NEA Information
Virtual field trips increasingly popular.
The Christian Science Monitor (6/6, Arnoldy) reported that “with fuel prices rocketing, some schools are discovering virtual field trips as a cost-effective way to add new — or farther afield — excursions.” One institution, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC), reported that “[a]s of last month, more than 1,125,000 students have participated in virtual field trips organized through [its] website alone.” The CILC hosts virtual trips from over “150 institutions — from National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Bronx Zoo,…and each month sees another three or four additions.” Ruth Blankenbaker, the CLIC’s executive director, noted that “[t]he technology has been around for years, but it’s only now gaining widespread adoption in classrooms.” In addition to the “rising costs for travel,” Blankenbaker cited “more schools with broadband, wider options for trips,…and falling prices for teleconference systems” as reasons for the virtual field trips’ rise in popularity. The Monitor added that both educators and the contributing institutions hope the virtual trips will serve as a supplement to, rather than replacement for, actual field trips.
In the Classroom
Over half of New Orleans students in charter schools.
The Washington Post (6/9, A1, Mathews) reports in a front-page story on New Orleans, which “has become the first major city in which more than half of all public school students attend charter schools.” Proponents of the situation call it “an unparalleled education experiment,” while critics describe the schools as “a challenge to democratic values,” and say that “Louisiana school authorities have ‘opened a flea market of entrepreneurial opportunism that is dismantling the institution of public education in New Orleans.’” However, the Post notes, “most educators and parents…are not taking sides in the ideological war over charters,” and a “teachers union report warned against ‘destructive rivalry’ between regular and charter schools.” Currently, “[t]here is no data…on how charters compar[e] with regular schools” in New Orleans. Until more data is available, “many…parents are embracing charter schools,” and administrators are “pushing regular schools to innovate, giving them more autonomy and longer hours.”
New Orleans schools show signs of progress, still face obstacles. The AP (6/7, Bohrer) reported that New Orleans superintendent “Paul Vallas recently passed his first major milestone when fourth- and eighth-graders in the city’s woeful public schools posted significantly higher test scores on state tests.” Since he began working with New Orleans’ Recovery School District a year ago, Vallas “has lengthened class days, decreased class sizes and increased classroom technology.” Still, the district is struggling to overcome the effects of Hurricane Katrina. For example, “Affordable housing for teachers is tough to find, and” some “families have been returning to the city with children who…hadn’t been in school since Katrina hit in August 2005.” There are also numerous budget concerns. Nevertheless, Vallas sees his district “as an incubator for innovation. Magnet programs and schools with themes like the arts or technology are expected to roll out this fall. And high schoolers have received laptops to encourage working at home.”
Former Supreme Court justice discusses web-based civics curriculum.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of Opening Bell, the New York Times (6/9, Schiesel) reports on former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who, along “with Georgetown University Law Center and Arizona State University,…is helping develop a website and interactive civics curriculum for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students called Our Courts.” The Times explains that O’Connor “hopes to foster a deeper understanding of American government among schoolchildren” through the program. “The site will have two parts, an explicitly educational component for use in schools and a more entertainment-oriented module that will more closely resemble games.” O’Connor said the program would “have [students] arguing real issues, real legal issues, against the computer and against each other.”
Debate grows over Michigan’s heightened graduation standards.
The AP (6/9, Martin) reports that as Michigan “high school freshmen finish their first year of dealing with new, tougher high school graduation requirements, debate is breaking out over whether the standards ask too much of some students.” The graduation standards, which were signed into law in 2006 but granted schools “two years to prepare students to meet them,” require “four years or credits of math and English and three years of science and social studies.” Proponents of the standards say that they “are crucial to Michigan’s economic future and to having a well-educated, well-prepared work force,” while critics worry that the tougher standards will lead to a higher dropout rate. In the meantime, some districts are holding summer courses, “spreading subjects such as Algebra II over more than one year,” and “having students take Algebra I in middle school,” among other strategies, to help students graduate. Also, the law allows for “[s]ome math credits [to] be earned…through career and technical training programs.”
Utah State University to offer biotech academy to high school students.
Utah’s Deseret Morning News (6/8, Leonard) reported that “Utah State University (USU) is currently accepting applications from high school students for its upcoming Biotech Summer Academy, which promises to deliver new experiences for aspiring students.” The immersive program will be open to high school upperclassmen, and was “developed by the Center for Integrated BioSystems at USU to expose participating students to the college experience and give them an idea of what the various life sciences and bioengineering fields encompass.” The program will feature hands-on learning and guidance from faculty mentors, and encompasses a variety of subjects, including but not limited to “biology, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry,…and environmental engineering.”
Indiana robotics camp introduces students to careers in engineering.
Indiana’s Shelbyville News (6/7, Jacques) reported, “The Learning with LEGOs and Robotics Experience Camp took place at Shelbyville Middle School (SMS) this week.” According to the Shelbyville News, “[t]his is the third year of the Purdue University outreach program and the second consecutive summer it has been offered at SMS.” Dr. Joseph Fuehne, a mechanical engineering technology instructor at Purdue University Columbus, “teaches the camp and has taken it to schools in Columbus and Scottsburg.” Students enrolled at the camp “construct robots using a LEGOs robotics set, called LEGO Mindstorms, and program them with software tools similar to what is used by professional engineers.”
On the Job
Advertisement
Los Angeles teachers protest budget cuts.
The Los Angeles Times (6/7, Song, Willon) reported, “Thousands of Los Angeles teachers protested proposed state budget cuts Friday in a morning job action that delayed the beginning of class for most students but caught the attention of state and local politicians and parents.” Despite safety concerns from the district that prompted it to twice attempt “to stop the demonstration,” the schools reported no injuries and average attendance. “The demonstration was intended to draw attention to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) latest budget, which provides a $193-million increase over last year’s education funding but does not include a cost-of-living increase and cuts support to some programs,” leaving the district with an estimated $353-million shortfall. The Times noted, “Even Schwarzenegger, who asked teachers to report to their classrooms on time, said he understood their frustration.”
The New York Times (6/7, Cathcart) added, “School district officials [also] said they opposed the budget cuts, but denounced the protest as a disruption of the school day.” Schools Superintendent David Brewer “sent an automated call to parents” the night before, “notifying them of the protest and calling it ‘the wrong message’ to send to legislators and to the community.”
Number of “highly qualified” teachers rising.
Education Week (6/6, Honawar) reported, “Teachers meeting the ‘highly qualified’ standard their states set were teaching core subjects in 94 percent of the nation’s classrooms in the 2006-07 school year, but poorer schools were still less likely than their wealthier counterparts to employ them,” according to a study from the U.S. Department of Education. In the time frame studied, “96 percent of core-subject classes in low-poverty schools were taught by highly qualified teachers, compared with 91 percent in high-poverty schools.” And while this “gap was glaring” in some states, “the overall picture showed progress.” The study found “an increase of 7 percentage points in the total number of highly qualified teachers nationwide who were teaching core-subject classes since 2003-04.” Education Week noted, “The ‘highly qualified’ teacher requirement is a provision of” NCLB, with states required to “report annually the percentage of core-subject classes taught by highly qualified teachers and break down the numbers for classes in high-poverty and low-poverty schools.”
Law & Policy
Future of D.C. voucher program uncertain.
The Washington Post (6/9, B1, Strauss, Turque) reports on the front page of its Metro section that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, “[t]he groundbreaking federal voucher program that enables nearly 2,000 D.C. children to attend private schools, is facing an uncertain future in…Congress and may well be heading into its final year of operation, according to officials and supporters of the program.” One legislator, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), described the program, “the first in the country to provide federal money for vouchers,” as being “on its last legs.” The Post notes that while “[p]arents of scholarship recipients offer high praise for the program,” it “has also drawn criticism” for a number of factors. Among them are that it “allow[ed] ineligible families to receive federal funds,” and also “fail[ed] to ensure that families selected accredited schools,” according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. Critics also argued that “the program blurred the separation of church and state because more than half of the students have enrolled in religious schools.”
Bill would set nationwide food allergy guidelines for schools.
The AP (6/8) reported on the Food Allergies & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), a non-profit that “is pushing for a federal law to create uniform guidelines for schools to follow to protect the estimated 2 million school-age children with food allergies.” The bill, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act, “passed the House in April and is pending in the Senate.” Anne Munoz-Furlong, chief executive of FAAN, explained, “Some schools have very comprehensive plans…and others are just getting started and they don’t know what to do.” The AP article noted the difficulties facing students who have severe food allergies in different areas, including a West Virginia student “who estimates that during the past school year she suffered 20 reactions that landed her in the emergency room or a clinic for breathing treatments” because of a peanut allergy. Currently, “[m]any schools and school districts in the U.S. have allergy policies, but only Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee have statewide plans.”
Facilities
West Virginia considering green construction standards.
The AP (6/7) reported that the West Virginia School Building Authority (SBA) “is poised to adopt energy efficiency principles as part of new school construction standards,” SBA executive director Mark Anthony Manchin said. “The SBA also plans to adopt a policy of funding at least one school per year that meets more stringent environmentally friendly requirements.” Manchin noted that, “[w]hile all new construction would have to incorporate environmentally friendly principles,” at least one school per year “would be designed and built to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating system.” The AP noted, “If approved June 23, the new standards would take effect July 1.”
Also in the News
Advertisement
Court assigns poetry course to vandals of Frost’s home.
The AP (6/9, Curran) reports, “More than two dozen young people who broke into Robert Frost’s former home for a beer party and trashed the place are being required to take classes in his poetry as part of their punishment.” In December of last year, approximately 50 people held a party “at the Homer Noble Farm in Ripton,” Vermont “where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963.” Damages resulting from the party were estimated at $10,600, and “[t]wenty-eight people — all but two of them teenagers — were charged, mostly with trespassing.” As punishment, the youths were fined, sentenced to community service, and required to take a course on Frost’s works run by Middlebury College, which currently owns the Ripton property. The professor who taught the class gave “line-by-line interpretations of ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘Out, Out –,’ seizing on parts with particular relevance to draw parallels to their case.”
South Korean families separating for English education.
In a front-page story, the New York Times (6/8, A1, Onishi) reported on an increased “globalized education” trend in South Korea, with many families there enrolling their children in schools in English-speaking countries like the U.S. and New Zealand to “give their children an edge by helping them become fluent in English while sparing them, and themselves, the stress of South Korea’s notorious educational pressure cooker.” According to the Times, many mothers who are “driven by a shared dissatisfaction with South Korea’s rigid educational system” live overseas with their children “while the fathers live and work in South Korea, flying over to visit a couple of times a year.”
Report predicts record public school enrollment in 2008.
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Opening Bell, the Washington Post (6/9, B2, Glod) reported, “Public school enrollment across the country will hit a record high this year with just under 50 million students, and the student population is becoming more diverse in large part because of growth in the Latino population,” the most recent federal Condition of Education report found. “Nationwide, about 20 percent of students were Hispanic in 2006, the latest year for which figures were available for ethnic groups, up from 11 percent in the late 1980s.” As a result of these “shifting demographics,” some “[e]ducators and activists…say it is becoming urgent to find ways to boost achievement of minority and low-income students, who often lag behind white and middle- to upper-income peers.” In terms of discrepancies in “academic achievement,” the report found that in some cases the achievement gaps had narrowed, but in many instances, they had “stayed about the same.” Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst for the National Education Association, said, “We still just have unacceptable gaps in achievement.”
In the Classroom
Competition encourages student inventors.
USA Today (6/10, Kaplan) reports on “the 16th annual ExploraVision awards, an innovation competition run by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association” where the creations of student inventors are judged. Prizes include laptops for the students’ home schools, as well as savings bonds worth up to $10,000. Student projects included “a football game for the blind, a tongue spray to make healthy foods taste sweet,” and “a plan for new bioplastics.” According to “head judge and competition creator” Arthur Eisenkraft, the competition’s “judges — scientists and science teachers from around the country — weren’t looking for ‘Star Trek futuristic ideas.’” Instead, “[t]hey wanted ideas that conceivably could be created sometime in the next 20 years.” Officials added that, “[i]n the long run, the competition aims to get more students interested in science, the study of which is underfunded in many schools.”
Asian-American students’ success obscures issues, report finds.
The New York Times (6/10, A18, Lewin) reports, “The image of Asian-Americans as a homogeneous group of high achievers taking over the campuses of the nation’s most selective colleges came under assault in a” recent report from New York University, the College Board and others that “pokes holes in stereotypes about Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, including the perception that they cluster in science, technology, engineering and math.” The report also “points out that the term ‘Asian-American’ is extraordinarily broad, embracing members of many ethnic groups.”
The AP (6/9) explained, “Relative to other ethnic minorities, Asian-Americans have indeed been extremely successful by many academic measures,” including SAT scores and the percentage of students completing bachelor’s degrees. However, there are “disparities in achievement among the 48 Asian and Pacific Islander groups that fall into the category under the census,” with fewer than ten percent of Hmong, Cambodians and Laotian students earning bachelor’s degrees in 2000. Similarly, some groups of Asian-Americans score “among the lowest” on standardized tests, primarily because of “poor English skills.” Further, “enrollment among Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders is actually increasing nearly twice as fast at community colleges as at four-year ones.” Experts worry that the perception of Asian-Americans as a “model minority” means that policymakers believe “they don’t need services” or “to be included when it comes to particular policies.”
Study: College students who are “morning people” perform better on tests.
HealthDay (6/9, Preidt) reported that a study conducted by University of North Texas researchers found that “[c]ollege students who are morning people tend to get better grades than those who are night owls.” The findings were presented Monday at “SLEEP, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies” in Baltimore, Md. Study co-author Daniel J. Taylor, Ph.D., said, “The finding that college students who are evening types have lower GPAs is a very important finding, sure to make its way into undergraduate psychology texts in the near future, along with the research showing that memory is improved by sleep.” Furthermore, said Taylor, the “results suggest that it might be possible to improve academic performance by using chronotherapy to help students retrain their biological clock to become more morning types.”
A “standardized questionnaire was used to classify the students as morning or evening types,” WebMD (6/9, Laino) explained. Taylor said that the study, which “involved 824 undergrads who were enrolled in psychology classes,” determined “whether you’re a morning or evening person based on what time of day is best for you — that is, if there were no constraints on your life, when would you go to bed and wake up; when are you most productive.” Further, the “results held true even after the researchers took into account other factors related to higher GPAs, such as verbal SAT scores and other standardized tests that measure academic ability.” Taylor suggested that evening people were more susceptible to the temptation to stay up late, drinking, and socializing. However, an American Academy of Sleep Medicine spokesman said “that converting college-aged night owls into early birds ‘is somewhat unrealistic.’” Dorm life “simply isn’t conducive to going to bed early,” he added.
North Carolina high school to offer specialized academies to lower dropout rate.
North Carolina’s Citizen-Times (6/9, Wilson) reported that Erwin High School (EHS) in Asheville, N.C., is “working to initiate two programs to quell an increasing dropout rate and raise student achievement.” EHS was “labeled a ‘dropout factory’ in a national study last year,” the Citizen-Times noted. Next year, the school will feature a “Freshman Academy” and a “Career Academy” to better serve “students who often drop out during the transition from middle to high school and to give at-risk students access to the trade industry earlier in high school.” Jack Hill, who “will serve as assistant principal of the Freshman Academy” when it opens, said that the academy will provide students with a “safety net” that will “give them a sense of belonging that they can perform well during their freshmen year and all of high school.” The career academy “will allow students to take…career technical courses earlier in their high school careers,” and also will “employ a career advocate that will lead the program and students.”
Advertisement
Study shows that fitness, nutrition may boost test scores.
The Toronto Star (6/9, Brown) reported that “research shows schools that push fitness and nutrition have watched their standardized scores rise by as much as 50 percent over two years in Grade 3 reading and 39 percent in Grade 3 math.” The study was conducted by the Ontario Physical Health Education Association, and it involved “33 Ontario schools that are part of a health drive called Living Schools — where students exercise each day, play extra sports and are discouraged from eating junk food.” Results showed that “overall scores [increased] by 18 percent over two years in reading, writing and math, compared to about four percent for similar schools not in the provincially funded program. Principals also said there were fewer fights and better attendance.” The Star noted that for the Living Schools program, Ontario “has given school boards $14.7 million in the past three years to train teachers how to run daily workouts.”
Majority of Minnesota students pass new reading exam.
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (6/10, Draper) reports, “Three-quarters of the state’s high school sophomores passed a first-of-its-kind reading test that all Minnesota students must pass in order to graduate.” The new exam is a “more difficult reading test” than the Basic Skills test that preceded it, but is similar in that it “requires students to answer questions about various passages they have to read.” The Star Tribune notes, “The new reading test is actually a combination of two tests: the state’s existing MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) II reading test and the new Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma (GRAD) test, which is made up of a subset of questions embedded within the MCA II test.” Under the state’s policy, “[s]tudents can meet their reading graduation requirement either by earning a proficient score on the MCA II, or getting a passing grade on the GRAD test.” The article contains statement from several state school officials, who said that they were pleased with the results.
Minnesota’s Pioneer Press (6/10, Boldt) adds, “School districts have been putting more resources toward remediation, given the more rigorous standards on the tests and shorter retake period.” In particular, some programs have been “targeting more junior high and high school students who were struggling on local reading tests” and placing them “into a reading intervention program to work by themselves and in small groups to improve their skills.” Despite the three-quarters passing rate, the Pioneer Press notes, “the state’s harrowing achievement gap persists, with less than half of black and Hispanic students passing the test.”
On the Job
Arkansas BOE approves teacher code of ethics.
The AP (6/9) reported, “The state Board of Education approved a new code of ethics for Arkansas’ 60,000 licensed teachers Monday.” The code specifies that teachers must not use “alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs at school or during school-sponsored activities involving students.” In addition, teachers will be required to “maintain professional relationships with students,… keep confidential standardized testing material and personal information about students,” and to not use “their positions for personal gain.” A panel will also be established to “investigate complaints and recommend disciplinary action to the state Education Board for its final decision. Possible disciplinary actions include a fine of up to $100, a written warning, a written reprimand, probation, and suspension or revocation of a teacher’s license.” The code “takes effect Sept. 1.”
Law & Policy
Lawmakers work to meet educational needs of foster children.
Education Week (6/9, Jacobson) reported, “Policymakers from Congress to the state and local levels are sharpening their focus on the educational needs of children in foster care, a population that can exceed 700,000 nationally in the course of a year and which has doubled in the past two decades.” Some strategies proposed by lawmakers include “access to preschool for foster children, specialized training for teachers, and making sure child-welfare agencies have educational liaisons.” The intent of such measures is “to help compensate for a range of challenges facing children in foster-care placement.”
Advertisement
Pennsylvania Senate panel approves bill to block graduation testing.
The AP (6/10) reports that the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee “has advanced a bill to effectively block a proposal to require new state graduation tests for Pennsylvania high school students.” The panel “approve[d] a measure that would give the Legislature the sole authority to impose any new statewide high school graduation requirements.” This follows a proposal from the state’s Board of Education to create “a series of 10 final examinations covering math, science, English and social studies. Students would have to pass six to graduate, starting with the class of 2014.”
Another AP (6/9, Raffaele) article added, “Schools could substitute local exams instead to comply with the proposed rules, but only if the tests are approved by companies that evaluate educational tests.” Other accepted alternatives would include “[t]he existing Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams.” According to the article, the Education Committee “is unlikely to succeed” in its effort to block the legislation. The lawmakers “argu[e] that greater legislative input is needed before the state spends any money on the exams.” However, Gov. Ed Rendell’s (D) “administration insists the testing program is essential to establishing uniform graduation requirements for the state’s 501 school districts.”
Safety & Security
Heat wave closes dozens of Connecticut schools.
The AP (6/10) reports, “Dozens of schools districts across Connecticut closed early Monday as temperatures topped 90 degrees for the second consecutive day.” The closings follow “heat and air quality advisories for much of the state” from the National Weather Service. A Connecticut Department of Education spokesman explained that “[m]any schools lack air conditioning and cross ventilation.” The AP notes that Connecticut “law gives local districts the authority to shorten school on any given day, on a case-by-case basis.”
National Board teachers more effective, panel reports.
Education Week (6/11, Viadero, Honawar) reported, “Teachers who earn advanced certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) are more effective than teachers without that credential, but there’s little evidence to show the program has transformed the field in the broader ways its founders envisioned,” according to a report from the National Research Council. The report found that “it’s still unclear whether the process itself leads to better-quality teaching, because too few studies have examined that issue.” However, “some research suggests that schools are not yet making full use of the expertise of teachers who qualify for the credential, and that the teachers themselves, once they earn the credential, often move on to schools with more-advantaged student populations.” The “panel’s principal charge,” at the behest of Congress, “was to establish a framework for evaluating national teacher-certification programs…in terms of their impact on student achievement, on teachers who apply and those who don’t, and their cost-effectiveness.”
The AP (6/12) notes, “It generally takes teachers a year or more to get through the certification process, which includes taking subject-area tests and submitting on-the-job videotapes and samples of student and teacher work. It costs about $2,500 to accredit each teacher.” Since “national board certification is voluntary,” the AP points out, “states that provide incentives to board-certified teachers — such as North Carolina and South Carolina — have higher numbers of teachers who pursue the extra credential.”
In the Classroom
Study finds failure of California high school exit exam can be predicted in elementary school.
The Los Angeles Times (6/11, Mehta) reported, “As early as fourth grade, students who will be at risk of failing the high school exit exam — a state requirement to earn a diploma — can be identified based on grades, classroom behavior and test scores,” a report from the Public Policy Institute of California found. “The findings, based on an extensive study of student achievement in San Diego schools, call into question the effectiveness of aiming significant efforts and tens of millions of dollars at struggling high school seniors and older students to help them pass the exam.” As an alternative, the report recommends that “moving a portion of these tutoring dollars to struggling students in earlier grades — when the students are still in school — could be a wise choice.” The results were echoed by educators, who said that “the study results are buttressed by earlier research that shows early academic achievement, the mastering of basic math skills and reading comprehension, is a building block for future success.”
Michigan legislation would not hold back third-graders for reading issue.
The AP (6/12) reports, “The Michigan Senate has stopped short of requiring schools to hold back third-graders who cannot read at grade level.” Instead, the “[r]evised legislation approved unanimously Wednesday…would require the state to create model summer school programs for first- through fourth-graders who need help reading.” Additionally, “[p]rincipals and other school supervisors also would have to get training to decide when to intervene.”
Maryland county sees rise in number of students exploring career pathways.
Maryland’s Gazette (6/11, Dutton) reported that more students in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) system are exploring career pathway programs. Shelley A. Johnson, director of the MCPS career and technology education division, said, “The preparation for college and careers is the same. It’s really leveling off.” According to the Gazette, “[a]bout 21,000 students in MCPS high schools were enrolled in at least one career pathway program this school year — about 5,000 more than in 2007.” In addition, “[t]eachers and school counselors are given a toolkit to advertise the program to students, and the program is expanding.” Christopher Harrison, an introductory engineering design teacher at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, described a career pathways program as one “that encompasses a number of professions [and] is ‘available to all students; that may allow them to explore their possibilities.’” Harrison explained that the “the goal is to prepare students to meet the needs of Maryland and the” U.S., and especially Bethesda.
Law & Policy
Judge prepared to side with ACLU in Louisiana school prayer case.
The AP (6/11) reported, “A federal judge says he is prepared to side with the American Civil Liberties Union in its lawsuit over a teacher’s prayer during a public high school’s graduation, one of seven cases the ACLU has filed against the same Louisiana school district,” Tangipahoa Parish. However, “the judge agreed to wait until at least June 28 to issue that opinion so a settlement could be negotiated, including an agreement for the school board to pay for the ACLU’s attorneys fees, court records show.” The judge, Stanwood Duval Jr., explained, “The parties agreed that because the only outstanding issues in this case are issues of law, there is no need for a trial in this matter, even in the event the parties cannot agree on a consent order.” The AP noted, “The ACLU sued the school board on behalf of a family that attended a May 2007 graduation ceremony at the PM High School in Hammond,” during which one of the teachers gave a prayer.
Education advocates call for a review of Dallas school officials’ ethics policy.
The Dallas Morning News (6/12, Stahl) reports, “Dallas school officials have yet to begin a promised review of the district’s ethics policy, but key players say there is growing political pressure to take some action by August.” Among those pushing for an ethics review are the Dallas chapter of the NAACP, which has “called for the school district to stop awarding contracts to businesses that have significant financial ties to school trustees.” In April, the Morning News “reported that several top school officials, including board President Jack Lowe, head companies that were awarded sizable construction contracts from the district.” The Dallas Achieves Commission, an education advocacy group made up of “leaders in business, government, and philanthropy, has also raised questions about the district’s “credibility and accountability.” Members of the group have called for more specific and transparent ethics policy. Since April, some Dallas school trustees have “met privately with civic leaders to get their perspective on the district’s ethics policy.”
Advertisement
San Francisco prosecuting parents of chronically truant students.
The San Francisco Chronicle (6/11, Asimov) reported, “San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris issued citations Tuesday against six parents whose young children missed at least 50 days of school this year, the first time the city has prosecuted adults for student truancy.” The parents are charged with keeping “the children home despite repeated efforts by the school district and law enforcement to address the problem.” Harris said that the parents “violated California’s Education Code.” She also “called chronic truancy a matter of public safety and said the vast majority of prison inmates and homicide victims are dropouts or habitual truants.” According to Harris, “[t]he prosecutions are the result of a pilot program begun in 2006 to reduce truancy.” The Chronicle noted that “one child’s parents pleaded guilty and will pay a $100 fine.” The other parents “pleaded not guilty and could face trial,” or are “work[ing] with the DA’s office and social service agencies to create ‘parental responsibility plans’ to help them start sending their children to school regularly.”
Massachusetts governor to unveil proposal for “readiness schools.”
The Boston Globe (6/11, de Luzuriaga) reported that Massachusetts “Governor Deval Patrick (D)…is set to propose a new form of public school” that “would be similar to Boston’s [charter] schools.” The proposal calls for “readiness schools” that “would adapt to community needs and offer new alternatives in school systems across the state, administration officials said yesterday.” Pending the approval of the state Legislature, “the state could have its first [readiness] schools by the start of the 2009-2010 school year. Administration officials have an initial goal of 40 readiness schools within four years.” Although details of Patrick’s school plan will not be released until later this month, the Globe notes that “there are four ways a readiness school could open: A group of educators could form a collaborative…; a district could convert a school with teacher consent; a School Committee could contract with outside operators…; or the state Board of Education could convert” an underperforming school.
Special Needs
New Hampshire’s new special education rules stricter than federal guidelines.
Concord Monitor (6/12, Asmar) reports, “The state Board of Education yesterday adopted a new set of rules for special education that are more restrictive than federal guidelines. The rules will likely please parents but may frustrate educators who have argued that gratuitous paperwork and tight deadlines make their jobs tough.” The new rules contain a number of provisions that go above and beyond federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements. For example, teachers will be required to “write a list of short-term education goals for each child receiving special education,” something not required by IDEA. In addition, “students suspected of having a disability [must] be evaluated in 45 days, instead of the 60 days suggested by IDEA.” Another mandate specifies that “schools start to prepare students with disabilities for life after graduation at age 14, while IDEA requires what’s known as ‘transition planning’ to start at age 16.”
Safety & Security
Gang-related incidents rising in California district.
California’s Mercury News (6/11, Gomez) reported that “Gang-related incidents involving school-age kids” in San Jose schools “are on the rise — up more than 35 percent in 2007 for ages 10-19.” Experts noted that “[s]tudents as young as fourth-graders are being affected” by the trend. While the majority of these “are non-violent acts, such as truancy or probation violations,…police are closely tracking signs of gang-affiliation because they are concerned about an escalation of violence on San Jose’s streets and school campuses.” And, “[w]hen a serious incident happens on campus, police, city and school officials are quick to spring into action with counseling and intervention efforts.” After large-scale fights, police have “visited the homes of every student involved” in order “to make parents aware of what happened at the school and warn students and parents about the consequences of ganglike behavior.”
School Finance
Florida’s education spending plan provides teacher salary bonuses, less money per pupil.
Florida’s News-Press (6/11) reported, “When Gov. Charlie Crist (R) signed the 2008-09 state budget [on Wednesday], part of that included a leaner education spending plan.” Under the new budget, schools will receive nearly $7,000 per pupil, “a reduction of 1.8 percent from last year, but a 2.6 percent increase over fiscal 2006-07.” Also included in the budget is $32.1 million “for the controversial Merit Award Program,” which allows “eligible school districts” to award “salary bonuses for teachers they consider outstanding.” Other provisions include “an additional $168.4 million for class size reduction for 2008-09,” a “10 percent salary bonu[s] for teachers who hold National Board of Professional Teaching Standards certification,” and a reduction in the “required local effort and discretionary local effort millage rates…to maintain overall local funding at the current year’s level.”
Los Angeles budget shortfall leads district to cut staff positions, services.
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Opening Bell, the Los Angeles Times (6/11, Song, Blume) reported, “The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to slash about $400 million from the state’s largest school system by cutting 507 administrative staff and clerical workers and requiring that all employees take a four-day unpaid leave.” The move “avoids the heavy teacher layoffs and class-size increases that are facing smaller school districts throughout the state.” Roger Buschmann, “the district’s chief human resources officer,” noted that “teachers are safe.” He said, “I do not anticipate releasing any teachers. Zero.” In a bid to “keep cuts as far from classrooms as possible,” officials said that other “reductions will come from such actions as reducing payments to injured workers and delaying textbook purchase.” One official “acknowledged that ‘services that matter are being cut.’”
Also in the News
Advertisement
Mississippi credits new tracking methods for more accurate dropout rate.
According to the Mississippi Department of Education, “the state’s dropout rate is 15.9 percent, when counted with what they consider a more accurate system for tracking graduates,” the AP (6/11) reported. Figures released by State Superintendent Hank Bounds “for the class of 2007″ indicated that “the state’s graduation rate is 73.8 percent.” The AP explained that “Mississippi is now calculating graduation and dropout rates with the National Governors Association method, which tracks students from the time they begin ninth grade to the time they finish, regardless of whether it takes longer than four years.” Furthermore, the new method “also accounts for students who move out of the state.” Bounds said that Mississippi “had 187 more students graduating in 2007 than 2006, when comparing the years with the new counting method.” Bounds credited the state’s dropout prevention initiatives for the “slight uptick in graduation rates.”