Teachers rally around geography as proposal floated to replace the freshman course
January 25th, 2012
Saying too many freshmen are struggling, Oxnard Union High School District officials want to add a course to help students make the transition to their campuses.
But doing so has sparked debate about how to fit such a course into the curriculum. Initial plans have focused on replacing freshman geography, a course teachers say should not be eliminated.
“While some of our new freshmen do need help in making the transition to high school more effectively, eliminating an academic course is not the way to achieve such a goal,” said Ben Todd, a social science teacher who has taught geography at two of the district’s schools.
Geography covers all continents and the physical, cultural and political aspects of the subject, Todd said at a recent board meeting. “Geography gives teachers a venue to talk about cultural sensitivity and understanding the diversity of our world.”
District administrators said they find geography valuable and are a long way from deciding on the issue.
“What we’re looking at is trying to develop a course for our freshmen to take that would provide what we call 21st-century skills,” said Assistant Superintendent Bill Dabbs. Those skills include creativity, collaboration, technology and a background in how to prepare for college and careers — “a lot of issues in terms of the transition from the eighth grade to the ninth grade and what we can do to increase graduation rates, increase college-going rates.”
No one wants to lose the semester-long course in geography, Dabbs said, but the number of periods in the school day is limited.
“We want to make sure that the students have as much access to core academic learning as we can,” Dabbs said. “But at the same time, what do we do in terms of getting kids to see career pathways and those types of things? Is that really integrated into every class, or do we need a specific class for it?”
District officials said they are still in the first stages of the process and that a lot must be explored before they decide.
Once a proposal is made, it would have to go to the district’s curriculum council and the school board. Because geography is a graduation requirement in the district, the board also would have to decide whether to remove the requirement.
Teachers said they don’t think a class teaching freshman skills for high school should replace geography.
“I think we all acknowledge that there are different needs and some serious needs throughout this district for our freshmen,” said Josh Chancer, an instructional coach. “But does that mean that we take away a program? Is that going to solve that problem? I don’t think it is.”
He suggested having the transition skills taught in all freshmen classes, instead of one dedicated course.
“A lot of our kids, they’re not going on summer vacations around the world. They’re not taking those summer trips to Europe and to Asia and doing the wonderful things that we would all wish they could do,” Chancer said. “Geography is that opportunity for them to see the rest of the world, to get out of Oxnard and Ventura County.”
Tags: Course
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State football regional semifinals set
January 23rd, 2012
The regional football playoffs kick off next weekend, and MPSSAA officials announced the schedule this morning. Here are the matchups involving Baltimore-area teams:
Class 4A North
4 Perry Hall at 1 Poly, Friday, 7
3 Paint Branch at 2 Catonsville, Friday, 7
Class 4A East
4 South River at 1 Old Mill, Friday, 7
3 North Point at 2 Arundel, Friday, 7
Class 3A North
4 Digital Harbor at 1 North Harford, Friday, 7
3 Franklin at 2 Aberdeen, Friday, 7
Class 3A East
4 Stephen Decatur at 1 Atholton, Friday, 7
3 Howard at 2 River Hill, Friday, 7
Class 2A North
4 Dundalk vs. 1 Edmondson at Poly, Saturday, 6
3 Lake Clifton at 2 Chesapeake-B at CCBC-Essex, Friday, 7
Class 2A South
3 Gwynn Park at 2 Glenelg, Friday, 7
Class 2A East
4 Patterson Mill at 1 Kent Island, Friday, 7
3 Fallston vs. 2 Wicomico at Wicomico County Stadium, Friday, 7
Class 2A West
3 South Carroll at 2 Walkersville, Friday, 7
Class 1A North
4 Lewis at 1 Overlea, Friday, 7
3 Northwestern vs. 2 New Town at site TBA, Friday, 7
Class 1A South
4 Southside vs. 1 Dunbar at Poly, Saturday, noon
3 Surrattsville vs. 2 Du Bois at Poly, Saturday, 3
Class 1A East
4 Havre de Grace at 1 Perryville, Friday, 7
To see the regional matchups for the rest of the state as well as the final points standings, go to the MPSSAA website.
Tags: Regional, Regional Semifinals
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Education Expected to Take Turn in State of the Union Spotlight
January 19th, 2012
Education is one of four areas President Obama will focus on during his State of the Union address tonight night, according to this Associated Press story. The big question is: What will he say?
In giving this election-year State of the Union speech, Obama may brag about some of the steps his administration has taken on education, including creating the Race to the Top education redesign competition, and offering states wiggle room under key parts of the No Child Left Behind Act if they agree to take-on the administration’s reform priorities.
And he could talk about steps the administration has taken to help boost college affordability, including getting rid of the federally subsidized student lending program. The administration used the savings to boost aid for students. But the Pell Grant program, which offers grants to low-income students to attend college, remains under major financial pressure. Are there new initiatives Obama can talk about in this area, or will he just recap what has happened so far?
Community colleges and higher-education are likely to be a part of the speech, White House aides said. And teacher-quality may also be highlighted.
Last year, President Obama asked Congress to pass a bipartisan reauthorization of the law. But it never happened, and now the administration is moving ahead with a waiver package that Obama’s own secretary of education thinks is stronger than any of the legislation under consideration. So, if I were a betting woman, I’d guess there won’t be much talk about NCLB this time.
Early pushback: Republicans in Congress are already pointing to what they see as flaws in some of the Obama administration’s edu-accomplishments. For instance, they note that a number of states are having trouble implementing Race to the Top.
And House Republicans say waivers will simply create confusion for states, since there could potentially be a number of different plans approved. They are also questioning the secretary’s authority to issue waivers. And they worry that the president’s plan for student loans could mean that taxpayers will end up holding the bag.
Tags: Union, Union Spotlight
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Torrance Education Foundation looks to fill funding gaps
January 18th, 2012
With state money evaporating, public schools are having to pass the hat around their local communities to avoid slipping into mediocrity, and with varying degrees of success.
In school districts like Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula and El Segundo, independent fundraising arms – typically referred to as education foundations – have effectively filled much of the gap. The Torrance Education Foundation has had a tougher time of it.
Now, in a bid to ramp up its fundraising capability, the Torrance Education Foundation is changing its approach, hiring its first-ever executive director, providing cash incentives for teachers and narrowing its focus to the math and science fields.
“We’re on the task of changing the way the ed foundation has been for the last 20 years,” said Tom Brewer, president of the Torrance organization. “We’re actually heading in a whole new direction starting this year.”
The success of local education foundations essentially reflects the affluence of the cities in which they operate.
In Manhattan Beach, for instance, the foundation last year generated $4.6 million, the vast majority of it from parent donations. That amounts to about 9 percent of the school district’s entire budget, or about $700 a student.
In the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the foundation last year brought in $2.5 million, or $210 per student. In Torrance, the foundation last school year raised about $350,000. That amounts to about $14 per student.
To be fair, comparing Torrance to those districts is not apples-to-apples. Torrance is more economically diverse than both of those communities, for starters. Also, the foundation in Torrance has to compete with other local fundraising entities.
One is the Torrance Chamber of Commerce. The group has ratcheted up its decades-old Adopt-a-School program, in which area businesses provide volunteers for myriad service projects. Last spring, the chamber celebrated 100 percent participation, meaning all 29 of Torrance’s public schools are now paired with a business partner.
More to the point, the Torrance school board last year relaxed restrictions on parent fundraisers, temporarily giving individual schools more freedom to bolster their own budgets. As a result, more school-based foundations have sprung up to raise money for certain kinds of employees, such as intervention specialists. That’s on top of PTA groups, which have traditionally raised money for equipment, not personnel.
Brewer said the increasing prevalence of the individual school foundations – often referred to as “alliances” – has complicated the foundation’s efforts to raise money.
“We’re losing steam to some of the different organizations,” he said. “To some extent they are going after some of the same sources of money that we’re going to go after. They go after parents and so do we. There are some schools that are actually going after businesses, which, that was the role of the ed foundation.”
Nonetheless, the Torrance foundation has set the bar high for next school year, pledging $500,000. That’s $150,000 beyond what it raised last year for the current school year.
So far, the foundation is less than halfway to its goal. But the hope is that an executive director will provide the continuity and focus necessary to boost revenues. As is, the Torrance foundation is the only organization of its kind in the South Bay without a full-time employee. That will change in the next month or two, when an executive director is hired, Brewer said.
The proliferation of school alliances also brings up issues of equity. Among the most successful schools in this regard is Anza Elementary School. The parent foundation there has been able to raise as much as $104,000 over three years. Other schools have raised nothing.
By contrast, the Torrance Education Foundation distributes money evenly among all schools. For instance, the foundation recently completed a massive effort to bring wireless capabilities to every school.
Beginning next fall, the foundation will focus its efforts primarily on programs having to do with science, technology, engineering and math – an area of study widely referred to as STEM.
“When you go to businesses, they want to know what the money is going to go for,” he said. “They don’t want it just to go into a dark hole.”
Another upcoming change centers on the foundation’s annual car raffle. On March 23, for the first time, the foundation will give away a brand-new Lexus. In years past, the grand prize has been a Toyota Prius.
This year, tickets will cost $30 instead of $20, with two-thirds of the proceeds being directed to the donor’s entity of choice for the current school year, and the final third being saved by the foundation for next school year. Five thousand tickets will be sold, meaning the effort will raise $150,000.
Also new this year is an incentive to get teachers to sell raffle tickets. Now, they will be able to receive what they sell, as opposed to having to write a grant and wait for another year.
“If the band wants uniforms or instruments or something, they can sell tickets and get the money right now,” he said. “If a teacher wants to have a party with it, they can. If they are looking to buy a computer or school supplies or something like that for their classroom, they’ll have the money to do it.”
Want to help?
To buy a raffle ticket from the Torrance Education Foundation, visit
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Cosby to headline school fundraiser
January 17th, 2012
Comedian and education activist Bill Cosby is visiting Connecticut to help a Hartford magnet school as it tries to raise $100,000 for college scholarships for its students.
Capital Preparatory Magnet School says it had raised $90,000 by mid-week and hopes to raise significantly more through Friday’s event, in which Cosby will give the keynote talk.
The Hartford Courant reports the $50-per-ticket fundraiser has sold out.
It will also include Soledad O’Brien of CNN, former NBA star Jalen Rose, education reformer Geoffrey Canada and NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris.
Capital Prep prides itself on a 100 percent acceptance rate for graduating seniors to get into four-year colleges. But its founder and principal says that spiraling tuition costs make it difficult for many families to afford higher education without scholarships.
Tags: School, School Fundraiser
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