The Educated Guess: Brown struggling to sell Prop 30 to wary voters

Rework your talking points, Governor. You risk losing the message war over Proposition 30.

That’s one implication of the latest poll on Jerry Brown’s tax initiative for the November ballot. Most Californians continue to back it, but not by a comfortable majority. Pollsters are predicting a tight race to the finish.

In the PACE/USC Rossier poll, 31 percent (blue) said they’d strongly support Proposition 30 and 24 percent somewhat support it (orange), while 23 percent strongly oppose (brown) and 12 percent somewhat oppose (green), with the rest undecided.

According to the online poll by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the USC Rossier School of Education of 1,041 likely voters, 54.5 percent say they favor and 35.9 percent say they oppose Prop 30, with 9.6 percent undecided – results that are in line with other recent surveys.

via Brown struggling to sell Prop 30 to wary voters – by John Fensterwald.

The Educated Guess: Exit exam results show gains in closing achievement gap

By Susan Frey

African American and Latino students showed the biggest gains on California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) results for the Class of 2012, narrowing the achievement gap between them and their Asian and white counterparts, according to preliminary results reported by the California Department of Education.

African Americans in the Class of 2012 gained 2.3 percentage points over the Class of 2011, with 91.9 percent passing the exam by the end of their senior year. Latino students saw a 1.4 percentage point increase over 2011, with 93.1 percent passing.

via Exit exam results show gains in closing achievement gap – by Susan Frey.

Vallejo Times-Herald: CC Sabathia Foundation distributes thousands of school backpacks

By Lanz Christian Banes/Times-Herald staff writer

Sure, Mailei Castellanos was curious about what was inside her new backpack.

But the 7-year-old second-grader from Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy could wait.

“I want to look at it when I get home,” said Mailei, one of 3,000 Vallejo students who received backpacks this week from CC Sabathia’s PitCCh In Foundation.

Most were delivered Monday – the day school started – to the Vallejo City Unified School District’s first- and second-graders. But the last were given out Tuesday at the Mare Island school, with Sabathia’s mother Margie Sabathia Lanier personally handing them out.

via CC Sabathia Foundation distributes thousands of school backpacks.

Education Week: One Step Forward, One Step Back For Students With Disabilities?

Thirteen years after a family sued the San Francisco school district over its lack of adherence with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the district has installed its last elevators, ramps, and accessible toilets in its schools.

The district spent $250 million to fix 50,000 violations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week.

The work entailed adding elevators, wheelchair ramps, new light switches, wider doorways, wheelchair lifts, Braille signs, and water fountains accessible from wheelchairs, the Chronicle reported. In the process, the district spent another $550 million to upgrade schools in other ways, including replacing roofs, heating systems, windows, repainting, repaving playgrounds, and so on.

Complying with the ADA took so long in part because San Francisco has the oldest school building inventory in California and the city’s hilly landscape made work more challenging, the school district’s facilities director told the newspaper.

via One Step Forward, One Step Back For Students With Disabilities?.

Education Week: Obama Talks Waivers, Common Core on the Campaign Trail

President Barack Obama spent a lot of his first term focusing on education policy, but voters have barely heard anything about it this election season.

That changed yesterday in Nevada, when Obama gave what’s probably his most significant speech on the issue during the campaign, bragging about everything from the administration’s plan to offer states waivers from pieces of the No Child Left Behind law to the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

via Obama Talks Waivers, Common Core on the Campaign Trail.

Daily Republic: Travis district ushers in new school year

FAIRFIELD — Instead of parents and children wandering the halls, hoping to find the right classroom, the blacktop area at Cambridge Elementary in Vacaville was the place to be Wednesday morning as the classes lined up before the first bell.

Hugs were given, tears were shed and kids met their new teachers as Travis School District classes got under way. Also running around the masses was new school principal Susan Nader, who was also busy learning names and faces. Helping direct traffic was Glenda Biondi, wearing a bright orange vest, which got the attention of many looking for the right spot to stand.

“We can socialize out here and the teachers can pick them up,” Biondi said. “We try and have fun and it gets them relaxed.”

via Travis district ushers in new school year.

Daily Republic: Solano Office of Education looks to coming school year

FAIRFIELD — From teaching children in juvenile hall to providing special education programs, the Solano County Office of Education is gearing up for another school year.

The Office of Education is separate from Fairfield-Suisun, Travis, Vacaville and other local school districts. It does such things as run the Golden Hills Education Center for at-risk youths, provides fiscal oversight for school district budgets and provides professional development for local educators.

The Board of Education that oversees the Office of Education got a primer Wednesday on agency activities and goals for coming months. It held its annual study session.

One agency task is to continue providing support and resources to foster and homeless children. The Office of Education website says in 2011-12, the agency served 528 homeless children and 342 foster children.

via Solano Office of Education looks to coming school year.

Daily Republic: Local students parallel state numbers on exit exams

FAIRFIELD — Local students echoed state results in the California high school exit exam results released Wednesday.

Statewide, 91 percent of students passed the exit exam — with 84 percent of sophomores passing the math test and 83 percent passing the English portion. Students can take the tests again if they fail as sophomores.

Throughout Solano County, 83 percent of sophomores passed the English test and 81 percent passed the math test.

via Local students parallel state numbers on exit exams.

CA Dept of Education: CAHSEE Results for Class of 2012

LOS ANGELES—The percentage of students from the Class of 2012 meeting the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) graduation requirement increased slightly over last year to 95 percent, marking the sixth straight year of improving performance, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

“When 95 percent of California students are hitting the mark—despite the tremendous challenges we face and the work we still have to do—there’s an awful lot going right in our public schools,” Torlakson said. “I congratulate the students who succeeded on this test, the teachers who provided invaluable instruction, and the parents who gave their support and encouragement.”

The CAHSEE is administered each year to ensure that students who graduate from public high schools demonstrate competency in reading, writing, and mathematics. Students who do not pass the CAHSEE in grade ten have two opportunities in grade eleven and up to five opportunities in grade twelve to pass the exam.

via CAHSEE Results for Class of 2012.

The Educated Guess: Another study questions state’s push for 8th grade Algebra

At the state’s prodding, the proportion of students taking Algebra in eighth grade increased 60 percent over the past decade – a significant achievement. But there has not been a parallel success in encouraging students to continue on to become proficient in more advanced math courses. The pipeline to higher math has grown, but so has the leakage: the percentage of students who fall by the wayside.

And, for students pushed into Algebra I unprepared in eighth grade, the state policy has been a disaster, with very few students who repeat Algebra – some two or three times – ever passing the state exam.

via Another study questions state’s push for 8th grade Algebra – by John Fensterwald.

The Educated Guess: Finding the Yellow Brick Road to the Common Core

Merrill Vargo

The new vision represented by the Common Core State Standards is becoming clearer, and it is exciting and rich. But as school district leaders get clearer on the destination, the path can still be uncertain.  Like Dorothy, who knew she was headed toward Oz, local education leaders are beginning to ask, “Which way do we go?” It’s a good question, and state leaders need to remind themselves of some hard facts before they reel off an answer. Here are three:

  1. Giving people a clearer and clearer picture of Oz will not necessarily point the way to the Yellow Brick Road.
  2. There is more than one road, and the right road for one district will not be the right road for another.
  3. Just as Dorothy needed some traveling companions, districts will also.

Let me say a bit more about each of these.

via Finding the Yellow Brick Road to the Common Core – by Merrill Vargo.

Edutopia: Middle School’s Role in Dropout Prevention

Anne OBrien Deputy Director of the Learning First Alliance

Our nation is on the right track when it comes to high school graduation. The graduation rate is the highest it has ever been (75.5% for the class of 2009), and between 1990 and 2010, the percentage of dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds declined from 12.1% to 7.4%. While there are still racial and socioeconomic gaps in these areas, improvement is happening across the board.

But we have to do better. In addition to what we know about the personal and societal benefits to high school graduation (higher wage for individuals and lower crime rates for communities among them), as we look towards our nation’s economic future, it is projected that in 2018, 63 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education. Just 10 percent of jobs will be available to high school dropouts (compared to 32% in 1973). At our current rate of improvement, the nation’s graduation rate will be closer to 80 percent than 90 percent in 2020, two years after 90 percent of jobs will require high school graduation.

via Middle School’s Role in Dropout Prevention.

Daily Republic: Suit alleges discrimination in Fairfield-Suisun district

FAIRFIELD — A school psychologist with the Fairfield Suisun School District filed a lawsuit against the district Monday claiming she is the victim of racial discrimination and retaliation.

District officials typically do not comment on pending lawsuits.

Vicki L. Strickland, who has been a district employee since 1988, initially filed a claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009. A few months later, she had one of the three schools where she worked shifted to another employee.

via Suit alleges discrimination in Fairfield-Suisun district.

Benicia Herald: Robots to play part in Benicia after-school STEM program

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Amid a plethora of updates at last week’s meeting of the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees, one item caught everybody’s attention.

Robots.

June Regis, district coordinator of Child Care Programs & Adult Education, introduced guest speaker Carl Edwards, Benicia parent and director of device engineering for Pandora Radio.

Edwards also serves as parent mentor for the robotics portion of the STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — after-school program that launches Wednesday at Benicia Middle School.

via Robots to play part in Benicia after-school program.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Special education staff spent August 14 at SCOE and Brandman University in Fairfield

Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall

Special education staff spent August 14 at SCOE and Brandman University in Fairfield. “New staff had an introduction to behavior intervention strategies,” said Marsha Ludwig, Senior Director of Special Education. “All staff participated in an exercise around what makes an effective classroom. Each classroom staff had an opportunity to assess where they believed their classroom currently functions and determine what areas they want to improve on for this year. Welcome Back!”

via Special education staff spent August 14 at SCOE and Brandman University in Fairf….

Dan Walters: Complexity obscures California school money

When Gov. Jerry Brown labeled the state budget a “pretzel palace of incredible complexity,” he almost certainly had in mind the budget’s largest, most complicated piece – financing schools.

Proposition 98, a measure that barely won voter approval in 1988, supposedly dictates what schools and their 6 million students are to receive from state and local taxes, but it’s so dense that only a few analysts profess to understand it, and they rarely agree.

Rather than take politics out of school finance, therefore, Proposition 98 invites political manipulation.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/19/4738410/dan-walters-complexity-obscures.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Complexity obscures California school money.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo middle schools moving full- ‘STEAM’ ahead

By Lanz Christian Bañes/Times-Herald staff writer/

Though reforms were happening at every level of the Vallejo City Unified School District last year, a large part of the focus was on Vallejo and Jesse Bethel high schools.

The district’s two comprehensive high schools, whittled down by the closure of Hogan High, had to cope with an influx of students from that school while at the same time establishing ninth-grade academies and adjusting to new principals at each.

This year, the reforms are targeted at the three remaining middle schools, which will be realigned to a model emphasizing science, technology, education, arts and mathematics — STEAM.

“When we developed the program, we started first with what students needed. … It was very student-driven,” said LaTonya Derbigny, the district’s director of school and student accountability, at last week’s school board meeting.

via Vallejo middle schools moving full- ‘STEAM’ ahead.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo superintendent, teachers set for year after ‘growing pains’

By Lanz Christian Bañes/Times-Herald staff writer

Last year, Superintendent Ramona Bishop was the new kid in class.

It was a time of immense changes at the Vallejo City Unified School District, many of which were decided before she entered her new office.

Bishop was the third superintendent the district had hired in two years, and like previous superintendents, she discovered there is no shortage of opinions on how the district is run.

“It was a tough year,” Bishop said.

via Vallejo superintendent, teachers set for year after ‘growing pains’.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo schools, students, teachers cross bridge into new school year

By Sarah Rohrs/Times-Herald staff writer /

As she stood with other parents at Cooper Elementary on Monday, Kimberly Young said she had a tiny bit of anxiety about having her little girl go off to her very first day of school.

But the good things of the day far outweighed any negatives, she said.

“It’s good for her. She’s going to make new friends,” Young said.

Her daughter, Alisha Bingham is not just attending her first year of school, but is part of a new kindergarten class unveiled at Cooper, Glen Cove and Elsa Widenmann elementary schools in Vallejo.

via Vallejo schools, students, teachers cross bridge into new school year.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo school district, parents try to straighten out transfer tangle

By Sarah Rohrs/Times-Herald staff writer

Vallejo parent Sonya Mitchell took her son to Jesse Bethel High School football practice for weeks this summers and filled out a lunch menu for his sophomore year.

So, she was shocked Monday when he called her at work at 8:15 a.m. to tell her he was not registered for his sophomore year.

“They reregistered him and moved him over to Vallejo High School,” Mitchell said. “No one told me there would be any changes.”

Mitchell was not the only parent in a similar predicament on Monday, the first day of school for the Vallejo City Unified School District.

via Vallejo school district, parents try to straighten out transfer tangle.