Michigan Students Continue To Make Progress On Math Tests.
The AP (4/3, Martin) reports that scores from the 2008 Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests show that public elementary and middle school students “have improved their math scores on standardized tests for the fourth straight year.” Test results show that “At least 75 percent of the students tested in” the third through eighth grades “scored proficient or above in math. … Scores improved at every grade level, with the greatest improvement coming among seventh-graders.” Third grade was the group with the most students “scoring proficient or above” — 91 percent. “Results in other subject areas,” meanwhile, “were more mixed, but in general scores tended to be better at most grade levels in 2008 than they were in 2007.”

Reading results, meanwhile, “were mixed, with minimal increases and decreases,” the Detroit News (4/3, Stolarz, Wilkinson) reports. “The greatest increase came from seventh-graders, where 79 percent of students scored proficient or above compared with 72 percent last year.” Yet, “in writing…not a single child throughout Michigan received a score of ‘advanced’ in grades 3 through 7,” the Grand Rapids Press (4/3) adds. “The state is downplaying those results,” but some “educators…are questioning the validity of the test.” The Lansing State Journal (4/3, Lavey, Prater) also covers the story.

In the Classroom
Elementary School In Maryland Turns Off Lights For A Day To Practice Energy Conservation.
Maryland’s Howard County Times (4/3, Roshan) reports, “Thunder Hill Elementary School was enveloped in darkness last Friday” as students practiced energy conservation. “Classes were held outdoors and lights were turned off in most classrooms (one kindergarten class even conducted class by using flashlights).” Additionally, “students tried to reduce the amount of trash they produced during lunch time, and several teachers presented environmentally-themed lessons.” The school “will continue their conservation efforts in the week surrounding Earth Day, which is April 22 this year.”

Clickers Becoming More Prevalent In K-12 Classrooms.
The Boston Globe (4/3, Wertheimer) reports, “Long used in university lecture halls as a way for professors to better connect to students…clickers — known as student or personal response systems — are becoming increasingly prevalent in K-12 classrooms.” Clickers have been gaining popularity among K-12 schools ever since “Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” because “schools became eager for more ways to check on individual students. Clickers record data on individual students, immediately showing a teacher whether a student really understood what was just taught.” Still, some education experts “warn that the remotes, which send students’ answers to a teacher’s computer via radio frequency or infrared signals, risk becoming gimmicks if used for simplistic quizzes and games.”

Elementary, College Students In New Hampshire Engage In Writing Exchange.
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (4/2, Brindley) reported that “for the past two months…a second-grade class at Birch Hill Elementary School” has engaged in a collaborative writing exchange with “a literature class at Rivier College.” The collaboration began after “Tim Doherty’s literature class at Rivier College started writing an interpretation of the Brothers Grimm tale The Water Nixie” earlier this year. The college students wrote “the first few paragraphs together as a class,” then sent the story to Kelly Nolan’s “second-grade students to come up with an ending.” Next, “Nolan’s students gave Doherty’s class their unfinished story called Jungle Mischief.” The two classes “met for the first time” last week “to share the finished fables with one another.” Nolan’s “students took turns reading excerpts from their finished story. Then the college students did the same.” Nolan said that the project was “a way to go beyond the required curriculum and try a new kind of storytelling.”

On the Job
Over 5,000 Layoffs Projected If South Carolina Governor Rejects Education Stimulus.
The Anderson (SC) Independent Mail (4/3, Carey) reports, “If South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) doesn’t apply for federal economic stimulus money, South Carolina could lose more than 5,000 public school jobs, according to information released Thursday” by the South Carolina Department of Education. Projections show that “without stimulus money, school districts across the state would eliminate 5,200 jobs, including 2,700 teachers, in their fiscal year 2009-10 budgets.” But if Sanford accepted the money, “district officials said they would eliminate only 1,600 jobs.” The Anderson Independent Mail notes that on Thursday, Sanford said “he did not believe a deadline set for today was the final deadline, and that the Legislature had time to come to the table with him and talk.”

Law & Policy
Schools In Little Rock, Arkansas, Meet Desegregation Requirements, Court Rules.
The AP (4/3, Bartels) reports, “A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a judge’s ruling that the Little Rock School District has met terms of a long-standing desegregation order.” In a unanimous ruling, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis said “that a lawyer representing a group of black parents and students did not present sufficient evidence to warrant overturning a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William R. Wilson Jr.” The group “had challenged the methods used to evaluate the district’s desegregation.” But Judge Wilson said that “the district had substantially complied with a 1998 desegregation plan.” The most recent ruling “could lead to the state ending desegregation payments to Little Rock-area school districts,” according to Gov. Mike Beebe (D).

Education Secretary Seeks To Change Two Provisions Enacted Under Spellings.
Education Week (4/3, Gewertz) reports, “U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced plans last week to lift a ban on allowing underperforming school districts to serve as tutoring providers under the No Child Left Behind Act, and to grant reprieves from a school-choice-notification requirement issued last fall.” On April 1, the Department of Education issued a letter “to state schools chiefs” outlining the proposal. Duncan “wants to change” two provisions “issued last October by his predecessor, Margaret Spellings.” The first is “a requirement that districts notify parents at least 14 days before the school year begins if their children are eligible to transfer to another school under NCLB.” The second “is the mandate that states update their workbooks to explain how their approaches to such matters as testing-group size include as many student subgroups as possible, yet still are statistically sound.”

Parent Group Pushes Texas Legislation Mandating Recess For Schoolchildren.
The Dallas Morning News (4/3, Watson) reports, “A group of parents in Texas is pushing state lawmakers to give children a break by making recess mandatory in public schools.” Currently, “the state doesn’t require recess, but the law does mandate 135 minutes a week of physical activity, which can include recess.” But the parent group believes that is not enough. They worked to get “a bill filed in the Texas House that would require elementary schools to give students at least 20 minutes of recess daily, in addition to the 135 minutes of PE each week.” The legislation is now in consideration by the House Education Committee.

Nevada Lawmakers Consider High School Financial-Education Requirement.
The Las Vegas Sun (4/3, Richmond) reports on Nevada Senate Bill 317, which “would require high school students to be taught ‘the skills necessary to develop financial responsibility,’ including credit and debt, consumer protection laws, the benefits of saving and budgeting and the basics of investing.” State Sen. Allison Copening (D), lead sponsor of the legislation, said, “While there are many causes to the economic problems facing the country, it is undeniable that a lack of financial literacy is a contributing factor.” SB 317 “was drafted with input from the United Way of Southern Nevada, Junior Achievement, the Nevada Bankers Association and Clark and Washoe county school districts.” But some educators and experts are concerned that the mandate would place an extra burden on teachers and others “question the value of mandates to teach financial literacy in public schools.”

Sharpton, Duncan Disagree On Mayoral Control Of Schools.
The New York Times (4/3, A25, Medina) reports that this week, “New York Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton, co-sponsored a conference of the Education Equality Project,” which they formed last year. The alliance “raised more than $1 million to promote school improvement across the country,” the Times notes. At one point during Thursday’s conference, Education Secretary Arne Duncan “spoke enthusiastically about giving mayors of large cities control over their schools,” but “many in the audience responded with skeptical boos.” Sharpton said on Thursday that “he would not support the extension of mayoral control in its current form,” but would wait before “before suggesting” changes to New York’s mayoral control law. The Times notes that both Klein and Mayor Bloomberg (I) “have staked their reputations on improving education in the city and are now fighting to convince state lawmakers to allow them to retain total control over city schools.”

School Finance
South Carolina Expected To Remain Eligible For Education Stimulus.
The AP (4/3, Davenport) reports that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) “plans to request most of the state’s federal stimulus money, his administration said Thursday.” As a result, South Carolina will remain “eligible…to go after a $700 million portion the governor does not want to spend on schools.” According to the AP, “the move came after a day of dueling political news conferences over the $700 million, with Sanford accusing opponents of misleading the public by hyping the consequences of his refusal to take the money.” Sanford still insists, however, that “he will not seek the $700 million slice of the $2.8 billion in federal cash intended for” education in South Carolina.

Florida Lawmakers Anticipate Receiving Education Recovery Aid Waiver.
The AP (4/3) reports, “Florida must wait for more federal guidance before formally seeking a waiver needed to obtain about $2.2 billion in recovery aid for education in the next two budget years, the state’s ‘stimulus czar’ said Thursday.” US Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced on Wednesday that “states seeking waivers will have to show their cuts to education have not been out of proportion to other budget reductions.”

As such, Florida “lawmakers might have to pass a budget this year without knowing whether they will receive nearly $900 million in federal money for schools,” the Palm Beach (FL) Post (4/3, Bender) adds. Although “it might be two weeks before the scheduled end of the legislative session on May 1 before they can apply for the federal stimulus money,” state lawmakers “have included $865 million in stimulus money for next year’s school budget.” And Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has said that they “could approve [the] spending plan” in anticipation of receiving federal funds. “Every indicator we’ve gotten so far seems to be in line with the fact that we probably will get it,” Christ said.

Also in the News
Five School Districts Selected As Finalists For Broad Prize.
In US News & World Report’s (4/2) On Education blog, Eddy Ramirez wrote, “Five school districts from California to Florida are in the running for” the Broad Prize for Urban Education, which “has been described as a Nobel Prize in education reform.” The Broad prize is awarded “each year to an urban school district that has made significant progress in raising achievement, especially among low-income and minority students.” The five finalists are the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Long Beach Unified School District in California, the Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, and Gwinnett County Public Schools “outside Atlanta.” The Miami Herald (4/3, Mazzei), the Los Angeles Times (4/3, Mehta), and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/3, Dodd) also cover the story.

Louisiana Earns High Scores For Education Technology.
Louisiana’s The Advocate (4/3, A12) reports, “Louisiana earned high marks in two categories of education technology in a survey done by Education Week magazine, the state Department of Education said Thursday.” Louisiana was one of nine states to receive “an ‘A’ for its use of technology in the classroom.” The grade is based on “whether a state offers a virtual school and whether and to what degree technology is used in setting student standards, testing students on technology and offering computer-based assessments.” The state earned a “B’ for “its capacity to use technology.”

NEA in the News
Opinion: Merit Pay Based On Test Scores Can Work.
Louisiana’s The Advocate (4/3, B8) editorializes, “What used to be a hot-button issue in education is, thanks to the Obama administration, becoming a mainstream priority: merit pay for performance in schools.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan supports “incentives for teachers who improve the academic performance of their students.” And even though the concept “sounds like common sense to most people who work for a living,” it “has been a controversial issue for years” in the education field. Teacher unions are concerned with how performance pay systems are executed, “and even the toughest school reformers want a system that genuinely rewards performance.” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, has said, “We would oppose compensation based on a test score.” But, The Advocate concludes, “With a good testing regime…merit pay in theory can work. We commend Duncan and Obama for keeping merit pay as a central part of the education reform discussion.”

NEA President Lists Six Core Functions For Federal Support Of Local Districts.
In an opinion piece featured in the Washington Times (3/29), National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel wrote, “To prepare students for the 21st century economy,” school transformation must “happen at the local level…but the federal government must also play a role by supporting transformation efforts.” Roekel lists six “core functions” that the federal government should focus on in order to “be most helpful to local districts.” First, it must “support the profession of teaching — including standards, compensation, and working conditions.” The federal government should also “guarantee federal funding for authorized Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs,” and “support innovation and best practices to accelerate state improvement efforts and improve student learning.” Furthermore, it will be important to “establish high-quality education research and development” for “educational improvement;” support effective “state-based school transformation and state accountability plans;” and “protect…students’ equal access to education services and opportunities.”

In the Classroom
Outdoor Learning Becoming More Popular.
The Washington Post (3/30, B2, Chandler) reports that “as more children struggle with obesity and awareness grows about global warming, outdoor learning is becoming a popular education concept.” Meanwhile, “environmentalists are lobbying Congress to attach a…provision to the No Child Left Behind law when it is reauthorized,” dubbed “No Child Left Inside,” that “would set aside money for opportunities, including gardens, for children to learn about the natural world.” Many DC-area “public schools have a garden or have attempted one in recent years.” Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Fairfax County, VA, is noted for having “14,000 square feet of gardens…and virtually every classroom has spilled outside.” Some parents at the school say that some testing gains in recent years can be attributed “to the highly engaging outdoor learning approach.”

Baltimore School District Develops Math, Science Program Using Virtual Technology.
The Baltimore Sun (3/27, Gencer) reported that the Baltimore school district “has teamed up with universities, defense contractors and a video game developer for help with a high-tech program designed to breathe life into textbook lessons and challenge students with the kind of problem-solving that employers might expect.” The effort is part of a districtwide plan “to equip students with 21st-century skills” for which teachers may “use simulations of real-life situations and problems to help students apply what they learn.” David Peloff, “program director for emerging technologies at Hopkins’ Center for Technology in Education,” said that students in “the program would stumble upon questions and clues requiring knowledge in botany, meteorology, and math.” Baltimore’s “planned classroom of computer work stations and a wall of large screens for group lessons is believed to be a first in the area.”

Nanotechnology Is Focus Of New York Teacher’s Science Curriculum.
Education Week (3/27, Cavanagh, subscription required) reported that John Balet, “who teaches at Ballston Spa High School outside Albany, N.Y., is one of a handful of teachers around the country who have fashioned curriculum and lessons around nanotechnology, one of the fastest-emerging areas of scientific research.” Studying nanotechnology helps students in Balet’s class “gain an understanding of a rapidly advancing area of science” and “pick up skills coveted by local employers.”

Arizona To Require High School Freshmen To Write Goals Statements.
The Arizona Republic (3/30, Gordon) reports that beginning next fall, high school freshmen in Arizona will be required to write their own goals statements and “state officials anticipate a boost in student achievement.” The Education and Career Action Plans (ECAP) will include “academic, career, postsecondary and extracurricular goals,” and will be required for graduation. Arizona State Superintendent Tom Horne said that while “the rule is that the student doesn’t graduate unless the student has a plan,” yet “when the time comes for a student to not graduate, there will be some flexibility.”

Many Virginia Beach High-Schoolers Forgo Lunch For Extra Classes.
The Virginian-Pilot (3/30, Roth) reports that in Virginia Beach public schools, “nearly one in three students skips lunch at least every other day to fit in more classes.” Some “students need to take more than the six classes in the standard schedule to meet academy requirements, qualify for an advanced diploma, or accommodate electives such as band. Others take extra classes to catch up.” According to “Michael Rettig, a retired James Madison University education professor…six-period schedules are ‘nearly obsolete’ and have virtually disappeared in Virginia because of increased requirements.” Yet trading lunch time for an extra class is not “required of students at most other schools in South Hampton Roads or around the country,” the Virginian-Pilot points out. And “most schools in the state use a block schedule with four classes a day,” according to research by Rettig.

Elementary Students Write Songs Based On Science Curriculum.
Massachusetts’ Daily News Tribune (3/30,Gilbride) reports that second graders at Stanley Elementary School last week wrapped up a “weeklong song composition workshop tied to the school’s science curriculum.” The group Two of a Kind “worked in every classroom last week, but focused on second-graders.” One class focused on “the water-cycle and matter and weather.” Students brainstormed ideas for songs, while Two of a Kind took notes and composed the music. On Friday, the students “performed material they had written,” in the schools gymnasium. Included were songs “about planets, weather, and water cycles.”

On the Job
Houston Public Schools To Offer Top Teachers Up To $20,000 Extra For Study.
The AP (3/28) reported, “The Houston Independent School District will be a test site for a study looking at whether a good teacher can get the same results anywhere.” High performing teachers “willing to move to a struggling school” for the program could receive a $20,000 bonus. About twenty “top English and math teachers in grades 4-8…will be selected” to participate. “The school district will rank the teachers the same way it does to calculate performance bonuses and those in the top 10 percent will be eligible to apply for the Talent Transfer Initiative program.”

Texas Districts Struggle To Find Teachers For Bilingual Programs.
The Dallas Morning News (3/28, Yan) reported, “Bilingual education is supposed to be expanding to more languages, such as Vietnamese and Arabic, but many school districts” in Texas “can’t find the teachers to handle the two-language classes.” State law “requires any school district that has at least 20 students in a grade level who speak a non-English language to provide a bilingual program in that language.” But “when bilingual programs aren’t possible, school districts put the students in ESL and/or regular classes.” ESL classes “may group together students who speak various languages.” And “ESL teachers frequently do not speak their students’ native languages, whereas bilingual classes are able to cover subject content, such as math or science, in both languages.”

Utah Districts Will Begin Classes Later To Make Time For Team Planning.
The Salt Lake Tribune (3/30, Stewart) reports that starting next year, all middle schools in Utah’s Jordan district “will start two hours later on Fridays to give teachers paid time for team planning.” Middle schools in the Canyons district “will have the option of starting 60 to 90 minutes late or ending early one day a week, pending board approval.” The new schedule is a “way of formalizing and encouraging more collaboration,” according to Michael Sirois, student achievement director at Canyons. “Teachers are accustomed to working in isolation. That’s not the model we want here. We want teamwork,” he added. In other Utah districts, teachers collaborate “on their own time and their own dime,” Sirois said.

Law & Policy
Los Angeles Public Schools To Observe Caesar Chavez Day.
The Los Angeles Times (3/28, Vives) reported, “In August 2000, legislators and former Gov. Gray Davis had approved a state bill establishing March 31, Chavez’s birthday, as a state holiday, becoming the first in the country to honor a Latino or organized labor figure.” At that time, public schools were excluded from having to observe the holiday. This week, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education voted to adopt the day as an official school holiday and to request Supt. Ramon Cortines to recommend another holiday to be replaced by Cesar Chavez Day. Most likely is Admission Day honoring California’s statehood September 9, 1850.

Michigan To Overhaul Elementary, Middle School Writing Assessments.
The AP (3/30) reports, “Starting in the fall of 2010 the writing portion of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test will be given only to students in the fourth and seventh grades.” This month, the State Board of Education approved replacing the “short writing assessment currently…given to students in the third through eighth grades” with “a lengthened and more thorough writing assessment for fourth and seventh graders.”

The Detroit News (3/30, Lewis) adds that Michigan Department of Education spokeswoman Jan Ellis said that “flagging scores on exams in the past few years revealed a statewide pattern of fewer students reaching higher proficiency levels than in previous years.” According to Joseph Martineau, Michigan’s director of educational assessment and accountability, that is because “teachers who created the exams set the bar too high,” the Grand Rapids Press (3/29, Murray) reported. Martineau said that “it would be better to have students take longer, more in-depth exams in grades four and seven.”

Safety & Security
California Schools See Increase In Number Of Unvaccinated Children.
The Los Angeles Times (3/30, Lin, Poindexter) reports that “a rising number of California parents are choosing to send their children to kindergarten without routine vaccinations, putting hundreds of elementary schools in the state at risk for outbreaks of childhood diseases eradicated in the U.S. years ago.” A Times analysis of state data shows that “exemptions from vaccines…have more than doubled since 1997,” and last fall, “more than 10,000 kindergartners started school…with vaccine exemptions, up from about 8,300 the previous school year.” This increase “in unvaccinated children appears to be driven by affluent parents choosing not to immunize” because “they fear the shots could trigger autism.”

Also in the News
South Carolina Educators Gather To Learn About Single-Sex Education.
The AP (3/28) reported that “more than 350 teachers from 41 districts” across South Carolina were expected to attend Saturday’s single-sex education workshop in Columbia. The state “is the national leader” in such programs, with “nearly 220 schools offer[ing] boy-only and girl-only classes. That’s seven times the number from two years ago, when state schools chief Jim Rex hired the country’s first and only statewide single-gender coordinator.”

NEA in the News
Teacher Layoffs In Florida Contrast With Previous Years’ Hiring Blitz.
The Orlando Sentinel (3/30, Postal) reports that in Florida, “fear about job losses in public education is startling, given that just three years ago” the state “was scrambling to hire thousands of new teachers and launching out-of-state recruitment campaigns to lure teachers to its classrooms.” The thought of impending staff cuts has taken its toll on teacher morale in central Florida, with some worrying that though “their employment may continue…their professional ranks are about to be thinned of talented, if less experienced, members and that their own financial future is uncertain.” Many “teachers also fear budget cuts will eliminate academic programs, ax electives and extracurricular activities and shake up staffs.” Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association (FEA), said that statewide, some predict that “teacher job losses could top 20,000.” FEA “is lobbying state lawmakers to find new ways to fund schools, such as a sales-tax increase for education.”

EPA To Monitor Air Outside Schools In 22 States.
USA Today (3/31, Morrison, Heath) reports, “In its most sweeping effort to determine whether toxic chemicals permeate the air schoolchildren breathe, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce plans today to monitor the air outside 62 schools in 22 states. … The plan will cost about $2.25 million,” and “comes in response to a USA TODAY investigation that used the government’s own data to identify schools that appear to be in toxic hot spots.” USA Today adds that its investigation “used a government computer simulation that showed at least 435 schools where the air outside appeared to be more toxic than the air outside Meredith Hitchens Elementary, an Ohio school closed in 2005. At Hitchens, the Ohio EPA found levels of carcinogens 50 times above what the state considered acceptable.”

USA Today (3/31, Heath, Morrison) reports that on Monday, the EPA “began notifying officials at school districts across the nation…that it planned to take air samples outside schools. … In most cases, the agency plans to install monitoring equipment on school grounds, EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said.”

In the Classroom
Laptops, Webcams Help Homebound Children Connect With Classmates.
The Washington Post (3/31, HE1, Bhanoo) reports, that “the Washington area chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society” has donated six laptops and webcams to the Georgetown University Hospital’s pediatric oncology program for educational purposes. The equipment allows homebound children with serious illnesses to participate in school and “stay connected” to teachers and classmates, according to Aziza Shad, Georgetown’s pediatric oncology director. Seven-year-old Leukemia patient Becky Wilson, for instance, receives at-home tutoring to help when she misses classat her Arlington County, VA, school. The webcam also “fills a social void by allowing her to interact with her classmates. … The camera in the classroom is set up so Becky has full view of all her classmates and the teacher.”

Family History Projects May Be “Emotionally Loaded” For Some Students, Experts Say.
The Boston Globe (3/31) reports that “the family tree project, the bring-in-your-baby-pictures assignment, and the mini-autobiography project” although “well-meaning attempts to get children to consider their family history” may “be emotionally loaded for adopted children and other children of nontraditional families.” Such projects are usually assigned in elementary school, but may “surface in higher grades as students begin to study genetics.” According to adoption advocates, these “projects can suggest to kids that their own family situation is ‘not normal.’” Some adopted students may not have baby pictures, “and if they are asked to write their life story, it may awaken painful memories of abuse.” Furthermore, when faced with family history projects, some experts say, adopted students often struggle with conflicting desires to “fit in with their classmates…on the one hand, and to protect their privacy on the other.”

Elementary Schools In Chesterfield County, Virginia, Implement Literacy Diet Program.
The Richmond Times Dispatch (3/31, Lizama) reports that “small reading groups are part of the new language-arts program implemented” this fall at all Chesterfield County elementary schools. Chesterfield is using “the Literacy Diet model, which includes phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, word study, vocabulary, and writing.” For the program, students must identify “letters before beginning to learn about word patterns and the students are grouped according to reading levels.” They are also taught “students to understand the patterns of words” rather than memorize words, said Sara Miller, elementary language-arts teacher consultant for Chesterfield County schools.

Dallas Public School Curriculum To Include Lessons About Caesar Chavez.
The Dallas Morning News (3/31, Al Día) reports that students in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) “will soon learn about César Chávez” as part of the school curriculum. “High school students will learn about Chávez next year as part of their social studies classes,” according to DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, and “Chávez’s struggle for farm worker rights will be incorporated into elementary school lessons beginning in April.” Hinajosa said that the suggestion for lessons about Chavez “came up from the community. … It was a great recommendation and certainly timely, given we’re celebrating [his birthday],” Hinajosa said.

Car-Building Part Of Elementary School’s Focus On Engineering Skills.
WVIR-TV Charlottesville, VA (3/30, McDaniel) reported on its website that fifth-graders at Cale Elementary School in Albemarle County, VA, “are learning how to build cars as a part of a school-wide focus on engineering skills this year.” Throughout the month of March, “every fifth grader has built a car out of simple supplies,” using “materials like cardboard, skewers, and drink caps, and stick within required guidelines for car length and wheel size.” On “Monday, the cars were put to the test to see how far they could travel.” Students will test the cars again on Thursday. They will place raw eggs inside the cars and run the cars into a wall to see which eggs stay in place.

On the Job
Teacher Advancement Program Offers Opportunities For Peer Observation, Feedback.
Education Week (3/30, Sawchuk) reported that the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) program is often seen as just a teacher performance pay program. But ever since TAP began, it “has tackled the most challenging issue facing the teaching profession: how to align systems for managing schools’ human capital with goals for improving student achievement.” Teachers “in TAP schools agree on a common description of good teaching and institute a coordinated system of peer observation and feedback that helps teachers better exhibit those practices.” According to Education Week, a “large number of classroom observations…occur over the course of a year in a TAP school.” But, some experts are not sure if “the model could be adopted as a districtwide strategy for improving human-capital procedures, especially in urban systems with significant staffing challenges.”

Opinion: Teacher Preparation Should Include Lessons From Traditional, Alternative Programs. In a commentary for Education Week (3/30) Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor and co-director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, wrote, “For the last decade, we have seen tremendous ingenuity in policy responses to the demand for teachers.” At the same time, “growing numbers of critics have taken aim at traditional teacher preparation.” In February, Mathematica released a study “that compares the performance of teachers who entered the profession through different routes.” But, Darling-Hammond asserts, “It is time to put aside the tired debates over routes into teaching and focus on a clearer destination: substantially higher levels of teacher effectiveness.” Teacher preparation, she adds, should be transformed, “applying lessons from both traditional and alternative programs in new syntheses that substantially increase teachers’ knowledge and skills.”

Law & Policy
NY Times Says Texas’ Science Standards Leave Room For Doubt About Evolution.
The New York Times (3/31, A26) editorializes, “The Texas Board of Education gave grudging support last week to teaching the mainstream theory of evolution without the most troubling encumbrances sought by religious and social conservatives.” Still, “the margins on crucial amendments were disturbingly close…and compromise language left ample room for the struggle to continue.” According to the Times, the struggle the board faced was not over “whether to include creationism or…intelligent design in the science curriculum.” Instead, it was about inserting “into the state science standards various phrases and code words that…could open the door to doubts about evolution.” The Times concludes, “One can only hope that teachers in Texas will use common sense and teach evolution as scientists understand it.” Wired’s Science blog (3/30) and a blog for Popular Science (3/30, Cyr) also commented on the School Board’s decision.

Debate Over Teaching Of Evolutionary Theory Said To Be “Heated.” In U.S. News and World Report’s (3/30) On Education blog, Eddy Ramírez and Jessica Calefati wrote that Texas’ new science curriculum standard “encourages students to scrutinize ‘all sides’ of scientific theories,” and critics argue the standards “unnecessarily encourage debate about key pieces of evolutionary theory, like natural selection and common ancestry.” According to Ramirez and Calefati, “the debate about whether and how students should learn evolutionary theory remains heated.” They also direct attention to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report published last month, Fighting Over Darwin, State by State.

Loopholes Allow States Some Discretion In Rerouting Education Stimulus Funds.
The AP (3/31, Quaid) reports, “President Barack Obama promises his economic stimulus law will save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs, but some states could end up spending the money on playground equipment or wallpaper.” Governors in several states want to use money reserved for education to fill other needs, and according to the AP, “there are loopholes in the stimulus law for both states and school districts.” Forty billion of the $100 billion education stimulus “comes as part of a fund to stabilize state and local budgets that has fewer strings attached.” Lawmakers ultimately “decided not to prohibit states from using the stabilization money to replace precious state aid for schools.” And, “the law was written so broadly that most of the stabilization dollars can be spent on just about anything — carpet, wallpaper, playground equipment, even new school construction.”

California Teacher Group Says State Should Raise Kindergarten Age.
Palo Alto Online (3/31, Kenrick) reports that some teachers in California say that “today’s kindergarten academics are simply too much, too soon for many of the 100,000 California children who each year enter school before their fifth birthdays.” A group of teachers from Palo Alto, CA, “have petitioned State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) to help make sure kids are five years old before they start kindergarten.” According to Palo Alto Online, “most children begin to read anywhere from the ages of 4 to 7.” As a result, some students will enter kindergarten able to read chapter books, while others will have no knowledge of “letters and sounds.” Natalie Bivas, a reading specialist at Palo Verde Elementary School, says that “in most cases, those who struggle are the younger ones, the ones who are still four years old when they start school.” State standards require that kindergartners “be able to count to at least 30; arrange numbers in order from 1 to 20; know shapes…and read simple books.”

Safety & Security
Utah District Expands Weapons Hotline To Accept Text Messages.
The Salt Lake Tribune (3/31, Stewart) reports that the “Granite School District updated its nine-year-old Weapons Hotline to accept text messages.” Schools are advertising the change with posters “and wallet-sized cards distributed to students encouraging them to report weapons, said district spokesman Ben Horsley. Students may also report violence and bullying.” According to national research, “student tips are critical to preventing school violence.”

Facilities

Volunteers Makeover Middle School In Dallas.
The Dallas Morning News (3/30, Hobbs) reported, “About 600 volunteers spent Sunday morning painting and cleaning to” makeover Dallas’ D.A. Hulcy Middle School. Most of the workers “came from Watermark Community Church in Dallas,” which “canceled Sunday services to spruce up Hulcy and several other area schools.” The church teamed up with “World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization,” on the project. David Ray, a Dallas school district maintenance worker and “helped coordinate [the] effort.” Maintenance workers for the Dallas school district also prepared “the school for the paint job — taping around doors and indicating murals that were not to be painted over.” Volunteers “represented various occupations” and age groups.

Also in the News
Studies Show Link Between Childhood Poverty, Stress, And Adult Memory.
Brandon Keim wrote in Wired’s (3/30) Science blog that “a long-term study of cognitive development in lower- and middle-class students found strong links between childhood poverty, physiological stress, and adult memory.” By studying “the cognitive abilities of poor children, and the neurobiological effects of stress on laboratory animals,” scientists have “found that, on average, socioeconomic status predicts a battery of key mental abilities.” In a study by Cornell University child-development researchers Gary Evans and Michelle Schamberg, “poor and middle-class Caucasian” seventeen-year-old coeds were “given a sequence of items to remember.” The “teenagers who grew up in poverty remembered an average of 8.5 items. Those who were well-off during childhood remembered an average of 9.44 items.” A separate study by Rockefeller University neuroendocrinologist Bruce McEwen showed that “hormones produced in response to stress literally wear down the brains of animals.”

Fresh Ink Showcases Writings, Art By First Generation College-Bound Freshman.
USA Today (3/31, Duarte) reports that “freshmen at [Arizona's] Sunnyside and Desert View high schools are sharing their 21st-century literacy skills through blogs, digital stories, and webzines, or online magazines” through a program called Fresh Ink. The program showcases “the writing and art of first-generation college-bound freshmen” and is made possible through “a $1.5 million annual grant from the U.S. Department of Education” to the organization Gear Up. Gear Up is a collaboration among “the University of Arizona, Pima Community College and the Tucson and Sunnyside unified school districts” that aims to prepare the “class of 2012 at five high schools for college.”

Suburban Schools See Boost In Minority Enrollment.
USA Today (4/1, Gillum) reports, “Minority enrollment in suburban school districts has exploded since the early 1990s, and Hispanic students account for most of that growth,” according to a report released Tuesday by Pew Hispanic Center. Yet even as “districts outside urban and rural areas have seen remarkable gains in black, Hispanic, and Asian students from 1993 to 2007, schools within some of those districts have grown more segregated.” The report’s finding show that “white students now make up 59 percent of suburban districts,” down from 75 percent in previous years. Meanwhile, “non-white enrollment rose by 13 percentage points, up from 28percent in the 1993-94 academic year.” The suburban areas with the “highest rates of Hispanic student growth” were located in Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Georgia. “But districts in some of those same states, including schools in Chicago and Atlanta, were among the most segregated.”

Meanwhile, “city schools tended to be more segregated than their suburban counterparts,” CNN (3/31) added. Data show that “the typical urban black student” attends “a school with 60 percent black enrollees; and the typical Latino student” attends “a school with 63 percent Latino enrollment.” Also according to the study, “minority students in rural areas and in towns tended to be more exposed to whites than were their suburban counterparts.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/1, Lemagie), the Florida Times-Union (4/1, Conner), the Houston Chronicle (4/1, Mellon), and the Orange County Register (3/31, Carcamo, Leal) also reported on the Pew Hispanic Center findings in their respective areas.

In the Classroom
Dropout Rate For Virginia Public Schools Nears Nine Percent.
On the front of its Metro section, the Washington Post (4/1, B1, Glod, Birnbaum) reports that “Nearly 9 percent of Virginia public school students in the Class of 2008 dropped out during their high school years,” according to state education officials. Furthermore, most of the dropouts showed “warning signs such as missing class frequently and repeating grades before giving up on school.” And nearly 20 percent of dropouts were Hispanic. Virginia keeps track of the number of students who stay in school by “assigning all students an identifying number and tracking their progress from the start of freshman year to graduation day.” Data from the student accounting system revealed that over 40 percent of dropouts “freshmen or 10th-graders who were at least age 17,” that “dropouts were more likely to miss days of school, and many were students learning English as a second language.”

“In addition to the 8.7 percent of students who dropped out of that graduating class, 0.4 percent were reported as being on long-term medical or family leave or expelled for one year with the potential of returning to school,” the Richmond Times Dispatch (4/1, Meola) adds. Meanwhile, the state could not confirm the status of two percent of students using current data. Those students will not be “counted as dropouts until it is determined that they are not enrolled in another school or receiving home instruction.” The Washington Times (4/1, Sampson) also covers the story.

Opinion: “Competitive Demands” Key In Determining What To Teach In Schools.
In an opinion piece for Education Week (4/1), John M. Eger, Lionel Van Deerlin endowed chair of communications and public policy at San Diego State University, writes that currently, “the proliferation of the Internet, the computerization of news archives, and libraries available” online makes it easy to access information. So “the challenge today is…determining which information is relevant.” But it is difficult to determine “what education should be doing” when it is projected “that the top 10 jobs that will be in demand for today’s students don’t yet exist, and will be using technologies that haven’t been invented to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” According to former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Dana Gioia, if the US is “going to compete productively with the rest of the world, it’s going to be in terms of creativity and innovation.” As such, Eger concludes that educators should “ask what the purpose of public education is…what we consider an educated person to be,” and “awaken to the competitive demands of this new age.”

Schools Should Bypass “Education Fads,” Teach Basics, Columnist Writes.
In an opinion piece for the Marietta (GA) Daily Journal (4/1) columnist Don McKee writes, “Cobb school board chairman Dr. John Abraham says he is in favor of using the latest education-ese fad of numbers instead of letters for grades.” McKee explains, “Under this ‘standards-based’ fad, 3 means a child ‘is consistently meeting the standard,’ 2 equals ‘progressing towards meeting the standard,’ and 1 means ‘minimum progress.’” And no student’s “work is deemed ‘unsatisfactory.’” Some parents have complained that “3-2-1″ does not include the equivalent of an “excellent” grade. So “school administrators have decided to add a new grade of 3+ to indicate ‘exceeds standards.’” According to McKee, “there’s money to be made in education fads,” which began “back in the 1980s with ‘outcomes-based’ education, later repackaged as ‘performance-based’ education. The fad flopped, followed by the new version known as ‘standards-based’ education.” He concludes, “We need to go back to basics – teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

On the Job
High School Staff To Be Trained On Effects Of Race, Privilege On Student Achievement.
The Evanston (IL) Roundtable (4/1, Berkson) reports that “in an effort to gather information from administrators, teachers, parents, and students” at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) “concerning their beliefs about the causes and solutions for racial disparities in achievement,” the California-based Pacific Educational Group (PEG) “met with 16 focus groups over a two-day period in January.” Evanston staff presented the PEG’s report “to the Board on March 23.” Superintendent Eric Witherspoon plans to “begin a staff development project in the fall of 2009 to consider the effect that race and privilege have on student achievement in the District, with the goal of building a leadership team of 35-40 people charged with the responsibility of expanding discussion and training on the topic to the entire ETHS community.” The Evanston Roundtable provides details about findings included in the PEG’s report.

Texas District Searches For Math, Science, Bilingual Teachers At Job Fair.
Texas’ Star-Telegram (4/1, Shurley) reports, “With lots of economic doom and gloom going on outside, recruiters, teachers and students at” University of Texas at Arlington’s education job fair “were stressing the positive.” The event attracted more than “400 potential employees” within the first three hours. “About 65 school districts, both public and private, were at the fair,” including Dallas public schools. Representatives for Fort Worth public schools also attended, “$3,000 signing bonuses and additional stipends to teachers of high school math and science as well as bilingual teachers for early childhood through third grade.” The Northwest school district “has a database with more than 9,000 teacher applications,” but attended the fair in order to find “the best” candidates, according to the district’s recruiting coordinator.

Law & Policy
Colorado Lawmakers Announce Education Reform Proposals.
The Denver Post (4/1, Post) reports, “A bipartisan group of state lawmakers unveiled a slate of dramatic education proposals Monday with the goal of bolstering Colorado’s school-reform credentials enough to win a $1 billion prize.” The lawmakers want Colorado to be one of 10 states selected to receive “an approximately $500 million grant from the federal government’s new Race to the Top program that will go to the states making the biggest strides in education reform.” On Monday, they “introduced the annual school finance act,” which includes “proposals to tie funding for at-risk students to classroom performance, study creating a charter boarding school for disadvantaged students, and requiring freshmen fill out a College in Colorado form, to give them an academic and financial road map for reaching college.” A second set of proposals is expected to be introduced soon.

Milwaukee Mayor Eager To Discuss Plans For “Race To The Top” Grants.
Wisconsin’s Journal Sentinel (3/31, Borsuk) reported, “Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) said a meeting he had in Washington on Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan left him eager to work with state officials and local school officials in hopes that Milwaukee can win part of” about $5 billion in “Race to the Top” grants. Duncan said that “the money will go primarily to places that are doing innovative things to address major education needs.” State and local leaders have not yet announced any “specific proposals…for helping low-income and special education students” in Milwaukee.

Texas Lawmakers Approve Bill that Would Exempt Refugees From State Tests.
The San Antonio (TX) Express News (4/1, LaCoste-Caputo) reports that on Tuesday, members of the Texas “Senate Education Committee unanimously supported” a bill that would exempt “political refugees from state-mandated education testing for up to five years.” Under the proposal, Texas students who are political refugees “would be tested annually on the Linguistically Accommodated Test, or LAT,” which “is used to gauge the ability and progress of students learning English but is not used to rank schools in the state’s accountability system like TAKS.”

NCLB Rules Would Grant Schools Credit For Students Graduating Late.
Education Week (3/31, Gewertz) reported, “Federal regulations have opened a door that allows schools to get credit under the No Child Left Behind Act for students who take longer than four years to earn a high school diploma.” Under “regulations issued last October” by then US Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, states can “apply for permission to use one or more ‘extended year’ rates alongside their respective four-year rates.” This “would allow the states to get some credit” under No Child Left Behind “for students who took five or more years to complete high school. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has not yet announced “whether he would change the regulations.” But he has said that limiting states to a four-year rate may “create some unintended consequences.” Education groups, meanwhile, “are trying to figure out a ‘next-generation’ accountability system that delivers the right pressure and credit to high schools, and the right opportunities to students.”

Special Needs
Assistance Dog Helps Teach Students With Disabilities At High School In Virginia.
The Richmond Times Dispatch (4/1, Lizama) reports that “About two months ago, Penny Edwards, a teacher and coach at” Matoaca High School in Chesterfield County, VA, brought an “assistance dog” to the school “to enhance teaching for students with disabilities.” Edwards requested the assistance dog, Zac, from “Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that raises and trains dogs and donates them to assist people with disabilities.” Zac, “helps teachers with their reading, math and social studies lessons and helps correct disruptive behavior.” For instance, students “measure Zach’s height and length” in math class and in social studies, they “learn about the life span of a dog and how to groom Zach and brush his teeth.” Furthermore, “the school is building a 36-by-42-foot pen for Zach to play fetch with the students” in order to help “students with their range of motion, coordination, balance and following directions.”

Facilities

Technology, Safety, Energy Efficiency Fuel Iowa School’s Renovations.
The Des Moines (IA) Register (4/1, Colonno) reports, “Improvements in technology, safety, and energy efficiency are some of the general upgrades slated for Jackson Elementary School in the coming year.” Jackson will become “a technology-integrated school with a designated computer lab and teacher. The classrooms will be equipped with modern technology, like ceiling-mounted projectors, high-speed Internet access and interactive technology like interactive whiteboards.” The school will also install “a geothermal heating and cooling system…as well as high efficiency windows, doors and lighting.”

Also in the News
Kansas Elementary School Kicks Off State’s First Walking Bus Program.
The Kansas City (MO) Star (3/31, Lambe) reported that Kansas’ first walking school bus program kicked off at Pawnee Elementary School in Overland Park this week. The program “involves groups of students walking to and from school each day escorted by adult volunteer ‘bus drivers.’” School officials “have established 10 walking buses” carrying a total of “28 children and 18 adult volunteers.” Meanwhile, “on the Missouri side of the state line, a handful of schools have such bus programs, and more are considering them, said Sharon Mohler, a parent who helped start one at St. Peter’s School four years ago.” St. Peter’s walking school bus began “with about 50 students a month moving to and from the school.”

Students In California District Awarded For Displaying Positive Character Traits.
The Modesto (CA) Bee (4/1, Hatfield) reports that 69 students from Modesto city schools on Tuesday were “recognized for nine character traits — initiative, compassion, courage, honesty, civility, perseverance, respect, responsibility and loyalty” — at the district’s annual “Eddies” ceremony. The students “were singled out for volunteerism, perfect attendance, and serv-ice to their school site council or traffic safety patrol,” among other things. During the ceremony, honorees stood on stage at Downey High School as “administrators read highlights about their character.”

High School Seniors Consider Whether To Share College Admissions Decisions Online.
The Los Angeles Times (3/31, Holland) reported, “For a generation of students who share every detail of their personal lives in text messages, MySpace pages and other online postings, the college admissions chase is offering a lesson that some things are best kept private.” Students now must consider whether or not to post news of college acceptance online “before learning whether” friends have been accepted and whether posting a college wish list online will be humiliating “if the rejections come thick and fast.”

Department Of Education Poised To Distribute First Round Of School Stimulus.
The AP (4/2) reports, “Secretary Arne Duncan released the first $44 billion in economic stimulus money directed to schools Wednesday but said strings will be attached to the next round of aid.” He also “outlined a series of steps that states must take to get the next round of dollars.” Duncan announced the stimulus news at Maryland’s Doswell Brooks Elementary School. He “chose the school because it has significantly boosted achievement despite high numbers of poor and special education children, a challenge that often overwhelms urban schools.”

“Nationwide, the first batch of stimulus funding includes $11.4 billion targeted largely to help students who live in poverty and those with disabilities,” The Washington Post (4/2, Glod) reports. “That money, doled out based on formulas that consider factors such as the percentages of children from low-income families, is available immediately, federal education officials said.” But “states must apply for a piece of the larger share of the first batch, $32.6 billion.” Of that amount schools, “$26.6 billion must be used to prevent layoffs and improve public schools and colleges.” The Post notes that “federal education officials today sent applications and guidelines to states.”

According to the Detroit Free Press (4/2, Higgins), “The nation’s top education leader said today he wants ‘absolute transparency’ in the way states and schools spend stimulus money.” In addition, he gave more details “about $5 billion in Race to the Top grants states will be able to apply to receive.” The grants “will go to states that have shown improvement, or shown a willingness to make improvement, in areas such as teacher quality and developing high standards.”

Reporting on the impact of federal education stimulus funds on schools in California, the Los Angeles Times (4/2, Mehta) reports that California education officials are “worried that the state’s share won’t be enough or come in time to stave off widespread teacher firings and program cuts.” The state expects to receive “more than $4 billion…in the first round of education funding from the stimulus package.” Charles Weis, superintendent of Santa Clara County schools, said “Given the cuts we’ve experienced in education this year, this won’t even get us back to where we were last year.”

The AP (4/2, Gruver) reports in a story appearing on USA Today’s website on Wyoming’s $26.5 million share of the first phase of stimulus funding, that will go toward “special-education students and students from low-income families and neighborhoods. Once that money is allocated, the department will be allowed to apply for another $26.5 million for those same purposes.” The Wyoming Department of Education expects to receive $144 million.

“In all, Utah schools are set to grab more than half a billion dollars in education stimulus money over two years,” the Salt Lake Tribune (4/2, Schencker) reports. State “lawmakers decided this past legislative session to use about $298 million in stabilization money to plug education budget holes.” Education Week’s (4/1, Aarons) Politics K-12 blog also covered the story.

In the Classroom
Social Studies Lessons Focus On Texas’ Arson-Damaged Governor’s Mansion.
The Austin American Statesman (4/1, Yadron) reported that this week, Texas’ “first lady helped with the public unveiling of the Texas Education Agency’s ‘This House is Your House’ curriculum, developed by an Austin social studies teacher to educate students on the arson-damaged” Governor’s Mansion “and the need to save it.” A June fire left the mansion “heavily damaged.” Since then, First Lady Anita Perry “has spearheaded a fundraising effort for repairs.” The lessons “consist of primary sources, including an 1860 census bearing Sam Houston’s signature, and games to teach pupils ‘what they value’ and, ultimately, how they can help in times of need. Students will not be tested on the material, and the lessons are not designed to persuade students to lobby for the stalled fundraising.”

Achievement Gap Narrowing In South Carolina, Report Shows.
The Sumter (SC) Item (4/1, Wermers) reported, “South Carolina’s minority and low-income students are closing the test-score gap with their non-minority and higher-income peers, according to” The Education Trust’s Education Watch report released on Tuesday. “The report says the gap in test scores,” also known “as the ‘achievement gap,’ is smaller in South Carolina than the national average and has shrunk as the state’s black, Hispanic and low-income students have improved their performance on” National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) “exams during the past four to eight years.” The report also shows that fourth-graders in Delaware “posted the nation’s biggest gains on NAEP…reading for black, Hispanic and low-income students.” Louisiana, however, “was the only state in which the gap between both black and white students narrowed significantly in both fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math, the report says.”

Discipline Issues A Factor In Modifications To High School-College Partnership.
The Las Vegas Sun (4/2, Hsu) reports that Nevada State College “has begun scaling back its partnership with the state-sponsored charter school,” Nevada State High School, “whose students filled their junior and senior year schedules primarily with Nevada State College classes.” Beginning “in the fall, new students at Nevada State High School will be allowed to take only six credits — two typical classes — at the college each semester.” The Sun points out that, overall, “the collaboration has been a success for the 5-year-old high school, which boasts a 99 percent graduation rate and state recognition as a high-achieving school.” But, while some State College professors said they “enjoyed working with” the high school students, others “disliked teaching classes with large high school enrollments.” And “in some courses with heavy high school enrollment, misbehaving pupils became a distraction, forcing faculty members to devote time to classroom management.”

On the Job
Dallas Raises Teacher Bonus For Transferring To Low-Performing Schools.
The Dallas Morning News (4/2, Fischer) reports, “The Dallas Independent School District plans to raise the offer for its best teachers to $10,000 a year to serve its lowest-performing schools, but officials have also discussed assigning talented educators to those campuses if too few take the offer.” Only 65 teachers accepted the $6,000 bonus offered in 2007, and “a review of district staffing records shows that the number probably was not significantly higher” this year. Teacher representative Dale Kaiser said that educators are reluctant to relocate to struggling schools “has nothing to do with money and everything to do with campus discipline and the schools’ chaotic learning environments.” Compounding the situation is “the district’s recent willingness to reassign or terminate teachers when student test scores lag.” As such, Dallas superintendent Michael Hinojosa is also offering “those who switch…a two-year contract, which would guarantee that they could not be fired for poor student performance during that time.”

Pilot Program Evaluation Expected To Offer Insight Into Effectiveness of Performance-Pay.
The Des Moines Register (4/2) editorializes, “It was scary at first for Mount Pleasant kindergarten teacher Angie Jandrey to consider being paid based on students’ academic progress. Teachers aren’t used to that. But she says the experiment is working well.” According to the Register, “Raising student achievement must be the No. 1 goal for schools — in math, science, English, music, art, and other subjects.” But the traditional pay scale does not compensate those teachers who” succeed at increasing achievement for their students. And education experts are still unsure “whether the education sector can overcome design and measurement problems that plagued first-generation efforts to reform teacher-compensation practices,” said Matthew Springer, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and director of the National Center on Performance Incentives. But in January, “an evaluation of…three pilot projects” taking place in schools throughout the state “should give Iowans a better sense of whether the investment is worth making on a bigger scale.”

Early Dismissal Will Give Teachers In North Carolina District More Planning Time.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (4/2, Hui) reports that “despite complaints from many parents, the Wake County school board agreed Tuesday to a schedule change that will dismiss all schools one hour early every Wednesday to increase teachers’ planning time.” Starting in July, all schools “will add 10 minutes to the day,” either at the beginning or at the end of the day. “The extra 10 minutes will add 30 hours of instructional time, enough to allow schools to end earlier on Wednesdays and still stay above the state’s requirement for 1,000 instructional hours a year.” The two additional half school days will bring the total to six half days each year.

Law & Policy
School Improvement Data Tied To Second Round Of Stimulus Funding.
The New York Times (4/2, A15, Dillon) reports, “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the nation’s governors on Wednesday that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal education aid provided under the economic stimulus law, he wants new information about the performance of their public schools, much of which could be embarrassing.” The second phase of funding to be dispersed later this year “comes in a $54 billion fiscal stabilization fund for states.” To receive a portion of the funding for their states, “governors must pledge to improve teacher quality, raise academic standards, intervene in failing schools more effectively and carry out other education initiatives.” The data required to show that “they are carrying out those pledges” include “Student math and reading scores on local tests, as well as on the National Assessment of Education Progress.”

States Must Report On Teacher Quality To Receive Some Stabilization Funds. “As part of the teacher-quality assurance states must fulfill to receive fiscal-stabilization money…the department plans to demand that states report for each district the number and percentage of teachers and principals scoring at each performance level on local teacher- and principal-evaluation instruments,” Education Week (4/2, Sawchuk, Robelen) adds. Furthermore, states also must “be prepared to connect student-achievement data to individual teachers, and to track students from high school through college graduation.” Education Week points out that both requirements conflict with the efforts of teachers’ unions, which “have successfully lobbied legislatures to outlaw teacher-student data linkages in states such as California,” and with some states that “prohibit the sharing of data across systems for privacy purposes.”

Colorado Bill Would Give Extra Cash To Schools That Improve At-Risk Student Performance.
The Denver Post (4/2, Fender) reports that “Colorado schools could get extra cash when at-risk students improve their performance, though the incentives would come at some cost to smaller school districts.” School Finance Act that is now moving being considered by legislators “would give schools an additional $250 to $1,000 per at-risk student if that population meets progress benchmarks.” In order to do that, lawmakers have proposed diverting $3 million from the amount allotted “to help small school districts” in the state’s school funding formula. Karen Wick, a lobbyist for the Colorado Education Association, points out, “This shifts money away from all students to schools that are already doing well at teaching at-risk kids.” The Denver Post notes that “the bill’s rapid progress comes as Colorado education gurus are aiming for an estimated $500 million in federal school innovation grant money” announced by US Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Special Needs
Oregon District Posts 14.5 Percent Dropout Rate For Special Education Students.
Oregon’s Register-Guard (4/2, B4, Williams) reports that school district “report cards” issued by the Oregon Department of Education on Wednesday “indicate many local schools struggle to educate special education students as well as the state expects.” Eugene schools topped the list of districts that “exceeded the targeted six percent dropout limit for special education students,” with “a dropout rate of 14.5 percent.” Oregon districts “must track and report special ed graduation and dropout rates, reading and math test results and participation, as well as the amount of time spent in programs specifically for students with disabilities.”

Also in the News
Participation In Federal Program Helps Many Michigan Schools Meet NCLB Goals.
The Detroit Free Press (4/2, Higgins) reports, “Michigan is making strides in helping poor-performing elementary and middle schools, but not seeing the gains in its high schools,” according a report by The Center on Education Policy. The state is participating in a U.S. Department of Education pilot program that “allows states…to count students who are making significant growth on state exams as proficient even if they don’t pass the exam.” Because of Michigan’s participation, 111 schools “were able to meet the academic goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that otherwise would not have met the standard.” But this year, “than two-thirds of 71 schools that have failed for multiple years to meet the academic goals of NCLB are high schools.”

Some Educators Emphasize Empathy To Prepare Students For Leadership.
In a front-page story, the New York Times (4/6, A1, Hu) reports that “the privileged teenagers at Scarsdale Middle School are learning to be nicer this year, whether they like it or not.” In order to combat “bullying and violence,” many schools throughout the nation have for the past decade emphasized empathy in classroom lessons and school activities. At Scarsdale, for instance, “research projects involve interviews with octogenarians and a survey of local wheelchair ramps to help students identify with the elderly and the disabled” and “English classes discuss whether Friar Laurence was empathetic to Romeo and Juliet.” According to the Times, “Many urban districts have found empathy workshops and curriculums help curb fighting and other misbehavior.” But at schools such as Scarsdale, “a wealthy, high-performing district with few discipline problems,” the lessons are intended to groom “children to be better citizens and leaders.”

In the Classroom
Mentoring Credited With Decrease In Discipline Issues At School In Maryland.
The Washington Post (4/6, B2, Hernandez) reports that the “the rate of disciplinary referrals and suspensions” at Greenbelt Elementary School in Prince George’s County, MD, “has been cut in half since [a] mentoring partnership with the University of Maryland began last year.” Greenbelt’s program is “helping 25 students this year,” and so far, it is seen as a success. But, the Post points out, “with larger groups and over longer periods of time, the results tend to moderate.” In addition, a February study by the U.S. Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences shows that overall, “federal grants for school-based mentoring had no statistically significant effects…but had some positive effects for certain groups of students.” The study showed that “girls who were mentored reported increased ‘scholastic efficacy and school bonding’; boys reported stronger ‘future orientation’; and students under age 12 were less prone to truancy.”

Alternative High School In Utah District Aims To Rehabilitate Student Offenders.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/6, Stewart) reports that rather than being suspended or expelled from school, “a growing number of” students with discipline issues in the Granite School District are being “directed into off-site educational placements for students with so-called ‘safe school’ violations — those caught fighting, threatening violence or possessing weapons, drugs or alcohol on school grounds.” So far this year, Granite’s safe-schools program has “served 239 kids from first grade on up.” It “pairs regular schoolwork with peer-to-peer support and training on consequences and making good decisions.” And “students in need of further behavioral treatment are referred to counselors.” With Granite’s in-school interventions, “only seven percent” of students “re-offend and return to the program.” Tutor Robyn Moore “credits success to small class sizes…and working closely with parents, probation officers, and mental health professionals.”

Nevada District Offers Students Who Bring Weapons To School Expulsion Options. The Las Vegas Sun (4/6, Norman) reports, “The Clark County School District’s discipline policy provides that students who bring weapons to school be sent to one of the district’s three continuation or five behavior schools for the year of expulsion.” Afterward, “students may apply to go to another regular high school.” The district’s “continuation and behavior schools each have [about] 150 to 200 students.” According to Associate Superintendent Edward Goldman, the alternative schools aim to give students a structured environment and help curb the district’s dropout rate. About 78 percent of students who “go through the expulsion process” end up dropping out of school, he said.

Spanish Immersion Students At Nevada Elementary School Visit Costa Rica.
The Las Vegas Sun (4/6, Norman) reports that ten fifth-grade Spanish immersion students at Henderson, Nevada’s Estes McDoniel Elementary School “are headed to Costa Rica…for a weeklong tour during spring break.” During the trip, the students will “keep a journal in Spanish, and tours will be given in Spanish.” The Las Vegas Sun notes that the students “have been learning Spanish since they started at McDoniel through the school’s immersion program.” They are members of the first class at the school “to complete the program from [kindergarten] through fifth grade.” For the program, kindergartners “spend one-half of their day learning their numbers and letters in English and the other half learning the same material in Spanish. In first and second grades, all math, science and social studies instruction is done in Spanish.” Third- through fifth-grade students “get one hour of Spanish instruction a day as part of their language arts curriculum.”

More Schools In Michigan District Adopting Dual-Language Programs. The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (4/6) reports, “More Lakeshore-area classrooms adopt dual-language programs where teachers speak Spanish for one subject and switch to English for others.” At Lakeshore Elementary School, for instance, “18 kindergartners and 24 first-graders in the optional program spend half the day learning in Spanish and half in English. Reading and writing are taught in English and science and social studies in Spanish.” Principal Randy Busscher said that “the program targets native English-speaking students” in order to prepare them for the “global economy and future job market.”

Three Schools In Massachusetts District Recognized As International Spanish Academies. Massachusetts’ Metrowest Daily News (4/6, Kelly) reports, “For students in Millis’ Spanish Immersion Program, lessons are taught completely in Spanish from day one of first grade, for students who come from English-speaking families.” The school’s program is the oldest of its kind in the state, and “about 20 percent of Millis’ 1,400 students participate in the immersion program.” And Mills, along with two other schools in the district, has been designated as “International Spanish Academies” by the Spanish Ministry of Education. There are 78 such academies throughout the US and Canada.

“Parent University” At School In Florida Aims To Increase Parental Involvement.
The St Petersburg Times (4/6, Solochek) reports on the “parent university” at Lacoochee Elementary School in Pasco County, FL. The program is aimed at breaking down language barriers that might keep some parents from being involved in their children’s education. Lacoochee teachers spent months drafting “a course outline geared toward skills that parents said they needed.” The outline “included things such as understanding the technology the children use at school, knowing how to better communicate with the teachers, and finding better ways to help their kids read.” In addition, “some mini computers and software” are available for “families to take home to help them learn English.” And, a tutor is available by phone. The St. Petersburg Times notes that the program commenced “in January with eight moms. The group has grown to two dozen, and already they’ve seen positive results.”

Elementary Teachers Offer Ideas For Incorporating Newspapers Into Education.
In an opinion piece for the San Mateo County (CA) Times (4/6) elementary school teachers Gwen Minor and Margaret Lavin write, “As teachers, we see reading the newspaper as a bridge to the past.” Even though “reading a textbook excerpt about the Great Depression may not light up our classroom,” when paired with “daily articles about our current financial crisis, they will acquire a deeper understanding of both.” Minor and Levin offer suggest several activities for middle and elementary school students that utilize information found in newspapers. For instance, “middle-schoolers can chart the daily stock market reports.” By doing this, “youths can learn about market trends and graphing.” Also, “children can cut out an article each day or once a week and keep a scrapbook of current events. To extend this into writing,” they can “record [their] reactions to the event.”

Law & Policy
Zero-Tolerance Policies On Drugs In Schools Seen By Some As “Overzealous.”
The Washington Post (4/6, C1, Chandler) reports, “For two decades, many schools have set zero-tolerance policies on drugs. That means no over-the-counter drugs, no prescription drugs, no pretend drugs in student lockers or pockets.” But “some parents and civil rights advocates say enforcement has been overzealous.” In addition to “drug dealers and abusers,” such policies also ensnare “students seeking quick medical relief” from temporary ailments, they say. Policies in DC Area jurisdictions are noted, such as discussions by the Fairfax County, VA, school board about “whether to allow students to carry Tylenol or other over-the-counter medicines without registering them with the school nurse.” DC school officials advise that “prescription medications should be confiscated if they are brought to school without a doctor’s order.”

New Jersey Creates Task Force For Math Curriculum Standards Overhaul.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (4/6, Alloway) reports, “In the midst of revamping its core curriculum standards for elementary and high schools,” the New Jersey Department of Education “has waded into the ‘math wars,’” pitting “reform math,” against “some of the old” methods. In order to “strike a balance between the two approaches, the state has created a math task force…who will meet this month to make recommendations for the state’s new curriculum standards for both elementary and high schools.”

Safety & Security
School Safety Officers Monitor Facebook, Myspace.
On its front page, the Washington Post (4/6, A1, Birnbaum) reports, “As high school students flock to social networking sites, campus police are scanning their Facebook and MySpace pages for tips to help break up fights, monitor gangs, and thwart crime in what amounts to a new cyberbeat.” According to the officers, “routine checks of the online forums often add to the knowledge they glean from hallways or schoolyards.” But “police don’t have special privileges on Facebook or MySpace,” so “students…can change privacy settings so that their profiles are displayed only to a list of approved people.”

Opinion: “Nearly Impossible” For Schools To Guarantee Safety.
The Jackson [MI] Citizen Patriot (4/5) editorialized, “As students return to Jackson High School this week, it is only natural the school community continues to discuss the attempted sexual assault that took place in a school bathroom two weeks ago.” The attack “is an exception, and it appeared to be deliberate — yet random.” The attacker “entered the school when a student good-naturedly held a locked door open for him to enter.” He then “ducked into a woman’s bathroom quickly, where he waited for a victim.” According to the Citizen Patriot, it is “nearly impossible” for a school to guarantee “students will never be harmed.” Still, “Jackson High — like all local schools — largely remains a safe place to learn.”

School Officials Work With Law Enforcement Amid Demonstrations.
Education Week (4/3, Ash) reported that “Members of Westboro Baptist Church…picketed on roads near but not on school property at Fairfax High School in Fairfax County, Va., as well as on roads near Towson High School in Towson, Md., on March 30, denouncing those schools’ gay-straight alliances and diversity groups.” In response, “administrators at schools in the Baltimore and Washington areas worked with law-enforcement officials … to maintain a peaceful environment for students and faculty members.”

Also in the News

DC Mayor Visits New York City Schools To Observe “Endgame” Of Mayoral Control.
The New York Times (4/4, A16, Hernandez) reported New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, took Washington, DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) “to two East Harlem schools to play word bingo and watch a music class sing and dance with tambourines.” Fenty visited the city in order to observe what he called “the ‘endgame’ of mayoral control of public schools.” Klein said that he showed Fenty “the East Harlem schools because of their high performance on city report cards; both schools earned A’s and serve many students from poor families and students struggling with English.”

Students In North Dakota To Return To School After Two Weeks Of Sandbagging.
The AP (4/6, Kolpack) reports, “School bells are set to ring Monday for the first time in nearly two weeks for students who had joined the round-the-clock sandbagging effort to protect the Fargo area from a record Red River flood.” Many “students from elementary school to college helped fill and stack sandbags, often singing while they worked.” Now, administrators hope that settling back into the routine of school may help calm their nerves. According to some school officials, “the school days lost to the flood should not change final tests and graduation plans, but [they] are less certain how the flood will affect other activities.”

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