Will New Standards Improve Elementary Science Education? | MindShift

By Lillian Mongeau

Science could be considered the perfect elementary school subject. It provides real life applications for reading and math and develops critical thinking skills that help students solve problems in other subjects. Plus, it’s interesting. It helps answer all those “why” questions — Why is the sun hot? Why do fish swim? Why are some people tall and other people short? — that 5- to 8-year-old children are so famous for asking.

Young children are “super curious,” said Matt Krehbiel, director of science for Achieve, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students graduate high school ready to start college or to pursue a career. “We want them to be able to harness that curiosity to help them make sense of the world around them.”

Source: Will New Standards Improve Elementary Science Education? | MindShift | KQED News

Why Common Core Standards Alone Won’t Boost Test Scores – Forbes

By Natalie Wexler

Higher academic standards like those in the Common Core were supposed to improve student performance, but new data shows that hasn’t happened. Teachers need more specific guidance than standards provide, and they need to build knowledge beginning in the early grades that standards don’t reach.

For the last thirty years, education reformers have pinned their hopes on rigorous academic standards. That movement culminated in the Common Core literacy and math standards, which most states have adopted. Once high standards were in place, the theory went, schools would adjust their teaching to meet them and test scores would rise.

Source: Why Common Core Standards Alone Won’t Boost Test Scores

More candidates for state superintendent raise odds of runoff in November | EdSource

By John Fensterwald

Instead of just two candidates for state superintendent of public instruction, there will be at least five, including a young education consultant with some management experience similar to Marshall Tuck’s, a college instructor who can match Assemblyman Tony Thurmond’s past nonprofit experience counseling low-income students, and an oil industry geologist turned publisher of digital science materials who wants the state to abandon the Common Core standards.

The list of candidates — with two months to go before the March deadline for filing for office — raises the prospect that neither Tuck nor Thurmond, the presumptive leaders in the nonpartisan race, will get a majority of votes in the June primary, sending the race to a potentially expensive two-person runoff in November.

“The more crowded the field, the more likely a runoff will happen,” said Kevin Gordon, a Sacramento education consultant.

Source: More candidates for state superintendent raise odds of runoff in November | EdSource

DeVos: ‘Common Core Is Dead’ NPR Ed

By Anya Kamenetz

An online charter school is closing midyear

One of the largest online charter schools in the country closed this week amid a financial and legal dispute with the state of Ohio. Parents, many of whom have children with special needs, are scrambling to find new placements, according to news reports. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow had earlier been asked to return $60 million in what the state says are overpayments due to disputes over enrollment. The school has claimed up to 15,000 students. However, the state says it’s more like 9,000 who log in regularly.

Source: DeVos: ‘Common Core Is Dead’; A Large Online Charter School Is Shut Down : NPR Ed : NPR

Math festivals help elementary students — and their families — see math as fun | EdSource

By Ashley Hopkinson

A dozen parents gathered around veteran math educator Leanna Baker, moments before students show up for what is billed as a math “festival” for students at Allendale Elementary School in Oakland.

“Do your best not to give them an answer,” Baker told the dozen parent volunteers about how best to help the transitional kindergarten to fifth grade students participating in math activities arranged for that day. “We want them to be problem solvers.”

Interviews by EdSource with educators at several school districts suggests that a growing number of elementary schools are hosting events like these for students and families to convey the message that math is fun and can be practiced every day in simple ways in their own lives, not just in the classroom.

Source: Math festivals help elementary students — and their families — see math as fun | EdSource

BUSD highlights successes, areas for improvement in state test results – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia Unified School District outlined positive highlights and areas for improvement when data from the most recent Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) was presented at Thursday’s Governing Board meeting.

The SBAC was initiated in 2015 and replaced the previous California Standards Test following the state’s shift to Common Core practices. The statewide assessment is given to all students in grades 3 to 8 and 11 in the areas of math and English Language Arts (ELA). According to Dr. Leslie Beatson, BUSD’s assistant superintendent of educational services, the test is taken on a computer and quizzes students in a variety of formats, including multiple choice, short answer, constructed response and performance test. The test also utilizes a concept called universal design where accommodations such as enlarged text or Individualized Education Program arrangements for special education students can be built in.

Source: BUSD highlights successes, areas for improvement in state test results

Latest academic tests underscore California’s education crisis – The Reporter

By Dan Walters

California has spent tens of billions of extra dollars on its K-12 school system in recent years on promises that its abysmal levels of academic achievement – especially those of disadvantaged children – would be improved.

And what have those massive expenditures – a 50 percent increase in per-pupil spending – and a massive reworking of school curriculums accomplished?

Not much, the latest results from annual testing indicate.

Mathematics and English tests based on “Common Core” standards were administered last spring to half of the state’s 6-plus million K-12 students, those in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11.

Source: CALmatters Commentary: Latest academic tests underscore California’s education crisis

Understanding the Common Core State Standards in California: A quick guide | EdSource

By Theresa Harrington

Although the State Board of Education adopted new Common Core standards in math and English language arts nearly seven years ago, some school districts are still in the process of implementing them.

Forty-one other states around the country have also adopted the standards, which were created to help U.S. students compete with high school graduates from around the world for 21st Century jobs.

Tests of California students show progress has been made over the past two years, but an achievement gap between low-income students and their wealthier peers remains, along with gaps between higher-scoring Asian and white students and lower-scoring African-American and Latino classmates.

Source: Understanding the Common Core State Standards in California: A quick guide | EdSource

Trump Administration Takes on Obama’s Education Law – New America Media

By Freddie Allen

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continue to make misleading statements about Common Core State Standards, muddying the waters for school districts working to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

President Barack Obama signed ESSA into law on December 10, 2015, reauthorizing the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). According to the U.S. Department of Education, ESSA includes provisions designed to advance equity in education by upholding critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students; requires that all students in America be to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers; helps to support and grow local innovations—including evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and educators; ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that measure students’ progress toward those high standards; and sustains and expands this administration’s historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.

Source: Trump Administration Takes on Obama’s Education Law – New America Media

In the ‘keyboarding’ era, will handwriting skills fade? – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

In an age of increasing technology, the value of handwriting has surfaced as a topic of debate in American academic circles. The overriding question is, does it matter anymore? After all, “keyboarding,” or touch typing, begins in second grade in many schools, and, a year later, third-graders begin to take all-computerized state standardized tests?

Perhaps not very much to some educators.

Case in point: In October, 2015, Carolyn Thomas, a digital education specialist at Fairmont Elementary in Vacaville, told The Reporter that teachers no longer teach cursive handwriting at the Marshall Road campus. I have been thinking about her statement ever since.

However, the Common Core State Standards, which most states have adopted, call for teaching legible writing in grades K-1 but not necessarily afterward. States are permitted to add an additional 15 percent of their own standards as they see fit. Several states, including California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and South Carolina, decided to make cursive instruction mandatory as part of their standards enhancements.

Source: In the ‘keyboarding’ era, will handwriting skills fade?

 

Teacher complaints lead to improvements in state tests | EdSource

By Theresa Harrington

Changes are underway to fix flaws in tests designed to help teachers pinpoint student weaknesses before they take Common Core–aligned assessments each spring.

The tests, known as “interim assessments,” are similar to the end-of-the year Smarter Balanced assessments that are used to assess student achievement and progress, as well as that of their schools and districts, in math and English language arts. More than 3 million California students take the Smarter Balanced assessments each year.

Many teachers have given the optional interim tests to their students during the school year to gauge how they are doing, hoping to adjust what or how they teach in advance of the final assessments that are used to fulfill state and federal accountability requirements.

Source: Teacher complaints lead to improvements in state tests | EdSource

What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive | Edutopia

By Tom Berger

The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 42 states and the District of Columbia, call for handwriting instruction in kindergarten and first grade only, and teaching in keyboard skills after that. The standards don’t mention cursive. But 14 states require cursive instruction, and the skill inspires fierce loyalty, with some going so far as to argue that the founding fathers would disapprove of our abandonment of the script—students must learn cursive in order to decipher the intent of the original Constitution, for example—and others suggesting that our very identities are compromised when we can’t create identifiable signatures.

As Alabama state Rep. Dickie Drake, who sponsored a 2016 bill requiring cursive instruction in schools, put it, “I think your cursive writing identifies you as much as your physical features do.”

Source: What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive | Edutopia

Common Core in California likely to continue despite Trump opposition | EdSource

By Louis Freedberg and Theresa Harrington

Opposition by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to the Common Core is unlikely to slow implementation of the new standards in English language arts and math in states like California, where there has been little opposition to the standards.

That is the consensus of education leaders in California from diverse regions of the state, even those in areas of the state where the majority of voters cast their ballots for Trump. One reason is that implementation of the Common Core is well underway in most parts of the state, and reversing its momentum will be difficult, if not impossible, to do.

Voters backed Trump in 26 out of 58 California counties, including Kern County, where Trump received 53 percent of the vote. Kern County Superintendent of Schools Mary Barlow said implementation of the standards in her county is fully underway and “we are seeing a lot of progress.” She noted that despite the pro-Trump sentiment there, “we have had relatively little pushback on the California state standards.”

Source: Common Core in California likely to continue despite Trump opposition | EdSource

New website provides information about Common Core materials | EdSource

By Theresa Harrington

A website launched by two educational nonprofit organizations aims to make it easier for California schools and districts to choose instructional materials aligned to the Common Core standards.

Called the California Curriculum Collaborative, the site lists curriculum materials in math and English language arts for grades K-8 recommended by the State Board of Education. The site also provides detailed information about K-12 resources reviewed by the nonprofit EdReports.

The site was established through a partnership between EdReports and Pivot Learning, a nonprofit that provides college- and career-readiness support services to schools.

Source: New website provides information about Common Core materials | EdSource

California poll shows strong support for Common Core standards | EdSource

By John Fensterwald

The Common Core State Standards have faced strong opposition in many states, but in California, more than three out of five registered voters support them, according to a poll commissioned by the Oakland-based nonprofit advocacy group Children Now.

In the telephone survey of 1,000 registered voters, 63 percent said they either strongly or somewhat favor the standards, while 33 percent said they somewhat or strongly oppose them, with 4 percent expressing no view.

Larger percentages of Hispanic, African-American and Asian voters said they favored the standards than white parents, who comprised 51 percent of those surveyed, according to EMC Research, the polling firm that administered the survey.

“We are not surprised to find that Common Core support remains strong in our state,” said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, which backs the standards. “California has been a leader in implementing the updated education standards and the test results are doing what they are meant to do—shine a light on achievement gaps, which is crucial to creating a more equitable education system for California’s kids.”

Source: California poll shows strong support for Common Core standards | EdSource

Summer and after-school programs can promote social and emotional learning | EdSource

By Jennifer Peck and David Plank

When we think of school we too often picture rows of students sitting quietly at their desks, listening to the teacher or reading a textbook. This familiar image of a quiet classroom and docile students is and should be increasingly outdated. The state’s new Common Core and Next Generation science standards require teachers to teach and students to learn in more dynamic ways. They raise the bar for subject-matter knowledge in English, math and science.

These standards also aim to ensure that students engage in deeper learning by focusing on what are sometimes called “the four C’s:” communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. These are skills that are essential for success in today’s job market that cannot be nurtured if students are sitting quietly in rows in the classroom.

California’s new Common Core standards and a growing body of research are driving increased interest in social-emotional learning as an essential component of student success. Without skills like the ability to manage stress, to empathize with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and to engage successfully in the small-group work required for deeper learning, students cannot be successful. And, unless educators work actively to help students develop these skills, schools will not be able to deliver on the broader set of Local Control Funding Formula priorities that the state has adopted, promoting positive and productive school climates.

Source: Summer and after-school programs can promote social and emotional learning | EdSource

State board to choose school improvement metrics | EdSource

By John Fensterwald

The State Board of Education on Wednesday is planning to choose a handful of statewide metrics to measure student performance as part of its creation of a new school accountability system.

The board will approve the new system in September and begin using it in the fall of 2017. It will replace the Academic Performance Index, the single-number score, based solely on standardized test scores, that the board suspended two years ago. The board is also designing the new system to satisfy federal accountability requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

State board staff are recommending that the board initially choose five metrics to identify which schools and districts need assistance and which demand more intensive intervention.

Source: State board to choose school improvement metrics | EdSource

#ThankATeacher may say it all – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Understanding Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” The Bard’s play about “star-crossed lovers,” is not so easy for ninth-graders, much less adults.

There’s Elizabethan English, for one thing, which requires slowed-down reading; poetry written in something called iambic pentameter, for another; and what about the play’s subject matter? It’s more than a story about teenage love, isn’t it?

Thankfully, there are well-informed, dynamic teachers, on this National Teacher Day, to make sense of it all, such as Will C. Wood High School English teacher Christina Mitsiopoulos, who, on Monday, held forth during an early afternoon class and, for nearly an hour, managed to focus 32 antsy teens on the playwright’s words.

Source: #ThankATeacher may say it all

School budget laws complicate tracking of Common Core spending | EdSource

By Theresa Harrington

The Fresno and Visalia school districts are spending $10 million each on new schools.

San Jose Unified put about $12 million toward staff bonuses, while Santa Ana Unified spent $9 million on retiree benefits.

The money is coming from about $3.6 billion in tax revenues California’s about 1,000 school districts received over the past two years. The Legislature specified that it “intended” for districts to “prioritize” spending of the one-time funds on implementing academic standards, including Common Core standards in math and English.

But lawmakers also told districts that they first had to use the funds as reimbursement for outstanding claims for programs and services mandated by the state. Because districts had already covered the past mandated expenses, they were free to use the one-time reimbursements “for any purpose.”

 

Source: School budget laws complicate tracking of Common Core spending | EdSource

Common Core goes ‘moo’ at Callison – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Snickers was a treat in so many ways Wednesday at Callison Elementary in Vacaville.

Candy? No. A bovid ruminant, commonly called a cow, yes.

And there she was, doe-eyed with black and white markings, eating hay and chewing her cud, a 1,200-pound lesson, on four hooves, on science, health and food literacy.

The 5-year-old Holstein, from a dairy ranch in Galt, Snickers was the natural center of attention while standing in her mobile trailer parked on the asphalt playground at the Vanden Road campus.

via:  The Reporter