Millennial Generation Seen As Increasingly Cursive Illiterate.
The Barre Montpelier (VT) Times Argus (1/5, Nix) reports, “Over the past decade, teachers and secondary students across the country have reported a trend that their parents and grandparents could scarcely imagine: The millennial generation is increasingly cursive illiterate.” According to Elizabeth Wihtol, “who teaches third grade in California,” cursive is “almost being forced out” of the elementary school curriculum due to “the priorities of No Child Left Behind.” And “some cursive proponents say the problem is exacerbated by teacher credentialing programs that no longer train potential teachers on cursive instruction.” Other teachers point out that “while cursive fluency often makes elementary kids feel like grown-ups, this rite of passage often loses its currency once kids hit middle school.” At that point, “pupils mastering complex content may be more of a priority than perfectly formed cursive script.” Yet some “studies show that learning cursive helps children’s brain synapses to develop because it requires fluid movement, eye-hand coordination and fine motor skill development.”
In the Classroom
Florida District Partners With College Board To Provide Free SAT For Every Junior.
The St. Petersburg Times (1/5, Stein) reports that the Hillsborough County [FL] School District “plans to offer one free [SAT] to every junior, saving families around $45.” The district is able to offer juniors one free SAT because of a partnership “with the organization that administers the SAT — the College Board — to redesign the academic experience in its middle and high schools…known as the EXCELerator model.” According to the St. Petersburg Times, “a free test makes it easier for everyone, including middle-class parents worrying about the additional expense of applying to college in a tough economic year.”
Fairfax County, Virginia Superintendent Will Recommend That District Keep Seven Point Grading Scale.
The Washington Post (1/3, A1, Chandler, Birnbaum) reported, “A long-awaited Fairfax County [VA] school system report released yesterday found no conclusive evidence that the county’s tough grading policy hurts students’ chances of gaining admission to college but said it could hamper their ability to get into honors programs or earn some scholarships.” The school district’s grading scale requires that students “earn at least 94 percent to earn an A and at least 64 percent to pass a class. Most school systems in the country use a 10-point scale, meaning that 90 percent gets an A and 60 is a passing grade.” In addition, “many already give students’ GPAs a bigger boost for more challenging courses.” Fairfax Schools Superintendent Jack D. Dale said he plans to “recommend to the School Board that the school system maintain its strict grading scale;” but he will also “propose that Fairfax students get a bump in their grade-point average when they complete honors and college-level classes to make them more competitive.”
High School In Virginia Sees Spike In Charitable Giving By Students.
Virginia’s Daily Press (1/5, Grimes) reports that Woodside High School in Newport News, VA, “calls itself the home of the Wolverines, but the proliferation of service clubs and projects might mean an addition to that moniker: home of charitable giving and community service.” In December, Woodside students increased their charitable efforts as they “rang bells for the Salvation Army, bought gifts for foster children, served meals to the homeless, gave presents to senior citizens and sent hundreds of cookies to soldiers serving overseas, among other projects.” Other students “held a successful silent auction in December to raise funds for” Woodside’s Wounded Warrior project, which benefits military members and their families. Principal Susan Tilley said the increase in charitable work by students is due to “the school’s mandate that all clubs complete a project each quarter” and to “the district’s move toward having all students complete a service project before graduating.”
California Elementary School Invests In International Baccalaureate Program.
The San Diego Union-Tribune (1/4, Lieberman) reported that at Jefferson Elementary School in California a “focus on cultural awareness is part of the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program, a highly regarded curriculum that emphasizes high academic rigor, international awareness and foreign languages.” Jefferson’s “IB program has been in the works for three years, and next month representatives from the program will be evaluating the school to certify it as an official IB site.” According to the Union-Tribune, “Jefferson has spent between $50,000 and $70,000″ in the past three years “to train staff at workshops around the United States and for other expenses associated with applying to be an IB school. The money has come from the school’s Title I budget — the pool of federal funds the school receives to enhance the education of its students from low-income families. If the school becomes certified, it will be the second elementary school in San Diego County — and the thirteenth elementary school in California — with an IB program.
Fifth-Graders In Michigan School Practice Free Enterprise In “Mini Society.”
Michigan’s Tri County Times (1/4, McKay) reported, “As part of the social studies curriculum for” fifth-graders at Linden Elementary School in Michigan, “students had to create, market, and sell a product. They also created their own form of currency, which was then exchanged for goods and services in the Mini Society they created.” Furthermore, “students are held responsible for managing their ‘money’ throughout the year.” Renee Juhl, a fifth grade teacher “who has organized the event for the past eight years,” said “there were not enough jobs created for all the students, which reflects current economic times.”
On the Job
Virginia Teacher Sworn In As School Board Member.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (1/4, Slayton) reported on Mary Jane Hendricks, a 33-year teaching veteran who teaches in Henrico County, VA, and was recently “sworn in as a member of the” Petersburg, VA School Board. Hendricks teaches at Elko Middle School in Sandston, but “moved to Petersburg from Short Pump less than two years ago.” She “said she welcomes the challenges that await her first term on the School Board but admits there is plenty that she needs to learn.” Hendricks “will intertwine her job as a teacher in one locality with helping to lead a school system in another. She said she can apply components of each job to enhance the other.”
DC Schools Chief Plans To Remove Some Teachers, Foster Professional Growth For Others.
The Washington Post (1/5, B1, Turque) reports, “At the heart of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s vision for transforming D.C. schools is a dramatic overhaul of its 4,000-member teacher corps that would remove a ‘significant share’ of instructors and launch an ambitious plan to foster professional growth for those who remain.” Rhee’s staff-development plan aims to “move the District away from the regimen of courses and workshops that have defined continuing education for teachers. Borrowing from best practices in surrounding suburban districts, she is building a system of school-based mentors and coaches to help instructors raise the quality of their work.” In addition, the district has placed “teachers with poor evaluations…on ’90-day plans’ of counseling and observation to help improve their performance. Those who don’t improve could face termination by the end of the school year.”
Law & Policy
New Jersey Law Requiring Vaccinations For Pre-School Aged Children Expected To Be Tested.
The New York Times (1/2, Henry) reported that New Jersey’s “new law requiring young children attending licensed pre-school and child care centers to get flu vaccinations will be tested this week when thousands of children return to classrooms and playrooms after the long holiday break.” New Jersey is “the first state in the nation to require flu shots for young schoolchildren.” Parents were given until Dec. 31 “to obtain flu vaccinations for their children.” In addition, the new policy requires “a total of four additional immunizations for schoolchildren.” Some “parents say they believe vaccines cause autism, even though multiple studies have found no such link.” And although the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice “supports proposed legislation that would provide an exemption for conscientious objectors to mandatory vaccinations for schoolchildren,” the “New Jersey Department of Health opposes philosophical exemptions…because influenza can cause destructive and serious illness among children.”
Special Needs
Minnesota District School For Exceptionally Gifted Students May Open Next Year.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (1/3, Blanchette) reported that “the Minnetonka School District is on track to create a school for ‘exceptionally gifted’ students whose intelligence levels are dramatically higher than the average student.” The gifted school may open as early as next school year. According to a study conducted by the district’s High Potential Services Department, “Minnetonka schools have more talented and gifted students than most districts across the country. … Typically, talented and gifted students make up five to eight percent of a district’s population, based on national norms used to identify such students.” Yet, “Minnetonka’s gifted and talented students make up 22 percent of the student population.” The gifted “program would be open to students ages 8 to 11 or in grades three through five. Once the program gets under way, the district would consider expanding the curriculum to more students.”
Schools Of Promise Aim For Full Inclusion Of Students With Special Needs.
New York’s The Post-Standard (1/4, Kollali) reported that many schools in Syracuse, NY, have “moved to ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘inclusion,’ which placed students with disabilities in so-called regular classes to the extent teachers and administrators thought suitable.” Yet, those students “often left the classroom for varying times of the day to work with other teachers.” The Schools of Promise, however, aim “for ‘full inclusion,’ where students with disabilities are with their same-age peers in a traditional classroom all the time.” The program was created by two Syracuse University professors. The professors “approached district leaders” in Syracuse “and sought out city schools interested in participating.” Two schools are currently working with Schools of Promise “to eliminate ‘self-contained’ classrooms — which have primarily special needs students — and to spread special needs students out across the building rather than concentrating them in a few classrooms.”
Safety & Security
Green Bay City Council Committee To Consider Proposal Banning Pets On School Grounds.
The Green Bay (WI) Press (1/4) reported, “A proposed ordinance that would prohibit people from walking their pets on school grounds in Green Bay while picking up or dropping off their children is scheduled to be considered by a City Council committee” this week. The proposal came about after a “constituent expressed concerns that having pets on school grounds could mean that students would be stepping in or even rolling around in areas the pets may have sullied.”
Schools In Michigan District Seek To Retain School Liaison Police Officers Despite Budget Cuts.
The Muskegon (MI) Chronicle (1/5, Williams) reports on “the tasks of school liaison police officers” in Ottowa County, MI, which include “patrolling schools, neighboring areas, and parking lots…conducting locker searches,” and “providing [students with] a listening ear and advice pertaining to the law.” Because school officials believe that “the safety and security [liaison officers] provide are worth every penny invested,” they continue to invest in the service, “despite budget cuts.” Some schools even “split a portion of the cost with local municipalities.”
Also in the News
TeacherTube Provides Forum For Educators To Share Lessons.
The Dallas Morning News (1/5, Unmuth) reports, “Just as YouTube gave regular people a stage to become famous, teachers…are now sharing videos and gaining attention beyond the confines of their classrooms” through “a Web site called Teacher Tube.” The website was created in March 2007 by Jason Smith, superintendent of the Melissa Independent School District in Texas, “and his brother Adam…an engineer.” They created the site as “a place for teachers to model their lessons.” Teacher Tube now has about 220,000 regular users, more than 54,000 videos and is averaging about 800,000 visitors to the site every month.” According to Adam Smith, “several teachers, such as a rapping math teacher from North Carolina, have become the ‘rock stars’ of the [TeacherTube]. Videos that incorporate songs, visual aids, and math and science tend to be” the most popular.
Students At California High School Campaign To Remove School Board Members.
The Los Angeles Times (1/5, Paddock) reports that when Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District board members got rid of a popular math teacher after a strange plagiarism complaint,” Tioga High School students “were so upset, the entire school boycotted class the next day.” But “what started as a civics class project soon became much more: a campaign to remove all five board members of Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District.” Tioga “students organized a petition drive to hold a recall election.” And “with the help of parents, teachers, and even their principal, the campaign on Monday turned in about 1,200 signatures for each board member — 910 were needed to call a special election. The students expect to learn this week whether the recall qualifies. If so, an election will be held in May.”
NEA in the News
Websites Help Teachers Secure Funding For Class Projects.
New Hampshire’s Foster’s Daily Democrat (1/4, Keefe) reported that according to Peter Miller, Eastern Region Uniserv Director for the National Education Association of New Hampshire, “Teachers spend about $600 a year out of their own pocket just to pay for things they need in the classroom.” Websites such as Adopt-A-Classroom and DonorsChoose help connect teachers with “community members [willing to] donate money or time to help” them finance classroom or school-wide projects. “DonorsChoose.org shows proposals written by teachers, a monetary request and explanation of what that money will be used for. On Adopt-A-Classroom.com, donors can form partnerships with specific classrooms to support and contribute.” Miller said it is “a ‘sad statement’ for teachers to have to resort to websites for donations, but [added] that such sites can be helpful to not only bring in resources but also involve parents and the community with schools.” Still, he cautioned that there is a fine “line between getting donations and” teachers turning their classrooms “into a marketing tool.”
Many US Schools Turning To Mariachi Programs To Engage Hispanic Students.
The AP (1/5) reported, “With soaring dropout rates among Hispanic students, mariachi education programs, long popular in parts of South Texas and California, are springing up in schools across the country to help keep the nation’s largest and fastest-growing ethnic group academically engaged.” The mariachi programs are drawing parents to schools “who might have been too intimidated to visit before.” And, according to Daniel Sheehy, director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in Washington, D.C., “When their children come home donning traditional mariachi garb and asking their advice on proper pronunciation of Spanish songs, the music becomes ‘a kind of cultural glue or family glue in some cases.’”
In the Classroom
Michigan District Offers Teacher Cadet Class to High School Students.
The Detroit Free Press (1/5, Higgins) reported on a teacher cadet class that is being offered in the Huron Valley Schools district, in which “students spend about an hour a day, four days a week in an elementary or middle school classroom, working with teachers and students.” The cadets meet with their instructor once a week to learn “about everything from learning styles to growth to development of children to the history of education to the role of parents in education.”
Editorial Recommends Steps For Translating Obama’s Win Into Gains For Black Boys.
USA Today (1/6) editorializes that there’s “no question” President-elect Barack Obama “was elected by Americans of all races and ethnicities to be president of all America. But many hope that his presidency will have a profound impact on one group most in need, African-American boys.” Nevertheless, “Obama’s success notwithstanding, the American dream remains a more distant hope for black boys than it does for any other group. Taken as a whole, their eighth-grade reading and math scores are scales below those of other students.” Also, in “many school districts, virtually the only students getting expelled are black males.” However, “What matters today is determining how to leverage Obama’s historic achievement into a fresh beginning for black boys.” USA Today recommends steps needed to raise the achievement of black males, including a focus on literacy, learning from successful schools, and creating college mentoring programs.
High School Sign Language Classes In Washington District Fill Up Quickly.
The Yakima (WA) Herald-Republic (1/6, Gargas) reports, “American Sign Language classes at Eisenhower and Davis high schools are filling up so quickly these days that students can’t sign up fast enough.” Eisenhower’s program commenced five years ago with only nine students. “Now, nearly 200 students crowd into six classes, beginning with a third-year group that meets at 6:30 a.m.” The sign language classes, which are “offered in the career and technical department,” aim to prepare “students for jobs as interpreters.” The Yakima Herald-Republic points out that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the need for interpreters and translators is projected to increase 24 percent by 2016.”
Elementary Students In Florida Spend Less Than 10 Minutes Of Daily Cursive Instruction, Educators Estimate.
Florida Today (1/5, Downs) reported that “some fear classic penmanship has been left behind as preparation for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) dominates class time.” Also to blame is “the rise of the Internet, combined with the push to ensure that children are technologically literate.” Florida educators estimate that “most primary school classrooms” in the state “spend less than 10 minutes a day on longhand lessons.” State guidelines make it mandatory for third-graders to “begin learning cursive.” Furthermore, “fourth-graders must have legible writing, and fifth-graders must be fluent in the script.” Yet “Students also aren’t specifically graded on penmanship at most schools.” And teachers say “that a lack of time in the school day — and too much to teach — contributes to the drop in penmanship lessons.” Nevertheless, “many parents said they are upset to see the skill deteriorate.”
Grand Rapids School District Eliminates Arts-Themed School-Within-A-School.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (1/6) reports that Grand Rapids Schools “are eliminating an arts-themed school-within-a-school at Union High, but expanding three other career-themed programs to include ninth-graders.” The reason for the move, according to educators, is that “it is difficult to infuse the state’s tough new graduation requirements into classes for Union’s Arts, Communication and Entertainment High School.” And enrollment at the arts-themed school “has trailed off from about 200 students when the school started in 2004 to fewer than 50 this year.” The district is currently accepting applications for those who wish to enroll in career-themed programs.
On the Job
Feedback From Teachers Has More Impact On Student Achievement Than Class Size, Study Suggests.
The New Zealand Herald (1/6) editorializes, “The number of children in a school classroom is obviously important to the education each can receive but for many years now we have been led to believe it is the single most important element.” That is because “reducing class sizes has been” the teaching profession’s “suggested solution to every problem.” And, “governments have generally accepted [that] advice.” Yet the results of a 15-year study “by an Auckland University professor of education, John Hattie,” suggests that “the quality of a teacher’s interaction with pupils, particularly the ‘feedback’ they received for their efforts, was most important” for improving student performance. As such, Dr. Hattie says “that it is better to spend money on rewarding good teachers than simply hiring more teachers.” The New Zealand Herald concludes that some believe “the Hattie research will have a profound influence on schooling. Let us hope so.”
Leaders Of California District To Discuss Book Banned From High School English Classes.
The Modesto Bee (1/5) reported, “The Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District community has been quarreling over Superintendent Rick Fauss’ decision to” remove the book Bless Me Ultima from English classes at Orestimba High School. The book “is about a Latino boy maturing, asking questions concerning evil, justice and the nature of God, and trying to reconcile American Indian religion with traditional Roman Catholicism.” But “some argue the book is profane and anti-Catholic.” Meanwhile, “others contend it’s a coming-of-age story Orestimba’s students can relate to.” Publicity surrounding the ban has attracted “the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent a letter to trustees urging them to overturn the ban.”
Law & Policy
Iowa BOE Will Vote On School Junk Food Ban.
The AP (1/5) reported that “the Iowa Board of Education (BOE) is considering new rules that target the vending machine and snack bars that have become popular options to traditional school lunches.” The BOE wants “to ban junk food from the state’s schools, and give students a nudge when it comes to nutrition.” According to the AP, “the effort to eliminate junk food from schools is part of a 2008 state law that also emphasizes more exercise in schools. The state education board [plans] to vote on the recommendations in February.”
Governors Hope To Spare Education From Deep Budget Cuts.
Education Week (1/5, McNeil) reported, “Governors and state lawmakers are poised to kick off their toughest legislative sessions in years, with the hope of sparing K-12 education from deep budget cuts in the face of mounting deficits — a far cry from the more typical push for new policy initiatives and school programs.” Yet “the list of states moving to cut public school funding either during the current fiscal year or in budget proposals for fiscal 2010 grows longer by the week.” Education Week details the education-budget decisions that officials in various states are facing. It also provides insight into cuts that have already been made or have been proposed in several states.
Mississippi Lawmakers Aim To Raise High School Graduation Rates Among Males.
The Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger (1/5, Mitchell) reported, “A little more than half of Mississippi’s male students graduate from high school on time. … The latest numbers show 60 percent of white male students graduate on time with black male students even lower at 47 percent.” Thus, later this year, “Mississippi lawmakers will consider the Children First Act, which establishes a Higher Education Council in each district to get education and community leaders engaged in finding solutions.” Though “Mississippi’s overall graduation rate has improved” since 2004, “it is still one of the lowest in the country – 63 percent, according to the latest numbers by the U.S. Department of Education. Both the Department of Education and the state Board of Education have made lowering the dropout rate a top priority.”
Albuquerque Schools Serve Cheese Sandwiches To Students With Lunch Debt.
KOB-TV Albuquerque (1/6) reports that under a new policy that went into effect on Monday, Albuquerque Public School (APS) “students who have school lunch debt” will be “given cheese sandwiches,” and “will continue to be served cheese sandwiches until the debt is settled.” On Monday, “about 500 of the sandwiches were given to students.”
According to KRQE-TV Albuquerque (1/6), “Under the new policy, elementary school students will be allowed to charge up to 10 meals to the school. The limit drops to five meals for middle school students and two for high school students.” Meanwhile, APS spokesperson Monica Armenta is urging “parents to apply for free or reduced-price meals through APS Food and Nutrition Services or their student’s cafeteria.”
Special Needs
Need For Special Education Teachers In Florida Growing By 3.6 Percent Annually.
The Miami Herald (1/5, Cordle) reported, “In Florida, the need for special education teachers is growing — particularly in the lower grades — at a 3.6 percent annual rate, according to the state Agency for Workforce Innovation,” which “projects 365 annual new job openings” for special education teachers in Florida. Miami-Dade Public schools alone estimate hiring “80 exceptional student education teachers for the next school year,” according to a spokesman for the district. Denise Rusnak, director of Exceptional Student Education for Broward County Public Schools, pointed out that “the job is best for those who have a mix of patience, organizational skills and creativity.” It “can involve direct instruction of students in small groups, as well as supporting general education teachers in how to handle special-needs children in their classrooms.”
School Finance
Orange County, California Schools Can Survive Proposed Budget Cuts, Officials Say.
The Orange County (CA) Register (1/6) reports, “Orange County schools would survive $490 million in mid-year cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), but would be forced to continue slashing employees and programs as they brace for several more years of gloomy budgets, officials said Monday.” The governor’s “plan would require about $210 million in immediate cuts from K-12 schools” in Orange County, “plus tapping into about $280 million of rainy-day reserve funds to weather the temporary drop in funding levels.” Furthermore, in 2009-10 K-12 schools “would receive $3.1 billion less than what they expected to get under state funding formulas. Part of the cost-savings would come from a proposal to cut the school year short by a week, shaving off $1.1 billion.”
Also in the News
Elks Aim To Provide Dictionaries To Every Third-Grader In US.
The Las Vegas Sun (1/6, Cox) reports that an Elks Lodge in Henderson, NV, recently donated dictionaries to all third-graders at C.T. Sewell Elementary School. “The giving of A Student’s Dictionary to third graders is part of a nationwide Elks program with a goal of providing a dictionary to every third grader in the country.”
Teacher Runs For School Board In South Carolina District.
In a blog posting for South Carolina’s The State (1/5), Brad Warthen wrote, “Among the e-mails awaiting me upon my return today was this one: Happy New Year! You know me from my writing and protesting about the Confederate flag: I write the blog takedowntheflag. … I’m writing to tell you that I’m running for the vacant seat on the Richland Two School Board.” The e-mail, from Michael Rodgers, a math teacher in Sumter, SC, continued: “I’m a public school teacher and a well-qualified candidate. I’ve got a huge amount of interest in the position, and I will do an awesome job.” Rodgers listed what he perceived as Richland District Two’s three biggest needs” to “build new, well-designed schools,” to “provide more technology for students and more ways for students to be engaged in both curricular and extracurricular activities,” and to “develop strategies to address No Child Left Behind.”
More Teachers Allowing Students To Use Cellphones for Educational Purposes.
Education Week (1/6, Trotter) reported, “New educational uses of cellphones are challenging the ‘turned off and out of sight’ rules that many districts have adopted for student cellphones on campus.” Teachers are increasingly allowing “students [to] use their personal cellphones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework.” For example, one Spanish teacher in Kansas “created a channel for her…students to call from outside of school and record themselves speaking in Spanish.” Educator Liz Kolb lists “podcasting and classroom-response systems…among the more than 100 uses of cellphones” in her book, Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education. According to Education Week, “One key to the cellphone’s usefulness is the wealth of Web-based services that have cropped up recently, not necessarily marketed for schools but generally free in their basic versions.”
In the Classroom
Alabama High School Students Take Different Approaches To Meeting Math, Science Mandates.
Education Week (1/6, Cavanagh) reported that “in 1996, Alabama officials approved the ’4 x 4′ plan, which made their state the first in the country to require students to complete four years, or four credits each, of math and science for high school graduation.” Last year, state officials made it mandatory for “all entering 9th graders in 2009″ to “pursue an ‘advanced’ diploma, meaning they have to complete Algebra 2, including trigonometry content, unless their families let them opt out of that mandate.” According to Education Week, schools throughout the state have “taken very different approaches to meeting the mandates, depending on such factors as course scheduling and the needs of their student populations.” While students in some schools “meet the…requirement by taking at least one math and science class each year, 9th through 12th grades,” some students in schools with block scheduling are able to “complete four years of math and science in two or three academic years.”
Lack Of Math Proficiency Hurting US Competitiveness, Teachers, Businessmen Say.
Florida Today (1/6, Downs) reported that it has “become socially acceptable to be ‘bad’ at math. Teachers and businessmen say this societal norm — reaching for the calculator even for simple addition — is hurting our children and making the U.S. less competitive in the global marketplace.” According to Florida Today, if the U.S. “hopes to foster the next generation of innovators, a new attitude toward this often-unpopular school subject is needed, experts say. Schools must revamp the math curriculum, re-train teachers and convince parents that math matters.”
All Members Of Denver Science, Technology High School Accepted Into College.
KUSA-TV Denver (1/7) reports, “In its two years of teaching seniors, the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) has had every member of its senior class get accepted to a four-year college or university.” In addition, “DSST has more minority and low-income students attending four-year colleges and universities than any other school in the state.” School officials say success in that area can be attributed to DSST’s “planning and advisory program that starts in ninth grade.”
Editorial: Iowa School Districts Should Match Low-Income Students With Experienced Teachers.
The Des Moines Register (1/7) editorializes, “School districts across Iowa should take a critical look at whether they’re best matching teachers’ experience levels with the needs of their students.” Currently, teachers “with less than three years in the classroom…are more likely to teach in buildings with a higher share of poor kids.” But “Given rising poverty levels in Des Moines and other Iowa districts, it’s imperative that” school administrators “try new approaches to ensure students who need the most help get teachers with the experience required to provide it.” To accomplish that, “the Des Moines administration should work with its union toward the goal of seniority-based preferences no longer being a factor in assignments.” The Des Moines Register acknowledges that the administration is “likely to run into resistance from the union.” Still, it points out that “Having a conversation about this problem is the critical first step.”
On the Job
Florida Ranks Tenth Among States In Education Quality On National Report Card.
The St. Petersburg Times (1/7) reports, “Florida ranks No. 10 among states in education quality, according to the latest annual report card from the highly regarded Education Week newspaper.” Education Week considered “six broad categories — including student achievement, standards and accountability, and funding — and dozens of specific indicators” in determining the rankings.” Overall, the state “earned a B- this year, up from a C+ last year,” even though “Florida has one of the worst graduation rates in the country and among the lowest rates of per-pupil funding.” The St. Petersburg Times also noted that Mississippi, Idaho and Nevada ranked lowest on Education Week’s report card, and Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York ranked first through third, respectively.
According to the AP (1/7), “Oklahoma moved up three spots in a national ranking of states’ public education systems, but still falls just below the national average, according to” Education Week’s “Quality Counts” report released Wednesday. Last year, the state earned the number 28 spot. This year it came in 25th. According to the AP, “this year’s report graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia across two years on educational indicators in six general categories: students’ chance for success; transitions and alignment; school finance; K-12 achievement; standards, assessments and accountability; and the teaching profession.”
Los Angeles Schools May Layoff 2,300 Teachers Mid-Year Due To Budget Deficit.
The Los Angeles Times (1/7, Song, Blume) reports, “As many as 2,300 teachers could face midyear layoffs because of the state budget crisis, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) officials said Tuesday.” The district faces a deficit “of at least $250 million in [its] nearly $6-billion budget, prompting officials to propose sending the layoff notices to 1,690 elementary school teachers and 600 math and English teachers in middle and high schools.” The layoffs would “save the district up to $65 million this year.” The Times notes that “the last time Los Angeles teachers faced massive layoffs…in the early 1990s,” the “crisis was resolved when teachers voted to accept a 10 percent pay cut in exchange for greater control over health benefits and classroom assignments.”
On Tuesday, LAUSD “Superintendent Ramon Cortines blamed the state Legislature for the potential cutbacks, saying that lawmakers need to solve the state’s budget crisis if the Los Angeles Unified School District is to keep its work force intact,” the Riverside (CA) Press Enterprise (1/7, Dillon) adds. Cortines predicted that “the school budget deficit will increase to $800 million over the next three years.”
Thirty-Eight Percent Of Students At Middle School In Oklahoma Have Been Suspended.
KTUL-TV Tulsa (1/7) reports that 38 percent of the students at Gilcrease Middle School in Tulsa, OK, have been “suspended from one to ten days.” In comparison, “other schools averaged up to only 25 percent of similar suspensions.” As a result, school leaders have set aside three professional development days “so teachers can learn how to better handle their classrooms.” The training will take place “during normal school hours, so” teachers “will depend on district workers and volunteers…to help with classrooms.”
Teachers Should Be Judged By Teaching Ability, Not Academic Credentials, Author Says.
In the Washington Post’s (1/7) x=why? blog, Michael Alison Chandler wrote, “Of course, teacher quality is the laser focus of education reform lately.” Yet “few experts can tell you what it means or how to evaluate it.” Chandler cites an article written by former Washington Post reporter and author Malcolm Gladwell, in which he likens “teacher recruiting to recruiting quarterbacks in the NFL. You never know how they will do until they get onto the field, under pressure, with split-second decisions to make and everything at stake.” Gladwell pointed out that “a group of education researchers at U-Va…have determined that teacher feedback, or the ability to respond meaningfully to each student, is linked most strongly to academic success.” He concluded that “teaching should be open to anyone with a pulse and a college degree — and teachers should be judged after they have started their jobs, not before.”
New England Consortium Aims To Create “Borderless” High Schools.
Education Week (1/7, Gewertz) reports on the New England Secondary School Consortium, which consists of “Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island.” The consortium’s goal is “to create high schools that are ‘flexible, borderless, multidimensional community learning centers” in which students would have the chance to study at the secondary and postsecondary levels, do research in their communities, build real-world skills through internships, and immerse themselves in technology.” The group will also “strive to forge a consensus about what constitutes 21st-century standards — what students should know and be able to do in order to thrive in a global environment.”
Law & Policy
Some Educators, Parents “Uneasy” About New Student Race-Reporting Guidelines.
The Columbia (MD) Flier (1/6, Broadwater) reported, “New federal guidelines for reporting students’ race, which require a principal to identify a child’s race if the parent refuses to do so, have some school officials, principals, and parents uneasy.” Current guidelines allow parents “option of selecting a ‘decline to choose’ box.” The new guidelines, which go into effect beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, will allow parents “to choose more than one racial category to identify their child, a change intended to better reflect the racial diversity of many families.” The guidelines also include “a new requirement called ‘observer identification,’ in which someone other than a child’s parent identifies the child’s race if the parent or guardian refuses.” In Howard County, MD, “school officials have decided the ‘observer identification’ responsibility will fall to principals.” Tom Saunders, principal of Elkridge Landing Middle School, said that “although it gives him an ‘uneasy feeling’…he was hopeful parents would work with him if the new requirement was explained to them.”
Special Needs
California’s WorkAbility Program Equips Special Needs Students With Employment Skills.
The North County Times (1/7, Brandt) reports, “A state work-experience program has helped more than 1,000 special-needs students in the San Dieguito Union High School District get and keep jobs, according to local businesses, students and educators.” The WorkAbility program distributes grants to school districts for the purpose of helping “students between the ages of 12 and 22 learn important life and employment skills.” At the middle school level, WorkAbility students “take classes that are mostly aimed at introducing them to careers and preparing them for work or college.” For high-schoolers, “the classes are more about the specifics of finding and keeping a job, including how to interview and how to budget money once you get a paycheck.”
School Finance
Over 300 Students At High School In Arizona Meet With Administrators To Discuss Outstanding Debt.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (1/7, Roller) reports that roughly 300 students at Kofa High School “were delayed from getting schedules Tuesday until they met with school officials to work out how they were going to balance an outstanding debt of more than $88,000, according to Principal Gina Thompson.” Only some of the debt was monetary. The rest of the debt “included athletic gear, band uniforms, required immunization shots, and books that needed to be returned to the school.” The indebted students met with school officials “in groups of 15 in order to work out a method of balancing their accounts.” During the process, “some students missed a few classes. But they had their absence waived and it would not count against them. No students were denied admittance to class.” Thompson said that the school would work with families that “need help” paying off the debts.
Also in the News
D.C. Council Urged Not To “Undercut” Rhee’s School Reform Efforts.
The Washington Post (1/7, A14) editorializes that in voting to pass “emergency legislation giving the state superintendent of education and the reconstituted elected school board the authority to formulate standards for disciplinary policies and procedures,” the D.C. Council “seems to have forgotten that its wise decision to make the mayor responsible for the schools was rooted in the historical failure of elected school boards to do right by the children of this city.” The Post adds, “There’s no question that the discipline policy currently in place is ill-conceived and haphazardly applied and that the council is right to demand improvement. There’s probably even a role for the board in establishing broad criteria, but it is counterproductive to undercut Ms. Rhee in the middle of her reform effort.”
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Dear John Napolitani,
Happy New Year from NEA Member Benefits! The new year brings new expectations and challenges for you and your family, and now is a great time to review your financial goals for the year ahead. This month we have provided some consumer information and discounts that will help you with tax preparation, managing your credit and saving money. Also, don’t forget to register for the January NEA Member Benefits Web Site Giveaway—details below! Again, Happy New Year from all of us at NEA Member Benefits!
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‘Tis the Season… for Taxes
Deduct Educator Expenses on Tax Form 1040
Congress has extended the tax benefit for out-of-pocket expenses; review these guidelines for help with your return: http://neamb.com/money_articles/121508A.jsp
Great Discounts from H&R Block!
H&R Block is ready to help with your 2008 taxes! Download a discount coupon and save up to $40 on your in-person tax consultation at an H&R Block retail office, or choose online tax filing and pay less than the standard cost. Get more information, including your coupon, at neamb.com/taxcut08
Aim High in 2009—But Make Taxes Top Priority!
Read this article from Mary Rowland’s Personal Finance Column for tips and guidelines on how and why to file your income taxes this month: http://neamb.com/memsrvcr/communications/articles/0109_mr.pdf
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Hot Deals and Discounts from NEA Member Benefits
The holidays are over, but the deals and savings are not! Check out some of the special offers available to NEA Members:
NEA MEMBERS SAVE 38% Pay only $15.49 at
The American Journey of Barack Obama
In addition to a powerful array of photographs that were taken by many of the country’s greatest photographers (and some by Obama family members), this book also includes an incisive narrative biography. Readers will feel that they are bearing witness to a singular, undeniably American story.
Retail Price: $24.99. Offer valid 1/1/09 – 2/15/09. Vist the NEA Bookstore to order, discount will be applied at checkout.
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NEA Click & Save “Buy-lights” for January 2009
Plan ahead for Valentine’s Day! NEA Click & Save, the online discount buying service for NEA members, highlights select retailers and merchants each month. These featured “Buy-lights” are available throughout January.
My Jewelry Box: 20% off on all orders
1-800 Flowers: Save 15%
Ann Taylor: 20% off
Philips: Save up to 40%
Join the more than 68,000 NEA members already registered for NEA Click & Save. Go to neamb.com/clickandsave today!
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2009 BE MONEY WI$E National Financial Literacy Poster Contest
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is holding the 2009 BE MONEY WI$E National Financial Literacy Poster Contest, and NEA Member Benefits is proud to participate again. The contest is a great way to get young students thinking about how to manage money effectively and offers a creative outlet to demonstrate their knowledge. Posters may be entered in three categories: Elementary, Middle and High School. Winners in each category will receive a $100 savings bond and trophy, and the national winner will get a $500 savings bond and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. For additional details on this event, go to http://www.moneywisepostercontest.org/about.cfm.
Need Help Managing Your Debt?
The NFCC and the National Education Association’s Member Benefits Corporation (NEA MB) have partnered to promote financial literacy and debt and money management education to NEA members and their families. Click http://www.debtadvice.org/nea to access the web page for NEA members and their families to learn more about the financial counseling and education services, or call toll free, 1-866-479-NEA2 (6322), to find an NFCC member agency near you.
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The NEA Foundation Goes Green with Grants!
Over the past decade, the NEA Foundation has awarded more than $4.1 million in grants to public school educators. To make applying for grants easier and more convenient, the NEA Foundation is launching a web-based application process for its popular $2,000 and $5,000 grants, at www.neafoundation.org. The Foundation will accept both paper and online applications for its Student Achievement Grants and its Learning and Leadership Grants through February 1, 2009, when it will convert to the web-only system.
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January 2009 NEA Member Benefits Web Site Giveaway:
Two Annual Subscriptions to Rapid Resources, the Online Teacher Planning Aid!
NEA members can register anytime during the month of January 2009 in the Free Giveaways area of the NEA Member Benefits Web Site (neamb.com) for a chance to win one of two Annual Subscriptions to the Rapid Resources OnlineTeacher Planning Aid. Use it to create individualized instruction quickly and easily based on your state’s standards! Giveaway entry begins at 12:00 a.m., ET, on January 1, 2009, and ends at 11:59:59 p.m., ET, on January 31, 2009. No purchase necessary to enter.