I traveled to Washington, D.C. last week with State Board President Ken Noonan and Education Secretary Alan Bersin to meet with U.S. Department of Education officials and key Congressional members in our continuing effort to convince the federal government to allow for harmonization California's accountability system with what is required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) - specifically, to press for a growth (or index) metric for determining school improvement, such as our API. I felt the conversations were productive and certainly occurred at a most crucial time. As you know, NCLB is up for Congressional reauthorization next year and we have before us a tremendous opportunity to have our concerns as well as our proposals heard. We know of the significant impact NCLB has had on our schools -- it has put an immense burden on California, as well as other states. While we all share the goals enumerated in NCLB, I truly believe that there is room for flexibility and improvement. I believe there are ways to harmonize the AYP and the API so that they complement each other. And as we begin the reauthorization process, I will call on you to join in these negotiations and debates. We must not abandon the noble goals of NCLB, but we must advocate changes to the law to allow these goals to be met more realistically and more productively. I will hold a series of public meetings this month to solicit your ideas, to learn about your implementation challenges and to take testimony on how the law can be improved. Look for details of those hearings soon.
I am happy to report that the 1st District Court of Appeal on Friday reaffirmed the California High School Exit Exam. A three-judge panel rejected a second challenge to the CAHSEE that claimed alternatives to the test weren't conducted in timely manner. The ruling is yet another affirmation that the CAHSEE is here to stay. I urge students in the class of 2006 who have yet to pass not to give up on themselves or their educations. I ask school districts to help these students find opportunities to study this fundamental material so they can successfully pass this crucial test.
The recent settlement of a lawsuit between California consumers and Microsoft Corporation will provide approximately $400 million for schools where at least 40 percent of students are economically disadvantaged to purchase education technology, including computer hardware and software, and provide training in the use of technology in the classroom. Our computers are showing their age. In fact, 62 percent of computers in California schools are more than three years old - practically ancient in computer years. So I urge all districts to apply for the Education Technology K-12 Voucher Program by accessing the Request for Application (RFA) on the CDE Web site: RFA: Education Technology K-12 Voucher. All districts with eligible schools that successfully complete the application will be funded. In recognition of district staffing and time constraints, the CDE has streamlined the application process to maximize district and school participation. As a result, the RFA is very simple and designed to take only about 15 minutes to complete.
We had some ups and downs this year at the Capitol. I was very disappointed with the lack of Senate support for three bills I sponsored that were specifically designed to help students struggling to pass the California High School Exit Exam. These bills (AB 2532, AB 2163, and AB 1570) would have guaranteed these students a place in the California public school system. Despite the Senate's failure to pass these bills, I continue to believe that our schools have a moral obligation to work with students in the class of 2006 and beyond who have not passed the exit exam. I expect all districts to do everything possible to find an appropriate placement that will help these students continue with their education.
Legislators also failed to approve a measure that would have brought California into compliance with NCLB requirements for testing English learners. AB 1483 by Assembly member Juan Arambula (D-Fresno) would have conformed California law to the federal requirement by requiring the inclusion of early literacy in the California English Language Development Test assessment of English learners in kindergarten and first grade. Now more than $25 million in federal education funding for California is at risk.
I was very pleased, however, with the success of AB 172 by Assembly member Wilma Chan, which expands preschool opportunities for children at California's lowest-performing schools. And I also applaud similar success of SB 638, which will help schools expand and improve the quality of before and after school programs.
Here's a brief rundown of some of the other successful legislation I sponsored during the session:
SB 1383, by state Senator Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), extends the Cal Grant application deadline for students who pass the exit exam administered in July and in the fall. This measure ensures that no student who has worked hard to prepare for college will be denied that opportunity because of lack of financial resources. I want to thank Senator Ortiz for her hard work on this bill and for her commitment to opening the doors to college for all students."
SB 472, by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara), reauthorizes the law that provides incentive funding to local education agencies to offer high-quality teacher professional development programs, commonly called AB 466 training. This new law will allow California to continue to provide high quality professional development for all reading and math teachers. We need to do more to ensure that every student in every school has a well trained teacher. This measure is a vital step in that direction.
AB 2448, by Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), increases accountability and monitoring of Regional Occupational Centers and Programs. Students stay engaged in school when they can see the real work connection to what they are learning. Regional Occupational Centers play an important role in helping students learn through hands on experience. This law will help focus our centers on providing rigorous and relevant programs that serve high school students.
Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and I met at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento on Constitution Day along with several other partners in education to announce a very exciting venture: the Student Voting Project. This is a bipartisan effort to increase student knowledge about the democratic principles and processes in order to address a growing concern about waning student engagement in civic and governmental affairs. Our young people need to become involved and enthusiastic and excited about the election process, about the U.S. Constitution, about the fundamental rights that they enjoy everyday. California was once among the leaders in youth voting. In 1972, 63 percent of eligible young people voted, putting us fourth in the country. In 2004, only 45 percent of California youth turned out, dropping us into a three-way tie for 22nd among the states. The Student Voting Project has two programs to encourage civic education and involvement. The first project celebrates Constitution Day, an observance required under a 2005 federal mandate to "hold an educational program on the United States Constitution." Second, the Student Voting Project is conducting a Student Mock Election on October 24 to familiarize young people with the elections process. Students will have the opportunity to make their choices known for U.S. Senate, Governor, and state propositions. To date, about 300 schools in California have signed up for this program. The results of the mock election will be available online at the Secretary of State's Web site (Outside Source).
I want to extend some well-deserved congratulations: Thirty-one California public schools were named 2006 No Child Left Behind (NCLB)-Blue Ribbon Schools. These schools worked hard to make significant gains in academic achievement, and I wish them continued success.
And I would like to congratulate four outstanding California teachers who have been selected by a national panel as state finalists for the 2006 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. They are Mariana Alwell from Cupertino Union School District and Tapp Hancock from Bakersfield City Unified School District, who are state mathematics finalists, and Debi Drab from Long Beach Unified School District, and Anne Marie Wotkyns, from Los Angeles Unified School District, who are state science finalists.
Honoring Teachers
This month Highlights honors San Mateo County Teacher of the Year David Marks, who teaches science and is the AVID coordinator at Sequoia Union High School District in Redwood City, where he has taught since 2000.
On the first day in the classroom, Mr. Marks hung up a hand-written poster that says simply: "This is important. Never give up. You can do it." He lives by these three short sentences and so do his students. "This motto sums up my educational philosophy," he says. "I could not perform my job if I did not wholeheartedly believe in this idea."
His students take some convincing at first, but they soon learn that everyone in the class is respected regardless of background or academic standing, and many former "slackers" find themselves caught up in his enthusiasm and love of all things science.
Hannah M. had Mr. Marks for science in her freshman year. Science had always been her worst subject - but that year, it became her favorite. "He always told funny stories that related to the science lesson we learned that day, and that always made the class ten times more fun," she says. "He was always nice to everyone, despite other kids' reputation or differences. Even if kids weren't the nicest or smartest in class, he would treat them with respect."
Mr. Marks earned dual bachelor of arts degrees, one in biology and the other in environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He spent summers working as a field biologist in Wyoming and an environmental educator in New Hampshire and learned Spanish in a semester living in Costa Rica while working on a farm. He received a master's in multicultural education at San Francisco State University. In 1997, he became a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda where he taught high school biology at Kigezi Secondary School. "Environmental education was new to the teachers and schoolchildren, and they were skeptical at first, but I soon had children working in make-shift tree nurseries and going on field trips to observe the wildlife in their own backyard."
Afterward, Mr. Marks joined AmeriCorps and taught in some of the toughest public schools in Boston, where despite the many challenges, he discovered that being a teacher "was my destiny."
A colleague said of him: "David's strongest professional merit is his ability to motivate all students. Any visitor to any of his classes on any day of the year will be moved by his seemingly natural ability to create the perfect balance of a challenging yet safe learning environment."
Mr. Marks changes his own teaching style in order to cater to his students' particular learning styles. "I see each student, regardless of how they dress, talk, act, and write as a learner, not a possible learner." And he is generously compensated: "(It is) rewarding to have students who dread science at the beginning of the year leave my class with excitement and anticipation of learning chemistry or physics in the coming year."
After School Partnerships Office
Superintendent O'Connell released the After School Education and Safety (ASES) requests for applications (RFA) on September 26, 2006, to provide $550 million in state funding for after school programs. The $550 million is comprised of $428 million provided by Proposition 49, an initiative that was sponsored by then-private citizen Arnold Schwarzenegger and passed by the voters in 2002, and other state funding totaling about $122 million.
The ASES program provides funding for local education agencies (LEA), cities counties, or nonprofit organizations in partnership with a LEA to collaborate with community partners and provide after school programs for children and youth in kindergarten and grades one through nine. Every public elementary, middle, and junior high school in California is eligible to apply for funding. Programs are created through partnerships between schools and local community resources to provide literacy, academic enrichment, and safe, constructive alternatives for students.
Applications are due to the CDE by November 3, 2006. The RFA, a narrated PowerPoint information session, necessary forms, applications, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available on the CDE Web site at the After School Education and Safety Web site. If you need assistance, please contact CDE's After School Partnerships Office at 916-319-0923. For more information about ASES, please visit the After School Education & Safety Program Web site.
Making the Most of Food Commodities - Food Distribution Program
CDE provides cost-effective and high-quality services for school food service operations through the Food Distribution Program's (FDP) warehouse distribution centers. CDE is committed to keeping our delivery and storage costs low and services high in order to offer cost-effective services to assist in stretching valuable cafeteria fund monies to cover as many other pressing needs as possible. As part of this commitment to solid and ever-improving service, CDE has invested up to $700,000 in new equipment and upgrades in its warehouse distribution centers, and are about to invest another $500,000 that was sought and received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) specifically for this purpose. A letter will soon be sent out specifying the different services provided through our warehouse distribution centers, and will summarize the four methods that FDP uses to distribute USDA donated commodities: 1. State Food Distribution Warehouse, 2. State Co-operative, 3. Direct Shipment, and 4. Private Co-operative. The FDP also offers storage and delivery options, even if you choose to use a commercial entity for delivery services.
If you would like to participate in the state co-operative, you must notify the FDP by December 1, 2006. A private co-operative must provide the FDP a final list of participating member agencies also by the December 1 deadline. If you need more information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact: Marina Villapando, Commodity Distribution Unit Nutrition Services Division, 916-324-0577.
The 2006 Budget Act and Related Legislation
The CDE Fiscal and Administrative Services Division and Fiscal Resources Office annual review of actions taken in the newly enacted budget has been posted on the CDE Internet site. This document provides a decidedly fiscal perspective on issues related to the state's 2006-07 budget, but also provides a concise summary of major changes to programs brought about through the Budget Act, budget trailer bills, and other related actions.
The 2006 Budget Act and Related Legislation is meant to provide an overview of information, which will clearly be supplemented by the additional detail that the department provides to LEAs and the public through posting of funding profiles on CDE's Funding Web site to see funding profiles for projected funding that have been posted) or through additional program communications with the field.
We hope that this information is helpful to you and that you will share the document with your networks. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your division's analyst in the CDE Budget Office, Chief Budget Officer Carol Bingham or Gerry Shelton, director of Fiscal and Administrative Services Division.
California School for the Blind
The California School for the Blind (CSB) has produced several innovative products to benefit teachers of the blind and their students in our state and the nation. Here are three such examples.
- Braille/print reading assessment - CSB assessment specialist Lizbeth Barclay has produced a DVD demonstrating curriculum-based assessment of reading for blind and visually impaired students. She clearly demonstrates how one may choose between Braille, large print or regular print with magnification as reading media. The DVD will be available on the CSB Web site as soon as minor edits are completed. Prior to being made public, university personnel preparation program professors have already requested copies.
- Assessment of Learning Media (ALM) - Recently posted on CSB's Web site is our newly revised ALM. Dr. Julie Manning, CSB's Outcomes Coordinator, led the effort to produce an improved instrument to assess children's learning media. By using this new instrument, teachers and parents can turn their observations about children's sensory strengths and needs into data that will drive critical decisions for the instructional strategies that will optimize each child's learning.
- The CSB student-operated business, the Lucky Touch Fortune Cookie Company, which is the only producer of Braille and large print fortune cookies, will be featured in a documentary about fortune cookies in the San Francisco Asian Film Festival and at a film festival in Los Angeles.
Checklists for Pandemic Influenza
The CDE and the California Department of Health Services have collaborated to develop two checklists to help prepare for pandemic influenza-one for child care agencies and preschools, and another for local educational agencies. These checklists are designed to assist local educational agencies, preschools, and child care centers in developing and improving plans to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. The checklists were unveiled at press conferences on September 13 in Los Angeles and Sacramento, in which State Superintendent O'Connell encouraged staff from all school districts to work with their local health departments to adopt a plan of action for addressing pandemic influenza as soon as possible. Both checklists are now posted on the CDE Web site.
Safe Routes to School Funding
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding opportunities will again be available to school districts to encourage K- 8 students to walk or bicycle to school. Examples could be improved walking or bicycle paths, traffic softening devices, etc. CalTrans will administer the program and will call for projects in October with applications due January 2007. Districts may apply for up to $1 million for infrastructure projects or $500,000 for non-infrastructure projects. A fact sheet along with project information and application procedures will be available October 1, 2006 at CalTrans Division of Local Assistance Web site (Outside Source) and select Program Information or call SRTS Coordinator Joyce Parks at 916-653-6920.
After School Education and Safety
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the After School Education and Safety (ASES) requests for applications (RFA) on September 26, 2006, to provide $550 million in state funding for after school programs. The ASES program is currently funded at approximately $122 million, and additional funding of $428 million was made available through Proposition 49 effective July 1, 2006. The ASES program provides funding for local education agencies (LEA), cities counties, or nonprofit organizations in partnership with a LEA to collaborate with community partners and provide after school programs for children and youth in kindergarten and grades one through nine. Every public elementary, middle, and junior high school in California is eligible to apply for funding. Programs are created through partnerships between schools and local community resources to provide literacy, academic enrichment, and safe, constructive alternatives for students.
Applications are due to the CDE by November 6, 2006. The RFA, a narrated PowerPoint information session, necessary forms, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available on the CDE Web site at RFA:After School Education and Safety.
