TOP LEGISLATORS JOIN CRITICS OF PROPOSED REGS FOR LOCAL CONTROL FUNDING FORMULA AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN

By John Fensterwald| EdSource Today http://bit.ly/18lOPJw

November 25th, 2013  ::  In a letter on Monday, leaders of the state Senate and Assembly criticized proposed regulations on state funding for the state’s neediest students as inconsistent with the intent of the new school finance law.

Their letter to the State Board of Education [follows], which must adopt the regulations in January, adds an exclamation point to similar criticisms from organizations representing low-income students, foster youth and English learners. Legislators and advocates are arguing that the proposed regulations for the Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF would give districts too much flexibility to decide how to spend money targeted for high-needs students.

Signing the letter were Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg; Assembly Speaker John Pérez; Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco; Assembly Budget Committee Chairwoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley; Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Judy Liu, D-Glendale; and Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo.

The three-page letter suggests nine changes to the regulations and the proposed template for the Local Control and Accountability Plan or LCAP, which the State Board also is considering. Starting the next school year, every district and charter school will be required to adopt an LCAP, detailing how they will respond to  the eight priorities, including school climate, parent engagement and student achievement, that the Legislature mandated under the new school funding formula.

The regulations are an attempt to strike a balance between LCFF’s goals of giving school districts flexibility over spending decisions and ensuring that extra money allocated to high-needs students are spent on them. Legislators conclude those students need more protection. Among the recommendations:

• Eliminate the option that districts could set goals and claim they raised student achievement for targeted students without actually spending proportionally more money on them;
• Ensure that, in districts and schools with few high-needs students, money is spent directly on services for those students and not on school-wide or district-wide purposes;
• Create a standard methodology for determining how much money for calculating how much districts receive under LCFF for high-needs students;
• Standardize the reporting of outcomes and growth data under the LCAP so that districts statewide can be compared;
• Make reporting of expenditures under the LCAP transparent so that parents and the public can see which services are for targeted students, how much will be spent on them and whether the expenditures are for schoolwide or districtwide purposes.

The legislators wrote that they appreciate “the scope and complexity of the task” facing the State Board. In what could be interpreted as an offer or help or a veiled threat if they weren’t satisfied with what the State Board adopts, they conclude, “If statutory changes are needed to realize the promise of the LCFF, we are prepared to make them.”

State Board Chairman Michael Kirst declined to comment on the letter other than to confirm in an email that the Board would be making changes to the proposed regulations. The Board sees the regulations and the LCAP “interacting together,” he wrote.

 

MORE STATES DELAY COMMON CORE TESTING AS CONCERNS GROW

By Valerie Strauss/The Answer Sheet  | The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/Ipcn3C

November 24 at 2:12 pm  ::  Massachusetts and Louisiana, both seen as important in the world of school reform, have decided to delay the implementation of high-stakes standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in the face of  growing concern about the initiative. The two states follow nearly 10 others — including Florida, the pioneer of corporate-influenced school reform — to slow or rethink Core implementation, actions coming amid a growing movement led by educators and parents who have become skeptical of the standards and the new related standardized tests.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been defending the Core — a set of common standards adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia designed to raise student achievement —for months before various audiences, most recent recently getting himself in trouble with remarks about “white suburban moms” becoming Core critics because the new, harder exams have shown suddenly that “their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were.” (He apologized, blaming “clumsy phrasing.”)

But the opposition has grown, from the left, the right and the middle, expressing different concerns about the Core and its implementation. Though Duncan has said repeatedly that the Core is a state-led, voluntary initiative, the Obama administration has supported the standards, and critics on the right charge that the federal government has used it to develop a national curriculum. Critics on the left  and the middle have argued that the Core standards are not based on substantive research, that they ignore what is known about early childhood development and/or that reformers have rushed implementation before teachers have had time to absorb them and create materials to teach them.

One prominent Core supporter, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, recently blasted the implementation, saying:

You think the Obamacare implementation is bad? The implementation of the Common Core is far worse.

The moves by Louisiana and Massachusetts matter because both states have big profiles in the school reform world.

Louisiana, whose governor, Bobby Jindal, has been a leader in standardized-test based school reform, announced late last week that it would delay the way students, teachers and schools are held accountable under the standards, the Times-Picayune reported. The high stakes for students that were supposed to be linked to the test scores of new tests designed to assess student progress under Core standards will not take effect in 2015 as previously planned, meaning that younger students won’t be held back based solely on a score and high school students won’t take the tests in 2015. Furthermore, until at least  2016, students in third and fourth graders will no longer be required to take Core-aligned tests on a computer.

Massachusetts has long been at or near the top of  rankings of states with excellent public schools and high curriculum standards, so its adoption in 2010 of the Common Core State Standards and its agreement to use Core-aligned standardized tests were seen as boosting the Core initiative’s credibility.  Now, a  decision by state officials  to slow down implementation of the new tests and assess whether they should be used at all could have a different effect on the Core.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last week approved a motion (see below) to use 2015, when Massachusetts had agreed to start using the new exams in schools around the state, as a pilot year and to assess whether the current standardized tests should be abandoned and replaced after all. Mitchell Chester, commissioner of education who came up with the idea to slow down the testing implementation, told Catherine Gewertz of Education Week:

Our system isn’t ready to deliver a college-ready education to all our students off the bat. I don’t want to get there by having students punished by not meeting that bar.

If Massachusetts, which has been known for having the most rigorous education standards of any state, doesn’t feel like it is ready to hold students — and teachers — accountable by Core-aligned test scores,  it raises questions about what other states can reasonably do.

Massachusetts was an enthusiastic supporter of the Core, becoming a founding “governing state” in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two multi-state consortia that — with some $350 million in federal funds — promised to develop standardized tests aligned with the Core that were supposed to go beyond current exams and more deeply assess what students  have learned. (As it turns out, the new Common Core exams from PARCC and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium won’t be the “game-changing” exams that Duncan has repeatedly said they would be because of a lack of enough development time and money, which you can read about here.)

This follows a decision by Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, which had been PARCC’s “fiscal agent” and a leading state in the consortium, to pull out of PARCC a few months ago and take a new look at the standards themselves. This decision was seen as important because Florida, under former governor Jeb Bush, pioneered corporate-influenced school reform that uses standardized test scores as the chief accountability metric for students, teachers, principals, schools and districts. Bush has retained influence on education policy in Florida and around the country in part through his organization Chiefs For Change,  a group composed of former and current state superintendents who believe in the kind of  school reform Bush pioneered from 1999-2007 in Florida.

In fact, earlier this year Chiefs for Change wrote a letter to Duncan urging him to resist calls, such as the one Weingarten made this past spring, for a moratorium on the consequences of high-stakes testing because the new Core-aligned assessments are unfairly being given to students before teachers have had time to properly absorb and create curriculum around the standards. After Louisiana decided to do that last week, the Chiefs issued a release praising him, without noting that the state’s education superintendent John White had done pretty much what Weingarten had suggested.

Meanwhile, Maryland just took over as fiscal agent for PARCC; State Superintendent Lillian Lowery said in a release last Thursday that Maryland “is strongly committed to the success of PARCC.”  However, her statement didn’t mention growing resistance among educators and parents in Maryland about the way the Core is being implemented in the state.

On Thursday, the Baltimore Sun reported, that state lawmakers peppered Lowery with questions about the Core after hearing from teachers and parents concerned that Maryland is trying to do much school reform at once– a new teacher evaluation system linked in part to standardized test scores, the Core standards and new assessment tests. Meanwhile, the Teachers Association of Baltimore County filed a grievance on behalf of the county’s 8,700 teachers saying that changes related to Common Core and the new evaluation systems are making them work hours far beyond their normal day.

Other states are rethinking the Core, too; Indiana has delayed implementation of the Core standards; Ohio recently did the same thing. A handful of states have pulled out of PARCC, and other states are debating the Core too. Gewertz wrote that a number of states are already starting to back away from an earlier decision to use the results of new Core tests as a high school graduation requirement, including Rhode Island and Arizona.

With so many states rethinking aspects of the Core, the initiative’s future is unclear. The vast majority of states remain committed to implementing the standards by state law, but with implementation of Core testing being delayed in a growing number of states and critics’ voices rising, the ultimate effect of the Core on student learning is up in the air.

This is the motion that was approved by the Massachusetts education board last week:

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Meeting: November 19, 2013

Agenda Item: MCAS-to-PARCC Transition Plan

REVISED MOTION

MOVED:        that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, in accordance with Mass. General Laws chapter 69, sections 1B and 1I, hereby adopts the two-year MCAS-to-PARCC transition plan, as presented by the Commissioner, and directs the Commissioner to implement the plan.

Consistent with the Commissioner’s recommendation, the Board anticipates that the two-year pilot will:

• provide for a robust comparison of the MCAS and PARCC student assessment programs, so the Board can decide in the fall of 2015 whether to sunset the MCAS English language arts and math assessments for grades 3-8 and employ PARCC as the state testing program for these subjects beginning in the 2015/2016 school year;
• give teachers and schools additional time to continue implementing the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks in English language arts and math adopted by the Board in December 2010 and to become familiar with new online test administration procedures before full-scale implementation of PARCC;
• permit a smooth transition in using assessment results for accountability while maintaining trend lines that link back to pre-PARCC performance;
• reserve for a future date the Board’s consideration of options for English language arts and math assessments at the high school level (grades 9-12); and
• maintain continuity in the use of MCAS tests for students to earn the Competency Determination for high school graduation, at least through the graduating class of 2018 (this year’s eighth graders).

Based on the results of the two-year pilot, the Commissioner will recommend and the Board will decide, in the fall of 2015, whether to sunset the MCAS English language arts and math assessments for grades 3-8 and employ PARCC as the state testing program for these subjects beginning in the 2015/2016 school year.

YOUTH SPEAK OUT ON WHAT THEY WANT FROM AFTER-SCHOOL ARTS PROGRAMS

By Susan Frey, | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/17N9ymQ

<<Tweens, students ages 10 to 13, like arts programs that involve singing, beat-making, design and dance, a new study says. Credit: LA’s BEST Afterschool Enrichment Program

November 24th, 2013 |A new study takes a fresh approach to developing quality after-school arts programs for urban youth: Ask the potential participants what they want – and don’t want.

To start with, the study found, don’t use the word “arts,” which the young survey participants associate with boring arts-and-crafts projects for little kids. In fact, the word “art” to many of these students from low-income families means drawing or painting, which aren’t of much interest to most of them. But an opportunity to learn beat-making, dancing, singing or design – taught by professional artists – seems a lot cooler.

The 133-page report, Something to Say: Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs From Urban Youth and Other Experts, focused on tweens between 10 and 13 who were interested in the arts, but not yet passionate about them. The study suggests that engaging youth in arts programs at that point in their lives, when they are developing their own identities, and not yet fully under the tyranny of peer pressure, would be most effective. In fact, the researchers said, the younger tweens – 5th and 6th graders – were the most open to new arts experiences.

With the recent focus on math and literacy, school districts have cut or eliminated arts programs in many public schools, leaving after-school programs as one of the few options left to engage students in the arts, particularly in low-income communities. But urban students don’t attend after-school programs if they don’t offer what they want, potentially eliminating any chance to develop their artistic selves, the study said.

“Engagement in the arts not only allows young people to express themselves and unleash the power of their imagination, but can also build skills and confidence; foster teamwork and persistence; and inspire the formation of social bonds and empathy for others and a capacity for delight that can last a lifetime,” wrote Will Miller, president of The Wallace Foundation, which funded the study, in a foreword to the report.

Denise Montgomery, Peter Rogouin and Neromanie Persaud from the Next Level Strategic Marketing Group interviewed 75 experts involved in arts education and 200 young people in cities across the country, including San Francisco and Oakland. They also held eight parent focus groups, where parents for the most part told them they didn’t think it was that important for their children to have an education in the arts.

The report offers eight case studies of after-school arts programs that work, including three San Francisco programs – Youth Speaks, Playworks and 826 Valencia. The online report offers videos that feature program participants and staff.

Youth Speaks, whose motto is “Because the next generation can speak for itself,” engages students in poetry in its in-school and after-school programs.

“We don’t exist just to teach poetry to kids,” said James Kass, executive director of Youth Speaks, on the video. “It’s that intersection of arts education, development of civic engagement and artistic presentation that is the magic of Youth Speaks.”

Kass added that he doesn’t call the educators, who are professional writers, “teachers.”

“We call them poet mentors,” he said. Youth Speaks is “about a city space in which young people can speak their mind and be taken seriously and engage with their peers who are doing the same.”

Kass touches on some of the criteria the students in the study have identified as important in an arts program. The program, according to the researchers, needs to:

• Hire well-qualified professionals with real-world experience to teach.
• Provide hands-on learning in inspiring spaces. Within the first half-hour each day, the researchers suggest, the students should be physically involved in the art form.
• Showcase the students’ work, typically with a culminating event such as the poetry slams held by Youth Speaks. Tweens in the study likened what they wanted to the excitement of sports competitions or TV shows, such as “American Idol,” where contestants are eliminated until one winner is left standing.
• Include snacks and meals, T-shirts and certificates. This creates a sense of belonging.
• Involve students from more than one school, giving the tweens a chance to make new friends.

Susan Frey covers expanded learning time. Contact her.

Knowledge in Brief Something to Say

MANY DISTRICTS ARE GIVING THEIR REPORT CARDS A FACELIFT FOR COMMON CORE

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez| Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/192OWUU

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

November 25th, 2013, 6:00am  ::  Long Beach fifth grade teacher Gina Bonetati holds her old report card, left, and the new transitional report card issued by her district.

School districts across California are rewriting elementary school report cards to reflect new learning standards known as the Common Core.

Because the change is not dictated by the state, it's unclear how many schools are switching. But several superintendents in Southern California said they were in the process.

“These are local decisions, that obviously districts should think about as they think about Common Core and new assessments,” said Deborah Sigman, with the California Department of Education.

Long Beach Unified is farther ahead than many others.

The district has for years used a numbered system of 1-4 that represents student's performance from  “not proficient” to “advanced proficient.” Those numbers will remain, but the “proficient” language will be replaced with “areas on target” “areas of strength” and “areas of weakness.”

“After having parent conferences in the last couple of weeks, parents still have a hard time understanding the four, three, two, one. Growing up they knew A, B, C, D, F,” said Gina Bonetati, a 5th grade teacher at Prisk Elementary School.

The outgoing report card graded students on five categories and even more subcategories. Language Arts alone had 18 subjects.

The new one may be just as long. But the categories will be different.

Bonetati doesn’t think the new report card language is any easier to understand than the old one.

“Because really what they want to know is, how is my child doing in school, is it above grade level, is it at grade level, are they working below grade level and do I need to work with them,” she said.

And this year, many schools won’t be issuing the number grades.

Instead, the district is allowing teachers to fill in a fourth column that evaluates “effort” toward learning the new Common Core skills that focus on critical thinking and problem solving.

Parent Lori Smith, the mother of fourth and first graders at Prisk Elementary in Long Beach, likes that the school district is only grading effort this trimester. She expects the switch to Common Core to be hard.

“I think it’s a little bit concerning for parents because they want their kids to do well, they’ve been doing well and then all of a sudden, you’re like, my kid just got a one or a two and you start to scramble,” she said.

District officials expect report cards later this year to use the terms “Thorough Understanding & Ability to Apply the Standards,” “Adequate Understanding & Ability to Apply the Standards,” “Partial Understanding & Ability to Apply the Standards,” and “Minimal Understanding & Ability to Apply the Standards.”

Torrance Unified rolled out new report cards this year for kindergarten, first, and second grades.

“We started piloting a standards based report card based on California standards a few years ago" said E. Don Kim, the district's head of elementary schools.

Districts are considering lots of different changes, not just to the categories but to how children are scored.

Lauren Sipelis, head of elementary education at Irvine Unified, said students will be expected to learn lots of different skills.

For kindergarten, she said, "reading" has been replaced with: “With prompting and support retells familiar stories including character, setting, and major events."

Administrators at these and other school districts say they are not changing middle school or high school report cards just yet.

Student report cards were born out of America’s 19th century industrial age. Before then schools were evaluated by public displays of scholarship such as recitations, music performances, and plays.

“Starting with Horace Mann in the 1840s you get reformers who are more interested in thinking about having students think about grades in a longer term,” said University of Maryland education researcher Ethan Hutt.

“They talked about them in terms of like merchant ledgers, so that students would see their progress and it would be marked and they could track it,” he added.

Old Torrance Unified Report Card

New Torrance Unified Report Card

AS LA SCHOOLS TAKE A WEEK OFF, PARENTS TAKE A DEEP BREATH

Annie Gilbertson  |  Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/1aNet8D

Molly Bennett/Flickr

November 23rd, 2013, 6:00am  ::  Kids in many school districts are off all Thanksgiving week. What's a working parent to do?

About a million public school students in Southern California are out of school all of next week to celebrate Thanksgiving. Schools in Riverside, San Bernardino, Corona-Norco and Garden Grove will be student free - as will the state’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified.

While teachers and students welcome the holiday, it can be a headache for working parents.

Karla Rodriguez, whose kids attend Dalia Heights Elementary in Eagle Rock, is lucky.

“I have my mother-in-law who is going to take care of them," Rodriguez said, as she boarded a bus to work.

Ivan Law, who makes a living selling electronics, said he'll bring his kids to work. They attend schools in the Las Virgenes District.

“I think it is good for the kids to be a part of that structure and learn what it takes to bring food in the house and get the bills paid," he said.

Law said he's hoping it will be a lesson in entrepreneurship.

Teachers at many districts were asked to take off the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving as unpaid furlough days years ago.

L.A. Unified officials said it saved around $12 million a day during those lean years.

Even though budgets are bouncing back, nobody wants to give back the time off. L.A. Unified teachers can use floating holiday pay for those extra days.

But Tina Jenkins, who has kids in elementary and middle school, doesn't like the break.

“They need more time to learn," Jenkins said. "They are already getting out early. They got all these days to be off for teacher and staff meetings.  They need to be in school.”

Ilama Velasquez disagrees. Her 8th grader goes to Young Oak Kim Academy near MacArthur Park. She joked that her kids learn enough at home.

“Because they’ll help in house," Velasquez said in Spanish.

L.A.; UNIFIED’S LOCAL FOOD PUSH IS HEALTHY FOR AREA ECONOMY TOO

School district's commitment to more local sourcing of the food it serves has boosted business and employment at producers' plants.

By Teresa Watanabe. LA Times, http://lat.ms/1clg6sF

9:27 PM PST, November 24, 2013  ::  The savory smell of nutmeg and cinnamon wafts through the Azusa bakery, where dozens of workers in blue gloves and hairnets cook up L.A. Unified's newest star product. The "Glorious Morning" muffin is chewy and moist, packed with whole wheat, raisins and carrots — along with flaxseed for heart health and brain development.

The muffin is good for children but also for the bakery's business. The Los Angeles Unified School District's order with Buena Vista Food Products Inc. to bake 4 million servings of muffins, coffeecake and corn bread every month has doubled the firm's business and created 100 jobs this year. To keep up with the district's orders, the bakery has invested $1 million in four new ovens and other equipment.

"We haven't sold this much in the history of our company," said Buena Vista President Laura Trujillo. "Working with L.A. [schools] has completely changed the way we purchase and produce."

In a groundbreaking effort, the nation's second-largest school district is using its enormous purchasing clout to support local farmers and businesses. In just two years, the district has boosted its local purchases of fruit and vegetables from 9% of its $20-million annual produce budget to 75% today. L.A. Unified now buys locally for at least 50% of its overall $125-million food budget, about double the proportion of two years ago, according to David Binkle, the district's food services director.

L.A. Unified has bailed out struggling orange growers in Riverside County, buying their produce over Florida citrus. Sustainably grown whole wheat comes from Fresno farmers rather than the Midwest. Beef from Chino, distributed by an Inglewood company, largely has replaced a Cincinnati producer.

"It's fresher food from farmers we know," Binkle said.

The preference for products that originate within about 200 miles of Los Angeles was formalized last year by the Board of Education, which also directed the district to purchase 5% of its produce from small-to-medium-sized farmers. The district became Los Angeles' second institution — city government being the first — to pledge to support local purchasing, workers' rights, animal welfare, environmental sustainability and nutrition in a "good food" program developed by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

"The leadership LAUSD has shown in this area has resonated not only locally but also nationally," said Paula Daniels, the food policy council's founder and chairwoman. "By expressing support for these values through their purchases, the impact all along the food chain is profound."

The local purchasing program is the latest advance in the district's move toward more healthful foods, which began a decade ago when the school board banned junk food from campus vending machines, then eliminated flavored milk. The momentum accelerated when the district awarded two contracts in 2011 and 2012 worth $35 million for bread, produce and other items to Gold Star Foods Inc., a school food distributor based in Ontario.

Sean Leer, Gold Star's vice president of sales, said the contract was an opportunity to "do business and do good at the same time." The school system previously purchased items based on the lowest bid, usually from more distant suppliers. But Gold Star was able to use the district's enormous volume as leverage to negotiate lower prices from local vendors and also save money through cheaper transportation costs.

"With L.A.'s volume, we were immediately in business in a big way," Leer said. "We think with school meals, we can prop up the food economy of California."

One key partner in the district's effort is Field Fresh Foods Inc., a produce processor in Gardena.

On a recent production day, dozens of workers in rubber boots were operating high-speed machines that cut and washed lettuce heads in chilled chlorinated water, then dried and packaged them. The firm processes 240 kinds of fruit and vegetables for L.A. Unified and other customers; it also has developed, specifically for the school district, individual servings of fruit and vegetables packaged in colorful "Fresh Snacks" bags.

At any given time, the firm obtains 70% or more of its produce from local growers: broccoli and celery from Santa Barbara; tomatoes, romaine lettuce and strawberries from Oxnard. But onions currently are being purchased from the Pacific Northwest until they are ready for spring harvest in the Imperial Valley. And some products, such as bananas, aren't grown locally.

Emelio Castaneda, Field Fresh president, said his firm has worked with L.A. Unified for years, but the district's push for more local produce has doubled its orders from $4 million to $8 million annually and created 25 new jobs. These include entry-level vegetable cutters, skilled machine operators and administrative support staff.

Over at Integrated Food Service in Gardena, a venture to make waffles for L.A. Unified has created 31 jobs. Binkle ordered a potato-and-chive "savory waffle," with no added sugar, to be placed on the district's menu after he sampled one during a trip to Washington, D.C. The firm also makes quesadillas and French toast from whole grain cinnamon swirl bread developed specifically for L.A., which is now being purchased by Texas schools as well.

But Buena Vista is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the local effort.

Under instructions from Binkle — a certified executive chef — the firm has developed three types of muffins, served every Monday. The bakery also produces the district's famous coffeecake for Tuesday breakfasts, although Trujillo revamped the recipe into a more healthful version with whole wheat flour and less sugar and fat. The company's corn bread is on the menu once a month.

To meet the enormous new demand, Trujillo switched to around-the-clock shifts and hired workers. They include Edgar Hernandez, 25, who landed a job as a mixer after having looked for work for a year at fast food restaurants, furniture stores and clothing outlets. With a $13-an-hour wage and health benefits, Hernandez has been able to move out of his brother's apartment into his own place in Rialto.

"I applied for all the jobs you can think of but didn't even get a call back," he said. "Now I'm so happy."

After developing blueberry oatmeal and sweet potato muffins last year, Trujillo and others went to work on Binkle's request for the "Glorious Morning" muffin. They produced several versions, experimenting with pineapple, blueberries and different sizes of apple pieces to make sure they didn't sink to the bottom. They learned to throw in the raisins at the end to keep them from being crushed. They pureed the carrots to give the muffin moisture but also added shreds so students would know what they were eating.

The result: a muffin with no fat; local vegetables, fruit and flour; and omega-3 fatty acids.

"We want students to know that healthy food can also taste good," Trujillo said.

The big test came when the muffins, made and frozen that day, were served to students at Eagle Rock Elementary and other schools participating in the classroom breakfast program. Buying local is important, Binkle said, but the ultimate goal is to please the customer.

As students in Kathleen Wittick's sixth-grade class bit into the muffins, they rendered a range of verdicts. Jacob Hancock said he didn't like the fruit chunks and preferred a smooth texture. Elise Rehder called it "really good and squishy," moister than the drier blueberry oatmeal muffin.

Ally Lopez gave the muffin a big thumbs up. "It tastes like pumpkin pie," she said with a grin. "I just need whipped cream."

PROGRAM AIMS TO GET PARENTS ON THEIR CHILDREN’S ACADEMIC TEAM

New Open World Academy in Koreatown is using a new approach to the typical parent-teacher conference to get parents more involved in their children's education.

By Stephen Ceasar | LA Times, http://lat.ms/1iKH4P6

New Open World Academy first grade teacher Bianca Sanchez, right, listens for names during a icebreaker game using yarn with parents. (Al Seib, Los Angeles Times / November 13, 2013)

 

November 24, 2013, 7:39 p.m.  ::  When Carmina Rosas visited her son's first-grade classroom, she got a lesson of her own.

She learned that her 6-year-old, who attends New Open World Academy in Koreatown, could read 59 of the 96 "high-frequency" words he should have known by that time in the school year.

She found out that to remain at grade level, her boy would need to know nearly three times as many words by the end of the year. To help him stay on track, Rosas was taught reading games they could play together. And, she received a personal homework assignment: to help her son reach 160 words in the next couple of months.

This was no ordinary parent-teacher conference. For one thing, the 20 or so parents met as a group with teacher Bianca Sanchez. For another, Sanchez discussed students' performance data and then taught the parents skills to help their children at home. It's called Academic Parent Teacher Teams, a program aimed at helping parents take a more active role in their children's education.

Rosas listened intently on a recent afternoon as Sanchez explained in Spanish that the success of children relied heavily on their parents' efforts.

"You may think that you can't help — but you can," Sanchez told the mothers and fathers present. "Our goal is to support our children. You can help them succeed."

Developed in 2009 by Maria Paredes of WestEd, a San Francisco education research group, the new approach to the conventional parent-teacher conference attempts to guide parents to work with clear goals to increase achievement. Parents meet with teachers every 60 days to discuss grade-level competency, practice activities to use at home and set specific, data-driven performance goals to be reviewed at the next gathering.

Once a year, parents have individual, in-depth meetings with teachers to review their student's performance and collaborate on a plan to further progress.

"Parents walk away with a sense of commitment and a really clear vision for what their role is that they didn't have before," Paredes said.

Sanchez learned of the Academic Parent Teacher Teams last summer and pitched the idea to administrators — who gave her the go-ahead to try it. She presented the program to other teachers at the school, who were interested. The school is now using it in six classes, one each in kindergarten through fifth grades. New Open World Academy, a Los Angeles Unified campus that has more independence in hiring and evaluating students and teachers, is considered to be the first to employ the program in Los Angeles.

It's also being used at 158 public schools in 14 states and Washington, D.C.

New Open World's students, often from working-class, immigrant families, do not get much help from parents. It isn't because they are unwilling to help, but rather, they do not know how, Sanchez said.

"Our students are already at a disadvantage because they don't have that," she said. "So it's our job as a school, as teachers to do that outreach to bridge that gap."

Paredes developed the program while working to boost parent involvement at Creighton School District in Phoenix — a largely low-income K-8 district. She began studying parent attendance at school events. Her research showed that if the teacher was the leader of the event, parent attendance was consistently about 90%. If the meeting didn't involve the teacher or was not related to student performance, attendance plummeted to about 5%, she said.

Almost none of the events Paredes reviewed was related to student learning or classroom instruction. For parent conferences, teachers met individually with parents for about 15 minutes twice a year — which is typical throughout the country, she said.

Parent-teacher conferences typically revolve around student behavior, Paredes said. "It's usually about letting parents know if their kids are good boys or good girls in school and if they're turning in homework or not," she said.

She designed and implemented the program at several schools across the Phoenix district — monitoring student progress. At the end of the year, students whose parents went through the program progressed at a much higher rate than their peers who did not.

If given the tools, parents "will do the work and give their children that boost," she said.

At New Open World, parents practiced a reading game in which participants roll a die and read a series of words that correspond to the number rolled. Rosas, playing with another parent, went first.

"Mother, before, very, far, make," she read, earning 10 points for reading all the words correctly. She went on to win the game.

Rosas makes sure her four children do their homework each day but has struggled to help them with their assignments, she said.

"I always try to help them, but it can be difficult for me," she said. "But with the information they give us and the games — I have a way to help them myself now."

Her son, she said, is a bit rambunctious and always wants to play.

"I'm going to make it a point to do it each day," she said. "To reach the goal, we have to play every day. So that's what we're going to do."

After two weeks, her son had learned 14 new words. Only 87 words left until the next meeting.

Ignoring the speed-bumps: THE CHALLENGE OF AUTHENTICALLY IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICY IN LAUSD

smf: Zero Tolerance, Out-of-School Suspension and Unenlightened Student Discipline Policy often mark the intake point on the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

More than two decades of research have confirmed that out-of-school suspensions do not improve student behavior and, in fact, often exacerbate it. Students who are suspended lose valuable instructional time, and are more likely to fall behind in school, drop out, and enter the juvenile delinquency system at great cost to students and taxpayers. 

LAUSD began the work developing an enlightened  discipline policy in 2007 and has been a national leader in the effort.  Good policy often hits a speed-bump in the implementation – and the operationalizing of LAUSD’s Discipline Foundation Policy has had it’s moments in a rush to deadline.  In this case we may be ignoring the speed-bumps in our haste.

The most effective alternative to suspension is prevention.

Superintendent Deasy and Boardmember Garcia’s urgency in banning suspension for Willful Defiance - and calls for a School Climate Bill of Rights -  are commendable – but policy bulletins and board resolutions are not magic bullets – nothing substitutes for the hard, thoughtful, continuing work of implementation, prevention, intervention, authentic community engagement and education. The fact that the movers and shakers in the original effort are not involved in the implementation is disturbing.

Willful Defiance is part of the job description of the early adolescent – a kid not testing the limits  is a social aberration. Just like Discipline is neither the principal with a paddle nor a dominatrix in leather; Positive Discipline Policy is not a product and Restorative Justice is not a brand.

background

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Discipline Foundation Policy: School-wide Positive Behavior Support

from FixSchoolDiscipline.org |  http://bit.ly/1aYPUkP

In March 2007, LAUSD released a Discipline Foundation Policy based on School-Wide Positive Behavior Support. This policy is grounded in the belief that every student, pre-school through adult, has the right to be educated in a safe, respectful and welcoming environment and every educator has the right to teach in an atmosphere free from disruption and obstacles that impede learning.

This policy mandated the development of a school-wide positive behavior support and discipline plan including positively stated rules, which are taught, enforced, advocated and modeled at every campus in LAUSD. It further mandated staff and parent training in the teaching and the reinforcing of the skills necessary for implementation of this policy.

Notable features include

• Responsibilities outlined for every student, parent/caregiver, teacher, school administrator, school support personnel, school staff, local district staff, central office staff, visitor and community members
• Oversight of ongoing and systematic review and evaluation of school practices at the Central Office and
• Mandatory professional development in the area of school-wide positive behavior support that is broad-based and inclusive of all staff involved in supporting schools and students.

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APPROVED MEMO-School Climate Policy

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A Response to the School Climate Policy Memo

To: LAUSD Discipline Task Force

From: Members of the Brothers & Sons Coalition and the Dignity in Schools Campaign

Re: Public Comment on the School Climate Bill of Rights Implementation Plan & Discipline Matrix

Date: November 21, 2013

The Brothers & Sons Coalition is made up of community organizations working to improve the lives of young men of color in L.A. Brothers & Sons partnered with Board Member Monica Garcia to bring forth the School Climate Bill of Rights Resolution to the LAUSD Board in the Spring of 2013. The L.A. Chapter of the Dignity in Schools Campaign is made up of community organizations working to end school push out and to promote positive alternatives to punitive and exclusionary school discipline.

As active members of the Discipline Task Force and community partners we submit these public comments on the District’s current Implementation Plan and Discipline Matrix, required under the School Climate Bill of Rights Resolution. We have developed and recommend a set of guiding principles shared below that we believe must be incorporated into the Matrix. We have also attached sample language that would address the points raised below that would ensure that the Matrix is wholly consistent with the Resolution. We urge the Task Force not to finalize the Discipline Matrix until the below concerns are addressed.

The Matrix is one important LAUSD tool to support the growing momentum throughout the nation, urging school districts, in partnership with community and policy stakeholders, to develop balanced, reasonable and fair approaches to school discipline that stop school ‘push out’ practices and the school-to-prison-pipeline.[1] To accomplish such goals and to be effective, a Discipline Matrix should be based on a holistic assessment of the disciplinary needs of schools in relationship to the best interests of students, families, school staff and the overall school climate. The Matrix should not simply assign alternatives to suspension, but help create a cultural shift at school sites.

The Brothers & Sons Coalition and the Dignity in Schools Campaign therefore recommend the following ‘Key Elements’ to be included in the Discipline Matrix:

1) Clear guidance explicitly linking the alternative disciplinary response to student behavior as a requirement prior to suspensions, expulsions, police citations or arrests[2];

2) Tiered interventions that require a graduated disciplinary response;

a. The range of tier I interventions must be used and documented before moving to Tier II or Tier III interventions.

3) Clear guidance preventing a law enforcement response to all student behavior that falls within the Discipline Matrix requirements for use of an alternative disciplinary response;

4) Documentation requirements on the use of alternative disciplinary responses;

5) Opportunities for partnership and participation of parents and caregivers in alternative disciplinary responses, early and frequently.

a. Interventions must incorporate families as assets to addressing underlying root causes of student behavior. Schools and their surrounding community shall act as a resource to the greatest extent practicable.

b. Not exclusively, but including sharing disaggregated discipline, citation and arrest data with parents and community members at every school’s SWPBIS team meetings in order to collaboratively analyze and produce recommendations regarding emerging issues illuminated by that data.

6) Clarification on all adult roles and guidance on the involvement of multiple adults on campus;

a. Behavioral incidents are often about breakdowns in relationships between students and amongst students and school staff. School-based interventions should involve all relevant parties and should seek to repair or ‘restore’ relationships.

7) Explicit commitment to refrain from the use of suspensions, expulsions, police citations or arrests overall except as an absolute last resort; and

8) Explicit commitment to eliminate the use of out-of-school suspensions or expulsions under the category of ‘willful defiance.’

Deputy Superintendent Michelle King’s Board Informative 11/18/13: Response to Board Resolution – School Discipline Policy and School Climate Bill of Rights

Our organizations appreciate the thoroughness of the Board Informative and the work that went into creating the plan. We urge the District to ensure that funding is attached for training and resources that support the cultural shift embodied in the Resolution, including but not limited to, prioritizing LCFF funds towards improving full implementation of SWPBIS and restorative justice. We do however have strong concerns about certain elements of the Implementation Plan:

· Role of School Police: (1) The School Climate Bill of Rights requires that “the District shall review and evaluate all current school police policies, practices and training relating to the equitable treatment of students” and we strongly believe that such review should happen in collaboration with community partners. (2) The Resolution calls for ‘clear guidance on the roles and responsibilities of campus police officers’ in order ‘to properly distinguish administrative responses to student conduct…from criminal responses.’ We believe this comprehensive response to define and limit the role of police on campus should be led by the District and is not satisfied by the LASPD initiatives included in the Implementation Plan. (3) The school police data should be publicly available and not require a formal request through the Office of the General Counsel.

• Independent Auditor: The Independent Auditor should be selected with community input.
• SWPBIS Complaints: There must be a clear process for response to complaints by the ESC.
• The School Climate Bill of Rights to be posted in schools must contain all of the rights. Currently omitted:
• Right to file a complaint if SWPBIS is not implemented
• Notification of right to appeal suspension when suspension issued.
• Clear language on the Role of School Police: The majority of student conduct shall be handled administratively utilizing school-based interventions that are intended to maximize student engagement in the classroom and school setting.  The District is committed to a non-criminal enforcement model that supports strategic problem-solving models rather than citation and arrest-driven enforcement. 

Submitted by: ACLU – Southern California * Community Asset Development Redefining Education * * Children’s Defense Fund * Community Coalition * Community Rights Campaign * Gay Straight Alliance Network * Inner City Struggle * Public Counsel * Youth Justice Coalition

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[1] See for example the New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force Report and Recommendations (2103) Recommendations A – C, pg. vii-viii (‘Adopt a graduated response protocol; Build improved capacity across schools with supports to implement positive discipline strategies and reduce reliance on suspensions, summonses and arrests; and Focus the role of school safety agents on behavior requiring law enforcement response).

[2] Such guidance should apply to all instances in which there is administrative and/or law enforcement discretion on the type of response instituted.

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DISCIPLINE MATRIX PROPOSED REVISIONS

The Discipline Foundation Policy: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) is a research-based, highly effective approach to creating, teaching, and reinforcing students’ social, emotional, and academic learning skills that improve and sustain academic achievement as well as the mental and emotional wellbeing of all students. In order to support students in engaging in positive behavior, all schools are responsible to adopt, implement, and maintain Tier I supports in alignment with the District’s Foundation Policy: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support and the LAUSD Board Resolution: Discipline Policy and School Climate Bill of Rights.

The most effective alternative to suspension is prevention. Tier I supports involve first and foremost building a sense of community and connection on the school campus, enabling all stakeholders (students, staff, parents/caregivers, community members) to participate in the process of developing relational norms and expectations. Positive behavior is a product of the explicit teaching and reinforcement of these norms. Even with preventive measures in place, breaches of behavior norms will occur. Tier II and Tier III ‘restorative’ practices are implemented to return individuals and the community to wholeness. Successful disciplinary practices should ensure that students have the opportunity to continue to be engaged in their school community and to reflect and learn from their mistakes.

The Discipline Matrix defines graduated responses and ‘other means of correction’ that school staff shall implement as supportive interventions and alternatives to suspension, for the majority of incidents falling within Ed Code 48900 et seq. The majority of student conduct shall be handled through the outlined tiered interventions that are intended to maximize student engagement in the classroom and school setting and to avoid punitive and exclusionary discipline measures. None of the incidents listed require notification to law enforcement under the Education Code.

When the physical safety of students is at risk, additional supports must be considered. This list is intended to provide guidance to select appropriate interventions and to avoid an over-reliance on disciplinary measures and law enforcement practices at school that are punitive and exclusionary (suspensions, expulsions, and police tickets and/or arrests). It is not inclusive of all possible alternatives to punitive discipline.

The following list of Tier II and Tier III interventions are aligned with the District’s Discipline Foundation Policy: School-Wide Positive Behavior Support and the School Discipline Policy and School Climate Bill of Rights, and MUST be utilized and documented before the issuance of suspension, in line with Cal. Ed. Code §48900.5 (unless suspension is required under state law).

In all cases, prior to assigning a Tier II or Tier III intervention staff shall conduct an informal assessment as a restorative practice that includes the following steps:

Step 1: Student tells his/her their side of story

Step 2: Designated school staff (teacher, counselor or administrator) counsels with student to determine whether the incident is related to an underlying need or school-based circumstance (include parent/guardian participation where possible)

Step 3: One or more of the listed interventions are assigned with student participation (include parent/guardian participation in assignment of intervention (s))

Step 4: Implementation and follow-up of interventions are documented

Level A: Defiance/Disruption

The majority of these incidents shall be handled through implementation of the Discipline Foundation Policy and Tier I interventions and restorative justice on an ongoing basis.

Level A	Types of Incidents	First Incident	Second Incident	Third Incident	Fourth Incident
Ed Code 48900 section (k) ‘willful defiance’	Disrupting school activities, Not following dress code, Poor team work or incomplete work, Non-compliance with school rules, i.e., talking out of turn, missing class, swearing, conflict	Assess student settings for Tier I interventions	Tier I Or Tier II interventions	Tier II interventions Or Tier III interventions	Tier II Or Tier III interventions These are not incidents that should result in suspension.

Level B: School Climate Factors

Interpersonal dynamics and conflict between students or amongst students and staff can have a lasting impact on school climate and students’ educational achievement. The primary goal in responding to each Level B incident is therefore to repair any harm caused, to build trust through a restorative approach and to identify any underlying needs of the student. To the greatest extent possible, schools shall conduct a restorative justice harm circle in response to Level B incidents.

Level B	Types of Incidents	First Incident	Second Incident	Third Incident	Fourth Incident
Ed Code 48900 sections (a) (e) (f) (g) (i) (l) (o) (q) (r) (m) Ed Code 48900.3 Ed Code 48900.4 Ed Code 48900.7	Causing or attempting to cause physical injury to student or staff, Using force, Threatening to cause injury to student or staff, Hazing, Intimidation, Bullying or Harrassment, Habitual Profanity/Obscenity, Theft, Property Damage, Imitation Firearm	Assess student environment for Tier I interventions.	Tier II or Tier III intervention Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation.	Tier II or Tier III intervention Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation.	Tier III intervention Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation. Utilize suspension as a last resort. Document implementation of interventions prior to a suspension.

Level C: Substance Possession/Use

The purpose of District policy regarding student misconduct involving controlled substances, alcohol, tobacco, and intoxicants is to maintain safe and drug-, alcohol-, tobacco-, and intoxicant-free schools, as well as to provide programs and services that reduce and curtail student use of these substances. For each incident of use, many factors need to be considered to determine the appropriate action. In accordance with state and federal law, whenever possible, positive, non-punitive interventions that are designed to help the student shall be used. In other words, the initial administrative responses to drug offenses shall be to address the psycho-educational needs of the student unless other action is mandated by law. (See BUL 3277.1)

Level C	Types of Incidents	First Incident	Second Incident	Third Incident	Fourth Incident
Ed Code 48900 sections (c) (d) (h) (j) (p)	Possession or use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or other controlled substances, Possession of drug paraphernalia, Selling Soma	Informal assessment and prevention counseling (See BUL 3277.1)	Tier II interventions Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation and support.	Tier II or Tier III interventions Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation and provide outside resources.	Tier III interventions Ensure meaningful parent/caregiver participation and provide outside resources. Utilize suspension as a last resort. Document implementation of interventions prior to a suspension.

CALIFORNIA SWITCHES TESTING PLANS …BUT MAY STILL RISK LOSING $3.5 BILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS

By Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News |  http://bit.ly/18fOmsp

11/22/2013 11:29:29 AM PST | California, threatened with the loss of $3.5 billion in federal funds for suspending high-stakes testing next spring, has tweaked its exam plan.

But it's not certain that the change, which was not cleared first with U.S. officials, will ease the threat to take away funds.

Under the switch, next spring most public school students will test-drive a new generation of standardized tests in both English and math. Initially, the state planned to test students in one subject or the other.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, center, answers students' questions during a tour of Emerson Elementary in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sept. 9, 2013. Duncan's back-to-school bus tour also includes stops in Texas, Arizona and California. (Susan Montoya Bryan / AP)  >>

Federal law requires states to annually test students in English and math and publish results. The state still doesn't plan to release results, and it doesn't plan to give any student a comprehensive sample test. Instead, most students will take about half the math test and half the English test. A representative sampling of California students, or 5 percent of those tested, will take the full test in just one subject or the other -- so that the test developers can refine their questions.

Instead of negotiating the change with the federal government, California's Chief Deputy Superintendent of Schools Rich Zeiger said, the state requested a waiver from federal law after the new plan was announced Thursday. The waiver, if granted, would release the state from the testing demands of the federal No Child Left Behind law. While many other states have been granted waivers offered previously, California lost out because if has refused to abide by one of the condition -- to boost teacher evaluations.

Without test results, the state will not calculate an Academic Performance Index score for each school and school district in 2014, and possibly in 2015.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan previously criticized California's testing plan and threatened to withhold in federal funds unless the state tests all students and publishes results.

But it was local school districts, and not Uncle Sam, that nudged the state to change course, Zeiger said. "We are responding not to the federal government but to our own folks." However, he added that regarding federal requests, "We are not unmindful of the fact that this may be a whole lot closer to what they want."

U.S. officials would not comment on the waiver request. "The Department of Education continues to have conversations with California officials on student assessments," spokeswoman Jo Ann Webb said. "Once the request is received, we will review the application as we would any state and respond accordingly.

Test officials will use a formula to determine which schools take both tests and which take just one. Either way, each student in grades three through eight plus high school juniors will take about 3-1/2 hours of new tests, called Smarter Balanced.

"I'm excited that all of our students will be tested in both English and math on the Smarter Balance," said Chris Funk, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District in San Jose. "If we are able to test all, we will"

The Oakland Unified School District welcomed testing in both subjects, spokesman Troy Flint said, "so students and teachers are exposed to the exams and so IT administrators have a chance to pilot their systems and work out any kinks."

Since 1999, the state and federal governments' scoring and ranking of schools and districts have provided a benchmark for how they are doing on both an absolute scale and also when compared with other districts and with socioeconomically similar schools.

State school board President Michael Kirst said that testing in both math and English will give students and teachers more experience with Smarter Balance and will enable them to identify technology shortcomings. The new tests are supposed to be given entirely on the computer.

California dumped its old standardized state tests, known as STAR. But because kinks haven't been worked out in the replacement tests, nor have schools fully converted to a new curriculum known as Common Core, the state Legislature deemed the spring tests to be a mere trial.

Other states, however, have either switched tests and are publishing results, or are continuing to administer old tests during their transition.

Education reformers have urged the state to publish the field-test results. "It doesn't make sense to put students through hours of testing and not get some results back to inform parents and teachers," said Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Education Trust-West, which has criticized the state for its testing transition plan.

Zeiger emphasized that in spring students will essentially test the test. He said, "To provide a score that has no meaning is a disservice.

Nov 22, 10:30 AM, PST

by smf

Nov. 22, 2013 :: That other November 22^nd was a Friday also.

At 10:30 am I was in my Algebra I class at Hollywood High, up on the second floor of the Science Building – the room overlooking the quad – which was more like a courtyard then.

The ugly seventies-modern/functional octagonal student store and hash lines hadn’t been built ...it wasn’t time for that architectural style yet. If it ever was.

There were trees in tree wells. There were girls in skirts long enough that they could kneel on the hem and boys with hair not long enough to touch their collars; if one violated that dress code one was on one’s way home – or to the barber college. Zero tolerance.

It wasn’t time yet to tear down the old Classical Revival Admin building and replace it with a parking lot. It wasn’t time seed the green lawn that surrounded the school with temporary bungalows that will stand forever …or surround the campus with chain link.

 It was the appointed hour for another time to slide to a close.

There was a commotion in the quad, a shout. The teacher –I can’t remember her name or anything that she taught – called down to whoever was making the noise to be quiet and go to class. They shouted back that the president had been shot. And she called back, outraged, that that wasn’t funny and to go back to class at once!

It wasn’t funny – and that commotion was the sound of the paradigm shifting.

We didn’t go back to our algebra for more than two or three minutes.

The rumor in the quad became the terrible truth. Contraband transistor radios stashed in lockers came out of hiding and were played in every classroom, in every hallway, to gatherings of horrified.

“This just in, apparently official. The President died at 1PM Central Standard Time …thirty-eight minutes ago.”  I didn’t know Walter Cronkite had glasses. What else didn’t I know?

I think we got out of school early – I can’t remember. It doesn’t matter, it was an open campus and the temptation of not-school was ever-present across every street. A movie on Hollywood Boulevard. The Teddy Bear and Coffee Dans. The Teddy Bear is gone; Coffee Dans is now a McDonalds.

I had a job after school and I got there as fast as I could. I hawked newspapers at the southwest corner of Melrose and Vine (The northeast corner was the better location, but in a someday that never came I would get that spot.) I was in the newspaper biz, learning to be a pressman and a Linotype operator in school - and on that day they began to screw the lid down on that career. Normally I sold the Herald Examiner and the Mirror News in the evening – and a few but not many Hollywood Citizen News.

That day there were Extras of all three – plus an Extra of the Times - which was a morning paper. We couldn’t get the papers delivered fast enough that day, every delivery was sold out as soon as the bundle hit the street. I rode my bike up to the Citizen News and brought four bundles back – the front page was a huge black-bordered portrait of President Kennedy, the headline one word and three inches high: MURDERED.

On that day more than JFK and the poor forgotten Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit died. Long skirts and short hair died. Zero tolerance died. Selling newspapers on the street corner and newspapers themselves died.

Television was the way news was delivered from there forward. From “This just in, apparently official….”, to the shooting in the underground garage in the Dallas police station to the funeral and taps with that quavering sixth note. The grieving widow. The saluting little boy. The riderless horse. The Chopin Funeral March, almost a cartoon cliché, is brutally final when accompanied by the Irish Guards, their rifles reversed.

Newspapers were a way of telling the story. Television another. Here we are in social media.

If you are reading this online or on Facebook or prompted by a tweet it’s still the same story.

Pearl Harbor. JFK. The Twin Towers: same story: “Where were you when...?”

We really need to work on getting better material.

IMPACT OF FEDERAL FUNDING ON PUBLIC EDUCATION: 1 in 4 U.S. students at districts and/or schools that depend on federal funds

by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: http://bit.ly/1aVGoie

see: TEACHERS & ADMINISTRATORS TOGETHER: NEA and AASA Executives Call on Congress to Get Serious About Investing in Education

22 November (Va.) :: New research showing the growing role federal funds play in local school budgets also puts a spotlight on the pending sequestration cuts and the ongoing partisan gridlock that still rules Congress.

More than one-quarter of schools – 25.2 percent – had operating budgets in 2011 in which federal revenues represented more than 15 percent of total revenues, according to a new study from the American Association of School Administrators.

Local educational agencies in 12 states had an average share of federal funds of 17 percent or higher. Three states had an average federal share at the local level that exceeded 20 percent: Arkansas at 21.1 percent; South Dakota at 22.6 percent; and Mississippi at 24.8 percent.

The report, released Thursday, noted that the federal government has traditionally supported only a small part of education spending – historically about 8.5 percent. But today, the national average for a local educational agency is up to nearly 12 percent.

Thus, the AASA report noted, the across-the-board cuts threatened in the looming sequestration will have dramatic impacts on the nation’s schools – especially those serving at-risk students.

“If our country is serious about successfully competing in a 21st century global economy and bringing down unemployment rates, we need to focus on and prioritize investing in education,” said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, AASA, in a statement. “The findings in this report illustrate the importance of funding key federal education programs, such as Title I and IDEA.”

Although lawmakers ended a 16-day federal shutdown in October and averted a credit default – the automatic, across-the-board cuts known as sequestration remain in force.

Already $1.5 billion has been removed from the federal education budget but the sequester cuts another $2.4 billion from education programs, not including $401 million from Head Start, according to ASSA.

A congressional budget conference committee had been convened to consider spending options. The existing agreement in place allows the federal government to operate until Jan. 15 – but the committee’s deadline is a month sooner, Dec. 13.

So far, negotiators appear to be a long way from a compromise.

That’s bad news for many of the nation’s schools. According to the AASA analysis, one out of every four students is enrolled in districts that receive at least 15 percent of its revenue from the federal government:

“It is imperative that Congress works to resolve sequestration through a blended combination of revenue increases, spending cuts and mandatory program reform,” AASA said. “Continued inaction by Congress to resolve sequestration, to complete annual appropriations and to reconcile differences between House and Senate budget proposals means that the nation’s public schools are funded at pre-2004 levels – at a time when they are educating an additional five million-plus students.

“Congress must address these draconian realities if it is serious about avoiding yet another threat of shutdown/fiscal cliff and directing the country down a sustainable long-term approach to fiscal stability and growth,” AASA said.

TEACHERS & ADMINISTRATORS TOGETHER: NEA and AASA Executives Call on Congress to Get Serious About Investing in Education

Press Release | http://bit.ly/I84dwS

Alexandria, Va. – November 21, 2013 – Today, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and AASA Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech released the following statement:

"The austerity policies ushered in by Congress aren’t working. They are harming our students and our economy," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. "In fact, the across-the-board cuts, coupled with the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, are wreaking havoc in schools across the country and will only grow worse if allowed to continue."

A recent NEA analysis (follows)  revealed, and today’s report by AASA (follows) confirms, that the impact of the austerity approach falls unevenly, harming schools that rely more on federal funding for education, including students most in need of extra attention. One in four students in America attends school in a district where 15 to 20 percent of total revenue comes from federal sources. Sequester cuts, NEA’s analysis found, hurt these students even more.

"Investing in our nation’s future through education will translate into improving student achievement, shrinking achievement gaps and increasing high school graduation rates," said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, AASA, The School Superintendents Association. "If our country is serious about successfully competing in a 21st century global economy and bringing down unemployment rates, we need to focus on and prioritize investing in education. The findings in this report illustrate the importance of funding key federal education programs, such as Title I and IDEA."

Recent analysis from AASA and NEA highlight the stark reality:

• Thirty-five point-five percent of schools have a federal share of 11.9% or more.

• More than one-quarter of schools (25.2 percent) had an operating budget in which federal revenues represented more than 15 percent of total budget revenues.

• More than six percent of schools had an operating budget where federal funds represented one-quarter (25 percent) or more of total budget revenues.

• More than half of local educational agencies (LEAs) in 21 states had operating budgets where the federal share of revenues was above the national average (11.8 percent).

• More than half of LEAs in 14 states had operating budgets where the federal share was more than 15 percent.

• One out of every four students attends public schools in districts where 15-20 percent of total revenue is from federal sources.

• One out of every six students attends public schools in districts where 5-15 percent of total revenue is from a single federal program (Title I).

• One out of every ten school districts rely on federal revenue for 20-50 percent (or more) of their total revenue.

"Educators continue to see ballooning class sizes," said Van Roekel. "We continue to experience deep cuts to critical education programs, especially for low-income and students with special needs. We are America, and we are better than this. Students, educators, and schools can’t afford any more cuts. The time is now for Congress to reverse course, end the sequester cuts, close wasteful corporate tax loopholes, demand corporations to pay their fair share in taxes, and invest in students and public education."

###

About AASA:

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 10,000 educational leaders in the United States and throughout the world. AASA’s mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to the highest quality public education for all children. For more information, visit www.aasa.org. Follow AASA on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AASAHQ or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AASApage.

About NEA:

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Follow us @NEAMedia.

NEA: Reliance on Federal Revenue

AALA: Unequal Pain

4 STORIES + A PRESS RELEASE ON “TESTING THE TEST”: The headline says students will be tested …that isn’t quite true

Altered state plan will test students in English and math By Howard Blume - latimes.com http://lat.ms/1fqVvYL Students concentrate during an English class at Jordan High School. California officials have altered a statewide testing plan to include both English and math. (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times / March 11, 2010) November 22, 2013, 5:31 a.m.  ::  State officials Thursday announced that nearly all California students will take new standardized tests in English and math this spring. The previous plan had been to test students in either English or math but not both. The revised approach was hailed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, which had lobbied for the state to pay for students taking tests in both subjects. "The motivator was that we heard from a lot of districts and school officials and teachers that they wanted to see both halves of the test," said state Chief Deputy Supt. Richard Zeiger. This round of testing was never meant to generate test scores or data for schools. Rather it is a "test of the test," as officials put it, to make sure questions and the exam as a whole are valid and reliable. In the following year, the test will begin to yield results for students. For schools, the initial testing period will be a trial run for students and staff to get used to the new format. The tests are intended to be given on computer, and the difficulty of test items increases or decreases based on student responses. The hope is to provide a more precise measure of student knowledge. The learning goals underlying the tests also are different: They favor critical thinking skills over rote memorization, for example. The tests are based on the so-called Common Core learning standards adopted by 45 states. L.A. Unified was among the districts that wanted all students to have a testing experience in both English and math. "We applaud and appreciate that the state has listened to L.A. Unified and other school districts," said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. The district had been prepared to spend $2 million to expand the testing on its own. "We are glad that this decision will relieve us of the obligation to pay for the second test, saving us vital funds," Deasy said. The state's new plan maintains the same $51 million testing budget as before by trimming each subject test in about half. This reduces the amount of money needed for grading the tests, which is a major portion of the expense. The reduction in the size of the test would likely affect how many computers L.A. Unified would need this year. That topic had been an issue of contention earlier in the week. District officials said Wednesday that they had to have more than 67,000 iPads to send to schools just for testing purposes. That's in addition to 85 schools that would receive iPads for every student as part of a $1-billion technology program. A committee overseeing school bond spending challenged those numbers. And they may now have additional ammunition for doing so. The district estimate was based on students taking the full test in both math and English. State officials said Thursday that school districts now could offer only a half-test in English and a half-test in math. The time set aside for testing -- and perhaps the number of computers needed -- would also presumably be reduced by about half. Zeiger said that under an agreement between the state and the testing consortium, L.A. Unified would no longer have the option to offer the full test in each subject, even if it was willing to pay for it. The decision to test students in English and math brings California more closely in line with federal testing rules. That's important because the Obama administration could withhold federal education dollars if California is violating its requirements. "We hope the federal government will see the merits of our actions,” Zeiger said.  "If so, that's great. If not, it will be what it’s going to be." CA offers Duncan potential solution to testing issue by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: http://bit.ly/1g1X7FP November 22, 2013  ::  (Calif.) Field testing this spring of assessments based on the Common Core in math and English language arts have been expanded to include 95 percent of students in grades three through eight, the California Department of Education announced Thursday. The move came as the state also finalized a federal waiver application – first proposed in July – aimed at relieving schools from administering both the new Common Core pilot tests as well as separate, standardized end-of-year assessments. Although there has been some speculation that the two actions are intended to satisfy U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who has threatened to withhold federal funds over the state’s plan to suspend almost all K-12 standardized testing this year, it is far from clear what the outcome will be. A spokesman for the CDE said Thursday that the department has received no indication from federal officials one way or the other. In a plot twist only a bureaucrat could appreciate, even if the waiver is approved California would still not have test scores that could be used to fulfill federal accountability requirements as defined under the No Child Left Behind Act. In a Nov. 21 letter to Deborah Delisle, who heads the federal Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, state schools chief Tom Torlakson and board president Mike Kirst notes that because all California districts would be participating in the field testing, there will be no new Annual Yearly Progress determinations based on the 2013–14 school year. Instead, they said, prior AYP determinations will be used for an additional year. Duncan announced in June that states could apply for a waiver to eliminate some federally-required testing while also implementing new assessments based on the Common Core standards – a  'double-testing' potential that the secretary said wasn't needed. Meanwhile, legislative leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown began shaping AB 484 – the state’s vehicle for transitioning California to the Common Core. A key amendment to the bill took place in July when the decision was made to suspend almost all standardized testing in 2013-14 and press ahead with the new assessments based on the Common Core. Originally, the field testing of the Common Core system was limited to either math or English but not both. With cost as the biggest concern, state officials initially rejected the idea of expanding the pilot testing as a potential solution of its problem with Duncan. That changed in recent weeks. By manipulating the length of the exam – literally the number of questions students would be asked and scorers would have to evaluate – officials said they can bring the costs down. No second thoughts on tight timeline sidebar to EdSource story>>>> Setting a precedent among states, Massachusetts will give its schools the option of putting off the new Common Core assessments, planned for spring 2015, for a year. Asked if California might follow suit, State Board of Education President Michael Kirst replied in an email: no. The Massachusetts Board of Education voted 6-3 this week to approve a two-year transition plan to the Common Core tests. The extra year would give teachers more time to prepare students in the new standards and schools extra time to become familiar with computer-based tests. Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester told Education Week’s Catherine Gewertz that many of the state’s students weren’t yet ready to be held accountable for a test measuring college readiness. “Our system isn’t ready to deliver a college-ready education to all our students off the bat,” he said. “I don’t want to get there by having students punished by not meeting that bar.” Chester also said that waiting an extra year would enable the state to better compare the new Common Core test with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System or MCAS. Massachusetts is a member of PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), one of two consortia of states designing Common Core assessments; California is a guiding member of the other, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Massachusetts has led the nation in scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress for years and ranks among high-performing nations in international tests. Noting its “street cred,” Gewertz wondered whether other states might also consider moving slowly and delaying Common Core tests as well. “Massachusetts is sending some powerful signals that others will be watching,” she wrote. Kirst, for one, is having no second thoughts: “Mass. is part of a different assessment consortium than California. PARCC has a different design than Smarter Balanced, and is experiencing different implementation challenges than Smarter Balanced and California,” he wrote. “We believe that we are on track for spring 2015 with SBAC after assurances by (Smarter Balanced Executive Director) Joe Willhoft at our November State Board of Education meeting. The statewide field test in spring 2014 will help greatly in California’s preparation. Mass. seems to be  more confident in their own state assessment called MCAS than California is with the CST (California Standards Tests).”

State expands field tests of Common Core-aligned assessments By Barbara Jones, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1i1C6zD Posted: 11/21/13, 5:44 PM PST  ::  The field test of California’s new computer-based assessments will be expanded so that nearly every student will take exams next spring in both math and English, rather than being limited to one or the other, officials said Thursday. High school juniors, students in grades three through eight, plus a small sampling of ninth- and 10th-graders will participate in field tests of the Smarter Balanced assessments. According to the state, 95 percent of the kids will be given questions in both content areas, plus one performance task — a more complex problem — in either English or math. “Expanding the field test for hundreds of thousands of students to take both sets of assessments will mean more hands-on experience for them and their teachers, as well as more opportunity to identify any technological needs,” said Mike Kirst, president of the state Board of Education. “California will be starting from a solidly built foundation when these assessments become operational next school year — and that’s good for our students, our schools and our state.” Officials said they expanded the plan in response to requests from local school districts. Los Angeles Unified, for instance, had planned to pay some $2.3 million so that students in the state’s largest district could become familiar with both parts of the assessments. “I’m pleased the state is going to do this,” Deasy said in a phone interview. “It allows L.A. to not have to pay for the supplement so that money that could have come from the Common Core budget can now bo back to professional development for teachers. This is a very big deal.” Deasy also said the district is working to make sure that there will be enough computers on all 1,000-plus campuses so students can take the online tests. During a meeting Wednesday, the Bond Oversight Committee recommended that the school board reject a proposal to buy 67,000 iPads for the testing program, saying it wasn’t convinced that so many devices were needed. The iPads would be in addition to the devices that already are or will be deployed to 45 schools as part of Los Angeles Unified’s technology program. The school board will consider the plan at its Dec. 10 meeting. “I’ll be finalizing my recommendation to the board over Thanksgiving break,” Deasy said. “I am considering adjustments after listening to the concerns raised by the Bond Oversight Committee.” Smarter Balanced is devising the assessments that will be used to test student mastery of the Common Core, the new math and English standards taking effect next fall. The field tests being administered next spring will be used to gauge the validity and accuracy of individual questions before the assessments are finalized for the 2014-15 school year. The field test will take place between March 18 and June 6, but results of how well students performed will not be produced or reported. Officials also said Thursday they had applied for a waiver from a federal requirement that it give standardized tests at the end of the school year. California has suspended this year’s standardized tests during the transition to the new Common Core curriculum Torlakson seeks testing waiver to avoid conflict with feds By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/18tuXSM 2 Students will take computerized field tests aligned to Common Core standards in math and English next year, state officials announced. Credit: EdSource file photo November 21st, 2013 | Faced with potentially tens of millions of dollars in fines, the state Department of Education has headed off a confrontation with the federal government over standardized testing.** Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced Thursday that he would require school districts to offer the Common Core practice tests, created by the Smarter Balanced states’ consortium, in both math and English language arts next spring. A new law changing the state’s standardized testing program, Assembly Bill 484, which Torlakson and Gov. Jerry Brown supported and that sparked a dispute with the federal government, required only that students be given one of the assessments, although it didn’t explicitly prevent Torlakson from offering both tests. The state’s one-test policy was at odds with long-standing federal law, that all students in for grades 3 to 8 and grade 11 be tested annually in both subjects. And it prompted an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to warn state officials last month that the feds might withhold $45 million to the state Department of Education, plus potentially larger amounts in federal Title I dollars for low-income and special education students. Torlakson’s carefully worded news release makes no mention of the conflict with the federal government or a concern over districts’ capacity to administer computer tests in both subjects next spring. Deputy State Superintendent Deb Sigman had repeatedly stated over the past month that that districts would get as much benefit from offering one field test as from offering both. And she said that the state was worried about overloading districts as they move from state tests, using paper and pencil, to computer-administered Common Core assessments. “This move to up-to-date new assessments marks a major step forward in California’s work to ensure that every student graduates equipped to succeed in college and careers,” Torlakson said. “These field tests simply make good sense, and expanding them to include both subjects for most students makes even better sense – in contrast to ‘double testing’ students, which makes little sense at all.” There’s no guarantee that the state’s revised policy will satisfy the feds. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that he would consider allowing states to substitute the Common Core field test in spring 2014 for the annual tests in state standards for at least some students. But states would have to apply for a waiver from double testing students to do this. The deadline to apply is Friday – Nov. 22 – and State Board of Education President Michael Kirst and Torlakson submitted the waiver request  and letter to U.S. Assistant Secretary Deborah Delisle on Thursday. In an interview, Chief Deputy State Superintendent Richard Zeiger said that the state will offer a shorter form of both the math and English language arts field tests that together take 3½ hours – no longer than the full field test in either subject. As a result, it should impose no further burdens on school districts’ capacity or time. And it will be done within the existing budget, he said. “We managed to strike the appropriate balance here,” he said. Zeiger said that the state doesn’t know if the shorter tests will satisfy the federal government’s requirements, but he hopes that they will. The state did not negotiate its proposal with federal officials, he said. A few states have indicated that they would seek a statewide waiver for all students. But most plan to give one of the Common Core field tests to 10 to 20 percent of their students and to continue giving some form of state tests to the rest. Torlakson and the State Board of Education took the position that the transition to the Common Core standards required a clean break from tests under the old state standards, so that teachers and districts could concentrate on preparing for the new assessments and Common Core. Consistent with that, AB 484 terminated nearly all California Standards Tests, effective Jan. 1. Official Common Core tests will debut in the spring of 2015. A field test is essentially a test of a test – a method to screen questions and determine their level of difficulty, a necessary step before rolling out the official assessment. Smarter Balanced will not release the results, because a field test cannot produce valid scores for measuring individual student or school achievement. Organizations representing teachers, administrators and school boards supported AB 484 and Torlakson’s one practice test proposal. Torlakson and state officials were miffed when the eight districts that formed the California Office to Reform Education called on Duncan to demand that the state give districts both the math and English language arts tests. In a statement on behalf of CORE on Thursday, Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson said, “We applaud Superintendent Torlakson and President Kirst’s announcement as we have consistently advocated throughout this process for ensuing all youth have access to the field test. More than anything else, schools and districts are hungry for information as we undertake this unprecedented implementation.”