SANCTUARY IN HARMONY: How Music Education is Saving Lives in LA

by Lucia Brawley | first published in the Community Marketing Blog, reprinted in Huffington Post

>>Photo: Harmony Projects founder Margaret Martin and seventh-grader Kiana Coronado-Ziadie receive an award from First Lady Michelle Obama. Credit: White House

December 03, 2009  -- “We look at each student, not as a deficit to be fixed, but as an asset to be nurtured and developed,” whispered Margaret Martin, founder of the Harmony Project, as I tried to keep pace with her determined, long-limbed stride between the classrooms of the stunning L.A. County High School for the Arts.  This was early on a Saturday morning in October and, rather than high-school students gracing the halls, middle-school students from the Harmony Project were availing themselves of the futuristic building’s state-of-the-art acoustics, performing classical music and jazz for their poor, mostly immigrant families.  In one room, exhilarated ‘tweens demonstrated the concept of improvisation.  In another, they taught their hesitant parents to play a song on their own classical instruments.  Outside, a gaggle of youth beat out a heart-thumping rhythm on overturned buckets.  While we buzzed from venue to venue, I noticed two things: 1.) In every room, Margaret’s laser-like gaze trained on the kids’ reactions – what excited them, moved them, made them laugh. 2.) Margaret doesn’t stop for anyone.  Without her telling me, I knew she expected me to match her clip, absorb everything she told me, and eventually write about what I had seen. I was happy to oblige.

Margaret, herself a trained musician, is a woman on a mission – a decidedly successful one, as evidenced by the $10,000 Coming Up Taller award for excellence in arts education she just received from Michelle Obama on November 4, the one-year anniversary of the President’s historic election.

I had met Margaret at a campaign event for Tom Torlakson, who is running for California State Superintendent of Schools.  Instantly, I’d wondered as to the identity of the hip, statuesque blonde standing in the corner of the host’s palatial home, asking the candidate hard-hitting questions about arts education.  At first, I’d thought she was a public school music teacher.  In a sense, I was right.  But instead of teaching 30 kids, she has, with the Harmony Project, extended access to classical music instruction and instruments to over 750 children and counting, in Los Angeles’ very poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods.

It all started when Margaret’s five-and-a-half-year-old son, a violin prodigy, was busking on an L.A. sidewalk.  He’d been playing two years already and a giant talent radiate from his tiny body, attracting a wide array of listeners.  Margaret remembers how astonished she felt when a crowd of gang members approached, entranced by the little boy’s music.  Everything about their body language and words showed deep interest, honor and respect.  They threw a few crumpled up bills from their pockets into the violin case.  Margaret remembers:

I was being trained to intervene in social problems [as a graduate student in public health, with a focus on community health]. But I learned more from that moment with the gang members than from almost anything in graduate school.  I had a background in behavioral science, but we were going at things in a way that was clearly not getting us the product we were seeking. From the respect those young men showed this little white kid they didn’t know, I learned how important respect is, how important access is. I realized that these hard-core LA gang bangers would have given their eye teeth to have someone look at them as a precious resource, give them an instrument and five hours a week of rehearsal.  A lot of these kids have no father at home.  They have parents stressed out with 2, 3 jobs. We haven’t created programs to engage them, while gangs are actively recruiting.

So, nine years ago, with a $9,000 check from the Rotary Club of Hollywood, Margaret founded the Harmony Project, with the vision of providing instruments and instruction to the most forgotten, disenfranchised kids in all of L.A. – a city renowned for its vast population of forgotten, disenfranchised kids.  Margaret puts it this way:

We get them early.  Kids start with us as first-graders and, by the time they get to be 12 or 13 . . . well, now I have one who’s applying to shi-shi boarding schools on the East Coast. She lives in a gang-infested, horrible neighborhood. But she plays flute, sings in choir, is self-possessed, willing to give it a shot, knows how to present herself, how to work and achieve – all skills that are generalizeable and transferable.  Music is just a vehicle for the life skills that it develops in an organic and joyful way. The kids gain a skill set that they can use as a means of social inclusion all their lives. Every body wants the musicians.  If you have a party, don’t you want to invite musicians?  Every one wants to hang with them.  They make magic.

She emphasizes that “initial catalytic support,” like that of the Rotary Club is essential, and difficult, for a burgeoning non-profiit to find.  “[The Harmony Project] was just an idea 9 years ago.  But ideas can have power when you put action behind them.  I tell our supporters that youth have powerful ideas.  What happens when you put action and support behind them?”

Today, the Harmony Project receives about $1.2 million per year, supporting 7 different full-time youth orchestras with students from more than more than 60 schools.  Half of the funding comes from private donors and foundations, the other half from the partnerships with the LA Philharmonic (and its Youth Orchestra LA or YOLA),* LA Unified School District, and LA City College – all of which help the Harmony Project obtain rehearsal rooms, venues, instruments and other resources. 

<<Photo: Leslie Cardenas, front, and Sara Flores rehearse as part of the Harmony Project in this 2007 photo. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times

Right now, the Harmony Project is fundraising together with the Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development.  They have highlighted 12 gang reduction zones (areas with a high documented rate of violent gang crime) in which Harmony Project serves as an official part of the city’s strategy to reduce gangs by keeping kids away from predators, and helping them develop discipline, persistence, self-esteem and accountability which will lead them to success in school and in life.

The Los Angeles DA’s office has put in an official request to Congresswoman Linda T. Sanchez’ office to introduce music programs in two new districts.  17 more public schools  (4 middle, 13 elementary) have recently requested programs, hoping to develop pipelines between middle and elementary schools, and then on to high schools – at which point, city-wide instruction happens all in one place, at LA City College.  LAUSD, through their Beyond the Bell after-school system, have offered to cover one-third of emerging program costs, but Harmony Project must raise the other two thirds.  “With enough sponsorship, we can roll the programs out in the most troubled parts of our city,” Margaret Martin says.  “That’s what we’re working hard to find funding to do.”

In the past few years, Harmony Poject has managed to offer $5,000 scholarships to all students going on to 2- or 4-year institutions of higher education.  The students must have remained enrolled in the music program for at least 3 years, have graduated from high school, gained entrance into college, and written an essay about their plans.  As long as each student maintains a C average or better in college, he or she will continue receiving their scholarship for the duration of their matriculation.  Last year, three students won the scholarship.  This year, it was nine.  “We are blessed that we have a donor who has agreed to fund 200 such scholarships,” says Margaret.  Those are good numbers.

One not-so-good number is Los Angeles’ high school dropout rate of 57.1%.  However, kids who stay in the Harmony Project all the way through school, graduate at a rate of 100%.*  Every child must show the program administrators all of their report cards.  “Discipline, focus and time management are required for music. They transfer to school work,” Margaret continues.   Furthermore, “you have your on crew and cohort.  Kids mentor one another [and encourage each other to do better.]”

In addition to administrative, artistic, financial and peer support, the kids benefit from rigorous, research-based educational and sociological methodologies:

One of the key factors in the success of our program is that we commit to our children over their entire childhood.  We stick with them until they graduate from high school and we commit to helping their transition to higher education.  Some kids come from homelessness and great upheaval in their lives – this is the one source of stability for some of them.  We transcend [the challenges of] schools, communities, homelessness and other kinds of upheaval.  We offer them a supportive, positive, consistent experience.  They will continue to grow in ways that help them to develop their own talent and abilities.  And become their best self.

But don’t just take Margaret’s word for it.  One girl, whose initials are A.D., writes in an essay about her experience as a Harmony Project kid:

I come from one of the most poor neighborhoods in L.A. because of having Having [sic] an Autistic [sic] brother I suffered from many thing [sic] anxiety, Depression [sic], thoughts of suicide, and low-self esteem [sic] and sometimes I suffered severe Panic [sic] attacks, I thought I would have what I had for my whole life . . . Music has really turned my life around . . . I have found harmony in the art of choir.  I don’t take choir like just lessons to entertain me but I take it as my sanctuary.  I am glad and proud of being in the Harmony Project.

Another student writes, “My school work has improved tremendously.  My classes have risen to a higher level.  My community enjoys the way I play my instruments.  My family is proud of me because I am accomplishing something no one in my family has ever done . . . the Harmony Project is the best thing that could have ever happened in my life.”

Recently, nine dedicated students earned their place at an event that would have been the highlight of anyone’s life.  Five of the Harmony Project’s best violinists and four of its best cellists were invited, with Margaret Martin, to the White House to receive the Coming Up Taller Award and to perform for the First Lady of the United States of America.  “I dissolved when Michelle Obama began to speak,” said Margaret, who seems a pretty tough person to ruffle:

I just dissolved.  She articulated every way in which these youth arts programs can transform at-risk kids’ lives.  She knows how little support we get.  And then her voice hardened, ‘Which is why it is important that we make you welcome in this house.’ The kids were so amazed. It was sort of surreal.  Never in their wildest dreams could they imagine that they would be invited to participate in an event at the White House.  They couldn’t believe the access their instruments provided them.  It shook their world. They asked themselves, ‘What else is possible?’ and were talking about plans for college.

A program as successful as the Harmony Project grows quickly.  Today, it has twice the students it had only three years ago.  However, in a time of economic crisis, when public and private benefactors alike are cutting back drastically on their giving, administrators of a successful program must remain vigilant about maintaining their upward momentum.According to Margaret, Steve Venz, Head of Music for LAUSD, announced that the school district must reduce its budget by 450 million additional dollars over the next couple of years, which will result – unless a change in plans occurs – with 50% of over 700 elementary arts teachers losing their jobs – saving the system only a little over $14 million.  In 2011-12, LAUSD intends to cut the other 50% of the arts teachers, eliminating all arts programs in all school districts within two years.

“This is the 2^nd largest school district in the nation,” Margaret expounded. She went on to explain the backward fiscal thinking behind arts education budget cuts:

Arts programs keep kids in schools.  When kids drop out of schools, schools lose apportionment from the state, so they lose money and the community gets the additional burden of uneducated kids loose in the community with nothing to do, who fall prey to drug dealers, gang members and sexual predators.  It’s really a false economy that the esteemed managers of our state government have painted themselves into this corner and are seeking to solve their problems at the expense of our kids.  And it’s never at the expense of kids from affluent homes, is it?  Instead of investing in our most vulnerable kids to make them the leaders we need to improve our community, we ignore them, we push them away and then when they get in trouble, we lock them up.  It doesn’t make sense, and fundamentally, it’s not    cost-effective.  I’m a fiscal conservative and it’s a waste of money and it’s a waste of talent and lives. Violence knows no zip code.  We get what we pay for when it comes to our communities.  When we don’t invest in our communities, well you see what we have . . . It’s actually cheaper and more effective to address and head off problems while they are developing than try to deal with them after they’d developed.  We just don’t tend to think or  work that way in this country.  But if we play our cards right and are able to deliver our programs, perhaps we will be able to deliver a sea change in that regard.

With a national award, rapidly replicating music programs that still allow room for local identities and methodologies, and a partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its international sensation musical director, Gustavo Dudamel* – Margaret Martin and the Harmony Project are well on their way to contributing to a sea change in how our nation thinks about the value of arts education.

Still, in this economic climate, even a successful program like the Harmony Project must fight hard to hold on to its funds, to say nothing of raising more for its necessary expansion.  The program must prioritize where to spend its precious budget.  “Most of our funds go to pay our teachers because the magic happens between the students and the teachers, that relationship building over the years,” says Margaret.  “By committing to the kids, we’re demonstrating what commitment looks like and, over time, they learn to commit to themselves.  It’s not rocket science.  It’s pretty basic stuff.”

If you would like to see 50 violinits and 50 cellists from the Harmony Project perform in a thrilling hip-hop youth orchestra, conducted by famed composer and arranger, Diane Louie of American Idol fame, you can attend their open-house rehearsal day, coming up on Saturday December 12, from 10-Noon at 2303 S. Figueroa Way, Los Angeles, CA 90007 (off Figueroa, just north of USC).  Take the 110 to Adams Blvd. Exit, building straight ahead across exit off ramp.

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* I first learned about the Harmony Project, at least a month before I’d met Margaret or even knew of her existence, when I was writing a piece for the Americans for the Arts’ Arts Education Blog and the Huffington Post about Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Youth Orchestra LA.

*I found and documented a similar differential between the Washington, D.C. high school drop out-rate and the graduation rate of the Washington, D.C. Youth Orchestra in my keynote speech for the Yale School of Music’s biennial Music Educators’ Symposium, which I published in the Huffington Post this past summer.

*Dudamel had held, as a condition of his coming to work with the LA Phil, that he get to help low-income kids learn music.  The LA Phil was able to grant his wish because Margaret Martin – who’d never heard of Venezuela's El Sistema from which Dudamel emerges – when she founded the Harmony Project, already had a program in place with which the orchestra could collaborate.

TENTATIVE DEAL ON PILOT SCHOOLS SET WITH UTLA: LAUSD, teachers union agree to pact that would call for 20 to open next year

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News

Dec 3, 2009 -- Los Angeles Unified announced a tentative deal Wednesday with the teachers union that would allow the opening of 20 more semi-independent "pilot" schools next year.

If approved, the deal could help LAUSD retain control of more campuses under the district's reform plan that allows teachers and nonprofits to compete to run public schools.

Pilot schools are district-run campuses that give staff and parents more decision-making power and have teachers working under more flexible contracts. They have become an attractive option to charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently run and are not required to hire union workers.

The deal between LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles still has to be finalized by union leaders and the Los Angeles Board of Education, but if approved could bring the number of innovative pilot schools in the district to 30 by next year.

"The purpose of establishing pilot schools is to provide additional models of educational excellence that will promote positive learning environments, help students improve test scores and foster widespread reform," said LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

The tentative deal comes as the district decides who will operate 36 new and underperforming schools that are up for bid under the district's ambitious "School Choice" plan.

The district and UTLA now only have an agreement for 10 pilot schools. But the small campuses have grown popular as a progressive reform option and more than 40 schools across LAUSD have already expressed interest in converting to the new model.

At least a dozen of those schools are in the San Fernando Valley. Some teachers and community members want to launch a pilot campus at San Fernando Middle School - the region's only underperforming campus up for bid.

"UTLA supports several reform models, of which pilot schools are one," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

"Pilot schools, like the other reform models we support, put teachers and other stakeholders at the center of decision making about how money is spent at schools, curriculum and professional development."

For months the district and the teachers union had been unable to agree on a plan to expand the number of pilot schools.

Rumors surfaced that some UTLA members were interested in having a moratorium on pilot schools because they were concerned that the streamlined contract could weaken all teacher contracts.

If the tentative deal is not approved by February, the popular district-run and union-supported option could be removed as a choice for applicants vying for district schools.

UTLA is scheduled to host a special meeting next Thursday. If union leaders do not approve the deal, the agreement could be sent to a vote of all union members.

LAUSD BUDGET UPDATE POWERPOINT as of Nov 18,2009

LAUSD Budget Upʠ11-18-2009

BUDGET CUTS IN NYC CAUSE CLASSROOM SIZES TO GROW, KINDERGARTNERS SUFFER THE MOST

Kindergarten classes average 25 or more students, and have grown by almost 30% in 58 schools located mostly in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

BY Meredith Kolodner | NYDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

Giancarli for News

Maisie of EdWize – an NYC EdBlog notes: “Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is an odd time for the Dept. of Education to publish the new class size numbers. “But a quick look at them suggests why: class sizes rose virtually across the board, for the second year in a row. This occurred despite $150 million in targeted state funding to reduce class sizes in New York City in each of these two years.”

Monday, November 30th 2009, 4:00 AM -- Class sizes in city schools jumped by the most in more than a decade this year - and youngest children are getting hit hardest.

The average elementary school class ballooned by about 4% to more than 23 students. Middle and high school classes grew by 1% to 2% to almost 27 students.

"It's a really sad story," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. "The kids with the highest educational needs tend to fall the furthest back. They benefit most from the individual attention."

After staying flat for the past six years, average kindergarten class sizes jumped to 21.7 from 20.7 students this year, preliminary data show.

The number of schools that have an average of 25 or more students in kindergarten classes grew by almost 30% to 58 schools, mostly in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Education Department officials blamed the increases on 5% budget cuts to schools, which translates to 1,650 fewer classroom teachers.

"We have managed to avoid massive increases in class size," said Marge Feinberg, a DOE spokeswoman.

Kindergartens experienced an enrollment increase of about 4,450 children compared with last year. The jump came at the same time the city closed kindergarten classrooms in its day care centers last year, pushing about 3,300 extra children into city schools.

The school with the largest kindergarten classes in the city is three blocks away from a day care center that was forced to shutter two kindergarten classrooms because of budget cuts. Public School 21 in Williamsbridge, the Bronx, now has an average of about 32 children per kindergarten class, compared with about 25 last year.

At PS 86 in the Bronx, kindergartens have been bursting at the seams for years.

"The teachers are great, but it is still overcrowded," parent Margaret Hamilton said.

A third of all the overcrowded kindergartens are in Brooklyn.

"It's gross mismanagement," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

"It's common sense. When you close some kindergartens, then other kindergartens are going to get more kids."

mkolodner@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/11/30/2009-11-30_schools_feel_econ_crunch_kindergartners_suffer_most_as_budget_cuts_balloon_class.html#ixzz0Yb8RGbNd

BLOOMBERG TIES TEST SCORES TO TEACHER TENURE

 

By JENNIFER MEDINA | New York Times

November 26, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Wednesday that New York City public schools would immediately begin to use student test scores as a factor in deciding which teachers earn tenure, a proposal that has been bitterly opposed by the teachers’ union and criticized as putting too much weight on standardized exams.

The city already uses test scores in evaluating the system: to determine teacher and principal bonus pay, to assign the A through F letter grades that schools receive, and to decide which schools are shut down for poor performance. The mayor is now putting even more weight behind those scores by using them to decide which teachers should stay and which should go.

In a speech in Washington on Wednesday, alongside the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, the mayor also called on the State Legislature to make a number of changes, some of them also anathema to the unions, that would help New York State compete for hundreds of millions of dollars in the so-called Race to the Top federal grants. The program will distribute $4.35 billion in stimulus financing to states for innovative education programs.

The speech suggested that the mayor may use his third term to take on the United Federation of Teachers, which sat out the mayoral election during a period of relative labor peace. The mayor did not mention that he could achieve some of the same changes by negotiating with the union, whose contract expired shortly before the election.

While many of the changes he is seeking could be accomplished at the negotiating table, his speech indicated that he would turn to Albany to take up much of the fight.

The Bloomberg administration contends that it already has the power to use test scores in tenure decisions. But, he said that the Legislature should require all districts in the state to evaluate teachers and principals with “data-driven systems,” one of the factors Mr. Duncan will use in deciding which states will receive Race to the Top grants.

The mayor also said the state should allow teacher layoffs based on performance rather than seniority, as they are now. It is a particularly crucial topic now, because the city may face large budget cuts and potential layoffs.

“The only thing worse than having to lay off teachers would be laying off great teachers instead of failing teachers,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “With a transparent new evaluation system, principals would have the ability to make layoffs based on merit — but only if the State Legislature gives us the authority to do it.”

Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, suggested that the mayor would not find satisfaction in Albany. “These are all contractual issues that should be dealt with at the bargaining table,” he said.

The teachers’ union has fought the use of test scores in tenure decisions, and last year successfully lobbied the Legislature to ban it for teachers hired after July 1, 2008. That law is to expire next year.

The city contends that it has the power to use scores for the next batch of teachers up for tenure — those hired in 2007 — and if the Legislature does not renew its law, the city could do so for all teachers hired thereafter. Teachers generally receive tenure after three years; 93 percent of teachers up for tenure in the last school year received it.

Mr. Bloomberg said that banning the use of student achievement in tenure decisions is “like saying to hospitals, ‘You can evaluate heart surgeons on any criteria you want — just not patient survival rates.’ ”

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the city’s teacher union, said he was “very, very disappointed” in the tone of the mayor’s speech.

He did not rule out filing a lawsuit once the details of the mayor’s plan have been fleshed out.

He said that using the test scores was a poor way to measure teachers, citing criticism that the tests have become too easy, with so many students showing large improvement that they have lost their meaning as gauges of learning.

“How do we constructively fix that instead of saying let’s play political agenda and propaganda?” Mr. Mulgrew asked.

Perhaps anticipating such criticism, Mr. Bloomberg also urged the state on Wednesday to adopt national standards and make the test more difficult.

Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, called the issue of state tests the “Achilles’ heel of the accountability movement.”

“When you ask any teacher, even a good one, they tend to be pretty leery of being held accountable on these tests,” Ms. Walsh said. “These tests aren’t linked to the actual curriculum, and they have to be.”

But, she said, they have “validity for making decisions at the extreme end: Teachers who are really talented tend to be in the top and teachers who are poor tend to be in the bottom year after year.”

Teachers interviewed on Wednesday about the plan were universal in their condemnation. “It’s ridiculous,” said Kanayo Al-Broderick, a third-grade teacher at Public School 56 in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, who is in her 22nd year of teaching. “It just means they did well on this test. Does it show we’ve built them to be lifelong readers, to love reading? That’s what all teachers want.”

Education officials said they had no details on just how scores would be used for tenure decisions. Many teachers have no scores to go by: Only children in grades three through eight take the annual English and math state standardized tests, and high school students take Regents exams only in certain subjects.

The mayor also called on legislators to make it easier to fire bad teachers and teachers whose jobs have been cut but who are guaranteed their salaries even if they cannot find a new job in the system. The city is now paying more than $100 million for these so-called reserve teachers, many of whom lost their positions because their schools were closed for poor performance. Mr. Bloomberg said that the state should place a one-year limit of teachers in the reserve pool, something he could also press for in the contract.

In a move almost certain to increase that pool of teachers, the mayor also said that his goal was to shut down the lowest-performing 10 percent of city schools. So far, the Bloomberg administration has shut down 91 schools across the city.

Legislators in Albany are preoccupied with cutting the state budget, and Mr. Bloomberg appears to be trying to convince them that changes in state education law could bring much-needed millions of dollars to the state.

“We’re committed to exploring any avenues to bring in increased federal funding to the state,” said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democrats.

Many states have made significant changes to state law to improve their chances at receiving Race to the Top money, but the Legislature in New York has not made any considerable effort to do the same.

Mr. Duncan, who sat just feet away from the mayor but remained silent on most of his proposals, said that he supported the idea of tying student data to teacher evaluations but he stopped short of endorsing the administration’s plan.

“Everyone agrees the current system is broken,” he said. “We have to talk about what makes sense.”

Karen Zraick contributed reporting.

NEW THREATS FACING LA SCHOOLS: a member of the United Teachers Los Angeles board of directors looks at how budget cuts and charter school operators are carving up the country's second-biggest school district

by David Rapkin  from Socialist Worker.org

Protesting budget cuts and layoffs in the LA schools

December 2, 2009 -- IN HER groundbreaking book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein describes the process whereby capitalist vultures circle patiently, waiting for a crisis to lay waste to another public institution so that they can slash and privatize the wounded or dying animal.

Klein calls these predators and scavengers "disaster capitalists"--and our public education system is one of their favorite targets. And while the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is by no means dead, the crisis is upon us. We are reeling, and the vultures are beginning to land and eat us alive.

A California tax system that obscenely benefits corporations and the super-rich, combined with a national and international economic crisis, has resulted in an LAUSD budget shortfall for this year of almost $500 million. This comes on the heels of last year's catastrophe, when we took deep cuts, and lost more than 2,000 teachers and thousands of other school employees. Class sizes ballooned. Our kids and communities, especially communities of color, are in deep trouble.

But as budgetary hammer-blow after blow is falling on pre-K through 12th grade public education in Los Angeles, the disaster capitalists are moving in with their charter management organizations and privatization schemes.

Enter the so-called "school choice motion," passed last summer by the LAUSD Board of Education. Under this plan, 12 existing public schools, said to be "failing" under the federal No Child Left Behind law, and 24 new schools have been put up for bid by the LAUSD. Teachers, parents and other community members find ourselves forced to "compete" for our own schools against independent charter schools and other private entities.

And that's just the beginning of a process that aims to put 250 of our schools on the block for takeover by charter school operators and others.

Many of the charter schools have very close ties to district bureaucrats or the school board itself, the very people who are going to be deciding who "wins" this supposedly fair process. And those who aren't on the take locally are mostly funded by foundations run by the likes of Wal-Mart.

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THE LA teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), and our allies are now caught fighting on a constantly shifting terrain. One month or week or day, we're fighting budget cuts; the next day or minute, we're trying to keep our neighborhood schools from "going charter."

And while the battles are local, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, among others, is promoting the forces of privatization through lies, bribery and coercion. In order to accumulate "points" to compete for $4.3 billion in federal grants for K-12 education, states must tear down legislative barriers to charter schools, and school districts must impose merit pay on teachers by tying their salaries to test scores and other measures of student performance.

Some national union leaders, like American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, are all too willing to play nice. How else to get Bill and Melinda Gates to help fund the union's own "reform" projects?

But blood money has its price, and in this case, some national leaders are lying with dogs--and giving their rank-and-file members the fleas. Collaborate with management and the city fathers, we are told. Keep labor peace, and maybe we can allow you to look for some spare change on our mansion floors.

Here at home, our superintendent, Ramon Cortines, not a particularly hard-line charter supporter, but a very staunch fiscal conservative, has given all school workers an ultimatum: Give up a 12 percent pay cut, and throw in another four unpaid days for a total of a 14 percent cut, or we will lay off teachers, nurses, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and many more workers who are absolutely necessary to educate our children. Oh, and by the way, reform your schools immediately, or we will have to give them away to charter operators. So not only do we face deeper cuts than we ever imagined, now, we're told, we have to "reform or die."

The superintendent's threats in this regard are worth digesting. Here's a sample, taken from a letter to school employees' unions:

Without your shared commitment, this district will see layoffs of more than 7,500 to 8,500 personnel, which will result in more than 14,000 employees being noticed for possible reduction in force.

To maintain current staffing and service for 2010-2011, we will need every employee to take a 12 percent salary reduction (1 percent = $40 million). Otherwise, we are looking at one in five employees who will be informed that they may lose their job.

We need to submit a balanced budget by December 8, 2009. We are ready to meet at the bargaining table to negotiate compensation reductions for many district employees. Otherwise, the layoffs will commence on July 1, 2010.

We ask that each union provide the equivalent of four furlough days in 2010 (1 furlough day = $15 million). We applaud SEIU [Service Employees International Union] for working to lead the way by coming to the table as a shared partner.

All this begs a question: How are we supposed to reform our schools, a task that if taken seriously would require a vast increase in resources, if LA schools are going to be cut to the bone?

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WHETHER IT'S a grand conspiracy or not, we know we're being set up to fail. The crisis creates precisely the conditions that the charters and their supporters need. Already, they're saying loudly, "See, we gave them their chance, and teachers and communities have messed up the schools. Public schools don't work. Now it's our turn."

Unfortunately, the budget cutters also have allies in labor's camp. The superintendent's thanks to SEIU above refers to a side deal that SEIU Local 99's backward leadership made to give up unpaid furlough days without a fight. Sadly, many of Local 99's members were barely paying their bills even before this latest round of cuts.

This two-pronged attack is taking countless real victims. Julie Van Winkle, a prominent UTLA activist in last year's fight against layoffs, and herself now a laid-off teacher substituting day to day to stay above water, described to me some of the costs as she experiences them:

If Cortines' proposed cuts go into effect next school year, the results will be devastating to entire school communities.

For newer teachers, the cuts would be especially painful. I was one of about 2,000 teachers who lost their jobs last year, and Cortines is now threatening to lay off more workers this year than he did last year.

For me, being laid off threw my life completely off balance. As an experienced teacher with an exemplary classroom, I felt confident in my career and decided that I wanted to buy a house. Just after I completed the paperwork for my loan last March, I received my RIF notice. Since then, I've been using the money I had saved to pay bills and other expenses.

Perhaps even more upsetting than the financial strains that I was feeling was the emotional aspect of being laid off. I knew that I was a good teacher, and I knew that many schools like mine have extremely overcrowded classrooms. It was frustrating to have to do substitute work at different schools every day.

Who will suffer the most from these cuts? The students, of course. They will be packed into classrooms with more and more students, with fewer and fewer resources.

Also, students in lower-income areas will feel the effects of these cuts the most. Low-income, inner-city schools are more difficult to staff and have higher teacher turnover rates. Consequently, their staffs tend to be less experienced. Thus, when the teachers are laid off, schools in low-income areas will lose more teachers and undergo much more drastic changes.

Luckily for all of us, fighters like Julie are not giving up. From a demonstration at next week's school board meeting to parent forums and community walks, press conferences and leafleting, UTLA and our allies are standing up.

We have made alliances with the University of California and California State University students, workers and faculty who made March 4 a day of action to defend public education. And we are proudly demanding real reforms for our schools at the same time that we challenge the fake "reform" giveaway that threatens us every bit as much as the cuts.

WHY TRACKING CHRONIC STUDENT ABSENTEEISM IS KEY FOR CALIFORNIA: Students who miss a month in early grades are almost sure to fall behind later. Getting good data on attendance, not just on test scores, is essential to ensuring success in school.

OP-ED in The LA Times by Hedy N. Chang and Yolie Flores

December 2, 2009 -- As California strives to hold its public schools accountable for teaching all children, the state is missing a crucial piece of data: a snapshot of how many children chronically miss class.

It's not that teachers aren't taking attendance; they do that every day, because state funding depends on how many students show up. And it's not that schools aren't tracking down truants. Compulsory education requires monitoring unexcused absences.

What California doesn't do in a systematic way is pay attention when students miss extended periods of school because of excused, as well as unexcused, absences.

National research shows that every year, 1 in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students miss at least a month of school; in other words, they are chronically absent. These children aren't truants, because most 5- and 6-year-olds don't stay home without the knowledge of an adult who can call in an excuse. But they are missing school nonetheless.

The effects are profound: Our research shows that students who miss a month or more of kindergarten are more likely to perform poorly in first grade, an effect particularly pronounced in reading among Latino children. Among children living in poverty, chronic absence in kindergarten predicts low academic achievement in fifth grade. By sixth grade, a pattern of absence is a sure-fire predictor of high school dropout rates. The classmates of frequent absentees can also be adversely affected, because teachers have to spend time reviewing work for the students who missed class rather than presenting new material.

Chronic absence can be a key indicator that a student -- or a school -- is headed for trouble. Schools that track chronic absence data find that they can intervene to turn around the problem. But most school districts in California don't keep track, and neither does the state.

California is one of only 13 states that did not include attendance in its formula for assessing whether schools are making adequate progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. Currently, the state Department of Education does not require school districts to track chronic absence, and the information is not part of the elaborate, longitudinal California database (CALPADS) that will follow students throughout their academic careers. But knowing about attendance, not just test scores, is essential to ensuring that children do well in school.

Analyzing attendance patterns can give clues not just about individual students but about how schools and neighborhoods are functioning. And analysis also can point to solutions.

Let's say that data show that many absentee students come from a single neighborhood. This should suggest an inquiry into whether students from the area have reliable transportation or safe walking routes. If chronic illness is keeping some students home, a school nurse or nearby clinic might be enlisted to help with preventive care. If the problem is parents simply not understanding the importance of attendance in the early grades, then education programs for parents are important, along with incentives for children to achieve improved attendance. If many frequently absent children never attended preschool, the school knows it needs to more effectively promote early childhood programs to smooth the transition into elementary school. Or if the absentee students are concentrated in a single class, a principal should see that the teacher gets support in reworking the curriculum.

Schools and communities can't develop solutions without data. The state Board of Education this month discussed tapping federal money to help schools track this important indicator. The Obama administration's Race to the Top education grant program is offering $4.3 billion to districts with an emphasis on data-driven solutions.

Including chronic absence in the grant request could provide the money needed for school districts to share their attendance data with the state, so it could be included in the CALPADS database along with student test scores and other key indicators. The state could analyze the data and help school districts develop the best approaches to resolving the problem.

Ultimately, addressing chronic absence will take more than data analysis; it will require time and commitment from educators, parents and the community. It takes a recognition that poor attendance is often tangled in the web of problems afflicting children who live in poverty. But as we push to improve student improvement and fix failing schools, we need to know first whether the students are actually coming to class.

• Hedy N. Chang directs the Chronic Absence Project, funded with grants from the California Endowment and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Yolie Flores is a member of the LAUSD Board of Education and a senior associate at the Chronic Absence Project.

UC EXTENDS APPLICATION DEADLINE AFTER COMPUTER GLITCH

by Larry Gordon | LA Times LA Now blog

December 1, 2009 |  6:13 pm -- University of California officials have extended the admissions application period for panicked students who could not file their online applications in time for Monday night’s deadline because of a computer slowdown. The new deadline is 11:59 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 2).

Susan Wilbur, UC’s director of undergraduate admissions, said her office was investigating the cause of the computerized malfunction, which at least temporarily blocked some last-minute filers from sending their applications in on Sunday and Monday nights. She said she did not know how many students might have been affected but said that about two-thirds of applicants wait until a week or less -- and many less than a day -- before the traditional deadline to file.

Wilbur said she regretted the slowdown and said she knew it added to the anxiety students already face in applying to UC. Her staff notified high school counselors and posted online notices about the extension and have answered many e-mails and phone calls from worried students and parents. The problem seemed to be solved Tuesday evening, but she also said the deadline could be extended again if anything else goes awry.

The extension was great news for Stephanie Duque, a Long Beach City College student who could not get the online system to accept her transfer application to seven UC campuses by Monday’s original deadline. She said she was crying with frustration and anxiety. "I lost hope and felt that’s the end of it. It was very hard," the Lynwood resident said. Then, after she learned of the extension, she was able to file Tuesday morning and felt "so relieved and happy."

By this evening, about 129,000 UC applications for freshman and transfer students had been received, compared with about 126,700 by last year’s deadline, Wilbur said. About 2,600 were submitted between 6 a.m. and about 5 p.m. today.

A similar situation and extension occurred five years ago, officials said. Wilbur said technicians recently performed "rigorous stress tests on the system" and had planned for a heavy load of applicants in the final days. "Our preliminary analysis indicates that this was not a problem of capacity, but we have not yet found the root of the problem," she said.

UC officials said applicants who experience technical difficulties can call UC's application help desk at (800) 914-8820 in California, or (925) 808-2150 outside California, or e-mail ucpath@ucapplication.net

GREEN DOT CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDER REPAYS GROUP $50,866: The nonprofit's tax return shows that Steve Barr repaid the organization after an internal review found that expenses he had charged were undocumented or unjustified

By Howard Blume | LA Times

Green Dot schools founder Steve Barr greets a student in 2007. Barr said that during the period in question, "I was all over the . . . place and my receipts weren't great." (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / January 9, 2007)

December 2, 2009 -- Local charter school founder Steve Barr, a national figure in school reform, has repaid his organization more than $50,000 after an internal review determined that expenses he had charged were undocumented or unjustified.

The repayment was disclosed in a tax return filed this year by Green Dot Public Schools, which Barr launched in 1999.

Barr stepped aside this fall as board chairman of Green Dot but remains on the board and on staff. The expense problem had nothing to do with Barr's change of role, said Shane Martin, who replaced Barr as chairman.

Martin said Tuesday that the expenses came to light in an internal review as the rapidly growing nonprofit transitioned from Barr's ad hoc creation to a nonprofit run according to proper accounting standards.

The disallowed costs related to missing receipts and "isolated instances of expenses that were more extravagant than they needed to be for a nonprofit," such as lodging at higher-grade hotels, said Martin, who also heads the school of education at Loyola Marymount University.

"We caught this internally and took decisive action," he said. "Everyone cooperated fully."

Barr's education work has attracted significant notice because of Green Dot's July 2008 takeover of long-struggling Locke High in South Los Angeles. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has cited Green Dot's approach as one model for the essential turnaround of the nation's high school "dropout factories."

Green Dot's internal review has local implications because the Los Angeles Unified School District is poised to turn over as many as 30 campuses to outside bidders, including Green Dot and other charter organizations. Charters are publicly funded, independently managed schools that are free from some regulations that govern traditional schools.

Martin initially cited attorney-client privilege in saying that Green Dot would not release an audit of Barr's expenses because it was conducted by a law firm. He later said Green Dot would consider releasing it.

Last year, L.A. Unified cited the same rationale for withholding an audit on its handling of a misconduct case. The district, under public and legal pressure, eventually released the report.

Charter schools, however, are not subject to the state law that requires the disclo- sure of public records, according to a state Department of Education analysis. But a law firm that represents charter schools has concluded that the legal landscape remains unsettled.

The L.A. school board this month is scheduled to vote on a policy that would apply the public records act to charters.

For the most part, Green Dot, which operates 19 schools, is among charter organizations that have made transparency a hallmark, frequently surpassing L.A. Unified in ease of access to campuses, budgets and detailed student data.

Mention of Barr's reimbursement surfaced in a recent post by education blogger Alexander Russo.

FOR THE RECORD/CORRECTION FROM THE LA TIMES 12/3 - Green Dot: An article in Wednesday's Section A about Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr repaying his charter school organization more than $50,000 in expenses said the issue had surfaced in a post by education bloggerAlexander Russo. Another blogger, Ken Libby, had previously posted about Barr's repayment.

Green Dot's tax return is available because of federal laws governing nonprofits. The issue of Barr's expenses is described in a note on page 20: "The Corporation reimbursed Mr. Barr in error a total of $50,866 for charges that were either not reimbursable in nature, or were insufficiently substantiated or documented to qualify for reimbursement," according to the tax return. "The Corporation concluded that while many of the expenses were inappropriate, there was no evidence that Mr. Barr attempted to enrich himself."

Barr characterized the audit as his own "proactive effort." During the period in question, from 2004 through 2007, he said, "I was all over the . . . place and my receipts weren't great."

He said the expenses he paid back included taking teachers out for drinks and picking up a $1,000 dinner tab for parents who took part in a rally.

The tax return states that two subordinates raised concerns about the matter in November 2007. The review was completed nine months later, shortly before Barr turned over day-to-day management to current Chief Executive Marco Petruzzi.

Barr focused instead on "fundraising, advocacy, politics," Petruzzi said. "That's something Steve is very good at."

Barr gave up his board chairmanship this fall but continues to earn a salary of $215,000, with the current assignment of developing a national profile for Green Dot.

"We can play a bigger role than methodically building charter schools one after another," Barr said.

PARENTS FOR ARTS EDUCATION FORMED TO PRESERVE ARTS EDUCATION IN LAUSD / PADRES PARA LA EDUCACIÓN DE LAS ARTES FORMADA PARA PRESERVAR LA EDUCACIÓN ARTE EN EL LAUSD

Parents For Arts Education

14320 Ventura Blvd., #297

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

www.parents4artsed.org

November 27, 2009

Dear Parent, Guardian, Teacher and Administrator:

WHO WE ARE:

Parents For Arts Education is an organization created by Los Angeles Unified School District parents and teachers, as well as Los Angeles community members and arts organizations. Parents For Arts Education includes partnerships with the Los Angeles Secondary Music Teachers Association, the UTLA Elementary Arts Education Steering Committee and the Los Angeles City Elementary School Music Association. We understand the significant impact arts education (dance, music, theatre and visual arts instruction) in the schools has on our kids. Parents For Arts Education insists on preserving arts education for our students in the elementary, middle and high schools at the current level of funding. We invite you to join us.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM:

Due to the budget crisis, the Los Angeles Unified School District plans to eliminate 50% of the Elementary Arts Teachers (dance, music-general/vocal and instrumental, theatre and visual arts), or 173 of 345 teachers for the 2010-2011 school year. Eliminating these teacher positions not only means that half of the elementary schools in LAUSD would NOT receive arts education, but also the visual and performing arts classes in secondary schools would be impacted. All teacher lay-offs are based on seniority within the school district. For example, if an elementary music teacher’s position is eliminated, that music teacher may take the place of a middle or high school music teacher, if s/he has been teaching in LAUSD longer than the middle or high school music teacher. All LAUSD visual and performing arts programs and classes will be affected by these position cuts.

DEVELOPING THE SOLUTION:

To receive updates about the steps we can take to preserve the arts programs, please send an email to info@parents4artsed.org . We will keep you informed by email about the latest actions that will need to be taken to preserve the arts in the schools.

OR

You can write your email address on this letter and give it to your school’s dance, music, theatre or visual arts teacher. Your teacher can send this and other email addresses to Parents For Arts Education by email or US mail.

With your assistance, we look forward to preserving arts education in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Sincerely,

Steve Venz

Founder & Chairperson, Parents for Arts Education

Please forward my email address(es) to Parents For Arts Education.

Name ________________________________________________________

Email Address(es) or telephone ____________________________________

 

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Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes

Parents For Arts Education

14320 Ventura Blvd., #297

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

www.parents4artsed.org

Noviembre 27, 2009

Estimado Padre, Guardián, Maestro/a, y Administrador:

QUIENES SOMOS:

Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes es una organización creada por los padres y maestros/as del distrito Unificado de Los Ángeles, adjunto con miembros de la comunidad y varias organizaciones de las artes. Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes incluye colaboraciones con la Asociación de Maestros de Música de escuelas Secundarias (LASMTA), La Comité de Artes de Maestros Unidos de Los Ángeles (UTLA Elementary Arts Education Steering Committee), y la Asociación de Música de escuelas Primarias de Los Ángeles (LACESMA). Entendemos el gran impacto que la educación de las artes (danza, música, teatro, y instrucción de artes visuales) en nuestras escuelas tiene en nuestros hijos/as. Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes insiste en preservar la educación de las artes para nuestros alumnos en las escuelas primarias y secundarias en el presente nivel fiscal. Los invitamos que nos acompañen.

EL PRESENTE PROBLEMA:

Con la crisis fiscal presente, el Distrito Unificado de Los Ángeles planea en eliminar 50% de los maestros de Artes (danza, música instrumental, coro, general, teatro y artes visuales), que serán 173 maestros de los 345 en el año escolar 2010-2011. Eliminando estas posiciones significa que la mitad de nuestras escuelas primarias NO recibirán instrucción de las artes. Instrucción de las artes en escuelas secundarias también estarán impactados. Todas las despedidas de maestros están basadas por precedencia entre el distrito escolar. Por ejemplo, si una posición de un maestro de música está eliminada, ese maestro podrá tomar el lugar de un maestro de otra escuela secundaria si él/ella tienen más años (precedencia) dando instrucción en el distrito. Todos los programas y clases de las artes van a estar afectadas por la eliminación de estas posiciones.

FORMANDO LA SOLUCION:

Para recibir noticia reciente de los pasos que podemos tomar para preservar los programas de las artes, por favor mande un correo electrónico a infor@parents4artsed.org. Nosotros los mantendremos informados por correo electrónico sobre los pasos que tendremos que tomar para preservar los programas de las artes en nuestras escuelas.

O

Puede escribir su correo electrónico en esta carta y dárselo al maestro/a de danza, música, o arte visual de su escuela. Su maestro/a puede mandar su correo electrónico a Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes (Parents for Arts Education). Con su apoyo, juntos podremos dar los pasos para preservar la educación de las artes el distrito Unificado de Los Ángeles.

Sinceramente,

Steve Venz

Fundador y Presidente, Padres Para La Educación De Las Artes

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Por favor escriba su nombre y correo(s) electrónico debajo para Padres Para La Educación de Las Artes

Nombre _____________________________________________________

Correo(s)electronic o telefono____________________________________

Kidsdata.org: Great New Data Source Available for All Communities in California!

Spread the Word: http://www.Kidsdata.org

Kidsdata.org now offers data for all counties, cities, and school districts in California. These statewide data are available for a wide range of topics measuring the health and well being of children, and more data will be phased in throughout 2010. If you’d like to help us spread the word about this free, time-saving resource, please post this news on your Facebook and Twitter pages, add it to your organization’s newsletter or website, and alert your colleagues. If you have general feedback about the site, contact us at kidsdata@lpfch.org.

What is Kidsdata.org?

• Kidsdata.org offers more than 300 indicators on the health and well being of children in communities across California. The website, launched in 2004, is a project of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health.
• The website initially provided data for San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, along with statewide comparisons. In 2007, kidsdata.org expanded to include other counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco. Also in 2007, a version of kidsdata.org launched in Santa Barbara County. In fall 2009, kidsdata.org expanded to all counties, cities and school districts in California – about 1,600 regions. For more information about this expansion, visit http://www.kidsdata.org/statewide.
• In 2005 and 2006, kidsdata.org was nominated as one of five finalists for a Webby Award -- the leading award for websites -- in the Family/Parenting category. Kidsdata.org also won a silver medal from the Council on Foundation's 2006 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program for Excellence in Communications.

What is its purpose?

• To promote the health and well being of children by making trustworthy information easily accessible to policymakers, service providers, grantseekers, media, parents, educators, and others who influence kids’ lives.
• To raise the visibility of key issues affecting California’s children and enable policymakers to set priorities, track progress in meeting benchmarks, and identify new issues of concern.
• You are welcome to make use of our data for research, reports, and other work, and permission to cite the information and reproduce the tables, graphs, or maps on kidsdata.org is granted. Suggested citation: [Data source.] As cited on www.kidsdata.org, a project of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. Retrieved on [date].
• The site evolved from children's reports in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health has been a long-time investor in these local data reports and, based on community interest, built kidsdata.org to make these indicators more accessible and up-to-date on the web and to help identify and track key children's issues over time.

Where does the data come from?

• Nearly all data on the site are from public sources, though some indicators come from a Lucile Packard Foundation survey of parents about their child’s well being. You can find information and links to the data sources in the notes below tables, maps, or graphs on indicator pages, or you can view a list of the data sources.
• Data updates and analyses are provided by Population Reference Bureau and foundation staff.
• Data on the site are updated continually.
• The data on kidsdata.org, like indicator data in many reports and websites, have not been tested for statistical significance. Apparent trends over time and differences across regions and among demographic groups may or may not be statistically significant.

Who manages Kidsdsata.org?

• The website was created and is maintained by the Programs and Partnerships department of the Palo Alto-based Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. The foundation’s vision is that all children in the communities we serve are able to reach their maximum health potential.
• Programming work for kidsdata.org is provided by Velir Studios. The site was designed by Anna Cobb. The data characters that appear on kidsdata.org were created by Twist Studio.

DROPOUT COSTS PRICED FOR 50 MAJOR U.S. CITIES: "The Economic Benefits of Reducing High School Dropout Rates in America’s Fifty Largest Cities" + L.A./Long Beach data

By Catherine Gewertz | Ed Week Vol. 29, Issue 13

November 25 – If  half the students who dropped out of the class of 2008 had graduated, they would have generated $4.1 billion more in wages and $536 million in state and local taxes nationally in one average year of their working lives, according to a new analysis.

The study, issued this month by the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education, calculates what the dropout problem costs the country and each of the 50 largest metropolitan areas.

Underwritten by State Farm Insurance of Bloomington, Ill., the study uses a model developed by an Idaho company that specializes in tools for socioeconomic analysis. The model blends education and jobs data, and an examination of each metropolitan region’s economy, to estimate the increased wages, education, and tax revenue that would be generated if the dropout rate were cut in half.

The numbers vary depending on each region’s peculiarities. In a conference call with reporters, Bob Wise, the president of the alliance, noted that 84 percent of high school graduates in Honolulu go on to some kind of postsecondary education, compared with 47 percent in Memphis. For the area that includes Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., for instance, the study finds that if half of the 70,929 students who dropped out of the class of 2008 had earned diplomas, they would have contributed $575 million more in wages and $79 million in property, sales, and income taxes during an average year, which the alliance defines as when a graduate is about 39 years old.

The national dropout count—599,755 students in the class of 2008—was calculated using a method devised by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which is an arm of the same organization that publishes Education Week.

Mr. Wise said that he hopes the data in the report make clear to local business people the stake they have in improving the graduation rates in their communities, even if they don’t have children attending the public schools.

“Nearly 600,000 students dropped out of the class of 2008, at a great cost to themselves,” he said, “but as this study demonstrates, also to their communities.”

from the study:

The Economic Benefits of Reducing Los Angeles-Long Beach’s Dropout Rate

November 2009

Halving the Number of Dropouts in Los Angeles-Long Beach and Surrounding Areas

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area, (Not just LAUSD and LBUSD) - 70,929 students dropped out from the Class of 2008. These high school dropouts did so at a great cost not only to themselves but also to their communities. Reducing the number of dropouts by 50 percent for just this single high school class would result in tremendous economic benefits to the Los Angeles-Long Beach region. The following are three examples of the economic impact that these 35,465 new graduates would have on Los Angeles-Long Beach and its surrounding area:

1. Increased Wages. By earning their diplomas—and in many cases, continuing their education—these new high school graduates would together earn over $575 million in additional wages over the course of an average year compared to their likely earnings without a diploma.
2. Increased Human Capital. After earning their high school diplomas, many new graduates would not stop there. An estimated 74 percent of these students are projected to continue their education after high school, some earning as high as a PhD or other professional degree.
3. Additional Tax Revenue. As these new graduates’ incomes grow, local tax revenues will also increase. Annual state and local property, income, and sales tax revenue would grow by over $79 million during the average year as the result of increased spending and higher salaries.

Race2Top: STIMULUS RULES ON ‘TURNAROUNDS’ SHIFT

By Lesli A. Maxwell | EdWeek

Nov 23 -- The final rules for the $4 billion Race to the Top competition give states and districts more leeway in how they intervene in chronically underperforming schools, a subtle but important change that raises new questions about whether the push to turn around struggling campuses will succeed in rehabilitating large numbers of schools.

Under the guidelines issued this month by the U.S. Department of Education, states and districts using the federal grant money could opt, as a first resort, to use a turnaround approach that many educators favor: providing professional development and coaching for a school’s current staff, and making changes to curriculum and instruction.

No More Last Resort

Originally, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had sought to make that “transformation” model a last resort for school turnarounds if three other, more aggressive methods—replacing the principal and at least half its teachers; reopening the school under a charter operator or other outside manager; or shutting the school down—were not feasible. He had also called for charter school operators to take the lead in turnaround work, a role that the new rules play down.

Although the principal of a targeted school would still have to be replaced, the department’s revised rules on turnaround strategies are a welcome shift, some observers say, from what they think has been an excessive focus on eliminating or radically changing the teaching corps and leadership teams inside troubled schools.

“Missing from this whole debate on turnarounds has been the question of what is the cause of these problems in these schools,” said John Simmons, the president of Strategic Learning Initiatives, a nonprofit organization in Chicago that has partnered with the Chicago school system since 2006 to turn around 10 K-8 schools.

“We really don’t see much in the research that says the people in the buildings are the problem,” he said. “What we find is that it’s the systems that are the problem.”

‘Note of Realism’

To others, though, the shift portends more of the same type of overhaul efforts seen at schools identified as failing under the federal No Child Left Behind Act—a tack that critics say has produced few success stories.

“This seems like states and districts are going to be able to do what they have been doing already,” said Andy Smarick, a visiting fellow with the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute. “This could allow for the lightest touch possible.”

In a recent article in Education Next magazine, he argued that the best way to turn around the thousands of schools deemed to be failing under the NCLB law is to close them and replace them with new, better options.

But one urban superintendent—who has closed schools, opened new ones, and replaced principals as part of a districtwide strategy to overhaul low-performing schools—called the changes to the final turnaround guidelines a “note of realism.”

“Look, there’s just not the capacity to turn around the lowest 5 percent, or even the lowest 1 percent, of our nation’s schools without having a greater flexibility of options for doing so,” said Andrés A. Alonso, the chief executive officer of the 83,000-student Baltimore school district. “I don’t see this as dilution. I see it as pragmatism.”

Turning around low-achieving schools is one of four areas in which states must make a persuasive case for their brand of reform in order to win a piece of the Race to the Top prize, the biggest discretionary pool of education money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress in February. School turnaround plans are worth up to 50 points, out of a total of 500. ("Rules Issued for State Fiscal Stabilization Aid, Round 2," Nov. 18, 2009.)

Education Department officials have made the final guidelines for those interventions consistent across the Race to the Top competition, the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, and the Title I School Improvement Grants, all of which received funding under the stimulus law.

Mr. Duncan initially had hoped charter school operators would be a dominant player in the turnaround push, but the final rules move charter schools from the turnaround section to the “general” section, where states must demonstrate a reform-friendly environment.

“While the department believes that charter schools can be strong partners in school turnaround work, it does not believe that charter schools are the only or preferred solution to turning around struggling schools,” says a summary of the major changes made to the proposed application guidelines.

The shift also reflects a still-raging debate within the charter sector over how much, if any, turnaround work it should shoulder.

“I think you will see that there are going to be a number of charter operators and charter networks who are interested in seeing what they can contribute on turnarounds,” said Nelson Smith, the president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, in Washington

“But it has to be clear what that role will mean,” he said. “I think it would be a mistake for a charter organization that’s only done startups to walk into a turnaround situation without having the flexibility and site autonomy that they would have in a startup.”

Mr. Alonso said the lack of strong interest from charter providers probably contributed to the Education Department’s decision to elevate the more flexible “transformation” option.

Even as the rules grant more latitude to districts to use a transformation approach, department officials have set some boundaries. Districts with more than nine “persistently low-achieving schools” may not use a transformation strategy in more than 50 percent of the schools, a limit that would apply to most city districts.

“In most urban districts, that’s still going to mean a lot of schools are going to have to be turned around by the more disruptive, and, I think, the potentially more effective means,” said Tom Vander Ark, a partner in the education advocacy and strategy group VA/R Partners, in La Jolla, Calif.

And while transformation models generally avoid making drastic changes to schools’ staffs, the Race to the Top rules will require that the principal in a school targeted for turnaround be replaced.

“That element has real teeth,” Mr. Alonso said.

But to Mr. Simmons of Strategic Learning Initiatives, replacing the school leader is necessary only in rare cases. Since his organization began its work in the 10 Chicago schools, he said, it has not sought to change principals or teachers, although there has been some natural turnover in those ranks.

Instead, Strategic Learning uses a “performance management” approach that emphasizes shared leadership, professional development, ongoing support for teachers to change instructional practices based on frequent assessments of student learning, and parent engagement.

The program also organizes the schools into networks, so that teachers can collaborate and swap ideas for improvement with their colleagues at other campuses.

Mr. Simmons said the approach has produced impressive gains in most of the schools quickly enough for them to be considered “turned around.”

‘Dramatic, Deep Change’

Within two years, five of the schools saw students’ scores on state exams increase from six to nine times more than they had in the previous six years, he said. The gains in two of the schools in 2007 and 2008 were the biggest posted by any of the nearly 500 elementary schools in Chicago, according to data analyzed for the organization by the American Institutes of Research.

“This is dramatic, deep change,” Mr. Simmons said. “We’ve seen a change in the culture of the buildings, people are working more effectively and communicating better with higher levels of trust, and we didn’t have to disrupt the community to do it.”

Mr. Simmons also makes an economic argument for his program’s approach, which costs roughly $150,000 per year, per school. Compare that, he said, to the “millions that it might cost to replace a principal and all the teachers at a school.”

Michael E. Ward, a former state superintendent of schools in North Carolina, is also a believer in the potential for transformation models to revive failing schools. Mr. Ward has joined a new venture called SetPoint that will offer its version of a turnaround program to low-achieving schools in Southern states. SetPoint, based in Jackson, Miss., is a joint program of JBHM Education Group and Renaissance Learning, which are for-profit companies.

“The other models, frankly, just aren’t going to be viable for a lot of districts and schools,” Mr. Ward said.

That sentiment was echoed recently by a group of rural school leaders who were in Washington for a briefing with Secretary Duncan. They told him that even the transformation model would be impossible for districts that face tremendous recruiting challenges.

“There’s just no way we can bring in a new principal,” said Beatriz Ramirez, who is both the superintendent and the principal of the Raisin City, Calif., school district, a one-school district serving 280 students in grades K-8 in rural Fresno County.

Mr. Ward said he understands the skepticism from some quarters about what is seen as a milder approach. During his tenure as North Carolina’s state superintendent, he would send in teams to help low-performing schools, only to see them leave too soon because “we didn’t have the resources to keep them there to see it through.”

The difference this time, he said, is the “intensity, duration, and levels of service that districts will be able to get because of the resources that are going to be available.”

Some are not convinced.

“Even [for] really good providers, when they are dropped into circumstances where they don’t have control over who they can hire and how they can spend their money, it’s going to be a limited proposition for them to succeed,” Mr. Vander Ark said.

State Conditions

William E. Guenther, the president of the Mass Insight Education and Research Institute, a Boston group that designed a turnaround framework in 2007 and is helping states use its strategies, said the success of any strategy, whether it’s transformation or something else, is going to depend on the conditions that states create for local districts to do turnaround work.

Those conditions, he said, must include creating teams of in-house turnaround specialists and identifying external partners to help districts, something Illinois and a few other states have started to do. Clearing out bureaucratic constraints is another key condition that states must provide for the targeted schools, he said.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the [federal] department is going to be looking for states who are really serious about this,” said Mr. Guenther. “I don’t think that coming up with a new improvement plan, changing a principal, and bringing in more professional development is going to cut it, because none of those things by themselves are turnaround strategies.”

Assistant Editor Michele McNeil contributed to this report.

STUDENT ACTIVISTS BRING LAID-OFF WORKER BACK TO THEIR SCHOOL: The Hamilton High School students staged a sit-in that attracted 500 protesters and appealed to the L.A. Unified school board to bring back Christina Gutierrez.

Christina Gutierrez, center, with the students who helped bring her back to Hamilton High School. They made a polished presentation to the school board. (Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times / November 24, 2009)

By Amina Khan | LA Times

December 1, 2009 -- Miss G is back at Hamilton High!

The beloved office worker for the school's two magnets was laid off by the Los Angeles Unified School District in mid-September.

"I felt railroaded," Christina Gutierrez, two gold hoops and a stud sparkling from each ear. "I saw something in the mail, and my heart dropped."

Gutierrez, who lost her job because of low seniority, cut her losses and found a job at an elementary school.

Students, however, were not so willing to let her go. They staged a 500-strong sit-in protest on her last day and eventually petitioned the Board of Education to let her return.

Many students, like senior Jimmy Biblarz, had a personal reason to protest Gutierrez's departure. His younger sister, Veronica, had been out sick nearly two months last year and Gutierrez made sure the freshman's homework made it home, and helped her through her first day back.

"She just actually cares," Veronica said. "Not like the fake pretending to care. . . . She takes it seriously."

Four friends -- Jimmy, Noemi "Mimi" Rodriguez, David Kamins and Maya Festinger -- came up with the idea for a sit-in, teleconferencing two nights a week. Jimmy went from class to class to publicize the plan. David looked up rules and regulations. Maya suggested they print informational handouts to give to each protester.

On Miss G's last day, students filed into the humanities building, lining every available space. Students kept doors clear and a few inches of hallway open, but "the walkway was scattered with limbs," Maya said.

Local district administrator Angela Hewlett-Bloch spoke to the students in the quad. When Principal Gary Garcia asked them to quiet down, he said, "they switched, on their own, to snapping [their fingers] . . . like an old beatnik thing."

Someone in the crowd came up with the idea to write letters. The students collected 300 letters in support of Gutierrez.

The four organizers glowed after the protest, Jimmy said, but "Monday we realized Miss G wasn't at school, and nobody was going to take any of us seriously."

They also had heard that the worker who had replaced Gutierrez preferred to work at an elementary school -- and Gutierrez had found substitute work at an elementary school. Why not switch the two?

The students decided to bring their solution to the Nov. 17 school district board meeting. They watched videos of past board meetings to learn what not to do. They didn't want to sound repetitive -- a common mistake -- or unduly negative.

"We want to create a legitimate student representation," Maya said. "We don't want to be belligerent or bludgeoning. A lot of what we're about is proposing solutions, rather than listing grievances."

The students' presentation inspired board member Steven Zimmer to break protocol.

"I know we don't respond to speakers," he said, "but I do want to say that I am extraordinarily impressed with your presentations."

A few days later, the students got word: Miss G. was coming back to Hamilton as a substitute. She's not totally out of the woods but at least she's back, for now.

Gutierrez returned to her old desk last week, where students greeted her with cupcakes and balloons.

But the mother of four said the students were the real stars.

"This isn't about me," she said. "They should feel so empowered. I am so proud of them."

ONLY 25% OF LA STUDENTS PASS PHYSICAL FITNESS TEST

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News

KID FITNESS--Morris Finestone, physical education chair at Patrick Henry Middle school in Granada Hills, watches students work out on "Dance, Dance Revolution" in the fitness center at the school. The equipment is part of other work out machines at the school. (Photo by David Crane/Staff)

December 1, 2009 -- Just one in four Los Angeles Unified students proved physically fit in the latest test - a slight improvement over last year, but still below the state average and a worrying figure for educators, according to figures released Monday.

Statewide, roughly one in three students passed all of the California Physical Fitness tests, which measure the youngsters' ability to run and perform chin-ups and crunches, officials said.

2008-09 California Physical Fitness Report for the Los Angeles Unified School District Click for results districtwide and to find results for every school in the LAUSD

Results show that 25 percent of Los Angeles Unified students passed the tests in 2008-09 compared with 23 percent a year earlier. Statewide, the scores ticked up from 33 to 34 percent.

Educators, however, were unimpressed by the improvement.

"The percentage of students statewide that are not even minimally fit remains unacceptably high," State Superintendent Jack O'Connell O'Connell said during a news conference to announce the results.

"As we know, these children not only put their own health at risk but we also know that students who eat well and stay in shape perform better in school and have fewer behavior problems."

The test was administered to 1.3 million fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders, measuring their performance in six areas including aerobic capacity, body composition and physical strength.

Chad Fenwick, LAUSD's adviser for physical education, said students are considered active and healthy if they meet five of the six criteria. There is some leeway, he said, since genetics can influence the strength and body composition of some children.

In Los Angeles Unified, 51 percent of the students tested met five of six criteria.

Still, Fenwick said the district continues to work toward all students passing all elements of the exam.

"These are all health-related tests that help us identify students who are at risk for certain diseases," Fenwick said.

For example, aerobic stamina is a good indicator of heart health; poor physical strength can signal a risk of bone conditions like osteoporosis; and childhood obesity translates to a 70 to 80 percent chance of being obese as an adult.

Fenwick said results of these tests are being carefully analyzed as the district, like the nation, focuses on the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. Experts predict that 20 percent of America's children will be considered obese by next year.

Those rates can be higher in urban areas - where there is less access to green space and more lower-income families rely on inexpensive processed foods for their meals - leading to more risk for diabetes and high blood pressure.

Meanwhile state budget cuts to education have also severely cut funding to P.E. programs at local schools. Most elementary schools don't have any physical education teachers or designated class time. At the middle and high school levels, some physical education classes can have as many as 70 students.

The district has launched several initiatives so solve these problems, such as pursuing grants and other funding to improve physical education programs.

Beyond addressing the overall health of students, state and local educators believe more physical activity could help them bridge the academic achievement gap.

Research shows that physical fitness and proper nutrition is linked to better academic achievement.

At Kentwood Elementary in Los Angeles, where Superintendent O'Connell held his news conference, nearly 63 percent of the fifth-graders tested passed all six of the state's criteria.

That school also boasts a score of 859 points on the state's Academic Performance Index out of a possible 1,000. The goal for all schools is 800 points.

P.E. grants have been put to good use at Patrick Henry Middle School in Granada Hills, which boasts a state-of-the-art gym and above-average results on the state's activity test.

"We are very strict on how we run our P.E. program," Principal Mike Bennett said. "It's a class. Kids have to dress every day. Each grade has different standards and we are on our kids' case so that they can be successful."

Bennett credited his school's attention on physical fitness with helping students reach an API score of 769 last year, well above the average for LAUSD middle schools.

While educators want to see their kids do better on academic tests, some also stressed the need for more before- and after-school activities to students have more opportunities run and play.

"Many of our kids cannot go outside and play because it is not safe in their neighborhoods. And with two working parents, there is no time for sports or going to the park," said Leah Perrotti, principal of Langdon Avenue Elementary in North Hills.

"If they don't get the activity here then they don't get it anywhere."

2008-09 California Physical Fitness Report
LAUSD Summary of Results

SCHOOL UNIFORMS – YES, BUT -- We'd like to see more schools embrace the idea, but the City Council and LAUSD (and the Times’ Editorial Board) have bigger problems to deal with.

LA Times Editorial

December 1, 2009 -- From time to time, the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District takes up resolutions with obscure, if any, links to education. It voted to oppose Proposition 8, for instance, and to support Iranian dissidents. So perhaps it shouldn't be completely surprising that the Los Angeles City Council meandered outside its own backyard recently with a resolution on a subject that more fittingly falls within the purview of LAUSD -- school uniforms.

The council urged the district to require student uniforms at all of its schools as a way of improving both safety and academic achievement. Currently, the district leaves such decisions to individual schools, few of which have adopted uniforms.

If the council is going to involve itself in school district affairs, we'd prefer to see it offer coordinated assistance in areas that affect schools but fall under the city's jurisdiction. Want to do schools a real favor? Change some bus stops and police patrol procedures so that students can travel to and from campus more safely.

Still, school uniforms have merit, and we wish more public schools would consider requiring them. In gang-plagued areas where wearing a certain color is enough to set off a fight, they create a more neutral atmosphere on campus. In affluent areas, they tone down cliquish awareness of whether one girl is wearing Wal-Mart while another is donning Juicy Couture. They generally save families money while instilling the idea that people are supposed to dress appropriately for the task at hand -- in this case, learning -- and cut down on the interminable fights about whether too much underwear or midriff is showing. They would even quell increasingly litigious battles over controversial student T-shirts that might, for example, denounce gays -- or, alternatively, Christian conservatives.

For all that, uniforms are more helpful at some schools than others. L.A. Unified is trying to empower schools to make decisions locally rather than delivering edicts from downtown headquarters, and this is a perfect issue to leave to the control of individual campuses. One day -- when they're no longer confronted with figuring out how to keep schools operating while state funding is cut, and cut again -- district leaders should encourage wider adoption of uniforms and help principals overcome the inevitable howls of protest, while leaving the matter in the hands of individual schools. L.A. Unified has to set some -- yes -- uniform rules on urgent issues, but student fashion isn't one of those.