Here is another article by Diane Ravitch titled, "Why Public Schools Need Democratic Governance," published in the Phi Delta Kappan, March 2010, Volume 91, No. 6, pp. 24-27. See http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v91/docs/k1003rav.pdf (download).
Friday, March 19, 2010
Low Hispanic Graduation Rates Threaten Obama's College-Attainment Goal
March 18, 2010
Low Hispanic Graduation Rates Threaten Obama's College-Attainment Goal
By Jennifer Gonzalez / The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges are doing a poor job of graduating Hispanic students, no matter how selective their admissions policies, and even when they are designated as Hispanic-serving institutions, says a new report by the American Enterprise Institute.
The report http://www.aei.org/docLib/Rising-to-the-Challenge.pdf, "Rising to the Challenge: Raising Hispanic Graduation Rates as a National Priority," comes at a time when the Hispanic population in the United States is rapidly growing and the academic success of Hispanic students is seen as crucial to meeting President Obama's goal that the nation have the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
Executive Summary here [pdf].
Read on here.
Low Hispanic Graduation Rates Threaten Obama's College-Attainment Goal
By Jennifer Gonzalez / The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges are doing a poor job of graduating Hispanic students, no matter how selective their admissions policies, and even when they are designated as Hispanic-serving institutions, says a new report by the American Enterprise Institute.
The report http://www.aei.org/docLib/Rising-to-the-Challenge.pdf, "Rising to the Challenge: Raising Hispanic Graduation Rates as a National Priority," comes at a time when the Hispanic population in the United States is rapidly growing and the academic success of Hispanic students is seen as crucial to meeting President Obama's goal that the nation have the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
Executive Summary here [pdf].
Read on here.
Demand a full historical account
Demand a full historical account
by Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR; Austin American-Statesman
Published: 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Texas State Board of Education seemed to be listening closely in January and March as witnesses came from across the state to urge members to consider revisions to social studies curriculum standards. But apparently it didn't hear because board members recently voted along party lines to omit many of recommended revisions, revisions that would have provided a more complete and accurate story of Texas and U.S. history.
Some revisions concern Mexican American civil rights — in particular, the significant advances made by the World War II generation to dismantle a segregated social order.
The inclusion would have fit into high school social studies, which expects students to know about World War II and "the home front and how American patriotism inspired exceptional actions by citizens and military personnel volunteerism and military enlistment, including high levels of military enlistment ... and opportunities and obstacles for women and ethnic minorities."
The standards call on students to "describe the role of political organizations that promoted civil rights, including ones from African American, Chicano, American Indian, women's, and other civil rights movements."
But the Mexican American civil rights efforts did not originate in the 1960s and '70s, or even with the World War II generation. Complaints — and advancements — began before then.
World War II changed the American social order. During their childhoods, the Mexican Americans who fought in the war faced daily discrimination. It was not uncommon to see signs in storefronts announcing that dogs, Mexicans and "colored people" were not welcome. In smaller Texas towns, Mexican American children attended segregated, inferior schools. In several towns, schools for Mexican Americans only went up to the fourth grade. It was the exceptional Mexican American who graduated from high school before the war.
For returning Mexican American veterans, that segregation and pervasive racism would no longer be tolerated. They used their GI benefits to get their educations. With diplomas in hand, they set out to make our state more equitable for their children. They formed groups like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American GI Forum. They filed lawsuits, petitioned for changes, wrote letters and began to run for political office.
One telling story is that of Felix Longoria, who was killed in the last days of the Pacific war. In 1949, his body was exhumed to be returned to Three Rivers, his hometown. The funeral director told Longoria's widow that she would have to find an alternative site for his services, as Anglos would object to holding the wake of a Mexican American at the funeral home. Soon Corpus Christi physician and World War II veteran and American GI Forum founder Dr. Hector P. Garcia called on Lyndon Baines Johnson, then the junior senator from Texas, to intervene, which he did. Thus the sordid story of racism in Texas was brought under a national spotlight. "The state of Texas, which looms so large on a map, looks mighty small tonight," radio commentator Walter Winchell said. Longoria was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mexican American civil rights are rarely acknowledged in the classroom. Including the topic in our history books is important for all schoolchildren. It should be known to all that Latinos have been in the U.S. for generations and made substantial contributions to our country, our state and our local communities.
And Latinos, who make up 48 percent of Texas' public school enrollment, according to the Texas Education Agency, should know about those who came before them so that they could enjoy educational opportunities. Young people should pursue that education with all the fervor and determination that not so many years ago the WWII generation demonstrated.
In mid-April, the TEA will post the revisions online; the public will have 30 days to comment. In May, the board will make final adoptions for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the next decade. Mexican American civil rights is just one of the concerns that will be revisited. But students should know that our rights are not handed to us and that the struggle continues today, under different guises.
Rivas-Rodriguez is the director of the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project at the University of Texas School of Journalism.
Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/rivas-rodriguez-demand-a-full-historical-account-381713.html
by Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR; Austin American-Statesman
Published: 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Texas State Board of Education seemed to be listening closely in January and March as witnesses came from across the state to urge members to consider revisions to social studies curriculum standards. But apparently it didn't hear because board members recently voted along party lines to omit many of recommended revisions, revisions that would have provided a more complete and accurate story of Texas and U.S. history.
Some revisions concern Mexican American civil rights — in particular, the significant advances made by the World War II generation to dismantle a segregated social order.
The inclusion would have fit into high school social studies, which expects students to know about World War II and "the home front and how American patriotism inspired exceptional actions by citizens and military personnel volunteerism and military enlistment, including high levels of military enlistment ... and opportunities and obstacles for women and ethnic minorities."
The standards call on students to "describe the role of political organizations that promoted civil rights, including ones from African American, Chicano, American Indian, women's, and other civil rights movements."
But the Mexican American civil rights efforts did not originate in the 1960s and '70s, or even with the World War II generation. Complaints — and advancements — began before then.
World War II changed the American social order. During their childhoods, the Mexican Americans who fought in the war faced daily discrimination. It was not uncommon to see signs in storefronts announcing that dogs, Mexicans and "colored people" were not welcome. In smaller Texas towns, Mexican American children attended segregated, inferior schools. In several towns, schools for Mexican Americans only went up to the fourth grade. It was the exceptional Mexican American who graduated from high school before the war.
For returning Mexican American veterans, that segregation and pervasive racism would no longer be tolerated. They used their GI benefits to get their educations. With diplomas in hand, they set out to make our state more equitable for their children. They formed groups like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American GI Forum. They filed lawsuits, petitioned for changes, wrote letters and began to run for political office.
One telling story is that of Felix Longoria, who was killed in the last days of the Pacific war. In 1949, his body was exhumed to be returned to Three Rivers, his hometown. The funeral director told Longoria's widow that she would have to find an alternative site for his services, as Anglos would object to holding the wake of a Mexican American at the funeral home. Soon Corpus Christi physician and World War II veteran and American GI Forum founder Dr. Hector P. Garcia called on Lyndon Baines Johnson, then the junior senator from Texas, to intervene, which he did. Thus the sordid story of racism in Texas was brought under a national spotlight. "The state of Texas, which looms so large on a map, looks mighty small tonight," radio commentator Walter Winchell said. Longoria was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mexican American civil rights are rarely acknowledged in the classroom. Including the topic in our history books is important for all schoolchildren. It should be known to all that Latinos have been in the U.S. for generations and made substantial contributions to our country, our state and our local communities.
And Latinos, who make up 48 percent of Texas' public school enrollment, according to the Texas Education Agency, should know about those who came before them so that they could enjoy educational opportunities. Young people should pursue that education with all the fervor and determination that not so many years ago the WWII generation demonstrated.
In mid-April, the TEA will post the revisions online; the public will have 30 days to comment. In May, the board will make final adoptions for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the next decade. Mexican American civil rights is just one of the concerns that will be revisited. But students should know that our rights are not handed to us and that the struggle continues today, under different guises.
Rivas-Rodriguez is the director of the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project at the University of Texas School of Journalism.
Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/rivas-rodriguez-demand-a-full-historical-account-381713.html
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story
This is a very powerful personal narrative told by an African woman storyteller named, Chimamanda Adichie. Everybody needs to see this. She illustrates from her perspective as a Nigerian the subtractive power of curriculum on young minds. This a really timely video in light of Texas' recent textbook decisions made by the SBOE.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Irene Williams: Glamour Gal Who's Tough on Terror
Irene Williams
Glamour Gal Who's Tough on Terror
By Terri Schexnayder
Photos by Eric Doggett Stud
Irene Williams barely tops five feet and still gets carded. She loves “girly” things, such as glittery ball gowns, and volunteers as a Girl Scout leader with her daughter’s troop. But when this petite woman steps into the conference room as CEO of 21st Century Technologies (21CT), she is there on a mission: to help fight the bad guys.
William’s company provides intelligence analytics, targeted at cyber security and counterterrorism, for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and Intelligence agencies. Since joining 21CT in 2005, she has helped grow revenue by over 50% and increased profits by over 300% in a single year. But, she will stress, what her team does every day is way beyond profit numbers and Capitol Hill rhetoric.
“Our company develops research and technology focused on preventing threats to our country’s safety, such as, cyber network attacks. We help make our country safer. In many ways, you can get lost in those words – every politician and many defense contractors say them – so it’s easy to become numb to what those words mean. I am so fortunate to be in a position to make a true impact on the world, because it could be my child or husband who gets on that plane the next time a terrorist gets on, too,” explains Williams.
She recalls, while watching the recent news story of the “Christmas Day Bomber” attempt in frustration, thinking, “We have technology and people that could have helped prevent that. I am not naïve to think we are the only ones who can help, or that we could have single-handedly prevented it, but we are another very viable and credible solution. That knowledge empowers me every day to get our solution out into the world,” says Williams.
From Border Town to Protecting Our Borders
“The way I remember it, it was a safe place, enriched by its proximity to Mexico. The Mexican cultural influence was a very positive one. The images in my mind are of the tropical beauty in the city and long lazy days at the beach, playing in the sun until our skin turned black,” recalls Williams. “I especially remember how we would rustle up quarters to buy raspas (snow cones), and watching the Charro Day parades from our front porch.”
Her world then was not seen as one with a cultural divide among the races; in fact, just the opposite. “I still didn’t see the world in terms of color. I didn’t see Mexican and White. I completely related to the American worlds I saw on TV,” says Williams. “When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see a Mexican girl – I saw an American who was not so different in terms of dreams and actions than the Marcia Brady character on TV.”
Well-educated in a Catholic, middle class family, Williams was nurtured by a schoolteacher mother and businessman father who both loved literature, opera and great works of art. She was also coddled by three, unmarried, great aunts, “who were like my surrogate mothers,” says Williams. “We celebrated our holidays at their home. One of them would usually pull us aside, take a nickel out of her bra, and whisper, ‘You are only one I am giving this to,’ although we knew she did it for all the kids.”
From Shy Student to Public Speaker
Williams claims she was extremely shy as a young girl and could have easily disappeared in her writing and pencil drawings, at which she excelled. However, her choice to get onstage eventually was the catalyst for her “big voice” to come out.
“Being so shy, spending PE all by yourself and praying no one would talk to you, I also knew I had lot to say, but had no conceivable idea of how that would come out. I went into theatre in sixth grade (which is why I care so much about the Long Center now) and one of my teachers knew I had a creative bent. I had a choice: ‘Will I sit in my room or let that charismatic side of me come out?’ I chose to audition for the play Heidi and won the part of Fräulien Rottenmier, the mean governess,” she recalls with a smile. “The outspoken Irene was born!”
Rachel Manautou, Williams’ mother, who is a retired grade school teacher of 30 years, remembers the day she and her husband first saw Williams on stage. “She was attending a private grade school, Incarnate Word Academy, in Brownsville, and was Mistress of Ceremonies for a program. She was talking and, then, she sang. We were enthralled, it was so beautiful, and she was so unafraid,” recalls Manautou.
Little Miss Sunshine
For Williams, it all happened in that moment when she “was given permission” to be her true self on the stage. Her next journey, literally a road trip to Corpus Christi to share her winning essay, How a Child Can Change the World, opened up slightly different doors in her life.
“You remember Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine? That was my story. I was chosen from my seventh grade to read my speech at a statewide conference, so my family had to figure out the same critical things as that character had to – such as, ‘Who will take off work?’ ‘What car can we take?’ We ended up going in my brother’s friend’s car and the guys were thrilled – ROAD TRIP!” Williams cheers, with a laugh. “I just wanted to arrive in one piece and focus on my speech.”
“When I got to the ballroom, it was another Oz experience. Since we didn’t have the money to buy a new outfit, I wore this polyester, bright, baby blue dress that went to my ankles, with suede, dark blue shoes, which doubled as my PE shoes. I walk in with my teenage brother and his skulking friend, and all the other children are there with their suits and beautiful gowns – and, their parents,” she says.
Facing her panic head-on, Williams read her essay and won second place. “It was such an upset in the competition. There were kids who had competed for years and were very practiced. It was clearly my written message that moved the judges,” she says. From out of the crowd of indignant parents and young adults, one of the female judges approached Williams. “She asked where my parents were, because she wanted to tell them that I should be a writer, my work was so wonderful,” she recalls. “I often think about that woman and it inspires me to do that for someone every day, because she had such an impact on me and how I thought about myself.”
A Different World
Her love of writing took her on a path to study journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. After working hard to pay for her Catholic education as a young adult, Williams was on her own to figure out how to pay for college. At UT, however, her experiences “blew open the doors” to her ethnic differences.
“I discovered the world did not see me as anything remotely close to an all-American Marcia Brady character. They saw me as something else.” She routinely fielded the question, “What are you?” and would sit alone for hours watching people in the student mall, marveling at the diverse population and wondering what her place could be in this bigger world. The first time her college roommate invited Williams to her Northwest Texas family home, Williams’ Anglo boyfriend asked, “Does her family know what you are?” Williams remembers wondering, “What am I? Short? A journalism major? What is he talking about?” He cautioned her that many people did not like Mexicans, especially in that part of Texas, and she needed to be careful.
“I was dumbfounded. I don’t know if I was blind to prejudice because of my upbringing or because I came from a place where almost everyone is Hispanic. But hearing someone I loved define me that way was startling,” says Williams.
Williams notes that, although she loved writing and acting, talents that gave her a “format for my big voice,” her practical side kicked in when deciding on her degree studies. So, rather than “heading off to Hollywood,” a journalism degree won out. During her time as a Daily Texan reporter, Williams experienced an a-ha moment. “I realized I didn’t want to be writing about others’ stories; I wanted to be the story!” After graduating with a B.S. in Journalism with Highest Honors in 1984, she went on to pursue her J.D. from UT’s School of Law, mostly because her parents had always encouraged her to achieve a better lifestyle than they had had.
From Legal Eagle to Globetrotter
But, for a young woman with a passion for the stage, the written word and a world full of great art, being a lawyer zapped her creative side. “During my law practice, I would think, ‘I am crushing my spirit. What am I fighting for? I am writing every day of my life, but this is not my voice.’ Ultimately,” she says, “if you love something, you will find your way.”
Williams’ way, in the pursuit of her career path over the next 20 years, is as diverse as her multicultural upbringing. It spans Fortune 100 companies and start-ups around the world. In her ongoing quest to combine her creative and rational, business side, she spent a year each in the Middle East and Asia; first, representing foreign governmental claims before the United Nations, and later, as a foreign consultant for an internationally renowned law firm in Korea.
She also worked for Sony Pictures Entertainment as their business and legal affairs executive on the west coast. Williams remembers one particular day her boss walked into her office. “He said, ‘Hey, Texas!’ before assigning me the task of negotiating the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, because I was from the state,” she says.
One of Williams’ longtime friends, Karen Brodkin, now senior vice president, business and legal affairs, Fox Sports and Fox Sports Net in LA, first met Williams when they were interning and rooming together at a law office in California. “We were fascinated by each other – she was this girl from a very traditional background in Texas and I was a Berkley girl. We thought we were so different, but we were very much alike,” says Brodkin. “We are both close to our moms, for example. Citing Williams’ ability to balance her family, work and community “like no other women I know,” Brodkin says Williams is the “quintessential woman all wrapped up into one package.”
Family First
Despite her impressive resume and experiences any top executive would envy, Williams cherishes her other titles the most, as mother to Rachel, 11, and Ethan, 8, and wife to Robert. She and her husband of 12 years work side-by-side at home and at the office, where he serves as vice president of product management at 21CT. Even though Williams and Robert both hail from Texas, and attended the same college at the same time, they met in the most unlikely of places – Kuwait. After the first Gulf War, both were drawn to the Middle East by careers each felt would be life-changing. Robert was working for Texaco rebuilding its war-torn IT infrastructure and Williams was documenting history-making UN claims as a lawyer. While there in 1993, Williams attended a party that Robert threw at his house, complete with Bedouin tent and lamb schwarma.
“My first Robert-sighting is an image seared in my memory. He was intensely debating a group of Arabs and expats. For romantics, maybe you’d call it love at first sight. But I just remember instant amusement, curiosity and liking his handsome profile,” recalls Williams.
Her family’s support today is the reason she can achieve so much in her CEO position.
“I am always amazed that I found a husband who supports my crazy energy, drive and opinions. And, I just lucked out with my wonderful, brilliant and creative children who don’t freak out when I forget about random school holidays,” she says.
Beyond the Biz
Like most women, she carries a filled-to-capacity schedule and readily admits she doesn’t do it right all the time. Her days are packed tight with corporate meetings, high-level strategizing with her managers or government clients; traveling around the country; and spending quiet time at home with her family. She is in demand as a speaker for many civic and state organizations, imparting her expertise on subjects, such as “Staying Solvent through a Tough Economy” and “Homeland Security Issues.”
And, if that’s not enough, Williams continually gives of her time and talents to endless volunteer efforts, serving on the Boards of the Long Center for the Performing Arts and Las Comadres, a community outreach group for Hispanic women. She is also a co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Council for the Long Center, which gifts tickets and offers outreach programs for underserved segments of the community.
Cliff Redd, Long Center executive director, says, “Irene Williams has been a true hero to me and the Long Center … She gives of herself tirelessly to make Austin a better place for us all. We are so very lucky to have her and her husband, Robert, here. And beyond all that, she’s a great lawyer and has the best shoes of any woman I know,” says Redd.
Never forgetting her early mentors, who encouraged her to be her best and speak her “voice,” Williams perpetuates that positive thinking and “can-do” attitude with her staff at 21CT. A typical “Meeting with the CEO” luncheon, held around the conference room table with Chinese food brought in, provides a forum for open and honest conversations among Williams, management and staff.
“Our mission is so empowering. Every day, I wake up knowing that our people, ideas and technology can actually help make our country safer, smarter and stronger,” she says. “And, there is a lot of creativity in this job – the notion that you are creating something in the world that wouldn’t exist without you. A livelihood for a lot of other people; an environment they can come to every day; a safe place where they can be creative and add value to the world. I get to experience that every day.”
At the end of each day, Williams adds, she measures if it’s been a good one by a simple philosophy: “I realize my best day is a combination of work, community effort and being with my kids. What a day that is!”
A Woman’s “Change the World” To-Do List
Modeled after her award-winning seventh-grade essay, How a Child Can Change the World, Williams believes these tenets are timeless:
• Live every day as if it’s your last. Adopting this approach to life makes you bolder in your decisions and you spend time with the ones you really care about.
• Do one thing every day that makes someone feel good about herself. It causes a chain reaction of positivity.
• Do one brilliant or creative thing every day. Just one.
• Do 10% more than you planned to do. One more customer call. Run one more block.
• Find your passion. It lies in something you’re already doing every day and it’s your job to discover it.
• We can’t do this alone. We need our husbands and kids to support us, and friends and co-workers who believe in us.
• Friends do matter. Make them, nurture them, keep them and be one.
• We all have something we are good at, so craft your life so a big part of your day is focused on that.
• Be a mentor. Find someone who needs your counsel. You learn so much more than what you teach.
• Forgive yourself for the mistakes you are about to make. As fabulous as we are, there’s just going to be stuff we mess up.
Technology Tips for Women
1. The Internet keeps us connected professionally and personally in ways that were unfathomable years ago. Use it.
2. Be smart about how you use it. The internet is global and permanent, and if used wisely, can define how the world sees you in a positive way.
3. Regardless of your age, use social networking – Linked-In, Facebook, blogs and Twitter. There is a place for you, BUT, see Rule #2.
4. Use technology to maximize beauty and joy in your life wherever you are – I love that I can listen to a Led Zeppelin song, scroll through new pictures of my kids, and watch the Sneezing Panda video five times on YouTube, all while waiting to board a plane.
5. Technology has created a world of transparency. To survive in this world, we need to be open, honest and focused on “doing the right thing.”
6. As a parent, encourage your daughters to study math, science and technology.
7. This is the future and we need women leaders in that future.
8. Be a role model for showing our kids that technology is cool. After you go to a football game or a Taylor Swift concert, take them to Robotics competitions and video game design classes.
Glamour Gal Who's Tough on Terror
By Terri Schexnayder
Photos by Eric Doggett Stud
Irene Williams barely tops five feet and still gets carded. She loves “girly” things, such as glittery ball gowns, and volunteers as a Girl Scout leader with her daughter’s troop. But when this petite woman steps into the conference room as CEO of 21st Century Technologies (21CT), she is there on a mission: to help fight the bad guys.
William’s company provides intelligence analytics, targeted at cyber security and counterterrorism, for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and Intelligence agencies. Since joining 21CT in 2005, she has helped grow revenue by over 50% and increased profits by over 300% in a single year. But, she will stress, what her team does every day is way beyond profit numbers and Capitol Hill rhetoric.
“Our company develops research and technology focused on preventing threats to our country’s safety, such as, cyber network attacks. We help make our country safer. In many ways, you can get lost in those words – every politician and many defense contractors say them – so it’s easy to become numb to what those words mean. I am so fortunate to be in a position to make a true impact on the world, because it could be my child or husband who gets on that plane the next time a terrorist gets on, too,” explains Williams.
She recalls, while watching the recent news story of the “Christmas Day Bomber” attempt in frustration, thinking, “We have technology and people that could have helped prevent that. I am not naïve to think we are the only ones who can help, or that we could have single-handedly prevented it, but we are another very viable and credible solution. That knowledge empowers me every day to get our solution out into the world,” says Williams.
From Border Town to Protecting Our Borders
“The way I remember it, it was a safe place, enriched by its proximity to Mexico. The Mexican cultural influence was a very positive one. The images in my mind are of the tropical beauty in the city and long lazy days at the beach, playing in the sun until our skin turned black,” recalls Williams. “I especially remember how we would rustle up quarters to buy raspas (snow cones), and watching the Charro Day parades from our front porch.”
Her world then was not seen as one with a cultural divide among the races; in fact, just the opposite. “I still didn’t see the world in terms of color. I didn’t see Mexican and White. I completely related to the American worlds I saw on TV,” says Williams. “When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see a Mexican girl – I saw an American who was not so different in terms of dreams and actions than the Marcia Brady character on TV.”
Well-educated in a Catholic, middle class family, Williams was nurtured by a schoolteacher mother and businessman father who both loved literature, opera and great works of art. She was also coddled by three, unmarried, great aunts, “who were like my surrogate mothers,” says Williams. “We celebrated our holidays at their home. One of them would usually pull us aside, take a nickel out of her bra, and whisper, ‘You are only one I am giving this to,’ although we knew she did it for all the kids.”
From Shy Student to Public Speaker
Williams claims she was extremely shy as a young girl and could have easily disappeared in her writing and pencil drawings, at which she excelled. However, her choice to get onstage eventually was the catalyst for her “big voice” to come out.
“Being so shy, spending PE all by yourself and praying no one would talk to you, I also knew I had lot to say, but had no conceivable idea of how that would come out. I went into theatre in sixth grade (which is why I care so much about the Long Center now) and one of my teachers knew I had a creative bent. I had a choice: ‘Will I sit in my room or let that charismatic side of me come out?’ I chose to audition for the play Heidi and won the part of Fräulien Rottenmier, the mean governess,” she recalls with a smile. “The outspoken Irene was born!”
Rachel Manautou, Williams’ mother, who is a retired grade school teacher of 30 years, remembers the day she and her husband first saw Williams on stage. “She was attending a private grade school, Incarnate Word Academy, in Brownsville, and was Mistress of Ceremonies for a program. She was talking and, then, she sang. We were enthralled, it was so beautiful, and she was so unafraid,” recalls Manautou.
Little Miss Sunshine
For Williams, it all happened in that moment when she “was given permission” to be her true self on the stage. Her next journey, literally a road trip to Corpus Christi to share her winning essay, How a Child Can Change the World, opened up slightly different doors in her life.
“You remember Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine? That was my story. I was chosen from my seventh grade to read my speech at a statewide conference, so my family had to figure out the same critical things as that character had to – such as, ‘Who will take off work?’ ‘What car can we take?’ We ended up going in my brother’s friend’s car and the guys were thrilled – ROAD TRIP!” Williams cheers, with a laugh. “I just wanted to arrive in one piece and focus on my speech.”
“When I got to the ballroom, it was another Oz experience. Since we didn’t have the money to buy a new outfit, I wore this polyester, bright, baby blue dress that went to my ankles, with suede, dark blue shoes, which doubled as my PE shoes. I walk in with my teenage brother and his skulking friend, and all the other children are there with their suits and beautiful gowns – and, their parents,” she says.
Facing her panic head-on, Williams read her essay and won second place. “It was such an upset in the competition. There were kids who had competed for years and were very practiced. It was clearly my written message that moved the judges,” she says. From out of the crowd of indignant parents and young adults, one of the female judges approached Williams. “She asked where my parents were, because she wanted to tell them that I should be a writer, my work was so wonderful,” she recalls. “I often think about that woman and it inspires me to do that for someone every day, because she had such an impact on me and how I thought about myself.”
A Different World
Her love of writing took her on a path to study journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. After working hard to pay for her Catholic education as a young adult, Williams was on her own to figure out how to pay for college. At UT, however, her experiences “blew open the doors” to her ethnic differences.
“I discovered the world did not see me as anything remotely close to an all-American Marcia Brady character. They saw me as something else.” She routinely fielded the question, “What are you?” and would sit alone for hours watching people in the student mall, marveling at the diverse population and wondering what her place could be in this bigger world. The first time her college roommate invited Williams to her Northwest Texas family home, Williams’ Anglo boyfriend asked, “Does her family know what you are?” Williams remembers wondering, “What am I? Short? A journalism major? What is he talking about?” He cautioned her that many people did not like Mexicans, especially in that part of Texas, and she needed to be careful.
“I was dumbfounded. I don’t know if I was blind to prejudice because of my upbringing or because I came from a place where almost everyone is Hispanic. But hearing someone I loved define me that way was startling,” says Williams.
Williams notes that, although she loved writing and acting, talents that gave her a “format for my big voice,” her practical side kicked in when deciding on her degree studies. So, rather than “heading off to Hollywood,” a journalism degree won out. During her time as a Daily Texan reporter, Williams experienced an a-ha moment. “I realized I didn’t want to be writing about others’ stories; I wanted to be the story!” After graduating with a B.S. in Journalism with Highest Honors in 1984, she went on to pursue her J.D. from UT’s School of Law, mostly because her parents had always encouraged her to achieve a better lifestyle than they had had.
From Legal Eagle to Globetrotter
But, for a young woman with a passion for the stage, the written word and a world full of great art, being a lawyer zapped her creative side. “During my law practice, I would think, ‘I am crushing my spirit. What am I fighting for? I am writing every day of my life, but this is not my voice.’ Ultimately,” she says, “if you love something, you will find your way.”
Williams’ way, in the pursuit of her career path over the next 20 years, is as diverse as her multicultural upbringing. It spans Fortune 100 companies and start-ups around the world. In her ongoing quest to combine her creative and rational, business side, she spent a year each in the Middle East and Asia; first, representing foreign governmental claims before the United Nations, and later, as a foreign consultant for an internationally renowned law firm in Korea.
She also worked for Sony Pictures Entertainment as their business and legal affairs executive on the west coast. Williams remembers one particular day her boss walked into her office. “He said, ‘Hey, Texas!’ before assigning me the task of negotiating the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, because I was from the state,” she says.
One of Williams’ longtime friends, Karen Brodkin, now senior vice president, business and legal affairs, Fox Sports and Fox Sports Net in LA, first met Williams when they were interning and rooming together at a law office in California. “We were fascinated by each other – she was this girl from a very traditional background in Texas and I was a Berkley girl. We thought we were so different, but we were very much alike,” says Brodkin. “We are both close to our moms, for example. Citing Williams’ ability to balance her family, work and community “like no other women I know,” Brodkin says Williams is the “quintessential woman all wrapped up into one package.”
Family First
Despite her impressive resume and experiences any top executive would envy, Williams cherishes her other titles the most, as mother to Rachel, 11, and Ethan, 8, and wife to Robert. She and her husband of 12 years work side-by-side at home and at the office, where he serves as vice president of product management at 21CT. Even though Williams and Robert both hail from Texas, and attended the same college at the same time, they met in the most unlikely of places – Kuwait. After the first Gulf War, both were drawn to the Middle East by careers each felt would be life-changing. Robert was working for Texaco rebuilding its war-torn IT infrastructure and Williams was documenting history-making UN claims as a lawyer. While there in 1993, Williams attended a party that Robert threw at his house, complete with Bedouin tent and lamb schwarma.
“My first Robert-sighting is an image seared in my memory. He was intensely debating a group of Arabs and expats. For romantics, maybe you’d call it love at first sight. But I just remember instant amusement, curiosity and liking his handsome profile,” recalls Williams.
Her family’s support today is the reason she can achieve so much in her CEO position.
“I am always amazed that I found a husband who supports my crazy energy, drive and opinions. And, I just lucked out with my wonderful, brilliant and creative children who don’t freak out when I forget about random school holidays,” she says.
Beyond the Biz
Like most women, she carries a filled-to-capacity schedule and readily admits she doesn’t do it right all the time. Her days are packed tight with corporate meetings, high-level strategizing with her managers or government clients; traveling around the country; and spending quiet time at home with her family. She is in demand as a speaker for many civic and state organizations, imparting her expertise on subjects, such as “Staying Solvent through a Tough Economy” and “Homeland Security Issues.”
And, if that’s not enough, Williams continually gives of her time and talents to endless volunteer efforts, serving on the Boards of the Long Center for the Performing Arts and Las Comadres, a community outreach group for Hispanic women. She is also a co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Council for the Long Center, which gifts tickets and offers outreach programs for underserved segments of the community.
Cliff Redd, Long Center executive director, says, “Irene Williams has been a true hero to me and the Long Center … She gives of herself tirelessly to make Austin a better place for us all. We are so very lucky to have her and her husband, Robert, here. And beyond all that, she’s a great lawyer and has the best shoes of any woman I know,” says Redd.
Never forgetting her early mentors, who encouraged her to be her best and speak her “voice,” Williams perpetuates that positive thinking and “can-do” attitude with her staff at 21CT. A typical “Meeting with the CEO” luncheon, held around the conference room table with Chinese food brought in, provides a forum for open and honest conversations among Williams, management and staff.
“Our mission is so empowering. Every day, I wake up knowing that our people, ideas and technology can actually help make our country safer, smarter and stronger,” she says. “And, there is a lot of creativity in this job – the notion that you are creating something in the world that wouldn’t exist without you. A livelihood for a lot of other people; an environment they can come to every day; a safe place where they can be creative and add value to the world. I get to experience that every day.”
At the end of each day, Williams adds, she measures if it’s been a good one by a simple philosophy: “I realize my best day is a combination of work, community effort and being with my kids. What a day that is!”
A Woman’s “Change the World” To-Do List
Modeled after her award-winning seventh-grade essay, How a Child Can Change the World, Williams believes these tenets are timeless:
• Live every day as if it’s your last. Adopting this approach to life makes you bolder in your decisions and you spend time with the ones you really care about.
• Do one thing every day that makes someone feel good about herself. It causes a chain reaction of positivity.
• Do one brilliant or creative thing every day. Just one.
• Do 10% more than you planned to do. One more customer call. Run one more block.
• Find your passion. It lies in something you’re already doing every day and it’s your job to discover it.
• We can’t do this alone. We need our husbands and kids to support us, and friends and co-workers who believe in us.
• Friends do matter. Make them, nurture them, keep them and be one.
• We all have something we are good at, so craft your life so a big part of your day is focused on that.
• Be a mentor. Find someone who needs your counsel. You learn so much more than what you teach.
• Forgive yourself for the mistakes you are about to make. As fabulous as we are, there’s just going to be stuff we mess up.
Technology Tips for Women
1. The Internet keeps us connected professionally and personally in ways that were unfathomable years ago. Use it.
2. Be smart about how you use it. The internet is global and permanent, and if used wisely, can define how the world sees you in a positive way.
3. Regardless of your age, use social networking – Linked-In, Facebook, blogs and Twitter. There is a place for you, BUT, see Rule #2.
4. Use technology to maximize beauty and joy in your life wherever you are – I love that I can listen to a Led Zeppelin song, scroll through new pictures of my kids, and watch the Sneezing Panda video five times on YouTube, all while waiting to board a plane.
5. Technology has created a world of transparency. To survive in this world, we need to be open, honest and focused on “doing the right thing.”
6. As a parent, encourage your daughters to study math, science and technology.
7. This is the future and we need women leaders in that future.
8. Be a role model for showing our kids that technology is cool. After you go to a football game or a Taylor Swift concert, take them to Robotics competitions and video game design classes.
Don't Mess With Texas ... Textbooks! By Chuck Norris
Don't Mess With Texas ... Textbooks! By Chuck Norris
Published 03/15/2010 - 11:53 p.m. CST
By now, you most likely know that Texas has become ground zero for the latest battles in the textbook wars. While conservatives and progressives take their stands on the issue, I wonder: What would America's Founders think about this feud?
For those who somehow have dodged the news, the 15-member Texas State Board of Education, which is composed of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, has been hearing and debating variances of opinion regarding what to include and exclude in its social studies curriculum and subsequent textbooks.
Last Friday, the SBOE members began to wrap up the process by endorsing a draft proposal of the state's social studies curriculum, with an 11-4 vote.
Not surprising is the full range of progressive issues that liberals want the SBOE to include, from emphasizing equity and tolerance for all minorities to erasing key conservative figures and events from history and whitewashing the Judeo-Christian convictions of our Founders.
Liberals and progressives complain that conservatives are hijacking the curriculum process and modifying textbooks to fit their ideological whims. But the history of textbook alterations clearly has proved it is the liberals who have changed the course and content of curricula and textbook production. Conservatives have been largely the guardians or preservationists of tradition. Progressives have changed curricula content to pacify the politically correct and adopt what they value today and want others to value tomorrow.
Interestingly, in 2009, authors Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research found some 500 imperfections and distortions concerning religion in 28 of the most widely used social studies and history textbooks in the United States.
The fact is that the majority of the SBOE's members find themselves in good company, in line and legacy with America's Founders. Their educational philosophy even included teaching on the Bible. As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education."
Noah Webster, the "Father of American Scholarship and Education," stated, "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed.
... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
In 1789, during the same time when the First Amendment was written, then-President George Washington signed into law the Northwest Ordinance, which states, "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
Does anyone not know what the term "forever" means? Can any member of the SBOE or any other state board of education be penalized for agreeing with America's Founding Fathers?
Maintaining balanced curricula in our public schools is the reason my wife, Gena, and I joined the board of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, whose state-certified Bible course (elective) has been implemented in 532 public school districts (2,035 high schools) in 38 states. Visit http://www.BibleInSchools.net for more information.
As I wrote in my newly released and expanded paperback version of "Black Belt Patriotism," if you want to join me in stopping educational corruption, gridlock and tyranny, then consider doing any of the following:
—Stay active in your child's education, homework, classroom, PTA, school board, etc.
—Get familiar with how academic curriculum is reviewed and chosen in your state, and then e-mail your thoughts on it to your state's education board.
—Get involved in local, state and national politics, and make your voice heard. The time for passivity is over. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
—Learn your state's laws on education, and understand your parental and educational rights. Then teach them to others. To quote Thomas Jefferson again, "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. ... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Petition your representatives to support a constitutional amendment protecting the child-parent relationship from unreasonable government intrusion.
—Consider petitioning your state's education board, school district and local school to adopt the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools' curriculum about the influence of the Bible in history, civilization, law, literature and the founding of America.
My personal warning to educational tyranny and tyrants is this: It's best not to test or mess with Texas. If you thought we fought hard for the Alamo, wait until you see what we can do for the right to educate our children. You can hide behind your No. 2 pencils, but our branding irons will find your tail sides.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK NORRIS
Published 03/15/2010 - 11:53 p.m. CST
By now, you most likely know that Texas has become ground zero for the latest battles in the textbook wars. While conservatives and progressives take their stands on the issue, I wonder: What would America's Founders think about this feud?
For those who somehow have dodged the news, the 15-member Texas State Board of Education, which is composed of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, has been hearing and debating variances of opinion regarding what to include and exclude in its social studies curriculum and subsequent textbooks.
Last Friday, the SBOE members began to wrap up the process by endorsing a draft proposal of the state's social studies curriculum, with an 11-4 vote.
Not surprising is the full range of progressive issues that liberals want the SBOE to include, from emphasizing equity and tolerance for all minorities to erasing key conservative figures and events from history and whitewashing the Judeo-Christian convictions of our Founders.
Liberals and progressives complain that conservatives are hijacking the curriculum process and modifying textbooks to fit their ideological whims. But the history of textbook alterations clearly has proved it is the liberals who have changed the course and content of curricula and textbook production. Conservatives have been largely the guardians or preservationists of tradition. Progressives have changed curricula content to pacify the politically correct and adopt what they value today and want others to value tomorrow.
Interestingly, in 2009, authors Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research found some 500 imperfections and distortions concerning religion in 28 of the most widely used social studies and history textbooks in the United States.
The fact is that the majority of the SBOE's members find themselves in good company, in line and legacy with America's Founders. Their educational philosophy even included teaching on the Bible. As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education."
Noah Webster, the "Father of American Scholarship and Education," stated, "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed.
... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
In 1789, during the same time when the First Amendment was written, then-President George Washington signed into law the Northwest Ordinance, which states, "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
Does anyone not know what the term "forever" means? Can any member of the SBOE or any other state board of education be penalized for agreeing with America's Founding Fathers?
Maintaining balanced curricula in our public schools is the reason my wife, Gena, and I joined the board of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, whose state-certified Bible course (elective) has been implemented in 532 public school districts (2,035 high schools) in 38 states. Visit http://www.BibleInSchools.net for more information.
As I wrote in my newly released and expanded paperback version of "Black Belt Patriotism," if you want to join me in stopping educational corruption, gridlock and tyranny, then consider doing any of the following:
—Stay active in your child's education, homework, classroom, PTA, school board, etc.
—Get familiar with how academic curriculum is reviewed and chosen in your state, and then e-mail your thoughts on it to your state's education board.
—Get involved in local, state and national politics, and make your voice heard. The time for passivity is over. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
—Learn your state's laws on education, and understand your parental and educational rights. Then teach them to others. To quote Thomas Jefferson again, "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. ... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Petition your representatives to support a constitutional amendment protecting the child-parent relationship from unreasonable government intrusion.
—Consider petitioning your state's education board, school district and local school to adopt the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools' curriculum about the influence of the Bible in history, civilization, law, literature and the founding of America.
My personal warning to educational tyranny and tyrants is this: It's best not to test or mess with Texas. If you thought we fought hard for the Alamo, wait until you see what we can do for the right to educate our children. You can hide behind your No. 2 pencils, but our branding irons will find your tail sides.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK NORRIS
Does NCLB Promote Monolingualism?
Does NCLB Promote Monolingualism?
By Rosemary Salomone | Edweek
Rosemary Salomone is the Kenneth Wang professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law, in New York City, and the author of True American: Language, Identity, and the Education of Immigrant Children (Harvard University Press, 2010).
By Rosemary Salomone | Edweek
Rosemary Salomone is the Kenneth Wang professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law, in New York City, and the author of True American: Language, Identity, and the Education of Immigrant Children (Harvard University Press, 2010).
It's Like They're Proud Of Being Ignorant Cont.
This is embarrassing for those of us in Texas who indeed support a twenty-first century, diverse curriculum that develops multiple literacies for children in Texas and the nation.
Angela
It's Like They're Proud Of Being Ignorant Cont.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
We talked a few weeks ago about the efforts of Texas conservatives to turn the school textbook industry into an arm of the radical right. They have, evidently, succeeded:
After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers' commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
"We are adding balance," said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. "History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left."
Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.
Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state's large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, "They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don't exist."
"They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians," she said. "They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world."
From the deparment of "This Would Be Funny If It Weren't So Sad," the Texas conservatives have launched an attack on Thomas Jefferson:
Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term "separation between church and state.")
"The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based," Ms. Dunbar said.
This is one of those "Why I'm Not A Conservative" moments. It's not that the Left doesn't have its extremes, but the honest truth is that I find, say, marching against the War In Afghanistan right after 9/11 much more tolerable than attempting to erase Hispanics from history, or hating Thomas Jefferson. Or being racist.
Check out the original Washington Monthly story, by Mariah Blake, for more.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/03/its-like-theyre-proud-of-being-ignorant-cont/37484/
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.
Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum
The Huffington Post
MARCH 17, 2010
Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum
First Posted: 03-13-10 03:18 PM | Updated: 03-13-10 04:03 PM
AUSTIN, Texas - A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.
Keep reading below, or see a slideshow of the most radical changes approved by Texas's education board:
Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism," said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. "We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."
Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.
Decisions by the board -- made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others -- can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers' biggest clients.
Ultraconservatives wielded their power over hundreds of subjects this week, introducing and rejecting amendments on everything from the civil rights movement to global politics. Hostilities flared and prompted a walkout Thursday by one of the board's most prominent Democrats, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, who accused her colleagues of "whitewashing" curriculum standards.
Story continues below
By late Thursday night, three other Democrats seemed to sense their futility and left, leaving Republicans to easily push through amendments heralding "American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention.
"Some board members themselves acknowledged this morning that the process for revising curriculum standards in Texas is seriously broken, with politics and personal agendas dominating just about every decision," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom.
Republican Terri Leo, a member of the powerful Christian conservative voting bloc, called the standards "world class" and "exceptional."
Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether students should be required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be required learning (she will).
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.
Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in American society."
Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes."
Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy, a longtime teacher, voted for the new standards, but said she wished the board could work with a more cooperative spirit.
"What we've done is we've taken a document that by nature is too long to begin with and then we've lengthened it some more," Hardy said, shortly after the vote. "Those long lists of names that we've put in there ... it's just too long.
"I just think we failed to keep that in mind, it's hard for teachers to get through it all."
E-mail us at huffpolitics@huffingtonpost.com
MARCH 17, 2010
Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum
First Posted: 03-13-10 03:18 PM | Updated: 03-13-10 04:03 PM
AUSTIN, Texas - A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.
Keep reading below, or see a slideshow of the most radical changes approved by Texas's education board:
Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism," said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. "We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."
Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.
Decisions by the board -- made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others -- can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers' biggest clients.
Ultraconservatives wielded their power over hundreds of subjects this week, introducing and rejecting amendments on everything from the civil rights movement to global politics. Hostilities flared and prompted a walkout Thursday by one of the board's most prominent Democrats, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, who accused her colleagues of "whitewashing" curriculum standards.
Story continues below
By late Thursday night, three other Democrats seemed to sense their futility and left, leaving Republicans to easily push through amendments heralding "American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention.
"Some board members themselves acknowledged this morning that the process for revising curriculum standards in Texas is seriously broken, with politics and personal agendas dominating just about every decision," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom.
Republican Terri Leo, a member of the powerful Christian conservative voting bloc, called the standards "world class" and "exceptional."
Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether students should be required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be required learning (she will).
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.
Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in American society."
Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes."
Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy, a longtime teacher, voted for the new standards, but said she wished the board could work with a more cooperative spirit.
"What we've done is we've taken a document that by nature is too long to begin with and then we've lengthened it some more," Hardy said, shortly after the vote. "Those long lists of names that we've put in there ... it's just too long.
"I just think we failed to keep that in mind, it's hard for teachers to get through it all."
E-mail us at huffpolitics@huffingtonpost.com
St. Edward's University Third Annual Immigration Conference
Here's information on St. Edward's annual immigration conference that will be held on Friday, April 30, 2010
-Patricia
-Patricia
LATINO VOTERS IN CALIFORNIA
This fact sheet is a great source for California voters.
-Patricia
CALIFORNIA’S LATINO POPULATION IS GROWING RAPIDLY.
More than one in three Californians is Latino—a total of about 14 million residents. In 2000, the U.S.
Census Bureau designated California as the first large “majority‐minority” state, with non‐Hispanic
whites representing just under half of the state’s population. By 2020, Latinos are expected to
outnumber non‐Hispanic whites in the state; and by about 2042, Latinos are projected to become
the racial/ethnic majority in the state.
MOST LATINO VOTERS LIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Forty percent of the state’s Latino likely voters live in Los Angeles County, while another 26% live
in Orange/San Diego Counties and the Inland Empire. Most white likely voters (24%) live in the
San Francisco Bay Area; only 9% live in the Inland Empire. Most Asian likely voters (37%) also live
in the Bay Area, while most black likely voters (44%) reside in Los Angeles County.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LATINO LIKELY VOTERS DIFFER FROM OTHER VOTER GROUPS.
Latino likely voters are more often younger, less educated, lower‐income earners: 38% have never
attended college, compared to 20% of blacks and 13% of whites and Asians. And 38% have
household earnings under $40,000 a year, while 48% of white likely voters earn over $80,000 a year.
Latinos are the only racial/ethnic group in which a majority of likely voters (52%) are younger than
45 years old; only 31% of white likely voters are in this age group. Among Latino likely voters, 68%
own their homes, compared to 80% of white, 76% of Asian, and 62% of black likely voters.
However, while 39% of Latino likely voters are immigrants, an even higher percentage of Asian
likely voters are immigrants (61%).
COMPARED TO WHITES, LATINOS REPRESENT ONLY A SMALL SHARE OF THE STATE’S VOTERS.
Latinos make up about 32% of California’s adult population but only 15% of the registered voters
most likely to turn out in elections. Asians similarly represent a smaller share of the state’s likely
voting population (6%) compared to their share of the adult population (13%), while blacks
constitute 6% of both the state’s adult population and likely voters. Although whites constitute less
than half (47%) of the adult population in the state, 70% of California’s likely voters are white.
LATINOS ARE THE LEAST LIKELY TO REGISTER AS INDEPENDENTS; MOST IDENTIFY AS DEMOCRATS …
More than six in 10 Latino likely voters are Democrats (64%), while 18% are registered as
Republicans and 18% as independents (“decline‐to‐state”) or with a third party. Whites lean
somewhat more Republican than Democratic (42% to 37%), Asians lean somewhat more
Democratic than Republican (38% to 32%), and blacks are mostly Democratic (74%). Latinos are the
least likely to report that they are independent (14%); Asians are the most likely (28%).
… YET IDEOLOGICALLY, LATINOS ARE SPLIT.
Latino voters are as likely to say they are politically conservative (34%) as liberal (34%); 32% say they
are moderate. Whites are more likely to describe themselves as conservative (39%), and Asians as
moderate (39%), while blacks mostly identify as liberal (37%) or moderate (35%).
-Patricia
CALIFORNIA’S LATINO POPULATION IS GROWING RAPIDLY.
More than one in three Californians is Latino—a total of about 14 million residents. In 2000, the U.S.
Census Bureau designated California as the first large “majority‐minority” state, with non‐Hispanic
whites representing just under half of the state’s population. By 2020, Latinos are expected to
outnumber non‐Hispanic whites in the state; and by about 2042, Latinos are projected to become
the racial/ethnic majority in the state.
MOST LATINO VOTERS LIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Forty percent of the state’s Latino likely voters live in Los Angeles County, while another 26% live
in Orange/San Diego Counties and the Inland Empire. Most white likely voters (24%) live in the
San Francisco Bay Area; only 9% live in the Inland Empire. Most Asian likely voters (37%) also live
in the Bay Area, while most black likely voters (44%) reside in Los Angeles County.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LATINO LIKELY VOTERS DIFFER FROM OTHER VOTER GROUPS.
Latino likely voters are more often younger, less educated, lower‐income earners: 38% have never
attended college, compared to 20% of blacks and 13% of whites and Asians. And 38% have
household earnings under $40,000 a year, while 48% of white likely voters earn over $80,000 a year.
Latinos are the only racial/ethnic group in which a majority of likely voters (52%) are younger than
45 years old; only 31% of white likely voters are in this age group. Among Latino likely voters, 68%
own their homes, compared to 80% of white, 76% of Asian, and 62% of black likely voters.
However, while 39% of Latino likely voters are immigrants, an even higher percentage of Asian
likely voters are immigrants (61%).
COMPARED TO WHITES, LATINOS REPRESENT ONLY A SMALL SHARE OF THE STATE’S VOTERS.
Latinos make up about 32% of California’s adult population but only 15% of the registered voters
most likely to turn out in elections. Asians similarly represent a smaller share of the state’s likely
voting population (6%) compared to their share of the adult population (13%), while blacks
constitute 6% of both the state’s adult population and likely voters. Although whites constitute less
than half (47%) of the adult population in the state, 70% of California’s likely voters are white.
LATINOS ARE THE LEAST LIKELY TO REGISTER AS INDEPENDENTS; MOST IDENTIFY AS DEMOCRATS …
More than six in 10 Latino likely voters are Democrats (64%), while 18% are registered as
Republicans and 18% as independents (“decline‐to‐state”) or with a third party. Whites lean
somewhat more Republican than Democratic (42% to 37%), Asians lean somewhat more
Democratic than Republican (38% to 32%), and blacks are mostly Democratic (74%). Latinos are the
least likely to report that they are independent (14%); Asians are the most likely (28%).
… YET IDEOLOGICALLY, LATINOS ARE SPLIT.
Latino voters are as likely to say they are politically conservative (34%) as liberal (34%); 32% say they
are moderate. Whites are more likely to describe themselves as conservative (39%), and Asians as
moderate (39%), while blacks mostly identify as liberal (37%) or moderate (35%).
Sunday, March 14, 2010
A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Reauthorization of the ESEA
A Blueprint for Reform [pdf]
The Reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
United States Department of Education
March 2010
The Reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
United States Department of Education
March 2010
Obama Calls for Sweeping Change in Education Law
March 13, 2010
Obama Calls for Sweeping Change in Education Law
By SAM DILLON
The Obama administration on Saturday called for a broad overhaul of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, proposing to reshape divisive provisions that encouraged instructors to teach to tests, narrowed the curriculum, and labeled one in three American schools as failing.
By announcing that he would send his education blueprint to Congress on Monday, President Obama returned to a campaign promise to repair the sprawling federal law, which affects each of the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools. His plan strikes a careful balance, retaining some key features of the Bush-era law, including its requirement for annual reading and math tests, while proposing far-reaching changes.
The administration would replace the law’s pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students’ academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate. And while the proposal calls for more vigorous interventions in failing schools, it would also reward top performers and lessen federal interference in tens of thousands of reasonably well-run schools in the middle.
In addition, President Obama would replace the law’s requirement that every American child reach proficiency in reading and math, which administration officials have called utopian, with a new national target that could prove equally elusive: that all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.
“Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded,” the president said in his weekly radio address, “and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.”
Administration officials said their plan would urge the states to achieve the college-ready goal by 2020.
The No Child law, passed in 2001 by bipartisan majorities, focused the nation’s attention on closing achievement gaps between minorities and whites, but it included many provisions that created what Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Friday called “perverse incentives.”
In an effort to meet the law’s requirements for passing grades, many states began dumbing down standards, and teachers began focusing on test preparation rather than on engaging class work.
“We’ve got to get accountability right this time,” Mr. Duncan told reporters Friday. “For the mass of schools, we want to get rid of prescriptive interventions. We’ll leave it up to them to figure out how to make progress.”
The administration’s turn toward education signaled that the president hoped to get beyond health care and broaden the agenda before the midterm elections make progress on legislative issues more difficult.
Mr. Duncan has been working behind the scenes on rewriting the No Child law with a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers in both chambers, and administration officials say they hope to complete work on a new bill by August, when the elections will dominate the Congressional agenda. Many skeptics question that timetable.
And while leading Congressional Democrats praised the plan, the nation’s two major teachers unions did not. “We are disappointed,” said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said of the proposal, “From everything that we’ve seen, this blueprint places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers and gives them zero percent of the authority.”
Christopher Edley Jr., a former Clinton administration official who is dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on civil rights law, said a briefing document he read had left him concerned about the administration’s direction.
“I worry about retreating from the notion of quality education as a civil right,” Mr. Edley said. “N.C.L.B. had some good sticks in it to compel equity. I’m alarmed by the frequent references to ‘incentives,’ and the apparent intention to reduce the federal role in forcing compliance.”
Representative John Kline of Minnesota, the top Republican on the House education committee, was also skeptical. “From 30,000 feet, the blueprint seems to set a lot of right goals,” Mr. Kline said. “Yet when we drill down to the details, we are looking at a heavier federal hand than many of us wish to see.”
But Susan Traiman, a director at the Business Roundtable, a group that represents corporate executives, called the proposals a “really positive step forward.” The business community especially liked the proposed new goal of helping all students graduate from high school ready for college and career, Ms. Traiman said.
Administration officials laid out their blueprint in briefings Friday and Saturday with governors, lawmakers, education organizations and journalists. Officials said they intended to leave the drafting of a bill up to Congress.
Mr. Duncan was scheduled to tour Iowa schools on Sunday with Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is the new chairman of the Senate education committee. In a statement, Mr. Harkin called the proposals a “bold vision” that could help “fix the problems with the No Child Left Behind Act.”
Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, said, “This blueprint lays the right markers to help us reset the bar for our students and the nation.”
Under the current law, testing focuses on measuring the number of students who are proficient at each grade level. The administration instead wants to measure each student’s academic growth, regardless of the performance level at which they start.
Under the proposals, schools would also be judged on whether they are closing achievement gaps between poor and affluent students. No sanctions exist now for schools that fail in this area. Under the new proposals, states would be required to intervene even in seemingly high-performing schools in affluent districts where test scores and other indicators identify groups of students who are languishing, administration officials said.
The proposals would require states to use annual tests and other indicators to divide the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools into several groups: some 10,000 to 15,000 high-performing schools that could receive rewards or recognition; some 10,000 failing or struggling schools requiring varying degrees of vigorous state intervention; about 5,000 schools that would be required to narrow unacceptably wide achievement gaps; and perhaps 70,000 or so schools in the middle that would be encouraged to figure out on their own how to improve.
The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning. These would replace the law’s current emphasis on certifying that all teachers have valid credentials, which has produced little except red tape, officials said.
The current law requires states to adopt “challenging academic standards” to receive federal money for poor students under a section known as Title I. But states are allowed to define “challenging,” and many set standards at mediocre levels. Last month, President Obama proposed requiring states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” to qualify for the $14 billion Title I program. The administration proposes that new federal education dollars be provided to states as competitive grants, rather than through per-pupil formulas.
“This’ll be controversial,” said Bob Wise, a former West Virginia governor who leads the Alliance for Excellent Education, a nonprofit group. “They’re trying to change about 40 years of established formula funding and to change an accountability system that a lot of people are wedded to because it’s forced us to come to grips with the achievement gap.”
The law’s focus on reading and math has led thousands of schools to shorten time devoted to other subjects. Hoping schools will once again offer a rich diet of art, history, science, physical education and other courses, the administration says it will allow states to test subjects other than math and reading and use scores on those tests to rate their schools, though it will not require states to do so.
The administration says it has added $100 million to the 2011 budget for programs that encourage schools to offer a broad menu of courses. But how effective these proposals might be against the law’s tendency to narrow the curriculum remained unclear.
The blueprint proposes eliminating a current requirement, popular among Republicans, that schools failing to meet testing benchmarks for two years in a row provide busing to other schools for students wishing to transfer, but few parents have transferred their students under this provision.
Obama Calls for Sweeping Change in Education Law
By SAM DILLON
The Obama administration on Saturday called for a broad overhaul of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, proposing to reshape divisive provisions that encouraged instructors to teach to tests, narrowed the curriculum, and labeled one in three American schools as failing.
By announcing that he would send his education blueprint to Congress on Monday, President Obama returned to a campaign promise to repair the sprawling federal law, which affects each of the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools. His plan strikes a careful balance, retaining some key features of the Bush-era law, including its requirement for annual reading and math tests, while proposing far-reaching changes.
The administration would replace the law’s pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students’ academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate. And while the proposal calls for more vigorous interventions in failing schools, it would also reward top performers and lessen federal interference in tens of thousands of reasonably well-run schools in the middle.
In addition, President Obama would replace the law’s requirement that every American child reach proficiency in reading and math, which administration officials have called utopian, with a new national target that could prove equally elusive: that all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.
“Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded,” the president said in his weekly radio address, “and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.”
Administration officials said their plan would urge the states to achieve the college-ready goal by 2020.
The No Child law, passed in 2001 by bipartisan majorities, focused the nation’s attention on closing achievement gaps between minorities and whites, but it included many provisions that created what Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Friday called “perverse incentives.”
In an effort to meet the law’s requirements for passing grades, many states began dumbing down standards, and teachers began focusing on test preparation rather than on engaging class work.
“We’ve got to get accountability right this time,” Mr. Duncan told reporters Friday. “For the mass of schools, we want to get rid of prescriptive interventions. We’ll leave it up to them to figure out how to make progress.”
The administration’s turn toward education signaled that the president hoped to get beyond health care and broaden the agenda before the midterm elections make progress on legislative issues more difficult.
Mr. Duncan has been working behind the scenes on rewriting the No Child law with a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers in both chambers, and administration officials say they hope to complete work on a new bill by August, when the elections will dominate the Congressional agenda. Many skeptics question that timetable.
And while leading Congressional Democrats praised the plan, the nation’s two major teachers unions did not. “We are disappointed,” said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said of the proposal, “From everything that we’ve seen, this blueprint places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers and gives them zero percent of the authority.”
Christopher Edley Jr., a former Clinton administration official who is dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on civil rights law, said a briefing document he read had left him concerned about the administration’s direction.
“I worry about retreating from the notion of quality education as a civil right,” Mr. Edley said. “N.C.L.B. had some good sticks in it to compel equity. I’m alarmed by the frequent references to ‘incentives,’ and the apparent intention to reduce the federal role in forcing compliance.”
Representative John Kline of Minnesota, the top Republican on the House education committee, was also skeptical. “From 30,000 feet, the blueprint seems to set a lot of right goals,” Mr. Kline said. “Yet when we drill down to the details, we are looking at a heavier federal hand than many of us wish to see.”
But Susan Traiman, a director at the Business Roundtable, a group that represents corporate executives, called the proposals a “really positive step forward.” The business community especially liked the proposed new goal of helping all students graduate from high school ready for college and career, Ms. Traiman said.
Administration officials laid out their blueprint in briefings Friday and Saturday with governors, lawmakers, education organizations and journalists. Officials said they intended to leave the drafting of a bill up to Congress.
Mr. Duncan was scheduled to tour Iowa schools on Sunday with Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is the new chairman of the Senate education committee. In a statement, Mr. Harkin called the proposals a “bold vision” that could help “fix the problems with the No Child Left Behind Act.”
Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, said, “This blueprint lays the right markers to help us reset the bar for our students and the nation.”
Under the current law, testing focuses on measuring the number of students who are proficient at each grade level. The administration instead wants to measure each student’s academic growth, regardless of the performance level at which they start.
Under the proposals, schools would also be judged on whether they are closing achievement gaps between poor and affluent students. No sanctions exist now for schools that fail in this area. Under the new proposals, states would be required to intervene even in seemingly high-performing schools in affluent districts where test scores and other indicators identify groups of students who are languishing, administration officials said.
The proposals would require states to use annual tests and other indicators to divide the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools into several groups: some 10,000 to 15,000 high-performing schools that could receive rewards or recognition; some 10,000 failing or struggling schools requiring varying degrees of vigorous state intervention; about 5,000 schools that would be required to narrow unacceptably wide achievement gaps; and perhaps 70,000 or so schools in the middle that would be encouraged to figure out on their own how to improve.
The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning. These would replace the law’s current emphasis on certifying that all teachers have valid credentials, which has produced little except red tape, officials said.
The current law requires states to adopt “challenging academic standards” to receive federal money for poor students under a section known as Title I. But states are allowed to define “challenging,” and many set standards at mediocre levels. Last month, President Obama proposed requiring states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” to qualify for the $14 billion Title I program. The administration proposes that new federal education dollars be provided to states as competitive grants, rather than through per-pupil formulas.
“This’ll be controversial,” said Bob Wise, a former West Virginia governor who leads the Alliance for Excellent Education, a nonprofit group. “They’re trying to change about 40 years of established formula funding and to change an accountability system that a lot of people are wedded to because it’s forced us to come to grips with the achievement gap.”
The law’s focus on reading and math has led thousands of schools to shorten time devoted to other subjects. Hoping schools will once again offer a rich diet of art, history, science, physical education and other courses, the administration says it will allow states to test subjects other than math and reading and use scores on those tests to rate their schools, though it will not require states to do so.
The administration says it has added $100 million to the 2011 budget for programs that encourage schools to offer a broad menu of courses. But how effective these proposals might be against the law’s tendency to narrow the curriculum remained unclear.
The blueprint proposes eliminating a current requirement, popular among Republicans, that schools failing to meet testing benchmarks for two years in a row provide busing to other schools for students wishing to transfer, but few parents have transferred their students under this provision.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Valenzuela Honored by AERA
Valenzuela Honored by AERA
March 11th, 2010
News · Staff News
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) recently announced that Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Associate Vice President of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, has been elected to a three-year term as member-at-large. Her term will begin at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting to be held April 30-May 4 in Denver, Colorado. As member-at-large, she will serve on the AERA Council, which is the legislative and policymaking body for the association. AERA is one of the most prominent international professional organizations and has more than 25,000 members.
The broad range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.
March 11th, 2010
News · Staff News
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) recently announced that Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Associate Vice President of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, has been elected to a three-year term as member-at-large. Her term will begin at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting to be held April 30-May 4 in Denver, Colorado. As member-at-large, she will serve on the AERA Council, which is the legislative and policymaking body for the association. AERA is one of the most prominent international professional organizations and has more than 25,000 members.
The broad range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.
Becker seeking kids for dual language program
Wish we could have dual language in all of our segregated schools. If they're predominantly comprised of Latinos, they're set up for it as a good fraction will be bilingual learners and another good fraction will be monolingual speakers of English. In the future, hopefully.
Angela
Becker seeking kids for dual language program
Officials are looking beyond elementary school's boundaries to attract Spanish-speaking families.
By Laura Heinauer and Gissela SantaCruz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:58 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Becker Elementary School officials aren't having problems selling its new dual language program to families living near the underenrolled campus in South Austin. The trick is convincing Spanish-speaking families who live miles away that it's worth the trek.
The Austin school district is testing a two-way dual language offering with kindergartners and first-graders at four schools starting in the fall. District officials have said the program's launch at Becker is contingent on recruitment and that the ideal mix is 50 percent English speakers and 50 percent Spanish speakers.
So far about 30 students have signed up, but more Spanish speakers are needed. The district wants to have 88 students at each campus. The deadline to apply is March 26, and officials are hoping to garner more interest during an orientation session tonight .
Becker has long tried to draw more students from the Bouldin neighborhood, located between the SoCo and SoLa districts south of downtown. Now, having piqued the interest of several of the young families that live near the school, officials are wooing families from across Interstate 35, including those in the Linder and Houston elementary school areas.
"What I've been telling them is that some parents will pay $1,000 a month for a Spanish immersion program like this," Becker Principal Betty Jenkins said, describing her conversations with Spanish-speaking families in the past few months. "I tell them it is a really good opportunity."
The program
In the district's new two-way dual language program, early elementary school students at all participating campuses will be taught about 30 percent of the time in English and 70 percent the time in Spanish . Celia Glick , the district's dual language director, said students will get reading and language arts lessons in their own languages. Science and social studies will be taught in Spanish, and math will be taught in English.
Extracurricular activities and things like announcements will be in Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and in English on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Jenkins said the look of the school will be different as well. For example, water fountains and furniture will be labeled in both English and Spanish. In addition, walls in all classrooms will have color-coded vocabulary words — red for Spanish and blue for English. She said students will be expected to use these walls as cues for understanding lessons that aren't in their native languages.
As students get older, they will get reading and language instruction in both languages daily. More English instruction will be introduced, but Spanish instruction will continue about half the time, Glick said.
"The goal is to have students who are bilingual, bicultural and biliterate by fifth grade," Glick said. Ultimately, students would be able to continue in the dual language model through high school.
A unique situation
Perez Elementary School, which is at capacity, is accepting applications only from students who live in that attendance zone. Wooten and Ridgetop elementary schools, like Becker, are also looking for more students, but Glick said she expects that the neighborhoods surrounding those campuses will provide the mix of students required to make the model work.
Despite adding more middle- and high-income families to its attendance zone, Becker has seen its enrollment drop. In 2005-06, Becker, which can hold 550 students, enrolled 235 students, 88 percent of whom were from low-income families and 25 percent of whom were learning English.
Then-Superintendent Pat Forgione recommended it be closed in 2006, but the community rallied to keep it open. By 2008-09, enrollment had dropped to 192 students, 92 percent of whom were from low-income families and 38 percent of whom were learning English.
Deborah Trejo said she will enroll her English-speaking children in the dual language program. Trejo said the offering — a first for Austin but common in other large districts — is just the thing to turn things around at Becker.
"For me, it means that we have a fighting chance and that we're going to be a model school for the district," the Bouldin resident said.
Jenkins said that though some neighborhood English-speaking parents are concerned about the quality of the school, most are optimistic about the program. The campus received a rating of academically unacceptable in 2007, the lowest under the state accountability system . It was rated academically acceptable in 2009.
Luring students
Jenkins said parents of Spanish-speaking children outside the attendance zone had thought the program was only for gifted students. It's actually open to students districtwide, Jenkins said, including those with special needs. However, parents have also been concerned about how their children would get to Becker. Jenkins said the district has not committed to providing transportation.
Cynthia Valadez , a community activist who has criticized the district's dual language effort, said administrators should focus on boosting the academic success of English-language learners and not on filling underenrolled schools.
"The program needs to be where the (English-language learners) are located," Valadez said. "They're trying to make the dad-gum tail wag the dog."
But Maria Rivera , a Spanish-speaking parent living within the Becker attendance zone, said she is happy her school was chosen.
Rivera said she hopes this type of bilingual education will allow the youngest of her four children to learn English while retaining Spanish — something her eldest son has already begun to lose at 13.
"The current program is set up in a way that doesn't support the learning of two languages," Rivera said in Spanish. "And I see that my son speaks less and less Spanish.
"It may seem easy to say that we will teach our children Spanish at home and they can learn English at school. But the truth is, learning both languages at school is the only real solution to helping our children be truly bilingual," she said. "At home, we cannot teach them proper grammar or reading skills. But in school, they can learn this for two languages with a dual language program."
Dual language information session
Parents of children who will be in kindergarten and first grade in the 2010-11 school year are invited to attend a dual language orientation session tonight at 6 p.m. at Becker Elementary School, 906 W. Milton St., one of four elementary schools in the Austin school district that will offer the new program.
lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694
Angela
Becker seeking kids for dual language program
Officials are looking beyond elementary school's boundaries to attract Spanish-speaking families.
By Laura Heinauer and Gissela SantaCruz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:58 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Becker Elementary School officials aren't having problems selling its new dual language program to families living near the underenrolled campus in South Austin. The trick is convincing Spanish-speaking families who live miles away that it's worth the trek.
The Austin school district is testing a two-way dual language offering with kindergartners and first-graders at four schools starting in the fall. District officials have said the program's launch at Becker is contingent on recruitment and that the ideal mix is 50 percent English speakers and 50 percent Spanish speakers.
So far about 30 students have signed up, but more Spanish speakers are needed. The district wants to have 88 students at each campus. The deadline to apply is March 26, and officials are hoping to garner more interest during an orientation session tonight .
Becker has long tried to draw more students from the Bouldin neighborhood, located between the SoCo and SoLa districts south of downtown. Now, having piqued the interest of several of the young families that live near the school, officials are wooing families from across Interstate 35, including those in the Linder and Houston elementary school areas.
"What I've been telling them is that some parents will pay $1,000 a month for a Spanish immersion program like this," Becker Principal Betty Jenkins said, describing her conversations with Spanish-speaking families in the past few months. "I tell them it is a really good opportunity."
The program
In the district's new two-way dual language program, early elementary school students at all participating campuses will be taught about 30 percent of the time in English and 70 percent the time in Spanish . Celia Glick , the district's dual language director, said students will get reading and language arts lessons in their own languages. Science and social studies will be taught in Spanish, and math will be taught in English.
Extracurricular activities and things like announcements will be in Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and in English on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Jenkins said the look of the school will be different as well. For example, water fountains and furniture will be labeled in both English and Spanish. In addition, walls in all classrooms will have color-coded vocabulary words — red for Spanish and blue for English. She said students will be expected to use these walls as cues for understanding lessons that aren't in their native languages.
As students get older, they will get reading and language instruction in both languages daily. More English instruction will be introduced, but Spanish instruction will continue about half the time, Glick said.
"The goal is to have students who are bilingual, bicultural and biliterate by fifth grade," Glick said. Ultimately, students would be able to continue in the dual language model through high school.
A unique situation
Perez Elementary School, which is at capacity, is accepting applications only from students who live in that attendance zone. Wooten and Ridgetop elementary schools, like Becker, are also looking for more students, but Glick said she expects that the neighborhoods surrounding those campuses will provide the mix of students required to make the model work.
Despite adding more middle- and high-income families to its attendance zone, Becker has seen its enrollment drop. In 2005-06, Becker, which can hold 550 students, enrolled 235 students, 88 percent of whom were from low-income families and 25 percent of whom were learning English.
Then-Superintendent Pat Forgione recommended it be closed in 2006, but the community rallied to keep it open. By 2008-09, enrollment had dropped to 192 students, 92 percent of whom were from low-income families and 38 percent of whom were learning English.
Deborah Trejo said she will enroll her English-speaking children in the dual language program. Trejo said the offering — a first for Austin but common in other large districts — is just the thing to turn things around at Becker.
"For me, it means that we have a fighting chance and that we're going to be a model school for the district," the Bouldin resident said.
Jenkins said that though some neighborhood English-speaking parents are concerned about the quality of the school, most are optimistic about the program. The campus received a rating of academically unacceptable in 2007, the lowest under the state accountability system . It was rated academically acceptable in 2009.
Luring students
Jenkins said parents of Spanish-speaking children outside the attendance zone had thought the program was only for gifted students. It's actually open to students districtwide, Jenkins said, including those with special needs. However, parents have also been concerned about how their children would get to Becker. Jenkins said the district has not committed to providing transportation.
Cynthia Valadez , a community activist who has criticized the district's dual language effort, said administrators should focus on boosting the academic success of English-language learners and not on filling underenrolled schools.
"The program needs to be where the (English-language learners) are located," Valadez said. "They're trying to make the dad-gum tail wag the dog."
But Maria Rivera , a Spanish-speaking parent living within the Becker attendance zone, said she is happy her school was chosen.
Rivera said she hopes this type of bilingual education will allow the youngest of her four children to learn English while retaining Spanish — something her eldest son has already begun to lose at 13.
"The current program is set up in a way that doesn't support the learning of two languages," Rivera said in Spanish. "And I see that my son speaks less and less Spanish.
"It may seem easy to say that we will teach our children Spanish at home and they can learn English at school. But the truth is, learning both languages at school is the only real solution to helping our children be truly bilingual," she said. "At home, we cannot teach them proper grammar or reading skills. But in school, they can learn this for two languages with a dual language program."
Dual language information session
Parents of children who will be in kindergarten and first grade in the 2010-11 school year are invited to attend a dual language orientation session tonight at 6 p.m. at Becker Elementary School, 906 W. Milton St., one of four elementary schools in the Austin school district that will offer the new program.
lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694
Ed chief: Agency to review equal access at schools
"...the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs."
This is definitely the kind of statement that needs to be leading the discussion. What's missing from that statement though is access to teachers who are equipped to facilitate this goal, especially with respect to preparing bilingual learner children and youth.
If we're going to hold students to high expectations and standards we must ensure that they have equitable (not equal) access to opportunity. This may mean that some of our high-needs schools have smaller classrooms, a greater number of college-readiness counselors, more college outreach opportunities that engage parents, among other things compared to their highly-affluent and resourced counterparts.
The goal to utilize the Office of Civil Rights as an oversight for access and equity sounds like a great goal however it would seem that in order to accomplish this the office would require a certain level of capacity greater than it currently has. If we're going to see this happen it makes sense to increase this office's budget by more than the $2.7 million that is currently being proposed in the 2011 budget. It's not enough to set a highly ambitious (and needed) goal without providing the financial support to see it succeed.
-Patricia
By BOB JOHNSON | The Associated Press
Monday, March 8, 2010
SELMA, Ala. -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs.
"We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement," Duncan said on a historic Selma bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of a bloody confrontation between voting rights demonstrators and state troopers.
Duncan said the department also will issue a series of guidelines to public schools and colleges addressing fairness and equity issues.
"The truth is that, in the last decade, the office for civil rights has not been as vigilant as it should be. That is about to change," Duncan said.
Duncan spoke to a crowd about 400 people on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in observance of "Bloody Sunday," the day in 1965 when several hundred civil rights protesters were beaten by state troopers as they crossed the span over the Alabama River, bound for Montgomery.
The demonstrators were stopped that day, but thousands more arrived along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. two weeks later for what became known as the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.
"With a strict adherence to statutory and case law, we are going to make Dr. King's dream of a colorblind society a reality."
High school student D'wan Lewis, who is black, said he liked what he heard.
"I don't think we have the same opportunities as other schools," said Lewis, 18, a student at Keith High, a small, rural school outside Selma. "We need more materials. Really, we just need a better school."
The Education Department expects to conduct 38 compliance reviews around 40 different issues this year, said Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights.
"For us, this is very much about working to meet the president's goal, that by 2020 we will regain our status in the world as the number one producer of college graduates," Ali told The Associated Press.
Although the investigations have been conducted before, the department's Office of Civil Rights is looking to do more complicated and broader reviews that will look not just at whether procedures are in place, but at the impact district practices have on students of one race or another, and if student needs are being met.
Duncan also highlighted several jarring inequities.
- At the end of high school, white students are about six times more likely to be college-ready in biology than black students, and more than four times as likely to be prepared for college algebra.
- Black students without disabilities are more than three times as likely to be expelled as white students, and those with disabilities more than twice as likely to be expelled or suspended - numbers which Duncan says testify to racial gaps that are "hard to explain away by reference to the usual suspects."
- Students from low-income families who graduate from high school scoring in the top testing quartile are no more likely to attend college than the lowest-scoring students from wealthy families.
Ali said as part of the new effort, schools receiving federal funding will receive letters on topics covering everything from food allergies to law enforcement procedures for victims of sexual violence.
The Education Department will work with districts and states to find a voluntary resolution if a violation is found. In extreme cases, Ali said funds could be withheld or ended.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, said he has seen more collaboration with civil rights organizations under the Obama administration, along with a renewed focus on ensuring the civil rights tenets of No Child Left Behind are being enforced.
"They have been very deliberate about enforcing our nation's civil rights laws in the area of education," he said.
Others said they are still waiting for stepped up enforcement.
"We haven't seen anything yet," said Raul Gonzalez, director of legislative affairs of the National Council of La Raza. "But I can tell you there's a lot of hope in the civil rights community that we are going to get some really good enforcement around a variety of issues, including education.
Associated Press writer Christine Amario in Washington, D.C., also contributed to this report.
This is definitely the kind of statement that needs to be leading the discussion. What's missing from that statement though is access to teachers who are equipped to facilitate this goal, especially with respect to preparing bilingual learner children and youth.
If we're going to hold students to high expectations and standards we must ensure that they have equitable (not equal) access to opportunity. This may mean that some of our high-needs schools have smaller classrooms, a greater number of college-readiness counselors, more college outreach opportunities that engage parents, among other things compared to their highly-affluent and resourced counterparts.
The goal to utilize the Office of Civil Rights as an oversight for access and equity sounds like a great goal however it would seem that in order to accomplish this the office would require a certain level of capacity greater than it currently has. If we're going to see this happen it makes sense to increase this office's budget by more than the $2.7 million that is currently being proposed in the 2011 budget. It's not enough to set a highly ambitious (and needed) goal without providing the financial support to see it succeed.
-Patricia
By BOB JOHNSON | The Associated Press
Monday, March 8, 2010
SELMA, Ala. -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs.
"We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement," Duncan said on a historic Selma bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of a bloody confrontation between voting rights demonstrators and state troopers.
Duncan said the department also will issue a series of guidelines to public schools and colleges addressing fairness and equity issues.
"The truth is that, in the last decade, the office for civil rights has not been as vigilant as it should be. That is about to change," Duncan said.
Duncan spoke to a crowd about 400 people on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in observance of "Bloody Sunday," the day in 1965 when several hundred civil rights protesters were beaten by state troopers as they crossed the span over the Alabama River, bound for Montgomery.
The demonstrators were stopped that day, but thousands more arrived along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. two weeks later for what became known as the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.
"With a strict adherence to statutory and case law, we are going to make Dr. King's dream of a colorblind society a reality."
High school student D'wan Lewis, who is black, said he liked what he heard.
"I don't think we have the same opportunities as other schools," said Lewis, 18, a student at Keith High, a small, rural school outside Selma. "We need more materials. Really, we just need a better school."
The Education Department expects to conduct 38 compliance reviews around 40 different issues this year, said Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights.
"For us, this is very much about working to meet the president's goal, that by 2020 we will regain our status in the world as the number one producer of college graduates," Ali told The Associated Press.
Although the investigations have been conducted before, the department's Office of Civil Rights is looking to do more complicated and broader reviews that will look not just at whether procedures are in place, but at the impact district practices have on students of one race or another, and if student needs are being met.
Duncan also highlighted several jarring inequities.
- At the end of high school, white students are about six times more likely to be college-ready in biology than black students, and more than four times as likely to be prepared for college algebra.
- Black students without disabilities are more than three times as likely to be expelled as white students, and those with disabilities more than twice as likely to be expelled or suspended - numbers which Duncan says testify to racial gaps that are "hard to explain away by reference to the usual suspects."
- Students from low-income families who graduate from high school scoring in the top testing quartile are no more likely to attend college than the lowest-scoring students from wealthy families.
Ali said as part of the new effort, schools receiving federal funding will receive letters on topics covering everything from food allergies to law enforcement procedures for victims of sexual violence.
The Education Department will work with districts and states to find a voluntary resolution if a violation is found. In extreme cases, Ali said funds could be withheld or ended.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, said he has seen more collaboration with civil rights organizations under the Obama administration, along with a renewed focus on ensuring the civil rights tenets of No Child Left Behind are being enforced.
"They have been very deliberate about enforcing our nation's civil rights laws in the area of education," he said.
Others said they are still waiting for stepped up enforcement.
"We haven't seen anything yet," said Raul Gonzalez, director of legislative affairs of the National Council of La Raza. "But I can tell you there's a lot of hope in the civil rights community that we are going to get some really good enforcement around a variety of issues, including education.
Associated Press writer Christine Amario in Washington, D.C., also contributed to this report.
Obama proposes 'No Child' overhaul
Stay posted to this blog for updates on the ESEA reauthorization blueprint. This article touches on some of the implications that such a substantial shift can have on students but doesn't address what this means for our nation's growing bilingual learner students and how they fit in as a priority. Check out yesterday's comments by Professor Suarez-Orozco on NPR's LatinoUSA.
Also, refer to earlier articles and commentary on Texas' House Bill 3 from the last legislative session to get a glimpse of what it means to see public school education as an instrument of college readiness.
This conversation impacts us all.
-Patricia
By Nick Anderson | Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010
President Obama proposed Saturday to overhaul the No Child Left Behind law, saying he wanted to help all students get on track for college and careers, through a new school accountability system that he hoped could be in place within four years.
"Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet addresss, "and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down."
Obama wants to drop the No Child label and reshape the law without scraping it entirely. But that approach drew immediate fire from teacher unions, which have been among the foremost critics of the testing program begun under President George W. Bush.
Obama's plan "appears to place 100 percent of responsibility on educators and gives them zero percent authority," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said after being briefed by administration officials.
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said the plan does too little to help teachers when budget shortages are putting tens of thousands in jeopardy of layoffs in the coming school year.
Administration officials said the president's plan would jettison some mandated remedies for schools that fall short of targets, require states to ensure that students are on a path to "college and career readiness" by 2020, and clamp down on the lowest-performing schools as never before.
The plan would retain annual testing in reading and math but raise expectations for students and place more importance on academic growth than the law's current pass-fail approach.
The president had telegraphed a stringent accountability policy on March 1 when he expressed support for a decision to fire the staff of a struggling high school in Rhode Island, enraging teachers unions. However, Obama pledged in the Saturday address to treat teachers "like the professionals they are."
Obama's proposal seeks to guide Congress as lawmakers embark on a bipartisan effort to rewrite the law enacted in 2002. House and Senate committees have held hearings on the expansion of public charter schools and the lagging performance of U.S. students on international tests. Republicans say their teamwork with Democrats so far contrasts starkly with partisan battles on other issues.
Whether a bill can be passed before this year's midterm elections remains uncertain. Still, the proposal adds to the growing sense that public education is on the verge of major change.
Several states competing this year for federal grants have proposed to tie teacher evaluations to student achievement data and take other steps toward performance pay. On Wednesday, governors and state schools chiefs proposed common academic standards in math and English that seem on track for adoption in many states. New standards would drive new textbooks, curriculum and teacher training across the country.
Some analysts predict a rocky path for schools in the pursuit of higher standards because inexperienced and often ineffective teachers are disproportionately paired with students who need the most help.
"Our schools have not been in the business of preparing most kids for college," said Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an organization that supports disadvantaged students. "We are going to have to profoundly and broadly change the way we do schooling. Our concern is whether or not the adults can make the changes quickly enough to get the kids there. Everybody needs to be all in."
Education Department officials provided briefings on the Obama blueprint Friday to reporters, governors and interest groups, but the document itself remained under wraps as of Saturday morning.
Obama's plan would preserve core elements of the No Child Left Behind program: States would still test students every year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, officials said, and test scores would still be reported in detail for subgroups of students to ensure that racial, ethnic and other achievement gaps are exposed.
Under the No Child law, states are required to establish benchmarks toward a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. Although the law provides exceptions for many students, that goal is widely seen as unreachable.
The plan envisions a transition period, officials said, through 2014, to account for the development of new standards.
Also, refer to earlier articles and commentary on Texas' House Bill 3 from the last legislative session to get a glimpse of what it means to see public school education as an instrument of college readiness.
This conversation impacts us all.
-Patricia
By Nick Anderson | Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010
President Obama proposed Saturday to overhaul the No Child Left Behind law, saying he wanted to help all students get on track for college and careers, through a new school accountability system that he hoped could be in place within four years.
"Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet addresss, "and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down."
Obama wants to drop the No Child label and reshape the law without scraping it entirely. But that approach drew immediate fire from teacher unions, which have been among the foremost critics of the testing program begun under President George W. Bush.
Obama's plan "appears to place 100 percent of responsibility on educators and gives them zero percent authority," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said after being briefed by administration officials.
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said the plan does too little to help teachers when budget shortages are putting tens of thousands in jeopardy of layoffs in the coming school year.
Administration officials said the president's plan would jettison some mandated remedies for schools that fall short of targets, require states to ensure that students are on a path to "college and career readiness" by 2020, and clamp down on the lowest-performing schools as never before.
The plan would retain annual testing in reading and math but raise expectations for students and place more importance on academic growth than the law's current pass-fail approach.
The president had telegraphed a stringent accountability policy on March 1 when he expressed support for a decision to fire the staff of a struggling high school in Rhode Island, enraging teachers unions. However, Obama pledged in the Saturday address to treat teachers "like the professionals they are."
Obama's proposal seeks to guide Congress as lawmakers embark on a bipartisan effort to rewrite the law enacted in 2002. House and Senate committees have held hearings on the expansion of public charter schools and the lagging performance of U.S. students on international tests. Republicans say their teamwork with Democrats so far contrasts starkly with partisan battles on other issues.
Whether a bill can be passed before this year's midterm elections remains uncertain. Still, the proposal adds to the growing sense that public education is on the verge of major change.
Several states competing this year for federal grants have proposed to tie teacher evaluations to student achievement data and take other steps toward performance pay. On Wednesday, governors and state schools chiefs proposed common academic standards in math and English that seem on track for adoption in many states. New standards would drive new textbooks, curriculum and teacher training across the country.
Some analysts predict a rocky path for schools in the pursuit of higher standards because inexperienced and often ineffective teachers are disproportionately paired with students who need the most help.
"Our schools have not been in the business of preparing most kids for college," said Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an organization that supports disadvantaged students. "We are going to have to profoundly and broadly change the way we do schooling. Our concern is whether or not the adults can make the changes quickly enough to get the kids there. Everybody needs to be all in."
Education Department officials provided briefings on the Obama blueprint Friday to reporters, governors and interest groups, but the document itself remained under wraps as of Saturday morning.
Obama's plan would preserve core elements of the No Child Left Behind program: States would still test students every year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, officials said, and test scores would still be reported in detail for subgroups of students to ensure that racial, ethnic and other achievement gaps are exposed.
Under the No Child law, states are required to establish benchmarks toward a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. Although the law provides exceptions for many students, that goal is widely seen as unreachable.
The plan envisions a transition period, officials said, through 2014, to account for the development of new standards.
Amid worsening violence in Reynosa, Gonzales announces border security hearing
This has become an increasingly severe issue. Here's the link to stay connected on updates for the Border & Intergovernmental Affairs hearings.
-Patricia
By Steve Taylor | Rio Grande Guardian
McALLEN, March 12 - The chairs of two state House Committees have announced a joint hearing to examine the security of Texas' international border and the state's ability to protect its residents from violence in Mexico.
State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, chairs the Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, chairs the Committee on Public Safety.
“The growing violence occurring between the drug cartels in Mexico is extremely concerning and Speaker Joe Straus has specifically charged my committee, along with Chairman Merritt's Public Safety Committee, to study Texas' preparedness to address those drug-related crimes,” Gonzales said, in a news release issued Friday.
“We need to hear from our state law enforcement officers and other agencies on what is being done to keep our residents safe from the drug cartels fighting in Mexico.”
A specific date has yet to be announced for the hearing. However, Gonzales told the Guardian on Thursday it will happen “soon” and it is likely to be held in the Rio Grande Valley.
Gonzales said she and Merritt have been planning to hold their joint interim hearing in McAllen since their joint charge was issued by Straus last November. However, the hearing has been pending due to the availability of committee members' schedules.
When Straus announced his charges for the interim, he asked Gonzales and Merritt to have their committees “evaluate the effectiveness of state operations at controlling drug-related crimes and other violence along the Texas-Mexico border.”
The findings from the hearing will be presented to the Legislature at the start of the 2011 legislative session.
The announcement of a joint hearing to discuss border security comes amid a worsening situation in Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen. Three people died in a gun battle between rival drug cartels in the city earlier this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. Consulate warned U.S. citizens not to travel on the major highways from Reynosa to Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey. Last week, the Department of Public Safety warned students on Spring Break not to travel to border cities in Mexico.
On Monday, Alfredo Corchado, a veteran border reporter for the Dallas Morning News, reported that at least eight journalists have been abducted in Reynosa. “One died after a severe beating, according to reports that could not be independently verified,” Corchado wrote. “Two were released by their captors. The rest are missing.”
“A radio reporter, Jorge Rabago, died late last week after a severe beating,” Corchado reported. “The five missing journalists are a reporter from El Mañana, the largest news organization in the area; a freelance photographer from La Tarde, the afternoon edition of El Mañana; two journalists from an online service, and a TV cameraman, according to editors and reporters who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing daily threats,” Corchado reported.
Corchado quoted award-winning border reporter Jorge Luis Sierra, who was born and raised in Mexico City but now edits and publishes the McAllen Times. “We are under a virtual gag order. We live in silence,” Sierra said.
On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that eight journalists had gone missing in Reynosa over the past two weeks. The agency cited the Inter-American Press Association. Of the eight, one had died and two were released.
The joint hearing between Gonzales’ and Merritt’s committees will not be the only one to look at the issue of border security. On Thursday, state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, said his Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness would hold two hearings on border security, one in Austin on March 30 and one in McAllen on May 17.
Peña’s committee is charged with looking at the state's preparedness level for natural disasters and terrorist activity. Gonzales pointed out that the reported drug violence in Mexico is recognized as being financially motivated and has not been classified as an act of terrorism against the state of Texas.
“I welcome the feedback of other lawmakers on the issues that the Speaker asked my committee to study, especially one as crucial and close to home as border security,” Gonzales said.
-Patricia
By Steve Taylor | Rio Grande Guardian
McALLEN, March 12 - The chairs of two state House Committees have announced a joint hearing to examine the security of Texas' international border and the state's ability to protect its residents from violence in Mexico.
State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, chairs the Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, chairs the Committee on Public Safety.
“The growing violence occurring between the drug cartels in Mexico is extremely concerning and Speaker Joe Straus has specifically charged my committee, along with Chairman Merritt's Public Safety Committee, to study Texas' preparedness to address those drug-related crimes,” Gonzales said, in a news release issued Friday.
“We need to hear from our state law enforcement officers and other agencies on what is being done to keep our residents safe from the drug cartels fighting in Mexico.”
A specific date has yet to be announced for the hearing. However, Gonzales told the Guardian on Thursday it will happen “soon” and it is likely to be held in the Rio Grande Valley.
Gonzales said she and Merritt have been planning to hold their joint interim hearing in McAllen since their joint charge was issued by Straus last November. However, the hearing has been pending due to the availability of committee members' schedules.
When Straus announced his charges for the interim, he asked Gonzales and Merritt to have their committees “evaluate the effectiveness of state operations at controlling drug-related crimes and other violence along the Texas-Mexico border.”
The findings from the hearing will be presented to the Legislature at the start of the 2011 legislative session.
The announcement of a joint hearing to discuss border security comes amid a worsening situation in Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen. Three people died in a gun battle between rival drug cartels in the city earlier this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. Consulate warned U.S. citizens not to travel on the major highways from Reynosa to Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey. Last week, the Department of Public Safety warned students on Spring Break not to travel to border cities in Mexico.
On Monday, Alfredo Corchado, a veteran border reporter for the Dallas Morning News, reported that at least eight journalists have been abducted in Reynosa. “One died after a severe beating, according to reports that could not be independently verified,” Corchado wrote. “Two were released by their captors. The rest are missing.”
“A radio reporter, Jorge Rabago, died late last week after a severe beating,” Corchado reported. “The five missing journalists are a reporter from El Mañana, the largest news organization in the area; a freelance photographer from La Tarde, the afternoon edition of El Mañana; two journalists from an online service, and a TV cameraman, according to editors and reporters who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing daily threats,” Corchado reported.
Corchado quoted award-winning border reporter Jorge Luis Sierra, who was born and raised in Mexico City but now edits and publishes the McAllen Times. “We are under a virtual gag order. We live in silence,” Sierra said.
On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that eight journalists had gone missing in Reynosa over the past two weeks. The agency cited the Inter-American Press Association. Of the eight, one had died and two were released.
The joint hearing between Gonzales’ and Merritt’s committees will not be the only one to look at the issue of border security. On Thursday, state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, said his Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness would hold two hearings on border security, one in Austin on March 30 and one in McAllen on May 17.
Peña’s committee is charged with looking at the state's preparedness level for natural disasters and terrorist activity. Gonzales pointed out that the reported drug violence in Mexico is recognized as being financially motivated and has not been classified as an act of terrorism against the state of Texas.
“I welcome the feedback of other lawmakers on the issues that the Speaker asked my committee to study, especially one as crucial and close to home as border security,” Gonzales said.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Texas Conservatives Seek Deeper Stamp on Texts
We're proud of our policy intern, Diana Gomez, pictured here in this article advocating on behalf of Texas' children, education, and an inclusive curriculum. Way to go Diana!
-Patricia
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. | NY Times
March 10, 2010
AUSTIN, Tex. — Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum that would portray conservatives in a more positive light, emphasize the role of Christianity in American history and include Republican political philosophies in textbooks.
The hearings are the latest round in a long-running cultural battle on the 15-member State Board of Education, a battle that could have profound consequences for the rest of the country, since Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks.
The board is expected to take a preliminary vote this week on a raft of changes to the state’s social studies curriculum proposed by the seven conservative Republicans on the board. A final vote will come in May.
Conservatives argue that the proposed curriculum, written by a panel of teachers, emphasizes the accomplishments of liberal politicians — like the New Deal and the Great Society — and gives less importance to efforts by conservatives like President Ronald Reagan to limit the size of government.
“There is a bias,” said Don McLeroy, a dentist from College Station who heads up the board’s conservative faction. “I think the left has a real problem seeing their own bias.”
The three-day meeting is the first time the board has met since voters in last week’s Republican primaries voted to oust Dr. McLeroy and another conservative and threw the future makeup of the board up in the air. Two other members — a conservative Republican and a moderate Democrat — are not seeking re-election, and it is unclear what the balance of power will be after the general election. At present, the seven hard-core conservatives are often joined by one or more moderate members in votes on curriculum questions.
Dr. McLeroy still has 10 months to serve and he, along with rest of the religious conservatives on the board, have vowed to put their mark on the guidelines for social studies texts.
For instance, one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.
The amendments are also intended to emphasize the unalloyed superiority of the “free-enterprise system” over others and the desirability of limited government.
One says publishers should “describe the effects of increasing government regulation and taxation on economic development and business planning.”
Throughout the standards, the conservatives have pushed to drop references to American “imperialism,” preferring to call it expansionism. “Country and western music” has been added to the list of cultural movements to be studied.
References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.
Early in the hearing on Wednesday, Mr. McLeroy and other conservatives on the board made it clear they would offer still more planks to highlight what they see as the Christian roots of the Constitution and other founding documents.
“To deny the Judeo-Christian values of our founding fathers is just a lie to our kids,” said Ken Mercer, a San Antonio Republican.
The new guidelines, when finally approved, will influence textbooks for elementary, middle school and high school. They will be written next year and will be in effect for 10 years.
In other testimony Wednesday, Hispanic activists asked that more Latino figures be written into the social studies curriculum, particularly early residents of Texas who fought the central government in Mexico when Texas still was part of Mexico. American Indians complained that their history had been given short shrift.
Many other people came to the meeting to support the conservative slate of amendments, including some people enraged at what they saw as socialist tendencies in Washington. One man asserted that the Tea Party movement should be included in the textbooks.
-Patricia
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. | NY Times
March 10, 2010
AUSTIN, Tex. — Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum that would portray conservatives in a more positive light, emphasize the role of Christianity in American history and include Republican political philosophies in textbooks.
The hearings are the latest round in a long-running cultural battle on the 15-member State Board of Education, a battle that could have profound consequences for the rest of the country, since Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks.
The board is expected to take a preliminary vote this week on a raft of changes to the state’s social studies curriculum proposed by the seven conservative Republicans on the board. A final vote will come in May.
Conservatives argue that the proposed curriculum, written by a panel of teachers, emphasizes the accomplishments of liberal politicians — like the New Deal and the Great Society — and gives less importance to efforts by conservatives like President Ronald Reagan to limit the size of government.
“There is a bias,” said Don McLeroy, a dentist from College Station who heads up the board’s conservative faction. “I think the left has a real problem seeing their own bias.”
The three-day meeting is the first time the board has met since voters in last week’s Republican primaries voted to oust Dr. McLeroy and another conservative and threw the future makeup of the board up in the air. Two other members — a conservative Republican and a moderate Democrat — are not seeking re-election, and it is unclear what the balance of power will be after the general election. At present, the seven hard-core conservatives are often joined by one or more moderate members in votes on curriculum questions.
Dr. McLeroy still has 10 months to serve and he, along with rest of the religious conservatives on the board, have vowed to put their mark on the guidelines for social studies texts.
For instance, one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.
The amendments are also intended to emphasize the unalloyed superiority of the “free-enterprise system” over others and the desirability of limited government.
One says publishers should “describe the effects of increasing government regulation and taxation on economic development and business planning.”
Throughout the standards, the conservatives have pushed to drop references to American “imperialism,” preferring to call it expansionism. “Country and western music” has been added to the list of cultural movements to be studied.
References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.
Early in the hearing on Wednesday, Mr. McLeroy and other conservatives on the board made it clear they would offer still more planks to highlight what they see as the Christian roots of the Constitution and other founding documents.
“To deny the Judeo-Christian values of our founding fathers is just a lie to our kids,” said Ken Mercer, a San Antonio Republican.
The new guidelines, when finally approved, will influence textbooks for elementary, middle school and high school. They will be written next year and will be in effect for 10 years.
In other testimony Wednesday, Hispanic activists asked that more Latino figures be written into the social studies curriculum, particularly early residents of Texas who fought the central government in Mexico when Texas still was part of Mexico. American Indians complained that their history had been given short shrift.
Many other people came to the meeting to support the conservative slate of amendments, including some people enraged at what they saw as socialist tendencies in Washington. One man asserted that the Tea Party movement should be included in the textbooks.
Professor Emilio Zamora's testimony before the State Board of Education today
Emilio Zamora, Professor
Department of History
University of Texas at Austin March 10, 2010
Oral Portion (paraphrased)
I teach Texas history across the street, at the University of Texas, and am a Fellow in the Texas State Historical Association, but speak before you as a private citizen. I’ll start with an observation. If you believe that the major textbooks that are being used to teach Texas History in universities throughout the state are reliable sources of information on the state of historical scholarship on Texas, you must conclude—as I do—that the state-mandated tests, the adopted high school textbooks and the proposed curriculum lag far behind what we know and teach about Texas history. I’m not suggesting that you replace public school texts with university texts, but that you revise the proposed curriculum to more fully and accurately reflect the scholarship that has been expanding significantly since at least the middle 1970.
The major university texts on Texas history that I’m thinking about include the revised edition on Texas history by Rupert Richardson, as well as important surveys by Robert Calvert (and co-authors), Randolph Campbell, Jesus de la Teja (and co-authors) and general readers by Sam Haynes (and co-author) and Ben Procter (and co-author). To varying degrees these representative works are interpreting Texas history in a more broad and inclusive manner, that is, they include women, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and workers to a much greater extent than does the proposed curriculum. They also treat causes for equal rights as essential to learning about our egalitarian tradition.
I would conclude the oral portion of my testimony by stating that you can no longer justify a high school curriculum that fails to measure up to the abundant scholarship on Texas history. It is only a matter of time before you will be compelled to join the rest of us who are dedicating our professional careers to researching and writing on the subject and who are teaching in universities in a more inclusive, comprehensive, and democratic way.
Written Portion of Testimony (part of which was read)
I recommend two general revisions to the revised document entitled “subchapter C. High School” of the proposed curriculum. It is based on a detailed set of recommendations that I submitted to one of your members, Ms. Mary Helen Berlanga. My first recommendation calls for more clear, coherent, and complete statements to help you align the content of mandated state tests and adopted textbooks with the recommended curriculum. The more recent revisions (January 2010) of the recommended curriculum have improved its readability and comprehensiveness, but not sufficiently. My second recommendation asks for a strong endorsement of oral history.
The following illustrate the need for editing revisions. In section (b), (5), ( A), the proposed curriculum declares that “Each social studies class shall include, during Celebrate Freedom Week . . . and the abolitionist movement, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation and the women’s suffrage movement.” This is an incomplete statement if you consider that other equally inspired causes—African American and Mexican American—also express the constitutional, moral, and divine spirit of liberty and freedom in our history.
In (c), (6), (F), another incomplete entry reads as follows: “explain the home front and . . . the bravery and contributions of the Tuskegee airmen, the Flying Tigers, and the Navajo Code Talkers; and opportunities and obstacles for women and ethnic minorities.” This should also include Mexican Americans. They were among the most socially marginalized Americans in the 1940s and the most highly decorated group in the U.S. military. This provides an opportunity to appreciate the depth and breadth of American dedication to the war effort.
Still another incomplete and ambiguous statement appears in (c), (11), (E). The text suggests that our teachers should “. . . describe significant societal issues of this time period.” It should read “. . . describe significant societal issues of this time period such as desegregation, minority and women’s rights, and recurring economic downturns.” This revision completes what I believe to be the entry’s original intent.
My second general recommendation is that the board encourages the use of oral history. The proposed curriculum notes this method, primarily in the early grades, but it suggests it in passing and with little conviction. You need to recognize the expansive and practical value of oral history in the classroom. It minimally provides hands-on opportunities to teach research planning, good writing, interviewing techniques, understanding and empathy for the family or community members as narrators, a deeper familiarity and appreciation for local history, the value of the relationship of local history with the regional and national experience, and the intellectually stimulating experience of creating a research product from start to finish—from the point of the production of the record to the final historical interpretation in the form of a research paper, an exhibit, or an audio-visual presentation.
Oral history’s encompassing and enabling nature, in short, provides limitless opportunities for teachers to enrich classroom instruction and for the board to endorse it as an overarching theme and focused activity. This would require that the Board instruct its staff to initiate a more thorough review of the proposed curriculum and offer a more detailed recommendation than I can offer today.
Thank you for your attention.
Department of History
University of Texas at Austin March 10, 2010
Oral Portion (paraphrased)
I teach Texas history across the street, at the University of Texas, and am a Fellow in the Texas State Historical Association, but speak before you as a private citizen. I’ll start with an observation. If you believe that the major textbooks that are being used to teach Texas History in universities throughout the state are reliable sources of information on the state of historical scholarship on Texas, you must conclude—as I do—that the state-mandated tests, the adopted high school textbooks and the proposed curriculum lag far behind what we know and teach about Texas history. I’m not suggesting that you replace public school texts with university texts, but that you revise the proposed curriculum to more fully and accurately reflect the scholarship that has been expanding significantly since at least the middle 1970.
The major university texts on Texas history that I’m thinking about include the revised edition on Texas history by Rupert Richardson, as well as important surveys by Robert Calvert (and co-authors), Randolph Campbell, Jesus de la Teja (and co-authors) and general readers by Sam Haynes (and co-author) and Ben Procter (and co-author). To varying degrees these representative works are interpreting Texas history in a more broad and inclusive manner, that is, they include women, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and workers to a much greater extent than does the proposed curriculum. They also treat causes for equal rights as essential to learning about our egalitarian tradition.
I would conclude the oral portion of my testimony by stating that you can no longer justify a high school curriculum that fails to measure up to the abundant scholarship on Texas history. It is only a matter of time before you will be compelled to join the rest of us who are dedicating our professional careers to researching and writing on the subject and who are teaching in universities in a more inclusive, comprehensive, and democratic way.
Written Portion of Testimony (part of which was read)
I recommend two general revisions to the revised document entitled “subchapter C. High School” of the proposed curriculum. It is based on a detailed set of recommendations that I submitted to one of your members, Ms. Mary Helen Berlanga. My first recommendation calls for more clear, coherent, and complete statements to help you align the content of mandated state tests and adopted textbooks with the recommended curriculum. The more recent revisions (January 2010) of the recommended curriculum have improved its readability and comprehensiveness, but not sufficiently. My second recommendation asks for a strong endorsement of oral history.
The following illustrate the need for editing revisions. In section (b), (5), ( A), the proposed curriculum declares that “Each social studies class shall include, during Celebrate Freedom Week . . . and the abolitionist movement, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation and the women’s suffrage movement.” This is an incomplete statement if you consider that other equally inspired causes—African American and Mexican American—also express the constitutional, moral, and divine spirit of liberty and freedom in our history.
In (c), (6), (F), another incomplete entry reads as follows: “explain the home front and . . . the bravery and contributions of the Tuskegee airmen, the Flying Tigers, and the Navajo Code Talkers; and opportunities and obstacles for women and ethnic minorities.” This should also include Mexican Americans. They were among the most socially marginalized Americans in the 1940s and the most highly decorated group in the U.S. military. This provides an opportunity to appreciate the depth and breadth of American dedication to the war effort.
Still another incomplete and ambiguous statement appears in (c), (11), (E). The text suggests that our teachers should “. . . describe significant societal issues of this time period.” It should read “. . . describe significant societal issues of this time period such as desegregation, minority and women’s rights, and recurring economic downturns.” This revision completes what I believe to be the entry’s original intent.
My second general recommendation is that the board encourages the use of oral history. The proposed curriculum notes this method, primarily in the early grades, but it suggests it in passing and with little conviction. You need to recognize the expansive and practical value of oral history in the classroom. It minimally provides hands-on opportunities to teach research planning, good writing, interviewing techniques, understanding and empathy for the family or community members as narrators, a deeper familiarity and appreciation for local history, the value of the relationship of local history with the regional and national experience, and the intellectually stimulating experience of creating a research product from start to finish—from the point of the production of the record to the final historical interpretation in the form of a research paper, an exhibit, or an audio-visual presentation.
Oral history’s encompassing and enabling nature, in short, provides limitless opportunities for teachers to enrich classroom instruction and for the board to endorse it as an overarching theme and focused activity. This would require that the Board instruct its staff to initiate a more thorough review of the proposed curriculum and offer a more detailed recommendation than I can offer today.
Thank you for your attention.
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