Dozens of education-related issues on November ballots
Education Week (10/6, Ash) reports that in November, “dozens of legislative referendums, citizen initiatives, and proposed state constitutional amendments affecting education” will be “on the ballot in at least 15 states, according to an overview by the National Conference of State Legislatures.” For instance, “six states — Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon” — are proposing referendums “that would either create new revenue sources for public schools or alter the flow of gambling-related money earmarked for education.” Meanwhile, Oregon voters will decide on “performance-based raises for teachers and limits on the amount of time non-English-speakers could be taught in their native languages.” Both measures are seen as being widely opposed by educators. Education Week noted that, because “citizen initiatives typically require months of signature-gathering, and legislature-driven measures often are passed early in the year, items reflecting the current economic crisis” will be “notably absent from next month’s ballot.”
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In the Classroom
Latin classes increasingly popular among students.
The New York Times (10/7, A25, Hu) reports on the rising interest in studying Latin, “a language once rejected as outdated and irrelevant.” The renewed interest “is reflected across the country as Latin is embraced by a new generation of students…who seek to increase SAT scores or stand out from their friends, or simply harbor a fascination for the ancient language after reading Harry Potter’s Latin-based chanting spells.” Another reason, said one Latin educator, is that classes “have evolved from ‘dry grammar and tortuous translations’ to livelier lessons that focus on culture, history and the daily life of the Romans.” She also credited the language’s promotion “through clubs, poetry competitions and mock chariot races” as a reason for its resurgence. Many experts applaud the change, saying that Latin “builds vocabulary and grammar for higher SAT scores, appeals to college admissions officers as a sign of critical-thinking skills and fosters true intellectual passion.”
Development day focuses on physical activity as instructional tool.
Florida’s Daily Home (10/7, Fincher) reports on Teacher Professional Development Day in Talladega, where educators learned about physical activities “designed for students to be able to perform in the limited space of a classroom.” Among other activities, “teachers were asked to recreate the elements that cause the creation of fossil fuels by moving their bodies,” coming up with “movements meant to symbolize the forces of heat, pressure and decomposition.” The Daily Home notes, “Creativity was encouraged for most of the activities, so teachers often made up their own movements.” The educators behind the program noted that “students are able to learn better by doing rather than just watching, and the physical activities help to expend some of [their] energy.” The educators “also received training in the use of defibrillators later during the development day,” as the schools have recently received defibrillators.
Teachers to conduct science experiments on weightless flight.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (10/6, Hollis) reported on “the 60 Atlanta-area math and science teachers participating in Tuesday’s Northrop Grumman Weightless Flights of Discovery teacher training program,” which provides “teachers with first-hand experience in the application of math, science and engineering principles in a zero-gravity atmosphere.” The educators will conduct individual experiments, as well as work on experiments in groups. “One will demonstrate human strength in a zero-gravity environment by having the teachers perform such acts like one-finger push-ups and somersaults.” Following the program, the educators “will bring their experiences and in-flight videos back to their classrooms to incorporate into their lesson plans so that they might inspire the next generation of American scientists and engineers.” Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation, said that the program was designed to give “teachers the tools and experiences they need to show their students that math and science are not only entertaining, but can also be the basis for a fascinating career.”
Program helps students earn college credits, learn manufacturing skills.
California’s Modesto Bee (10/6, Hatfield) reported that Ceres High School (CHS) students “are excited about the college units they accrue while taking classes in the manufacturing ‘Fast Track,’ a partnership between Ceres High, Modesto Junior College (MJC) and area employers.” Students in this track can “earn a semester’s worth of MJC units, and need only a year at MJC to earn a manufacturing certificate.” Jay Simmonds, director of career and technical education at Ceres Unified School District, pointed out that the program “is the first Manufacturing Fast Track program in the Central Valley,” and it is “the only fast-track manufacturing pathway in the state that pairs a high school with a junior college.” The curriculum was developed with help from MJC instructors, who also provided “equipment and technology.” According to the Bee, the “pathway is part of a movement to require rigorous academics that meet college entrance requirements, and provide options for everyone, not just university-bound students.”
On the Job
Some New Hampshire schools face teacher shortages.
The AP (10/6) reported that, “with baby boomers retiring and a dearth of new teachers in some subjects, many New Hampshire schools are looking longer and harder for good teachers.” This year a number of schools, which normally “finish hiring teachers for the upcoming year around the end of July,” were still trying to fill open positions in late September. One education official attributed this to retiring teachers, who “included a huge group of highly qualified women who had no other alternatives in the 1960s, career-wise.” And of the students training to replace them, too few are studying “areas such as math, science and special education.” While New Hampshire “allows schools to hire teachers who are still working toward certification,” continuing shortages are requiring schools to begin “the hiring process earlier,” and also look “to the private sector” for teachers. However, education officials warned that “a private-sector expert isn’t always a great fit for teaching.”
Blog discusses policy aimed at removing ineffective educators from schools.
In her Education Week (10/6) blog, eduwonkette considered Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s new policy, similar to a number of other plans being piloted around the country, of “giving ‘bad teachers’ 90 days to improve, or else face dismissal.” Eduwonkette noted, “The assumption is that principals know best, that they make decisions based on the best interest of students, that ‘kid issues’ will be put before ‘adult issues’ in hiring decisions, and that concerns about fair treatment are retrograde — even passé.” Eduwonkette pointed to “the case of Dr. Art Siebens,” a D.C. teacher “who was not rehired when the school reconstituted 20 percent of its staff last spring.” Siebens has a Ph.D. in biology, “was widely known to be a steward of order and discipline,” and produced students who posted high grades on the AP Biology exam, among other qualities. “If this can happen to him, it can happen to almost any teacher in the D.C. system,” eduwonkette concluded, adding that any such system requires greater “checks and balances.”
Some Texas teachers may face difficulties finding jobs.
Texas’s Star-Telegram (10/6, Ayala, Agee) reported, “New teachers may have a tough time finding jobs next year because more people are expected to compete for fewer positions,” according to Texas education officials. “The slow economy, along with a new state funding model, is causing a cash crunch for school districts.” Additionally, “fewer teachers want to leave the profession.” Dave Robinson, president of the Fort Worth Education Association, explained that “not as many people retired or stayed home for maternity leave this year because they can’t afford to.” Simultaneously, “workers are leaving or being pushed out of private companies and entering what they see as the safer waters of education and public employment,” entering the schools through the region’s alternative certification program, “which allows professionals with college degrees to become teachers.” Robinson said, “Teachers are going to be fighting for jobs.”
Law & Policy
Oregon measure would prohibit teaching non-English speakers in their native languages.
Oregon NBC affiliate KGW-TV (10/7, Adams) reports on “Ballot Measure 58, the so-called bilingual education ban, which” will appear “on Oregon’s November ballot.” Measure 58 “would officially prohibit teaching public school students languages other than English for more than two years,” and “it is aimed at non-native English speakers — not those students seeking to pick up a secondary language in high school,” according to the state Division of Elections. Political activist Bill Sizemore, the bill’s sponsor, said that it “will help immigrants and other non-native speakers get a ‘leg up’ on national language and culture. … Sizemore contends that many of the students did not need to be in the” English as a Second Language classes; rather, school districts were using them as “pawns — just so the schools can get more money.”
In a separate story, Oregon NBC affiliate KGW-TV (10/7, Adams) adds that “Portland schools officials say it’s difficult to gauge how much the so-called bilingual education ban would impact public education, but that it would affect thousands of students and hundreds of teachers.” About 4,700 Portland public school students “are in the ESL-Bilingual Program.” Although officials “would not voice support or opposition to the initiative itself…Portland schools ESL director Dianna Fernandez did say she believed Measure 58 was based on a ‘common misconception’ that schools here instruct students in languages other than English.” Fernandez also points out that “education officials in Massachusetts and California, where similar ballot measures to alter English teaching to non-native students have passed, say the new mandates have done nothing to help children.”
New Jersey leaders ask court to approve new education funding formula.
Education Week (10/6, Gerwertz) reported, “New Jersey leaders have asked the state’s highest court to set aside a family of landmark rulings that have funneled billions of dollars into efforts to improve schooling for low-income urban districts. The officials argue that their new school funding formula offers a fairer way of supporting all children in the state.” Assistant Attorney General Robert Gilson “said the new formula affords plenty for” the state’s poorest districts, known as the Abbot districts. “This year, they will get 54 percent of the state’s education spending, more than $17,000 per pupil, while even wealthy districts will get closer to $14,000, he said.” Yet, the new formula has drawn “criticism from advocates for urban districts” who “said its calculations far underestimate the cost of the programs needed to raise achievement for poor children. Advocates for special education also objected because the formula shifts more responsibility for that funding to local districts.”
Safety & Security
Children’s flu deaths tied to staph infections, report indicates.
The AP (10/6, Tanner) reported, “More children have died from flu because they also had staph infections,” a government study indicates. Although “the number of deaths wasn’t high…there was more than a fivefold increase in hard-to-treat complications.” According to “public health officials…the numbers underscore the importance of a new recommendation that all children ages 6 months through 18 years get routine flu shots.” An infectious disease specialist cautioned parents not to panic, but added that “it’s an important message to say even healthy children develop complications and die almost before anything much can be done for them.”
School Finance
Maryland district cannot afford to fund scheduled raises, official says.
The Washington Post (10/7, B2, deVise, Marimow) reports that Montgomery County, Md., schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast “has told principals that the system cannot afford to fund scheduled pay raises for the coming budget year.” County Board of Education Nancy Navarro has also said “planned raises of 5.3 percent for teachers are probably unrealistic when the county faces a projected $250 million shortfall for fiscal 2010.” The Post notes that this year, “the school board was able to honor” the raises promised to teachers “by cutting and reassigning positions and scaling back academic initiatives. Montgomery teachers are in the second year of a three-year contract that awarded a pay raise of five percent this year.” In response to the speculation about the district’s budget, “Tom Israel, executive director of the Montgomery County Education Association, said the labor group has not agreed to renegotiate the contract and will not do so based on economic forecasts.”
Also in the News
Aggressive toddlers more likely to become victims of bullying, research suggests.
The U.K.’s Telegraph (10/7, Devlin) reports, “Children who are aggressive as toddlers are more likely to be bullied at school than other youngsters, according to a” study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. For the study, “scientists, from the University of Alabama, followed almost 2,000 youngsters born between 1997 and 1998 in Québec, Canada. They first assessed the children at five months of age and then every year after up until they reached seven-and-a-half years old.” During the assessments the children’s parents and teachers “were asked about bullying.” Researchers “found that children who were outwardly aggressive as toddlers were more likely to become victims of bullying than their classmates. But youngsters who tended to internalize their problems, and had symptoms of sadness or anxiety, did not seem to suffer the same abuse.” Furthermore, “many of the victimized children also seemed to be picked on by their teacher, according to the findings.
New York schools introduce algebra-based video game.
The New York Times (10/8, Hu) reports on Dimension M, a math-based video game being debuted “across the five boroughs” of New York. “Like a modern twist on ‘Jeopardy!,’ the fast-paced video game quizzes students on prealgebra and algebra topics ranging from prime numbers to fractions and complex equations.” Students also race “through virtual tunnels and [zap] competitors with a blue freezing light.” In its trial run last year, educators said the game “was played at least once a week in math classes and more often by students on their own at home,” and noted “that the constant game-playing has led to less ‘math phobia’ and has helped raise test scores on state math exams.” The Times notes that “whether such educational video games are effective teaching tools is among the key questions behind the new Games for Learning Institute (GLI),” a partnership between several colleges and Microsoft that “will study games used in middle school classrooms and then create prototypes for new ones.”
In the Chronicle of Higher Education‘s (10/7) Wired Campus column, Lawrence Biemiller added that GLI participants include New York University (NYU), “the City University of New York, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Parsons the New School for Design, and the Rochester Institute of Technology,” as well as “Columbia’s Teachers College and NYU’s Polytechnic Institute.” Researchers pointed out that although “educational games have become commonplace, ‘little is known about how, why or even if they are effective.’” GLI researchers will focus on “what makes certain games compelling and playable, and what elements make them effective,” in the hopes of supporting “a new era of using games for educational purposes.”
T.H.E. Journal (10/7, Nagel) noted that the GLI “is not the first project to study the value of gaming in science and math education.” However, the GLI “is different from other recent research initiatives in that it’s focused particularly on identifying which aspects of video games most engage students and on developing ‘relevant, personalized teaching strategies that can be applied to the learning process’ based on the findings.”
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Educators taking multimedia approach to studying elections.
Education Week (10/8, Manzo) reports that, “just as the candidates” in the upcoming U.S. elections “have learned to use novel technology tools to reach young people,” educators are also “turning to electronic resources to capture students’ interest in the election.” The article describes a history class in a Philadelphia high school that utilizes “online video archives, values surveys, and discussion groups that help students…examine the stances of the candidates on various issues, and to articulate the pros and cons of each.” The teacher explained, “The aim is to get a better understanding of the political process they are witnessing…and to employ scholarly strategies to present information in a clear and organized manner.” Cyndy Scheibe of Project Look Sharp, “which provides resources on presidential campaigns over the past 200 years,” added that “new technologies…help students synthesize information from a variety of sources, analyze issues, and compare current events with the historical record.”
Utah charter schools outperform public schools under NCLB.
The AP (10/8) reports, “Utah’s charter schools outperformed traditional public schools in meeting goals for the federal No Child Left Behind Act,” with roughly “95 percent of Utah’s charter schools” reaching the testing goals, compared to “eighty percent of Utah’s public schools.” However, “most charter school administrators said their schools have a few advantages that help explain why they performed better in meeting the federal standards.” For example, “charter schools tend to have fewer economically disadvantaged students and fewer students with special needs.” They also tend to have smaller classrooms, as well as overall student populations, and host fewer of the subgroups determined by “income and race, among other things.”
The Salt Lake Tribune (10/7, Fulton) also focused on the fact that, “rather than tout their higher pass rates…most charter school administrators” noted the “differences that may weigh in their favor.” In determining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), schools must “meet goals across all 10 subgroups of students in order to pass. Subgroups include special education students, English Language Learners (ELL) and groups defined as ‘disadvantaged minorities.’” One charter school director noted that, while her school’s “students represent many subgroups…some are small enough to be statistically insignificant for purposes of meeting federal goals.”
Ohio school finds improved scores in single-sex classrooms.
The Cincinnati Enquirer (10/8, Kranz) reports, “At Elmwood Place Elementary, the 37 fourth-graders attend school in single-sex classrooms. And, they couldn’t be happier.” Elmwood’s “single-sex classrooms evolved from a mini-experiment last year,” after “two teachers asked to separate the sixth-grade boys and girls in science and social studies classes.” The educators suggested separating the students because “there were a lot of behavior issues, personal issues, how-to-act-with-boys issues, how-to-act-with-girls, how to be appropriate.” After the separation, girls’ science scores “increased about 16 percentage points,” and “boys had about a 4.5- to five-percentage-point increase overall.” Principal Lisa Pfalzgraf said the results left her in awe. “All of the boys were involved in the lesson and listening. I had not seen them where they were so engaged before.” Pfalzgraf decided to separate “only fourth-graders by gender this year” so that “she’ll have data from grades four through six on the same group of students to gauge any changes in academic achievement.”
Students at Massachusetts school receive hands-on instruction in STEM lab.
Massachusetts’s Patriot Ledger (10/7, McCarthy) reported on a new, state-of-the-art science lab at Deer Hill Elementary School, designed to allow “children in grades three through five to do hands-on learning” in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The STEM lab “has a video microscope with monitor, computers with printers and headsets, and a large, interactive computer screen used for teaching.” Students will be able to use the tools “on a daily basis,” the Patriot Ledger noted. Principal Jennifer deChiara said, “I think the most important thing is that the lab will ignite a passion for science.” She added that by “engaging in these experiments…in the laboratory environment,” the students will “feel like scientists instead of students reading about scientists.” For teachers, “the school district will provide… five full-day instruction sessions.” Funding for the lab “was provided by the Cohasset Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization.”
Minnesota two-year colleges experience more interest in technical programs.
Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin (10/8, Carlson) reports, “With the economic slump, more students…appear to be flocking to career-centered programs like medical transcription or accounting.” The Post-Bulletin points out that Riverland Community College (RCC) in Albert Lea, Minn., “has seen steady growth in its career-technical programs in recent years with less interest in the liberal arts programs,” said Gary Schindler, RCC’s dean of student affairs. The most popular programs at RCC “include accounting, computer technology, industrial maintenance, and nursing.” Schindler said that the students “have a sense of the job market and where demand is at.” For example, “the college’s diesel technology program has hit a four-year enrollment high with 47 students and a waiting list compared with 2005-2006 school year when 32 students were enrolled.” Meanwhile, a Rochester Community and Technical College spokesman noted that the college “has also seen more students flocking this year to its career and technical programs” while some of its “liberal arts courses…have seen fewer students.”
On the Job
Michigan district’s teachers strike over health insurance, class size.
The Detroit Free Press (10/7, Walsh-Sarnecki) reported, “The Wayne-Westland Board of Education unanimously voted [last night] to discipline striking teachers and to stop withholding Michigan Education Association dues from paychecks.” However, “the board did not immediately indicate how it would discipline teachers,” who under state law are not allowed to strike. According to a general counsel for the Michigan Education Association, “the union will argue that the district must prove irreparable harm in order to force the teachers back into the classroom, something he said would be difficult to prove.” In another development, “a judge ruled that Wayne-Westland Community Schools improperly withheld information from its teachers union during contract talks,” and subsequently “ordered the district to provide more complete information about the district’s financial status and the cost of the insurance that it wants the union to accept.”
The Detroit News (10/7, Bouffard, Pardo) added that the strike stems, in part, from a decision by the district “to move most teachers out of healthcare plans administered by the Michigan Educational Special Services Association, which administers insurance claims for 45 percent of Michigan teachers and school employees,” and transfer those “teachers to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO plan now used by school district administrators.” Reductions to classroom size are also at issue.
Another article by the Detroit Free Press (10/7, Walsh-Sarnecki, et al.) noted, “A dozen other districts in the state are involved in contract talks that union officials consider either stalled or unproductive, many of them over the same issues as Wayne-Westland — class size and health insurance.” The strike “marks the first time Michigan teachers outside Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have been willing to face fines” under the law. The Free Press explained, “DPS teachers have struck twice since the law was passed, but the number of teachers in Detroit makes it impractical to take any kind of action against them. Wayne-Westland…could be a different story.”
Special Needs
D.C. mayor, schools chancellor announce special education program changes.
The Washington Post (10/8, B4, Turque) reports that D.C. school “officials, under mounting pressure from a federal judge to overhaul special education services in public schools, promised significant improvements over the next year, including the return of some children now in private schools because the city could not meet their needs.” The district will implement two pilot programs “this academic year…to make the school system a more welcoming place for some of the 11,000 children with learning disabilities or behavioral challenges,” according to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). “In the elementary school program…special education students are placed in general-education classrooms but given individualized instruction by specially trained staff. In the middle school program…special education students receive individual instruction as part of a broader program of supports involving social workers and psychologists,” Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said on Tuesday. “Rhee and Fenty also introduced the District’s new deputy chancellor for special education, Richard Nyankori, who promised a more customer-friendly special-ed operation.”
Safety & Security
One third of Oklahoma elementary, middle school students involved in bullying, report finds.
The AP (10/8) reports that, according to a report recently released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, “as many as a third of elementary and middle school students in Oklahoma are involved in bullying.” According to the data, 70 percent of bullying incidents occurred on school playgrounds, 42 percent occurred on the bus, 36 percent in halls, 28 percent in bathrooms, and 23 percent in classrooms and cafeterias. Furthermore, Department of Education statistics show that “there were more than 12,000 incidents of bullying or harassment of students in Oklahoma elementary, middle, and high schools in the 2006-2007 school year.” The state, meanwhile, is continuing its efforts “to reduce bullying.” For instance, the Oklahoma Bullying Prevention Act was “amended this year” to require “each school to have a policy on bullying prevention.” The state has also created “a toll-free confidential hotline” for students “to report…threatening activities.”
Oklahoma’s Tulsa World (10/8, Archer) points out that the state’s “focus continues to be on prevention,” according to Kathy Middleton, program coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Health’s Injury Prevention Service. “Children want better adult supervision and teachers who will take action and enforce the rules,” she said. In fact, the report shows that “nearly two-thirds of children who were frequently bullied and half of children who had not been bullied asked for better adult supervision.” The Oklahoman (10/8, Brown) also reports the story.
Also in the News
Body mass tests do not contribute to bullying, study finds.
The AP (10/8) reports that “overweight children in Arkansas have not faced more teasing since the state became the first in the nation to require students to undergo body mass index tests,” according to a recent study. The finding “comes after state lawmakers and the governor loosened the belt of the standards last year over teasing concerns,” despite the fact that “obesity remains a major health concern in” the state. The AP notes that, under the 2003 law, “parents received a report noting whether the measurement, reached by using a person’s height and weight, found their child was underweight, healthy, at risk of becoming overweight or overweight.”
Nutritional school meals may improve academic performance, research indicates.
U.S. News & World Reports‘ (10/7, Voiland) Living Well column featured an interview with “Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist and creator of the popular South Beach diet.” At last week’s Obesity Society meeting, Agatston presented findings from the Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren obesity prevention program which showed “that improving the nutritional quality of school meals bolstered the” math scores of 1,197 elementary school “students over a two-year period.” According to Agatston, while many of the children were overfed, they were also malnourished. The program offered them food with “less saturated fat, no trans fats, and more whole grains and fruits and vegetables.” In order for schools and parents to replicate the success of the program, Agatston said that the first thing to do is “get rid of hydrogenated oils.” Also, “maximize fruits and vegetables” by substituting “sweet potatoes for regular potatoes, brown rice for white rice, [and] rye or whole-grain bread for white bread.” Furthermore, Agatston suggested that readers “complain to their congressperson if they feel the school food is bad.”