Chron Series: SF Schools In Crisis

The Chronicle has been running a series of articles about San Francisco schools this week titled Schools At a Crossroads. Nanette Asimov, Heather Knight, and the other contributors to the series do an admirable job. Here is a complete table of the articles in the series:

• Sun.: The education
• Sun.: Intricacies of choosing a school
• Mon.: School assignments and resegregation
• Mon.: Shifting numbers tell story of S.F. schools' makeup
• Tue.: Lots of toddlers, fewer school-age kids
• Wed.: Many reluctantly choose private school
• Wed.: Diversity lacking at many private schools
• Thu.: Dollars don't add up
• Fri.: The politics

The series covers a lot of ground that is familiar to those of us who've been in the trenches over the years. I think they have chosen their topics well and focused their attention on the really important issues, the most salient issues facing San Francisco. The historical decline of school age kids in SF, the changing demographics of the city, the impact of our insane housing market, the unusually high private school enrollment figures, the history of school desegregation in SFUSD... are all given a thorough treatment. After reading through the entire series I'm impressed.

Where the series falls short (so far, the Friday installment is yet to arrive) is in explaining the challenges and dangers ahead. The new enrollment system, more school closures on the horizon, and enormous budget challenges are issues that are sketched in, but in very broad strokes that fail to convey the dangers that lie ahead. They've done a good job of setting the stage and filling us in on the history and background behind these issues—useful work that sets the stage for the challenges ahead. But the real stories will have to be written in the coming months as we choose the new leaders in the district and in the city who will have to face these challenges and find creative solutions for the problems they have so ably described.

Chilling civics lesson

In case anyone had doubts that the Patriot Act really is a significant threat to our civil rights, check out this story in today's NYT. Notice how the Bush DOJ kept the librarians from making any public statements about the case until the Patriot Act had been reauthorized. Maybe this isn't a perfect fit for sfschools, but this is a civics issue, and these are librarians who are being coerced into spying.

NYT: Four Librarians Finally Break Silence in Records Case:

Four Connecticut librarians who had been barred from revealing that they had received a request for patrons' records from the federal government spoke out yesterday, expressing frustration about the sweeping powers given to law enforcement authorities by the USA Patriot Act.

[...] "I was shocked by the restraints the gag order imposed on me," said Mr. Christian, who said that after receiving the request he was unsure whether he could consult a lawyer or his board of directors.

"The fact that the government can and is eavesdropping on patrons in libraries has a chilling effect, because they really don't know if Big Brother is looking over their shoulder," he added.

Being free to speak now, weeks after the Patriot Act was reauthorized for several more years, was "like being allowed to call the Fire Department after the building has burned down," he said.

SfSchools weekly calendar

Friday, May 26

James Lick Talent Show

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

James Lick Middle School, 1220 Noe St., parking lot entrance on 25th St.

Lots of great acts from our multi-talented students and a Fashion Show with 22 students wearing the hottest trend in teen attire. All clothes and accessories have been donated to the school .

Lets fill the house! There will be a donation jar at the welcome table - with this awesome talent showcase we suggest $5 per family to help defray some of the cost of the production. You can also buy an awesome JL Carnaval t-shirts to wear to the parade for only $20!

Watch for James Lick in the Carnaval parade on Sunday morning-- we will be #13- with our student and parent drummers, dancers and float created by the JL community.

for more info: 695-5675

Basic Theatre: A Year in Revue, Drama Studio at SOTA.

Saturday, May 27

"Granito de Arena" Screening

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street

Film synopsis: Granito de Arena is a story of resistance - the story of hundreds of thousands of public schoolteachers whose grassroots, non-violent movement took Mexico by surprise, and who have endured brutal repression in their 25-year struggle for social and economic justice in Mexico's public schools.

This event will benefit Teachers 4 Social Justice and New College Scholarship Program for Bilingual Students.

Join us afterwards for refrescos and dancing with Los Mocosos Live! at New College Cultural Theater - 766 Valencia. This event is free of charge!

For more information visit http://www.t4sj.org or call
415-516-0338.

Basic Theatre: A Year in Revue, Drama Studio at SOTA.

Tuesday, May 30

James Lick PTSA Special Speaker on "Moving From Middle to High School: Guiding Our Teens"

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Room 22, James Lick Middle School, 1220 Noe St. at Clipper.

This will be a thought-provoking presentation by Jeffrey Leiken, M.A.., a nationally-recognized expert teen mentor.

Wednesday, May 31

SAT Workshop at the Library

6:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Parkside branch library

One remaining workshop for students who have previously taken the real SAT are being offered at the Parkside public library. Students must call to reserve a spot. The workshop is a four-day series. Juniors and seniors get priority registration.

"advanced" session for students who scored above 1150

415/355-5757 for more info

Thursday, June 1

BOE Buildings, Grounds, and Services Committee Meeting

Another air quality issue for kids: school buses

Speaking of air quality, here's another place where kids are at risk: school buses. I spotted a post about the problem on the WorldChanging blog: School Bus Pollution Report Card 2006. The report paints a gloomy picture where kids are exposed to high levels of pollution on aging, dirty diesel buses. Thanks to a recent exchange on the sfschools list, I know the picture is not so bad here in San Francisco.

The Chron ran a story on May 3rd, Lawsuit over diesel fumes on school buses, that reported on suit brought by the Environmental Law Foundation and Our Children's Earth Foundation against Laidlaw. The reporter was unable to get anyone from Laidlaw or SFUSD to comment on the suit, but a union official was more than willing to comment on our list:

[...]Anyone that had been going to the board meetings during the contract bidding process knows that the district required ALL new buses...that's right, in November we brought 200 brand new buses from LA to SF which run on the "green diesel" that Parent Voices and UTU 1741 advocated for during the bidding process. (thank you Maria!)

Interestingly the plaintiffs were quoted saying that "Diesel is a dirty fuel. It will never combust completely or cleanly." That may have been true in the past, but no longer. The most efficient new engine technology in the industry and the best hope of alleviating air pollution quickly without major infrastructure changes comes from modern, clean-burning diesel engines. In Europe, advanced diesel technology is outselling hybrids by a wide margin. They deliver better efficiency and are far more affordable. I'm glad to see some of this technology make its way onto our streets.

Good to know that San Francisco students will be riding in a fleet of clean, green, new buses. One less problem for us to have to concern ourselves with!

School Beat on Green Schools

This week's School Beat column covers initiatives to make our schools cleaner, healthier and greener: Making Schools Clean and Healthy

[...] there may be some renewed interest and ability to attend to making our schools healthier, as shown by the fact that a goal of creating cleaner facilities was actually a negotiated item in the most recent contract with the teachers. Luckily, in terms of environmental health in our schools, there are a few relatively easy starting places for parents, students and school staff.

The article covers a handful of pragmatic steps that are being taken in the district. We all know well how inertia can impede change in our schools, so read the article and help make some of these changes happen in your school.

The article mentions a number of websites, but in typical BeyondChron fashion, does not provide the links, or sidebars, to help readers delve into these resources. So here you go—here are a list of sites referenced in the article:

• On the federal level, the EPA offers a program called Tools for Schools devoted to improving indoor air quality in schools. An offshoot of that program is the EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program that offers a wealth of resources.
• San Francisco Department of the Environment, whose charter is "to improve, enhance, and preserve the environment and to promote San Francisco's long-term environmental well being" has published a page of resources on Less-toxic purchasing. The article refers to their final report (PDF).
• The article also refers to some non-profits that have been active on these issues, including SF's Healthy Children Organizing Project. Nationally, the Healthy Schools Network and New American Dream are sponsoring the Green Schools Sweepstakes which sounds like a fun way to engage your school community in the effort to make ours schools greener

School Board Notes 5.23.06

School Board Notes 5.23.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• Parents Fear Loss of After-School Care
• Board Takes Up Plan to Replace Junior ROTC
• District Allocates Funds to Televise Meetings
• Prop A Bond Projects Reviewed

Parents Fear Loss of After-School Care

Toting young children and holding aloft banners in English and Chinese, anxious parents of youngsters enrolled in the Filipino Education Center (F.E.C.) at Bessie Carmichael in SOMA expressed outrage that the district's recent vote to turn Carmichael into a K-8 could deprive them of preschool and after school care. F.E.C. serves a largely low-income community, the children of metal workers, factory workers, hotel maids and others.

"I was here at the board meeting when the decision to turn (Carmichael) into a K-8 was made," said Betty Robinson Harris, head of the Child Development Committee for United Educators of San Francisco, who works at F.E.C. "The next day, architects and district personnel appeared with tape measures telling staff we were going to be displaced. There had been no official communication from the district. The 100 families and 16 staff people who are affected by this are justifiably outraged."

The board voted earlier this month to continue a process it began last year of converting Bessie Carmichael to a K-8 school. To do that, however, would require using at least some of the classrooms currently being used by the Child Development Center. Speaking after the meeting, Commissioner Dan Kelly said F.E.C. would need to be relocated but stressed that it would not be closed. Superintendent Gwen Chan said no F.E.C. classes would be cut when the program is moved.

Parents at Kate Kennedy Child Development Center also appealed to the district to retain their program. According to District Advisory Council member Melissa Juedeman, who spoke on behalf of a number of Spanish-speaking residents, 15 families who had been told they would be enrolled in the summer program were later told there was no longer room for them due to cuts in the program. The families, among the neediest in the district, had less than a month's notice about this turn of events, Juedeman said.

Board Takes Up Plan to Replace Junior ROTC

Although months from being scheduled for an up or down vote, the introduction of a plan to replace Junior ROTC packed the house, with students staging a boisterous demonstration outside the district to protest the plan and a somewhat smaller but equally impassioned crowd gathering to cheer it.

The resolution, introduced for first reading Tuesday, calls for phasing out the JROTC program to be replaced with "alternative, creative, career-driven programs…." The resolution would terminate all district JROTC programs by the end of `06/07. The initiative seeks to end the relationship to JROTC because of its relation to the military (JROTC is run by the Department of Defense), whose policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" goes against the district's commitment to equal opportunity. The resolution describes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as "an unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia."

The resolution will go to a series of committees before appearing on the Board agenda for a vote, probably in August or September, according to Kelly. The Curriculum Committee will likely take up the issue at its meeting Thursday.

Those in favor of the plan offered a range of reasons for supporting the initiative, including objection to the military's policies regarding homophobia, as well as objection to the war in general and concern over what they saw as a tool for recruiting young people to the military. "There are hundreds of different programs that offer the same positive influence for these kids without a likelihood that they'll end up going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan," said Lacey McCallie, a member of Students Against War.

Opponents, however, said that JROTC had nothing to do with the anti-gay policies of the military, and did not discriminate against youngsters based on sexual orientation. Opponents also discussed the value of JROTC, its influence in bringing discipline and stability that some youngsters couldn't get at home, enabling athletic and physical development, and developing confidence and self esteem.

"All the research I've done says `Don't ask, don't tell' doesn't apply to us, to anything in our program or to who is hired for the program," said JROTC cadet David Zeman. Another cadet, Talen Lee, said he is openly gay and has been treated with the same respect as anyone else in the program. JROTC is administered by the Department of Defense but, according to its literature, does not impose any obligation on participants to enlist in the military and is not explicitly a military organization.

District Allocates Funds to Televise Meetings

The Board voted to allocate $26,334 for the express purpose of televising board meetings through SF Government Television, Channel 26. The cost represents the annual cost of televising the meetings, but the initial capital outlay that will be required to enable the broadcasts is not yet known, a factor which concerned some board members.

Several board members said televising the meetings would offer an important option for parents, many of whom have small children and cannot attend evening meetings. They noted, however, that the meetings are also broadcast live on radio station KALW, 91.7. The broadcast would have some drawbacks. It would not be live, but would be aired some time after the meeting. It would also only be available to families who had cable TV.

In a separate matter included on the same resolution, the Board agreed to allow the City to provide some of its Prop H funds to the District as in-kind services (free services instead of cash). The resolution recommended the Prop H Community Advisory Committee include not less than $250,000 of its `07/08 budget as in-kind services. The board also voted to begin the development of a working group between Prop H Committee members, district staff and the City Controller's Office to look at a "menu of options" for the types of services the City could provide.

Prop A Bond Projects Reviewed

District facilities officer David Golden gave the board a presentation on where the district is in relation to the Proposition A bond passed in 2003 allocating upwards of $340 million for facilities projects over a five-year period. "We are really moving into this program full-bore," he said.

The Prop A bonds are slated to go to 32 individual school sites. Architectural and engineering design has been approved for 18 projects, and construction is currently in progress at 13. Fourteen more projects are in the design phase or awaiting design approval. Additionally, 16 elementary schools are in the design phase for a $2 million green schoolyard program.

Current projects include:

• $11 million for new classroom corridors and other improvements at Thurgood Marshall High School.
• $3.2 million at Alvarado for construction both inside and out.
• $2.3 million at Bret Harte Elementary School for accessibility fire prevention and other upgrades.
• $1.4 million for new restrooms at Bryant Elementary. (This project was completed in March.)
• $3.8 million for upgrades at Clarendon Elementary including fire sprinklers, new bathrooms and accessibility upgrades.
• $2.3 million at Commodore Sloat Elementary
• 2.5 million at Charles Drew Elementary
• 8 million at Horace Mann Middle School for major interior reconstruction.
• 2.8 million at Rosa Parks Elementary
• $2.3 million at Sherman Elementary School
• $3 million at E.R. Taylor Elementary
• $1 million at Gloria Davis Middle School

Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net

School Beat: The Revised Budget Gives Less Than You Think

Lisa Schiff has penned another outstanding School Beat column. This one explores the latest budget proposal from the Schwarzenegger administration -- The Revised Budget Gives Less Than You Think:

Once again the Governor is playing the public education community like his favorite set of puppets. Using the end-of-year revenue upsurge to enable a reprise of his role as an education hero, Schwarzenegger has returned (sort of) a piece of what he took from public school coffers and will portion out the rest over the next seven years. And this is not only supposed to make us happy but make us re-elect him too. Hopefully voters in California will be able to see through this obvious sham.

Her main point is that too much of the new money is one-time money that comes with too many strings attached. This was one of the main themes we heard at the recent community budget workshop. As Jill Wynns pointed out, we may get millions of dollars more next year than last, yet still have to cut WSF budgets. So much of the new money is tied up in restricted funds that it simply cannot be allocated to many of the pressing needs in the district. As Lisa notes in her conclusion:

Along those lines, the PPIC study reports that while California residents want schools to have more money, they also believe that schools could do better with the money we have. Maybe if we were actually allowed to make decisions about how to use that money that statement would be true. Cutting some of the strings and trusting local school districts to make the right decisions about their students would go a long way towards eliminating administrative costs and allowing districts to bend, not break during these lean times. This may be the best we can hope for right now, as changing the structure of funding, as opposed the structure of taxes, is a lot less scary for elected officials.

Update on High School Graduation Requirements

One news story that we have so far neglected to track here is the ongoing lawsuit to block requirement that all students pass the the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) in order to earn a high school diploma. This is clearly an important issue for many San Francisco families, so let's catch up with the story.

Last week a Superior Court Judge stuck down the exit exam requirement on the grounds that "Students in economically challenged communities have not had an equal opportunity to learn the materials tested." The state is preparing an appeal. Today we learn that Superintendent O'Connell plans to take the appeal directly to the California Supreme Court to get a final ruling quickly. In a separate but related case alleging that the state failed to consider alternatives to CAHSEE the same judge ruled in favor of the state. But this judgement does not have any effect on his ruling on the CAHSEE graduation requirement. It's worth noting that the CAHSEE requirement has already been waived, at least for this year, for special education students.

Eric Mar provides a sympathetic report on the judges ruling which places the plaintiff's case in the context of the struggle for equity and civil rights. There is no doubt that the CAHSEE requirement would have a pronounced negative impact on minority students, who have disproportionately studied in inferior schools. According to statistics cited by KPFA a majority of those who have not passed the test are students of color. 2% of whites taking the test have not passed while %20 of African Americans and %13 of Latino students have not passed.

On the other hand, proponents of the test argue that we need to set standards and demand that students achieve a minimum competency in order to earn a diploma. Superintendent O'Connell, an obvious supporter of the exit exam, has been making some odd arguments to support the test. In a report aired on KPFA O'Connell claims that striking down the requirement lowers California's standards, lowers expectations, and somehow signals to struggling student that the state is giving up on them. and that "allowing students to graduate with high school diplomas that have not mastered this minimum skillset is really doing a disservice to those very students." I think there are many reasons for supporting an exit exam, but this argument is pretty tortured.

TMAO, teacher / author of Teaching in the 408 offers a nicely grounded, nuanced view in his post Obligatory Blogging About CAHSEE:

There is much to the coverage that feels sloppy and inaccurate. Do not report the total number of students failing without also reporting the total number of students failing who also lack the GPA and credits to graduate.

Almost all articles about the CAHSEE suit talk about the 47,000 seniors who have so far failed to pass the exam as if they would all get a diploma if not for the CAHSEE requirement. Clearly this cannot be the case. The real number of affected students is probably unknowable, but it is the only number that counts.

Stay tuned for lots more turbulence ahead as this case works its way through the courts.

SfSchools weekly calendar

Busy weekend for school fairs!

Friday, May 19

Magic Show FUNdRAISER at Lakeshore School

6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Lakeshore Community Room, 220 Middlefield Drive, SF 94132

Its Magic Time!!!!!!!
Magic Show FUNdRAISER at Lakeshore School
Featuring Jay Alexander and Friends (New magicians this year!)

Order your tickets now for a magical evening as world renowned magician, Jay Alexander, will headline Lakeshore Elementarys 4th Annual Magic Night. Jay Alexander has performed for the Rolling Stones, many Fortune 500 companies, various celebrities such as Robin Williams, David Crosby, and Francis Ford Copolla; and has produced several books and dvds on magic. Also performing will be Super Gigi and magician, Big Al Catraz

$9 per person advance purchase
$10 per person at the door
Special Family Package rate of 4 tickets for $32 (advance purchase only)

More info at http://www.lakeshoreelementary.org

SOTA Dance Concert

Saturday, May 20

Kids' Fitness Challenge

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Kezar Stadium

Free, noncompetitive 5K run, walk, and bike ride

This exciting Family Lifestyle Festival features San Franciscos after school youth sports providers and fitness agencies in one place for a full day of fun, activities and information for kids and parents.

brochure: http://www.cifsf.org/Information/KidsFitnessChallenge2006.pdf

Carnaval Time at Paul Revere Elementary

11:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Revere ES, 555 Tompkins at Folsom, Bernal Heights.

Fun for all!

Fairmount Festival

12:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Fairmount ES, 65 Chenery St @ Randall

Come to Fairmount's 4th Annual Fiestaval celebration and fundraiser. We have student performances, fabulous food, kids activities and games, and a silent and live auction. It is a day to show off our community and also to raise much-needed funds to help pay for our PE, Arts, Choir, Gardening, Drama and Dance programs. Fairmount is a school with a strong community and a continuous commitment to improving our kids' educations. Please come and help support that commitment.

Visit our website at www.FairmountSchoolPTA.org to review our current silent auction items as well as our raffle prizes. For more information call the school 415-695-5669.

Grattan Family Fun fund raiser

12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Grattan Elementary School, 165 Grattan St

We're going to hold our first annual Family Fun fund raiser.

Admission is free and there will be free parking on the upper yard, also it's close to various MUNI lines.

There will be food, games, music, street entertainment and a silent auction.

For more information please visit www.grattanschool.org

Aptos Middle School 75th Anniversary Celebration

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Aptos MS

Aptos Middle School holds an open house celebration at the school, 105 Aptos Ave. off Ocean. Please pass this invitation on to all Aptos alumni from every era!
RSVP by calling 415/469-4520.

SOTA Dance Concert

Sunday, May 21

SOTA Dance Concert

Tuesday, May 23

BOE Regular Meeting

7:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Everett Middle School

Regularly scheduled meeting. Check SFUSD web site to confirm and to review the agenda

SOTA Jazz and Latin Concert

Wednesday, May 24

2nd Annual Youth Summit

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Fort Mason

The third annual youth summit meeting's theme is "Step Up" and the goal is to provide information and networking opportunities for the district's student leaders.

SOTA Senior Art Show

SAT Workshop at the Library

6:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Parkside branch library

One remaining workshop for students who have previously taken the real SAT are being offered at the Parkside public library. Students must call to reserve a spot. The workshop is a four-day series. Juniors and seniors get priority registration.

"advanced" session for students who scored above 1150

415/355-5757 for more info

Special Ed Citizens' Advisory Committee

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Open Gate, 2601 Mission St., 6th floor conference room.

(This is the U.S. Bank Building at 22nd and Mission). Parking is available in the lot, enter from 22nd St. Childcare and translation services are available by registering in advance with Open Gate, 920-5040.

Email cac_specialed@hotmail.com for more information.

Community Music Center's monthly faculty-student jazz jam

Thursday, May 25

SOTA Vocal Finale, Act One

BOE Rules, Policy, and Legislation Committee Meeting

SOTA Vocal Finale, Act Two

Community Members Selected To Advise District on Long-range Plan

Community Members Selected To Advise District on Long-range Plan
5.19.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

Addressing a contentious round of school closings this year and an even more contentious school assignment system, several members of the Board of Education met as an ad hoc committee to discuss an initiative on student enrollment, recruitment and retention. A key piece of the initiative is the formation of a Community Advisory Council to advise the Board on this issue.

Earlier this month, the board had accepted applications for the CAC, an eight-member committee to include people with expertise in a number of specific fields. Before Thursday's meeting, Chief Development Officer Matthew Kelemen culled the applications, reviewed them and made a list of recommendations as to whom his office felt was most qualified. After reviewing the list, the Ad Hoc Committee – Norman Yee, Jill Wynns and Mark Sanchez – agreed unanimously to forward it to the board with a positive recommendation.

The recommendations for members to the CAC on Student Enrollment, Recruitment and Retention (CACSERR) are as follows:

1. Two members with expertise in design and implementation of high quality educational materials and educational reform strategies:
   Karling Aquilera-Fort, principal at Fairmont Elementary School, a school with a dual-language Spanish immersion program that has seen significant increase in student achievement. *Marlene Ligsay, a National Board Certified Teacher and Chair of the Mathematics Department at Philip and Sala Burton High School.
2. One member with expertise in outreach to diverse families:
   Maria Fernandez-Gonzalez, who works for GreatSchools.net to represent parents in underperforming SFUSD schools and who did her doctoral work in how parents make choices about schools.
3. One member with expertise in community engagement strategies:
   Mollie Matull, an SFUSD parent who has been an active parent leader in SFUSD's Child Development Program.
4. One member with expertise in demographic planning and analysis:
   Dwayne Jones, the City's Director of Community Investment and Outcomes, who formerly directed the Mayor's Office of Community Development. Also runs the City's Communities of Opportunities initiative covering Bayview-Hunters Point and the Western Addition, two areas of key concern to the district.
5. One member with expertise in school facilities design and use:
   Tony Irons, currently with the SF Public Utilities Commission, who formerly served as SFUSD's Chief Facilities Officer and helped developed the first phase of the Facilities Master Plan.
6. One member with expertise in school finance:
   Ruth Grabowski, Coordinator of the Parent Advisory Council and a parent member of the School Site Council at San Francisco Community K-8 School.
7. One member representing the voice of youth:
   Vienna Luu, a student at Lincoln High School.

The Committee will also recommend to the Board that former SFUSD Superintendent Ray Cortinez, who has expressed interest in participating, be included as an ex-officio member, which means he would not vote nor be counted toward a quorum. Cortinez, who only lives in the city part time and is a member of several other boards, did not want to be made a full member because he could not commit to being at every meeting. But Board members agreed he had a wealth of experience to share, having served as Superintendent for Los Angeles and New York City schools in addition to SFUSD.

The Committee also agreed to recommend waiving the San Francisco residency requirement for two of the suggested CAC members, Tony Irons and Marlene Ligsay, who live outside the city.

Close to 20 people submitted applications, according to Kelemen, but most were in one or two areas of expertise. The district had to recruit possible members for a number of areas, such as facilities design and demographic planning. It sought to recommend people representing diverse constituencies and also including City representatives.

A couple of attendees voiced concern that there were a few gaps in the areas the CAC represented. "Somebody's going to get blamed again when all the emotional parents show up," said SF PTA President Carl Barnes. He suggested the PTA put together community meetings and workshops to help gather wider public input.

The district also outlined a timeline for its activities relating to student enrollment, recruitment and retention. In June, district staff will complete an analysis of current conditions and an initial community engagement effort. In September, the district, with the advice of the CAC, will complete a draft of a long-range action plan. In December of 2006, just ahead of the Round 1 enrollment process for `07/08, the district will adopt an interim plan. During the rest of the school year, district staff, the CAC and the BOE will work to revise the draft, to come up with a finalized process by the end of the `06/07 school year.

Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net

School photoblogging: Ceasar Chavez ES

A short distance from Leonard Flynn, the last school we featured in this photoblogging series, I got this shot of Ceasar Chavez Elementary taken from Folsom Street. I love the green canopy on Folsom, and the way the mural of Ceasar Chavez radiates over the yard and into the neighborhood.

Donors Choose, kids win

Today one of our sfschools list members posted the following information about the Donors Choose website, and a timely matching donation program. Check this out:

I know end of the year fund raisers can create some hectic weekends. You can support Marshall Elementary School and any other SFUSD school through DonorsChoose anytime. Some of you may have heard of Donors Choose. It is a website that matches teacher/student needs with donors from around the country.

During the month of May, Bank of America is funding 50% of most proposals. That doubles your donation! All SF public schools are eligible and many have proposals that qualify for the matching funds. Our school, Marshall Elementary, has a number of proposals posted, so please take a look and see if you'd like to donate to one today.

Please take a moment and visit the Donors Choose website. I think this is a brilliant idea. And the Donors Choice website is very nicely done.

This idea of connecting teacher needs with donors is not new. A few years back craigslist partnered with Cole Hardware to create a similar site. I see that Cole Hardware has continued and refined the effort with their Wishlist Program. Both are excellent programs, but right now the donation matching by BofA makes the Donors Choose site very appealing.

One complaint I have about the Donors Choose site is that it is hard to figure out how to search for proposals from specific schools or specific cities. Eventually I found this search page where you can select the "San Francisco Bay Area" region and the "San Francisco" community. From there you can pick an individual school and review the school's proposals. For instance, Marshall Elementary's proposals are listed here. Or check out all of the programs originating from all schools in San Francisco here. There are so many worthy programs to choose from, and this website makes it so easy to connect your charity with a specific, tangible need. Out of town visitors can zoom in on their locale using the same region, community, and school menus.

And the best news of all? It works. After posting the request earlier today, we heard back from the same person (a teacher at Marshall I presume) with good news:

Within just a few hours of posting here, I saw that at least three of the Marshall proposals had been fully funded so I have to think it has something to do with the generous and kind-hearted public school supporters who read this list[...] So a very big thanks to everyone involved!

Go ahead and make someone's day.

Highlights from the May 5, 2006 PEN Newsblast

Every now and the the PEN Newsblast is loaded with interesting items. I try to be selective when I cite them, but there are too many good choices this time. So here are my favorites from the May 5th eidtion.
Enjoy.

continue reading...

Top Five Special Education Issues

Thirty years ago, Congress announced that more than half of American children with disabilities were not receiving appropriate educational services. Today, American schools have a world-class system for differentiating instruction for all students, regardless of cognitive, emotional or physical limitations. That's quite an accomplishment, and something about which educators should be proud.[...] Whether it's because teachers and administrators are all leery of being called prejudiced, embarrassed about some of their past policies or simply too overwhelmed with day-to-day work to get their arms around the bigger issues, the result is the same: There are a number of seemingly insurmountable challenges in special education, and not much is being said about them: (1) Not all special ed students have gotten the education they deserve; (2) Special education teachers are often considered second-class citizens; (3) Special education paperwork overwhelms teachers and administrators; (4) A disproportionate number of children of color end up in special education; and (5) Numbers of special-ed students grow as number of dollars shrink.

Harassment of Gay Students in School Still Too Commonplace

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, announced findings from the 2005 National School Climate Survey (NSCS), the only national survey to document the experiences of students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in America's schools. The survey reveals that anti-LGBT bullying and harassment remain commonplace in America's schools... Overall, LGBT students were twice as likely as the general population of students to report they were not planning to pursue any post-secondary education. The average GPA for LGBT students who were frequently physically harassed was half a grade lower than that of LGBT students experiencing less harassment (2.6 versus 3.1). On a positive note, the report indicates that trained and supportive staff, the presence of Gay Student Alliance clubs, and anti-bullying policies all lead to reductions in harassment.

Other Demands Outmuscling Physical Education Instruction

Most states require physical education for elementary and high school students, but the time in these classes is often short and is being gobbled up by other academic demands, a new report says. Some classes are even offered online. The trend could undercut efforts to stave off obesity in children, the researchers say... "Schools have a difficult time squeezing everything in," says Bruce Hunter. "PE and the arts have gotten pushed to the side a little because administrators, principals and teachers are trying to get in as much instructional time as they can to prepare for state achievement tests."

Race, Income Influence School Experience, Survey Suggests

"African-American students are far more likely than white students to report that their teachers have low academic expectations for them," finds a new report from the Education Alliance, a local education fund. "African-American pupils are also less likely to indicate that there are sufficient caring and mentoring relationships between students and teachers." Researchers surveyed 19 West Virginia schools -- four in central cities, two in mid-sized cities, three in small towns and 10 in rural areas, reports Anna L. Mallory. "This may be the most important research we've done," said Hazel Palmer, director of the alliance. "We're not saying [students’] perception is reality. But, it is now."...

Paying for College: The Rising Cost of Higher Education

At the same time that a college education has become the ticket to the middle class, college has become less affordable. The situation in New England is worse than it is nationally. Even though incomes are higher in the region, families are likely spending a higher share of their income to pay for college. In 2003-04, families with students attending a community college in New England spent 17 percent of their annual income to cover the costs of college. Families are stretching even more to attend a public four-year college in the region, spending 21 percent of their income. Private colleges are the most expensive, requiring that families spend a stunning 33 percent of their income. Although family incomes and grant aid have increased over the past decade, they have not increased enough to offset the increases in tuition prices. As a consequence, more students and parents are taking out loans to finance their college education, and the amount of debt that students are carrying has increased significantly during the past ten years...

Are Charter Schools Closing the Achievement Gap?(PDF)

Charter schools have been lauded for reasons ranging from increasing parental choice to introducing innovative practices to reducing educational bureaucracies. However, most charter schools are located in urban centers and enroll lower-income and minority students. Serving disadvantaged students is a principal goal of charter school reform. Assessments should account for this purpose. An article by Ron Zimmer and Richard Buddin examines the effect that charter schools are having on student achievement in general, and on different demographic groups, in two major urban districts in California. The authors find that achievement scores in charter schools are keeping pace, but not exceeding those of traditional public schools. The findings in this study show that charter school effects do not vary systematically with race/ethnicity or English proficiency status of students.

A Portrait of America’S Teachers from NEA

In a recent press release The NEA posted some interesting stats about teachers, and noted a few key trends:

The teaching profession has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. The majority of the nation's 3 million teachers have at least a master's degree and an average of 15 years of experience. In addition, more than 75 percent of all teachers participate in professional development related to their grade or subject area.[...]

According to NEA's research and other sources, today's teachers are primarily white, female, married, religious, and on average are 43 years old. More than half hold at least a master's degree. Forty-five years ago, in 1961, only 23 percent held advanced degrees. Additionally, 21st century teachers:

• Spend an average of 50 hours per week on all teaching duties, including noncompensated school-related activities such as grading papers, bus duty and club advising.
• Teach an average of 21 pupils (elementary). Secondary schoolteachers have an average class size of 28 pupils.
• Spend an average of $443 per year of their own money to meet the needs of their students. Elementary teachers spend about $498 per year.  Secondary teachers spend about $386. Teachers of color spend about $470 per year, more than the $434 spent by white teachers.
• Make an average starting salary of $31,704 per year, not including supplemental pay for extra duties.
• Enter the teaching profession to help shape the next generation.  Nearly three out of four (73%) enter teaching because of their desire to work with young people. And nearly seven out of 10 teachers (68%) cite it as the reason for remaining in the profession.

The five trends they identify are:

• America's public schoolteachers are the most educated, most experienced ever.
• The work of teachers is being transformed.
• The number of teachers leaving the profession is increasing.
• The teaching corps in public schools does not reflect the diversity of the student population.
• Male teachers are a dwindling breed.

They have a lot of interesting details backing up each point. Check it out. Hat tip to the PEN Newsblast for finding this.

Impressions from the Community Budget Workshop

Writing about the workshop is harder than I expected. I don't know where to begin. The budget workshop was such a welcome opportunity to get immersed in a wealth of information about school financing, the SFUSD books, and the breaking news about the state budget. The handouts alone will take some time to digest and review. Many thanks are due to Jill Wynns for putting this program together, and to Vernon Billie for updating us on the increasingly promising, if not arcane, prospects for this year's state ed budget, and to Myong Leigh for his insights into the top level structure and fundamental realities of the district finances. I know that I was engaged and learning a great deal from all of the speakers.

I was only able to attend the scheduled 2:00 hours of Saturday's budget workshop. The weekend vortex of family life pulled me right out of the room at noon, much to my chagrin. I would have liked to stay to the end to meet the many list members who were in attendance. I could tell the room was full of questions and I would have loved to stick around for whatever discussions ensued.

One of the handouts was a compilation of the questions received. Nancy W — aka bdget@swfusd — clearly had a problem with her out-of-office auto-responder on Friday, but she did get the emails and did compile a comprehensive set of questions. The presentations did not address specific questions from that list, but I think they were responsive to the topics that people wanted to hear about. Again, it will take time to review and digest all that I learned and review what was cover and what was left out. The speakers were very open to questions from the floor, which was great. It may have derailed their schedule and affected their ability to cover all that they wanted. But I think we all appreciated their responsiveness and their answers.

Jill talked about scheduling a series of workshops, perhaps in collaboration with PPS, that would allow them to go into more depth on specific topics. I hope this happens. There was so much ground to cover, so much complexity, and so many more questions to answer. If anything, I have more questions now than before. More importantly, if we can sustain this open exchange of informative I think a lot of the mystery and a lot of the suspicions about district fiances and be put to rest. School financing in California is a byzantine mess. Rube Goldberg could not have imagined anything so obscure, accidental, and indirect -- so Gordian. District books will never be accessible. But with more efforts like Saturday's at least the books can be more open and more intelligently reviewed by those of us odd enough to dig it.

As I digest the information I hope to write a series of posts about what I've learned. I'm not a reporter, so there is no use in me trying to recite the events of the day. Thanks to Nicole for her able reporting. For my part, if I can find the time, I hope to be able to relate some of what I heard, and share the web resources available to us. I hope some of the other attendees will share their thoughts and impressions with us here.

Community Budget Workshop Notes

Community Budget Workshop Notes
5.13.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
Greatschools.net Correspondent

• District Officials Detail Impact of May Revise
• 'Like Buying Curtains for a House You're Burning Down’
• SFUSD Budget Outlook Today

District Officials Detail Impact of May Revise

A day after Governor Schwarzenegger released a revised budget allocating billions more in funding for schools, SFUSD representatives met with members of the public at a community budget workshop and addressed the impact of this additional money on local schools.

The aim of the workshop was to educate the public about the district's budget and its finances. District representatives provided a detailed discussion of where the district's money comes from, how it is earmarked, and where it is spent. These materials, as well as a copy of the district's recommended budget, are available through the district office. People may send questions to budget@sfusd.edu.

Coming on the heels of the governor's May revise, the workshop also provided an opportunity to take an updated look at budget assumptions based on the new funding projections.

Finding a windfall of unexpected tax revenue in state coffers, the governor has proposed allocating $3 billion in new funds to schools, largely by providing more than the minimum required by Proposition 98, the voter-approved measure that sets school funding formulas. Included is a 5.93 cost-of-living adjustment to the base amount the state is required to pay schools each year, especially valuable because it represents money schools should continue to receive whatever the future years' budget outlooks. However, district representatives noted that even with the new money, Proposition 98 is still being funded well below the level lawmakers promised.

The governor also proposed $933 million in one-time payment to help cover money the state owes to the schools for mandated programs. The state is supposed to give the schools funds to carry out programs and actions state law requires; however, millions of dollars worth of state-required programs have gone unfunded over the years, and districts have had to pay for them out of their own budgets. The governor's proposal covers about half that currently owed to school districts for unfunded mandates.

'Like Buying Curtains for a House You're Burning Down’

SFUSD representatives met the news of the potential new funding with extremely guarded enthusiasm. The problem, according to Vernon Billy, a lobbyist who represents SFUSD in Sacramento, is that fully two-thirds of the money the governor has proposed is earmarked for specific programs, including $250 million for classroom supplies, $250 million for physical education facilities and programs, $250 million for art and music supplies and $250 million for textbooks.

"We might end up with (millions) for new playground equipment and new counselors, and still not have the money to pay our teachers," said Commissioner Jill Wynns. The restrictions are so limiting, she noted, that districts have gone bankrupt with millions of dollars in earmarked funds. "It's like buying curtains for a house you're burning down," she said.

Over the next couple of months, especially toward the end of June when the state adopts its budget, lawmakers will be jockeying over just how much school funding gets allocated for specific programs and how much is given to districts directly. SFUSD representatives urged community members to contact their lawmakers and ask them to push for unrestricted funds.

SFUSD Budget Outlook Today

Before the May revise, the district had been expecting a deficit of $6 million for the coming school year and almost $14 million the following year, according to Myong Leigh, chief of policy and planning. Those budget projections account both for increased costs due to recent bargaining agreements, such as that with the teachers union; the savings accrued through school closings, representing about $2.5 million; and a one-time increase to revenue of about $5 million for the long-term lease by City College of the current site of Newcomer High School and other facilities.

The new money the governor has promised would bring about $3 million in ongoing funds to the district and as much as $8 million in one-time monies. It is unclear when the money will arrive, however, or what restrictions will be placed upon it. That makes adjusting its current budget difficult.

The $6 million deficit represents a gap in unrestricted general funds; therefore, the degree to which the new money can help cover the deficit depends upon how much of the new state money comes through as unrestricted funds.

The school board’s budget committee has proposed the following cuts to cover this year's deficit: (see update below)

• $2 million in cuts to the “weighted student formula,” which allocates funds directly to schools based on the makeup of their student populations
• $500 less for student nutrition (some of these expenses this year were due to a sick-out and threatened strike by cafeteria workers)
• $800 less for transportation, which could be accomplished by changing school start times to more efficiently configure bus routes.
• $500 in central office cuts
• $1.2 million less for special education funding

Before passing its budget in June (it is due by June 30), the board will discuss which of these cuts could be restored if more funding becomes available.

"The silver lining is that, although we have a lot of reason to prefer this cornucopia of funds be unrestricted, if you look at the programs that are being funded – art, school supplies, PE facilities – they will go (to restore) a lot of the things we've cut or are thinking of cutting," Leigh said.

The BOE will be introducing a discussion on the budget at its next regular board meeting, May 23. A more thorough discussion will take place at a Committee of the Whole meeting, date to be announced. The board is scheduled to adopt the budget on June 13, its first regular meeting that month.

Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschoolsnet

Update: The notes for the workshop on May 13 incorrectly stated the size of cuts proposed to cover this year’s budget shortfall. Here are the correct numbers:

• $2 million in cuts to the "weighted student formula," which allocates funds directly to schools based on the makeup of their student populations
• $500,000 less for student nutrition (some of these expenses this year were due to a sick-out and threatened strike by cafeteria workers)
• $800,000 less for transportation, which could be accomplished by changing school start times to more efficiently configure bus routes.
• $500,000 in central office cuts
• $1.2 million less for special education funding

Kim's notes for Special Meeting on School and Program Relocations

Kim Knox has published extensive notes for last night's Special Meeting on School and Program Relocations over on the Left in SF blog. The meeting was called with very little notice, and Nicole was unable to attend. Thanks to Kim for keeping us informed.

SfSchools weekly calendar

Friday, May 12

SFUSD School Registration Deadline

"Class Act" Documentary

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th St., S.F.

Arts education in America is on life support.

CLASS ACT weaves teacher extraordinaire Jay. W. Jensen's personal story with the fate of arts education in America today, giving us a report card on what lies ahead for America's children.

SFUSD Parent Advisory Council Community Fish Fry

6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

SouthEast Community Facility, 1800 Oakdale (at Phelps)

Come for great food, important information and community conversation about our schools. Student assignment policies are likely to change for SFUSD schools. Tell the school board what you think about school choice. Your family is welcome! Childcare will be provided .

More information: PAC, (415) 263-0308 or pac@sfusd.edu

SOTA Band Concert

Saturday, May 13

Argonne Elementary annual carnival FUNraiser

10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Argonne Elementary

Games, BBQ, silent auction, used book & video sale, entertainment, face painting and balloon lady - fun for the whole family!

Game/food tickets and raffle tickets (first price: 2GB Ipod Nano and iTunes gift card; need not be present to win; there is also a separate kids' raffle) available at the gate; BBQ starts at 11 and lasts until 1:30 p.m.Silent auction closes at 2 p.m. Great items to bid on!

Enter on Cabrillo between 17th and 18th Aves. in SF's Richmond district. Info: 415-750-8460

Community Budget Workshop

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Everett Middle School

This will allow the Community to look at the first draft of the budget numbers. It also includes the project budget for FY 06-07. The District never includes the actual spent figures nor even what they budgeted in the previous year in the document given at the Community Budget Workshop.

SOTA Orchestra / Wind Ensemble Concert

Monday, May 15

"Class Act" Documentary

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Little Roxie, 3116 16th St., S.F.

Arts education in America is on life support.

CLASS ACT weaves teacher extraordinaire Jay. W. Jensen's personal story with the fate of arts education in America today, giving us a report card on what lies ahead for America's children.

Tuesday, May 16

Save School Arts Rally

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

City Hall rotunda

The goal of this event is to draw attention to the crucial need to
ensure that the $100 million line item for School District arts education programs remains intact, so each child in California can enjoy at least a basic exposure to arts and music.

Co-sponsored by:
Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and San Francisco State
University


If you would like to volunteer, make a contribution, or learn more
about the rally, you may contact us directly at (415) 392-9010 or
on-line at
http://www.mustcreate.org

Music in Schools Today is a Bay Area non-profit organization that acts
as advocate and arts provider, serving over 20,000 Bay Area school
children annually.

Music in Schools Today
www.mustcreate.org
info@mustcreate.org

SF School Volunteers Volunteer Recognition Event

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Le Colonial (20 Cosmo Place, SF)

This year's Volunteer Recognition Event will be Tuesday, May 16, 2006 between 5:30pm-7:30pm @ Le Colonial (20 Cosmo Place, SF) See Map. Space is limited, please RSVP by Tuesday, May 9.

If you would like to RSVP, please visit http://www.sfsv.org/Vol_Recognition_RSVP_May06.html

Wednesday, May 17

SAT Workshop at the Library

6:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Parkside branch library

One remaining workshop for students who have previously taken the real SAT are being offered at the Parkside public library. Students must call to reserve a spot. The workshop is a four-day series. Juniors and seniors get priority registration.

"advanced" session for students who scored above 1150

415/355-5757 for more info

BOE Budget and Business Services Committee Meeting

SOTA Piano Recital

Submit your budget question here

If you want to submit a question fore the SFUSD budget workshop, ask it here. Just add a comment to this post by clicking on the comment icon, . We'll try and report back here with the answers.

Fire away!

Last chance! Bumping this to the top since the budget workshop is tomorrow. Don't miss your chance to learn about the mysteries of the SFUSD budget.

Chron: Oakland teachers approve contract

It's official. Oakland teachers approve contract—but it was a whole lot more contentious and close than the UESF vote:

Oakland teachers approved a contract deal Wednesday evening that will end their contentious two-year battle with the school district over a pay hike and health care costs.

The contract, which is retroactive to July, gives teachers a 6.25 percent pay increase spread out over three years and increases their contribution to health care premiums.

According to union officials, 931 members voted in favor of the deal and 639 voted against it. About 56 percent of the 2,800 Oakland Education Association members eligible to vote cast ballots at the Scottish Rite Center at Lake Merritt.

The article confirms the contract details we heard from the Daily Planet. This should set up an interesting union election in Oakland this week. A few years back the current UESF leadership came to power as a result of rank and file anger over not getting a better contract.

Oakland Teachers Vote

Oakland teachers are voting on their contract today, and there is some uncertainty about the outcome. The Oakland district is lobbying teachers to approve the contract while the union has declined to take a stand for or against the deal.

When UESF voted on their proposed contract there was no doubt about the outcome. The union was solidly behind the deal and there was little organized dissent.

Details of the proposed contract are only known through unconfirmed leaks, so it is hard to pinpoint why this agreement is so controversial. According to the SJMerc there will be a %6.5 raise over two years. But Oakland teachers endured a recent 4% pay cut, and they will be expected to pay more of their health benefits. A report in The Berkeley Daily Planet suggest the precedent for sharing health care premiums may be the controversial part. Other districts have passed increasingly burdensome health costs onto their teachers, so this could be a big deal for future negotiations.

And we thought the UESF negotiations were stressful...

School Board Notes 5.9.06

School Board Notes 5.9.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
Greatschools.net Correspondent

• Controversy Roils Around Proposed Moves
• SOMA to get K-8 School
• District to Cut 64 Classroom Positions
• Rooftop Bungalows Approved

Controversy Roils Around Proposed Moves

Although not on the agenda, the issues dominating the meeting centered around several controversial facility decisions the district has made behind closed doors involving moving and co-locating certain schools. Just as at the last meeting, chambers were standing room only with overflow crowds gathered outside, many waving signs stating their objection to proposed moves. Those moves are: *Newcomer High School into extra space at Mission High School *Leadership charter school into space at Balboa High *Merging three county community programs – RAP, Phoenix and Community Scholars for Success – together at what is currently John Swett Elementary. (That school, in another controversial decision, is to be merged with John Muir this fall.)

Yesterday afternoon, the board announced it would hold a special session Wednesday at 6:30 to address the issue directly.

Families and teachers at both Newcomer and Mission High schools objected to a plan to move Newcomer into Mission. According to the current proposal, the schools would operate separately, with a wall between the two. Critics said the move would leave teachers at Mission without classrooms, threaten school programs for lack of space and alter the balance at a school that enjoyed improved success in recent years. Mission, along with Lowell and George Washington, was just named to Newsweek's Top 1,000 High Schools list, representing the top 5 percent of high schools in the nation.

Newcomer families expressed frustration at being moved around and "treated like footballs" according to one speaker. The school was supposed to move to the site of Edison Charter Academy, but the board changed tack after Edison threatened to sue.

Leadership High School has long been seeking a more adequate facility within the district than its current building, an aging, former elementary school. The district has been trying without success to find it a home, and recently offered it the opportunity to be co-located at the same building occupied by Balboa.

The Balboa community has strenuously objected to this move and Tuesday night, its representatives were out in force, staging a protest in front of the district, waving flags and passing out leaflets. Balboa members who stood to speak, mostly students and teachers, said bringing in Leadership would deprive Balboa of needed space and facilities and reverse the trend that has helped the school become increasingly desirable in the last couple of years.

"The district is working very hard to have Leadership not be at Balboa," Board President Norman Yee said and added that the issue would be discussed more thoroughly Wednesday.

There were also a number of community members – many of them county community students – who expressed serious concern over the plan to merge three county programs at Swett. Bring the schools together would put members of warring such as the Nortenos and Surenos, and Hunters Point and Fillmore gangs, together at one school. Some students said they wouldn't attend such a school for fear of their lives. At the last meeting, some county and alternative school administrators had expressed support for the move, saying it would offer the students better facilities and enriched programs.

SOMA To Get K-8 School

The Board voted to expand Bessie Carmichael in South of Market to a K-8 school, completing a process it began last year in making the school a K-6. The resolution will add a seventh grade class for 06/07 and an eighth grade class the following year.

The community has been pushing heavily for the expansion, as there is currently no middle school in the South of Market neighborhood. Last year, the board voted to add a sixth grade as part of a transition to a K-8. Although some board members had concerns about the plan (Jill Wynns cast the sole no vote), most felt the board had an obligation to continue with the expansion. Not adding another grade would put the current sixth graders at a disadvantage in selecting a middle school as many are already at capacity by 7th grade.

The expansion could put into jeopardy two preschool classes and a special education preschool class currently in place at the school. One pre-K class is in a classroom needed for the new grade; another, the special ed class, is in a building that would also house middle-schoolers, raising licensing issues.

Wynns expressed concern about the cost of the project. The expansion will incur an estimated $600,000 in one-time expenses to build, which could be recouped through school impact fees the City is working to collect from the more than 10,000 new housing units being built in the neighborhood. The Carmichael expansion will also incur $270,000 in yearly operating costs, which could not be funded through impact fees.

District to Cut 64 Classroom Positions

Struggling with budget cuts, declining enrollment and school closures, the district will not renew positions for 64 teachers and paraprofessionals next year, comprising a total of 54 full-time equivalent positions. The cuts include numerous art, English, social studies, science, and language teachers, as well as coaches and peer resources counselors.

Rooftop Bungalows Approved

More than a dozen Rooftop parents stayed until after midnight to urge the board to replace aging, seismically unsafe bungalows at Rooftop K-8 school in Twin Peaks. A $670,000 project to replace the bungalows failed to pass at the last meeting by a tie vote (one commissioner was absent), so it was back on the agenda this week.

After hearing testimony from parents expressing frustration and concern that their children had been housed for years in unsafe buildings, the board voted six to two to approve the bungalows, with Commissioners Sarah Lipson and Mark Sanchez casting the dissenting votes. Commissioner Eric Mar reversed his no vote from last week, saying that the inadequacy of the buildings overruled his desire in this instance for the district to move away from the use of bungalows.

Critics objected to an expensive plan to replace bungalows when the district has an expressed plan to move away from using bungalows. They say the bungalows perpetuate a system in which over-subscribed schools pack in students to the disadvantage of under-enrolled schools.

However, supporters said there was little alternative but to replace the bungalows, as there are no other ways to re-house those students in a timely manner. "There are times we have to modify our decision not to have portable classrooms," Wynns said.

Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net

NYT Editorial: Reining in Charter Schools

How very nice to see the editorial board of the NYT singing one of our favorite songs! In today's paper they come down hard on the need for greater oversight and controls on charter schools.

Reining in Charter Schools:

The charter school movement began with the tantalizing promise that independently operated schools would outperform their traditional counterparts — if they could only be exempted from state regulations while receiving public money. It hasn't quite worked out that way. With charter laws now on the books in about 40 states and thousands of schools up and running, the problem has turned out to be too little state oversight, not too much.

Even states with disastrously low-performing charter systems can point to a handful of outstanding schools. But several studies have shown that on the whole, charter schools perform no better than other public schools. Beyond that, some states have opened so many charter programs so quickly that they can barely count them, let alone monitor student performance. Where charters have clearly failed, the states often lack the political will — or even a process — for closing them down. …

So far, the national experience with charter schools shows that they are not a magical solution to the achievement problem. The only way to improve public schooling is to provide well-trained teachers and orderly schools, and to monitor them to make sure that the students are actually learning. To salvage the charter movement, the states will need to abandon the strategy, now discredited, that consists largely of giving public money to what are basically private schools and then looking the other way.

I totally agree that more controls are necessary. But doesn't that just beg the question, if charters are subject to rigorous controls, what's the point?

I contend that charters, by their very nature, are a Faustian bargain. In order to give a charter operator enough freedom to innovate, you have to accept greater risk of fraud and failure. So if one concludes that price is too steep, and that more regulation is required, then why have charters at all?

SFWeekly critique, part 2

Small schools are a fine thing for many students who struggle with the bustle of a larger setting. They’re not for every kid, especially high school students who seek the programs that larger schools can offer, such as a wide choice of electives, foreign languages, arts, athletics and clubs.

Small schools are also the trend of the moment among a segment of the "school reform" movement. The May 3 San Francisco Weekly published a badly flawed article about the San Francisco Unified School District that — while nominally disclaiming that small schools are a panacea — portrayed them as a panacea.

The article was marked by inaccuracies and firmly stated claims about data that is actually misinterpreted, unattributed, confusingly spun or unverifiable. Its story line about an uncaring bureaucracy spurning a shining opportunity does not hold up to scrutiny.

The article, "A Study in Size" by Ryan Blitstein, created an inaccurate impression that achievement at SFUSD small schools is surpassing that at larger schools with comparable populations. Yes, some students find the small-school setting ideal, but the notion that small schools are resoundingly successful and are turning away students — and that SFUSD is missing an opportunity in failing to create many more — is not borne out by fact.

Here are some points about the San Francisco Weekly article, which showcases the June Jordan Small School for Equity in the Excelsior District.

continue reading...

• The article misleadingly indicates that June Jordan students are outperforming their peers districtwide on the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). But the most recent publicly available data on the CAHSEE for 10th-graders (the only valid comparison, as June Jordan is too new to have graduated a class of 12th-graders yet) shows a pass rate of 66 percent in math compared with a districtwide pass rate of 72 percent. June Jordan’s English Language Arts (ELA) pass rate, at 71 percent, is slightly higher than the districtwide average of 66 percent, but June Jordan has significantly fewer English-language learners than the districtwide average for high schools — 11 percent compared with 18 percent districtwide (a factor strongly impacting ELA test scores). The article cited a claimed, unverifiable pass rate for June Jordan 11th-graders this year of 93 percent, but that figure is not yet publicly available.
• The article creates an impression that small schools are achieving "impressive performance" compared with other schools. But the facts don’t support that claim.
  • The article used students’ grade point averages to back up that statement about June Jordan, though grade point averages are never viewed as a reliable measure. That’s because grades are subjective, and standards of rigor can vary widely from school to school. It’s unknowable whether high grades at a particular school reflect improved achievement or grade inflation.
  • Standardized test scores for Leadership Charter High School, one of the small schools cited as a success, have dropped steadily for several years. Nearby Balboa High School, a traditional high school, is cited in the article as the low performer to Leadership’s success. Yet Balboa’s test scores have been steadily rising as Leadership’s have fallen. In 2001, Leadership outperformed Balboa by 271 points on the state’s API (of a total 800 points), while by 2005, Balboa's steadily improving test scores had narrowed the gap to 69 points.
  • John O’Connell High School, also cited as an unsuccessful traditional model, has posted an API increase of 24 percent over four years. June Jordan’s API has been reported for only two years, but dropped slightly from the first to the second year.
  • Aim High, a small middle school also portrayed as a success in the article, failed to achieve almost all of its mandated Adequate Yearly Progress targets under the No Child Left Behind federal requirements. And the school, which is in its third year of operation, improved its API score by only one point (on an 800-point scale) from its first year of operation to its second year.
• As previously noted, the article indicated that "record numbers" of applicants are trying to get into the small schools mentioned. But actually, both June Jordan and Aim High had considerably fewer first-choice applicants than openings. Also as noted, the article claimed that no other small schools had opened in the district, overlooking the Academy of Arts and Sciences on the School of the Arts campus. In fact, the Academy of Arts & Sciences was the only small school that attracted more first-choice applicants than openings (105 first-choice applicants and 606 total applicants for 80 openings for fall 2006).
• The article focused on one student, showing him as disengaged at O’Connell High before successfully transferring to June Jordan. Of course the student’s and his family’s satisfaction with June Jordan is a valid and significant point to report. However, the actual measures of success as described in the article were an apparent slight increase in grades — from "B’s and C’s" at O’Connell to B’s at June Jordan — and improved attendance. But the student lives across the street from June Jordan, as opposed to 4 miles from O’Connell — a huge confounding factor strongly likely to improve attendance.
• The article gave a figure that perhaps inadvertently revealed significant student turnover at June Jordan, with no further comment. The fact, mentioned in the article, that 20 10th-graders transferred into June Jordan, indicates that 20 students left June Jordan, in a school with about 100 students per grade (publicly available figures show that the student population remained constant). A separate indicator, the California Basic Educational Data System, shows that 39 11th-graders arrived at June Jordan partway into the 2004-05 school year. That amounts to alarmingly high student turnover of 20 to nearly 40 percent in those grades.
• The article noted that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation slashed its grant funding for small schools in SFUSD, implying that this was due to flaws in SFUSD’s implementation. The article didn’t mention that the Gates Foundation has done the same thing in school districts around the country as results from investments in small schools fell short of expectations. "In our early grant making, small became the goal. To the extent it became the main focus, that wasn't productive," Gates Foundation spokesman Tom Vander Ark told the Seattle Weekly in July 2005.
• The article portrayed Oakland Unified School District flatteringly, as far more welcoming to small schools. But troubled Oakland Unified compares unfavorably to SFUSD on every possible gauge, making it a startling and unlikely choice of role model. Oakland test scores are far lower than SFUSD’s, and the Oakland district was taken over by the state a few years ago after its financial management imploded.
• The article noted almost in passing that Aim High, a small middle school, is in management turmoil and its future is in question, and blamed "lack of support from the district." But the article didn’t mention the crucial fact that Aim High has not met its mandatory Adequate Yearly Progress targets. In assigning blame for the school’s problems to conflict with SFUSD, the article vaguely attributed the charge to "several people who have spoken to Aim High board members and executives" — indicating that the reporter had not spoken with Aim High officials himself but was merely repeating gossip, sourcing that falls far short of professional journalistic standards
• Aside from the measures already mentioned — such as the unverifiable claim about CAHSEE success and the methodologically irrelevant use of GPAs — the article relies entirely on the Similar Schools rank from California’s Academic Performance Index system. The API uses both a statewide absolute rank and the Similar Schools score, which attempts to control for demographics. The statewide rank is considered the essential one, with the validity of the Similar Schools rank continually debated. As one school superintendent (John Rieckewald, Fremont Unified) put it, the Similar Schools rank "is imperfect at best, because schools aren’t always compared to those that have the same demographic characteristics, the comparison schools can change yearly and the characteristics seem to be weighted differently. … Although interesting, the comparison rank is not as important to us as the API score itself." Statewide ranks dropped from 2004 to 2005 for both Aim High (from 3 to 2 on a 1-10 scale) and June Jordan (from 5 to 4).

We do not mean to disparage either June Jordan or Aim High, and we recognize that many students do well in a smaller, more personalized environment. But the San Francisco Weekly article is fatally flawed by the high number of errors, omissions and unsupported claims. Complete and accurate information refutes the implication that those small schools are resoundingly successful options in a world of struggling traditional schools, that they are turning away eager applicants, and that SFUSD is blindly ignoring their success by refusing to create more schools like them.

— Nestwife and Caroline

Similar schools and the chaos factor

I notice that the SF Weekly article which misleadingly portrayed two "small schools" as achieving superior performance on standardized tests, relied almost exclusively on the "similar schools" rankings of those schools for its "proof" of achievement. The similar schools rankings were removed from the California Department of Education (CDE) website in early April, and are being recalculated, due to the discovery that one criterion had been inadvertently left out. However, even if the recalculated rankings prove flattering to the two small schools in question, it was surprising to see anyone base a claim of "success" on the similar schools ranking alone. Most educators take these numbers with a grain of salt, not only because the measure has proved to be so flawed in the past (and this year’s snafu only reinforces that image), but also because of questions surrounding how "similar" the schools in any "similar schools" cohort really are to each other.

Pat McCabe, the CDE’s director of policy and evaluation, puts it this way:

"There's a lot of disgruntlement around the similar schools rank," he said. "A lot of it comes from people thinking that schools (on their lists of 100) ought to look like them."

McCabe said schools are grouped together because of the amount of challenges they face, even if the types of challenges are different.

To understand how schools which are grouped together as "similar" can actually be quite different from each other, it is necessary to understand how they came to be considered "similar" in the first place. Each school is assigned a School Characteristics Index (SCI) number, based on many factors, including student mobility, socioeconomic level, participation in various programs like gifted and talented (GATE) and migrant education, number of students with disabilities, race of students, and teacher credentials, among others. Each school is then grouped with the 50 schools whose SCI number is just above, and the 50 schools whose SCI number is just below, their own. The schools in this group are then resorted, based on each school’s API number, and are divided into deciles, with a ranking of 1 being the lowest. These decile rankings represent the "similar schools" ranking.

The "similar schools" ranking is at best a misnomer. As the CDE website explains, "Each school is unique; therefore, it is impossible to find similar schools that match in every way. In order to form large enough groups of similar schools for meaningful ranks, the procedure used for each SCI allows for some differences between schools."

An observer might believe that schools which "look" the same would be considered "similar", but this is not always the case.

Another school in the school district has similar students and almost exactly the same API score but a different "similar schools" rank. How can that be?

The SCIs are calculated using many demographic characteristics. Even if schools appear quite similar in some characteristics, they may differ with respect to others. Small differences in two school’s demographic characteristics can result in different SCIs and, therefore, in different groups of similar schools. If one school’s comparison group has a different range of API scores than the other school’s comparison group, the two schools’ ranks may differ.

Clearly, "similar schools" is a measure of something, I’m just not sure of what. Despite all of the CDE’s attempts to include more and more factors into the creation of the SCI, I still feel like they have overlooked a major factor in assessing how "similar" the challenges facing various schools really are. I think of it as "the chaos factor."

Chaos poses a challenge in the lives of so many children that I think it should be acknowledged as being as significant as race or mobility or family income level. Take, for example, two students who appear to be "similar" based on the factors currently used by the CDE. Both of them are the same race; both are considered to be of low socioeconomic status. Both speak English as their first language; neither one is disabled nor a participant in GATE or migrant education. Both come from families with similar parent education levels. However, one child lives with mom, dad, and younger sibling (or maybe with mom, grandma, and the sibling). One adult or the other picks the kids up at their free afterschool care program every evening by 5:45. The family eats dinner together every evening; the TV is turned off during homework time; the kids are in bed by 9:30. An adult attends at least one parent/teacher conference per year. The family has been in their current apartment for 15 years.

Now compare this to another child. This child is currently living with an auntie, but last year he lived 3 blocks away with grandma. Before that, he was with mom, but she is no longer able to care for him or his younger sibling. During the time he was with mom, the family lived in 3 different places in 4 years, but the child has remained at the same elementary school throughout. In the current home, the auntie provides dinner at night, sometime between 7 and 9 pm, depending on what time she gets home from work, and whether she had to stop at the store to buy food. The TV blares all the time; the kids set their own bedtime, as auntie collapses exhausted into her own bed right after dinner. No one has ever attended a parent/teacher conference. The report card comes in the mail, but it is never opened, and no one ever checks to see if homework is done.

By the CDE measures, these kids are "similar", but which one do you think has a better shot at success in school?

And lest anyone think that the chaos factor is limited to family stability, consider any child, from any socioeconomic group, who struggles with a learning disability. For the child who sees letters literally dancing across the page, or who looks at "23" but thinks "32", the internal landscape can be chaotic all the time, regardless of what his home life looks like. These kids too should be assigned a higher chaos score than the kid who lives next door, has an identical family life, but has no learning disability. Although this year, the CDE added "students with disabilities" to the list of characteristics to be used in computing the SCI, any parent with a child in special ed can tell you that it is a Herculean feat to get a child identified for special ed in many school districts, and that often children who clearly face challenges in this area are never officially identified by their school district at all.

Other students who would qualify for high "chaos" scores include those who have had a prolonged illness affecting their school attendance; those with a family member recently deceased; those with a family member with compromised health (for example, mother recently diagnosed with breast cancer, or sibling with life-threatening asthma); those who live in neighborhoods with high levels of gang activity, drug abuse, and gunfire; those who suffer from mental depression; those who have uncontrolled allergies; those with parents who have recently separated/divorced, or who have moved in with mom or dad's new significant other (or vice versa). Kids who have made bad choices (to drink, take drugs, have unprotected sex leading to teen pregnancy) have more chaotic lives than other kids; so do kids who are being abused. I am sure you can think of other examples too, but the number of kids in a school who are dealing with these issues is not considered when computing a school's SCI.

A parent who walks into their child’s kindergarten class on the first day of school can often spot the kid with the highest "chaos" score before even knowing any of the kids’ names. It is the boy who interrupts the teacher 6 times in the first 15 minutes, as she tries to get her 20 new students settled in a circle on the rug, or the girl who sits down on the rug, closes her eyes, and covers her ears, refusing to speak with anyone all day. These kids are going to need extra resources if they are to be successful in school, and having too many of them in any one school is going to pose a severe challenge to the school, one which does not show up on the SCI, and is not figured into the "similar schools" comparison. Schools which screen out kids with a high "chaos factor" can end up with a population of kids who look "similar" on an SCI table, but who are in fact far easier to educate, than the kids at another school.

Okay, I know I'm dreaming here, and there is no way to even get this kind of very personal information about kids and their families, let alone codify it into some kind of measurable chaos factor, and I realize that a student's "chaos score" might change from one year to the next, or even from one week to the next. But that doesn't mean that the chaos factor does not exist - I think it does. My point is, just because a table of "factors" indicates that two schools are facing "similar" challenges, or "similar numbers" of challenges, does not mean that the schools are really comparable in any meaningful way. Just as each child is unique, and comes to school with a unique set of advantages and disadvantages, so too is every school population unique. At best, the similar schools ranking is a crude measurement, one which compares schools which have some (but far from all) factors in common. It is one more statistic to look at when evaluating a school, but it would be irresponsible to use it as the sole, or even the most significant, measure of a school's success or failure.

Ed news round-up 5.8.2006

My latest survey of education stories from the print media. Once again I avoid both the ed blog and the specialized ed press world and focus on stories in the papers and magazines. Enjoy!

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• Private preschools skeptical of Prop. 82
• When you're put to the test
• Bills may clear way for more teachers
• New York Offers Housing Subsidy as Teacher Lure
• School board plans to dip into Prop. H funds
• Unions' Advice Is Failing Teachers
• In College Entrance Frenzy, a Lesson Out of Left Field
• Californians like more tests in their schools
• No more bogus school budgets
• Kids, TV: Calorie encounter
• Exit exam pass rate hits 89 percent
• Californians weigh merits of preschool for all
• Bottlers Agree to a School Ban on Sweet Drinks
• District Struggles to Remake School’s Image
• BUSD Maintenance Department in Disarray
• Board balks at $667,000 plan for school
• As Test-Taking Grows, Test-Makers Grow Rarer
• Bonds would funnel billions to education
• In a 529 Savings Plan, the Number to Watch May Be 2010
• How Bill Put the Fizz in the Fight Against Fat
• A Tale of Two Schools
• [Oakland] District pushing teachers to polls
• Teachers not alone in health care fight
• Editorial: Shut the spigot on school soda
• Judge says California exit exam is unfair

Private preschools skeptical of Prop. 82, SJMerc, 4/15

Some Montessori schools fear Proposition 82, dubbed the Preschool for All Act, would lead to state standards that could compromise their teaching methods and mixed-age classrooms. Faith-based preschools say they would be at a competitive disadvantage because the measure wouldn't fund schools that offer religious instruction. Others worry a requirement that teachers earn a bachelor's degree would drive them out of business.

When you're put to the test, Chron, 4/25

As sure as baseball being played at recess and poppies blooming nearby, springtime inside the classrooms at Malcolm X Academy in San Francisco's Hunters Point brings sweaty brows, Scantron sheets and No. 2 pencils worn to their nubs.

It's testing season for public school students around California, but at this struggling school situated among often-violent housing projects, the pressure is especially high.

Bills may clear way for more teachers
Legislation includes financial incentives to lure more quality instructors to struggling schools, Oakland Trib, 4/18

Lawmakers renewed their battle Monday against what the governor and many Californians also see as one of the state's most quietly pressing and persistent problems — the need to recruit and retain 100,000 new teachers over the next decade.

In fact, California needs more than to just recruit and retain teachers, but also to put many more quality teachers in schools serving the poor.

New York Offers Housing Subsidy as Teacher Lure, NYT, 4/19

New York City will offer housing subsidies of up to $14,600 to entice new math, science and special education teachers to work in the city's most challenging schools, in one of the most aggressive housing incentive programs in the nation to address a chronic shortage of qualified educators in these specialties.

School board plans to dip into Prop. H funds, Chron, 4/26

San Francisco middle and high school students will probably have to wait at least another year for more counselors and other services owed them under a 2004 initiative passed by city voters.

Unions' Advice Is Failing Teachers, LAT, 4/26

Some of the nation's largest teachers unions have joined forces with investment companies to steer their members into retirement plans with high expenses that eat away at returns.

In what might seem an unlikely partnership, the unions endorse investment providers, even specific products, and the companies reciprocate with financial support. They sponsor union conferences, advertise in union publications or make direct payments to union treasuries.

In College Entrance Frenzy, a Lesson Out of Left Field, NYTSelect, 4/26

The [college admissions] system is broken, even in the estimation of its participants, and it is so thoroughly broken in so many ways that counselors, students, parents and deans can agree on little else than that somebody is at fault — somebody, invariably, other than themselves. As professional baseball has belatedly tried to drain its own ethical swamp, the moral morass of high-stakes college admissions continues to be an object of regret instead of reform.

Californians like more tests in their schools, Chron, 4/27

A vast majority of Californians support not only the state's controversial high school exit exam but also the idea of requiring all students to pass a test before advancing to the next grade level, a new poll shows.

No more bogus school budgets, SFBG, 5/2

Spring means budget season at the San Francisco Unified School District.

Under the state Education Code, the SFUSD is required to present its proposed budget to the public. But each year the published budget leaves out the actual amounts of money that the district spent on each item in the previous year. It doesn't even include the past year's budgeted amount.

Kids, TV: Calorie encounter
Study finds more they watch, more they eat, Chicago Trib, 5/2

Children eat what they watch. That's the conclusion of yet another study of the effects of viewing television by children.

The more time elementary school students spend watching television, the more junk food they consume, a group of Harvard researchers reported in the April Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. For each hour in front of the TV, the kids consumed an average of 167 extra calories, about what's in a McDonald's ice-cream cone or four Chicken McNuggets.

Exit exam pass rate hits 89 percent, SJMerc, 5/4

Nearly 7,000 additional California seniors passed the state's newly required high school exit exam in February, bringing the class of 2006 to an 89 percent pass rate on the high-stakes test, state Superintendent Jack O'Connell announced today in San Jose.

Californians weigh merits of preschool for all, CSM, 5/4

Supporters [of Prop 82] hope that if voters pass Proposition 82, some 550,000 4-year-olds who live in California would have a chance to go to school. Currently, 1 in 5 children in the state attends school before kindergarten. However, the initiative, which was once popular with residents, is losing voter support amid a disagreement over which children would benefit.

Bottlers Agree to a School Ban on Sweet Drinks, NYT 5/4

The country's top three soft-drink companies announced yesterday that beginning this fall they would start removing sweetened drinks like Coke, Pepsi and iced teas from school cafeterias and vending machines in response to the growing threat of lawsuits and state legislation.

District Struggles to Remake School’s Image, Berkeley Daily Planet, 5/5

Grappling with an identity that, in the past, has included pejoratives like "dumping grounds," "pre-prison," and "a place for bad kids," Berkeley’s Alternative High School is due for a systemic overhaul, administrators say.

That revamp, in the form of a continuation school with a 21st century name, has arrived. Berkeley Technology Academy, or B-Tech as it would be called, would offer courses to the district’s 16- to 18-year-olds who don’t fit in elsewhere, whether due to truancy, academic performance, spotty attendance or other reasons.

BUSD Maintenance Department in Disarray, Berkeley Daily Planet, 5/5

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) Maintenance Department is in need of repair.

The office suffers from major disorganization and a lack of accountability, according to Lew Jones, BUSD director of facilities, who recently assumed control of the department.

Board balks at $667,000 plan for school, SF Examiner, 5/5

A proposal to spend $667,000 for temporary classrooms for an overcrowded Twin Peaks school has drawn criticism from some school board members concerned that other underenrolled schools are being closed to save money.

With 574 students, Rooftop Elementary, the No. 1 requested elementary school for incoming kindergarten families for the 2006-07 school year, is over its permanent classroom capacity of 402 by 143 percent.

As Test-Taking Grows, Test-Makers Grow Rarer, NYT, 5/5

A result is a peculiar outcome of the No Child Left Behind act. Psychometrics, one of the most obscure, esoteric and cerebral professions in America, is also one of the hottest.

These experts are needed in virtually every aspect of developing, administering and scoring exams, from deciding what test will best measure certain skills to drawing up questions and answer sheets. Doctoral programs are producing at most 50 graduates a year in the field.

Bonds would funnel billions to education, SJMerc, 5/6

Public K-12 schools and universities would receive a $10.4 billion infusion of cash they could spend on campus construction, modernization and energy conservation if voters pass the education portion of the proposed public-works bond package heading for the November ballot.

In a 529 Savings Plan, the Number to Watch May Be 2010, NYT, 5/7

So it is worth asking just how good 529 plans would be without that special tax treatment. Does it still make sense to open an account today if you end up paying taxes on withdrawals after 2010?

How Bill Put the Fizz in the Fight Against Fat, Time, 5/7

Slimmed down and scared straight after his bypass surgery, Clinton brokers a deal to get sugary drinks out of schools. And that's only the beginning

Who knew Clinton played a role in this?

A Tale of Two Schools, Time, 5/7

Early intervention in a well-run program is the key to helping autistic children reach their potential. A close-up look at two approaches

[Oakland] District pushing teachers to pollsOakland Tribune, 5/8

OAKLAND — The state-run Oakland school district is encouraging teachers to turn out for Wednesday's contract vote in the hope that greater attendance at the polls will help pass the tentative agreement and prevent a strike.

Teachers not alone in health care fight, Oakland Tribune, 5/8

This week, Oakland's teachers will vote on whether they are willing to share the burden of some of their health insurance costs — a contentious issue that brought them to the brink of strike several weeks ago.

It is an increasingly common scenario, and experts say the heated debate on who should pay for the benefits is only escalating across industries.

Editorial: Shut the spigot on school soda, Chron, 5/8

Without being forced to do so, many California school districts, including some of the state's largest such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, have already moved aggressively to eliminate soda and junk foods from their schools. They've somehow survived the shock of the transition.

Other wavering school districts should do the same. Three more years of consuming high-calorie drinks -- in or out of the classroom -- will only add to the problem of childhood obesity in California.

Judge says California exit exam is unfair
Final ruling today could halt plans to deny diplomas, Chron, 5/9

A judge in Oakland struck down California's controversial high school exit exam Monday, issuing a tentative ruling suggesting the test is unfair to some students who are shortchanged by substandard schools.

If finalized, the unexpected ruling would block the state from carrying out its plan to deny diplomas for the first time to tens of thousands of seniors who have been unable to pass the exit exam.

KC's Best of the Carnival, #65

Another week, another Carnival of Education, and another of my sporadic attempts to pick my favorite links among this carnival's offerings.

I know I'm looking forward to the day when my teenager gets a job. But this article might make me rethink the idea.
When teens have jobs, schoolwork suffers:

But could it be that after school jobs are bad for kids, lowering their grades, affecting their behavior and in some cases even forcing teachers to lower their expectations?

The carnival finds one homeschooler using the site, Science of Cooking, for their curriculum. Looks promising.

The Political Calculations blog posted a table comparing teacher salaries to average wages by state with the stated intention of finding out where teachers do well. I'm skeptical. Yes, California is once again neck-and-neck with Mississippi, but the resulting ranking of states is pretty random.

To expell or not to expell… is a thought provoking case study about the expulsion of a special ed student over the objection of the school's staff.

Here is a Social Studies teacher who reacted to the appalling National Geographic survey of geography skills by doing something about it. Cool. Anyone know if there are geography classes offered in any SF high schools? Or is it supposed to be covered within the Social Studies curriculum?

Errors in SFWeekly article on small schools

The May 3, 2006, S.F. Weekly published an article, "A Study in Size" by Ryan Blitstein, about small schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. The article contained a number of factual errors. Those inaccuracies are described below.

• The article’s statement that "there are no other small-by-design schools in the district" (aside from those mentioned in the article) is incorrect. SFUSD opened the non-charter Academy of Arts & Sciences (500 Portola Drive, a separate school sharing the School of the Arts campus) in fall 2005 with 80 9th-graders. It is slated to expand by 80 students per year to grades 9-12. The small-schools advocates quoted in the article are not involved in that school.
• The article misinterprets enrollment-application statistics, misusing them to imply inaccurately that there were more applicants than seats at the June Jordan School for Equity. The reporter failed to mention that applicants can (and are encouraged to) list, in ranked order, several schools on their enrollment applications. Seventy-seven applicants listed June Jordan as their first choice for fall 2006, with 100 openings available. Past outcomes show that most applicants who listed June Jordan as a lower-ranked choice will enroll at higher-ranked choices, as is the case with any school except the few that are most heavily requested. The number of first-choice requests for June Jordan did rise from fall 2005, with 52 first-choice requests for the 100 openings, but still amounts to fewer first-choice requests than openings. Every high school in the district had more total requests than openings for fall 2006 except for two brand-new programs (Gloria R. Davis Middle School’s expansion to 9th grade and Mission High School’s new Spanish immersion program).
• The article makes inaccurate statements about Balboa High School. It inaccurately asserts that Balboa has used a "small learning communities" design for only one year, when actually it began that design in fall 2000. It states that Balboa’s test scores have risen 11 percent in that one year, inaccurately implying a sudden increase. Actually, Balboa’s test scores have risen an average of 11 percent per year for the past four years, a total gain of more than 44 percent in four years.
• The article inaccurately states: "In San Francisco and elsewhere, autonomous schools like June Jordan have generally performed better than small learning communities like those at Mission High." Test scores do not support that assertion. While June Jordan students test higher in some areas than Mission's, they do not score higher than Balboa students, who also have small learning communities. At June Jordan in spring 2005 (the most recent test scores available), on the California Standards Test’s English language section, 27 percent of June Jordan 9th-graders and 39 percent of Balboa 9th-graders tested "proficient" or "advanced." Tenth- graders' English scores were close, with 25 percent of June Jordan students and 23 percent of Balboa students testing at proficient/advanced, but Balboa's 10th graders outscored June Jordan's on the world history CST, 23 percent proficient/advanced (Balboa) to 16 percent (June Jordan).
• The article inaccurately states that John O’Connell High School has raised its test scores since becoming a Dream School. John O’Connell became a Dream School beginning in fall 2005, and no test scores are available yet for the 2005-’06 school year – standardizing testing was done at the end of April, and scores won’t be available until at least midsummer.
• The article states that June Jordan students "outperformed 80 percent of the state’s similar schools on standardized tests," and that Balboa outperformed only 20 percent. The statement appears to be based on the state’s Department of Education’s Similar Schools ranking, but the Department of Education has announced an error in calculating those rankings and has withdrawn all Similar Schools rankings statewide for recalculation. There would be no other source for that information, so the claim is based on information that has been declared invalid by its source.

We’ll be posting further commentary on misconceptions and misunderstandings in the article.

— Nestwife and Caroline

The return of school photoblogging: Leonard R. Flynn ES

Beautiful spring day, brand new camera, what a perfect time to return to our photoblogging series. Last time we mentioned Leonard R. Flynn ES was when they hosted an open house for their new library / media center. Today we feature one of the amazing murals that adorn the school. This one facing towards Precita Park. I also shot a few other murals that deserve to be featured in some future photoblogging post. Enjoy!

Yahoo Groups service issues

The SfSchools list has been taken hostage by yahoo groups service issues. As a moderator I can see that people are posting messages to the group, but they are not appearing. In case any list members are checking here, that's why the list is so quiet. It ain't me being a nosy moderator!

Yahoo groups' service has been terribly unreliable recently. We've had many cases where messages take more than an hour to post—nothing new there. But recently we've seen cases were messages are held in limbo for more than a day. Very strange and very frustrating. The time to move off Yahoo may have arrived…

Charter school accused of discrimination

This short article portrays a charter school doing what some charter advocates heatedly deny — shoving out low achievers (whom they then dump into other district schools, after which they proclaim themselves superior to those very schools). Also note that this charter was forced into an unwilling school district against its will, which has become standard practice for charters.

And this is High Tech High, a chain that's being showered with worshipful praise far and wide.

San Mateo Times 5/4/06
School accused of discrimination
High Tech High Bayshore asked failing Latino pupils to leave, report says
By T.S. Mills-Faraudo, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

REDWOOD SHORES — High numbers of Latino students leaving High Tech High Bayshore in Redwood City suggest the charter school has discriminatory practices, according to a report from the County Office of Education.

The scathing report, presented to the County Board of Education Wednesday, says that a disproportionate number of Latino students, many of whom are learning English, were asked to leave the school because they were not passing their classes and did not want to attend summer school or repeat a grade.

The county was prompted to conduct an investigation after the Sequoia Union High School District provided a list of 13 students who made complaints about the school.

It revealed that of the 38 students who have left the school in the last two semesters, 31 were Hispanic, 30 left for academic reasons and 18 were learning English. The school's current enrollment is about 180 students.

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The County Board of Education, the school's current chartering agency, voted Wednesday to send the report, as well as a letter, to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education, which will take over the school's charter on July 1. Furthermore, the board agreed to ask the school to make a number of changes, including clarifying their academic expectations for students. If the school doesn't make these changes, several board members said they would consider revoking the charter, even though it expires at the end of June.

"I'm going to get very emotional about this issue, because there is this particular community that's not getting served," board member Memo Morantes said to High Tech High Bayshore director Joe Feldman. "You're not giving them an opportunity at your school to succeed."

But Feldman insists they do not ask students to leave for academic reasons. If they are not passing, he said they simply give the students the option to go to summer school or repeat a year. And if those choices don't work forthem, he suggests they might be better off at another school.

"It's not a forced choice. It's an authentic choice," he said.

The report also said the school does not clearly indicate to students that they must receive a C or better and give a presentation to pass a class.

While these expectations were not in the student handbook, Feldman said they were included in letters sent home to parents. Morantes noted that the letters given to Spanish-speaking families were not translated correctly.

Furthermore, the report lambasted the school for the way it educates its English learners. For example, it said the school does not monitor the progress of English learners, and no locally developed curriculum is being used.

But Feldman said their school has a different philosophy for how these students should be taught.

"We know the traditional method for teaching English learners has not been successful, and we're trying something different," he said.

San Carlos Board of Education Trustee Mark Olbert told the county school board members that they were fooled into agreeing to charter High Tech High Bayshore for a year.

"I hope that you make it clear to the State Board of Education that something isn't right at High Tech High," he said.

Staff writer T.S. Mills-Faraudo covers education. She can be reached at (650) 348-4338 or tmills@sanmateocountytimes.com.

SfSchools weekly calendar

Here are the upcoming events on the SfSchools Calendar:

Saturday, May 6

Special Preview of Pixar's CARS for 826 Valencia

6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Pixar Animation Studios, 1200 Park Avenue, Emeryville

826 Valencia and Pixar Studios invite you to attend an exclusive preview of Pixar's newest film, CARS, and enter a world where race cars are athletes, restaurants are gas stations, and getting lost off the highway can lead you right where you belong.

Special fundraiser for 826 Valencia. Price $150++
Dinner Reception at 6:00pm
Film at 7:30pm

Tuesday, May 9

San Francisco Public Defender'S Juvenile Justice Summit

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Koret Auditorium in the SF Main Public Library 100 Larkin St.

This year's summit, "Multi-Cultural Youth Empowerment in Juvenile Justice," is free.

For info and to RSVP, contact Lori Flowers at Lori.Flowers@sfgov.org or 415/753-8107.

SFSV Volunteer Discussion Group

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

505 Van Ness Ave (one block from SFSV's offices)

SFSV wants to hear your opinions. Please joing us on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 between 6:00pm- 8:00pm @ 505 Van Ness Ave (one block from SFSV's offices). We'll provide dinner and a forum for your feedback.

If you would like to RSVP visit http://www.sfsv.org/Prg_VolDiscussion_RSVP_May06.html

BOE Regular Meeting

7:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Everett Middle School

Regularly scheduled meeting. Check SFUSD web site to confirm and to review the agenda

Wednesday, May 10

SF Ed Fund Spring Showcase

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

The North Light Court, San Francisco City Hall

The San Francisco Education Fund is proud to showcase the exceptional teacher-led public school projects of 2005-2006 and to share such inspiring work with the public. The event will include presentations by more than fifty teams of teachers who received an Ed Fund grant, a performance by the Galileo High School SOL Arts Project, a conversation with our Golden Apple Award winners, and an appearance by Acting Superintendent Gwen Chan. We hope to see you there!

More info at: http://www.sfedfund.org/rsvp/

Thursday, May 11

Coleman Advocates City Budget Monthly Meeting

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Coleman Advocates, 459 Vienna St.

Join the Budget 4 Families Campaign

more info at: http://www.colemanadvocates.org
and http://tinyurl.com/mdbx4

BOE Curriculum and Program Committee Meeting

High praise for Lowell journalism

Craig of craigslist fame writes in his blog:
hey, here's a really good example, about the future of newspapers, as good as anything I've seen, on the Lowell High School site:

The Lowell: In an increasingly tech-savvy world, what lies ahead for print media?

Thank a Teacher Today Campaign

The following invitation was posted to the sfschools list:

Parents For Public Schools has joined the San Francisco Education Fund, DonorsChoose, and others to promote the Thank a Teacher Today Campaign during the month of May 2006. The campaign encourages everyone in San Francisco to take a moment during the month and throughout the year to personally thank teachers and let them know that we recognize and appreciate their dedication and hard work on behalf of our City¡¦s young people.

Research shows that in improving a student's academic achievement, the quality of teaching may matter more than any other factor. However, recruiting and retaining quality teachers remains an ongoing challenge facing San Francisco public schools, especially in its lower-performing schools. One solution to attract and keep quality teachers in our schools is to recognize them for the professional work that they do.

During the month of May, we invite the public to participate in three easy ways to show their appreciation for teachers:

1. Thank teachers by sending a handwritten note, an email, or an e-card.
2. Donate to bring a teacher's idea to life. Double gifts of $10 or more and help meet the San Francisco Challenge in which Bank of America and other DonorsChoose partners will match all donations to eligible teacher classroom projects dollar for dollar during May. Through the San Francisco Education Fund, donors can support ongoing professional development and leadership opportunities for San Francisco public school teachers.
3. Share your story about a favorite teacher at www.ThankATeacherToday.org

To learn more about the campaign, get involved, or honor teachers right now, please visit the Thank a Teacher Today website at www.ThankATeacherToday.org.

And while you're at it, you may as well give the same testimonial to the folks at 826 Valencia who sponsor a teacher of the month award noted here and here.

Geographic ignorance

In what it becoming a semi annual embarrassment, the National Geogrphic Society has released the results of another survey highlighting just how woefully ignorant Americans are about geography. The results are getting lots of press, as they always do. CNN has this article, the Chron is running this one. But to get the true measure of how dismal these findings are, let's take a look at how it is being reported in the Independent UK, Six out of 10 young Americans cannot find Iraq on a map:

The US may be the world's only true superpower but global domination does not equal global knowledge. A new survey shows young Americans have what can only be described as shoddy geography skills, with six out of 10 unable to locate Iraq on a map and almost half incapable of pointing to the state of Mississippi.

The breadth and depth of our ignorance is really astonishing. I was blown away by the fact that 88 percent of the test takers could not locate Afghanistan on a map of Asia. The Independent picks out the following for special ridicule:

The survey, carried out in December 2005, also found fewer than three in 10 think it is important to know the locations of countries in the news; only 14 per cent believe another language is a necessary skill; 47 per cent could not find India on a map and 75 per cent could not locate Israel.

The National Geogrphic Society has published a website for a campaign related to this survey, My WonderfulWorld. You can tes your geography skills on their site on this page. I tried my hand at the sample questions from their survey and was surprised to be stumped by one or two of the questions. I plan to send my kids to the site to see how they do.

Update2: MyWonderfulWorld domain problem fixed.!

Update: there appears to be a problem with the "My Wonderful World" domain registration! How embarrassing.

A day without immigrants -- and no students too!

© seasmusfurr

Lots of blog coverage of yesterday's march in SF. As usual, the crowd size estimate of 30,000 seems utterly wrong.

© ronwired

Check out Eric Mar's post that notes the active participation by SFUSD teachers and students. My high schooler was among them, as were most of her friends.

© ronwired

The Chron also notes the impact on many school systems in California in this article.

© ronwired

For more coverage and lots of excellent photos, check out Boing Boing, Left in SF, Julie Ruvulo, and a whole bunch of photos on Flickr, where I found the images you see.

UESF: 95% Vote to Ratify Contract

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