December 3, 2018
EDCAL 1
Education California | The official newspaper of the Association of California School Administrators
Volume 49 | Number 12 | December 3, 2018
Graduation rates continue slow climb
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tom Torlakson announced that the high
school graduation rates for 2018 remain
near an all-time high. Among students who
started high school in 2014, 83 percent
graduated with their class in 2018, an
increase from 82.7 percent from the year
before. The state’s graduation rate has in-
creased substantially since the class of 2010
posted a 74.7 percent rate.
“Our graduation rates continue to
rise, reflecting the passion and dedication
by educators over the past eight years to
transform our education system with a
more equitable funding system, higher
academic standards, and more emphasis on
career technical education,” Torlakson said.
“Still, much work needs to be done to make
certain all students graduate and to close
the continuing achievement gaps between
student groups.”
CDE also announced that suspension
rates declined for the sixth consecutive
year while chronic absenteeism rates rose
slightly. This valuable information, Torlak-
son said, helps keep educators, parents, and
the public informed.
“Efforts by the CDE and educators
throughout the state to collect data have
improved significantly each year, helping
our school communities understand what
is happening in their schools and guide any
policy changes that are needed,” Torlakson
said.
This is the earliest high school gradua-
See GRAD RATE, page 2
Engaging
in parental
involvement
ACSA Vice President Ron Williams presents representatives from Footsteps2Brilliance Literacy
Partnership with ACSA’s 2018 Partners in Educational Excellence Award at Leadership Summit.
Program helps students
with access to literacy
With ever increasing demands on
schools and students, school lead-
ers are always happy when any help
comes along that can help students
achieve. That’s why ACSA instituted
the Partners in Educational Excellence
Award, which recognizes outstanding
school-community partnerships.
This year’s award recognizes Foot-
steps2Brilliance Literacy Partnership,
a technology platform that provides
access to early literacy activities for
children up to age 5. The platform is
bilingual, offered in both English and
Spanish, with books, songs and games
that offer children fun while learning
the early concepts of language and liter-
acy, through mobile technology.
F2B partnered with the San Ber-
nardino County Superintendent of
Schools, San Bernardino County
Periodicals
Dated Material
Preschool Services, Childrens Fund and
First 5 San Bernardino to provide fee
access throughout the county.
F2B allows comprehensive literacy
apps to be accessed online or offline
from any mobile device (Apple or
Android) or a traditional computer.
This enables school districts, for the first
time ever, to leverage the mobile devices
that parents already own to create Mod-
el Innovation Cities.
Through this partnership, San
Bernardino County Superintendent
Ted Alejandre encouraged the families
of 1,500 students in an initial cohort
to take up a 3 million word summer
reading challenge. The results were
astounding, with more than 14 million
words and 49,000 books read. F2B users
engaged the program for more than
See PARTNERS, page 5
Washington Elementary School
fifth-grader Lizaey Hernandez feels a sense
of calm whenever her mom attends her
choir performances. Hearing her mother’s
encouraging words and seeing her smile of
approval in the audience allow her to sing
freely without nervousness.
Hernandez and her classmates thanked
their parents for their constant support on
Nov. 15 when they performed a rendition
of “Wind Beneath My Wings” for parents
and guardians as part of a district celebra-
tion of National Parent Involvement Day.
“I have five brothers and sisters, but my
mom always makes sure she is there to help
us all every day,” Hernandez said. “I am
very thankful for her.”
Hundreds of Lynwood USD parents
were honored for their contributions to
student success at events across the district:
• Lincoln Elementary invited Adrian
Landa, a representative of Assembly Speak-
er Anthony Rendon’s office, to welcome
parents at the school’s Parent Center.
• Lugo Elementary held a Family and
Career College Expo where students pre-
sented research on four-year universities.
• Rosa Parks Elementary enjoyed
reading and math workshops that shared
curriculum and provided tips for inspiring
children to learn.
• Other schools offered curbside coffee
and donuts, potlucks and movie nights.
“Parental Involvement Day is a great
time for us to recognize the parents and
guardians who make our district a special
place,” said LUSD Superintendent Gudiel
Crosthwaite. “We could not reach our
goals without them continually working
alongside our staff to get the best out of the
Vaping progress. Juul Labs has
agreed to suspend most of their fla-
vored products and stop social media
advertising. The move ties in with a
campaign by the Food and Drug Admin-
istration to curb underage use of e-cig-
arettes. Juul claims their product was
intended to help adult smokers kick the
habit, but their product has proven to
be very popular with teens. The FDA
says that teen vaping has jumped 75
percent in just the last year.
Science educator input. The
CDE is recruiting California science
educators to help develop new items,
define achievement level descriptors,
perform standard setting, and evalu-
ate the alignment of the CAST with
the NGSS. Additional opportunities
for participating in the development
of the science assessments include
reviewing items and item data for both
the CAST and the CAA for Science and
scoring constructed response items for
the CAST. Applications are now open.
Further information about these
activities, as well as other science as-
sessment development opportunities
can be found on the online CAASPP
Content Reviewer Application at http://
bit.ly/2zqs1Js.
Board position. The California
Association of Student Councils has
an opening on the board of directors.
The term is three years with quarterly
meeting on a weekend day set by the
board. Each member serves on one
committee (Fundraising, Marketing,
Finance) that meets during regular
meetings and occasionally by confer-
ence call. Email june.thompson@casc.
net for more information.
Negotiators event. Register now
for the Negotiators’ Symposium, Jan.
23-25 in San Diego. This three-day
event with its mix of interactive and
workshop sessions, presented by prac-
titioners, consultants and attorneys,
will provide insight into the issues and
laws that confront HR departments.
Registration is open at www.acsa.org/
negotiatorssymposium.
See PARENTS, page 2
Report shows more states need
to strengthen reading instruction
More than two decades after the
National Institutes of Health declared the
high rate of reading failure among Ameri-
cans to be “a public health crisis,” and more
than two decades after scientific consen-
sus was achieved on the specific teaching
methods needed to produce the highest
numbers of successful readers, many states
fail to maintain the necessary requirements
regarding elementary and special education
teachers’ knowledge of reading instruction.
In an NCTQ databurst: Strengthen-
ing Reading Instruction Through Better
Preparation of Elementary and Special
Education Teachers, which reviews the cur-
rent status of states’ requirements govern-
ing teachers’ reading knowledge, 40 states
still either do not have sufficient licensing
tests in place for both of these groups of
teachers, or have no test at all. A handful of
states have adequate tests in place for ele-
mentary teacher candidates, but not special
education teacher candidates, a perplexing
stance given that 80 percent of all students
are assigned to special education because
of their struggle to read. The report can
be downloaded at http://bit.ly/download-
NCTQreport.
California made the list of states that
have adopted adequate tests of teachers’
reading knowledge for both elementary
and special education teacher candidates,
along with Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana,
Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin.
“The failure of such a high percentage of
our children to learn how to read is tragi-
See READING, page 4