BUSY STUDENTS GET A REQUIRED NEW COURSE: LUNCH

 

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times At Briarcliff High School in Westchester County, many students eat in class. Others, citing heavy workloads, don’t eat at all.

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By WINNIE HU | new york Times

May 24, 2008 — BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. — High school students in this well-to-do Westchester suburb pile on four, five, even six Advanced Placement classes to keep up with their friends. They track their grade-point averages to multiple decimal places and have longer résumés than their parents.

But nearly half the students at Briarcliff High School have packed their schedules so full that they do not stop for lunch, prompting administrators to rearrange the schedule next fall to require everyone to take a 20-minute midday break. They will extend each school day and cut the number of minutes each class meets over the year. Briarcliff currently does not require students to have a lunch period.

In a school where SAT scores are the talk in the hallways and more than half the seniors are accepted to their first-choice college, Briarcliff’s principal, Jim Kaishian, said mandatory lunch is intended to reduce stress on teenagers so caught up in the achievement frenzy they barely have time to eat or sleep.

This year, 12 percent of Briarcliff’s 665 students have no free periods, while an additional 30 percent have classes the entire time the cafeteria is open.

“We see kids rushing to eat; we hear about stress levels going up,” Mr. Kaishian said. “We’ve watched as some kids implode and bend under the weight of having to go period after period without a break.”

Briarcliff is one of several high-performing campuses that is confronting the lunchless, alongside other stress-reduction measures like starting school later or limiting the number of A.P. courses each student can take.

At Horace Mann, a prestigious private school in Riverdale, the Governing Council passed a resolution in March saying: “All students, regardless of whether they want a lunch period, should have time to eat lunch outside of class.” In Chappaqua, Horace Greeley High is rolling out a new schedule this fall that lengthens classes, with a 30-minute free block in the middle of the day so that “students will have more time to eat in a less stressful way,” according to the superintendent, David Fleishman.

Across the country, Woodside Priory School, a Benedictine school south of San Francisco, not only added a mandatory lunch in 2005, but also a 30-minute snack break at 10:45 a.m. In nearby Palo Alto, the all-girl Castilleja School, which already required lunch, started setting out milk and fresh fruit all day and serving afternoon snacks of granola bars and trail mix. And in the Chicago suburbs, New Trier Township High School also considered mandatory lunch but dropped the idea after students protested that it would limit their chances to take electives like music, art and drama.

Here in Briarcliff Manor, the bright, spacious cafeteria often feels deserted. Those who do stop in for Boar’s Head deli sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, sushi or shrimp dumplings often sneak the meals into the library, where the media specialist, Tamara Hervey, said she is constantly picking up wrappers, napkins, soda cans and straws. Others take notes in class between bites of turkey and bologna sandwiches, chips, crackers and baby carrots; 15 of the 19 students in Ms. Carnahan’s 10:45 a.m. A.P. European History were eating the other day while reviewing for a test.

“I base my lunch on what’s going on in class that day, so if I have a test in European History, I’ll eat in Health or English,” said Elliot Tusk, 16, a sophomore who wolfed down Milano cookies. “The Health teacher is sympathetic, but you’re only allowed to eat healthy food in her class. If you have Gatorade or M&Ms, she’ll take it away from you,” he said.

Madeline Levine, a psychologist and author of “The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids” (HarperCollins, 2006), co-founded a project at Stanford University this spring, “Challenge Success,” that is working with a network of 50 public and private schools to reduce student stress and focus on developmental needs.

“Kids who are not eating, or eating under stressful circumstances are not cultivating healthy eating habits,” she said in an interview this week. “We want to send the message that a big part of growing up is how to manage yourself and not just getting good grades.”

Bob Sweeney, president of a counselors’ association in the Hudson Valley, said that many guidance departments are now advising students to strike a balance between a rigorous course load and a healthy lifestyle. At Mamaroneck High School, where Mr. Sweeney works, the whole school takes lunch from 11:06 to 11:58 a.m., when no classes meet.

“It’s the time of day when everything stops,” he said. “They really need that time to decompress and step off the treadmill.”

In anticipation of the new lunch policy, Briarcliff has spent more than $8,000 to expand the cafeteria seating area, ordering 14 additional tables and 140 chairs. It will also be adding a second cashier and deli worker, and revising the menu to include smoothies, more salads and ethnic foods.

To fit in two 20-minute lunch periods, the school has extended each day by 10 minutes, and moved to a rotating schedule of nine classes (only eight of the nine will meet each day). The overall instruction time in each subject will be an average of 7,100 minutes, rather than 7,200, per year.

While many parents support the enforced lunch policy, students complained that it could result in confusing schedules, longer lines in the cafeteria, less time for after-school clubs, and more homework because classes will meet fewer times.

Students will not be required to stay in the cafeteria, but neither will they be able to fill the time with a class. Elaine Rigney, 17, a junior who reads textbooks in the cafeteria sandwich line, said that she had already arranged with teachers to use their classroom computers during lunch next year.

“I would never put lunch before work,” said Elaine, who has a free block for lunch in her schedule this spring, but shuns the cafeteria to study in the library, and snacks in class on yogurt, cut-up red peppers and Wheat Thins.

With three honors and three Advanced Placement classes, Elaine said that her father, a corporate lawyer, lectures her that she will have an ulcer by age 20. But “everywhere you go, you hear college this and college that,” she said. “Now in junior year, with all the standardized tests and college visits, all I can think about is how things are going to affect my college application.”

Elliot Tusk, who eats most days in A.P. European History, said that even if it is unhealthy not to break for lunch, students should be allowed to make their own choices. He takes nine classes, fences every day after school and plays violin in a county orchestra, and said he sometimes skips both breakfast (to get 15 minutes extra sleep) and lunch (if he has multiple tests).

Though he loves food enough to write a restaurant column, “Eating with Elliot,” for the school newspaper, he said he sees weekday lunch as nothing more than a chance to refuel.

“You can’t eat for pleasure in school because you have to take notes in class,” Elliot said. “You can’t learn about the Holy Roman Empire and enjoy sweet peppers and chicken cutlets. It’s two separate parts of my brain.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

CALIFORNIA'S NEW TEACHERS ARE READY BUT HAVE NO PLACE TO GO

 

Newly minted educators are looking for jobs during a time of decreasing positions, school budget cuts and declining enrollment. Some are looking out of state, some overseas.

By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 25, 2008 — Diana Nguyen has dreamed of teaching high school since she was inspired by her ninth-grade world history instructor, who made the subject jump off the page. But when the UC Irvine student receives her teaching credential this summer, she plans to move to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to teach English.

Why the change in plans? Simple, Nguyen, 23, said in her characteristic upbeat way. There are no jobs for a social studies teacher.

"Because of the education budget cuts, I decided to travel abroad before settling down in a district," said Nguyen, a Garden Grove resident and student teacher at Carr Intermediate in Santa Ana.

"This is a good chance to travel, build my resume up and relearn the Vietnamese language."

Nguyen is one of thousands of prospective teachers who are graduating in the coming weeks during a time of decreasing jobs, school district budget cuts and declining student enrollment.

New teachers hoping to find positions near their homes are being forced to seek work in other parts of California, across the United States, even overseas, and some are applying to private and charter schools.

Others are hoping to find work as long-term substitutes, typically receiving lower pay and no benefits.

"I can't remember a worse time. It's desperate," said John Eichinger, an education professor who has taught at Cal State L.A. for 16 years and had taught in public schools for 15 years. His students "are very excited and idealistic, and they can't wait to get out there, and there's no place to go."

California education officials worry that these graduates will leave the state, or the teaching field entirely, and that fewer students will enroll in teacher-preparation programs, as occurred five years ago when mass layoffs were threatened. This could gravely affect the state's ability to replace retiring teachers with well-trained understudies; one-third of the state's 308,000 teachers are expected to retire over the next decade.

"I'm worried," said Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. "Many of these individuals have the potential to be outstanding teachers. Yet if they're not hired, or if there's not an economically viable option, they'll leave the teaching profession."

O'Connell said he was concerned, too, about other states poaching California teachers. School districts in Nevada, Texas, Hawaii and Virginia, among other states, have been recruiting in California. Fort Worth, Texas, school district officials placed billboards in San Diego reading "Your Future Is in Our Classroom" and held a three-day job fair earlier this month.

School districts issued layoff warnings in March to as many as 24,000 teachers, librarians, nurses and others in the wake of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's January budget proposal, which would have cut billions in education funding for 2008-2009. His revised budget proposal, unveiled May 14, improved education spending, although many districts still anticipate multimillion-dollar shortfalls.

Although the number of layoffs and job openings won't be known until this summer, the proposal has already had a chilling effect on the hiring process. UC Irvine canceled its annual spring job fair because so few California districts were interested in recruiting.

The website www.edjoin.org, a job clearinghouse, lists 14,145 statewide vacancies, about 2,000 fewer than at this time last year, said Rick Cornish, director of the Center for Educational Development and Research at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, which runs the site. Of those jobs, nearly 8,400 are teaching positions. California credentials roughly 25,000 teachers annually.

Cornish is confident that once the numbers shake out this summer, districts will resume hiring.

"This just delayed the start of the recruitment season," he said.
For students, that's little comfort.

Connie Morales, 28, wants to become an elementary school teacher, a career that would allow her to combine her love of children with a stable job that provides solid health and retirement benefits -- and summers off.

"I'm going to graduate and not have a job," said the Cal State L.A. student. "It's scary."

Administrators and professors at education departments are urging students to become credentialed in fields with shortages, such as science, math or special education.

Additionally, they are encouraging students to be flexible in looking for positions in other parts of the state and the nation that still are hiring.

"We really encourage students to consider not just the immediate area, at least as a way to get started, and they can move back at a later date if that's what they want," said Bonnie Crawford, director of the credential office at Cal State Northridge. "There are jobs in Hawaii! I look at some of our young people and say, 'If that works for you, go for it. Nothing is forever.' "

That's Nguyen's mantra. She hopes to land a social studies teaching job in Orange County once she returns from Vietnam, but fears that job prospects may still be dry -- because of the economy and a strong emphasis on English, math and science programs -- when she returns next summer.

Another option for new teachers is working as a long-term substitute. If a substitute performs well and has a good relationship with a school's principal and faculty, that familiarity could provide a foot in the door once the job market frees up. But pay is low, typically a little over $100 a day, without benefits.

"For someone with five years of education, a full year of graduate education, that's a pretty dismal salary," said Bruce Baron, principal at South Lake Middle School in Irvine and an instructor in UC Irvine's education department. Stacy Randolph has been working as a long-term substitute at private and public schools since she finished student teaching in December. She lives with her mother and is going without health insurance to make ends meet.

"Pray I don't break my arm or something," said the 26-year-old Glendora resident.

Randolph grew up in a large Italian family, with more than 30 first cousins. As one of the older children, she frequently tended the younger ones.
Her desire to be an educator came early: She recently found one of her kindergarten assignments in which she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up.

She had written "teacher."

California's new teachers are ready but have no place to go - Los Angeles Times

ORANGE COUNTY TEACHER-OF-THE-YEAR LAID OFF IN BUDGET CUTS

 Bergeson teacher questions her future. Her contributions to professional environment praised by school principal.

By LOIS EVEZICH | STAFF WRITER  orange county register

4LAKids notes: This story missed the cut in April, hopefully this teacher will also miss the cut!

Being Teacher of the Year is no guarantee of a job. Holly Wiseman, right, is the 2007-2008 Teacher of the Year at Marion Bergeson Elementary School and is on the list to be laid off at the end of this school year because of budget cuts. Principal Ed Neely, left, laments the possible loss of Wiseman, "We will lose a quality teaching environment".  Photo: SAM GANGWER, THE REGISTER

 

Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Principal Ed Neely at Bergeson Elementary describes the mood among his staff as "down." The $27 million in cuts the Capistrano Unified School District is making is hitting schools hard, and he worries that the impact will affect the quality of education the district is presenting to its children.

"The mood here is blue," he said last week. "Everyone is worried."

One great loss, he added, is that Holly Wiseman, who was voted by the staff as the 2007 Teacher of the Year, received the Reduction in Force notice.

"That's harder to take than most," he said. "We're in for a huge political fight. How can a state that's the fifth most powerful economy in the country be the 46th in how we support education?

"From the minute Holly got here, teaching fifth grade, she had the concept of a professional learning community, at each grade level and across the school. She helped to bring that environment to Bergeson."

Wiseman is frustrated and disappointed.

"I'm making an attempt to take my frustration and channel it in to more productive areas," she said. "We're writing to our state legislators and also getting involved at the district level. We want to be productive, to make changes in the process."

The decision, said Wiseman, depends on what the governor does with the budget, and what the district decides to do with those funds when they're released. "From our aspect, it's not up to the district, it's up to the state."

Three tenured teachers at Bergeson received notices. "We're an older school," Wiseman said. "We don't have as much seniority as some other teachers."

One teacher received a reassignment letter to a middle or high school as she is credentialed for those grade levels in social studies. Two young teachers are in their first and second years, and they don't even get an official notice, Wiseman said. They are considered on probation and received a letter saying their services are no longer required.

"But we do remain on the seniority list for 39 months," she added. "That means the district cannot go outside the list to hire someone else for a position that we are qualified to teach."

Wiseman is giving thought to her future. "I was always torn between teaching and nursing, so I may go back to Saddleback and take the science classes I need in the nursing program. As much as I love teaching, the security isn't there unless the governor makes education a priority. As long as they continue to take funding away from education, this is a game we'll play every year."

Neely said they're looking at the bleakest possibilities.

"New schools are set up for 20 to a classroom," he said. "Now they'll have to knock down walls for bigger classes, with fewer teachers. And the legislature may have to meet all summer. We expect a revised budget in May, but sometimes that's bleaker than February's.

"There's no more fat left. We're cutting muscle and bone."

News: Being Teacher of the Year is no guarantee of a job - OCRegister.com

FINANCIAL CRUNCH HURTS LAUSD ATHLETES

 

By Ramona Shelburne, Columnist - LA Daily News

05/25/2008 — Why is it always the good stuff, the stuff that makes things special, that gets cut when times are lean?

Why do we always need to resort to nickel and diming our way to balancing the budget?

Is it really less painful that way?

Over the next couple of years, every kid who plays sports in the Los Angeles Unified School District will find out as the district attempts to get through these lean economic times by cutting into nonessential expenses and raising revenues from facility usage.

First up on the chopping block: Funding for championship venues. In other words, the City Section has probably played its last football championship at the Coliseum, its last basketball championship at the Sports Arena and its last volleyball championship at Cal State Northridge.

And first up to the cash register: Youth groups like the Valley Youth Conference, a nonprofit, tax-exempt group that runs Pop Warner football leagues, AAU Track, AAU basketball and cheerleading programs for 9,600 kids in the San Fernando Valley eachyear.

In the past, groups like the Valley Youth Conference were able to pay a nominal fee to use LAUSD facilities, but now they are being asked to pay hourly permit fees for every game, every practice, even every meeting they hold at a district field or classroom.

"It's probably going to put us out of business," said Bill Speer, the director of the Valley Youth Conference. "Next year, we're looking at about $200,000

in extra fees. And we've got no choice but to pass that on to the kids. We're worried that a lot of them aren't going to be able to pay it."

There is a compelling argument for charging fees for for-profit groups that use district facilities, but Speer doesn't make any money in his capacity as Valley Youth Conference director. He's been a detective with the LAPD for over 30 years and donates his time, energy and money to the Valley Youth Conference because he's seen firsthand the positive impact sports can make in kids' lives.

The Valley Youth Conference has also donated money to the high schools whose fields it uses, providing a large percentage of the funding for things like snack shacks and lights and fields at Canoga Park High, San Fernando High and Van Nuys High.

But next year, the 12 Pop Warner teams the organization operates will have to charge approximately $100 more in yearly fees (from $300 to $400) to offset the new facility fees.

And it's not just private groups. Effective immediately, City Section programs will have to pay a $77.10administrative fee to apply for a permit to play at a district facility, then pay a rental fee of $10an hour and a custodial fee of $5 an hour.

The only way to waive those fees is if all the teams participating in the activity are from LAUSD schools.

"Basically, if we want to play against schools from outside the district that can give us a different look, we have to pay for that different look," Birmingham football coach Ed Croson said.

For now, Croson has elected to play only against City Section schools and save the money for the summer passing league tournaments against top Southern Section competiton.

But each school, and each team, will have to make it's own decision.

Then there's the issue of championship venues. Sure, a game can be played anywhere, but having them at such historic sites is what makes them memorable for the players, coaches and schools.

City Section commissioner Barbara Fiege seemed sick over the situation. She doesn't want to cut, but it's not completely her choice. So she's trying cut where it does the least harm.

"Although we believe that our student-athletes deserve to play in these venues, this may not be possible in the upcoming years," Fiege said. "What we don't want to do is cut participation opportunities."

Still, Fiege seemed sad that it's come to this and is determined to find solutions to the problem

"In the past, I've had to rearrange schedules with the Dodgers (for the City baseball final) and I always call some of the coaches and say, `How do you guys feel about that?'

"And they always say, `We would play at 2 a.m. if that's when we had to because it's so special, such great place to play,"'she said.

It's going to take creativity and generosity to solve the issue, but there is hope.

Already, the City Council has figured out a way to fund LA 36, the cable access channel that televises City Section championships but was on the chopping block in the mayor's initial budget proposal.

The championship venues can be saved, too. In other cities, professional and college teams donate the facilities for schools to host their championships, or charge a nominal fee. It's good community service, good public relations and good business. And it really doesn't cost that much money. All of the site fees are in the five-figure range.

Fiege said some of the venues the City Section works with have been open to the idea.

The new facility fees will be harder to roll back, at least in the short term. It's revenue the City badly needs to balance the budget. But if the revenue can come from somewhere else, be offset by private donations, or is no longer needed, the fees don't have to be permanent.

The good news is that the City Section has a leader in Fiege who understands the value of these "special" things and is looking for creative solutions.

Nickels and dimes don't seem like much when they're taken individually, but when you add them all up, the cost is enormous: All the good stuff is gone.

Financial crunch hurts LAUSD athletes - LA Daily News

The news that doesn't fit from May 25th

...follow the links!

· ALAMEDA COUNTY JUDGE UPHOLDS STATEWIDE CHARTER SCHOOLS DECISION.

· "SOLVING PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION"+"FORCED FUNDRAISING" - Letters to the Times

· NOVICE ENGLISH TEACHER LEARNS HIS LESSONS QUICKLY: A Southeast Middle School, one instructor shows that inspiration starts with 'I.'

· WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE THE POSITIVE" - A bit of the old mixed messaging from a school board member.

· SHIFT'S HAPPENING @ LAUSD: Small Learning Communities: The YouTube Video!

· NEGLECT CITED AS PART OF PROBLEM AT LOCKE HIGH:  Turmoil has increased as the campus awaits its transition to charter school status. A district official concedes that inattention from LAUSD has made the interim more difficult.

· NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS GAP CONTINUING FOR CHARTERS: Sector's Scores Lag in Three Out of Four Main Categories

· The PPIC Survey: SCHWARZENEGGER AND REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS LOSING WITH CALIFORNIA VOTERS ON BUDGET ACCORDING TO PPIC POLL: Californians want a balanced approach of spending cuts and tax increases

· GOVERNOR’S REVISED BUDGET DRAWS SKEPTICS: Although Schwarzenegger adds $1.8 billion to education programs, school officials say it isn’t enough.

State Superintendent O'Connell: “The state revised budget is clearly better than the budget in January that the governor initially put forward. But let’s be clear: Many of these programs are still facing a 10 percent cut.”

State Senate Majority Leader Romero: “We all knew 2008 would be a painful year for the state, but the governor’s latest proposal is based on short sighted trickery — massive borrowing, fund shifting and a dangerous bet to use uncertain future lottery revenues to balance the books.

· LAUSD TEST SCORES BETTER, STILL SUBPAR: Elementary and high schools improve, but not middle schools

· L.A. UNIFIED POLICE OFFICER SAYS TRANSFER WAS PAYBACK FOR REPORTING SEX ABUSE

Luis Barraza's claim with the district contends he was forced out of South East High after informing South Gate police about a student's allegation she had sex with a substitute teacher.

· REWRITING THE LOCKE HIGH SCHOOL STORY: Violence plagues the South L.A. campus, but the real travesty is that poor kids are denied a quality education

· CHILD CARE LAW CENTER RESPONSE TO THE 2008-09 GOVERNOR’S MAY REVISIONS

NIGHTINGALE STUDENTS 3, BOARD OF ED 1; NEW AUDITORUM FOR GARFIELD; A REAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE NEXT SCHOOL BOND

· REPORT URGES A SHARPER FOCUS ON EDUCATION FOR CALIFORNIA CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE

· SCHWARZENEGGAR'S LOTTERY PLAN TOO ROSY, BUDGET ANALYST SAYS

“Our major concern with the governor's plan ... is that it makes overly optimistic and potentially unobtainable assumptions about the ability of the lottery to increase profits,” Elizabeth Hill, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst said in her review.

· THE GIANT FOAM FINGER: Sandra Tsing Loh tries to create the perfect protest sign as she takes on education cuts.

· CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS PASS A TENSE WEEK OF STANDARDIZED TESTING

 

ALAMEDA COUNTY JUDGE UPHOLDS STATEWIDE CHARTER SCHOOL DECISION

By Josh Richman  Oakland Tribune

5/24/08 - The State Board of Education's decision to authorize a statewide public-school charter that bypasses local officials' input wasn't an abuse of authority, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled this week in dismissing a lawsuit.

The California School Board Association's Education Legal Alliance sued the state board in October, claiming the board had overstepped its authority in January 2007 by approving Aspire Public Schools' petition to create "statewide benefit" charter schools; Aspire has opened schools in Stockton and Los Angeles under that charter.

A 1994 law allowing such a charter — issued without local approval or oversight — requires the state board to make a formal finding, based on information provided by the applicant, that it will provide "instructional services of statewide benefit" that can't be provided by a charter operating only in one district or county. The Education Legal Alliance — later joined by the Association of California School Administrators, the California Teachers Association and the Stockton Unified School District — claimed the state board had been derelict in its duty in granting the approval without such proof.

But the state board — and Aspire, as a party of interest to the case — argued Aspire's petition did provide enough basis for approval and the board's action was a proper exercise of its authority. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Burr agreed this week, finding state law and regulations "provide substantial discretion" to the state board in determining whether to approve a state charter school.

Education Legal Alliance director Richard Hamilton said the ruling is "unfortunate" and will be appealed. He said it "will open the door and encourage charters to bypass local school districts and county offices of education in an attempt to avoid local oversight." "There should be particular concern as to whether the SBE is prepared to provide the necessary oversight for this new expansion of charter schools," Hamilton said.

Aspire co-founder and CEO Don Shalvey said he's "certainly pleased" by the ruling "because it just means that much more opportunity for the kids that we serve: predominately first-generation collegegoers" from the state's lower-performing school districts.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the decision, saying it will "allow for many more charter schools in California, especially for students in high-risk areas of our state that could benefit greatly from access to new avenues of learning."

• LA Times Story:

ALAMEDA COUNTY: Charter schools win court ruling

5/24/08 - A Superior Court judge has affirmed the right of high-quality charter schools to open new campuses without first seeking approval from local school districts. The Thursday decision opened the door for charter schools in California districts that have barred them entirely, even though such blanket resistance to charters is illegal.

Although L.A. Unified has more charters than any district in the nation, some nearby district don't have any.

The suit was brought by the California School Boards Assn. and the California Teachers Assn., among others. They had challenged regulations of the state Board of Education, which voted to make Aspire Public Schools a "statewide benefit charter." This designation can also be extended to other charter organizations.

The lawsuit contended that the state board's action infringed on local control, and the right of school districts to govern schools within their jurisdiction. -- Howard Blume

• CSBA Press Release: Charter school ruling to be appealed

 

Alameda County judge upholds statewide charter school decision - Inside Bay Area

"SOLVING PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION"+"FORCED FUNDRAISING": Letters to the editor - LA Times

 

Solving problems in education - May 23, 2008
Re "Rewriting the Locke story," May 20

This article does not explain how Green Dot, or any charter school operator, will make such drastic changes immediately. Please do not give false hope that Green Dot will go into Locke and fix all that is wrong with that high school.
Charter schools have the luxury of getting rid of any student they wish. I agree that reform is needed, especially in schools with a high population of impoverished students. I just don't believe that handpicking the population of students and comparing them to the less fortunate is the way to do it.
Walk into any of the despondent schools in Los Angeles and you will see the same issues you see at Locke -- issues that will exist even after it becomes a charter. But Locke will be able to send problem students back to the warehouses we call low-performing high schools.
Jeanette Battle
Los Angeles

Donna Foote's astonishingly naive or disingenuous statement, "I can honestly say that I never met a student there who didn't want to learn," must be countered with common sense.
If a young adult has the desire to learn, he or she will find a way to make that happen. In my 19 years with the LAUSD, I've worked with a small percentage of students who are hostile to learning. At the top, there's an equally small percentage (in mainstream classes) of students ready and willing to make a strong effort to learn. The majority in the middle behave as if learning should always be fun. If it's not, they refuse to partake of it.
Foote steps right into the problem when she writes that "only 3% of Locke students are receiving the education required," as if education is a commodity to be received passively and not earned.
Mark Aaron
Santa Monica

Forced fundraising - May 24, 2008

Re "Schools can't spare time or dimes for field trips," May 19

For those of us with children in school, it's not news that there's no money for field trips. That's what those catalogs with $10 rolls of wrapping paper, forgettable trinkets and chocolate bars that parents bring to work and children take to their neighbors are all about.
Across California, PTAs and booster clubs have been paying for field trips and assemblies because school districts can't afford to provide them.
School parent groups work hard to ensure that all students have access to the kind of enrichment a child gets from a field trip to a hands-on science museum, a local art museum or, if they're lucky, a historical reenactment center that brings Colonial America to life.
PTA moms never set out to be fundraisers. But we see the greater good and find ourselves enthusiastically hawking wrapping paper because we have no other way of raising the funds.
So the next time the neighbor kid shyly asks you if you would like to buy one of those chocolate bars, remember back to your grade-school field trips and go ahead and buy one. No, make that two bars, and one roll of wrap.
Denise Clary Wilson
Culver City
The writer is the president of the PTA at El Rincon Elementary School.

I find it hard to accept that schools don't have money for field trips. In the worst of economic times, the district that I worked for always had money for:
* sending administrators on expensive weekend conferences;
* hiring consultants to advise on matters that could have been handled by any reasonably well-educated individual already being paid by the district;
* repairing the front office, when classrooms needed it more;
* creating Taj Mahals at the district office or county offices;
* keeping the buses running for sporting events but not for academic field trips;
* buying out the contract of an incompetent superintendent.
Bill D. Holder
Cypress

There is no substitute for introducing children to works of art through a visit to a museum. Each year, the Getty Museum hosts nearly 115,000 students, funding bus transportation for more than 32,000 students from Title I schools. For many of these children, this is their first visit to a museum.
The Getty is fortunate to have the resources to help, but we cannot assist every school in need. To expand our ability to reach students directly, we offer free workshops and curricula for teachers at all levels, geared to the state content standards. But the best classroom programs in the world cannot match the experience of seeing a Rembrandt or a Gauguin for the first time.
In an era when schools are struggling to provide the basics for students, field trips might seem like a luxury. But we believe that cultural awareness, creativity and aesthetic enjoyment are essential to a child's education. We applaud the efforts of corporations to help fund field trips. We hope more companies will follow their example.
Michael Brand
Director
J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles

Letters to the editor - Los Angeles Times

NOVICE ENGLISH TEACHER LEARNS HIS LESSONS QUICKLY: A Southeast Middle School, one instructor shows that inspiration starts with 'I.'

 

LA Times columnist Sandy Banks

May 24, 2008 - I  had the teacher pegged the minute I heard his voice on my answering machine. Tim Schlosser sounded so forthright, so earnest and so impossibly young, he had "Teach for America" written all over him.

He was responding to a message I'd left about Southeast Middle School students, who had e-mailed me with questions as part of an assignment in his journalism class.

"I'm sorry if they clogged up your inbox," his message said. He assumed I'd called to complain -- which speaks volumes about the way teachers get dumped on these days. I called back and offered to visit his class.

So on Tuesday I drove across the railroad tracks that separate Watts from South Gate and rolled up to a collection of bright, yellow, box-shaped buildings that resemble -- in Schlosser's description -- a giant poundcake baking in the sun.

At Southeast, which opened four years ago, all but nine of the 1,367 students are Latino, and more than one-third are still learning English.

In Schlosser's classroom, I was greeted by two dozen students in uniforms and a slight, blond teacher who looked so young that he could swap the tie for a uniform and pass for a student.

Conventional thinking has it that schools like Southeast need experienced teachers to help students weighed down by history and poverty. But veteran teachers often opt for more suburban settings, leaving inner-city campuses to newbies like Schlosser.

He graduated two years ago, at 21, from Seattle University, a Jesuit college. He hadn't planned on a teaching career, but a degree in creative writing doesn't make for a lot of options. So he signed up for a two-year stint with Teach for America, which recruits top college graduates to teach on struggling campuses.

He spent the summer at a "boot camp" learning teaching techniques, taught a session at Samuel Gompers Middle School in South Los Angeles and was hired at a job fair by Southeast Principal Walter Flores.

"I wish I could clone him," Flores told me.

It didn't take long, Schlosser said, to understand why the first question in every teacher interview was some version of "How will you keep order in your class?"

One unruly student can be like "a drop of red food coloring in a clean glass of water," he explained.

His first year, he felt like an impostor in front of the 200 students he taught. In a blog he kept to stay in touch with his family, he recalled "standing in front of the class pretending to know exactly what I'm doing, while desperately trying to generate some way of filling the next 35 minutes."

He began this school year armed with lesson plans and a six-page list of rules. It's been easier, he said, but he can't shake off last year's failings. "My students deserved more than I was able to deliver. That's a year lost they can't recoup. I still feel bad that I wasn't better."

His admission makes it clear to me that he's the kind of teacher I'd like my daughters to have.

One who's willing to risk looking foolish in class -- juggling fruit, doing magic tricks or throwing a raw egg against a wall -- to teach teenagers who barely speak English about paragraph structure and metaphors.

One who blames himself when a fight breaks out in the back of his class or half his fourth-period students can't keep up. And who celebrates an overheard comment by "one of my punk/rocker girls," who told a friend she had fun presenting a project in class.

Schlosser is young enough to cut a belligerent student slack -- "She's just a kid, desperate to be as cool as possible," he wrote on his blog -- and to apologize when his public scolding makes a shy, quiet girl cry in class.

I understand why half of all new teachers leave the profession within five years. Done well, teaching can be an emotionally draining job.

But five enthusiastic years from a teacher like Schlosser might be better than 30 years from a teacher just marching toward retirement.

The keys to making that work are better mentoring for new teachers, loosening union assignment-by-seniority rules and getting enough good prospects in the pipeline so that we can show not-so-good teachers the door.

"Teaching is the kind of job nothing prepares you for, no matter how many courses you take or videos you watch or classes you observe," said Southeast Principal Flores. "I would say, 'Give me the young teacher with a good heart, someone who genuinely cares about the students.' "

And what you might get in return are students who genuinely care about their teacher -- at least enough to ask good questions so as not to embarrass him when a professional journalist comes to class.

Although most of the questions came from three or four students, none of the others were texting, braiding their hair or sleeping on their desks -- all of which I've seen before.

I was grateful, and so was Schlosser. And though his Teach for America commitment is done, he'll be back at Southeast next year. As chairman of the English Department.

 

 

Novice English teacher learns his lessons quickly - Los Angeles Times

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE THE POSITIVE

smf for 4LAKids

Tamar Galatzan proudly proclaims herself the "only school board member with kids in the District"; a unique possessor of the parental perspective.  

Board member Galatzan has two items out in the media in a single news cycle; her Call For Positive Communications in her own blog "The Galatzan Gazette":

"COMMUNICATING THE POSITIVE, TOO": from the Galatzan Gazette - Issue 36, May 23, 2008

In the past several weeks, no other public agency in Los Angeles has received the amount of negative media coverage as has the School District. Between charges of negligence in handling sexual misconduct cases ; an ever changing policy on charters that leaves no one one happy; suggestions that some new schools are planned for environmentally unsafe areas; and a penchant to hand out expensive consulting contracts, the district has shown a particular skill for generating highly unflattering headlines. I would certainly agree with assignment editors that these are valid stories, well worth bringing to the attention of readers, viewers and listeners. But there is also a real danger that the spate of bad news will leave the potentially fatal impression that nothing is ever right with LAUSD. In meetings with state legislators on the budget, business leaders about participating in our schools, and parents deciding where to enroll their children, I have seen that the District's failure to communicate and highlight success stories works against all of our hard work. Without seeing either cloying or desperate, the district must work harder to communicate positive stories to the public. Everyday I learn about innovative programs, extraordinary teachers, creative administrators and staff, dedicated parents and remarkable students. Now more than ever, the community needs to hear about them as well. -Tamar

….and her slam on the District's discipline policy in the current Sherman Oaks Sun:

 

Undisciplined discipline policy
BY TAMAR GALATZAN

Sun Community Newspapers - LAUSD Talk

 

 

May 21, 2008 - Who among us was not disciplined at least once during our public school days? We may have been ordered to clean the bathrooms, received suspensions or expulsions, or, in the days before the outlawing of corporal punishment, given a whack or two on the bottom.

see: GUIDELINES ON SCHOOL SPANKINGS - 1979 for previous board of ed silliness on this subject

Although we were probably furious and upset at the time, we also recognized that discipline and punishment are as much a part of school life as tests and texts.

It may also have been the case that your school or school district had a consistent discipline policy. Students knew that if they broke a specific rule – no fighting, for example – that a specific punishment would follow. Without exception.

I wish I could say the same for the Los Angeles Unified School District. One of the unfortunate things I have learned since joining the Board is that, LAUSD does not have a consistent, fully implemented district-wide discipline policy. In almost a year on the School Board, I have seen summaries of dozens of proposed student expulsions. Many of these students have a past discipline history of 20, 30, or over 50 disciplinary actions.

These case histories prompted me to investigate further.  I discovered that The District’s “Discipline Foundation Policy: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support” policy was enacted through a board resolution in March 2007. By emphasizing prevention and intervention practices within the classroom, the District expects student discipline to drop significantly. School Leadership Councils at each school must create, a “plan for action” to form procedures and practices consistent with the policy and specific to individual school needs.

This new policy, intended to fortify a culture of discipline, has operated for over a year. Before we can even gauge its effectiveness, we must address the fact that the level of implementation is unclear.

A number of people from various departments played a role in its development. As a result, it takes many different people from many different divisions to explain its various parts. Furthermore, like other District programs, it is implemented vertically. Downtown bureaucrats train local District staff members who then train school staff on the policy’s implementation.

No evaluation has been conducted to determine how well schools have adopted the policy.  Ask any teacher and you will likely hear how critical consistent expectations are to student achievement, positive classroom culture, and healthy student behavior.

Since we do not know if our students are receiving the same District-wide message about behavioral expectations and consequences, what reason do we have to think this policy will improve student behavior? As I have come to recognize these past several months, the District’s discipline policy is not very disciplined.

---

As a member of the District's Discipline Policy Task Force I'm showing unusual reserve out of respect for the hard work put in by my fellow task force members in saying that while no policy is perfect, Ms. Galatzan hasn't done her homework on this one.

I fail to see exactly how the above will aid

• in meetings with state legislators on the budget,
• business leaders about participating in our schools,
• and parents deciding where to enroll their children.

Sometimes this sort of mixed message sending is refreshingly ironic, other times it's just hypocritical. - smf

CHARLES MAYER GOLDSTEIN, 87; "Accidental Dentist", USC faculty member organized free dental clinics

 

Photo:USC School of Dentistry

HUMANITARIAN: When Charles Meyer Goldstein became faculty director of the USC Mobile Clinic, it was a bare-bones operation. He later designed mobile dental equipment, the vehicles needed to house the equipment and dental chairs that could be transported. Dental clinic patients included migrant workers and needy adults and children.

By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 14, 2008  - Charles Meyer Goldstein, a dentist and USC faculty member who advocated community service and organized free dental clinics that treat thousands of poor people each year, died Sunday at his home in Brentwood from complications of multiple organ failure. He was 87.

As faculty director of the USC Mobile Clinic and later director of community outreach programs, Goldstein rallied USC dental students and with them served needy patients throughout California, including the homeless on skid row and migrant workers in the San Joaquin Valley.

In 1970, the year Goldstein was appointed director, the new mobile clinic was a bare-bones operation. Students traveled in donated Checker cabs and worked in a trailer. Patients -- migrant workers in the Central Valley -- sat in cardboard dental chairs.

Students benefited from hands-on learning, patients benefited from the care, and Goldstein established a tradition. Community outreach programs have become a signature of the USC School of Dentistry.

"I've got photographs of him pushing a broom, hauling equipment; he really set an example," said Dr. Alvin Rosenblum, a longtime friend and colleague. "There are other people . . . who have helped develop operations to help the underserved who were students of his."

Goldstein also provided dentists with the tools that made mobile dentistry and service to the poor possible. He designed mobile dental equipment, the vehicles needed to house the equipment and dental chairs that could be transported, Rosenblum said.

In addition to his work with USC, Goldstein was a key figure in the establishment of free dental clinics throughout the region: Synanon in Santa Monica, dental services at L.A. Free Clinic, a dental clinic for Native Americans and one at Union Rescue Mission on skid row.

The clinics serve patients -- adults and children -- who sometimes have never seen a dentist before. For patients who are ashamed to laugh because of the poor condition of their teeth or who are in pain, free care can open the door to a new, more confident life.

"You don't have much esteem if you don't have your front teeth," Goldstein said in a 2000 Business Wire story. "Most of the people we see need really extensive work. We see a lot of missing teeth and decay. Some of these people haven't seen the dentist for 20 years, and they don't brush their teeth."

Serving those in need was more than a job for Goldstein, it was a crucial element of his life's philosophy, said his son, Jeffrey Goldstein.

"He thought the highest calling of humans was to serve [others]," his son said. "He did that as a dentist."

Goldstein was born April 21, 1921, in Providence, R.I. His father was a businessman who relocated the family often; his mother was a housewife. By the time Goldstein was in high school, the family home was in San Diego.

Goldstein called himself the "accidental dentist." After graduating from high school, he set his sights on a career as a veterinarian. When he could not find a California school that offered a veterinary degree, a friend suggested dentistry. "He said OK, and he loved it," his son said.

In the early 1940s, Goldstein enlisted in the Navy, in which simultaneous with his service he studied dentistry. He earned a bachelor's degree and a degree in dentistry from UC San Francisco in 1944.

Soon afterward he began private practice in Santa Monica and later in West Los Angeles. In 1967, he earned a master's in public health from UCLA.

Goldstein's affiliation with USC, where he held various appointments, began in 1959 when he became a part-time member of the periodontics faculty. He also was a professor in the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Epidemiology and director of community outreach programs.

His service also crossed borders: Goldstein contributed to the founding of the school of dentistry at Tel Aviv University in the early '80s, Rosenblum said, and provided free care to Palestinian children in the 1970s.

Until recently Goldstein continued to teach and work with community clinics.
His dream was to create a $4-million endowment to fund the USC Mobile Clinic, a goal he was working on just before his death.

"He represented the best of professional dentistry through his selfless service, leadership and commitment to helping improve the quality of life and oral health of thousands of children," said Dr. Bruce G. Toy, chairman of the California Dental Assn. Foundation, which presented Goldstein a humanitarian award the day before he died. "Goldstein's endless compassion will live on through the lives he has touched."

In addition to Jeffrey of Denver, Goldstein, who was a widower, is survived by sons Jonathan of Atascadero, Calif., and Joel of La Grande, Ore.; daughter Judith Walter of Agoura Hills; brother Mort Goldstein of Prescott, Ariz.; sister Clara Shapiro of Hollywood Hills; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

(update) USC Dental School is hosting a memorial to Dr. Goldstein for all to attend on June 26^th from 3 to 5:00 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium on the USC University Park campus.  Memorial donations may be made to the USC Mobile Clinic Gift Fund and sent to USC School of Dentistry, 925 W. 34th St., Suite 202, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

Charles Meyer Goldstein, 87; dentist, USC faculty member organized free dental clinics - Los Angeles Times

SHIFT'S HAPPENING @ LAUSD: Small Learning Communities, the video!

 
Based on 'Did you Know?' originally by Karl Fisch and later modified by Scott McLeod, this version adapted for LAUSD by Daniel Gumarang includes recent data and describes the progress of small learning communities in Los Angeles Unified School District.

To date, LAUSD has a total of 323 approved small learning communities in 53 high schools. (Download list in PDF)

For information on how to obtain a HiRes copy of this video , please contact the Office of School Redesign

LAUSD | Office of School Redesign | Small Learning Communities

HEGLECT CITED AS PART OF PROBLEM AT LOCKE HIGH: Turmoil has increased as the campus awaits its transition to charter school status.

A district official concedes that inattention from LAUSD has made the interim more difficult.

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

9:31 AM PDT, May 23, 2008  - The impending transition from a traditional school to a charter school has left Locke High in a difficult purgatory, said students, parents, teachers and administrators, and may have contributed to tensions that boiled over into a campus-wide melee involving about 600 students earlier this month.

The rioting came after months of turmoil as the district prepared to hand over the troubled Watts campus to Green Dot Public Schools, which is poised on July 1 to become the first private organization to run a traditional school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Locke High School in South Los Angeles locked down after huge brawl

Photos: Locke High in transition

 

Inattention from the school district made the transition period all the more difficult, said recently hired Senior Deputy Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.

"We did neglect Locke," Cortines said in an interview with Times reporters and editors. "And we neglected it as it related to security. . . . I would suggest we abdicated our responsibility."

In the middle of last year, Locke was a low-performing but relatively peaceful campus in a gang-plagued neighborhood. Much credit for the relative calm went to third-year Principal Frank Wells, who was generally well regarded for his ability to control students without alienating them.

But the district yanked Wells in May after he openly sided with Green Dot's effort to build faculty support for making Locke a charter school, thereby removing it from direct district control.

To replace Wells, officials brought in retired principal Travis Kiel, who lacked Wells' knowledge of the campus and its student body.

Many students protested Wells' removal. And after his departure, campus vandalism and graffiti rose dramatically.

"A few days after he was pulled out, there was kind of like a mini-riot," said 18-year-old senior Veronica Zuniga. "A lot of students felt they had nobody to restrain them. They started going wild in the hallways."

The school has had persistent problems with students wandering halls and grounds -- not bothering to get to class on time, several teachers said.

Nearly 20% don't show up at all on a typical day -- a long-standing issue at the school with an official enrollment of 2,600 students.

Another challenge was that, last fall, Locke had an influx of students from a neighborhood dominated by Blood gang members, said teachers, security staff and Green Dot employees.

This proved a recipe for conflict at a school whose black students come primarily from neighborhoods associated with the rival Crips. The school also is plagued by Latino gangs, who are potentially hostile to each other as well as the black gangs.

At the same time, the district cut the number of school-based police officers from three to two and temporarily cut the hours of unarmed security aides by about half, said teachers, current and former administrators and Green Dot. Graffiti became rampart, staff members said.

There also was a rise in the student display of gang colors, which the dress code prohibits, said one district security employee, who feared repercussions from supervisors if he was identified.

"The administration let it get out of control from Day 1," the security employee said. "I didn't feel safe going out at lunch."

The employee recalled a September incident in which more than three dozen Broadway Crips "came up to school for a fight. They know the police are undermanned." The security team hastily locked the front gates, then ran to bolt the back gates when the gang members headed that way.

"They didn't get on campus that day," but within a week, he said, a major fight occurred on the perimeter that involved black students from rival gangs. (Much of this month's brawl was black versus Latino).

The district eventually dispatched another veteran administrator to help Kiel, and the team gradually assumed more control.

But the problem of sagging morale within some classrooms has been even more challenging. Most of the school's faculty has no personal investment in the school's future. At best, Green Dot hopes to hire about 40% of the existing staff, and it hasn't reached that level yet. Green Dot has no interest in some teachers; others have doubts about Green Dot. Many never favored Green Dot's entry in the first place.

Students have "had teachers saying, 'Green Dot is bad. Green Dot is bad,' " said cheerleading coach Marlo Jenkins. "The morale has really dropped because [staff members] don't feel like they have everybody behind them. . . . They're working on empty. It's just really disheartening."
Senior Cindy Romero, 18, said some "teachers don't care no more. Last year, teachers would force students to keep up with the work, but now they gave up."

Cortines said he was disturbed, during a recent visit, to see several teachers showing movies not related to instruction or letting their students play cards. He said also observed good teaching and had no issue with Kiel's management.

Senior David Marshall, 18, praised teachers for "doing everything they can to help students graduate."

Even in this difficult year, Kiel said, there have been positive initiatives under the current regime, including teacher-training led by specialists from UCLA, he said.

"We had so many distractions here," Kiel said. "But there is a foundation of instruction here that's pretty good. And it needs to be built upon."

howard.blume@latimes.com
Times staff writer Mitchell Landsberg contributed to this report.

'Neglect' cited as part of problem at Locke High - Los Angeles Times

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS GAP CONTINUING FOR CHARTERS: Sector's Scores Lag in Three Out of Four Main Categories

 

 

By Erik W. Robelen - EdWeek

Published Online: May 19, 2008 | Published in Print: May 21, 2008

Nearly four years after a front-page story in The New York Times sparked a fierce debate by suggesting that charter school students nationally were lagging academically behind their peers in regular public schools, the national testing program that informed the controversy has generated far more data for researchers and advocates to scrutinize.

Yet the more recent findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress have garnered much less attention and analysis than the 2003 results.

The picture that emerges from the growing data set appears mixed for charter schools. While many analysts urge caution in using NAEP to judge the 4,300-school charter sector, the latest data do not bolster the early hopes of charter advocates that the sector as a whole would significantly outperform regular public schools.

The overall scores of charter students tested in 2007 in the nationally representative assessment program were lower than for students in regular public schools in 4th grade reading and mathematics, and in 8th grade math, all by statistically significant margins.

In 4th grade reading, charter students had an average score of 214, compared with 220 for regular public schools, on a 500-point scale. Looked at another way, 59 percent of charter students scored at or above the “basic” reading level on the NAEP test, compared with 66 percent in other public schools.

But in 8th grade reading, charter students appeared to essentially close a gap from 2005, with charter and regular public school students scoring about the same in 2007.

Digging deeper in the data reveals a more complex story, though limited sample sizes for charter schools make many score differences hard to interpret with confidence. For low-income black students—a key population served by many urban charters—the 2007 performance gaps between charter and noncharter schools generally appeared smaller than those between the two sectors’ populations as a whole, and none was large enough to be deemed statistically significant.

Hispanic charter students, meanwhile, appeared to do about as well as or better than their peers in regular public schools across grades and subjects. But here, too, limited sample sizes make the differences too small to state with confidence.

Piece of the Puzzle

Researchers emphasize that because of NAEP’s design, the program has serious limitations in assessing charter schools, or comparing them with other public schools. Some experts argue that the tests are altogether ill-suited for the purpose.

The congressionally mandated NAEP—known as “the nation’s report card”—provides a snapshot of performance at a single point in time, testing different students each cycle. It also does not take into account prior achievement.

Even with those and other caveats, some researchers—though not all—suggest the results are a useful part of the growing research base on charter achievement.

“I personally don’t believe we’re going to have a single, definitive study to tell us whether charters are working,” said Gary J. Miron, a principal research associate at the evaluation center at Western Michigan University, who studies charter schools. “The NAEP is one more piece of the puzzle. … And now we have multiple snapshots.”

The debate over charter schools and NAEP first came to public prominence following an August 2004 story in The New York Times. The article focused on an analysis conducted by the American Federation of Teachers, which had called for a national moratorium on new charter schools in 2002.

The AFT study used reading and math scores in 2003, the first time charter students’ NAEP scores were reported separately. It concluded that charter students trailed those in regular public schools as a whole, and also when results were broken down by such subgroups as black students or students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

The report and news story spurred an outcry from charter advocates and some researchers, who suggested its methodology was flawed and the results misleading. The 2003 NAEP data were the subject of multiple re-evaluations, including a federal analysis issued in 2006 finding that scores in charter schools, taking into account a range of background characteristics of students and schools, trailed those in regular public schools that year in reading and math. ("Reanalysis of NAEP Scores Finds Charter Schools Lagging," Aug. 30, 2006.)

Adding to the Debate?

Charter schools, which are publicly funded but largely independent, have been the focus of a growing body of studies. Many experts say the overall findings so far are inconclusive, with a blend of positive, neutral, and negative outcomes for charter schools compared with other public schools.

Todd M. Ziebarth, a senior policy analyst at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a Washington research and advocacy group, said his group is keenly aware of NAEP’s limitations, but keeps an eye on the results. “They’re important to look at and learn from, but you learn so little compared to [other] assessments,” he said.

Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington think tank that is the authorizer for a set of Ohio charter schools, was among the charter advocates who urged the separate reporting of results for charter students on the 2003 NAEP tests. He said he believed it would be good for charter schools and policymakers.

“I hoped they also would be good for traditional public schools, and might show them up,” he said.

Mr. Finn said he now believes the most important distinctions are between different kinds of charters, such as those that operate in networks, or from state to state where different governing laws apply.

“I’m not very interested in the average performance of charters,” he said. “The word ‘charter’ signals so little about them, and the diversity within that universe is at least as great as the diversity outside it.”

The Charter Sample

The NAEP sample of charter students is designed to be nationally representative, but is dwarfed by the number of students tested in regular public schools.

Recent samples have ranged from 2,300 to 3,300 charter students for each grade level in reading, and from 150 to more than 200 schools. By contrast, in 2007, the national public school sample in 4th grade reading included 183,400 students from 7,310 schools, with somewhat lower 8th grade figures.

The population that charter schools typically serve is substantially different from that served by public schools as a whole, complicating comparisons across school types. In 2007, the NAEP charter sample had more than twice as many black students on a percentage basis and far more students living in cities—groups that generally score below national averages—than did the pool of NAEP test-takers overall.

And the charter population itself is changing, the test samples suggest. For example, 53 percent of charter students tested in 4th grade math in 2007 were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, up from 42 percent in 2003.

With three rounds of reading and math scores for 4th grade charter students, the NAEP results have not shown clear trends. In reading, charter students’ scores apparently rose in 2005 but dropped slightly in 2007; the changes were not large enough, however, to be statistically significant. With 4th graders in regular public schools posting reading gains in 2007, the charter students slipped behind them.

In 4th grade math, charter students have shown what appear to be steady gains from 2003 to 2007—again, not statistically significant—but made little headway in closing the gap with students in regular public schools, who saw a similar growth trend.

Looking at students by race and income status, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches, seems to alter the picture.

In 4th grade math, charter students overall were 5 points behind noncharter students in both 2005 and 2007 on the 500-point scale, statistically significant differences.

But for low-income black students, the difference between those in charter schools and those in regular public schools was 1 point in 2005 and 2 points in 2007, neither of which was statistically significant. Measured another way, 56 percent of low-income black students from charter schools scored at the basic level or above in 2007, compared with 59 percent of such students in regular public schools.

“Certainly, the raw data suggest charter students are behind,” said Sarah Theule Lubienski, an associate professor of education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, after reviewing the recent results for 4th grade students in math and reading. But she said that when controlling for race and low-income status, it appears that “neither one is ahead.”

In a press release last September, the national charter alliance highlighted the gains of 8th grade charter students in 2007, though those apparent increases were not deemed statistically significant. The average scale score rose from 255 in 2005 to 260 in 2007 in reading, and from 268 to 273 in math.

Growth Rates Differ?

The alliance concluded that charter students’ achievement “increased at a notably faster rate” than that of their peers in regular public schools. It also noted stronger 8th grade gains in certain categories, such as the reading scores for African-American and low-income students.

The charter alliance also noted the performance of Hispanic charter students. In 8th grade math, their average score was 9 points higher than for Hispanics in regular public schools in 2005, and 8 points higher in 2007. Because of the limited charter sample size, though, the differences were not deemed statistically significant.

For its part, the AFT has been quiet about the recent NAEP data. Asked about the results, union spokesman Dan Murphy said: “Basically, what the NAEP data suggests is what we already know. There are some excellent charter schools and some charter schools that fall short. … And the same goes for regular public schools.”

Coverage of new schooling arrangements and classroom improvement efforts is supported by a grant from the Annenberg Foundation.

Education Week: NAEP Gap Continuing for Charters

The PPIC Survey: SCHWARZENEGGER AND REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS LOSING WITH CALIFORNIA VOTERS ON BUDGET ACCORDING TO PPIC POLL: Californians want a balanced approach of spending cuts and tax increases

35% Yes | 57% No

35% of likely voters favor Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget and 57% disapprove of it.

THE PPIC SURVEY

  By Frank D. Russo  | California Progress Report

22 May 2008 —76% of California likely voters consider the state budget situation in California to be a “big problem” and only 35% are satisfied with Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget plan. When it comes to making both the tough choices that need to be made on taxes and spending, 36% favor the approach of Democrats in the legislature, followed by 22% for the Governor, and only 19% for legislative Republicans. 47%, the largest segment wants the California budget gap deal with through a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

These are just some of the findings in the survey of over 2000 Californians just released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a non-partisan and nonprofit organization which has been conducting similar surveys since 1994. They show a dramatic drop for the Governor on the budget and a public that is quite concerned over the direction the state of California is taking. There is ambivalence, to be sure, in Californians’ attitudes towards higher taxes and more governmental services and lower taxes and less services, but many of the numbers here are quite startling. Feathering out the tax question, it appears the voters support the idea of increasing some taxes but not others.

Here are the details.

76% of California likely voters describe the state budget situation as being a “big problem”—and the results are high whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. Another 22% say it is “somewhat of a problem.” These two numbers combine to 98% with only 1% saying it not a problem and 1% who don’t know.

47% want the “state budget gap” dealt with by a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Another 9% say they would like it done mostly through tax increases. 35% say they want the budget deficit eliminated mostly by spending cuts. Looking at this another way and combining the first two responses, there are 56% who favor tax increases somehow as part or most of the solution. And there are 83% who want cuts in the equation either mostly or to some degree. Democrats and Independents favor the mixed approach whereas 51% of Republicans favor “mostly spending cuts’ although a third of Republicans favor the mixed approach.

When asked who’s approach they prefer to make the “tough choices involved in the state budget, both in deciding how much Californians should pay in taxes and how to fund state programs, ” Democratic legislators come out on top with 36%, then the Governor at 22%, followed by Republican legislators at 19%. This is fairly consistent with poll numbers from January.

Only 35% of likely voters favor Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget and 57% disapprove of it. Disapproval is overwhelming by Democrats (66% to 22%) and is also the choice of Independents (52% to 41%), but it garners support from 51% of Republicans. Still, there is dissatisfaction, even amongst Republicans at a level of 39%. This represents a dramatic drop for the Governor’s budget: He had 68% satisfaction for his budget in January of last year and 62% for his budget a year ago. This is the lowest level the Governor has ever had on the budget, eclipsing the 38% level in January of 2005.

No matter what its called, voters don’t want to borrow against the lottery or lease it out. Likely voters soundly reject the Governor’s plan to borrow $15 billion from the lottery-- 62% to 30%. By a 59% to 25% margin, they oppose leasing the lottery to a private company.

When asked which program they most want protected from cuts, 62% identify K-12 public education, 16% health and human services, 12% higher education and last and least 7% prsons and corrections. K-12 education is first with Democrats (60%) and Independents (59%) and even the more so by Republicans (63%).

New Assembly Speaker Karen Bass put it all in a nutshell best in her comments on the PPIC poll, saying: “It's not a surprise that voters, like legislators, are divided over ways to balance the budget and skeptical about the governor's risky lottery plan. We have tough choices to make in difficult economic times. I am pleased that the poll shows a balanced solution to closing the budget gap -- while protecting education and health care -- is the path that will garner the most support from Californians.”

Taxes

When asked if tax increases should be included in the governor’s budget plan, there are more Californians favoring tax increases—50% to 46%. Note this is slightly different from the 56% who in answer to a previous question wanted taxes to at least be in the mix. There is the predictable split with Democratic voters favoring increased taxes by about two to one and Republicans disfavoring them by about the same margin, while independents favor tax increases by the same 4 point margin as likely voters as a whole.

When asked if they would prefer more taxes and more state services or less taxes and less services, the voters are split 45% for more and 47% for less—within the margin of error for the poll.

When asked in the context of the Governor’s plan to borrow from the lottery, 57% say the favor temporarily increasing the state sales tax by one cent if the lottery plan is rejected.

By a similar large margin—62% to 34%, likely voters favor raising state taxes paid by corporations and by a similar amount—64% to 33% they favor raising the top rate of the state income tax paid by the wealthiest Californians. These both get overwhelming support from Democrats and Independents, but this is the kicker—Republicans are divided on these corporation and income tax hikes, opposing both by narrow one to three point margins. Even with the state’s Republican voters, favor raising the state corporation tax and 46% favor raising the income tax on the top bracket.

Now when it comes to raising the state portion of the sales tax as a general proposition and not temporarily, this is rejected 57% to 39%--and that is the position that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents take, although by varying margins.

Likely voters do not want to see the vehicle license fee, reduced when Schwarzenegger took office, increased. This is by a 56% to 42% with regular voters.

By a lopsided 63% to 35%, likely voters think it’s a bad idea to extend the state sales tax to services not currently taxed, “such as legal and accounting services, auto repairs, and haircuts.”

There is a special section in the PPIC survey on Prop 13 which limited property taxes. This is the 30th anniversary of its passage. 67% of likely voters feel it is mostly a good thing, although there is a split as to whether this has had a good or bad effect on local government services, and by a large 61% to 33% margin voters oppose reducing the two-thirds vote required by Prop 13 to 55% for allowing local special taxes.

Changes in the State Budget Process Favored

As a general proposition, an overwhelming 94% of likely voters want changes made in the state budget process and the way that we raise revenues and spend money. 705 say they want major changes and 24% want minor changes.

While Democrats by a 48% to 43% margin and Independents by a 48% to 47% margin (a split) favor reducing the two thirds requirement to pass a state budget to a 55% majority, Republicans oppose this 59% to 32% and overall, amongst likely voters, it loses 53% to 39%.

But the voters do favor 68% to 26% “strictly limiting the amount of money that state spending could increase each year.”

Conclusion

There appears to be room for a mix of cuts and tax increases if the right taxes are identified. A temporary sales tax hike appears to have public support along with raising the corporate income tax and the highest bracket of the state income tax.

Voters want education protected from cuts and there is support in health and human services. Prisons and corrections are last and least with the voters’ priorities—but need sentencing reform and other changes made.

Legislators and the Governor are between a rock and a hard spot—especially with the two-thirds vote requirement that voters appear to support. Real leadership is needed as a balanced approach is what the voters are calling for.

Different responses can be elicited from those polled with variations in the wording of questions posed and one can wonder how voters and Californians will feel when real cuts are made in the budget and their effects seen in the neighborhoods we all live in. This is a scientific study of 2003 Californians, a large sample, and there is a margin of error of 2.5%.

As we approach the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Kennedy, we need leadership from our elected officials. We need not to ask “why” things are the way they are, but “why not.” That’s going to take our legislative leaders and the Governor to feather out what is possible from both this valid poll and the willingness of Californians to follow them if they can agree and lead.

Posted on May 22, 2008

Schwarzenegger and Republican Legislators Losing With California Voters on Budget According to PPIC Poll - California Progress Report

The PPIC Survey: CALIFORNIA VOTERS COULD BE SWAYED ON TAX HIKE, POLL FINDS

 

• A majority of surveyed voters (56%) thought that tax hikes should be part of any budget solution, along with spending cuts.
• The Legislature's marks are downright pathetic: 26% approve, 57% disapprove.
• Not surprisingly, 67% of voters think California is headed in the wrong direction.

THE PPIC SURVEY

George Skelton: Capitol Journal From the Los Angeles Times

 

May 22 2008 — SACRAMENTO — Californians seem willing to be talked into accepting a tax increase to help balance the books in Sacramento.

But that will require political leadership, and currently voters don't detect much emanating from the state capital. People are pretty disgusted with the politicians.

"The public is not very impressed with the kind of money management taking place in Sacramento," says Mark Baldassare, president and pollster of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. "Here we are back with the same kind of mess we started with four years ago."

That was shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger got elected governor vowing to "end the crazy deficit spending."

He and legislators now are peering into a projected deficit hole of $15.2 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Baldassare released a new statewide survey today showing, the pollster says, that "voters are divided along party lines just like the Legislature that represents them."

It also shows voters to be conflicted and confused.

Last week, Schwarzenegger revised his $144-billion budget proposal and offered as its centerpiece a scheme to borrow against future lottery profits.

The lottery would be modernized and expanded. Wall Street investors would pay the state $5 billion a year for three years and get back at least $38 billion -- principal and interest -- over 30 years from the presumably enhanced lottery take.

If legislators and voters didn't like that idea, or if the revenue fell short of erasing the deficit, the governor offered a backup: Raise the sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar for up to three years.

Voters surveyed by Baldassare could stomach the sales tax hike a lot better than borrowing off the lottery.

Asked their view of Schwarzenegger's lottery-borrowing plan, 62% opposed it. How'd they feel about Plan B: raising the sales tax? That was favored by 57%, including a slim majority of Republicans.

"It's about as close as you can get to a consensus -- 57%," says Baldassare, "given how negative people are about the direction of the state and the leadership of the governor and Legislature."

A majority of surveyed voters (56%) thought that tax hikes should be part of any budget solution, along with spending cuts.

But for the most part, the public is polarized on taxes. By nearly 2 to 1, Democrats believe that "tax increases should be included in the governor's budget plan." Republicans disagree by the same ratio.

Dig into the data and you find confusion and confliction.

Once again, the public says it wants government services, but doesn't want to pay for them, at least personally. It thinks someone else should pay.
Asked about raising taxes on corporations, 62% were all for it. And 64% favored socking it to "the wealthiest Californians." Never mind that the top 5% of income earners already are paying 68% of the income tax.

When asked once more about raising the sales tax -- this time in the context of choosing between it and taxes paid by corporations and the rich -- 57% were opposed.

Voters (63%) also didn't like the idea of extending the sales tax to items "such as legal and accounting services, auto repairs and haircuts."
At the same time, 76% expressed concern about the governor's proposed deep cuts in health and welfare programs. Mostly, however, voters wanted to protect K-12 education.

Schwarzenegger did largely protect school funding in his revised budget. Yet, 57% of voters said they were "dissatisfied" with the governor's plan.
That probably, to some degree, is a reflection of the deteriorating Schwarzenegger brand name. Fewer people now approve of the governor's job performance than disapprove: 41% to 51%. His approval has slipped nine points since January.

The Legislature's marks are downright pathetic: 26% approve, 57% disapprove.

Not surprisingly, 67% of voters think California is headed in the wrong direction.

Clearly, to sell voters -- let alone Republican legislators -- on a tax increase, Schwarzenegger needs to employ all his marketing skills. But he isn't.

In fact, he now seems to be disowning the sales tax boost that he suggested only last week.

Lobbying for his proposed reform of the budgeting process before a friendly Coronado crowd Monday, Schwarzenegger didn't mention the sales tax. In fact, he regressed to his old rhetoric: "I'm against raising taxes, and I always promised the people of California I will not raise taxes."
But he did concede, without using the T-word, that "the only way you can solve [the deficit] is two ways: cuts and raising revenues. And this is why we have a combination in our budget."

And he also warned, referring to legislators of both parties: "If they all stick to their principles and if they all stick to their ideology, this state will go off the cliff."

The lottery as a revenue source is tempting for many legislators, even if the plan does smack of more gimmickry and another expansion of gambling in California. At least it would save cuts in healthcare and reduce the need for tax hikes.

Nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill endorsed the concept Monday while suggesting a scaled-down version.

But veteran Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden), chairman of a Senate budget subcommittee, echoes some of the eye-rolling opposition: "There are a lot of ways to balance the budget besides relying on alcohol, tobacco and gambling. If we're going to do that, we might as well tax prostitution."
Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the designated next Senate leader, suggests raising the sales tax and using the cash to pay off debt. Maybe Republicans will go for that, he says hopefully.

"Everyone agrees that the federal government's huge amount of borrowing is a drag on the national economy," Steinberg says. "Well, the same can be said for the state economy."

Californians will listen and can be sold. But there needs to be a credible salesman who believes in the product. From Sacramento, that must be the governor.

Skelton: California voters could be swayed on tax hike, poll finds - Los Angeles Times