EdSource Today » Archive
Newspaper report on “suspect” test scores elicits criticism
California school officials in several school districts contacted by EdSource have rejected allegations of “suspect” test scores in their districts contained in a national report by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. The newspaper said it had found ”high concentrations of suspect math or reading scores in school systems from coast to coast,” including in 40 California school districts. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Pioneered in California, publishing teacher “effectiveness” rankings draws more criticism
The release last month of “value-added” rankings of New York City teachers based on student test scores, a practice pioneered by the Los Angeles Times in the summer of 2010, has once again raised pointed questions about whether the rankings of individual teachers should be published by the media. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Michelle Rhee says StudentsFirst organization has 170,000 members in California
StudentsFirst, a new entrant on the California school reform landscape, has 170,000 members in California, according to its founder Michelle Rhee, the former Washington D.C. schools chief and wife of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Study finds rise in childhood obesity rates in California is slowing
A UC Davis study has found that the rise in childhood obesity rates in California is slowing, which researchers think may be the outcome of improved nutrition and physical fitness programs in the state’s public schools. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Beyond personal pain, teacher layoffs have rippling effects on schools
Of all the budget-cutting remedies that school districts have to undertake, laying off teachers — or even the threat of being laid off — has a rippling effect on schools and students that goes far beyond the pain being experienced by individual teachers faced with losing their jobs. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Higher community college fee plan in Santa Monica would be a first in California
Depending on your perspective, Santa Monica College’s plan to charge students several times the normal fee to add sections to oversubscribed classes is either a brilliant idea to cope with its shrinking revenues, or a misguided strategy making it more difficult for low-income students to reach their academic goals. Given the depth of the community colleges’ financial woes, and the fact that there are 112 of them around the state, it is surprising that more of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Number of tax initiatives on ballot to raise funds for schools reduced to two
Bowing to the mathematical reality that three ballot initiatives on the November ballot to raise money for schools could significantly reduce the chances of any of them passing, Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) agreed Wednesday to combine their initiatives. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
Flurry of bills on school discipline introduced in Legislature
Against the backdrop of a recent federal report showing African American students being disproportionately suspended or expelled from California schools, a flurry of bills have been introduced in the state Legislature over the past several weeks to reform California’s laws governing school discipline. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reporting & Analysis
San Francisco to offer transitional kindergarten after all
The San Francisco Unified School District, which in January announced it would not offer Transitional Kindergarten after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed eliminating the program, has changed course and decided to offer the program after all. Those eligible will be students who are born in a single month and year — between November 2 and December 2, 2007. The program will only be offered at two sites — Harvard Early Education School and McLaren Early Education School — which will almost certainly make it unreachable for some parents who may be interested in enrolling in the program. The governor’s January budget proposes both cutting funding for Transitional Kindergarten and removing the requirement that districts provide special transitional classes for children who turn 5 between Nov. 2 and Dec. 2. These children became ineligible to enter … Read entire article »
Filed under: Quick Hits, Transitional Kindergarten
San Francisco Unified blazes civil rights path for California districts to follow
March 9th, 2012 | 12 Comments
By Arun Ramanathan / commentary ~ EdSource Extra
(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) As an education civil rights organization, we are far more accustomed to seeing school districts violate the rights of underserved students to a quality education than protect them from harm. But sometimes a school district’s leadership takes such a strong and courageous stance on behalf of their most vulnerable students that it takes your breath away. This was the type of courage shown by Superintendent Carlos Garcia and five members of the San Francisco Unified School Board when they voted to protect 14 of their highest-poverty schools from teacher layoffs in the coming year. Last year The Education Trust-West published a report, Victims of the Churn, that revealed that high-poverty schools in California were far more likely to experience teacher layoffs. Because layoffs are typically based … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Tenure