Monthly Archives: March 2014

National, Research

NPR: Fed Up With Zero Tolerance In Schools, Advocates Push For Change

Story by Laura Isensee

Photo Credit: KUHF

stephen-f-austin-middle-In 2010, De’angelo Rollins got into a fight with a bully at his new middle school in Bryan, Texas. His mother, Marjorie Rollins Holman, says her shy son reported the bullying, but the teacher didn’t stop it.

Then it came to blows.

“The boy ended up hitting my son in the face first,” Holman says. “My son hit him back, and they got in a little scuffle.”

That scuffle landed her then-12-year-old son in the principal’s office — and in adult criminal court after the school police officer wrote the sixth-grader a ticket.

“We end up paying for everything for our son and made sure he did everything the judge had passed down to him. But we were outraged,” Holman says. “We couldn’t believe that this was happening.”

Since the mid-1990s, schools have increasingly disciplined students with harsh tactics like suspensions and, in some cases, the criminal courts. Now, the pendulum is swinging in the other direction — even in Texas, one of the most aggressive states in criminalizing students’ misbehavior.

Local, Research

SF Gate: June Jordan School for Equity gets a break on testing

Story by Jill Tucker

Photos by Mike Kepka

Mike KapkaNormally at this time of year, teachers and administrators at San Francisco’s June Jordan School for Equity would be starting to gear up for the standardized tests given to students early in the spring.

And the educators would be hoping that this time, unlike in years past, the school’s abysmal scores would really go up. But that won’t happen.

This year, the Excelsior neighborhood high school will get a welcome reprieve from the predictable cycle of testing.

It’s a practice year for California schools as the state transitions to a new computerized testing system based on the new Common Core curriculum adopted by most states. While students will take the new tests, the scores won’t count or even be reported to parents or the public.

For June Jordan, it wipes an ugly test-score slate clean and offers a shot at redemption.

District officials had high hopes for June Jordan.

Read more.

Local, Research

Oakland Local: Parents, students give their say in school budgeting

Oakland Local
Story by Barbara Grady
March 2, 2014

2march

The first test of Oakland Unified School District’s ability to include parents and students in making budget decisions — something now required by state law — happened Wednesday night when about 100 people asked the school board to let schools, rather than the central administration, decide how to spend a pot of money.

The students and parents won.

At issue was $1.5 million — a paltry sum within an overall $589 million budget for the district — but it was the subject of great debate, because the Board of Education had decided last June to gives schools this money, and $3 million more, to spend as they see fit, but then faced increased expenses, so considered rescinding that decision.

Read more.

Local, Research

Inside Bay Area: San Leandro woman headed to Ivy League school after overcoming challenges

Story by Rebecca Parr

SILIN HUANGSAN LEANDRO — SiLin Huang is headed to an Ivy League school in the fall after overcoming the challenges of speaking no English when she immigrated at age 8, growing up poor and missing two years of high school because of a mysterious illness.

“I’m the only child, so my parents viewed me as the hope for the family,” she said. “My goal was to get a good education and do well in school, because my parents only completed high school, and I wanted to help them.”

That goal was set back because of a still-undiagnosed illness. The straight-A San Leandro High student could not attend school — she was too sick to even take online courses — her junior and senior years. But when she recovered, she earned her high school diploma in one year at adult school and has been accepted by Columbia University in New York. In recognition of her accomplishments, she is one of 12 women chosen for the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame.

Read more.