Top Stories and Commentary for Monday, August 18, 2008

By Ted Mitchell and Dede Alpert/San Jose Mercury News
Ted Mitchell is the chair and Dede Alpert is the vice chair of the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence.

While news headlines are now focused on California’s budget and economic challenges, our schools remain in crisis. And too many in Sacramento are pointing to the current budget deficit as a rationale for delaying improvements to California’s school system. California’s schools require more money to provide children with the education they deserve, but research clearly shows that continuing to spend money in the same fashion that we have will not improve the situation. So, in a budget year where there simply is no additional money to fund all necessary reforms, we should determine which improvements will most benefit children who need additional support.

Opinion by Walt Gardner/San Francisco Chronicle
Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education.

With more than 2.2 million new teachers needed over the next decade to fill the slots created by the retirement of Baby Boomers in the nation’s 90,000 public schools, pressure is slowly building to reform the crazy-quilt pattern of state licensing. Despite the clear urgency, however, enough formidable obstacles still remain to deter all but the most determined candidates as the fall semester begins. California, home to 1 in 9 students in the United States, serves as a case in point. By law, no one can teach in the state’s 9,000 public schools without a license issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Fair enough.

Blog by John Fensterwald/San Jose Mercury News

Education Trust-West has turned around an analysis of the STAR results that the State Department of Education released yesterday. The study offers a detailed look at the state’s continuing and persistent achievement gap — the dark side of the sunny news that the state continues to make slow, but steady progress in scores on state standardized tests. Over the past six years, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in English increased by 11 percentage points in English (35% to 46%), while scores In math inrceased 8 eight percentage points (35% to 43%). But Ed Trust concludes, “Growing too, are the vast and appalling gaps between low-income, Latino and African-American students, and their White, Asian and more affluent peers.”

Bay Area News Group

There are many things in life that we would like. But we have to make choices based on what we can afford. Such is the case with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mandate that every eighth-grader take Algebra I. It’s a nice goal, but the state simply doesn’t have enough money to pay for it. It should be dropped. At the governor’s urging, the state Board of Education last month imposed the requirement, which takes effect in three years, with almost no notification nor opportunity for public review. At the time, we said the state lacked the money and teachers to do the job.

Also Noted for Monday, August 18, 2008:

Ed Week

Amid the verdant lawn and leafy trees of the tidy Jefferson Senior High School campus, you’ll see something troubling: a police officer patrols the grounds and a sign warns that guns are illegal. The biggest problem at this inner-city school, however, is what you don’t see — all the dropouts. With a 58 percent dropout rate, Jefferson has the worst record in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which averages 33.6 percent dropouts, compared to a statewide average of 24.2 percent, according to recent state figures. "It’s horrendous," said Debra Duardo, director of the dropout prevention and recovery program at LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest district.

By Libby Quaid/USA Today

Harder times and higher fuel prices are following kids back to school this fall. Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks, even wear last year’s clothes. Field trips? Forget about it. This year, it could cost nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. If you think it’s expensive to fill up a sport-utility vehicle, try topping off a tank that is two or even three times as big. At the same time, bills are mounting for air conditioning and heating, for cafeteria food and for classroom supplies, all because of the shaky economy. And parents have their own tanks to fill.

Editorial/Sacramento Bee

Two nationally networked small high schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District turned up in new state data as having high rates of "lost transfers." The term refers to students who leave and say they have enrolled at another school but don’t show up, increasing dropout rates. The Met Sacramento had 14 total dropouts; 10 were lost transfers. America’s Choice had 28 total dropouts; 19 were lost transfers. While these numbers are small in a district with 1,014 dropouts, the rates are high (35 percent at The Met; 66 percent at America’s Choice, the highest in Sac City). What’s going on here?

Schools hope to salvage attendance this fall with student programs and funding strategies.
By Kevin Butler and Tiffany Rider/Long Beach Press-Telegram

It’s back to school time next month for most area students, but those in Long Beach will have one fewer school to attendAmong the more significant changes this year, the Long Beach Unified School District will start its school year on Sept. 3 without Tucker Elementary, which was closed as part of a budget-saving measure. Instead, former Tucker students will attend MacArthur Elementary this fall. The district also is focused on its new Academic and Career Success Initiative, which is a long-term plan to boost career and college preparation.