Updates and Information Provided by NEA
Minnesota Voluntary Performance-Pay Program Said To Be On “Right Track.”
The AP (2/3, Dunbar) reports, “looking at whether to expand Minnesota’s voluntary program that links teacher pay with performance will soon have two new reports analyzing how the program is doing.” On Monday, the Minnesota Department of Education released an analysis by independent research firm Hezel Associates, LLC, which shows that “Q Comp is on the right track.” Furthermore, The Office of the Legislative Auditor plans “to release its report on Q Comp Tuesday morning. … That report will compare districts that participate in the program with districts that don’t.” Q Comp sets “up a pay structure that rewards performance,” and “includes professional development and evaluation components for teachers in the participating districts.” According to the AP, the education department’s “report couldn’t statistically link Q Comp to greater student achievement, but the analysis said teachers in the program seem to have more support when it comes to their roles in improving achievement.”
In the Classroom
Solar Academy Program Teaches Elementary Students About Renewable Energy.
In the New York Times’ (2/2) Green Inc. blog, Jared Flesher wrote, “Employees of the Sharp Electronics Corporation were at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School in Mahwah, N.J., recently to teach a lesson on climate change and renewable energy.” The company “Sharp began its Solar Academy program in the United States in October 2008 and so far has presented it at a handful of elementary schools in California (near the company’s solar division in Huntington Beach), and in New York and New Jersey.” The presentations include discussions about renewable energy, and solar panels. The students watch “a short video about how solar panels work, and then” participate in a “hands-on activity in which they” discover “how much work is required to power a 60-watt light bulb with hand cranks, compared with using a small solar panel.”
Study Indicates Strong Link Between Lead Levels In Children’s Blood And SAT Scores.
USA Today (2/3, Toppo) reports, “A Virginia economist who pored over years of national data says there’s an ‘incredibly strong’ correlation” between the amount of lead in children’s blood and SAT scores. According to research by economist Rick Nevin, “from 1953 to 2003, the fall and rise of the average SAT math and verbal score has tracked the rise and fall of blood lead levels so closely that half of the change in scores over 50 years, and possibly more, probably is the result of lead.” Nevin also found that “over a 56-year time frame, the drop in lead levels tracked consistently with decreases in mental retardation 12 years later.” For the study, which will “be published this winter in the journal Environmental Research,” Nevin “controlled for rising numbers of students taking SAT prep courses and for rising numbers of students who speak a foreign language at home — that would depress verbal scores.”
Videoconferencing Becoming More Popular In Some Minnesota Districts.
The AP (2/2) reported that “videoconference opportunities are becoming popular in” some Minnesota districts. Some of these conferences are “facilitated by the Little Crow Telemedia Network, based in Hutchinson.” The company “provides video services to connect schools to a number of high school and college-level classes,” and also allows students in Minnesota schools to join “students at high schools in” other states to view lessons. Little Crow director Pete Royer said that “surveys indicate that interest in medical professions increases after students participate in one of the” hospital-based video conferences. Royer added that the videoconferences were appealing to schools because “wit tight budgets in schools, a field trip to a university medical center that provided a similar program would be out of reach.”
Lawmakers Talk To Students At Elementary School In Missouri During “Civic Month.”
The Missourian (2/3, Vargon) reports that Grant Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Matthew Kuensting “has orchestrated a ‘Civic Month’ during which state and local officials come talk to the students about Missouri’s government.” Guest speakers “have included a circuit judge and other state and local government employees.” For instance, “last Friday, state Rep. Steve Hobbs (R-Mexico) visited Kuensting’s fifth-graders to talk about his job.” The “visit was part of an ongoing assignment on current local government.” Also during Civic Month, students visit a city council meeting, and “this type of interactive learning is happening at other Columbia schools as they take notice of recent history and integrate it into their curriculum.”
Superintendent Of South Carolina District Seeks To Expand Math, Science Programs.
The Beaufort (SC) Gazette (2/2, Cerve) reported that Oconee County Schools “Superintendent Valerie Truesdale will recommend the Beaufort County Board of Education expand the district’s math and science magnet program to include fifth-graders next year.” Although Trusdale acknowledged that “setting aside money to pay for a fifth-grade program will be difficult this year…she said she hopes board members realize the positive influence the program has had on student achievement.” She could not, however, “provide data that measures the program’s impact because those students have not yet taken state-mandated tests, which will be administered this spring.”
On the Job
New York May Cut Funding For Teacher Centers.
The Binghamton (NY) Press & Sun-Bulletin (2/2, Basler) reported that “the 132 centers across the state…provide a range of services to teachers, including professional workshops, mini-grants for classroom projects,” and “equipment to create posters and classroom visual aids.” The centers, however, “face an uncertain future. Gov. David Paterson’s executive budget eliminates their $40 million funding as one step to close a $15.4 billion state budget shortfall.” A spokesperson for the state Division of the Budget called teacher centers “a worthy program,” but said that with the state’s projected budget shortfall, “tough choices have to be made.” The spokesperson pointed out that “the executive budget cuts money for teacher centers to avoid further reductions in state aid for local school districts, which are already facing a 3.3 percent cut statewide.”
Law & Policy
Court Decides Texas Will Not Have To Develop New Middle, High School Language Program.
The Dallas Morning News (2/3, Stutz) reports, “Texas will not have to come up with a new language program for middle and high school students who speak limited English until later this year — if at all — under a ruling from a federal appeals court.” Texas’s Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “delayed a court-ordered deadline for state education officials to draft a new learning program for the estimated 140,000 secondary school students in [the state] with limited English skills.” Still, according to State Education Commissioner Robert Scott, “The TEA will continue to examine and improve programs serving LEP students regardless of the outcome of the pending appeal of the court’s order.”
Georgia Lawmaker Proposes Offering School Vouchers To All Students.
The AP (2/3, McCaffrey) reports that Georgia state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) “introduced legislation on Monday that would allow parents to use roughly $5,000 in state tax dollars to send their child to any public or private school in the state willing to accept the student.” If passed, Georgia would “become the first state in the nation to offer vouchers to all school children.” The bill would allow “individual public and private schools” to “decide whether to participate and which students to admit. Parents would have to agree to provide transportation for their child.”
Legislation Would Require Virginia Board Of Education To Establish Cyberbullying Guidelines.
The Virginian-Pilot (2/3, Forster) reports that “a bill that passed a House subcommittee Monday would require the Virginia Board of Education to help schools deal with” cyberbullying. Under the legislation, the board would be required “to establish guidelines on ‘cyberbullying,’ or the use of computers or personal wireless devices to bully, harass or intimidate.” According to the attorney of one education association, “the guidelines would help ensure that local boards act constitutionally.”
Miami-Dade District’s Schools Initiative Seen As Failing To Boost Student Achievement.
The Miami Herald (2/3, McGrory) reports that according to an analysis by the Miami-Dade school system, “In its second year, the School Improvement Zone — a $100 million Miami-Dade schools initiative — failed to significantly boost student achievement in the county’s chronically failing schools.” The analysis also showed that in the 2006-07 school year, “the program was put in place as planned, with ample materials and support provided to teachers.” But, “Student mobility created problems.” Still, “teacher morale at zone schools improved from the project’s first year,” and most “teachers ‘perceived that their schools were safe, that staff worked collaboratively, and they had high expectations for their students.’” The analysis points out, however, that “while many of the 21 elementary schools and K-8 centers rose to a C or better, none of the high schools did.” The School Improvement Zone “came to a close at the end of the 2007-08 school year.”
School Board In Wisconsin Will Allow Students To Ride Snowmobiles On Campus.
WMTV-TV Madison, WI (2/2, Pollack) reported that the Wisconsin Heights School Board voted unanimously “to let students ride their snowmobiles to class.” Students “over the age of 12 who” meet “state guidelines can ride their snowmobile to school.” But before they “can hit the trails, they have to register their snowmobiles with [the] office, park in a designated lot and keep it to ten miles per hour while on school property.”
Safety & Security
Schools In Three States May Have Received Tainted Peanut Products.
The AP (2/2) reported, “Schools and agencies in at least three states including Minnesota were shipped possibly tainted peanut products linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak as part of the federal school meal program, U.S Department of Agriculture officials announced Friday.” In addition to Minnesota, “schools, daycare centers, and group homes in California [and] Idaho…received roasted peanuts and peanut butter, which are now part of a rapidly expanding recall list from the Blakely, Ga.,-based Peanut Corp. of America.” A statement posted to the USDA’s website says that the department “is working with the small number of affected parties to identify recalled product and remove it from distribution.” Also according to the statement, “All USDA nutrition assistance program operators are being asked to check for any product that might have been purchased commercially.”
Facilities
“Green” Schools Said To Be Money Saving Resource.
Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers writes in an op-ed in USA Today (2/3), “USA TODAY’s article ‘ Schools cultivate green living’ neglected to discuss the relationship between the conservation of natural resources and the conservation of fiscal ones (Life, Jan. 27). … Green schools cost less than 2 percent more than conventional schools to build but provide financial benefits 20 times as large.” Also, on “average, a green school utilizes 33 percent less energy and 32 percent less water than a traditionally designed school — enough savings to hire one additional full-time teacher. Investing in energy efficiency makes (dollars and) sense.”
School Finance
Parents In Maryland District Concerned Budget Woes Will Lead To Award-Winning School’s “Ruin.”
The Washington Post (2/3, B1, Hernandez) reports on the front page of its Metro section that though Glenarden Woods Elementary School in Prince George’s County, MD, is one of the best in the area, as 90 percent of its students “show proficiency on state exams,” and the school won a NCLB Blue Ribbon in 2006, “parents are terrified that county officials under a financial squeeze are going to ruin it. The proposal to move the school’s talented-and-gifted program to Robert R. Gray Elementary School in Capitol Heights is only a small part of a sweeping plan to realign school boundaries and close a dozen mostly under-enrolled schools to save $11.9 million in the fiscal year that starts in July.” However, the “case of Glenarden Woods is igniting debate over how much a county with an uneven record of academic achievement values its most successful programs.”
Also in the News
Recess May Help Improve Behavior, Study Finds.
The New York Times (2/3, D6, Parker-pope) reports, “Children who misbehave at school are often punished by being kept inside at recess. But new research shows that recess helps solve behavioral problems in class.” According to the Times, “Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine reviewed data on about 11,000 third graders, collected in 2002 as part of a large study, financed by the Education Department, to determine how an array of family, school, community and individual factors affected performance in school. The study, published last week in the journal Pediatrics, found that…children who had at least 15 minutes of recess scored better than the others on teachers’ behavioral ratings.”
Not Enough Evidence To Determine Effectiveness Of Minnesota’s Q Comp, Report Says.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (2/4, Johns, Von Sternberg) reports, “There’s not enough evidence to know if Minnesota’s program linking teacher pay with performance affects student achievement, according to a report released Tuesday, and that has DFL legislators promising that Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R) push to expand it statewide will be met with resistance.” According to the report, the reason “‘it is difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness’ of ‘Q Comp,’ or ‘Quality Compensation,’” is “because it’s voluntary and school districts have many other programs in place.” Q Comp “is meant to enhance teacher training and financially reward effective teachers.” Currently, “seventy-two school districts and charter schools, among almost 500 statewide, participate in program. They receive an extra $260 per student annually, at an estimated cost of $49 million to the state for the 2008-09 school year.”
Minnesota Public Radio (2/4, Weber) reports that “One goal of Q Comp is to get rid of professional development that doesn’t really help teachers develop their trade.” For instance, “instead of going to a boring lecture on something arcane and calling that ‘development’, teachers are encouraged to work with mentors and learn from each other. Non-Q Comp schools might also do that, but they also might not be getting funding for it.” Gov. Pawlenty is aiming to “expand Q Comp to all public and charter schools. ” It “is currently voluntary.”
In the Classroom
Enrollment In Colorado’s Online Schools Increases By 26 Percent.
Colorado’s The Gazette (2/4, McMillan) reports that “enrollment in online schools in Colorado jumped 26 percent this year from the previous year, and three area districts say interest is growing in their online programs.” But, according to a report “released this week, the Colorado Department of Education said the standardized test scores for online students are below the state average.” The report did note, however, that “the schools’ offerings vary, as do support services such as interaction with teachers and counselors.” The Gazette lists some online programs offered by various area school districts.
High School Virtues Project Said To Alter Student, Teacher Communication.
The Baltimore Sun (2/4) reports that at Baltimore County’s Kenwood High School, “a new character education initiative called the Virtues Project has begun altering the way teachers, administrators and students communicate with one another.” As part of the project, teachers use the 52 “virtues,” or positive character traits, “to acknowledge, guide and correct students.” For instance, a teacher “might take a moment to thank someone for his honesty in returning a missing item or suggest a teen consider what traits she needs to call on to deal with a crisis.” The Baltimore Sun notes, “Kenwood appears to be the first Baltimore County school to adopt the Virtues Project.” Lisa Boarman, coordinator of school counseling and related services for Howard County schools, pointed out that implementing character-education programs “can be difficult at the high-school level, with so many other demands, such as tests and graduation requirements.”
Groundhog Shadow Day Introduces Young Teens To “World Of Work.”
North Carolina’s Daily Advance (2/4, Mazzella) reports on the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Groundhog Shadow Day. For the event, various “professionals from local businesses and government agencies” volunteer their time “to introduce young teens to the world of work.” During the event, “Vicki Collie-Akers, a research associate at” Elizabeth City State University’s (ECSU) “Drug Information Center, showed the eighth-graders where the program’s students study and how they use video conferencing technology to take classes taught by professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” ECSU’s program “is designed to increase the number of clinical pharmacists in the region.” Collie-Akers also “encouraged students to find an adult in a profession they’re considering to advise them about what high school classes they should take and which colleges might be appropriate for their career goals.”
California District To Update Technology In All K-12 Classrooms.
California’s Contra Costa Times (2/4, Emerson) reports that “the Upland Unified School District is in the process of updating all of its K-12 classrooms with 21st century technology such as interactive white boards, laptops, microphones for teachers, LCD projectors as well as wireless Internet and printers.” Furthermore, “The rooms’ design[s] are also being updated to include paint, carpet, portable storage and furniture.” The Contra Costa Times notes that “The room modernization is being funded by money from the Measure K bond passed by voters in February 2008.”
On The Job
Professional, Academic Collaborations Growing In Popularity Among Schools.
Education Week (2/3, Manzo) reported, “A typical class of 4th or 5th graders might be skeptical about the potential for fun when a mathematician or historian pays a visit to class.” At Stevens Elementary School in Seattle, however, it is common for such a professional to “ask students to test a homemade apple launcher to learn about trajectory and other algebra concepts, or sit on a desk and pretend to row the boat that carried George Washington across the Delaware River in 1776 to surprise British and Hessian troops.” That is because Stevens collaborates “with community groups, businesses, universities, and individual professionals to expand on traditional curricular programs without sapping their limited budgets.” According to Education Week, increasing numbers of schools throughout the country are doing the same. The collaborating organizations usually have “deeper pockets and broader reach to pay for partnerships or recruit volunteers to share their expertise with young people.”
Minnesota District Designates Part Of Some School Days For Staff Development.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (2/4, Blanchette) reports that last month the Eastern Carver County School District “used a staff development day…to emphasize how best to teach a new language arts curriculum.” At the end of the staff development, “teachers had an opportunity to meet with teachers from other grade levels and from different schools. They talked about the new language arts curriculum and shared ideas to enhance their teaching methods.” This year, “the district has scheduled three student days off from school…during which staff development programs are organized (one day is all staff development; the other two are half staff development and half parent conference days). Last year, the district also added four late-start days to the calendar when school begins two hours late to allow more time for teacher training and to reinforce ‘best practices’ in the classroom.”
High School In New York City To Be Closed, Replaced By Three Smaller Schools.
The New York Times (2/4, A27, Hernandez) reports that “Louis D. Brandeis High School, an Upper West Side behemoth that takes in some of the city’s most disadvantaged students and has struggled year after year to bump up test scores and graduation rates, will be closed and replaced by three new small schools, the Department of Education announced on Tuesday.” The schools that replace Brandies will each serve different categories of students. One will “prepare students for careers in alternative energy.” Another is for “students who are at least two years behind in earning credits,” and the third will be “one focused on college preparation. Current students will continue at the school, which will graduate its last class in 2012.” The Times notes that “Across the country, the small-schools movement has gained traction with the backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has devoted millions of dollars to the creation of more than 2,000 small schools.”
Some Parents Frustrated That Teachers In Missouri District Are Not Required To Send Home Graded Tests.
The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune (2/3, Parmele) reported that some parents of children in Columbia Public Schools “are frustrated that graded tests are not routinely sent home.” The school system “leaves that decision up to teachers in most cases.” And “many [teachers] avoid sending tests home with students so they can reuse the same test the following year. In those cases, parents who want to see their students’ work have to arrange a time to review the tests at school.” According to district officials, “test security is a primary driver for the policy, but they have a nuanced view of why that’s important. For example, some teachers need to use the same test every year so the school district can gather reliable data for comparing student performance from year to year.” The Daily Tribune points out that “In come cases, the district does not allow teachers to send graded tests” — benchmark assessments, for instance — “home with students.”
Law & Policy
Title I Should Evolve Into Single Program With Performance Standards, Educator Says.
In an opinion piece for Education Week (2/3) Edward Zigler, Sterling professor of psychology, emeritus, at Yale University, wrote, “Long before his inauguration, President Barack Obama was signaling his intention to attack government waste and inefficiency. … In the spirit of these messages of change, I offer the new president a recommendation about the federal role in education” as it pertains to Title I. Because Title I allows “school administrators [to] mount any type of initiative they feel will be beneficial to the academic progress of poor children,” schools use Title I funding for various “undertakings: staffing and teacher training; whole-school programs; pullout programs; after-school sessions.” According to Zigler, “The Title I funding stream represents precisely the type of “pork” Mr. Obama” criticized. He suggests that lawmakers allow Title I “to evolve from a hodgepodge of efforts into a single program” with “performance standards to guide quality.” Making it “more accountable.”
Increasing Technology In Schools Called A “Dumb Idea.”
In an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle (2/4), Todd Oppenheimer, the author of The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology, writes, “Now that Arne Duncan, President Obama’s new education secretary, has presented the administration’s $150 billion plan for reviving our education system, it’s time to start separating Obama’s smart ideas for schools from his dumb ones.” One “dumb” idea Oppenheimer says should be done away with is Obama’s “desire to outfit the nation’s classrooms with new computers.” He points out that “Since personal computers and the Internet first arrived in classrooms, in the early 1990s, schools have spent approximately $100 billion on technology.” But very little solid evidence has been found to show that computers help boost student achievement. Such “data has become education’s WMD,” according to Oppenheimer. He concludes, “What a dark harbinger it would be if President George W. Bush’s signature education law, the poorly thought-out No Child Left Behind Act, were replaced by an equally crippled cousin: the Every Child Online Act.”
Special Needs
Improving Institutions For Mentally Disabled Expected To Be Priority For Texas Lawmakers.
The AP (2/3) reported that on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) “declared fixing state institutions for the mentally disabled a top priority for lawmakers.” Perry’s “declaration comes after a federal report outlined negligent and abusive care that led to dozens of deaths in Texas.” According to some critics, “Texas remains stuck in an era when the mentally disabled were hidden away in large, impersonal facilities far from relatives and communities.”
Also in the News
Duncan Accompanies President, First Lady In Visit To DC Charter School.
The AP (2/4, Feller) reports, “On one of the toughest days of his young administration, President Obama did what surely made him happy for a while. He left. With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama left the White House on Tuesday to visit second-graders at the Capital City Public Charter School.” The AP adds, “The stop at the school underscored a promise the Obamas made and insist they will keep: to avoid getting caught up in a White House bubble. They say they will be visible in parts of the D.C. community – even during a difficult or hectic day.”
Details Of Georgia District’s Student Achievement Plan Revealed.
Education Week (2/3, Jacobson) reported, “Georgia’s largest school district is the first to enter into a contract under a new state law allowing districts freedom from certain state mandates in exchange for working to raise student achievement beyond state and federal requirements.” The Gwinnett County school system’s plan was approved in January. It “stipulates that schools will increase the percentage of students exceeding performance benchmarks in mathematics and English/language arts, and increase the percentage of students reaching or exceeding performance targets in science, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.” The district also “district pledges to maintain or improve [test] scores” of English-language learners and students with disabilities. If, after five years a school “fails to meet those goals,” it “will be converted to a charter school.” But “schools that meet targets for three years in a row, prior to the fifth year…will be exempted.”
Record Number Of Students Passed At Least One AP Exam Last Year.
The New York Times (2/5, A19, Lewin) reports that “more than 15 percent of the three million students who graduated from public high schools last year passed at least one Advanced Placement exam, the College Board said Wednesday, but African-American students were still far less likely to have passed, or to even have taken, an A.P. exam than white, Hispanic, or Asian students.” Last year, “more than 460,000 students, or 15.2 percent, passed an A.P. exam…compared with 14.1 percent in 2007 and 12.2 percent five years ago.” But “in Mississippi and Louisiana, fewer than four percent of high school graduates passed an A.P. exam last year, and in 17 other states, fewer than 10 percent passed one.” Meanwhile, “in Maryland and New York, the states with the most active Advanced Placement programs, more than 23 percent of high school graduates passed an exam.”
USA Today (2/5, Marklein) adds that “the report singled out 16 schools as leaders in helping black and/or Latino students succeed in particular AP subjects. They’re located in eight states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.” Still, the report notes that “in no state did black students pass exams at a rate proportionate to their representation in their graduating class. Latinos achieved a proportionate rate in 18 states; American Indians, in 16.”
“For the first time, Maryland ranks top in the nation for the share of high school graduates who passed at least one Advanced Placement test,” according to the Washington Post (2/5, B1, De Vise). In Maryland, 23.4 percent of “students in the Class of 2008 earned passing scores on one or more AP exams” Maryland surpassed “New York, the home base of the nonprofit test publisher, to post the highest such rate in the AP program. Virginia was third, with 21.3 percent of graduating students having passed an AP test.” The Post notes that “a score of 3 or higher on a five-point scale is considered passing and can yield college credit and advanced standing for matriculating college students.”
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/5) reports that “Utah is one of the top 10 states in the U.S. when it comes to the percentage of public high school seniors who pass Advanced Placement exams, according to a College Board report released Wednesday.” According to the report, “more Utah seniors last year took and passed Advanced Placement (AP) tests compared with seniors from the year before, but gaps still persist among some minority groups.”
In the Classroom
California District Bans Book Due To Vulgarity, Profanity.
The Los Angeles Times (2/5, Mehta) reports that on Monday night, The Newman Crows Landing Board of Education decided to ban the coming-of-age novel” Bless Me Ultima “by Rudolfo Anaya from the sophomore required reading list at Orestimba High School. The district review of the book was prompted by a parent’s complaint last year that it was ‘anti-Catholic’ and sexually explicit.” Supt. Rick Fauss said that the amount of vulgarity and profanity contained in the book was excessive. “The context didn’t…make it acceptable,” he added. The Times points out that Bless Me Ultima “has been removed from classrooms across the nation, including in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and elsewhere in California…and was No. 75 on the American Library Assn.’s list of top banned books in the 1990s.”
Technology Said To Keep Students Engaged In Learning.
The Savage (MN) Pacer (2/5, Schmidt) reports that “teachers and administrators agree teaching through technology has kept students more engaged in learning.” Instead of relying on “dusty chalk, TVs rolled in on carts and pencil and paper tests,” many classrooms now have “wireless laptop computers in…electronic white boards, remote controls and large LCD screens.” For instance, “At Aspen Academy, every classroom has a Smartboard mounted to the wall. Kindergarten teachers use it to make games for the visual learners. Others use it for setting the calendar and over viewing the day.” Meanwhile, a tenth-grade teacher uses the digital board to project science review questions “complete with multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank answer options.” Once students log on using their ID numbers and answer the questions, the teacher “can look on her computer later and see who might need further help.”
Students At North Carolina School Dedicate Totem Poles To Celebrate 100th Day Of Class.
The Raleigh News & Observer (2/5) reports, “Fourth-grade students at Ephesus Elementary School are celebrating the 100th day of class in a special way today when they dedicate their own ’100′ mosaic totem sculpture on the school grounds.” The school’s artist-in-residence Jeannette Brossart “chose to make a ’100′ mosaic totem with the students to acknowledge the importance of the 100th day of school, as well as to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system.” Last fall, students created the sculpture. “In the first lesson, each child made his or her own seven-inch scale model of the seven-foot totem,” art teacher Nara Strickland said. “The second lesson called for them to work in small groups to create a mosaic pattern using 100 pieces of reused glass, marble, ceramics, metals and pebbles,” she added. In the final lesson “students attached their mosaics to the ’100′ totem, which Brossart had previously constructed.”
Homes Built By High School Students In Utah Are Placed On Foundations.
Utah’s Spectrum & Daily News (2/5, DeMasters) reports that “after five months of hard labor, students from Hurricane, Dixie and Snow Canyon high schools watched Tuesday morning as the houses they built were placed on their foundations on lots in Toquerville.” The high school building program “is administered through the Applied Technology College,” and “has about 40 students between all the schools. It’s a mixture of boys and girls.” Students built the homes at their high schools “Dixie High built one half and Hurricane High built another half for one home.” The home is “1,800 square feet with five bedrooms and two bathrooms,” and “garages for each home will also be built.”
On the Job
Illicit Drug Use Among Teachers Not Seen As “Pressing” Problem.
Time (2/5, Cloud) reports that in Hawaii, “the teacher’s union agreed in 2007 to negotiate the terms of a new drug-testing program in exchange for higher wages.” But “now, some Hawaii teachers are resisting.” Meanwhile, the “issue of teacher testing has also become the subject of recent court cases in North Carolina and West Virginia, where educators argue that the cost and time taken by random tests would be better applied in the classroom.” According to Time, “one important question hasn’t been addressed so far in the legal proceedings: Does random drug testing actually reduce drug use?” Time notes that studies focusing on that issue are hard to come by. Still, “evidence suggests that drug use among teachers is not exactly a pressing problem. In 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services published a major study showing that people who work in education rank 18th out of 19 listed professions in the use of illicit drugs.”
Florida District Restricts Fraternization Among Employees.
The St. Petersburg Times (2/5, Solocheck) reports, “Pasco County school employees are soon to have a new rule: no fraternizing among the ranks.” The new rule states, “In order to promote a professional work environment that is free from harassment, hostility and/or discrimination, administrators are expected to refrain from dating subordinates.” When asked to explain the motivation behind the rule, Superintendent Heather Fiorentino “said she came from a military family where cavorting between the brass and the enlisted was verboten. If the district has such a restriction written into the policy manual, she said, then it’s clear for everyone.” On Tuesday, “School Board members asked the superintendent” for “more information about how the district would define dating.” The St. Petersburg Times notes that “the district has spent months updating the policy manual,” and aims to “have the work completed before the start of the next school year.”
Number Of Suspensions Decreases For Schools In Plainfield, New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Courier News (2/5, Lausch) reports, “The percentage of students at district schools who are suspended and the number of teachers who enter and leave the city’s school district have decreased at some schools, and officials say the positive trends reflect ongoing training that emphasizes the building of relationships.” A 2007-2008 school report card from the state Department of Education shows that “the district average for suspensions fell from 20 percent in 2006-2007 to 12 percent the next school year. The state average held steady at 14 percent.” Plainfield Schools Superintendent Steve Gallon III “said district officials have worked to “strengthen not only the processes that are implemented in the schools to maintain appropriate student discipline but also to strengthen the relationship-building between responsible adults and young people.” To accomplish this, “officials have promoted high visibility in schools among administrators and held a training program for staff members to help them avoid or diffuse conflicts with students.”
Georgia Governor Seeks To Eliminate Bonuses For Board Certified Teachers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2/5, Sheinin) reports that “while national board certification may not be enough to warrant a bonus check for Georgia teachers, earning certification from the state may be.” Currently, “more than 2,500 national board certified teachers…receive a 10 percent salary bonus from the state. But Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) and other top Republicans want to eliminate those bonuses to save the state about $12 million a year.” Meanwhile, “they want to offer similar pay increases to teachers who earn a different, state-sponsored certification designating them ‘Master Teachers,’ a group that now includes about 350 educators.” A bill sponsored by House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) “would give 10 percent bonuses to Master Teachers and 15 percent bonuses to teachers with a higher state certification.” According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Perdue and lawmakers who back his plan to eliminate the bonuses have complained that to become nationally certified, teachers do not have to prove increased student achievement.”
Superintendent Of Colorado District Visits Truants At Home To Encourage Them To Return To School.
The Denver Post (2/5) reports that each year, Aurora Public Schools Superintendent John Barry and “six teams of school staffers” go door-to-door “looking for students who [miss] too much school” to encourage them to attend regularly. “It is part of a broader strategy and a goal to improve truancy rates in the 32,000-student school district.” As a result of such efforts, “middle schools have reduced the number of habitual truants by 83 percent through the first quarter of this school year compared with the same time period last year.” Meanwhile, “high schools have decreased the truancy rate by 70 percent over that same time period.” The Post notes that “habitual truants” are defined by the district as “students who have four or more unexcused absences in a month or 10 or more in a school year.”
Law & Policy
Maryland Educators Fight To Maintain State Funding For STEM Achievement Program.
The Washington Post (2/5, GZ5, Beck) reports that in Maryland. A “shortage of state funding has prevented three Germantown elementary schools from joining an enrichment program that encourages interest among minorities and girls in careers in science, engineering and mathematics. The state Department of Education, the main source of support for the Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement program — known as MESA — experienced a 15 percent drop in MESA funding when the state budget was approved last year.” According to the Post, “Maryland MESA’s executive director, Paula Shelton, said she is trying to fend off a 10 percent cut in the program being contemplated in the fiscal 2010 state budget that is taking shape in Annapolis. The program received $76,000 from the state this year, and that would drop to $69,000.”
School Finance
Miami-Dade Superintendent Will Ask Employees To Defer Payment Of Some Workdays.
The Miami Herald (2/5) reports, “Miami-Dade Schools Chief Alberto Carvalho on Wednesday unveiled a plan to save the district $56 million — and balance the budget — before the fiscal year ends in June.” The plan “includes $21 million in cuts to nonschool spending and $8 million in cuts to schools.” In addition, the superintendent “said he would ask employees to defer payment for an unspecified number of work days until the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. The overall savings to this year’s budget from the deferred payments would be $27 million.” According to the Miami Herald, “the School Board will take up the plan at its next regular meeting, scheduled for Wednesday.”
Also in the News
Maryland Student Acquitted Of Teacher-Assault Charges.
The Baltimore Sun (2/5, Fenton) reports, “A 16-year-old girl was cleared yesterday in juvenile court of the most serious charges in connection with the beating of a teacher that was captured on a cell phone camera and drew national attention to violence in Baltimore schools.” The teacher, Jolita Berry, “testified that she was sucker-punched by a female student and was beaten as other students cheered.” Defense attorneys, however, “presented witnesses, including the school’s then-principal, who said that Berry had acknowledged pushing the girl after she ‘got in her space.’ Students said Berry was cursing at the girl and egging her on.” As a result of the testimony, the student was acquitted “on criminal assault charges and a related charge of school violence.” Marietta English, the president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said of the judge’s decision, “It sends the wrong message to our students. Now they will feel they can get away with just about anything in the classroom.”
Top-Performing District’s Focus On Average Students Draws Notice.
The New York Times (2/6, A20, Hu) reports, “After decades of grooming a handful of high school students in an exclusive research class to succeed in the elite national Intel Science Talent Search,” this year, for the first time, school administrators in the Port Washington, NY district “required every seventh grader to do original research. … Like many high-performing suburban school districts nationwide, Port Washington had heard complaints about the lack of attention to what is often called the great middle — students sandwiched between the overachievers who break records and win coveted prizes and the underachievers whose performance is monitored closely by federal and state testing mandates.” The district’s “unusual focus on these average students in recent years has pleased many but has also drawn criticism that A.P. classes have become less rigorous, students have been coddled, and music groups and sports teams have been saddled with marginal players.”
In the Classroom
Middle School In Florida Launches Robotics Program.
The St. Petersburg Times (2/6) reports that McLane Middle School “launched its robotics program on a trial basis last school year. Thanks to a federal grant, it’s now a permanent part of the school’s Tomorrow’s Leaders Academy.” Michael Wilson, the school’s technology teacher and robotics instructor, said that the program “students to not only learn about robotics technology, but also systems technologies and utilization. … Robotics uses math applications and science concepts that can be applied to other technological disciplines, such as aeronautics, construction, manufacturing, communications and transportation.” During class, “study the design, development, manufacturing and operation of robots. Along they way, they learn about the broader concepts of computer science, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and bioengineering to find better ways of living.”
Teachers Use Innovative Methods To Cultivate 21st Century Skills.
The Washington Post (2/6, PW3, Buske) reports that “Spaghetti, crumpled cereal boxes and other household goods have become teaching tools in some Manassas classrooms as educators deviate from traditional methods and seek innovative ways to challenge students in the 21st century.” Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, said that 21st Century skills include “critical thinking, communication, and technology skills.” About a dozen teachers in Manassas took part in “a 12-week children’s engineering class led by James Madison University adjunct professor Marcia Hickey.” For the class, the teachers helped kindergarten through eighth-grade students create engineering projects, which “addressed mainly science and engineering concepts but also challenged students to work in teams and solve problems quickly. Students were given a task to brainstorm, design, build, test and evaluate at the end.” The “projects covered such things as how to turn trash bags and paper cups into hot air balloons and how to construct bridges out of uncooked spaghetti.”
Marketing Students At Florida High School Analyze Super Bowl Commercials.
The St. Petersburg Times (2/6) reports, “For the past five years, Newsome teacher Ann Marie Coats has offered students in her marketing class a chance to earn extra credit by evaluating Super Bowl commercials. This year, about 40 of her 100 students took part.” Some of the students’ favorites were “a Doritos commercial featuring a crystal ball with limited powers, a sequel to the popular E-Trade talking baby spot, and a Bridgestone Tire ad that showed Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head driving a sports car.” But “many students were offended by commercials for GoDaddy.com, which showed suggestive scenes and then prompted viewers to go the Website to see the steamy conclusions.” Those commercials “allowed for some class discussion about women in advertising.” Coats said, “The majority of my students are girls. But they didn’t like the Go Daddy commercials, and these commercials centered around very cute women with very large breasts.”
Washington District Aligns Elementary Schools’ Math Instruction Methods.
The Bellingham (WA) Herald (2/6, Millage) reports that “the Bellingham School District is changing how elementary students are taught math in hopes of ensuring all students receive the same level of instruction, regardless of the school.” Jan Christinson, a math specialist and co-author of the book Five Easy Steps to a Balanced Math Program, helped the district “create a program that ensures elementary students gain the math skills they need for higher levels of the subject, including algebra and geometry.” The program is structured “around five components.” They are computational skills, problem solving, conceptual understanding, mastery of math facts, and common formative assessment. The Bellingham Herald adds, “At least one teacher from each of the district’s 14 elementary schools already has been trained in how to effectively use the program, and those teachers are coaching their co-workers in how to use it.”
Students Protest Backpack Ban At Middle School In California.
The San Jose Mercury News (2/6) reports, “At Terman Middle School in Palo Alto, students are circulating petitions to protest the recent enforcement of a rule banning them from carrying backpacks into classrooms for safety reasons.” The rule has only been enforced since “mid-January, when campus improvements” at Truman “resulted in enough lockers for all of the students.” Principal Carmen Giedt said that even “though some students have complained about enforcement of the rule…they should have plenty of time to get to class. After every two class periods, students have longer breaks like brunch or lunch, so they only need to get materials for two classes at a time, she said.”
On the Job
Miami-Dade Teachers Union Sues School Board Over Closed Collective-Bargaining Meeting.
The Miami Herald (2/6, McGrory) reports that “the Miami-Dade teachers union filed a lawsuit against the School Board on Thursday, claiming the board members and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho violated state open-meeting laws when they met behind closed doors last week.” According to board members, “open-records laws make an exception for sessions to discuss collective bargaining strategy, [so] the meeting was held in private.” But United Teachers of Dade President Karen Aronowitz said the discussions “exceeded the boundaries” of the Sunshine Law exception.”
Report On Illinois Public Schools Highlights Diversity, Funding.
Illinois’s State Journal-Register (2/6, Colinders) reports, “The student population in Illinois’ public schools has changed dramatically over the years, but schools continue to be challenged by a problem that seems to never change: inadequate education funding,” according to the Illinois Kids Count 2009 report released on Thursday. The report highlights the areas of increasing diversity, uneven distribution of resources, and disparity in student “outcomes” at schools throughout the state.
Law & Policy
North Carolina Pushes Back Cut-Off Date For Students Entering Kindergarten.
WRAL-TV Raleigh (2/6, Calloway) reports that a “change in state law…makes only children who will turn 5 years old on or by Aug. 31 eligible to register” for kindergarten. “The revised law moves the legal school-entry age up from Oct. 16 in an effort to reduce dropout rates in later grades and to make sure students are ready for formal school when they begin kindergarten.” According to WRAL, “Parents with children who miss the Aug. 31 cutoff can seek a waiver. In Wake County, the student has to take an aptitude test and an achievement test and have a score considered to be academically gifted.”
Fixing NCLB On Education Secretary’s Agenda.
According to U.S. News and World Report (2/6) reports, “Newly minted Education Secretary Arne Duncan has big plans for improving the nation’s schools.” First, he is seeking “support for a stimulus measure that includes an unprecedented $140 billion for education.” Another item on Duncan’s agenda “will be fixing the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.” Although he “supports [NCLB's] focus on accountability for student achievement,” Duncan “wants to make the law less punitive.” He said, “I know there are schools that are beating the odds where students are getting better every year, and they are labeled failures, and that can be discouraging and demoralizing.” Duncan also said that “he is concerned about overtesting but…thinks states could solve the problem by developing better tests.” And, he “wants to help them develop better data management systems that help teachers track individual student progress.”
Ohio Governor’ Budget Bill Includes Ban On Corporal Punishment.
Education Week /AP (2/5) reports that “Gov. Ted Strickland’s (D) budget bill will contain a statewide ban on corporal punishment in schools, a change that would take the decision on whether to allow spanking and other forms of physical discipline out of the hands of local school boards.” According to Strickland’s education policy adviser, John Stanford, “the administration views the change as key to creating ideal learning environments for Ohio children.” The AP noted that “A limited ban enacted in Ohio in 1994 prohibits spanking and other forms of physical discipline unless a school board follows several procedures before voting to allow it.” But a spokesperson for Strickland said, “The governor does not believe that corporal punishment has a place in a 21st century classroom.”
Special Needs
Dallas Trails Most Texas Districts In Remedial Education.
The Dallas Morning News (2/6, Stutz) reports, “A new report from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) on the Student Success Initiative…shows that schools in the region containing Dallas and Collin counties are bringing fewer [struggling] students up to grade level than districts in most other parts of the state.” Throughout the state of Texas, about 68 percent of “students who received remedial help during the 2006-07 school year were brought up to grade level in math by the end of the year.” But “in Region 10, centered in Dallas County,” the percentage was 55. “In reading, 64 percent of students in Region 10 who were struggling in the subject were brought up to grade level by the end of the year — also below the state average of 69 percent.” Furthermore, “results in Region 10 ranked second-worst among the 20 education regions in both math and reading.” The Dallas Morning News notes that “TEA researchers did not explore the reasons for the different levels of success in various school districts or regions of the state.”
Rochester, New York, Schools To Withdraw Some Special Education Students From Monroe BOCES.
New York’s Democrat & Chronicle (2/5, Andreatta) reports, “The Rochester School District this fall will begin withdrawing special education students from Monroe BOCES 1 and placing them in city schools, where it had been previously determined that the students were ill-served.” The move “is being made at the request of BOCES 1 as it seeks to make room for the suburban students it is designed to serve.” Not all students “at the Monroe County Board of Cooperative Educational Services District 1 campus in Perinton [will] be returned to Rochester.” They will “be carefully chosen based on the district’s capability to serve them adequately in city schools.” Tom Cox, chief operating officer for BOCES 1, said, “The bottom line is that we’re looking to provide the best instruction possible in the most logical place. The plan is for Rochester (School District) in the long run to be able to provide instruction to Rochester kids in Rochester.”
Study Cites Several Deficiencies In Special Education In Rochester District . New York’s Democrat & Chronicle (2/6) reports in a separate story that “Special education in the Rochester School District has a litany of deficiencies, including inadequate referral practices, too many segregated classes, poor collection of data and confusion about staff responsibilities, according to a new study.” The study by “independent experts organized by the Council of Great City Schools” was “conducted over six months.” According to the Democrat & chronicle, “The district has already acted on many of the report’s recommendations, including hiring a director of special education.” Still, school officials have said “that it would take time to reverse a system that they acknowledged hastily classifies students as in need of special services and is slow to intervene when concerns are recognized.”
Safety & Security
Georgia District Stops Serving Peanut Butter.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (2/5, Matteucci) reported that “Clayton County schools are no longer serving peanut butter.” District “officials are trying to take extra precautions, even though a search of Clayton’s “food warehouse, along with each school cafeteria… found no products listed on the FDA’s recall list.” The district has also “stopped serving…ice creams with peanuts and some foods made with peanut oil.”
School In Denver Evacuated After Several Students Complain Of Shortness Of Breath.
The Denver Post (2/6, Mitchell) reports, “The Denver School of Science and Technology was evacuated” Thursday afternoon “after dozens of students complained of shortness of breath, probably linked to illegal trash burning, authorities say.” Although no one was injured, “twenty-four students were taken to a hospital for observation after they said they were having trouble breathing at the school.” Meanwhile, hazardous-materials experts performed “readings at the school but did not discover any harmful gases.” The school “it will be closed on Friday,” when it will be reinspected.
NEA in the News
NEA Offers Lesson Plan Ideas For Black History Month.
WTVM-TV Columbus, GA (2/6, Whitney) reports that during Black History Month students will likely learn “about the myriad ways that African Americans have made important contributions to American history. Schools across the country will be teaching children about these historic contributions in several unique ways.” According to WTVM, “many teachers draw their Black History Month lessons from The National Education Association (NEA).” The organization suggests that teachers “let students choose one historic African American figure and create a timeline of that person’s life and key events that made him or her influential.” Another lesson could include having “students write a rap or hip-hop song about a particular black person or event important to black history. This activity requires creativity to retell history in the student’s own words, above and beyond writing a report.”