UPDATES AND INFORMATION PROVIDED BY NEA
Financial Turmoil Boosting Student Interest In Economics.
The AP (11/25, Gross) reports that the current financial crisis has made economics “more relevant and immediate to many high school and college students, and they are suddenly paying closer attention in class. … Instructors are delighted by the opportunity to use the dramatic events on Wall Street to explain concepts students might otherwise find dry, such as liquidity and Federal Reserve monetary policy.” The AP adds, “At Plano West Senior High School in a prosperous Dallas suburb, Advanced Placement economics teacher Sally Meek said her students keep veering off into politics and policy, debating the presidential candidates’ plans during the election and grappling with questions of how big a role government should take in trying to turn around the economy.” Also, the “Arizona Council on Economic Education is helping teachers design classes based on the current financial crisis.”
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In the Classroom
Changing Technology Seen As Challenge For Some Teachers.
New York’s Post-Standard (11/24, O’Toole) reported that according to Harrison Yang, professor of curriculum and instruction at the State University College at Oswego, “Rapidly changing technology is a challenge for many teachers.” As such, “students training to become teachers are required to take courses that teach them how to integrate new technologies into the classroom, Yang said.” In North Syracuse, schools “are keeping up with the ever-changing technology” by enrolling “eighth-graders…in a hands-on interactive computer course that aims to teach them tools needed to be successful in and out of the classroom.” A digital communications class teaches students to “format reports and newsletters; create graphs, tables, charts and spreadsheets; design documents; and use digital tools, including Weblogs, Wikis, Blackboard, podcasting computers and iPods.” The Post-Standard list examples of ways other school districts in Central New York are keeping up with technology.
Partners In Education Program Teaches Educators To Incorporate Arts In Lessons.
Massachusetts’s South Coast Today (11/25, Gonet) reports that fifth-graders in Debra Suprenant’s science class at Betsey B. Winslow Elementary School (MA) are energized by “learning about the complex topic of changing land formations” because “rather than sitting and memorizing the scientific concepts out of a textbook, the students are employing drama techniques to act out the lesson.” Through the Partners in Education “courses currently being offered to city educators through a partnership between the New Bedford Public Schools and the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center,” educators learn to “link the performance arts — including theater, dance and music — with the classroom experience.” The Partners in Education “offerings are…based on the premise that each student has his or her own unique learning style.” According to the South Coast Today, “Partners in Education is a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
Honolulu Symphony Staff And Musicians Teach Elementary Students About Music. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/24, Arcayna) reported that Nanakuli Elementary School “is the first school chosen for the” Honolulu Symphony’s “Music Acceleration Program (MAP), which gives fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders access to regular lessons with symphony staff and musicians. They learn to play recorder and read music, and are introduced to five symphony ensembles: string quartet, wind quartet, brass quintet, percussion trio and a mixed ensemble with harp.” Curriculum for the MAP is “adapted from the Weill Music Institute of Carnegie Hall’s Community LinkUP! Program. A review will be conducted at the end of the school year, and MAP could expand to schools in outlying and historically underserved areas.”
Alabama School Staff Note Positive Changes As A Result Of Single-Gender Classes.
The AP (11/24) reported, “This year, Hankins Middle School in” Alabama “separated all of its academic classes into all-girls and all- boys. Girls and boys even eat lunch at different times.” The segregated classes are “an attempt to improve the school,” officials said. And, “so far, average daily attendance is up two percent, and fewer students are being sent to the office.” Principal Cheryl Wittner said that “she would like to continue with the separated classes for a couple of years, so that she and her staff can evaluate student grades, standardized test scores, and other data. Anecdotally, teachers said, they’ve seen a positive difference.” The AP notes that the National Association for Single Sex Public Education “lists at least 442 schools across the country offering single-sex classes, but that list is likely incomplete.”
On the Job
Some California School Districts Adjust Class Sizes To Avoid Penalties.
The Bakersfield Californian (11/25, Nachtigal) reports, “With mid-year cuts looming from the state legislature, schools and administrators are minding their budgets carefully.” The Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) could “incur a financial penalty as high as $21,420 per classroom if head counts stray above 20.44 kids per room.” Furthermore, “the district could be subjected to as much as $400,000 in class-size reduction penalties if they didn’t make adjustments.” BCSD “tries to time [moves] so they fall at a holiday break.” Meanwhile, “in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, where enrollment was down this year, administrators try to even out the classes within the first week or two weeks of school, “but after that we don’t adjust class sizes,” said Assistant Superintendent Gerrie Kincaid.”
Teacher Quest Tampa Bay Promotes STEM Education.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal (11/25, Matthews) reports, “The Technological Research and Development Authority is recruiting businesses in Tampa Bay to participate in the Teacher Quest Tampa Bay pilot program, a professional development initiative.” The program “aims to employ Florida certified teachers in grades six through eight in science, math and technology-based positions during the summers of 2009, 2010 and 2011,” and “is designed so that teachers working in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Manatee counties will take their work experience back to the classroom to enrich student awareness of careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).” Furthermore, Teacher Quest “will provide a link between school and work, where teachers serve as a conduit for middle school students, exposing them to career and academic pathways.” The “teachers will…receive training to develop lessons based on inquiry, problem solving, and real-world relevance that makes math, science and technology more exciting and challenging for students.”
ED Grant Will Fund $1 Million-Plus In Incentives For South Dakota Educators.
The Argus Leader (SD) (11/24, Woster) reported the US Department of Education (ED) has awarded a five-year, $20 million grant to fund the South Dakota INCENTIVESplus program, which “rewards teachers and other school staff for student progress” and “will pay more than $1 million in incentives to 800 educators in 10 South Dakota districts.” According to the Leader, the program “goes beyond annual test results and tracks individual student performance at frequent periods through a year. That allows teachers and others in a participating school to alter or fine-tune instruction for an individual student, much as individual education plans currently are designed for each student in special education.” Also, the grant “includes a provision that allows districts to offer up to $5,000 additional money to recruit or retain a teacher in a hard-to-fill position.”
Salisbury University Offers Teachers Free “Guitars In The Classroom” Courses.
WMDT-TV Delmarva, MD (11/24, Park) reported that Salisbury University (MD) offers a seven-week “Guitars In The Classroom” course for teachers. “The free program trains teachers to integrate music in their curriculum, even in subjects like math and history. … The course will be offered next spring and they hope to continue it every year.”
Clayton, Georgia, School Dress Policy Not “Cute”, Student Says.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/25, Matteucci) reports, “Starting next school year, all 50,000 Clayton students will be required to wear khaki pants and skirts, polo shirts, and sweaters in their school colors.” Jonesboro High Principal Carl Jackson said that “uniform dress, which is a bit more flexible than traditional uniforms, will help promote stronger academics and a safer campus.” But some students are concerned that the new dress code will hurt their social lives. “I can’t be looking cute in khakis,” said Jonesboro High School sophomore Taylor Boyd. The new dress policy “will make it a lot harder to get a date in school,” Boyd added. “But that’s exactly what school leaders want to hear,” according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “This year, Clayton made uniform dress mandatory at all of its 37 elementary schools and some of its middle schools. Administrators had said they would hold off on enforcing the policy in high schools.”
Law & Policy
Iowa Education Chief Named To Presidential Transition Task Force.
The Sioux City Journal (11/24, Eby) reported that Judy Jeffrey, director of the Iowa Department of Education, “has been tapped to help develop policy recommendations for the next U.S. secretary of education chosen by President-elect Barack Obama,” as she “has been appointed to the Council of Chief State School Officers’ presidential transition task force.” The Journal adds that the task force “is expected to look at the reauthorization of [NCLB] and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act and how those laws affect public schools.” Jeffrey “also has been named to the council’s board of directors. The nonpartisan organization is made up of officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education across the nation.”
Safety & Security
Many Parents, Students Upset After Los Angeles School Placed On Lockdown.
The Los Angeles Times (11/25, Song) reports that Manual Arts High school in Los Angeles, CA, “was locked down Friday after reports of a gunman on campus. Staff and students say there was little communication about what was going on, and many had no access to restrooms or food.” Los Angeles Unified School District officials said that the “allegedly armed student was seen during a lunchtime scuffle Friday and the school went into lockdown at 1 p.m. … Students and teachers were kept in their classrooms for several hours while Los Angeles Police Department officers, including members of the SWAT unit, searched the South L.A. campus. Nearly 2,000 students were taken by school buses to the Sports Arena beginning around 4 p.m., where they were picked up by their parents.” Though “no injuries were reported… many were still angry Monday because they said they did not hear from school administrators and had to depend instead on their cellphones or classroom televisions for news.”
School Finance
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Atlanta District Stands To Lose $27 Million After Accreditation Revoked.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/25, Diamond) reports, “Clayton County’s schools stand to lose about $27 million in state money next school year after more than 3,200 students fled the district when it lost its accreditation.” Roger Reese, the district’s chief financial officer “warned school board members Monday that the system will have to consider a wide range of cuts, such as layoffs, reducing employee benefits and other measures to compensate for the loss of state money caused by the decline in enrollment.” Currently, Clayton operates under a $617 million budget. “About two-thirds of the $27 million Reese predicted the district will lose is because of the large number of students who left the district” after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to revoked “the school system’s accreditation.”
Springfield, Massachusetts, Seeking $60 Million Construction Funding Assistance.
Massachusetts’s The Republican (11/25, Goonan) reports that the City of Springfield “is seeking state funding assistance for a proposed $60 million, three-year capital improvement program for the schools that includes new roofs, windows, and doors and bathroom renovations.” This year, “The state has received statements of interest or renewed statements for close to 200 school projects statewide.” Still, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno “said he is very optimistic the city will secure state funding assistance, particularly with the age and condition of some of the school buildings and the strong working relationship with state officials.”
NEA in the News
Education Advocates Pushing Increased Pay For Teachers Willing To Forgo Tenure.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (11/24, Loechler) reported that “nationally, a growing chorus of reformers say what works for teachers isn’t working for students, and they’re pushing something new: huge raises for teachers willing to forgo tenure. The most prominent effort is in Washington, D.C., where schools chief Michelle Rhee is offering pay hikes of up to $40,000 a year for teachers who give up tenure.” In Michigan, teachers “receive tenure after four years in the classroom.” Emily Cohen, policy analyst with the National Council on Teacher Quality, “advocates for more meaningful evaluations, to weed out less-than-stellar teachers before they receive tenure. Most area districts attempt to do just that.” However, Jim Pratt, a representative of the Michigan Education Association, a National Education Association affiliate, said first-year teacher evaluations make “a teacher’s first years among the hardest in his or her career. … ‘You literally are thrown in and you either sink or swim,’ he said.”
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/26, Johns) reports that the St. Paul School District has “set out to find high-quality people working in other professions to improve the quality of the district’s teaching ranks and fill teaching positions where they’ve often had to rely on teachers without full licenses.” This fall, “more than 630 people applied for the St. Paul Teaching Fellows Program,” which is funded by “a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.” Forty-one applicants were selected to fill positions in “hard-to-fill subject areas such as special education and science.” According to the Star Tribune, “Of the 41 teachers in the Teaching Fellows program, 26 percent hold advanced degrees and 20 percent are people of color.” Over the summer, “The district gave them a five-week crash course…on teaching in urban settings.” In addition, “the teachers are also taking graduate education courses at Hamline University, so they’ll have a full license after two years.”
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Software Allows Students To Play Games As They Learn.
The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch (11/26, Craig) reports that “Study X, a software program that allows students to play games as they learn, was recently installed on all student laptops at John F. Kennedy High School in Manchester.” With Study X, students can also “print flash cards and generate sample tests in several different formats. Study X has been used to master vocabulary, to aid in memorization and to learn dates and formulas,” and to help “students in a wide variety of subjects.” According to Dr. Patricia McLeese of the Academic Resource Center at Webster University, “the program is helpful to students who are easily bored by routine activities.”
School Building Becomes Canvas For Budding Student Artists.
The Washington Post (11/26, B6, Vargas) reports that art students at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA, have wrapped “the outside of the school in 150-foot-long colored plastic strips. Visible to thousands who drive along Route 50 past Carlin Springs Road, it will remain up at least two weeks.” According to the Post, “Shauna Dyer, who has worked with art teacher Jeff Wilson to oversee the work, described the project as a ‘great opportunity for kids to see how art can grow and extend outside the classroom and really understand the process that Jeanne-Claude and Christo go through. It connects to whatever they do in life, whether they become an artist or an engineer.’”
Canadian Scientist Gives Florida Fifth-Graders Hands-On Lessons In Biology.
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Albucher) reports that for “an environmental learning project…at” James B. Sanderlin Elementary School, educators “recruited Canadian environmental scientist Dr. Don Waite to teach students about biology and the environment through educational singing, lectures, and experiments over a course of three days.” The scientist “splits his time between working for the Canadian government…and leading educational programs for children.” The 24 fifth-graders who participated in Waite’s program “will re-teach what they learned to other fifth-graders.”
Virginia Elementary School Principal Implements Lecture-Free Days.
The Suffolk (VA) News-Herald (11/25) reported that Nansemond Parkway Elementary School principal Keith Hubbard instituted “lecture- and worksheet-free days this year to help students develop creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.” The goal of “Day Without a Desk” is “to make the students connect what they learn through lectures, books and worksheets to something that relates to them. It takes their learning to a higher level,” Hubbard said. “The students have been doing desk-free Fridays for three months now, and teachers at the school said it’s working.” So far, students have made “piñatas out of paper lunch bags” and paper lanterns, while studying Mexico and China. They have also “built motorized racecars using Legos, created salt maps showing the regions of Virginia.”
First-Graders At Washington Elementary School Taste Pies To Produce Pie Charts.
The Wenatchee (WA) World (11/25, Agnew) reported that John Newbery Elementary School first grade teachers Laurie McLaughlin and Tami Woolsey “have held the pie tasting annually for five years. Students try a small piece of each of the pies — this year they came from Costco and Albertsons — and then vote for the pie they liked best.” The activity “is part of the two classes’ math curriculum. Students count up the results of the taste test and turn them into a graph — a pie chart, so to speak. … After the students [make] their tough decision, they” color “a cutout picture of a pumpkin, apple or pecan pie.” Then, they “glue their choice to a chart on [a] wall” in each classroom.
Students At Montana High School Learn About Career Choices By Shadowing Professionals.
The Helena (MT) Independent Record (11/25) reported that “students from the Project for Alternative Learning (PAL)” spent part “of Monday gaining some real-life experience by job-shadowing professionals at businesses around Helena.” According to the Helena Independent Record “students’ interests varied, as did the participating businesses. Some students worked with professionals at St. Peter’s Hospital, many worked with teachers and administrators throughout Helena schools, and others worked at construction companies and restaurants.” PAL principal Don Wood-Foucar “said the experience is a bit like a short internship.”
On the Job
Nearly Half Of Math Teachers In High Poverty Schools Do Not Have Certification, Report Shows.
The AP (11/26, Quaid) reports that poor students “are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children’s advocacy group.” Based on data from the US Department of Education, the Education Trust found that “in high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.” Additionally, “in schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.” The report adds that “teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching. … It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline” or “where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.”
According to the Canadian Press (11/26) the report also points out that “The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades” five through eight. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise (11/26, Parsavand) also covers the story.
Many Highly-Qualified Teachers In Georgia Say They Have Incorrect Certification.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/26, Diamond) reports, “Georgia teachers differ with the federal government as to how qualified they are, according to a national report released Tuesday.” A study from The Education Trust, a child advocacy group, shows that even though “about 95 percent of Georgia’s middle and high school teachers met the federal requirement of ‘highly qualified,’ only 65 percent of the teachers said in a survey that they had the appropriate certification.” The data “come from different reports completed during the 2003-04 school year, the last time the teacher survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.” The Journal-Constitution explains, “Georgia teachers are ‘highly qualified’ if they have an academic degree in the subject matter they’re teaching; or if their college course work is equivalent to a major in that area; or if they pass a state content test in the subject.”
Number of “Highly Qualified” Teachers In Hawaii Increases From Last Year. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/25, Da Silva) reports, “Hawaii is making progress toward getting public school teachers qualified, but those instructors are harder to find in high-poverty campuses where students often need the most help, according to the state Department of Education.” Compared to last year, there “are more qualified teachers in Hawaii’s public schools…but the state needs to do a better job placing those instructors in high-poverty campuses where students often struggle most, figures released yesterday” by the state Department of Education show. “The number of isle teachers federally qualified in all their subjects rose to about 10,839 from 8,997 the same time last year, a 20.4 percent jump, according to the state Department of Education.” Meanwhile, “a report released by the children’s advocacy group Education Trust said that nationally, poor children and minority students are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject.”
Florida High School Celebrates International Week.
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Miller) reports, that students at Zephyrhills High School “were given the opportunity to widen their horizons a bit and travel the world” last week as part of the school’s International Education Week. During lunch periods, some students “lined up for henna tattoos penned by students in the Art Honors class or to have their caricatures done in anime form. Others took a chance at making an origami crane or smacking a pinata that was filled with Thai ginger candy and lollipops coated in chili pepper.” And “Each day on the school’s morning news show, students were taught how to say “good morning” in various languages — Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, and Korean. They also learned to write their names in different script.” Meanwhile, “students in ESOL classes created colorful and informative posters to hang and shared with other students the differences and similarities between the schools here and in their home countries.”
Law & Policy
Education Stakeholders Speculate On Who Will Be The Next ED Secretary.
In a blog posting for Newsweek (11/25), Pat Wingert wrote, “Though presidential candidates often say that education will be one of their top priorities, the job of education secretary is often among the last cabinet seats filled. While Barack Obama’s transition team hasn’t floated any names yet, the education establishment–reformers, teachers’ unions, colleges and universities–has no shortage of candidates.” According to Wingert, “What no one knows is whether Obama is leaning toward someone from the more innovative end of the reform movement…or a candidate with close ties to the teachers’ unions.” The innovators “want one of their own in the top spot. Their favorites include New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein” and Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools and founder of the New Teacher Project. However, the teachers’ unions “prefer someone like Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford who acted as a surrogate for Obama during the campaign or former Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina, both reformers who have a long history of working respectfully with the unions on issues like increased teacher professionalism.”
Safety & Security
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California School District Announces Winners Of Internet Safety Video Contest.
The Sacramento (CA) Bee (11/26, Nix) reports, “Twenty-five Elk Grove Unified School District elementary, middle, and high school students have been named winners in the Internet Safety Video Contest, a collaboration between the school district and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.” According to the Sacramento Bee, “The contest is one component of Elk Grove Unified’s Internet Safety Initiative, which involves a three-pronged approach to educate staff, parents and students about cyber bullying, online predators, and other Internet safety issues, according to a district statement.”
Rumors Of Fights Lead Many Students To Skip Class At Kentucky High School.
Kentucky’s News-Democrat (11/25, Cassady) reported, “Over 200 students were absent from Logan County High School Friday after rumors of fights and hit lists circulated through the student body and into the community.” Meanwhile, “school administrators and office staff spent much of the day reassuring parents that everything was fine at the school and dealing with the few students actually involved in the situation.” After what was believed to be “a fight between two students,” students began to spread rumors, mostly via text message, “about things like a hit list of students who were to be jumped and certain groups wearing camouflage clothing on Friday. By Thursday evening…word had spread into the community and people began to panic.” Principal Casey Jaynes said that that “no incidents were reported at the school Friday and…there was no reason for people to keep their children out of school because of safety issues.”
School Finance
Minnesota District Mulls Suggestions For Cutting $10 Million In Spending.
Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin (11/25, Mann) reported, “The committee working toward recommending budget cuts of more than $10 million to Rochester schools met Monday, suggesting, among other items, that maintenance and lawn budgets be reduced.” Other “highly-supported” suggestions included having classrooms cleaned “every other day rather than each day,” which would potentially save the district $1 million, and “reducing electric, water and utility costs by five percent. That includes turning off lights more often when buildings are closed and turning down the heat, now around 70 degrees, in all buildings.” The Post-Bulletin notes, “Before finalizing recommendations in mid-December, the committee will review possible cuts in four more areas — instructional staffing, instructional programming, transportation and human resources.”
Also in the News
Students In California’s Affluent Districts Score Higher On Fitness Tests Than Peers In Other Areas.
California’s North County Times (11/26) reports, “Students in wealthier school districts tend to be in better shape than those in poorer areas, according to state fitness tests released Tuesday.” In addition to performing “better on academic tests,” state data shows that students in “affluent [California] districts such as Poway Unified, Carlsbad, and San Dieguito Union…can also do more sit-ups and push-ups.” This year, “About half of the students in those districts passed state fitness tests…compared with about a third statewide. The series of six physical fitness tests are given each year to all public school students across the state in fifth, seventh, and ninth grade.” They “assess aerobic capability, body composition, strength, flexibility and endurance.”
Parents Protest California Elementary Students’ Thanksgiving Costumes.
In the Los Angeles Times’s (11/25) L.A. Now blog, Seema Mehta wrote, “Nearly two dozen protesters were stationed this morning in front of Condit Elementary School in Claremont, the site of a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition that is under fire because kindergartners dress up in handmade pilgrim and Native American costumes.” About half of the protesters were “parents who supported the costumes. The other half were “parents who opposed the outfits.” According to Lt. Dennis Smith of the Claremont Police Department, “their discussion grew so heated that school officials called police, who separated the protesters on separate sidewalks.”