Updates and Information Provided by NEA
Achievement Gaps Hurt US Economy, Report Says.
The New York Times (4/23, A22, Hernandez) reports, “The lagging performance of American schoolchildren…has had a negative economic impact on the country that exceeds that of the current recession, according to a report released on Wednesday” by McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. The report, The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools, focused on achievement gaps “between black and Hispanic children and white children…poor and wealthy students,” Americans and students in other countries, and “students of similar backgrounds educated in different parts of the country.” It concluded “that if those…gaps were closed, the yearly gross domestic product of the United States would be trillions of dollars higher, or $3 billion to $5 billion more per day.”
The report also notes that “by comparison, in the current deep recession, the US economy is falling about $1 trillion short of its output potential,” the Christian Science Monitor (4/23, Khadaroo) adds. Although the report does not offer any solutions to closing the achievement gaps, “it does suggest some areas to be explored.” For example, “the level of achievement gaps varies widely between states, districts, and schools — even those with similar demographics.” And, “Texas’s students have average national test scores significantly higher than California’s, even though Texas spends less per pupil.” Furthermore, “Latinos in Ohio outperform white students in 13 states on eighth-grade reading.”
Education Week (4/22, Klein) noted that “at least one researcher questioned the study’s methodology and conclusions, even while praising its focus on improving outcomes for minorities and children from low-income families.” Henry Levin, a professor of education and economics at Teachers College, Columbia University, said that “standardized tests generally ignore noncognitive factors that can be an equally good, if not better, predictor of future income, such as work ethic and the ability to cooperate with others.” He also pointed out that “the McKinsey report’s estimates on GDP leave out any expenditures the United States would have to make to improve educational outcomes.”
Connection Between Education Gap, GDP Seen As Difficult To Measure. In The Atlantic’s (4/22) Washington blog, Derek Thompson asked, “Is Education Costing Us More than Health Care?” He concludes that it is according to “McKinsey’s new report on what America’s notorious international education gap really costs us.” Thompson says that the report seems to conclude that the US education system is a failure. According to the report, “If the United States had closed the international achievement gap between 1983 and 1998 and raised its performance to the level of such nations as Finland and Korea, US GDP in 2008 would have been between $1.3 trillion and $2.3 trillion higher.” But Thompson argued, “The education gap is measured with international tests, and it would seem very difficult to attach a domestic product number to a four-year old international testing score.”
In the Classroom
California Exit Exam Found To Lower Graduation Rates Among Minorities, Girls.
The Los Angeles Times (4/22, Landsberg) reported, “California’s high school exit exam is keeping disproportionate numbers of girls and non-whites from graduating, even when they are just as capable as white boys, according to a study released Tuesday” by researchers at Stanford University and UC Davis. Furthermore, the report says, the test “has ‘had no positive effect on student achievement.’” Researchers “concluded that girls and non-whites were probably failing the exit exam more often than expected because of what is known as ‘stereotype threat,’ a theory in social psychology that holds, essentially, that negative stereotypes can be self-fulfilling.” Sean Reardon, “an associate professor of education at Stanford” and researcher for the study said that “girls and students of color may be tripped up by the expectation that they cannot do as well as white boys.” He is urging “the state Department of Education to consider…scrapping the exit exam.”
According to the Sacramento Bee (4/22, A4, Gutierrez), the Stanford study “looked at graduation rates for students who stayed in school all four years — both before and after California initiated the exit exam.” Data showed that in addition to minorities and females, “low-achieving students from California high schools are graduating at a substantially lower rate than those in the past who were not required to take the state’s exit exam.”
“Researchers looked at student data from four large districts in San Francisco, San Diego, Fresno and Long Beach and found the data were consistent across each one, making the conclusions meaningful statewide,” the San Francisco Chronicle (4/22, B1, Tucker) added.
Gum Chewing Linked To Test Performance, Grades.
CNN (4/23) reports that according to research funded by “the Wrigley Science Institute and being presented at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting this week,” gum-chewing may help boost student achievement. “Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine took 108 eighth-grade math students from a Houston, Texas, charter school and divided them into two groups, following them for 14 weeks.” The first “group chewed gum while doing homework and during test-taking situations. The other group did not chew gum at all.” Results showed that “the gum-chewing students had a three percent increase in their standardized math test scores compared with those who did not chew gum.” Students in the gum-chewing group also “had better final grades compared with the non-chompers.” In addition, teachers noted that “that students who chewed gum required fewer breaks, paid better attention and stayed quiet longer than those who did not.”
In the Los Angeles Times’ (4/22) Booster Shots blog, Shari Roan wrote that in an email, the study’s lead author, Dr. Craig Johnston of Baylor college of medicine, said, “We did not explore the mechanism behind this relationship. However, there is research demonstrating an increase in blood flow in the brain during chewing.” Reuters (4/23) also covers the story.
Second Grade Teacher Incorporates Origami Into Lessons In All Subjects.
The Rockford (IL) Register Star (4/22, Backman) reported that Nancy Spahr, a “second-grade teacher at Lathrop Elementary School, received $700 from” the Golden Apple Foundation “to initiate an origami section in her lesson plans. Some of the money was used to purchase colorful origami paper, books, practice paper and other materials.” Spahr incorporates origami into “Math, reading, history and culture. … Many students are hands-on learners, she said, so making shapes and angles help them understand” math theories “and memorize the information.” She also helps “teach origami to the two other second-grade classes at Lathrop. Additional origami lessons will be taught next year, too, Spahr said, so more grades will have a chance to learn the art.”
Increasing Number Of Schools Focus On Building Emotional Intelligence.
The Cincinnati Enquirer (4/23, Clark) reports that an increasing number of schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and nationwide “are trying to teach students skills that can’t be measured by standardized tests: leadership, teamwork, work ethic and other people skills that experts say reflect ‘emotional intelligence.’” Teachers incorporate the skills into lessons into school programs. For instance, “teamwork can be taught in group projects such as cooking classes. Leadership, empathy and other skills can be taught through community service programs.” The Enquirer notes that “for a long time, many educators did not believe such skills could be, or should be taught in schools. But more recently, experts have developed ways to inject emotional intelligence skill-building into the school experience.” EI, as it is called, is part of an educational effort to teach “the whole child,” rather than just create “great test-takers.”
On the Job
Gifted Educators Model Instruction Techniques For Regular Classroom Teachers.
The Las Vegas Sun (4/23, Norman) reports that “Henderson [NV]-area teachers in the Gifted and Talented Education program, or GATE, are taking techniques they use with the children deemed the best and brightest into the classrooms of everyone else.” For instance, “in a segment about immigration, a regular teacher may ask, ‘What was Ellis Island?’” But GATE teachers may ask, “What if you were in charge of Ellis Island?” GATE teachers also incorporate games that teacher higher-level math skills. “Some of those games teach algebra skills to elementary students.” Miriam Kuzma, a GATE teacher at James I. Gibson Elementary School, said that Gate teachers model “some of those techniques for the regular classroom teachers, so that they can incorporate them more often. … One way to do it is to have the GATE teacher conduct the lesson while the classroom teacher watches and learns.” In other training situations, one instructor teaches, while the other roams “the classroom helping the students.”
DC Schools Chancellor Proposes New Teacher Training Days.
The Washington Post (4/23, Turque) reports, “D.C. public schools would be closed on six Wednesdays between September and March for teacher training under the 2009-10 academic calendar proposed yesterday by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.” Under the plan, “District children would have the same number of classroom days — 180.” However, “the calendar would shuffle and expand ‘professional development’ time for teachers, addressing a longtime complaint by District educators that the school system is not committed to helping them improve their skills.” In addition, spring break would take place “the week of March 23 to the week of March 29, aligning it more closely with vacations in the region’s other school districts.” According to Rhee, “the changes are the product of input from parents and teachers.” The Post notes that currently, “the eight days set aside for teacher development fall in periods when schools are closed in August, December and June.”
DISD Informs Low-Performing Teachers That Their Contracts Will Not Be Extended.
The Dallas Morning News (4/23, Hobbs) reports that “Letters have gone out to 580 teachers” in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) “this month, informing them that their current contract will not be extended” due to poor performance. The teachers are either “on a growth plan to improve their performance or were in the bottom fifth of the district’s ‘Classroom Effectiveness Index,’ a system designed to measure how well teachers are contributing to their students’ learning over the course of a year.” According to the letter, “targeted teachers…would still have jobs in the 2009-10 school year.” At the end of that school year, however, “getting a new contract would depend on how much they improve.”
Law & Policy
Serve America Act Provides Volunteer Opportunities For Middle, High School Students.
Education Week (4/23, Zehr) reports, “President Barack Obama signed into law yesterday legislation that greatly expands volunteer-service opportunities for Americans, including middle and high school students.” Under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which “reauthorizes the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993,” $6 billion will go toward volunteer-service programs over the next six years. The money would be distributed “by the Corporation for National and Community Service through formula grants to states and competitive grants to organizations and schools.” New programs include the “Education Corps for full-time volunteers to work in schools, modeled after AmeriCorps” and Summer of Service, which will “create opportunities for middle and high school youths to perform community service during the summer and earn a $500 award they can use to pay for college tuition or loans if they volunteer for 100 hours or more.”
Los Angeles Public School Board Seeks Changes To Restrictions On Teacher Layoffs.
The Los Angeles Daily News (4/23, Sanchez) reports, “Embarking on a monumental task that some say is doomed to fail, Los Angeles Unified school officials are taking aim at state laws that make it virtually impossible to fire teachers.” The school board is expected to vote in the coming weeks “on a pair of resolutions to change state teacher protections as well as internal teacher promotion policy.” Board members want “to rewrite codes that favor teacher and administrator seniority during layoffs that allow senior staff to “bump” less senior staff out of their jobs.” In addition, “the board has proposed a new evaluation method that would automatically fire teachers if they received two consecutive poor performance reviews.” The Los Angeles Daily News points out that “if approved, the measures will kick off a drawn-out fight with California’s powerful teachers unions, who hotly oppose any changes to existing laws.”
Also in the News
High School In California Holds Race-Based Assemblies.
The Sacramento Bee (4/23, B1, Lambert) reports that Laguna Creek High School administrators organized five “Heritage Assemblies” this week “to pump up kids for” state standardized testing. “Students at Laguna could go to any rally they wanted, but the gatherings were designated for specific races — African Americans in the gym, Pacific Islanders in the theater, Latinos in the multipurpose room.” Principal Doug Craig explained that “dividing the students by race allowed staff to talk about test scores without making any one ethnic group feel singled out in a negative manner.” Craig also said that he does not think the assemblies are racist, adding, “No Child Left Behind is a double-edged sword. … We’re doing things as a school that we never had to do. We’re being held accountable.” But some students and parents say that “the pressure is no excuse” — students of all races should attend the same assemblies and not have to choose.
Teachers Expected To Be In High-Demand By 2014.
Forbes (4/24, Weiss) reports, “Many school districts across the country, particularly in Florida and California, are contending with budget cuts and the threat of layoffs, but people in the field expect them to start hiring again, and heavily, before too long.” Susan Carmon, associate director of the teacher quality department at the National Education Association, said “We will need almost four million teachers by 2014, because of retirements and modest projected increases in enrollment.” Forbes notes that “high turnover is a factor too. More than 40 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years.” Alternative teacher preparation programs have proliferated urban and rural school districts “over the past 10 years” because “Urban and rural school districts have been continuing to hire more than suburban ones.” According to Carmon, “each state has its own requirements for teacher certification, but most have at least 10 alternative-type programs for training teachers.”
In the Classroom
California District’s Proposed Tolerance Program Draws Mixed Reactions.
California’s Mercury News (4/24) reports that the Alameda Unified School District has proposed teaching “specific lessons about lesbians, bisexuals, gays and transgendered people to all the district’s elementary school students.” Some educators say the instruction is “necessary to stop students from abusive name-calling and also to give teachers and other helpers the tools they need to shut down such behavior.” Some parents, however, say “they’re OK with teaching kids to be tolerant of others, but they want the district to either teach general lessons that bullying is wrong or focus on a variety of groups that includes gays. And they have accused the district of being intolerant of their views.” On the other hand, “Parents who support the curriculum said it will offer gay students and those whose parents are gay a positive reflection of themselves and their families.”
Traveling Science Labs Teach Pennsylvania Students About Agriculture.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4/24, Smykla) reports on Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab Ds, which are “40-foot trailers from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau that are stocked with 12 work stations, equipment and supplies for teaching elementary and middle school students about agriculture.” The labs, sponsored by the Farm Bureau, travel throughout the state, offering interactive lessons for each grade-level. In a lesson called the “Little Red Hen Pizza,” kindergartners and first-graders learn “about the farm roots of one of their favorite foods: pizza.” Second-graders learn about “what makes something sink or float” in the “Popcorn Capers” lesson, “while the third grade’s ‘The Mighty Smooth Bean’ involved mixing plaster of Paris to study the strength of soybeans.”
Texas District Aims To Raise Reading Scores By Changing Kindergarten Schedule.
Texas’ American Statesman (4/24) reports that “The Hays school district is retooling some kindergarten schedules, along with lesson plans for older students, in an effort to make sure that every minute of the school day counts, even for 5-year-olds.” For instance, “a new book-focused program is replacing reading centers involving stickers and modeling clay in some classrooms.” And “the district began using a new standardized curriculum system in the 2007-08 school year that requires teachers to follow standardized lesson timelines and content but allows them to use their own lesson plans.” According to the American Statesman, “the changes were sparked partly by test scores showing that, in some elementary grades, half of students were not reading at the start of the school year as well as principals thought they should, based on standardized reading tests.” Teachers will “use standardized tests and observations to judge student progress.”
Early Assessment Found To Reduce Remedial Classes Among College Students.
The Sacramento Bee (4/24, B2, Rosenhall) reports, “A 5-year-old program to test high school juniors to determine if they’re ready for college is reducing the number of Sacramento State freshmen who need to take remedial math and English.” According to a report by researchers from UC Davis, Sacramento State, and the University of Minnesota, “freshmen enrollment in remedial math fell four percent, and the number taking remedial English dropped six percent after California’s public high schools started testing juniors with the “Early Assessment Program.’” The tests, researchers say, are helping to save “taxpayers and students money…and forging a tighter link between high schools and colleges.” The Early Assessment Program “gives high school juniors the option to take 15 extra questions when they take the mandatory California Standards Test in the spring. Their answers on those questions determine whether they are ready for college-level math and English.”
On the Job
Workplace Skills Training Program Expands To Include Teachers In Arizona District.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun reports, “A chance for schools to connect Arizona academic standards with industry’s comes online this summer as the Partners Advancing Student Success (PASS) workshops are made available for teachers in Yuma for the first time.” Seen as a “great networking opportunity,” the program integrates “real job skill requirements into classroom lesson plans.” Teachers pay “a $25 commitment fee” and “receive 45 hours of professional development skills” over the summer. “After the summer session concludes, teachers and business leaders will reconvene Oct. 24. Teachers will present the units they have planned for students to connect academic standards with workplace skills standards.”
Law & Policy
Families File Complaints Against Florida District Over Spiritual Songs Taught In School.
The St. Augustine (FL) Record (4/24) reports that “on Tuesday, attorneys filed an amended complaint” against the Webster school, “seeking to end rehearsals of ‘Chatter with the Angels,’ a song they characterized as a “blatantly sectarian and proselytizing religious song.” The song has origins in the African-American community, and “has been on the state’s approved teaching list for more than 20 years.” Earlier this month, the attorneys for two families “were granted a preliminary injunction…to stop” the song “In God We Trust” from “being taught at the elementary school in St. Augustine.” Next week, “attorneys for the St. Johns County School Board and for the plaintiffs who brought the suit will be in court…to present arguments on the song before the United States District Court in Jacksonville. The song will not be sung again until the judge makes a ruling, said Margie Davidson, spokeswoman for the St. Johns County School District.”
Texas District Official Cites “Unclear” Policy For Allowing Modification To Dress Code.
The Dallas Morning News (4/24, Unmuth) reports, “Dyker Neyland says she fought for her daughter’s right to attend Irving’s Thomas Haley Elementary School wearing an untucked shirt because of her religious beliefs as a Christian.” The mother argued that her second-grader “has the right to wear her shirttail out because of a Bible verse, 1 Timothy 2:9, which dictates that ‘women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation.’” This week, “the Irving school board agreed with her…and overturned decisions by the principal and district administrators, who had told Neyland that her daughter, Javé, must attend school with her shirt tucked in.” School board president Jerry Christian noted that “the student handbook for parents doesn’t even mention anything about tucking shirts in. Therefore, it’s unclear, he said.”
Texas House Tentatively Approves School Employee Crime Disclosure Bill.
The San Antonio Express News (4/24, Ratcliffe) reports, “Teacher and school employee criminal histories for anything other than the most violent and sex-driven crimes would be kept from the public under legislation that received tentative approval from the Texas House on Thursday.” Under House Bill 2491, “school districts would have to release criminal information on employees involved in homicide, kidnapping, human trafficking, sex offenses and felony assault. All are offenses that prohibit someone from working in a public school.” But, districts would be able to “keep private any information in its possession on crimes including arson, robbery, burglary, criminal nonpayment of child support, money laundering, bribery, gambling and organized crime.” Furthermore, “all misdemeanors, such as most driving-while-intoxicated offenses” would be exempt from disclosure.
Los Angeles District’s Teacher Protections Proposal Seen As “Common-Sense Change.”
The Los Angeles Daily News (4/24) editorializes, “No wonder our schools are struggling — you have to rewrite state law just to fire bad teachers.” According to the Daily News, “in California’s public schools…burnt out, unskilled and just plain rotten teachers and administrators stay on the job, or get shuffled from school to school because it’s extraordinarily difficult to get rid of them.” Because of this, “we hope the” Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) “Board of Education moves forward with an effort to change teacher protections in state law so that districts can more easily oust failing teachers.” A rule that “protect[s] teachers by seniority but give little weight to performance” leaves “little room for common sense because it’s designed to protect teachers above all else.” The Daily News concludes, “We shouldn’t have to sacrifice good teachers to protect bad ones.”
School Finance
Michigan District Wants iPods To Replace Teachers’ Old Computers.
WWMT-TV Kalamazoo (4/23) reported on its website that “in Michigan, almost $13.4 million” of the federal stimulus funds allotted to the state “is planned for preschool grants, and $24.5 million will go for what are being called ‘education technology state grants.’” Of “the more than 17,000 ideas submitted to the governor’s office in Lansing for stimulus money, only one involved iPod touches” for teachers. “The Jenison district’s wish-list for federal stimulus money envisioned every teacher having an iPod touch. At $229 each, that would add up to almost $69,000.” The devices’ wireless internet access capabilities would allow the district to replace “the desktop or laptop computers that teachers already have.” According to Jenison schools superintendent Tom Ten Brink, the district’s request is innovative, new, and creative. Nevertheless, he believes “stimulus money will likely just maintain his current programs” and “doubts any of his wish-list projects will get stimulus money, including the iPod touches.”
Also in the News
Chicago Study Finds Too Few High School Achievers Enroll In Selective Colleges.
Education Week (4/24, Viadero) reports, “A new study of how high school students in Chicago move from high school to work or college” shows that while “growing numbers of the district’s high school students are enrolling in high-level academic programs and courses,” too few are “applying to competitive colleges.” Specifically the “latest report from the Consortium on Chicago School Research, at the University of Chicago,” show that “more than 90 percent of the academically advanced students in the Chicago school system have the qualifications to attend colleges that are at least ‘somewhat selective.’” However, “16 percent to 18 percent of that group had not enrolled in any college a year after high school, and only around two-thirds enrolled in colleges that the researchers deemed ‘somewhat selective.’” Researchers speculate that this may be because “students are often not aware of the financial-aid opportunities available to them at top-tier colleges and universities.”
NEA in the News
Athletes Express interest In Speaking Out Against School Bullying.
In ESPN.com’s Page 2 column (4/24) LZ Granderson writes, “This week, mourners held a candlelight vigil for another targeted 11-year-old, Jaheem Herrera of DeKalb, Ga. He hanged himself last Thursday after months of complaints about being bullied in school fell on deaf ears.” Granderson “visited the Web site for the National Education Association, which provides a lot of information on bullying for parents as well as teachers.” As a parent he “would be very upset to discover he was being bullied daily in school and no one did anything about it. But I would be equally upset if I discovered he was a bully…or remained silent as he observed another student being targeted daily,” he adds. To combat bullying in schools, athletes Kerry Rhodes and Al Horford “said they are interested in doing a PSA addressing bullying in schools and hope some of their fellow athletes will as well,” according to Granderson.
School Districts Respond To Increasing Number Of US Swine Flu Cases.
The AP (4/28, Neergaard, Raum) reports that on Monday, “the Obama administration said…it was responding aggressively” to the swine flu outbreak “as if [it] would spread into a full pandemic.” The AP notes that “the confirmed cases announced on Monday were double the 20 earlier reported by the CDC” as a result of “further testing — not further spreading of the virus — in New York at a school in Queens, bringing the New York total to 28.” In all, 40 cases of swine flue in the US “have been reported in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California.” Meanwhile, a school “in South Carolina was closed Monday because of fears that young people who recently returned from Mexico might have been infected.” In addition, “14 schools in Texas, including a high school where two cases were confirmed, will be closed for at least the next week. Some schools in California and Ohio also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.”
The San Francisco Chronicle (4/28, Allday) reports that by Monday “afternoon, state health officials had confirmed 11 cases of swine flu in California,” including a “seventh-grader in Sacramento County.” State health officials say that that “children should continue going to school unless told otherwise.” Meanwhile, “School and public health officials were taking extra precautions at St. Mel School, the Sacramento County school where” the seventh-grade swine flu victim attended.” Those “in close contact with the students…have been given antiviral medication.” And many other California “school districts were providing parents and teachers with information about preventive health care and posting health tips in several languages.”
The Dallas Morning News (4/28, Jacobson, Hobbs) reports that Canyon Creek Elementary School in Richardson, TX “was closed today after a student tested positive for swine flu. At least two other students at Canyon Creek Elementary School are suspected of having contracted the virus, school officials said.” According to the Morning News, Dallas County health officials “said the confirmed case at Canyon Creek raised to three the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Dallas County.”
In the Classroom
“Slowmation” Touted As Tool To Help Students Explicate Science Concepts.
Maryland’s The Daily Times (4/28) reports on Slowmation, “a slow-motion animation process” that Ed Robeck of Salisbury University’s (SU) Teacher Education Department says “could be used in…classrooms as a way to engage children with science concepts.” He recently brought Slowmation creator Garry Hoban of the University of Wollongong in Australia to explain the concept to educators and the community. The Daily Times explains, “Students using Slowmation begin by considering what they know about a science process or concept such as a solar eclipse.” Next, they “think through how they can create a step-by-step visual explanation of that idea using Hoban’s technique, which delivers animation at just two frames per second instead of the standard 25 frames per second used by modern animated cartoons.” Slowmation “lets students take photos with digital cameras…to produce a form of stop-motion animation much quicker than they could using traditional processes.” Afterward, students can post their results “on the Slowmation Web site.”
Code-Switching Used To Help Students Distinguish Between Formal, Informal Language.
The Virginian-Pilot (4/27, Roth) reported, “Several teachers in Northampton County and Norfolk use code switching” to teach students “how to ‘code switch’ between informal English” and the formal language “required for tests, school papers, and future job interviews.” For example, in one exercise, students stand face-to-face. The first student says a slang phrase such as, “What it do?” The second student then translates the “informal speech into formal language.” In this case, the second student may respond with, “What did you do, homey?” Developed by Christopher Newport University English language and literacy professor Rebecca Wheeling, code switching “differs markedly from the traditional approach to grammar, which focuses exclusively on the rules of standard, written English.” According to the Virginian-Pilot, teachers who use the method say “it boosts scores on writing tests and the state Standards of Learning.”
High School First In Georgia To Offer Saturday History Academy.
The Marietta Daily Journal (4/28, Mollett) reports that Sprayberry High School in northeast Cobb “will be the first in the state of Georgia to offer a Saturday History Academy this fall. The program will run in affiliation with the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History.” The academy “will begin sometime after Labor Day, but an exact start date has not been set. The classes, divided into two 90-minute blocks with a break in between, will provide a more in-depth study of history material.” Students may “go to one or both of the 90-minute sessions.” Currently, “Sprayberry is working with Kennesaw State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology on content development for the classes, as well as identifying local experts to teach the classes and how to continue enhancing the program.” The classes will not have homework or exams.” The school plans to raise the $36,000 needed for the academy “through private donations from businesses and citizens.”
Elementary School Uses Baseball To Show Real-World Application Of Skills.
The Joplin (MO) Globe (4/28, Dunson) reports on Kelsey Norman Elementary School’s annual Baseball Day on Monday. The event aims “to show the children real-world applications for the skills they learn in the classroom” by incorporating “baseball-related material into every activity of the school day.” For example, third-grade teacher Zach Holden “taught poetry to his students by reading ‘Casey at the Bat,’ and he had the students use division skills to calculate individual players’ baseball statistics.” This year, baseball players visited the school, and students had the “chance to get outside and play after a couple of weeks of intensive state testing.”
Elementary School Recognizes Diverse Population During Multicultural Celebration.
The Florida Times-Union (4/28, Strickland) reports on the multicultural celebration at Lone Star Elementary School in Jacksonville, FL. This year, the school’s “hallways were decorated with artifacts, artwork, and banners representing different continents and areas of the world.” As “students toured the hallways,” they “were given red passports that teachers stamped as they visited each country.” The Times-Union notes, “No festival would be complete without a smorgasbord of international cuisine, and students tasted dishes in their classrooms while teachers had samples in the media center.” Furthermore, each teacher decided how he or she “wanted to tie the festival into the curriculum. … Some had their students do reports or write stories. Some did research. Others read anthologies.” Lone Star Principal Elizabeth Cavanaugh said that the school is culturally diverse, “and thus it’s imperative to build community relations.”
On the Job
Culture Change Seen As Key To Success For Schools In Low-Income Neighborhoods.
In the Washington Post’s (4/27) Class Struggle blog, Jay Mathews wrote that data contained in the Post front-page story, “Poor Neighborhoods, Untested Teachers” most likely “will lead many readers to insist that we find ways to get more veteran teachers into public schools in low-income neighborhoods. But that would be the wrong approach.” According to Mathews, “offering more experienced teachers big bonuses to teach in the inner city is not likely to have much effect on learning.” That, he explains, is because “schools improve when their cultures change, not when their ratios of experienced and unexperienced teachers are recalculated.” Successful “schools in poor neighborhoods…are those put in the hands of talented principals given the power to hire and fire their staffs to enhance achievement, and who use those powers to create a building-wide commitment to improving learning through teamwork”
California School Leaders Conflicted By Seniority In Laying Of Teachers.
California’s Union-Tribune (4/27, Moran) reported that superintendents in California “who issued tentative layoff notices last month to 1,400 teachers countywide lament that they have no choice but to target some of their brightest prospects.” For instance, “two of the 16 Bonsall teachers who received layoff notices last month are teachers of the year for their schools.” And “last year, Carlsbad Unified School District issued a layoff notice to its district teacher of the year, though he ultimately kept his job.” The Union-Tribune points out that “because teacher salaries are tied to years of service, the most recently hired are the lowest-paid. So, school boards must fire more new teachers than if they were able to dismiss a mix of new and old.” Still, “teachers union leaders worry that a merit-based system would be characterized by favoritism and measures of teacher effectiveness that are based more on opinion than fact.”
Education Assistants In Connecticut District Seek More Training.
The Stamford (CT) Advocate (4/27, Parry) reported that “the union representing 328 educational assistants” in Stamford, CT “has proposed ways to improve how they are hired, trained, and evaluated.” The Educational Assistants of Stamford Association is asking “for an update of hiring standards and a standardized test like those administered to applicants for civil service jobs.” But most of the requests presented in “a 13-point document” for the district focused on training. “The union wants training to be standardized among schools; orientation and follow-up for new hires; including assistants in curriculum training for teachers; and specialized training in safety, autism disorders and other aspects.” Superintendent Joshua Starr said he appreciated that the educational assistants came forward.
Teachers Vote In Favor Of Denver Academy Becoming Innovation School.
The Denver Post (4/28, Meyer) reports that the Cole Arts and Sciences Academy in north Denver “has been through myriad changes over the years.” On Friday, teachers at the academy voted in favor of becoming an “innovation school under a law passed last year.” The move would allow “the school freedom from some state laws, such as teacher tenure.” The proposal will be considered by Denver’s school board, which “will vote whether to allow the school to request the status from the state.” Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg said that the vote “demonstrates the growing desire of teachers and schools for greater flexibility over personnel, budget and the use of time.”
Law & Policy
Harvard Professor List Ways To Avoid Past Mistakes In Teacher-Accountability Programs.
In a commentary for Education Week (4/27), Daniel M. Koretz, the Henry Lee Shattuck professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, wrote that similar to “the No Child Left Behind Act and many of its precursors,” President Obama’s “recently announced” education plan outline “relies on holding educators accountable for student performance on achievement tests.” Koretz points out that “the effects of the previous accountability programs have” shown “relatively small improvements on trustworthy indicators of performance, and many serious side effects.” In order “to avoid replicating past mistakes,” Koretz suggests that the new accountability program be broad and focus on more than just math and reading achievement; that it “confront score inflation,” which gives inaccurate assessments of student achievement, and that the program be experimented and evaluated to improve the policy.
Columbia University Professor Says Stimulus Should Focus On Reducing Class Sizes.
In a commentary for Education Week (4/27) Herbert J. Gans, “the Robert S. Lynd professor emeritus of sociology at Columbia University,” wrote, “Although the education portions of President Barack Obama’s economic-stimulus package are aimed first at preventing layoffs in existing programs, eventually the time should be ripe for ambitious long-term projects” such as decreasing class size. Schools could “create many jobs for new teachers, as well as for classroom construction or reconstruction” by “reducing almost every class to 20 and eventually to 15 students.” Gans suggests that “the program…begin in the poorest school districts with the largest classes.” He adds that “even if limited to lower-level schools, the small-class project would supply some necessary political rewards.” For instance, it would reduce “pressure on elected officials to pursue appropriations earmarks,” and would help to “equalize” schools.
WPost: Students Need Options When Public Schools Fail To Provide “Appropriate Education.”
The Washington Post (4/28) editorializes that what is not at issue in the arguments presented before the Supreme Court on “the use of public money for the private schooling of children with special needs” is a district’s obligation to pay private school tuition when public schools do not provide “an appropriate education.” Instead, “Forest Grove v. T.A. hinges on whether parents have to enroll a child with special needs in public school before the child can attend private school at public expense.” The Post notes the implied “acceptance by both sides that sometimes it is appropriate to use public money to pay for a child [to] go to a private school. So, why all the hullabaloo about the…voucher program that lets 1,700 D.C. students attend private schools instead of failing public schools?” The Post concludes, “If a school system can’t educate a child…why should that child not have options for a ‘free appropriate public education?’”
Excessive Absence Court Hearings Said To Be Intense For Students, Parents.
Virginia’s Daily Press (4/28, Grimes) reports that “In 1999, the [Virginia] General Assembly approved changes in state compulsory attendance laws, adding the option of filing ‘child in need of supervision’ complaints with courts after a student has amassed six or more unexcused absences.” The Daily Press points out that “when a case gets to court…the proceedings are closed to the public, but the experience is intense and intrusive for students and parents.” This is “because attorneys thoroughly investigate the cases.” According to Judge Ronald Bensten, “the majority of people who appear in truancy court are younger students, although they range from kindergartners to high school juniors and seniors.”
Also in the News
Study Shows Children On Medication For AD/HD Outscore Unmedicated Peers.
The AP (4/28, Tanner) reports, “Children on medicine for attention deficit disorder scored higher on academic tests than their unmedicated peers in the first large, long-term study suggesting this kind of benefit from the widely used drugs.” Lead author Richard Scheffler, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health, and colleagues, examined “several standardized math and reading” results of “nearly 600 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder…from kindergarten through fifth grade.” They found that “compared with unmedicated kids, average scores for medicated children were almost three points higher in math and more than five points higher in reading.” According to the researchers, that “difference amounts to about three months ahead in reading and two months in math.” Meanwhile, “both groups had lower scores on average than a separate group of children without ADHD.”
NAEP Shows NCLB Has Not Narrowed Achievement Gap.
On its front page, the New York Times (4/29, A1, Dillon) reports that “the achievement gap between white and minority students has not narrowed in recent years, despite the focus of the No Child Left Behind law on improving the scores of blacks and Hispanics, according to results of” the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Long-Term Trends. “The math and reading test…was given to a nationally representative sample of 26,000 students last year.” Results showed a score gap “between black and white 17-year-olds” of “29 points in reading and 26 points in math.” Peggy Carr, an associate commissioner for assessment at the Department of Education, said the gap represented about two-to-three “years’ worth of learning.”
Meanwhile, “math and reading scores for 9- and 13-year-olds have risen since the 2002 enactment of No Child Left Behind, providing fuel to those who want to renew the federal law and strengthen its reach in high schools,” the Washington Post (4/29, Glod) reports. “In reading, average scores for all three age groups are on the rise: to 220 points for 9-year-olds on a 500-point scale, up from 216 in 2004; to 260 for 13-year-olds, up from 257; and to 286 for 17-year-olds, up from 283.” But even though “Black and Hispanic students of that age also reached record reading scores…they continued to trail white peers.”
USA Today (4/29, Toppo) adds that “while gaps between ethnic groups barely budged between 2004 and 2008, in most cases the lowest-achieving one-fifth of students closed their reading and math performance gap with the highest-achieving one-fifth.” According to the AP (4/29), “Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he was pleased but not satisfied with the results.” Duncan told the AP, “It’s a step in the right direction,” adding, “Obviously, we have a lot of hard work ahead. But it’s really good to see the improvement.” The Christian Science Monitor (4/28, Khadaroo) and U.S. News and World Report’s (4/29) On Education blog also covered the story.
Law & Policy
Education Experts Weigh In On What Improves Public Education Most.
Regarding the federal testing report released this week, the New York Times (4/29) asks, “What does the report, which has mounds of other data, say about school reform and what improves public education the most?” Several Educators and education scholars respond to the question, including author Sandra Tsing Loh and Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner. Tsing Loh said that in order to close the score gap, schools must be integrated. She explained that “if there is a critical mass of middle-class children from upwardly aspiring families in a school” of any color, “the academic performance even of poor children of uneducated parents will rise, without adversely affecting the performance of their middle-class cohorts.” Gardner, meanwhile, said that group comparisons should be neglected “for awhile,” and instead the focus should be placed on “all students reaching at least a basic level of competence.”
Obama Promise To Raise Graduation Rates Seen As A Work In Progress.
The AP (4/29) reports, “President Barack Obama has not yet achieved the big campaign promises he’ll be judged on years from now, on health care, war, the economy and so much more. It’s early, it’s a colossal load and Rome wasn’t built in 100 days.” The AP compares Obama’s campaign promises with actions his administration has taken so far in several areas, including the deficit, diplomacy, energy, healthcare, and education. For education, Obama promised to fund “No Child Left Behind and improve its assessments and accountability systems.” The AP notes that “the economic stimulus bill signed Feb. 17 includes $25 billion for education improvements, including No Child Left Behind.” Regarding the President’s campaign statement on Sept. 9, 2008, “When I’m president, we’ll fight to make sure we’re once again first in the world when it comes to high school graduation rates,” the AP points out that the goal “will be a work in progress for a long time.”
Chief Justice Muses About Public School Trial Period For Students With Special Needs.
Regarding the Supreme Court case Forest Grove School District v. T.A., for which the court will “decide when taxpayers must foot the bill for private schooling for special education students,” the AP (4/29, Daly) reports that on Tuesday, David Salmons “a lawyer for an Oregon high school student told the Supreme Court…that the public education system failed to address the boy’s learning problems and then improperly denied his parents reimbursement after they enrolled him in a private school.” Meanwhile, “a lawyer for the school system argued that the student’s parents should have given public special education programs a chance before seeking reimbursement for private school tuition.” Chief Justice John Roberts noted “that in many cases a tryout period can be as short as 10 days.” But according to Salmons, “specialized learning plans for students typically are developed at the end of a school year,” making “a 10-day tryout impractical.” Education Week’s (4/28) On Special Education blog also covered the story.
Safety & Security
Swine Flu Cases In New York Linked To Catholic School.
The New York Times (4/29, A11, Hartocollis) reports, “The swine flu outbreak in New York may have spread beyond one school in Queens — where victims now are estimated to number in the hundreds — to pockets across the city, including at least two other schools, officials said on Tuesday.” Public School 177 in Queens “was closed as a precaution,” after 12 students displayed “fever or other symptoms that could indicate swine flu.” On Tuesday, “82 of 380 students called in sick…though it was not clear how many had flu symptoms and how many were kept home as a precaution.” PS 177 “is about half a mile from St. Francis Preparatory School…where the first cases were detected several days ago.” So far, “45 cases of swine flu” have been confirmed in New York State, all of which were linked to St. Francis students or their parents, siblings, teachers and friends.”
According to Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), “one of the children at P.S. 177 had a sibling attending St. Francis Prep, which might account for the spread of the virus to the nearby school,” the Washington Post (4/29, Richburg, Shulman) reports. He added that “all the cases in New York City so far could be traced to some connection with St. Francis Prep, or to someone who had been in contact with a recent traveler to Mexico.”
Three Schools In California Temporarily Shut Down Due To Swine Flu. “At least three private schools in California were temporarily closed because of concerns about the swine flu outbreak while state officials reminded students Tuesday to take precautionary measures and practice basic hygiene,” the Los Angeles Times (4/29, Gorman) reports. And though “no public schools in California have closed…State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said he was working with public health officials and carefully monitoring the outbreak.”
Swine-Flu Related Deaths Likely, Officials Warn. According to the AP (4/29, Raum), “Federal officials warned on Tuesday that swine-flu related deaths were likely in the United States as the disease that killed scores in Mexico continued to spread across the world and governments intensified steps to battle the outbreak.” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, “It is very likely that we will see more serious presentations of illness and some deaths as we go through this flu cycle.” Meanwhile, “health officials around the world suggested the flu virus strain was spreading so fast that efforts to contain it might prove ineffective.” Still, the AP notes, President Obama has requested “$1.5 billion in emergency funds would help build drug stockpiles and monitor future cases as well as help international efforts.”
School Finance
Majority Of Utah’s $321 Million Stimulus Funds Will Go Toward Education.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/29) reports that “Utah will soon receive a $321 million chunk of stimulus money that will go largely toward schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.” According to “Todd Hauber, state associate superintendent…the money will help save teachers’ jobs and classroom education throughout the state.” The stimulus funds helped state lawmakers “limit cuts to schools to only about 5.2 percent for next school year.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that “In the fall, Utah can apply for a second round of stimulus money — another $158 million,” depending upon how well the state collects, publishes, analyzes, and acts on “information about the quality of classroom teachers, yearly student improvement, college readiness, the effectiveness of state standards and tests, charter school growth, and interventions in turning around troubled schools.”
North Carolina District Cancels Teacher Job Fair Due To Budget Constraints.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (4/29) reports, “Wake County school officials said Monday that they’re canceling the district’s Spring Job Fair for new teachers because of the state of the economy.” Due to “an expected state budget shortfall of $3 billion, Superintendent Del Burns has told principals to fill only 95 percent of staff positions for the coming school year.”
Also in the News
President Honors Teacher Of The Year.
The AP (4/29, Nelson) reports that Anthony Mullen, “a special education teacher and former police officer was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday as the 2009 National Teacher of the Year.” Mullen “was chosen for the honor by the Council of Chief State School Officers, which cited his nearly 30-year career in public service.” Before going to teach at the ARCH School in Greenwich, CT, eight years ago, he served “as a New York Police Department narcotics detective.” Explaining his motivation for becoming a teacher, Mullen said, “As a police officer, so many of the kids, you get involved with them when it’s too late. … With teaching, you get to spend a lot more time with these at-risk students and prevent them from either going to jail or harming other people, turning into something productive instead of destructive.” The AP notes that Mullen “was picked over finalists” from around the country. The Boston Globe’s (4/29) Political Intelligence blog also covers this story.
NEA in the News
Florida Lawmakers Consider Rescinding Online Education Mandate.
Education Week (4/29, Manzo) reports, “As Florida school districts scramble to meet a looming state mandate to offer full-time online instruction for K-8 students…lawmakers are mulling restrictions and budget cuts for the state’s nationally known virtual school.” Under Florida law, all “districts in the state” must “offer an option for full-time online education for qualified elementary and middle school students, as well as full- or part-time high school via the Internet,” beginning in August. Florida Education Association Spokesman Mark Pudlow called the mandate “a solution in search of a problem.” He added, “It seemed to be driven by the for-profit virtual schools that were looking to get a toehold here.” Now, Florida state representatives are considering a bill that “would rescind nearly $14 million in funding for the virtual school aimed at class-size reduction, and a Senate proposal would limit FLVS students to online classes only in core subjects up to the maximum allowed credits.” The St. Petersburg Times (4/29, Solochek) also covers the story.
Nebraska Districts Set To Receive Increased State Aid.
The Omaha World-Herald (4/29, Dejka) reports, “While Nebraskans pinch pennies to ride out the recession, the state’s school districts are poised to receive their biggest jump in state aid in four years.” The state “Legislature’s proposed 10.25 percent increase for the 2009-10 school year, if left intact, would amount to a bigger bump than any other item in the state budget.” According to the World-Herald, Nebraska schools are able to avoid the fate of districts across the country facing deep budget cuts due to the state’s funding formula, $234 million in federal stimulus money, and politics. “Some Nebraska districts remain in full lobby mode, though, and teachers unions are running TV spots and launching phone campaigns to appeal for more funding or what they see as a more equitable division of the funds.” The World-Herald notes that “Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, declined to say whether union members would be willing to freeze pay during the current tough times.”
Editor’s Note
In yesterday’s Opening Bell, the headline of a summary about layoffs of California teachers should have said “California School Leaders Conflicted By Seniority In Laying Off Teachers.” We apologize for the error.