Vergara witness says state laws governing teachers work

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Cal-Berkeley professor Jesse Rothstein

Cal-Berkeley professor Jesse Rothstein

The battle of the experts continued today in Vergara vs. California as an expert in labor economics and public policy called by the defense provided rationales for keeping in place the state laws governing teachers that are under challenge in the case.

Jesse Rothstein, a professor at Cal-Berkeley and a former senior economist on the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, testified that the two-year tenure statute was adequate to identify ineffective teachers and still help school districts attract new employees.

He also said a “last-in, first-out” process that favors seniority in times of staff reduction is more fair and objective than so-called “value-added” models that take into account student performance to measure teacher effectiveness.

And he said the dismissal statutes protect teachers against “arbitrary and capricious decisions of employers” who might want to get rid of certain teachers.

These three issues — tenure, dismissal and seniority — are central to the case, which began more than a month ago. The nine student-plaintiffs are trying to show that California’s laws governing the issues combine to deny public education students access to a quality education.

The state and its two big teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — are trying to convince the court that the laws are fine as they are, posing none of the pernicious effects the plaintiffs claim.

Rothstein’s testimony, under direct questioning by Jim Finberg, representing the unions, was largely focused on opinions derived from his own studies and those of others that took general views on the subjects at issue in the case. Rothstein left the strong impression that he believed the laws, as they are, do not impede academic performance because of ineffective teachers.

But later, under cross examination by Marcellus McRae, the plaintiffs lead lawyer, he admitted that he knew little about how the laws play out in California and that none of his own work specifically reflected public education policies in the state.

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Quietly, LA Unified gets a voice in place for District 1

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Sylvia Rousseau

Sylvia Rousseau

After school board member Marguerite LaMotte died, her district — which stretches from Palms to Central Los Angeles — went without a voice for 89 days. That ended Tuesday, when the Los Angeles Unified School Board hired Sylvia Rousseau as a temporary “liaison” for the community.

The appointment approved by unanimous consent after little fanfare and no public debate.

Rousseau, who will continue teaching full time at the USC Rossier School of Education, will serve until a permanent replacement has been elected later this year. The district has agreed to pay her $49.90 per hour.”

Today, her second day on the job, Rousseau told LA School Report, “I’m really trying to get a profile on what District 1 is like.”

“I want to learn from the community, parents, and principals so that the board has a more clear idea of what its needs are as they deliberate on major decisions that affect District 1” she said.

Rousseau said she will report her findings to the board at each monthly meeting.

Information will also be going in the other direction. Working with local superintendents and school principals, Rousseau is responsible for keeping District 1 parents informed about long-term issues, including the new Local Control Funding Formula and Common Core implementation.

Parents have accused the board and Superintendent John Deasy of acting secretively, making the appointment in a closed session meeting and failing to speak publicly about Rousseau’s role.

But district officials said that may be more an issue of expediency. Rather than hold an open debate to refine specific job responsibilities, board members met individually with her and agreed that she was ideally suited for the job.

“This is a person of such high esteem and caliber that we chose to trust her with the substance of the work, based on what she said to us individually,” said board member Steve Zimmer, who has been the leading advocate for finding some means of connection between the board and District 1 until the special election, which is scheduled for June 3.

Zimmer said Rousseau’s major focus will be conveying to the board “data and trends” from within District 1 so the information can be considered in two of the biggest issues before the board in the coming months — the district’s annual budget and setting priorities for how to spend new state money from the Local Control Funding Formula.

Previous Posts: The LA Unified board appoints a ‘liaison’ for vacant board seat; Does experience count? LAUSD candidates vie for attention; The LA Unified board twice voted against a caretaker for vacant seat.

E4E poses questions, 10 candidates for union chief answer

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avatars-000054535429-qf5zpr-t200x200Educators 4 Excellence, a teacher advocacy group comprised of members of the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, has developed an interactive election guide focusing on the 10 candidates running for UTLA president.

The guide poses four questions and provides audio responses from each candidate.

The interviews were conducted earlier this week and are included in a larger package of information about the candidates and the election.

Morning Read: LA schools welcome sweeping changes to the SAT

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Students, area school staff embrace changes to SAT
Pablo Muñoz is no stranger to academic rigor. And don’t expect him to shirk additional work. As many cheered sweeping changes to the SAT — such as the optional essay — the 15-year-old Loyola High School sophomore is likely not to skip that portion. “I would probably do the essay because I think it could give me a slight edge over test takers,” he said. “I think it might be a gateway for students to shortchange themselves” if they don’t write the essay. LA Times

L.A. County Supervisors approve crossing guards at certain middle schools
Weeks after a mother was killed walking her daughter to school, the county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to deploy crossing guards at certain middle schools in unincorporated areas. While its previous policy covered only elementary schools, now the county’s Department of Public Works and Office of Education can post the guards near middle schools if there’s evidence of unusually complicated intersections or heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic. LA Daily News

Bill would provide $1.5 billion more for Common Core implementation
California school districts would receive another year of Common Core implementation funds under a bill introduced Wednesday by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. Last year, as chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, Bonilla pushed for the $1.25 billion that schools are using this academic year to support teacher training, textbooks and other instructional materials and technology upgrades needed to carry out the transition to Common Core State Standards. EdSource

LAO says Brown’s child care funding falls short
Legislators will need to include “a few million dollars” more in this year’s budget if the state expects to fully cover the costs of its largest subsidized child care program for low-income families. While it is likely that state lawmakers will heed the advice of the Legislative Analyst’s Office and budget the additional money needed to pay for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids – or CalWORKs, the issue of increased funding for other state subsidized child care and preschool programs is less certain. SI&A Cabinet Report

Community rallies around George McKenna for L.A. school board
The recent storm couldn’t keep parents, students, educators, and voters away from helping to celebrate the grand opening of Dr. George McKenna’s Leimert Park campaign headquarters on March 2. Among those in attendance were Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, South Los Angeles Councilmember Bernard Parks, retired L.A. Councilmember Jan Perry, and former Assemblymember Mike Davis. LA Sentinel

By easing path from high school to higher ed, CA can build its workforce
Commentary: The forecast for 2025 is grim – California will fall short by millions of college graduates of meeting workforce demands. But as a policymaker who has worked for decades on quality and accountability in our schools, and as a community college president leading change, we see no shortage of students who are eager and ready to succeed in college. Sacramento Bee

In Vergara, witness says districts can overcome ineffective teachers

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Robert Fraisse

Robert Fraisse

The defense in Vergara v California began its case today, calling to the witness stand a veteran educator whose testimony about identifying and dealing with ineffective teachers came in stark contrast to the views of earlier witnesses in the case.

Robert Fraisse, whose career included serving as superintendent in three California school districts, appeared to give the defense a boost by testifying that the five laws under challenge in the trial — governing teacher seniority, tenure and dismissal — are not to blame for the presence of ineffective teachers, that well-managed districts can operate smoothly within the laws and that the statutes don’t infringe on students’ rights to a quality education.

Point by point, his comments contradicted many of the plaintiffs’ witnesses, who appeared over the first four weeks of the case. Fraisse was the first to the stand for the defendants — the state and its two biggest teacher unions — after Judge Rolf Treu ruled yesterday that the case would proceed.

Among other things, Fraisse said appropriately trained evaluators can identify ineffective teachers within two years if the school district’s human resource plan is working properly. He said standardized test scores are not necessarily the major factors in making teacher evaluations and that alternative data is vital to consider as well, including local standardized exams, portfolio assessments and teacher evaluations.

In countering another major contention of the nine students who are the plaintiffs, Fraisse told the court that while superintendent for the Hueneme Elementary School District, he never experienced an unequal distribution of ineffective teachers in lower-income schools.

Glenn Rothner, a lawyer for the unions, asked Fraisse, “Did you do anything to encourage highly effective teachers to teach in lower income schools?’ Fraisse said he would assign the best principals to the neediest schools as a way to attract effective teachers to those campuses.

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Tensions rise as UTLA candidate take on issues, each other

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caputo pearl garcia

David Garcia (left), Alex Caputo-Pearl
Candidates for President of UTLA

Tensions deepened last night among the candidates running for the top job at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) as one of them came close to a physical confrontation with another after the event ended.

Hosted by the teacher advocacy group, Educators4Excellence, at City Hall in Boyle Heights, the event played before a crowd of about 60 teachers, activists, students and community members dining on Subway sandwiches.

E4E members Bianca Sanchez and Jeff Austin moderated four questions to the 10 candidates — all male — running to lead the second largest union in the nation.

Friction was most evident between David Garcia, a substitute teacher, and Alex Caputo-Pearl, who is running at the top of a slate called “Union Power,” over Caputo-Pearl’s recent campaign appearances at LA Unified schools. Garcia angrily accused Caputo-Pearl of violating union election rules and misusing his ties to LAUSD. After the forum, the two nearly got into an altercation, as Garcia swatted at Caputo-Pearl before being restrained.

Other candidates, like Saul Lankster, agreed with Garcia’s accusations, saying that the school district is “giving Caputo-Pearl all the answers to the test since he has had unfettered access to all schools since September.”

The district has said Caputo-Pearl did not file proper paperwork for the unpaid leave, but he has not been disciplined.

“We have to accept fact that this is a very specialized election and the district has made its vote,” Lankster continued as a few crowd members clapped and hooted.

Such issues are why E4E hosted the forum, as the previous debates have often spiraled off topic and were rooted in rhetoric and personal attacks, according to E4E Executive Director Ama Nyamekye.

“There is too much at stake here in LAUSD and UTLA not to ask our candidates to squarely tackle tough policy issues,” she said. “We need to refocus the debate in this election.”

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Commentary: Where I would spend the ‘Local Control’ money

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imagesWant to play the least fun game in the world?

It’s called “Principal for a Day.” I know, back when you were five, it used to sound so fun to follow the principal around, issuing commands—Extra recess for everyone! Free donuts in the cafeteria!—but thanks to years of budget cuts, the game is no longer any fun, unless you really love crying over a pile of spreadsheets.

After the passage of Prop 30, though, some people are saying the game might regain its original luster. With the Local Control Funding Formula channeling fresh funds into the district budget, maybe we won’t have to stock up on Kleenex as we plan how to keep our doors open next year.

So let’s pretend we’re the principal of All-American High, an imaginary but typical school of about 550 students—a “small learning community” formed by dividing up a large public high school in south Los Angeles. Let’s say 95 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch, 65 percent are English Language Learners, 15 percent are in Special Ed and 10 percent are in foster care. The school is in a high-crime area with significant gang activity. Many of our families are seeing food stamps cut this year, which means kids sometimes come to school hungry.

Whew! It’s exhausting being a principal. But now comes the fun part.

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LA Unified board votes to pay Deasy for unused vacation

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Superintendent John Deasy: Little time for vacation

Superintendent John Deasy: Little time for vacation

Superintendent John Deasy works too much.

So much so, that he rarely takes time off for vacation. As a result, the Los Angeles Unified School board voted at its monthly meeting yesterday to pay him for up to 24 days of unused vacation time, the equivalent of nearly $30,000 added to his annual salary of $330,000, according to Megan Reilly, the district’s chief financial officer.

School board member Bennett Kayser alone objected to what he said is a salary increase for Deasy, who threatened to quit four months ago. Kayser said it was inappropriate especially, “while we have employees who have not gotten a raise in years.”

It is the kind of perk that is sure to anger union leaders on the eve of contract negotiations after years of drastic budget cuts. Warren Fletcher, president of the teachers union, along with many of his nine challengers in UTLA’s current election campaign, are making pay raises for teachers a big part of their campaigns.

“I know a lot of teachers who would love to get their vacation days paid out. It’ll be interesting to see if they can get the same thing,” a union insider told LA School Report.

In one of its shorter meetings — under five hours — the board covered a lot of other territory, with discussions on Cesar Chavez, Armenian genocide, water conservation, Women’s History Month, National Library Week and figuring out a way to encourage district employees to get health coverage. The members also spent a few hours deliberating the future of a handful of schools, based on their fiscal viability.

Conditional charter renewals for Magnolia Science Academy 6 and 7 were approved in a five to one vote, with Kayser, again, as the only dissenter.

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Morning Read: CA moving away from bilingual education

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Calif. Bill Would Repeal Bilingual-Education Restrictions

A new bill that seeks to repeal California’s long-running restrictions on bilingual education may be only the most recent signal of a shifting political climate around English-language-learner instruction in that state. California drew national attention in 1998 when voters passed Proposition 227, a ballot measure that severely restricted the availability of bilingual education for students in favor of English-only immersion programs for English-learners. EdWeek

Los Angeles preschool advocates cheer Obama’s budget
Early education advocates were thrilled at the $75 billion President Barack Obama proposed Tuesday to spend on their cause over the next 10 years – even though the budget is unlikely to pass as is. Alex Morales, CEO of the Children’s Bureau of Southern California, said the president’s proposed expansion – to $1.3 billion next year to implement universal preschool and expand other programs – would be a game changer for the poor families his organization serves. KPCC 

Linked learning promotes grad rates if not test scores
Students enrolled in linked learning programs over the past four years outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms when it came to earning high school credits and completing advanced college readiness courses, according to a new study released Tuesday. But the report from SRI International and the Irvine Foundation found only mixed results when comparing scores on standardized testing between students in the project-based learning system and their counterparts who were not. SI&A Cabinet Report

U.S. needs to add student online privacy rules
Editorial: As more of our children’s education moves online, there are increased opportunities for abusing the collection of their personal data. Last month, state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) introduced a bill that would help close a loophole in federal regulations — at least in California — in an effort to safeguard personal information of public school students. The potential privacy violations could be significant, and it makes sense for the Legislature to act now. LATimes

School districts should begin planning now for new science standards
Commentary: The Next Generation Science Standards, adopted last September by the State Board of Education, will better engage and educate all students in science, and better prepare them to enter more in-depth science, computing and engineering courses in high school and beyond. EdSource

Judge rules Vergara case goes on; defense case starts Wednesday

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Judge Rolf Treu

Judge Rolf Treu, L.A. Superior Court

After giving lawyers one more chance to make their arguments today, Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that Vergara v California will proceed, denying the defendants’ request to throw the case out.

As defendants, the state and its two biggest teachers unions tried to persuade the judge that in four weeks of testimony, the plaintiffs — nine students — did not present enough evidence to prove that the five contested statutes governing teacher dismissal, tenure and layoffs deny students right to an effective education.

As a result, Treu invited the defendants to start presenting their own witnesses, the first of whom, Robert Fraisse, a former teacher, principal and superintendent, will take the stand tomorrow morning.

Fraisse,who served as superintendent in three California school districts — Laguna Beach, Conejo Valley and Hueneme Elementary — is the defense’s second witness. Due to a scheduling issue, the first – Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of Education at Harvard — testified several weeks ago.

In the oral arguments, Jim Finberg, a lawyer for the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association, and Deputy State Attorney Nimrod Elias insisted that plaintiffs have not shown that the statutes are unconstitutional on their face or have caused the plaintiffs any significant harm. They further said the testimony 22 educators, experts and student litigants was not enough to establish a direct link between the contested laws and the individual plaintiffs.

Ted Boutrous, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, responded by telling the court they have provided overwhelming and compelling evidence that demonstrates the challenged statutes impose a “real and appreciable” impact on students’ fundamental right to an education. He said testimony from educators and experts in labor economics and statistical research had shown that the statutes result in students not getting the educational opportunities they deserve.

After Treu’s ruling, Boutrous issued a statement, saying, “We are very pleased with Judge Treu’s ruling and look forward to the rest of the trial.” He added “These arbitrary laws are hurting kids every day. We do not believe the State and the teachers unions will be able to prove otherwise.”

Treu’s ruling was the fifth time defendants were denied in a request to have the case dismissed.

Previous Posts: Vergara plaintiffs file a response, asking that the case continues; Vergara lawyers preview their case, the one they might need.

 

Breaking News: Judge allows Vergara case to continue

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Elizabeth Vergara

Elizabeth Vergara

Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu resumed the Vergara v California trial today by telling lawyers for both sides that he would allow the case to continue.

After hearing oral arguments from both sides, he denied the defendants’ request to dismiss the case based on a lack of evidence.

“The court finds sufficient evidence, credible evidence, to move forward with a trial,” Treu said.

Details to come.

With testing moratorium, LAUSD crafts its own for ELL shift

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Standardized TestingWith a year-long state moratorium on standardized testing, LAUSD is crafting its own assessment to determine if English learning students are ready for an English-only curriculum.

The new tests will look a lot like the tests they replace, said Hilda Maldonado, director of the LAUSD Multilingual and Multicultural department. The district had initially sought to purchase the old CST tests independently but found the nearly half-million dollar price tag too expensive for the 40,000 tests needed for ELL students this year.

The new assessment will be administered by schools from March 17 to May 23, according to Maldonado, adding that students in grades 3-9 will have the option of “banking” their CST scores from the previous year if they scored a basic or above. The CST tests have been replaced by the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests, which are slated to be officially administered next school year.

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Vergara trial resumes but for how long — a day or maybe weeks

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Judge Rolf Treu

Judge Rolf Treu, L.A. Superior Court

It could be a monumental day in the Vergara vs. California trial. Or it could just lead to more testimony.

Lawyers are expecting California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu to decide whether to throw the case out, as the defendants are asking, or keep it going, as the plaintiffs are urging.

The decision turns on whether he believes the plaintiffs, after four weeks of testimony, have failed to show that California public school children have been denied access to quality education because of state laws that protect ineffective teachers. If he agrees, he’ll rule for the defendants — the state and its two big teachers union.

If he believes Elizabeth Vergara and the eight other student plaintiffs have made a case, then the trial goes on.

It all starts at 1:30 p.m.

Does experience count? LAUSD candidates vie for attention

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SpecialElectionforum-3-32014An experience gap is emerging as an election issue — that’s one of the takeaways as south LA residents got an early look yesterday at some of candidates in the highly contested race to fill the vacant LA Unified school board seat.

The forum attracted 5 of the 13 contenders in the special election scheduled for June 3. They mostly agreed with each other on the issues but offered only few specifics about how they’d represent District 1, which is home to nearly 110 schools.

While no particular candidate appeared to break away from the pack, the two most experienced candidates received the most applause from the audience of about 50 — and who offered the most specific plans for steering board toward policies that will benefit District 1 students.

Retired principal and former local superintendent George McKenna, who is well-known for turning around Washington Prep in the early 1980s, got a rousing reaction from the crowd when he told them, “I’m going to run on what I’ve done, not what I promise to do.”

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Morning Read: UTLA leader threatens complaints over ‘jails’

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In survey, union leader vows to file complaints over ‘teacher jails’
Los Angeles teachers union president Warren Fletcher lashed out at the school district Monday for its handling of teachers accused of misconduct, vowing to file federal and state age-discrimination complaints. LA Times

Severely disabled are to face double testing this spring
Thousands of the state’s most severely disabled students face a double testing dilemma this spring as a result of the state’s complex transition to the Common Core curriculum – a problem lawmakers are scrambling to fix. SI&A Cabinet Report 

Universal preschool will be a hot issue this spring in Sacramento
Three little boys crawled around a colorful classroom rug, roaring like dinosaurs as other preschoolers learned the value of a dollar. One hundred pennies felt much heavier in the 4-year-olds’ tiny hands than a dollar bill. A casual observer might assume the kids were just playing, but St. Elizabeth’s Day Home in San Jose is no ordinary day care. Contra Costa Times

Effective teacher training critical to success of Common Core math
The quality of teacher training will be crucial to the success of the new Common Core State Standards in math, educators say, and the pressure is on districts to give elementary school teachers the skills they’ll need to provide students with a firm foundation in early arithmetic. EdSource 

Why this bilingual education ban should have repealed long ago

Commentary: In the mid-1990s, conditions were right for California to build the multilingual economy of the future. A slumping economy needed a boost. A remarkably multilingual population — including millions of Spanish speakers — was already in place. But in 1998, with globalization knocking ever more loudly on its door, Californians voted instead to pass a ballot measure known as Proposition 227 that imposed wide-reaching restrictions on bilingual education, effectively banning it. CNN

Teachers union plans leaflet push for raises, smaller classes

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UTLA logoThe Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, is planning to blanket the district with leaflets tomorrow to build support among parents for smaller class sizes, fully staffed schools and raises.

With help from health and human services workers, teachers intend to pass out informational leaflets before and, in some cases, after school.

The leaflets ask parents to contact LA Unified board members to push for using new tax dollars in the classroom.

“Students and LAUSD employees all suffered during the recession years,” UTLA President Warren Fletcher said in a statement. Now that the District has the money, it’s time to right some wrongs. It is wrong when school librarians are laid off and campus libraries are closed; when schools do not have a full time nurse; and when there are not enough mental health professionals to serve student needs. It’s wrong when schools are unsanitary and unsafe.”

 

 

 

Zimmer introducing plan to give students a role with school board

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stevezimmer12_17Fresh off his (unsuccessful) effort to get a District 1 voice onto the LA Unified school board right away, trustee Steve Zimmer is returning to the monthly board meeting tomorrow with a plan that would lead to another voice with influence on the board:

Students.

Zimmer is introducing a measure — the Student Engagement and Empowerment Resolution of 2014 — that would create a student advisory member of the school board, a “student congress” made up of two representatives from each district high school, and from that, a student from each of the board’s seven districts to serve as liaisons between the congress and the school board.

The program, starting as a pilot in 2014-2015, would also create a district-wide curriculum for high schools using the televised board meetings as a “teaching tool” to increase student involvement with board actions and draw district students closer to issues that bear directly on them.

As his motion says, the student congress and student board member would be “embraced by the Board to bring a new level of legitimacy, accountability, and transparency to policy decisions enacted” by the board, starting with the spring semester of 2015.

“I’ve always believed in student empowerment,” Zimmer said in an interview with LA School Report. “The lack of an authentic student voice is something I have always felt obligated to address.”

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Vergara lawyers await decision on whether to let case proceed

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Plaintiffs' lawyer Marcellus McRae

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Marcellus McRae

After a one-week recess, the court resumes tomorrow in the case of Vergara vs. California. Attorneys for both the defense and the nine student plaintiffs are gearing up for what could turn out to be a critical juncture in this landmark case.

Before Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu is whether to throw the case out or let it proceed with the defense calling its series of witnesses.

As they have before, the defendants — the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers and the state — are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. They filed a Motion for Judgment, claiming the plaintiffs have not proven that five statutes governing teacher dismissals, tenure and layoffs deny California students their fundamental right to a quality education.

The unions and the state maintain that after four weeks of testimony from educators, experts and some of the student litigants, there are still “serious and insurmountable” gaps in the plaintiffs’ case.

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