Nationwide Trial
Urban District Assessment in Reading:
The U.S. Department of Education recently released the results of the
2009 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in reading. The study compares the performance of 4th
and 8th grade students in urban school districts to students in
large cities across the country.
In 2009, 18 urban school districts participated, including Los Angeles,
with between 800 and 2400 students from each district taking the test. Overall, only four districts showed
improvements in 4th grade reading scores (Boston, District of
Columbia, Houston, and New York City) and only two districts showed
improvements in 8th grade reading scores (Atlanta and Los
Angeles). When 2009 scores
for these urban districts were compared with scores for students from large
cities, though, a majority of the urban districts, including Los Angeles,
scored lower than the average for large cities. For more information about the TUDA study, go to http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2009/reading_2009_tudareport/
Common Core
Standards Released:
The National Governors Association released the Common Core Standards
for grades K-12 on June 2. The
standards are for English-language arts and mathematics, and are designed to
establish clear and consistent nationwide goals for students that will also
make the students college and career ready. The standards were developed by a group of stakeholders
including states, teachers, school administrators and parents, and took a year
to develop. States will now have
an opportunity to review and determine whether to adopt the standards. The standards, and background
information, are available for review at
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standardsIn California, the debate continues whether to adopt the standards. Some experts believe that California’s
standards are already very rigorous, and that the adoption of the standards
will be an expensive and time-consuming process. Others fear that the failure to adopt the standards could
jeopardize federal funding in the future, and believe that the new common
standards could address some weaknesses in current California standards.
Federal State
Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Results:
Although California was awarded one federal grant in 2009 to improve its
state education data systems, CALTIDES and CALPADS, it missed out on the recent
ARRA data grants awarded to 20 states in May 2010. California placed 26th in the competition,
just under the funding cut-off.
After ongoing problems and delays in the implementation of both the
teacher and pupil data systems, Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that he
will outsource operation of the databases by the end of the year if the
California Department of Education does not have them up and running.
Race to the Top
Application:
California submitted its application for up to $700 million in federal
Race to the Top grant funds by the June 1 deadline. This application was spearheaded by seven school districts,
with a total of 300 school districts statewide joining the application. Santa Ana Unified School District was
the only school district in Orange County that signed onto the
application. California’s
application was improved by focusing on stronger teacher and administrator
evaluation plans that would include student test scores, a more detailed STEM
(science, technology engineering, and math) education plan, and other changes
improving the availability of effective teachers at low-performing
schools. One relative weakness of
the application is the lack of strong support from teacher unions, with only
one union from a large district (Fresno Unified) signing on to the application,
along with a number of unions representing charter schools.
Nationwide, 35 states and the District of Columbia applied for a share
of $3.4 billion in Race to the Top funds in this second round. Depending on the size of the winning
states, about 10 to 15 states are expected to win grants. Winners will be announced by the end of
September
Education Jobs
Fund:
Both the House and Senate are considering proposals to create an
education jobs fund that would provide $23 billion in funding to states
nationwide. On the House side,
Representative Obey (D-WI) has discussed including the funding in a
Supplemental Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4899) that makes appropriations for
defense and other programs for the current fiscal year. On the Senate side, Senator Harkin
(D-IA) has proposed the Keep Our Educators Working Act (S. 3206) that would
extend federal stimulus funding for education for an additional year to avoid
the funding cliff currently faced by school districts. Supporters of both bills point to the
projected savings of 300,000 education jobs, while opponents express concern
about the growing federal deficit and the cost of the fund.
