Federal Level: President Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education, Roderick Paige, have unveiled a plan which would revitalize the U.S. Education System. The plan, "No Child Left Behind," promotes the next stage of raising standards in American education by helping teachers, schools and school districts use challenging standards to guide classroom instruction and student assessment. Key provisions of the plan are as follows: Increase Accountability for Student Performance: States, districts and schools that improve achievement will be rewarded. Failure will be sanctioned. Parents will know how well their child is learning, and that schools are held accountable for their effectiveness with annual state reading and math assessments in grades 3-8. Focus on What Works: Federal dollars will be spent on effective, research based programs and practices. Funds will be targeted to improve schools and enhance teacher quality. Reduce Bureaucracy and Increase Flexibility: Additional flexibility will be provided to states and school districts, and flexible funding will be increased at the local level. Empower Parents: Parents will have more information about the quality of their child's school. Students in persistently low-performing schools will be given choice.   State of California and Education In his first year, Governor Gray Davis called a special session of the legislature which passed four bills now known as READ (Raising Expectations, Achievements and Development). Key Priorities and Points in READ AB 1X, Teacher Peer Review: Provides $41M for school districts to implement teacher peer review programs for veteran teachers by July 1, 2000 Requires that the results from the teacher peer review and assistance program be used in annual teacher evaluations conducted by principals Negative results may be reported to local school boards AB 2X, Learning to Read, Reading to Learn: $75M for new K-4 reading programs $12M for summer academies to train teachers on effective reading techniques $2M for a public reading campaign and Governor’s Reading Awards Program $1M to develop the Governor’s Teacher Scholarships and the Governor’ Principal Institute. SB 1X, Accountability: Creates an Accountability Performance Index (API) based on achievement testing, graduation rates and attendance rates Provides $96M to provide planning assistance and implementation and an intervention process to over 300 schools that score below the 50th percentile. Appropriates cash awards to schools that dramatically increase their ranking in the system. SB 2X, High School Exit Exam: Budgets for $2M for the Department of Education to develop a standardized high school exit exam to be taken by graduating seniors to give their diploma real meaning. In his January 2000 State of the State address, Governor Davis proposed another education package designed to help retain teachers and award top performing students. Special incentives will be give to teachers who chose to teachers schools that score in the bottom 50th percentile. These incentives include: Eligibility for a $20,000 competitive teaching fellowship Up to $11,000 in forgivable college loans Fully credenitialed teachers as well as their schools will receive a $2,000 bonus and the teacher will be eligible for a $10,000 forgivable home loan. Credential teachers who go on to get a national board certification will receive a $30,000 bonus. Retired teachers who return to teaching will be able to keep their full pension. Spending $20.5M to make at least one AP class available for every high school student by the fall of 2000, although at first this might mean going to a different location or watching the class on a closed circuit television. $1,000 merit scholarships to every 9th, 10th and 11th grader who scores in the top ten percent statewide or top five percent of their school on the STAR test. Distinguished Scholar awards of $2,500 to any high school student who scores a five on the AP math or any of the AP science exams. $75M to launch CA Institutes for Science and Innovations. Private industry to join Digital High School Program to wire every school to the Internet in California. | Back to Education |