February 23 | The Educated Guess
What works in middle schools
By John Fensterwald
Districts aiming to raise scores of middle school students shouldn't count on hiring a messianic principal or jiggling the grade configuration of a school or making vague commitments to excellence - or any single tie-it-in-a-bow policy.
The hard work - and success - come from aligning instruction in every grade to state standards, setting measurable goals, committing to see that all students are prepared for the rigors of high school and staying true to the practices that bring results. Lower-income schools that follow these strategies can overcome the drag of demographics and achieve the success of middle schools in middle-income neighborhoods.
That's among the key findings of an extensive study of 303 California middle schools covering 204,000 students - the most comprehensive survey of those grades - by the non-profit EdSource and Stanford University Professor Michael Kirst, the lead researcher. With an unusually high 88 percent response rate, 3,572 English language arts and math teachers, including teachers at 27 charter schools, 303 principals and 157 superintendents filled out a survey with 900 specific items on school strategies.
January 17 | San Francisco Chronicle
Time for parents to have power in the classroom
By Gloria Romero
California leads the nation in public school dropouts, and everyone pays for the persistent failure of the lowest-performing schools. And it's not just the billions of dollars spent in failed restructuring efforts; it's the cost in welfare payments, jail cells, prison beds and our state's and nation's competitiveness in a global economy.
Finger-pointing abounds, but today's third-graders will be tomorrow's dropouts by the time we ever agree.
Yet there have been signs of recent progress. California's Race to the Top reforms, approved this month and submitted to the Obama administration in time for Tuesday's deadline, make adults accountable, make moms and dads responsible, and offer hope for real change at our public schools by empowering parents.
January 13 | The Press-Enterprise
State tries to attract math and science teachers
By JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO - Some would-be teachers will have a new and potentially faster way to receive credentials under this month's state legislation meant to improve California's chances of getting federal school-improvement money.
Inland Assemblyman Brian Nestande said the change should help ease the state's shortage of math, science and vocational instructors by attracting mid-career people who want to teach but are unwilling to spend months in a traditional credentialing program.
It's for someone who says, "I don't need to spend a year of my life getting a credential when I probably know the issue better than anyone in the room teaching me," said Nestande, R-Palm Desert, who is vice chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. "Let's try something different and try to get those people into the classroom."
January 7| Sacramento Bee
School reformers celebrate a victory
Californians who care about public schools have something to cheer about. Pushed by President Obama's Race to the Top competition and by grass-roots parent efforts, lawmakers finally passed bills that position California to make big changes long resisted by entrenched educational interests.
January 4 | San Jose Mercury News
Assembly should pass bill to name, repair 10 worst California schools
Of the many education reforms proposed recently in the Legislature, Senate Bill 742 is not the most sweeping. But it's one of the smartest.
The bill, which would require the state to identify and fix the 10 worst public schools, sailed through the Senate in June but is stuck in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. It should be passed.
It may seem surprising that this law would be necessary. Why doesn't the state already have to name and repair all its badly performing schools? In the face of opposition to broader reform from teachers unions and administrators, the bill's authors say, they had to start somewhere.
The beauty of this approach is that while it seems like a small step, it's likely to have a tremendous impact beyond just these 10 schools...
...The bill is being carried by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, the most prominent advocate of education reform in the Legislature.
December 19 | San Jose Mercury News
Failing California public schools: It's time to name names
By Gloria Romero
I grew up the hard way. I learned what powerlessness did to people.
My father taught me that "knowledge is power." From that lesson, I decided I would become an educator.
In college, I supported the United Farm Workers of America and, following graduation, I met Cesar Chavez. He talked about how wrong it was for people to rely on the government. His lifelong belief in self-reliance and empowerment is embodied in his famous slogan: "Si, se puede." Yes, we can.
I am authoring Senate Bill 742, simple education reform legislation based on the principles of "Knowledge is power" and "Si, se puede."
SB 742 would require the state superintendent of public instruction and the Board of Education to identify just 10 of the almost 1,000 historically lowest-performing public schools in California, including at least three comprehensive high schools with high dropout rates. It would also require the local school district and the community to develop a major restructuring plan to turn around the school.
December 16| Los Angeles Times
Put power over California's schools in hands of parents
They should be able to trigger actual reforms at failing schools, a concept that would help the state compete for federal 'Race to the Top' dollars.
By Ben Austin
Let me tell you about my recent trip to Sacramento. It is a story about why we need a revolution.
Earlier this month, Senate leaders introduced a "parent trigger" into California's "Race to the Top" education reform legislation.
Under the policy, parents at a systemically failing school could circulate a petition calling for change. If 51% of the parents signed it, the school would be converted to a charter school or reconstituted by the school district, with a new staff and new ways of operating. The concept recognized a truth that school officials often discount: Parents are in the best position to make decisions about what's right for their kids.
December 15 | San Jose Mercury News
Bass sells out school kids in favor of teacher unions
By Margaret Fortune
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' feet are so firmly planted on the wrong side of school reform that it makes me wonder what on earth could make the first black woman leader of the California Assembly turn a blind eye to the plight of minority children in public schools. The sad answer: Her Democratic caucus' loyalty to unions.
The state of public education could not be any more desperate for black children. I, too, am a black woman, and I sit on the California State University board of trustees with Karen Bass. We know that 81 percent of California's black seniors graduate high school ineligible to apply to a state college, and yet Karen Bass finds herself stuck leading a chorus of cynics deriding President Barack Obama's $4.3 billion Race to the Top education reform challenge.
Last week, the Assembly rejected a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Gloria Romero, a Democrat from East Los Angeles, that would have enacted the real reform needed to apply for the federal funds. It would have allowed students in the lowest-performing schools to transfer to any school in the state or let their parents force school boards to fix broken schools.
December 10 | The San Jose Mercury News
Legislature must adopt more aggressive approach to reform
The state Assembly failed California's schoolchildren Wednesday.
The 17-member Assembly education committee reviewed two bills intended to qualify the state for the Obama administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top program — the largest pool of money ever created for education reform. The first bill, an inferior version by the committee's chairwoman, Julia Brownley, sailed through.
But when it was time to vote on the second, by Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero, six committee members either abstained or couldn't be bothered to show up to vote. Romero's bill, which would have made major changes to the state's education system, failed.
November 22 | The Sacramento Bee
Assembly must get moving on 'Race to the Top'
President Barack Obama said in a speech three weeks ago that the status quo in American schools "has held back our children, it has held back our economy, and it has held back our country long enough." It is time, he said "to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it."
The states are the great laboratories of experimentation, but the federal government can help. Obama announced in July that states could compete for $4 billion in new "Race to the Top" funds to get things moving. The first round of applications is due Jan. 19. California could gain up to $500 million, a potential big boost given the bleak budget situation.
November 20 | St. Petersburg Times
State rates teacher prep programs
By Ron Matus
...For the first time, the [Florida] Department of Education has examined the effectiveness of rookie teachers from a wide variety of teacher preparation programs, using their students' scores on the math and reading portions of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in 2008. It determined what percentage of graduates from each program had 50 percent or more of their students make a year's worth of progress.
October 23 | Time Magazine By Gilbert Cruz
Are Teacher Colleges Turning out Mediocrity?
There has been a mantra of sorts going around education circles over the past few years: "Nothing matters more to a child's education than good teachers." Anyone who's ever had a Ms. Green or a Mr. Miller whom they remember fondly instinctively knows this to be true. And while "Who's teaching my kid?" is an important question for parents to ask, there may be an equally essential (and rarely remarked upon) question - "Who's teaching my kid's teachers?"
On Thursday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan went to Columbia University's Teachers College, the oldest teacher-training school in the nation, and delivered a speech blasting the education schools that have trained the majority of the 3.2 million teachers working in U.S. public schools today. "By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation's 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom," he said to an audience of teaching students who listened with more curiosity than ire - this was Columbia University after all, and they knew Duncan wasn't talking to them. It was a damning, but not unprecedented, assessment of teacher colleges, which have long been the stepchildren of the American university system and a frequent target of education reformers' scorn over the past quarter-century.
September 28 | Visionary Education Philanthropist Dies At Age 81
Don Fisher, who co-founded Gap, Inc. with his wife Doris in 1969, died Sunday of cancer in his San Francisco home at the age of 81.
Along with founding the Gap, Don Fisher was one of the country's most visionary education philanthropists. As a product of California's public schools, Don believed deeply that all students were entitled to the same high quality public education that he was fortunate to receive.
"Don viewed the improvement of public education as a moral imperative," explained Christopher Nelson, Managing Director of the Doris & Donald Fisher Fund. "It was his hope that he could contribute in some way to helping our public education system realize its potential to be the 'great equalizer' so that all children, regardless of their background, could attain a high quality education to prepare them for success in college, work and life."
Don was the driving force behind two of the most important and successful education reform organizations in the country - KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and Teach For America. Since 2000, Don and his wife, Doris, donated more than $100 million to KIPP and Teach For America.
In 2000, Doris and Don gave $15 million to create the KIPP Foundation, an organization designed to recruit, train, and support aspiring KIPP school leaders as they opened new schools across the United States. KIPP grew from 2 schools in 1999 to a network of 82 free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools serving 20,000 students in underserved communities. Don served as the chairman of the KIPP board of directors from 2003 until his death. Doris and their son, John, are also board members.
"Don knew that demography does not have to be destiny when it comes to a child's education, and he used his incredible mind, heart and generosity to show that powerful lesson to the country," said KIPP Foundation CEO Richard Barth. "Don helped prove what is possible in public education. Because of his efforts, hundreds of thousands of children have had doors of opportunity opened and their future will be his great legacy."
September 15 | The Education Trust-West
The Education Trust-West on Release of Accountability Progress Report
(Oakland, CA) - Today, the California Department of Education released the results of the 2008-09 Accountability Progress Report. The data tell two stories: One gives us hope and the other reminds us how far we have left to go. The state accountability system, the Academic Performance Index (API), shows schools at every level getting closer to California's self imposed goal of 800 and a slight narrowing of the achievement gap. Meanwhile, the federal accountability system, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), indicates that more and more of the state's schools are not meeting their annual benchmarks for percent proficient in English and math than ever before.
"All progress is good progress, but today's data reveal that we are not progressing nearly far or fast enough - particularly for our low-income students and students of color," stated Linda Murray, acting Executive Director of The Education Trust-West. "Schools must not be deemed as making sufficient progress by the state unless they are meeting both their annual growth targets and ambitious benchmarks of student proficiency. Indeed, by setting the bar low for state accountability purposes, California is sending mixed signals to educators, to policymakers and to the public about whether our schools are really serving all students well."
August 22 | The Bakersfield Californian | By State Senator Gloria Romero
Your right to choose your child's school
Parents know what's best for their families. They choose where to shop, which place of worship to attend, what their children eat and the books they read, but when it comes to the public schools, parents don't have a choice.
Parents across California are demanding school reform that recognizes every student's right to a quality education at the school that best meets their needs. A critical step toward reimagining public education in California is giving parents real power -- the power of choice.
Students shouldn't be trapped in failing schools by virtue of their ZIP codes. Wealthier parents have a choice. Shouldn't every parent?
August 14 | Fresno Bee
Students in limbo after law unrenewed
SACRAMENTO - State lawmakers have failed to renew a law that allows students to easily change schools, possibly putting more than 370 Valley students in limbo just as classes start.
The program in question allows students to cross boundaries to attend a "school district of choice" without getting permission from the student's home district. Other programs that allow students to transfer with the agreement of both districts continue as normal.
The "districts of choice" law expired on July 1 and lawmakers did not pass an extension before they left for summer break in late July. As a result, home districts could now potentially call their students back. About 5,000 students statewide could be affected. Click here to read more...
July 13 | San Francisco Chronicle
A chance to learn
For the past 16 years, California's "district of choice" program has allowed school districts with the space and desire to accept students from outside their geographic boundaries. The program engendered neither scandal nor serious controversy. It currently allows 5,000 students to enroll in schools their families believe are best for them.
The authorization of that program expired on July 1. Its renewal should be a slam dunk. It was in the state Senate, where the vote was 37-0 in favor of legislation by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, to extend the choice program for seven years.
Once the bill moved to the Assembly, however, the forces that favor the wisdom of the education establishment over the judgment of parents went to work. On June 30, Romero's SB680 stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote, with five Republicans voting for it and all 11 Democrats voting against it. The no votes included Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, Tom Torlakson of Antioch and Joe Coto of San Jose.
Shame on them.
"As a Democrat, I ask: Why do we give the issue of choice and parental rights to the Republicans?" Romero said. Click here to read more...
June 10 | Focus on Education
Senior Surpasses Hard Times, Helps Others
Rosemary Astorga came to Oak View High School in the 11th grade, behind in class credits and fresh out of a drug rehabilitation program. The daughter of divorced parents who used to live with her dad in Los Angeles, Rosemary had moved in with her mom, who was seeking to get her daughter settled in a new school. Oak View, the alternative high school in Oak Park, provided just the right change for Rosemary, now 18. She's stayed drug-free and is graduating from high school this summer, on schedule.
Rosemary was able to enroll in a high school that met her needs thanks to the state District of Choice Program. But the District of Choice program will disappear this year if it's not renewed by the California Legislature. Click here to send a letter to key lawmakers and ask them to support SB 680 to renew the program so more students can benefit.
