Daily Republic: Campaign gathers school supplies for Solano’s homeless children

FAIRFIELD — A campaign by various local agencies and groups is under way to help homeless children get school supplies for a new school year.

Solano County has about 1,400 homeless schoolchildren, according to the Solano County Office of Education. They might live in shelters or move from home to home or even sleep on the streets.

The “Stuff the Bus” campaign seeks donations of various supplies. Items requested include alarm clocks, backpacks in colors besides solid blue or red, pencils, erasers, paper, crayons, glue sticks, pencil sharpeners, flash cards, pencil pouches, rulers and calculators.

via Campaign gathers school supplies for Solano’s homeless children.

Daily Republic: Future students at FSUSD Public Safety Academy excited for change

FAIRFIELD — School starts in a few weeks and for most students that means reuniting with friends, seeing teachers new and old and revisiting the textbooks they shoved aside for the summer.

For the future Public Safety Academy students, however, the school year will start with a little more uncertainty and a lot of change.

The Fairfield-Suisun School District Public Safety Academy, a paramilitary school, will start instruction at its Atlantic Avenue location Aug. 15.

The academy, teaching fifth- through eighth-graders, is a first-of-its-kind school in Northern California. It will train students in the careers of police, fire, courts and social work, among others.

via Future students at Public Safety Academy excited for change.

KQED MindShift: What’s the Best Way to Practice Project Based Learning?

By Peter Skillen

Project Based Learning can mean different things to different people, and can be practiced in a variety of ways. For educators who want to dive in, the good news is that a rich trove of resources are available.

In order to create your own definition and practice, here are some parameters to consider. This diagram, enhanced by the critical eye of Brenda Sherry, can help you figure out what’s important to you and your students.

via What’s the Best Way to Practice Project Based Learning?.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: The Secondary Academic Leadership Institute (SAIL) will begin soon in Solano County

Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall

The Secondary Academic Leadership Institute (SAIL) will begin soon in Solano County and is intended for school-based leadership teams comprised of administrators, department chairs, and teachers leaders. The SAIL Institute focuses on building leadership capacity that will create the site-based conditions to cultivate on-going learning and student achievement. Register today!

http://www.solanocoe.net/ourpages/auto/2012/6/7/62295696/SAIL_PAR_version_8-30-12.pdf

via The Secondary Academic Leadership Institute (SAIL) will begin soon in Solano Cou….

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo is launch site of statewide parental sex education program

By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

Vallejo is the California launch pad for a new national program aimed at teaching parents how to communicate with their teens about sex.

An official kick-off is hoped for by October, program coordinator Kathi Hill said.

Sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies and other such things are as much a result of bad information as they are of sexual behavior, Hill said. The right information coming early enough from the right person can have a positive impact, she said. That’s the message of Planned Parenthood’s Real Life Real Talk program, Hill said.

Funded by the Ford Foundation, Real Life Real Talk was initiated by Planned Parenthood Federation of America with a coalition of diverse community organizations like public health, faith organizations and schools, according to realliferealtalk.org. These partners hope to “reframe sexuality as a component of healthy relationships, instead of as a commodity, the way it is often promoted in popular media,” organizers say.

via Vallejo is launch site of statewide parental sex education program.

EdSource Today: A mind is still a terrible thing to waste

By Michele Siqueiros and Arun Ramanathan

What if we told you that no matter how hard you tried, you only had a 5 percent chance of succeeding? What if it was your first day of kindergarten and we told you those were your odds of getting a college degree at a California university?

We don’t tell our kindergarteners that. In fact, we tell them the opposite. “You can be anything you want in life if you work hard enough.” But in California that’s just not the case for the nearly 4 million students who are Latino or African American. They have a 1 in 20 chance of graduating from a California public university. California’s prosperity is dependent on us changing these odds.

According to a recent report from the California Competes Council, California will need 5½ million new college degrees and technical certificates by the year 2025. We simply cannot meet these needs without improving results for our Latino and African American students, who are the vast majority of our student population.

via A mind is still a terrible thing to waste – by Michele Siqueiros and Arun Ramanathan.

Dixon Patch: Former DUSD’s Librarian’s Computer Wiped Clean

If the District Attorney, the Grand Jury, or the Dixon Unified School District wanted to include information and files off of retired District Librarian Gregg Atkins’ computer for their audits and investigation, they won’t be able to. The computer hard drive has been wiped clean.

After a meeting between Dixon Library Director Nancy Schrott and DUSD Board of Trustees President Irina Okhremtchouk to detail what was necessary to get ready for the audits, it was discovered that all of the files on Atkin’s computer no longer exist.

“Since we have been investigated by the Grand Jury, and because the Board decided to refer certain things to the District Attorney, and because we are going to conduct an audit and a forensic investigation very soon, I met with Nancy and asked her to preserve the former District Librarian’s computer files,” said Okhremtchouk . “He signed a lot of contracts and did a lot of business with vendors and such, so we have to ensure that these records were available for review.”

At last week’s special meeting, the library’s governing board of trustees approved a contract with Roach Associates Auditors to conduct a full audit of every account at the Dixon Public Library. They also approved a second contract for a forensic auditing firm and that work was expected to begin immediately.

via Former District Librarian’s Computer Wiped Clean.

California Watch: Thousands of old school buses find second life farther south

Kendall Taggart

A yellow school bus sits gutted, propped up on wooden blocks at a shop in Guatemala, more than a thousand miles from its former life. Black spray paint barely obscures the name of the school district it used to serve.

It is one of several aging buses that have rolled in from across the United States to the shop on the outskirts of Antigua. The shop’s owner, Alejandro Mejia, makes a living giving the old American school buses a makeover and a new start as mass transportation.

To prepare the buses to join Guatemala’s transit system, Mejia chops off several feet from the back so they’re lighter and more nimble on the country’s steep terrain and raises their suspension so they have more clearance on the uneven streets. Then he does away with the federally mandated school-bus yellow and gives them a paint job – a range of bright green, red and blue – depending on the new owner’s taste. After four or five weeks, his work is complete, and he puts on the finishing touch: a new name – Esmeralda, Evelyn or Primorosa, perhaps.

There’s no requirement for how the buses are painted. “Each owner has his own style,” Mejia said.

via Thousands of old school buses find second life farther south.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo students get first-hand look at medicine in Touro program

By Sarah Rohrs

Thirsty for knowledge, Vallejo High School senior Carl Artist soaked up all he could about medicine, public health and osteopathic medicine through a summer internship program at Touro University.

Artist is undecided about his career path, and credits the summer program for giving him invaluable insight and knowledge about what it will take for him to succeed.

“This has been really, really interesting,” Artist said of the four sessions involving advanced courses in health-related topics.

In four intensive sessions, nearly a dozen students from Vallejo High School’s Biotech Academy, plus a few from St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School and Mare Island Technology Academy participated in the free program taught by volunteer Touro teachers.

via Vallejo students get first-hand look at medicine in Touro program.

Vallejo Times-Herald Letter: No student is invisible

Janet Kendall

Vallejo

The Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council thanks Mayor Osby Davis and our sister Askari Sowande for the Educational Summit, held on May 17 in Vallejo. Our gratitude goes to actor, comedian and activist Dr. Bill Cosby for his concern and advice for Vallejo students in the public school system. Vallejo children should know that many great people are working to make their school experiences productive.

Dr. Cosby offered a message to the Native community and to all those who believe that our public school system must provide equal opportunity and quality education to all students. Dr. Cosby and most attendees at the summit were disheartened to learn that the administration of the Vallejo City Unified School District has intentionally eliminated Native-American students from the statistical data that measures student performance. These wonderful children are not counted because the administration believes that Native children universally do poorly in school. This poor performance then skews the data for non-Native children. This conclusion was presented to those at the summit by the administration of VCUSD.

via No student is invisible.

Suisun City Patch: Advisory Board Discloses Options, Welcomes Input For Vacant Gomer School

By Kris Jones

Solano County Office of Education’s 7-11 Advisory Committee will be holding its next public hearing on Monday, July 23 to discuss the future of the Gomer School.

According to a press release, the 7-11 Advisory Committee is part of the California Education Code 17387 that requires educational agencies to accept public input to discuss and determine the “best possible judgment about the use of excess school property.” Additional state requirements include the committee be comprised of at least seven, but no more than 11 members; hence the name “7-11.”

via Advisory Board Discloses Options, Welcomes Input For Vacant Gomer ….

Edutopia: Closing the Achievement Gap One Student at a Time

Poverty is a huge factor affecting the performance of our elementary students. Schools, districts and states with a high percentage of low-income families can reasonably cite poverty as one explanation for lower test scores or poor performance in other measures of student achievement.

My concern, however, is always for the individual children in my classroom. At that level, should poverty be any excuse for poor student performance?

In my opinion, absolutely not! Every one of our students can make significant yearly academic progress no matter what the quality of their home life.

I believe a lot in the promise of public education. Our schools are supported by taxes, and every family pays those taxes. In exchange, we promise (or should promise) that we will do our utmost to provide an excellent education for every student who walks through our doors.

via Closing the Achievement Gap One Student at a Time.

Education Week: House Extends Labeling of Trainee Teachers as ‘Highly Qualified’

The disability advocacy community has been worried that a provision in federal law about who is considered a highly qualified teacher would be perpetuated as lawmakers take up new spending bills for the coming fiscal year.

Earlier this year, the Senate merely left the door open to extending a provision that allows teachers still working on their certification to be considered “highly qualified”—a designation created by 2001’s No Child Left Behind law. The law says teachers must already be certified to qualify, but Education Department regulations created about the law allowed for teachers in alternative routes to be considered highly qualified, even if they were still working on their certification. For example, people in the classroom as part of the Teach for America training program would fall into this category.

The department’s regulations on these alternative routes were set to expire, but as my colleague Alyson Klein explains over at the Politics K-12 blog, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday extended the provision through the end of the 2014-15 school year.

via House Extends Labeling of Trainee Teachers as ‘Highly Qualified’.

Education Week: House Panel OKs Bill to Scrap Race to the Top, SIG, i3

President Barack Obama’s signature education programs would be scrapped under a bill approved this morning by the House Appropriations Committee panel that oversees education spending.

The measure would cut about $1.1 billion from the U.S. Department of Education’s roughly $68 billion budget, according to an analysis by the Committee for Education Funding, a lobbying coalition. The bill covers fiscal year 2013, which starts on Oct. 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee has already passed a similar measure. More information about both bills here.

The measure approved by the House appropriations subcommittee would get rid of funding for most of the programs that make up the core of the Obama administration’s education redesign agenda, including Race to the Top, the Investing in Innovation grants, and the School Improvement Grant program. It would eliminate a number of smaller, more targeted programs, including Advanced Placement, School Leadership, and Arts in Education, according to CEF.

via House Panel OKs Bill to Scrap Race to the Top, SIG, i3.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: The Solano County Board of Education’s 7-11 Advisory Committee will hold a Public Hearing on Gomer School

The Solano County Board of Education’s 7-11 Advisory Committee will hold a Public Hearing on Monday, July 23, on the disposition of Gomer School. The public is invited to come to this Public Hearing as the 7-11 Advisory Committee welcomes community input.

For details see the link below.
http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=259160&id=0

via The Solano County Board of Education’s 7-11 Advisory Committee will hold a Publi….

NPR News: Obama Proposes Elite Corps Of Teachers

The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to create an elite corps of master teachers, a $1 billion effort to boost U.S. students’ achievement in science, technology, engineering and math.

The program to reward high-performing teachers with salary stipends is part of a long-term effort by President Barack Obama to encourage education in high-demand areas that hold the key to future economic growth — and to close the achievement gap between American students and their international peers.

Teachers selected for the Master Teacher Corps will be paid an additional $20,000 a year and must commit to participate multiple years. The goal is to create a multiplier effect in which expert educators share their knowledge and skills with other teachers, improving the quality of education for all students.

Speaking at a rally for his re-election campaign in San Antonio on Tuesday, Obama framed his emphasis on expanded education funding as a point of contrast with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, whom he accused of prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over reinvestment in the nation.

via Obama Proposes Elite Corps Of Teachers.

KQED MindShift: Does Our Current Education System Support Innovation?

By Aran Levasseur

Innovation is the currency of progress. In our world of seismic changes, innovation has become a holy grail that promises to shepherd us through these uncertain and challenging times. And there isn’t a more visible symbol of innovation than the iPad. It’s captured the hearts and minds of disparate subcultures and organizations.

In education it’s been widely hailed as a revolutionary device, promising to transform education as we know it. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as bulk purchasing iPads and deploying them into the wilds of education. Innovation can’t be installed. It has to be grown — and generally from the margins.

The profusion of digital technology at work, home and everywhere in between is evident to even the most causal observer. In this climate, it’s understandable why many schools are interested in technological integration and innovation. While it seems clear that students will increasingly be expected to be adept at using digital tools in their professional and personal lives, there isn’t great clarity on how exactly these tools should be used. Often visions and goals are nebulous — if they exist at all. We can’t just buy iPads (or any device), add water, and hope that strategy will usher schools to the leading edge of 21st century education. Technology, by itself, isn’t curative. Human agency shapes the path.

via Does Our Current Education System Support Innovation?.

Education Week: House K-12 Spending Bill Would Scrap Race to the Top

The Obama administration’s signature K-12 initiative—the Race to the Top competition—would get axed under a proposal put forward by Republicans on the House panel that oversees K-12 spending.

Two other major Obama priorities—the School Improvement Grant program, which provides $533 million to help turn around low-performing schools, and the nearly $150 million Investing in Innovation grant program—would also be eliminated, according to a press release put out by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

The spending bill was introduced today by Republicans on the House subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services, Education and Related agencies. It would cover fiscal year 2013, the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1. The panel is expected to vote on the legislation tomorrow.

But it looks like not all of the administration’s favorite programs would be big losers. The bill appears to renew two new competitive-grant programs. One is Promise Neighborhoods, which helps communities pair wraparound services with education programs. Promise Neighborhoods would get nearly $60 million, the same level as last year. That’s not as much the $100 million President Barack Obama wanted for the program.

via House K-12 Spending Bill Would Scrap Race to the Top.

EdSource Today: State Board urged to reject waivers from Transitional Kindergarten

By Kathryn Baron

Gov. Jerry Brown’s attempt to eliminate funding for Transitional Kindergarten created so much confusion that a handful of school districts sought waivers from it out of fear they would have to bear the cost of the program.

The State Board of Education will consider those waiver requests at its meeting today, even though TK survived the governor’s attempt to de-fund the new program, making the districts’ concerns moot. The California Department of Education has recommended that the State Board reject all of the waivers.

via State Board urged to reject waivers from Transitional Kindergarten – by Kathryn Baron.