Education News
Few states will reach full proficiency under NCLB, study finds.
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Opening Bell, Education Week (6/2, Hoff) reported that “schools and districts will need to stay on target toward the law’s goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and mathematics in the next six years — or else face sanctions or interventions.” According to Jack Jennings of the Center on Education Policy (CEP), “[t]he process of determining whether a school makes adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal law is so complicated that it’s impossible to estimate how many schools will fail to meet their AYP targets because their state will require these more-extensive achievement gains.” However, Jennings “added that dozens — perhaps hundreds — of schools will fail to meet goals established in” the 23 “states that assumed that schools would be ready to make dramatic increases in student achievement in the years closer to the deadline.” Based on prior “rates on increases in student achievement,” a CEP report estimated “that as few as 12 states would reach the goal of 100 percent proficiency.”
In the Classroom
Indiana students struggle with financial skills, report indicates.
The AP (6/3) reports, “Six in 10 [Indiana] high school students failed a national survey on good financial habits, which may not be surprising since their parents may also be struggling with money management,” a report from the Indiana Youth Institute indicates. “The report found that about 60 percent of high school students say they learn to manage finances at home,” in a state that “ranks fourth in bankruptcies and” had “its mortgage foreclosure rate” increase by “nearly 38 percent” over four years. Further, “[m]ore than 60 percent do not have checking accounts, and 50 percent have cars but do not help pay for insurance.” Lena Yarian of Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana noted that “[i]t can be difficult for kids to learn checkbook-balancing skills in a more paperless society,” where “[a] lot of kids aren’t even exposed to checks.”
Virginia camp to introduce high school students to science, engineering careers.
Virginia’s Times-Dispatch (6/2) reported that “[a]spiring engineers from Virginia Peninsula high schools will” be participating in the “Time for New Choices, Engineering 101″ free “summer camp offered by the Office of Outreach and Recruitment at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) in Hampton,” Va. The camp is geared toward “students in grades nine and 10,” and “is designed to expose students to careers in the science and engineering industry.” According to the Times-Dispatch, the camp will feature “TNCC faculty and other professionals teaching engineering lessons through hands-on activities, demonstrations, lectures and field trips.” In addition, campers will “also be given individualized career and educational development plans to share with their parents and guidance counselors for support in accomplishing their goals.”
NCLB gives little credit for ELL progress, some educators argue.
Education Week (6/2, Zehr) reported that, according to some educators, “the accountability provisions of” NCLB “don’t provide a complete picture of the quality of education at a school that has a high number of ELL (English language learner) students.” As a result, “[t]hey argue, the federal accountability system puts a negative label on schools that receive students who have little or no academic preparation, even though the schools may help them make significant progress.” Because of this, “[s]ome have called for changes that would let a school more precisely measure students’ academic growth, rather than try to ensure that all students meet rigid academic targets.” Education Week noted that U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has “responded to such concerns with a pilot program that would let states track and use individual students’ academic progress in assuring accountability under the NCLB law.” The article also details strategies that schools have taken to improve ELL programs.
California initiatives aimed at improving reading instruction.
California’s Ventura County Star (6/2, Carlson) reported that educators “have increasingly turned to scientific research and collaborating with fellow teachers to find new ways to reach kids and teach them how to read.” To this end, California has the California Reading and Literature Project, “a state initiative designed to improve elementary and secondary school teachers’ instruction of reading and literature,” which “offers personalized training and workshops” to educators. The project “is one of nine California Subject Matter projects designed to improve student performance and teacher training by linking academic research and theory to individuals working in the classrooms.” In another move to improve reading education, California’s “Board of Education is expected to adopt new and improved textbooks,” and educators note that the publishers “have ‘spent a great deal of time developing materials’ to meet criteria developed by state officials.” Requirements included “expand[ing] the focus of reading textbooks, targeting vocabulary development, writing, oral-reading fluency and student assessments.”
Research suggests that teacher absences have adverse affect on student achievement.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of Opening Bell, the AP (6/2, Zuckerbrod) reported, “Despite tremendous pressure on schools to increase instructional time and meet performance goals, the vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been ignored — even though research suggests it can have an adverse effect in the classroom.” The number of full-time teaching positions covered by substitutes has increased “dramatically,” according to the AP, and some districts find it difficult to fill substitute positions with qualified substitutes. According to one researcher, many substitutes “don’t have all the behavioral expectations that the regular teachers have established, so it’s basically a holding pattern.” Furthermore, research indicates that “10 teacher absences within a year cause a significant loss in math achievement. When the regular teacher is gone for two weeks, it can set students back at least that amount of time,” because “‘teachers often have to reteach material, restore order, and rebuild relationships after absences.”
On the Job
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Carnegie Institution program seeks to train more math educators.
The AP (6/3) reports, “The Carnegie Institution for Science is starting a fellowship program to improve math education in…D.C. public and charter schools.” The program will recruit and train “34 fellows…over five years in partnership with the Math for America program,” and will provide “full tuition and stipends” for the fellows to “earn a master’s degree in teaching at American University and a teaching certification.” In order to qualify, the fellows “must commit to four years of teaching in D.C., where math scores have been chronically low.” The AP notes, “The first fellows will be recruited in fall 2008 from D.C., Virginia and Baltimore-area colleges and universities.”
Educators differ on their views of online education.
Minnesota’s MinnPost (6/2, Boyd) reported that with an estimated one million “Americans in kindergarten through 12th grade” taking classes online, “computerized learning is about to transform public education both inside and outside the classroom.” However, some educators are concerned that “[b]ecause online school programs know no geographic boundaries, they create keen competition for students that could endanger some districts’ finances and futures.” Nevertheless, “online and computerized learning programs appear to be leveling the playing field between rich and poor school districts and between rural and urban students.” Advocates for online learning say it is “a way of making the world every student’s classroom by catering to individual learning styles and answering the needs of kids who march to the beat of a different drummer.” Michael B. Horn, co-founder of nonprofit think tank Innosight Institute, said that online learning will not replace teachers, but it will shift their roles “from being the star on the stage as [they are] now to a guide on the side.”
Law & Policy
Florida sets higher physical education standards.
The AP (6/3) reports that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) “has signed a bill requiring Florida elementary schools to provide 30 minutes of continuous exercise daily for their students.” The new law “also requires middle schools [to] offer a daily physical education class to students in the sixth through eighth grades beginning in fall 2009.”
Special Needs
Virginia youth center organizes prom for students with disabilities.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (6/2, B1, Glod) reported on “the Cinderella Ball, an annual prom for students with disabilities held” in Washington, D.C. “Helen McCormick, a former Arkansas schoolteacher, held the first Cinderella Ball three years ago at the House, a youth center she runs with her son…in a” warehouse in Virginia. “Last year, the dance outgrew the building, spreading into a tent in the parking lot,” and this year the Willard InterContinental hotel donated its ballroom. The House raised $100,000 for the event by going “door-to-door and st[anding] outside convenience stores collecting change.” Donated dresses for students were altered by “[v]olunteer seamstresses,” while the center provided “tables of jewelry, shoes and evening bags” for the students. In addition to the dance, the event featured a motivational speaker and a performance by “‘American Idol’ winner Ruben Studdard.”
Safety & Security
Activism against “Beach Week” celebrations growing.
The Washington Post (6/2, B2, Strauss) reported, “Parents, school administrators and police officials are joining forces to address problems that result from ‘Beach Week,’ the annual celebrations by newly minted high school graduates.” While “[t]he vast majority go and return without much incident,” a growing number of students “wind up arrested or sick.” The Post noted that “[i]n Rehoboth Beach, 72 people were arrested for underage possession or consumption of alcohol…last year, compared with 22 arrested during the same period the year before.” In response, “activism on the issue appears to be rising this year.” Students and their “parents are jointly signing voluntary contracts of behavior, and police are asking parents to take a bigger role, including staying in hotels nearby.” Additionally, “[p]arents are meeting to discuss strategies to keep kids home or find alternative celebrations.” In Virginia, “Arlington Public Schools joined with the PTA Family Network this spring to host for the first time a panel for parents on the pitfalls of Beach Week, which included [police], parents and educators.”
Louisiana district school board member seeks to make returning to school after hitting teachers more difficult.
The AP (6/3) reports that a school board member in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana “wants to require a school board hearing before students expelled for hitting teachers can return to class.” The district’s “[c]urrent policy expells students for the rest of the school year.” However, following a recent fight at a junior high school in the district, two students who “were charged with battery on a teacher…were allowed to return later that week to finish their LEAP (Louisiana Education Assessment Program) tests.”
Facilities
New Hampshire forestry students clear land for new library.
New Hampshire’s Nashua Telegraph (6/2, Milbouer) reported that high school students from Alvirne High School’s forestry program are clearing “tall pines near Hills Garrison Elementary and” AHS in Hudson, N.H., in preparation of the George H. and Ella M. Rodgers Memorial Library. And according to the Telegraph, “those teens, along with their teacher, Rick Martineau, are saving the town a good $5,000 to $10,000.” After the trees are felled by the students, they are then sorted. “Ten percent of the harvested logs go to the school, and forestry students process the logs using the school’s own portable sawmill.” Next, the wood “goes to building and woodworking students, who will use it to make” a variety of products. The leftover logs will be sold to “several area lumber companies.” The Telegraph pointed out that “[p]rofits from the sale of the wood goes into the forestry program’s student fund, and is used for forestry school scholarships and expense money when the teens compete in national forestry competitions.”
School Finance
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Arkansas lawmakers disagree on school transportation funding proposal.
The AP (6/2) reported, “Arkansas lawmakers deadlocked Monday over whether to provide relief for schools suffering from rising gas prices as they began revisions to the formula that decides what per-student funding districts will get from the state.” At issue were two proposals that “address the effect of spiraling fuel prices on the state’s 254 school districts.” Both proposals “failed before the panel, and a recommendation to increase funding for teacher and principals’ salaries also failed because not enough members were there.” Rep. Bill Abernathy (D) “proposed that the state create a new funding category for school districts with high transportation costs.” However, some lawmakers criticized the proposal, saying “it would commit the state to creating a new category of funding before studying how much would be needed to pay for it. Abernathy estimated the new transportation category would cost $35 million a year.”