Stanford Report #2 - From Local to State Control of Education

Financing K-12 Education in California: A System Overview, Timar, Thomas (2007), University of California. Davis.
[a few quotations from the second paper of the $3 million report from Stanford. I described this situation in my dissertation in 2002, for free!!]

From the Stanford University study
"Since the early 1970s, traditional patterns of school governance in California have changed dramatically. The presumption of local control, a system of governance based on local electoral accountability—the system in place for the previous 150 years—has been superseded by a system of state control. Decisions that used to be matters of local discretion‐‐‐among them, decisions about resource allocation, curriculum, student assessment, and student promotion and graduation—are now matters of state policy.

Districts are now subject to voluminous state and federal regulations and reporting requirements. The state tells teachers how to teach reading and tells teachers and administrators how to behave with parents. Since enactment of the Public School Accountability Act (PSAA) in 1999, the state can take over “failing” schools and fire teachers and principals. As a result of governance changes over the past 35 years, there are few areas of teaching and learning that are not subject to legislative mandate. "

…“so what”
question. What difference does it make where the money comes from?....."

[they answer this question in the third section of the report, and the answer is not very clear or coherent. On the one hand, they argue that state tak over of control of funding has equalized funding in districts, but only the base level funding. A number of districts have gone bankrupt as a result and had to be taken over by the state. Why? Because the state has no mechanism to make sure that districts spend the money effectively?????? This is a crazy argument that the authors make given that the real problem is NOT ENOUGH MONEY!!!. The state tells the districts what they can and cannot spend the money on, then the authors of this report blame the district for not spending the money effectively?! So the Stanford people are saying that the problem is too much bureaucracy, but they suggest adding another layer??? The solution is for the state to continue creating the framework for finance and policy—which really means that the CBEE will create it – a fact that the Stanford study ignores. This is the real problem with academics – they think that if they are clear and rational – which they are not always anyway – that the powers that be will listen and accept their recommendations. The reality is about power – who has it (CBEE) and who does not (teachers, parents and students, and local school boards) ]
"While the state allocates about $14 billion annually to categorically funded program, those programs are rarely, if ever, evaluated for their effectiveness or audited for compliance. Schools are generally limited to providing only those services that the state funds. There is little discretionary money available to districts that want to start a new programs, they must go to the state to get special purpose funding to pay for them, as few districts have any discretionary money for new programs or services.

The current system of school finance is one that has been cobbled together in response to various pressures over the past thirty‐some years. What is missing from the resulting patchwork of policies is an underlying framework or set of principles to guide the system. As a result, the system has little coherence or clarity. For instance, the policy goal of inter‐district equalization is achieved through revenue limits, but undone by categorical programs.

[in conclusion] A healthy partnership between the state and local education agencies is essential condition of a robust, effective system of education. As a partnership, it argues for the need to develop a framework for school finance. There should be a set of principles that define state and local roles and responsibilities for revenues, program control, and accountability. A coherent framework and set of principles are clearly missing from the current system which has been built opportunistically in response to specific needs and problems. It is doubtful that anything short of a comprehensive overhaul of the system is likely to lead to its improvement." [so the problem is an inability of local districts to tailor educational policy and programs to the unique needs of their district. and the solution, then, is to continue to direct educational policy and programs from the state level????]

4th Anniversary of War on IRAQ - Blogging for Justice - YouTube & One Million Blogs For Peace

As a parent and activist I am trying to keep up with WEB 3.0 - see my 1st stab at YouTube uploading with my clip on the Asian and Pacific Islander Voice in the San Francisco March Against the War 3/18/07 on the eve of the 4th Anniversary.
I liked SF Parent and Wired Magazine Managing Editor Leander Kahney's critique of Steve Jobs for his outspoken views that "teachers' unions are ruining America's schools" and promotion of the philosophy that schools should be run like businesses. Kahney fired back:

Jobs knows a lot about schools; he's been selling computers to them for more than 30 years. But don't you love it when a billionaire who sends his own kids to private school applies half-baked business platitudes to complex problems like schools? I'm surprised Jobs didn't suggest we outsource education to the same nonunion Chinese factories that build his iPods.

As someone who sends his kids to a struggling San Francisco public school (where 60 percent of the students are eligible for free lunches), I know for a fact that Jobs' ideas about unions are absurd, he's-on-a-different-planet bullshit.

Lastly, I have joined other social justice bloggers in an attempt to sign up
1,000,000 blogs in opposition to the Iraq War during the war's fifth year. During the next 30 days, we are
trying to sign up as many bloggers as possible.

One Million Blogs For Peace To End the War
The Concept
Between 20 March 2007 and 20 March 2008 (the fifth year of the war), we will attempt to sign up One Million Blogs for Peace. By signing up, a blogger is stating his or her agreement with The Pledge below. They will then be able to participate in various challenges launched by One Million Blogs for Peace. They will also be listed on this website with a link to their blog.

The Pledge
I believe in the immediate withdrawal of all foreign combat troops from the nation of Iraq. I believe in using my blog, in whole or in part, as a tool toward this end.

---

Join Us! Sign Up!

Chinatown speaks out on the 4th Annivesary of the War on Iraq; San Francisco values, culture, politics, and parenting

I love San Francisco culture and politics. I have learned in my 23 years out here that there's no better place in the world for parenting and lifelong learning than our own backyard. The weather has been in the mid-high 70's over the past week as well.

I and the rest of our Board of Education are in the midst of a major Superintendent of Schools Search in SF - interviewing parents and community leaders, holding numerous community meetings to seek input and hopefully attract a healthy pool of superintendent candidates in the next couple of months. Please join us Saturday for 2 community meetings at Martin Luther King Middle School and School of the Arts - translations and childcare will be provided. To give input into our search please take a few minutes to fill out the survey form online.

But to balance my busy life I sometimes manage to sneak out [usually after my kid is already asleep] to see movies like the incredible Pan's Labyrinth at the West Portal Theater and the well-done, yet creepy documentary on the rise of Jonestown, the Rev. Jim Jones and the People's Temple at the Red Vic Moviehouse in the Haight-Ashbury district. I was also able to hang out with some of my SF State students, colleagues and political comrades late one Sunday night as well at the very hip new Poleng Lounge, near USF, to hear GEOLOGIC [Blue Scholars], KIWI [Native Guns], DENIZEN KANE [Tree City Legends], JERN EYE [Lunar Heights] and other performers to raise money for the Stop the Killings campaign tour for human rights in the Philippines.

I have also been out to the Museum of Modern Art's exhibit on Picasso's influence on the US Avante Garde arts movements, the DeYoung Museum's incredible Ruth Asawa and modern art exhibitions, and the Cartoon Art Museum in our Yerba Buena Center area which is also home to the new Mexican Museum, Jewish, African Diaspora, and Folk Arts museums. Very late tonight I will be sneaking out again to the Center for Asian American Media Asian American Film Festival's Directions in Sound hiphop Asian American Underground Showcase at the Fillmore District's Independent featuring Neil Armstrong (5th Platoon), Vin Roc (5th Platoon, Triple Threat), EstairyDeft (myspace.com/estairy), Mochipet vs. Mike Boo vs. Mike Reed (Daly City Records/Alphapup), DJ Zita (Mama, Sisters in Sound, myspace.com/djzita), and visuals by: Daniel Hai (Konstrukt).

If I can wake up, early tomorrow I plan to take my daughter to the newly rennovated Children's Discovery Museum in Sausalito, a 10 minute drive from my home in the Richmond District across the Golden Gate Bridge, for a playdate with her buddies. We also will be enjoying our regular walks in Golden Gate Park around the Bandshell and for educational programs for kids at the DeYoung Museum as well.

Chinatown: speaks out against the Illegal and Imoral War on Iraq:

Tonight at 6pm youth, students and community activists from Chinatown and throughout the City are gathering at Portsmouth Square for a vigil and rally for Peace and Justice: Working Families Oppose War in Iraq on 4th Anniversary. Sponsored by CPA, May 1st Alliance, APICAW, Lt. Ehren Watada Support Committee/APIs Resist!, and others.

3/18 SUNDAY's Anti-War march and rally in San Francisco - Many of my students and my family will also be gathering at Justin Herman Plaza at 11am on Sunday at the Embarcadero BART station to join the Strength in Unity contingent which includes APICAW, BAYAN, ILPS, May 1st Alliance, Chinese Progressive Association, League of Filipino Students, and many others.

Hopefully we'll see you out there somewhere this weekend in our amazing City of progressive politics, diverse cultures, and distinctly San Francisco values.

ACORN building SF's Paid Sick Leave Prop F into a national campaign

Sasha from Left in SF blogs about how our local San Francisco grassroots campaign for paid sick leave - Prop F - led by Young Workers United, SEIU, Parent Voices, Chinese Progressive Association, May 1st Alliance and many others last Fall is sprouting legs as a national campaign spearheaded by ACORN:

When we passed Proposition F (the paid sick leave initiative) last November, I pointed out that it was a groundbreaking step forward for working people in San
Francisco, and that we would serve as a model for the rest of the US. I was right. The national group of community organizations, ACORN, is now making it a national focus. They even have gotten a bill introduced into congress bill introduced in to Congress to make it a national requirement...
More on San Francisco's historic Prop F for paid sick leave for workers.

Stanford Report #1 - welfare for scholars

The Stanford study cost what? $3 million? to tell us that "The “correct” answer to all of these questions will not be offered by any particular policymaker or scholar. . . .The answer must be provided in the form of an ongoing democratic conversation among citizens and their democratically elected representatives." from Reich's framework -- Paper#1 in the study -- I have pulled out some selected quotes from this study below.
1. Equality and Adequacy in the State’s Provision of Education: Mapping the Conceptual Landscape, Reich, Robert (2007), Stanford University. [my responses in brackets to Reich]

In school finance litigation, advocates and courts have abandoned equality and adopted the language of adequacy. . . .Along with this evolution – though not necessarily a consequence of the evolution [I think it was necessarily!] – has come a shift in attention on educational inputs (dollars per pupil, for example) to educational outputs (student achievement or, in California’s case, the API index). [in other words high stakes testing has legitimized the underfunding of schools]

“adequacy suits abandon the idea of tying districts together financially by requiring access to equal resources. Those districts that can fund a more-than-adequate education are free to do so.” [and have done so!]

[why the attraction to adequacy v equality?]

Though state education articles vary considerably from state to state, there is generally a requirement that the legislature provide a “thorough and efficient,” “uniform”, or “high quality” education to its children. This language was more amenable to an adequacy orientation rather than an equality orientation. Second, it was worries, sometime borne out in practice, that to achieve equality the state would level down spending of the wealthy districts rather than level up spending of the poorest. Given the precipitous decline of school funding in California, relative to other states, in the wake of the equalizing force of Serrano v. Priest and the tax limiting Proposition 13, the leveling down effect was seen to be of special concern in the nation’s most populous state

And moreover, despite the success of equity lawsuits in many states and the narrowing of funding gaps between districts, student achievement scores had not improved considerably. Most notably, the black-white test score gap, which had narrowed in the 1980s and early 1990s began to grow anew. One additional attraction of the adequacy paradigm, according to its supporters, was that it quite deliberately focused on academic outcomes in addition to resource inputs.

Nathan Glazer :

To be sure, the case for both [racial] integration and equality of expenditure is powerful. But the chief obstacle to achieving these goals does not seem to be the indifference of whites and the non-poor to the education of white and the poor. . . . Rather, other values, which are not simply shields for racism, stand in the way:
the value of the neighborhood school; the value of local control of education and,
above all, the value of freedom from state imposition when it affects matters so
personal as the future of one’s children. [???!!!!! But it is a matter of being able to hog a disproportionate share of the resources!!]

The equality framework has frequently been deployed to ask, “why should funding levels between districts be substantially different?” Adequacy, by contrast, incorporates educational outcomes – academic achievement – into its framework. Adequacy asks “What level of educational resources is sufficient to generate a specific set of educational outcomes?”

One fundamental distinction between equality and adequacy as applied to educational resource distribution is that adequacy seeks to ensure that all students have enough education and, if this condition is reached, will tolerate inequalities above this threshold.

In the end, then, the relevant question for citizens and policymakers seems to be whether the state’s obligation to provide education is exhausted once absolute educational deprivation, measured by some kind accountability system of state standards, has been eliminated. If this is the case, then adequacy is the right framework.
Alternatively, does the state’s obligation to provide education go beyond the production of good schools for all and require, say, that opportunities to attend college and compete for jobs in the labor market not merely be adequate but be equal? If so, then inequalities in resources and outcomes above the level of adequacy will undermine equal opportunity and only the equality paradigm will be able to address these relative deprivations.

Adequate for what? Equality of what? These are difficult questions. But it is important to realize the deep structure of what sort of issues we must address if we are to answer the question of what is the state’s obligation to provide education.
The “correct” answer to all of these questions will not be offered by any particular policymaker or scholar. . . .The answer must be provided in the form of an ongoing democratic conversation among citizens and their democratically elected representatives.

Its the Budget Stupid!

Its the budget-Stupid! Part 2

It’s the budget: Stupid!
The opening sentence of the just published report on California education says, “California’s students are far behind those in other states on many measures of achievement. On the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress, for example, California ranked 7th lowest in eighth grade math in comparison to the 49 other states and the District of Columbia. The story is at least as bad in other subjects. California performed 3rd lowest in reading, ahead of only Hawaii and the District of Columbia, and 2nd lowest in science, ahead of only Mississippi.” www.sacbee.com/links

Why is that?
The legislature and governors have meddled and muddled in education, but they have not done their job. Their job is to decide upon a reasonable, fair tax system and to raise the money needed for schools. They have failed at this task for over 20 years while California’s public schools have been forced into a steep decline in quality.
Rather than facing the inadequate funding issue , they have mandated school reforms stressing standardized testing as the driving force behind schooling at the k-12 level, particularly in low income districts. The testing mania has not improved schools, improved school funding, nor improved teaching. The current low level testing tells us what we already know, students in low income schools do poorly. (Rothstein, 2004)
There is always some new advocate who has a solution to failing schools; phonics, exit exams, etc. rather than to face the fundamental political issue of grossly inadequate funding. The Governor, with a two month advance view of the study, is already trying shift the discussion
In fairness, the failure is not the total legislature. The Democratic majority has usually been willing to spend more on schools, but they can not pass a budget without the votes of the Republican minority. Thus, a small group of Republican legislators have prevented adequate school funding. And the Governor’s budget continues that pattern.
The politicians – not the teachers- deserve an F for failure.
Duane Campbell
Sacramento

CA School Funding Adequacy Report says $23-32 billion per year more needed

I am home sick today from my teaching at SF State. Our faculty union - CA Faculty Association or CFA - is conducting our first ever strike vote this week. And I and others on our campus are sick and tired also of the CSU management's failure to bargain in good faith regarding a fair contract, their millions given for CEO perks, and their behind closed door decision-making.
We don't want to strike, but we may have to for the future our our university and because our working conditions are tied to our students' learning conditions. To help us please click here.

CA Study Concludes - at least $23-32 billion more needed for Public School Education
See also Duane Campbell's comments from his Monday blog.
The long awaited and very well-financed CA schools adequacy study is going to be released today and tomorrow in Sacramento. Juliet Williams from AP did a much better job than the SF Chronicle's Greg Lucas and Nanette Asimov in giving some of the dollar figures released yesterday. But it looks like the bottom line is that it will take at least $23-32 billion more per year to provide a high quality education to all our state's students, from the wealthiest to the poorest kids.

Getting Down to Facts includes 22 studies by more than 30 researchers from the nation’s leading universities and research institutions. It was formally requested by a bipartisan group of state leaders, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Committee on Educational Excellence and former Education Secretary Alan Bersin. To view the full set of studies released today, visit http://irepp.stanford.edu/.

JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press, reports:

A major overhaul of California's schools will cost tens of billions of dollars more per year, but money alone won't fix the many problems facing the nation's
largest public education system, according to a series of landmark studies to be released today.
The cost figures come from panels of educators who estimated how much it would take to bring all California schools up to a score of 800 on the state's Academic Performance Index, the state's system of gauging student proficiency in reading and math.
Two estimates, both based on interviews with educators, estimate the cost of meeting the state's achievement goals at an additional $23 billion to $32 billion a year...
California already spends nearly half its annual budget on education, a total of $66 billion in the current fiscal year, or about $11,000 per student in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Still, one estimate in the documents obtained by the AP says California might need to spend as much as $1.5 trillion a year to meet its performance goals, an amount equal to about half the annual federal budget.
... Full article

The Progressive California Budget Project also meets in Sacramento tomorrow - I am interested in their analysis of the foundation-driven study. From his Choosing Democracy Blog Campbell concludes:

The legislature and governors have meddled and muddled, but they have not done their job. Their job is to decide upon a reasonable, fair tax system and to raise the money needed for schools. They have failed at this task for over 20 years while California’s public schools have been forced into a steep decline in quality. Rather than facing the inadequate funding issue , major school reform efforts stress standardized testing as the driving force behind schooling at the k-12 level, particularly in low income districts. There is always some new advocate who has a solution to failing schools; phonics, exit exams, etc. rather than to face the real issue of grossly inadequate funding. The testing mania has not improved schools, improved school funding, nor improved teaching.

Multicultural Education conference: Free: Sacramento

The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at CSU-Sacramento is sponsoring its 13th annual Multicultural Education Conference to provide an opportunity for Sac State faculty and other educators to join forces in their efforts to promote multicultural education in K-12 public schools in the Sacramento region. The conference is part of an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a professional support network for the College of Education faculty, alumni, pre-service teachers, and inservice cooperating teachers who are committed to the goals of multicultural education.

The official MCE Conference Program is now posted on the Sac State College of Education website: CLICK HERE for the PDF file - 19 pages

The keynote speaker is Dr. Sonia Nieto.
Duane Campbell, activist and author of Choosing Democracy will present a workshop on teaching about Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers movement.
The conference is free and open to the public
More info

NCLB Wars - Grassroots Educator Roundtable launches frontal assault

The grassroots Educator Roundtable, which is calling for an end to the destructive NCLB ['No Child Left Behind'] education law, has just launched a new national advertising campaign. Their 50-state strategy is aimed at stopping the reauthorization of NCLB. A whopping 27,000 parents, teachers, students and community people have signed their grassroots petition. And momentum is growing:

We, the educators, parents, and concerned citizens whose names appear below, reject the misnamed No Child Left Behind Act and call for legislators to vote against its reauthorization. We do so not because we resist accountability, but because the law's simplistic approach to education reform wastes student potential, undermines public education, and threatens the future of our democracy.

More News - Our first advertising campaign; 50 State Strategy; Educatorroundtable.net

The Rountable's full petition appears in the current edition of The Nation magazine. We are urging supporters to help us reach members of Congress by writing several of them a letter and sending those letters on MONDAY, MARCH 12.
In order to make it easier for everyone, the Roundtable provides mailing addresses on their website, and they've written a letter that anyone can easily download and print. In keeping with the spirit of our movement, we encourage you to refine the letter or to write your own. You might simply sign the petition and send it...

SF Bay Immigrant Communities Fight Back Against ICE Raids and Racism

WEEK OF ACTIONS AGAINST ICE RAIDS & FOR FAIR AND JUST IMMIGRATION!
Immigrant Communities Take a Stand Against ICE Raids
Illustrating the need to fix our broken immigration system that keeps families apart, the recent increase in ICE enforcement and questionable tactics has left families separated and communities fearful of law enforcement, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Immigrants and their allies will join together to call for immigration reform and denounce the raids.
Noontime Rallies Outside of ICE Offices to Say, "No More Raids" - Video

After Monday's opening activities, Tuesday will feature regional Labor Councils, Labor leaders, and day laborer centers of Northern California coming together to say, "immigrant rights are worker rights!" Teachers, youth and children will be mobilizing to speak out on Wednesday. On Thursday we will be protesting the criminalization of immigrants and Friday we will close with a rally and march to Congresswoman Pelosi's office to demand fair and humane immigration reform.

For people who cannot participate during the day, allies are reportedly organizing events every night between 4:00 and 7:00 pm in cities such as Oakland. More info -> Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition

Friday, March 2, 2007: 11 am – 1 pm. March from 16 x Mission BART to San Francisco Federal building (Golden Gate x Larkin, San Francisco, CA), Rally & Program at Federal Building.
Who: Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition http://www.immigrantrights.org, Deporten a la Migra, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights http://www.nnirr.org, La Raza Centro Legal Day Labor Program, Arab American Legal Center, St Peters Housing Committee, POWER http://www.unite-to-fight.org, Mujeres Unidas y Activas http://www.mujeresunidas.net, Chinese Progressive Association http://www.cpasf.org, San Francisco Central Labor Council

Why: More than ever we need a fair and just immigration law that keeps families and loved ones together. Recent ICE community and workplace raids have terrorized the immigrant community and ripped families apart; immigrant communities are increasingly marginalized and frightened. Community organizations, churches, unions and social service agencies are boldly coming together to call for an end to all ICE raids and for regional and local authorities to publicly oppose detentions and deportations and ensure the safety of all our communities.

Program: Week of Action Against ICE Raids and for Immigrant Rights
Immigrant Communities Take a Stand Against ICE Raids

Where/When: Monday – Thursday, Feb 26 – March 1, 2007. 630 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA, 11 am - 1 pm daily.
Detailed Daily Information

Monday, February 26 - Theme: Launch Week of Action
Community Sector Highlighted: Faith-Based Groups
Lead Organization: Deporten a la Migra Coalition
Contact: Maria Poblet 510-384-1220
Confirmed Speakers & Performers:
Reverend Phil Lawson, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Brenda Vaca, Pastor, Nueva Vida Ministries, United Methodist Church
Francisco Herrera (musician and performer)
Norman Fong (invited)
Betty Canton Self, Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Event Description: Faith vigil and action, representatives from all sectors

Tuesday, Feb 27 - Theme: "We Are Workers!"
Sector: Labor and Workers Organizations
Organization: La Raza Centro Legal Day Laborer Program
Contact: Renee Saucedo, 415-553-3404
Speakers & Performers:
Detailed Event Description: Labor Representatives from several Bay Area counties, multiple nationalities

Wednesday, Feb 28 - Theme: "We Are Families!"
Sectors: Families, Women, Students, Youth
Lead Organization(s): Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Andrea Cristina Mercado, 415-621-8140
Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition
Evelyn Sanchez, 510-839-7598
Speakers: Maria Jimenez, Mujeres Unidas y Activas
· Graton Day Laborer Center
· Youth worker, Young Workers United
· worker, Chinese Progressive Association
Detailed Event Description Rally (all) & march (CPA). Chinese women immigrant workers, laid off, boycott of Monster Cable.

Thursday, March 1 - Theme: "Equality for All!"
Sectors: Criminal justice and Immigrant Rights
Contact: Arab American Legal Defense, Lily Haskell, 912-398-5641
Speakers: · Education not Incarceration
· Lawyer for the LA 8 (Palestinian)
· Critical Resistance
· Ella Baker Center
· Justice Now
· San Francisco 8 (Black Panther Party)
Event: Queer & immigrant sector also highlighted.

FRIDAY, March 2, 2007. 11 am – 1 pm

RALLY and MARCH TO SPEAKER PELOSI's OFFICE
Where: Gather at 16th and Mission, march to to SF Federal Building (Golden Gate x Larkin), San Francisco, CA
Why: "Stop the Raids, Fair & Just Immigration NOW!"

Organization and Contacts:
Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition: Evelyn Sanchez, 510-839-7598
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights Diana Pei Wu, 510-847-9339 · Performers & Speakers: Hei Gu Drummers (Chinese)
Description: March from 16 Mission BART to SF Federal Building. Program including speakers and Hei Gu Chinese Drummers.
Visuals: People of different nationalities, including parents, families, children, young people, standing up against ICE raids. Signs & colorful banners. Hei Gu Chinese Drummers.

Community Actions in Support of the Week of Action Against Raids and Repression

Monday, February 26, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO
Street Theater & Outreach
Type of Event: Street Outreach / Alcance a la Comunidad
Contact: Claudia Reyes
Organization: Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Telephone: 415 621 8140
Email: claudia@mujeresunidas.net
Time: 4-7pm
Location: 16th St x Mission, San Francisco
Detailed Event Description: Members of Mujeres Unidas y Activas will be doing street outreach and community theater. Miembras de Mujeres Unidas y Activas estaran haciendo alcance y teatro comunitario.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - MI COMUNIDAD ES SANTUARIO: Educacion en Defensa de nuestros Derechos
Type of Event: Public Action (like a vigil or march) / Accion Publica (como una vigilia o una marcha), Street Outreach / Alcance a la Comunidad
Contact: Ruth Galvez
Organization: Deporten a la Migra Coalition
Telephone: 415-487-9203
Email: espinoza_ruth@hotmail.com
Time: 4:00pm
Place: 24th Street & Mission
Detailed Event Description: Speak out and popular street theater on immigrant rights. Teatro popular y testimonios de resistencia sobre los derechos de inmigrantes

OAKLAND - Woodfin Suites Boycott – Stand up for Immigrant Workers!
Type of Event: Community Action & Picket
Contact: Brooke Anderson
Organization: East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
Telephone: (510) 846-0766
Email: brooke@workingeastbay.org
Time: 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Place: Woodfin Suites, 5800 Shellmound St, Emeryville, CA 94608
Event Description: An ongoing picket in front of Woodfin Suites who failed to pay the living wage as approved by Emeryville City Council, and for intimidating and harassing workers who are trying to share the information with other workers in the hotel. Part of ongoing actions every Tuesday and Saturday.

BERKELEY - DREAM rally
Type of Event: Public Action (like a vigil or march) / Accion Publica (como una vigilia o una marcha)
Contact: Josias Aguiar
Organization: R.I.S.E.
Telephone: 760-960-6208
Email: jaguiarquest@yahoo.com
Time: noon - 1
Place: Upper Sproul, UC Berkeley
Detailed Event Description: We are having a DREAM rally to create awareness about the DREAM Act and how it will impact thousands of undocumented students! Show your support because EDUCATION IS A RIGHT!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

RICHMOND - Immigration Reform: Problems and prospects
Type of Event: Community Forum / Foro Comunitario
Contact: Joel Marsh
Organization: ACLU - Northern California & Richmond Public Library
Telephone: (510) 620-6651
Date: Wed, Feb 28, 2007
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Place: Richmond Public Library - Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room; 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA
Detailed Event Description: Recent raids by ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) have raised many concerns in the community. Congress is once again considering comprehensive immigration reform legislation and communities are seeking to inform themselves with a broad range of immigration issues. The panel discussion will bring together a number of experts who can help shed light onthe issues, their history and implications for our community. A Panel Discussion: Julia Harumi Mass, Staff Attorney, ACLU Northern California Ramon Cardon, Interim Executive Director, International institute of the East Bay Michael Epstein, Immigration Attorney Gayle Mclaughlin, Mayor of Richmond Moderator: ACLU BARK + Board Mwember Joel marsh, Immigration Attorney and Adjunct Professor of Law, Golden Gate University

SAN FRANCISCO - MI COMUNIDAD ES SANTUARIO: Educacion en Defensa de nuestros Derechos
Type of Event: Street Outreach / Alcance a la Comunidad
Contact: Terry Valen and Teresa Almaguer
Organization: Filipino Community Center (FCC) and People Organized to Defend Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER)
Telephone: Terry Valen: (415) 333-6267, Teresa Almaguer (415) 431-4210
Email: terrencevalen@yahoo.com, tere_la_change@yahoo.com
Time: 4:00pm
Place: Excelsior District, TBA
Detailed Event Description:

Thursday, March 1, 2007
OAKLAND - Lucha Unida del Jornaler: por la Justicia/contra las redadas
Type of Event: Vigil, Walk and Cultural Program and press conference for community safety and justice.
Contact: Carlos Mares or Hector Rangel
Organization: Lucha Unida del Jornalero
Telephone: (510) 437-1554 ext 117
Email: maresluchaunida@yahoo.com.mx
Time: 4:30 PM-8:00 PM
Detailed Event Description: Gathering and vigil starts at 4:30 pm on the corner of 37th Avenue and San Leandro Boulevard (about one block east of the Fruiitvale BART Station), rememberance of Juan Chales (day laborer murdered on Sunday Feb 18 in Oakland) and other day laborers who have been killed and those who are violently attacked and harassed every day.

Then group marches with candles to the Fruiitvale BART Station plaza area & marches and the women's organization Mujeres Unidas y Activas' Theater Group performs.

About 5:30 pm vigil and march continues to Workers' Center at 2501 International Blvd, where we will continue the program and briefing with more speakers, poetry, song as lively community gathering, sharing refreshments, sweet bread and coffee to close out the evening of voices for justice and peace in immigration services and reform.more cultural program and coffee and sweet bread. Lucha Unida del Jornalero, a community organization of Oakland day laborers, is convening a vigil and cultural celebration to denounce the recent immigration police raids and demand just and fair immigration reforms. Our event will include speakers, poets, community and street corner day labor leaders, colorful art banners, candles and the names of those who have suffered loss of family members, co-workers and neighbors to immigration laws and raids.

OAKLAND - Street Theater & Outreach
Type of Event: Street Outreach / Alcance a la Comunidad
Contact: Claudia Reyes
Organization: Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Telephone: 415 621 8140
Email: claudia@mujeresunidas.net
Time: 4-7pm
Location: Fruitvale & San Antonio Neighborhoods, Oakland
Detailed Event Description: Members of Mujeres Unidas y Activas will be doing street outreach and community theater. Miembras de Mujeres Unidas y Activas estaran haciendo alcance y teatro comunitario.

SAN FRANCISCO - ROLLING FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
Type of Event: Street Outreach / Alcance a la Comunidad
Contact: Marisol
Organization: People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER)
Telephone: 415 UNITE72
Time: 4-7pm
Location: Tenderloin District, San Francisco
Detailed Event Description: Members of POWER will be rolling around on a flatbed truck and sound system to raise awareness about people's rights in light of the ICE raids and ICE intimidation on corners in the Tenderloin, and also to raise awareness about the march the following day.

More info: Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC) http://www.immigrantrights.org: 510-839-7598; cell (415) 572 0639 (English/Spanish)
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR) http://www.nnirr.org

Office: (510) 465 1885, ext. 304; (510) 847 9339 (English/Mandarin)

Parents, Communities Urge - BOYCOTT MONSTER CABLE!!

Parents and workers from Monster Cable and their allies in the Chinese Progressive Association and other groups have stepped up their campaign for economic justice for laid off workers.
2/28 Weekly Boycott Action 11 am - 1 pm, Wed. Feb 28: San Francisco Immigration Building, Sansome St. and Wahington St., downtown San Francisco. Joint Action/Boycott Picket: Monster Cable Workers Join in the Week of Action Against the ICE Raids. Come spend your lunchtime with laid-off workers, community allies and musicians!

3/3 The Monster Bash! A Concert and March - Demanding Justice for Laid off Monster Cable Workers

Saturday, March 3 -10 am – 12:30 pm
10:00 am: Meeting in Burlingame , CA (exact location TBA)

For more info contact Shaw San at shawsan@cpasf.org.

Worker Campaign Blog: http://monstercableworkers .blogspot.com

BOYCOTT MONSTER CABLE! After months of protests and no progress with Monster Cable, laid-off workers have launched a boycott of Monster Cable products. Support the boycott and Monster Cable laid-off workers in their demands that the company:

--Provide us with a just and fair compensation package which recognizes our years of service

--Contribute to a Community Transition Fund to support laid-off workers in vocational training and job development

Call Monster Cable CEO Noel Lee at: 415-508-0000 (cell) and headmonster@monstercable.com.

Tell him you will not purchase Monster Cable products until the company fairly resolves the workers demands. Ask Mr. Lee if he can't afford a sports car or two, to do justice for the workers who made him wealthy over the past 20 years. (see Quick Facts, below).

Calling Community Organizations and Musicians:

ENDORSE THE MONSTER CABLE BOYCOTT!

Please contact Shaw San Liu at shawsan@cpasf.org or 415-391-6986 ext 313, to join the growing list of official boycott endorsers (see list below)!

Call Apple CEO Steve Jobs at 408-996-1010, Fax at 408-974-2483.

Tell them that cables and igadgets shouldn’t come at the cost of hurting workers!

Monster Cable produces iTV link, iEZClick, iSplitter, iCruze, iCarPlay, iCable and iStudioLink, and other products for Apple Users

___________________________

Monster Cable Workers Blog

Immigrant Parents and Communities Stand Up to ICE Raids - Demand Fair and Just Immigration Policies

The Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition and allies are mobilizing for A Week of Action Against ICE Raids! Monday, Feb 26th to Friday, March 2nd.[English flyer]
See the great article by Tyche Hendrix from yesterday's SF Chronicle. the photo shows Ana Pérez, director of the Central American Resource Center - Chronicle photo by Lea Suzuki.

Since the Immigration raids at the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville in October, the cold-hearted Swift Raids which rounded up 1300 people right before Christmas, and the earlier ICE visits to some of our SF Schools, parents, workers and immigrant rights activists have been speaking out to stop the raids and repression and for a fair and humane immigration policy.

More - from BAIRC:

More than ever we need a fair and just immigration law that will allow immigrants the ability to reunite and remain with their families.

Recent ICE community and workplace raids have been terrorizing the immigrant community and ripping families apart.

For more information and to learn how you
or your group can get involved call: 510 839 7598

Latino Teacher reduces dropouts

Good story on a Sacramento teacher, and a graduate of our Bilngual /Multicultural Education Dept. at CSU-S.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=24644
Young Teacher Helps At-Risk Youth Find Pride from the Past
Written for the web by Ayesha Thomas, Multimedia Producer

The town of Greenfield is ripe with farms, fields of tomatoes, chiles and lettuce – picked by a large migrant farm community. Tucked away in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County the town has limited education resources. The high school drop-out rate is high. For many of the youth, there are limited avenues to get out of Greenfield.

For Martin Ramirez though, one word opened his world wide open. Throughout high school Ramirez ran with gangs.

"All of my friends are either dead, locked up or in jail," said Ramirez.

But now his life is much different. Today he is a teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, a profession he never even considered.

"Never entered my mind because I was driving teachers crazy when I was in school," said Ramirez.

But one of his teachers noticed the young man didn’t only have street smarts. Mr. Dean Willingham had a heart-to-heart with Ramirez when he was 18. He simply told him he had "potential."

"Nobody had told me that. Truth is I didn’t even know what potential meant. I was 18 years old and I said 'potential?' I go, 'What does potential mean?'"

He quickly learned the definition and with Willingham’s help he decided to put that potential to the test. He applied and was accepted to American River College. In the fall of 2000, Ramirez piled his belongings into his car and headed up 101-North from Greenfield to Sacramento.

Ramirez would be the first in his family to go to college. And despite the opportunities that lie ahead, he admits his dreams were still small.

"All I wanted was a little certificate to work in a front office. I remember the counselor Mr. Ruedas asked 'Why? why do you want to do that?'"

Manuel Ruedas works at ARC with students on developing their education and career goals. He says it’s not uncommon for first-generation students to fail to fully understand what they can do with a college education, mostly because they’re the first in their families to pursue an education.

"They need role models. They need to see their peers achieving academically so they can follow the same path," Ruedas said.

Ramirez found his role model in Dolores Delgado-Campbell a professor at ARC.

"I started meeting him in my Mexican-American history class. And I befriended him because he was a really nice young man. And he looked eager," said Delgado-Campbell.

Ramirez not only took a liking to his new mentor, but the subject matter she introduced him to.

Learning about his Mexican ancestors inspired Ramirez. He felt all Latinos could benefit from their history. So he buckled down, hit the books and learned all he could. He then went to Delgado-Campbell and asked if there were classes where he could learn to teach the history about his ancestors.

Delgado-Campbell and Ruedas both recommended he go to CSU Northridge. After he graduated from ARC with honors that is where he went. Ramirez majored in Chicano and Ethnic studies.

After graduating from Northridge with honors, Ramirez made his way back to Northern California to attend Sacramento State’s Multi-Cultural/Bi-Lingual Education program.

The director of the program Duane Campbell (husband of Dolores Delgado-Campbell) says training minority educators and administrators such as Ramirez is essential in helping to close the achievement gap.

"Having a Hispanic president of the college doesn’t necessarily lead to more Hispanic graduates," said Campbell. However, he says if minority students see other people of color achieving success academically and professionally, they will be encourage to believe they do belong in college, and they can graduate.

Ramirez takes that knowledge with him each time steps foot on the campus of Luther Burbank. "We need more educators of color," Ramirez says. "If the student sees someone that looks like them and can relate to them every single day...that person is telling them look, look at me,look at you. You can do it."

During school hours, Ramirez teaches a world history, economics, and Latino/Latina leadership class. After hours, his classroom transforms into special hub where he takes time to mentor students having a hard time in and outside of class.

Ramirez believes the extra hours it takes to mentor students is well worth it. Occasionally, Ramirez will bring in yearbooks and graduation photos from some of his younger family members who have graduated from college. He hopes when his students see the pictures that they can envision themselves one day walking around a college campus.

"They don’t know anyone there and they don’t know anyone telling them they can make it there. And I believe repetition and examples helps them to make an action plan for themselves." said Ramirez.

His students have taken a liking to Ramirez’ style. Watching him interact with them, you can see how they look up to him as not only as a respected authority on their culture, but also a big brother and for some even a father-figure. At one meeting Ramirez sits down with two students to catch up on what’s going on in their lives. Elisabeth Starr catches him up on her activities at her church and softball.

Before she met Ramirez she didn’t believe she would live to see her 17th birthday. Starr admits she got into fights at school and had a hard time staying focused. However, learning about her Mexican history has given her a new perspective on her education.

"We had to fight to be in school. So now that we have a choice to be in school it made me really think. They fought hard back in the day for us, so I should make it mean something and be here," said Starr.

For Ramirez, he believes all schools should make it a point to teach students something valuable about their own cultures.

"Students need to be taught things that relate to them. We’ve been taught the same history over and over. We need to teach them a little bit about their own history," Ramirez said. "I guarantee you we’ll have less problems in the classroom."

Created: 2/19/2007 11:49:50 PM
Updated: 2/21/2007 8:07:12 AM

2/22 4:30 SF Youth Anti-War Rally: Tell Pelosi to Cut the Funds!

More than 655,000 Iraqi deaths. More than 3,000 American deaths. Trillions of dollars spent on a war for oil -- instead of public education and human needs. We can and must end these crimes.Students from 55 schools across the Bay Area have collected thousands of signatures on a petition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that she and Congress cut the military funding for the illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq.
Join us at this important rally and speakout to tell Pelosi to respect the mandate of the people.All ages are welcome.
When: Thursday, February 22, 4:30 to 5:30 P.M.
Where: San Francisco Federal Building 450 Golden Gate (& Larkin), near City Hall
Contact: 415 646 6469 -- revolutionyouthsf@gmail.com

Tonight New HIP-HOP documentary - Beyond Beats and Rhymes; historian Jeff Chang and the hip hop nation

Last Thurs Hip Hop Historian Jeff Chang was in town at SF State to premiere a new film HIP-HOP: BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES and talk about his work.

The year’s most talked-about film, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes takes an in-depth look at representations of manhood, sexism and homophobia in hip-hop culture. This groundbreaking documentary is a “loving critique” of certain disturbing developments in hip-hop music culture from the point of view of a fan who challenges the art form’s representations of masculinity. The film premieres on Independent Lens on PBS tonight, Tuesday, February 20, 2007.

I just picked up Chang's excellent new anthology Total Chaos which presents an amazing array of voices on the art and aesthetics of the hip hop movement. He's also emceeing the upcoming Applied Reseach Center national conference Facing Race later in March in New York City from 3/22-24.

As a teacher that remembers the Last Poets, Watts Prophets, poets like Amiri Baraka [who made an appearance at City Lights last night - see photo to the right], and even Gil Scott-Heron and Africa Bambaataa, I find Chang's writing extremely helpful in bringing me up to speed with current changes in hip hop.

[Photo - SF People's Organization leader Julian Davis dialogues with Baraka at City Lights]

SF High School Students Walkout 2/15 - demand an end to War Funding; Build for Thurs 2/22 4:30 Action at SF Fed Bldg

SF Student and Youth Voices were loud and clear last thursday 2/15 with a high school and SF State student walkout to demand an end to war funding. I joined the hundreds of Lowell High School students and tried to keep up with their quick pace and youthful and defiant energy along with Lowell Teachers Ken Tray and Rick Girling. We met up with San Francisco State Students at the military recruiting center near the Stonestone Mall in SF.
See Mara Kubrin's great photos on IndyBay.org and Revolution Youth's coverage as well.
See also the 2/15 Strike website
This coming 2/22 Thursday at 4:30 - Students from throughout the SF Bay Area are again converging but this time at the Federal Building in SF to send a stronger message to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress. Facebook Outreach for 2/22

Move on is also planning a noon action at the federal building as well. More info

Welcome Home, Madame Speaker/ Congress Decides!

Phillip Burton Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, SF450 Golden Gate AvenueSan Francisco, CA 94102

Thursday, 22 Feb 2007, 12:00 PM

Legislation imposes costs on future teachers

In conflicts such as the imposition of an unfunded mandate in SB1209 (Scott), the role of legislators and their consultants is to make major decisions on issues that they know little or nothing about. They have the arrogance of power combined with a massive deficit of information.
The bill SB 1209 (Scott) from 2006 imposes an unfunded mandate which will cost new teachers hundreds of dollars. One possible consequence of focusing on this new performance assessment in a test situation is to significantly reduce the dollars spent on teaching or supervision in order to pay for assessment. A second possibility is to pass along the significant cost of testing to teaching candidates. Our brief estimate is that it would cost $400 - $500 per candidate. Is this the way to recruit new people to teaching?
We are currently looking for a legislator to carry a bill to repeal this mandate.
A major function of bureaucracies, in this case the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and their staff is to keep the public out of decision making. Their role is to substitute their own views for information. Since the 1990’s, the CTC and the California School board have been dominated by ultra conservative, pro corporate elements.
CTC staff and members make certain that the persons who do the work, teachers, faculty in teacher preparation, are not listened to.
In those rare occasions when the public breaks through the bureaucratic front, both CTC and the State School Board arrange for hearings where only their own “experts” are allowed to speak. In summary, the role of these bureaucracies, and at times of legislators and consultants to is block or prevent democracy.

Although the political power of the neo conservatives in politics has eclipsed as a result of the 2006 elections, the persons whom they placed in administrative and policy positions remain well entrenched.
Our experience with SB 1209 and SB 2042 teach me that we need to intervene politically at an earlier stage. Early interventions require an improved policy development and monitoring apparatus and the development of legislative skills among faculty.

Duane Campbell
Sacramento

Obama Ignites young folks and netroots; SF sprouts OBAMASF.ORG website

Obama Ignites his Presidential Campaign! Young people throughout the US are inspired. In the San Francisco Bay Area websites & netroots sprout in support. While some like former Howard Dean advisor Kos challenge Obama's appeal to the netroots, support seems to be growing.
From the AP:

"I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change," Obama said to some of the loudest applause of his 20-minute speech...
In his speech, Obama did not mention his roots as the son of a man from Kenya and a woman from Kansas, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia or the history he would make if elected. That compelling biography has turned him into a political celebrity.
Instead, he focused on his life in Illinois over the past two decades, beginning with a job as a community organizer with a $13,000-a-year salary that strengthened his Christian faith. He said the struggles he saw people face inspired him to get a law degree and run for the Legislature, where he served eight years.

In San Francisco on 2/19 - The elites are gathering - Senator Barbara Boxer is hosting Obama.

We're happy to inform you that on Monday, February 19th--in honor of her 30 years of service--California's own Senator Barbara Boxer is having an event with special guest Senator Barack Obama. The cost for the event is $150.
This event WILL sell out so we strongly recommend that you buy your ticket TODAY.
Click here to purchase your ticket(s)
WHAT: Fundraiser for Barbara Boxer featuring Barack Obama
WHEN: Monday, February 19, 2007 from
5:00 pm until 7:00 pm
WHERE: Westin St. Francis Hotel, Grand Ballroom
COST: $150 ($100 for seniors and students)

At the grassroots/netroots level - Local SF Obama for President folks like David Trotman have set up a great website OBAMASF.ORG that can help folks plug into the campaign.
Join the Obama Facebook swarm and
make a new friend on his MySpace site too.

Bilingual Education at a Crossroads? A Divided NABE meets in San Jose; Board Further Discredits Itself by Inviting Anti-Bilingual Ed Keynote Speaker

With fresh wounds from its ouster of Executive Director Jim Crawford last year, the National Association for Bilingual Education [NABE] Board further discredited itself with the mind-boggling decision to honor an anti-bilingual education columnist as their 'keynote' speaker for NABE's 36th Annual Conference in San Jose, CA beginning today.

Because of this I had mixed feelings when I was asked to speak on a panel for the conference on Friday with longtime UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies and educational justice scholar Ling-Chi Wang on multilingualism in San Francisco schools for the conference. I decided to attend but to do what I can to be supportive of those at the gathering who will hold the NABE leadership accountable and continue our work, whether in NABE, or our statewide or regional groups to support English Learners and educational justice for all students and communities. I first met Crawford some 10 years ago when he came to visit my organization, the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and other grassroots immigrants rights groups in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998 to learn about our advocacy and organizing approaches in the heat of our battle against millionaire Ron Unz's Prop 227 attacks on bilingual education in CA.

The farce of NABE's Board's choice of San Diego Union columnist Ruben Navarette, an outspoken critic of bilingual education and former media consultant to Ron Unz, as one of their keynote speakers was made worse by NABE board members' apparent attempted coverup of their action of inviting him. See Stephen Krashen and Jim Crawford's summary of the NABE mess and the backtracking and denials by NABE officials on the matter. From Krashen and Crawford:

Navarrette, a syndicated columnist, has built his career by attacking bilingual education. He started out in the 1990s as a media consultant for Ron Unz, the sponsor of anti-bilingual initiatives adopted in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Navarrette went on to work for various newspapers but never forgot his English-only roots. Writing in support of Unz's ballot measures, he denounced bilingual classrooms as "linguistic prisons" where children don't learn English but are trapped, against their parents' wishes, by a school bureaucracy that's "addicted to the additional funding provided for bilingual students." (Several of his major works, including "Bilingual Programs Failing" and "It's Time To Dismantle Bilingual Education," can be accessed at Unz's English for the Children web site.) He has also specialized in journalistic assaults on Hispanic leaders, civil-rights advocates, "racist" liberals, and supporters of public education. Not surprisingly, Navarrette has been a big booster of the No Child Left Behind Act. But above all, he has distinguished himself as an enemy of everything NABE stands for -- or, at least, used to stand for -- and as a hero to anti-bilingual crusaders everywhere.

Very embarrassing for the existing NABE leadership.

For more on the future of bilingual education see Crawford's excellent analysis from last Fall -The Decline of Bilingual Education: How To Reverse a Troubling Trend?

He argues for the need to unite advocates for English learners, Bilingual Education and 2-way Immersion programs with teachers, parents and students fighting for authentic assessments and against high stakes testing.

[We must] rally parents against the excesses of high-stakes testing and punitive
accountability schemes – excesses that affect large numbers of students, not just ELLs. ...Yet advocates for bilingual education must avoid the trap of concentrating their efforts on perfecting a misguided accountability system. No Child Left Behind espouses the cruel fiction that ELLs can meet the same levels of proficiency as their English-speaking peers before acquiring English, a standard of progress that dooms all ELL programs, bilingual and otherwise, to failure. The law stresses outputs (i.e., standardized test scores) alone while ignoring inputs such as effective program designs, qualified teachers, professional development, appropriate materials, and other resources. ...

There’s no escaping the reality that, as long as high-stakes testing continues to drive American education policy, the trend toward all-English programs will continue to accelerate.

See also info on Crawfords current efforts with the newly formed advocacy organization - The Institute for Language and Education Policy.

Lt. Watada Court-Martial Ends in Mistrial

Breaking news from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 7, 2007 - Mistrial ends Watada court-martial
The court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada ended in a mistrial Wednesday.

The case's judge, Lt. Col. John Head, declared the trial over after a day of wrangling over a stipulation of facts that Watada had signed before the trial and that would have been part of the instructions to the jury. The judge decided that Watada never intended when he signed the stipulation to mean that he had a duty to go to Iraq with his unit.
Again the issue was Watada's views on the Iraq war -- opinions that kept him from going with his unit to the conflict and that the judge didn't want brought up at the court-martial.
Watada, a Stryker Brigade soldier, is the first commissioned officer to refuse to be deployed to Iraq. Watada's unit left this sprawling base for Iraq in June, but Watada remained behind. He said he believes the war is illegal and that his duty is to not abide by illegal orders.
But Head tried to keep the court-martial from becoming a tribunal on the war and its legality and has ruled that Watada's attorney cannot present witnesses to question the war's legality.
Outside the base, that has been the issue as peace activists from across the country have rallied to Watada's side.

More - View the excellent and insightful Truthout.org interview with Lt. Watada.

On June 22, 2006, U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada stepped forward as the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the Iraq War and occupation. He faces court martial and up to 4 years imprisonment (reduced from an original 6 years maximum) for refusing to deploy and for speaking out against a war that he believes is illegal.
In support of his courageous action, the Lt. Ehren Watada Campaign is working to educate and broaden the dialog on constitutional rights. The campaign is also involved with mobilizing grassroots action to insure that our government upholds Lt. Watada's right to speak out and refuse to participate in illegal military action in Iraq.
Help us educate and mobilize others by signing the petition and making a donation to the Lt Watada defense fund. http://www.thankyoult.org