March 25, 2019
EDCAL 1
Education California | The official newspaper of the Association of California School Administrators
Volume 49 | Number 22 | March 25, 2019
High schools challenged by political climate
At the mid-point of the presidency
of Donald Trump, a new survey finds
America’s high schools greatly impacted
by political incivility and riven by untrust-
worthy information and the omnipresent
use of social media. In this highly charged
environment, schools are struggling to
address many of the same critical issues
confronting the nation, including opioid
abuse, immigration and gun violence. These
issues are impacting students and schools
and taking needed time away from the
efforts of school principals to strengthen
teaching and learning.
“School and Society in the Age of
Trump,” a nationally representative survey
of 505 high school principals conducted
by the Institute for Democracy, Education
and Access at UCLA, examines how a
broad set of social issues at the forefront
of the Trump presidency are felt and affect
students and educators within America’s
high schools.
Responding to the survey, almost nine
in 10 principals report that incivility and
contentiousness in the broader political
environment has considerably affected
their school community. An overwhelming
majority of principals report problems such
as contentious classroom environments,
hostile exchanges outside of class, and
demeaning or hateful remarks over political
views. More than eight in 10 principals re-
port that their students have made deroga-
tory remarks about other racial or ethnic
groups, and more than six in 10 principals
say their students have made derogatory
remarks about immigrants. In interviews
See SURVEY, page 3
CTC discusses disciplinary guidelines, credentialing
The recent meeting of the California Com-
mission on Teacher Credentialing was attend-
ed by ACSA CTC Liaison Doug Gephart, who
filed the following report.
Proposed disciplinary guidelines
The Office of the Attorney General
adjudicates the more serious cases and, in
the interest of fairness and clarity for the
credential holder and all concerned, has
recommended that the Commission adopt
disciplinary guidelines in the interest of
providing clarity to the range of potential
consequences. In response CTC staff com-
piled 10 years of data to reflect a pattern
of past practice to serve as the basis for the
guidelines.
Over this period of time, the Commis-
sion has made varying determinations of
disciplinary action based upon the severity
of the misconduct and the preponder-
ance of evidence to support their actions.
Minimum and maximum adverse actions
represent the range of disciplinary action
taken by the Commission providing the
basis for the proposed guidelines and are
not intended to serve as binding on any
future case.
While the recommended guidelines
are based on prior CTC actions and serve
as guidance for decision-making bodies,
interested stakeholders such as ACSA,
CTA, AFT, CSBA, PTA, child advocate
groups, or other interested parties have not
vetted them. Action on the proposed guide-
lines are pending until CTC staff conduct
a public review and discussion among
stakeholder representatives prior to the next
Commission meeting on April 11 and 12.
Appointment to Committee on
Credentials
ACSA’s Legislative Policy Committee met recently to review dozens of bills that affect state schools.
ACSA committee tackles
education-related bills
ACSA’s Legislative Policy Commit-
tee met recently to review dozens of
legislative bills that are being considered
in the state Capitol. The Legislature has
introduced more than 2,500 bills this
session, many of which have an effect
on schools. The committee is determin-
ing ACSA’s position on all the educa-
tion-related bills, which will be posted
on ACSA’s Advocacy page at www.acsa.
org/advocacy.
“Our Legislative Policy Committee
is a great group of hard workers, and we
truly appreciate and value their service
to ACSA,” said Senior Director of Gov-
ernmental Relations and Policy Edgar
Zazueta. “We have a huge amount of
bills for them to consider and it really
Periodicals
Dated Material
takes a lot of work to get through them
all.”
The Legislative Policy Committee’s
stated purpose is to identify and study
areas of needed legislation impacting
ACSA members and public education,
to solicit sponsorship requests from
ACSA members and sponsor bills
improving conditions in California
schools, to study proposed legislation
and, based upon ACSA’s Legislative
Platform and additional input from the
Board of Directors, establish ACSA’s
position on state and federal legisla-
tion. The committee also assists in the
establishment of the ACSA Legislative
Platform.
See BILLS, page 4
The Commission, following their
interview and selection process, appointed
Jacob Guthrie, assistant director, Certif-
icated Workforce Management for Los
Angeles Unified School District, to serve
as the administrative representative on the
Committee on Credentials. Members of
the Committee on Credentials are appoint-
ed by the Commission to review individ-
uals for fitness to receive and/or retain
credentials. The COC is comprised of seven
members and consists of one elementary
teacher, one secondary teacher, one school
board member, one school administrator,
and three public members.
Guthrie began his career in education in
New York City as a math and physical ed-
ucation teacher prior to serving as a teacher
in the same capacity with Los Angeles
USD and later as an assistant principal.
In addition to his current administrative
assignment, Guthrie has also served on the
Employee Relations Administrative Review
Committee for LAUSD and has served
as the district’s liaison to the CTC for the
Assessment conference. Reg-
istration is now open for the 2019
California Assessment Conference.
The CAC, scheduled for October 16-18,
is a unique opportunity for classroom
educators to explore the connection
between assessments and classroom
instruction and to learn how other
California educators use assessments
to improve teaching and learning. For
more information and to register, visit
the CAC webpage at www.cdecac.org.
Preconditions due. For institu-
tions in the Red and Blue cohorts,
Preconditions submissions are due on
or before March 31. An Evidence Guide
for submitting preconditions for the
Preliminary Multiple and Single Subject
credential programs has been posted
on the CTC’s preconditions page. For
institutions submitting preconditions
this spring, this evidence guide will
be very helpful in understanding what
kind of evidence is acceptable. The
Evidence Guide is available on the
Commission’s Preconditions webpage
at: http://bit.ly/2ueXaNm.
VAPA panels. The CTC is seeking
applications for educators who wish
to participate on subject matter expert
panels to align CSET assessments in
the visual and performing arts with the
newly adopted California Arts Stan-
dards for Public Schools. VAPA teach-
ers and teacher educators, as well as
individuals who advance VAPA educa-
tion and programming for school-aged
children outside of traditional school
settings, are needed for the following
areas: art, dance, music and theatre.
Those interested in applying can
complete the application form found at
http://bit.ly/2HGD9XW.
Bias review committee. The CTC
is seeking applications and nomi-
nations for educators who wish to
participate in bias prevention activities
for California state certification assess-
ments. Those interested in applying
can complete the application form at
http://bit.ly/2UKQRws.
See CTC, page 8
22 schools honored for exemplary
arts, CTE, physical ed and nutrition
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tony Thurmond has announced additional
honors for 22 California Distinguished
middle schools and high schools selected
as having an Exemplary Program in Arts
Education, Career Technical Education, or
Physical Activity and Nutrition. Distin-
guished Schools applied separately for these
honors. This year’s honorees include 10
schools for Arts Education, nine for Career
Technical Education, and four schools for
Physical Activity and Nutrition — with
one school receiving honors in two catego-
ries.
“We know that closing the achievement
gap includes world-class instruction, in-
cluding access to STEAM, career technical
education, physical education, and nutrition
education,” Thurmond said. “Instruction
outside of core academic subject areas —
like job training, entrepreneurship and
STEAM — helps all students prepare for
21st century jobs and sparks creative and
healthy minds. I congratulate these 22 Ex-
emplary Program Award winners for their
outstanding work.”
The Exemplary Program Award winners,
along with other California Distinguished
Schools, Exemplary Districts, California
Green Ribbon Schools, Civic Learning
Award Schools, Model Continuation High
Schools, National Blue Ribbon Schools,
and National ESEA Distinguished
Schools, all will be honored in April during
a ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel in
Anaheim. More information on Exem-
plary Program Awards is available at the
See AWARDS, page 5