Three mornings a week before school, when it’s barely light outside, more than 100 teenagers are lacing up their skates at the Oakland Ice Center. They come of their own free will, even if it means showing up at 6:45 a.m. – more than an hour before they need to be at Oakland Technical High School.
photo by Laura A. Oda/Staff
Kelley Haskins, a physical education teacher at Oakland Tech, started the before-school P.E. class this fall. She said she worried that she wouldn’t meet the 35-student minimum, but her roster now includes 115 names.
I visited the class this morning with a photographer, and watched the teenagers swizzle, slide and speed around the rink. Read the rest of this entry »
photo of Oakland Charter Academy student by D. Ross Cameron/Oakland Tribune
The racial and economic achievement gap comes up, in some form or another, at almost every Oakland school board meeting. Yet there are a handful of schools here in this city that have made that gap invisible, at least on their campuses, and I sometimes wonder who is paying attention.
Take the Oakland Charter Academy, a charter middle school in Fruitvale with a Latino population of about 93 percent. Last year those students — the vast majority of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunches — scored a 902 this year on the state’s Academic Performance Index out of a possible 1,000 points.
The average Latino middle schooler in California scores in the 600s.
I wrote a story in today’s Trib about the loads of work that these kids (and those at the American Indian charter schools, which use a similar model) are putting in every day — and about the general skepticism surrounding their success. You can read it here.
Many consider California to be a cutting-edge state, brimming with innovation. So why do its schools rank among the last in the nation on standardized science tests?
KQED explored these questions in a 25-minute documentary, “Under the Microscope: Science Struggles in Schools.” I meant to post this on Tuesday, the night it aired, but you can watch the 25-minute show here:
The five local schools that use the American Indian Public Charter model might be among the highest-scoring public middle and high schools in Oakland (not to mention the state), but tonight, the state administrator stopped a new one from opening.
David Montes de Oca, Oakland’s charter schools director, was careful to say that his recommendation to deny the charter petition “is not a condemnation of the American Indian Public Charter School model or its schools — far from it.”
California’s bold new algebra plan has a new variable.
Today, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ruled that the state board of education would have to temporarily delay the eighth-grade Algebra I testing requirement that it approved in July. (You know, the one that Schwarzenegger pushed for in the 11th hour, over State Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s strong objections?)
The ruling was made in response to a lawsuit to stop the new requirement. It was filed in September by the California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators.
Chang has ordered the state board to hold off any any decisions on the algebra test until a court hearing on Dec. 19. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, I covered a debate at Bishop O’Dowd High School between representatives of the Obama and McCain campaigns. Hundreds of students attended the optional event, which was organized by 15-year-old Julia Owens — who told me she thought it would be useful and fun for her classmates to watch a live debate.
The students’ questions were detailed and policy-oriented. One referenced the economic crisis, and another asked about the prospect of Georgia’s membership in NATO: “Is there anything that can be done to help people like my grandparents who are out of the workforce and are too old or ill to go back to work?” and “Why is defending Georgia in the national interest of the United States?”
Whether you’re a campaign hack or just selling a home alarm system (or tires, or antidepressants, or disinfectant), scare tactics can really come in handy. And there’s probably no easier way to freak people out than to make them think their kids will be in harm’s way if they don’t vote a certain way or buy a certain product.
National Public Radio did a story yesterday about how education has become swept up in the California campaign for Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban. Here’s the TV ad that prompted the story, followed by a response from State Superintendent Jack O’Connell.
I have some good news to report this morning: Franklin and Grass Valley elementary schools have received almost $1 million in NCLB funding to improve their science teaching over the course of the next four school years (including this one). Teachers will be working with each other, and with science and education faculty at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Hall of Science, to bring science to life for the kids.
I know I’ve already posted this video about the quality (and quantity) of science teaching in Bay Area elementary schools. But that was almost a year ago, and I think it shows why such an effort is so important:
Teachers: If you teach science (alone or along with other subjects), what kind of support would help you the most?
The Oakland school district isn’t the only local institution struggling to stay out of the red; the city has a $42 million budget deficit.
And tomorrow night, to help balance the books, the City Council might decide to temporarily stop funding its Cultural Arts Department, which gives grants to programs at more than 20 Oakland schools.
I didn’t even touch a computer at school until sixth grade, let alone create animation. But we’re in a different century now, and some schools — including some right here in Oakland — are teaching kids to work with the latest digital technology.
I bring this up because the annual Bay Street Animation Film Festival is coming up Oct. 25, and the submission deadline is Oct. 6 has been extended to Oct. 13. I got a kick out of last year’s winning video, Love is Deaf, by Roxy Smith. Read the rest of this entry »
