On April 16, the Travis Unified School District Governing Board held a board workshop and heard a presentation on the new California Common Core Standards from Lisette Estrella-Henderson, SCOE’s Associate Superintendent of Student Programs and Educational Programs, and Sandy Jessop, SCOE’s Director of District and School Support.
via On April 16, the Travis Unified School District Governing Board held a board wor….
Watch from your home computer! SCOE presents a Bullying Webinar on Thursday, May 16, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Learn the definition of bullying, gain access to online resources, and how to support your child. Registration is open to the first 35 participants. For more information: http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/5/16/1439266/?id=0
via Watch from your home computer! SCOE presents a Bullying Webinar on Thursday, May….
Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers, which had released pieces of its proposed accommodations policy for students with disabilities, has now put out a full draft of its accommodations manual for public comment. (The organization also has an explanatory Powerpoint presentation and a list of frequently asked questions linked to the release.)
PARCC is one of two groups of states working to create tests to accompany the Common Core State Standards. The tests are set to be implemented by the 2014-15 school year.
via Testing Group Proposes Accommodations For Students With Disabilities.
Fans of bipartisan-backed school safety and mental health bills will have to find another legislative vehicle for their programs, now that Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, has pulled a gun violence measure from consideration, after a key vote on bolstering background checks for would-be gun buyers failed to gain sufficient support. (Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was not too happy about that.)
The measure, which would have been the first major congressional response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, may have been controversial when it comes to gun violence.
via School Safety, Mental Health Programs Falter with Gun Bill.
FAIRFIELD — Thursday marked the end of four days of interviews for more than 200 high school seniors looking to secure a scholarship from Assist-A-Grad.
The nonprofit received 640 applications for 166 scholarships offered by local groups. Some 240 students applied for the $125,450 in award money, which meant going through a 20-minute interview for each application.
More than $2.75 million has been given out in the 43 years of Assist-A-Grad in the Fairfield-Suisun and Travis school districts. This year’s ceremony to hand out the latest batch of scholarships will take place at 3 p.m. May 19 in the Willow Room of the Fairfield Community Center, 1000 Kentucky St.
via Hundreds of high school seniors compete for scholarships.
A draft of the California math curriculum framework went online Wednesday for public comments and suggestions. While weighing in at 1,200 pages, the document is actually a readable grade-by-grade manual that puts meat on the bare-bones Common Core standards that the state adopted in 2010. It explains the rationale for key standards and puts them in context of what students will learn, while providing guidance on how they should be taught. Interspersed are numerous sample problems and illustrations that teachers can use in the classroom.
via Math framework for Common Core ready for your critique – by John Fensterwald.
With new data showing that more than half of all suspensions and a quarter of expulsions in California schools are for “willful defiance” of school authorities, the Assembly Education Committee voted 6-0 on Wednesday to move forward a bill that would restrict the use of the vague category by school administrators.
via Bill restricting ‘willful defiance’ for suspending students moves ahead – by Susan Frey.
On April 16, educators from Solano County, Napa County, and Contra Costa County convened at SCOE for a workshop on the new Smarter Balanced Assessments. The new assessments, aligned with the CA Common Core State Standards, are being piloted this school year. Full implementation of the assessments is to take place during the 2015-15 school year. Presenters included Deborah Sigman, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, District, School & Innovation Branch; Nancy Brownell, Senior Fellow, Office of the State Board of Education; Jessica Valdez; State NAEP Coordinator, Assessment and Accountability Division; Jose Ortega, State Readiness Coordinator , Educational Data Management Division; and Rodney Okamoto, CDE Education Administrator II, Technology Services Division. Workshop participants reviewed and discussed the components of the Smarter Balanced Assessments and considered next steps for their school and district.
via On April 16, educators from Solano County, Napa County, and Contra Costa County….
Some findings of the current survey:
via PUBLICATION: PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education.
A new survey released Wednesday showed most adults believe California public schools are not receiving enough money and favor Gov. Jerry Brown’s reforms to how the state funds education — a shift that would substantially benefit Vallejo schools.
About 71 percent of adults support Brown’s proposals to focus K-12 education funding on schools with English language learners and low-income students, according to the latest Public Policy Institute of California report.
That number, however, falls somewhat to 60 percent when surveying likely voters, according to the report.
The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District governing board will meet tonight in a special session to discuss several business services.
Among them are a joint-use agreement between the district, the county’s largest, and the city of Fairfield, regarding the Sullivan Middle School campus.
via Special session for Fairfield-Suisun school board tonight.
Washington
The Obama administration has been a big fan of using competitive grants to drive its agenda on everything from teacher quality to standards to “personalized learning,” much to the chagrin of some advocates for school districts.
So far, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have resisted that strategy. But Democrats in the U.S. Senate have continued to finance the administration’s favorite competitive-grant programs, such as Race to the Top, although not always at the level the administration has sought.
via Senators to Arne Duncan: Stop Flat-Funding Key K-12 Programs.
A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Of 1,705 adults interviewed, the PPIC’s ninth annual survey of Californians and education, released late Wednesday, found that among all adults, 71 percent support the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). However, approval drops to 60 percent among likely voters.
Responses also vary by political affiliation, race/ethnicity and income, with 80 percent of Democrats favoring the plan – nearly twice the rate of Republicans; more Latinos support it, as do families earning under $40,000 per year, who would be more likely to benefit from the change.
via Voters favor extra funds for poor students but not English learners – by Kathryn Baron.
FAIRFIELD — Accounting switches being made by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System will likely mean higher payments for Solano County and local cities.
That in turn could leave local governments having to find more money, make cuts or do fewer service expansions, get employees to pay a higher share of retirement costs or use a combination of options to make up the difference. The big question is how much money will be involved.
FAIRFIELD — The Solano Community College governing board decided Wednesday to go forward with a public-private partnership after hearing a presentation from ICON Aircraft.
Kirk Hawkins, founder of ICON Aircraft, presented a three-way partnership that directly affects the college and may involve some of the money raised through Measure Q.
via Solano College hears presentation on aeronautics partnership.
For Robert K. Ross, the president and CEO of The California Endowment, the plight of black boys and youth in this country is deeply personal. After months of thinking about the issue, he’s emerged with a call to create an early warning system that will tip off schools and communities when these young men start to head off track. Chronic absence is one of his indicators, as is third-grade reading. Suspensions from school, likewise, can signal that a student needs help. Dr. Ross challenges us to work together to use these indicators to develop a systemic approach that can “ dismantle a systemic beast of stigmatization, marginalization, criminalization, and incarceration that engulfs our young men.”
via Early Warning Signs for Black Male Youth: Chronic Absence, 3rd Grade Reading & Suspension.
Want to learn how to integrate technology into the STEM++ classroom? Check out SCOE’s K-12 STEM++ In Action Workshop Plus Math. While this workshop will have a focus on Math, we will also look at 21st Century skills in all content areas that enhance the Common Core Standards.
Register by Wednesday, April 17 – more information: http://www.solanocoe.net/apps/events/2013/5/1/1216847/?id=0
via Want to learn how to integrate technology into the STEM++ classroom? Check out S….
The National School Boards Association has labeled the use of out-of-school suspensions a “crisis” in a new report.
The NSBA’s new policy guide for school board members urges change, citing statistics that show 3.3 million students were suspended out of school during the 2009-10 school year, including one in six black students.
via School Boards Join Movement Against Out-of-School Suspensions.