Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Reporter: School back in session at Dixon Unified campuses

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By Richard Bammer/ RBammer@TheReporter.com

As the mercury bubbled toward 100 degrees at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jesse Dunkak sat on a low stone wall outside Dixon High, waiting for his father, Bill, to pick him up.

It was his first day at a new school and his first in a new grade level, ninth, and he mulled over his reaction to this brave new world in the Dixon Unified School District.

“It’s interesting,” said the burr-headed 14-year-old. “It’s not like the teachers I’m used to,” at CA Jacobs Intermediate, the district’s middle school.

“You know, like, some teachers have different personalities,” continued Dunkak. “Even though you’ve never had them, you know how they are. You don’t know if they’re going to be insanely strict or pretty chill.”

via School back in session at Dixon Unified campuses.

Edutopia: Plan a “Digital Family Summit” to Engage Students and Parents

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Joe Mazza’s Blog

I recently had an opportunity to attend the first Digital Family Summit (DFS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Presenters and summit attendees were both parents and students. The “summit” included families from as far away as Canada, Utah, California, and of course those from local states and cities that could make the trip.

My Mission: Takeaways to Bring Home

I went in as an observer from my school, looking for takeaways to bring back to my own school setting. While using tech tools was a focus for many of the sessions, what struck me was a love of learning within each family in attendance. I spoke with event organizer Adam Gertsacov, who shared that “parents really loved learning with their kids. Both tech-savvy parents and non-tech savvy parents loved having the opportunity to be with their kids, to learn digital techniques together, and to have fun with technology together.”

And learning happened rapidly. “In a three-hour session, several kids were able to put together some pretty amazing animations using Scratch, make some very complete video projects, and even start their own blogs,” said Gertsacov. He shared a number of blogs (that he knew of) which were started in the session, including one by nine-year-old Hannah Alper. (Her new fourth grade teacher will be inheriting an extremely creative and hard-working writer come September!)

via Plan a “Digital Family Summit” to Engage Students and Parents.

Education Next: Teacher Evaluations Found to Improve Midcareer Effectiveness

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Teacher Evaluations Found to Improve Midcareer Effectiveness

When teachers in Cincinnati were evaluated rigorously, student performance on math tests improve

CAMBRIDGE, MA –A new study shows that Cincinnati’s rigorous Teacher Evaluation System (TES) has had a direct and lasting effect on midcareer teachers’ performance.  Students taught by a teacher in the years after she had been through the evaluation program scored 0.11 standard deviations higher in math, on average, than the students she taught in the years before her evaluation (as measured by end-of-year 4th through 8th grade state tests).  This difference is equivalent to about 3 – 4 months of additional instruction or a gain of about 4.5 percentile points for the average student.  The Cincinnati evaluation is a yearlong process and a teacher’s students also scored 0.05 standard deviations higher in the year their teacher was being evaluated, a difference of 1.5 – 2 months of additional instruction.

Researchers Eric S. Taylor and John H. Tyler note that to the best of their knowledge, their study is the first to test the hypothesis that practice-based teacher evaluation programs can help to improve teacher performance, in addition to their value in identifying teachers’ strengths or weaknesses.  Well-designed performance evaluation “can be an effective form of teacher professional development,” the authors observe.  Their analysis, “Can Teacher Evaluation Improve Teaching?” will appear in the Fall issue of Education Next and is available at www.educationnext.org.

via Teacher Evaluations Found to Improve Midcareer Effectiveness.

EdSource Today: A dozen-plus bills would reduce barriers to success for boys of color

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By Kathryn Baron

The chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color is confident that the bulk of legislation supported by the panel this session will become law.  Oakland Democrat Sandré Swanson wrapped up the committee’s first two years yesterday, presiding over a hearing in the Capitol that laid out current and future proposals for creating a path to success for African American, Latino and Native American boys.

Of about 19 bills supported by or introduced by members of the Select Committee, Swanson told EdSource Today he expects as many as 14 will make it to Gov. Brown’s desk (click here for bill info).  More than half of those address the disproportionately harsh discipline meted out to Black and Latino boys.  Recent studies found that although African American boys make up just 8 percent of the state’s public school students, they account for 19 percent of all suspensions.  Most of the offenses have nothing to do with violence or bringing weapons to campus; according to the committee’s draft action plan, the transgressions are more than likely to fall into the “willful defiance” category, which includes rude behavior such as talking back to a teacher.

via A dozen-plus bills would reduce barriers to success for boys of color – by Kathryn Baron.

Daily Republic: Fairfield-Suisun school board likely to raise developer fees

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by Danny Bernardini

FAIRFIELD — School officials are likely to approve raising developer fees Thursday by 33 percent, restoring them to levels not seen since 2008.

Staff is recommending the Fairfield-Suisun School District’s governing board raise developer fees from $3.01 per square foot to $4.03 per square foot. Those fees would only apply to homes built outside the five existing community facility districts, as well an any accessible space that is added to an existing home.

The change would go into effect Friday.

School board members will also vote on a resolution to collect those fees at the time a permit is pulled, versus at the time of occupancy.

via Fairfield-Suisun school board likely to raise developer fees.

The Educated Guess: Select committee: Time running short to end racial disparity

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By Kathryn Baron

California’s economic prosperity may lie in a dozen recommendations for helping African American, Latino, and Southeast Asian boys succeed in school. The state Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color is releasing those proposals today in Sacramento along with testimony from an all-star panel of education, health, and workforce experts.

Committee members spent the last year and a half holding hearings across the state to gather personal stories, research, and examples of successful reforms. What they learned filled 19 bills that are currently before the Legislature. Nearly half those bills address the disproportionately high rates of school suspensions and expulsions meted out to boys of color.

The panel notes that although more than 70 percent of Californians under 25 aren’t white, they continue to face extensive economic, educational, and health barriers that prevent them, and eventually the state, from thriving.

via Select committee: Time running short to end racial disparitie – by Kathryn Baron.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Strategic Workshops.

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Solano County Office of Education’s Facebook Wall

Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s English Language Professional Development Strategic Workshops. For details, see the link below.

http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2012/7/28/1223250/?id=0&REC_ID=1223250

via Classroom teachers and English language support staff: Register today for SCOE’s….

Vallejo Times-Herald: Despite strides, more Solano County children living in poverty

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By Melissa Murphy/The Reporter, Vacaville

Some 29.4 percent of Solano County children under 5 are now living below the federal poverty level, more than double the 2008 rate of 12.5 percent, according to staff. But despite the great recession, children’s health care remains a priority in Solano County.

And, the county has created a network of nine Family Resource Centers and supported programs to improve the quality of early child care and education.

Those efforts have produced solid results, including 95 percent of Solano children having health care coverage. Children are also performing better in school, according to the staff report to the Solano County Board of Supervisors.

Despite the gains, today’s tough economy has endangered children’s well-being and development. the report notes. The recession has wiped out gains made by families with children under 18 and children are bearing the brunt of America’s widening income gap, according to the report.

via Despite strides, more Solano County children living in poverty.

The Reporter: Children taught fitness, structure at new Fairfield academy

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By Catherine Bowen/ CBowen@TheReporter.com

The shouts of drill instructors filled the air Tuesday morning in Fairfield, but this wasn’t your typical boot camp.

And the 100 cadets gathered outside the former Matt Garcia Learning Center on Atlantic Avenue for the nine-hour training day weren’t your typical recruits.

Instead, these were students ranging from fifth to eighth grade, all registered for the fall semester at the Public Safety Academy (PSA), the newest addition to the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District.

via Children taught fitness, structure at new Fairfield academy.

Edutopia: #Satchat: A Great Way for Administrators to Connect

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Scott Rocco

#Satchat is a great example of the power of social media to improve education, and the benefit of expanding an educator’s Personal Learning Network (PLN). The premise behind this Twitter chat/hashtag came about when Scott Rocco (@ScottRRocco) and I (@bcurrie5) connected on Twitter in February 2012. Both of us had a passion for education and knew other school leaders around the globe who shared our enthusiasm. What we would soon realize is that this passion was not restricted to local or national educators, but had a global reach.

via #Satchat: A Great Way for Administrators to Connect.

Education Week: One in Four Black Students With Disabilities Suspended Out-of-School

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by Nirvi Shah

Students with disabilities are suspended about twice as often as their peers, a new analysis from the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at the University of California, Los Angeles, has found.

Analyzing data that districts submitted to the federal Education Department’s office of civil rights, researchers found that the rate of suspension for students with disabilities was about one in 13, compared with 7 percent for students without disabilities.

Most alarming, they said, was that one in four black students with disabilities was suspended at least once during the 2009-10 school year. That figure is 16 percentage points higher than for white students with disabilities. (Nearly one in six African-American students without disabilities was suspended from school during the 2009-10 academic year.)

Some of these students may have an explicit need for help with their behavior outlined in their education plans, which should warrant counseling or appropriate therapy, noted Daniel J. Losen, the director of the Civil Rights Project’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies.

via One in Four Black Students With Disabilities Suspended Out-of-School.

EdSource Today: Report pinpoints high-suspension districts

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By John Fensterwald

African American students are more than three times as likely to be handed out-of-school suspensions as are white children, according to an extensive study released Tuesday by education researchers affiliated with UCLA. Nationwide, one out of six African American students is at risk of suspension every year, compared with one in 14 Hispanic students and one in 20 white students.

“Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School” is the latest report to highlight racial and ethnic disparities in student discipline and to call for alternatives to out-of-school suspensions. It includes a database of suspensions by race and ethnicity for districts and states.

“The findings in this study are deeply disturbing,” wrote Gary Orfield, a professor of education and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, in a foreword to the report. “Students who are barely maintaining a connection with their school often are pushed out, as if suspension were a treatment.”

via Report pinpoints high-suspension districts – by John Fensterwald.

Daily Republic: Boot camp readies children to start year at new FSUSD Public Safety Academy

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by Ian Thompson

FAIRFIELD — If Tuesday’s boot camp is anything to go by, the Public Safety Academy will be the first school in a long time in Fairfield where all the children will address staff by sir or ma’am.

A hundred of the approximately 400-student enrollment were put through their paces with marching drills, standing in formation and how they are expected to conduct themselves in class once the school starts its academic year Aug. 15. They were part of the last of four boot camps organized to acclimate students to the school.

The fifth- through eighth-graders who were learning the ropes from a half-dozen drill instructors from the Fairfield Police Department and Fairfield Fire Department did not seem to mind the strict codes of conduct.

“They are not mean. They are strict and it’s not that hard if you are listening to them,” said incoming eighth-grader Alexis Roberts-Bernardi, who said she liked the better school discipline and may consider a military career some day.

via Boot camp readies children to start year at new Public Safety Academy.

Benicia Herald: Student, looking ahead to college, thankful for Benicia education

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By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The San Francisco Aloha Festival began 18 years ago to welcome the replica Polynesian ocean-voyaging canoe, the Hokule`a, as it sailed through the Golden Gate. Since then it has become one of the Bay Area’s largest celebrations of Polynesian culture.

The festival also serves as an opportunity for the Pacific Islanders’ Cultural Association to award scholarships to students who represent the Pacific Islander community.

Among the four recipients this year is Leanza Tupfer, a former Benicia High School student who was her school’s representative to the Community Sustainability Commission in 2011-12.

“My grandfather has brought me to the Aloha Festival since I was a child,” said Tupfer, who is of Polynesian and Hawaiian descent.

via Student, looking ahead to college, thankful for Benicia education.

KQED MindShift: Can Twitter Replace Traditional Professional Development?

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By The Hechinger Report

Twitter and Facebook might soon replace traditional professional development for teachers. Instead of enduring hours-long workshops a few times a year, teachers could reach out to peers on the Internet in real time for advice on things like planning a lesson (or salvaging a lesson that’s going wrong), overcoming classroom management problems, or helping students with disabilities.

Or, at least, that’s what a group of Internet-savvy educators who convened in New York City this week are hoping.

“Being connected [through social-networking sites] is an opportunity for growth anytime, anywhere,” said Steve Anderson, director of instructional technology for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in North Carolina, speaking yesterday at the second annual #140edu conference, a reference to Twitter’s 140 character limit for tweets. A teacher can go on Twitter, he added, and “learn 10 new things.”

via Can Twitter Replace Traditional Professional Development?.

Education Week: GAO: Transition for Students With Disabilities Can, Must Improve

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by Nirvi Shah

Although a number of federal government programs and services are intended to help students with disabilities after they leave high school, those programs aren’t coordinated well, making them difficult for students and their families to navigate, a new report from the Government Accountability Office says.

Services students can apply for include tutoring, vocational training, and assistive technology. These come from the federal departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration. But the different agencies only coordinate their activities to an extent and don’t ever reflect on how effectively they work together, the GAO said in the report, released today.

While ideally, students with disabilities get help planning for life after high school—planning for a path that leads to work or additional schooling—once they leave school they are on their own in applying for services and support from various federal government agencies.

via GAO: Transition for Students With Disabilities Can, Must Improve.

Education Week: At Bullying Summit, Student Bystanders Encouraged to Act

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by Nirvi Shah

Washington

As policymakers continue to wrestle with the issue of bullying, there’s a new emphasis on getting kids who see bullying happen to speak up.

At the third Bullying Prevention Summit here, the nonprofit Ad Council today shared a new public service campaign encouraging parents of children who see their peers being bullied to report it.

“Teach your kids to stop being a bystander,” one ad says. The spots then direct students to StopBullying.gov.

The message is that kids shouldn’t give bullying an audience, said Peggy Conlon, the Ad Council’s president and chief executive officer.

via At Bullying Summit, Student Bystanders Encouraged to Act.

The Educated Guess: School funding primer: A is for Alligator

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by John Fensterwald

It’s called “the alligator chart” because it looks like a reptile’s gaping maw. Nicknamed by its creator, the Sacramento-based education consulting firm School Services of California, it’s one graph that voters should clip on their refrigerators to remind them what’s at stake this November when they consider more money for K-12 schools. School Services shared an updated version with district officials recently during its annual budget management seminars around the state.

If the governor’s tax initiative fails, the gap between what is statutorily owed K-12 schools and what they will receive will be a record gap of $1,944 per student: a deficit factor of 28.8 percent. Source: School Services of California, Inc. (Click to enlarge.)

California’s school funding law, Proposition 98, is complex, and the Legislature has tortured the language to make it more abstruse. The alligator chart cuts through verbiage to visually capture  how much money has been cut since 2007-08, the last year that the Legislature funded schools without IOUs for lost cost-of-living increases or direct cuts. Since then, the difference between what schools were entitled to receive (tip of the snout of the alligator’s open mouth) and what they have gotten (the yawning bottom jaw) has grown ominously large.

via School funding primer: A is for Alligator – by John Fensterwald.

Daily Republic Opinion: Solano College Board appears set for local tax measures

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Solano Community College jumped on the tax bandwagon this week when trustees voted 6-1 to place a $348 million property tax measure on the November ballot.

Trustee Catherine Ritch voted no, and for good reason. She said the finer points of the proposal had not been laid out completely for the board to consider, and called for the board to take “a deep breath” before approving the staff recommendation. It may be too harsh to say that Ritch’s concerns fell on deaf ears, but they were certainly not persuasive enough to prevent the other six trustees from voting yes.

Now, voters across Solano County, with the exception of residents of the Rio Vista area — they are outside the college district’s boundary — must decide if they’re willing to add another $18.99 a year in property tax for each $100,000 of assessed property value. The tax hike total was provided by the college staff in a report to trustees.

The move by Solano College’s board was not unexpected.

via Board appears set for local tax measures.