The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise (12/11, Johnson) reports that at Vermont Elementary School in San Bernardino, students “prepare not only for success in elementary school but discover the importance of college.” The school “recently earned acceptance into the No Excuses University program, a national network of schools whose goal is to promote college readiness for all children, starting in the early grades.” According to Vermont Principal Elizabeth Atkinson, “more than 90 percent of Vermont students are eligible for free and reduced cost lunches.” Atkinson said that “implementing the No Excuses philosophy is not about textbooks or intervention programs. … It’s about raising expectations.” In classrooms, teachers post words related to college on walls and bulletin boards, “from dormitory for second-graders to bachelor’s degree for third-graders. In an alternative bilingual education class of third-grade students, children wear tan fisherman hands with Harvey Mudd College embroidered on them while their teacher sports a Cal State Fullerton sweatshirt and baseball cap.”

Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News (12/10, Morson) reported, “The strategy of zeroing in on specific, minute weaknesses of each student’s learning is the reason East Elementary moved up from a rating of ‘average’ last year to ‘high’ this year on state school report cards issued Tuesday,” according to Principal Greg Sumlin. “The move up was significant for East, where 78 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch, the main measure of poverty.” Furthermore, “About half the East students come from homes in which English is not the main language. In addition to individual one-on-one evaluations by teachers, East students are tested frequently, and the data are mined for evidence of where each student needs more work.” The Rocky Mountain News also lists the “six key strategies the school uses to boost learning.”

The Arizona Daily Star (12/11) reports, “Flowing Wells Unified School District piloted a program with seven teachers last school year to use Full Option Science System, or FOSS, kits in their K-6 classrooms.” Flowing Wells “surveyed its teachers and learned they wanted more hands-on science activities as part of a new curriculum. … So instead of buying a science textbook,” the district “partnered with Tucson Unified School District to lease the FOSS kits for about $35,000 per year, which would have been about what it would have cost to buy new textbooks.” The FOSS science curriculum was “developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California at Berkeley some 20 years ago out of a growing concern that elementary-age students were not receiving adequate science instruction.” Each kit “contains a different eight-week unit and contains all the materials and resources needed to teach science.” They “are both inquiry-based and provide for activity-based assignments.” The kits also “include science stories, and have related reading and writing prompts. Math also can be part of a lesson.”

The Washington Post (12/11, GZ5, Beck) reports, “Posters of wildlife photography began to take form last week as fourth-grade art students at Whetstone Elementary School (MD) hunched over tables, intently studying pictures they had taken with digital cameras.” Artist Joanne Miller is currently a resident at the school “supported by a grant from Target stores.” Through photography, Miller taught the students “a lesson about environmental principles.” They “learned how to use photography to illustrate their understanding of terms such as ecosystem or food chain and the differences among herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.”

The Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Review (12/11) reports that under a proposal by the Colorado Springs School District 11, Emerson Middle School would contain a space academy beginning next fall. “The school would be created under a partnership with the U.S. Space Foundation.” If the plan is approved, Emerson “would reopen next fall as a D-11 school, possibly under new state rules for creating ’schools of innovation.’ … Only sixth graders would enroll the first year, and then seventh and eighth graders would be added, with an eventual enrollment of about 750 students.” According to The Gazette, “most board members showed enthusiasm for the concept of a space and technology magnet school,” but “some questioned how the decision on Emerson would fit in with the overall needs of the district and the likelihood that schools must be closed because of declining enrollment.”

The Maryland Gazette (12/11) reports that “games are essential to the new math program being taught in” Anne Arundel County (MD) “elementary schools this year, EnVisionMATH, a textbook series published by Pearson.” EnVisionMATH “relies heavily on technology and hands-on activities…and claims to help young students gain a deeper understanding of math.” One game involves students rolling dice and writing “out explanations of how to multiply the numbers they rolled, pulling out factors that could be used within the solution. Then they” mark “off the answers on a sheet like a BINGO card with foam squares.” This year, the county spent about $3 million “on switching to enVisionMATH, or about $90 per student.”

Maryland’s The Gazette (12/11, Raycheva) reports on Frederick County’s annual science fair, which was held at Ballenger Creek Elementary School this year. “The fair’s goal is to foster interest for science. For students, it is also an opportunity to showcase projects covering all aspects of science — from biology to physics, chemistry, geography, technology, and engineering.” This year, “more than 400 students enrolled at the fair,” a record for the county. Frederick County Public Schools elementary science curriculum specialist Christopher Horne “said a number of factors could have caused the increased interest in the fair this year, including the change in the scheduling of the event. This is the second year in which the elementary science fair is held separately from the Frederick County middle and high school science fairs.”

The Baltimore Sun (12/10, Bykowicz) reported on the “High Expectations” program at Garrison Middle School in Northwest Baltimore. Since the program began at the beginning of this school year, a group of men from the “faith-based nonprofit organization” Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) “have worked…year to keep Garrison quiet and orderly. Acting partly as hall monitors and partly as fathers, the men have helped to cut the number of violent incidents at the school and to increase student attendance.” Many students at Garrison, “primarily boys, turn to the men for advice and intervention. The men, full-time BUILD employees, arrive at school before the students and leave after them. They sometimes work evenings and weekends, taking the kids to restaurants and museums, talking to relatives, [and] helping with homework.” According to school officials, so far this year there have been no reported attacks on teachers, compared to seven last year.

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (12/11) randomly visited 10 schools in Hillsborough County to observe whether teachers are making “good use of the monthly, two-hour planning time that the union negotiated into their contract this fall.” During those visits, the Times saw that “faculty parking spaces remained mostly occupied long after students had gone.” Teachers at Bloomingdale High School, for instance used “the extra time to stay on top of grades, due out soon, and make appointments for parent conferences.” At Monroe Middle School, “most of the teachers were either in their classrooms or meeting in groups to discuss coursework.” And, Sessums Elementary School Principal Winnie McCandless used her extra time to devote to “what the [school] receptionist said would be a long parent conference.”

The New Orleans Times Picayune (12/11, Bronston, Hurwitz) reports, “A day after receiving recalculated performance scores, Jefferson Parish school officials said Wednesday that they will appeal those numbers to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.” The school system and the Louisiana Department of Education had been in “disagreement over the routing of standardized test scores of magnet students to the schools in their home attendance district, regardless of whether they ever attended those schools.” The “reconfigured scores reduce the overall number of academically unacceptable schools in Jefferson Parish by two,” but they also place more schools “in the unacceptable category.” Meanwhile, state officials say that “only routing of alternative school test scores is allowed and that the department erred in allowing Jefferson and Natchitoches parishes to route magnet school scores. The state defines alternative schools as those serving students with learning disabilities and behavioral or discipline problems.”

The Connecticut Post (12/11, Rammuni) reports, “On Tuesday, the [Shelton] school board approved a proposed 2009-10 budget of $63.9 million, about $1.4 million more than the current budget.” According to the school board chairman, other than spending more on health care, “nothing else is being increased.” The board “initially assembled its budget on the assumption that” health-care provider HealthNet’s “increase would be about 12 percent. Last week, the board got the news that the increase would instead be 19.8 percent, which meant an additional $500,000 to the already-planned increase.”

The Washington Post (12/11, B1, De Vise) reports, “Montgomery County parents and national children’s advocacy groups are questioning the school system’s experiment with BusRadio, a private network that broadcasts sanitized music and ads to a captive audience of student passengers.” Groups such as the Consumers Union and the National PTA say that “exposing students to commercial radio” infringes on time they “might otherwise pass in quiet reflection or conversing with friends.” But “Promoters of the radio service say it has proved popular among schools nationwide because it calms and distracts students. Many school bus drivers turn on the radio when they carry passengers, a technique known to reduce bullying and fights.” Schools also benefit from BusRadio, as it is “offered to school systems at no cost, and schools reap five percent of ad revenue.”

The Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch (12/11) reports on an event hosted by “volunteers from Capital One…in eastern Goochland County for more than 100 fourth- and fifth-graders” from Fairfield Court Elementary School. At the event, students learned lessons and played games dealing with financial literacy. “Capital One volunteer Tim Hendricks gave students a crash course in finance. … ‘Who wants to be a millionaire when they retire?’ Hendricks asked. Every hand shot up. ‘If you start saving $100 a month at age 18, you’d have $1 million at age 64,’ he said, explaining about interest compounding.”

The Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch (12/12, Crutchfield, Reid) reports that “students in 68 percent of primary and secondary schools nationwide” participate in community-service activities. But, “while community service remains a robust part of education, service learning — community service that’s tied into curriculum or other classroom-based learning — is on the decline, according to a study released this month by the Corporation for National & Community Service.” The report, Community Service and Service-Learning in America’s Schools, shows that “Since 1999, the number of secondary schools nationwide that offer service-learning has declined from 46 percent to 35 percent.” The Times-Dispatch adds that according to Catherine W. Howard, vice provost in the division of community engagement and an associate professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, “Service without structure doesn’t carry much meaning. … ‘With service-learning, [students] need an opportunity for reflection and connection,’ she said. ‘They need to come back in some kind of guided, reflected way.’”

Darling-Hammond: I Have Fought To Change Status Quo In Education.

In a letter to the editor of the New York Times (12/12, A40), Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University and head of the working group on education policy for President-elect Obama’s transition team, writes, “I strongly disagree with David Brooks’s characterization of my views on a range of education issues as anti-reform (column, Dec. 5). Since I entered teaching, I have fought to change the status quo that routinely delivers dysfunctional schools and low-quality teaching to students of color in low-income communities.” Darling Hammond writes that she has also “worked to create…assessments that measure critical thinking and performance,” and has “sought to amend and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act to incorporate these kinds of assessments, while preserving its commitment to closing the achievement gap.” According to Darling Hammond, “Real reform will require…moving beyond the polarizing debates that prevent us from working together to improve education.”

        Darling-Hammond Is Best Qualified For Education Secretary Position, Stanford Education Dean Writes. Deborah Stipek, dean of the Stanford University School of Education, wrote, in a letter to the editor of The San Francisco Chronicle (12/12, B13), “There is more than one way to skin a cat, and there is more than one way to reform education in this country. Commentary in the press, including…David Brooks’ column in the New York Times, have entreated President-elect Barack Obama to select a reformer as the secretary of education.” Stipek agrees, “We need an education leader in this country who understands the complexity of the education system, and can work productively with the many constituencies that are needed for meaningful reform.” She concludes that with “three decades of experience working to improve the quality of teaching” and education, Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond “is the best qualified for such a leadership position.” Stipek concludes, “The recent commentary have not been about education policy, but “about politics,” and “are harmful, because they lead the conversation away from learning and onto divisive ideology.”

Spellings Endorses Chicago Schools Chief For Education Secretary Post.

The Chicago Sun-Times (12/12, Spielman) reports, “Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan is a ‘visionary’ school leader who would make a ‘great choice’ as the new U.S. Education Secretary, incumbent Secretary Margaret Spellings said Thursday.” Though the Sun-Times adds that Spellings joked she didn’t want to “hurt his chances,” Spellings “nevertheless put in a plug for Duncan during a trip to Chicago to help Mayor Daley dole out $350,000 in merit pay to outstanding teachers and school employees. ‘He’s a terrific school leader. I consider him a fellow reformer and someone who cares deeply about students.” Duncan “took the glowing endorsement in stride, telling reporters, ‘She’s got to say it. She’s in Chicago. When she leaves here, she’ll tell you how she really feels.” However, Duncan “refused to say whether he has had any discussions with President-elect Barack Obama or his emissaries about the nation’s No. 1 education job or about a deputy’s position.”

Maryland District Cancels BusRadio Service.

The Washington Post (12/12, B2, De Vise) reports that Montgomery County (MD) schools “have decided to switch off BusRadio, a private network that provides programmed music and advertising on school buses. School officials said yesterday they have abandoned a trial of the radio service on 50 buses that carry 6,000 students in the Rockville area, acting in the face of mounting criticism from national advocacy groups and area parents.” The Post adds, “Activists raised questions this week about the wisdom of exposing a captive student audience to advertising.”

In the Classroom

Number Of Secondary Schools That Offer Service-Learning On The Decline.