Over the last several months, the committee has focused on unintended consequences of federal and state accountability policies that rate schools on multiple choice/standardized tests heavily weighted toward Reading and Math. While useful in surfacing the disparities in performance of subgroups, alignment of practice to these high stakes metrics have too often narrowed the...
Read more »
The fact that we are entering a period of limited government hopefully does not mean we are entering a period of limited oversight of governance. The recent walkout by Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee KimOanh Nguyen Lam over an alleged violation of the Brown Act by her fellow board members is a strong...
Read more »
While our local districts are comprised of well intentioned, highly educated and reflective leaders who are doing their best to find resources to fill the budget shortfall, we are perplexed that some districts (60% state-wide) agreed to submit a “Memorandum Of Understanding” with the Governor’s Office to participate in California’s application for the federal...
Read more »
My son, Ethan, attends Raymond Elementary in Fullerton and last night was “Movie Night.” It was raining very hard and I told him that there probably wouldn’t be anyone coming, but to my surprise and his delight, the cafeteria was packed. Kindergartners were huddled with their parents in sleeping bags and the big kids...
Read more »
What would happen if the entire University of California shut down? There would be 262,845 students without a college to attend. That’s a quarter of a million students who no longer have the grasp of higher education within their reach. This number represents the amount of actual students that may be turned down by...
Read more »
On this cold and rainy Christmas day I am reminded of John Lennon’s reflective ode, beginning, “So this is Christmas. What have you done?” In these most challenging of times, I think that all of us should ask ourselves, “What have we done?” I am a bit down this Christmas because everywhere I look,...
Read more »
The rally for Obama in the heart of Little Saigon marked a major turning point for progressives throughout the OC. Since Vietnamese Americans have traditionally been stereotyped as lock-step Republican, this event demonstrated that Obama’s reach is very pervasive and although I don’t believe the overall Vietnamese population will vote blue this cycle,...
Read more »
