Monday, April 28, 2008
Our Vote = Our Voice
Join the 3rd Annual California Women Equality Day Parade & Rally, Saturday, August 23, 2008, Sacramento, CA. Print and distribute the CA Women Equality Day Parade flyer.
Save these 2009 dates!
- April 24-26, 2009: AAUW CA Convention, Hilton San Diego Mission Valley
- June 26-28, 2009: Association Convention, St. Louis, MO
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
8th Annual Garden Tour Sponsored by the Danville-Alamo Branch of AAUW
- Friday, May 9 & Saturday, May 10
- 10:00AM - 4:00PM
- Alamo, Blackhawk and Danville
- Seven delightful gardens and light refreshments
- $25 if postmarked by May 3, $30 thereafter
For tickets with garden locations, mail your check by May 3 payable to “Danville-Alamo AAUW EF” with a business sized, self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Tickets are also available at Leku Eder, 178 E. Prospect Ave, Danville.
After May 3 or if you have questions, e-mail Mary at gardentour@aauw-da.org.
AAUW Garden Tour, PO Box 996, Alamo, CA 94507
Tickets are also available at Leku Eder, 178 E. Prospect Ave, Danville.
After May 3 or if you have questions, e-mail Mary at gardentour@aauw-da.org.
All proceeds benefit AAUW’s Educational Foundation, which supports aspiring female scholars.
Tena Gallagher, President
Danville-Alamo Branch of AAUW
Tena Gallagher, President
Danville-Alamo Branch of AAUW
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Convention 2008: Second business session (Sunday, April 6)
AAUW CA President Donna Lilly presided.
The primary order of business was election results. The following 16 people were elected to the 2008-10 AAUW CA Board of Directors [alphabetical order by last name]: Lynne Batchelor, Rozanne Child, Letitia Corum, Kathleen Doty, Donna Erickson, Mickie Feicht, Jo Harberson, Anne Henke, Karen Jackle, Sherry Ludwig, Bakula Maniar, Judith Pfeil, Gail Swain, Gloria Taylor, Patricia Toth, and Harriett Tower. The newly elected officers met and selected the following leaders, to begin serving on July 1, 2008: Presidents, Judith Pfeil and Gloria Taylor; Vice President, Mickie Feicht; Secretary, Kathleen Doty.
An invitation to Convention 2009: Come to the Hilton San Diego Mission Bay, Friday to Sunday, April 24-26, 2009.
The primary order of business was election results. The following 16 people were elected to the 2008-10 AAUW CA Board of Directors [alphabetical order by last name]: Lynne Batchelor, Rozanne Child, Letitia Corum, Kathleen Doty, Donna Erickson, Mickie Feicht, Jo Harberson, Anne Henke, Karen Jackle, Sherry Ludwig, Bakula Maniar, Judith Pfeil, Gail Swain, Gloria Taylor, Patricia Toth, and Harriett Tower. The newly elected officers met and selected the following leaders, to begin serving on July 1, 2008: Presidents, Judith Pfeil and Gloria Taylor; Vice President, Mickie Feicht; Secretary, Kathleen Doty.
An invitation to Convention 2009: Come to the Hilton San Diego Mission Bay, Friday to Sunday, April 24-26, 2009.
Convention 2008: Advancing Equity through Education
Speaker: Mary Perry, Deputy Director, EdSource
Ten years ago, California initiated a study of equity in K-12 education. The expectation: that regardless of economic standing or ethnicity or other factor, students had equal opportunities in school and that they would be well prepared for college and work.
Ten years later, an "achievement gap" remains. The problem is not with the schools; it's about the way California funds its schools. In California, a low expenditure per student is coupled with high standard of living, which means higher salary costs.
EdSource looked at elementary schools serving similar demographics, where some schools produced high achievers and others didn't. EdSource learned that some of the difference was in the principal and whether or not she used the data.
Mary says, "Education is a people business." Eighty-five percent of money going to schools is for salaries and benefits for people. Yet we have fewer administrators, teachers, and counselors per student than other states.
Is California spending the money efficiently? How can the money be used more effectively? Experts agree that California's method of funding schools is extremely complicated, without good rationale behind the funding system.
One principle gaining support: More resources need to get to the schools having the biggest achievement problems. These schools are also the most expensive schools to support.
Mary posits that California needs to do a better job gathering and using data. A new system is in development, hampered by financial and political issues. A crucial component for the new system is the quality of data reported. Another component has to do with providing the resulting data to educators. That data can help them evaluate how they're spending the resources coming to their schools.
Last year California set aside $65M for schools. This is a small portion of the state budget. There's no question that budget constraints can derail progress here.
Education reformers are watching this year's budget process, hoping to get traction when education is discussed. Reforms will be an essential part of improving California schools.
EdSource forum: April 18 in Palo Alto; live webcast and on Web site.
Ten years ago, California initiated a study of equity in K-12 education. The expectation: that regardless of economic standing or ethnicity or other factor, students had equal opportunities in school and that they would be well prepared for college and work.
Ten years later, an "achievement gap" remains. The problem is not with the schools; it's about the way California funds its schools. In California, a low expenditure per student is coupled with high standard of living, which means higher salary costs.
EdSource looked at elementary schools serving similar demographics, where some schools produced high achievers and others didn't. EdSource learned that some of the difference was in the principal and whether or not she used the data.
Mary says, "Education is a people business." Eighty-five percent of money going to schools is for salaries and benefits for people. Yet we have fewer administrators, teachers, and counselors per student than other states.
Is California spending the money efficiently? How can the money be used more effectively? Experts agree that California's method of funding schools is extremely complicated, without good rationale behind the funding system.
One principle gaining support: More resources need to get to the schools having the biggest achievement problems. These schools are also the most expensive schools to support.
Mary posits that California needs to do a better job gathering and using data. A new system is in development, hampered by financial and political issues. A crucial component for the new system is the quality of data reported. Another component has to do with providing the resulting data to educators. That data can help them evaluate how they're spending the resources coming to their schools.
Last year California set aside $65M for schools. This is a small portion of the state budget. There's no question that budget constraints can derail progress here.
Education reformers are watching this year's budget process, hoping to get traction when education is discussed. Reforms will be an essential part of improving California schools.
EdSource forum: April 18 in Palo Alto; live webcast and on Web site.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Convention 2008: Public Policy Briefing (Saturday, April 5)
Charlotte Newhart, AAUW CA's legislative advocate, presented the briefing.
Briefing background: California is the sixth largest economy in the world, and we have a $6M deficit. This is the CA budget process:
- The governor proposes a budget by January 10 and gives to the California Legislature.
- The legislature designs its own budget and returns it to the governor for approval.
- Unlike the federal budget, California law requires that the state budget be balanced.
- Budget approval requires a 2/3 vote of the legislature. Unfortunately, the legislature is currently short on moderate members; most are far left or far right, making consensus very difficult.
Republicans fight tax increases, so where would money come from to balance the budget? Money is likely to come from the three largest budget items:
- Education: music, arts and class sizes are at risk.
- Health care: 50% of babies born are on Medical; cuts tend to be dental, podiatry.
- Prisons: California has some of the strictest sentencing laws in the country.
Charlotte urges us to talk to our legislators about our priorities. Solutions don't always have to be cuts. E.g., a vehicle tax, an alcohol tax, and/or increased fees are all possibilities for increasing income.
The AAUW CA bill package [handed out at the briefing] includes two statements crafted by the AAUW CA Public Policy Committee and approved by the AAUW CA Board. Charlotte urges us to make copies and give then to our local legislators. California has a professional legislature, meaning they work full-time. Typically they are in session Monday noon through Thursday noon, and they are in their home office on Fridays, waiting for our visits.
Of particular note in the new AAUW CA bill package:
- SB1712 (Midgen): Adulterated Cosmetics. This "lipstick bill" is one of our most important bills. The bill would permit the marketing of only lead-free lipstick in California. Lead is a neurotoxin which could have a variety of negative side effects.
- SB1578 (Florez): California Title IX - support if amended. This would be an audit bill to see if public institutions are in compliance with Title IX. This may lead to an additional bill next year: requiring that public universities have gender equity offices.
- AB2159 (Brownley): Education Funding. This bill proposes fewer strings on money allocated to school districts.
AAUW CA President and Director of Public Policy added this: The following bills, listed in our public policy handout, were both killed in the CA Assembly Education Committee last week - AB2085 (Huff) and AB2086 (Huff).
Convention 2008: Advancing Equity through Research (plenary, April 5)
Presented by Catherine Hill, Ph.D., AAUW Director of Research
"Don't believe everything you think." What we know to be true changes. Years ago, everyone knew women couldn't be doctors. Ha.
AAUW's first research report confirmed that higher education did not hurt a woman's health. This was the beginning of AAUW's tradition of examining evidence. Later research included:
Our research keeps AAUW in the limelight, and people want to hear from us. AAUW has made recent headlines at cnn.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, and other media outlets.
As AAUW members, we need to make these reports our own for our one-on-one connections with other people. It's a great way to start a conversation.
Three points the new study shows:
Catherine asks us to recommend a topic to be the next AAUW research project on the AAUW blog.
"Don't believe everything you think." What we know to be true changes. Years ago, everyone knew women couldn't be doctors. Ha.
AAUW's first research report confirmed that higher education did not hurt a woman's health. This was the beginning of AAUW's tradition of examining evidence. Later research included:
- 1913 - AAUW's first study on pay equity.
- 1953 - AAUW's study on the use of media in forming public opinion. We had 140K members at the time. The report examined the new media of the day.
- 1988 - The Eleanor Roosevelt Fund was founded, producing 25 reports in 20 years.
- 1992 - "How Schools Shortchange Girls." A murmured complaint followed: that our research was hurting boys.
- 2008 - [to be released] "Where the Girls Are: the Facts about Gender Equity in Education."
Our research keeps AAUW in the limelight, and people want to hear from us. AAUW has made recent headlines at cnn.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, and other media outlets.
As AAUW members, we need to make these reports our own for our one-on-one connections with other people. It's a great way to start a conversation.
Three points the new study shows:
- When girls' scores go up, so do boys'. The report looks at high school graduation rates, SAT and ACT scores, and other sources.
- In states where girls do well, boys do well. There is no evidence that girls are hurting boys' achievement.
- A majority of low income girls are low in math proficiency in high school. Higher income girls are proficient. Therefore, family income remains important in the achievement of proficiency.
Catherine asks us to recommend a topic to be the next AAUW research project on the AAUW blog.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
