Honors for reducing dropouts and boosting attendance. Now heres nbc bay areas Jessica Aguirre. Jessica aguirre hello and welcome to our class action news special. Im Jessica Aguirre and tonight we start with a very hot topic for any collegebound High School Student and their parents. Were talking about the sat. Now taking the sat is a timehonored tradition and a necessity for getting into many colleges. But the test is about to get a makeover. The new sat is almost here and it could be a gamechanger. Female have any of you thought about which colleges you would like to go to . Jessica these High School Students at Impact Academy in hayward have a lot to look forward to these days. Female i wanna go to stanford. Jessica including applying to college. Female if not ill go to uc berkeley. Jessica theyre attending a collegespring program that helps students take the highstakes sat. Female well, its nervewracking, actually. Jessica students here say the sat is daunting, partly because it doesnt reflect what theyve learned. Mark Daniel Graham its just not, like, not telling the colleges who i am as a person cause its not showing my academics behind it. Female sometimes they test you on stuff that youre never gonna know or, like, really need in life. Jessica those are some of the reasons why the sat is getting an overhaul. This is the last year of the old sat. Julie sayonara. Were really excited about the one thats coming up. Jessica Julie Gopalan says the new sat will more accurately reflect what students learn in high school. The idea behind the remodel . To level the Playing Field and make it more accessible. Julie i think the College Board is really working with equity in mind and working to make the test more fair. Jessica among the changes coming next year no more penalties for wrong answers, Vocabulary Words that are more relevant and the essay will be optional. Mark why couldnt they do this, this year . I would have loved to done the optional essay. Male the redesigned sat will be more focused and clear useful and open than ever before. Jessica also, the College Board wants to counter pricey private test prep with free online test prep from bay areabased khan academy. Sal this will be the best thing out there that happens to be free. Richard Greggory Johnson iii i think the efforts to overhaul it are moving in the right direction, but not far enough. Jessica but not everyones convinced that the new sat will be a better sat. Richard i think that people that are still marginalized, students that are still marginalized come from marginalized communities still wont be impacted positively by any of the changes that the sat officials are trying to make. Female yup, there you go. Good job. Jessica whatever the outcome of the new sat, these students in hayward are focusing on conquering this years sat and pursuing their college goals. Mark really, its all about endurance for me. Female remember, you can take the sat more than once. Most colleges will see the last time you took the sat. Jessica now, that new sat is coming in the spring of 2016. Lots of people will be taking it. The uc system is the nations largest Public Research university and gets more sat scores sent to it than any other institution of Higher Learning in the country. And joining me now to talk about this is michael mccawley. Michael is the director of admissions for uc santa cruz. Okay, off the bat, do we need this new sat . Michael mccawley i think were excited to see the changes that the sat is proposing. So i think the answer is yes. Jessica and what are we gonna see in terms of changes . What are students telling you . Michael well, i think what studentsyou know, what we hope to see is that the College Boards vision will be reality. Im gonna [clearing throat] clear my throat. I think that we are hoping that its gonna be more curricularbased. Were hoping that theyre going to really have the wherewithal to provide us greater information for students success at the college and university level. So this will help for their readiness for both college and career. Jessica so uc has announced that itll accept the new sat and its going back to the 1600 scoring, not the 2400, because its got this optional essay. But for uc, you need the essay. Michael thats correct. So our faculty which oversee the admission requirements for undergraduate students have already determined that we will use the new sat but we will require the optional essay part, just like we do right now. Because writing is such an essential Building Block for success at the university of california be it at uc santa cruz my campus, or any of the uc campuses. So we have required it for years with the act. We require the writing component for that so we really are going to continue to require it. Jessica okay, theres so much anxiety around this new sat, you know, not only the students but the parents. Im anxious and i only have a 14yearold, because there its unknown. You dont know whats gonna happen. Is there advantage to taking this new sat . Is there something you can say to parents that will calm them down . Michael i think whether it was old, new, theres always been anxiety about standardized test scores. And so what i would say to people is to really dont get anxious about this. Test anxiety really doesnt help students do their best anyway, so if families can dial it down a bit then i think that will help the student. If they truly are aligning this with High School Curriculum, then students are going to do better with this exam. Now, those that are already in high school, are taking the current sat, we will still accept and most colleges and universities around the nation, will still accept the old sat scores. And well always take the score that will most advantage the student. Jessica all right, on that question, there is the act and then there is the sat, the new sat. Whats the difference between the two tests, and is it more advantageous to take one than the other . Michael no, its not more advantageous. Some might say that the act really has been devoted to High School Curriculum more than the sat. I think there have been questions over the years who scores better on one than another. So you have lower income students, first generation students, underrepresented students that have shown over the course of time to do a little bit better on the act. So youll have some School Districts that will, you know, go ahead and promote more the act. We see a rising number of students taking both. And again, we will accept either but we will always use the one that advantages the student. Jessica i think a lot of the stress comes from that you think that if you dont get a good score on your sat, youre not gonna get into a uc school or a good school. Is that the onlyits not the only marker that you use michael correct. And i think its so important to point this out to students and their families, that the university of california as a whole conducts something called comprehensive review. So we have 14 different criteria that we use when were assessing students at any of the 9 general campuses. Jessica what are some of the other criteria . Michael so we use gpa obviously, the kinds of courses that a student has taken. We have the college prep courses, in california known as the a through g courses. But we also look at things like leadership, awards and activities, special projects. We look at things inside the classroom and outside the classroom. And what were really doing is were looking at the whole picture of a student, so the comprehensive review says, use multiple measures to look at what a student has achieved. And the test scores are only 1 of the 14 criteria. Jessica people feel that its so competitive getting into college now. Youve been doing this for 30 years. Is it harder to get into a college now than it was when i went to college . Michael it depends which colleges youre talking about. So the answer to that for the university of california would be yes, it is harder to get in. Jessica and that is why . Michael because theres more demand to get in and because we have limited Seats Available to students. We still areas a university, were still committed to our california students and if they meet the minimum requirements, we will have a seat for them somewhere in the university of california. Jessica but theres a lot ofwhether its a myth or not there is a lotthere is a perception that outofstate students are getting seats that should be going to california students. Michael i think thats a myth that we really need to keep addressing with our california cohort. Its not true so the fact is that outofstate students dont compete, dont take the spots of california students. We are enrolling at our campuses the entire cohort of californians that we get state funding for. In fact, some of the monies that are brought in by nonresident students are used jessica goes to pay for those california students. Michael are used to you know help other californians have access to the university. So iwhat i would say is that if you take this as a pedagogical issue, its going to enhance a california students education to have students from other states and other countries be part of their educational experience because when they enter a global society, either in the workforce or through graduate school, they arent gonna be competing with just california students. Jessica right. Okay, lay it out for me. What do i need to get into a uc school . Michael you need to be a very wellrounded student. You need to have excelled at your high school. You need to have taken a rigorous course load. So we dont want you, you know stressing out about this but we do want you to try to maximize your opportunities within your educational environment. So if your high school has a rich offering of honors courses, ap courses, advanced placement we want you to strive to take some of those and do well in them. And then we also wanna see your achievements outside the classroom. Now, we know that not all students can do that because they may have family responsibilities. So when they apply, we also want them to tell us that, too because we wanna think, again, of you in the context of your high school, in your home environment, in your community environment. Jessica okay, we have 15 seconds left. Tell me what youadvice you give to parents and students who want to apply to a uc school. Michael what i would say is strive to do your best and that the university of california is committed to california students. And when you go to apply, know that any of our uc campuses are a great fit for students. Jessica and take a breath. Michael including your daughter, at 15. Jessica i gotta get her prepped. Michael okay, good. Jessica thank you. Michael youre welcome. Jessica well, there is a Storm Brewing in the bay area. Learnstorm is up next. [music] on his quest, jack ventured far and wide. Through dust, fog and rain. Until he smelled something legendary. Garlic herb butter. Jack knew what to do. Take the cowboy with him. And thats how the buttery jack came to be. Our juiciest, butteriest craviest burgers ever. The new buttery jack burgers from jack in the box. Jessica and welcome back to our class action special. So, can you teach perseverance and grit . More and more educators think the answer may be yes, including the founder of khan academy. The education website has a new math competition for bay area schools where kids compete not just for top honors in math but top honors in hustle too. Sal and the students that im about to announce these are top 20 out of 50,000 students in the bay area. Jessica this rally at a Public School in East Palo Alto gives new meaning to the old phrase, getting an a for effort. Sal first place miriam ahola. Miriam when they called my name i justmy heart dropped. Sal jalen brian smith. Jalen i feel like screaming. I was, like, so proud of myself. Sal zaria stevenson. Zaria i thought i wasnt gonna be one of them. Jessica middle School Students from 49ers academy take the stage to celebrate their success in learnstorm, a bay area math competition from khan academy. Sal weve had 1500 schools participate and the 49ers academy here in East Palo Alto is at the very top of that in what we call our hustle leaderboard. Jessica the hustle leaderboard ranks perseverance and grit, schools and students who have the tenacity to stick with it, even when the going gets tough mathematically speaking. David hicks you have to get five right in a row. And so on that fifth question, in my room youre gonna hear ahh, and you know thats when a student has failed that last question. But they dont stop. They dont give up. John fensterwald i think khans been misunderstood, that it attempts simply to get kids to do better at math. Jessica John Fensterwald is with edsource a nonprofit education news and research organization. John but his goal all along is to produce confident learners who want to go at their own pace and succeed at their own pace. Female five times ten to the fourth power times six times ten to the negative third. Jessica back at the middle school, students keep on hustling in khan Academy Learning not just math but also lessons for life. Zaria ive failed a lot of times but i never give up. And it just pays off at the end. Jessica that it does. Now, learnstorm is open to all 3rd through 12th graders in the bay area and it lasts through april. In the east bay, two bay area School Districts get top honors from the state for boosting attendance. The state superintendent of schools named hayward unified and berkeley unified as model districts. Both work with their communities to prevent truancy and track student data. Jessica when we come back youll hear more from edsource. Well talk about the controversy over the common core. [music] all across the country new state standards called the common core are rolling out. Now, in some states, theyre in dispute. Parents say they cant understand the new math and some politicians say common core is a federal attempt to take over education. Now, here in the bay area, the critics havent gained much traction. The question is why . The editor at large of edsource is here to explain the common core for us and many other things happening in the world of education. John fensterwald joins us here. Okay, lets talklets start with common core. Wevea lot of the places people are complaining a lot about it but it doesnt seem like weve heard that much here. John no, theres relative peace for now in california, and when you look at the opponents its sort of the right and left. On the one hand, its turned into a very polarized republican versus democrat thing. Of course, in california its largely a Democratic State but thats only part of it. The other thing is teachers in new york and like are rebelling and encouraging people parents, to opt out. And one of the reasons is that in other states theyre using tests to judge schools and judge teachers right away. And california has decided not to do that. The other thing is that in california there is a consensus. The governor supports it the state board supports it, the legislature by and large is certainly supportive. Jessica so theres not much stirring of the pot . John no, theres not at all. Plus the Higher Education supports it, and thats key because they think that it will produce eventually students who are better ready for them. Jessica so one of the criticisms that you hear from parents all the time is about the math. A lot of parents dont like the math. I know the kids dont like the math, and the new math is supposed to be where you show your work. Its supposed to be where you demonstrate, and obviously, the kids dont like that. Why has the math been such a flashpoint . John well, part of it is that a lot of parents never liked math when they were young. Jessica that is true. John and they tend to judge based on how they learned math. And parents of younger children like to do it and i dont really think they understand the idea that there are many ways to under to get an answer and that this is encouraged and that students are verbalized how they got it. And common core math, whether it proves out to be effective or not, its really not a question of memorizing facts. It really is understanding the logic and the patterns of math. Its a very different way of teaching math and also requires teachers to do it. And thats a hardthats an uphill climb because there hasnt been a lot of preparation and a lot of teachers who came through the system werent taught that way either. Jessica okay, lets switch over to testing. Testing is a big, big thing. The api is gone. Theres a new test thats actually being tested. And a lot of parents used to use the api to figure out is my school doing well, is my school on track. So thats gone now. John suspended. Jessica suspended . Suspended for now. How are parents dealing with the change . What do you see happening with that . John well, i think that you have to look at the reason why california has done that. The state board has suspended it, basically, for two reasons. Number one is were into different standards and a different set of tests. So the feeling was if youre going to make a break and common core is a heavy lift, requires a lot of preparation, it really is important not to compare to the old state standards but to look ahead and take the time to do it well and not be focused on the one hand, youre testing under the old standards, at the same time as youre bringing in the new. So thats part. The other is were heading into a new accountability system where tests are not the only measure of Student Success or student achievement and school success. Jessica okay, another hotbutton topic teacher tenure. We hear people talk about this all the time. And there was just a new poll out that talks about tenure. Its from usc and the la times. So what does it tell us about how people perceive tenure and whether they think teachers should have it or not . John right, well, i think the interesting thing about poll and they didits very muchthe people polled said by over 80 , that teachers should get tenure more than 2 years which is now and youre a probationary teacher, then you get tenure which is all kinds of due process rights, makes it difficult to dismiss you. The people in the poll said, no, no, it should be, about 38 said, none at all. And others said, maybe 4 to 10 years. They also said you shouldnt lay off teachers based on seniority, but, and heres the but, they also said that they felt teachers by and large, a majority, said they were underpaid and they also expressed confidence that teachers should be leaders in the reform of their school. So its a very nuanced position that politicians who are in this polarized state of reform and antireform dont always get. Jessica it was interesting too in that poll because it also seemed to be a difference based on ethnicity, how they viewed teacher tenure and how they viewed testing, specifically, as well, right . John yeah. More testing than tenure. When you get 80 , its by and large, most people agree. Testing is interesting because it seemed that white parents and better off parents felt that there are too many tests and that its punitive. But latino parents felt that no, there either should be more testing or its just right and its really helpful for them because their kids really need to achieve more and they wanna know how theyre doing and how their school is doing. Its an interesting dichotomy. Jessica yeah, i also think probably, you know, with that whole latino thing, it might be a factor of when youre new to a country and you dont really understand the system, testing is black and white. You can see it in numbers where i think, you know, maybe caucasian parents often think, well, there are so many other ways to explore and learn. Its interesting to look at that. Lets also talk about dues and teacher dues and the way they pay their unions and the issue the way the money is being spent, that a lot of the money often goes into political campaigns to support candidates, and thats questionable for a lot of parents. John so there are two lawsuits now. The lawsuit, particularly, youre referring to, teachers, everyone who is served by a union, pays a fee and members pay dues. A portion of that is voluntary. Thats the political portion. And you dont have to pay that portion that goes to campaigning and lobbying. Thats voluntary. However, one suit that was just brought by organization studentsfirst and four teachers says no, its really not voluntary because if youre a member of the cta, you have all kinds of benefits that you dont get if youre not. So youre really sort of coerced to give these voluntary dues and be a member. The other lawsuit is a much interesting its just as interesting. May get to the Supreme Court next fall, which is to say you shouldnt be compelled to pay any dues at all, whether itnot just political but you shouldnt be compelled to be a member and pay a fee to have them represent you. And if that gets to the Supreme Court and its overturned, the ctas power will be greatly eclipsed. So its very hot issue. Jessica so youve been watching education in the state for a long time. Were finally getting funding back to some of the levels that were before. How do you see schools recovering now from the recession . John its been a huge infusion of money and it comesbut were still behind even now. Its about 1000 per child in california. It used to be a lot more before proposition 30 came and we got about 8 billion more. And so i think theres tension as to how that money is spent under the new system where it really is local control. Districts are deciding, not the state mandating as much anymore. So theres tension between well, Teachers Want raises. They havent had a raise in many years. There are also a need for restore counselors. There are also a need to do lots of things with this money, so its an exciting time to see how its spent but it doesnt completely resolve californias Adequate Funding issue. It still wont be adequate for many, many years. Jessica all right John Fensterwald thank you for being with us. Well be right back. [music] jessica well, thats gonna do it for us. Thanks for watching this class action education special. Well see you next time. [music] i like fun as much as anyone. But we need to talk about whoa what was that . About mustache safety. My blazin chicken sandwich has ghost pepper ranch sauce. You crave it. But you need to respect it. So remember keep it neat, before you eat the heat. Coming in hot jacks blazin chicken sandwich is back and its got a new bacon buddy. Theyre both firedup with spicy Crispy Chicken sliced jalapenos and ghost pepper ranch sauce. Youve. Been. Warned. The term smash and grab is a theft where youre in and out. Its super fast. Your first reaction is this is extraordinary. Its the stuff of hollywood. In the play grounds of a wealthy where diamonds sparkle in every window all thieves strike in broad daylight. People so surprised that mo one stopped them. 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