Confidence-Building Writing Assignments Help Narrow Achievement Gap, Study Shows
The New York Times (4/17, A16, Carey) reports, “Some seventh graders who were struggling in class did significantly better after performing a series of brief confidence-building writing exercises, and the improvements continued through eighth grade, researchers reported Thursday.” For the study, “led by Geoffrey L. Cohen, a social psychologist at the University of Colorado… seventh graders in suburban Connecticut schools” worked on the writing assignment “three to five times” throughout the school year. “It asked them to choose from a list values that were most important to them — including athletic ability, sense of humor, creativity and being smart — and to write why those values were so important.” Results showed that “students who benefited most were blacks who were doing poorly.” However, “the exercises made no difference for white students, or for black ones who were already doing well.”
According to the research, published “in the April 17 issue of Science,” after receiving the intervention, “the rate of remediation or grade repetition dropped from 18 percent to five percent for” low-performing black students, HealthDay (4/16) added. “One of the ways this type of intervention helps children, according to Cohen, is by reducing stress.” Cohen said that when students take time out to reflect on their values “during an important performance situation… the stressful performance situation becomes less stressful,” and they view themselves “capable and good.” For minority students, “this type of change in thinking might be especially important…because they may feel that they’ll be judged in a stereotypical way,” he added. WebMD (4/16, Wilbert) and Reuters (4/17, Steenhuysen) also covered the story.
In the Classroom
Study Shows Double-Dose Algebra Boosts Students’ Test Scores, But Not Grades.
Education Week (4/17, Cavanagh) reports, “Chicago students’ test scores increased after they were enrolled in ‘double-dose’ algebra classes, though the policy’s impact on their grades and course failure rates was mixed,” according to a new study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research published this month in the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. The objectives of the policy were to reduce “failure rates in 9th grade algebra” and “to boost ’students’ algebra skills through more and better algebra instruction.’” The authors found that “the grades of most 9th graders in the double-dose classes rose with the policy — but not among the lowest-performing students in those courses.” They “speculate that those especially low-performing students may have struggled because they weren’t ready for algebra.” However, the policy did succeed in providing better instruction, the authors concluded.
High School Students Collaborate To Create Sustainable Residential Structure.
The Washington Post (4/16, Vargas) reported, “In a lesson plan that transcends textbooks, students at the Arlington Career Center have spent the past seven months building a small residential structure made entirely of recycled and sustainable materials.” The project is a collaboration between students of carpentry, electricity, HVAC, engineering, photography, and media. “The carpentry students are putting up walls and hand-cutting rafters. The electricity students are installing solar panels. And the HVAC students are handling the heating and air-conditioning system.” Meanwhile, “the photography students…are documenting the work” along with the TV crew, “and the engineering students who are monitoring the building’s weight distribution to ensure it makes it out of the garage.” The Post notes that “The TV and multimedia production class has created a public service announcement about the project and is working on a documentary that will run with the exhibit on a flat-screen TV.”
Elementary Students Track Effects Of Time On Plants.
The San Antonio Express News (4/17, Kastner) reports, “As part of a science lesson, kids at Canyon Ridge Elementary School “in the North East Independent School District “are tracking the effects of time on plants growing in a park adjacent to their school.” They are “Using handheld Global Positioning System devices, digital cameras and old-fashioned pencil and paper” to plot growth and monitor “weather and other changes.” The Express News adds, “Students from both Canyon Ridge and nearby Bush Middle School have recently begun turning the park into a living laboratory, utilizing lesson plans developed in conjunction with Trinity University.” Laura Allen, an assistant professor of education at Trinity who helped develop the lessons, said that “the goal is to eventually publish the curriculum online, where it can be accessed by other school districts.”
North Carolina Educator To Teach Class From Louisiana Swamp Via Web Cast.
WRAL-TV Raleigh (4/16) reported that next week, “Estes Hills Elementary School teacher Liz Coleman will” join “a research team of scientists and volunteers,” sponsored by Earthwatch Institute, to collect data and seek “answers to questions about climate change.” Using “satellite and Internet technology, Coleman’s students will get an interactive lesson about her project” from “the swamps” of Slidell, LA, 800 miles away. Coleman will “teach live from the field through a Web cast and her daily blog, which will include pictures and video. Her lesson will focus on caterpillars and what they can tell us about climate change and ecology.”
Opinion: Cell Phones Do Not Belong In Schools.
Virginia’s Daily Press (4/17) editorializes, “Here’s what should not be going on in middle school: Texting. Talking on the phone. Taking, sending or receiving photos or videos. Playing hand-held games.” As such, “the Hampton School Board made a good decision when it determined last week that students’ cell phones don’t belong in middle schools.” According to the Daily Press, mobile phones “offer nothing essential or even particularly valuable to the educational process.” Parents, however, want students to be able to carry mobile phones to school in order to say in touch with the students. But, the Daily Press argues, “generations of families sent their children to school without cell phones, and the results were, if anything, often better than they are now.” It concludes, “The safety argument is unconvincing,” because if children are unsafe at school, “parents need to be clamoring for that problem to be fixed, not wiring their kids.”
On the Job
Report Shows Increase In Complaints Against Teachers In Ohio.
The AP (4/17) reports that according to a story in the Columbus Dispatch this week, an annual review by state investigators shows that the Ohio Education Department’s Office of Professional Conduct “received a record number of complaints last year about possible misconduct by Ohio’s licensed teachers and other educators” The office “fielded referrals in 2008 involving 8,200 or five percent of the state’s licensed teachers and other educators.” According to some “officials…complaints are up largely because of greater awareness among school districts and parents.”
Job Satisfaction Among Teachers Said To Have Peaked In 2008.
In an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News (4/17), Sandy Kress, an attorney and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush on No Child Left Behind, writes, “Teachers today are more satisfied, optimistic and encouraged than at any time during the last 25 years,” results of the 2008 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher show. The latest results illustrate “a picture in stark contrast to the fearful account used by some special interests for political advantage,” according Kress. For instance, “in 2008, a full six years after No Child Left Behind was signed into law, the number of teachers who were ‘very satisfied’ with teaching as a career reached an all-time high of 62 percent. This is up from 40 percent in 1984.” In addition, 75 percent of respondents said that they likely would “advise a young person to pursue a career in teaching,” up from 45 percent in 1984.
Safety & Security
California High School To Inform Parents When Crimes Occur On Campus.
California’s Mercury News (4/17, Oakley) reports, “Berkeley High School administrators have pledged to start informing parents of assault, theft, robbery and drug dealing at the school following formal complaints made in January and February.” This month, Vice Principal Maggie Heredia-Peltz sent a letter “to the school safety committee,” saying that “the school would notify parent and employees of violent crime via e-mail, it will implement a confidential reporting process for kids who are victims of crime and it will work to bring down incidents of theft at the school.” Berkeley will also “make a better effort to enforce restraining orders concerning people at the school.” Meanwhile, school officials maintain that Berkeley High “has less crime than other urban high schools of similar size.” Still, “parents said they should at least know about it so they can protect their children.”
Virginia Beach School Officials Increase Security After Police Thwart Bomb Plot.
The Virginian-Pilot (4/17, Adams) reports that “security will be ramped up at public schools” throughout Virginia Beach, VA, “when students return from spring break Monday, two weeks after police thwarted a possible plot to bomb Landstown High School.” This week, “schools were…swept for bombs.” On April 6, “28 pipe bombs and other explosives” were found “at a 17-year-old Landstown senior’s home. … He had ‘implied threats’ against the school and been charged with 10 counts of manufacturing and possessing an explosive device and one count of manufacturing an explosive device for use in a terrorist act.” The senior “had a fascination with the massacre” that took place at Columbine High School in Colorado ten years ago, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant. “Officials still are investigating but have not released information about any additional suspects in the threat at Landstown.”
Many Gay Pennsylvania Students Do Not Feel Safe At School, Study Shows.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4/17, Chute) reports that the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) “today released a study showing that many gay students in Pennsylvania do not feel safe at school.” The report is “based on a survey of 242 Pennsylvania students who participated in GLSEN’s 2007 National School Climate Survey.” Results of the survey showed that nearly 9 of 10 respondents said they had been “harassed verbally in the past year.” And, “More than half said they had been harassed physically.” The majority “of those harassed or assaulted didn’t report it, but only about a third of those who did report it found school staff intervened effectively.” Due to safety concerns, data show, 39 percent of respondents “had skipped class at least once in the preceding month and 44 percent had missed at least one day of school.”
Also in the News
Arizona Man Encourages Neighbors To “Adopt” A Classroom.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (4/17, Roller) reports, “The effects of the weakening economy can spur some people to special measures and in the case of one Yuma resident, he began donating supplies to his granddaughter’s school.” The Yuma Sun explains that “Jim Valenzuela, Arizona Public Service Southwest Division manager, became alarmed last fall when he noticed his fifth-grade granddaughter…had to reuse a spelling sheet over and over again to complete assignments.” So Valenzuela “went to Staples and purchased a case of copy paper and donated it to” her class. He and his wife also “donated a $100 gift card from Staples.” Now, he is urging other Yuma residents “residents to play a small part by adopting a classroom one at a time.”
High School Students In Richmond, Virginia, To Collaborate On Literary Journal.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (4/17, Reid) reports on “a new literary journal for Richmond high school students” that “will feature submissions in short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, opinion writing and hand-drawn art from students at Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, John Marshall and Huguenot high schools.” The schools each have “an editorial board of eight to 10 students; two of those students are chosen to serve on a citywide editorial board that is selecting the written entries. Four more are working on the art.” Students submitting work to the journal may receive “cash prizes and scholarship opportunities.” The project is a collaboration between the Richmond school system, the Podium Foundation, the visual Arts center, “Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring’s office and Virginia Commonwealth University,” notes the Times-Dispatch.
Author Advocates Outlawing Prom.
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post (4/19), author John Green writes, “Prom shouldn’t just be discouraged; it should be outlawed.” As the author of young adult novels, Green often hears “prom horror stories from…readers.” However, Green writes, “I’m all for morps — casual house parties where the dress code is more funny than formal — instead of proms,” as long as it does not include “more than two of the following: nonalcoholic punch, dresses that only get worn once, an unironic theme, rented clothing, a creepy association with virginity — or elected monarchs.” He points to a 2004 study which “calculated that high school proms are a $2.7 billion industry,” adding, “Imagine if parents invested their $2.7 billion per year in arts education, or in school libraries, or even in over-the-top graduation parties.” Green concludes, “Prom gives us so little in return for our billions.”
Columbine Shootings Viewed As Heralding New Era Of School Safety.
The USA Today (4/20) editorializes, “Ten years ago today, two students at Columbine High School in Colorado perpetrated a massacre — 15 dead, 24 injured — that they intended to be even worse.” The tragedy “served as a national wake-up call for school safety.” USA Today lists “Some of the most important post-Columbine reforms.” They include building “partnerships between law enforcement and schools;” schools creating more detailed reaction plans;” and increased “adult interaction with students” and vigilance on the part of educators in detecting and responding to warning signs that students may be depressed or have “difficulty coping with ’significant losses or personal failures.’”
The Dallas Morning News (4/20, Hacker, Hobbs) reports “School leaders say they face a balancing act” when it comes to school safety measures. “Parents and children want safe schools, but not places of learning that feel more like prisons.” Now, ten years after Columbine, “they’re still searching for the right mix.” In Dallas public schools, “security force includes police officers who carry guns. Sophisticated cameras monitor high schools.” And, “many Dallas schools have dress codes, making it easier to identify young people who belong there.” But while “Many school officials and safety experts insist that measures such as these have made schools much safer than they were a decade ago,” some “say the data — or lack thereof — shows otherwise.”
The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal (4/19) reported that “in the decade since the Columbine High School massacre, local schools have adopted new methods of securing buildings and new safety policies.” In addition, “they have also worked to curb bullying and to reach out to students.” For instance, “local school districts have emergency plans to keep students safe, work with local law enforcement and communicate alerts to parents.” They have also “tightened security at buildings, adding cameras and requiring all visitors to sign in at the front office. The plans have been tested when bomb threats have been made, suspicious people seen near campuses and during other incidents.”
In the Classroom
Obama Election Said To Add Renewed Relevance To Civil War Lessons.
The Washington Post (4/20, Strauss) reports, “As students across the region begin springtime Civil War lessons, historians say the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president offers an unprecedented opportunity to break through stereotypes and view the era in broader ways.” According to some historians, “Obama’s ascent” has brought “renewed relevance to issues surrounding the country’s racial past, including the origins and aftermath of its deadliest conflict.” Still, debate continues over how to teach about the Civil War. Although “there is little disagreement among professional historians that the South’s effort to maintain the institution of slavery was the central reason that…civil war erupted” between the states, James M. McPherson, a Princeton University professor emeritus, said, “The way courses are taught depends on the teacher, and changes in textbooks can only go so far.”
Students At School In Nevada Reenact Civil War Battle With Water Balloons. The Las Vegas Sun (4/18, Norman) reported on the annual Civil War reenactment at Martha P. King Elementary School last week. “The purpose of the water balloon-fueled reenactment is to teach King’s fifth graders about the Civil War and slavery.” After the battles, “students dressed in American Red Cross uniforms tended to the fallen, and a couple of the doctors were hit.” During “the naval battle of the ironclads, the Monitor vs. the Merrimack, the fifth graders bobbed up and down to simulate waves before they were ordered to fire.” And for “Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, where 50,000 soldiers died over three days, the gray-clad students charged and fell in three separate lines.” First-grade teacher Janice Ross said that “she tries to emphasize to the youngsters the kindness of the generals to one another during the surrender, when Grant gave Lee food from the Union Army supplies to feed the starving Confederate soldiers.”
Elementary School Students Launch Hand-Crafted Rockets.
The Yuma Sun (4/20, Weber) reports that last week, fifth-graders from Alice Byrne School launched “rockets they had made as school projects” at Yuma Aeromodelers Airfield. “Before the students launched their rockets, members of the Yuma Aeromodelers Club put on a demonstration with their radio-controlled planes swooping and diving over the heads of the crowd.” In addition, “the Yuma-area Civil Air Patrol provided both logistical support and safety briefings for the students.” According to Chris Jones, the organizing teacher of the project, it “approximately $800 to provide rockets for the students.” Most of the funding comes from “tax-free donations to support activities.” Jones added that parents and many local organizations also “contribute time, money and donations.”
Lessons On Da Vinci Aim To Teach Importance Of Creative, Analytical Thinking.
Pennsylvania’s Morning Call (4/19, Esack) reported that last week, fifth-graders at Wolf Elementary School in Bethlehem, PA, were “immersed in the science, art, literature, music, and history of Da Vinci in honor of his 557th birthday Wednesday.” The purpose of the program was to “show students how Da Vinci used both sides of his creative and analytical brain to think, question, answer and sketch the mysteries of life and science.” The Morning Call explained that “In science, they explored Da Vinci’s concepts of flight with the paper airplanes and gliders that ran on rubber bands, string and propellers.” And “In art, they drew their hands and then zeroed in on a knuckle or fingernail or vein, in imitation of Da Vinci.” Language arts lessons involved reading about Da Vinci and writing short biographies and answering “the mystery of why Da Vinci, who was left-handed, wrote backwards.”
Educators At High School In Utah Use Text Messages To Communicate With Students.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/20, Tribune) reports that Northridge High School “is one of a number of Utah schools that are starting to use cell phone text messaging as a tool rather than see it only as a menacing distraction.” Through “a service called Frogzog,” educators can “inform students about school activities and events via text message. The way it works is students text a keyword to a designated number and get messages back about school events and activities.” Meanwhile, “some teachers have even started incorporating texting into their lessons.” For instance, Northridge English teacher Travis Lund questioned his students during class “about papers they’re researching. Students typed their paper topics into their phones, and their responses instantly appeared on a Web page Lund projected onto a screen at the front of the room.” For the next 10 minutes, the class discussed their papers via text message.
On the Job
Educators Weigh In On What Makes A “Good” Teacher.
The New York Times’ (4/19) Room For Debate blog reported that “as private sector professionals lose their jobs or suffer cutbacks in pay and benefits, more and more of them are thinking about second careers.” But the idea of teaching as a “fallback” career “may be unrealistic, despite reports of a possible teacher shortage in the next several years.” Several professionals responded to the question, “What does it take to become a teacher, let alone a good one?” According to Pam Grossman, a professor of education at Stanford University, “good teachers must…be connoisseurs of error. Over time, good teachers can anticipate predictable errors and misconceptions, understand the logic behind the error, and help move students toward a deeper understanding.” Patrick Welsh, an English teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA, said that career-switchers could make great teachers because “their life experiences and practical knowledge in their fields” could be an advantage.
Law & Policy
North Carolina House Approves Sex-Education Choice Bill.
Education Week /AP (4/17) reported that the North Carolina “House narrowly agreed for a second day on Thursday to allow parents of middle school students to choose what kind of sex education their children receive in public school classes.” The options are a curriculum that focuses “on abstinence until marriage” and one that “would include more information about contraception. Parents would fill out a permission slip for either one, or choose that their child get no sex education.” The AP noted that “the abstinence-until-marriage curriculum is the current offering in most school districts,” while only “a handful of systems offer a program that teaches about contraception.” But, “the bill would require all systems to offer both tracks.”
Rhee Urges Colorado State, School Officials To Continue Education Reform Efforts.
The Denver Post (4/20, Meyer) reports that “at a meeting of the Democrats for Education Reform” in Denver last week, DC Schools chief Michelle Rhee, “a national firebrand for education reform, urged Colorado educators and lawmakers…to continue their efforts to change the state of education.” Rhee told the “standing-room-only crowd” that “radical changes are necessary. ‘Unless we do something massive about this right now, unless we are willing to turn the system on its head, then all of the ideals of this country are actually hollow,’ she said.” Also, regarding her “proposal to fire underperforming teachers and pay more to high-performing teachers,” Rhee said, “What is stopping our teachers from being the most fabulously compensated in the country is tenure — something that has no educational value for children.”
Special Needs
Cost Of Educating Students With Autism Strains New York City As Autism Cases Increase.
The New York Times (4/20, A28, Fairbanks) reports that “as the number of autism diagnoses has risen, the extraordinary cost of educating the children has become a growing point of contention” in New York City. “The public school system is required by law to provide an appropriate education for such children, even if it means paying for private school tuition if there is no public school option.” About 4,200 of the city’s “more than 6,800 children with autism…are enrolled in special education classes with a small student-to-teacher to ratio, 285 students are part of a program where children with autism are taught alongside regular education students and 28 are in a charter school with a one-to-one ratio between teachers and students.” Tuition for those who “attend private schools…ranges from $30,800 to $48,100″ annually. That amount “is paid by the city’s Education Department.” Last year, “the department paid $88.9 million for private school tuition… compared with $57.6 million in 2007.”
Safety & Security
Advocates for Students With Disabilities Emphasize Restraints, Seclusion In Schools.
Education Week (4/17, Samuels) reported that although “no federal agency requires that records be kept on seclusion and restraints, and state laws vary widely in how such techniques can be used,” some “advocacy groups for people with disabilities…are trying to keep the issue of restraints and seclusion on the front burner.” A report released in January by the National Disability Rights Network, titled “School Is Not Supposed to Hurt,” recalls various incidents of seclusion and restraint in school and such events leading to the death of students throughout the US. In addition, some “organizations are eyeing federal economic-stimulus funds as a possible source of money to pay for the professional development that they say would foster a positive school environment.”
School Finance
Florida Bill Would Cut Funding For AP, IB Programs.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/20, Matus) reports that “at the same time state lawmakers are pressing tens of thousands of high school students to take more advanced placement courses — considered good preparation for college — they’re gunning to cut tens of millions of dollars in advanced placement funding.” This year, “the state sent $66 million to districts this year for advanced placement and International Baccalaureate” programs, compared to “about $100 million last year. In next year’s proposed budget, the state Senate wants to cut the program another 50 percent.” However, “the House version does not include the cuts.” The St. Petersburg Times points out that the current “state funding formula for schools sends extra money to districts for every student who passes an advanced placement test. The money is used to pay for the tests, which cost more than $80 each, and to give advanced placement teachers small bonuses.”
Also in the News
Educators Concerned Some Immigrant Students At Risk For Becoming Underachievers.
In a front-page story, the New York Times (4/20, A1, DeParle) reports that “about one in four youths in the United States are immigrants or children of one, and most appear to be elevating fine: working, studying and advancing at rates comparable to nonimmigrant peers. But a troubled minority offers cause for alarm.” These students often live in “blighted neighborhoods,” and are “alienated from parents and school,” and “disheartened by the prospect of dead-end jobs.” They “risk joining what some scholars have warned could be a ‘rainbow underclass.’” Experts say that “unlike their European predecessors, the majority of today’s immigrants come from Asia, Africa and Latin America, which some analysts say could make them more vulnerable to persistent discrimination.” Further impacting the situation is “a seductive youth culture encourages poor teenagers to denigrate work and school and find valor in violence.”
NEA in the News
California First State To Receive Federal Stimulus Funds.
The Los Angeles Times (4/18, Mehta, Blume) reported, “As California received” $3.1 billion in economic stimulus funding on “Friday to stave off widespread teacher layoffs,” State Superintendent Jack O’Connell “pledged to reform schools, aligning academic standards with other states, rewarding teachers who work in the most challenging classrooms and improving student assessments.” O’Connell proposed that teachers receive “appropriate training and mentoring” and that they be rewarded for working “in the state’s most challenging schools.” The federal funds could be used “to create pilot programs in selected districts.” In addition, “O’Connell…spoke about a push to create national standards, which he said are inevitable and ought to be “state-driven” and voluntary.”
The AP (4/18, Quad) noted that California was “the first state to benefit from a special fund for states that was created by the economic stimulus law.” Initially, “state officials…said they could use the money to fill budget holes.” However, “the state’s congressional delegation…pressed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to distribute the money directly to school districts.” California Education Secretary Glen Thomas announced last month “that the money would, indeed, be spent on local school needs such as saving teachers’ jobs.” Meanwhile, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers “are urging governors across the country to distribute the stimulus money to schools.” In a letter, NEA president Dennis van Roekel and AFT president Randi Weingarten said that “States would “do a terrible disservice to students” by diverting precious dollars away from schools.”
Supreme Court Hears English Language Learner Program-Funding Case.
The Houston Chronicle /AP (4/21) reports, “The Supreme Court seemed to divide into liberal and conservatives camps Monday during arguments in a case that could limit the power of federal courts to tell states to spend more money to educate students who aren’t proficient in English.” The court case focuses on “the power of federal courts to take over functions of state or local governments when trying to remedy civil rights violations.” Attorney Kenneth Starr is “representing Arizona state legislators and the state superintendent of public instruction, who want to be freed from a lower court order that the state come up with a new program to teach English learners and” to fund that program. But Miriam Flores, the lead plaintiff in the case, said that her daughter “began to fall behind” in school after she was placed “a class with a teacher who did not speak Spanish, the language the daughter…spoke at home.”
In 200, a U.S. District court “ruled that [Arizona] didn’t provide adequate funding for” English Language Learners, thus violating the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974, Education Week (4/21, Zehr) adds. In 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco “the lower court’s decision.” The Arizona Republic (4/21, Nowicki) also covers the story.
In the Classroom
Virginia DOE To Test Immersive Educational Video Game.
T.H.E. Journal (April 2009, Riedel) reports that “the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Education Technology has recently announced a pilot program using Tabula Digita’s immersive educational video game, DimensionM.” The program will “run from February through May,” gauging “the games effectiveness in several key areas, including: Active critical learning; Intellectual risk-taking; Individual achievement; and Practice of core concepts.” T.H.E. Journal notes, “Districts currently using the company’s games include New York City Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, Broward County Public Schools, and the Fort Worth Independent School District.”
Students Work With Artist To Depict Utah Middle School’s LEED Renovations.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/21, Tribune) reports that “the Salt Lake City School District is rebuilding” Hillside Middle School “as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) school building, and students are helping.” Seventh- and eighth-graders are working with artist John Schaefer to create “art installations and at least 24 signs explaining the school’s green features for future generations of students and visitors.” They “will make a presentation to the rest of their school today about the features and design of the new building,” which “will feature “light shelves” outside windows to reflect light into classrooms and hallways, while shading them from direct light to save on cooling.” In addition, “the new building will…feature evaporative cooling rather than air conditioning.” And, “it will have acoustic ceiling tiles in classrooms, carpets made of recycled materials and furniture from the old school.”
Report Shows Significant Narrowing Of Math, Reading Achievement Gap In Louisiana.
Louisiana’s Times-Picayune (4/21, Carr) reports, “Louisiana was the only state in the country where the achievement gap between African-American and white students narrowed significantly in two critical subject areas between 1998 and 2007, according to a recent” report by the Education Trust, “a think tank in Washington, D.C.” The organization “analyzed student test scores in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math to see which states made strides in eliminating persistent gaps in test scores between students of different races and income levels.” Results show that “In Louisiana, the gap between white and black students narrowed by 12 points in fourth-grade reading and by 11 points in eighth-grade math” on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Still, the gap “remains quite large.” For instance, “nearly two-thirds of African-American fourth-graders who took the reading NAEP in Louisiana in 2007 still scored ‘below basic’ on the test, compared with only one-third of white students.”
Few Students In Michigan District Took Advantage Of H Grades, Officials Say.
The Grand Rapids Press (4/21, Murray) reports that Grand Rapids public “school administrators say not enough students converted their controversial H grades to passing marks, but they expect numbers to rise as teachers become more familiar with the new system.” A grade of “‘H,’ which stands for ‘held’ on report cards, was given to students who failed first trimester classes.” Those students “were given all of the next trimester to either make up the missing work or find another way to demonstrate they know the material.” Superintendent Bernard Taylor said that “the plan…gives students a second chance to overcome problems and be successful.”
High School Students In New Hampshire Compete In Safety Belt Challenge.
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (4/21, Lovett) reports that “Some students at Merrimack High School” on Monday took a “state-sponsored ’safety belt challenge,’ a frantic but fun activity designed to show teens the importance of seat belts and how quick and easy it is to fasten them.” For the competition, “teams of four” strap themselves inside a car. At the call of “‘Go!’ they burst from the car, race clockwise, hurtle into the next seat and buckle again, raising their arms to prove they were fastened. This repeats until members return to their original position in the cruiser.” The goal is to be the first team back at starting position. Afterward finalists “participate in an educational” segment. “The event, in its 16th year, is sponsored by the state’s highway safety agency, Department of Education, two police associations and the New Hampshire Drivers Education Teachers Association.”
Education Week Founder Lists Five Incorrect Assumptions About Education Reform.
In an opinion piece for Education Week (4/20) Ronald Wolk, “founder and former editor of Education Week,” wrote that “after nearly 25 years of intensive effort, we have failed to fix our ailing public schools and stem the “rising tide of mediocrity” chronicled in 1983 in A Nation at Risk.” According to Wolk, the report “misdiagnosed the problem,” and the “major assumptions on which current education policy…have been based are either wrong or unrealistic.” Those assumptions are that “the best way to improve student performance and close achievement gaps is to establish rigorous content standards;” that “standardized-test scores are an accurate measure of student learning;” that highly-qualified teachers should be placed in every classroom; that the U.S. “should require all students to take algebra in the 8th grade and higher-order math in high school” and that “the student-dropout rate can be reduced by ending social promotion.”
On the Job
Superintendent Of Connecticut District Advocates Testing Math Teachers’ Skills.
Connecticut’s The Herald (4/21, Craven) reports that “a plan to test math teachers in” New Britain, CT, public schools “is being touted by Superintendent Doris Kurtz as the best way to help and not to target teachers who may need assistance.” The assessment “has been created to determine areas of weakness in either math skills or classroom management.” Also, according to Kurtz, the testing can help schools determine “who can best benefit from different types of training.” For instance, a teacher who scores “extremely well on math competency…may be less adept at classroom management. With that information, Kurtz says, she will be able to tailor her training seminars for individual teacher groups.”
High School Principal Forces Teachers To Take Practice Standardized Science Test. Texas’ Daily News (4/21, Meyers) reports that Santa Fe High School Principal Mike Thomas “apparently upset about students’ scores on a practice standardized test, forced the school’s science teachers to take the exam to prove they understand the material.” In an e-mail, Thomas warned teachers that “failure to take the test…would be considered insubordination.” A spokeswoman for the district said that Thomas’s issued the mandate because he “wanted the teachers to evaluate the types of questions and questioning strategies asked on the TAKS test” and “to make sure teachers were covering the material necessary for students to pass the TAKS test April 30.”
Educators Throughout South Dakota Attend Technology, Innovation Conference.
The Rapid City (SD) Journal (4/20, Gahagan) reports that “More than 1,000 educators from around the state” attended the 23rd annual Technology and Innovation in Education conference “to learn more about how to successfully integrate technology into the classroom.” Author Alan November told attendees that teachers should encourage students “to use technology to contribute to the classroom. On a projected screen connected to his own laptop, November gave multiple examples of ways to do that in school — researching, writing and adding an entry to Wikipedia being one.” November also suggested “having one or two students serve as official note takers for the class on a laptop and then beaming the notes onto a screen at the end of class so students can fill in gaps of their notes.”
Law & Policy
Florida Bill Would Require Students Not To Show Underwear In “Vulgar” Manner.
The Tallahassee Democrat (4/20, Price) reported that “a bill is moving through the Senate that will require students at Florida public schools to not show their underwear in a ‘vulgar’ manner.” State Sen. Larcenia Bullard (D) supports the bill, saying “I really am tired of seeing the underwear of guys. … It’s getting worse.” On Monday, “the Education Pre-K-12 Appropriations Committee passed a zero-tolerance bill (SB 1540)…which allows school boards to revisit the issue.” The Tallahassee Democrat adds, “An amendment attached to that bill by Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, would punish students who come to school with sagging pants showing their underwear.” A student’s “first offense would get a warning, a second offense an in-school 3-day suspension, by the third offense a 5-day suspension, and a 10-day suspension for the fourth offense.”
Safety & Security
Supportive Culture On Campus Seen As Key To Deterring School Attacks.
The Christian Science Monitor (4/21, Khadaroo) reports, “Schools have become savvier about how to prevent attacks in the decade since the mass killing at Columbine High.” But now, some are concerned “that tight budgets and short memories could mean waning vigilance.” In addition, “many schools might be relying too heavily on technology and physical security, rather than tackling the more important challenge of creating a supportive culture on campus.” According to the Monitor, “The importance of a school’s culture and emotional climate emerged in a series of reports after Columbine, conducted jointly by the US Department of Education and the Secret Service.” After “examining 37 incidents of school violence between 1974 and 2000, researchers found that 93 percent of the perpetrators had exhibited concerning behaviors in advance of the attacks.” And “in one of the joint reports focused on bystanders, students reported that they held back information if they didn’t trust the adults.”
Staff In Schools Throughout New Jersey Are Trained To Respond To Incidents. New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (4/21, Larini) reports that the rampage at Columbine 10 years ago “set off changes that transformed the way schools operate across America.” For example, “at Nutley High School in New Jersey…security cameras now monitor hallways and grounds, and identification badges are worn by students and staff alike.” And, in schools throughout the state, “staff are trained to respond to incidents that once might have been unthinkable.”
School Finance
Nevada District Replaces AVID Program With Cost-Saving Alternative.
The Las Vegas Sun (4/21, Richmond) reports that “the Clark County School District is dropping” its Advancement Via Individualized Determination (AVID) program currently “in place at 32 campuses.” The move will save the district “$2.5 million in costs for teacher training and program support.” In its place, “district officials are planning to create an in-house version that offers similar structure and services at a lower cost.”
Some North Carolina Districts Limit, Eliminate Summer School.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (4/20, Bonner) reported, “School districts across North Carolina are cutting back on summer school — or eliminating it altogether — to save money in difficult economic times.” The News & Observer listed the programs that will be scaled back or eliminated in area districts. In Durham County, high school summer school will be available “only to seniors who need credits to graduate.” And the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district will drop “remedial classes for third-, fifth- and eighth-graders, and classes for students learning English.” The News & Observer noted that “Districts that cut summer school have the potential to see more students repeating grades because they fail standardized tests.” Meanwhile, Public School Forum of North Carolina Executive Director John Dornan “questioned whether districts were too quick to drop summer school. They might be able to use federal stimulus money to shore up summer school budgets, he said.”
Also in the News
Ten-Year-Old Orders Batch Of Pennsylvania Standardized Tests.
The Chicago Tribune /AP (4/21) reports that “the Pennsylvania Education Department plans to tighten security after a fifth-grader who wanted to ‘play school’ ordered a batch of secret state school assessment tests from his western Pennsylvania home.” However, “the shrink-wrapped tests were delivered to the Hempfield Area School District’s warehouse,” instead of “the 10-year-old boy’s home, which department spokeswoman Leah Harris said shows the existing security system works.” Now, “the department plans to require people ordering tests…to enter a personal identification code,” Harris said.
Columbine Principal Faced Setbacks After Attack, Still Leads School.
The New York Times /AP (4/21) reports that “10 years after students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and wounded 23 others,” Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis “is still at his desk.” DeAngelis promises not to retire “until after the students who were in kindergarten the year of the bloodshed have graduated in 2011.” During the rampage at his school on April 20, 1999, DeAngelis “shepherded a group of about 20 students to safety.” And though “he survived with no physical injuries,” DeAngelis has since suffered “anxiety attacks so severe they felt like heart attacks; guilt that he survived but that his good friend, teacher Dave Sanders, died;” and saw “the end of his marriage.” According to DeAngelis, “the shootings no longer hang as heavily over Columbine High School as they once did.”
Study Shows Large Gap In Graduation Rates Between Urban, Suburban Schools.
The New York Times (4/22, A14, Dillon) reports that while “it is no surprise that more students drop out of high school in big cities than elsewhere,” a new “nationwide study shows the magnitude of the gap: the average high school graduation rate in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in the suburbs.” The report by the nonprofit America’s Promise Alliance titled Closing the Graduation Gap also shows that “some big city school districts,” such as Philadelphia Public Schools, “that have worked to improve their graduation rates have made significant progress since the middle of the last decade.” The graduation rate in Philadelphia schools increased “to 62 percent in 2005 from 39 percent in 1995, the report said.”
“In all, 13 cities saw double-digit improvement in their graduation rates, according to the study,” the AP (4/22) adds. In addition to Philadelphia, Tucson, AZ, and Kansas City, MO, “made huge gains over the past decade, boosting graduation rates by 20 percentage points or more, the study found.” Still, “urban schools…have a long way to go. On average, only half the kids graduate in the 50 biggest cities, the report said. Those cities are home to half the country’s population and are driving a national graduation rate that is estimated at 70 percent.”
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/22, Torres), “The report based its findings on data ending in 2005. Researchers calculated graduation rates using a formula that tracks the four steps students must take to earn a diploma on time — three grade-to-grade promotions until, after grade 12, graduation.”
In the Classroom
Chicago Public Schools Will Add Financial Literacy To Curriculum.
The Chicago Sun-Times (4/22, Spielman) reports that on Tuesday, Chicago Public School CEO Ron Huberman “disclosed…that ‘financial literacy’ would be worked into the curriculum at Chicago’s 116 public high schools in time for the start of school next fall.” Mr. Huberman “said he wants high school graduates to know the basics about saving and investing money, how to calculate interest rates on home and car loans and to be on the look-out for credit card service fees.”
Scientist Teaches Elementary Students About Pluto Via Videoconference.
The Statesville (NC) Record & Landmark (4/21) reported that “students who gathered in the media center” of Troutman Elementary School in North Carolina “got a chance to participate in a videoconference with Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.” Tyson answered questions from students that “were aimed at understanding ‘why Pluto is no longer considered a planet.’” The “students learned that Pluto is made of 60 percent ice, that as it gets closer to the sun Pluto melts and becomes smaller, and that it takes Pluto 248 years to orbit the sun.”
North Carolina District Uses Older Students’ Influence To Motivate Younger Students.
North Carolina’s Apex Herald (4/21) reported that “Wake County educators have been putting older students to work realizing the impact these students have on sharing the school culture and offering advice to the younger students at their schools.” For instance, at Cary High School, “the IMPact mentoring class uses seniors to work with freshmen on the topic of selecting classes and making good choices for their future.” According to Principal Elaine Rogers, the seniors “have two or three weeks to plan their lessons and their activities so they go into those IMPact classes with a lesson plan…in place.” Meanwhile, “at Centennial Campus Middle School, a number of eighth graders serve as ambassadors to sixth and seventh-grade ELL students, providing friendship and tutorial help to acclimate these students to the school.” And “at East Garner Middle School, student leaders have been tapped as global ambassadors who help explain the school’s magnet theme” to elementary students.
Acupuncturists’ Career-Day Demonstration At Virginia School Called “Inappropriate.”
Virginia’s Daily Press (4/22, Williams) reports, “An acupuncturist stuck pins into several students at Yorktown Elementary School in a career day demonstration last Thursday that the principal and school division officials have since called ‘inappropriate.’” The acupuncturist, “the parent of a student,” placed “sterile pins on several students while in the presence of classroom teachers.” Yorktown Elementary School Principal Michael Lombardo said “that the acupuncturist did not have the required approval from school administrators or parents to demonstrate on students.” The Daily Press notes that “schools have strict guidelines for any type of medical treatment for students.” York County School Division requires that any medication “be administered through the school clinic and with signed parental permission.”
Congress To Reconsider Federal Support For Abstinence-Only Education.
The Chicago Tribune (4/22, Malone) reports that “this spring, Congress will consider whether to curtail its support of abstinence-only” sex-education in public schools. “The federal investment in abstinence-only education spiked 74 percent under President George W. Bush to total $176 million annually.” Advocates for abstinence-only education argue that “just as adults drill teens not to drink and drive, educators should teach them to avoid risk by maintaining celibacy until marriage.” But “President Barack Obama…has said he supports adding other forms of contraception to the lessons as part of an ‘age-appropriate, medically accurate program’ to reduce teen pregnancies.”
On the Job
Stimulus Guidelines Require Districts To Report Teacher Performance Data.
Education Week (4/22, Sawchuk) reports that “the nation’s oft-criticized systems for evaluating the quality of its educator workforce are poised to receive increased scrutiny, thanks to an Obama administration plan to require school districts to disclose how many teachers perform well or poorly.” The guidelines, issued earlier this month by the Education Department in conjunction with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, require states “to report on the number and percentage of teachers and principals scoring at each level on local districts’ evaluation instruments. States must also disclose whether the evaluation tools take student performance into account.” According to some experts, “the initiative’s success will depend on the administration’s follow-up steps — including the metrics the Education Department sets for reporting evaluation data, and what steps it expects states and districts to take with the resulting data.”
Law & Policy
Supreme Court Hears School Strip Search Case.
The New York Times (4/22, A13, Liptak) reports, “The United States Supreme Court spent an hour on Tuesday debating what middle school students are apt to put in their underwear and what should be done about it.” According to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, it is “‘a logical thing’ that adolescents seeking to hide pills ‘will stick them in their underwear.’” But “Adam B. Wolf, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, disagreed, invoking what he called the ‘ick factor.’” However, “without intimating a view on the ickiness of what Mr. Wolf had described, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suggested that the law might treat different undergarments differently. ‘The issue here covers the brassiere as well,’ he said, ‘which doesn’t seem as outlandish as the underpants.’”
During the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday regarding “a rule against strip searching students at school,” the majority “of the justices voiced concern that students could hide dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine or heroin in their clothes,” the Baltimore Sun (4/22) reports. “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the school officials should be shielded from being sued since the law governing school searches is not clear. In the past, the court has said public officials cannot be held liable for damages unless they violate a ‘clearly established’ right.”
Florida District May No Longer Require Students To Pass State Test To Advance.
The Miami Herald (4/22) reports, “Broward schools may no longer require middle schoolers to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to move on to high school if School Board members give preliminary approval to a policy change at a meeting Tuesday.” The change “which would take effect this school year, would mean the pressure’s off for kids and their parents stressing about scores on the high-stakes standardized test.” Students must “pass their four core classes — English, math, science and social studies — the three years they’re in middle school” in order to advance to the next grade. Last month, school board members decided existing course requirements were adequate.
Indiana House Unanimously Supports Bill Providing Legal Protection For Teachers.
The Northwest Indiana Times (4/22) reports, “A measure supporters hope will mean greater legal protection for teachers who mete out appropriate student discipline cleared the Indiana House on a unanimous vote Tuesday.” The legislation, “which now heads to Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), would provide ‘qualified immunity’ to educators who follow school procedures while breaking up a fight or disciplining students.” It “is designed to make it easier for judges to dismiss lawsuits brought by parents who disagree with a disciplinary action.”
Judge Faults Zero Tolerance Policies’ Treatment Of Bullying Victims.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/22, Matteucci) reports, “Most schools across the metro area — and across the nation — have a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy against fights, which means both the bully and the victim are disciplined, said Steven Teske, president of the Council of Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia.” Judge Teske said, “Zero tolerance is zero intelligence,” adding that “administrators won’t investigate to see who the primary aggressor is … So it is difficult to identify who the true bully is.” He plans to “start enforcing a chronic discipline policy, which will require parents to follow the school’s recommendations” regarding bullying. The recommendations “can include everything from court-mandated counseling to intervention from the Division of Family and Children Services.”
North Carolina District To Allow Students To Share Parking Spaces, Fees.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (4/21, Hui ) reported, “Wake County high school students will likely be able to save some bucks on parking and gas costs this fall if they agree to give up some of their independence and share their campus parking spaces.” School officials “plan to revise the high school parking guidelines that say students can’t share campus parking spaces” as “part of an effort…to encourage more car-pooling at a time when fuel prices and environmental concerns have risen.” The News & Observer points out that “it may become even more important to share spaces because Wake is considering reducing the number of student parking spaces at new high schools by 10 percent, a cut of about 50 spots at each new school.” Current parking guidelines restrict students from selling or lending “their parking tag to a classmate.”
Special Needs
California Districts Have Options For Providing Special Needs Services To Students.
The Modesto Bee (4/21, Hatfield) reported that California “public school districts can offer classes and services for some or all special needs, from deaf and blind to severely mentally disabled students.” But when they do not “have the space, staff, or money to offer all services, they can contract with a county office of education or the nearest Special Education Local Plan Area.” And, “in instances when students need more specific services or require one-on-one attention for more than just the school day, nonpublic schools or agencies are used.”
Consultants To Investigate Massachusetts District’s High Number Of Special Needs Students.
Massachusetts’ Salem News (4/21, McGregor) reports that Salem schools “Superintendent William Cameron told the School Committee he has hired two retired special education professionals to study Salem’s services.” The consultants will look into “why Salem has a disproportionately high number of special education students.” According to the Salem News, “One in four students in the [district] receives special education services.” So far, the consultants “have been in the district several times to meet with central administration, principals, regular education teachers and special education teachers.”
Safety & Security
New Hampshire Police Department Investigated For Cover-Up Of School Safety Issues.
New Hampshire’s Union Leader (4/22, Sausser) reports that Hooksett “police commission Chairman Dave Gagnon has ordered an internal investigation of the police department in the wake of allegations that officers deliberately attempted to cover up safety issues in public schools.” It “will be conducted by the Merrimack County Sherriff’s Department in order to avoid a conflict of interest.” According to “police department officials…they never tried to conceal the existence of dozens of school safety reports.” Meanwhile, “several members of the public were very vocal during the meeting about the debate over the safety threats in the schools.”
NEA in the News
Blogger Considers Effectiveness Of National Turn-Off, Tune-In Week.
In the New York Times’ (4/21) Motherlode blog, Lisa Belkin wrote that National Turn-Off-Tune-In, which “started as an exhortation to turn off the television for an entire week, has expanded, in the past few years, to include screens of all kinds — computers, video games, iPhone apps.” Organizations “that support the week,” including the National Education Association, “describe it as an antidote to the fact that Americans (particularly American children) spend too much time staring at screens.” The results of this phenomenon are “shortened attention spans and expanding waistlines. Intellectually I know this. Theoretically it troubles me,” Belkin writes. She has “for the past several years” discarded “the e-mails or P.T.A. flyers” advertising Tune-Off Tune In week. Belkin argues, “If your kids are watching too much television, unplug the darn thing. Banning screens completely for a week” will likely only “send the message that ‘we’ve done our part, and now we can go back to normal.’”