Duncan: Portion Of “Race To The Top” Funds Will Help Develop Assessments.

The AP (6/14, Pope, Quaid) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “is offering federal cash incentives to achieve one of his priorities: developing national standards for reading and math to replace a current hodgepodge of benchmarks in the states.” Duncan “said Sunday that the efforts of 46 states to develop common, internationally measured standards for student achievement would be bolstered by up to $350 million in federal funds to help them develop tests to assess those standards. Duncan made the announcement Sunday in suburban Cary at a conference for education experts and 20 governors hosted by the National Governors Association and the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.” The AP (6/15) also covers this story in a separate report.

Alyson Klein wrote in a blog posting for Education Week (6/14) that ED “will use a portion of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund to help states work on developing assessments, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told governors in North Carolina tonight. They were gathered for an education symposium sponsored by the National Governors Association and the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.” Though the “details are still being worked out,” Duncan “said $350 million of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top money set aside for states will go to the project.”

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In the Classroom

Educators In Maryland County Seek To Reduce Suspensions.

The Washington Post (6/15, Hernandez) reports that G. James Gholson Middle School in Landover, MD “handed out 867 suspensions in the 2006-07 school year, more than 250 for fighting.” Gholson Middle “offered a case study of what Prince George’s County leaders want to change. Many educators agree that suspensions are ineffective in changing behavior. When students return after a suspension, they’re behind in class and often angry, which can provoke them to do something that will get them suspended again.” Also, students “who are repeatedly suspended are far more likely to drop out.” Thus a “task force will present the school board with a wide-ranging proposal to overhaul policies in an effort to radically reduce the number of students thrown out of school. D.C. school officials have taken similar steps. A draft of the Prince George’s proposal suggests eliminating suspensions of elementary school students and reducing suspensions in middle school except for situations in which a student poses a danger to others.”

Grades Rise For Low Performers In Mixed-Ability Classes At Connecticut School.

The New York Times (6/15, A15, Hu) reports that a “longstanding system for tracking children by academic ability for more effective teaching” which assigned numbers to students at Cloonan Middle School in Stamford, CT based on their previous year’s standardized test “evolved into an uncomfortable caste system in which students were largely segregated by race and socioeconomic background, both inside and outside classrooms. Black and Hispanic students, for example, make up 46 percent of this year’s sixth grade, but are 78 percent of the twos and 7 percent of the zeros.” Thus, in “an unusual experiment, Cloonan mixed up its sixth-grade science and social studies classes last month, combining zeros and ones with twos. These mixed-ability classes have reported fewer behavior problems and better grades for struggling students, but have also drawn complaints of boredom from some high-performing students who say they are not learning as much.”

Connectedness Key To Preventing Dropouts.

The Detroit Free Press (6/14, Walsh-Sarnecki) reports, “Teachers, federal officials and other experts are increasingly finding that making students feel connected to a school — through friends, sports, clubs and other ways — may be the most important factor in high school success.” A CDC study of high school students “found school connectedness was the strongest factor for both boys and girls in preventing substance abuse, sex, violence and absenteeism.” Now, “schools are becoming more aggressive in their efforts to get students involved,” including holding an open house for ninth-graders and their parents “before the school year starts to find out what classes and activities are available”; or teachers urging “students to talk, come to their offices and e-mail”; or even getting students to be part of a team.

Florida Law Sets Higher Standards For Schools, Sanctions For Failure.

The Orlando Sentinel (6/12, Balona) reported that Florida education leaders say a new law “could foster one of the biggest changes in schools since the state started grading them in 1999.” Under it, “Florida public schools will have to ramp up efforts to reach their weakest students this fall or face sanctions — including possibly replacing principals and teacher aides and paying teachers based on performance instead of experience,” as the law penalizes alls schools that fail to maked “adequate yearly progress, not just those “that received federal poverty money.” It’s “a much higher standard than the state has been using to grade all public schools each year,” and “Jim Warford, executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators, said the change sets schools up for failure,” as “the state isn’t giving school districts extra money to fund improvements.”

Schools Using Gardens To Help Teach Students.

The San Jose Mercury News (5/12, Flores de Marcotte) reported that since November, students at L.P. Collins Elementary School, in Cupertino, California, “have been tending a plot of dirt…that they helped transform into a native garden.” They also learn “about the natural habitat, insects and science in general.” While “campus gardens are a growing trend,” this one is different in that it uses native species instead of vegetable. “Once the garden has matured, it will need little to no maintenance over the summer months, which means parents and volunteers won’t have to be called on, and there won’t be any empty garden beds during the off season.” To build the garden, “the community and PTA provided the initial funding…and the school also held an ‘adopt-a-plant’ fundraiser to raise money as well as involvement.”

The Danbury (CT) News Times (6/12, Fox) reported that a garden was built from scratch at Stadley Rough Elementary School “by parents of children who attend the school, staff members and local residents.” It will be tended by volunteers over the summer, and “in the fall, teachers will be incorporating the garden into their lesson plans, vegetables grown in it will be used in the school’s cafeteria and students will get to help take care of the crops.” Also, the crops “will be shared between all the families who are participating in the project.” According to Mary Johnson, the school’s principal, “she hopes the project will make kids see the connection between ‘what we grow and what we eat.’”

Digital Textbooks Face Hurdles.

The Washington Times (6/13, Jourdan) reported that while states such as Illinois and California are investigating digital textbooks, “issues surrounding student access to computers and the credibility of the information could pose potential problems for educators.” After all, “free doesn’t always mean quality.” Jay Diskey, executive director of the school division at the Association of American Publishers Inc., said that “schools need to know the difference between digital and open-source texts before making the switch,” as “open source is free online digital material, which may not be [based] on state educational standards or sound research.” Beyond such issues, there is the problem that the school and the students need the resources to access the books. Still, “the California Department of Education is moving forward on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to scrap printed high school textbooks for digital one,” with content developers submitting “their digital textbooks, beginning with math and science, by Monday to the California Learning Resources Network for review by experts, teachers and government officials.”

New Jersey Expected To Tighten Graduation Requirements.

The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (6/14, Rundquist) reports that New Jersey’s “Board of Education is expected to adopt new graduation requirements that, phased in over the next seven years, will make high school a tougher academic arena for many students.” The will include more rigorous math and science requirements, as well as “a ‘personalized learning plan’” for each student “to chart their learning goals; and, perhaps most controversially…up to seven new state-mandated exams in different subjects.” The goal is “to equip high school grads with ’21st-century skills’ including critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration.” Supporters “say higher standards will force schools in poor districts to work harder and inspire children to reach their potential.” However, critics are concerned the new requirements will have fewer poor students graduating. Also, “there is growing frustration with multiple-choice tests,” whose critics “suggest assessing portfolios of student work, or at least tests that include open-ended questions.”

On the Job

Issue Of Teacher Effectiveness Is Contentious.

The Los Angeles Times (6/14, Song, Felch) reported, “One of the most contentious debates in American education, one that increasingly is pitting powerful teachers unions against school boards and would-be reformers,” is teacher effectiveness. “Giving it a hard look can involve reexamining teacher tenure, teacher evaluations, dismissal of ‘bad’ teachers and merit pay for ‘good’ ones — all highly charged political issues.” This “scrutiny historically has been urged by those on the right, but Democrats — including President Obama and Arne Duncan, his education secretary — have recently embraced it.” Still the tensions were illustrated by “a resolution to speed the firing of teachers accused of serious crimes” put before the Los Angeles school board. It “generated heated objections from the teachers union and its supporters,” and, after “some last-minute amendments and sniping among board members, the resolution passed by a single vote.”

Rhode Island Teachers Union To Launch More Rigorous Evaluation Program.

The Providence (RI) Journal (6/15, Jordan) reports that Rhode Island educators want to lessen the problems of first-year teachers, “advocating more supports,” but “without a comprehensive mentor program and evaluation process, it is difficult for schools to give new teachers guidance and, if necessary, steer them out of teaching.” Now, the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals, “announced plans to launch” the Peer Assistance Review for Teaching Excellence, “a more rigorous teacher-evaluation and mentoring program that has proved successful elsewhere.” Union president Marcia B. Reback, “says she wants to roll out the program in Rhode Island’s four urban districts in September 2010.” However, “the program is expensive,” as it provides a “consulting” teacher for every ten new teachers. “Throughout the year, the consulting teacher visits and mentors the new teachers and provides a recommendation to an evaluation team about whether the teacher should continue in the profession.”

Law & Policy

DC Schools Chief Learns Own Lessons During Second Year Of Tenure.

The Washington Post (6/15, Turque) reports, “In her quest to upend and transform” D.C.’s “long-broken school system,” Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “has acquired a sometimes-painful education of her own. The lessons, in many respects, tell the story of her tenure as her second school year draws to a close Monday: that money isn’t everything; that political and corporate leaders need to be stroked, even if you don’t work for them; that the best-intentioned reforms can trigger unintended consequences; and that national celebrity can create trouble at home.”

NEA in the News

North Carolina School District Firing Teachers, Keeping TFA Alums.

Education Week (6/12, Sawchuk) reported that “the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board last week approved plans to let go of hundreds of teachers, basing that decision on the teachers’ low performance on evaluations,” and it exempted from the culling “teachers hired through the Teach For America recruiting program who meet teaching standards over more-senior teachers.” This is “raising the ire of local and national teachers’ groups and have reopened philosophical debates about the merits of the selective TFA program.” John I. Wilson, the executive director of the NEA, said, “The letter of the law may be that teachers are at-will [employees], but they are playing with a lot of teachers’ careers.” Furthermore, “union officials allege that Superintendent Peter Gorman plans to hire additional TFA teachers for 2009-10, rather than giving priority to teachers who are receiving pink slips.” Wilson was “called on affiliates to report instances in which districts appear to be laying off veterans and hiring TFA graduates.”

NAEP: Little Progress Seen In Middle-Schoolers’ Music, Visual Arts Knowledge.

USA Today (6/16, Toppo) reports, “New data out today from [ED]‘s National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, may make America’s arts instructors kind of blue: In the past decade or so, middle-schoolers have made little progress in how much they know about music and visual arts.” Yet, the data “also suggest that educators’ fears about the arts being squeezed out of public schools may be unfounded – at least for older students. Middle-school administrators polled as part of the tests say students are just as likely to have received regular instruction in music and arts in 2008 as in 1997.” This suggests that NCLB “may not have adversely affected middle schoolers’ instruction time in the arts, as many critics worried.”

The New York Times (6/16, A12, Dillon) adds that the NAEP survey released on Monday “was conducted as part of a nationwide test of music and arts achievement administered last year. … Previous studies have contradicted one another. Some found that art, music, history and other classes were being taught less frequently as schools focused on reading and math, since the [NCLB] holds schools accountable for test results in only those subjects.” However, a “study by the Government Accountability Office reported in February that the time devoted to arts instruction had remained constant in recent years.”

In a similar vein Education Week (6/16, Zehr) reports, “About the same share of 8th graders attend schools where music and visual-arts instruction are offered as a decade ago…about half” as NEAP reports “57 percent of 8th graders in 2008 attended schools where music instruction was provided at least three or four times a week, while 47 percent went to schools where visual-arts instruction was offered at least as often.” NCES commissioner Stuart Kerachsky said the report does not “provide evidence to fuel ‘a concern expressed that schools are cutting out music or other arts,’” though he also said the study “gives information only about school offerings…not about how many students in those schools actually take part in arts education.” Kerachsky also said that “the NCES soon plans to conduct fast-response surveys of arts administrators or providers, including music specialists, principals, and classroom teachers, to understand better what such programs offer.”

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In the Classroom

Texas Law Prompts Surge In High School Students Enrolling In Dual-Credit Classes.

The Dallas Morning News (6/16, Holloway) reports that as part of a dual credit program at North Garland High School in Texas, “when students complete” a college-level class, “they’ll have the chance to earn both high school and college credit for it.” Dual credit classes in the school are “not new,” but they “are becoming more popular due to a change in state law requiring districts to offer students an opportunity to earn up to 12 hours of college credit in high school.” However, “the new state requirement, along with the number of traditional AP courses, has left school districts such as Garland scrambling to meet the demand. They also must find enough money to pay for both programs.” Still, “the biggest obstacle to expanding the dual credit program, officials say, is finding teachers with college-level teaching credentials.” To address those issues, Garland school “board members are planning a workshop this summer.”

Indiana’s Ivy Tech Sees 44 Percent Increase In Dual Credit Enrollment. Business First of Louisville (6/15) reported, “The Ivy Tech Community College System saw a 44 percent increase in the number of college credit hours taken by high school students during the 2008-09 school year through the college system’s dual credit program. A total of 16,569 high school juniors and seniors completed 83,971 credit hours of classes through Ivy Tech’s 23 campuses statewide,” according to Ivy Tech officials. “High school students who enrolled in the courses for free through 235 Indiana high schools and career centers saved a total of about $8 million in tuition.”

Alternative School In Washington Fosters Environmentalism, Interpersonal Interaction.

The Seattle Times (6/15, Long) reports that the Juanita area’s Environmental & Adventure School (EAS) an “alternative middle school” that “posts some of the best standardized test scores in the state, is about a lot more than camping trips on the coast, identifying birds in the parks, or studying the life cycle of salmon — although all those things can be part of the experience, too.” The school also teaches students to lead peer groups, interpersonal interaction, and putting forth great effort to achieve goals, according to students at the school. “At EAS, students spend three weeks each school year camping or going on adventures. The teens and their teachers quickly get to know each other very well.” And, “by the time [students] graduate,” they “have…done more than 190 hours of community service or environmental stewardship, which gives them a sense of purpose and self-worth.”

On the Job

More Than 2,600 New York City School Employees In Danger Of Losing Jobs.

The New York Daily News (6/16, Armaghan, Kolodner) reports that in New York City, “there will be more than 2,600 school employees looking for jobs in September.” Those in danger of losing their jobs include “school aides, family counselors and hall monitors, which will have ripple effects in the classrooms, teachers and parents say.” And, “Many of the workers who will be out of work make less than $20,000 a year.” Principals will decide exactly “where the ax will fall,” with final approval by the New York City Education Department. The Daily News notes that “schools are struggling to absorb average five percent budget cuts next year.”

Officials in Florida District Consider Reinstating 30 Eliminated Positions.

The Florida Times-Union (6/15, Cravey) reports that “the Clay County School Board on Thursday will consider hiring back about 30 elementary teachers whose 2009-10 positions were eliminated earlier this year when the board was facing a prospective $40 million shortfall.” Elementary “‘resource’ teachers, including music, art, drama, instructional technology and reading teachers” could see their positions restored. Clay’s assistant superintendent for business affairs, George Copeland, said that “the proposed $1.8 million in budget ‘add backs’ stem from the infusion of federal economic stimulus funds to Florida’s education funding.”

Law & Policy

Georgia Lawmaker Wants Standardized Testing Fraud To Be A Crime.

The AP (6/16, Turner) reports that Georgia Sen. Dan Weber (R), “who chairs the Senate’s education committee” wants to make it “a crime for Georgia educators to change students’ answers on standardized tests, and the governor has indicated he may be willing to support such a law.” Weber’s idea came “in response to a state audit released last week showing that answers had been altered on the fifth-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests to improve scores at four elementary schools last summer.” According to a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), “those found responsible for the cheating could face criminal charges under an existing law that prohibits tampering with state documents.

California Bill Would Standardize High School Credit For Volunteer Activity.

The Ventura County (CA) Star (6/16, Hernandez) reports that a bill introduced by California Sen. Fran Pavley (D) would allow high school students in the state to “receive one academic credit for every 12 hours of volunteer service. Students could earn up to 10 credits over their high school careers if they volunteer for organizations approved by their school districts.” SB 520 was modeled after a program at Oxnard High School District, which currently has “about 120 students…receiving five credit units for volunteering at least 60 hours a semester.” Even though “some school districts already provide credits for volunteer work,” the bill would set “a minimum standard of hours that students must complete before they could receive credit. Individual districts would still have the flexibility to implement higher standards. Also under Pavley’s bill, the volunteer work generally would have to be completed outside of school hours.”

Illinois PE Requirements Seen As Not Effective In Combating Childhood Obesity.

The AP (6/16, Armour) reports, “In the fight against childhood obesity, getting kids moving is one of the most effective ways to combat the problem. But only Illinois and Massachusetts require P.E. classes for all kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. And…even those requirements sometimes are not enough.” For instance, Illinois’s P.E. requirements “have not prevented Illinois kids from getting heavier.” The state “mandates gym class but does not have a standardized P.E. curriculum.” Nor does Illinois “monitor schools to ensure they are meeting the daily P.E. requirement, and there are no penalties for not doing it.” The state has the fourth-highest percentage of obese students in the nation, “according to a 2007 survey released last month by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. Nationwide, an estimated 32 percent of American kids ages 2 to 19 are overweight, including 17 percent who are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control.”

Senate Proposal Would Reorganize Federal Reading Programs.

Education Week (6/16, Zehr) reports, “A draft of a bill that some members of the U.S. Senate hope to introduce this summer would replace three federal reading programs, including Reading First, and authorize nearly a fivefold increase in the amount of money the federal government provides for literacy in grades 4-12.” The measure “would authorize $2.4 billion annually for literacy for five years, with 10 percent of the money slated for pre-K programs, 35 percent for K-3 programs (the same grade span covered by Reading First), and half for literacy efforts in grades 4-12. An additional 5 percent would go to state activities, such as providing technical assistance.” A similar House bill is being developed and “the intent is to make them part of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.” In response, “reading experts observed, the draft bill borrows heavily from language in the No Child Left Behind Act that authorizes the reading programs currently in place: Early Reading First, Reading First, and Striving Readers.”

NYTimes Urges Swift Passage Of New York City Mayoral School Control Bill.

The New York Times (6/16, A20) editorializes, “The New York State Assembly is expected to pass a bill this week that would extend, and improve, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s direct control of New York City’s school system. The legislation extends the powers that have allowed Mr. Bloomberg to bring order to a school system that was once known mainly for patronage and gridlock. It also allows for greater transparency and more input from parents and communities.” According to the Times, the bill “does a good job of preserving Mr. Bloomberg’s control, while giving parents a much-needed voice in their children’s education. It deserves swift passage by the Assembly and by the Senate.”

Also in the News

New York City Parent Waging War On Junk Food.

The New York Times (6/16, A15, Dominus) profiles MeMe Roth, a New York City publicist who “runs a group called National Action Against Obesity,” and “has no problem with the school lunches provided” at the “highly regarded” Public School 9. However, what “sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday” and the “doughnuts her children were once given in gym.” Roth’s “extreme” anti-junk food lobbying methods “have earned her attention before: The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream. That was Ms. Roth who called Santa Claus fat on television that Christmas, and she has a continuing campaign against the humble Girl Scout cookies, on the premise that no community activity should promote unhealthy eating.”

Charter Schools Found Not To Have Raised Student Achievement Significantly.

The Washington Times (6/16, Billups) reports, “Even as the president has touted the growth of charter schools and his education secretary has decried state caps on their numbers, a new study from Stanford University has found that the nation’s charter schools have not significantly raised student achievement when compared with traditional public schools. The study of collective reading and math progress in 2,403 charter schools in 15 states and cities, including the District of Columbia was released Monday by researchers at Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO).” Findings “showed that almost half of the charter schools produced results similar to those from comparable public schools, and schools producing worse results than the traditional schools outnumbered those with better numbers by more than 2 to 1.”

NEA in the News

Missouri NEA Declares Some Collective Bargaining Policies “Unconstitutional.”

The Springfield (MO) News-Leader (6/16) reports that “at least 10 school districts have adopted” collective bargaining policies that “offer the possibility of multiple representation.” One such policy is “at the heart of the lawsuit against the Springfield school district, said Susan Goldammer, senior director of employment and labor relations for the Missouri School Board Association.” Earlier this month, the Springfield National Education Association “filed suit against the district over the policy, which calls for two elections: the first to determine whether or not teachers want exclusive representation; the second to determine the representative(s) depending on the outcome of the first election.” The Missouri National Education Association has since “declared the policy to be unconstitutional because it could deny teachers the right of exclusive representation.”

Report Links Low Graduation, Attendance Rates To Small Schools.

The New York Times (6/17, A25, Hernandez) reports that “replacing large, poor-performing high schools with smaller schools in New York City has led to lower attendance and graduation rates at other large high schools, which have struggled to accommodate influxes of high-needs students, according to a report to be released on Wednesday.” While “the report, conducted by researchers at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs” contends “that the city should do more to support comprehensive high schools,” it “does not dispute the success of small schools in improving graduation rates of needy students.” The report also attributes that decrease to “comprehensive high schools” being “overwhelmed by influxes of students who had histories of poor attendance, behavior problems and low academic achievement.” In response to the report, “the city’s Department of Education said that “even if schools were burdened with high-risk students, it was better than leaving those students in failing schools.”

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In the Classroom

What Works Panel Makes Recommendations For Use Of RTI Model In Math.

Education Week (6/17, Samuels) reports on a June 10 forum hosted by the What Works Clearinghouse in Washington, DC, held to discuss the use of response to intervention in teaching math and a practice guide “produced by an expert panel convened by the US Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse” including “eight recommendations for providing remediation in math through the RTI process to students in elementary and middle school.” The panel, lead by Russell Gersten, recommended “that remediation for students in grades K-5 should focus on the properties of whole numbers, like counting, addition, and subtraction. Older students, up to 8th grade, should learn rational numbers in depth, including the meanings of ratios, decimals, and percentages,” and “all students who need extra math assistance should work on fluent retrieval of basic arithmetic facts.”

Four-Week Program Teaches Math, Vocabulary, Financial Responsibility.

Colorado’s Sky Hi Daily News (6/16, Phillips) reported, “Some of the toughest lessons in life are financial.” And for some, their first credit card “starts a lifelong cycle of debt. For others, it’s a fortunate early lesson in fiscal responsibility.” During the past school year, Grand Mountain Bank vice president of business development, Will Arduino, worked “with elementary school students” in a “through a four-week program… called ‘Teach Children to Save.’” The program “is funded by the American Bankers Association and involves bankers across the nation going into the classroom.” Each session “included math skills, vocabulary words, and lessons in self-control.” In the final lesson, “a girl asks if she can have a pet hamster, and her mom answers, ‘Yes, if you can afford it.’ Students have to look at Patty’s finances to determine if she can, in fact, afford a hamster.”

On the Job

Florida District May Give Laid Off Teachers Priority For Permanent Substitute Positions.

The Miami Herald (6/17, Mazzei) reports that “the Broward school district will try to keep some of the hundreds of teachers who received pink slips over the weekend employed as school substitutes, School Board members and Superintendent Jim Notter said Tuesday.” Notter’s staff is considering giving “priority to the 396 laid-off teachers when picking permanent substitutes assigned to fill long-term teacher leaves and pools of substitutes who work in low-income schools.” The Miami Herald notes that “Permanent substitutes receive benefits and fill in for teachers going on leave. Pool substitutes,” however, “do not receive benefits,” but “they are paid a higher daily rate than other substitutes.” The superintendent also “expects to rehire about 145 teachers before the first day of school on Aug. 24 to serve as academic coaches at low-income schools and work with special-education students. Those positions, funded by federal stimulus money, have not been created yet.”

Law & Policy

Sebelius Says Schoolchildren May Be Targeted For First Swine Flu Vaccines.

The AP (6/17, Neergaard) reports that, during an interview with the Associated Press, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that “she is urging school superintendents around the country to spend the summer preparing for” the possibility that their schools become “shot clinics,” as schoolchildren are targeted to be “first in line for swine flu vaccine this fall.” Sebelius said, “If you think about vaccinating kids, schools are the logical place.” Still, “no decision has been made yet on whether and how to vaccinate millions of Americans against” H1N1. Sebelius said that, should the virus “morph into a more dangerous type” this summer, HHS may target “school-age children as a first priority” for vaccination. Currently, “about half of the more than 160 people worldwide killed by swine flu so far were previously young and healthy.” Sebelius said, “That’s being watched carefully.” The AP notes, “Schools do occasionally team up with local health officials for special flu vaccination clinics but it’s not common.”

US Urged To Use International Tests, Post Results On School Doors.

Laura Vanderkam wrote in the online forum at USA Today (6/16) that “some new data coming out amid this June graduation season suggest that…low expectations for good students are widespread,” and “they have a real cost.” A Phe Beta Kappa poll showed that, “72 percent gave their eldest child’s school an ‘A’ or ‘B,’” yet the OECD reports that “international test scores for the top 10 percent of American 15-year-olds are far below those of the top 10 percent in other rich countries.” McKinsey & Co. “found that if US children did as well as students from nations such as Finland, our economy would be 9 percent-16 percent larger.” And, “this international gap is larger than America’s black-white achievement gap.” Vanderkam argues that “America needs to focus more on challenging its brightest children” by abandoning state tests in favor of “tests that can be compared internationally. Then don’t just put state results on a website. Paste individual school results to every school house door.”

Special Needs

Bill Will Guarantee Parents Of Special Needs Students Right To Monitor Children’s Classroom.

The Chicago Tribune (6/17, Huppke) reports, “While children with disabilities are guaranteed an education through the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the law is vague on the access that parents — and the experts they hire — can have to classrooms.” Illinois’s “House Bill 628, passed this legislative session and awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s (D) expected signature,” will guarantee “a parent — or an expert hired by the parent — the right to monitor a child’s special education classroom, or to observe in advance the classroom a school district believes is the best fit for the child.” HB 628 “applies only to special education students.”

Safety & Security

Injunction Would Create Gang-Free Zone Around Los Angeles High School.

The Los Angeles Times (6/17, Blankstein) reports, “The state attorney general and Los Angeles city attorney announced today they are seeking a court injunction creating a 1.4-square-mile gang-free zone around a high school in South Los Angeles.” Under the injunction, curfews would be imposed “on four gangs, including the Swan Bloods, Florencia 13, Main Street Crips, and the 7-Trey Hustlers/Gangster Crips. This would prevent gangsters “from being on the streets while students walk to and from school, harassing citizens or assembling with other gang members.” The injunction was proposed “after a nine-month investigation found gang members intimidated and assaulted Fremont students on the way to and from campus. The gangs also were accused of committing crimes in the neighborhood, including trespassing, drug dealing…vandalism,” robbery and homicide.

Facilities

West Virginia Authority Aims To Build One LEED Certified School Each Year.

West Virginia’s Register-Herald (6/17) reports that the executive director of West Virginia’s School Building Authority, Dr. Mark A. Manchin, “said the authority aims to build at least one new school every year that is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver-certified.” Currently, “one LEED Silver-certified school is under construction in Berkeley County,” and “another LEED Silver school project will be named sometime this year.” Even though construction costs for LEED schools are higher than that of other schools, Manchin noted that “both federal and state governments encourage energy-efficient school construction.” For Fayette County, “the SBA appropriated about $22 million for a new high school…during its April meeting. Voters must approve a bond levy this fall before a new building is constructed.”

School Finance

States Seen As Protecting Pre-K Programs From Budget Cuts.

Education Week (6/16, Samuels) reported that in light of the recession, “Pre-K Now, a campaign of the Washington-based Pew Center for the States, released a report last month that said states were continuing to finance preschool programs.” Governors in three states — “Alaska, North Dakota, and Rhode Island — proposed new early-childhood programs where there were none before,” while only “five states planned cuts.” Furthermore, “Obama has made clear that early-education programs will be one of the cornerstones of his domestic agenda.”

Stimulus Money Said Mostly To Be Spent Backfilling Cuts From State Budgets.

Education Week (6/16, McNeil) reported, “The flow of K-12 economic-stimulus money to states and local school districts remains slow, as governors and state legislators face the practical challenge of absorbing billions of dollars aimed at stabilizing their budgets, while satisfying the US Department of Education’s requirements for that aid.” But “nearly 90 percent of that money seems destined to backfill state cuts to education funding, with little left over.” While Secretary Duncan said that “his staff turns around applications in four to six days’ time,” yet “states slowly draw down the money, which then must be doled out to individual school districts.” ASBO Executive Director John D. Musso said, “We’re all disappointed…. How are we supposed to make systemic change if the dollars are just buying the same thing we’ve been buying in the past?”

Nevada Education Chief Says Increase In Per-Pupil Funds Covers Low Property Tax Estimates.

The AP (6/17, Gines) reports that “despite a slight increase approved by lawmakers in the state’s base per-pupil spending for K-12 students, Nevada’s public education chief said Tuesday that school districts actually will have less money per pupil for the upcoming fiscal year.” According to “state schools chief Keith Rheault…the extra state dollars will fill shortfalls resulting from lower estimates for both local taxes on property and sales.” The state will spend $5,251 “per K-12 student for the upcoming fiscal year, $38 more than the 2008-2009 figure of $5,213.” But Rheault said that the increase is “‘a little deceptive’ because the state had to come up with $329 million to make up for the reduced projections in local taxes.” On Monday, Rheault met “with local school superintendents who are planning cost-cutting measures that may include increased class sizes, negotiating reduced salaries and leaving positions unfilled.”

Also in the News

Seattle Minority Scholarship Program Sees First Class Admitted To College.

The Seattle Times (6/16, Shaw) reported on the Rainier Scholars program, designed to “propel talented minority students into Seattle’s top high schools and the nation’s best colleges.” The program’s 40 inaugural members, who in 2002 were preparing for [seventh] grade, by “studying chemistry, pre-algebra, English and history — then sweating over three-plus hours of homework each night,” have now “earned diplomas from…top public and private schools,” and “have been accepted at four-year colleges, including prestigious schools such as Williams College, Smith College and Swarthmore College.” Rainier Scholars “now has 360 students, including 54 graduating fifth-graders who will start this summer.” Founder Bob Hurlbut raised the funds for the program’s launch in 2002 and “estimates it spends about $27,000 per student over seven years, and expects to spend an additional $8,000 supporting them through college.”

NEA in the News

More Than 40 Indiana State Teachers Association Employees May Be Laid Off.

Education Week (6/16) reported, “Indiana’s largest teachers’ union is laying off dozens of employees in the wake of a financial crisis that spurred investigations of its troubled insurance trust.” According to “union officials representing two groups of workers at the Indiana State Teachers Association,” an NEA affiliate, “at least 40 people will lose their jobs after 60 days’ notice.” Meanwhile, “a third union representative” said that “the total number of layoffs is likely to be higher than 40 out of a staff of 150 employees.” Education Week notes that “Indiana’s is the first state affiliate to request a trusteeship from the NEA, allowing the 3.2 million-member national organization to take over operations as investigators determine whether insurance-trust managers did something more than make risky investments.”

Several Missouri Districts Said To Have Collective Bargaining Agreements Similar To Springfield.

The Springfield (MO) News-Leader (6/17) reports, “At least 10 school districts have adopted the collective bargaining policy at the heart of the lawsuit” brought by the Springfield National Education Association “against the Springfield school district, said Susan Goldammer, senior director of employment and labor relations for the Missouri School Board Association.” In an email, Goldammer pointed out, “There could be more districts that have adopted the policy, but because we do not have a policy service contract with over 200 districts, we do not know which policy those districts have chosen to adopt — if any.”

Report Suggests NCLB Did Not Cause Schools To Ignore Highest, Lowest Achievers.

Education Week (6/17, Cavanaugh) reported that a new study released by the of the Center on Education Policy Wednesday suggests that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act’s “mandate to bring students to ‘proficiency’” likely did not result “in schools ignoring the needs of the nation’s highest- and lowest-achieving students.” According to the report, “test scores for both ‘advanced’ and ‘basic’ students rose in nearly three-quarters of assessments studied across states and grade levels, a level of progress only slightly lower than that of students reaching proficiency.” Center president Jack Jennings said that the goal of the analysis was the recent claim that “schools are not focusing on the highest- or lowest-scoring students, but rather on middle achievers.”

The Salt Lake Tribune (6/18, Schencker) noted that the center’s study does not “go so far as to credit No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the good news.” Instead, “Jack Jennings, president of the independent, Washington D.C.-based center, credited the improvements to 20 years of education reforms.”

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In the Classroom

Virginia Broadening Diploma Options, Raising Standards.

The Washington Post (6/18, Chandler) reports, Virginia is offering “a growing menu” of diploma options including an “advanced diploma [that] requires more math, science, social studies and foreign language credits,” and technical education diplomas that will be available “beginning in 2010 [for] students who prefer to learn by doing.” As the options are increasing, “traditional distinctions between students learning trades and those bound for four-year colleges are breaking down.” This is due to a growing agreement between educators and lawmakers “that all students should graduate with higher math and literacy skills so everyone has a shot at a higher education and a good job.” Also, “educators are trying to increase the academic content and prestige of career and technical programs overall” as “many fields…are highly computer-driven, and all workers benefit from the good communication and reasoning skills that strong academic courses provide.”

Lack Of Mandatory PE Seen As Contributing To Childhood Obesity Epidemic.

The AP (6/17) reported, “In the fight against childhood obesity, getting children moving is one of the most effective ways to combat the problem. But only Illinois and Massachusetts require P.E. classes for all children in kindergarten through 12th grade.” However, mandatory P.E. has “not prevented Illinois children from getting heavier. An estimated 20.7 percent of 10- to 17-year-olds in Illinois are obese, according to a 2007 survey released last month by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative.” Health experts “recommend 30 minutes of daily physical education for elementary school students, and 45 minutes for those in junior high and high school. But in a recent CDC study, less than 4 percent of elementary schools, less than 8 percent of middle schools and just over 2 percent of high schools required daily P.E. for all students during the entire school year.”

Initiative At Maryland School Aims To Promote Summer Reading.

The Washington Post (6/18, Montes) reports that Watkins Mill High School’ in Gaithersburg, MD “is taking a novel approach” to encouraging summer student reading: “More than 100 teachers and staff each chose a book to read this summer. Students then picked one of those books. When classes resume, they will discuss the book with classmates, in groups led by the staff member who made the original selection.” Faculty and staff members “hope it will set a new tone when school reconvenes,” said English resource teacher Wendy Farmer. Also, because summer reading “counts for about one-tenth of the first marking period, Farmer said, starting with a zero can pull a student’s grade-point average below a 2.0, making them ineligible for sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities.”

Colorado District To Teach Spanish In All Elementary Schools.

Colorado’s Reporter Herald (6/17, Dail) reported, “Beginning next fall, all Thompson School District elementary schools will offer Spanish classes.” The district will use “money that voters approved in 2005 for the project” to “buy distance learning software.” With the equipment, “district-employed Spanish teachers” will record lessons for classroom teachers to show “via television or computer, which will save on both classroom space and money,” district spokesman Wes Fothergill said. Some schools have already been providing Spanish lessons. “In all the other schools, Spanish should be rolled out for first through third grades sometime during the first semester, with about 30 minutes of instruction time per week.”

On the Job

Tacoma, Washington, Considers Agency To Address Social Problems Of Students.

The Tacoma Weekly (6/18) reports, “A potential new government agency, Tacoma 360, has been proposed to address social problems facing students in Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and help non-profit organizations more effectively deliver services that could help youth to succeed in school and life.” TPS Asst. Supt. Michael Power said the agency would have “a very clear focus on closing the achievement gap.” Power explained that “too many minority and poor children are not prepared to learn because of poverty and less than ideal situations in their homes.” So “Tacoma 360 could be a central location that grant providers could contact about providing funds and students and parents could contact about accessing services.” The Tacoma City Council is considering establishing the agency.

Study Finds Minority Students In Integrated Schools Do Better.

Education Week (6/18, Viadero) reports a study by researchers from Teachers College, Columbia University, “presented on Capitol Hill last week provides new evidence that black and Latino children who attend elementary schools with high concentrations of minority students fare worse academically than students being taught in whiter, or more integrated, school settings.” The study was based on “an analysis of more than 9,000 students taking part in the federal Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten” and found that “children in high-minority schools gain fewer mathematics skills in both kindergarten and 1st grade and fewer literacy skills in 1st grade than their counterparts in more-integrated schools.”

Teachers At Connecticut Middle School Say They Were “Bullied” By Principal.

The Connecticut Post (6/18, Ramunni) reports, “Seymour Middle School teachers are upset about the way they are treated by both Principal Bernadette Hamad and Supt. of Schools MaryAnne Mascolo, according to a complaint the Seymour Education Association filed with the state Labor Board.” The teachers, in a survey by the SEA, “accused Hamad of ‘poor communication, bullying and intimidation.’” CEA representative Jeffrey H. Mockler said that earlier attempts to address the situation failed “so Monday night he appealed to the Board of Education to intervene.” The union is also “asking the Labor Board for ‘an order to cease and desist from interfering, restraining, and coercing the SEA and members of the SEA in exercise of their rights.’ It also calls for a written apology to SMS teachers and the reimbursement of costs the union incurred in filing the action.”

Denver Educators File “Systemic Discrimination” Complaint With Labor Department.

The Denver Post (6/18, Trageser) reports, “A group of 12 educators worried about the decline in the number of African-American teachers in Denver Public Schools decided Tuesday to file an official complaint about ‘systemic discrimination’ with the U.S. Department of Labor.” Black Education Advisory Council Chairman Larry Borom “said discrimination has caused the number of African-American teachers in Denver to drop to 200 in 2008 from 324 in 2000.” The Colorado Department of Education says there are 265 and Denver Public Schools claims “256 black teachers.” Borom’s response is that the decline is due to “plain old discrimination based on race.” Asst. Supt. Happy Haynes said that the decline “is exactly the opposite direction from where we wanted to go,” and promised that the district will work “with organizations such as the Black Education Advisory Council and by using diversity hiring programs.”

Law & Policy

Utah Lawmakers Say National Education Standards May Lower State Standards.

The AP (6/18) reports that even though “Utah is 1 of 46 states to sign on to an effort by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers to develop common, internationally measured standards for student achievement,” lawmakers in the state “are letting education officials know they’re wary of adopting any national education standards.” They worry that “the federal government will eventually use the standards to adopt a nationwide curriculum and Utah might have to lower its academic benchmarks.”

New York Assembly Passes Bill Continuing Mayoral Control Of New York City Schools.

The New York Times (6/18, A29, Hernandez) reports, “A bill that would keep control of New York City’s public schools firmly in the hands of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was overwhelmingly approved by the Assembly on Wednesday, although the new Senate Democratic leader indicated that he planned to push for more checks on the mayor’s power in his chamber.” The bill’s success “was considered a triumph for Mr. Bloomberg,” whose “emphasis on hard-line accountability and high-stakes testing has stoked calls from parents and elected officials to rein in his nearly unilateral power.” Still “some Senate Democrats were planning to vigorously oppose the bill,” though it is supported by Gov. David A. Paterson (D) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) “called on the Senate to act quickly on the legislation.”

Safety & Security

Association To Issue Guidelines For Summer Practice For High School Athletes.

USA Today (6/18, Lloyd) reports, “New pre-season training guidelines will be issued Thursday by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and a task force concerned about the deaths of high school athletes during the hottest days of summer.” The guidelines “will call for gradual heat acclimatization in all high school sports.” Nationwide, “twenty-nine prep football players have died from heat-related illnesses since 1995.” The guidelines would also limit practices to “no more than three hours” and limit practices to one a day for the first five days, as well as allowing gradually greater use of padding.

Also in the News

Survey Suggests That Mobile Phone Use During Class Not Uncommon Among Teens.

USA Today (6/18, Toppo) reports that according to a “survey of 1,013 teens — 84 percent of whom have cellphones” — conducted by pollster Joel Benenson for “Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based education company,” about one quarter “of teens’ cellphone text messages are sent during class…despite widespread classroom bans on cellphones at school.” The survey also shows that “more than half of all” respondents said that “people at their school” saved “information on a cellphone to look at during a test or have texted friends about answers.” Meanwhile, “only about half of teens say either of the practices is a ‘serious offense.’” Benenson says this suggests “that students may have developed different personal standards about handwritten information vs. material stored on cellphones.”

NEA in the News

Pennsylvania Cyber School Claims To Be First To Unionize.

The AP (6/18, Scolforo) reports that seventy-six teachers, counselors, and other school staff for PA Learners Online, a cyber charter school, “voted 42-14 Monday to have the Pennsylvania State Education Association represent” them. Although teachers at “some cyber charter schools in other states…belong to unions,” PA Learners “claims to be the first U.S. public cyber charter school to unionize as a new bargaining unit” according to Pennsylvania State Education Association spokesman Wythe Keever. The AP notes that “the Pennsylvania State Education Association, affiliated with the National Education Association, represents about 191,000 active and retired teachers and other school and health care workers.”

Los Angeles Teacher Layoffs Seen As Disproportionately Affecting Inner-City Schools.

The AP (6/18, Hoag) reports that “by next school year, 2,100″ teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School district “are slated to lose their jobs — a 5 percent hit to the second-largest U.S. school district.” Moreover, job losses are said to be “concentrated in some of the city’s grittiest neighborhoods.” The Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at the University of California, Los Angeles estimates that “some inner-city middle and high schools could lose up to 40 percent of their teachers,” while “many schools in the district’s more affluent areas, such as the San Fernando Valley suburbs, will be less affected because only up to 10 percent of their teachers are new.” According to the National Education Association, about “34,000 teaching jobs will be eliminated this year” nationwide, while California faces the loss of about 18,000 of its 43,000 teachers.

Teachers’ Sacrifices Result In Fewer Classroom Cuts For Some Portland-Area Districts.

The Oregonian (6/19, Hammond, Navas) reports that “despite state budget cuts for schools, about half of Portland area students will experience little change when they return to class this fall, an analysis by The Oregonian has found.” The reason is that “teachers, administrators, and school workers will sacrifice their paychecks to protect the classroom.” Educators in “Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego and West Linn-Wilsonville all have agreed to accept a hit to their paychecks to preserve jobs and help students. Most districts also plan to spend some of their savings to spare students.” Meanwhile, other districts including “Reynolds, West Linn-Wilsonville and Oregon City are laying off teachers” increasing “class sizes and cutting programs to help struggling students.” According to The Oregonian, “those districts must make painful cuts because they plan to give pay raises or they are betting that lawmakers will give schools a lot less than the $6 billion that the Legislature’s budget-writing approved Thursday — or both.”

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In the Classroom

New Hampshire District Leader Apologizes For Use Of “Inappropriate” Stories In School.

New Hampshire’s Union Leader (6/19, Bates) reports that Litchfield, NH, Schools Superintendent Elaine Cutler “is apologizing for the use of ‘inappropriate material in our schools’ and said stories in a Campbell High School elective course will be immediately removed from the curriculum.” Some of the literature used in the high school’s Short Story class “contained explicit, vulgar and gratuitous language and school administrators have determined that” the “‘stories are not appropriate for a high school curriculum,’ Cutler said.” The inappropriate stories included works “by authors Stephen King, David Sedaris and Ernest Hemingway.” Some contained “explicit sexual material, rape, murder and drug use.” Cutler said that “the Short Story course will be reviewed and revised over the summer by a team composed of the curriculum director, teachers and parent representatives according to school board policy. Administrative review will occur before the curriculum is initiated.”

Maryland Elementary School’s “Dads Of Great Students” Assists Teachers, Mentors Students.

The Baltimore Sun (6/19, Williams) reports that the Watch DOGS (Dads of Great Students) program at Talbott Springs Elementary School in Columbia, MD, “encourages fathers or adult males to spend the day at school, where they do everything from assisting teachers with lessons to eating lunch with students.” Watch DOGS is part of a growing movement in schools throughout Maryland to bring “men into the classroom, helping overcome a traditional bias about gender roles in schools and exposing children to a wider range of role models and mentors.” The Baltimore Sun notes that “last year in Baltimore, city schools chief Andrés Alonso challenged the community to produce 500 volunteers to work in the school system. … More than 1,400 people expressed interest in volunteering. Of those, 500 passed the screening process; 40 percent of the volunteers were male.”

On the Job

DC Schools Chancellor Fires 250 Teachers.

The Washington Post (6/19, Turque) reports, “D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee…has fired about 250 tenured and novice instructors this week for poor performance or failure to obtain a license, union officials said yesterday.” Teachers’ union president George Parker “said figures provided to him by school system officials showed that about 60 of those terminated were first- or second-year teachers on probation” and “about 80…were experienced teachers who had been placed by administrators on so-called ’90-day plans.’” All others “had failed to obtain proper licensing.” The Post points out that the district “historically has fired only a handful of instructors each year for poor performance.” The teachers’ union will “appeal the firings in instances in which it believes teachers did not receive adequate support on the 90-day plan.”

Los Angeles District Leader Warns Of Further Layoffs. The AP (6/19) reports that “Superintendent Ramon Cortines says Los Angeles schools will face even deeper cuts and more teacher layoffs if the district doesn’t get more money for the state or pass a parcel tax to raise funds.” If the parcel tax proposal is approved by the Board of Education, it “would go to voters next spring and generate money for schools.” The AP adds that the Los Angeles Unified School District “faces a $132 million deficit for the coming school year and will lay off 2,100 teachers.”

More Florida Schools Earn As, Bs, But High School Grades Decline From Last Year.

The Orlando Sentinel (6/18, Postal, Balona) reported, “A record number of Florida public schools received A’s and B’s on the state’s 2009 school report card, but high schools continued to struggle, earning few gold stars this year.” Throughout the state, “78 percent of schools got A’s or B’s this year, up from 74 percent in 2008.”

The St. Petersburg Times (6/19, Winchester, Solochek) reports that “high school grades plunged all over Florida on Thursday, the latest sign that progress in the upper grades remains sluggish despite a decade of reforms.” While “the number of A high schools dropped” by “nearly 50 percent…the number of D high schools climbed from 70 to 116, according to results released by the Florida Department of Education.” After results were released, “principals scrambled…to pinpoint why they struggled more this year, particularly with their bottom-tier kids in reading.” During the decade of reforms, “Florida’s elementary students have made big strides, and middle school students are beginning to perk up. But since 2001, the percentage of high school students reading at grade level has grown more modestly, from 32 percent to 42 percent,” and, this year’s scores didn’t budge after three years of gains.”

Law & Policy

Henrico County, Virginia, School Board Approves Districtwide Dress Code.

The Richmond Times – Dispatch (6/18, Calos) reported, “What kids wear to school in Henrico County has gone from a school-by-school decision to a countywide policy.” The school board adopted a new dress code on Thursday “as part of revisions to the Code of Student Conduct.” While “the previous dress code consisted of a paragraph giving broad guidelines,” the revised code is two pages long and “provides specific guidelines ranging from the length of dresses to the tightness of clothing.” It also “includes more detailed regulations on laptop policies, cell phone use and transportation.”

Florida District Seeks To Modify Dress Code, Restrict In-School Cell Phone Use. The Gainesville Sun (6/18, Curry) reported that “the Alachua County [FL] School Board wants tougher restrictions on both student cell phone usage and the school district’s old nemesis, student dress, in place for this coming school year.” School board members seek “more detailed and stringent regulations…on student dress.” Proposed modifications “state that the bottoms of shorts, skirts, and culottes must reach mid-thigh and that the waistbands of clothing must be worn at the waist. No midriff or undergarments, whether they be boxer shorts or bras, may be visible.” In addition, “the proposed code says clothing must be ‘the appropriate size.’” The school board is also pushing “to have on-campus cell phone usage limited to phone calls or text messages to parents or legal guardians, with no videos shot or pictures taken and no chatting or texting with friends.”

Special Needs

Chicago Elementary Principal Says District Denies Disabled Students Specialized Help.

Christina Samuels wrote in Education Week’s (6/18) blog that on Wednesday, Mary Ann Pollett, principal of Moses Montefiore Special Elementary School in Chicago “accused district officials of routinely denying disabled students access to specialized help…at times even barring them from evaluation for learning disabilities.” According to Pollett, district officials “have discouraged teachers at her school from reporting students’ disabilities because it is too expensive to deal with them.” At issue is “a special program for boys with emotional and behavioral disorders” that is offered at Montefiore. “The school was facing the prospect of closing because of dwindling enrollments. Supporters of the school have said that the district was choosing not to evaluate students who might then enroll in Montefiore, because of the high cost of educating them.” Chicago Public Schools, meanwhile, “denies that it engages in such practices,” and says that “it is working on better ways to identify students with disabilities.”

Safety & Security

Pennsylvania Auditor General Notes Improvements In Philadelphia District’s Safety Approach.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (6/19, Riggins) reports, “Jack Wagner, Pennsylvania’s auditor general, sees ‘a new day’ in the Philadelphia School District’s approach to school safety.” Still, Wagner acknowledges “the public perception that Philadelphia schools are unsafe. Based on incident reports, 20 of the district’s schools are deemed ‘persistently dangerous’ under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.” Currently, “the district spends $45 million on school police and climate managers and another $45 million on alternative-education programs for problem students.” Meanwhile, “more than 70 districts have been audited in the last 18 months of Wagner’s safe-schools initiative.” During his audits, Wagner checks “for strong relationships with local law enforcement, single entry points into buildings, and visitor procedures.”

School Finance

Using Stimulus To Backfill Budget Could Imperil Future Federal Funds, Duncan Warns.

The AP (6/18, Quaid) reported that in a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Thursday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that federal funds may be withheld from schools if states “use stimulus money to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools.” Duncan specifically addressed the Pennsylvania Senate’s plan “to reduce the share of the state budget for education while leaving its rainy-day surplus untouched. To do so ‘is a disservice to our children,’ Duncan wrote.” He also pointed out that “the plan may hurt Pennsylvania’s chance to compete for a $5 billion competitive grant fund created by the stimulus law to reward states and school districts that adopt innovations Obama supports.” The AP notes that Duncan “applied similar pressure to Tennessee lawmakers last month after Democrats there blocked a bill to let more kids into charter schools, even though President Barack Obama supports charter schools.”

Also in the News

Athletic Association Calls For More Strict Summer Training Guidelines.

The Dallas Morning News (6/19, Stutz, Davis) reports, “Grueling practices in the summer heat are too dangerous, even reckless, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association said Thursday in calling for more safety and less hitting among players in their pre-season drills.” In addition to “calling for no more than one practice a day during the first week and alternating one-a-day and two-a-day workouts during the second week, the’ association’s “report proposed longer breaks between practice sessions and a limit of three hours per session” and five hours per day. Football coaches in North Texas say “the proposals…highlight the need to be watchful over young athletes.”

Programs Help Educators Address Needs Of Increasingly More Diverse AP Students.

The St. Petersburg Times (6/22, Matus) reports that “a tidal wave of high school students is crashing over college-caliber AP courses.” However, “many of the new students aren’t as prepared as the brainiac AP students of old. Many have never taken a challenging class. Some don’t know how to write essays or take good notes.” In April, the Fordham Institute released a “survey of 1,000 AP teachers” in which “more than half said too many AP kids are ‘in over their heads.’” And “a survey commissioned by the College Board in the spring found 45 percent” of teachers “said they need help dealing with diversifying classrooms.” To address these concerns, “the College Board is piloting new classroom materials that address different learning styles. It’s also piloting a 4-day ‘achievement institute’” that focuses “on how to teach instead of what” to teach. According to the St. Petersburg Times, thousands of teachers throughout the US attend similar events.

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In the Classroom

LATimes: District Went Too Far In Adopting Elementary Lessons Focused On Gay Issues.

The Los Angeles Times (6/19) editorialized, “To discourage taunting of gay students, the Alameda Unified School District turned what should be a basic Golden Rule lesson into a primer on sexual identity for kindergartners through fifth-graders.” The district’s “new anti-bullying curriculum…will begin in the fall and focus solely on gay and lesbian issues.” And parents will not be able to “opt their children out” of those lessons. The Times points out that even though “we count on schools to instruct children in” commonly held mores, school “lessons become more fraught when hotly disputed values are involved, such as sexuality.” The district, the Times asserts, “went too far in adopting a curriculum,” introducing such “topics…at an age when most children are ill-equipped to consider them.” The idea that “mean behavior is not OK,” the Times concludes, “is best taught by creating a school culture that values and rewards kindness” and that disciplines bullies.

Reading Program Uses Repetition To Strengthen Brain Function.

The Las Vegas Sun (6/22, Norman) reports on the Fast ForWord reading program being used at Martha P. King Elementary School in Nevada. Fast ForWord “is designed to strengthen connections in the brain that help children focus better and build mental skills.” It includes “both an auditory element — directions spoken into the headphones that can be slowed down, so children understand them — and” a video element. Students must “listen for differences in very similar sounding words, and the directions are repeated until the children catch on.” According to King principal Lee Esplin, the idea behind the program “is to use repetition on tasks that require focus to strengthen the connections between the front and rear lobes of the brain.” Research has shown that “good readers have a lot of brain activity in the rear portion, while poor readers have a lot of brain activity in the frontal area, he said.”

Inquiry-Based Math Causes Contention Between Florida District, Parents.

The Orlando Sentinel (6/22, Weber) reports that “when classes resume in August, most middle-school math sessions in Seminole” County, FL, “schools will be inquiry-based, an instructional method that has been controversial elsewhere.” The method asks students “to reason how math principles come to be, rather than drilling on formulas handed to them by teachers.” And some parents are concerned because they say “they don’t have a clue what their kids are learning and can’t help them with homework.” Moreover, even “some teachers are having trouble understanding the new instructional methods they must use…adding to uneasiness about the program.” According to the Orlando Sentinel, “there has been continuing debate nationwide about the value of inquiry math. Some school districts have adopted and then dropped” the approach. Meanwhile, other districts “such as the Orange County school system,” which “has used inquiry math in elementary schools for five years,” continue to use the method.

On the Job

Teachers Pursue Education During Summer To Keep Up, Earn More.

Columnist Andra Bryan Stefanoni writes for the Joplin (MO) Globe (6/22), “In a scene likely being replayed this summer on college campuses across the nation, a few hundred of the area’s teachers are choosing to stay in school beyond the final dismissal bell in May.” Pam Sells, “a faculty member in Pittsburg State University’s College of Education,” said that these teachers understand that “there is always something new coming out in education, and they want to be on top of that, to have the most recent training.” And “teachers who complete continuing education or are seeking degrees are eligible for increases in salary commensurate with the amount of courses they complete.” So, furthering their education could mean more pay for some teachers. Regardless of the motivation for taking classes during the summer, Sells points out, “Contrary to what people often think, the majority of teachers really don’t have three months off.”

Philadelphia Public School Teachers Say They Feel Pressure To Pass Unqualified Students.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (6/22, Graham, Woodall) reports that “the pressure to pass students — even those who rarely go to class or can’t read — is pervasive in the Philadelphia School District, teachers around the city say.” According to 15 teachers from nine Philadelphia high schools interviewed by the Inquirer, the “push comes in memos, in meetings, and in talks about failure rates that are too high.” The Inquirer points out that “social promotion — moving along students with their same-age classmates whether they deserve it or not — has plagued the district for decades despite efforts to stop it.” In one case, a high school teacher was pressured by administrators “to pass a student who had 89 absences over a half-year.” Although “reasons for its persistence are unclear,” many “teachers suggest that the” pressure “is especially great now because” schools are judged, in part, on “the number of students who pass.”

Law & Policy

Louisiana Lawmakers Expected To Approve Alternative High School Diploma.

The AP (6/19, Simpson) reported that “high school students could skip college prep courses and instead take classes designed to get them into two-year schools under a plan that Louisiana lawmakers are expected to approve.” The bill would allow “children 15 and older to leave pre-college curriculum and instead take the ‘career option program’” with parent approval. “Graduates who took the new curriculum would get a career-option diploma that would not qualify them for a four-year college or university. Instead, they could attend two-year technical schools or community colleges.” Critics of the plan, including education groups, “say the legislation lowers standards beginning in eighth grade and would produce graduates who struggle to find work because they never mastered basic reading, writing and mathematics.” But “few legislators oppose the bill,” because, “they say the new curriculum would reduce the number who drop out and often turn to drugs and crime when they can’t find jobs.”

California Lawmakers Suggest Giving Schools Funds Rejected By Voters In Proposition 1B.

The Sacramento Bee (6/21, Sanders) reported that a month after Proposition 1B failed to gain approval by California voters, state “Democrats are proposing to pay schools the same $7.9 billion that was the heart of the measure and to begin payments the same year, 2011-2012.” The proposal “is part of a massive budget-balancing plan crafted by a joint legislative conference committee and scheduled to be voted upon this week by the Senate and Assembly.” The lawmakers are arguing that Proposition 1B “was rejected for reasons other than school funding — voters were angry that the Legislature hadn’t solved the state’s budget crisis, and they didn’t like that 1B would take effect only if Proposition 1A were passed to extend some newly imposed taxes for up to two years.” So far, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “has taken no position” on the proposal.

Suggestions Offered To Ease Wisconsin State Budget’s Impact On Schools.

The Wisconsin State Journal (6/22) editorializes, “It’s not too late for negotiators in the Assembly and Senate this week to fix a flawed state spending plan.” It lists six ways that lawmakers can do that. Regarding education, the Wisconsin State Journal suggests easing “the impact on schools.” Public “schools will have to sustain a decrease in state aid while school revenue caps stay tight.” Still, the “Legislature wants to make a bad situation worse by lifting caps on teacher raises — without regard for local economic conditions or school spending restraints.” The Wisconsin State Journal asserts that such action “is sure to trigger teacher layoffs and cuts in classroom instruction.” Instead of “allowing teacher compensation to soar in a bad economy,” it suggests that “the Legislature…keep the pay caps in place for now and negotiate a broader package of school-funding reforms this fall.”

Bill Would Reward Delaware Schools For Success In Educating At-Risk Students.

The Wilmington (DE) News Journal (6/20, Price) reported, “Delaware public schools that make the most progress in closing the achievement gap each would receive $150,000 in federal stimulus money over the next two years, under a bill making its way through the state Legislature.” Five schools would be selected to receive the money by a panel of “school administrators, teachers, and parents.” The panel “would evaluate state test results and select schools that show the most progress in educating at-risk students.” To be considered for the Academic Achievement Awards Program, schools would have to “be making adequate progress for two consecutive years toward federal No Child Left Behind Act goals.” According to Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, “the awards mostly would be given to schools that have high percentages of low-income students.”

Special Needs

Milwaukee Public Schools Must Search For Students Denied Special Services, Judge Rules.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (6/22, Borsuk) reports, “A federal judge has ordered Milwaukee Public Schools [MPS] to launch a wide search for students who didn’t get special education services they should have gotten between 2000 and 2005 and to figure out what needs to be done to make that up to them.” Under the ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein, “someone from outside the system” must “be hired to monitor work on providing education services to compensate the students or former students involved.” The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed against MPS by the organization Disability Rights Wisconsin. “Leaders on neither side in the case estimated how many people might be entitled to help, nor did they estimate how much money the help might cost.” Superintendent William Andrekopoulos said that the school system “would work to meet the terms of the decision.”

Safety & Security

Bloomberg Touts New York City School System As National Model For Achievement, Safety.

The Staten Island (NY) Advance (6/22) reports that in a weekly radio address on Sunday, New York City Mayor Bloomberg “said…that his efforts to obtain accountability in New York City’s public schools have led to historic gains for the safety of students.” The Staten Island Advance provides the text of Mayor Bloomberg’s address on its website. In the address, the mayor said that New York City public schools have become “a model of progress for the nation” over the past couple years because “math and reading test scores continue to rise; the achievement gap between students of different races is narrowing and…graduation rates are the highest they’ve been in more than 20 years.” He also claims that those achievement gains have “been matched by gains in school safety” because of the Impact School initiative, which began in 2004. The initiative “focused more resources and new management strategies on the handful of schools where disorder was threatening to get out of hand.”

Many Philadelphia Schools Still Seen As Dangerous.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (6/22) editorializes, “Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner toured two city schools last week and proclaimed a ‘new day’ when it comes to school safety.” However, “if what occurred inside the Philly schools just a couple of weeks ago reflects a ‘new day,’ then we’d hate to see what was going on in the old days.” A “two-inch-thick pile of reports” accumulated between June 1 and June 5 “offers a rare glimpse inside the classrooms and halls of city schools.” The Philadelphia Inquirer details some of the “incidents that occurred, all before lunch on” June 1. They include an elementary school fight “between two seventh graders,” one student threatening another with a pair of scissors, and an assault on a teacher involving a fire extinguisher. The Inquirer concludes, “The picture that quickly emerges shows that many schools remain dangerous. While there have been some improvements, the school district still has a lot of work to do.”

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