What IF...

So this weekend, I have been reading and thinking about math and Algebra in our District (and all districts for that matter). Algebra Algebra is a CRITICAL competency (not “course”) for ALL of our students. Clearly it provides access to high school success graduation as well as access to post-secondary opportunities (including trades). Without it, a student and therefore our citizens are severely limited in tough economic times, as well as generally. There are articles for parents parent articlesregarding the importance of Algebra in California today (including a Spanish version).

In Radical Equations, Robert Moses argues for a number of things, but most compelling is the essential nature of Algebra in our global, “knowledge-based” society. Algebra (along with science and beyond Algebra mathematics) is as essential in our “knowledge-based” economy as literacy was in the manufacturing era. For students to have access to our economy, they must be competent in Algebra, as well as its math and science successors. The other interesting observation is that failure of public education to step up to this challenge clearly sets up and sustains a class system where there are “haves” and “have-nots.”

So do we begin to emphasize Algebra and its kin in the next 10 years, like we have emphasized literacy in the past 10 years?

Time to be INVOLVED

Tomorrow night is a GREAT event! We are having the 5th annual Riverside College and Career Fair at the Convention Center, starting at 5:00 p.m. in the Convention Center downtown. The uniqueness of this event is that it is sponsored and operated by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce. The recounting of prior events has indicated that they have been fantastic opportunities for our students to connect with their future. It is also great for parents to see and discuss the options with their young people. What's the cost? It's really inexpensive -- free!!

Thank you Chamber and I will see you all there tomorrow night.

Measure B

Recently we had a report from our Citizens Advisory Committee -- certainly a routine matter.  And it was well done and and informative -- No suprise as we have great folks helping us out that committee.  What WAS a surprise to me and very non-routine was a very interesting factoid.  In reviewing the Measure B funds that have been allocated and raised by this community, we have spent $106 million to do many projects.  What is pretty unusual is that we have a 3:1 effect ...that is for every dollar raised through Measure B we have had $3 in capital improvements.  This has been done by leveraging the Measure B funds with State and other monies that are available.  Congratulations to our staff from smart use of our funds for the benefit of our students and community.  In you are interested in the entire report you can find it on our website:  http://www.rusdmeasureb.org/documents/2008AnnualCOCReport.pdf.

The "community" makes the Difference

I am continually amazed at the commitment and resourcefulness of our collective community here in Riverside. At our last Board meeting, we had the REEF (Riverside Educational Enrichment Foundation) Board present some of the great things that they are doing to raise money to support our teachers and students. The funds go directly into the classroom and directly support the learning of students. All those "little" contributions make a huge difference in this effort -- particularly during these times. As a result of those "little" gifts, REEF has been able to leverage a larger gift, in the form of a donation from the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation in the amount of $55,000. On behalf of our students (as it is all about them), our deepest appreciation for the initiative and efforts of REEF and the generous contribution from the Carpenter family.

What IF...

As we continue to think about the "school" system of the future, we must seriously consider the issue of the "digital divide" that often times exists between the "haves" and "have nots" in our society. Having grown up in a home that would be better represented as economically "have not," I am very clear that there would NOT have been a computer and other technology in our home or available for my access. That is not a criticism of my family or any other -- just a reality. Fortunately, we live in Riverside and there is and has been an on-going effort to address this problem aggressively through Smart Riverside. Smart Riverside is working on "Digital Inclusion" to address both the frequent lack of equipment and technology training in some homes. Additionally, they have deployed wireless availability across 75+% of the community making Internet available. Both of these efforts provide a huge leap toward closing the "divide."

As we think about the same "divide," we are continually looking for new solutions that are both cost-effective and workable. We think we are now at a price point with "netBook" computers that will provide our students (and even families) with a relatively low-cost alternative to computing and the digital world and at the same time give them Internet access via the Smart Riverside wireless system. There are other strategies, but overall we are working on closing this significant gap -- it is imperative to our deployment of digital texts but more importantly it is the health and well-being of our community.

Sacramento vs. Riverside at the Helm?

An interesting editorial in our local Press-Enterprise regarding the state dilemma and what should be done.  Probably the last line captures it best with the idea that public education via the Sacramento intrusion "needs a thorough overhaul, not a costmetic touchup."  The editors rightly point to the on-going insanity in Sacramento.  I would totally concur that the real issue is the need to "start by giving local districts more power to make decisions."  That is not a statement of arrogance on my part, rather a statement that I believe in our local citizens to hold our local school District and board members accountable for the well-being of their students -- THAT scenario is much UNlike our existing governance via Sacramento (with limited accountability) chaos.

Tell Me ONE More Time, Why Do We Have Sports?

So I am back from the Ramona vs. Jurupa Valley football game this evening. A great game with an excited crowd. Ramona prevailed with a score of 47 to 7 -- way to go Rams! That's great, but then there is the story behind the story -- the story that rarely gets told. Athletics ultimately is not about winning (which I really like the winning part), but about the growth, development, and teamwork of the young men and women involved.

In this case, the football team took it upon themselves to invite special guests (Life Skills Academy) to their game and then played hard for them. You can check out the article on the Ramona HS website. More importantly, there are lots of excited football players, and Life Skills students tonight with the "win" at Ramona. What more could we ever ask from our coaches and athletes than what they delivered today? Great job to the total Ramona community.

What IF...

Another "move" to the future is the provision of the State of California an opportunity for digital textbooks. We are currently proceeding on this particular direction in partnership with the state. Currently, we only have these state-adopted texts in our higher level math and science classes at the high school level. We would hope to have available to our students these digital resources by the middle of October. Digital texts (beyond reducing the weight limit of backpacks) would offer teachers and students the choice of MANY resources and options for their learning rather than the customary one that we have had in the past. As an example, a teacher could choose one chapter from one book and another chapter from another text based on which was BEST for their classroom. Additionally, students that might have difficulty understanding a given concept in one text could easily review another version in a different text -- all with a few clicks of the "mouse."

More information about the specifics of the digital texts and how they are aligned to state curriculum standards, etc. can be found at the CLRN website. At that same website, there are links to the actual textbooks for the high school math/science classes. No matter how good and how many -- we should be clear that teachers are still the key to the facilitation of student learning.

What IF...

In the era of system reform and questions that have been raised by budget shortfalls and the economic climate, the question becomes if not this -- then what? Within that regard, it would seem that an interesting, if not productive, conversation might occur between interested stakeholders regarding the triangulation between three books and sets of ideas. In no particular order, I would suggest:

• Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen (Disruptive Innovations)
• Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirkey (Organizing without Organizations)
• The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman (Loss of Borders)

While this is not the definitive set of book topics, I do think it would be interesting. It might be equally interesting to know the three that you would use to triangulate between!?! Finally, it is of limited value if we do not discuss our practice and system within that triangulation discussion. In any case, change like this always involves LOTS of discussion.

Race to the Top -- October 1st??

The clock ticks down on the Governor's imposed deadline of October 1st for the Legislature to write and pass legislation to address the issues outlined in the federal Race to the Top program. In fact, we have essentially 2 weeks left. Meanwhile there are two proposed Senate bills that might accomplish the task (SB X5 1 and SB X5 2).

The federal program has received press in a number of places including Time magazine. Arne Duncan, Sec. of Ed has suggested, "Is California going to lead the race to the top, or are you going to lead the retreat?" The essential requirements that California would have to meet to qualify for the Race to the Top funding would include two things:

• Linking student achievement to evaluations of educators
• Addressing the performance needs of the lowest-achieving 5% of the schools in the state

Other issues that seem to be "on the plate" both at the state and federal levels and have some linkage to Race to the Top, include such items as:

• Open enrollment options (statewide) for parents that have students in low-performing schools
• Possible reconstitution of individual schools and districts that don't appear to be performing well
• Raising the "cap" on the number of charter schools allowed
• Sharing of data between educational agencies
• Adoption of national curriculum standards (rather than state)

These are obviously all public policy issues that have "far-reaching" effects. October 1st seems awfully close to have a reasonable debate on these matters -- for the potential of one-time federal funds. Stay tuned!!

The Importance of our REEF Organization

In these very difficult economic times, charitable foundations such as REEF (Riverside Educational Enrichment Foundation) are relied upon more and more to bridge the gap in school funding, helping schools to continue to provide high-quality learning opportunities to our students (e.g., music programs, athletics, clubs, etc.). That issue becomes increasingly important this year with the continuing state budget problems and our need to comply with the state law regarding not charging individual student fees for various student activities. Donations and support programs like REEF can help support our students and programs as the funding situation has changed.

Last year with RUSD employees, we raised $17,000 in RUSD contributions to support this significant cause. We are a “community” in RUSD and we are a “community” within Riverside – and we care about each other and have a collective interest in our students. Economically, things are tough for all – whether you are in schools, private business, etc. My approach to REEF and ultimately the benefit for our students is that we need participation of everyone not necessarily large gifts (though those are certainly welcome. As an example, we have approximately 5,000 permanent employees in RUSD. If ALL of us were to each contribute $1 per month – we would raise over $60,000 for this important effort (compared to $17,000 last year). How much more could we do if we just had everyone in Riverside contribute their $1? I would ask for your participation and the encouragement of all of your friends/neighbors in this effort that will directly support our students and programs. It only takes participation to make a BIG difference. You can find contribution information on our website at: http://www.riversideschoolsrule.org/

Fritts does it again

Continuing with their long-standing tradition of supporting our RAD (Riverside Against Drugs) program, Fritts Ford held a unique fundraiser today.  Drop by and you get a FREE lunch, a Free car wash, and if you test drive one of their cars -- there is a $20 contribution made to the RAD program.  Pretty amazing deal, pretty amazing support!!  It was great to see many of you out there and involved along with students, community members, and staff.  Well done Fritts Ford!!

By Name and By Need

As we seek to make sure that EVERY student is successful and proficient in our school system, it is clear that we need to know everyone of them by name and by need. While knowing all of my students "by name" can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, it is possible -- particularly if we share strategies. One of my colleagues shared a recent article that address this issue well. The focus is elementary, but there is the possibility of adapting it to secondary situations. I have used some the techniques (adapted) at even the graduate level where the same needs apply.

Knowing "the need" for each student is the next challenge. We often have data and information to support that effort, but it requires diligence, curiosity, and careful listening on the part of the educator. In fact, sometimes we need to "get beyond" the data to fully understand the need of the student. Our RUSD staff is daily in pursuit of these challenges.

Algebra II???

With the issues of Algebra there are lots of questions about the data and how we should adjust to provide better learning and performance for our students. We need time to study our data and even gather more information about what others are doing that would seem to be successful (best practice?). We owe it to our students to “rethink” Algebra and our current practices. With a “rethinking” will obviously be a time when we will need to take “risks” in attempting what may not have occurred before (though within the confines of good professional judgment on the parts of educators). With “rethinking” we also will probably need to “weed the garden” and consider elimination of practices that have not provided our students with the greatest leverage in learning the essential elements of Algebra. There may be multiple ways to “deliver” Algebra – including those that may currently be “non-traditional.”

One issue is abundantly clear with lots of evidence over time -- If we fail to assist our RUSD students in acquiring the competencies of Algebra, they will be limited in our high school curriculum and more importantly they will be limited in both their collegiate and career choices.

Algebra

As we reflect on the educational challenges before us, we certainly need to address the issue of Algebra for our students -- which tends to be a gatekeeper and either allow or deny a student access to any number of options (either in school or BEYOND school). Historically, Algebra has been a High School course, but increasingly is seen as a necessary element for all students to complete 8th grade and move forward to high school. In this past year, our middle schools met that target with 20% of our students. In reviewing our various middle schools there is a diversity of competency varying from about 17 to 34%. We have also surveyed our neighbors around us and we exceed some of them while we can learn from others.

We have a GREAT staff that is focused on helping every student succeed in Algebra. Even today, we have a group of teachers in our building actively engaging this important topic. Watch our performance grow in this important area of the curriculum.

My Apologies

Please accept my apologies to all of you, for not posting as regularly as I would expect with this blog. But I, as well as many of you, have been overly engaged in the past couple of weeks. This past week, in addition to the normal start of school issues, we have been dealing with the happy news and complications of the return of Jaycee Duggard along with the response of the nation and public chaos of the upcoming message to students from President Obama.

I will commit to do better in the future.

Race to the Buck

I had the opportunity to participate in a second statewide conference call with the Governor's staff as he tries to secure passage (another "special" session) that would allow California to engage in the "Race to the Top" federal program.  While the goals of Race to the Top MAY be good (depending upon your view), I find it most curious that the Governor seems most interested in the money attached to the program.  As any number of infrastructure issues that need to be addressed (e.g., the test, the data, turning around low-performing schools, open enrollment, etc.) to authentically move us forward in the Race to the Top program as well as the "Race to the Top" global reality.  In the call, the answer to those issues was repeatitively, "we aren't worrying about that right now, we just need to do this because the 'feds are requiring it'" -- a compelling rationale?  I always thought that, at least on a Constitutional basis, education was a State's Rights Issue.

It is also clear that California's solution and compromise with CTA will be to make the minor adjustments to the law (to qualify for Race to the Top) with a clear mandate that local school districts don't really have to change anything -- they can negotiate all of those issues with their local CTA chapter (which is pretty much where we are already).  In fact, SPI O'Connell has already stated that there is no prohibition of using data in evaluations (which seems to be the key element of this debate) and has cited Long Beach as the example.

I am fundamentally FOR reform of our system to better address the needs of ALL of our students in all of our communities.  I am NOT for legalese that qualifies us for ONE-time funding (Race to the Top) and only stalls and exacerbates our current state systemic issues, which I think was Sec of Ed Arne Duncan's point.