sacdac.org Education News & Comment May 31, 2009 SCUSD District Advisory Committee Web site

Education News & Comment James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become." Susan Sez Education News & Comment DAC Chair Update & News Board Meeting Agenda Board Meeting Video Special Election 5-19-09 E21 Small High Schools ED Facts & Reports Sacramento Issues SAC City Community Voices Other Education News School Consolidation ??? Padres/父母/Родители/Parents Ways to Build Involvement About SAC City DAC What is a School Site Council Parent Rights under NCLB School Accountablity To watch the Board of Education meeting live, click HERE Next Board Meeting June 4, 2009, 6:30 p.m. Open Session Please Note: All Video of SCUSD Board Meetings are provided to the Public by the Excellent Work of the SCUSD Web Team Nothing Happens without a Teacher The Discussion is at DAC! Less Clock...More Talk! Attention Parents! Click here for INFORMATION ON Sacramento City Superintendent Next SAC City DAC Meeting at the Serna Center Tuesday, June 9, 2009 6:30pm – 8:00pm Search Process Click Here to go to the SCUSD Video Page Dear Friends, Mr. Tavis Smiley will be showing his documentary "STAND" at the Irene B. West school, named for Dr. Cornell West's mother. I hope you can attend. Dustin Hunter STAND SACRAMENTO Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Time: 7:00 PM Location: The Irene B. West 8625 Serio Way Elk Grove, CA 95758 Irene B. West School 8625 Serio Way Elk Grove, CA 95758 Driving Directions "Tavis Smiley has a new 90-minute documentary film coming out called "STAND" that explores the African-American male experience through history, politics, music, and culture. STAND features Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Dick Gregory, BeBe Winans, the late Isaac Hayes and other black men as they travel to the birthplace of blues to talk about and reflect on African-American men who "stood" for something in the past and what it means as African-American men continue to "stand" for something today. The documentary will be released on Sunday, May 24, 2009 exclusively on TVOne. There will be screenings of the film in select cities. http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment Important details for the Sacramento event are as follows: Cornel West and Cliff West are cast members of the documentary and they will make an appearance at the Sacramento screening. Mechale Daniels-Sadler, Vice Principal IRENE B. WEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Go Wildcats Go! Title 1 Academic Achievement Award 2006 & 2007 916.683.4362 msadler@egusd. net STAND A documentary by Tavis Smiley - Get more Business Documents California's charter schools get mixed scores in new study http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment California's charter schools get mixed scores in new study USC researchers cite lapses in financial reporting, but say it appears that many are using public funds wisely, and that academic scores are fairly similar to those of public schools. By Mitchell Landsberg 6:09 PM PDT, May 20, 2009 Lax financial reporting makes it difficult to assess the fiscal health of California charter schools, although the limited information available suggests that many are making efficient use of their public funds, according to a study released Wednesday by researchers at USC. In its annual report on the health of the state's charter schools, USC's Center on Educational Governance also found that charters continue to outperform traditional public schools in English instruction but, paradoxically, do a worse job of lifting nonnative English speakers to fluency. And their overall math performance has slipped, lagging behind traditional public schools. Charters are public schools that are run independently, with only minimal oversight from school districts. There are now close to 700 charters in California, making them a significant part of the state's educational landscape, but causing strains in the capacity of districts to monitor them. Although the schools are required to file quarterly financial reports with local districts, which in turn file them with the state, USC researchers found that data was spotty in some counties, including Los Angeles, where fiscal data was available for only 30 of 163 schools. Education professor Priscilla Wohlstetter, who heads the research project, said it appears that schools are filing the reports, but that some districts are lumping them together, making it impossible to review them individually. "This is so critical," she said, "because the president and the secretary of Education have said we are going to double the number of charter schools around the country; however, we want to make sure we have good state accountability systems that track progress. . . . If there's this much missing data, how is California going to be able to access the federal money that's available?" Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Assn., said he believes that the problem is that the financial reporting requirements are "overly burdensome," and need to be streamlined. Although the USC researchers were critical of the reporting lapses, they praised the schools for what information was available, saying that most had improved their fiscal health and were spending most of their money in the classroom. The report also found that the Academic Performance Index scores of charter schools overall were fairly similar to those of traditional public schools. http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment mitchell.landsberg @latimes.com BEYOND THE RHETORIC OF CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM: A Study of Ten California School Districts UCLA Charter School Study This report provides an overview of findings from one of the first intensive studies of charter school reform in California, the second state to pass charter school legislation and the state with both the second largest number of charter schools and the most students enrolled in these schools. Charter school reform allows groups of parents, educators, and entrepreneurs to create more independent schools, free from many state and local regulations. The purpose of this two-and-a-half year study was to examine many of the most prominent claims of charter school advocates against the day-to-day experiences of educators, parents, and students in charter schools as well as in nearby public schools. We conducted case studies of 17 charter schools in 10 school districts across the state. We sampled for diversity at both the district and school level in order to capture the range of experiences within this reform movement. While charter reform as a public policy tool prescribes no particular school-level practice or singular reform strategy, it is appealing to educators and policy makers due to claims about how charter reform will spur much-needed change throughout the public system. BEYOND THE RHETORIC OFCHARTER SCHOOL REFORM: A Study of Ten CaliforniaSchool Districts - Get more Business Documents "The Relationship Between Policy Talk and Implementation: A Comparison of Charter Schools with Conventional Public Schools" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Hilton San Francisco & Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel, San Abstract: One of the key concepts embedded in much of the policy talk around charter school reform is increased decision-making at the school site in exchange for greater accountability. Using the 19992000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), this study seeks to test the relationship between policy talk and implementation in charter school reform by comparing conventional public schools and charter schools around issues of accountability and decision-making. Focusing on these areas of school life, are there differences between charter schools and conventional public schools? Using a framework proposed by Newman, King, and Rigdon (1997) to analyze performance accountability, this study seeks to identify possible differences in performance accountability between charter schools and conventional public schools. Is charter school accountability best characterized as internal accountability -- i.e. are standards for teaching and learning generated within the school site? Or is charter school accountability better characterized as external accountability or imposed by entities outside the school? Both types of "The Relationship Between Policy Talk and Implementation: A Comparison of Charter http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment accountability refer to how goals for the school are formed. An additional concept, organizational capacity, refers to the degree to which the school has developed the capacity necessary to reach these goals. Do we see differences in the organizational capacity of charter schools compared to conventional public schools? The focus of this paper is a exploratory analysis of variables that will be used to develop school-level measures of these constructs in subsequent analyses. Schools with Conventional Public Schools" - Get more Business Documents Return to Top of Page 2009 Teachers of the Year “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.” Henry Brooks Nothing Happens without a Teacher A Parent is the Child's First Teacher Return to Top of Page Nadine Chiginsky Albert Einstein Middle School Parent Recognized by SCUSD Board for Outstanding Service http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment Click Here to view SCUSD Board Meeting Video NotesClips from the 5-21-09 meeting Return to Top of Page FINE: The Family Involvement Network of Educators The FINE Newsletter shares the newest and best family involvement research and resources from HFRP and other field leaders. May 2009 FINE Newsletter FINE Newsletter Archive Subscribe Click here to see the latest reports on family involvement Adequacy and Efficiency of Preschool Education in California California's sizeable achievement gaps in English-language arts and mathematics in second and third grades have early roots, with the same groups of children that lag in academic performance in elementary school trailing in measures of school readiness when they enter kindergarten. Participation in effective preschool programs has the potential to narrow these gaps, but the state's current system of publicly funded early care and education programs are not designed to maximize the child development and school readiness benefits. New data collected for the project on preschool use and quality shows most California children attend center-based preschools, but quality of programs falls short. These findings are highlighted in the first three reports from the California Preschool Study: Click here to see the latest reports on Preschool Education From the California Progress Report High Quality Preschool Must Remain A Priority in California By Catherine Atkin President Preschool California This week the RAND Corporation released its fourth and final study in a series of comprehensive reports on California’s preschool system. In this moment of unprecedented fiscal hardship, the RAND research provides guidance on how California can most effectively and efficiently spend its early education dollars, and shows how early childhood education is critical in our efforts to close the achievement gap. High-quality preschool gets kids ready to learn and ready to read. This is the time for our young children to learn the skills that will be critical to their success in kindergarten and beyond: they learn how to sit still, make friends, numbers and letters and how to hold a crayon or pencil. Unfortunately, the kids who go without access to high-quality preschool are the one who need it most. Only about half of low-income children are in preschool, compared to 80 percent of children whose families make more than $100,000, according to RAND This means that socio-economically disadvantaged children are more likely to begin kindergarten without the basic early reading and social skills that prepare them to learn and succeed. Unsurprisingly, the same groups of children who start out behind tend to stay behind. Not only is this unfair to our children, but it’s bad for our state. Now more than ever is the time for proven investments. Longitudinal studies show that high quality early childhood education that serves disadvantaged children provides a return on $7 to $17 for every dollar spent: it saves government spending on K-12 education, public assistance and the criminal justice system, and increases revenues as a result of higher earnings. In other words, California can no longer afford to ignore this issue. Fortunately, the final RAND report provides recommendations on how California can address this problem. Primarily, the state must ensure that highquality programs are available for the children who need it most. In order to meet this goal, the state can take steps to measure and monitor quality http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment and provide higher reimbursements to providers who achieve higher quality. Additionally, RAND recommends that California invest in a welldesigned, coordinated plan to prepare teachers and move toward a more efficient and coordinated early learning system. President Obama knows that such investments can make an impact. He has identified early learning as the first pillar of education reform and has already taken steps to improve access and quality. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), California stands to receive more than $500 million of at least $5 billion in the federal stimulus package for early childhood education. Additionally, President Obama’s FY2010 budget proposal calls for more than $1 billion for new and existing federal programs supporting early education. California has already taken some key steps in the right direction. Just last year we passed legislation to develop a quality rating and improvement system to evaluate quality and provide financial incentives to reach higher levels. We are working to develop data systems to follow and evaluate children’s progress from early education to high school and beyond. Finally, in this economic climate, it’s especially important to recognize our efforts to consolidate programs and reduce bureaucracy so that we can get the most out of our investments. Now is a moment ripe with opportunity. RAND is providing us with the information and recommendations we need to make the most of our state and ARRA money. Now is the time to give our early learners the resources they need. Our children cannot wait any longer, and neither can our state. Catherine Atkin is president of Preschool California, a nonprofit advocacy organization working to increase access to high-quality preschool for all of California's children, starting with those who need it most. From the California Progress Report Return to Top of Page City of Sacramento Aquatics and Pools Open Soon Aquatics / Pools for City of Sacramento - Get more Business Documents Return to Top of Page From the California Progress Report Statement by Secretary Duncan Regarding Report on 'The Condition of Education' United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has issued the following statement in response to "The Condition of Education" report for 2009 released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): "These findings clearly show the need for us to make college available to all young people and adults and the bottom line benefits of a higher education. Over the last three decades immediate college enrollment increased for all income levels, California Must Develop Local Funding Options for Schools http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment by David Walrath Small School Districts Association Prior to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, approximately 70% of local school funding was provided by local property tax revenues and 30% was provided by state taxes. This allocation recognized and reflected the attitude that the state’s responsibility was to ensure equalized access to education services, ensure services to underserved populations such as special education and children from poverty families, as well as support ancillary services (such as school lunches) that were not part of the core educational program. The funding system fostered local control and limited the amount of state interference with local decisions on how best to structure the public school system. The state was required to reimburse local school districts for the cost of new state mandates and this served as a check on the state’s interference with the local operation of public schools. At this time, schools were considered to be adequately funded and academic achievement was equal to or greater than the national average. Proposition 13 was essentially a revolt against being taxed out of homes because of ever increasing property tax charges made by local government, excluding schools. Because schools were limited in the amount of total revenue they could receive by Senate Bill 90 (Dills/1972), increases in assessed value did not generate more overall revenue for schools. Local government, however, was able to increase total revenues because they had a fixed tax rate applied against assessed valuation of property. Consequently, tax revenues would increase whenever there was an increase in assessed valuation. County assessors, at the urging and direction of the state, made major annual increases in assessments which resulted in ever escalating property tax charges to property owners. In order to limit the amount of taxes and roll back assessments, the citizens passed Proposition 13. The result was that the state provided more school funding after Proposition 13. School funding is now closer to 70% state and 30% local. As in most human endeavors, the golden rule “those who have the gold make the rules,” applies to the direction of local public school activities. Because the state has the financial control, the state has an ever increasing influence on local public school activities. State funding for schools has been cut by more than $12 billion in inflation-adjusted cost. Additionally, the state owes schools upward to $3 billion for unfunded mandates and possibly an additional $6 billion for deferrals of payments to schools. Even if all these funds were paid to schools by the state, the “Getting Down to Facts” series of research organized by Stanford University indicated that an additional $10 billion would be needed to bring schools to an adequate funding level. The state budget is in shambles, and there is no reasonable expectation that the state can pay back the cuts, much less the additional $10 billion identified in the “Getting Down to Facts” research. The federal budget debt and deficit are escalating and there is no reasonable expectation that federal funds will make up the difference. Even if the federal government could make up the difference, would we want the money with the inevitable federal strings? It is bad enough for Sacramento to supersede local school decisions. How much worse would it be with Congress, almost 3,000 miles away, trying to do one-size fits all policy for our local schools? One answer to this problem is to restore more local control by giving local communities more options to support local education programs. This answer, however, should not expect local communities to make up for the state’s failure to provide adequate funding for schools. The state should remain responsible for its school funding commitments. After Proposition 13, the California Constitution was changed to redefine schools to be a special purpose. Before then schools, cities and counties could ask voters to approve general revenues with a majority vote. Now cities and counties can do general revenues with a majority vote, but schools cannot. Schools, other than for limited tax rate school bonds, are considered to be a special purpose and are required to receive a community super majority vote (66.67%) for revenues that support general education purposes. The current process allows barely more than one-third of voters to force local schools to be dependent on the state for funding. This onethird can block the voting majority’s desire for more local revenue control and less control from Sacramento. ACA 10 (Torlakson) and SCA 6 (Simitian) both address the need to allow local communities the option to support schools with a majority although we still need to help close the gap between those who need financial help and those who don't. The enrollment gap between students from low- and high-income families shrunk by nearly 50 percent, which means more low-income students are accessing college. This is extremely encouraging, as they have the potential to lift families out of circumstances of poverty. The financial advantages provided by a college education are clear. Young people with a bachelor's degree earn twice as much as those without a high school diploma, according to this research. President Obama has set a goal that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. This requires more college enrollment right out of high school and more adults going back to college as our workforce reinvents itself. Stimulus funds and our proposed 2010 budget are targeted to do just that by increasing access to college and reducing high school and college dropout rates. While the findings of the 2009 Condition of Education report show that young students are showing some progress, we can't overlook the fact that adults need more help in preparing for the work world or further education. As I reflect on these findings, I am confident that we are on the right course as the Administration implements a comprehensive cradle-to-career education agenda to prepare our citizenry to compete in the global economy. Every single child deserves the very best education possible and our job is to give it to them." The Condition of Education 2009 summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. To view the report, visit http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/. The Condition of Education 2009 - Get more Business Documents Return to Top of Page “Multiple Pathways” By Susan E. Miller Interim Superintendent http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment or supermajority vote, respectively. Schools are a general interest for all Californians. Business, labor, and government all agree that educated citizens are needed to maintain and expand California’s economy. Well-educated students benefit everyone. The Small School Districts’ Association (SSDA) believes that schools benefit all citizens in California. Well-educated students increase our ability to have economic growth, as well as an informed public for making public decisions. Schools are not a special interest, such as a sports stadium or other very limited public purpose. Because schools are a general purpose, SSDA believes that local communities should have the right to vote for local resources to their schools at less than a two-thirds vote requirement. SSDA also believes, however, that there needs to be controls on the amount of revenue that can be raised by such local taxes. SSDA believes in these limitations for two reasons: 1. The Serrano vs. Priest litigation indicated that revenues from property taxes need to be equalized so rich school districts do not have unfair access to local tax revenues. 2. Local communities should not be expected to raise taxes to the level needed for adequate funding of schools if that would result in local communities supplanting the state obligation to provide adequate resources of public education. SSDA believes the state should be responsible and the communities should continue to hold the state responsible for adequate base funding. However, local communities should be able to provide supplemental funding for local community priorities and better access to local revenues. SSDA believes this structure will increase local control, increase local involvement with their public schools and will help ensure that local priorities are addressed in their community’s schools. Small School Districts' Association of California was established in 1983 to advocate the concerns, welfare, and special needs of small school districts throughout California. SSDA is a growing organization of over 500 small and mid-sized districts. From the California Progress Report Last month, our district launched the next step toward redesigning our high school programs to better meet student needs now and for the future. This next step, called “Multiple Pathways,” builds on the work that we have already implemented since 2002.. ..click here to continue E21 SCUSD Small High Schools Click Here Return to Top of Page Parents united LAUSD moms and dads are mad and not going to sit it out anymore Updated: 05/12/2009 05:42:34 PM PDT IF there is a bright spot in the otherwise dark picture of public education and the Los Angeles Unified School District, it is the burgeoning activism of parents fed up with budget cuts that continually diminish the quality of schools. A growing army of parents has begun to organize in response to the latest round of LAUSD cuts totaling $600 million, including planned layoffs of 3,000 teachers. They were moved by the prospect of what those cuts will mean to their children's education - larger class sizes and further reductions to physical education, music classes, field trips and all those other programs that round out a child's education. Worse, seniority rules mean administrators and veteran teachers can bump newer teachers out of a job - meaning many schools will see an upheaval in staff next year. Yet parents - and by extension, students - have had little say in budget discussions despite their obvious interest. No wonder they're angry. But they've done something smart - turned their anger into action by staging protests, initiating letter drives and organizing marches. More rallies are being planned, including one on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento. Right on. Return to Top of Page School district leaders and politicians only seem to take the concerns of ordinary people seriously when they become persistent and noisy. It's about time parents demand a greater role in L.A.'s public schools. Right now, administrators and public employee unions call the shots. It is essential that the strongest advocates for children - their parents - have an equal opportunity to influence decision-makers. Getting down to facts: School finance and governance in California - Get more Business Documents New CEO: Gates http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment Foundation learns from experiments By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP – 5 hours ago SEATTLE (AP) — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spent billions of dollars exploring the idea that smaller high schools might result in higher graduation rates and better test scores. Instead, it found that the key to better education is not necessarily smaller schools but more effective teachers. Some people might cringe while recounting how much money the foundation spent figuring this out. But the foundation's new CEO, Jeff Raikes, smiles and uses it as an example to explain that the world's wealthiest charity has the money to try things that might fail. "Almost by definition, good philanthropy means we're going to have to do some risky things, some speculative things to try and see what works and what doesn't," Raikes said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press. The foundation's new "learner-in-chief" has spent the nine months since he was named CEO studying the operation, traveling around the world and figuring out how to balance the pressures of the economic downturn with the growing needs of people in developing nations. The former Microsoft Corp. executive, who turns 51 on Friday, joined the foundation as its second CEO after Patty Stonesifer, another former Microsoft executive, announced her retirement and his friends Bill and Melinda Gates talked Raikes out of retiring. In the past decade, the foundation has given away nearly $20 billion, mostly in global health, global development and U.S. education. It has been ramping up its giving since Warren Buffett, head of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, announced in June 2006 that he would make annual donations of about $1.5 billion to the foundation, with the money to be distributed in the year it is donated. Raikes is also from Nebraska, where he grew up on the family farm near Omaha. He and his wife, Tricia, formed the Raikes Foundation in 2002 to support youth development, education and community issues in the Seattle area. He hasn't lost his easygoing manner during his transformation from business leader to nonprofit CEO. One of the things he's learned is the foundation must take a different direction with its education grants. The most effective path, he said, is to support good, effective teachers. Between 2000 and 2008, the foundation spent about $2 billion toward improving America's high schools and another $2 billion for scholarships, primarily for low-income and minority students. It saw graduation rates go up in many foundation-supported schools. But it didn't see significant improvements in student achievement or in the number of students who left high school ready to enroll in college. Raikes said the responsibility for social innovation often falls on nonprofit organizations because the private sector doesn't see the profit margin in it and most citizens don't want the government speculating with their tax dollars. The foundation plans to continue to experiment with its education policy. "We're going to try some things and I'm quite confident that some things will succeed and I'm quite confident that some things will fail," Raikes said. He noted that half of the more than 1 million students who drop out of school in the United States each year are from just 100 school districts. What can make a difference for those kids? Raikes wants to find out. The foundation also is investing money to improve data collection in public schools — in part, to better find out what works — and to help community colleges improve graduation rates. Raikes talked of a study of the Los Angeles Unified School District after an initiative to reduce class sizes led to a liberalization of rules on who could be hired to teach. The district found that whether a teacher had a certificate had no Too often parents have been passive participants in public education, content to let the bureaucrats, board members and teachers union decide how to run our schools. And school districts have done little to encourage parental involvement, particularly at the LAUSD, where parents are forced to deal with a monster government agency and a maze of red tape. Even those dedicated parents who schlep downtown to LAUSD board meetings aren't guaranteed an opportunity to address the board. Fortunately, there are signs that parents are beginning to hold greater sway in these important budget choices. School-site councils, made up of staff and parents, will make decisions on how to spend federal stimulus dollars. Parents will be able to decide whether to hire back teachers or reinstate certain programs with the money. School districts and teachers should welcome greater parental activism. These moms and dads can be the best allies - they want more funding for schools and they want to keep good teachers in the classroom, and they're willing to march on Sacramento to make it happen. LA Daily News Return to Top of Page Who is Next? Superintendent of Public Instruction 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2006, 2010 No Party Affiliation; (Democratic) Public Instruction Superintendent Jack T. O'Connell • First elected: 2002; re-elected: 2006 • Seat up for election: Tuesday 2 November 2010 • Open Seat - At term limit. Possible candidate for Governor in 2010. Francisco Reveles state Senator Gloria Romero state Assemblyman Tom Torlakson Democratic Democratic Democratic From the SCUSD Observer Roy Grimes to Run for State Superintendent? Pia Lopez reports in The Swarm that SCUSD Board of Trustees President Roy Grimes is forming an exploratory committee to make a possible run at Jack O'Connell's job. Perhaps Mr. Grimes should first explore the current political challenges in front http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment effect on student achievement. Raikes said the district found that putting a great teacher in a lowincome school helped students advance a grade and a half in one year. An ineffective teacher in a high-income school held student achievement back to about half a grade of progress in a year. "We really have to focus classroom-by-classroom," said Jim Morris, chief of staff at the L.A. district. "Every teacher matters just like every student matters." Morris said the most important factor to successful schools is excellent teachers and supporting what they do in the classroom. The Harvard researcher who studied the Los Angeles district, Thomas J. Kane, now works for the Gates Foundation as deputy director of education for data and research. On the Net: Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org L.A. Unified School District: http://snurl.com/laschl of him. Besides the problems in the school district (budget cuts, lack of a superintendent, closures, imminent staff and teacher layoffs, etc.), Mr. Grimes obviously will have to sell himself pretty well ...Continue reading this story at the SCUSD Observer Return to Top of Page Hancock: 2/3 requirement must go to save schools By Josh Richman Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 9:31 pm State Senator Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, on Tuesday welcomed to the State Capitol a group of public-school parents who bicycled up from Oakland to protest cuts in state education funding and to deliver a petition demanding more state support for public schools and removal of the 2/3 requirement to pass a budget or to raise taxes. The Associated Press Time to Talk about School Site Councils It’s interesting that Hancock made no mention of her opposition to Proposition 1A, which she has contended will hamstring California’s ability to rebuild the bedraggled education system. Back in February, she was one of only five legislative Democrats to buck their leadership and vote against putting 1A on the ballot, but perhaps with the measures’ polling numbers down in the dumps, she has decided to move on and pour her ardor into rolling back the 2/3 requirement. From the Contra Costa Times.com Return to Top of Page More black lawmakers open to school vouchers By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Back when he was on the city council for the District of Columbia, attorney Kevin Chavous would occasionally run into fellow Democrats concerned about the state of the USA's urban schools. They were open to a lot of ideas, but most Democrats have historically rejected taxpayer-supported private-school vouchers, saying they drain precious cash from needy public schools. Chavous, who served from 1992 to 2005, openly supported vouchers. He would ask others why they didn't. "Several of them would whisper to me, 'I'm with you, but I can't come out in front,' " Chavous says. That was then. While vouchers will likely never be the clarion call of Democrats, they're beginning to make inroads among a group of young black lawmakers, mayors and school officials who have split with party and teachers union orthodoxy on School Beat: Strong Schools Need Strong School Site Councils by Don Krause, 2009-01-22 http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment San Francisco’s school site councils, the legally mandated site-based governing bodies, could receive an unexpected gift, compliments of the worldwide financial collapse. The California Department of Education is under pressure to rein in spending, and state compliance officers are unlikely to cut any slack when the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) undergoes a monitoring of its moribund School Site Council (SSC) program next year. A negative assessment of site council compliance could underscore the need for reform. An ailing SSC program in the spotlight could be a public relations gaffe for a new District administration intent on establishing its reputation as fiscally responsible, accountability-centered and parentfriendly. And while this might sound like bad news, such scrutiny could breathe new life into site councils that are often little more than rubber stamps for principals, especially if policymakers take the opportunity in repairing a failure of the insular Ackerman era. SSC documentation, painstakingly provided by district officials in fulfilling recent public records requests, shows the vast majority of school communities without adequate representation. Although the value of the procedural requirements to lawfully constitute and conduct councils is often underestimated, more importantly, school principals too often fail to meaningfully engage their communities in the planning process. This is where the rubber meets the road and where quantitative compliance reviews cannot adequately address the performance of site councils and school leadership. Measurement of site council performance is a tricky business. Recent SSC document analysis was made by three individuals (two District officials and the author of this article), reading thousands of pages from over one hundred schools in an attempt to gain insight on the District’s overall performance. Despite some variation in the three results, it was mutually agreed upon that there is a significant need for District SSC reform. What shape should this reform take? The true barometer of an SSC is in its ability to positively impact academic achievement, even while many other factors come into play. The principal is the key player in openly recruiting candidates for SSC elections and making the council’s work authentic and integral to the academic plan or Balanced Scorecard, as it is now known. The work of the councils should be an important part of regular communication between the school leadership and the community in newsletters, at staff and community meetings and in the halls. Properly constituted councils should have ten members at the elementary level, five staff and five community members, and twelve members at the secondary level, also evenly divided. (There are other specific legal requirements and variants beyond the scope of this overview.) Principals and chairpersons must strive to ensure full participation by representatives and encourage the larger community to attend meetings, making sure to create bylaws, post agendas and to keep meeting minutes, sign-in sheets and election materials. But the real test and the true business of any council is its ability to openly and objectively discuss the issues at hand and to vote on and implement them. These qualitative aspects of site council performance are not easy to analyze. They derive from the character and policies of the primary decision-makers at our schools and at the central office and are typically reviewed best through the prism of retrospection. An example of a recent failing of District policy is illustrated in its irresponsible intention to further dilute the already limited influence of parents. District officials want to solve the parent participation problem on most site councils by decreasing the minimum number of parent representatives necessary to vote on action items from the legally mandated amount of five (at the elementary level) to as little as one, citing the use of a quorum. (Most schools don’t have bylaws by which to employ a quorum). They intend to do this, ostensibly, to prevent a dearth of SSC parent participation from impeding the conduct of business. This policy supplants State law which requires parity of staff and community and a minimum of ten members for adequate legal representation. The use of quorums, in this way, negates the very purpose of site councils, which is to give a legal voice to the stakeholders for the benefit of student outcome. The right way to solve this problem, rather than throwing in the towel, is for the District to support and promote their principals’ efforts to engage their school communities and create greater SSC participation, while simultaneously fulfilling the goals of the Balanced Scorecard of responsibility and accountability. In effect, parent participation via site council reform should be a major part of the District’s Strategic Plan. school reform. The group includes Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and former Washington, D.C., mayor Anthony Williams. "You can no longer dismiss this as Catholic or right-wing," says Jeanne Allen of the Center on Education Reform, a Washington think tank. Allen has pushed for vouchers and charter schools for decades. She originally thought the shift was generational. "But I actually think it has more to do with more-principled people who understand and have seen how badly the existing system has hurt minority kids." While Chavous and others say vouchers are far from the perfect solution, they're worth offering to students in the nation's bleakest public schools. Urban Democrats, he says, "see that what's happening to our kids in these schools just is unacceptable — we need to look at all options." The party split will be on display Wednesday when former Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman, now an independent, chairs a hearing on Washington, D.C.'s federally funded Opportunity Scholarship Program. It's perhaps the most high-profile voucher hearing of the past five years, coming a few days after two prominent Democrats, Dianne Feinstein and Robert Byrd, joined a handful of Republicans to criticize President Obama for letting funding for D.C.'s program lapse. Lieberman's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from families whose children attend private schools through the program. He'll also hear from Williams and Bruce Stewart, head of Sidwell Friends School, where Obama's two daughters are enrolled. Obama last week said he'd fund the D.C. program until its current students graduate, but he maintains that vouchers are not a long-term education reform. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama suggested that he'd weigh the evidence on vouchers but did not keep them in his first budget last week. Instead, he and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan agreed to fund D.C.'s program until the 1,716 students now enrolled graduate. Lieberman last week called it "a start," but said the scholarship "is a valuable program that should be available to new students as well." Obama and Duncan are unlikely to budge anytime soon — Duncan recently acknowledged D.C.'s woes, calling its public schools "a national disgrace." But he added: "We have to be much more ambitious for ourselves and have higher expectations — we have to help every child in D.C. The answer is not vouchers for a few. It's massive change, massive reform for all, absolutely as quickly as possible." First proposed in 1955 by University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman, private-school vouchers have had a decidedly rocky history and have never fully taken root in U.S. public schools. While the federal government routinely underwrites college students' tuition and fees to attend private colleges and universities, K-12 vouchers are limited to a few scattered programs in cities such as Cleveland, Milwaukee and, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans. Special-education students in Florida also attend private schools on the public dime, but voters in about a dozen states have rejected voucher proposals over the past few decades. Fifty-four years after Friedman first proposed vouchers, only 61,000 of the nation's 50 million students attend school with a voucher — just over onetenth of 1%. Another 100,000 in six states benefit from tax credits for privateschool tuition. D.C.'s program — formally known as The District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act — has served as a lightning rod since Congress approved it in January 2004 as the first federally funded private-school voucher. A federal evaluation, released April 3 by the U.S. Education Department, found that after three years, there was a "statistically significant positive impact" on students' reading test scores, but not on their math scores. Overall, voucher students performed about three months ahead of their peers in public schools in reading, but no better in math. Mary Lord, a member of the D.C. State Board of Education, says the statistics may be misleading because many of the voucher kids attend the city's worst schools. She says the voucher, which provides up to $7,500 a year, gives "enormous bang for the buck," considering that the city's per-pupil budget for year is, by one estimate, nearly $17,000 per student. "It's a no-brainer to me," she says. USA TODAY http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment For years, SFUSD delegated the job of the site council mandate to its school principals and turned a blind eye to any further District accountability. With principals left to do as they may, parent activists should take umbrage at such unmanaged authority in their children’s schools, where District supervisors rarely tread. Varying only to the degree that a school principal welcomes community involvement, site councils are most often a formality in the bureaucratically arcane and boilerplate academic planning process, with parent input sidelined as advisory in nature. This is a far cry from the grassroots reform that was envisioned when education researchers first promoted school governance through site councils as the front line in education reform. In the late1970’s the legislature, citing this research, created school site councils as part of the School Improvement Program and, since then, repeatedly renewed it. Thirty years later, most parents have little understanding or interest in site councils. Few have ever read an academic plan. This unfortunate state is the result of years of distrust of parents by school officials who did little to implement the law or, more importantly, to encourage parent participation; it is no secret the District resisted strong school site councils (read parents) challenging its authority. To disabuse parents of any notion of a power grab, they were benched to do yard duty and PTA bake sales. Parent involvement via Site-Based Management (SBM) and its backbone of local councils has been extensively studied and is, in its theory, widely regarded to be a capable model of decentralizing reform. In practice, on the ground success requires staff and community committed to working collaboratively and versed in the language, principles and practices of the education establishment. Too often principals view parent involvement in school governance as a challenge to their professional judgment. Community members are often inadequately trained in the challenges they face and too quick to find fault when confronting difficult problems. Site councils can invigorate schools. But if parents want a voice, they must lobby for it. San Francisco is decades behind some other Districts that have integrated parent involvement into the machinery of school government. In Chicago, local school councils have convincingly demonstrated that real reform must include authority to evaluate principals, who, as school leaders, are central figures in promoting or discouraging parent participation, particularly on the councils themselves. Recent attempts to strip Chicago parents of their hard earned authority have failed in the courts. If grassroots action is an objective of the District, as alluded to in the yet to be explained Strategic Plan, perhaps the Superintendent will embrace site councils and rightly so, as he has promoted himself as a bottom-up manager. Yet the Plan makes no mention of them in its overly-generalized big-on-goals-low-on-details fifty-three page glossy brochure, a telling omission that does not bode well for parent involvement. In lieu of District action, parent pressure via public records requests in conjunction with uniform complaints has given impetus to some district officials who realize they must provide fixes if the upcoming academic planning process is to pass muster. But swift transformation of site councils is unlikely given the hard work involved in creating and sustaining them. An analogue of the parent-child relationship, school success hinges on creating partnerships between staff and community. We cannot expect our poorly funded schools to do the entire job of educating our children. The endless discussions on education under-funding have belabored the point that any progress is going to have to come cheaply, if it comes at all. Ironically, the most cost- effective reform is through parent involvement. The District needs to fill in the blanks of its beautifully rendered, but mysteriously lacking call-to-arms that is the Strategic Plan with the letters SSC. Don Krause is a past SSC member and current SSC activist, as well as being the father of two boys at Alamo and a former high school teacher. Return to Top of Page From the SCUSD Observer Who is running this show? At the risk of simply blogging as a Sacramento Bee critique, today we'd like to draw your attention to an editorial: Superintendent Search Drags On. The piece illuminates two (particularly) noticeable points: Thirteen months after Maggie Mejia announced her retirement, SCUSD is without a permanent superintendent. Teachers, principals and Teamsters unions announced Thursday that they do not want a search. They want the board to appoint interim Superintendent Susan Miller as the permanent superintendent. Why isn't a permanent superintendent in place now? Is it a result of board incompetence that this search is not complete? Are our new representatives so green that they ..... continue reading at SCUSD Observer Return to Top of Page George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science Beyond Chron.org Return to Top of Page About George Washington http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment Return to Top of Page Carver School of Arts and Science From the California Progress Report Our high school program integrates a college preparatory education with visual and performing arts, athletics and opportunities for Senate Approves Sen. Romero’s Bill Increasing Transparency in Education Policy Senator Gloria Romero Greater public access to state board meetings will increase public participation in policymaking and result in decisions more responsive to what is actually happening in our schools. We must use modern information technology to make government more transparent and engage our students, teachers, administrators, and parents in the policy decisions that affect them. SB 312 would require the State Board of Education (SBE) and the State Allocation Board (SAB) to provide live transmission of their public meetings through either cable television, web cast, or the K-12 High Speed Network. The SBE and SAB are state agencies with primary responsibility for K-12 education policy and for allocating state bond funds for school construction. The people of California have a right to know what their government is doing, and we must use all available technology to let the people participate in public meetings. The next step is to use technology to enable public comment from remote locations. In addition to increasing transparency, live transmission of public meetings will result in cost savings for school districts that typically send staff to attend the meetings in Sacramento, said Romero. A Governor’s executive order in 2006 called for state agencies to provide live streaming of public meetings over the Internet, but the State Board of Education has yet to do so. The State Allocation Board broadcast online for the first time in March, after introduction of this bill. On January 15, the State Chief Information Officer issued an information technology strategic plan that recommends better use of state technology to make government more transparent and increase the accessibility of government information. SB 312 passed both the Senate policy and fiscal committees with unanimous, bipartisan support. Senators Elaine Alquist, Dean Florez, Jeff Denham and George Runner are co-authors of the bill, which is endorsed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Small School Districts Association, the Association of California School Administrators and the Riverside County Schools Advocacy Association. California State Senator Gloria Romero was elected to the 24th Senate District in 2001, representing East Los Angeles and the greater San internships and cultural exchange. Students study in a small, creative learning environment with an emphasis on understanding, cooperation and respect. Students receive individual support. The education is focused on the "whole child." Teachers and students work closely together on research, a wide variety of clubs, and independent projects. Students will come to know themselves as they learn about the world. New Website Launches George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science Has a New Look! We are excited to announce the launch of our brand new website. Check out our new home on the world wide web at: http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment Gabriel Valley. She served as a member of the powerful Senate Rules Committee immediately upon her election and was subsequently elected as Democratic Caucus Chair. Soon after, she was elected as Majority Leader—the first and only woman to ever hold that leadership position in the history of the California State Senate. California Progress Report Return to Top of Page G.W. Carver School of Arts & Sciences web site with active links - Get more Business Documents www.carverartsandscience.org We hope you enjoy the photos and information. Please forward the address to friends and family who might like to know more about our high school. We ware currently accepting enrollment applications for grade 9-11. Please call the office or come by to pick up the enrollment packet. Contact us: 228-5751 George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science 10101 Systems Parkway Sacramento, CA 95827 Driving Directions George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science Summer Arts Academy - Get more Business Documents Return to Top of Page Return to Top of Page Return to Top of Page This is an Education story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and everyone was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody was angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. Everyone, Please help keep our Public Schools Public: Insist on authentic Parent and Community Engagement! Return to Top of Page 8 area schools recognized for http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment academic achievement Eight Sacramento-area schools have been selected for the 2008-09 Title I Academic Achievement Award, a recognition of Title I schools where all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California's academic standards. Title I schools enroll 40 percent or more of socio-economically disadvantaged students and receive federal Title 1 funds under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The honored schools are Sierra Elementary in Placerville Union Elementary District; Capitol Heights Academy, West Campus, Camellia Elementary, Earl Warren Elementary, William Land Elementary and Golden Empire Elementary in Sacramento City Unified School District; and Dingle Elementary in Woodland Joint Unified School District. The award was given to 200 schools in 88 school districts in 27 counties. – Melissa Nix This story is taken from Sacbee / Our Region Return to Top of Page School Site Council training School Site Council training was provided to members, students, principals, community, other school staff, and parents on November 19, 2008 at the SCTA office. It was a collaborative effort between the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento City Teachers Association. Return to Top of Page DAC http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM] Education News & Comment PARENTS, TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS AND OUR LEARNING COMMUNITY COMING TOGETHER TO PLAN FOR THE SUPPORT OF OUR STUDENTS IN OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS Go DAC! Return to Top of Page Return to Top of Page "Parents polishing the apple daily" All rights reserved Powered by Microsoft Office Live Small Business http://sacdac.org/default.aspx[05/31/2009 9:20:38 AM]