Board of Directors Meeting Reports
May 2010

President

May 2010 CATE President’s Report
Bob Chapman, President

1. Correspondence — not much to report here though I am officially getting correspondence from both the President and Vice-President of the United States these days: oh, and from our governor too.
2. CATE Resolutions went out though I have to admit I think some of our recipients paid no attention because I have gotten little feedback from them.
3. NCTE Stuff
   
   1. NCTE Advocacy Day—was very successful.  I met with Boxer and Feinstein staffers, as well as with Mike Thompson, my Congressman (First District), and had good discussions with all.  NCTE had two "asks" this year: one for the LEARN Act (HR 4027/S2740) and the other a broader one titled "Support Teachers as Professionals in Defining Teacher Effectiveness."  There was much discussion regarding ESEA Re-authorization/Reform—Obama’s Blueprint for Reform and whether it will happen this year or not.  I did my plug for NWP and CWP and had nods and agreement, but Thompson was candid about the current lack of support for funding for education.  I also brought up the NGA’s Common Core State Standards Draft and how that may impact California’s own State Standards. 
   2. NCTE Affiliate Annual Report is coming up in June and July.  All the parts need to be completed (mine, Anne’s, Joan’s).
   3. NCTE Affiliate Leadership Conference is in Indianapolis, Indiana for July 9 – 11.  The due date for registration is June 1st.  Is anyone going from CATE/CATE Local Councils?
   4. NCTE Affiliate Award nominations must be submitted by May 1st.  We did not have a secondary award for our convention this year, so Classroom Excellence is out.  What about Leadership?  Or others?
4. Commendations to:
   1. 2010 Conference Coordinator, Chair and Committee
   2. Kathleen Cecil and the Resolutions Committee
   3. Michelle Berry for all her help these last two years
5. Curriculum Study Commission – Asilomar: Those of us on the BOD who have gone before need to go this September and bring colleagues with us.  I don’t want to see the CSC’s Asilomar Conference die.  Please register soon.
6. Kathy Allen is retiring from the CATE Board, we will miss her, and I applaud her service to CATE and the profession.
7. Other – I am sure I am forgetting much here, but it has been a surprisingly good year (under the horrible circumstances) and I hope my presidency has been good for CATE and has had some positive impact on the profession.

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Vice President

Charleen Silva Delfino, Vice-President

As Vice President I have worked to set up the May Meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Costa Mesa, after Punky made the initial contact and received an incredible deal.  Although the financial deal could not be passed by, this hotel had unusual ways of working and especially of setting up the meal arrangements. 

As the Chair of the Executive/Finance Committee I contacted people who I thought might have a unique way of looking at cuts to the budget.  Some of those suggestions will be shared during the meeting.  Many people were thinking "out-of the box" and made some interesting and bold proposals. 

I also attended the Joint Committee on Instructional Materials meeting in Sacramento.

I chaired the Committee to score the California entries in the NCTE Promising Young Writers Contest.  The number of entries was about double what we had last year.  I want to thank those who helped with the scoring: Jill Hamilton Bunch, Susan Dillon, Kim Flachman,  Punky Fristrom, Nancy Himel, Liz McAninch, Carol Surabian, Bill Younglove.

I would like to urge each of you to consider attending the Asilomar Conference in the beautiful Monterey Peninsula, September 24-26.  This unique conference allows each participant the opportunity to join a group that will pursue a topic of interest throughout the weekend.  In addition there are general sessions where authors, Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina) and Robert Hass ( U.S. Poet Laureate) will offer keynote addresses on Friday Evening and Sunday Morning. Mahbod Seraji will discuss his novel, Rooftops of Tehran in one of the Around the Hearth sessions on Saturday night,  a weekend session will be devoted to each of these authors.  Units of credit will be available.  You and your colleagues will find this weekend to be an informative, restorative experience.  Hope to see you there.

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Past President

Michelle Berry, Past President

Best wishes to Kathy Allen as she leaves us after many years as Board member.  We'll miss her bringing terrific children's books to share at meetings, her participation in discussions, and her willingness to serve so often in a wide variety of ways.

Thanks go to Ron Lauderbach for his terrific representation of Greater San Diego, and to Liz McAninch for her steady leadership of Central.  Charleen has been invaluable as vice president for four years, arranging the myriad of details so that our Board meetings run as smoothly as possible, arranging hotel rooms and meals, meeting spaces, and such.  But they're not going anywhere, because…

The election results have been tabulated.  While the number of ballots was quite small, I will move for ratification of the ballot results:

President	Charleen Delfino
Vice President	Elizabeth McAninch
Member-at-Large, Secondary	Ron Lauderbach
Member-at-Large, Elementary	Denise Mikkonen
Council Representatives:
Capitol	Angus Dunstan
Central	Susan Dillon
FACET	Shannon Taylor
Greater San Diego	Lisa Ledri
Kern	Kim Flachmann
Southland	Nancy Himel
TUCATE	Carol Surabian
Upper	Shelly Medford

NCTE Awards were divvied up to the appropriate committees at the February meeting. As they are due this week and I haven't heard that anyone needs assistance, I will assume they have been turned in, or not. Extensions are traditionally available should they been necessary.

CATE Classroom Excellence Awards for February 2011 are to be rotated to these councils. Remember that councils must nominate their specified grade level before nominating another, and that nominations are to be kept secret until President notifies the recipient in December (Policy 10.4).

Capitol	College
Central	Middle
Fresno	Secondary
Kern	Middle
Redwood	College
San Diego	Secondary
Southland	Elementary
TUCATE	Elementary
Upper	Elementary

Awards of Merit will again be nominated by each council interested in doing so (Policy 10.2).

Distinguished Service Award Nominations will be requested of all past presidents this summer. Those names come to a committee at the September Board meeting to determine if they qualify by current policy and criteria. Those finalists are notified in September, invited to submit biographical info, and an Awards Committee will select the finalist/nominee for ratification at the December Board meeting (Policy 10.3).

Virginia Reid Award will be nominated by Central Council for 2011 (Policy 8.9).

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Secretary

Carrie Danielson, Secretary

Since the last board meeting I have edited the 2009 Annual Business Meeting Minutes, written the 2010 Annual Business Meeting Minutes, written and published the minutes for the February CATE Board meeting, and with Cindy Conlin's help, uploaded those to the website. I updated the roster and sent it via email to our board members All of these, including our updated roster were emailed to Millie Davis at NCTE. I attended Promising Practices and the Writing Awards Ceremony organized by GSDCTE. As part of the Policy Committee, I mailed several members of the California Legislature introducing myself, CATE, and the recent CATE Resolutions, and sadly, have not heard back from any of them. I will persevere with this, as now am an curious about how to get their attention.

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Membership

Joan Williams, Chair

#  COUNCIL	5/08	9/08	12/08	2/09	5/09	9/09	12/09	2/10	4/10	+/-
1  Redwood	25	21	18	26	29	31	31	22	23	+1
2  Upper	36	35	33	11	22	20	20	7	17	+10
3  Capitol	91	95	95	80	98	70	60	38	43	+5
4  Central	435	386	402	354	411	317	250	180	203	+23
5  Fresno	57	53	51	28	35	36	34	20	31	+11
6  TUCATE	17	18	17	12	13	21	20	19	30	+11
7  Kern	45	47	47	29	30	24	25	31	33	+2
8  Southland	733	682	655	306	335	310	303	226	426	+200
9  San Diego	204	151	167	101	103	106	94	72	80	+8
50 Out-of-state	40	37	37	21	23	17	18	17	21	+4
55 Libraries	24	23	21	21	21	20	21	20	20	-
99 Comps	2	2	2	1	3	3	3	3	2	-1
TOTAL	1709	1550	1545	990	1123	975	882	655	929	+274

 

• Hooray for increased membership—amazing what a convention can do for our numbers! Even so, we are still down substantially from 2 years ago.
• Electronic membership rosters have been sent to board members. Let the membership chair know if you do not receive them. Consider using them to check against February’s rosters to contact the folks that just recently joined to welcome them personally.
• New reminders/communications to members will be ready to launch next month after final revisions are made.
• Thank you to all who assisted in the CATE booth at the convention.

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CTA Board Report

Debra Martinez, Liaison

A.  At the last state council meeting, council voted to support the following candidates:
 Jerry Brown for Governor; Tom Torlakson for Superintendent of Public Instruction; Gavin Newsom for Lieutenant Governor; Dave Jones for Insurance Commissioner; Chris Parker and Jerome Horton for Board of Equalization, Second and Fourth Districts, respectively.  It also voted to oppose Proposition 14-Elections:  Open Primaries.  A complete list of CTA-supported candidates can be found at www.cta.org.

B.  CTA has also been impacted by budget losses.  Membership reductions from two years of educator layoffs have resulted in a $10 million reduction in the CTA budget.  The CTA Board and Budget Committee are taking a proactive approach to keep CTA strong and maintain a balanced budget.

C.  CTA state council also approved the following:

• A recommendation that CTA support the circulation of the Califonia Democracy Act petition.  This act would reduce the two-thirds vote requirement for the Legislature to pass a state budget and raise revenues.
• Authorized up to $1 million from the Initiative Fund to support CTA's position opposing Prop. 14, the Open Primaries initiative.
• The CTA ESEA Reauthorization Workgroup developed its own set of principles for ESEA Reauthorization.

D.  The following is the tentative agreement that the Capistrano Educators Association reached with the district:

1. Three year contract – July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012.
2. Two contract re-openers in 2011/12.
3. Formula that automatically restores furlough days and wages as the revenue limit and student growth increase. The formula is complicated, but can be summed up in the following statements:

• The District has to receive $1.7 million in new money through a combination of more dollars per student and/or more students.
• The threshold to trigger a 0.50%, which equates roughly to one furlough day or 0.50% in salary, is an increase of $35 per ADA, 650 more students, or a combination of the two.
• All salary and furlough days are restored when the base revenue limit hits $5,484. The base revenue limit is currently $4,983.

4. Increase the POS Health Benefit hard cap to the 2010 rate, instead of the 2009 rate.
5. Previously agreed to language on working conditions, leaves and transfers will be incorporated into the contract. See attachment.
6. No reprisals against any unit member engaged in the strike or events leading up to the strike.
All unfair labor practices, by both parties, shall be withdrawn

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4 C's

Bill Younglove, Liaison

CATE Racing to Open All Roads

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 at the Capitol
1:00 PM Welcome and Introductions – Dr. Brad Huff, Chair, 4Cs

"I welcome all our member organizations to this year’s Education Summit.

"Thank you to everyone who participated in the online meeting last October for your excellent suggestions for speakers for today. In particular I want to recognize Sue Westbrook, Vice Chair, Pauline Newton, Treasurer, and Fred Jones, Legislative Advocate for two of our member associations, for their help with the numerous details that went into making today a success.

"We have an outstanding program this afternoon: Paul Navarro, Chief Deputy for Legislative Affairs for the Governor, Richard Zeiger, Chief of Staff for Assembly Member Tom Torlakson (substituting for Erin Gabel, who is a new mom) and a panel:
Representative of the California School Boards Association
Bob Wells, Executive Director, Association of California School Administrator
Gary Ravani, President, EC/K-12 Council, California Federation of Teachers
Pat Rucker, Legislative Advocate, California Teachers Association

1:15 PM  Paul Navarro, Chief Deputy for Legislative Affairs, Office of the Governor

"It is a political environment. Conflict can be a good thing. It brings out alternative views." The state is in survival mode with a $20 billion deficit. We did the best we could, taking dollars from health and human services to ‘protect’ education. State Board of Education vacancies? The Governor will make those appointments.

The Governor's Office reported that February receipts were $480 million above the Governor's January 2010-2011 budget estimates (a great change from a year ago when an extra special legislative session was required). The state, of course, still carries a structural debt of $20 billion. April tax receipts are crucial to shaping the June budget.
    
There is a question regarding funding for higher education, as to whether the federal stimulus funds are still supplementing educational programs, or whether they are supplanting funds which the state is legally required to pay.

Q: Bob Barthousen, California Automotive Teachers – Support for CTE? Graduation requirements? The Governor is (still) a proponent of CTE, but legislation linked to high school graduation is linked to President G.W. Bush's International Competitiveness Act [The reference is to STEM legislation to help prepare 100,000 new, predominantly math and science teachers, 10,000 of whom will be in California.
Bill Younglove note].

Q: Jim Howlett, California Industrial Technology Educators Association – Algebra for all is a failure. Cannot these topics be inserted in CTE courses?

A: We need to keep algebra for those students who, otherwise, would take the easy path. Algebra needs to have a specific sequence at grade levels, tied to job entry requirements.

Q: Bill Younglove, California Association of Teachers of English – We understand there are economic cycles, but California is now last of the 50 states in supporting education. Are there new approaches possible?

A: All states are in the same boat.

Q: Jeff Freitas, California Federation of Teachers – Categorical funding?

A: There are goals. Let the districts decide how to spend the dollars based on their needs. Structural funding for education has to address various levels and inequities. The Education Code, of course, governs the criteria.

2:30 PM Richard Zeiger, Chief of Staff, Assemblymember Tom Torlakson

"Despite minimal resources test scores are rising, Advanced Placement – more kids are doing better."

AB 2273 would restore power to the SPI office, away from the California Supreme Court's upholding of State Board of Education's rights a few years back. We are fighting for the souls of students. Torlkason is supportive of promising teaching practices, better learning conditions, graphic arts type programs replacing former shop classes, and an objective numerical assessment system which can be easily understood by parents. AB2273 proposes a new academic index: What do we want a high school education to be? Currently the accountability is too narrow. We need to change testing. Multiple measures of success: academic achievement, attendance, graduation rates, financial literacy, college or career paths, health and fitness, etc. We need to track student success, which can include objective/numerical measures.

 "We forget we educate students one-by-one. One size fits all is not working. We are in a fight for the soul of public education in California."

 AB 97 provides a mechanism to update the standards and curriculum.

"We need to support neighborhood schools. "School choice" misses the point. By 2 to 1 parents want their neighborhood schools to be their schools of choice. They want to know how to judge their schools."

Assemblymember Tom Torlakson is on track to run for the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in a largely three-way race (twelve candidates total).

3:45 PM PANEL – Brad Huff, Moderator

Erika Hoffman, Principal Legislative Advocate, California School Boards Association

Bob Wells, Executive Director, Association of California School Administrator

Gary Ravani, President, EC/K-12 Council, California Federation of Teachers

Patricia Rucker, Legislative Advocate, California Teachers Association

Innovation is a buzzword in RttT. Does California have something like Florida’s Virtual School in the pipeline? (FVS allegedly delivers 200,000 individualized courses to students over the Internet.)

Discussion: There is some activity in this area.

Who in California is championing ‘Ning Groups’ for teacher support (an example of peer-driven, bottom up learning over centrally-driven, top-down instruction) and other innovations in curriculum and instruction?

Discussion: "Championing" is the wrong word. There is an ACSA online support network. "Publicizing" would be a better word. The problem, also, is who is "championing"—i.e., making money at public expense? Too, is it multigenerational? Wiring and monitoring cost money. There should be individual decisions to take part, to make the best choices.

What is happening with vocational education and elective options in California schools – and what will happen under RttT?

Discussion: Right now, we are going from the institution to the individual. In the future, we need to do the reverse.

Which curriculum project fosters innovative approaches that use technology students enjoy and understand, opening the classroom to the world through communication, inquiry, and problem-solving through creative thinking?

Discussion: Is there any concern that RttT is being driven by business and industry, since conflict of interest issues are being raised?

Discussion: RttT costs $17 billion last year. RttT does not have all high schools looking at what is a rich high school experience. The problem, also, is we can't evaluate software programs, such as CTE ones.

Why are teachers left out of policymaking? (See Potted Plants and A Fly on the Wall, below.) Teachers find policy made by industry and politicians is "arrogant and uninformed", that is, where do teachers, classroom teachers, figure in California policy-making?

Discussion: We must change the conversation.

What is being done to foster cooperation and collaboration at school sites, and where does trust in and respect for teachers originate or get rebuilt?

Discussion: What is the role of unions with respect to RttT and innovation?

Discussion: How can we reward innovation? Competence can be defined also by how and when instruction is delivered. Innovation is a business/technical term. The problem is kids competing, versus cooperating.

How will RttT narrow the achievement gap and reduce the drop-out rate? (Research on testing, for example, has found that when high-stakes tests obtain, educators tend to teach to them. Other things typically happen as well: The curriculum narrows to what is tested, instruction narrows to test-prep skill-drill, and students previously disaffected with academic studies become even more so, as they suffer through more skill-drill work, and consequently tend to drop out. These are usually kids from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.)

Discussion: We do not need to test everything the child does in the school setting.

What is the future for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills – P21 – in California?

Discussion: What is available for students when they finish high school is key.

What do you know about the UTeach program that originated at the University of Texas and is a major factor in STEM initiatives to produce more science and math teachers?

Discussion: [See earlier, about President G.W. Bush's International Competitiveness Act. Bill Younglove note.]

Assembly Member Torlakson has legislation to review the effectiveness of California’s STAR testing. Has STAR improved instruction? Has NCLB? Will RttT? (Funding does not go to education. The funding goes to testing and test preparation. While the tests are used to measure educational effectiveness, nobody measures the tests for effectiveness.)

Discussion: Regarding curriculum and textbook issues, linked to STAR, is that, according to the state Education Code, the districts are the "main men."

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 at Hawthorn Suites
9:10 a.m. start:

Legislative Advocates’ Debrief, Discussion, Association Input

4C’s Business Meeting
Brad: Announcements: re SB 1186 Educational Governance

Jeff (CFT): Paul Navarro is point man for teacher contract issues, classified and certificated (re: probation, tenure, etc.)

Shared, in detail, K-16 Report from the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO):

The Governor's State-of-the-State said that he was cutting education the  least amount to not hurt—i.e., "protecting education."

1. Included: Gas Tax Swap (circa $5 billion?)—to backfill the lowered General Fund which would lower the Prop 98 amount.
2. '08-'09: Change of basic factor; wants to renew—#11.2 billion?
3. Has to file waiver to not meet maintenance factor—from '09.
4. RttT: Was incorporated into the Governor's 1/9/10 budget.

[If this helps at all, the LAO said at the March 19th Ed Source Conference in Santa Clara that perhaps only two dozen people in all of Sacramento fully understand Prop 98—Bill Younglove note.]

The state Standards will not be changing soon.

We need four reforms: RttT, parent initiative, charter school operations (need to deal with dropouts, nonattendance, low scores, etc.), and accountability. There are but two phases to RttT, but there will be a third opportunity to apply. Could community colleges operate charters? Will ROP funding be co-opted? Will there be a bill to flatline Prop 98 (setting a given amount); there not be a level, or formula?

The political scene: Governor's race (Poizner, Whitman, Brown)
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Romero, Torlakson, Aceves, Blake, Gutierrez, Deligianni, et al.)
AB 314: re: JCIM public input on teacher materials
AB 970: re: Native American inclusion
AB 234: re: Energy bill
SB 46:   re: Statute of limitations for sex crimes
SB 798: re: Afterschool funding
A bill—Re: STAR, test given in six major languages?

Re: Charters schools  First one: 3 Ms's, in 1990, in MN, due to unhappiness with area schools (Diane Ravitch said at UCLA—on April 12th, that charter schools were founded, initially, to help student 

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Central Council

Liz McAninch, Representative

Central hosted its annual Writer’s Reception on April 25 in Rist Hall at the Mercy High School campus in San Francisco.  Recipients of CATE and NCTE writing awards attended this festive event with families and friends. 

A party to welcome new board members and celebrate the work of retiring board members will be held in early June at Bev Kreps’ home in Carmel.  The new slate of officers:  President -Susan Dillon; Vice-President -Trevor Guinea; Secretary - Bev Kreps and Treasurer -Kathy Nichols. 

Central looks forward to the Asilomar Conference in the fall. It’s a wonderful weekend of scintillating conversations with other English teachers, absorbing seminars and the opportunity to win an incredible "Chiyo" basket.

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Kern Council

President: Kim Flachmann, CSUB

Sponsored Year Memberships for four CATE 2010 college presenters.

Scheduled next Kern County Board Meeting:  May 14, 2010, 4:00–6:00, Marie Callender's

Scheduled first "Coffee with CATE" in honor of Teresa Sweeney, Kern County Excellent in Teaching Award Winner for 2010: June 8, 2010

Advertised summer Vocabulary Workshop, July 16, 2010, with speaker, Nancy Frey, co-author of Word Wise and Content Rich

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GSDCTE Representative

Ron Lauderbach, Representative

Two weeks ago, GSDCTE put on our Promising Practices conference. Our keynote Stacy Goldblatt fascinated all of us with her excellent presentation. Last weekend, Carole LeCren organized another entertaining and stimulating weekend retreat, at the UCLA conference center, in Arrowhead. We look forward to our annual awards banquet on May 26, where we will present awards to San Diego student writers and enjoy Patricia Santana as our speaker.

As my seemingly fast two-year presidential terms winds down, I want to recognize the invaluable support of the board, particularly: Punky, Robin, and Carole, and welcome Lisa Aguilar-Ledri as our new president.

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TUCATE

Carol Surabian, Representative

TUCATE has planned an afternoon of celebration for May 13.  We are inviting our Writing Contest winners, our new members (we increased by 10!), and anyone else who is interested.  We plan to honor our award winners and celebrate the almost end of the year.

We continue to look for ways to keep the members we have and develop more ways to impact English teachers in our council.

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Upper Council

Shelly Medford Council Representative

Due to an increased amount of activity at my school site, and personal commitments that I needed to attend to, I have been unable to concentrate on Upper council activity at this time.  At the convention, I touched base with several members of our council who wish to increase our activity.  I will contact them after the May board meeting, at which time budget cuts and proposals regarding councils will be discussed which may affect Upper’s local council make up. 

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SCTE Report/Convention 2010 Chair

Nancy Himel, Representative

As CATE 2010 Chair, I can say I am glad it is over and that we made a 42,000 dollar profit. I thank everyone who helped in any way, little to large, to make this the convention it was. And Bob, thanks for not taking my head off when I woke you at 3:15 AM to tell you Juno Diaz was stuck in Boston. And Richard and Brian saved the night when they helped Skype him to our big screen. I think the attendees had a great time, and we are all responsible for that together. We had great presenters, great exhibitors, great decorators, great registrars – you were all just great everywhere at every moment. I loved the reception in the hospitality suite; some exhibitors did not leave until a few hours later. And Joanne and Phyllis, the food you conjured up in the suite was superb. Punky, Anne, Cheryl and Carol – this could not have happened without you, of course. Here's to 2011, Michelle, convention is all yours. I promise to help in any way I can.

SCTE held their Victorian Tea and honored our local writing award winners, 13 of them, under the watchful eye of Joanne Fahey. Two weeks ago, 22 members spent the day at Bergamot Station, a Santa Monica art complex for our annual Spring Fling. We met with the founder of Writers' Boot Camp, a place where Hollywood screenwriters meet to learn and workshop their work. We made a great connection, I think. We may be able to get some big-name writers/produces and maybe even actors for CATE if we would like them. He would like to work with us if we figure out a way.

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Convention Coordinator

Punky Fristrom, Coordinator

In spite of reduced attendance at the 2010 convention, which was caused by the economy, the convention was a success and did well financially considering the conditions, as the treasurer’s report shows.

The good work of convention chair Nancy Himel and her local committee was reinforced by strong support from the board in planning and putting on the event. The goal of having a smooth running convention with all the problems occurring behind the scenes, unseen by the attendees, was reached.

Michelle has been working on 2011 and will ask for board approval as needed at this meeting. At the board’s request, Anne and I traveled to Sacramento and were partially successful in negotiating an addendum to our contract for 2011. The addendum reduces our probable attrition charges by about $50,000.

CATE’s financial situation is such that it is not a good time to pursue appointing a convention consultant. With continued strong support from board members on various aspects of the convention, I think we can continue as we are.

Punky Fristrom

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CATE Registrar's Report

Eddie Hase, Registrar
May 2010

Registration

This year's registration count was 565 people. This is down by 20 people from last year. This number included award winners, presenters, and authors. There were 45 people that registered on-site from Thursday to Sunday. The number of purchase orders was down from last year to only 47. On-line registration was at 200 people. The percentage of on-line registration has increased over the last three years. Schools are also registering on-line, which makes money collection easier. One Day registration has doubled from last year almost. There were 60 One Day registrations on both Friday and Saturday. There were 129 presenters registered and many took advantage of the One Day registration. The Pre Convention registration was very successful this year with 102 people. There were 48 complementary registrations given out; this included award winners, volunteers, guest speakers, and authors. The number of New Members to register was 326. This is up from last year by 125 people.

Package Breakdown

There were; 29 Package A, 48 Package B, 46 Package C, 331 Registration Only (120 were One Day registration), 6 student teachers, and 73 Pre-convention only.

Registration Booth

The registration booth was run very efficiently. Thursday night registration was very slow, leaving the biggest rush on Friday morning and afternoon. There were plenty of volunteers to handle the registration booth on all three days. On-site registrations and all other problems were handled in a timely manner.

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California English

Carol Jago, California English editor

The CATE finance committee asked me to look at the journal budget and see where we might make cuts in light of the current economic conditions we are grappling with in the council. As I have already convinced our publisher to print 5 copies of CE for the price of 4 ½, going back to 4 issues won’t save us that much. What I recommend is that we go from 32 to 24 pages five times a year, and that I reduce my editor’s honorarium to $800. The savings to CATE would be approximately $9.500 per year.

The April issue of California English included all of the CATE Creative Writing contest winners. Many thanks to all who helped me get electronic copies of the winning entries. The magazine also featured a special page celebrating CATE2009 and include a SAVE THE DATE message for CATE2010. You will also note that Barbara Bartholomew’s professional update column features an interview with Diane Ravitch about her new book – and change of mind about education in America.

I have submitted the February 2010 issue on California Writers to NCTE for the affiliate journal award. It was a really strong issue with a powerful regional theme.

Submissions have been steady helped in great part by support from Jayne Marlink and other CWP directors urging fellows to contribute. That said, it continues to be the case that individual requests to write for the journal make a huge difference in the number of articles submitted. Jim Burke's English Companion ning has been a valuable conduit for finding reviewers for manuscripts.

In terms of advertising, I contacted Alan Sitomer's publisher and they have purchased three installments of his Book Jam product for full color back cover pages. Heinemann purchased the back cover of the April issue for Jim Burke's new book What's the Big Idea?

California English
Call for manuscripts
June 2010
Letters to a Young Teacher
(deadline May 1, 2010)

Modeled after Rainer Maria Rilke’s slim volume Letters to a Young Poet, Basic Books publishes a series that includes Letters to Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Therapist by Mary Pipher (author of Reviving Ophelia), and Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulod. This issue of California English pays homage to Jonathan Kozol’s Letter to a Young Teacher by inviting you to submit your own letter to an imaginary or real young teacher. Feel free to write a collection of short notes or one longer letter. You might include insights from your experience, questions that you continue to grapple with, and advice for anyone contemplating a life in the classroom.

September 2010
What Makes a Great Teacher?
(deadline July 15, 2010)

Research by Linda Darling-Hammond demonstrates that teachers make a dramatic difference in the achievement of students. But what makes a great teacher? California English would like to help the profession define what it means to be effective in the classroom. I invite you to offer your own definition, offering examples from your experience with students as well as with other teachers. Tell stories, offer sample lessons, feel free to be creative in your response to this question.

Manuscripts are peer reviewed. Please send submissions to California English editor, Carol Jago. Articles should be limited to 2,500 words. Please submit manuscripts via email to jago@gseis.ucla.edu.

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CWP Report

Jayne Marlink, Liaison

1. Thanks again for being a partner on the first year of the California Writing Awards.  If you would like to see the complete list of California’s state and national winners: http://californiawrites.org/Students/students_2010writers.html.

   If you’d like to get a look at four of the celebrations for a number of the student winners and their teachers and parents, including the luncheon during the Pre-convention: http://californiawrites.org/Students/students_wa_celebrations.html.

   One lovely thing that happened at all the celebrations was that teachers made a point of letting me know what a wonderful opportunity this was for their students and how pleased they were that the two professional organizations that meant the most to them were co-sponsors.

   We have re-upped for next year already.

2. Thank you also for the resolution in support of CWP and NWP and thank you, Bob, for mentioning CATE’s support to Olyvia Rodriguez and Cerin Lindgrensavage, legislative aides for Senator Feinstein and Boxer, respectively.   I wish I could say I felt optimistic, but it is very clear that Congress is going to need to step up and support direct funding for us during a time when such an action will not be received well in many states.  Interestingly, we have good bipartisan support, but this year is nuts.  If we lose our funding appropriation though, it will be almost impossible to restore it.

   So if anyone wants to contact the two aides noted above and also the legislative aide for your local Representative, we would be grateful.  The message— support direct funding for the National Writing Project because this is what it does in California and this is what will be lost without it.  Given so many of you are CWPers or have partnered with a writing project on some good work, I know you’ll have great examples to share.

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