The Opening Bell by NEA
Duncan Stresses Need For “Extraordinary” Teachers.
The AP (10/12) reports, “U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan appealed Friday for a new generation of extraordinary teachers, calling education the civil rights cause of our time.” He noted specifically that there is a great need “for black men in the nation’s classroom.” In his comments, Duncan stressed that “strong education is needed to reduce dropout rates among African-American, Latino and low-income students,” and pointed out “that the demand for teachers is greatest among ‘high-poverty, high-needs’ and rural schools, as well as in subjects such as math and science.”
African-American Male Teachers Seen As Key To Reducing Achievement Gaps, Dropout Rates. In a separate story, the AP (10/10, Matheson) reported, “Only about two percent of teachers nationwide are African-American men. But experts say that needs to change if educators expect to reduce minority achievement gaps and dropout rates.” Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the majority of “American teachers are…white (87 percent) and female (77 percent), despite minority student populations of about 44 percent.” But Greg Johnson, a policy analyst for the National Education Association, said that having “minority teachers is important because of ‘the role model factor.’ … ‘These students need to see successful adults of color in front of them,’” Johnson added. To that end, Cheyney University sophomores Lenny Macklin and Gregory Georges founded the Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) teaching program, which “offers scholarships in exchange for teaching in public schools.
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In the Classroom
Teachers Aiming To Present “Balanced View” In Lessons On Christopher Columbus.
The AP (10/12, Armario) reports that Christopher Columbus’ “stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years,” as “many teachers [try] to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.” According to James Kracht of the A&M College of Education and Human Development, the term “discovery” is not being used much any more to describe Columbus’ voyage to America. And “in Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the Columbian Exchange — which consisted not only of gold, crops and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.”
The Providence Journal (10/12, Borg) reports that “from elementary schools to college campuses, a new narrative is being written about the once-storied first contact between [Christopher] Columbus and the indigenous people of the West Indies.” Now, Columbus is not often “portrayed as an intrepid adventurer whose accidental arrival in the Bahamas ushered in wave after wave of civilizing European influence in North and South America.” Instead, students today “are taught that Columbus didn’t discover America, the Vikings did; that Columbus didn’t demonstrate that the Earth was round, that it was widely known during the late 15th century.” However, “some historians…say that the public schools haven’t gone far enough in providing a full picture of the devastation wreaked by the European explorers on the Americas.”
Teacher Turns Science Lab Into Whodunit Caper.
Texas’ Star-Telegram (10/9, Jinkins) reported that “third-, fourth- and fifth-graders” at Vandagriff Elementary School in Aledo, Texas, “have been busy since August, studying clues in their own whodunit caper that was masterminded by science lab teacher Charlotte Schweitzer.” The classroom lesson began “with an assembly where a ‘crime scene’ was staged.” Afterward, students “experimented on some white powder found at the scene — it turned out to be flour — and a dirty footprint. It was matched to soil samples around the Aledo area, in vicinities where suspect teachers lived.” On Friday, the lesson “ended…with the shocking revelation of the culprit’s identity.”
Students Learn From Working Scientists During Trip To Johns Hopkins University.
The Washington Post (10/10, Hernandez) reported, “Montgomery County [MD] has hit on the formula for getting young people interested in science: Unleash 190 seventh-graders in a building full of robots, prosthetic limbs, microscopes, remote-controlled surgical arms and bacteria-filled flasks, and watch what happens.” Last week, students from Shady Grove Middle School went “on a field trip to the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center. During the “field trip, dubbed Frontiers in Science and Medicine Day, the students walked into the Montgomery County campus of Johns Hopkins University and were handed a white lab coat and a pair of latex gloves, then set loose to check out exhibits by working scientists. When they got through a lab, they were awarded a sticker for their troubles.”
On the Job
Elementary School In DC Uses Staff Development Technique From Japan.
The Washington Post (10/9, Brown) reports that Marie Reed Elementary in DC is employing “a model of professional development for teachers that was developed in Japan” called “lesson study.” In lesson study, “teachers work together on a ‘research lesson,’” for which they “identify an objective, come up with a way to teach it and then script students’ anticipated misunderstandings and the teacher’s response to those misunderstandings.” Then, “one member of the group teaches the lesson in front of observers, who are instructed to record students’ responses and reactions.” But the individual teacher is not evaluated, because “the purpose is to discover how” well the lesson “is received by students.” After “teachers began practicing lesson study,” the math scores for Reed students “on the District’s Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) standardized test have risen substantially,” the Post notes.
Law & Policy
Debate Grows Over Zero Tolerance Policies In Schools.
The New York Times (10/12, A1, Urbina) reports on its front page that after “the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many school districts around the country adopted zero-tolerance policies on the possession of weapons on school grounds.” But a debate has “been growing” recently “over whether the policies have gone too far.” According to “some school administrators…it is difficult to distinguish innocent pranks and mistakes from more serious threats, and” disciplinary “policies must be strict to protect students.” But critics say “that zero-tolerance policies…have led to sharp increases in suspensions and expulsions, often putting children on the streets or in other places where their behavior only worsens, and that the policies undermine the ability of school officials to use common sense in handling minor infractions.”
Rhode Island Raises Cut Score For Potential Teachers.
The Providence Journal (10/12, Jordan) reports that Rhode Island “Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has made teacher quality the cornerstone of her three-month-old administration, is raising the score that aspiring teachers must achieve on a basic skills test required for admission to all of the state’s teacher training programs.” The state’s current “‘cut score’ ranks among the lowest in the nation, alongside Mississippi and Guam.” Because Virginia’s cut score is “the highest in reading, math and writing,” Gist raised “Rhode Island’s score one point higher than Virginia’s in each subject, saying she wants to make Rhode Island’s education system the envy of the nation.” In addition, “Gist says she intends to transform ‘the entire career span of a teacher,’ including who is allowed to train to become a teacher, the rigor of the programs, mentoring of new teachers, support and training for veteran teachers, and the reward of higher pay for high performance.”
California Lifts Ban On Tying Student Achievement To Teachers’ Pay.
The AP (10/12, Thompson) reports, “California is removing a legal ban on using the results of student achievement tests to evaluate teachers, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).” The new legislation “lifts a barrier that prevented California from applying for $4.5 billion under the federal Race to the Top program.”
Pennsylvania Governor Signs Bill Increasing Public School Funding By $300 Million.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (10/10, Cattabiani, Worden) reported, that last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) “signed into law a $27.8 billion state budget 101 days in the making,” thus ending “the nation’s longest state budget impasse.” The new budget “cuts overall spending by more than one percent from last year while increasing public school funding by $300 million. Rendell had set the added education money as his precondition to any budget deal.”
New York City Mayor Says Parents Do Not Need Voice In All School-Related Decisions.
New York’s Downtown Express (10/12, Shapiro) reports that according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), “parents do not need a role in decisions like new school sites or school zoning.” They “need only be involved in the micro issues of their child’s education, like the child’s attendance, behavior and grades.” However, when he was “asked about parental involvement in larger decisions, Bloomberg said parents could have influence through the city councilmembers and mayor they elect.”
Facilities
Outdated Billing Information Hinders California District’s Energy-Saving Efforts.
The Orange County (CA) Register (10/12, Emery) reports that “the idea for a friendly competition among students to see who can reduce energy use at their respective schools is the latest in an ambitious” campaign by the Irvine Unified School District to “go green.” District officials, however, say they “still need Southern California Edison’s help to get the up-to-date energy usage info needed to get the effort under way.” The district has “already asked teachers and staffers to cut back on their energy usage at work, last year directing them to remove personal appliances from their offices and classrooms.” Next, it plans to time “district activities to avoid the peak hour expenditures that can quickly run up an electricity bill.” But “the move to smart usage and friendly energy conservation competition is hampered by billing info that is several months old and isn’t specific about each school and district facility.”
Also in the News
Education Expert Debunks Merit Pay “Myths.”
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post (10/12). Thomas Toch, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, lists five myths about teacher performance pay. The Toch points out that merit pay does not have “a strong track record,” adding, “over the years, there have been few long-term performance pay experiments in public education.” Regarding the idea that “teachers unions are the biggest barrier to merit pay,” the Post says that performance pay experiments in several states in the early 1980s failed in part because they gave “teachers the possibility of” bonuses that were too small “to mean much to those who got it, but enough to irk those who didn’t.” Moreover, “the number of teachers receiving the rewards shifted with annual appropriations, regardless of how many teachers” earned them.
NEA in the News
One-Time Federal Money Seen As Insufficient For Fixing Nevada Schools.
The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal (10/11, Damon) reported that “because Nevada law prohibits student achievement data from being used in teacher evaluations, the state can’t enter the Obama administration’s Race to the Top, a $4.3 billion competition for states willing to take sweeping action to turn around failing schools.” And some critics say that “the state…should do everything it can to win the money.” The Gazette-Journal points out that “Nevada consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in education funding and suffers from one of the highest dropout rates.” But Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne contends that the federal money will not “help what ails Nevada schools,” adding that she is not “in favor of changing state statute for one-shot, one-time, maybe money.” Meanwhile, Dan Burns, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons said that changes to the education law “would likely be part of the agenda if a special session must be called for other reasons.”
Successful Schools Seen As Sidestepping Common Education Debates.
Education Trust Senior Writer Karin Chenoweth wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (10/12) that education “tends to get whipsawed between what seem like incompatible alternatives: We can teach phonics or surround children with literature; we can teach skills or content;” the “examples are endless.” Chenoweth added, “For the past five years, I have been examining schools that have, for the most part, sidestepped these battles. … Ultimately, there’s no magic to how these schools achieve success.” In “visiting these schools,” Chenoweth notes he has been “struck by how free they are from the frustrating controversies other schools get mired in” such as the phonics-vs.-whole-language debate.
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In the Classroom
Career School In Indiana To Add Technology-Intensive High School Curriculum.
The Evansville (IN) Courier Press (10/13, Martin) reports that next school year, a “technology-intensive high school curriculum” will be in place at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp’s Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center. “Unlike other programs at the center — which are half-day and for juniors and seniors only — the technology curriculum will be all day and will be for students at all high school grade levels.” Students in the program will engage in “project-based learning.”
Gates Foundation To Test Method For Predicting New Teachers’ Success.
The Oregonian (10/12, Hammond) reported, “Leading thinkers and researchers” often disagree about “how a principal or a school district that needs to hire a teacher is supposed to tell if an applicant is a future star or a dud.” Over the next two years, a Gates Foundation study will test a method for predicting which new teachers “will go on to greatness.” Researchers will study “early career teachers in Washington state…over the next two years. Beginning next year, Washington teachers who are in their first few years of teaching will have to compile a portfolio of lesson plans, tests and other work they’ve done,” and “show they’re competent in 12 areas.” Researchers will look at “the reading, math, and writing scores of those teachers’ students for the next two years to see whether a teacher’s getting high marks on certain of those 12 areas correlates with high achievement among his or her students.”
Minnesota Districts Using Computer-Driven Data To Aid In Improving Student Performance.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (10/13, Patterson) reports, “St. Paul Public Schools set an unprecedented goal this year to boost achievement by 10 percentage points for every demographic group on all-important state tests, following a year in which barely half its students scored proficient in math and fewer than that in reading.” In an effort to reach that goal, “district leaders…have given the schools data on how every student has performed in reading and math over the past year, online tools to diagnose individual weaknesses, suggestions for solutions, and a cache of resources to apply them.” The Star-Tribune points out that “St. Paul is just one of many” Minnesota “districts harnessing computer-driven data to advance student performance. Minneapolis Public Schools and other districts are doing so as well.”
On the Job
Regional Centers To Provide Massachusetts Teachers With Support, Professional Development.
The Republican (10/13, Goonan) reports that Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick (D) “has announced plans for six regional ‘readiness centers’ across the state…designed to provide increased support and professional development for area teachers under education reform.” According to State Education Secretary S. Paul Reville, “the centers will focus on enhancing the quality of teaching from the early childhood years through higher education.” Although few details have been released about the centers, Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association, said he hopes the program will help teachers. Collins noted, “The problem with education reform is that teachers are the object of the reform rather than the architect of the reform.”
Law & Policy
House Bill Would Increase Tax Deduction For Classroom Supplies.
Tennessee’s Messenger (10/13) reports, “Teachers purchasing classroom supplies — often with their own money — stand to benefit from legislation introduced in Congress of late.” The Teacher Tax Relief Act, “submitted as House Resolution 3758, would increase and make permanent the maximum tax deduction available for teachers purchasing classroom supplies,” and it would “expand the deduction to include expenses associated with qualified professional development pursuits, such as continuing education.”
Missouri Adjusting Swine Flu-Related School Policy.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (10/13) reports that “with student absences piling up at some schools during the swine flu outbreak, education leaders are asking districts to rethink policies and procedures that were designed with healthy students in mind.” But even though “the U.S. Department of Education has recommended that school districts develop illness action plans, which include putting materials online…and creating take-home packets for up to 12 weeks of classroom material,” many St. Louis- area districts have made only minor changes to their existing illness action plans. Meanwhile, “policy adjustments tied to the H1N1 virus are popping up” in Missouri at the state level. For instance, “Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro asked school administrators to suspend any rules that require a doctor’s note for readmission. … The department also sent a memo to districts outlining how to get meals to low-income students in the event of school closures due to a flu outbreak.”
Politics Seen As Factor In New York City School Reform Debate.
Jennifer Medina wrote in a “City Room” blog for the New York Times (10/12) that supporters of mayoral control of New York City schools “like to say that having one person in charge of the schools eliminates the old politics of the Board of Education.” However, “it’s simply been replaced by a different kind of politics, centered on just how well Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, have done in the battle to improve city schools.” Thus, it “was hard to put aside politics Monday at an hour-long presentation Mr. Klein gave to business leaders on the 50th floor of the J.P. Morgan Chase building on Park Avenue.” Klein “went over a dozen graphs charting out what he called tremendous progress of the city’s schools.” The “positive analysis comes less than a month before Election Day as Mr. Bloomberg tries to ride his education credentials to a third term.”
Safety & Security
Six Year-Old Suspended For Carrying Camping Utensil With Knife Attached To School.
Fox News (10/12) reported on its website on six-year-old Zachary Christie, who brought a Cub Scout “camping utensil to school” and was suspended for it, because the knife attached to the utensil “violated his school’s zero-tolerance policy on weapons.” In addition to suspending the student, the Christina School District in Newark, Delaware also “ordered him to attend the district’s reform school for 45 days.” Now, Zachary’s parents “are fighting to overturn the ruling.”
NYT: “Common Sense” Should Guide Delaware’s School Disciplinary Code. The New York Times (10/13, A30) editorializes that school officials “are understandably concerned about preventing violence and safeguarding the children in their care. But over the last 10 years or so, this legitimate concern has too often led to poorly thought out, rigidly implemented policies that stigmatize or even criminalize children rather than protect them.” The Times adds that a task force appointed by the Delaware State Legislature “has been reviewing Delaware’s statewide disciplinary code. … The task force is scheduled to deliver its recommendations in January. ‘Use Common Sense’ should be at the top of the list for the state.”
School Finance
Op-Ed: Private Capital Should Be Leveraged To Improve Public Schools.
Former Virginia Gov. George Allen (R) and former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman write in a op-ed for the New York Times (10/13) that given President Obama’s call for all US students to have access to world-class educations, “we have come together – one Republican, one Democrat – to develop a common-sense solution to fix the problem of crumbling schools in a manner that doesn’t require the federal government to tax, borrow or spend one dime.” Allen and Goldman add, “Our School Modernization and Revitalization Tax Credit – Smart Credit,” which facilitates selling crumbling schools to private investors and modernizing them and leasing them back to school authorities, is “guaranteed to create hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs.” Critics “may scream that our approach ’sells our schools’ to the private sector.” However, “what national interest is served by denying local officials access to private capital to provide schoolchildren the opportunities they deserve?”
Louisiana District Assures Parents Gifted Programs Will Not Lose Funding.
Louisiana’s Advocate (10/13, B1, Sills) reports that “State and local officials assured more than 120 parents Monday that gifted and talented programs are not in danger of losing funding, and the parish school system has no plans to revamp its program.” Parents of gifted students raised concerns about “a state task force considering revisions of the state bulletin for special education… after the Louisiana Association of Special Education Professionals recommended that gifted and talented education be removed from the special education designation.” But Madelyn Maragos, the gifted and talented program supervisor for the Lafayette Parish School System, explained that “the proposed revisions…are routine to keep the state mandates in line with the reauthorization of the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act,” noting that the school system “is not planning on changing anything about gifted education.”
Also in the News
Kindergartner Dropped Off At Wrong Bus Stop, Returned To Parents Unharmed.
The Washington Post (10/13, Strauss) reports that Gavin Salinas, a kindergartner at Mount Vernon Community School in Alexandria, VA, was mistakenly put on a school bus “and dropped off at an unfamiliar stop, where he wandered the streets crying before he was returned to his parents unharmed.” School officials “have apologized for the mistake and said they have overhauled the dismissal system at Mount Vernon Community School,” which Taryn Salinas, Gavin’s mother, “described as ‘chaotic.’” Also, the Salinases “said that while inquiring about their son, they discovered that other mistakes were made the same day. A young girl was put on the wrong bus, but the error was caught in time, they said.”
NYTimes: New York State Should Invest In Efforts To Boost GED Pass Rates.
The New York Times (10/13, A30) editorializes, “Millions of Americans are trapped at the margins of the economy because they lack the basic skills that come with a high-school education. This year, more than 600,000 of these people will try to improve their prospects by studying for the rigorous, seven-hour examination known as” the G.E.D., a credential “that employers and colleges recognize as the equivalent” of a high school diploma. States like Delaware, Kansas and Iowa “have well-managed programs in which 90 percent or more of the test-takers pass.” However, New York State “has the lowest pass rate in the nation, just behind Mississippi.” New York “drives up its failure rate on this costly test and wastes precious resources by allowing people to take it without first taking preparation courses.” New York “will need to invest a great deal more than it spends at the moment. But the costs of doing nothing clearly outweigh those of remaking a chaotic and ineffectual system.”
Delaware District Revises Code Of Conduct To Add Leniency For Youngest Students.
The New York Times (10/14, A18, Urbina) reports that school board members in Newark, Delaware, said yesterday that “they would revise the district’s code of conduct to exempt kindergarteners and first graders from some of its automatic and harsher punishments.” The amendment creates “a separate category of rules for students in kindergarten and first grade.” Under the amendment, these students will “face three to five days out-of-school suspension and referral to school-based counseling” if they “engage in what is known as a Level III offense for the first time.” Under current policy such students are “sent to the local reform school.” The Times notes that “level III offenses include possession of a ‘dangerous instrument,’ including knives under three inches in length, and more serious offenses like assault, arson or drug possession.”
USA Today (10/14, Price, Kenney) reports that the school board’s decision came in response to the reaction of the public to the suspension of 6-year-old Zachary Christie last week after he brought “camping utensil with a knife, fork and spoon to his elementary school.” USA Today adds that “Zachary’s case has brought loads of national media attention to Delaware in part because the district told the first-grader he is required to complete at least 45 days at an alternative school before returning to Downes Elementary School.”
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In the Classroom
Graduation Rates On The Rise In Southern States, Study Finds.
Education Week (10/14) reports that a new Southern Regional Education Board report, titled Ground on High School Graduation Rates in SREB States: Milestones and Guideposts, finds that “high school graduation rates in most Southern states have climbed this decade, with Tennessee leading the pack in growth.” However, the report also finds that “more than one in four 9th graders in the region still are not graduating on time, and the recent gains only bring the South close to the same level it saw in the early 1990s, says the SREB.”
Teachers Develop Integrated Physical Education Course.
The Columbus Local News (10/14, Willis) reports, “Keeping kids fit for life is the aim of a new physical education graded course of study in the Worthington City School District.” The Wellness4Life curriculum focuses “on helping students learn a lifetime of fitness techniques.” Liberty Elementary School teacher Rob Smith said that “teachers identified four ‘pillars’ that make up the structure of the new course: lifetime fitness, sport skills and strategies, character development, and wellness integration.” The program also gives students more choices for “physical education activities.” Smith noted that “if the new course is approved by the school board, it will be implemented across the district.”
German Language Programs Less Popular Than Spanish, Mandarin.
The Dallas Morning News (10/14, Meyers) reports that in districts nationwide, German language programs are far less prevalent than Spanish, “and now Mandarin is grabbing the spotlight.” In Texas, “a state once known for its meat-and-potatoes heritage and annual polka festivals, German’s lost the love.” Several school systems in the state have “dropped their German programs and taken up Mandarin instead.” The Dallas Morning News points out the “overall, foreign languages “remain a low priority among American students, who start later and study fewer years than counterparts in many other countries. Teachers blame this language loss on budget constraints and a heavier focus on core subjects such as science and math.”
Elementary School Combines First, Second Grade Class Due To Low Enrollment.
The Gainesville (FL) Sun (10/13, Daniels) reports that “Shell Elementary School officials have combined the first- and second-grade classes after too few students enrolled within the first week of school.” Principal Denise Schultz “she knew small class size would be an issue this year, since the school’s enrollment numbers were down,” and initially, she had “anticipated that second- and third-grade classes would need to be combined.” She noted that the challenge with creating a multi-age class was to “build one class rather than it feel like two classes.” According to Sandy Hollinger, deputy superintendent for curriculum for the district, “multi-age classrooms often end up being a two-way advantage for students — those in the higher grade who need extra help with a skill and those in the lower grade who are advanced academically.”
On the Job
Survey Of Oregon Districts Shows Average Staff Reduction Of 5.6 To 6.2 Percent.
The Eugene (OR) Register-Guard (10/14, Williams) reports, “A recent statewide survey confirms what was already abundantly clear to school employees but perhaps less so to students and parents: Class sizes are larger, course offerings fewer, and school calendars shorter in many districts across the state.” The survey, conducted online during “the last week of September by” the Oregon Association of School Business Officials and other Oregon education organizations, found that on average, school systems “reported reducing staff positions by between 5.6 percent and 6.2 percent…a decline that largely explains why course offerings, both electives and core subjects, have shrunk at many districts.”
Law & Policy
Duncan Reiterates Reform Goals For “Race To The Top.”
The AP (10/13, Quaid) reported that in an interview, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reminded states that the goal of the “Race to the Top” competition “is to help kids do better. … ‘It’s really not about the money — it’s about pushing a strong reform agenda that’s going to improve student achievement,’ Duncan said.” The AP noted that “nine states have changed their laws or made budget decisions to improve their standing. The latest is California, where a bill was signed Sunday allowing student test scores to be used to evaluate teachers.” Duncan “said the moves are encouraging. Still, he said states will have to do more than make promises. … ‘If folks are doing this to chase money, it’s for the wrong reasons.’”
Parents Of Special Needs Students In Hawaii May Sue Over Teacher Furloughs.
The Honolulu Advertiser (10/14, Moreno) reports that “an attorney representing parents of special needs students may ask the court to stop public school teacher furloughs that are to begin Oct. 23″ in Hawaii. Attorney Eric Seitz said that “is representing an unspecified number of parents of special needs students and regular education students.” In a letter, Seitz outlines explanations for why parents may file the lawsuit. The parents say that “in addition to their concern about special education cutbacks,” they also are concerned that “loss of learning time would affect a child’s standardized test scores and “adversely affect their future educational opportunities,” among other things. “Seitz said he would prefer to resolve the issue through negotiations but only if the state agrees to postpone the ‘most imminent furlough days.’”
School Board In New York Lifts Ban On 9/11 Moment Of Silence For Elementary Students.
New York’s Newsday (10/14) reports that elementary students in East Islip “will observe a moment of silence on 9/11 next year, putting to rest a protest that erupted after the district superintendent banned the observance for younger students this year.” Superintendent Wendell Chu was concerned that the “more ‘fragile’ youngsters might have been emotionally harmed” by a moment of silence, because, “he feared it would have sparked discussions about terrorism.” But last week, the school board “approved the recommendations of a committee of staff and residents,” who also suggested that 9/11 be referred to as Patriot Day.”
Special Needs
Children With Autism Gain More Educational Options In South Florida.
The Miami Herald (10/13, McGrory) reported that “school district data” indicate that “more than 4,400 children enrolled in the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts have been diagnosed with” autism. To serve those children, “the South Florida Autism Charter School in Hialeah opened in August with 81 students from Miami-Dade and Broward counties,” and “the Miami-Dade school district recently launched South Florida’s first choice program for” students with autism in a “program…housed at Blue Lakes Elementary, a traditional school in Southwest Miami-Dade.” According to the Herald, “nationwide, only about a dozen public schools are geared exclusively toward autistic children, including two in Palm Beach County,” despite expert estimates that “one in every 150 children born in the” US may have an autism spectrum disorder.
Safety & Security
Detroit Public Schools Steps Up Anti-Violence Efforts.
The Detroit News (10/14, Esparza) reports that by cracking down on truants, “school officials throughout Detroit Public Schools are trying to head off the violence that has plagued the district’s estimated 84,000 to 88,000 students.” Other anti-violence measures “range from fixing broken security cameras to staggering patrol shifts to embracing volunteer patrol groups.” And the district is working closely with police as well. “Detroit Police and district officials vowed an increased presence through more efficient deployment following the shooting of seven teens in June as they stood at a bus stop.” Moreover, “the Police Department is working on a uniform standard for recording various incidents” in order to better understand the scope of the problem of school violence. Currently, “there is no clear district-wide standard for determining when an incident is a crime rather than a violation of school policy.”
Detroit Police Chief, School District Police Chief Aim To Cooperate In Promoting Safer Schools. The Detroit News (10/14, Hunter) reports in a separate story that last year, Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans said that “a school safety plan…had been rejected ‘because DPS security was concerned about protecting their turf.’” Recently, “students and educators” have been calling “for the city and DPS officers to put aside their differences to better respond to school emergencies,” noting that “the lack of coordination between agencies resulted in slow response time — or no response at all.” In response, “Evans and Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes [have] pledged to try to heal the rift, which they said existed before they took over.”
Evidence-Based Programs Seen As Necessary In Preventing Youth Violence.
University of Virginia professor of education Dewey Cornell wrote in an op-ed for CNN (10/13) responding to the beating death of Chicago teenager Derrion Albert that “it is critical that schools implement evidence-based” violence prevention “programs with fidelity in order for them to work.” He notes that a 2003 Vanderbilt University “analysis of 221 controlled studies of school-based programs designed to reduce student aggression” found that “when programs were fully implemented and carefully monitored, they reduced aggressive behavior such as fighting by about 50 percent.” However, when the “programs were not so carefully implemented,” they “demonstrated smaller or no effect.” Cornell points to state funding cuts as an obstacle that may hinder efforts to “instill evidence-based programs in schools.” Furthermore, he acknowledged that “some schools lack the capacity for mental health and safety programs because their resources are stretched to the limit and prevention is regarded as a lower priority.”
Also in the News
Students Caught In Middle Of Political Battle Over DC Teacher Layoffs.
The Washington Post (10/14, Turque) reports that seniors at D.C.’s McKinley Technology High School who marched to protest teacher layoffs “have found themselves in the midst of a bitter adult struggle that involves politicians, educators and labor leaders.” Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “met with them for 90 minutes. One of them was invited to speak at last week’s teacher rally in Freedom Plaza. For the most part, they are not inspired by what they have seen.” The Post adds that looking back, the students “said they still do not understand why Rhee would introduce a new teacher evaluation system and then fail to use it in deciding who would be dismissed.” They are also “convinced that their principal, David Pinder, pursued a personal agenda in laying off some McKinley teachers, including two popular guidance counselors.”
Epcot Attraction Teaches Math As It Lets Children Design Their Own Rides.
The New York Times (10/14, Miller) “Bits” blog reports on “a new initiative from Disney and Raytheon,” a game called Sum of All Thrills will “let children design their own theme-park ride using math tools and then hop in a robotic simulator to try it out.” The game will be available to both visitors to the park, and online. “Visitors to Disney’s Epcot theme park in Orlando, Fla., will be able to use a touch screen to choose whether to design a roller coaster, bobsled or jet ride,” and will be able to “use engineering tools like rulers and speed dials to add hills and corkscrews to the rides, while mathematical formulas for things like velocity and acceleration flash across the screen.” They will also be able to use “a robotic simulator designed by Raytheon and Disney engineers [to] experience the ride.” Meanwhile, “Raytheon will offer a version of the program at MathMovesU.com” in which “visitors will have to answer math questions in order to get new pieces for the ride.”
The AP (10/14, Reed) reports, “‘Sum of All Thrills’ is the first ride in Epcot’s Innoventions pavilion, where businesses sponsor educational attractions and hawk their brands.” While unlike some other sponsors, “Raytheon has nothing to offer the average consumer,” it “does have jobs for those passionate about engineering, and would like to broaden the field.” Eric Goodman, a “Disney Imagineer and ‘Sum of All Thrills’ project manager,” said that during preliminary discussions with kids he found that they “didn’t understand how [math] applied in their lives.” Goodman added, “They always felt there was one answer, and that’s what you’ve got to do – find that one answer. What this does is show kids and adults the possibilities. If you have a math-controlling view, you get to control it.”