Take action to relieve school overcrowding
A shortage of classroom space has led school districts across the state to adopt shortened school calendars that cut the number of days students spend in the classroom.
SB 658 provides access to construction dollars to ease overcrowding and help districts transition off calendars that shortchange kids. Click here to send a letter to support the bill today.
August 20 | Algebra 1 requirement highlights teacher shortage
The Sacramento Bee
By Deb Kollars
Now that the state has mandated Algebra 1 for all eighth-graders within three years, a deeply entrenched problem has become even more urgent: California does not have enough qualified teachers of mathematics.
Districts recognize the problem and are doing what they can to cultivate more teachers. So are universities. The number of new math teachers emerging from colleges has been going up.
...Overall, however, the looming shortage of math teachers stands as one of the biggest challenges facing schools in coming years. Click here to read more...
Act to help schools hire math and science teachers
Nothing has a greater impact on student learning than the quality of the teacher in the classroom. SB 1660 helps struggling schools hire more quality math and science teachers to help students succeed.
Click here to here to send a letter to ask your elected representatives to support the bill.
The latest in student achievement
2008 is the 10 year anniversary of the STAR Program. Prior to the STAR Program , parents, teachers and policy makers did not have an accurate school- and grade- level measure to compare academic achievement.
This year’s data shows that California has come a long way but still needs improvement to empower students to succeed in college and the global economy. Click here to read more...
August 18 | State budget woes are no excuse for delaying school reform
The Mercury News
By Ted Mitchell and Dede Alpert
While news headlines are now focused on California's budget and economic challenges, our schools remain in crisis. And too many in Sacramento are pointing to the current budget deficit as a rationale for delaying improvements to California's school system.
California's schools require more money to provide children with the education they deserve, but research clearly shows that continuing to spend money in the same fashion that we have will not improve the situation. So, in a budget year where there simply is no additional money to fund all necessary reforms, we should determine which improvements will most benefit children who need additional support. Click here to read more...
August 4 | Push Algebra: Ignore the naysayers who say students can't handle challenging math
The Press-Enterprise
By YVONNE W. LARSEN
As the president of the state Board of Education during the adoption of California's world-class academic content standards, I salute the governor and state Board of Education for their commitment to ensure that all of California's children have a chance to master Algebra I by the end of eighth grade.
Algebra I is the gateway skill to critical thinking and real world problem-solving and a key academic building block of the next generation, which will lead the state, the nation and the world in conquering the challenges in health care, clean technology, environmental protection and energy independence. Click here to read more...
August 1 | Reforms part of budget talks?
The Mercury News
By John Fensterwald
Might money related to reforms recommended by Secretary of Education David Long and the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence be a bargaining chip in stalled budget negotiations?
Long indicated as much in an interview yesterday in San Jose before a forum on “Students First,” the Excellence Committee’s report. Click here to read more...
July 25 | Girls equal to boys in math
The Mercury News
By John Fensterwald
A new study, reported today in the Mercury News, puts another nail in the coffin of the theory of male superiority in math. The study, by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, looked at 7 million test results from 66 assessments under No Child Left Behind from 10 states, including California. The results: no difference between boys and girls. Click here to read more...
July 21 | Why algebra testing will work
California students have met seemingly unattainable standards
The Los Angeles Times
By Kenneth Noonan
California has taken a bold step to lead the nation by setting the highest expectations in the country for our eighth-grade students in mathematics. Earlier this month, the state Board of Education acted to make the Algebra I exam the standard for all eighth-graders and to do away with the current two-tiered system. Click here to read more...
July 17 | 1 in 4 students in state drop out
NEW CALIFORNIA DATA SHOW RATE WORSE FOR LATINOS, BLACKS
By Dana Hull and Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Nearly 1 in 4 of California's 6.3 million students drop out of school, according to new statistics released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.
The report, based on a new, more precise data system that tracks individual students, provides a more accurate snapshot of what educators consider a severe dropout crisis. The number is nearly double previous estimates. Click here to read more...
July 14 | Algebra rules
San Francisco Chronicle
One thing both sides of the math-wars debate should agree on is this: Educators can set high standards, but the higher standards only help students if the students have a base of knowledge from which they can rise. In 1997, when the state board of education issued math standards that called for eighth graders to learn Algebra 1, they knew that California teens could not instantly meet that goal.
Rather than set a strict mandate for eighth grade Algebra 1, the board used other policies to set incentives for moving more students into higher-level math, and disincentives for failing to do so - with the goal of having all eighth graders learn Algebra 1 by 2014. The ratio of eighth graders who took Algebra 1 or even higher level math grew from 16 percent in 2000 to 52 percent today. Those 52 percent of students are in a strong position to make it through the college track. Supporters believe this progress - especially the doubling of African American students in eighth-grade Algebra 1 - represents a coup in the struggle to close the achievement gap. Click here to read more...
July 11 | Flap over algebra shouldn't hide the real issue
Whether it's required or not, state must improve students' performance in math
Sacramento Bee
The hue and cry over whether to require all California eighth-graders to take Algebra I within three years obscures the real issue: California needs to improve math education so that students are ready to be successful in eighth-grade math...
...The largest problem is increasing the number of qualified math teachers. Of the 52 percent of California eighth-graders currently taking Algebra I, many have teachers who do not have a math credential and so may not have the knowledge to effectively teach the course. And the 219,000 eighth-graders who aren't currently taking Algebra I will need qualified math teachers – about 8,000 of them. Click here to read more...
Click here to send a letter to support SB 1660, legislation that will help our schools hire more quality math teachers.
July 11 | Is algebra useless? Not to these folks
State faces tough task in making it a requirement for eighth grade.
By Deb Kollars
Sacramento Bee
Thursday morning, Johnnie Powell, a longtime National Weather Service forecaster, heard the news that all of California's eighth-grade students would have to take Algebra 1 within three years.
Like many, it got him thinking about the ancient and difficult subject in a personal way.
It was algebra, he said, that opened the door to a career he enjoys every day. And every day, in ways obvious and hidden, he uses the algebra lessons he learned in high school in Texas to help keep the Sacramento region informed about Mother Nature. Click here to read more...
July 9 | California will require eighth-graders to take Algebra 1 test
By Dana Hull
San Jose Mercury News
California education officials set a high bar Wednesday: all eighth-grade students will be tested in algebra...
...The move makes California the first state in the nation to require algebra at such an early level, signaling the state's determination to set high standards for its 6.3 million K-12puiblic school students.
"Algebra is the key that unlocks the world of science, innovation, engineering and technology," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement. "This is California's future." Click here to read more...