Duncan Calls Unrest Over President’s Speech To Children “Silly.”
CBS News (9/8) reports on it’s website that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said he didn’t mind the criticism” the Obama administration has received from some parents and Republicans over the President’s planned speech aimed at schoolchildren. “At the end of the day, if the president motivates one C-student to become a B-student or one student who is thinking about dropping out to stay in school and take their education seriously, it’s all worth it,” Duncan told CBS News chief Washington correspondent and anchor Bob Schieffer on ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday.” According to the AP (9/7) Duncan noted that students do not have to watch the speech once they get to school, and that “Obama had no intention beyond talking ‘about personal responsibility and challenging students to take their education very, very seriously.’”

The New York Times (9/8, Dillon) reports that “After reading the text on Monday, even Jim Greer, the Florida Republican Party chairman who last week accused the president of seeking to use the speech to foist “socialist ideology” on schoolchildren, said he could find nothing to criticize in its text.” The speech has been posted on the White House website.

Educators Cite Scheduling, Technology As Barriers To Airing President’s Speech In Class. The Los Angeles Times (9/5, Landsberg, Song) reported, “President Obama’s speech to students next week may be a ‘teachable moment,’ as some educators see it, but it will not be a command performance” in “many Southern California classrooms” on Tuesday. Some educators cite “a combination of scheduling, academic priorities, and sheer bandwidth” as reasons why they will not air the president’s address. James Stratton, superintendent of schools for La Cañada Unified School District, for instance, said that “the speech will be shown only in those classes where it ‘has any relation to the California content standards for that particular class.’” In the Los Angeles Unified district, meanwhile, “most…students will miss the speech unless they watch it at home: The academic year doesn’t begin until Wednesday in the majority of district schools, so only the 87 that are on a year-round schedule will have the opportunity to show it.”

Furor Over Obama Speech Viewed As Extension Of Partisan Politics. Tim Rutten wrote in a column for the Los Angeles Times (9/5, Rutten) though some of the public anxiety of health care reform is understandable, given its deeply personal implications, there “is no similar way to rationalize the bizarre controversy now raging over President Obama’s plan to deliver a brief televised address on Tuesday to the nation’s grammar school children.” Rutten noted that according to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Obama will “‘challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning.’ … Sounds innocuous.” Ultimately, Rutten says Republican officials fueling the hysteria “are playing a dangerous game with an unhinged segment of public opinion that regards Obama not as an elected official with whom they disagree, but as an illegitimate usurper of the presidency.”

Free your students from boring, time-consuming test-prep workbooks with a proven, 3-step approach that can be applied throughout the curriculum in a meaningful way. The revised and expanded edition of Better Answers helps you and your students adapt to high-stakes tests that require written responses. Click here for details!

In the Classroom
Educators Grapple With How Best To Address Sept 11. Attacks With Students.
The Dayton (OH) Daily News (9/5, Kissell) reports that as the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches, educators in Ohio are grappling with how to explain the event to their students. “Scott Blake, media relations specialist for the Ohio Department of Education, said it’s up to each school district to determine how best to address 9/11 in the classroom.” That decision, however, is difficult for some. Jayne Risner, a teacher at Valley Forge Elementary School in Huber Heights, “said 9/11 is not an easy topic to tackle in a room of third-graders — many of whom were born in 2001. … She and other teachers” at the school plan to “talk about the significance of that date and what happened. Staff and students – dressed in red, white and blue – will pause for moments of silence to mark the time each of the towers fell, she said.” Meanwhile, Older students will have a chance to express their feelings in writing.”

Texas High Schools Adding Engineering Courses At Brisk Pace.
The Dallas Morning News (9/7, Unmuth) reported that Texas high schools “are racing to add engineering courses as state universities battle to increase the low number of students pursuing degrees in math and science disciplines.” According to the Morning news, Texas schools “are trying to set up alliances with local university engineering programs and industry leaders to better train teachers and write course guides.” Also, officials at Texas engineering schools “are frustrated with high dropout rates from their programs.”

Students Gain Work Experience With Local Employers Through Cooperative Education Program.
The Starkville (MS) Dispatch (9/8, Mamrack) reports that under the Columbus High School cooperative education program, “employers showing confidence in Columbus…students are being rewarded with motivated, dependable and cost-effective employees.” In return, “the students gain valuable work experience.” The program is “in its second year of operation.” It prepares “students for successful careers by helping them acquire skills through vocational programs at” the school’s McKellar Technology Center, then places “them in professional positions, through a network of cooperative industries and employers, allowing them to utilize their skills.” Work sites include “the Columbus Air Force Base Commissary, Sonic Drive-In,” and Taco Bell.

Elementary School Credit Union Aims To Teach Financial Responsibility.
WTVY-TV Dothan, AL (9/8, Bradberry) reports, “At Windham Elementary in Daleville [AL], kids are making deposits into their very own savings accounts.” Each week, students will be allowed to make deposits “into their Kirby Kangaroo savings account” at the First Step Credit Union. “The accounts are through a partnership with the Army Aviation Credit Union.” Each time their accounts reach “a $5 milestone,” they will receive “a toy from the [credit union's] treasure box.”

Pennsylvania Student “Growth Model” Seen By Some As Unproven, Scientific.
Pennsylvania’s Morning Call (9/8, Esack) reports that Pennsylvania’s new growth model “compares individual student scores from year to year to track progress.” According to “results released last week on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment show,” the system “enabled hundreds of schools in Pennsylvania, including four in Bethlehem and one in Allentown, to make Adequate Yearly Progress.” Still, some unions are concerned that the growth model “may work too well.” They “say using standardized tests to evaluate teachers is unfair and unscientific.” Wythe Keever of for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, pointed out, “There’s no research evidence that can be demonstrated that these type of tests can effectively evaluate teachers.” The Morning Call adds that “the growth model cannot work for third or 11th grades because consecutive years of testing are needed and students in Pennsylvania are not tested in first and second grades, or ninth and 10th grades.”

On the Job
Widespread High Marks Among New York Schools Lead To Doubling Of Teacher Bonuses.
The New York Times (9/5, A15, Medina) reported though New York City parents “may or may not be impressed by the fact that 97 percent of the city’s schools received grades of As and Bs this week” from the city Department of Education, the “tidal wave” good grades “means the city will pay $27 million in teacher bonuses, almost double the amount paid last year.” The bonus program “is a centerpiece of Chancellor Joel I. Klein’s goal of linking teacher pay to performance. … The $14 million in bonuses last year was financed in large part by private donations.” However, for this year, the city “is putting up the money.”

SchoolMax Computer System Blamed For Student Data Problems In Districts Across US.
The Washington Post (9/6, Hernandez) reported that the new multimillion-dollar SchoolMax Enterprise computer system that “left thousands of Prince George’s County [MD] students without class schedules last week has faltered in districts across the nation, forcing some to pay more than they had expected and others to scrap it altogether.” Though “some districts have reported few problems with SchoolMax,” officials in Albuquerque “faced millions of dollars in overruns with an older version. Los Angeles suffered through years of delays. And Bartow County, Ga., schools struggled to print transcripts and calculate accurate grade-point averages.”

Virginia Schools To Report Daily Absenteeism In Attempt To Track Swine Flu.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (9/8, Meola) reports that “for the first time in as long as state officials can recall, every school district in Virginia is being asked to report daily absenteeism among students and faculty to the state Health Department in an attempt to track flu patterns better.” Virginia Department of Health communications director, Phil Giaramita, pointed out that wherever students gather, the risk exists for swine flu. “By seeing daily numbers of students and staff members who are absent, health officials can look for unusual patterns that could serve as early signs of possible H1N1 clusters, Giaramita said.” Each Virginia school will “submit the date, student enrollment, student absences, faculty/staff employment, and faculty/staff absences. Names and other personal information will” be excluded from the reports.

Special Needs

Homeless Schoolchildren May Have Doubled Over Two Years In Many Districts.
In a front-page story, the New York Times (9/6, A1, Eckholm) reported that the number of schoolchildren in homeless families “appears to have risen by 75 percent to 100 percent in many districts over the last two years,” according the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. According to the Times, there were 679,000 homeless students “reported in 2006-7, a total that surpassed one million by last spring.” The “instability can be ruinous to schooling, educators say, adding multiple moves and lost class time to the inherent distress of homelessness.”

Facilities
Energy-Efficient Elementary School In Maryland In Line For LEED Gold Certification.
The Baltimore Sun (9/8, Wheeler) reports that Evergreen Elementary School in St. Mary’s County, MD, “represents the latest in green school design in Maryland. The $20 million elementary school, which started classes last week… has been designed and built to save bundles of energy and water, and to reduce the building’s impact on nearby streams and wetlands.” The school “boasts a geothermal heating and cooling system, waterless urinals and low-flow faucets, and a white reflective coating on the flat portions of the roof to keep the building from needing as much air conditioning in warm months.” According to St. Mary’s school officials, Evergreen “is in line to get a ‘gold’ rating under the green building council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rating system.”

School Finance
California Districts Tapping Outside Sources Of Revenue Amid Budget Crunch.
The Los Angeles Times (9/7, Mehta) reported that as the economy unraveled, “and California faces continual budget shortfalls, state spending on education has been dramatically reduced in recent years.” As a result, California educators “are turning to outside sources” of revenue like retail sales and movie studios “like never before in an attempt to ease the effects of multibillion-dollar cuts.” Los Angeles Unified School District officials, for instance, “are courting the city’s professional sports teams to blunt cuts to athletics programs.” Meanwhile, “Beverly Hills trustees are considering” selling “logo T-shirts, hats and other apparel.” And in San Diego, education officials “announced earlier this year that it is selling naming rights to two sixth-grade science camps. Sponsors could also have their names placed on dorms and dining halls.”

Also in the News
Dads Nationwide Will Walk Children To School Tuesday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/8, Staples) reports, “On Tuesday, National Take Your Children to School Day…an estimated 800,000 men in more than 500 cities” throughout the US will walk with their children to school. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The walk to their children’s school is both symbolic and purposeful as thousands of fathers, grandfathers and uncles make a public commitment to their children, families and communities.” Although “the Million Father March will play out on different days through Oct. 2″ due to the varying school start schedules nationwide, “Tuesday’s event…is a chance for fathers to unite around the cause and show support not only for their children but for education in general.”

NEA in the News
Private Investors Expressing Interest In Charter Schools.
The AP (9/8, Twiddy) reports that private investors are showing increasing interest in charter schools. For instance, “Entertainment Properties Inc., known mostly for sinking its money into movie theaters and wineries, recently bought 22 locations from charter school operator Imagine Schools for about $170 million.” In the deal, “the real estate investment trust acts as landlord, while Imagine operates the schools and is using the investment to expand its chain of 74 locations.” According to some “charter school supporters…the need for construction funding is high, and the entry of a for-profit player like Entertainment Properties signals that they’ve gone from being an educational curiosity to being seen as a future significant part of the educational landscape.” Meanwhile, Kay Brilliant, director of policy and practice at the National Education Association, notes that charter school construction and maintenance should not come “at the cost of established schools that need repairs or new buildings.”

“Ten Minute Rule” Is Homework Standard In Many Districts.
The AP (9/8, Wagner) reports that “a grassroots parents movement has taken hold in recent years calling for less — or at least better — homework.” Yet the appropriate amount of homework to give schoolchildren is a subject of debate. “One standard that many school districts are turning to is the ’10-minute rule’ created by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper,” and “endorsed by the National PTA and the National Education Association.” The rule says that children “should get 10 minutes of homework a night per grade. A first grader would have 10 minutes of homework each night; a fifth grader 50 minutes.”

Obama Speech Inspires Students Nationwide.
A plethora of news outlets covered President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren, which took place at “Wakefield High School just outside Washington” on Tuesday. Most coverage was positive in nature, with some sources emphasizing students’ reactions to the speech. The New York Times (9/9, Dillon) reports, “Millions of American schoolchildren, oblivious to the uproar that preceded a back-to-school speech by President Obama, heard him exhort them to greatness on Tuesday, watching, applauding and in some classrooms cheering a nationally broadcast address that urged them to set high goals, knuckle down in their studies and persevere through failure.”

Education Week (9/9, Klein) reports, “In a speech that triggered advance controversy — and logistical headaches for school officials — President Barack Obama…urged America’s K-12 students to study hard and stay in school, saying, ‘What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.’” The President’s remarks “capped days of criticism, primarily from” his “conservative opponents…who asserted that Mr. Obama might use the address” and corresponding lesson plans from the U.S. Department of Education “to persuade children to support his political agenda.”

The AP (9/9, Matheson, Rohr) reports that “for all the hubbub among adults over the back-to-school speech, many youngsters” nationwide “took the president’s message to heart.” After listening “closely to Obama’s story of studying with his mother at 4:30 a.m.,” William Geist, “a San Francisco fifth-grader who likes to sleep late,” said, “Now since I heard this speech, I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve got to get up early in the morning. I’ve got to get ready for school. I’ve got to do this.’”

The Miami Herald (9/9, Sampson, McGrory) reports that “kids interviewed by The Miami Herald called the speech inspiring and seemed incredulous that the 15-minute talk had sparked such outrage nationally.” Pines Middle School seventh-grader Chanelle Missick, for instance, said, “I don’t see what’s wrong with him coming and talking to the kids, trying to give them responsibility and direct them in the right way.” Meanwhile, 12-year-old Pines student Carlton Campbell “said he was encouraged when Obama talked about his own struggles. ‘He really inspires me,” said Carlton, 12. ‘Because I was failing last year.’”

The Salt Lake Tribune (9/9, Stewart, Tribune) reports that “Utah students who watched the televised speech in class called it ‘inspiring’ and ‘real.’ Still, “some admitted to zoning out and others dismissed it as ‘a political stunt.’” Nevertheless, the Salt Lake Tribune adds, after the speech was aired, “all the uproar over Obama using classrooms to push socialism or a hidden policy agenda seemed overblown.” The Washington Post (9/9, 2:29 PM, Chandler, et al.) reports that in his speech, Obama “described his own upbringing, noting that he ‘got in more trouble than I should have’ as a youth. He told the students, ‘There is no excuse for not trying. No one has written your destiny for you, because here in America you write your own destiny.’” Jack D. Dale, superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, called the speech “phenomenally good,” noting that it focused on “the positive aspects of kids taking ownership of their education.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/9, Staples), the Sacramento Bee (9/9), Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch (9/9, Calos), the Washington Post (9/9, Chandler, Brown), Massachusetts’s Republican (9/9, Flynn), The Providence (RI) Journal (9/9, Borg)the Los Angeles Times (9/9, Parsons), the Los Angeles Times (9/9, Blume, Landsberg) LA Now blog, the New York Times (9/9, Stolberg) The Caucus blog, and the also cover the story.

Advertisement

What are the 7 key methods used by virtually all effective teachers? Teaching the Best Practice Way integrates a compelling research base with stories, examples, and practical classroom materials from contributors across the country. Click here to read Chapter 1 online!

In the Classroom
New 9/11 Curriculum Aims To Educate Middle, High School Students About Terrorist Attack.
The AP (9/8, Salazar) reported that Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) “joined Sept. 11 family members and college professors on Tuesday at a hotel blocks from the World Trade Center site to unveil a plan to teach middle and high school students about the 2001 terrorist attacks.” The 9/11 curriculum “is expected to be tested this year at schools in New York City, California, New Jersey, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas.” The curriculum “was developed with the help of educators by the Brick, N.J.-based Sept. 11 Education Trust.”

Report Says Engineering Lessons May Help Boost Students’ Understanding Of STEM Subjects.
Education Week (9/9, Cavanagh) reports that a report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council concludes that “engineering studies, or lessons on how products are designed and built, have the potential to bolster student engagement and understanding in math and science, despite the topic’s relatively modest and undefined presence in the nation’s schools.” The report’s authors acknowledge, however, that “currently, engineering study is a ‘work in progress’ in U.S. school,” because “no formal learning standards or assessments on par with those in other subjects have been crafted for engineering…and relatively little is known about how most schools attempt to approach the topic in the curriculum.”

School Upgrades Science Traveling Cart To Laboratory.
The Virginian-Pilot (9/8, Jeter) reported, “After years of learning science from a traveling cart,” students at Campostella Elementary School “will now conduct experiments in a laboratory that last year served as a first-grade classroom,” as part of the school’s focus on STEM subjects. In the lab, students will “video-conference with NASA scientists and examine tiny objects with microscopes.” The Virginian Pilot notes, “In recent years, schools increasingly have focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics…amid reports that American students have fallen behind their international counterparts in these areas.”

New York City Students To Be Taught By Some Low-Rated Teachers.
The New York Times (9/9, A24, Medina) reports that as New York City students “return to school on Wednesday, thousands will enter classrooms led by a teacher that the Department of Education has deemed low performing on internal reports.” However, in “a sign of how complicated and controversial the reports are, many teachers never received them, and there are no plans to release them to parents.” The reports “use standardized test scores to monitor how much teachers have helped students improve from one year to the next and whether they are successful with particular groups of children, such as boys or those who have struggled for years.”

Mental-Health Workers In Preschool Classrooms May Help Curb Behavior Problems.
Sue Shellenbarger writes in a “Work and Home” column for the Wall Street Journal (9/9) that a growing body of research suggests that assigning mental-health workers to child-care centers and preschools can help reduce behavior problems and support overtaxed teachers. The mental-health specialists’ focus is to provide expert help to teachers and parents on ways to interact with children, rather than treating any specific mental illnesses among children.

On the Job
Columnist Calls For Elimination Of Teacher Tenure.
In a Los Angeles Times (9/8) op-ed, Jonah Goldberg wrote, “To listen to teachers unions, you’d think incompetent teachers are mythical creatures, less likely to be encountered than Bigfoot and unicorns. No wonder that from 1990 to 1999, the LAUSD fired exactly one teacher.” The “best argument for giving K-12 teachers tenure is that lifetime job security is a form of compensation for low pay.” Though “most teachers don’t make” $100,000 a year, good teachers “could certainly make more if the dead weight were cleared away and rigid, seniority-based formulas were replaced with merit pay.”

Law & Policy
Massachusetts Education Board Praised For Flexibility On Teacher Math Tests.
Richard Bisk, chair and professor of mathematics at Worcester State College, writes in an opinion piece for the Boston Globe (9/9), “If a first-grade teacher read at the fifth-grade level, citizens would be outraged. But what if the teacher had fifth-grade math skills?” He points out that “until recently, there were not similar concerns about an elementary school teacher’s knowledge of mathematics.” Then, “in 2007, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously to upgrade the mathematical requirements for new elementary school teachers.” As a result, “prospective elementary school teachers are, for the first time, required to pass a math test” this year. “The pass rate on the new math test was only 27 percent the first time it was given.” Still, Bisk says, “the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education deserves praise for staying the course and not lowering the passing score for this test, while at the same time being flexible enough to give conditional certification to those who came close but didn’t pass.”

Also in the News
Eat-Ins Across Country Advocate For Healthier School Lunches.
Krista Simmons wrote in a Daily Dish blog for the Los Angeles Times (9/8) that more than 300 Eat-Ins were hosted across the country on Tuesday “to rally for a redesign of the Child Nutrition Act, which is up for reauthorization by Congress on Sept. 30.” The Eat-Ins “were an act of support for the Slow Food USA Time for Lunch policy platform,” which calls for healthier school lunches, funding grants “for educational initiatives such as school garden projects that encourage healthy eating habits,” and “establishing higher standards in all facets of student’s daytime diets.”

New York’s Times Herald-Record (9/9, Murphy) reports that at Marbletown Elementary School on Monday, parents “hosted a Time for Lunch Eat-In intended to show legislators that they care about what’s served up in the cafeteria. The picnic was one of about 300 nationwide organized by Slow Food USA members.” At the picnic, parents dined on pizza “prepared with ingredients from Rondout Valley farms and cooked in a clay oven.” During the eat-in, participants wrote “letters to Congress, which is drafting a new Child Nutrition Act.” According to the Times Herald-Record, “The current nutrition act comprises rules that hinder schools from buying produce from local farms or serving fresh food.”

Major School Systems Post Lunch Nutritional Information On Web Sites. LaRue Huget wrote in “The Checkup” blog for the Washington Post (9/8) reports that this week’s “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy ” column about school lunches “encourages parents who are concerned about what their kids are eating at school to go see and taste for themselves. The experience might be reassuring — or eye-opening.” Huget adds that many “major school systems post their menus and other information about school nutrition practices on their Web sites.”

“Get Schooled” Initiative Aims To Curb Dropout Rate In Partnership With Media Outlets.
The AP (9/8, Mohajer) reported that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “is partnering with Viacom Inc.’s television networks, education leaders and celebrities to launch an awareness campaign to reduce the number of dropouts.” Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller is quoted saying, “All too often, the value and benefit of education are not real enough to kids.” The “Get Schooled” initiative “focuses on low graduation rates in college and high school.” The documentary “Get Schooled” is scheduled “to premiere on all of Viacom’s networks simultaneously at 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday night” to kick off the five-year campaign.

NEA in the News
Columnist Challenges Obama To Stand Up To “Archaic” Teachers Union Leaders.
Columnist Mike Thomas writes in a commentary for the Orlando Sentinel (9/9) that President Obama’s speech on Tuesday was “a badly needed male role model in a culture that relies far too heavily on sports stars to fill that role.” However, “the bigger picture from a policy standpoint is whether Obama does what is required to provide these kids the opportunity to succeed.” As Obama takes “education reform into territory never before breached by a Democrat,” the president “is taking on one of the party’s most important interest groups — the teachers unions.” This process, Thomas points out, began with Obama “picking as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,” a charter school and merit pay supporter. Since then, the National Education Association has “harshly attacked” the education department’s Race to the Top Fund. Thomas concludes that the administrations next challenge is to “win over more enlightened union leaders and stand up to mounting pressure from the archaic ones.”

NEA Seen As A Major Contributor to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Eliza Krigman wrote in the National Journal (9/9, Krigman) Expert blog that the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) in 2002 “set out to ‘serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders,’ according to its Web site.” Since then, the NEA has been one “of the biggest players in…this effort.” The National Journal asks, “Now that we are nearly a decade into the 21st century, has this endeavor succeeded?”

Teacher Creates Fact-Checking Lesson Based On Obama Speech Controversy.
South Carolina’s The Herald (9/10, Cetrone) reports, “Shortly before President Barack Obama stepped to the podium Tuesday to address America’s schoolchildren, Caroline Yetman passed out copies of news clips and blog posts about the speech to her 10th-grade honors American government class.” The students were required to “analyze the articles and determine whether they were credible sources of information.” Yetzman reminded the students to remember to “think” before taking “something as fact.” The Herald points out that “while the controversy surrounding Obama’s speech to students caused schools around the country to not show it, Yetman embraced the firestorm as a learning opportunity. She scrapped her original lesson on speech-writing and crafted one on perception and the media.” Kati Haycock, president of the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Education Trust, called Yetzman’s lesson a “brilliant approach” to addressing the controversy with students. Haycock also asserted that “adapting a classroom lesson to capitalize on such a moment is the mark of great teaching.”

Advertisement

Looking for an alternative to the negative, rule-plagued emphasis of some grammar instruction? In Mechanically Inclined, Jeff Anderson connects theory on using grammar in context with practical instructional strategies for writer’s workshop. Includes more than 30 detailed lessons. Click here for details!

In the Classroom
Testing Interferes With Science Education, MIT Professor Writes.
In a letter to the Boston Globe (9/10), Jonathan King, a professor of molecular biology at MIT, writes, “Certainly all our students need a sound scientific education if they are to understand the world around them and the effects of technology on their lives (“Science MCAS stymies many,” Page A1, Sept. 3).” Yet, Massachusetts’ current policy “focuses on chasing an arbitrary score on a standardized science test,” King argues, and that “derails efforts to engage students in the processes and prospects of science and technology.” According to King, “scientific achievement is not standardized,” and “the natural world is diverse,” therefore, “productive human inquiry takes many forms.” He concludes, “We need to set aside high-stakes exams and give all students access to inquiry-based, hands-on science experiences instead of scripted, shallow test prep.”

Lessons On Genocide Inappropriate for Elementary Students, Educator Says.
Science Daily (9/10) reports, “Whether they’re found in a museum or a textbook, historical narratives about traumatic events such as war and genocide are better left to older students, who have typically developed a more refined historical consciousness,” according to Brenda M. Trofanenko, a professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at Illinois, who argues that the discussion of events such as “the Holocaust, the Ukranian Holodomor, and the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica should be the province of high school history classes, not elementary and upper-elementary classes.” She noted that “children as young as grade three are being taught about the Holocaust,” adding, “That’s far too young, to my mind.” According to Trofanenko, “elementary school students lack the baseline historical knowledge and critical sensibility necessary to understand the various implications of state-sponsored mass murder.”

District Reconsiders Allowing Schools To Air Obama Address.
The Salt Lake Tribune (9/10, Meyers) reports, “Nebo School District students will get to hear President Barack Obama’s speech — albeit nine days late.” On Wednesday night, the school board “expressed regret for not allowing students to hear the speech live. ‘In hindsight, we realize that this decision may not have been the best one possible and may have sent a message to students and patrons that we do not respect the office of the president,’” board members said in a letter “being distributed today.” Nebo schools “will show the speech, in which Obama urged students to work hard and stay in school, during the last hour of the school day Sept. 17. If parents do not want their children to participate, they will be excused.”

Richmond-Area Districts Change Tone Regarding President’s Address To Students. The Richmond Times-Dispatch (9/10, Lizama, Reid) reports, “A day after President Barack Obama’s televised remarks to students, area school officials yesterday were more supportive of his speech.” On Tuesday, The Richmond City school district was the only area district to show the speech live in schools without strict requirements such as parent consent forms. School Board member Donald L. Coleman said that he was glad his district permitted students to watch the speech live in class. He added that the speech was “motivating.” Meanwhile, in nearby “Hanover County, Superintendent Stewart D. Roberson said at Tuesday night’s School Board meeting that he found the speech ‘entirely appropriate’ and hoped his building administrators would show it to their students.”

On the Job
Teacher-Run School Opens In Denver, Colorado.
CNN (9/9, Patterson) reported on kindergarten teacher Kim Ursetta, who, 18 months ago, shared her idea of “a union-sponsored public school led by teachers, not a principal,” in “a meeting in the office of” Denver, CO, school superintendent Michael Bennet. “Three weeks ago, Ursetta’s dream became a reality, as Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy opened its doors to 142 kindergartners and first- and second-grade students in Denver’s mostly low-income, largely Hispanic Athmar Park neighborhood.” According to Ursetta, a “lack of teacher flexibility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation’s children from receiving the best education possible.” More specifically, “Ursetta said she and her colleagues weren’t allowed to change the order of their lessons.” At the Leadership Academy, teachers “follow school board-approved curriculum and standards,” but they “can easily rearrange lessons to ‘make better sense for the kids,’” Ursetta said.

West Virginia Teachers Found Not To Feel “Involved Enough” In Deciding Education Issues.
The Charleston (WV) Gazette (9/10, White) reports, “Thousands of West Virginia teachers say they’re not involved enough in decisions on education issues, and even more say they don’t have enough out-of-class time during the school day to make things better,” according to a West Virginia VITAL survey. “Researchers…questioned about 8,800 state teachers about school conditions. Two in three teachers surveyed from the state’s lowest-performing schools said they don’t have enough non-instructional time during the school day.” Furthermore, “Nearly half of all teachers surveyed — 46 percent — said they are not directly involved in decision-making about educational issues that affect their students.”

Schools Employ Online-Learning Tools To Prepare For Possible Swine Flu Outbreaks.
Education Week (9/10, Davis, Ash) reports that last school year, numerous educators “were caught unprepared when schools closed in response to cases of swine flu. This time around, both the federal government and school districts are putting specific online-learning measures in place to get ready for possible closures or waves of teacher and student absences because of a flu outbreak.” Education Week notes that swine flu concerns “are pushing schools to use technology more heavily in their day-to-day activities and prompting them to look at creative ways of employing online learning.” Schools “with some e-learning tools or programs already in place are expanding or speeding up their use.”

Law & Policy
Education Department Seeking More Funding For Investing in Innovation Fund.
Education Week (9/10, Robelen) reports that US education department officials “will face a variety of obstacles in running a $650 million innovation fund, from an expected flood of applications and concern about favoritism in picking winners, to skepticism about the government’s ability to drive innovative change in education.” The Department of Education is also “looking for ways to expand and sustain the short-term innovation fund’s reach.” Education Week notes that the Obama administration “is seeking another $100 million in fiscal 2010 for the program, formally called the Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund, despite what appears to be congressional reluctance to provide more money.” Furthermore, education officials “have been reaching out to private philanthropies in hopes of increasing the size and scope of the agency’s innovation agenda.”

Texas Board Of Education Urged To Seek “Scholarly Balance” In New Textbooks.
In an editorial, the Houston Chronicle (9/10) urges the Texas Board of Education to avoid a conservative tilt in new proposed history, social studies and geography textbooks, though problems with achieving a balanced perspective in the textbooks “appear to stem mostly from the all-too typical thorny politics of the state board itself.” The “retired teachers and others selected to create the rough drafts for textbooks typically are too often chosen by board members because their views agree with the board members’ own.” Ultimately, scholarly balance “should guide the writing of texts that will bring young Texans to maturity as responsible citizens in our democracy.”

Facilities

Two Elementary Schools Open On Former Site Of Hotel Where RFK Was Assassinated.
The AP (9/9) reported that two elementary schools “have opened in Los Angeles at the former site of the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.” The schools “that welcomed students for the first time Wednesday are the first phase of what will be a comprehensive K-through-12 learning center.”

School Finance
School Funding Disparities More Pronounced In Charter-Only Districts, NCES Study Finds.
Debra Viadero wrote in an Inside School Research blog for Education Week (9/9, Viadero) though it’s “no secret that school districts vary widely in how much they spend per pupil,” a new National Center for Education Statistics report finds that funding variations “may be even more pronounced among districts made up entirely of charter schools.” According to Viadero, the report doesn’t say whether the proliferation of charter school districts “will exacerbate disparities among schools.”

Also in the News
Teacher-Preparation Programs In Wyoming, Utah, And New Mexico Earn Low Ratings.
Stephen Sawchuk wrote in a Teacher Beat blog for Education Week (9/9) that Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico “get the National Council on Teacher Quality’s green-eyeshade review of their teacher-preparation programs for their degree of selectivity, exit standards, and how well they prepare teachers to teach reading and mathematics, according to principles laid out in two earlier reports.” NCTQ “is mostly underwhelmed with what’s going on in those states, citing lax state oversight as part of the problem.” Sawchuk adds that when it comes to content, the “majority of the programs studied didn’t meet NCTQ’s guidelines for preparing teachers to teach reading and math. But programs at Western Governors University in Utah, the University of Utah, and the University of New Mexico did pass muster in those areas.”

NEA in the News
California, Wisconsin Lawmakers Seek To Lift Ban On Linking Test Scores, Teacher Evaluations.
The AP (9/10, Bauer) reports that California, Wisconsin and Nevada “may find themselves left at the starting line in the competition for more than $4 billion in education stimulus funding if they don’t amend laws that prevent student test results from being tied to teacher evaluations.” The states “each have laws that ban tying test scores to teacher reviews.” But while “California and Wisconsin lawmakers are scrambling to lift the ban, Nevada may not be able to remove its restriction in time for the money because its Legislature won’t be back in session until 2011.” The AP notes that teachers unions, including the NEA, “have long opposed linking test scores with evaluations and teacher pay because they believe it’s unfair to judge a teacher’s performance on a single test.” Moreover, “they…note the tests can be flawed, don’t test every subject, and that many students learn from more than one teacher.”

Supreme Court Case Could Eliminate Need For Labor Union Political Action Committees.
Mark Walsh reports in the Education Week (9/10, Walsh) School Law Blog, “In ordering a re-argument of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (Case No. 08-205) in June, the” US Supreme Court “asked the parties to address whether the court should overrule two of its important campaign-finance precedents.” This request “opened up the possibility” of allowing corporations “and labor unions to spend money directly from their own treasuries to influence the outcome of federal and state elections.” Current law does not allow such practice. Instead, “unions and corporations” must “establish political action committees that collect voluntary donations from union members or corporate employees.” Phil Hostak, “a staff lawyer at the National Education Association,” and Robert H. Chanin, “the NEA’s longtime general counsel,” have said that “they would rather not see the Supreme Court overturn its campaign-finance precedents, even though a loosening of restrictions on union treasury spending on politics could boost the power of politically active unions.”

New Curriculum Aims To Educate Students About 9/11 Terror Attacks.
On its front page, the Washington Post (9/11, A1, Saslow) chronicles the efforts of Anthony Gardner, “whose brother died on the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower” during the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City, to create a Sept. 11 curriculum for 6th-12th graders as a “tribute to the victims.” According to the Post, with the “help of history professors at the Taft Institute for Government at Queens College,” Gardner “developed a seven-lesson curriculum,” and “spoke at a news conference in New York on Tuesday to mark the release of the curriculum, recalling eight anniversaries of the attacks.”

Zach Miners wrote in an “On Education” blog for U.S. News and World Report (9/10) that River Dell High School in Oradell, N.J., “which lost three of its alumni in the attacks on the World Trade Center,” is “one of a handful of schools in eight states this week to test a new 9/11 curriculum developed for middle and high school students.” According to Miners, the makers of the program, created by the September 11th Education Trust in partnership with Social Studies School Service and the Taft Institute for Government at Queens College, “are calling it the country’s first comprehensive 9/11 curriculum.” Schools in New York, California, Alabama, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas “are pilot testing the program, which is taught using videos, discussions, and interactive digital exercises, including one that has students map global terrorist activity with Google Earth software.”

Advertisement

3-Minute Motivators is a collection of over 100 simple, fun activities for any grade that will help you use “a little magic” to take a quick break, engage students, and refocus them on the task at hand. Click here for details!

In the Classroom
Teachers In Pasco County, Florida Begin Administering New Reading Test.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/11, Solochek) reports that this week, teachers at Lake Myrtle Elementary School “have launched a new test aimed at better assessing students’ reading abilities and designing instructional goals.” The Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) has, “after just three days,” been administered to 8,619 Pasco County public school students at all grade levels. The St. Petersburg Times notes that “FAIR is not supposed to take the place of” FCAT, Florida’s standardized test. “Because it is computerized for grades 3-12, though, it may be giving a glimpse into the future as the state still is pondering whether it can administer the FCAT online.”

Denver Public Schools Launch Recycling Program With Educational Component.
The Denver Post (9/10) reported, “Recycling bins will be as common as pencils and erasers in classrooms as a new partnership between Denver Public Schools and the city’s Public Works Department begins in an effort to remove at least 1,500 tons of materials from the district’s waste stream every year.” The partnership aims to “get recycling in each of the district’s 152 schools by the end of the year — a gradual approach that will include an educational component” including informative assemblies, fact sheets and teacher curricula. Every month, “at least 15 schools…will add the recycling program.”

Alabama School Board Votes On Testing Changes For All Grade Levels.
Alabama’s Press-Register (9/11, Philips) reports that “the state school board approved changes to the Alabama High School Graduation Exam on Tuesday and agreed to pay for all students to take the ACT college entrance exam.” Then, on Thursday, the board “voted unanimously…to make some changes to the state’s testing methods, including converting the graduation exam into five separate end-of-semester tests that students will take at the end of Biology and Algebra I, for example.” Meanwhile, at the elementary and middle school levels, “the state will stop giving the Stanford Achievement Test — which all third- through eighth-graders currently take for nationwide comparisons — after the spring of 2011.”

On the Job
Educators In New Mexico Attend Summit Addressing Dropout Rate.
KFOX-TV Las Cruces, NM (9/11) reports, “With a very high drop-out rate among high school students the state of New Mexico is trying tackle the problem head on and as quickly as they can.” On Thursday, “about 500 people from across the state, school administrators, teachers, and students attended” a summit at New Mexico State University “to hear an action plan to fight the state’s drop-out problem.” According to data from the New Mexico Public Education Department, “the state has a drop-out rate of 46 percent.”

Group Of Dads Pledge To Volunteer At School One Day Each Year.
KSBW-TV Salinas, CA (9/11) reports that a group of fathers in the Mountain Elementary School District “are combating school budget cuts” by “volunteering one day out of every school year.” The group, Watchdogs D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), “is asking fathers and father figures to take one day off from work to volunteer at the school.” Their goal is to “complete as many jobs on campus as possible” and to “provide security, safety, learning and experience.”

Law & Policy
Judge Orders $200 Daily Fine For Teachers In Washington District Who Continue Strike.
The Seattle Times (9/11, Bartley) reports that “Kent School District teachers who don’t report to work Monday will be fined $200 a day, a judge ruled” Thursday “afternoon after morning-long negotiations failed to end a 15-day teachers’ strike.” Furthermore, the Kent Education Association, “which represents the teachers, also faces fines of $1,500 a day if the strike continues.” The “fines would be retroactive to Sept. 8, the day…the district’s 1,700 teachers” were first ordered “to return to work.” The teachers say that “overcrowded classrooms” are their main concern. “‘This has never been about salary,’ said KEA spokesman Dale Folkerts. ‘It’s a strike about the district’s respect for teachers and class size,’” he added. “Throughout the strike, teachers told stories of classes so large that some students had no desk and that teaching became more a matter of managing behavior. They” also “talked about having to take hours of work home at night and on weekends.”

Utah Aiming For $400 Million In Race To The Top Funding.
The Salt Lake Tribune (9/11, Tribune) reports, “State leaders hope to snag up to $400 million in federal money for schools by showing Utah is on the cutting edge of education reform.” On Thursday, State Superintendent of Schools Larry Shumway “announced…that he’s recommending the Utah State Board of Education apply for a chunk of $4.35 billion in Race to the Top money.” Some say that “Utah has a good shot at the money because it is already moving toward some of the federal goals — by working toward national standards, having a sophisticated data system, and launching a pilot program that rewards teachers for student progress as measured by test results.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that “the New Teacher Project rated Utah as one of 17 states that are competitive or highly competitive for the money, in a recent report.” Utah’s Deseret Morning News (9/11, Morgan) reports, “Utah State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson acknowledged that while $400 million figure may be an ambitious goal, the philosophy is: ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’”

Comments Criticize Lack Of Research On Use Of “Value Added” Teacher Data. Stephen Sawchuk wrote in a “Teacher Beat” blog for Education Week (9/10) that amid the thousands of Race to the Top comments, “there are a handful from some academics who argue that there isn’t a strong enough research base to support the use of ‘value added’ data for decisions involving teachers.” According to Sawchuk, the “inclusion of such measures in the Race to the Top guidelines appears to fly in the face of the Obama administration’s promises to fund research-based approaches in the Race to the Top, these scholars contend.”

School Finance
Florida Virtual School Expecting More Students, Less Funding.
The AP (9/10) reported that the Florida Virtual School “is doing more with less due to a new law that cut its funding while expanding online learning to every school district in the state.” Already, the school’s budget has been reduced “nearly 10 percent, with more cutting set for next year while most other public schools have received a modest increase.” Meanwhile, officials expect for enrollment to increase by “at least 50 percent. A small part of that is from expanding its scope to include full-time virtual students from kindergarten through the 12th grade under contracts or franchise agreements with most of the state’s 67 local school districts.” Florida Virtual President and CEO Julie Young said that planning has helped the school cope with projected budget cuts. For instance, the school “has saved $1 million through self-insurance for employee health coverage, increasing student-teacher ratios as it is exempt from the state’s class size limits, outsourcing some services and urging teachers and other staff to find ways to cut costs.”

Also in the News

Opinion: Controversy Over Obama’s Speech Highlights Prevalence Of Local Control View.
House Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member John Kline (R) wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (9/10) though commentators have blamed the controversy surrounding President Obama’s speech to students this week “on a coarsening of our political discourse or the heightened partisanship of a deeply divided Washington,” he believes “something else is at play. … The objections from parents and school leaders were not simply a matter of political preference or rash ideological rejection.” According to Kline, parental objections were “a very visible demonstration that in this country, education is largely viewed as both a local right and a local responsibility.”

Middle School Rewards Seventh-Grader For Using Heimlich Maneuver On Choking Student.
The Dallas Morning News (9/11, Acosta) reports that on Thursday, Walnut Grove Middle School in Ellis County honored “a seventh-grader for using the Heimlich maneuver to save another student who had been choking on a chocolate muffin.” The student, 13-year-old Basilio Rocha, said that “he learned the Heimlich last year in his sixth-grade health class. Assistant principal Gordon Butler said they are honoring Basilio today with a plaque and free lunch.”

NEA in the News
Missouri NEA Presses Lawmakers To Continue Funding Teacher Incentive Program.
KOMU-TV Columbia, MO (9/11, Meeder) reports that in 1987, Columbia Public School teachers began using the Career Ladder program, which “offers incentives to teachers to make extra money, while directly helping students in after-school programs.” The main purpose “of the program is to attract and retain quality teachers. Missouri has 342 districts offering the program, most of which are in low income areas.” However, Columbia Public schools announced in July that “the program will not be guaranteed funding after the 2009-2010 school year. Then the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent a letter to the Missouri National Education Association.” On Sept. 16, “the NEA will lobby legislators in Jefferson City” to continue funding the program,” KOMU adds.

To make sure you receive all the benefits you are entitled to as an NEA member, please add NEA_Member_BenefitsNEAMemberBenefitscom to your address book. Thank you.

Register | Welcome Back | Win Prizes

Dear John Napolitani,

NEA Member Benefits is Now Offering Pet Insurance

I am pleased to announce that NEA Member Benefits is now offering one of the nation’s premier pet insurance product to NEA Members – Pets Best Insurance.

If you have a pet, you know it can be expensive to care for your furry friend. The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that certain procedures, such as treating a broken leg, can cost $2,000 to $5,000. Surgically removing swallowed items, such as sticks or toys, can cost $1,000 to $3,000. The good news is pet insurance can help cover certain procedures and illnesses.

Pets Best Insurance for Healthier Pets, Happier Pet Owners!

Pets Best plans offer features attractive to pet owners:

Visit any licensed veterinarian.
Pets Best reimburses you 80 percent of the veterinarian’s bill for covered services, after a deductible.
Plans include reimbursement for covered care from specialists and emergency services.
Wellness options are available.
Pets Best plans underwritten by Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut are the only pet insurance plans endorsed by The American Veterinary Medical Association Group Health & Life Insurance Trust.
Discount for NEA Members.

If you want to learn more, or to get a quote, please click here or call one of our helpful customer service representatives at 1-888-457-2121, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mountain Time and mention referral code NEA.

Sincerely,

Sue Fox
Insurance Program Manager

——————————————————————————–

900 Clopper Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 8:28 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.