Teach for America sees strong growth.
The New York Times (5/14, Dillon) reports, “Teach for America, the program that recruits top college graduates to teach for two years in public schools that are difficult to staff, has experienced a year of prodigious growth and will place 3,700 new teachers this fall, up from 2,900 last year, a 28 percent increase.” Further, the program has experienced “a surge in applications from college seniors,” with “[a]bout 24,700″ teaching applications for the spring, “up from 18,000 last year, a 37 percent increase.” The Times adds that Teach for America “was the No. 1 employer on many campuses, including at Duke, Emory, George Washington, Georgetown, New York University, and Spelman,” a program spokeswoman said.
The AP (5/14) notes that “[s]everal factors appear to be behind the trend,” including the “slow economy.” The AP explains that during times of economic uncertainty “teaching often becomes more attractive because it is generally considered stable.” But even so, “Teach For America’s growth can’t solely be attributed to economic conditions.” The AP points out, “Several studies have found Teach For America corps members are as effective or more effective than educators who come through traditional teacher preparation programs within colleges of education,” particularly in terms of “boosting math and science test scores.” However, some experts “cautio[n] that there isn’t enough research to make definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of Teach For America teachers.”
In the Classroom
Educators should co-opt Internet tools for education, columnist argues.
In a column for the Christian Science Monitor (5/13), Justin Reich, a co-director of the Center for Teaching History with Technology, wrote that “educators [can] help students carry” their “motivation for writing from a social world into motivation for [academic] writing” by “find[ing] productive ways to bring social media into the classroom.” Reich points to several efforts educators are making to link the two types of writing, including “using interactive web tools such as blogs, podcasts, and wikis” in the classroom “in an attempt to mirror the online social networks of youth culture.” Overall, Reich argued, educators “face two choices:” they can “scorn youth for their emoticons” and “condemn their abbreviations,” or “embrace the writing that students do every day…and ultimately show them how the best elements of their informal communication can lead them to success in their formal writing.” Reich concluded “that the most productive option is to…bridge the gap between [students'] social and academic worlds, and choose the latter.”
North Carolina district seeks to increase foreign language education.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (5/13, Hui) reported, “The number of North Carolina public elementary schools offering foreign languages has shrunk sharply over the past 15 years in the face of budget crunches and testing pressures.” According to school data, “98,737 elementary students took a foreign language statewide” last year, down from “the 329,968 elementary students who took a second language in 1993-94.” However, “Wake County school leaders want to buck that trend by asking county commissioners for money to hire teachers to offer foreign-language instruction in every elementary school.” Supporters such as school board member Eleanor Goettee say they understand that “there’s a limited pot of funds” for education, but “point to research that shows a correlation between foreign-language instruction and higher performance on standardized tests.” They also note “that elementary students can especially benefit because of their ability to absorb languages at a young age.”
Mississippi two-year colleges offer career options for dropouts.
Mississippi’s Hattiesburg American (5/13, Piper) reported that “[l]ocal community colleges are furthering education for students who do not finish high school by offering GED classes and career technical education.” Cecil Burt, dean of the Forrest County campus of Pearl River Community College (PRCC), said that the college offers “career tech programs that don’t even require a GED, for those that need skilled training.” Burt added that PRCC is “revisiting — to some degree — having advanced technology education toward high school students as a possible after-school or even a dual-credit work.” At Jones County Junior College (JCJC) in Ellisville, the “growth of industries in Mississippi, such as the Nissan plant in Canton or the Toyota plant currently under construction in Tupelo,…has also contributed to interest in different trades.”
Mississippi dropout prevention efforts expand to middle school students. The Hattiesburg American (5/13, Wells) reported that “Mississippi is in the middle of a high school redesign of what classes teenagers have to take to graduate.” Jim Becker, regional service officer in the dropout prevention department of Mississippi Department of Education, said, “We are trying to encourage students to try things out in high school.” Students will “be encouraged to look at…career paths” such as healthcare; agriculture and natural resources; construction and manufacturing; transportation; business management; and teaching. Along with high school students, “[s]eventh- and eighth-grade career classes will delve into the possibilities. The goal is for a student to get focused on one pathway by the time he/she enters ninth grade.” The American noted that each district must “turn in a dropout prevention plan to the Mississippi Department of Education outlining a more detailed plan of how to reduce the dropout rate.”
Growth of virtual schools leads to calls for greater oversight.
The Christian Science Monitor (5/14, Arnoldy) reports, “Enrollment in online classes last year reached the 1 million mark, growing 22 times the level seen in 2000,” yet “there’s little research assessing the quality of these programs, which some experts say don’t have enough official oversight.” Further, “[e]ven some supporters of online learning say education officials need to provide more guidance,” as there are concerns regarding quality, and inconsistencies in the course offerings and the methods such schools use to track attendance. “There’s also debate over how much public funds go to virtual schools,” as one study found that some “school districts…championed new virtual charter schools to collect per-pupil funding for students who cost less to educate.” And while some online educators argue that their schools “provid[e] cost savings to the taxpayers” because they are more efficient, others worry that such arguments “confus[e] efficiency with quality.”
On the Job
North Carolina district allots largest share of budget for teacher supplements.
North Carolina’s Sun Journal (5/14) reports, “The Craven County Board of Education is asking the county for $24.6 million to operate next year, $2.5 million more than it received from the county this year.” The largest portion of money the county is requesting would go toward increasing teacher supplements. “The supplements would be calculated with a new formula — six percent of annual wage — replacing the flat $1,800 annual supplement, which has gone up $100 a year in each of the last four years.” In addition to teacher incentives, the district has also included in the budget a $200,000 maintenance increase; “an additional $156,040 for utilities, reflecting an increased cost of electrical and natural gas in the $3.8 million utilities budget line item;” and about $300,000 for “technology needs.”
Law & Policy
Advertisement
Arizona Senate moves to reinstate program to augment testing scores.
The AP (5/14) reports that lawmakers in the Arizona Senate “are moving to reinstate a program that would let thousands of students use good grades on required courses to augment their” Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) “test scores so they can get a diploma even if they didn’t pass parts of the test outright.” If passed and signed by the governor, “the bill would take effective immediately and apply retroactive to Jan. 1.” Backers of the legislation said it “would help keep students pursue higher education even if they fall a little short in some subject areas.” Reports regarding how many students would be affected by the change conflicted, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 “out of a total of 50,000 12th-graders.” The AP notes that the bill also includes “a provision that will gradually scale back how much help” the augmentation program will provide. Originally allowing “students to boost their AIMS score by up to 25 percent,” the program’s aid “would be reduced to 10 percent next year and 5 percent thereafter.”
Tennessee House passes bill supporting academic study of Bible.
The AP (5/14) reports, “A proposal that would allow the [Tennessee] Department of Education to develop a curriculum for the academic study of the Bible in public schools…passed the House” on Tuesday. “The bill would require school districts to teach the course with an approved textbook in a manner consistent with the state and federal constitutions.” It would also “prohibi[t] the use of any religious test or association when assigning teachers for Bible courses.” The AP notes, “The companion bill unanimously passed the Senate last week,” but differences in the two versions must be resolved “before it heads to the governor for his consideration.”
Safety & Security
Philadelphia schools should improve safety, says state education secretary.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (4/13, Graham) reported, “Violence in [Philadelphia] schools is unacceptably high, and the school district needs to take immediate, aggressive steps to stem the rising tide, a report released [Monday] by Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak concluded.” According to the report, “more than 5,207 fifth through twelfth graders last school year” were criminal offenders, and “the school district transferred 33 percent of serious offenders to alternative schools.” Also included in Zahorchak’s report were several recommendations for improving school safety: “clarifying the student code of conduct; providing staff training on safety, security, and reporting; and posting a climate manager in all schools. He also called for discipline and safety departments to work better together and for the district to ensure that discipline is consistent.” Sheila Ballen, a spokeswoman for the state department of education, said that Zahorchak’s report gives “the public a clearer view of the safety issues in the district.”
“A violent-incident report provided by the [Philadelphia] school district says that from last September to the end of April, there were 64 assaults at” Edison High School, “compared with 48 during the same time period the year before. And there have been 13 weapons offenses so far this school year, compared with six in the previous year,” the Philadelphia Inquirer (5/13, Hard) reported in a separate article. Nevertheless, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said that the number of violent incidents “at the 2,350-student school” was not “particularly high…for a school [of its] size.”
Ohio school cancels classes over online threat.
The AP (5/14) reports, “Officials in suburban Columbus,” Ohio “have canceled Wednesday classes at Upper Arlington High School because of a threat posted on a website.” School officials would not “describe the nature of the threat because of the ongoing investigation,” but said that “the decision to close the school was done as a precaution.” According to police, “a student at the school has been taken into custody and is cooperating.” Officials said the school should reopen Thursday.
Facilities
Texas district to deploy IP video surveillance.
THE Journal (5/13, Nagel) reported, “El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) in Texas said it’s planning to deploy IP video surveillance across all of its high schools and middle schools.” The district “is the seventh-largest district in the state, with 92 total campuses,” and “serves about 63,000 students.” EPISD Police Chief Victor Araiza said, “We needed a comprehensive platform for crisis response that can help us stop an incident before it even occurs.” By using the new system, Araiza said, “officers as well as campus administrators will be able to quickly locate areas of concern and investigate those areas in the fastest and in the most efficient way…possible.”
School Finance
Advertisement
California governor’s new budget proposal to increase school funding.
The Los Angeles Times (5/14, Halper, Rau) reports, “In his latest plan for closing a budget shortfall now estimated at $17.2 billion, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will propose giving voters a choice between borrowing against the state lottery and paying more sales tax.”
The AP (5/14, Williams) adds that, included in the budget proposal will be “a $1.8 billion increase in funding to schools over 2007-08 levels. Schools still will lose about $4 billion in anticipated revenue because Schwarzenegger’s plan would not include program cost-of-living increases.” Schwarzenegger calls the lottery “an underperforming asset,” but “[h]is plan would let the lottery pay out more in prizes in hopes of attracting additional revenue.” The proposal “would require voter approval” in November.