 The California
Private School Advisory Committee, K-12, will present a
three-day workshop titled Strengthening
Your Writing Program With Step Up to Writing®.
The program, which is funded in part by Title II, Part A of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act, is intended for nonprofit
private school teachers providing instruction to students in
grades K-8. The workshop will be presented by Linda Gonzales
and Linda Toren, certified Step
Up to Writing®
trainers.
Worshop 1
When: March 22-23 & April 19, 2010
8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. each day
Where: Sacred Heart Parish School
12676 Foothill Blvd.
Rancho
Cucamonga, CA 91739
When: March 24-25 & April 20, 2010
8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. each day
Where: Almansor Court
700 S. Almansor Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
Cost: $75.00 per person if postmarked on or
before February 24, 2010. $90.00 per person if postmarked after
2/24/10. Registration covers all three days and includes
materials, continental breakfast and lunch, each day.
Space is limited and registrations are processed on a
first-come, first-served basis. For additional information
and a registration form,click here, or
contact PSAC Administrator Joyce Maksin at 916.228.2218 or jmaksin@scoe.net
About the Workshop
This workshop series is designed to provide K-8
teachers with tools to guide their students in developing both
expository and narrative writing skills. Step Up to Writing®
provides strategies to help students with organizing
their thoughts, connecting key ideas, writing topic sentences,
developing supporting details, writing conclusions, and
constructing multi-paragraph essays to develop plots, characters,
and descriptive language. Through active reading, students begin
the process of identifying and developing strategies that will
increase their skills and confidence in writing. Step Up to
Writing® helps students with specific
language to discuss and improve their writing. It also provides
teachers rubrics to analyze writing for assessment as well as
instructional purposes.
About the Presenters
Linda Gonzales is formerly the staff developer for the Calaveras
Unified School District. She provided training and coaching
throughout her district, including writing for all grade levels,
K-12. Linda conducted basic training as well as focused sessions on
specific topics, including preparation for the California State
Writing Tests. With over 25 years as a classroom teacher, Linda has
taught grades K-6. In addition, she has worked with schools
throughout the United States. Working first with the High/Scope
Educational Foundation, Linda became an independent consultant
assisting schools in the implementation of student-centered
learning. Her areas of expertise include: writing, mathematics,
effective teaching strategies, differentiated instruction,
standards, and assessment.
Linda Toren is formerly a classroom teacher with extensive
experience as a staff developer and trainer for Calaveras Unified
School District, Reading RESULTS, and the BIA (Bureau of Indian
Affairs) in the Southwest. Linda has worked closely with classroom
teachers, providing model writing lessons and classroom coaching.
She has been a part time faculty member through CSU Stanislaus,
with a focus on reading methods. In addition, she has provided
numerous writing workshops through the California Reading and
Literature Project.
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What's in a Name? - Part 3
 Former CAPSO
President Robert
A. Teegarden weighs in on the previous two weeks'
discussion of the term "private school," and possible
alternatives, with a characteristically witty, incisive and
informative commentary:
(1)
adequate public education
(1)
competent number of schools
(1)
educational and school funds
(1)
efficient system of public free schools
(1)
encourage private and public institutions
(1) fine
quality public schools
(1) free
instruction in the common schools
(1)
liberal system of public schools
(1)
public educational institutions
(1)
public educational system
(3)
system of common schools
(3)
system of free public schools
(3)
system of free schools
(2)
system of public education
(5)
system of public schools
(1)
uniform system of common schools
(1)
uniform system of free public schools
(4)
uniform system of public schools
The only thing all
of these definitions have in common is that they refer to
government schools; after all, that's exactly what they are:
government institutions with government employees all subject to
the slings and arrows, let alone the tides of politics and
political pressure. The question is, is that any way to educate
kids?
In 1788 Delaware recognized both public and private
institutions. But even private schools suffer under the
burden of political right-doing. Somewhere in the late 20th
century, private schools in this country became
"non-public." What a notion! The government decides
to define a portion of the "public" by what it hopes it
is not. Are not the parents of these private school kids part
of the "public" on April 15th? You
better believe they are. But I guess we shouldn't complain;
after all, we're no longer citizens but tax payers. Ever notice?
So, what's in a name? If it walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
Leave the private school universe to do what they really know how
to do and that's educate kids. And leave them to define who
they are, not what they are not.
The almost ancient radio maker Zenith had a wonderful
slogan that applies here: "The quality goes in before the name
goes on." I think the government schools keep trying to
do it the other way around.
Robert Teegarden can be contacted at: rateegarden@cox.net
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 Relief for Haiti
Private schools
throughout California and the nation have initiated drives to help
relieve the unfathomable suffering inflicted upon the people of
Haiti by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that
struck on January 12. Private and public schools,
alike, have responded to the human crisis by raising funds,
collecting food, medical supplies, and personal items to alleviate
the plight of the victims. Private schools have a long and
shining track record when tragedies of such scale demand a response,
and most have well established relationships with
reputable relief organizations. Schools should caution
students and their families to be wary of fraudulent e-mails and/or
telephone calls from unscrupulous persons or entities attempting
to profit at the expense of well-intentioned donors. Perhaps
the easiest way to make additional contributions -
beyond those efforts organized by schools - is to give via
cell phone in one of the two following ways:
Don't forget to bookmark and periodically visit
the blogsite
maintained by the Council for
American Private Education. CAPE Executive Director Joe
McTighe's latest article, "Trust Me," contrasts the
undulating landscape of public education and decades of
disappointing reform efforts with the consistent performance
demonstrated by the nation's private schools. Joe notes that
since the National
Assessment of Educational Progress first began measuring
academic achievement, "...students in religious and
independent schools have consistently and substantially
outperformed students in government-run schools."
Private Schools with
Public Purpose Conference
The 2010 conference of the Private Schools with Public Purpose
consortium will be held April 22-24 at Lick-Wilmerding High School,
in San Francisco. Organizers view the conference
program as a catalyst for strengthening bonds between
independent and religious schools with a common commitment to serve
children from low-income families, and to foster
public-private collaboration in service of the common
good. The consortium's mission statement can be viewed here, and
additional conference information, including access to on-line
registration can be accessed here.
Is Burnout Hereditary
or Contagious?
A new study conducted by the Academy of Finland has
found that ninth-grade students are more likely to suffer
"School Burnout" if their parents report they are burned
out from their jobs. According to lead researcher Professor
Katariina Salmela-Aro, "Experiences of burnout were shared
most particularly between adolescents and parents of the same
gender, i.e. between daughters and mothers and between sons and
fathers. The parent of the same gender seems to serve as a role
model for the development of burnout." "School
Burnout" is described as "...a chronic school-related
stress syndrome that is manifested in fatigue, experiences of
cynicism about school and a sense of inadequacy as a
student." You can read more about the study at the ScienceDaily
blog. For the E-Mailer's
money, the Finnish study simply underscores the significance of
parental modeling.
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ESEA: The Writing on the
Wall
 Addressing the U.S.
Conference of Mayors in Washington DC, last week, U.S. Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan confirmed what many have suspected: the Obama
Administration plans to make the "Race to the Top Fund"
(a program initiated with "one-time" stimulus
package dollars), a permanent item in his department's
budget. Days later, President Obama underscored that
position, calling for a
$1.35 billion expansion of the discretionary grants
program. If approved by Congress, the extended RTTF will add
a new twist: In addition to states, Local Education Agencies (i.e.
school districts) will be eligible to apply for funding.
At this point, there's little doubt that the RTTF
has become something of a blueprint for the Obama Administration's
vision for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, known under the former administration as "No
Child Left Behind." And in the aftermath of last week's
U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, it's a blueprint that may
quickly gain political traction. Here's why.
According to an Education Week
report, Secretary Duncan told the mayors
"...that he wants the new version of the law to be 'tight on
goals' but looser in terms of how states should achieve
them." Such posturing is likely to be warmly received by
both Democrats and Republicans. Readers may recall that
several years ago, prominent GOP Congressman Pete Hoekstra introduced
legislation - known as the "A-PLUS bill" - designed
to "free states from the federal requirements tied to
funding under NCLB and grant them the flexibility to implement initiatives
that they develop to best meet the unique needs of their particular
students." The bill, which stalled in committee, was
supported by leading conservative voices including that of the Heritage
Foundation's Dan Lips,
who believed Representative Hoekstra's
bill, "...would promote
greater state and local control in education while maintaining true
accountability through state-level testing and information
reporting to parents to ensure transparency." Those
words could just as easily have emanated from the Obama White
House, or Department of Education.
With the 2010 Congressional elections now less than
ten months away, President Obama needs to convince swing voters
that his policies have generated jobs, and that he is
capable of passing significant legislation. With the status
of healthcare and cap-and-trade legislation currently in doubt, the
reauthorization of ESEA may provide Mr. Obama with the best
opportunity to demonstrate his ability not only to move a
major bill through Congress, but to garner bipartisan support in
the process. That would be good news for the
President...but not so good for private schools.
While the Race to the Top Fund doesn't preclude states
and school districts from partnering with private schools and
providing benefits to religious and independent school students and
teachers, the program is devoid of equitability requirements assuring the
provision of any such benefits. It was for this reason that
State-CAPE organizations,including CAPSO, failed to embrace Mr.
Hoekstra's "A-PLUS bill."
This portion of the
"blueprint" provides the writing on the wall to which
the nation's private school community best pay heed.
Formula grants will give way to discretionary grants, and
the principle of "equitability" for private school
students and teachers - a longstanding philosophical component
of ESEA - will fall victim to a dubious form of
"federalism" in which the federal government will
continue to hold the purse strings and write the rules, while
granting states and school districts the discretion to provide
services to private school students and teachers, or not.
After what feels like an interminable delay, ESEA
reauthorization may now loom on the horizon. Given the speed
with which the stimulus bill was passed, and the President's wish
for the expeditious passage of a healthcare reform bill, the
deliberative process attendant to the reauthorization of ESEA may
run in fast motion. Private school leaders and
supporters need to be ready to make a
compelling case to members of both parties. Stay tuned!
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