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November 20, 2015

 Just News from Center X


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November 20, 2015

Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

 

Louis Freedberg, EdSource

California registered voters regard the emerging shortage of K-12 teachers as a very serious problem and think that the state should be taking decisive action to rectify the situation, according to a poll commissioned by EdSource and the Learning Policy Institute.

http://edsource.org/2015/california-voters-say-state-must-take-action-to-address-teacher-shortage/90540

 

Sonali Kohli, Los Angeles Times

By the time teachers understood the magnitude of Friday’s terror attacks on Paris, school was over, or close to it. So students throughout Southern California came to school Monday morning with a few questions.

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/community/la-me-edu-teachers-paris-20151116-story.html

 

John Fensterwald, EdSource

A team of researchers found that, two years into the state’s new school financing law, “nagging concerns” are tempering the enthusiasm that school districts and county offices of education have for the Local Control Funding Formula.

http://edsource.org/2015/brown-urged-to-reaffirm-the-vision-of-funding-law-lcap/90624

 

Language, Culture, and Power

 

 

Sandra L. Osorio, Rethinking Schools

I was sitting around a kidney-shaped table with Alejandra, Juliana, and Lucia, 2nd graders who had chosen to read Del Norte al Sur (From North to South) by René Colato Laínez. I read the book’s introduction out loud, which included the word deportado (deported). I asked my students: “¿Qué es deportar? ¿Ustedes saben qué significa?” (What is deported? Do you know what it means?) Lucia looked straight at me and said, “Como a mi tío lo deportaron”. (Like my uncle, they deported him.)

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/30_01/30-1_osorio.shtml

 

Leslie Berestein Rojas, KPCC

Like many of her clients, Palazzolo would like to enter her son in dual-immersion classes, in which native-speaker kids learn along with non-native speakers. But these can be hard to get into, Palazzolo said. Some school districts don't have them. In the end, much is up to the parents.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/11/17/55696/teaching-spanish-to-the-kids-isn-t-easy-for-second/

 

Virginia Pelley, The Atlantic

A study published this month in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that anti-bullying efforts, including laws many states have passed in the past five years, appear to be helping the 20 percent of kids in the U.S. who say they’ve been bullied in the past 12 months.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/11/anti-bullying-movement-schools/415398/

Access, Assessment, and Advancement

 

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC

Driven by the end of the high school exit exam, the overall graduation rate for the Los Angeles Unified School District hit 74 percent, a new high, according to school district officials on Monday.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/11/17/55689/elimination-of-high-school-exit-exams-leads-to-ris/

 

Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs and an important player in the funding of hotly debated education reforms in the U.S., is expanding her involvement in Los Angeles schools. Her organization, College Track, announced last week it will support dozens of students attending Jordan High School in Watts through a program designed to help them prepare for college and then earn a degree.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-laurene-powell-jobs-program-in-watts-20151115-story.html

 

RAND

This report focuses on educator perspectives about state testing programs; upcoming reports will also address teacher capacity and the supports provided to teachers to implement standards and assessments.

 

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1294.html

 

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

 

Ras Baraka, The Hechinger Report

In the 21st century, meeting every child where they are requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses their social and health needs, embraces the cultural diversity they bring to school, ensures they have the opportunities they deserve, and supports school leaders and staff, all while engaging our children in critical thinking and learning.

http://hechingerreport.org/dedicated-teachers-cant-provide-the-whole-answer-says-newarks-mayor/

 

Meg Anderson, NPR

Ask yourself this question: Were you aware of inequality growing up? Your answer may depend in part on where you went to high school. Students at racially diverse schools, particularly black and Hispanic students, are more tuned in to injustice than students going to school mostly with kids that look like them.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/11/14/454858044/your-school-shapes-how-you-think-about-inequality

 

Mario Koran, Voice of San Diego

In 1977, a Superior Court judge found 23 San Diego Unified schools to be so racially isolated they deprived black and Latino students’ equal rights to a quality education. He ordered the district to desegregate its schools. Nearly 40 years later, with one possible exception, Latino and black students are isolated at every school left on the original list.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/segregation-in-city-schools-could-get-worse-with-new-strategy/

 

Public Schools and Private $

 

Pedro Noguera, EdSource

The proposal by the Broad Foundation to significantly increase the number of charter schools in Los Angeles over the next 10 years is being discussed and scrutinized by policymakers and the general public. It should be. If approved by the school board, the proposal could radically alter the face of public education in Los Angeles.

http://edsource.org/2015/l-a-charter-debate-offers-opportunity-to-devise-ways-to-ensure-all-schools-succeed/90504

 

Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

Backers of a plan to greatly expand successful charters and other high-quality public schools in the Los Angeles area have formed a nonprofit organization to move the effort forward, The Times has learned.

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-charter-nonprofit-20151118-story.html

 

Zahira Torres, Los Angeles Times

Converting the nation’s second-largest school system into an all-charter district is a long-shot—one that requires state approval and support from a majority of teachers. But members of the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education said they were exploring all options -- even those that are unlikely -- as the district contends with a charter school expansion plan spearheaded by the Broad Foundation. 

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-unified-all-charter-district-20151116-story.html

 

 

Other News of Note

  

Lauren Camera, US News & World Report

The House and Senate are poised to consider an overhaul of No Child Left Behind in the coming weeks, setting up the possibility of delivering a new law to the president's desk before the New Year.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/13/congress-poised-to-consider-no-child-left-behind-rewrite

 

Just News from Center X will be taking off the Thanksgiving holiday.  
Look for our next roundup on December 4th.


Just News from Center X is a free weekly education news blast edited by Jenn Ayscue.


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