EdSource Today » Archive
Commission: Community colleges should take over adult schools run by school districts
Community colleges should take over all adult school programs from cash-strapped school districts, the Little Hoover Commission, the state watchdog agency, recommended yesterday. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
After pushing homeschooling, Santorum takes on higher education
Former Sen. Rick Santorum may no longer be the frontrunner in the GOP presidential contest, but he is still the only one to have made education a major issue in his campaign. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Non-subscriber Posts
Steinberg introduces new proposal for reforming school rating system
After his last legislative effort on the subject was brusquely rejected by Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is making another effort to reform California’s dozen-year-old method of ranking its public schools. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Despite perilous finances, state laws help schools avert insolvency
Despite having to endure the worst economic crisis in almost a century, only a small number of school districts in California are officially designated as financially troubled. In a report issued by the California Department of Education, seven districts — including Inglewood Unified near Los Angeles, Paso Robles Joint Unified in San Luis Obispo County, and Vallejo City Unified north of San Francisco — have received a “negative certfication,” meaning that “based on current projections” a school district … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Opportune time to rethink accountability and factor in improvement
California is apparently passing up the opportunity to request a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, setting up another round of schools and districts to be labeled as failing. Interestingly, state leaders say they are opting to keep in place a set of requirements that no one seems to support as a protest against the imposition of a new set of requirements, even though states are being invited to help craft the new requirements. Let’s be clear: The central issue with regard to the NCLB waiver is not cost, it is accountability. The primary cost of a waiver is the cost of implementation of the Common Core standards. The primary cost of Common Core is associated with new instructional materials and associated training and support for teachers. But … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, No Child Left Behind
GOP frontrunner takes on public education
The first major discussion of education in the 2012 presidential campaign has centered not on reforms like teacher tenure or what should replace the No Child Left Behind law but on the merits of public education itself. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
State senate considers Brown’s plan for new school funding formulas
At what may turn out to be a landmark hearing in Sacramento today, state senators will review a sweeping proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to reform California’s notoriously complex school finance system that distributes funds based more on decades-old formulas than on student needs. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Doubling classroom time helps community college students overcome math hurdles
Note: This article was updated on Feb. 13, 2012 to clarify some aspects of the program. If you’re having trouble with math, try spending twice as much time in class learning it. That strategy plus intensive support from tutors and counselors inside and outside class are making a difference for students at De Anza Community College trying to overcome one of the major stumbling blocks to academic success. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Supper is now on the menu at some California schools
You’ve heard about free school lunches and breakfasts, but how about school suppers? In California, dinners are now being served to students at almost 200 schools. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Video Highlights from
2013 EdSource Symposium
Transforming Public Education: What's Next For
Students, Teachers and Schools
- In Partnership with the California State PTA -
May 4th symposium in San Jose featured a number of prominent speakers on key challenges in education today, including Linda Darling-Hammond, Martha Kanter, and Pedro Noguera.
You can find video of those speakers and more at our new YouTube channel by clicking below.
Outside evaluator must tell us how well prepared are we for Common Core
February 23rd, 2012 | Add a Comment
By John Affeldt / commentary ~ EdSource Extra
(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) California, like many states, is embarking on an ambitious rewiring of its public school system. By the 2014-15 school year, it plans to implement new Common Core academic standards in English and math for all grades. The new standards were adopted by the State Board of Education only 18 months ago. Having all of our state’s teachers and schools on board with this shift in core content in just another two-and-a-half years would be an impressive feat of bureaucratic derring-do. The last time the state undertook a similar effort with the current academic content standards – under an even longer time frame and in better fiscal straits – we didn’t meet our lofty goals so well. Because this undertaking is too important to implement poorly or unevenly, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, Tests & Assessments