Uses of value added methods discussed.
Education Week (5/28, Viadero) reported, “With ‘value added’ methods of measuring student-learning gains continuing to grow in popularity, policymakers and researchers met” at a conference in Washington, D.C. “last week to explore possible new ways of using the sometimes controversial approaches and to debate their pluses and pitfalls.” Although “value-added designs are still imperfect technically,” some experts argued, “they can provide new information to help identify ineffective teaching and the impact of certain programs and practices, for example.” They could also “help educators reflect on their own practices, give administrators grounds for denying tenure to poorly performing teachers, or be used by states to calculate whether districts are making adequate yearly progress.” Regardless of the possibilities, “supporters, critics, and scholars of value-added research models seemed to agree” that “[v]alue-added calculations, if they’re used at all, should be one among several measures used in judging the quality of schools or teachers.”
In the Classroom
Teachers, parents ask California district to revert to year-round schedule.
On the front of its Metro section, the Sacramento Bee (5/28, B1, Minugh) reported, “Parents and teachers are pleading with Sacramento City Unified trustees to rescind a decision to put the district’s last eight year-round schools on a traditional calendar. District officials argue that the change will save as much as $550,000 — and help them chip away at a $24.5 million deficit.” According to school board president Manny Hernandez, “[i]f the district doesn’t cut costs on year-round education,…it will have to eliminate class-size-reduction efforts for an entire grade level.” Meanwhile, supporters “tout the benefits of year-round schedules: Students are less likely to suffer from ‘brain drain’ over the traditional three-month summer vacation. Scattering short breaks throughout the year helps keep children engaged,…and it offers non-native students more constant exposure to the English language.” Several teachers “have asked that a task force study both the true costs of year-round education and other potential savings for the district.”
Analysis suggests lack of soft skills contributes to South Carolina’s education gap.
South Carolina’s Morning News (5/28, Bell) reported that the “lack of soft skills, computer skills, motivation and communication between educators and business leaders were listed” by the Pee Dee Regional Education Center “as some of the key areas that have led to a gap in the state’s educational system.” At a town hall meeting, civic and education leaders “discuss[ed] ways to bridge the gap between education and the workforce.” According to the Morning News, the “information gathered from the town hall meeting will be used in the regional center’s gap analysis of the Pee Dee’s educational system.” Cheryl Lewis, coordinator for the education center, said that the “analysis…shows there is a lack of knowledge about jobs or careers and professional development opportunities for educators to learn about the workforce in order to better prepare students once they leave high school.” Lewis added that the “development of soft skills is an urgent need, not only in the Pee Dee, but across the state.”
Tennessee district contracts private firm for struggling students.
The Tennessean (5/28, Sarrio) reported that Nashville school system “plans to hire a private, for-profit company to educate about 500 of the district’s struggling students.” If final approval is given, the program from Educational Services of America (ESA) will “launch at seven or more locations during the 2008-09 school year and serve 480 students at a time.” ESA “employs its own certified teachers and will offer flexible schedules for students who have been chronically absent from school, have behavioral problems or have fallen behind.” The cost, which will be met with federal funds, “breaks down to about $5,300 per slot, compared to the $7,500 to $9,000 per year spent on an alternative-school student.” According to the Tennessean, school board “members were enthusiastic about being the first district in Tennessee to try the alternative program, mainly because it promises quick improvements.” They also point out that state Education Department “officials are in favor of the program.”
Shop teacher uses mechanics to teach physics, art.
USA Today (5/29, Kornblum) reports on Alvin Schroeder, a teacher in Merced, California who “uses shop to inspire children who would otherwise have problems learning, slipping in information in bits and pieces.” Schroeder’s lessons center around “the rusty hull of a 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo” that his classes are rebuilding. “Lessons on welding disguise instruction in geometry and mathematics. Lessons about engines slip in physics,” and discussions of car design include “[l]essons on art.” Schroeder explained, “If I lectured them, they would fall asleep.” Schroeder “says his dedication stems from empathy with these special-education students,” as he “battled dyslexia and attention deficit disorder” himself as a youth. USA Today notes, “When he was a younger teacher,” Schroeder “was more rigid,” but eventually decided “that doesn’t really work, especially with these students. Instead, he says he likes to figure out how students learn and then approach each one.”
California students learn science, social studies lessons through virtual field trips.
The Sacramento Bee (5/28, Rosenhall) reported that as California districts face “strained budgets” that do not allow for many extra expenses, schools throughout the state are using videoconferencing technology “to virtually visit state parks in San Mateo, San Diego, and Tuolumne counties.” Students learn science and social studies lessons from park rangers, who also answer their questions live. “The virtual field trips are offered by the state Parks and Recreation Department through a program called Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students, or PORTS, which started in 2005.” The program is free to schools, but they “must have the right technology to participate — a high-speed Internet connection and a screen and camera for videoconferencing.” Elementary school teacher Nichole Harshbarger said, “Getting a bus to send 70 kids somewhere is often so much of a hassle with time constraints and finances. … Whereas in this situation, I just took the whole class to the ocean and we didn’t have to get on a bus.”
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CTE courses transforming despite budget cuts.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (5/28, Epps) reported that career and technical education (CTE) teachers “love to tout proof of the transformation of courses that used to wear the ‘vocational education’ label and catered to students bound for blue-collar jobs instead of college.” Classes “under the CTE umbrella have been revamped, tailored to the modern workplace that demands workers with a higher degree of technical savvy.” However, the News & Observer pointed out that “CTE courses have been frequently threatened by proposed [federal] budget cuts,…including a recommendation this year to slash more than $1 billion from the programs.” Those cuts would have cost North Carolina “$30 million in federal support,” $12 million of which “goes to job training for community colleges.” But “[s]o far, both the House and Senate have rejected” such “cuts to education, including money for CTE programs.”
On the Job
Minnesota establishing STEM academies for teachers.
The AP (5/29) reports, “The Minnesota Department of Education has established nine academies to give extra training to teachers this summer” in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics, “with the expectation that those who participate will then become trainers in their regions.” The academies will “focus…on helping teachers implement state subject standards, use different instruction techniques and improve their ability to assess student learning needs.”
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (5/29, Draper) points out that the “academy, proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R),” is “funded by the 2007 Legislature and a grant from the National Governors Association.” The academy “stands as one of several measures meant to address what some educators and public figures consider to be a dangerous deficiency in STEM knowledge and interest among Minnesota students.” Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said that “[s]tate officials don’t yet know how many teachers will participate in the summer academy sessions.”
Texas district recruits teachers from Florida.
Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (5/28, Matus, Solochek) reported, “The Fort Worth school district needs teachers, and it has its eyes on Florida, a state…that only two years ago launched a $2.5-million national recruiting drive of its own.” The district is advertising for teachers in Jacksonville, Fla. because “it’s a large metro area with a concentration of colleges and schools, which could help attract teachers with a range of experience,” said Fort Worth school officials. Fort Worth schools recruiting director Terry Buckner said that the district is “getting a lot of applications from Florida” teachers who say that “Florida doesn’t have many teaching jobs, the cost of living is high and pay is bad.” The Times noted that “starting teacher’s salary in” the northern Florida bay area ranges from $34,000 to $37,000, compared to $44,500 in Fort Worth. “In addition…[the] district is offering new teachers a $3,000 signing bonus, and up to $20,000 in merit pay for those who agree to work in struggling schools.”
Law & Policy
Plan for San Francisco schools to address racial inequalities.
The San Francisco Chronicle (5/28, Tucker) reported that a “strategic plan adopted by the” San Francisco district’s “school board 6-0 Tuesday night focuses on reversing the typical academic outcomes for black, Hispanic and poor students.” In an attempt to “solve…deep-rooted societal problems that are playing out in schools,” the district’s initiative “work[s] off a corporate model that puts everyone — from school board members to custodians — under the microscope in different ways.” Included in the plan is training for educators, as well as “[a] new grading system” designed to “expose schools…that are failing to address the institutional racial inequities within their walls.” Schools will be graded “across a wide range of indicators,” allowing each school to “be judged by how well it ‘serves each and every student based on that school’s ability to disrupt the historically predictive power of racial, ethnic, linguistic and socio-economic student attributes.’” The Chronicle added, “Successful programs [will] be identified and worked into other schools.”
Safety & Security
Nine hundred students remain banned from Maryland district for lacking vaccines.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (5/29, B1, Hernandez) reports that, of the “more than 2,600 students…banned from” attending class in Prince George’s County, Maryland, “because they lacked vaccinations for chicken pox and hepatitis B” at the start of the school year, “more than 900 remain barred.” This is despite “[l]etters, phone calls, home visits and even threats of jail time” and fines. Efforts by school officials “have been impeded by inaccurate phone and address information,” and “[e]ven when the school system reaches a family, things can go wrong.” Students who get vaccines, for example, but fail to receive follow-up shots “fall out of compliance” again. Officials noted that there is likely some overlap with “chronically truant students who don’t attend class,” and also said that there is “a large population of immigrants who might not readily understand the requirement.” Even so, a district spokesman said that the figures represent “real progress” as 900 students is “less than 1 percent” of the student population.
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New Hampshire legislative committee reaches agreement on predator bill.
The AP (5/29) reports, “A committee of House and Senate members has reached a tentative agreement on New Hampshire’s Online Child Safety Act — legislation designed to protect children from online predators and child pornographers.” Among other things, the bill “spells out how illegal images will be handled as part of court proceedings, allowing experts who testify on the images to have access while protecting against any further dissemination.”
Facilities
California district approves scaled-down lunch program.
California’s Palo Alto Daily News (5/28, Peterson) reported that this week, “the Palo Alto school board unanimously passed a new trimmed lunch program that will reduce meal options to a single choice at the elementary schools.” Under the new lunch program, “meals at the elementary schools will also no longer be heated, while at the middle and high schools, students will also choose from a smaller menu of items during a condensed lunch period.” District officials say that the “fewer menu options and shorter lunches [will create] an opportunity to lower labor costs.” Yet, even with the changes, “the school lunch program may not recover all of its costs. Next year’s deficit may come in around $220,000 because fewer choices will likely translate into a 15 percent drop in sales, district staff estimated in a staff report.”