StudyBlue recently surveyed 500 students about what study habits got them through finals. The picture of the modern student that emerged from student responses highlights the importance of digital devices, especially mobile technology.
Monthly Archives: December 2012
SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Solano County Superintendent of Schools Jay Speck has joined a nationwide Call to Action for Superintendents to make chronic absenteeism a priority
FAIRFIELD – Solano County Superintendent of Schools Jay Speck has joined a nationwide Call to Action for Superintendents to make chronic absenteeism a priority this school year, agreeing to raise public awareness, dig deeper into attendance data, and work with community partners to improve school attendance starting as soon as children enter school.
via “Although chronic absenteeism is often considered a high school problem, nationa….
NPR News: New Policy For Young Immigrants Creates Paperwork Deluge
In the six months since a new law opened a path to temporary legal status for some young immigrants in the U.S., more than 300,000 people have applied — and have rushed to request qualifying documents from their schools.
The law, Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, offers legal status, renewable every two years, to people ages 30 and younger who were brought to the country as children. Applicants must prove they were in the U.S. for five consecutive years — something most easily achieved through school transcripts.
Crowds formed in San Diego when DACA-eligible families started arriving with transcript requests, says Bea Fernandez with the San Diego Unified School District.
via New Policy For Young Immigrants Creates Paperwork Deluge.
Daily Republic: Volunteers wanted for academic decathlon
FAIRFIELD — People can volunteer to help with the North Bay Region Academic Decathlon on Jan. 12, 2013 and Feb. 2, 2013 at Rodriguez High School.
The event includes high schools from Solano, Napa, Sonoma and Yolo counties. More than 200 students will compete in such categories as mathematics, economics, language, literature, art and music, according to a press release from the Solano County Office of Education.
SCOE News and Announcements: Solano County Superintendent pledges to make chronic absence a priority starting in the early grades
FAIRFIELD – Solano County Superintendent of Schools Jay Speck has joined a nationwide Call to Action for Superintendents to make chronic absenteeism a priority this school year, agreeing to raise public awareness, dig deeper into attendance data, and work with community partners to improve school attendance starting as soon as children enter school.
via Solano County Superintendent pledges to make chronic absence a priority starting in the early grades.
SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Digital Demands of the Common Core For Administrators on January 31
The Common Core Standards call for technology to be embedded seamlessly into instruction. Find out about the digital demands of the Common Core at SCOE’s workshop, Digital Demands of the Common Core For Administrators, on January 31.
http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/1/31/1338448/?id=0
via The Common Core Standards call for technology to be embedded seamlessly into ins….
NPR News: Berkeley Receives $1M For Undocumented Students
The University of California, Berkeley is taking the DREAM Act a step further. On Tuesday, the school announced a $1 million scholarship fund specifically for undocumented students.
The fund will help students like Jesus Chavez, 21, a slight, shy college senior who was brought to this country illegally at the age of 3. Chavez was raised in an agricultural town in California’s Central Valley where he earned the grades and test scores to enroll at the highly competitive university.
“I fell in love at the environment, the atmosphere. In my mind I just pretty much told myself this is where I’m going to come,” Chavez says.
FSUSD’s Facebook Wall: On December 13, the Governing Board will review and possibly approve the 2012-13 Single Plan for Student Achievement
On December 13, 2012, the Governing Board will review and possibly approve the 2012-13 Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) for each Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District school site. Each school’s SPSA is available for public review in the Instructional Support Services office at the Central Office, 2490 Hilborn Road. SPSAs are available for review in hard copy or memory stick. Members of the community may review the SPSA materials during the hours 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. For questions, contact Instructional Support Services at 707-399-5053.
via On December 13, 2012, the Governing Board will review and possibly approve the 2….
Education Week: Arne Duncan Picks 16 Race to Top District Winners
Sixteen winners—including three charter school organizations—will share $400 million in the Race to the Top district competition, the U.S. Department of Education announced today.
Traditional districts such as Carson City, Nev., Guilford County, N.C., and New Haven Unified, Calif., also are sharing the prize, as are two large consortia of school districts in Kentucky and Washington state.
Miami-Dade is the biggest urban district on the list, having just won the coveted Broad Prize this year.
EdSource Today: Three California districts win in federal Race to the Top competition
Three California school districts are among 16 winners in the latest round of the federal Race to the Top funding competition. The relatively small districts beat out several of the state’s largest districts, which didn’t even make it into the final round.
This round of funding was the first in the series of Race to the Top competitions to be made available to individual districts. New Haven Unified in Union City, with about 13,000 students, was the largest of the California winners. Lindsay Unified, in the Central Valley midway between Fresno and Bakersfield, and Galt Elementary District, south of Sacramento, also won. Each of those districts has around 4,000 students. The three districts won a combined total of just under $50 million to implement a range of reforms.
via Three California districts win in federal Race to the Top competition – by Lillian Mongeau.
Benicia Herald: BUSD School board to vote on president, clerk
By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
The Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees is meeting a week early, and for the last time this year.
The board’s annual organizational meeting, at which it elects a new president and clerk, will take place Thursday night, and the panel won’t meet again until 2013.
The board also will be asked to approve a student achievement plan for Benicia High and Middle schools, and will consider for approval Chief Business Official Tim Rahill’s recommendation of a new financial/human resources software system, among other business.
The Educated Guess: Legislative support elusive for adult ed funding plan
Additional reporting by Kathryn Baron
California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office says the state’s embattled adult education system needs a dedicated and permanent funding stream that can’t be appropriated for other school programs when the state budget goes south.
Restructuring California’s Adult Education System calls for the state Legislature to restore adult education as a categorical program. Adult Ed advocates lauded the proposal, even though it relies on funding that is speculative and requires a commitment from legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown that they have so far not shown.
Adult schools are an important strand in the state’s safety net, offering community-based classes to some of the state’s neediest adults, ranging from the unemployed, the disabled, and the elderly to ex-offenders re-entering society, immigrants trying to learn English and become citizens, and high school dropouts seeking to earn their GEDs.
via Legislative support elusive for adult ed funding plan – by Susan Frey.
KQED MindShift: Got a Problem? Students Can Find the Solution
By Matt Levinson
Schools are the perfect breeding ground for fostering students’ questions, a place to spark students’ interests and ideas for designing innovative solutions to real problems. Everyday, educators have opportunities to help kids develop the tools, skills and habits to come up with meaningful, lasting solutions to problems.
Legislative Analyst’s Office Presentation: California’s Fiscal Outlook
Legislative Analyst’s Office: Recent K-12 Education Publications, Handouts and Budget Recommendations
Presented to the California Association of School Business Officials CBO Symposium.
Education Week: Fiscal Cliff: How Are Impact-Aid Districts Preparing for Education Cuts?
Almost everyone in education is worried about the fiscal cliff—including the 8.2 percent across-the-board cut to school districts—but no program is in as precarious a position as Impact Aid, the one major K-12 program that would be cut immediately come January if Congress and the administration aren’t able to work out a long-term deal on the deficit.
Impact Aid districts get extra money from the federal government to make up for lost tax revenue due to federal land, or the cost of educating additional students that wouldn’t be in the district if it weren’t for the feds (such as the children of military personnel or students from a Native American reservation). The program is currently funded at roughly $1.27 billion.
via Fiscal Cliff: How Are Impact-Aid Districts Preparing for Education Cuts?.
EdSource Today: Gov. Brown’s top education advisor to retire
Sue Burr, executive director of California’s State board of Education and a key force at local and state levels in guiding California through decades of education reform, is stepping down at the end of this year.
Burr, who in her current position also serves as Gov. Jerry Brown’s top advisor on education policy, announced her retirement in a Nov. 9 letter to the governor in which she thanked him for “providing a wonderful coda to my career,” but gave no specific reason for leaving other than the end of the year marking 40 years in public service.
Her retirement follows the administration’s exhausting and successful campaign to win voter support for Proposition 30, Brown’s ballot initiative to raise taxes on the wealthiest Californians and increase the sales tax to boost education funding.
via Gov. Brown’s top education advisor to retire – by Kathryn Baron.
Daily Republic: Assembly encourages Matt Garcia Learning Center students to bring their ‘A’ game
FAIRFIELD — It was all about the “A” Monday morning at the Matt Garcia Learning Center.
Students packed into the cafeteria to hear from a panel of local businessmen and view the film “Bring Your ‘A’ Game.”
“School teaches you skills, education teaches you how to use those skills,” said Andre W. Davis Sr., who facilitated the event. Davis is with the county’s juvenile justice delinquency prevention commission.
Daily Republic: Fairfield-Suisun school board meeting to focus on future
FAIRFIELD — The last school board meeting of 2012 will focus on 2013.
The Fairfield-Suisun School District will take care of several housekeeping items Thursday while discussing several items that may shape how the next year will unfold.
The board will elect a new president, receive an update on the search for a new superintendent and set a timeline for the committee that will eventually change the attendance boundaries for two high schools.
via Fairfield-Suisun school board meeting to focus on future.
SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, will speak at SCOE on January 9
Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, an internationally recognized expert in curriculum and instruction, will speak at SCOE on Wednesday, January 9.
Dr. Jacobs has consulted nationally and internationally on issues and practices pertaining to: curriculum mapping, dynamic instruction, and 21st century strategic planning. She is the author of seven books, most recently, Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World, and Mapping to the Core: Integrating the Common Core Standards into Your Local School Curriculum.
Register by Friday, December 21. http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/1/9/1237812/?id=0
via Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, an internationally recognized expert in curriculum and i….
Dan Walters: Teacher misconduct bill gets another chance in California Legislature
When the Legislature reconvened last week and legislative leaders offered glowing accounts of what they had done in 2012 and lofty promises of future feats, no one mentioned Senate Bill 1530 – for good reason.
Its demise in the Assembly Education Committee was one of the year’s tawdrier events.
Prompted by the arrest of a Southern California teacher accused of lewd conduct, the bill by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, was aimed at making it easier to fire teachers for gross misconduct, such as sexual abuse.
via Dan Walters: Teacher misconduct bill gets another chance in California Legislature.