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Morning Read: Public and Charter Schools An Uneasy Partnership?

LA School Report | July 18, 2013



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Is Charter School Co-Location Tearing Public Schools Apart?
The practice of housing a traditional public school and a charter school on the same campus is known as “co-location.” Charters are publicly funded yet independently operated, and are intended to encourage innovation and improve student performance. Under Proposition 39 charter schools were given the right to use empty classrooms and share in underutilized public school facilities. Huffington Post  


UC Panel Names Activist as First Muslim Student Regent
UC Berkeley student government leader Sadia Saifuddin, 21, the first Muslim to be student regent, won approval of all the regents except for Richard Blum, who abstained. Blum said he was concerned that her nomination to be the student voice on the board was too divisive and that he didn’t know enough about her. LA Times 


‘Stand Your Ground’ Group Pushes Privatization of Public Education
That group is the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, which likes to call itself a “nonpartisan public-private partnership” but is actually a corporate-backed enterprise that writes “model legislation” that its membership of nearly 2,000 conservative legislators use in states to pass laws that promote privatization in every part of American life: education, health care, the environment, the economy, etc. Washington Post


School Board Votes to Cut Pay of Palmdale Teachers, Staff
The Palmdale School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday night to implement proposed salary cuts and furlough days for its employees.The 4-1 vote immediately institutes a 3.8 percent salary cut, up to nine furlough days and a hard cap on employee health benefits. The cuts would go up by an additional 8.4 percent next year. KPCC 


A New K-12 Funding System Pushes New Thinking in Local Budgets 
As the most sweeping change in K-12 school funding in decades, the new school finance system that took effect this month will require school officials to clear their minds of old formulas and assumptions and to think anew in constructing their budgets.That’s the advice of School Services of California, a Sacramento-based consulting firm that is giving budget seminars around the state this week for school officials. EdSource 


Back to High School Through the Eyes of an LA Teen
I recently found out that I’ve been assigned to do a mental health internship at a high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.  The internship is a part of the graduate program I’m about to start at Cal State LA to get a master’s degree in social work.  As I’ve begun to mentally prepare myself for this new journey, I’ve been reflecting on my own high school experience, and can’t help but be reminded of how difficult it is to go through this world as a teenager. Jewish Journal


Looking for an Inventive Arts Lesson Plan? Hit the Streets
Street art has a long history in Los Angeles. From graffiti artists like MEAR ONE and SMEAR to the internationally-known street artist Shepard Fairey, outdoor works of art are sprawled across the city.Teachers who want to expose their students to the form may want to visit the online magazine Mental Floss. It recently posted an illustrated guide to street art terms. KPCC


U.S. Senate Reaches Deal to End Fight Over Student Loan Interest Rates
Two Senate aides said that the new proposal, which had been the subject of tense negotiations since the rates doubled on July 1, would include both a cap on federal Stafford and PLUS loans and a relatively low interest rate pegged to Treasury notes. NY Times


Federal Research Suggests New Approach to Teaching Fractions
Now, as the Common Core State Standards push for earlier and deeper understanding of fractions, researchers and teachers are exploring ways to ensure students learn more than a sliver of the fractions pie. Edweek


Schools are Scrambling to Step up Security after Newtown
At Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Mo., some of the most heightened security measures in the area didn’t prevent a student from bringing a .22-caliber handgun to school last month. They’re not just an adornment. In some of the middle schools, students with a temporary badge are escorted from class to class; in the high schools, they take their lunch in detention. Fort Worth Star Telegram


Teacher Survey: Technology Has Potential to Improve Writing Skills
Contrary to assertions that too much technology in the classroom created a generation of children who can’t express themselves through writing, the conclusions reached by the researchers showed that tech-based learning actually provided a number of advantages over the traditional approach. Education News


Does Higher Education Mean Lower Joy on the Job?
American workers who have a college degree are less likely than workers with just a high school diploma to feel enthusiastic about their jobs, and that’s “bad for the U.S. economy,” a new report says. The trend holds no matter how much workers make or how old they are, says the report by Gallup Education, a division of the research and polling company. It’s based on surveys of more than 150,000 American adults conducted in 2012. USA Today

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