Blog: Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

CSU trustees hope online classes will ease bottleneck on required courses

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:51:42 -0700

Officials said more online courses will help students at California State University, Los Angeles and other campuses complete graduation requirements.; Credit: Cal State LA

California State University officials today laid out to its trustees how the university plans to ease students' access to required courses in the fall -- a huge problem that affects tens of thousands fo students at all 23 campuses.

During a trustee meeting in Long Beach, Cal State officials said budget cuts have led to bottlenecks in lower level classes such as college algebra, general education biology, and micro economics.

“We have 22 courses across the CSU where we have high enrollment and also low success in those students completing those with good academic grades,” said Gerry Handley, head of CSU’s Academic Technology Services.

The university is counting on a $10 million allocation proposed by Governor Jerry Brown to tackle the problem.

Handley said the money will be spent on a three-pronged plan:

Increase online class options so that students can take a required class online at another Cal State campus.
Improve pass rates for these classes so students don’t have to take the class again, which would reduce demand on the courses.
Improve academic counseling, which officials said will help students complete general requirements for their majors.

Critics of the university’s efforts to expand online class offerings said the experience with remedial classes shows pass rates drop when courses are offered online. Cal State officials don’t dispute that – but say they’ll make sure an online class is the same quality as an on campus class.

UC schools draw record application numbers; UCLA as exclusive as Tufts — for state students

William Celis — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:50:29 -0700

Lucky UCLA students sit around the Bruin Bear statue during lunchtime. The school has become as competitive as Tufts and Cornell, according to a recent article.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The University of California system remains a popular destination for incoming freshmen – and getting into UCLA is now as hard as getting into Tufts and Cornell, at least for California students.

The 10-campus U.C. system drew nearly 140,000 applications for the undergraduate class, according to Ralph Becker, a columnist for College Counseling. He said UCLA led all UC campuses with 99,000 applications, which include community college transfers. Berkeley came in second place, with a record 67,600 applications, and UCSD followed with 67,400.

UCLA reported an in-state admission rate of 17.4 percent, Becker said, a level comparable to Cornell and Tufts, two of the nation’s most selective universities. Overall, the 10 campuses accepted 82,850 freshman, for an average acceptance rate of 59 percent. Berkeley and San Diego campuses were more exclusive than the average.

The numbers show that despite the rising expense and increasingly competitive nature of college admissions, many Americans clearly still consider higher education a calling card they can’t do without.

But the prestigious public U.C. system is changing in one profound way: out-of-state students increasingly make up more of its enrollment. About a third of the 14,100 freshmen admitted at Berkeley, for instance, come from a state other than California.

These out-of-state students pay premium tuition for being nonresidents. At current tuition rates, they would bring in $112 million for UC coffers, Becker wrote. As college tuition increases for in-state students slow, many public university systems, including the UC system, will continue to see out of state admits as a revenue source.

According to the American Council on Education, tuition growth last year was 4.8 percent, the lowest increase in more than a decade.

LA Unified candidates Monica Ratliff, Antonio Sanchez square off

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:28:33 -0700

(L) District 6 School Board Candidate, Monica Ratliff, in her classroom at San Pedro Street Elementary. (R) District 6 School Board Candidate Antonio Sanchez.; Credit: Rebecca Hill/KPCC

With less than a day before elections the candidates for the pivotal L.A. Unified school board district 6 race squared off on key classroom policies on KPCC’s Airtalk. The candidates tried to highlight policy differences -- but they didn't appear as wide as each candidate contends.

Former lawyer and current elementary school teacher Monica Ratliff is a union representative with United Teachers Los Angeles. But she said that doesn’t mean she would be in lock step if elected to the seven-member board of education.

“I don’t think that’s actually been indicated by my record so far,” she said.

Ratliff said seniority-based layoffs have hurt schools in poor areas that have high proportions of junior teachers -- so she thinks seniority should be less of a factor when the school district carries out layoffs.

Urban planner Antonio Sanchez, who’s never held elective office but has worked on political campaigns, agreed with Ratliff.

Both candidates, which are vying to represent the east San Fernando Valley, said teacher evaluations should include student standardized test scores.

“I value experience,” Sanchez said “but at the end of the day we should consider experience and effectiveness in the classroom.”

Support for current L.A. Unified Superintendent John Deasy and his policies has become a sort of litmus test for candidates. And here’s where a difference of opinion was in evidence.

“I support his policies,” Sanchez said unequivocally.

“I don’t agree with him on everything,” Ratliff said.

United Teachers Los Angeles endorsed both candidates for the primary elections in March and has stood by its endorsements.

The big money in this school board runoff is coming from independent expenditure committees funded by people who strongly support the idea of keeping Deasy as Superintendent.

UTLA’s criticism of Deasy has been consistent since the Superintendent was hired by a majority of the school board two years ago. The teachers’ union independent expenditure committee has spent no money in the race.

“I would love it if these big donations went directly to the schools because we could buy so much for each school with each of these large donations,” Ratliff said.

Over the weekend, independent expenditure committees supporting Sanchez continued to file with city officials tallies of how they're spending their donations. The most recent filings show more than $2 million spent by independent committees in the primary and runoff elections.

Teaching tips: How to make the last 2 weeks of school memorable

Mary Plummer — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:19:44 -0700

For many Southern California students, summer is just a few weeks away. Getting through the last few weeks of classroom work can be a challenge when summer fun is on the mind.; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

As teachers and students enter the final weeks of the school year, the temptation of summer - freedom so close, but not quite here - can rattle even the most dedicated pupils. Minds wander, attention spans seem to grow shorter and day dreaming often becomes harder to resist.

And once state testing and finals are done, some teachers can also get tempted into leniency and playing videos.

To help you make it the finish line, Sacramento-based high school teacher and Education week blogger Larry Ferlazzo has come up with a great list of resources for how to use classroom time during the last two weeks of school.

Some of the tips include strategies for how to avoid going into autopilot, engaging students in memorable end-of-the-year field trips, and a helpful checklist for year's-end planning. In addition, Ferlazzo features a bunch of great reading tips from Texas elementary school teacher Donalyn Miller that aim to keep kids' reading levels high during the off months.

Resources from Ferlazzo's post:

Finishing the School Year Strong and Teaching Secrets: The Last Day of School are two pieces I've previously written for Education Week Teacher.

Ideas for English-Language Learners | Celebrating the End of the School Year is a post I recently co-authored for The New York Times Learning Network.

Middleweb has pulled together a very nice collection of related posts and articles.

And, finally, you might want to explore The Best Ideas On How To Finish The School Year Strong.

Do you have any tips for how to make the last two weeks of school memorable and engaging for students? Share ideas or resources in the comments below.

Money contines to pours, unevenly, into LA Unified school board race

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:00:30 -0700

District 6 School Board Candidate, Antonio Sanchez is a political newcomer who studied urban planning and worked for Antonio Villaraigosa.; Credit: Rebecca Hill/KPCC

As she walked onto a rally in front of the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters on Tuesday, Monica Ratliff was greeted as a minor celebrity.

Hundreds of union workers were applying pressure on the school board to spend new state revenues on cutting class sizes and rehiring laid-off teachers, counselors, and librarians.

Adult education teacher Juan Noguera spotted Ratliff, who’d just arrived from her job as a fifth grade teacher, and asked if he could take a picture with her.

“Adult Education supports you,” he gushed.

"I support adult education," she replied.

Ratliff said it's this kind of ground-level support that will put her over the top. It's pretty much all she's got. Ratliff has run a part-time campaign on a shoe-string budget.

As election day looms for this year's remaining undecided seat for the L.A. Unified's board, outside groups continue to pour money into the race -- all of it for her opponent, political newcomer Antonio Sanchez.

Political action committees have spent nearly $600,000 on his behalf. The money has gone mostly to targeted full-color flyers and calls to some of the district’s nearly quarter of a million registered voters. Turnout in the city was less than 20 percent in the March primaries -- and isn't expected to improve on Tuesday.

Education researcher Bruce Fuller said Sanchez has a clear upper hand in the race.

“Mr. Sanchez has been out there on the campaign trail, and he has the money, and the discretionary time to be a professional politician," he said. "Ms. Ratliff is still trying to cover her classes and her day job. It’s kind of romantic and appealing that Ms Ratliff is teaching while having a more modest campaign.

"But money matters in terms of giving Sanchez more publicity, more time on the campaign trail,” he added.

Sanchez has been going door-to-door in District 6, which includes his hometown of Pacoima.

On Friday, he stopped to talk to Antonio Martinez, 63, who raised two children in this part of the east San Fernando Valley.

“What changes are you going to make in the schools?” Martinez asked him.

“Right now not all kids are reading at grade level and we have our graduation rate is too low," Sanchez replied. "I grew up in these neighborhoods and I know the challenges these kids are facing.”

Fuller, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, said the outcome of Tuesday's election has implications for all of L.A. Unified. Three of the seven board members oppose huge chunks of the superintendent's agenda. Ratliff could be a fourth -- and that would have an impact on classroom policies.

“This race is really pivotal in terms of whether Mayor Villaraigosa and Superintendent Deasy’s reform agenda is going to continue and take deeper root in the district,” Fuller said.

Ratliff began practicing law in 1997. Nearly a decade later she changed careers, becoming a public school teacher. She serves as a union official for her school and a representative in UTLA's large policy-making body. Along with rehiring teachers who lost their jobs due to years of cutbacks, the union wants to reduce class sizes and improve the way teachers are evaluated.

Sanchez supports charter schools, using student test scores to evaluate teachers evaluations and other so-called reform policies endorsed by Superintendent John Deasy.

The Coalition for School Reform, a charter-friendly PAC created by Villaraigosa, has raised money from wealthy donors here and across the country to influence the race. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave $350,000 over the last few weeks, his second large donation.

“I didn’t know that the donation was coming," Sanchez said as he walked the Pacoima neighborhood where he grew up, talking to potential voters. "I didn’t know that this race was going to cost so much. I had no idea.”

By comparison, Sanchez has raised less than $70,000 on his own -- and Ratliff a mere $30,000.

United Teachers Los Angeles -- for decades a force to be reckoned with in school board elections -- has stayed uncharacteristically silent during this runoff election. Records show the union spent no money in the two months since the primaries.

UTLA took the unusual step of endorsing both Ratliff and Sanchez, an urban planner who’s never been a public school teacher.

“Both of them are highly qualified candidates,” union president Warren Fletcher said. “Monica Ratliff is a classroom teacher who’s going to bring that perspective to the school board. And Antonio Sanchez is somebody who has a lot of background in governmental issues.”

Yet two years ago the teachers union spent nearly $1.5 million to support a teacher running against a charter school-friendly candidate.

Ratliff said she doesn't care about the money.

“I believe that I’ve had a lot of support from individuals within UTLA," she said. "There’s been a lot of teachers walking for me. And I believe that I have a lot of support within UTLA.”

State bill seeks to reduce school suspensions for defiance

KPCC Staff — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:09:48 -0700

A view of the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Two bills under consideration seek to reform how schools and police punish misbehaving students.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Unified school district isn't the only government body seeking to reduce the number of student suspensions.

The Center for Public Integrity reported in a story today that a bill working its way through the California legislature, AB 420, would limit schools' ability to suspend students for defiance. In 2011-2012, 700,000 California students were suspended -- half of them for defiance.

Advocates have for years complained that minorities are more likely to be suspended than whites, and that a single suspension increases a child's likelihood to drop out of school.

L.A. Unified's board on Tuesday approved a student bill of rights that forbids suspensions for "willful defiance" --which includes mouthing off and not following a teacher's instructions, but can also include dress code violations-- until the third offense.

Another state bill, AB 549, aims to keep police out of routine school disciplinary matters. School police now ticket students for anything from truancy to fighting. These are tickets handed out by school police officers, not suspensions, and require an appearance in court.

KPCC reported last year -- in collaboration with CPI-- that L.A. Unified school police issued more than 33,000 tickets for violations like vandalism, tardiness, and disturbing the peace in a three year period.

Forty percent of those tickets went to kids 14 and younger — mostly middle school students. And minorities received more of them than white students.

L.A. Unified has since instituted reforms, including cutting by more than half the number of kids cited for truancy, from about 17,000 to about 700, officials said.

But minorities still bear the brunt. An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity found that more than 90 percent of the students ticketed between November 2012 and March were either black or Latino. School police ticketed students from Markham and Watts middle schools the most.

SLIDESHOW: Elephant art, LAUSD kids compete for arts funding for their schools

Mary Plummer — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:54:55 -0700

“Love Elephants” contest finalists from the LAUSD-IFAW-Adopt the Arts program. The contest was open to students in grades K-6 in the L.A. Unified School District.

One way to secure a little extra arts funding for your school: have the kids draw an elephant.

On Sunday, Los Angeles Unified School District elementary students will compete in the "Love Elephants" art contest at the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica. First, second and third place winners will earn a share of $2,000 in prize money for their schools' art department.

A partnership between the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Adopt the Arts and the school district, the project aims to "build knowledge and critical thinking about one of the world’s most beloved animals," according to fund's website. It also falls in line with the district's goals of using arts projects for more traditional learning, such as language arts, science and social studies.

By the way, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's website includes classroom materials and other resources for teachers.

The students' elephant artwork will be judged by a celebrity panel including musicians Matt Sorum, co-founder of Adopt the Arts, Slash and actor Juliette Lewis. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is donating the prize money.

And the work of all these future Jackson Pollocks will be on display from May 20 to June 8 at the Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the dates of the public display. KPCC regrets the error.

New name for South LA school 'Diego Rivera Learning Complex' flies under the radar

Mary Plummer — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:52:27 -0700

Diego Rivera's fountain of the Aztec rain god Tlaloc is a pumping station in Mexico City's municipal water system.; Credit: David Hiser/National Geographic

The crowds at Tuesday's Los Angeles Unified board meeting came out in force to discuss a classroom breakfast program and the thorny issue of how to deal with unruly students. Less noticed was the board's decision to name a school after Mexican artist Diego Rivera.

In fact, it flew so low under the radar that even the school didn't seem to know about the name change.

As of this morning, the front office at South Region High School No. 2 still answered the phone using "South Region." Officials at the school said they have not received official notification from the district about the change -- and weren't interested in talking more about it.

The South Los Angeles school's new name, according to the district, is the Diego Rivera Learning Complex. The school is part of the district's $19.2 billion school construction and renovation program. It's been operating under the temporary name since it opened in 2011. The school is set up as four small learning communities that share a library, two gymnasiums and a multipurpose room.

Rivera was well known for his public murals which he painted in Mexico City, San Francisco and New York City, among other places.

The board approved new names for two other schools on Tuesday: an elementary campus set to open in the fall will be called the Dr. Sammy Lee Medical and Health Sciences Magnet School and another South Los Angeles school that opened last fall will be renamed the Sally Ride Elementary School.

Despite teacher complaints, LA Unified keeps Breakfast in the Classroom

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:40:58 -0700

Union leaders, parents and teachers packed the L.A. Unified Board of Education meeting Tuesday, when the board took on whether to continue the Breakfast in the Classroom program.; Credit: Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

The “power struggle” fireworks promised for Tuesday’s L.A. Unified Board of Education over the Breakfast in the Classroom program never materialized.

Instead, speakers and the board had nothing but praise for the one-year old program.

“I’m here as a mother. I have five boys, single mom,” said Estela Tejada, who got choked up as she talked about how the program had helped her family. “I work the night shift every day and it’s hard for me to get up in the morning to even think about getting breakfast for my kids.”

Ultimately, the board unanimously approved a motion to continue the program – and expand it.

The decision was a big win for Superintendent John Deasy in his ongoing battle with the teacher’s union. He brought the issue to a vote after a union survey last month gave the program a failing grade. Teachers said the food attracts bugs and rodents and it’s taking too long to serve the kids and clean up after inevitable messes – up to 30 minutes of precious instructional time.

Board members Steve Zimmer and Marguerite LaMotte said those wrinkles will be ironed out.

“Our obligation is to work out the problems, that’s what we do,” Zimmer said.

Teachers union president Warren Fletcher said teachers aren’t opposed to feeding kids – but complained they weren’t consulted on how the program should be implemented. Teachers would prefer students to eat breakfast in the cafeteria, like they used to before this program started more than a year ago.

“The last thing we want to do is create a situation where classrooms that already have some pretty major challenges as far as custodial support etc, where we make that problem worse,” he said.

The move to the classroom was meant to increase the number of low-income students who pick up and eat a school breakfast. According to the school district, fewer than a third of students were stopping by the cafeteria before school to eat breakfast -- even though the vast majority qualify for the subsidized meals. The program now serves 200,000 kids.

In the end, UTLA’s complaints were drowned out. Pro-Deasy groups and the union that represents cafeteria workers, SEIU 99, jumped into action to support the program.

Even board members who are staunch union supporters cast a yes vote on Tuesday.

L.A. Unified will now move forward with a two-year plan to expand Breakfast in the Classroom to more than 600 schools.

UPDATED: LA Unified school board continues free breakfast program

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:02:00 -0700

A student talks with cafeteria worker Sophia Villareal as she picks up her breakfast at Brockton Elementary School Monday, June 29, 2012 in Los Angeles.; Credit: Richard Hartog

UPDATE: The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education this afternoon unanimously approved the continuation -- and expansion -- of its Breakfast in the Classroom program.

The program moved the free and reduced price breakfast program from the cafeteria to the classroom more than a year ago in an effort to increase the number of low-income students who pick up and eat a school breakfast. According to the school district, fewer than a third of students were stopping by the cafeteria before school to eat breakfast even though the vast majority qualify for the subsidized meals.

Click here to see Adolfo Guzman-Lopez's live updates from Tuesday's school board meeting.

Until now, the decisions about the program were made by L.A. Unified Superintendent John Deasy.

Many were left scratching their heads last month when Deasy put up for a board vote whether to keep the program. It serves about 200,000 students and was slated to be rolled out district-wide next year.

According to the United Teachers Los Angeles, its members gave the program a failing grade. They said it was leading to bugs in the classroom and that, with the clean up time involved, breakfast was taking up as much as 30 minutes of instructional time at the beginning of the day.

But 88 percent of teachers who answered a union survey said they would support the program if it became a breakfast in the cafeteria program.

After those complaints, Deasy put the program up for a vote.

Board member Nury Martinez said the issue has turned into a power struggle between Deasy’s supporters and detractors on the seven member board of education. The union that represents the school's cafeteria workers and other groups have staged protests.

Publicly, the discussion has been measured.

“A better communication and action plan should be considered and brought before the Board," union-friendly board member Bennet Kayser said in a statement. "It should take into account any lost instructional time in this era of pressure on students, teachers and parents to achieve better on tests."

The program’s $20 million price tag is paid for through federal grants and private fundraising. It's the first major initiative of the LA Fund for Public Education, an independent fundraising group begun by Superintendent John Deasy and Los Angeles philanthropist Megan Chernin.

Also on the board's agenda today is a proposal to stop suspending students for "willful defiance." Instead, students will be counseled for the first two infractions. Community activists have been pushing for the change for years, concerned that minority students are suspended in disproportionate numbers.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said the breakfast program carried a $6 million price tag. KPCC regrets the error.

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Governor to add $1 billion for schools to adopt common core standards

Julie Small — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:34:36 -0700

California Gov. Jerry Brown delivers his State of the State speech.; Credit: Andrew Nixon/Capital Public Radio

Governor Jerry Brown's revised budget plan being released Tuesday morning will allocate $1 billion for K-12 schools to fund districts’ adoption of new common core standards — about $170 per student.

The Governor will also propose an extra $240 million for base district funding as part of his funding overhaul.

Administration officials revealed the details to the Associated Press on the eve of the budget unveiling. They also explained how the money will get divided among school districts:

80 percent will be carved up among districts, based on the total number of students.
16 percent will be divided based on the districts’ number of students learning English, of low-income, or who are foster children.
4 percent would go to districts where the majority of students are English-learners, low-income or foster children.

Democratic leaders in the state legislature oppose the additional grants for districts with a high concentration of disadvantaged students.

Last week, Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-LA) said a deal could be reached only if the administration made sure that extra money goes to cover disadvantaged students — regardless of the affluence of the district they're in. He also said any agreement should provide more resources to early education and development programs, including preschool.

Despite big name, Shakespeare school still feels cuts

Mary Plummer — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:00:25 -0700

Students from Rafe Esquith's Hobart Shakespeareans perform in this year's production The Tempest.; Credit: Kurt Ingham

For decades, teacher Rafe Esquith has staged Shakespeare plays with students from Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Koreatown. Most of the kids come from low-income families and English isn’t their first language -- and yet every Spring, they put on a show.

The novel program propelled Esquith into teacher stardom. His fourth book is due out this summer, he's been featured in a PBS documentary and his fan-base includes Oprah Winfrey and Sir Ian McKellen.

But the program's success and Esquith's notoriety haven't spared Hobart elementary from statewide cuts to school arts programs.

As Esquith celebrates his 30th anniversary, he says a lot has changed since he first started the Shakespeare program back in the 1980s.

"The fact is we keep cutting the wrong things in schools," said Esquith, who is celebrating 30 years as a teacher at Hobart. "Cutting arts programs is killing us."

Hobart after-school programming has been severely cut back, said principal Jonathan Paek. This year, it had to say goodbye to its orchestra teacher after 33 years.

The Shakespeare program has survived because it's budget is completely separate. It's funded by a nonprofit created by a former student. It relies largely on donations and spends a few hundred thousand dollars a year -- some of that money goes toward travel expenses as the troupe takes its show to cities across the U.S..

"I’m a lucky teacher, I have a lot of help and I have a lot of experience so I have an arts program here," Esquith said. "But the funding to the arts is essential to a child’s development."

Classroom dynamics have also shifted drastically since Esquith started the program in the 1980s.

No Child Left Behind Act brought more classroom testing, which put more emphasis on teaching what was on the test. Esquith said that left little time for running Shakespeare lines, so the program was pushed outside of normal school hours.

"There’s no question that a teacher’s independence has been severely hampered," he said.

Paek the school principal, said the program seems to pay off for Esquith's students. The production process teaches them life skills like teamwork, communication and kindness. Former Shakespeare students have gone on to colleges like UCLA, Stanford and Yale.

"When I started in this classroom I was really, really shy, nervous," said Brandeaux Lazo, 10, one of the stars of this year's production The Tempest. "Being in the play kind of, you know, it's helped me, like think of things differently. It’s really great."

Lazo plays Caliban. For him, starring in the play meant finding the time to practice Shakespeare in an already complicated home life.

Lazo speaks Spanish as his first language and learned English as he got older. His parents are divorced and his mother works the graveyard shift.

He had to carve out practice time in the evenings, running lines with his babysitter as they juggled caring for his three-year-old brother.

Other students went through similar struggles to prepare for the play. Esquith estimates that the entire process takes 55,000 hours of collective work.

And while he could have put on an elaborate production, he puts it on in his 700 square foot classroom, as any other teacher would. The stage is not much larger than a cafeteria lunch table and makeshift bleachers take up the rest of the room.

The students will perform in three more shows this season before the play wraps up Saturday. And Esquith is already planning for next year.

He wants to put on Shakespeares' romance Cymbeline, complete with bagpipes.

With no orchestra teacher, Esquith will have to teach the students the instrument himself. But first, he’ll have to learn how to play it.

Design school publishes anti-gun violence children’s books

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:00:28 -0700

Patrick Hruby fills palates with paint before the poster-making workshop. The "Uncool" program was put together in memory of an Art Center teacher, Norm Schureman, who was a victim of gun violence.; Credit: Maya Sugarman/KPCC

The Art Center College of Design, known world-wide for graduating hotshot illustrators and car designers, has inserted itself into one of the most pressing issues facing this country: gun violence.

The Pasadena institution published a series of four children’s books that illustrate what a gun-free world could look like.

One of the books, titled “Amos’ New Life,” by Vivian Shih, begins like this:

“Amos the Bullet was born in a cold place called the gun. One day, somebody shot the gun. Bang! Swoosh."

At first Amos breaks things, but when he meets ”useful” objects like pencils and lipsticks, he decides he wants to be more like them.

The series is part of “Uncool: The Anti-Gun Violence Project.”

To get the word out about the books, the Art Center's Helen Cahng led readings and workshops at libraries, donating books to the shelves and giving free copies to the workshop attendees.

At the last event in a north Pasadena public library two weeks ago, she read “Zoarmax 133’s Big Question” by Art Center student Kin Lok. Zoarmax 133 is an alien with a toothy smile, big blue head, and a little red hat. He talks to a chemist, a snowman, and a grandmother who all do cool things -- and think guns are uncool.

After the reading, kids used acrylic paints to make posters of cool things in their lives.

Cahng said the books are part of an initiative that teaches Art Center students to use their design skills for social change.

“The goal of this class was to address the issue of gun violence and why children think guns are so cool at an early age and in a way that doesn’t frighten them,” she said.

Art Center instructor David Tillinghast said when he and the students looked for children's books on gun violence, they didn't come up with much. Those they did find were too serious and heavy-handed. They wanted to create books that appeal to kids and parents in a positive way.

“We had to find a way into their imagination and storytelling that didn’t show guns, particularly, didn’t infer violence in any way, didn’t show blood, didn’t show murder, we had to talk about how a world without guns could be empowering for children,” he said.

Tillinghast said as early as the first grade, kids already think guns are cool. The learn it from images on television, videogames, and product advertising.

At the Pasadena workshop, fifth grader Christian Solorzano painted a poster of soccer balls. That’s not all he plays with at home.

“I have BB guns, a machine gun that’s a BB gun, and two more pistol BB guns,” he said.

Johnny Chavez, also in fifth grade, used black paint to draw the X-Box video game he got for Christmas. His favorite games? Black Ops 2, Batman Arkham City, and Mortal Kombat. All three are shooting games.

“We have talked about that dad has used a gun for hunting, and he uses it to kill things to eat,” said Melissa Townley, mother of a six- and nine-year-old attending the workshop. Her kids attend private school in Pasadena.

“We’ve talked about it in that way," she said, "but not -- I’ve never talked to them about anything in the media that’s happened.”

She'd read the Zoarmax book to her kids. She likes how the author uses a space alien to start a conversation about whether guns are cool.

“My job is to guide my children not to tell them how things are, to help them come to their own conclusions is what I would try to do with this book,” she said.

Art Center College of Design received a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation to publish a thousand copies of the books. Gun violence touched the campus at about the time the project started. Beloved 50 year-old instructor Norm Schureman was shot and killed at a party in March of 2010. The project is dedicated to him.

Tillinghast wants to approach New York publishers to expand the run because messages to combat gun violence aren’t being heard.

“Especially with the size of the NRA lobby in Washington, the power that they have, the money, their ability to reach in all sorts of pockets, all sorts of places," he said. "There isn’t that messaging on the other side."

Bjork to bring her children's art program to LA in June

Mary Plummer — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:00:30 -0700

Bjork performs at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. She'll return to the L.A. area for several concerts this summer.; Credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images

Bjork is returning to Los Angeles in June - and she's bringing something for the kids.

The Museum of Contemporary Art announced Thursday that it's collaborating with the Icelandic singer-songwriter for a new arts education project for students 9 to 14 years old. The free event will take place June 2, during the museum's monthly family day.

The workshop, called the "Biophilia Education Program" is named after Bjork's 2011 album and based around an interactive iPad app. The hands-on program involves using technology to play music.

This video of a workshop held in Iceland in 2011 highlights the project.

Bjork aims to bring "arts experience to children who might otherwise not have access to it, and engages children with learning difficulties and disabilities," according to the museum's release.

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, is using the Biophilia Education Program in its school curriculum for the next three years.

By the way, Bjork will be performing June 2, June 5 and June 8 at the Hollywood Palladium. She's also scheduled to appear June 11 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Math by way of art: For Pasadena school, arts plus math is really adding up

Mary Plummer — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:00:30 -0700

Third grade student Eder counts the amount he'll need to purchase art supplies to create a sculpture. The project is part of a grant funded endeavor that places teaching artists from the Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts with classroom teachers to help them teach integrated arts lessons.; Credit: Mary Plummer/KPCC

Administrators and teachers are grappling with how to boost math scores to prepare students for an increasingly technology based work force.

Jefferson Elementary in Pasadena may hold some of the answers. The school's been using art to teach its students math.

On a recent visit, students were working on an elaborate art project. They were asked to sketch two ideas that would later become a 3D sculpture. The catch – the students were given a budget and a price list and could only use the art supplies they could afford.

Along with budgeting, the school's students have worked on art projects that helped them learn place value and the concepts of area and perimeter. But unlike dry textbook problems, the projects brought lessons to life.

"Even my more challenged students -- and I have about five of them -- the engagement is like 180 degrees. It’s like a different child," said third-grade teacher Beverly Grotts.

The program, called "Artful Connections with Math," was developed by the Pasadena Unified School District and the Armory Center for the Arts. Funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, it pairs classroom teachers like Grotts with "teaching artists" who show them how to use hands-on, visual art projects to teach math concepts.

The instruction targets creative problem solving skills and helps students connect the dots between math and other subjects.

"The sooner we can teach our kids how all these subjects interweave, I think the better off we are," said teaching artist Melanie Moore Bermudez, who works with Grottts.

This is one of many novel approaches educators are experimenting with to teach math. Across the state, elementary students' math proficiency rates have been lagging behind those in English and science.

The California Alliance for Arts Education wants to replicate Jefferson's program. It's testing a similar approach at 10 pilot schools around the state this fall.

It's part of an effort to encourage Title I schools, which receive extra federal funding to support low income students, to use those funds for arts-based instruction of core subjects. More than half of all California schools are Title I schools.

Because Title I funds are earmarked for things like English and math, many Title I schools have been afraid to use the funding for arts teachers -- even if they’re using arts to teach the core subjects.

"Somehow the arts remain an outlier and perceived as: well that’s not exactly math and that’s not exactly literacy so how do we justify it," said Joe Landon, who heads the California Alliance for Arts Education.

The group published a paper last month outlining the process for schools.

All of this, Landon explains, will help close the gap between public schools where parents are able to supplement arts education and typically poorer schools where they are not. Since the budget crisis, arts education has been decimated in much of Southern California.

"What we’re really trying to do here is address an issue of education equity that we feel that every student deserves an equal opportunity to receive the benefits of arts education and arts education strategies as part of a complete education," he said.

Jefferson Elementary is a Title I school, but the principal, Amin Oria, said she’s in triage mode and can’t spare any of next year’s approximately $95,000 budget on arts integration. She has other things she has to spend money on like salaries for support staff to help improve literacy rates.

Still, she loves the hand-0n instruction, pointing out that it's especially useful for students whose first language is not English. Almost 90 percent of the school's students are Latino and more than 50 percent of them speak English as a second language.

For all students, she said problem solving in small groups help the math lesson to sink in.

"They’re really engaged, involved and really understanding versus a typical lesson from a math text book," Oria said.

The teachers are learning, too.

Grotts, the third grade teacher, likes the arts teaching techniques so well, she's now using them in her everyday teaching. Her students often draw in their journals and learn things like the benefits and traps of credit cards.

As her students get more comfortable with art, she does too. She was a sociology major in college and struggled to draw stick figures before becoming a teacher.

"I’m amazed at how much I’m able to take in," she said. "I don’t have that wall as much as I used to have."