EdSource Today » Archive
New chancellor has strong support, tough job
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors unanimously named Dr. Brice Harris*, a longtime community college leader, as the 15th chancellor of the statewide higher education system. Just hours later he received an unexpected gift from Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed SB 1456, the Student Success Act of 2012, into law. The bill, by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), seeks to improve graduation and transfer rates at community colleges through better academic counseling and support services, setting … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Community Colleges, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Initiatives, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Taxes
Once castigated, Commission on Teacher Credentialing is praised
Eighteen months ago, State Auditor Elaine Howle called the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing one of the “worst-run” agencies she had investigated in a comment to the Sacramento Bee. Howle had conducted a review at the Legislature’s request after reports surfaced that the Commission had been slow in investigating thousands of reports of arrest and prosecution against teachers – some involving criminal charges requiring automatic revocation of teaching credentials. There were also complaints of nepotism and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Reporting & Analysis
State Board gets authority to pare back 8th grade math standards
Gov. Jerry Brown evidently agrees that California’s math standards should align more closely with the national Common Core standards. On Thursday, he signed SB 1200, which will allow the State Board to weed out the dozens of California state Algebra standards that were inserted two years ago with the adoption of Common Core as part of an ongoing, unresolved debate over what students should learn in eighth grade. Advocates of SB 1200, which the Department of Education drafted, argue that the amalgamation of eighth grade standards created confusion for teachers and for publishers, who would have to design unique materials for California for an unwieldy course combining pre-Algebra and Algebra I. Critics, who include former State Board of Education Executive Director John Mockler, charged that SB 1200 will result in discouraging most … Read entire article »
Filed under: Common Core standards, Featured, Quick Hits, Science, Math (STEM)
For-profit colleges ordered to be transparent
For-profit colleges will have to be more forthcoming about information they’ve considered proprietary up to now. Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation yesterday that requires for-profit colleges to inform prospective students about their accreditation status, salaries, student loan default rates, and whether graduates have found work in the fields they were trained for. … Read entire article »
Filed under: California Colleges, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis
Brown signs bill moving API away from standardized tests
Senate Bill 1458, which will shift California’s chief measure of a high school’s performance, from a near exclusive reliance on state test scores to a broader gauge of student accomplishment and preparation for college and the world of work, is now law. After Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Wednesday, its sponsor, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, predicted in a press release that the bill “will prove to be one of the most significant education … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts, Common Core standards, Featured, History, Civics, Reporting & Analysis, Science, Math (STEM), Tests & Assessments
New 2-year lease on life for 163 Partnership Academies
Financially threatened high school career academies will get a lifeline and new career tech programs will get a lift, now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation committing $68 million for those and related projects over the next two years. SB 1070 will sustain the career technology programs in high schools and community colleges that were to lose their funding and authorization at the end of this fiscal year in June. Now they will have additional … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, Featured, High School Completion, Internships, Service Learning, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Workforce preparation
Reform by the ounce, unfunded pension debt by the pound
The pension reforms passed in June, paring back the benefits for new teachers and administrators, will knock off $189 million per year from the additional payments taxpayers must make to keep the California State Teachers’ Retirement System solvent over the next 30 years. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this represents only about 6 percent of the extra $3.25 billion annually that CalSTRS actuaries are saying is needed to erase the system’s current … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, Teacher Pensions
Three up, one down for student discipline reforms
Gov. Jerry Brown signed three of the bills calling for alternatives to student suspensions and expulsions, and vetoed a fourth. Two other measures are still awaiting his action. The governor approved AB 1729 by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, AB 2537 by Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, a Democrat from Coachella, and SB 1088, introduced by Democratic Senator Curren Price of Los Angeles. Ammiano’s bill gives principals and superintendents more discretion to use alternatives to suspension or expulsion, as long as they’re age appropriate and are targeted to change the student’s behavior. Options could include positive behavior interventions, participation in a program like restorative justice, or a conference with the student’s parents, teachers, and school administrators. Schools have to document the efforts. AB 2537 makes some minor changes to zero tolerance laws by giving … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Quick Hits
Analysis: Why a teachers’ strike in Los Angeles is unlikely
The odds of a Chicago-style teachers’ strike happening in California’s largest school district is remote. That’s the thrust of an insightful analysis by Los Angeles Times reporter Teresa Watanabe. One of the main reasons, as LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy argues in Watanabe’s piece, is that there is less opposition than in Chicago to linking teacher evaluation to some measures of student progress – and more time to reach an agreement on what proportion of the evaluations should be based on those scores. Under a court order issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant, the district and United Teachers Los Angeles have until December 4 to come up with an agreement. The two sides have met at least 20 times over the summer on the issue. Hundreds of teachers have volunteered to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Quick Hits
Brown signs bill spelling out evaluations (for principals)
Without the acrimony and fanfare that doomed a teacher evaluation bill last month, the Legislature with near unanimity passed and Gov. Brown has now signed a milestone principal and teacher evaluation bill. Key differences between SB 1292 for administrators and the ill-fated AB 5 for teachers helped smooth the way for passage. Chief among them: SB 1292 is voluntary, not mandatory: Districts aren’t bound to use the provisions, which advocates of the bill acknowledge is a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Reporting & Analysis
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