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California looks to Ontario schools’ reformer for guidance
Michael Fullan may be coming soon to a school district near you. The man credited with transforming the Canadian province of Ontario into one of the world’s most effective school systems is ready to help California do the same. Fullan, though, would lead the state in a sharply different direction from the forced march that federal officials … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, Featured, International Comparisons, No Child Left Behind, Program innovation, Race to the Top, Reporting & Analysis, Research, Standardized tests, Systemic Change, Teacher Collaboration, Teacher Unions, Teachers, Turning around failing schools
U.S. middle-class students beaten on international test
Middle-class students are lagging far behind their peers in other countries, adding a new perspective to beliefs that low-income students are most in need of better educational opportunities, according to a new study. America Achieves, a nonprofit aimed at improving education and career opportunities for students, reviewed the 2009 science and math results on the Program for International Student Assessment, known as the PISA exam. Analysts divided students into four socio-economic levels and found that U.S. students in the second highest quarter were outperformed by students in similar income levels in 15 other countries in science and 24 countries in math. “Many assume that poverty in America is pulling down the overall U.S. scores, but when you divide each nation into socio-economic quarters, you can see that even America’s middle class students are … Read entire article »
Filed under: Common Core standards, International Comparisons, Poverty, Quick Hits, Standardized tests, Tests, Tests & Assessments, Twenty-first Century Learning, Workforce preparation
Report questions impact of Brown’s finance formula on career tech
In proposing to give school districts money with fewer strings attached, Gov. Jerry Brown is confident that local school boards and superintendents are best able to make the right decisions so that all students can graduate ready for college and work. A report released today by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) questions that assumption. PACE is a joint research group based at UC Berkeley, Stanford and the University of Southern California. “School Finance Reform: Can It … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Dropout prevention, Featured, Finance, High School Completion, Internships, Service Learning, Jerry Brown, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Multiple pathways, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Systemic Change, Twenty-first Century Learning, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula), Workforce preparation
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
‘I would prefer to trust our teachers …’
California’s back! Gov. Jerry Brown did himself proud in Thursday’s State of the State address, and he did California proud, too. In the details of the speech, there are prospects for boldness, greatness and innovation, not the tire patching and gridlock we’ve experienced as government. Others will comment at great length on the wisdom of the San Joaquin delta tunnel project and whether high-speed rail is prescient or folly. And educational interests are putting the pencil … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Jerry Brown, Systemic Change, Teacher Collaboration, Teachers
Policymakers react to StudentsFirst’s ‘F’ for California
California’s policy efforts to improve student achievement earned an F from StudentsFirst, the Sacramento-based advocacy group led by Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor. The state ranked 41st in the nation on education policies in three major areas involving teachers, parents and school finance and governance. No state earned an A, and more than two-thirds of states received D’s or F’s on the group’s State Policy Report Card. “While there is great momentum for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advocates for Education, Evaluation, Reporting & Analysis, School Choice, Systemic Change, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Tenure
Creativity in the classroom is what’s really at stake with accountability
Many readers of EdSource know that a variety of factors have combined to put rethinking accountability on state leaders’ to-do list. But most people don’t understand what is really at stake. It’s not just about whether we add measures of “college and career readiness” to the API. This is a worthy goal, but the issue of accountability is much bigger than that. Accountability isn’t just testing; it’s the whole structure of rules and regulations that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, Featured, Systemic Change
Local-state funding should sync like a tandem bike
In 2013, most California education-watchers expect two policy debates about school finance. Two is not enough; there will need to be three. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Education Excellence Committee, Featured, Finance, Funding and Taxation, Parcel Tax, Revenue and taxes
Lindsay Unified students blazing their own paths to higher achievement
Those of us who travel in education reform circles hear a lot of skepticism about whether traditional school districts can truly innovate. Yet, more than five years ago, a small rural school district in the Central Valley that serves predominately English language learners from low-income families reimagined its entire strategic approach to education and learning. And now, Lindsay Unified School District may just win a $10 million “Race to the Top-District” grant from the federal government. You … Read entire article »
Filed under: College and Career Preparation, Commentary, Common Core standards, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Systemic Change
On the limits of planning (or, It’s all about the pants)
May 10th, 2013 | 3 Comments | By Merrill Vargo / commentary
There is a great, but also deeply challenging, story in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Mandela had been working to end apartheid. There is a warrant out for his arrest, he goes underground, but eventually is caught, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment at Robben Island. No one has ever escaped from this infamous prison. This is the end. There is no possible plan or blueprint that leads from here forward. But when … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Systemic Change, Teachers