Students raise funds for Philippines relief – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Dozens of students lined up after classes Wednesday at Green Valley Middle School for a bake-sale fundraiser that will go to help people in the Philippines.

Heather Toll, an English teacher and a coordinator for the Faith, Love and Care Club at the school, said students were eager to assist after the devastating typhoon.

“They want to get involved,” Toll said.

via Students raise funds for Philippines relief Daily Republic.

Community gathers to hear progress on Wood stadium study – Daily Republic

By Mike Corpos

Hundreds of people packed into the bleachers in the Will C. Wood High gym Wednesday night to see the progress of a feasibility and cost study for a possible football stadium at the Vacaville campus.

Brian Meyers and Jesse Miller of Sacramento-based HMC Architects presented the crowd of students, teachers, parents, administrators and elected officials with two preliminary designs and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each. They also addressed the challenges that the hilly campus presents.

via Community gathers to hear progress on Wood stadium study Daily Republic.

Vallejo to get $1.4 million for Common Core standards – Vallejo Times Herald

By Lanz Christian Bañes

The Vallejo City Unified School District will receive another $1.4 million to implement the Common Core State Standards, the state Department of Education announced Tuesday.

Most of that money will be used to fund technological improvements necessary for students to take new computerized tests based on the Common Core State Standards, said LaTonya Derbigny, the district’s director of school and student accountability.

“We’re going to be using it to build the infrastructure to our schools, provide Wi-Fi as well as computer access to all our children — really bring our learning up to the 20th century,” Derbigny said.

via Vallejo to get $1.4 million for Common Core standards – Vallejo Times Herald.

Vallejo schools adopt new logo – Vallejo Times Herald

By Lanz Christian Bañes

The Vallejo City Unified School District has unveiled a new, simpler logo.

“We wanted to make a more thoughtful approach and include more voices around what we chose and what we represented,” district spokesperson Alana Shackelford said.

Superintendent Ramona Bishop had initially changed the districts old logo in 2011, shortly after she was hired.

via Vallejo schools adopt new logo – Vallejo Times Herald.

Travis schools may change election cycle to even years – The Reporter

By Reporter Staff

When they meet in open session tonight, Travis Unified School District leaders will discuss changing governing board elections from odd-numbered to even-numbered years.

The agenda item comes after the Nov. 5 election, which cost the district an estimated $30,000, and after most other Solano County school districts and cities opted to consolidate elections on even years, when turnout is higher.

via Travis schools may change election cycle to even years – The Reporter.

Generosity rebuilds Vacaville High School FFA project – The Reporter

By Catherine Bowen Mijs

“There are still a lot of good people out there.

“That was the message being sent by local businessman George Burton when he donated some 30 young turkeys to Vacaville High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program to replace those that fell prey to a cat or rogue raccoon that broke into the school’s coop last month.

via Generosity rebuilds Vacaville High School FFA project – The Reporter.

The Leaven program expands to Vacaville – The Reporter

By Ryan Chalk

Two area nonprofit organizations are working together to make sure that young children in one of Vacaville’s underprivileged neighborhoods get much needed after school tutoring and mentoring.

Last week, The Leaven quietly opened its first after-school tutoring and mentoring center in Vacaville in a densely populated, but predominantly low income neighborhood on Bennett Hill Court. The new center, which adds to a network of similar programs installed in troubled neighborhoods in Fairfield, Suisun City, and Rialto in Southern California, has become part of a centerpiece of the Vacaville neighborhood, as it took up residence in the newly opened Opportunity House.

via The Leaven program expands to Vacaville – The Reporter.

New Website Offers Common-Core Lesson Plans for Special Educators – Education Week

By Christina Samuels

Teachers looking for ways to weave technology into common-core themed lesson plans have a new resource in PowerUp WHAT WORKS, a federally-funded online collaboration between three education research and development organizations.

The website, which currently offers resources on 10 English/language arts standards and seven math standards, is meant to appeal both to special education teachers who want to dig deeply into the standards and to those who want “grab and go” strategies that they can implement right away in their classrooms, said Tracy Gray, a managing director at the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes of Research, one of the partners in the website.

via New Website Offers Common-Core Lesson Plans for Special Educators – On Special Education – Education Week.

RFA: After School Education and Safety (CA Dept of Education)

The After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program is the result of the 2002 voter-approved initiative, Proposition 49. These programs are created through partnerships between schools and local community resources to provide literacy, academic enrichment and safe, constructive alternatives for students in kindergarten through ninth grade. Funding is designed to: (1) maintain existing before and after school program funding; and (2) provide eligibility to all elementary and middle schools that submit quality applications throughout California. The Renewal application is for existing grant recipients who wish to continue funding at existing levels. The Universal application is for new applicants and for existing grant recipients who wish to increase funding. Approximately $10 million in funding is available for ASES Universal grants. The remaining funds are obligated for on-going grants funded via the Renewal application.

via RFA: After School Education and Safety (CA Dept of Education).

$1.25 Billion Going to Schools for Common Core – Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Schools this week are receiving the second half of a $1.25 billion block grant from the state to support their move to the Common Core academic standards, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

Districts received the first half of the funds in September and the second half—about $622 million—today. They can decide for themselves how to use the funds to train teachers, buy new materials, or purchase technology, all with the purpose of implementing the Common Core State Standards. The total amounts to some $200 per student.

via $1.25 Billion Going to Schools for Common Core – Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education).

How did state find funds for Common Core, Travis Unified board presidents asks – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Only $700 is available all year for a teacher’s art classes, but the state can send $1 million to fund Common Core in the Travis School District, the president of the board of trustees said Tuesday.

“I would like to know where the money all of a sudden came from when we didn’t have it before,” Angela Weinzinger said.

A total of $1.2 billion is provided statewide for the new learning standards known as Common Core.

via How did state find funds for Common Core, Travis Unified board presidents asks Daily Republic.

Vanden High students make holiday stockings for military – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Dozens of Vanden High School students met on Veterans Day to help make holiday stockings that will be given to wounded members of the military at Travis Air Force Base.

“They do so much for us,” Alyssa Paluck, 17, a senior, said of the military.

She and other students in the National Honor Society at Vanden High prepared the stockings stuffed with beef jerky, phone cards and other items. The stockings will also be sent overseas to service members.

via Vanden High students make holiday stockings for military Daily Republic.

A Call to All Social-Emotional Learning Leaders | Edutopia

By Maurice Elias

It’s time for the leaders of the social-emotional learning (SEL) and character education fields to jump in the sandbox together and create a set of common guidelines for implementation in schools. This is a variation of the “Manhattan Project” called for years ago by Tim Shriver, a founder of CASEL.

He believed at that time that such a project would involve creating a common curriculum for all to share. Similar concerns about the proliferation of approaches, often competing, were articulated last month at the Character Education Partnership’s annual Forum in Washington, D. C.

via A Call to All Social-Emotional Learning Leaders | Edutopia.

The Top 10 Ways Blogs and WordPress Are Used in Schools | The Edublogger

by Sue Waters

Edublogs is built on WordPress – which was once just for blogs.

But now, WordPress is used for way more than blogs and powers around 20% of the entire web!

It never stops amazing us when we see all of the different ways that educators are using Edublogs and we don’t get to share them all often enough.

So, here’s a rundown of ten of the most common, along with some examples for inspiration and ideas!

via The Top 10 Ways Blogs and WordPress Are Used in Schools | The Edublogger.

School-to-prison pipeline in our community? – Daily Republic

By Deon Price

Are our public school grounds beginning to mirror the prison system? Why are law enforcement agencies and the District Attorney’s Office so involved in the public the school environment? Is it necessary or justified to protect the community and students? Are today’s youth simply more violent and troublesome than those of previous generations?

Here is yet another reason to be thankful if you are over 40. Twenty-five years ago, it was easier to get a driver’s license, get into college or stay in school. On the other hand, it is also a lot easier today to get arrested, suspended or expelled from school.

via School-to-prison pipeline in our community? Daily Republic.

Fairfield High School grad helps launch new store – Daily Republic

By Amy Maginnis-Honey

Visitors to the new H&M store in Solano Town Center can see the creativity of 2003 Fairfield High School graduate Shelby Stasenka, a visual merchandising supervisor for the Swedish retail clothing company.

She spent 10 days preparing the 24,000-square-foot store for its grand opening Thursday.

Her first task was to assess where construction was happening and figure ways to work around it while getting merchandise on the racks. The window mannequins were also dressed by Stasenka.

via Fairfield High School grad helps launch new store Daily Republic.

BUSD trustees OK 5-year assessment | The Benicia Herald

By Keri Luiz

The Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees voted Thursday to OK a report outlining an array of repairs and expenses the district will face in the next five years.

Trustees approved the Five-Year Facility Ass-essment Report and gave Superintendent Janice Adams direction on how to begin seeking funding options.

In other business, the board withdrew consideration to have trustees’ dental benefits restored.

The five-year report lists items in three categories: deferred maintenance, major repair and replacement, estimated to cost $13,294,800; deferred maintenance adjusted for capital improvements — a higher level of deferred maintenance — estimated to cost $32,664,804; and deferred maintenance adjusted for capital improvements and new construction, or facility needs that would be new to the district, at an estimated cost of $49,611,259.

via BUSD trustees OK 5-year assessment | The Benicia Herald.

How to Get the Most Out of a Parent-Teacher Conference | MindShift

Holly Korbey

Over the next few weeks, parents and teachers will sit across from each other in tiny chairs and discuss a child’s progress in a parent-teacher conference. And though parents and teachers alike may experience the anxiety of expectations, conferences represent one of the most enduring and important home-school communication mechanisms used to discuss a child’s growth and progress, according to senior research analyst Heidi Matiyow Rosenberg of the Harvard Family Research Project.

via How to Get the Most Out of a Parent-Teacher Conference | MindShift.

Arne Duncan ‘Encouraged’ By NAEP Results – Politics K-12 – Education Week

By Alyson Klein

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said yesterday that the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress results show “encouraging but modest” signs of progress. (Quick take: 8th graders’ average score in math increased 1 point since 2011, the last time the test was given, and 3 points in reading on the exam’s 500-point scale. Fourth graders inched up 1 point in math. But there was no statistically significant gain in reading for fourth graders. Way more from Catherine Gewertz of Curriculum Matters fame.)

via Arne Duncan ‘Encouraged’ By NAEP Results – Politics K-12 – Education Week.

2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress – Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

SACRAMENTO—California’s eighth graders made the biggest gain in reading scores in the country last year, the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

Also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” the NAEP test is an ongoing, nationally representative assessment designed to evaluate what American students in grades four and eight know and can do in a variety of subjects, including reading and science. It was established by Congress in 1969.

via 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress – Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education).