CALIFORNIA CURRICULUM
CORRELATING COUNCILCALIFORNIA CURRICULUM
CORRELATING COUNCIL
The Master Plan--Who's Got the Answer?
February 4-5, 2000
SUMMARY of February 5, 2000
Joe Nuñez, CTA
Lynn Faulks, CTA
Mike Weimer, CFT
Joe Maloney, CCSS
INTRODUCTIONS
Brad introduced the Executive Committee. He thanked Pauline Newton and Susan Westbrook for making the arrangements.
For the past few years, the 4 C's have become aware of the importance of the political process. Scott Plotkin and Peter Schrag both said we need to become involved--reflecting the realization by some legislators that they've left the education profession out of the loop. When we think of CFT/CTA we tend to think of bargaining and grievances. 4 C's represent the Professional Education Associations--non-profit/not identified with political contributions. How can we step forward? Today the legislative advocates from three of our organizations will help us debrief what we heard and give us an idea of where we can go from here.
Joe introduced Lynne Faulks who will be taking over his assignments as a legislative advocate since he is going to be the Region 2 Manager for CTA. He complimented the 4 C's on the programs at our Summit that have become better and better as the years go on.
Many teachers were upset by Governor Davis' saying that we need to consider the challenge to teach as if it is a Peace Corps type of thing for 3 years, and then we can move to a real career. Many people called the CTA office asking why we supported Governor Davis.--The rich don't go to public schools--Where is he coming from?
What can we do?
Know who your local Senator/ Assembly members are--they carry your message. Do you know the local staff person? You need to talk to them--e.g., petitions from local groups--identify selves as teachers--the message yesterday was that it was about time teachers spoke up. Sometimes it sounds self-serving--best way is advice from a professional educator. Invite them to the schools.
The Governor's going out to places where they love everything--after he left, someone stayed around--to be told we need books and desks. We need to bring local legislators around to where we work. Let them know the challenges we face. Pick up the phone and call--maybe you'll just get a legislative aide the first time. Get to know them, then they'll start calling you. 300,000 teachers have a powerful voice. The local is where it's at. Question of putting information into newsletters without jeopardizing nonprofit status--just don't tell them how to vote, or donate money to political causes. Alert legislators about the importance of your issues.
Timelines on IIUSP too compressed. External evaluator issues--no accountability. e.g., Pulliam Group is working with 60 or so sites at $35,000-$40,000 per site. CDE was not going to collect which evaluations go to where? Where did these external evaluators come from? A general call for people to apply to CDE. 70 or so met the minimum qualifications. Districts responsibility to contract. If schools had a high LEP count, they had to use certain external evaluators. Specific timelines--lots of complaints they weren't met because so much to do in such a short time. We hope that there will be some accountability, so it won't become a boondoggle. This year all below the 50th percentile will be asked to volunteer. This year Delaine Eastin was twisting arms to get schools to volunteer. No schools in Long Beach volunteered. Next year if we don't meet the growth targets, we'll automatically be in the group they're chosen from.
No one responded to the RFP for the High School Exit Exam--timelines were too short, they couldn't use their own test banks, had to develop questions based on the California Standards. When did the students get the chance to learn the California Standards? The Standards were to be a goal--to move in that direction. they've pushed algebra to eighth grade and the Governor wants it on the High School Exit Exam. Where is the opportunity for every kid to take algebra? Algebra may be in the title, but we have to look at the content. What about kids who've never had the opportunity. Where are the algebra teachers for 8th grade? MALDEF and ACLU will look at opportunity to learn. We can't test what we haven't taught. e.g., teach Romeo and Juliet and test on Hamlet. There was a lawsuit about the Texas Exit Exam--they won their case--seemed to give the green light to us. They started lower, worked for 10 years, and could show that the opportunity to learn was there. This test must be field tested this year. Where do we get the opportunity for thousands of kids to take Algebra in the eighth grade? Aiming High--follow-up to Second to None, postponed until after the High School Exit Exam.
Comment - Now we see the results of Prop. 13 after a period of time.
Lack of legislator experience. Senator Alpert not able to get an appointment with the Governor. She did speak to him at a social occasion. Term limits haunt us. we've gone through this before--not a lot of sanity. Response - CTA polling--people now believe that the initiative process is the way to govern California. All we said about Prop. 13 has happened--Term limits gives power to the governor--what we predicted has happened. Organizations like the the "third house"--give lobbyists moderate power. The Governor's representative tells legislators which bills they will carry and they have to vote the way he wants on others. The power of the budget(funding or not), and the pen (veto) are his.
Comment - If lobbyists will have more power--we need to have good lobbyists. Response - That is why CTA has 6 lobbyists. Just be sure you do it correctly, so you don't lose your nonprofit status.
She has been working on credentialing and retirement.
How to get involved--All politics are local. Build a bridge--even if they're not a friend. Ask when was the last time they have been to a school in their district? Unintended consequences--this may sound like a great idea, but this is what will be the unintended consequences. You need to use specific examples. Our job is to widen their perspective--what's going on in schools today?
Question - How do we track legislation?
We need the vocabulary, and to know when to marshal our forces. www.sen.ca.gov Senate website. Assembly has a website too. You can access these and find bills/assembly or senate members/ check status. If you have e-mail, you can ask them to put you on the tracking list--any changes to it, they'll notify you. You will get everything, so you will want to limit the number of bills you ask for. That's the value of the Legislative Advocates--they separate out what's important. Maybe tracking and the vocabulary is a topic for a future meeting.
Question - Teachers Associations at the local level seem to be pulling back because of the non-adversarial way We're dealing with bargaining now. My Teachers Association has pulled back because they'll never do anything--How does that affect teachers in classes?
Answer - Sacramento City is at impasse, Stockton teachers rejected a settlement by 75%. Local leaders and staff try to deal with what's at hand. No move away from adversarial bargaining tables, but it is a local thing. there's no general message. Comment - Scope of bargaining determines what we talk about--Adversarial bargaining is alive and well--Lots of cooperation on Peer Assistance and Review in some places.
Proposition 26 - Buttons are nice, but it's personal contacts to people who vote that will help us win. Teachers have credibility--Please take some postcards and/or help at a phone bank by 3/7.
Comment - Problem with initiative is the unintended consequences--it opens the door to charter schools, for money raised by this--is this the Camel's nose into privatization? Why did we get together with Reed Hastings.
Answer - CFT is supporting--hope we get a yes vote--money for schools is for kids. Our belief is that we need buildings for kids in charter school, too, which is why We're working with them. Originally we took a negative stance on Charter schools, but they haven't gone away. we need to try to find ways to work with them. We went for bargaining rights, so they wouldn't be second class citizens. They teach kids in California, so we encourage you to vote for the initiative, but you must do what you need to. Research, a UCLA study shows now difference.
Question - Is there any anticipation of a greater turnout? First open primary, earlier?
Answer - in past presidential years, independents and declined to state were not motivated to vote. We may get more because now everyone can vote. Separate calculation to choose the nominees. Be active with local reps who are up and comers in your area--get involved as they start to run.
Greatest limiting factor for grades 4-6--buildings--not fair.
Constricting factors at facility level--like the Bosphorus. need to free up money to create space--partnership with business community. Now 1 no vote equals 2 yes votes.
Question - Class Size Reduction what happens to library? Taking specialists and putting back into classrooms. use libraries for space. No support mechanism for kids who need more support than ever.
Answer - Last State Bond 1A - Requires a local match--only way to raise the money is to put a bond on the ballot. Past state bonds didn't have matching requirement. This goes into effect next year--some districts are waiting. Most districts in the valley, it takes three times--if you don't need to spend, you don't. Prop 26 is not a slam dunk--we appreciate anything you can do. it's behind in Los Angeles because of Belmont--and That's where we will win or lose.
CFT has 3 legislative advocates. One deals with K-12, one with Higher Ed., and one with retirement and classified issues.
Political climate--Power structure--Governor does have a lot of power.
Senator Patrick Johnson doesn't really support the Governor's position on education, so he isn't getting any big bills to carry. The Governor is putting the squeeze on. Other staff--there is a coalition of assembly members (maybe some senators) who're willing to stand up--haven't seen it yet.
There probably is some pressure to change the merit scholar idea. Why focus on merit scholarship--these students don't take the test, so a carrot to get them to take it. Governor Davis promised to get test scores up or he wouldn't run. This would do it. He has raised $13. Million--much more than Wilson--lots from medical and labor groups.
We're not convinced that lobbyists have that much power. They are a source of history. This is the last year that anyone with any history is serving. this leaves us just with sound bites. If they want to be known--need publicity, so carry the Governor's bills.
The Governor's plan--asking why Master Plan hearings were squashed--Senator Alpert, prior to first hearings--had conversations with Higher Ed. They didn't want anything to do with K-12. If true--this sets up a division--they train us...it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't want to talk to us. There was 1 meeting.
Comment - Bill Lucia, Ex. Director of State Board during Wilson's term is now staff for Senator Poochigan--this is one reason the Master plan is on hold--his point of view is that we can't make any progress until the CDE is out of the way. No point talking until then. Nobody wants to talk about K-12 until they can get Delaine Eastin out of the way.
Comment - Change of title--Secretary of Education--trying to get CDE out, but it is a constitutional thing. History repeats itself. Response - Senator Alpert has a 2-year Bill to reorganize/draw lines of authority over education in Sacramento. SB760(Alpert). The Governor's plan is rather a restricted business model--production--single score on a single test. what's wrong--can't judge on a norm referenced test because the results are a bell curve. We can only make accurate judgments about large groups of people. Individual variation of 505 either way--depends on time, etc. Focus on production--Total Quality Management. Some good things there. Politicians have taken a narrow part and made it their mantra.
Yesterday, Peter Schrag challenged us, asking when we would come out with a well thought out accountability system we like. These are not the CFT plan, but some of my suggestions (CFT Position papers are Attachment "A"):
Very clear standards, both knowledge and performance;
Only 3 check points--Grades 4, 8, 11;
Testing at each of those three grades must be criterion referenced, based only on the standards;
No advancement to the next level unless some cumulative performance goals are met--look at all they have done from grades K-4 as well as results from the test, don't retain solely on the basis of 1 test/1 day in eighth grade--look at K-8, this takes a lot of record keeping;
Some supplemental instruction available at all times--supplemental rate times student hours--Try to take the cap off summer school for K-8--8-12 no caps on summer school funding--Escutia Bill wants the cap off all but core classes;
Must be local criterion referenced testing as a guide for this instruction;
This leaves out time--for teachers to digest everything, money, and equal resources. Every school needs the same opportunity to do this.
Question - What about equal funding?
Response - Charter School students get $750-$1000 more than public school students. Allocations are in banded ranges, even after Serrano-Priest. High funded stayed high funded, low wealth stayed low wealth. There have been some categorical attempts to get more funding--No enforcement/implementation of equalized funding.
Here are 3 or 4 bills CFT is watching: Teacher quality issue--concern that the legislation leaves loopholes in teacher preparation laws--if anything, the curriculum must be beefed up. Florida has a report on teacher preparation on the Web--a great model. Quality counts--article in Education Week--look at the percentage of English and math teachers teaching out of their field of preparation. How do we get teachers to training--8 campuses, teachers get $1000, but transportation/living expenses not paid.
Low performing schools- worst case-in 3-5 years, California will be running 20% of the schools in the state--are they prepared to do that? No. What does it take? Salary, maintenance, resources.
AB1750 (Piscetti) - $2.5 Billion General Fund money to public schools. (covers costs for 1 year) Raise beginning teacher salary to $40,000, Class Size Reduction for grades 4-8, Staff Development--5 more days above the current 3 buy back days. How is the money distributed? Is it one time? This does nothing for higher salaried teachers.
AB752 (Runner) - Supports raising the state funding to the national average in 4 yearly increments. Caveat - schools must meet their API Growth Rate targets, or they don't get the money--those who don't meet these targets really are the ones who ought to get the money
ACA26 (Villaraigosa) - Freezes vehicle license fee offset at 35% and takes the money for public education.
Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg--Report of the Assembly Select Committee on Low Performing Schools--good proposals, may not get anywhere. $100 Million in the budget for another 400 schools--Main problem about the API is the concern that the comparative score is not based on reliable data--we will be getting a revised number, based on better data.
His presentation is about what CCSS is doing with standards and assessment. Last week, Peter Schrag referred to the whips and chains approach to school reform at a Healthy Start Conference. We need to look at lessons learned from business--Indecision is the key to flexibility. We brought people to a trainer of trainers approach. The transparencies being shown will be available at the 3/3-5 conference--combining content with government relations/politics. Change in what is taught/ targeted before standards, and after standards. AFT did a great study--www.aft.org It came out in November--where standards and assessment are all over the U.S.
What should we be doing? How does California implement school reform?
What are the variables--Standards-drive with standards/assessment-Facilities-put money into hardware-credentialing. The key is adequately prepared and qualified teachers. Poll by Philip Morris--ensuring a qualified teacher in every classroom is the key, once student safety is addressed. Some survey numbers-- Teacher Quality - 84% vs... Vouchers - 14%. Do what it takes to get a quality teacher - 85% vs... outside professionals - 11%. it's the professionalism agenda. The Governor's Education Initiative is from Gary Hart--professionalism is the lens--so when we analyze the budget, ask if it advances quality of teachers or another agenda?
Key questions and issues:
How do we recruit, select and retain good teachers?
Prepare teachers to decide what and how to teach;
Become more sophisticated in analyzing student work and managing data--we're overloaded with information.
Interacting with parents and community--have to get better at marketing ourselves;
On-site support, coaching--for change
The latest Curriculum and Instruction publications from County Offices--download from Ventura Schools--www.vcss.k12.ca.us publications--How will my school measure up? Put on your logo and use.Sacramento is a competitive environment- who's driving? John Mockler is now Executive Director of the State Board--capable, experience--will smooth out the CDE vs. State Board relations.
DISCUSSION
Looking at K-6--what's being taught-reading and math in early grades--some lack of doing anything with history/social sciences. Some programs such as Open Court, Scholastic are content texts--are themes relating to history/social sciences--need to see if these are the correct ones.
New language arts criteria include science and social studies expository pieces in the language material--must be tied to the standards.
CFT sponsors days for local leaders to come to Sacramento to lobby local legislators and talk about our agenda/concerns--90% listen well--it's very effective.
Many organizations have had standards for many years--this is important--what happens when we require 1 course? It tends to push out others.
Politics makes strange bedfellows--e.g., Poochigan and Lucia used to be adversaries--now carrying some legislation we like. It is a dynamic process--we need to look at the issues, and don't automatically shut out 1 party.
CTA--we support public education--and we support the candidates in endorsements who do support public education. Caution--look at each issue individually--get to know your local legislature.
CSLA supports what to do with $28/ADA for library resources--Library/Media Tech Expansion program--matching fund for implementing credentialed library/media teachers--does include library technicians. (AB1289)Davis
CLOSING
This concluded the Summit. Brad Huff thanked everyone for participating, and reminded everyone that we would conduct the 4 C's business meeting beginning at 12:30 p.m. At that time, we will see what our next steps will be.
Reported by, Mary Humphreys 4C's Secretary