Updates and Information Provided by NEA
Alternate-Route Teacher Certification Programs Enrolling More STEM Candidates.
Education Week (8/19, Sawchuk) reported that alternative-route teacher program officials across the U.S. “say they are seeing increasing enrollments from career-changers with strong backgrounds in the highly sought-after fields of math, science, and technology.” Yet the “extent to which school district officials are primed to take advantage” of larger talent pools in STEM fields “depends on those officials’ ability to negotiate the factors affecting the teacher labor market,” say experts “familiar with hiring practices.” Education Week notes that although many states have alternate STEM teacher certification programs, the tightening labor market for teachers means some well-qualified candidates will not find jobs.
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In the Classroom
Classes Post 100 Percent Proficiency On California Algebra I Exams.
The Sacramento Bee (8/19, Lambert) reported that each “of the 118 seventh- and eighth-graders in Mark Freathy and Mary Chung’s classes at Elizabeth Pinkerton Middle School in Elk Grove was rated advanced or proficient in Algebra I, according to California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) scores released Tuesday.” Principal Patrick McDougall said this is the first time in his career that he had ever seen 100 percent of any teacher’s students meet standards. “I’ve had one in the high 90s, but it’s the first time a school I’ve been associated with has had 100 percent,” he added. Meanwhile, according to California schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell, “STAR results released this week show that,” overall, “California students made progress in math, science, English-language arts, and history-social science.”
Illinois Third Graders Outperform Eleventh Graders On Standardized Tests.
The AP (8/19) reported that Illinois middle school and elementary students “continue to outperform high school students in statewide standardized tests,” preliminary data released Wednesday reveals. According to the AP, 72.2 percent of third graders met or exceeded reading standards this year on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, while 56.9 percent or eleventh graders hit reading benchmarks on the Prairie State Achievement Exam. In Math, 85.2 percent of third graders hit benchmarks, while only 51.6 percent of eleventh graders met or exceeded performance targets.
On the Job
Nearly All New Jersey Teachers Deemed “Highly Qualified.”
The Star-Ledger (8/20, Rundquist) reports that “when New Jersey’s 1.39 million public school students enter their classrooms next month, almost all will find highly-qualified teachers waiting for them.” State Department of Education released today show that “nearly all of the state’s 88,000 teachers meet the federal definition of ‘highly qualified.’” The state’s sixth annual teacher survey of “teachers in 10 content areas showed that 99.7 percent of New Jersey teachers are qualified in the subjects they teach. Only about 263 failed to qualify.” Furthermore, “the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers in high-poverty schools is 99.1 percent, compared to 2004-05, when “poor schools were a full 10 percentage points behind their more well-off counterparts.” The Star-Ledger notes that “in some local districts…school officials said that while the highly qualified designation ‘sounds good,’ it may not mean much.”
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Targets Teacher Effectiveness.
The AP (8/19, Blankinship) reported that Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now focusing on teacher effectiveness, as it plans to spend “half a billion dollars in its quest to figure out what qualities make the best teachers and how to measure those qualities in the classroom.” The foundation’s project “has two parts: research to develop and test methods to rate teachers” and also experiments at school districts “to try out new ways of recruiting, training, assigning and assessing teachers.”
Florida District Among Finalists For Gates Foundation Teacher Improvement Grant. The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (8/20, Marshall) reports that “the Hillsborough County school system stands on the verge of getting a $100 million boost from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.” This week, the foundation asked Hillsborough “to submit a contract to carry out its proposal” for creating “a new corps of around 200 trained master teachers to evaluate their peers, and coach them for career-long improvement.” Under the proposal, “teachers would still have a chance to earn extra pay for boosting students’ performance on standardized tests and getting good principal evaluations, as they do now.” However, 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation would be the master teachers’ ratings. Other finalists “in the foundation’s latest, $500 million effort to remake U.S. public education by improving teacher effectiveness” include the “Memphis, Omaha, and Pittsburgh” school districts.
Denver Public Schools May Receive Up To $10 Million From The Gates Foundation. The Denver Post (8/20, Meyer) reports that “Denver Public Schools is likely to receive up to $10 million over three years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve teacher effectiveness.” The district’s grant proposal calls for teacher “performance management and development, including the creation of a multi-measure Teacher Performance Framework.” The Post notes that Denver Public Schools “lost out on a bid for even more money from the Gates Foundation, which chose four other districts and a group of charter schools to receive the largest awards in a competitive quest for $500 million in grants.”
Law & Policy
Texas Students Scramble To Comply With New Vaccine Rules Before School Starts.
The Dallas Morning News (8/20, Abshire) reports that the “usual last-minute stampede to get children vaccinated in time for the start of school” in Texas “has become even more frantic this year, thanks to new state immunization rules.” According to the Morning News, the new rules involve new shots mainly for kindergartners and seventh-graders. Schools “can turn away children who don’t have at least some of the new shots or a valid exemption.” The new requirements include doses of the Hepatitis A, chickenpox, meningococcal and combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines.
Kentucky Initiative Aims To Increase Graduation Rate.
The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader (8/20, Warren) reports that in 2008, nearly “6,500 students dropped out of Kentucky schools…and faced an uncertain employment future without a high school diploma.” On Wednesday Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear announced that she will spearhead an “effort — called Graduate Kentucky: A Community Approach” — that is “aimed at developing a statewide action plan to raise Kentucky graduation rates and help prepare more young people for success in life.” Next month, Beshear will host a summit with Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of The Children’s Defense Fund, as keynote speaker. “Gov. Steve Beshear (D) will join other state and educational leaders at the meeting, which will include a panel of students and breakout sessions for discussion of best practices and ideas for raising graduation rates.”
Special Needs
Duncan Addresses Group Of State Special Education Officials.
Christina Samuels wrote in Education Week’s (8/19) On Education blog that on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke “before a group of state special education officials gathered in Washington, pledging his commitment to prevent ‘horrific tragedies’ resulting from inappropriate use of seclusion and restraints on students.” Duncan also asked officials “to be a part of the development of common state standards to make sure the unique needs of students with disabilities are considered.” In addition, he spoke “about the broad policy agenda that the Obama administration is pursuing” for special education.
Facilities
Fifteen Percent Of Elementary School Made From Recycled Materials.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/20, Tribune) reports that “at Gearld Wright Elementary School, ‘green’ isn’t just a trendy buzzword. Caring for the environment colors everything that happens at this West Valley City school,” whose building “recently became LEED-certified.” Because “ninety percent of the” building “has an outside view…less electricity is needed to keep it bright.” Furthermore, “fifteen percent of the building was made from recycled materials,” and the inside of the building “is full of ‘low-emitting materials,’ says Principal Marilyn Laughlin, noting the carpet and paint don’t give off toxins, a benefit for asthmatic students in particular.”
School Finance
Stimulus Having Positive Impact In Colorado Schools, Education Stakeholders Say.
The Colorado Independent (8/19, Redding) reported though Secretary Arne Duncan “may be talking big about promoting innovation” with stimulus dollars, Colorado schools “won’t see any sweeping developments this fall.” However, stimulus funds are making an impact in Colorado schools, as they are “being used to prop up current programs and to lay the groundwork for more ambitious future change.” The Independent adds that Colorado is not alone, as a recent Government Accountability Office report found that districts across the U.S. “are using their federal dollars to keep teachers and offset state cuts.”
Cosby Calls On Pennsylvania Lawmakers To Spare Public Schools From Budget Cuts.
The AP (8/19) reported that comedian Bill Cosby joined a rally Wednesday in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg, PA, calling on lawmakers not to cut school funding. Cosby gave a short speech in his home state as part of a celebration “marking the steady improvements in Pennsylvania student’s test scores in math and reading.” In the speech, “he said taxpayers get their money’s worth from their investment in public schools,” noting that “it costs less than $5,000 a year to educate a young person, but $33,000 a year to incarcerate someone.” Described by the AP as “a well-known education advocate,” Cosby joined Gov. Ed Rendell (D) “and educators at the event” in pressuring “the state Senate’s Republican majority” to boost state funding for public schools.
Also in the News
New Videogame Acts As Educational Tool For Swine Flu Pandemic.
AFP (8/20) reports that a new computer game has been designed “to make people think about how to respond to the swine flu pandemic.” The game, entitled “The Great Flu,” allows players to “choose whether or not to stockpile anti-viral drugs,” while also deploying “research teams to new areas of outbreak as the number of infections and deaths rises and more countries are affected.” Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at Rotterdam’s Erasmus Medical Centre, says the game “is very realistic and has an educational value,” adding that “it informs people how the virus spreads, what the flu is and on the ways to fight the pandemic.” However, “Deborah MacKenzie, a consultant, writing on the New Scientist website, said she found that the game was flawed because it was unclear what effect the action that players took had on the virus.”
Elementary School Converted Into South Dakota’s First Children’s Museum.
KELO-TV Sioux Falls (8/19, Johnson) reported on the old Central Elementary school that was purchased by Larson Manufacturing and will be turned into the first Children’s Museum in South Dakota. “The main floor will be full of exhibits” and the museum “will feature a stream and pond outside where kids can do anything from building dams to watching fish.” Suzanne Hegg of the Children’s Museum said, “Everything in our museum is going to be something you can touch very much unlike other museums they might have gone to. It’s really going to look like a huge playground.”
NEA in the News
Outgoing NJNEA President Says Protecting Teacher Pensions Among Accomplishments.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/20, Ocasio) reports that “four years ago, Joyce Powell was elected president of the New Jersey Education Association, which represents 200,000 past and present teachers, school staff, and college students.” At the end of this month, her term ends. On Sept. 1, Powell will “join the executive committee of the National Education Association for a three-year term.” She spoke to the Star-Ledger about her term as NJEA president. Powell said that her greatest achievements during that term were “protecting payments into the pension system, obtaining health benefits for retirees,” and “establishing the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning” for students.
Virginia, DC Schools Suggest Sixth-Grade Girls Receive HPV Vaccine.
The Washington Post (8/21, B1, Alcindor) reports on the front of its Metro section, “For the first time since the Food and Drug Administration approved the controversial vaccine in June 2006, schools in [DC] and Virginia are asking that girls entering sixth grade receive the vaccine designed to protect them against HPV.” Opponents of the policy fear that “the drug has not been tested enough and that parents have not been properly educated about potential side effects.” Supporters, however, say the vaccine “will help millions of young people avoid contracting one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the nation.” The Post notes that Virginia has a more liberal opt-out policy, as “parents can simply choose not to have their daughters vaccinated.” In DC, “parents must fill out a form affirming their decision.”
DC Students Take Advantage Of Free Vaccination Clinic. The Washington Post (8/21, B3, Alcindor) reports that students and parents “packed the hallways and gym” of Kelly Miller Middle School in D.C. Thursday “to be vaccinated in time for the first day of school Monday.” Though some parents complained about hour-long waits, “most said they were grateful for the free clinic.” According to the Post, new vaccines this year included the pneumococcal vaccine, chicken pox vaccine and the human papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine.
In the Classroom
US Students Show Little Progress On International Test.
Mary Ann Zehr wrote in a “Curriculum Matters” blog for Education Week (8/20) that according to an analysis released this week by ED’s Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. students “show little distinction compared with their peers in most other countries in reading, mathematics, or science at any grade level or age.” Also, according to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007, American students “are near the bottom of the pack in math.” The report “caught the attention” of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who “said in a statement, ‘Today’s report is another wake-up call that our students are treading the waters of academic achievement while other countries’ students are swimming faster and farther.’” Duncan went on to push for common national standards to boost U.S students’ achievement.
On the Job
Maryland District Launches Campaign To Reinforce Dress Code Among Teachers.
The Washington Post /Baltimore Sun (8/21, B2, Williams) reports that teachers in the Howard County, MD school district “are being told to ditch their inappropriate duds in the workplace.” The Post notes that the Howard district “held a fashion show for 200 new teachers that showed them appropriate — and inappropriate — ways to dress in the classroom.” Also, this year, the school system has introduced a pamphlet titled “Expectations for Professional Attire” for employees. The guidelines “were devised after officials noticed a decline in professional dress among some teachers.”
Philadelphia “Renaissance” Initiative Aims To Reinvigorate Low-Performing Schools.
The AP (8/21, Matheson) reports that under Philadelphia’s “Renaissance Schools” initiative, “more than two dozen of the city’s worst schools are being put under the microscope as education officials begin assessing which ones will be essentially shut down and reopened next year with new staffs and new academic focus.” The initiative aims to “reinvigorate the poorest-performing schools that have continuously failed to educate district students.” The AP notes that similar efforts have already taken place in cities throughout the US including Chicago and Hartford, CT. “In Hartford, some buildings were given academic themes — such as Latino studies — and staff from custodians to principals had to reapply for their jobs.” According to Superintendent Steven Adamowski, after “the changes two years ago, Hartford is no longer ranked last on Connecticut’s standardized tests.”
Experts Say Systemic Education Reforms May Help Curb Teacher Dropout Rate.
KOB-TV Albuquerque (8/20, Dyson) reported that “while many worry about the numbers of students dropping out of school, there’s another dropout rate that needs attention, too: Teachers.” According to KOB, “in New Mexico and across the nation, the pattern is about the same: one-third of all teachers quit after the first three years, and after five years-it’s almost half,” nearly “the same as the state’s drop out rate for students.” Some “studies show that even in times of a teacher shortage, there’s no shortage of experienced, qualified teachers — just a shortage of teachers who are willing to go back to the classroom.” Experts say that the solution “is a real change in education-systemic change” on the national level.
Law & Policy
Virginia District Drops Policy That Fails Students For Missing Three Classes.
The Washington Post (8/21, B1, Johnson) reports on the front of its Metro section that the Fairfax County, VA school district has dropped a policy that automatically fails any student who misses three classes in a quarter without a legitimate excuse. However, Fairfax County principals still “have a list of ways teachers can punish students who skip and reward those who show up, such as giving points for class participation and credit for turning in homework or pop quizzes.” According to the Post, further disciplinary measures include “detention, taking away parking or extracurricular privileges, and meetings with parents.”
Special Needs
Proposal To Use Vouchers To Curb Special Ed Overclassification Analyzed.
Christina Samuels wrote in an “On Special Education” blog for Education Week (8/20) about a suggestion by the Manhattan Institute’s Marcus A. Winters and Jay P. Greene that vouchers could make the special education system “function better.” Winters and Greene “have written several papers in support of special education vouchers, and their latest report, released Tuesday, says the voucher program in Florida, called McKay Scholarships, has worked to slow down mislabeling of students as being in need of special education.” Samuels adds that research chronicling the “tremendous growth in special education over the last few decades, along with the fact that much of this growth has been confined to the mildest form of learning disability,” suggests that vouchers may help curb special ed overclassification.
Facilities
School Construction Delayed By Weather, Asbestos.
Iowa’s Ottumwa Courier (8/20, Howk) reported that “progress on the construction of Davis County’s new high school has been hindered by rainy weather lately, as equipment sits until the ground is dry enough to resume grading.” In addition, the construction has “been hampered by a delay in razing the old Vocational Agriculture building,” which “must be removed to make room for the new school.” But before the vocational building can be removed, the ongoing “abatement of asbestos” at the site “has to be completed.” Larry Dix “of Story Construction, the district’s construction manager,” said that the construction team found more asbestos than they had expected. That, “compounded with the recent rainy weather, has led to the reworking of a new plan submitted for approval by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.”
School Finance
Schwarzenegger Proposes Education Reforms For Race To The Top.
The Los Angeles Times (8/21, Song, Felch) reports California “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) called on legislators Thursday to adopt sweeping education reforms that would dramatically reshape California’s public education system and qualify the state for competitive federal school funding.” The goal of Schwarzenegger’s proposal “is to boost California’s chances to qualify for $4.35 billion in federal grants, known as ‘Race to the Top.’” Yet, according to the Times, “many of his proposals go far beyond those needed for eligibility.” Under the plan, California would adopt “a merit pay system that would reward effective teachers,” abolish “the current cap on the number of charter schools that can open every year,” and allow “students at low-performing campuses to transfer to a school of their choosing.” Teachers unions have “criticized Schwarzenegger’s proposal for caving to federal demands.”
LA Mayor Supports Administration’s School Reform Efforts. MSNBC Live (8/20, 11:08 am) featured an interview with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) regarding several topics, including school reform. The mayor said, “I support president Obama and Arne Duncan in their effort to transform our public schools. That’s what we’ve been trying to do for four years with resistance from that school district.” He also noted that in nine of the 10 lowest performing schools that he operates, “English proficiency is up,” and in “eight out of ten, math” scores have increased.
Also in the News
Danza Reality Show Approved For Filming At Philadelphia High School.
People Magazine (8/21, Egan) reports that “actor Tony Danza is heading to Philadelphia to shoot A&E’s new reality show Teach at Northeast High School” after a 3-1 vote by “the city’s School Reform Commission” on Wednesday “to approve the filming of 13 episodes of the show.” In addition to co-teaching a tenth-grade English class, “Danza will also help out with the prom and school plays.” People notes that after Danza “shot the pilot of the show in Yonkers, NY…the city’s school board vetoed future episodes, so production moved to Philadelphia.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/21, Graham) adds that during filming, “cameras will not be visible to students in the classroom.” A spokesman for the district has said that Danza’s “students are now being selected. … Those pupils chosen to come in for auditions attend a Northeast program for students who want to be in the entertainment industry.” The Inquirer also notes that Danza “holds a bachelor’s degree in history education from the University of Dubuque.” Responding to the district’s decision to allow filming, Danza said in a statement, “I am humbled, honored and so grateful that the City of Philadelphia has decided to let us try this. I have always wanted to teach, so this is a gift for me. I will work hard to make sure I don’t let anyone down, especially the kids.’”
The New York Daily News (8/21, Pesce) notes that “the school district is accepting a $3,500 per-episode fee from A&E, according to the Inquirer, which will also chip in for facilities and personnel expenses.” In addition, “district officials [will] have the right to view a rough cut of each episode and object to any footage they deem inappropriate. They can also end the series at any time.”
NBC Philadelphia /AP (8/20, Masterson) reported on its website that critics say filming at the high school “would be disruptive to students” and that “the city and school district should not allow Danza to use…children to reignite his” career. Meanwhile, “some district officials and Mayor Michael Nutter are supporting the show, saying that it will put much-needed focus on urban education.”
More Schools Offering Vegetarian Meal Options.
U.S. News and World Report (8/20, Miners) reports that nationwide, school nutrition professionals are educating “children about making good food choices, including an emphasis on introducing children to vegetarianism.” U.S. News added that a new survey by the School Nutrition Association “says almost 2 out of 3 U.S. schools now offer vegetarian fare for lunch on a regular basis,” a 40 percent increase since 2003. However, “more than 77 percent of food-service directors surveyed” said the poor economy is hampering efforts, as nearly 60 percent of districts “have raised their school lunch prices this year to keep up with the cost of preparation, whereas two years ago only a third of districts had to increase their prices.” Also, more students “are participating in the federal free and reduced-price meals program.”
NEA in the News
Proposal Would Require Texas Schools To Teach “Milestones” Of Conservative Politics.
The San Antonio Express News (8/21, Scharrer) reports, “Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority — but nothing about liberals — under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks.” According to the Express News, “Whether students will also be exposed to liberal examples from the ebb and flow of American politics is hard to predict” because conservatives account for 10 of the 15 members on the state education board. Conservative board member Ken Mercer (R-San Antonio) said that he “thinks students should study both sides to ‘see what the differences are and be able to define those differences.’” Mercer would recommend including “liberal” groups such as “the National Education Association, MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, and the Texas Freedom Network” to the state’s history curriculum.
NEA Criticizes Administration’s Race To The Top Guidelines.
The AP (8/21, Quaid) reported that “the National Education Association pointedly criticized the Obama administration, saying the president is relying too heavily on charter schools and standardized tests in his attempt to overhaul the nation’s schools.” The NEA is particularly concerned that the $5 billion Race To The Top competition “funded through the federal stimulus law, prioritizes charter schools and performance pay for teachers based on their students’ academic performance.” In a statement, the NEA wrote, “We urge the administration to step outside of this narrow agenda.” Also, regarding rules that say “states cannot have restrictions on the use of student test scores in the teacher evaluation process,” the NEA said, “It is inappropriate to require that states be able to link data on student achievement to individual teachers for the purpose of teacher and principal evaluation,” noting that “the federal rule would interfere with union contracts.”
The Washington Post (8/22, Anderson) noted that “The National Education Association’s criticism of Obama’s $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” initiative came nearly a month after he unveiled the competitive grant program” and “a week before the end of the public-comment period on the administration’s proposal.” According to the Post, the NEA’s statement “reflected deep divisions over the administration’s education agenda within a constituency largely loyal to the Democratic Party.”
In the Classroom
Mississippi Civil Rights Curriculum Effort Applauded.
Tennessee’s Commercial Appeal (8/22, Byrd) reported, “Indeed, Mississippi’s history of cruelty during the civil rights movement is well-documented.” But now, “the state’s public schools plan to embark on a test program to teach the lessons from the civil rights era to students in every grade.” Beginning next month, “four school systems will…participate in the pilot effort to test the civil rights curriculum in high schools.” The Commercial Appeal asserts that this “is a laudable effort in a state that, for the most part, no longer tries to hide from its shameful past.” The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi “will help Mississippi teachers prepare to accurately tell the civil rights story to students.” The Commercial Appeal concludes that “the emphasis should not be on assigning guilt or creating animosity. It should be to help future generations clearly understand one of the most significant periods in Mississippi history.”
Maryland Districts Investing In STEM Programs.
The Washington Post (8/23, Goodman) reported that school systems in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties in Maryland are working to enrich their STEM programs “by using hands-on teaching, guest speakers and real-world experiments and applications.” According to the Post, some Charles County fourth-graders “will take part in Magic Planet, a program that incorporates digital devices…to teach earth science concepts such as climate and geological history,” said spokeswoman Katie O’Malley-Simpson. Also, St. Mary’s STEM Academy, open to elementary and middle school students currently, “will expand to high school this year, said Linda Musial, STEM supervisor.”
Schools In Maryland Counties Ramp Up Efforts To Promote Safe Driving.
The Washington Post (8/22, Goodman) reported that southern Maryland school systems “are ramping up student safe-driving awareness with students’ help.” St. Mary’s County’s highway safety program “is offering $200 grants this year to student governments that have proposals to raise awareness in their schools, such as through pamphlets at football games, morning announcements and poster competitions,” says said coordinator Jackie Beckman. Also, Katie O’Malley-Simpson, a spokeswoman for Charles County schools says in her system, student organizations researched youth driving statistics “and created public service announcements. Some schools had a Red for Dead day, in which students wore red to represent a young driver who had died and couldn’t speak or interact with their classmates all day.”
California Districts Offer Credit Recovery Courses To Keep Students In School.
California’s Contra Costa Times (8/24, Tasci) reports that as school systems in California “continue move into the last year of determining a true dropout rate, districts are using their resources to keep students in the classroom and engaged.” Some districts “offer a credit recovery program, which allows the students who are behind in classes or failing a core course the opportunity to take the class online or during school hours.” Chaffey Joint Union High School District assistant superintendent of alternative education, Bill Bertrand, said that the district’s online credit recovery courses allow student flexibility “to work on their studies while at home with the supervision of a teacher who they check in with.” Meanwhile, the Rialto Unified district allows “students in the credit recovery program [to] take the classes they need on Saturday.”
On the Job
Several Rhode Island District Have Unsettled Teacher Contracts.
The Providence (RI) Journal (8/24, Jordan) reports, “With just days to go before the start of school, a high number of school districts” in Rhode Island “have unsettled teacher contracts, an indication of the tough financial times facing communities, say education and union officials.” According to Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, “the bones of contention are similar to previous years,” with “school committees trying to hold the line on salaries and increase the percentage teachers pay for health-insurance premiums, and teachers looking for wage increases and opposing increased contributions to health coverage.” Meanwhile, “education officials say they are monitoring the unsettled contracts, hoping none devolve into strikes or work-to-rule actions.”
DC Schools Chancellor Launches Teacher Performance Initiative.
The Washington Post (8/23, Turque) reported that as Michelle Rhee begins her third year as D.C. schools chancellor, she “is clearly turning more attention to what happens in the classroom.” According to the Post, a new “DCPS Teaching and Learning Framework” document now spells out teaching performance benchmarks in great detail, and teachers “will be subject to revamped evaluations based in part on the new teaching and learning framework, which will deploy a corps of ‘master teachers’ to join principals in assessing instructors.” According to the Post, the changes “are an attempt to make performance reviews more objective and less vulnerable to school politics or personal issues.”
Schools Expected To Be Front Line In Fight Against Swine Flu.
The Washington Post (8/24, Hernandez, Brown) reports that one of the “main battlegrounds” in the fight against swine flu this year could be will be schools. However, schools “are likely to serve as centers for mass immunizations, which could sharply reduce H1N1′s reach,” federal, state and local authorities says. Though swine flu “does not appear to be more dangerous than the typical seasonal flu,” thus far this year, medical authorities “are concerned that it could infect many more people — thereby increasing the potential number of deaths — because so few people have immunity against it.”
Law & Policy
Texas Legislature Approves $200 Million For Teacher Performance Pay.
The Dallas Morning News (8/22, Stutz) reported that the Texas Legislature is “dangling a pot of nearly $200 million this year” in teacher incentive pay. Though teacher groups “remain skeptical of the program,” Texas officials “are forging ahead on the District Awards for Teacher Excellence, or DATE.” DATE is the “largest merit pay plan in the nation, and it’s sending millions of dollars to Dallas and several other North Texas school districts that decided to participate.” Under the DATE program, 60 percent of the funds “must be used for bonuses based on student performance.” Funds remaining in the program “can be used as stipends for teachers at hard-to-staff schools or in high-demand subjects such as math and science.” Also, stipends can be used for professional development.
New Mexico Will Not Add Opt-Out Clause To Pledge Of Allegiance Recitation Rule.
The AP (8/22, Baker) reported that New Mexico’s education secretary, Veronica Garcia, “announced Friday that the state rule requiring the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited daily in public schools won’t be altered to allow students to opt out.” Garcia, who “had been considering amending the rule to say students who didn’t want to participate would be exempted and not face retaliation,” decided “that adopting the change could create the mistaken impression that the pledge is not important in New Mexico’s classrooms.” In a statement, she wrote, “The department believes that the existing rule and practice in schools respects the rights of all students. … Any issues related to rights of students will be handled at the local school district level.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the education department said that “school districts without pledge-related policies will be encouraged to adopt them.”
Efforts Initiated To Change Practice Of Districts Sharing Student Information.
USA Today (8/24, Martin) reports, “Privacy concerns have touched off a debate this summer about whether schools should change the practice of sharing student contact information with outside sources.” Currently, school districts may “sell or share student lists that contain information such as the names, ages, phone numbers and home addresses of students.” Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 schools can “decide how much student information they designate as public record for use in school directories, yearbooks, and other school publications.” But efforts have been initiated within some school systems to end the practice. In Sioux Falls, SD, for instance, one parent “formed a group to oppose a school policy that shares its student list.” And “In Plano, Texas, the school board decided in June to stop giving out students’ phone numbers, home and e-mail addresses after parents complained that some companies were using overly aggressive sales tactics when contacting parents.”
Special Needs
Autistic Children’s Families In Legal Fight With School Districts Over Service Dogs.
The AP (8/21, Tanner) reported that some schools want to ban the use of trained dogs to assist autistic students, but families “are fighting back.” According to the AP, two autistic elementary school students “recently won court orders in Illinois allowing their dogs to accompany them to school. Their lawsuits follow others in California and Pennsylvania over schools’ refusal to allow dogs that parents say calm their children, ease transitions and even keep the kids from running into traffic.” School districts say their efforts to ban the dogs are not discriminatory, but are intended to “protect the safety and health of other students who may be allergic or scared of dogs.” Yet, families of the autistic children say the dogs are in integral part of the children’s therapy.
Independent Monitor To Oversee Milwaukee Schools’ Compliance With Special Education Ruling.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/24, Richards) reports that last week, a federal judge “appointed an independent monitor to oversee Milwaukee Public Schools as it prepares to find — and compensate — what could be thousands of students denied special education services between 2000 and 2005.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein recently ordered the district to “identify all current and former students whose special education evaluation occurred more than 10 days after the deadline that was in effect between September 2000 and June 2005.” Judge Goodstein has “released documents that outline how to search for members of [that] class.” In addition, “the district…must contact students who were suspended more than 10 days in any school year during that five-year period.”
Program Allows High School Students To Complete Up To Two Years Of College.
The Miami Herald (8/25, McGrory) reports, “The Miami-Dade school system has a new option for high schoolers looking to rack up college credits.” Through The Academy for Advanced Academics, “juniors and seniors from five Miami-Dade high schools” can “take classes at Florida International University.” The program will allow them to have completed up to “to two full years of college” upon high school graduation. Participants “will take college classes with the undergraduates at FIU” in the morning” and “stay on campus in the afternoon for their Advanced Placement classes, college-level courses taught by high-school teachers.” The Miami Herald points out that “the new program is similar to the district’s School for Advanced Studies, which lets high schoolers take classes at Miami Dade College.”
In the Classroom
Looping Allows Teacher To Graduate To Second Grade With Class.
The Baltimore Sun (8/25, Fuller) reports that the majority of students in Anne Arundel, MD, “returned to classes Monday and were greeted by a new teacher in a different classroom.” But the students in “one second-grade class” returned to the same teacher they had last year in first grade. “Sherryl Barton, who taught first grade last year at Broadneck Elementary School in Arnold, has graduated with her class and Monday began teaching the same class of children as second-graders, in a process called ‘looping.’” A study published in 1997 by the Northeast and Islands Educational Lab at Brown University said that “looping benefits students by providing continuity that allows teachers to quickly delve into learning because of previous knowledge of students’ strengths and weaknesses.” The practice was also found to help “build stronger student-teacher relationships and” alleviate “back-to-school anxiety for students.”
Computer Bug Leaves Students In Maryland District Without Classes To Attend.
The Washington Post (8/25, Hernandez, Brown) reports that students at numerous Prince George’s County, MD middle and high schools had few classes to attend Monday “when a problem with the county’s new computer system left hundreds of them with gaps in their class schedules.” The $4.1 million SchoolMax system was intended to facilitate better tracking of students and give parents “better access to information about their children’s performance.” Yet, since introduced last year, SchoolMax “has been plagued by bugs.”
Advocacy Group Calls For Return To Play-Based Teaching for Young Students.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/25, Stewart) reports that “child development experts have long bemoaned the structured, test-driven course of early education. But a national push for universal kindergarten and preschool has raised the stakes.” Now, school leaders are being “pressed to show these public programs are a worthwhile investment,” which “means teaching and testing literacy and math skills.” As instruction time for the youngest student increases, “child advocates…worry” that “play, exercise, and exploration in most public kindergartens is vanishing.” According to Edward Miller, program director for the Alliance for Childhood, “numerous studies show kids who engage in complex socio-dramatic play develop higher levels of thinking, stronger language and social skills and more empathy and imagination than children who don’t.” In addition, he adds, “play…lowers stress.” The Alliance calls for educators to “return to play-based teaching, warning the nation is ‘blindly’ pursuing educational policies that could…damage the intellectual, social, and physical development of” children.
Study: Test Scores Up At New York Schools Led By Principal Training Program Grads.
The New York Times (8/25, A18, Hernandez) reports that graduates of the New York City Leadership Academy, designed to “inculcate school principals with unconventional thinking” have “gone on to help drive up English test scores even though the graduates were often placed at schools with histories of academic failure,” according to a study conducted by New York University’s Institute for Education and Social Policy. The academy “was created in 2003 as a centerpiece of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s efforts to shake up the city’s chronically underperforming school system.”
Education Week (8/24, Aarons) reported that a new study of New York City’s “vaunted training program for principals finds that schools led by the program’s elementary and middle school leaders made gains in English-language arts at a faster pace than other city schools led by new principals.” The study, conducted by New York University’s Institute for Education and Social Policy, examines “average test scores for schools run by graduates of the first two cohorts trained by the Aspiring Principals Program.” The Aspiring Principals Program “is run by the New York City Leadership Academy, an organization launched with backing from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, but independent from the school system.”
On the Job
Seasonal Flu Strains May Complicate Schools’ Preparations For Swine Flu.
USA Today (8/25, Toppo) reports that as schools open across the U.S. with the next few weeks, school officials “are preparing for the return of the new flu strain, which first appeared almost simultaneously last April in Mexico and the USA.” Meanwhile, the seasonal flu is also “making its annual return this fall — a combination that is creating uncertainty and anxiety as medical personnel prepare for both strains.” In response, some schools “are preparing to turn their gyms and cafeterias into vaccination clinics, and trying to identify spaces that could serve as isolation rooms for the sick.” Also, numerous schools systems are developing systems to analyze “infection patterns in daily absentee reports.”
Duncan Says Schools Should Consider Online, Live Classes For Swine Flu Absentees. Liz Bowie writes in the Baltimore Sun (8/25, Bowie) Inside Ed blog, “If a school system sends home dozens of students in the face of an H1N1 outbreak, how would students keep up with their classwork?” The U.S. Department of Education is urging school districts “to start carefully considering” solutions for that issue. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan suggested on Monday that school officials think about “providing online classes or live classes with video coming over the Internet to students at home.” Or, “at a more basic level, the schools might have technology that would allow a teacher to have a conference call with many students at the same time.”
District Officials In California Will Focus On Keeping Sick Students Home. The San Jose Mercury News (8/25, Noguchi) reports, “From zero tolerance for fevers, to teaching kids to wash hands for the length of two rounds of ‘Happy Birthday,’ educators are ramping up their fight against the swine flu this school year.” But instead of “closing entire schools,” education officials are now looking at keeping “ill kids at home,” a strategy that poses “multiple challenges.” For instance, “sometimes parents don’t want to keep children at home, for lack of child care. And not everyone knows when a child’s fever reaches 102 degrees Fahrenheit, the level of a flu symptom.” To address the later issue, the San Jose Unified School District “has on hand a store of thermometers, donated last spring by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, to give to needy parents.” Meanwhile, students who must stay home due to illness “can get assignments via the student portal to the district’s Web-based locker program.”
Teachers Spending More Out-Of-Pocket For Classroom Supplies.
The Victorville (CA) Daily Press (8/24, Lindstrom) reported, “Teachers have long coughed up personal money to strengthen their classroom supply stock, but the out-of-pocket costs are increasingly going up as school districts trim budgets amid declining revenue and state cuts.” A study in 2007 by The National School Supply and Equipment Association shows that “about 93 percent of teachers spend personal money on school supplies for their classroom,” and that they “spend on average about $395 out of pocket annually.” First year teachers, meanwhile, spend “an average of $770, according to a study by Perry Research Professional.” According to “some critics and policy analysts…too much public education money goes to educational bureaucracies, leaving less for the classroom.” However, “many teachers don’t blame administrative decisions for budget shortfalls,” because, “they say they understand spending personal money on supplies comes with the job – especially amid a statewide budget crisis.”
Safety & Security
Wisconsin School’s $50,000 Security System Provides Deterrent To Misbehavior On Campus.
The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune (8/24, Wise) reported that “the Wisconsin Rapids School District invested $50,000 — $25,000 from matching federal grant money — in a new security system at Lincoln High School about four years ago.” Included in the system are “about 50 video cameras monitoring school hallways and areas outside the building.” Cameras are located in “high traffic areas, spots where past student issues or altercations have occurred,” with “the cafeteria and parking lots” being key areas. “The system is used to look at potential vandalism, car crashes in the parking lot or student fights in the hallway,” although “there isn’t anyone viewing camera feeds during the day.” District safety director, Tom Helgestad, said, “It won’t necessarily prevent, but it’s a tool to help manage the facility.” High School Principal Ryan Christianson added that “students are aware of the camera system in the building…which helps provide the largest deterrent of all.”
Facilities
DC Completes $100 Million In Renovations To Aging Schools.
The Washington Post (8/25, Turque, Craig) reports that for many D.C. students, Monday “was not only the first day of classes but also the first in newly renovated buildings.” Over the summer, “more than $100 million worth of improvements” were completed on four District schools. According to the Post, “The refurbished D.C. schools represent the next step in” Mayor Adrian Fenty’s (D) “ambitious overhaul of a system notorious for its decrepit, aging buildings.” While “last summer’s objectives included basic fixes to 75 schools,” this year’s goals are focused on “re-creating schools that combine energy-conserving features and natural light with restoration of original wood floors and masonry.” Throughout “the next two years, major work is expected to transform” three high schools.
Also in the News
Omission Of Spanish Conquest From Textbooks In Mexico Stirs Controversy.
The AP (8/24) reported that a new sixth-grade world history textbook “is causing a stir in Mexico because it leaves out any mention of the Spanish Conquest.” According to the AP, “Few events have shaped Mexico’s culture, ethnicity and history more than the 1521 conquest.” Though Assistant Education Secretary Fernando Gonzalez “told the Mexican newspaper El Universal” that middle-school history texts “would address the topic,” some academics “want at least a mention included” in the sixth-grade texts.
School Districts Across US Trim Bus Service.
The AP (8/24, Rhor) reported that cash-strapped school districts “from California to Florida have cut bus routes to chip away at spending.” According to the AP, about 23 percent “of school districts surveyed by the American Association of School Administrators say they are reducing or eliminating school transportation for the coming school year as part of cost-cutting measures.” That figure is up from the 14 percent of districts that considered trimming bus service during the last school year.
The AP (8/24) reported that parents in some Indiana districts “say they are frustrated with changes in school bus routes that districts say are designed to save money.” School officials say the changes “are needed because many districts are facing steep budget cuts as a result of changes in the state’s property tax system.”