Monthly Archives: February 2015

API should be replaced, state committee recommends | EdSource

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By Michelle Maitre

A state advisory committee that spent more than two years trying to find a way to rejigger the Academic Performance Index is now recommending moving away from that single number in favor of a more comprehensive system allowing for a broader picture of school effectiveness.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Public Schools Accountability Act Advisory Committee approved a recommendation calling on the state to replace the API, the three-digit number that since 1999 has been the dominant means by which schools are measured.

Instead, California should adopt a system that relies on “multiple measures” to evaluate schools, the committee said. Such a system – which has yet to be determined – would be better aligned with the requirements of the new school funding law, the Local Control Funding Formula. The law sets out eight priority areas districts must focus on, including pupil achievement and engagement, implementation of academic standards and other factors. Standardized test scores, the sole component of the API, would be just one part of a new system.

via API should be replaced, state committee recommends | EdSource#.VNJvfmctHGg#.VNJvfmctHGg.

Principal Spotlight: Building a Culture of Attendance – Attendance Works

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Paige Swan could see the results of his attendance push when he asked all the students with perfect attendance to come to the front of the auditorium: 103 students rose and stood proudly beside the principal at the June assembly.

Then he asked for students with one or two missed days to come forward. Most of the student body at his rural California elementary school was standing at the front of room. In a single year, the average daily attendance rate at Smith River Elementary School rose from 94 to 98 percent. And the chronic absence rate fell from about 8 percent to below 6 percent.

“We’ve made it a school-wide priority,” Swan says. “We had a plan, we followed the plan, and at the end of the school year we analyzed the plan. Our plan worked.”

via Principal Spotlight: Building a Culture of Attendance – Attendance Works Attendance Works.

Vallejo Board to get update on accreditation process; asked to approve agreement with union – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

The Vallejo school board is set to receive information about the accreditation process when four district schools are visited in the spring, according to a Vallejo City Unified School District staff report.

Vallejo Charter School, Vallejo High School, John Finney High School and the Vallejo Regional Education Center will be visited by members of the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges — the agency which accredits schools from kindergarten through college.

Last spring a two-person team with the commission visited Vallejo High, noting in an internal memo that they witnessed students bullying others and threats being minimized by an administrator at the high school.

via Vallejo School Board to get update on accreditation process; asked to approve tentative agreement with union.

Benicia students publish and celebrate printed anthology of their work – Times Herald

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By Dianne de Guzman

Students and parents gathered at Stone Hall Monday night to celebrate the publication of the book, “Ink In Our Veins” featuring original poems and short stories by students.

The 30 students are ninth to twelfth grade students from Visions in Education, who spent three months in class together as part of a writing workshop. Meeting weekly at a room at St. Paul’s Church in Benicia, this mix of homeschool and independent study students worked together to write the pieces that went into the final published piece.

The students worked with Sacramento-based nonprofit, 916 Ink, to create the final product, with this book being one of the 41 books the group has published with students. Program Director Brett Stults of 916 Ink said it’s classes like this that help kids really learn how to write.

via Benicia students publish and celebrate printed anthology of their work.

A stretch of Peabody Road will close for 14 months, starting in June – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The idea of a busy Solano County road closure that will make things better in the long run may do little in the way of easing headaches in the short run, especially for drivers wanting to go south from — or north to — Vacaville, or to and from Travis Air Force Base or Fairfield.

But a city of Fairfield official, seeing a future outcome, looks on the bright side of a nearly two-year project that will require a 14-month closing of Peabody Road, between Vanden Road and Huntington Drive, just south of Vacaville.

“We’re going to have a little bit of pain in the beginning, so be patient,” Tom Martian, construction manager for the city of Fairfield, said about the pending closure of that stretch of Peabody, a heavily used arterial for thousands of county residents every day.

via A stretch of Peabody Road will close for 14 months, starting in June.

Obama Budget Seeks Boosts for Early Ed., High Schools, Technology – Education Week

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By Alyson Klein

President Barack Obama may not have many allies left in the newly GOP-dominated Congress—but he’s still planning to ask lawmakers for a sizable increase for the U.S. Department of Education in his fiscal year 2016 budget request.

The request, being formally unveiled Monday, includes big hikes for teacher quality, preschool development grants, civil rights enforcement, education technology, plus a new competitive-grant program aimed at helping districts make better use of their federal and local K-12 dollars.

The administration also is seeking big spending bumps for programs that have proven unpopular with Republicans in Congress, such as the School Improvement Grant program.

Overall, the president wants a total of $70.7 billion in discretionary spending for the U.S. Department of Education, an increase of $3.6 billion, or a 5.4 percent hike over 2015 levels.

via Obama Budget Seeks Boosts for Early Ed., High Schools, Technology – Politics K-12 – Education Week.

What Do Principals, Teachers Want in an NCLB Rewrite? – Education Week

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By Alyson Klein

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., asked the edu-world to submit comments on draft legislation for rewriting the No Child Left Behind Act by Feb. 2. And unsurprisingly, the responses had poured in as of Tuesday’s deadline, although not all have been released publicly just yet.

So what do various groups want? Here’s a quick sample:

  • The American Federation of Teachers wants to keep annual assessments in the new version of the law, but only have the tests “count” for accountability purposes in certain grades. They also want parents to have an opt-out option. Plus, the union is really unhappy that the bill would freeze funding for Title I, the main program in the NCLB law for educating disadvantaged kids. And the union has said it wants Alexander to keep language in the original NCLB law outlining paraprofessional qualifications. More from Stephen Sawchuk of Teacher Beat fame.

via What Do Principals, Teachers Want in an NCLB Rewrite? – Politics K-12 – Education Week.

Common Core enters arena of presidential politics | EdSource

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By Louis Freedberg

With the growing certainty that Jeb Bush will be a candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign, his support for the Common Core State Standards guarantees that the standards being implemented in 43 states will be drawn into the whirlpool of presidential politics.

It is uncertain, however, what impact that will have on the future of the standards, one of the most significant education reforms in decades. What is at stake is whether the Common Core becomes the transformative national reform its proponents are hoping it will be – or whether it becomes a polarizing issue on the education landscape with diminishing public support.

One gloomy scenario envisions the Common Core lurching toward a possible terminal fate, at least in states where there is rising opposition. UC Berkeley public policy professor David Kirp, a longtime education scholar, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece titled “Rage against the Common Core” that “in states where the opposition is passionate and powerful, it will take a herculean effort to get the standards back on track.”

via Common Core enters arena of presidential politics | EdSource#.VNEIA2ctHGg#.VNEIA2ctHGg.

Smarter Balanced “interim assessments” finally released | EdSource

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By Laurie Udesky

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has finally released the “interim assessments” schools can use to gauge how well their students are doing in math and English language arts instruction aligned with the Common Core standards. Districts that are using the assessments will now have access through a secure browser on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress website (caaspp.org).

The assessments are optional tests schools can administer in advance of the end-of-the year or “summative” Smarter Balanced assessments that students in grades 3 through 9 and the 11th grade will take this spring.

Initially, the consortium, charged with coming up with a range of Common Core aligned tests, was set to release the interim tests last fall. The timeline was then pushed back to December. Luci Willits, the consortium’s deputy executive director, told EdSource Today that the delay was related to the fact that teachers were not finished vetting the test questions until the end of October.

via Smarter Balanced “interim assessments” finally released | EdSource#.VNAQ_GctHGg#.VNAQ_GctHGg.

Lawsuit agreement to force schools to provide physical education | EdSource

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By Jane Meredith Adams

As schools tout the importance of exercise in an era of childhood obesity, a California parent and his lawyer have agreed to a settlement with dozens of districts across California that will force elementary schools to prove they are providing at least the minimum amount of physical education required by state law.

“We think it’s a huge accomplishment and it’s going to benefit public health in California,” said attorney Donald Driscoll, who represents Alameda parent Marc Babin and the advocacy group Cal200 in a 2013 lawsuit that alleges 37 school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, the largest district in the state, are out of compliance with state physical education law.

The districts, which educate more than one in five elementary students in 1st through 6th grade in the state, have agreed to a settlement that requires elementary school teachers to publicly document how many minutes of physical education students receive, according to lawyers involved in the case. Under the state education code, schools are required to provide 200 minutes of physical education every 10 school days in grades 1 through 6, but physical education classes have sunk to the bottom of the priority list in many schools that focus on preparing students for standardized tests.

via Lawsuit agreement to force schools to provide physical education | EdSource#.VNAQf2ctHGg#.VNAQf2ctHGg.

Armijo students savor catered Fuddruckers lunch – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland And Susan Winlow

Fuddruckers came to Armijo High School on Friday — Finally.

It’s been a long time coming for the 2,500 students at Armijo who won the canned food drive between other local high schools at the Solano Town Center mall; the food drive benefits the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and the winner won a catered lunch from Fuddruckers.

The drive ended Nov. 24 with Armijo collecting 4,118 pounds of food. That’s the lion’s share of the 6,801 pounds collected by the schools that included Fairfield and Rodriguez high schools, and also the alternative schools banding together, the Public Safety Academy, Matt Garcia Learning Center and Sem Yeto satellite school.

via Armijo students savor catered Fuddruckers lunch Daily Republic.