Last month, the California State Senate approved a bill to develop a Creativity and Innovation Education Index, to use as a tool to measure how schools are fostering creativity among their students. California is just one of several states to implement a law like this, Massachusetts being the first, according to Education Week.

The California Alliance for Arts Education describes the index:

A creativity and innovation index would provide a way for schools to rate their progress in teaching, encouraging and fostering creativity in students. Index scores would be voluntarily compiled by school and district staff from a survey of curricula and teacher reports. It would quantify the opportunities in each school as measured by the availability of classes and before and after-school programs offered by and through school districts that nurture creativity and innovation in students. Examples might include visual and performing arts education classes, debate clubs, science fairs, theatre and dance performances, music concerts, film-making, creative writing, and independent research.

To many people in education, it might seem like a shock that California is concerned with measuring creativity opportunities when the budget for arts classes and music programs has been cut in school districts all over the state in recent years. However, employers and business owners are saying that new applicants to the workforce are not equipped with the creativity and critical-thinking skills required to get hired.

We spoke with Mary Wright, Associate Director for The Conference Board, a business membership and research association, who specializes in the intersection of business and education. She was a leader on a report called, “Are They Really Ready To Work?” in 2006, which identified key skill sets that employers thought were important for their employees to have, and creativity / innovation were among the top five.

We spoke with Wright about the concept of a Creativity Index and how she thinks it could affect the workforce readiness of young people today.

Youth Radio: Explain in a nutshell, the findings of your workforce readiness research with regards to the need for non-academic skills.

Wright: We wanted to understand what business really meant by--new entrants are not workforce ready. We looked at both basic skills, which we took from No Child Left Behind-- the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and also asked about the applied skills, like 21st century skills. The applied skills are things around critical thinking, information technology application, teamwork and collaboration, and creativity and innovation. There are about 13 or 14 skill sets we looked at.

It was clear to us that the applied skills were the ones that were considered most important. Certainly, people would argue that math and science develop significantly critical thinking skills. They give you tools to figure out problems. But if you can’t communicate what you just learned or what you just did, you’re not as valuable in the workplace.

It was interesting given the emphasis that people have on STEM [science, mathematics, technology and engineering] skills, and yet, what employers were saying, it wasn’t the math skill that was important, it was the critical thinking skill. That would be true regardless of whether someone was in a STEM career or a retail career.

Governor Jerry Brown gave his State of the State address to Californians today. His proposed budget aims to fill the deficit of $9.2 billion dollars by cutting public programs and generating revenue from new tax initiatives. Among other cuts, Brown's budget suggests eliminating the Healthy Families Program, which currently provides health insurance to low-income teenagers and children, and switching them onto Medi-Cal insurance. 

Janet Coffman, Professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke with Youth Radio about the potential effects of this switch.

Youth Radio: Can you explain the magnitude of this proposed action? Is it just an organizational switch, or while it have ripple effects? 

Youth Radio recently wrote an article about Education Week's Quality Counts 2012 report, that gives a detailed analysis of how the U.S. compares to other countries in terms of education. Also included in this report is an evaluation, or report card, of each individual state's education system. Overall, California received a C-.

The report card is broken down into six areas: Chance for Success, K-12 Achievement, Standards, Assessments, and Accountability, the Teaching Profession, School Finance, and Transitions and Alignment.

California received its lowest grade--D--in the area of K-12 Achievement. This area measures things like 4-8th graders’ scores on national math and reading exams, achievement gains in math and reading, the change in the size of the poverty gap between 4-8th grade students, high school graduation rates, and advanced placement scores.

California’s highest grade--A--was in Standards, Assessments, and Accountability, which examines whether assessments are aligned to state standards, the types of test items, the amount of assistance to low performing schools, and rewards for high performing and improving schools.

In the category of School Finance, California's overall grade was a C-, but that grade is an average of two subcategories: Equity= B+ and Spending= F.

Californians can only wonder how our School Finance grade will change in upcoming years, with Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget. If taxpayers do not approve a tax increase, billions of dollars could be cut from education.

The following originally aired on KQED-FM.

By: Sayre Quevedo

Around this time last year I was busy applying to college. Clicking that ‘submit’ button on my online applications, I imagined myself in New York City, going to poetry readings and cramming for various exams. I listened to Patti Smith and Lou Reed over and over in anticipation of receiving acceptance letters. But my acceptance letters were followed by even more important pieces of mail, my federal financial aid statements, or FAFSA.

The minute I saw the amount of financial aid I qualified for, I knew that the price tag of my dream was way out of my budget. My mom is still paying off her college loans, and I had already spent more than I could afford paying for official transcripts, applications, and the ACT test. Tuition at my top school was 30,000 dollars a year and I was going to be on the hook for 2/3 of it.

By William Nelligan

I’m an intern on Capitol Hill this summer for a member of the Senate who voted against the debt ceiling deal today and who spoke for nearly an hour yesterday about how much he disliked it.

As I watched the vote in the Senate Gallery, I found myself feeling some very mixed emotions. I asked myself, is this what compromise is supposed to look like?

The whole debate has been a major topic of conversation among my friends in DC. Trust me when I say that this town has no shortage of informed and opinionated young people willing to offer their two cents on what has been going on in recent weeks.

Ryan Sellinger is a recent college graduate who works for another Senator only a few steps away from my office. Ryan and I argue, in the best sense of the word, almost daily about whether the President is a skilled negotiator or a flawed political leader. I tend to think closer to the former, he the latter. Accordingly, I can almost always count on him to push back on my logic. He didn’t today. “I still believe in the President,” Ryan said to me over lunch. Before I even had a chance to cut him off and tell him to get to the point, he continued, “I just believe in him a little less.” I was genuinely shocked. Ryan, who was always apt to blame the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, hadn’t been able to keep the faith? “I’m not sure anyone could deal with some of these House members,” he said, “at the same time, I can’t get away from the thought that he could have done a lot differently.” Ryan is fortunate enough that he doesn’t have to worry about student loans. That said, the end of his internship will likely not mark the end of his political career. “I am starting to really worry about what kind of mess this generation of leaders is leaving for the next,” he said.

This week in California, teachers are claiming a “State of Emergency.” Their goal is to get Governor Jerry Brown to bump up taxes to keep the education budget steady. According to SFGate, hundreds of teachers marched in Sacramento yesterday to protest. Other events planned for this week include “grade-ins” at local malls intended to demonstrate the amount of time teachers spend working outside of the school day.

How to spend money on education is a national hot topic as well. President Barack Obama has pledged to boost the graduation rate and "out-educate" global competitors by meeting and exceeding international standards. So what’s the strategy?

Dave Eggers, author and founder of writing program 826 National, points out in an op-ed for the New York Times that our response to an education crisis is drastically different than our response to a defense crisis. “When we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, ‘It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!’” he writes.

Instead, we blame the planners, strategists, and the secretary of defense. However, the trend in education is to blame the teachers for poor test scores and cut more money from the education budget.

In Eggers’ opinion, recruitment and fair treatment of teachers is key. Other countries with higher teacher salaries have better results - and are able to recruit their top college graduates into the field of teaching. (Check out an awesome infographic about teacher pay around the world.) BUT - most of all, these other countries trust their teachers. “They are rightly seen as the solution, not the problem,” he writes.

President Barack Obama released a federal budget proposal this week.  Here are some items relevant to young people.

Education:
Despite a proposed freeze on non-defense discretionary spending, President Obama's budget continues to fund programs like Race to the Top, and asks for $77.4 billion for education. Race to the Top is a fund for innovative educational reform. For FY 2012, the proposed funds will be awarded to individual school districts with the best plans for school reform, as opposed to states. This way, even if the state decides not to apply for the money, an individual district could still be eligible.

In addition, Obama would like to increase spending for public schools and maintain the Pell Grant fund at $5,550 per college student. But as a cost savings, the president's proposal limits the grants a student can receive in a year, making many students unable to get summer school aid if they receive a Pell Grant during the school year. The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduates and students applying to higher education programs.

Title X:
President Obama plans to allot $327 million to maintain funding for Title X, the Family Planning program.  According to the department of Health and Human Services, Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related health services. The more controversial aspect of Title X provides access to contraceptive services, supplies and information, and especially to low-income families.

Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides family planning to low-income women, and currently receives $75 million from Title X.  Opponents don’t want that money funding abortions.  According to the New York Times, the House of Representatives has proposed cutting the entire Title X budget which would eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Midterm elections are here!  Still don’t know who or what to vote for? The Midterm Youth Debate took place yesterday, which featured Democratic and Republican party leaders answering questions posed by youth. The debate airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on youthdebate.org.

Anthony Tedesco of Portable Heroes is founder and producer of the Presidential Youth Debates, and has put together a debate every year since 1996.  Since then, he’s had every presidential candidate participate.  The questions for these debates are submitted by people ages 13 - 30.  “In every debate we’ve included future voters. If you get them engaged at an early age, they are more likely to become lifelong voters,” said Tedesco.  

These are the issues that the party leaders responded to:
·      The two budget items they wouldn't cut
·      Three issues they would work in cooperation with their opposing party to resolve
·      What they will do to ensure equality and civil rights are taken seriously
·      When young Americans can expect to retire
·      What went wrong with the Gulf oil spill and how we can make sure it never happens again
·      When each party thinks we will move out of Iraq and Afghanistan
·      How both parties will work together to solve the health care crisis

You can view a written transcription of Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine’s response to the question of civil rights and the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy here.

Tedesco said, “We reached out in non-partisan ways to solicit the questions - through Rock the Vote, youth media organizations, and student associations.  It’s important to tie politics to something that youth care about, and give them the information they need to make a decision.”

Sadly this is not a breakfast burrito of news, just a wrap-up of the week so far in Oakland and Alameda County as a whole.

There's been a lot of news this week, and not all of it good. Starting with the downbeat (and moving on to the relatively brighter):

Alameda County Leaders Say "The Worst is Yet to Come".

No one can accuse politicians in Alameda County of being possessed of brainless optimism. Not when they host economic forums with the title "The Worst is Yet to Come". County Supervisor Keith Carson's office issued a press release on the forum to share the gloom and doom:

[Carson], who chairs the Budget Workgroup, said Alameda County has been proactive over the last several years in streamlining its operations – and therefore has been able to avoid some of the drastic cuts seen in other counties. This year, he said, Alameda County may be forced into making cuts that will be nothing short of devastating to County residents, including families and children.

“Board members, Administration, Management and Labor have all made major sacrifices to keep our budget in balance, but those cuts are now beginning to have a visible impact upon the safety net and upon those who have nowhere else to turn for help,’’ Carson said.

Ticket The Poor!

Meanwhile, in Oakland, the hunt for revenue seems to have led the bureaucracy* down some dark, narrow streets: to ticket the cars forced to park halfway on the sidewalk that is. Yet it turns out parking officers (who are called Traffic Wardens in England, which is much cooler, I wish I was British sometimes) ACTUALLY HAVE SOULS. Well some of them at any rate, since they have begun speaking out on the unfairness of the practice. It seems that the Parking Enforcement brass sent them out to ticket in poor neighborhoods but left the richer parts of town unscathed. Which makes absolutely no sense when you stop to think about it. As the old proverb goes: you can't get blood from a stone, but you can totally get $60 from anyone living in Piedmont just for asking.

Safety Zone Dance

And it's not like the poor parts of town have it easy. City Attorney John Russo filed a civil lawsuit seeking an injunction against the North Side Oakland gang. Injunctions are a popular tactic in cities with big gang problems like Los Angeles. The injunction would create a safety zone that borders the up and coming hipster mecca Temescal. Not to be cynical about it. (Looking at the map I see that the Cold Gunnaz gang apparently runs my old neighborhood- just two blocks away from Children's Hospital. Classy.)

By now you're wondering where that "brighter news" I promised is.

Fighting Immigration Fraud

John Russo's been a busy bee this week, as his office is hosting an Immigration Workshop this Saturday at Oakland's City Hall. Free private consultations with immigration attorneys will be available to the first 200 people who show up starting at 10 AM. It seems that a company called American Legal Sevices has been ripping off immigrant families, and while the City Attorney has filed suit his office is also taking steps to make sure the immigrant community has the information it needs to fight the fraud.

Dance Party Safety

Finally, Berkeley went and had itself a riot last night. (You: "Hey! I thought you said we we're gonna end on an up note!" Me: "It's Berkeley, different rules.") Apparently an on-campus dance party turned into an occupation of Durant Hall which then turned into a riot on Telegraph involving more than 200 people and six law enforcement agencies. With the tensions on campus getting higher as the budget cuts are felt more deeply, we might be seeing more of this. Maybe someone should fix the state or something.

California is hurting.

The state this year faced a 26+ BILLION dollar deficit that prompted deep budget cuts. It's a cycle that's familiar to Californians- one that sometimes seems to be the natural state of affairs. ScoopDaily's Kevin Swanson takes that "it's just the way things are" notion to task this week in his thoughtful piece "California: the Death of A Nation". Kevin's piece starts out by looking at a local school bond measure in his native Marin County and follows the (lack of) money right back to it's source:

The main culprit in California’s fall into perpetual fiscal disaster is 1978’s Proposition 13. Unlike other states that rely on property taxes for state and local revenues, Prop 13 limits California’s property taxes to 1% of the assessed value of the property, while each year the assessed value may not increase by more than 2%. As a result, California is dependent on income taxes for nearly half of its revenues. During last year’s recession, continued economic downturn and high unemployment this revenue stream diminished pushing the state into insolvency.

California’s lawmakers are also hindered by a 1933 Constitutional provision that requires a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses to pass a budget and raise taxes. According to TIME Magazine, California is the only state in the nation with this rule. Republican legislators have capitalized on this oddity with outright refusals to cooperate with Democrats for any revenue increases needed to balance the state budget.

(via ScoopDaily formerly Scoop44)