As Vice-Chair of the Senate Education Committee, and a former school board member, I have seen first-hand the effect that state education policy has on students and teachers. Schools today are not fulfilling their mission to educate students so that they graduate with skills needed for either college or the workforce. Instead, we have a 30% drop-out rate, and a generation of children barely proficient in our nation’s history and civic culture.

The Governor has declared 2008 the “Year of Education,” and I look forward to working during the next legislative year towards implementing much-needed reforms and changes to our education system, especially in areas in which I have always been a passionate leader – Accountability in Education, Career Technical Education and Civic Education. I am committed to improving our schools, and encourage you to read more about my education policy, and contact my office to get involved.

If you have a child in the public school system, no doubt you understand the “test fatigue” that sets in, with teachers and students alike bemoaning the amount of testing they must complete, from STAR testing to the CA High School Exit Exam. The truth is, testing is one of the only ways to uniformly evaluate our school system. If our students aren’t learning, we need to know why, and fix it.

Accountability is imperative in California, where over 6 million students enroll each year in our public schools, and where millions of taxpayer dollars are spent to educate them. It is our responsibility, and one I take very seriously, to ensure that those dollars are spent wisely.

By enforcing our comprehensive standards, and testing students based on those standards, we can hold districts, teachers, and even students accountable for education outputs. It is too risky for our future not to hold schools accountable.

I. Academic Standards

1. Problem
   1. A lack of consistency across schools and districts in topics covered and learned.
2. Solution
   1. Enforcing California’s comprehensive, rigorous, academic standards for each grade level, in each subject.
   2. Importance
      1. Standards offer the most practical way to provide students a quality education, regardless of where they attend school.
      2. Standards ensure parents that their students are being taught in a uniform manner and content that numerous education scholars and teachers agree they need to know. Standards also provide flexibility to local districts; they can create their own individual strategies to teach all of the standards.
      3. California’s standards are nationally recognized as rigorous and appropriate for each grade-level. The detailed standards also provide guidance on how to implement them in the classroom, seen in the framework which accompanies each set of standards.
   3. Enforcement
      1. With the advent of standards-based testing, we can hold teachers as well as students accountable. Those whose teaching does not reflect the standards becomes obvious after the testing. This is not a case of “teaching to the test” but rather making sure that teachers teach to the standards.
      2. It is unfair to our students if we do not enforce the standards. It is the students who are punished when they do not learn the material; they end up in remedial classes in college, or simply never learning the material.

II. Testing

1. Problem
   1. Parents and educators have no reliable way of tracking student learning.
2. Solution
   1. Annual, standards-based testing.
   2. Importance
      1. Testing must be done yearly, and it must be done beginning in the early grades. In second grade, students are still learning to read, but by the fourth grade, they are reading to learn. So if we don’t test students until the third grade, and don’t receive their test scores until the end of the year/beginning of fourth grade, it is too late to diagnose reading problems. Students will have a very difficult time catching up at that point.
   3. Alignment with standards
      1. Of course, it goes without saying that these tests serve no purpose if they are not aligned with California standards. Since 2003, California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program has been aligned with the standards. It is then up to the teachers to ensure standards are taught in the classrooms.

III. Teacher Quality

1. Problem
   1. Students who are taught by poorly qualified teachers.
   2. Many school districts, especially urban, low-performing districts, find it incredibly difficult to hire highly qualified teachers, and often fail to retain them for more than one or two years.
2. Solution
   1. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated that every classroom teacher be “highly qualified.”
   2. This means that all teachers must be state certified, hold a BA degree or higher, and demonstrate knowledge of the subjects they teach (this generally works out to be a college major in the subject being taught).
   3. In order to attract good teachers, school districts need the flexibility to offer more pay to teachers in coveted areas such as math and science, and to those leaving more lucrative jobs in the private sector. Without this flexibility, among others, districts will face sanctions, including the loss of federal funding.
   4. In addition, schools need flexibility in firing poor teachers. One unfortunate side effect of tenure after a short amount of time (which is usually the case) is that it is extremely difficult to fire teachers. For principals and school administrators, that can mean waiting for retirement to improve a department, at which point it is too late for the hundreds of students who did not receive the quality education they deserve.

California was once a model in education policy for the rest of the country. Today, it has become an example of what can happen when the needs of students are overshadowed by academic elitists, and when policy makers, out of touch with the reality of today’s economy, shape our educational system. As the state leader in Career Technical Education (CTE), formerly known as vocational education, I have consistently fought to make these programs available for all students.

Career Technical Education programs used to be the standard in California schools. Classes such as auto shop and drafting provided all students with real-world skills, regardless of whether they went on to college or entered the workforce. Today, those CTE programs have disappeared from our classrooms. As a result, California is facing workplaces in desperate need of skilled workers, and a huge drop-out rate.

Reinvigorating practical, hands-on CTE courses is vital to restoring California’s schools and keeping our children engaged in their education. Today, CTE is much more than just auto shop. It includes areas like marketing, fashion and interior design, and biotechnology research.

Career Technical Education: The Basics

• In 1987, 74% of CA high school students were enrolled in CTE. In 2005, only 34% were enrolled, due to the lack of available courses. (Get REAL)

• In 1987, over 6,000 CTE teachers served 952,097 CTE students, while in 2005, only 4,923 CTE teachers served 633,972 students (out of a total CA high school enrollment of 1.95 million) (Get REAL)

• CTE enrollment improves high school attendance and grades (CA Performance Review Team)

Job Opportunities in California

• California accounts for 20% of the nation’s high tech jobs and production, and is the center of many other vital industries.

• Industries across California are already facing the need for more skilled workers. Over the next 5-10 years, thousands of workers are expected to retire, leaving valuable, well-paying jobs unfilled, and hindering California’s economy.

• A recent Sacramento Bee column stated that “members of the immense baby boom generation – those born from 1946-1964 – are beginning to retire from the labor force. As that trend becomes a tsunami, the state could face severe shortages of trained workers, especially skilled technicians.” (Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee, 3/5/07)

• When the National Association of Manufacturers surveyed over 800 manufactures in 2005, over 80% said they were experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. (USA Today, 12/5/06)

California ’s Drop-Out Crisis

• California’s graduation rate is only 71%, which means a drop-out rate close to 30% ("Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis in CA," Harvard Civil Rights Project, March 2005)

• In California’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, only 48% of Black and Latino students who started 9 th grade graduated four years later (UC/ACCORD study, Dr. Julie Mendoza)

• The 66,657 students who were reported as drop-outs in California public schools from 2002-03 cost the state $14 billion in lost wages (UCSB study, Russell Rumberger)

• For a detailed look at perspectives of high school dropouts, click on the following link: "The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts," Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2006

Solution

• CTE should be located on existing high school campuses, where the courses were originally taught, and where some infrastructure remains.

• CTE programs should encourage the participation of the business community in the programs, and encourage them to take an active role in preparing the next generation of the workforce by participating in their local CTE Advisory Committees.

• CTE facilities must be built anytime a school is building a new campus, and schools must be held accountable for the lack of facilities for CTE students.

• College preparatory curriculum should not be a requirement of CTE courses. Instead, some CTE courses may be college-prep, while others are not. However, the skills taught in a hands-on CTE course will be beneficial for either college or the workforce.

As we move forward with California’s “Year of Education” in 2008, I strongly believe that the traditional CTE programs that prepared students for either college or work after graduation are imperative to renewing California’s commitment to education excellence.

I will continue to fight, as I have for years, for California’s Career Technical Education programs and facilities. It is imperative towards fulfilling our mandate to prepare students for life after high school.

What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy? Starting in 2008, those taking the United States citizenship test will be required to answer that very question. Sadly, many citizens born and educated in the United States do not know the answer to that question. Recent newspaper headlines have exposed the lack of interest amongst young people in reading about world events and the importance of their participation in the electoral process. The lack of any significant form of civic education threatens the very nature of what it means to be a United States citizen.

Problem

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently released its results for the 2006 test in civics. Fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders were tested on various civics-related information. The results are disheartening. Only 49% of eighth graders knew that religious freedom is linked to the Bill of Rights.

Coupled with the Joan Shorenstein Center report indicating that young adults simply don’t follow the news, we should be alarmed. Where is the next generation of citizens going to learn about the uniqueness of our system, of both our mistakes but also of our great triumphs, if our public school system is not teaching it to them?

Civic education is vital for the health of our citizenry. Less than 50 years ago it was unthinkable that a school-day would not start without the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Today, legal challenges have since halted this time treasured and most patriotic of exercises, which has contributed to the failure of our children to understand why their inaction contributes to political decay in this country.

The reality of our situation is that younger Americans have no working knowledge of our nation’s history, how it compares to the histories and institutions of other nations, and lack pride and faith in that history.  All measures of civic knowledge and participation have decreased dramatically over the past few decades.

Voter turnout has continued to decline and students continue to show less than stellar interest in this country’s traditions and institutions.  We need to provide an objective, analytical and prideful curriculum.  The De-Americanisation of this country will continue unless we step in and make some serious changes to the civics and history education.

We don’t value this knowledge because we don’t require enough of it in our schools.  Other skills and courses are considered, due to requirements, more important than civics, but they are not.

Solution

• We must make civic education a priority in our schools by expanding the amount of time spent learning about civic responsibility and American history.

• Increased time spent on civics education needs to include curriculum and standards that reflect America’s history and civic culture in an objective way, which will instill pride in our country and provide valuable information on events. This knowledge enables students to participate in civic life and effectively evaluate current issues.

• We need to add a United States History section, and a Civics section, on the California High School Exit Exam.  In this day of high-stakes accountability, we have to make it clear that we value these skills for our high school graduates.

We will be failing our duties as citizens if we do not pass on these important lessons to our children. Civics education is the single most important thing we can do to ensure the effective participation of future generations in our democracy.

For more information, please see the following reports and studies:

• The Nation's Report Card: Civics 2006
  The Nation’s Report Card reports the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP test in civics was last administered in 1998, and unfortunately, the 2006 results are show little to no improvement. The link includes the full report, as well as summaries and sample tests.

• From Classroom to Citizen
  This 2004 study from the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools explores American attitudes on civic education. A PDF copy of the report is available via the website.

• Young People and the News
  In July 2007, the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University released this report. The report provides data on the shockingly low number of young people who follow the news and current events.

• The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions
  The Intercollegiate Studies Institute, in 2006, released this report as part of their American Civic Literacy Program, designed to highlight higher education’s lack of adequate teaching in the areas of American history and our institutions.