[CALIBK12] FW: O'Connell Urges Governor and Legislature Not to Delay Instructional Materials Adoption and Purchase

[Barbara Jeffus]

FYI.

Barbara Jeffus
School Library Consultant
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 3207
Sacramento, CA 95814
916.319.0445
FAX 916.319.0172
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb

School Libraries Improve Student Achievement.

From: COMMUNICATIONS
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 3:52 PM
To: COMMUNICATIONS
Subject: O'Connell Urges Governor and Legislature Not to Delay Instructional Materials Adoption and Purchase


REL#09-113


CONTACT: Ioannis Kazanis


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


PHONE: 916-319-0818


July 24, 2009


E-MAIL: ikazanis at cde.ca.gov




State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Urges Governor and Legislature

Not to Delay Instructional Materials Adoption and Purchase


            SACRAMENTO - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today issued the following statement regarding a provision in the state budget agreement - struck by the Governor and the Legislative Leadership - that would suspend the adoption of school instructional materials for five years.
"Over the last two years, education has been cut by a staggering $18 billion, and these cuts threaten to derail the progress we've made in our classrooms over the last several years.
"Unfortunately, on top of these deep cuts, the Governor and the Legislature are now calling for a delay in adopting instructional materials for our students for five years, significantly affecting learning in our schools. Each new version of our textbooks seeks to improve on the last as we learn what strategies and materials are most effective for teaching our students. Our latest Reading Language Arts/English Language Development books, for example, significantly have improved strategies for teaching English learners. Failing to provide new options for adopted instructional materials will hurt all students, especially our most vulnerable students, and threatens to increase our already unacceptable achievement gap.
"Students will not have new approved books until 2016. The impact is that tools for teachers, principals, and superintendents will be dated and stale and, in some cases, unavailable.
"We will have history textbooks that state there has never been an African American president nor will they include up-to-date lessons on the rise of terrorism and our new global challenge as a result.
"We will have science textbooks that don't mention the value of stem cell research. Global warming and climate change will affect our lives but will not appear in our textbooks.
"Our students deserve current and accurate materials. If this decision is allowed to stand, many of our students will be stuck with books that were printed before they were born.
"I fully appreciate the gravity of California's fiscal crisis, but I also understand that any long-term recovery from this crisis will be fueled by the students sitting in our classrooms today. But this recovery won't even get off the ground if we don't ensure that the classroom experience we provide students is of the highest order, and up-to-date instructional materials are an integral part of this experience.
"I would like to urge the Governor and the Legislature to strongly reconsider this move because they've already left our educators with the daunting task of doing much more with much less in our classrooms."



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The California Department of Education is a state agency led by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. The core purpose of CDE is to lead and support the continuous improvement of student achievement, with a specific focus on closing achievement gaps. For more information, please visit http://www.cde.ca.gov or by mobile device at http://m.cde.ca.gov/. You may also follow Superintendent O'Connell (@SSPIJack) on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sspijack.



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