A look back at all the Oakland education news, it’s a slow week, but you can still help a school getting hit hard by budget cuts, check out the high school fair, as well as news on CA’s low ratings on teacher training, new efforts to help foster youth, the lawsuit over literacy, the feds rejection of CA’s accountability plan and more, please read and share
Oakland
Who’s Afraid of an IEP? A Lot of Black Families
California
Teacher Training Report: California earns a D+, below most states
New California Law Focused on Improving College Graduation Rate of Foster Youth
Are California’s Public Schools Failing Their Students on Literacy?
Federal government finds flaws in California’s plan to improve lowest-performing schools
Best of the Rest
How you can help
Click here to support Protect ICS Kids from Budget Cuts: Organized by Natalee Kēhaulani
Oakland
Who’s Afraid of an IEP? A Lot of Black Families – “Don’t let them kick me out.” That’s what “Johnny” (not his real name) said when he heard that his new school found out about his special needs and Individualized Education Plan.
Time to choose schools for next year—here is there OUSD high school fair. Join us to learn more about OSUD high schools, meet principals and teachers, talk with families. This is a wonderful opportunity to ask questions and learn more so that you can make the best high school choice for your student.
California
Teacher Training Report: California earns a D+, below most states – California ranks below 31 other public-school system and earns just a D- plus in ensuring teacher quality, according to a new report aimed at spurring states to improve teacher preparation.
New California Law Focused on Improving College Graduation Rate of Foster Youth – On October 12, 2017 a new California law went into effect to improve the rate of youth in foster care who later earn college degrees. As of the date of passage, only about 20% of youth in foster care later earn college degrees.
Are California’s Public Schools Failing Their Students on Literacy? – California is failing to teach students to read, a lawsuit alleges. The song “School Days” famously encapsulated primary education as “reading and ’riting and ’rithmetic” 110 years ago, acknowledging a widely understood truth about public schools: literacy is one of the most important, if not the most important, skill that they should impart to students.
Federal government finds flaws in California’s plan to improve lowest-performing schools – Is state board exercising flexibility or violating the Every Student Succeeds Act? The U.S. Department of Education has cited substantive flaws in California’s plan detailing how it will improve low-performing schools and use billions of dollars of federal education aid under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
Best of the Rest
Trump Ed. Dept. Wants Improvements to ESSA Plans for California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Two Other States – Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas need to make some big improvements to their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act.
How you can help
Click here to support Protect ICS Kids from Budget Cuts: Organized by Natalee Kēhaulani – Oakland Unified is facing another enormous budget shortfall. District level budget cuts are being shouldered by teachers and families, with each school being asked to cut on average $120 per student.