Dropouts Are Driving Up Medicaid Costs, Says New Report – Education Week

By Ross Brenneman

A new study adds further clout to the idea that dropouts are a national problem, not a personal one—because they cost the medical system money.

Wealthy people are healthy people, more or less. They have the money to pay for health insurance, and get better medicine, and more frequent treatment.

High school dropouts rarely achieve the kind of success that makes them wealthy. They earn less over the course of a lifetime than high school graduates (annually, about a $10,000 difference), and fare even worse against college graduates.

via Dropouts Are Driving Up Medicaid Costs, Says New Report – Rules for Engagement – Education Week.

California should embrace new national teacher preparation standards | EdSource Today

By Benjamin Riley / commentary

Are we finally about to get serious about improving the professional training of school teachers and principals in this country? And will California be a leader or laggard in this effort?

Earlier this week, a special blue-ribbon commission convened by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) – the new national accreditation organization – issued its final report with recommendations for dramatically different standards for accrediting teacher-preparation programs. These new standards, if adopted by CAEP as is expected, will shift the accreditation process from one that is largely input-based to one that focuses on outcomes.

via California should embrace new national teacher preparation standards | EdSource Today.

Online Tool Helps Doctors Engage Parents on Learning Disabilities – Education Week

By Christina Samuels

The National Center for Learning Disabilities recently launched a website intended to help doctors and other pediatric health-care professionals talk to parents about specific learning disabilities.

The LD Navigator was created in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and funded through a grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The resource offers informational handouts that can be printed for parents; talking points for doctors to guide conversations about referrals and evaluation; screening questions for new patients; and information on federal and local laws that govern educational services for students with learning disabilities.

via Online Tool Helps Doctors Engage Parents on Learning Disabilities – On Special Education – Education Week.

Lawmakers May Debate Testing, Teacher Evaulations in NCLB Renewal – Education Week

By Alyson Klein

Big news of the week is that the U.S. House of Representatives may consider a long-stalled bill to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (It’s set for possible floor consideration on Thursday, according to the House schedule.)

UPDATE: House leaders are doing intensive outreach on the bill today. Advocates say it looks like the vote count is going to be close. If GOP leaders don’t have enough support, they could pull the bill from consideration this week. After all, there are two other bills scheduled. “They have a back-up bill and a back-up to the back-up,” one advocate said.

via Lawmakers May Debate Testing, Teacher Evaulations in NCLB Renewal – Politics K-12 – Education Week.

Solano College board to discuss automotive program – Daily Republic

By

FAIRFIELD — An agreement between two school districts could pave the way for Solano Community College to once again offer automotive technology.

The governing board will consider a memorandum of understanding between the Solano College district and the Fairfield-Suisun School District when the college board meets Wednesday. The agreement calls for the college to use the automotive technology lab, classrooms and equipment at Armijo High School.

via Solano College board to discuss automotive program Daily Republic.

CORE districts to make final personal pitch for No Child Left Behind waiver | EdSource Today

By John Fensterwald

Quickly running out of time, a delegation from nine California school districts will go to Washington this week to make a last pitch to federal officials for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law.

Officials from the California Office to Reform Education (CORE), the umbrella organization that the nine districts created, remain optimistic that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will grant them a unique districtwide waiver from significant penalties and requirements under NCLB. The immediate obstacle facing them, for the waiver to take effect in the upcoming school year, is time. Districts are up against deadlines for contracts with companies that provide services, such as tutoring, in schools that have failed to meet NCLB’s academic targets. Especially for Los Angeles Unified, a CORE district, these must be signed within a week or so, said Rick Miller, executive director of CORE.

via CORE districts to make final personal pitch for No Child Left Behind waiver | EdSource Today.

Judge tosses Fairfield-Suisun teachers’ lawsuit – Daily Republic

By

VALLEJO — A lawsuit by four teachers against the Fairfield-Suisun School District was thrown out of court Monday after more than three years of legal maneuvering.

The teachers first sued in federal court in 2009. In 2012, the lawsuit was tossed from federal court when a judge ruled that no federal laws were violated. A few weeks later, the teachers refiled their lawsuit in state court.

via Judge tosses Fairfield-Suisun teachers’ lawsuit Daily Republic.

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano tapped to head University of California | EdSource Today

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will resign her post to become the next president of the 10-campus University of California system, officials announced Friday.

Napolitano was the unanimous choice of a UC presidential search committee, which considered more than 300 candidates for the top job, said UC regent and committee chair Sherry Lansing.

via Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano tapped to head University of California | EdSource Today.

Cramming for kindergarten: Summer program gives young students a jump on school | EdSource Today

The 5-year-olds making animal puppets in a West Oakland classroom think they’re just doing fun arts and crafts, but they’re also the newest recruits in a kindergarten “boot camp” that teaches them essential skills they’ll need when they start school in the fall.

These students, who haven’t previously attended preschool, are attending a summer bridge program aimed at providing a crash course on all things kindergarten. The free programs, held in dozens of counties throughout the state, focus on developing skills children need to succeed in the classroom, like how to wait their turn, raise a hand to answer a question or ask for help, play cooperatively with classmates and deal with time away from family.

via Cramming for kindergarten: Summer program gives young students a jump on school | EdSource Today.

In Chula Vista, doubling down on attendance and doubling up on academic gains « Attendance Works

At Castle Park Middle School in Chula Vista, Calif., where attendance is king, Principal Bobby Bleisch has taken a school that just two years ago recorded the lowest attendance rate in the school district to a school that now has the highest attendance rate in the district’s history.

With a 99 percent attendance rate, Castle Park’s teachers and students are building a record of academic excellence, dramatically increasing math and science proficiency scores and reducing behavior issues.

via In Chula Vista, doubling down on attendance and doubling up on academic gains « Attendance Works.

Solano College moves administrative offices – The Reporter

Several Solano Community College district buildings are undergoing upgrades, and offices have been relocated, it has been announced.

In addition to the solar panels parking lot projects, workers at the main Fairfield campus, at 4000 Suisun Valley Road, will be renovating the Administration Building 600, on the east side of the property. Officials estimate the work will be done in 17 months.

via Solano College moves administrative offices – The Reporter.

DUSD Board Makes Efforts in Restoring Programs for the Coming School Year – Dixon Patch

DUSD Superintendent and Board have made leaps in restoring programs and direct services to students district-wide, according to DUSD Board Vice President, Irina Okhremtchouk.

In an email to the Patch, Okhremtchouk stated the Board is strongly committed to restoring programs and direct services to DUSD students, in order to improve academic achievement district-wide, while aligning with the District’s values, “We believe that all students can learn. Therefore, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that all students do learn, grow, and succeed.”

via DUSD Board Makes Efforts in Restoring Programs for the Coming School Year – Top News – Dixon, CA Patch.

Class size reduction returns to Dixon Unified – Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall

Brianna Boyd, Editor

Teachers have wanted it back for years and Dixon Unified’s board of trustees made it a reality on Thursday – class size reduction will return to the lower primary grades this fall.

The trustees voted 3-1 Thursday to reduce kindergarten to third grade class sizes from the 29:1 that it has been for the last four years to 25:1. Trustee Herb Cross cast the dissenting vote and board president Gil Pinon was absent from the meeting.

via Dixon Tribune’s Facebook Wall.

Dixon Unified School District to reduce class sizes – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer/ RBammer@TheReporter.com

In a dramatic shift, coming as projected state aid remains unknown, Dixon Unified leaders on Thursday agreed to lower K-3 class sizes from 30 to 1 to 25 to 1 for the coming school year.After what one observer called “intense, passionate debate,” trustees voted 3 to 1, with one board member absent, to make the change, effective when classes resume in the district on Aug. 14.

via Dixon Unified School District to reduce class sizes – The Reporter.

Jowel C. Laguerre: College weighs pros, cons of PLA – The Reporter

By Jowel C. Laguerre

After the passage of Measure G in 2002, the Solano Community College Governing Board approved, and successfully implemented, a project labor agreement (PLA) for some of the bond’s projects.

Recently the college passed Measure Q by a wider margin (almost 64 percent) than Measure G’s 55.7 percent. Nevertheless, during the Measure Q campaign, some critics claimed that since adopting a PLA for Measure G had allegedly not been in the college’s best interest, they opposed the measure.

via College weighs pros, cons of PLA – The Reporter.

Drink up: Schools required to expand water service during meals | EdSource Today

By 

Let them drink water. That’s the message of a new federal regulation that requires schools to expand free water service for students at meals, beginning in September.

As a drink with zero calories, low cost and near-ubiquitous availability, water would seem an obvious choice for a school beverage, given the epidemic of obesity among California children. But making drinking water available in cafeterias has been a challenge for some schools, despite state and federal laws requiring that they do so at lunch. The new regulation, issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its rules for school vending machine snacks and beverages, for the first time requires free drinking water at breakfast, and is the latest legal prod in the effort to bring water instead of sugary drinks into the mouths of students.

via Drink up: Schools required to expand water service during meals | EdSource Today.

School Accountability and Discipline Reformers Find Common Cause – Education Week

From guest blogger Alyssa Morones

Washington

Between now and July 13, the Advancement Project is hosting a convening to begin a dialogue focused around punitive discipline in schools and high-stakes testing, which it says contribute to the national school-to-prison pipeline.

The conference, called “We Can Do Better: Collaborating to Reform School Discipline and Accountability,” will look at the ways in which punitive discipline and high-stakes testing conspire to “push” students out of school, especially those from minority backgrounds or different sexual orientations. More than 300 school administrators, educators, law enforcement, community activists, and students are already registered to discuss the root causes and possible solutions to this national problem.

via School Accountability and Discipline Reformers Find Common Cause – Rules for Engagement – Education Week.

Schools, districts need freedom to realize new funding system’s potential | EdSource Today

By Kay McElrath / commentary

As we all scramble to comprehend the nuances of last month’s budget compromise, there’s no shortage of commentary as to the wisdom or lack thereof of the Local Control Funding Formula as written.

Generally I find my colleagues falling into four camps – those who claim the sky could fall if there aren’t strict limits on how local educational agencies can spend the money; those who are equally certain the sky will fall if there are strict limits on how LEAs can spend the money; those who never thought it would actually happen so haven’t been paying a lot of attention until now; and those who are pinching themselves because they never thought that they would live to see it. I guess that I would have to say that I fall into the last camp.

via Schools, districts need freedom to realize new funding system’s potential | EdSource Today.

GED test to get overhaul – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

One of the most widely taken exams in the United States, the General Educational Development test, is not what it used to be.It is undergoing an overhaul, with more and more states switching to computerized testing, as California has, condensing the tests from five to four, introducing a new scoring scale this summer and requiring more analysis and a deeper understanding of mathematics.

via GED test to get overhaul – The Reporter.