I took my photo du jour in Linda Vista about three miles as the crow flies from where I took the pictures of La Jolla. All the photos today are San Diego. All the places pictured are in the San Diego Unified School District.


EDUCATION
A-G' curriculum

The problem with fixing a broken education system is much the same kind of problem as fixing a broken heart. Histories of institutions and of relationships are often incomprehensible; so when they get broken, the people involved usually don’t agree on what was and is the problem. The most useful admission anybody who looks back can make is, “I acknowledge that the way I remember it may not be the way it was.” It is important to analyze the conditions that created the problem as clearly as we can remember what they were and as objectively as we can understand what they currently are. There is usually no point in assigning blame for the problem. That exercise is counterproductive.

Disparity among education programs within a school district is not the fault of administrators, teachers, parents or students. Race and ethnicity are not the cause of the disparities in educational programs but they are reminders that it is often easier to see a person of color or hear a person whose ethnicity is carried in a language or dialect different from our own and whose culture is different from our own. It is true that children living in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to score lower in tests and measures used to judge the success of schools and their teachers. It is a fact in San Diego that persons of color cluster to some extent in distinct communities, and those communities are the ones where we find large percentages of families living below the economic and cultural poverty level of the larger community; so those of us who are fortunate enough to live comfortably in the economic and cultural group above the poverty level don’t often see or hear the people who live across town from us. We learn from newspaper reporting that the schools there are "failing" and that something must be done. We don't actually see the teachers and students in their schools. We don't see the neighborhoods... no reason to go there. We depend on statistics to tell us who is failing, and we depend on educationists who live where we live, in our safe, beautiful neighborhoods, to tell us what to do to make all children successful in school.

A rose by any other name may still be a rose, but anybody who knows roses knows there are many varieties of the flower. There are many varieties of schools and many varieties of communities in which they are located. Roses do especially well when they are planted in appropriate soil and are tended with consistent, appropriate care. For as long as I have lived in San Diego, high Schools in the poorer areas of the county have been very different from the high schools in La Jolla, Del Mar, and Rancho Santa Fe. In 1995 when I went to teach at Gompers Secondary Schools in Chollas View after I had retired from a long career in private schools, I realized on my first day there that I was in foreign territory. I was as much a foreigner there as I had been in Southeast Asia when I lived and worked there forty years ago. Teachers, parents, and students who live in Chollas View and Lincoln Park rarely if ever see La Jolla High School, and La Jollans rarely if ever have a reason to go to Gompers or Lincoln or Crawford or Hoover High Schools.

A few days ago I was reminded that the San Diego where I live is very different from the San Diego where I taught for seven years. I had a delightful and very interesting experience as I sat with a small group of juniors (now seniors) from Del Mar’s Canyon Crest Academy over boba tea at a pleasant little sidewalk cafe in La Jolla. I didn’t just stumble onto them. I was invited. Michael telephoned me and said, “Grandpa, how about coming to have boba with me and some of my friends tomorrow. Dad is coming, too.” We sat around a clean, attractive table on a pleasant sidewalk surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees. We drank boba. The boys enjoyed big bags of French fries; the girls nibbled.

We talked about all kinds of things, including school and the fact that they are going to be seniors next year and about universities and how and when they would decide where they would go; and we talked about summer jobs and about vacations to places like Asia and Europe. Michael, who was born in France and is fluent in French, is trying to decide if he will go with a friend for a vacation to Japan. Ana, who has completed her Advanced Placement Japanese Language program, mentioned that she has lived in Japan. Was it Kelsey or Ana who said she would probably go to Loyola in Chicago... or maybe Northwestern? Nick talked about Pomona College.... and on the conversation went with a litany of university names. It would be unthinkable for anyone in the group to consider not going to college. It was clearly a matter of where to go, not a question of whether college is the next thing. They also talked about “being busted” last week by someone’s posting on Facebook a picture of the group clustered around a hookah. They talked about their parents’ reactions to the incident.

Several things about the afternoon boba experience in La Jolla made it different from the experiences I had with high school juniors and seniors in Southeast San Diego. First, we were a group of people that included a couple of adults and a bunch of teenagers talking not to each other but with each other. Second, the teenagers didn’t seem to think it was unusual that one of their group had invited his dad and grandpa to join them. The biggest differences between the two sections of town are economic and cultural; It's not a matter of one group having more innate ability or a group whose teachers have been ignorant or lazy or careless. The Del Mar kids don't have to walk or take a bus to a boba date. They have their own cars. Many of my junior and senior students at Gompers Secondary School didn’t have even a family car. Many of them had not learned to drive. The Del Mar kids were babies and then children in houses where there were books, children’s books and adult books, books that they wanted to read, that they knew they would be able to read one day. These kids have money for boba and French fries. They have never been encouraged to join a gang. They go to parties without worrying about drive-by shootings. Life is good... very good for some of us. La Jolla High School Stadium. Gompers Secondary School had no gymnasium and no playing fields.
La Jolla High School Pool
Entrance to Muirlands Middle School in La Jolla
Homes up the hill from Muirlands Middle School and La Jolla High School

The obstacles are economic and cultural that keep many young people from reaching the goals articulated in the Board of Education’s resolution. To use once again a much overused metaphor, the playing field is not level. We have been unwilling to ensure even adequate health care for the poorest of our children. How are we going to convince citizens and legislators to fund appropriate programs and projects that might ensure for all children the kind of childhood that keeps them healthy and safe, a childhood with life experiences that promote learning? We are cutting library and health care services in our schools and in the community, dropping arts programs, and increasing class sizes. Because there is not enough money to continue doing even what we have been doing, where is the Board of Education going to get the money needed to fund “A-G”? We will once again expect teachers to take up the slack... as they take the flack for being unable to solve the problems that exist in the communities around their schools. "Oh, well," they will say as they take it on the chin and in their pocketbooks. "This time is no different from the last time. This, too, will pass without changing what needs to be changed."Home across the street from Montgomery Middle School in Linda Vista
The children who live in these homes attend Montgomery Middle School.

BOARD OF EDUCATION SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Resolution Directing the Superintendent to Develop an Implementation Plan for UC ‘a-g’ for All Students (Item G.01)
 
WHEREAS, the Board of Education of San Diego Unified School District is committed to ensuring that all San Diego students 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; and
 
WHEREAS, the Board is further committed to eliminating the achievement and opportunity gap, increasing high school graduation rates, and reducing drop out rates, and a college preparatory course sequence has been shown to promote the attainment of these goals; and
 
WHEREAS, the college preparatory course sequence embodied in the University of California (UC) ‘a-g’ eligibility requirements is a high-quality life readiness curriculum that does not guarantee college admission, but rather is made up of rigorous courses teaching core skills that prepare students not only to enter college, but also to become lifelong learners in a changing economy and a changing world; and
 
WHEREAS, the Board believes that all students can be successful in a college/career preparatory curriculum; and
 
WHEREAS, less than forty-two (42) percent of District high school graduates currently complete the (UC) ‘a-g’ course sequence; and
 
WHEREAS, low (UC) ‘a-g’ completion rates in the District undermine our local and state economy, which depend on a well-prepared workforce, and undermine our democracy, which depends on a well-informed and engaged citizenry; and
 
WHEREAS, enrollment rates of low-income students, students of color, special needs students, and English Learner students in the (UC) ‘a-g’ coursework are lower than enrollment rates for other groups of students, which negatively impacts a disproportionate number of these students; and
 
WHEREAS, all District students do not currently have the opportunity to pursue an array of options, including college after high school, because they do not have the necessary foundation skills or are not enrolled in rigorous preparatory coursework that ensures college readiness, and
 
WHEREAS, the completion of an (UC) ‘a-g’ college preparatory sequence in conjunction with a rigorous and relevant career and technical education course pathways will provide San Diego Unified students a full array of post-secondary options; and
 
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District directs the Superintendent to ensure that every district high school provides every student with equitable access to the coursework necessary to meet UC/CSU admission-eligibility requirements, beginning with the 2010-11 academic year; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to ensure that all students are informed about the (UC) ‘a-g’ course requirements prior to committing to course enrollments in grade 9; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to include in the implementation of this directive the necessary learning supports, alternative means for completion of the prescribed course sequence in order to accommodate the needs of all students, and realignment and dedication of resources necessary to ensure all students are prepared to successfully complete the (UC) ‘a-g’ course sequence, regardless of background, neighborhood, and income level; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to set timelines and benchmarks for providing the ‘a-g’ course sequence to all students; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to align and dedicate resources to support professional development that ensures that all teachers are supported in researching, developing, and sharing rigorous, engaging, and culturally relevant curriculum and effective methods for the successful implementation of the more rigorous (UC) ‘a-g’ curriculum for all students; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board directs the Superintendent to strengthen and sustain the vocational and career-technical education program so that it is more aligned with college preparatory requirements and will better prepare students to meet the demands of a skill-intensive economy; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Superintendent shall establish a steering committee made up of all impacted stakeholders, including parents and students from across the district (with representatives from the English Learner and Special Education communities), employees and employee organizations (including teachers, counselors, principals, and central office representatives), post-secondary institutions and training programs (including four-year colleges and universities, two-year community colleges, and technical training programs), and other community members (workforce development groups, business industry groups, trade apprenticeship groups, and civil rights organizations) to review district graduation requirements and make recommendations for changes and/or modifications (taking into consideration California Education Code, other related state legislation, UC/CSU admission-eligibility requirements, practices in other urban districts in California, and the educational needs of different student populations); and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the steering committee should take into consideration implications of modifying district graduation requirements, paying specific attention to matters such as facilities, funding, personnel, curriculum, career and technical education, and the special needs of different student populations; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the steering committee articulate the role that elementary, middle and high schools need to play in preparing students to successfully engage in the UC ‘a-g’ coursework; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the steering committee develop and report its recommendations, along with a timeline for their implementation, to the Superintendent and Board of Education on or before December 31, 2009; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Superintendent shall report to the Board on or before June 30, 2010, and semiannually thereafter, on the progress of this implementation with respect to student outcomes and district resource allocation; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this planning and action begin immediately after the adoption of this Resolution, with the expectation that the recommended graduation requirements will be implemented beginning with the students entering ninth grade in the fall of 2010.