Previous Week
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Next Week
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Three schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District named 2023 Blue Ribbon Schools
It’s impressive for a school district to have one school named a National Blue Ribbon School. Garden Grove Unified has three. Anthony Elementary School, Cook Elementary School and Paine Elementary School all received the honor for 2023. “The Blue Ribbon Award represents the best of the best in education and we are thrilled that three GGUSD schools are national models of academic excellence,” said Board of Education President Walter Muneton on the districts’ website.
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/12/04/three-schools-in-the-garden-grove-unified-school-district-named-2023-blue-ribbon-schools/

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Oakland Unified pushes back against unsanctioned ‘teach-in’ on Palestine
We "have remained unwavering in our stance against antisemitic, anti-Israeli, Islamophobic, or anti-Palestinian prejudice or discrimination within our District," said Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, the superintendent of Oakland Unified.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/04/oakland-unified-pushes-back-against-unsanctioned-teach-in-on-palestine/

EDSOURCE

Early literacy funding raises reading scores of California’s lowest performing schools
Research by Stanford University found that 75 of the lowest-performing California elementary schools that received funding from an out-of-court settlement made significant progress on third-grade state Smarter Balanced tests this year. The results indicate that the $50 million the schools received for effective reading instruction in the primary grades carried over to third grade after two years of funding.
https://edsource.org/2023/early-literacy-funding-raises-reading-scores-of-californias-lowest-performing-schools/701730

Media literacy to be added to California curriculum as early as next year
California students will soon be required to learn media literacy as part of the state’s curriculum. The goal is to teach students to think critically about what they are reading online. Assembly Bill 873, authored by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, will direct the state’s Instructional Quality Commission to incorporate media literacy into K-12 curriculum in English language arts, math, science, history and social studies frameworks, according to CalMatters.
https://edsource.org/updates/media-literacy-to-be-added-to-california-curriculum-as-early-as-next-year

Three KIPP SoCal Public Schools will close this academic year
KIPP SoCal Public Schools will close three of its 23 campuses at the end of this academic year, including KIPP Generations Academy, KIPP Poder Public School and KIPP Pueblo Unido, the Los Angeles Times reported. Officials told the Times that the closures come as a result of decreased enrollment, challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and activists who oppose charter schools. “These schools, all launched during the pandemic, faced intensified challenges linked to the global event, nationwide enrollment declines, diminishing school-age populations and temporary and permanent facility constraints,” organization leaders said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
https://edsource.org/updates/three-kipp-socal-public-schools-will-close-this-academic-year

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS

Students around the world suffered huge learning setbacks during the pandemic, study finds
A new study finds that students around the world suffered historic setbacks in reading during the pandemic and even deeper losses in math, with test score decreases so wide that the United States climbed in global rankings simply by falling behind less sharply.
https://apnews.com/article/pisa-international-test-scores-pandemic-4ce5780904f2e3f6f16af57912242224

American math scores fall on international test — but many other countries suffered more
Math achievement tumbled for American 15-year-olds between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an exam comparing academic performance in the U.S. against that of dozens of other countries. In a pleasant surprise, however, their reading and science skills appear to be undiminished over the last four years. Many students abroad — including in countries that have often ranked among the world’s top performers — may have experienced even worse setbacks.
https://www.laschoolreport.com/american-math-scores-fall-on-international-test-but-many-other-countries-suffered-more/

Math and reading scores fall to lowest level in two decades, study says
Math, reading and science proficiency among teenagers has decreased in dozens of countries, according to a new report the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development released Tuesday. One in four 15-year-olds is a low performer in all subjects and were not able to perform basic calculations or interpret uncomplicated text, the study found.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/orange-county/education/2023/12/05/math-and-reading-scores-fall-to-lowest-level-in-two-decades--study-says

Todd Gloria Announces ‘Mayor for a Day’ Contest for San Diego Students
Mayor Todd Gloria announced the launch of his third annual “Mayor for a Day” contest for the city of San Diego K-12 students. The winner will get to shadow Gloria and other city leaders for a day, plus have a special role at the State of the City address in January 2024. Students are invited to write an essay or submit a video about how they would make San Diego a better place to live if they were mayor. The selected winner will be invited to City Hall and given the opportunity to attend meetings and events with the mayor.
https://timesofsandiego.com/education/2023/12/04/mayor-gloria-announces-mayor-for-a-day-contest-for-san-diego-students/

Handcuffed and sent to the ER – for misbehavior: Schools are sending more kids to the hospital
Three times a week, on average, a police car pulls up to a school in Wicomico County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. A student is brought out, handcuffed and placed inside for transport to a hospital emergency room for a psychiatric evaluation. Over the past eight years, the process has been used at least 750 times on students. Some are as young as 5 years old. Advocates say schools across the country are sending children to the emergency room for psychiatric evaluations in response to behaviors prompted by bullying or frustration over assignments. The ER trips, they say, often follow months, and sometimes years, of their needs not being met.
https://apnews.com/article/disability-iep-special-education-psych-er-b2ae828a735c50ba562757dfdc7393ca

Schools ramp up battle against chronic absenteeism
Schools are stepping up efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, a major factor in plummeting test scores and other problems educators have faced with students since the pandemic. Chronic absenteeism — commonly defined as missing more than 10 percent of school days — has affected millions of students and caught the attention of the White House, which has said the issue calls for an “all-hands-an-deck approach.”
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4341035-schools-chronic-absenteeism/


DISCLAIMER: This Internet site contains hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for your convenience. The Orange County Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of links to particular items in hypertext are not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.