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ACLU sues state over English-language instruction
Civil rights groups sued the state Department of Education and the Board of Education on Wednesday, saying they are failing in their obligation to require school districts to provide 20,318 English learners with the language instruction they are entitled to by law. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Southern California and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, cites figures provided by 251 districts showing that one out of every 50 English learner students is not receiving any … Read entire article »
Filed under: Data, English learners, Featured, Languages, Reporting & Analysis, State Board of Education, Students
State toughens regs for interns teaching English learners
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing will now require non-credentialed Teach For America teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision. The Commission’s unanimous vote last week followed two hours of public testimony and debate among commissioners over 14 separate recommendations aimed at improving the rigor and preparation of interns to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach the state’s 1.4 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, English learners, Featured, Preparation, Reporting & Analysis, Teachers
Voters favor extra funds for poor students but not English learners
A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Of 1,705 adults interviewed, the PPIC’s ninth annual survey of Californians and education, released late Wednesday, found that among all adults, 71 percent support the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). However, approval drops to 60 percent among likely voters. Responses also vary by political affiliation, race/ethnicity and income, with 80 percent of Democrats favoring the plan – nearly twice the rate of Republicans; more Latinos support it, as do families earning under $40,000 per year, who would be more likely to benefit from the change. However, when asked about each group separately, only 40 percent of likely … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Featured, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Quick Hits, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Report finds large jump in suspensions after students enter middle school
The likelihood of a student being suspended from school jumps from about 2.4 percent in elementary school to 11 percent in middle school, according to a new analysis by The Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. When broken down by race, the numbers show the risk of suspension increases by 18 points for African American students and 11 points for Latino students, and only about 5 points for white students. “Kids are getting pushed off track to graduation,” said Daniel J. Losen, co-author with Tia Elena Martinez of Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools. The report relies on 2009-10 data from more than 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools. More than 2 million students were suspended during that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, English learners, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students
Higher standards coming for state’s intern teachers
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing signaled Thursday its intention to increase training requirements for intern teachers, including Teach for America members, before they’re allowed to teach any of the state’s 1.4 million students who are English learners. At a packed, highly charged meeting in Sacramento, Commission members staked out a compromise position to avert threatened lawsuits from supporters, who had urged the Commission to severely restrict districts’ ability to hire intern teachers, and opponents, who argued that intern … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, English learners, Equity issues, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Students, Teachers
For now, K-12 districts can wait and watch sequestration unroll
K-12 districts have one advantage over meat inspectors, military contractors, national parks staff, air traffic controllers, Head Start operators (see story) and others facing immediate cuts in federal funding as of Friday’s sequester deadline: time. Because of how districts budget their money, the 5.1 percent reductions in federal revenue that would go into effect March 1 under sequestration won’t be felt by districts until the start of their new fiscal year, July 1. That gives … Read entire article »
Filed under: Disabilities education, English learners, Featured, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Special Needs, Title I, U.S. Education Policy
LAO would cut money from basic aid districts, other programs Brown would protect
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has added its endorsement of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal for sweeping school finance reform, praising the simplicity and clarity of Brown’s funding formula and the “reasonable” amounts of extra money he’d direct to high-needs students. At the same time, in an analysis released last week, the LAO is suggesting a half-dozen changes to the plan, including two that would stir up controversies that Brown woud just as soon avoid. Both changes would … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Two California teachers win “culturally responsive” awards
A kindergarten teacher from San Francisco and a 5th grade teacher from Los Angeles were two of only five winners selected nationally for the 2012 Teaching Tolerance Culturally Responsive Teaching Award. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project each year recognizes educators who have demonstrated excellence in teaching students from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Teaching Tolerance provided profiles and videos of the California winners: Robert Sautter, a kindergarten teacher at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco, creates a bond of trust between himself, his students and their families. He opens his classrooms with a “community circle” in which students greet each other using their home languages. He also makes sure that students see themselves and their families in the books, artwork and photography displayed in his classroom. Sautter … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Poverty, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students, Teachers, Values and Habits
Fostering thinking requires relinquishing control
As someone who has spent my entire career working on school reform, I wince at headlines like “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools.” But UC Berkeley professor of public policy David Kirp got it right in his recent New York Times op ed when he said “To succeed, students must become thinkers, not just test-takers.” What most readers of the Times probably didn’t understand is that creating schools in which student thinking is a priority will require … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, English learners, Featured, No Child Left Behind, Standardized tests, Systemic Change, Teachers
For kids’ sake, let’s not distract attention from Common Core
April 12th, 2013 | 16 Comments | By Arun Ramanathan / commentary
Remember the reading and math wars? Whole language vs. phonics. New math vs. old math. In the context of today’s education wars, it seems quaint to think about people arguing over curriculum and instruction. What seems even quainter is that these battles were based on the premise that all children can learn to read at grade level. As a young teacher, I didn’t fully believe this. I could mouth the words but I doubted it in my … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, English learners