Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On the Education Front

As Elections loom in California, this from EdSource featuring the future of the California Department of Education is hereby presented especially in light of the continued challenges on Education in California:     

A future in flux: what next for the California Department of Education?

By John Fensterwald, EdSource The next state superintendent of public instruction will face a big challenge: making the case for a bigger role for the California Department of Education. Read more Cal Matters also reported on the legacy of Governor Jerry Brown: Test scores test Brown’s education legacy Why are California’ test scores chronically lagging, given the resources the state has pumped into its overhaul of K-12 education? One reason may be the overhaul itself, CALmatters contributor Karin Klein writes. The lackluster scores raise questions about whether Gov. Jerry Brown’s two education initiatives—the revamped education funding formula that provides far more money for each disadvantaged student, and his doctrine of subsidiarity, or local control—can survive without significant changes after he leaves office this year. The state has little understanding about what’s behind progress or the lack of it and uses Brown’s local control doctrine as a reason to avoid getting involved, experts tell Klein, a veteran education writer. A literacy lawsuit is arguing that educating kids is a state mandate and that California can’t use local control to dodge it. In other words, the suit is about more than just reading skills; it also is an early test of whether Brown’s “local control” philosophy will be a state legacy or a blip. This is also as we have also been following the case of this US Student who has been detained in Israel on accusations of being a BDS Activist.  As we went to press with this edition of Notations for our property here, the Israeli Supreme Court had halted her deportation:  Court upholds entry ban on US student accused of supporting Israel boycott BY TOI STAFF AND AGENCIES Tel Aviv court rejects appeal, says government acting legally to deny entry to Lara Alqasem; Hebrew University denounces move, says will harm Israel academic efforts