Ninety Day News Digest

A judge blocks the algebra-for-all-8th-graders mandate. (Sacramento Bee) (12/23)

District leaders are cutting back in Sacramento county. (Sac Bee) (12/23)

Supes in the Inland Empire don’t agree on the benefits of spending flex. (Press-Enterprise) (12/22)

Republican lawmakers want to cut $10 billion from K-12. (Sacramento Bee) (12/20)

Ray Cortines is picked by the LA Unified board to succeed the Admiral. (LA Times) (12/18)

FCMAT rules that Oakland’s district is ready for full local control. (Oakland Tribune) (12/17)

LA Unified’s embattled Supt. Brewer agrees to take a buy-out. (LA Times) (12/16)

San Francisco’s board votes in favor of the college prep curriculum for all. (SF Chronicle) (12/14)

One in three middle school math teachers is unqualified to teach algebra, says a new report. (SF Chronicle) (12/12)

High schools and their students need smarter policies to guide them, says a new report. (Wall Street Journal) (12/9)

The furnaces need fixing in some Fresno schools. (Fresno Bee) (12/9)

Too many high schoolers are taught by teachers who are working out of field. (San Bernardino Press Enterprise)

San Diego is trying to make discipline consistent across all schools. (SD Union-Tribune)

Leaders of LA Unified freeze spending and prepare for more cuts. (LA Times)

Pajaro Valley’s leaders face deeper cuts than ever before. (SJ Mercury News)

Modesto’s schools suffer declining enrollment as foreclosures force parents to move. (Modesto Bee)

Oakland’s leadership has empty pockets and a teachers union that wants big raises. (Oakland Tribune) (11/11)

Alum Rock voters elect a board member who is banned by court order from district property. (SJ Mercury News) (11/11)

Sacramento’s leaders are preparing to close some schools. (Sacramento Bee) (11/10)

Los Angeles voters pass all county school bond measures. (LA Times) (11/8)

Voters in Sacramento provide a mixed message on school funding. (Sacramento Bee) (11/7)

The teachers union influence on San Diego’s school board is likely to increase. (SD Union-Tribune) (11/7)

Bay Area students are excited about the election. (CC Times) (11/3)

San Diego schools hire Bill Sanders to help them see test scores with fresh eyes. (SD Union-Tribune) (11/3)

Schools may suffer mid-year budget cuts. (SF Chronicle) (11/2)

The governor is ready to champion a higher sales tax to keep cuts to a minimum. (LA Times)

A judge delays the state board's order to begin algebra for all 8th graders. (Assoc. Press)

The teachers union is spending heavily on the school board race in San Diego. (SD Union-Tribune) (10/26)

School construction benefits from decline in new home building. (Sacramento Bee) (10/25)

School leaders are worried as new budget cuts loom. (Sacramento Bee) (10/24)

Districts are still waiting for funds to arrive after nearly three months of budget delays. (Fresno Bee) (10/23)

Retired teachers are returning to classrooms in record numbers. (Sacramento Bee) (10/20)

Districts are still waiting for funds to arrive after nearly three months of budget delays. (Fresno Bee)

High numbers of English learners in San Diego County make it more likely that schools won't meet their federal AYP mark. (SD Union-Tribune) (10/19)

Schools in Sacramento County will soon be scouting large numbers of new teachers. (Sacramento Bee) (10/16)

As the economy sags, state financial officials urge districts to brace for cuts next year. (Sacramento Bee) (10/13)

Schools in Sacramento County will soon be scouting large numbers of new teachers. (Sacramento Bee) (10/12)

In San Diego, principals can see which teachers are raising kids’ test scores the most (and least). (Voice of San Diego) (10/9)

Menlo Park’s district loses money in the Lehman Bros. collapse. (SJ Mercury News) (10/8)

Four San Diego districts are among those getting more money to improve. (SD Union Tribune) (10/5)

Mike Piscal has big plans to build charter high schools inside LAUSD. (LA Times) (10/3)

The admin staff at Los Angeles USD has grown in seven years. (LA Daily News) (10/2)

Inner City Education has big plans to build charters inside LAUSD. (LA Times) (10/1)

Pasadena parents go school shopping with numbers in hand. (ABC News) (9/29)

Madera’s school board election is nixed by a judge for being unfair to Latino candidates. (LA Times) (9/29)

NCLB's goal of all students proficient by 2014 will leave most schools behind. (CC Times) (9/27)

The leaders of the Univ. of California step up to the accountability challenge. (Chronicle of Higher Education) (9/25)

Putting all eighth-graders into algebra is a policy that the Brookings Institute is questioning. (LA Times) (9/21)

Schools get a slight increase in funding per-pupil. (SF Chronicle) (9/21)

Legislators will have a hard time overriding Arnold’s veto of the budget. (Sacramento Bee) (9/18)

KIPP charter schools are succeeding at helping inner city kids succeed in their studies. (SF Chronicle) (9/18)

Legislators finally pass a budget, but Arnold vows to veto it. (Sacramento Bee) (9/17)

A new study from WestEd argues for small learning communities for ninth graders. (LA Times) (9/16)

Legislators compromise on a budget at last, although critics argue it hides big gaps. (Sacramento Bee) (9/15)

A new study from WestEd argues for small learning communities for ninth graders. (LA Times) (9/14)

In cramped New York City, small schools flourish in big buildings. (NY Times) (12/24)

Chicago’s chief, Arne Duncan, gets the nod from Pres.-elect Obama. (NY Times) (12/16)

The new U.S. Sec. of Education faces a system in crisis. (Associated Press) (12/15)

Financially strapped Maryland and Virginia districts are boosting class size. (Washington Post) (12/9)

Linda Darling-Hammond is leading the Obama education team. (Ed Week)

Assigning grades to high schools in New York City provokes debate. (NY Times)

The head of the national teachers union, Randi Weingarten, affirms incentive pay. (Associated Press)

Pres. Obama may put education reform on the back burner. (Wall Street Journal) (11/10)

Obama’s triumph becomes a teachable moment. (Washington Post) (11/7)

Educators are adjusting to an economy in trouble. (USA Today) (11/2)

Federal rules for reporting on drop-outs get tougher. (USA Today) (10/30)

Teachers in D.C. take test scores to the bank as bonuses. (USA Today) (10/25)

Some Texas mayors are knocking on doors to bring dropouts back to school. (Wall Street Journal) (10/22)

Tennessee is using real data to analyze the effectiveness of individual teachers. (Education Week) (10/20)

Education issues are low profile in the McCain and Obama debates. (USA Today) (10/16)

Students today are less likely to surpass their parents’ level of education. (Diverse) (10/12)

Texans disagree on a proposal to standardize grades across all high schools in the state. (Dallas News) (10/8)

District finances are disrupted by the banking crisis. (Education Week) (10/2)

Private guidance counselors for high school students are making $160 an hour. (NY Times) (9/30)

A teacher reserve corps gets the budget axe. (NY Times) (9/28)

Parents in New York City are puzzled by the city’s way of grading schools. (NY Times) (9/22)

Teachers in New York City get big bucks if their schools' report cards show progress. (NY Times) (9/18)

Financial failures provide a teachable moment. (LA Times) (9/17)

The cost of fixing knowledge gaps when seniors move to community college is higher than $2 billion. (Assoc. Press) (9/15)

Ray Cortines returns to the supe’s chair at LA Unified, and shares his plans for rough sailing ahead. (LA Times) (12/24)

This influential editorial board urges a timeout for teacher tenure. (LA Times) (12/15)

Jay Matthews asks how districts hire and retain so many ineffective principals. (Washington Post) (12/9)

Dan Walters notes that the Governor’s plan for school funding would reform categorical funding. (Sacramento Bee) (12/4)

Professor Jacob Adams proposes that school funding follow students, not schools. (LA Times Blog) (11/14)

This editorial board is worried whether Fresno’s board can govern wisely with a teacher’s union leader at the table. (Fresno Bee) (11/7)

Dan Walters is worried that the state budget crunch will put schools on the cutting board. (Sacramento Bee) (11/1)

This newspaper’s editorial board urges education leaders to hold the bar high for English learners. (SD Union-Tribune) (10/20)

This editorial board affirms a scholarly criticism of the NCLB law calling for all students to be “proficient” by 2014. (SJ Mercury News) (10/18)

Researcher Daniel Koresh believes test results create “illusions of progress.” (Education Week) (10/3)

Reporter Jay Matthews reconsiders the wisdom of algebra-for-all. (Washington Post) (9/28)

This editorial board salutes the leaders of Franklin McKinley ESD for stepping up to the challenge of Program Improvement. (SJ Mercury News) (9/22)

Daniel Weintraub is worried about those students who never graduate from high school. (Sacramento Bee) (9/15)

John Fensterwald thinks high schools are getting an easy ride in the accountability game. (SJ Mercury News) (9/10)

Larry Cuban asks what enables some super- intendents to stay in the saddle for the long haul. (Education Week) (9/8)

Sightings of school buses are few and far between. (SD Union-Tribune)

Student leaders have some advice for district leaders about how to run schools. (Sacramento Bee) (11/6)

Economics teachers in Sacramento schools have a field day with the plunging stock market. (Sac Bee) (11/2)

Meet Janet Anderson, Sacramento County’s teacher of the year, who makes math a breeze. (Sac Bee) (9/28)

The budget impasse takes a heavy toll on students and teachers. (SF Chronicle) (9/14)

Students at San Francisco’s Lincoln High join a winning team in an international biotech competition. (SF Chronicle) (9/2)