
"This has opened up a process for the first time in this district that has engaged hundreds of parents and we want to celebrate that," Flores said.
Locally, two campuses participated in Tuesday's election as well, but the ballots at Gardena and San Pedro high schools offered a simpler choice than those at most other campuses. That's because those two schools, like a few other aged, existing schools, drew no bids from outside operators.
Instead, a panel of teachers and administrators at each school drew up internal reform plans.
In recent weeks, parents and students were invited to hear details of the proposals. A meeting at Gardena High drew only about 150 people, while last week San Pedro High packed more than 1,300 into its auditorium.
At the two schools, voters were asked to check either the internal proposal or "none of the above."
It remains unclear what the alternative will be to the two plans, and district officials have said there's no guarantee that solitary bids will be recommended for approval to the Board of Education.
Official results of the districtwide advisory votes will be presented to the LAUSD on Feb. 12. Community members are welcome to visit the league's headquarters at 3303 Wilshire Blvd. to get an unofficial count Saturday afternoon.
Charter school operators and some community groups are urging LAUSD officials to discard the idea of having a parent advisory altogether.
"Given the irregularities occurring at every voting station, it would appear that the vote process has been tainted, calling into question the veracity of the votes in general," Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter School Association, wrote in a letter to Cortines.
"What was supposed to be a transparent informational campaign for parents to make informed choices for their children has turned into a high stakes political election campaign for some."
Elections in progress over the fate of 30 L.A. schools, nearly 40,000 students
-- Howard Blume and Jason Song | LA Times LA Now Blog
Photo: Parents and community members line-up to take part in casting ballots at Belvedere Middle School. Groups inside and outside the LAUSD system are competing to run 12 persistently low-performing schools and 18 new campuses. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
February 2, 2010 | 1:11 pm -- Parents and other community members are weighing the educational fate of nearly 40,000 students within the nation’s second-largest school system through a special school-level election.
Voters are choosing a favored reform plan for each school from among groups inside and outside of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Competing bidders are vying for control of 12 persistently low-performing schools and 18 new campuses.
The ballot takes place Tuesday and Saturday. The school board will make the final decision on who runs the schools.
One of the most complex ballots is the one for the soon-to-open Esteban Torres High School complex, where five small schools will operate. There are 10 bids for the site -- five from groups of teachers and five from charter schools.
Charters are independently run, free from some restrictions that govern traditional schools, including union contracts. The charters are touting their successful schools elsewhere in the school system. The teacher groups are highlighting knowledge of the community and new management freedoms -- similar to charter schools -- which they would employ under their plans.
The election for the Torres school is taking place at Belvedere Middle School, east of downtown, where a steady stream of voters filed in Tuesday morning.
Representatives from United Teachers Los Angeles, the L.A. teachers union, as well as charter-school organizers handed out fliers and tried to speak to voters on their way to the polling place, the school’s library.
The voters in this election include high school students at the affected schools, as well as parents, school employees and community members -- whose ballots are all counted in separate tallies.
The results are not binding on school district officials. A final recommendation will come from L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, and the final decision on who will run schools will be made later this month by the school board.
Maritona Quinones, 29, voted for the teacher-led proposals for the Torres school. Quinones' son attends fourth grade at a nearby school.
“The district has its ups and downs, but I’m happy with the education my son is getting,” she said.
Members of the nonprofit InnerCity Struggle bused in parents and community members to vote, also in support of the teacher-led proposals.
“It supports our vision of smaller schools,” said Joanna Salinas, a parent organizer who spent the morning ferrying voters to the school in a gray Chevy van. “But they’re able to vote however they want.”
Charter-school advocates have asserted that they are at a disadvantage when competing with the school district and teachers for district schools. The charters lack access to parent phone numbers and addresses, for example.
They also complained Tuesday morning of irregularities, such as the alleged presence of teacher-union members in polling places, who, they said, were advising some parents how to mark ballots.
“It was very unfortunate and very questionable,” said Yolanda Sanchez, communications and compliance manager with Camino Nuevo Charter Academy.
Other complaints came from Parent Revolution, an organizing group closely affiliated with a charter-school operator, Green Dot Public Schools. It alleged that middle school students were being allowed to vote and also instructed to vote for the district plan in balloting at Foshay Learning Center, south of downtown. The group also complained there was insufficient assistance for Spanish-speaking parents.
There was no immediate response from L.A. Unified or the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, which is conducting the election.
●●smf: The elections are ….and would inevitably have been a mess -- due to the speed the whole wretched mess was put together, the immediate importance of the outcome to many adults and the ultimate importance of the outcome to many children. When I was told by District staff that high schoolers would be permitted to vote because they are secondary school students I commented that middle schoolers (as young as twelve) are also secondary students.
“You are right”, I was told. “But we haven’t really considered that.”
Briefly: A GLBT HARASSMENT-FREE SCHOOL OPENS IN L.A.
- By Nicole Santa Cruz | LA Times
- February 2, 2010 | Aiden Aizumi almost didn't graduate from high school. Aizumi, now 21, is one of many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people who say they have suffered through school, enduring homophobic taunts and name-calling. He completed his final semester of high school from home.
Groundhog Day: ABSTINENCE-ONLY CLASSES MAY BE EFFECTIVE FOR YOUNG TEENS - Other forms of sex education may work too, experts call for more studies(!)
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note the qualifiers: “may” x 2 …and “young” teens.
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Sex-ed and abstinence classes don’t influence the use of condoms or birth control; children remain at risk of pregnancy and disease.
By Thomas H. Maugh II and Shari Roan | LA Times
February 2, 2010 -- A new study shows for the first time that a sex education class emphasizing abstinence only -- ignoring moral implications of sexual activity -- can reduce sexual activity by nearly a third in 12- and 13-year-olds compared with students who received no sex education.
Other forms of sex education also worked, however, reducing sexual activity by about 20% and reducing multiple sexual partners by about 40%, according to the study reported Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
None of the classes appeared to influence the use of condoms or other birth control when the students did have sex. The children thus remained at risk of pregnancy and disease. >>more>>
Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Theory-Based Abstinence-Only Intervention Over 24 Months
Despite the widespread implementation of abstinence interventions for prevention of sexual risk behaviors in adolescents and the controversy regarding their appropriateness, few randomized controlled trials have tested their efficacy. In this study, African American sixth- and seventh-grade students were randomly assigned to an 8-hour abstinence-only intervention, an 8-hour safer sex–only intervention, an 8- or 12-hour combined abstinence and safer-sex intervention, or an 8-hour health-promotion control group. The probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5% in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5% in the health-promotion control group; the safer-sex and comprehensive interventions did not differ from the control group in sexual initiation. None of the interventions had significant effects on consistent condom use or unprotected intercourse. Selective use of theory-based abstinence-only interventions might contribute to the overall goal of curbing the spread of sexually transmitted infections in both the United States and other countries.
EXTRACT: Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine 2010;164(2):152-159. Vol. 164 No. 2, February 2010
Efficacy of a Theory-Based Abstinence-Only Intervention Over 24 Months: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Young Adolescents
John B. Jemmott III, PhD; Loretta S. Jemmott, PhD, RN; Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-only intervention in preventing sexual involvement in young adolescents.
Design Randomized controlled trial.
Setting Urban public schools.
Participants A total of 662 African American students in grades 6 and 7.
Interventions An 8-hour abstinence-only intervention targeted reduced sexual intercourse; an 8-hour safer sex–only intervention targeted increased condom use; 8-hour and 12-hour comprehensive interventions targeted sexual intercourse and condom use; and an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention targeted health issues unrelated to sexual behavior. Participants also were randomized to receive or not receive an intervention maintenance program to extend intervention efficacy.
Outcome Measures The primary outcome was self-report of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were other sexual behaviors.
Results The participants' mean age was 12.2 years; 53.5% were girls; and 84.4% were still enrolled at 24 months. Abstinence-only intervention reduced sexual initiation (risk ratio [RR], 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.48-0.96). The model-estimated probability of ever having sexual intercourse by the 24-month follow-up was 33.5% in the abstinence-only intervention and 48.5% in the control group. Fewer abstinence-only intervention participants (20.6%) than control participants (29.0%) reported having coitus in the previous 3 months during the follow-up period (RR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.90-0.99). Abstinence-only intervention did not affect condom use. The 8-hour (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-1.00) and 12-hour comprehensive (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.91-0.99) interventions reduced reports of having multiple partners compared with the control group. No other differences between interventions and controls were significant.
Conclusion Theory-based abstinence-only interventions may have an important role in preventing adolescent sexual involvement.
Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00640653
Author Affiliations: School of Medicine and Annenberg School for Communication (Dr J. B. Jemmott), and School of Nursing Science (Dr L. S. Jemmott), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (Dr Fong).
Groundhog Day: CRAZY-QUILT DEMOCRACY IN ACTION TODAY IN LAUSD SCHOOL REFORM - Ballot stuffing expected. Results could be meaningless. Some uncast votes are already invalid.
Voters Today and Saturday will choose vote on reform plans for 30 Los Angeles-area schools in an election like no other.
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detailed information on election times and polling places for each school: http://bit.ly/atYmzP
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Voters can cast ballots Saturday as well.
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An election hotline will operate through the end of the election, with information in English and Spanish, at (213) 368-1616.
by Howard Blume | LA Times LA Now blog
For one thing, the voting age could dip to 14. Undocumented residents are welcome. Some people will get multiple votes. Ballot stuffing is expected.
And did we mention that each contestant will actually be competing in seven simultaneous elections? And that the results could be meaningless?
Whoever said democracy is messy could have been thinking of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The subject of the election is singular: Groups inside and outside the school system are competing to run 12 persistently low-performing schools and 18 new campuses. The purpose of the balloting is for different voting blocs to select their favored bidder. Each bloc will be tallied separately, including parents, high school students and school employees.
Despite all the hoopla — and the complaints from all sides about the process and the actions of rivals — the election results could prove meaningless. It will be up to L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines to make recommendations for each school, and the school board will make the final choice late this month.
Voters will include the parents of students in the schools that feed into a campus that is up for grabs. For example, elementary and middle school parents will get to vote on reform plans for Jefferson High if those students might ultimately attend Jefferson High. The parents of eighth-graders — those nearest to attending Jefferson — will be tallied separately from other feeder-school parents. And the parents of current Jefferson students will also be counted separately.
The same logic applies for Carver Middle School. Parents from feeder elementary schools will get a vote, with the parents of fifth-graders — those closest to middle school — tallied separately.
Parents get one vote per student. School employees who also are parents can vote as employees too.
In the end, in fact, anyone can vote. There are two kitchen-sink categories: “unverified parents” and “community.” Anyone can vote in these two categories in any of the 30 individual school elections.
The unverified parents and community categories are “not valid,” said Ruth Logan, co-chairwoman of election committee for the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles. “I would not pay attention to them personally.”
The league is running the complex election for a fee of $50,000.
The L.A. teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has urged members to vote under “community" in as many elections as possible.
The union is acting out of concern about ballot stuffing by other entities, such as charter school supporters. Charter organizations are competing with groups of teachers for control of many schools. Charters are independently managed and exempt from some rules governing traditional schools, including union contracts.
The school district’s website has detailed information on election times and polling places for each school. Voters can cast ballots Saturday as well. An election hotline will operate through the end of the election, with information in English and Spanish, at (213) 368-1616.
posted February 1, 2010 | 4:27 pm | http://bit.ly/dn3FTw
●●smf's 2¢: The LAUSD page with “detailed information” could be more confusing, complicated or unfriendly – but it would take more time and effort.
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