Updates and Information Provided by NEA
Some California Districts Limiting Homework Assignments.
The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Mehta) reported that in response to “a vocal movement of parents and educators who contend that homework overload is robbing children of needed” sleep, playtime, and family time, school districts are increasingly “banning busywork, setting time limits on homework, and barring it on weekends and over vacations.” For example, “trustees in Danville, Calif., eliminated homework on weekends and vacations last year” and “Palo Alto officials banned it over winter break.” California is said to be “at the vanguard of the anti-homework movement. In 1901, the California Legislature banned it for students under 15 and ordered high schools to limit it for older students to 20 recitations a week. The law was taken off the books in 1917.” But, “the homework wars have reignited in recent years, with … the debate [being] driven by the belief that today’s students are doing more work at home than their predecessors.”
In the Classroom
Duncan Wants To Launch “New Era” Of Science Education.
The AP (3/23, Bohrer) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday he wants to launch a ‘new era’ of science education in the United States, one that encourages students to ask tough, challenging questions and brings more specially trained science and math teachers into the classroom.” Speaking to the National Science Teachers Association in New Orleans, Duncan said, “Whether it’s global warming, evolution or stem cell research, science will be honored. It will be respected and supported by this administration.” He also mentioned that “there’s a need for common, high standards that prepare students for college and the work force and for international benchmarks to compare U.S. students with their counterparts around the world.”
Student Performance Pay Debate Continues.
The Washington Post (3/23, C1, Vargas) reports on DC’s Capital Gains program, which “aims to motivate middle-grade students with the same enticement that compels adults: cash.” While “optimists say the program could help those who have little catch up to those who have much,” critics “say it will devalue what has always been invaluable: learning for the sake of learning.” Computer teacher Elizabeth Davis, for instance “said she thinks the program destroys intrinsic motivation. … ‘What happens when the money dries up?’ she asked.” Meanwhile, school principal Kisha Webster “said the program is an ‘outstanding concept’ but needs commitment from students and adults.” As an indicator of the incentive’s effectiveness, the Post notes, “Interviews with parents, educators and youths reveal that most students compare their earnings as soon as they’re handed out, excited by the financial reward. A few, in a show of apathy or rebellion, destroy checks intended to help them. And some walk home disappointed, envelopes closed.”
Plumbers Teachers Fifth-Graders How Toilets Work.
The San Francisco Chronicle (3/21, B2, Rubenstein) reported that as part of a lesson on the functionality of toilets, a fifth-grade class at Mill Valley Elementary School took a field trip to the boys’ bathroom. “The entire fifth-grade class, which includes those persons known as girls, was extremely businesslike about the proceedings. It was, after all, an official school field trip.” Some even “brought pencils, to take notes.” The lesson was taught by “plumber Stanley Searles, who had dropped by Room 2 at Park Elementary School carrying a genuine toilet tank.” During the lesson, he held the “empty toilet tank sideways during his demonstration so the kids in the back can see all the way down to the flapper.” Searles also explained “the wonders of U-traps (‘they keep things from getting stinky,’ said Searles) and the usefulness of pipe gaskets…and the importance of placing everything you unscrew into a little bowl so you can screw it back in later.”
Florida Students Learn Realities Of Politics During Visit To State Capitol.
The Miami Herald (3/22, Mazzei) reported, “It was meant to be an uplifting, hands-on civics lesson, sending students for nine hours on a bus to the state capital to meet lawmakers face-to-face and protest budget cuts to education.” But when “hundreds of South Florida students who traveled to Wednesday’s ‘Rally in Tally” organized by the Florida PTA arrived in the state’s capitol, they “got a harsh lesson in the good, the bad, and the ugly of politics.” For instance, “some lawmakers had to speed through appointments with students and parents, posing for a photo and listening for a few minutes without engaging in substantive conversation.” And, when questioned about education funding, some “legislators…tried to deflect blame for the budget cuts, shifting the burden to the federal government and local school boards — and to lawmakers in opposing parties.” Still, “the teenagers said they were happy to hear directly from lawmakers — even if they didn’t like or agree with what they had to say.”
Educating African Refugees A Challenge For Teachers In Texas District.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/22, LaCoste-Caputo) reported that many student refugees “from African countries such as Somalia, Rwanda, Sudan and Burundi” attend “Clark High in the Northside Independent School District because the housing secured by Catholic Charities is nearby.” But, many high school-aged refugees, “the odds that [they will] be able to catch up enough to pass the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and earn a diploma are a long shot.” That is because in many cases, “teachers are starting from scratch, just trying to find the most basic ways to communicate.” At Clark, “only three refugee students out of about 100 have graduated” in the past six years. “The prospect of so many dropouts is a problem for Clark High and San Antonio as a whole,” because “dropouts count against it under the state and federal accountability system, which doesn’t take into account how much progress is made or the fact that they’re teaching teens that never have been in school.”
South Carolina District To Divert Funds From Merit Pay Plan To Attract “Master Teachers.”
The Beaufort (SC) Gazette (3/22, Cerve) reported, “Money the Beaufort County School District has been using to award some teachers merit bonuses will be used instead to attract ‘master teachers’ to under-performing schools.” The 12 master teachers will receive “a $8,500 annual bonus for transferring to one of three county schools with the longest history of poor performance on state-mandated tests.” At those schools, the “teachers will be assigned classes and will coach other teachers in their new schools. By accepting the bonus, they agree to serve in the under-performing school…for at least two years.” The Beaufort Gazette points out that “offering incentives for teachers to transfer to under-performing schools is a departure from the way money set aside for Teacher Advancement Program typically is used in South Carolina.”
Law & Policy
Missouri Lawmakers May Eliminate Mentoring, Curriculum Programs From Budget.
USA Today /AP (3/23) reports, “House lawmakers have removed funding from the state budget that would provide mentoring and curriculum improvement programs for Missouri teachers.” Missouri’s current budget allocates $15 million for such programs. That amount represents a $5 million “cut from the $20 million a year that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received in the past.” Meanwhile, “Interim commissioner of education Bert Schulte said he is still working to put the funding back in the budget,” which “is up for a vote this week. If the money is not restored during floor action, advocates will turn to the Senate for help,” according to the AP.
Texas Board Of Education To Vote On Rules For K-12 Evolution-Instruction.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/23, Scharrer) reports, “The fight over how evolution is taught in Texas public schools is heading for a showdown this week.” At issue is “whether school children learn traditional teachings about evolution or what many scientists describe as a watered-down version.” Some, including Texas Citizens for Science President Steven Schafersman, want “the board to reverse two amendments tentatively approved in January casting doubt on ‘common descent’ — and fossil records. The common descent theory goes back to Charles Darwin’s principles of evolution and holds that all organisms come from a common ancestor.” Meanwhile, “the board’s seven social conservatives” are “pushing the amendment that would instruct students to evaluate fossil types. Some scientists contend that gaps in fossil records create scientific evidence against universal common descent.” But, “the board’s five Democrats favor removing the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ provision — leaving” three Republican board members “as the swing votes.”
School Finance
Education Stimulus Provides Unequal Funding To Needy, Well Off Districts.
On its front page, the New York Times (3/23, A1, Dillon) reports, “In pouring rivers of cash into states and school districts, Washington is using a tangle of well-worn federal formulas,” which “seem to take little account of who needs the money most.” Consequently, “some districts that are well off will find themselves swimming in cash, while some that are struggling may get too little to avoid cutbacks.” For instance, “Utah, where a $1.3 billion budget deficit has threatened deep school cuts, will get…about $1,250 per student, according to the federal Department of Education.” But Wyoming, “which has no deficit and has not cut school budgets in many years, will get about $1,684 per student.” Nevertheless, “educators are accepting the disparities without challenge,” because “there is widespread recognition that the federal money is helping to avert what could have been an educational disaster in some places.”
Some New York Districts Seek To Cut Instructional Positions To Keep Tax Increases Low. The New York Times (3/23, WE1, Neroulias, Saslow) reports, “With the economy in crisis and doubts persisting about state aid, most school boards” in Westchester and Long Island, NY, “are presenting the leanest budgets in years to their communities, school administrators said.” And because “about 75 percent of districts’ expenses are for salaries and benefits…even high-achieving districts like Chappaqua are considering layoffs for the first time in decades.” According to the Times, “more than one-third of Westchester’s districts are seriously considering cutting instructional positions,” school officials said. Meanwhile, “most of the region’s school boards are aiming for budgets that keep the tax levy increase below four percent.” But “because of [a] gap in aid and shortfalls from investment income and other revenue sources, even districts aiming for a flat budget would still have to raise taxes, said David A. Fleishman, the Chappaqua superintendent.”
Florida District Holds Off On Taking 20 Percent Of Schools’ Fund-Raising Profits.
The Miami Herald (3/23, Mazzei, McGrory) reports that “facing heat from outraged parents, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho backed off the” Miami-Dade school district’s “plan to raid schools’ piggy banks, which would have put about $5 million into the district account.” Miami-Dade had asked school administrators to give the district 20 percent of all money raised by students and parents for extracurricular activities. But in an e-mail sent on Friday, the superintendent “told principals…that they can keep their money until the end of the academic year, when district officials will reconsider the plan. Schools that have already paid will get a refund.” According to Miami-Dade spokesman John Schuster, district officials will review the “accounts after the school year ends…’but it will be done with care and consideration.’”
Also in the News
Districts To Start Allowing Students To Designate Multiple Backgrounds On Forms.
On its front page, the Washington Post (3/23, A1, Chandler, Glod) reports that in compliance with US Education Department rules approved two years ago, “public schools in the Washington region and elsewhere are abandoning their check-one-box approach to gathering information about race and ethnicity in an effort to develop a more accurate portrait of classrooms transformed by immigration and interracial marriage.” Beginning ” next year, enrollment forms for schools “in the District, Montgomery, and other local counties… will allow students to identify as both white and American Indian, for example, or black and Asian.” The Post points out, “Under the new policy, the count of Hispanic students is expected to grow as the non-Hispanic black and white counts diminish. Many will fall into a new group called ‘two or more races.’” Although “the change is mandatory [only] for new students…the government is urging schools to apply it to all.”
Growing Number Of Districts Switch To Standards-Based Report Cards.
On its front page, the New York Times (3/25, A1, Hu) reports that “a growing number of districts locally and nationally” are switching “from traditional report cards to standards-based ones.” The new trend in grade reporting is the “the latest frontier in a 20-year push to establish rigorous academic standards and require state tests on the material.” In the Westchester, NY, suburb of Prospect Hill, for instance, instead of receiving report cards with letter grades for each subject, students “now get report cards filled with numbers indicating how they are faring on dozens of specific skills like ‘decoding strategies’ and ‘number sense and operations.’” Schools in “urban areas typically have adopted the system as part of an effort to raise standardized test scores and achievement in struggling schools.” But the enthusiasm is also spilling over into some suburban districts, where school officials hope the numbers help “ensure more consistent grading across classrooms, tamp down grade inflation, and refine focus on individual academic skills.”
In the Classroom
Many Middle, High-Schoolers Think Schools Limit Use Of Technology Too Much.
The Education Week (3/24, Manzo) reported, “Students are using personal technology tools more readily to study subject matter, collaborate with classmates, and complete assignments than they were several years ago, but they are generally asked to ‘power down’ at school and abandon the electronic resources they rely on for learning outside of class, according to a” report by the Speak Up National Research Project. In 2008, the project surveyed “more than 20,000 K-12 students across the country…along with 28,000 teachers, 21,000 parents, and 3,000 administrators.” The surveys showed that “most of the high school students…do not believe that they are being well prepared for the technology demands of the marketplace.” And, “large proportions of the middle and high school respondents [said] they are inhibited from using technology effectively in school, because of restrictions on computer time, blocks on access to Web sites, or a prohibition against mobile devices.”
Principal Challenges Black Students To Improve Standardized Test Scores.
The Dallas Morning News (3/25, Chávez) reports that “Grand Prairie High School principal Joseph Showell took a calculated risk” in 2008 when “he called 60 black students into a meeting and challenged them to do better on their TAKS tests.” Stowell explained to the students that they “had either narrowly failed or barely passed the exam last year.” His intent was to help the “students connect the dots between themselves, their racial group, and the school’s academic performance.” The Morning News points out that “To some, a principal talking to students about racial subgroups in the TAKS system seemed unorthodox. But Showell believes his detailed explanation of the testing system could mean the difference between passing and failing.” In 2006 and 2007, “the black student subgroup had dragged the school’s rating down.” According to the Morning News, “the talks may have worked. In 2008, black student scores improved and the school moved from academically unacceptable to acceptable.”
C-SPAN Civics Bus Visits School in Richmond, Virginia.
The Richmond Times Dispatch (3/25, Slayton) reports that “a C-SPAN Civics Bus, one of two that is crossing the country to reach 100 schools in 100 days during the first 100 days of President Barack Obama’s administration, made a stop at Douglas Freeman High School in Henrico County” on Tuesday. While on the “45-foot-long bus, which doubles as a mobile production center,” students learned “about C-SPAN and how the satellite TV network uses the bus to broadcast news.” C-SPAN marketing representatives Sarah Parker and Jennifer Curran explained that “C-SPAN doesn’t manipulate camera placement or angles to project its views onto a story, nor does the company use commentators to provide live, running analysis of news conferences.”
Former Clark County School Employee Active In Namesake Elementary School.
The Las Vegas Sun (3/25, Twitchell) reports, “When the Clark County School District named an elementary school after him, Neil C. Twitchell and his wife, Wanda, took it as a tremendous honor, but also as a responsibility to stay involved.” The couple have visited Twitchell Elementary “to support the school children in their talent shows,” and to read to students. They also recently prepared a “build-your-own-omelette bar” for the faculty and staff. “Since the school opened its doors, the Twitchells said they have tried to make it a part of their family.” Mr. Twitchell is a “29-year veteran of the Clark County School District.”
Massachusetts District Proposes Restoring Elementary Music Program.
The Beverly (MA) Citizen (3/25, Alpine) reports that “the Beverly School Committee will try to restore an elementary music program that is shrinking before their eyes.” Enrollment in the program has been “between 70 and 100″ students in the past. “Last year there were 68. This year, 33.” The music instructor position was cut this year “in favor of [an] alternative, before-school program. In past years, music education was part of the school day. Since then the program has experienced more than a 50 percent drop in participation.” Now, Superintendent Jim Hayes has included funding for the position in his 2010 budget proposal, “in order to save the program.” The Citizen says, “Elementary music is a crucial feeder program for Beverly’s middle and high school music programs.”
On the Job
Overcrowding Leads To Staggered Start Times At High School In Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune (3/25, Hood) reports on the use of staggered start times and other schedule devices used in the Chicago area to “ease the pressure of crowding in classrooms, gymnasiums and cafeterias.” Lockport Township’s “severely staggered start times” are seen as one of the more extreme measures. Beginning next year all juniors and seniors at Lockport Township High School will start at 6:44 a.m. At present, seniors finish school by 11:45 a.m, juniors by 1:44 p.m., and freshmen and sophomores by 3:44 p.m. The new schedule is described as having created “logistical nightmares for officials, teachers, coaches and parent volunteers.”
Discipline Policy At Middle School In Illinois Accentuates Positive Behavior.
Illinois’ Forest Park Review (3/25, Adams) reports that educators at the Forest Park Middle School “have adopted a back-to-basics approach to student discipline.” The Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program is said to rely on “clear and consistent instructions…for improving student behavior.” The program also “puts the emphasis on rewarding good behavior rather than punishing poor behavior.” Even as “teachers and administrators aggressively track how many times a student steps out of line…that system is largely shielded from the kids. What students see instead is a classmate earning special privileges and congratulations for following the rules.” Punishment is used for certain infractions, but those guidelines have been revised “so that teachers know which infractions they should handle and which ones to invite administrators to resolve.”
Law & Policy
Massachusetts Education Leaders Propose Student Performance Tracking System.
The Boston Globe (3/24, Vaznis) reported that Massachusetts education leaders want the state to track “the performance of individual students as they advance from one grade to the next. The new measurement could shed light on who is falling short — teacher or pupil — and lead to fundamental changes in the way students are taught.” Currently, “the state judges a school’s success by comparing its MCAS scores at each particular grade level to the scores posted by that grade the year before.” But “using the new tool, the state will augment that analysis by examining the performance of individual students or classes of students over the period of several years, starting in the third-grade.” The new system would allow educators to “predict students’ likelihood for improvement in the future and assess whether they are on track to meet expectations.” It “could also lead to earlier interventions for students who appear to be lagging behind,” and “monitor the academic growth of groups of classmates of similar socio-economic backgrounds.”
Maryland BOE Blocks School District’s Effort To Conduct Illegal Immigrant Count.
The Washington Times (3/25, Chenoweth) reports, “The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday said Frederick County officials are prohibited by federal law from seeking a count of how many illegal immigrants are in the county school system. In its seven-page unanimous decision, the state board said county officials haven’t shown sufficient reason to look into the legal status of all of the students in the school system and that asking immigration status might discourage some parents from enrolling their children in schools.” The Times notes that the U.S. Supreme Court “said in 1982 that if schools offer public education to any student, they must offer it to all students.”
Federal Court Dismisses Valedictorian’s Lawsuit Against High School In Nevada.
The Las Vegas Sun (3/25, Norman) reports, “The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a federal lawsuit filed over an interrupted valedictory speech at Foothill High School in 2006.” The lawsuit was filed by “Brittany McComb…against [Clark County] Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes, the school’s principal, and others after the microphone was unplugged during her speech at the school’s graduation on June 15, 2006.” The school officials pulled the plug after McComb “began talking about Jesus Christ and her Christian faith.” The court, however, “dismissed the suit, saying the ‘defendants did not violate McComb’s free speech and free exercise rights by preventing her from making a proselytizing graduation speech. Nor did they violate McComb’s right to equal protection,’” because “they did not allow other graduations speakers to proselytize.”
Texas Lawmaker Proposes Tuition Incentives For Math, Science Teacher Hopefuls.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/25, Rauf) reports, “Texas lawmakers are looking to curb a statewide shortage of certified high school math and science teachers by creating a program that will offer millions in proposed tuition incentives to students committed to teaching those subjects in school districts with the greatest need.” State Sen. Dan Patrick “is proposing to create the ‘Texas Teach Corps Scholarship Program,’” which “would give math and science undergraduates pursuing teaching certificates up to $5,000 a year for up to four years to offset the cost of tuition.” In return, the students must commit to teaching for four years at a school “designated…as having a profound deficiency in certified math and science teachers.” Legislators hope “to dole out as many as 1,000 scholarships starting in the 2010-2011 school year and continue adding up to 1,000 new recipients each year for the next three years.”
Facilities
North Carolina District Considers Eliminating Program For Suspended Students.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (3/25, Hui) reports, “Hundreds of Wake County students who get suspended for engaging in serious fights or other trouble face not having any school to attend this fall.” School officials have proposed “eliminating a program that allows students who are suspended for the rest of the school year to go to alternative programs to take classes.” Instead, such “students would be given the option of taking online courses to keep pace with their classes.” The move is expected to save the district $1.2 million next year, but some “community groups…fear it will lead to more students dropping out and getting into trouble on the streets.” The News & Observer says, “the school board will…discuss the budget during a work session” this week.
Also in the News
Massachusetts Program Eases Students’ Return To School After Care For Depression.
The Boston Globe (3/24, Wertheimer) featured the experiences of Hannah Cummins, whose return to Brookline High School in Massachusetts after having been hospitalized for depression was facilitated by the Brookline Youth Resilient Team (BRYTE). BRYTE was established in 2004 between Brookline High School and the local mental-health center. To date, “the program has worked with more than 200 teens after they were hospitalized for depression or other long-term medical issues,” as “social workers and a classroom aide help the students to make the transition…back into the mainstream.” Currently, “a pending budget amendment before the state Legislature would give $75,000 grants to help continue” similar “programs and start them at other high schools, said state Representative Ellen Story (D- Amherst).” According to Rep. Story, however, “budget constraints would make it difficult to pass the amendment this year.”
More Vermont Schools Meet AYP This Year.
Vermont’s Times Argus (3/26, Hinckley) reports, “After almost half the schools in Vermont failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards in 2008, they are doing better this year.” Vermont Department of Education data show that “218 schools in the state made AYP standards, compared to 116 last year.” Furthermore, “Last year 79 schools did not make AYP standards for the first time and this year 40 of those did not make it again, which qualifies them for school improvement status.” The Times Argus notes that “Last year was the first in which the national level of achievement was increased for the federal No Child Left Behind Act and several schools were unable to meet the higher mark.” Benchmarks increase “every three years in order to reach a goal of 100 percent in national education achievement in 2014.”
The Burlington Free Press (3/25, Walsh) reported, “Twenty-nine percent of Vermont public schools missed annual academic performance goals under the federal education reform law known as the No Child Left Behind Act, Vermont education officials reported Tuesday.” Meanwhile, of those schools that did not meet standards, 88 “have missed goals more than once, pushing the number of so-called ‘identified’ schools up to 77, or 26 percent.”
In the Classroom
Pizzeria Receives Free Advertising On Paper Donated To Economics Class.
The New York Times (3/26, A19, Yardley) reports, “Earlier this month, after residents of Pocatello rejected a school levy intended to help address a depleted budget and rising costs,” Pocatello High School economics teacher Jeb Harrison “decided to find a way to help. He approached Dan McIsaac, the pizzeria owner, and brokered a deal. If Mr. McIsaac paid about $315 for 10,000 sheets of paper for Mr. Harrison’s classes, more than a year’s supply, the pizzeria could run an advertisement across the bottom of every sheet handed out in class.” Since agreeing to the deal, Mr. McIsaac said that “his dinner business has increased three percent to five percent. The new patrons are mostly students’ parents.”
The AP (3/25) reported that in “cash-strapped” Pocatello High School in Idaho, history and economics teacher Jeb Harrison “has struck a sponsorship deal with a local pizza shop: Every test, handout and worksheet he passes out to his students reads MOLTO’S PIZZA 14″ 1 TOPPING JUST $5…along the bottom of every page.” According to the AP, “As school districts across the country face the worst economic outlook in decades, educators who have long reached into their own pockets to buy classroom supplies are finding creative ways to cover expenses. But selling ads on schoolwork is practically unheard of.”
More Than Eight Percent Of Maryland Seniors May Not Graduate.
The Baltimore Sun (3/25, Bowie) reported, “With three months left in the school year, more than eight percent of Maryland seniors are at risk of not graduating, education officials said Tuesday in releasing the first precise count of how well the Class of 2009 is meeting the High School Assessments.” The class of 2009 is the first to “have been required to pass four tests in biology, English II, American government and algebra or do extra projects to prove they have mastered the material before getting a diploma.” The 4,660 students that failed tests have the option of “retaking tests in April or May, completing the projects, or getting waivers.” The Baltimore Sun noted that “of the state’s 24 school districts, the largest four districts with the highest urban populations have the majority of students who must still pass.”
Union Calls For Better Career Guidance For High-Schoolers In Alexandria, Virginia.
WJLA-TV Arlington, VA (3/26) reports, “While Alexandria public schools struggle to close the achievement gaps in its schools, a local workers union wants the system to go from a two-track system to an individualized program.” According to the Workers United of Alexandria union, “Alexandria schools have” for years been working on a two-track system where students in honors and AP classes have received more help in gearing up for college. The union wants the school system to adopt a plan that would give each student individualized support to help them with their career goals.” Alexandria schools superintendent Morton Sherman said that “the city school system recognizes the student achievement gap” and “has been working with the union to create a strategic plan that addresses the problem.”
On the Job
North Carolina District May Add More Half Days For Teacher Development.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (3/25, Hui, Hall) reported that parents in Wake County, NC, “face being asked to soak up higher child care costs as part of a new school system initiative to release schools early once a week to give more planning time for teachers.” The proposal calls for “all schools [to] dismiss an hour early one day a week; elementary and middle schools would also add two more half-days a year.” Meanwhile, “a committee of parents, teachers and administrators recommended adding 10 minutes to each school day” to “create an additional 30 hours of time a year to help comply with a state requirement for 1,000 instructional hours a year.” According to “Superintendent Del Burns…it’s likely that schools will add the time by ending the day later.”
Most Education Graduate Programs Said To Be Inadequate.
In US News and World Report’s (3/25) On Education blog, Eddy Ramirez wrote, “If you’re thinking about going into teaching, take heed of” advice from “Katherine Merseth, a senior lecturer and director of the teacher education program at Harvard University.” She said, “The dirty little secret about schools of education is that they have been the cash cows of universities for many, many years, and it’s time to say, ‘Show us what you can do, or get out of the business.’” According to Merseth, “of the 1,300 graduate teacher training programs in the country, about 100 or so are adequately preparing teachers and ‘the others could be shut down tomorrow.’” US News & World Report points out that the topic of quality teacher education emerged during an “hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. It surfaced during a larger discussion about how to train and recruit great teachers.”
Law & Policy
Oregon House Approves Changes To Anti-Bullying Law.
USA Today /AP (3/26, Cain) reports, “Oregon House members approved a bill Wednesday to strengthen the state’s eight-year-old law against bullying in the public schools.” Under the measure, statewide standards would be set “for districts to follow in drafting and enforcing their policies and make the anti-bullying process available to parents, students and others. It also would expand the definition of harassment, intimidation or bullying to include interfering with the ‘psychological well-being’ of a student.” And, “it would broaden the definition to say bullying can be based on a student’s ‘protected class status,’ which includes race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or disability.” Lawmakers are debating the “broad language in the bill defining harassment, intimidation and bullying as any act that interferes with the ‘psychological well-being’ of a student.”
Colorado Governor Proposes Spending $622 Million Of Stimulus On Education.
The AP (3/25, Paulson) reported that Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) “has proposed spending $487 million to shore up public education and another $135 million to support higher education using the state’s portion of federal stimulus funds, according to a letter to state budget officials obtained by The Associated Press. Todd Saliman, the governor’s budget director, confirmed the letter and said the money will keep education funding at this year’s levels for the next three years.” According to the AP, “lawmakers welcomed the proposal, which must still be approved by [education department] to ensure the package meets strict federal guidelines. However, they warned it only postpones the cuts needed to balance the state budget for two or three years unless the economy improves dramatically, which is not likely.”
Florida Senate Leaders Consider Ballot Proposal Tying Sales Tax Hike To School Funding.
The AP (3/25, Kaczor) reported, “Florida Senate leaders are considering a ballot proposal that would tie a permanent penny per dollar increase in the state sales tax to help pay for public schools to loosening class size limits. … The proposed education budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would rely on federal stimulus dollars and expanded Seminole Indian gambling to offset declines in sales, property and other tax receipts.” According to the AP, “The measure would bring in $2.8 billion annually, which could be used to restore prior school spending cuts and fill the budget gap that will be left when the federal stimulus program expires after the 2010-11 budget year,” said state Senate Education Pre-kindergarten-12 Appropriations Chairman Stephen Wise.
Special Needs
Excessive Movement May Facilitate Learning In Students With AD/HD, Study Shows.
Time (3/25, Cloud) reported that, according to a study scheduled to be published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, “a better approach for” schoolchildren with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “is to let them move all they want,” because “many kids use their movements…to stay focused. In other words, it may be that excessive movement doesn’t prevent learning, but actually facilitates it.” For the study, researchers at the University of Central Florida in Orlando followed “23 boys ages eight to 12″ over “four years.” Twelve of the children “had an AD/HD diagnosis. The other 11 were developing normally.” After analyzing data based on a series of tests given to the children, the team concluded that youngsters with AD/HD may “have a hard time with working memory because they lack adequate cortical arousal,” and theorized that “their squirms and fidgets help stimulate that arousal.” The authors suggested “a classroom technique for AD/HD kids: Don’t overly tax their working memory.”
School Finance
Duncan Explains How Race To The Top Funds Will Be Distributed.
The Washington Post (3/26, A19, Glod) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday that he will leverage a $5 billion fund to shape school reform, rewarding states that push for classroom innovation with federal stimulus dollars, and denying extra aid to those that do not.” The Race to the Top Fund is “an unprecedented pot of cash created by the stimulus law that extends Washington’s reach into local school affairs.” One consideration Duncan will make in distributing the money is “how states and school systems spend tens of billions of dollars in other stimulus funding.” Systems that invest in the “status quo,” he said, would be at a “competitive disadvantage for” Race to the Top Funds.
Also in the News
Study Says Ninth Graders At Schools Near Fast Food Outlets More Likely To Be Obese.
The New York Times (3/26, A16, Rabin) reports, “Ninth graders whose schools are within a block of a fast-food outlet are more likely to be obese than students whose schools are a quarter of a mile or more away, according to a study of millions of schoolchildren by economists at the University of California and Columbia University.” Researchers “found that obesity rates were five percent higher among the ninth graders whose schools were within one-tenth of a mile of a pizza, burger or other popular fast-food outlet, compared with students attending schools farther away from fast-food stores.” University of California, Berkeley, economics professor Enrico Moretti, “one of the paper’s authors,” said, “We’re quite confident that these are credible and unbiased estimates of the causal effect of fast food on obesity for the group we focused on.” But a spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association “said the paper was a ‘slapdash’ piece of work that was flawed because it did not take individual diet and exercise into account.”
Texas BOE Upholds Evolution Teaching Standards.
The New York Times (3/27, A13, Brick) reports, “In an evenly split vote, the [Texas] State Board of Education on Thursday upheld teaching evolution as accepted mainstream science.” Still, “social conservatives on the board, using a series of amendments tailored to particular school subjects, succeeded in requiring teachers to evaluate critically a variety of scientific principles like cell formation and the Big Bang.”
According to the Washington Times /AP (3/27, Castro), “Supporters of evolution hailed the vote but were critical of” the amendments, which “they said could create new paths to teaching creationism and the similar theory of intelligent design in public schools.” Dan Quinn of “the watchdog group Texas Freedom Network” said that “in approving a handful of amendments Thursday, the board ‘slammed the door on creationism, then ran around the house opening up all the windows to let it in another way.’”
One of the amendments would require students “to study the ‘sufficiency or insufficiency’ of common ancestry and natural selection — two key Darwin tenets — in examining fossil records and cell structure, respectively,” the Dallas Morning News (3/27, Stutz) adds. The San Antonio Express News (3/27, Scharrer) reports, “The board will take a final vote on Friday. The new science curriculum standards will take effect starting for the 2010-2011 school year and last a decade.” The board’s decision “will influence new science textbooks — not only for Texas but also for most other states because publishers, considering the volume, typically duplicate textbooks used by Texas schools.”
In the Classroom
Georgia Leads States In Use Of Educational Technology.
WFXL-TV Albany, GA (3/26, Abeln) reported on its website, “Georgia is a national leader in the use of educational technology to enhance both teaching and learning, according to” Education Week’s Technology Counts report. Georgia earned “the highest score when it comes to the use of technology in the classroom and building capacity for the use of technology.” States were ranked “on two criteria: use of technology and capacity to use technology. Georgia was able to answer ‘yes’ to every indicator in both of these categories and was one of only two states to get a score of 100 in both areas.” WFXL lists several of Georgia’s “ongoing statewide technology initiatives.”
Students At Virginia High School Perform For “Sister City” Peers From Japan.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (3/27, Lazo) reports that “a delegation of students from Saitama, Japan, came to Thomas Jefferson High School on Thursday “for a morning of cultural exchanges as part of the sister-city relationship between Richmond and Saitama.” The Saitama students were greeted with “a jazz band performance of ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ by R. Kelly and an African dance presentation in the school’s auditorium. They shook hands with their peers and said ‘hi’ in Japanese.” Afterward, “the Japanese students” danced “to a traditional Japanese song in traditional Japanese outfits.” The Japanese students “arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday and will be staying for 12 days. The delegation will visit other schools and will tour Williamsburg [VA] and Washington.”
On the Job
Lawmakers Focus On University-Based Programs To Improve Teacher Training.
The Christian Science Monitor (3/27, Paulson) reports, “There’s now wide agreement that good teaching is the most crucial factor in raising student achievement.” But there is much debate on how best to train teachers so that “they are ready to hit the ground running and are likely to stick” with the profession. The debate is said to center on whether to focus on “improving traditional education schools,” or expanding “alternative models designed to streamline entry into teaching for exceptionally talented students or mid-career professionals.” Among alternative models, the urban teacher residency is cited as producing teachers that “seem to be well trained and willing to teach in the highest-needs classrooms – and to stay there for many years.” Still, many “policymakers are putting their efforts into improving the 1,200 university-based teacher-preparation programs, where most teachers still get their training.”
Student Achievement Helped Most By Certified Teachers With Experience Study Shows. The Christian Science Monitor (3/27, Paulson) reports, “Debates over teacher training ultimately come down to a single question: Which routes produce the most effective teachers — the teachers with the most impact on their students?” Some models are emerging that “link individual teachers to students’ achievement gains, while accounting for other factors.” According to the Monitor, “One of the most comprehensive studies so far focuses on the effectiveness of teachers in New York City schools.” It evaluated teachers “from a variety of traditional university programs as well as Teach for America and the New York City Teaching Fellows program,” and “those on a temporary license.” Results showed “that student achievement was helped most by having a certified teacher who had graduated from a university program, had been teaching more than two years, and had a strong academic background.”
Nevada District’s Behavior Schools Running Out Of Space For Expelled Students.
The Las Vegas Sun (3/27, Norman) reports that “Clark County School Board members would like to see principals expel fewer students from school.” The board discusses the district’s discipline policy at a special meeting on Wednesday. “The policy requires mandatory expulsion for serious offenses, such as bringing a gun to school, arson or assault of a school employee. However, principals have discretion on whether to expel students on lesser offenses, such as alcohol use or verbal abuse.” Students are sometimes given the option of attending “behavioral schools during a disciplinary period.” But the “behavior schools are running out of space.” School board members also are concerned about the disproportionate number of black students “who are recommended for expulsion. In 2007-08, 31 percent of the students recommended for expulsion were black, but the School District population is only 14 percent black.”
Law & Policy
Obama Discusses Teacher Training, Evaluation At Town Hall Meeting.
The Los Angeles Times (3/27) prints the full text of President Obama’s online town hall meeting on its website. The first question The President responded to was, “How do you plan to restore education as a right and core cultural value in America?” Obama responded by pointing out that “schools are under-resourced” and “teachers aren’t getting enough of the training they need for the classroom.” He added that teachers should be paid more and receive more training. “Let’s make sure that schools of education that are training our teachers are up to date with the best methods to teach our kids. And let’s work with teachers so that we are providing them measures of whether they’re effective or not, and let’s hold them accountable for being effective,” He said.
The AP (3/27) reports, “If the nation’s schools are going to see improvement, President Barack Obama says there has to be a way to ease bad teachers out of the classroom.” In addition, he said at Thursday’s online town hall meeting that “there needs to be other ways to evaluate teachers besides standardized tests,” and that “if teachers are forced to teach based solely on a test, fewer students will be inspired to learn.”
Merit Pay, Teacher Incentives Among Obama’s Top Five Education Goals. New York’s Post Standard (3/27) reports, “President Barack Obama this week unveiled a set of ambitious goals for reforming the nation’s education system.” The Post-Standard lists “five of the president’s top reform proposals.” He seeks to “expand a program that provides federal support for merit pay and incentives for teachers. Under the proposal, 150 additional school districts across the nation would be eligible for $5 billion to reward excellence and give teachers incentives to take on tough assignments.” Obama also “wants to increase the number of charter schools across the nation as a way to promote innovation in education,” and has proposed expanding access to early childhood education programs. In addition, he “wants to expand after-school programs, and he asked educators to consider adding more classroom time.” And, Obama “wants to target at-risk students as early as middle school grades.”
Rhode Island Lawmakers Consider Kindergarten Sex-Education Bill.
WPRI-TV Providence (3/26, Sardelli) reported on its website, “A controversial bill has sparked an age old debate on when is the right time to teach children about sex education.” Some Rhode Island lawmakers have proposed legislation that “calls for [sex] education of students to begin in Kindergarten.” However, “many parents say that teaching the basics of sex education to a five-year old child is not appropriate.” A hearing was held on Wednesday to discuss the bill.
Special Needs
Virginia BOE Approves Revised Gifted Education Regulations.
The Richmond Times Dispatch (3/27, Lizama) reports, “The Virginia Board of Education yesterday adopted revised regulations for gifted education services, including a provision to give school districts more control of the plan-approval process.” Most “of the changes are language clarifications for screening, referral, identification and placement of gifted students.” But one major change “is that the state Department of Education will no longer have to approve the school divisions’ plans for gifted educational services. … Under the new rules, the department will provide only a technical review, which means evaluating the plans to make sure components are addressed properly and adequately and to offer suggestions if they need improvements.”
School Finance
South Carolina Lawmakers May Bypass Governor For Education Stimulus Funds.
USA Today (3/27, Toppo) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to send South Carolina’s public schools as much as $700 million in federal stimulus cash, despite the objections of Mark Sanford, its Republican governor.” Last week, “the Obama administration…rejected Sanford’s bid to funnel $700 million in education-related federal stimulus funding to reducing South Carolina’s debt. [Sanford] later said he wouldn’t apply for the $700 million.” USA Today points out that “South Carolina’s General Assembly could bypass Sanford. The state House of Representatives this month overwhelmingly approved a measure declaring its intent to accept all of the stimulus cash.” And “the state Senate Finance Committee also voted to accept the $700 million, over Sanford’s objections if necessary.”
Also in the News
California Middle School Renamed For President Obama.
The AP (3/27) reports, “President Obama has held office for less than three months, but he’s already inspired a big change at one Oakland middle school.” On Thursday the Oakland Unified School District announced that “Alternative Learning Community, a newly established middle school with just 50 students, will now be known as Barack Obama Academy.” School “officials believe it’s the first middle school named after the 44th president.”
In Italy, Foot Bus Catches On As School Transportation Mode.
The New York Times (3/27, A6, Rosenthal) reports, “In 2003, to confront the triple threats of childhood obesity, local traffic jams and — most important — a rise in global greenhouse gases abetted by car emissions, an environmental group” in Lecco, Italy, “proposed a retro-radical concept: children should walk to school.” The plan included setting up “a piedibus (literally foot-bus in Italian) — a bus route with a driver but no vehicle.” Now “more than half of the students” at the Carducci School “take walking buses. Many of them were previously driven in cars.” So far, “the town’s piedibuses have…eliminated more than 100,000 miles of car travel and, in principle, prevented thousands of tons of greenhouse gases from entering the air,” according to “Dario Pesenti, the town’s environment auditor.”
NEA in the News
Colorado Education Association Opposes Teacher Tracking System.
The AP (3/26, Slevin) reported, “A proposed new teacher tracking system that some see as the key to getting millions in extra stimulus money has gotten bogged down because of a fight between” Colorado “lawmakers who back education reform and the” Colorado Education Association. “At issue is a plan to set up a way to track teachers and principals as they move from school to school, and to see how their students perform.” With the plan, lawmakers aim “to close the so-called ‘teacher gap,’ in which experienced teachers tend to work in high-achieving schools serving middle- and upper-income students and newer ones often work in schools serving minority and low-income children.” The teachers union, however, “opposes allowing sanctions under the bill, which was approved by the House with a specific ban on using the information to punish teachers and principals.”