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Here are some interesting articles District Deeds received and discovered during the past week…

ENJOY! 

One way to boost test scores? Make sure students get morning sunshine, new research shows

– CHALKBEAT

Quote from Article:

When teens complain that school starts too early, they’re not wrong, according to new research.

This comes as school districts across the country — including in Colorado, California, Indiana, and Tennessee — consider starting school later.

Study authors Jennifer Heissel and Samuel Norris of Northwestern followed students who move between schools in different time zones; they expected that students going from Eastern Time to Central Time will see their test scores improve because they get more sunlight prior to school.

In fact, that’s exactly what they found, particularly for older students. When an older student moved to a district that starts school later, their standardized test scores improved in the year they move and in later years. The effects are notable, but not huge: roughly equivalent to the impact of a substantial reduction in class size.

District Deeds Synopsis:

There has been a lot of talk by the San Diego Unified School District about how starting the school year BEFORE Labor day is a big benefit to certain pockets of students even though all the arguments for earlier school year start dates have been debunked.

There have been many pronouncements over the last 4 years by Supt. Cindy Marten and Board Trustees Richard Barrera, Kevin Beiser, John Lee Evans, Mike McQuary and Sharon Whitehurst-Payne (and their SDEA Teachers Union Executive backers) about how class size reduction is a critical metric that seriously impacts student success.

In fact maintaining class sizes was named as the prime motivator for the decisions made by SDUSD Supt. Marten and Trustees to save as many Teacher positions as possible while making devastating cuts to critical support positions caused by their $124 million deficit financial mismanagement disaster.

What has not been offered as an option via the SDUSD Calendar Committee, or any other SDUSD sanctioned group (DAC, DELAC, CAC, SSC, Cluster etc) is the option of moving the school start time, especially for High Schools, to 8:30 or later.

According to the study presented, High School start times 8:30 or later are “roughly equivalent to the impact of a substantial reduction in class size.”

Could it be that decreased class size benefits the SDEA Teachers Union Executives (more Teachers, more union dues) and helps Board Trustees and Supt. Marten keep their jobs (more campaign contributions) while a similar student educational benefit, later start times, are just an inconvenient positive impact that generates NO money and NO benefit to adults…just to student educational success?

You be the judge.

Class Reduction and Student Achievement: The Potential Tradeoff between Teacher Quality and Class Size

– CHASS – Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences – Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto

Quote from Article:

This paper investigates the effects of California’s billion-dollar class size reduction program on student achievement. It uses year-to-year differences in class size generated by variation in enrollment and the state’s class size reduction program to identify both the direct effects of smaller classes and related changes in teacher quality. Although the results show that smaller classes raised mathematics and reading achievement, they also show that the increase in the share of teachers with neither prior experience nor full certification dampened the benefits of smaller classes, particularly in schools with high shares of economically disadvantaged, minority students.

District Deeds Synopsis:

As mentioned in the previous article, class size reductions has been used as an alibi by the SDUSD Trustees and Supt. Marten, with their supporters in the SDEA Teachers union, as a panacea for SDUSD for Student achievement and support.

Based on this study, class size reduction paired with the SDUSD/SDEA system of placing the lowest credentialed and experienced Teachers in the most challenging schools that higher tenured Teachers don’t want to go actually  “dampened the benefits of smaller classes, particularly in schools with high shares of economically disadvantaged, minority students.”

In addition, the financially questionable SERP, which eliminates the most experienced and credentialed of teachers to save the jobs of lower credentialed and less experienced Teachers actually injures the Students who contribute the most money via State and Federal funds and need the most help in the SDUSD.

WOW!

Supt. Cindy Marten and Board Trustees Richard Barrera, Kevin Beiser, John Lee Evans, Mike McQuary and Sharon Whitehurst-Payne really DON”T know what they are doing…or just don’t care…when it comes to the betterment of SDUSD Students!

 

Solving the Mystery of Underachievement – Why work hard enough to earn an A when a D will suffice for college admission?

– The Atlantic

Quote from Article:

As enrollment in higher education reaches record-levels-69.7 percent of all high-school graduates in 2016, a hidden danger awaits thousands at the starting line: Being “eligible” for college admission doesn’t mean that students are academically prepared. This collision of expectations and reality creates a revolving door in higher education that can stifle individual talent and exacerbate inequality at the highest levels of the American education system. This is the story of how Travis Hill, growing up blocks from the White House in northeast Washington, D.C., learned what “college readiness” means when the pursuit of higher education becomes a reality.

District Deeds Synopsis:

This article hits close to home with the articles District Deeds has written, (and local San Diego news outlets have copied and expanded upon) regarding the SDUSD “Diploma Mill” promoted by Supt. Cindy Marten and the Board Trustees  to boost graduation rate.

With no hard SDUSD Graduate performance data from all colleges entered by SDUSD graduates it is impossible to determine how many SDUSD students claimed as “college ready”are actually ill prepared and either drop out (like the student in the Atlantic article) or be forced to pay for “remedial” college classes just to get up to speed.  Based on the proven rampant cheating by Students via online classes with no Proctor to achieve FAKE graduation rates, the current Superintendent and Board have made a lie out of the SDUSD Mission…

All San Diego students will graduate with the skills, motivation, curiosity and resilience to succeed in their choice of college and career in order to lead and participate in the society of tomorrow.

 

With Cheating via No Proctors as a method for “Diploma Mill” Graduation Rates, The SDUSD Mission It is a LIE to all SDUSD Stakeholders and Taxpayers…and the SDUSD Trustees and Superintendent marten should be ashamed for betraying ALL the SDUSD Students!

So, for the broken vows of the SDUSD Leadership we have the following quote for our readers:

“Riotous madness,
To be entangled with those mouth-made vows,
Which break themselves in swearing!”
― William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

 

Have a great week!!!

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NOTE TO ALL SCHOOL SITE STAKEHOLDERS BEING FORCED TO REPLACE THEIR PRINCIPAL IN THE  2017/18 SCHOOL YEAR:

District Deeds Recommends the following past blog posts exposing the fake SDUSD Principal Selection Process:

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IF

  • Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
  • YOU ARE TIRED OF THE COVER UPS AND LIES BY SUPT. CINDY MARTEN… 

Please Click the Link Below and sign the Petition Today and READ the COMMENTS to Support the REMOVAL of Marten by SDUSD Stakeholders! 

FIRE San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten Immediately!

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