Number Of High-Poverty Schools On The Rise, Federal Report Finds.
The AP (5/28, Armario) reports that according to the 2010 Condition of Education study released by the US Department of Education, “the percentage of public schools where more than three quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch – a key indicator of poverty – has increased in the past decade.” The report rleased Thursday also said that children at high-poverty “schools are less likely to attend college or be taught by teachers with advanced degrees.”
The Christian Science Monitor (5/28, Khadaroo) notes that “economic segregation is on the rise in American schools.” According to Richard Kahlenberg of The Century Foundation, “a public policy research group in Washington,” the “separation of rich and poor is the fountainhead of inequality.” He said that high-poverty schools “get worse teachers … are more chaotic … [have] lower levels of parental involvement … and lower expectations than at middle-class schools — all of which translate into lower levels of achievement.” But, the Monitor points out, “cities aren’t the only places facing this challenge.” While 40 “percent of urban elementary schools have high poverty rates…13 percent of suburban and 10 percent of rural elementary schools do as well.”
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In the Classroom
Parents At Elementary School In Baltimore Outraged By Standardized Test Cheating Scandal.
The Baltimore Sun (5/28, Green) reports, “Parents expressed outrage Thursday that someone at Baltimore’s George Washington Elementary School changed thousands of answers on state standardized tests in a cheating scandal that is calling into question the school’s hard-fought achievements.” On Thursday morning, “Alonso and state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick held a joint news conference…to announce the revelations” found through an 18-month city and state investigation. Alonso said that while it was not “clear who had tampered with the tests, the responsibility lies with the school’s leadership.” The Baltimore Sun notes that Alonso has revoked the certification of George Washington Elementary Principal Susan Burgess. But, the “president of the city principals and administrators union,” expressed concern Thursday that the revocation has set a precedent “that could affect future principals who are in the middle of a controversy, even if they are not found guilty of any wrongdoing.”
Baltimore Sun: Standardized Tests Should Be Removed From School Immediately After Testing. The Baltimore Sun (5/28) editorializes, “Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso and state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick deserve credit for their extensive investigation into suspected cheating at George Washington Elementary School.” Nevertheless, Alonso still “has to worry about how this incident feeds into a cynical narrative about Baltimore’s students and the city in general.” The Baltimore Sun asserts that “changes to the exam process could make it much more difficult for some other school to repeat what happened at George Washington.” Last year, instead of having “test booklets arrive at schools well in advance of the exam,” Alonso and Grasmick, seeking to prevent “cheating at George Washington…sealed the exams and removed them from the school immediately after the test. That should become standard practice,” says the Baltimore Sun.
Fifth Grade Class In Utah Participates In Pen Pal Program With Senior Citizens.
The Salt Lake Tribune (5/28, Sanchez) reports that the L. Clark Cushing Heritage Center in Murray, Utah, is in its twelfth year of partnering “with an elementary school class for its pen pal program, arranging for students to exchange letters with senior citizens throughout the year.” This year, “the center teamed up with Ellie Ferrero’s fifth-grade class at Liberty Elementary School.” The class met with their pen pals “for the first time in December over a holiday luncheon.” The two groups “reunited last week over a game of bingo and ice cream at the program’s end-of-the-year party.” Center director Susan Gregory said that “the program is a way to show students that seniors can be ‘vibrant, educated and fun’ and gives adults a chance to stay connected to the youth.”
High School Students Used Calculators To Cheat On Test.
The Denver Post (5/27, Meyer) reported that six students at Golden High School in Colorado “were caught cheating on a chemistry final last week, forcing the school to make all 100 students enrolled in the course take the exam again before summer break begins next week.” The cheating scheme involved a former student, who “sold the previously administered final exam to current students.” Some of the current students then “loaded the answers onto their calculators, principal Mike Murphy said.” Researchers on the subject of student behaviors say that, “academic dishonesty has long been prevalent in high schools and in college,” but, they add, cheating methods have changed as “students have increased access to the Internet, camera phones and texting.”
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On the Job
Alabama Seeks To Define, Measure Teacher, Administrator Effectiveness.
The Birmingham (AL) News (5/28, White) reports that the Alabama Board of Education voted on Thursday to begin a study focused on how best to define and measure “teacher and principal effectiveness.” The study “eventually could lead to the state using student test scores and other objective measures of student achievement as the main ways of evaluating the effectiveness of public school teachers and principals,” according to the Birmingham News. The board is asking “members of the Governor’s Commission on Quality Teaching, the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership or the Education Reform and Innovation Council” to submit recommendations with the state schools superintendent “in time for him to suggest policy changes to the state school board by early 2011.”
Transition To Teaching Program Helps Fill Critical Shortages In West Virginia Schools.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting (5/27, Higgins) reports that through the federally-funded Transition to Teaching program, “teachers from various occupations” are filling “critical shortages” in West Virginia schools. The state is currently “critical teacher shortages in math, science, English, foreign language and special education.” Through Transition to Teacher workers in those fields can earn their teaching certification without an education degree. “A $600,000 federal appropriation pays for online classes, fees, travel to trainings, teacher certification tests, a laptop computer, and classroom materials.” And, “the program…provides mentors and coaches who help with lesson plans, instructional strategies, and classroom management.”
Law & Policy
Effort To Pass Teacher Jobs Measure Stalls In House.
The AP (5/28, Kellman) reports, “A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators’ jobs faltered Thursday — perhaps for good” — after getting “only lukewarm support from the White House.” The AP notes that even as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D) and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for passage of the teacher jobs measure at a news conference, “there were signs from the top down that not everyone considered the situation so dire.” Some lawmakers even “complained privately that the effort cried out for presidential advocacy,” as “Duncan seemed the only member of the administration making a case for it forcefully.”
WPost: Teacher Jobs Bill Flawed, Would Perpetuate Status Quo. The Washington Post (5/28) editorializes that White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina D. Romer has failed to make a compelling case for passing the teacher jobs bill in her op-ed for the Post as she “did not explain why retaining teachers stimulates the economy better than retaining, say, construction workers,” nor does she “weigh the costs and benefits of not borrowing another $23 billion from China.” The Post adds that if the goal of the $23 billion teacher jobs bill now before Congress is “to preserve the maximum number of good K-12 teachers at minimum cost, the bill would encourage states to lay off teachers according to ability, rather than seniority — as current rules, sacrosanct to unions, dictate. … Many jobs could be saved if more teachers accepted wage and benefits restraint, as workers in other hard-pressed industries have done.”
Louisiana Governor Signs Teacher Evaluation Overhaul Into Law.
The AP (5/28, Deslatte) reports that on Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) gave “final approval to a revamp of the state’s teacher evaluation process that [was] pushed against the wishes of teacher unions.” The new law will tie “at least half of a teacher’s review to student performance data – not the flat standardized test scores, but the growth in student achievement on those tests.” The AP notes that the measure was rushed “through final passage in recent days, with education officials arguing it could help bolster the state’s application for federal Race to the Top grant dollars.”
Hawaii Education Officials To Begin Preparing For Switch To Common Standards Next Year.
The Honolulu Advertiser (5/27, Moreno) reports that “next school year, education officials will begin widespread professional development and training to prepare public school teachers for the shift to common educational standards in math and English.” After “the standards are implemented in the 2011-12 school year, the vast majority of public schools in Hawai’i and nationwide will base their teaching on the same set of standards for the first time.” The Honolulu Advertiser points out that “There have long been arguments that Hawai’i's education system is failing in comparison to other states,” but “the new common core standards” would allow for more accurate comparisons. It adds that while “total costs are still uncertain,” the costs for switching to the new standards would come “in the form of new textbook purchases and professional development.”
School Finance
Rhode Island Legislature Approves Budget That Cuts $31 Million From Education.
The Providence Journal (5/28, Peoples, Gregg, Edgar) reports that “with one eye on Washington, a Rhode Island legislative panel endorsed a state budget Thursday night that slashes at least $150 million from local communities, trims public pension benefits and restores millions of dollars for arts and subsidized housing.” However, “the budget also slashes education aid by about $31 million, of which about $6.1 million would be offset by projected pension savings.”
Also in the News
High School Principal From Indiana To Join Development Team In Afghanistan.
Indiana Journal-Gazette (5/27, Haynie) reports that next school year, Jeremy Gulley, a National Guard soldier and principal of Huntington North High School in Indiana, “will take a one-year absence to serve in eastern Afghanistan” as “part of the National Guard’s 3-19th Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) — a group dedicated to helping Afghans learn to improve their farming.” In Afghanistan, Gulley will be “monitoring contracts — much like he does at school.” He and his team will “be joining about 60 soldiers from Indiana. Of the 60, 15 will be agriculture experts and 30 will provide security.” The ADT — the third from India — “will partner with the Afghan Agriculture Department to help farmers improve their agricultural techniques and hopefully increase their earning power.”
NEA in the News
New Jersey Education Association Supports State’s Race To the Top Application.
New Jersey’s Record & Herald News (5/28, Brody) reports that the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) has signed on to the state’s Race To The Top application, “after weeks of hashing out differences on tenure, merit pay and seniority with state education chiefs.” NJEA spokeswomen Dawn Hiltner said of the negotiations, “We’ve been pleasantly surprised they’ve been willing to work with us throughout this process.” According to NJEA officials, “the updated application retains seniority rights, and includes a modified system of merit pay that focuses on rewarding schools that make big strides rather than individual teachers.” The Record & Herald adds that “the NJEA wants district locals to sign on to the plan as well.”
Rhode Island Seeks Last-Minute Union Support For Race To The Top Bid.
The Providence Journal (5/28, Jordan) reports that only two local chapters of the National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI) have signed onto the state’s Race To The Top application, which state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist plans to hand-deliver on Friday. But, “as of Thursday evening, the” NEARI had “declined to endorse the” application. “In an interview, Gist said she would be happy to receive NEARI’s support at any point before the June 1 deadline.” The Providence Journal notes that “Rhode Island’s application for round two is significantly stronger than its initial application in January.” Notably, it “establishes a committee that includes teachers to create a new yearly evaluation system for educators.”
Utah Education Association Announces Endorsement For Primary Runoff.
The Salt Lake Tribune (5/28, Gehrke) reports that “the Utah Education Association on Thursday endorsed Rep. Jim Matheson in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary” on June 22, “citing his support for a federal stimulus program that the teachers’ union says saved 2,000 education positions in the state.” In a press release, UEA President Kim Campbell stated, that Congressman Matheson has stood “up against private school vouchers” and helped “save teachers’ jobs during the current recession.”
Local Nevada State Education Association Affiliate Ratifies Contract That Freezes Pay.
The Las Vegas Sun (5/28) reports that members of the Clark County Education Association members on Wednesday “ratified a new contract with the School District that freezes teacher pay for one year.” According to the Las Vegas Sun, “the agreement will help the district close the bulk of a remaining $28 million budget gap without resorting to furlough days or layoffs.” The contract was approved by 76 percent of the 902 members who voted.
States Pass Education Reform Laws Ahead Of Race To The Top Deadline.
The New York Times (6/1, Dillon) reports that Colorado Democrats “backed by the state’s largest teachers’ union nicknamed legislation overhauling Colorado’s tenure and evaluation rules the ‘teacher scapegoat’ bill, and several lawmakers wept in public sessions during their monthlong battle to stop it. But other Democrats joined with Republicans to pass Colorado’s law, the most comprehensive of a dozen similar bills passed around the nation this year, in part to increase” the state’s chances to win Race to the Top funding. According to the Times, “Louisiana, Oklahoma and New York also approved bills modifying their tenure and evaluation rules in the last week, just in time to meet Tuesday’s application deadline for Round 2″ of the Race to the Top competition.
Some States Walk Away From Race To The Top. The AP (6/1, Williams) reports, “About two dozen states are going back to Washington for another shot at billions in education grants under the ‘Race to the Top’ program.” However, nine other states have not been lured by a “chance at hundreds of millions of dollars.” The AP cites “the opposition of teachers unions, the wariness of state leaders to pass laws to suit the program, and fears of giving up too much local control.” It lists “Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming” as the nine states opting out of the second round of Race To The Top.
Race To The Top Has Not Prompted Enough Education Reforms, Some Stakeholders Say. The Wall Street Journal (6/1, Banchero) reports that the Race to the Top education stimulus competition has prompted a number of states to pass education reform laws. However, according to the Journal, some education reformers have expressed concern that education reforms prompted by the competition have not been as comprehensive as expected.
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In the Classroom
“Fifth Quarter” In Cincinnati Public Schools Combines Academics, Day Camp Activities.
The Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer (5/31, Amos) reported that Cincinnati Public Schools is “holding a ‘fifth quarter’ of summer instruction” this year. “The fifth quarter is a two-year-old pilot program that combines summer-school academics with day camp activities, in an effort to close achievement gaps at Cincinnati Public’s 16 worst-performing elementary schools.” The 3,368 students who have chosen to attend fifth quarter this year will spend “the next four weeks in daily reading, math, science and social studies lessons.” The Enquirer notes that “last year at this time, 1,471 students, or about 38 percent, had signed on at 13 schools.” This year’s participation accounts for “about 42 percent of the [sixteen] participating schools’ total enrollment.”
More Teachers Allowing Students To Sit On Fitness Balls Instead Of Chairs.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/1, Schencker) reports that in Meredith Dyer’s fourth-grade class at Adelaide Elementary School in Bountiful, Utah, “about one-third of the students sit on large, colorful fitness balls instead of chairs.” According to Dyer, the balls help students who had trouble paying attention in class. Dyer is one of “at least hundreds of…teachers nationwide” who have switched from using only hard chairs in their classrooms to medicine balls for seats, “saying it helps their kids to shake off excess energy, focus, and improve their posture.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that a “study published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy in 2003 found the balls could help kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stay seated and write more clearly.”
Elementary Students Use Animation Lab To Enhance Vocabulary Assignments.
The Hilton Head Island Packet (5/30, Cerve) reported on the animation lab at Bluffton Elementary School In Hilton Head, South Carolina. “Students use the lab to bring new life to weekly vocabulary words, historical events and science topics, such as the Earth’s orbit around the sun.” For one assignment, “students demonstrated their ability to distinguish between figurative and literal language by animating idioms.’” To bring the lab to the school, Principal Christine Brown “worked with the Savannah College of Art and Design,” choosing “animation software geared toward children.” The program was paid for using “prize money through the state Department of Education’s Palmetto Gold and Silver awards program, which last year gave monetary awards to schools who earned high marks on school report cards.”
Students In Virginia School Get Hands-On Lesson In Economics.
The Washington Post (5/30, Freeman) reported that last week, about 170 second-graders at Liberty Elementary School in South Riding, VA “worked as producers in their school’s ‘Krazy Krayon’ factory. The idea behind the factory, brought to the school by teacher Julie Ciardiello in 2008…is to give students a hands-on understanding of economics.” For the program, students create their products and sell them to their peers. The “goal is to raise enough money to pay for running the project, including new molds, burners, raffle prizes and treats for custodians, who have to deal with the added mess.”
AP Grade Weighting Unnecessary, Study Finds.
Jay Mathews wrote in a column for the Washington Post (5/31), “Like all human beings, educators accept rules and procedures that make sense to them, even when academic types wave data in their faces proving they are wrong. That appears to be the case with one of the most powerful and widespread practices in Washington area high schools — the extra grade point for college-level courses.” According to Mathews, research from the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas shows that “grade weighting for Advanced Placement courses is unnecessary” as when the study, conducted by senior researcher Kristin Klopfenstein, “compared schools that weighted AP with those that didn’t, there was no significant difference in AP course taking.”
Free Books Halt “Summer Slide” Among Low-income Students.
USA Today (6/1, Toppo) reports on an “experimental program in seven states” that provides “low-income students an armful of free books” in “districts from Nevada to South Carolina.” According to USA Today, “Research has shown that simply giving children books may be as effective as summer school – and a lot cheaper. The big question is whether the effect can be replicated on a larger scale and help reduce the USA’s nagging achievement gap between low-income and middle-class students.”
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On the Job
Educators Seek To Revamp Teacher Training.
The AP (5/30, Blankinship) reported that critics say few teacher colleges “provide adequate nuts-and-bolts teaching skills such as public speaking, classroom management, and dealing with the class goof-off.” According to some educators teachers often fail to keep “youths engaged,” lead “meaningful class [discussions],” or use “student test data to assess when students are ready to move on.” According to the AP, “Educators nationwide have begun to work together on what teacher education needs to look like in the future,” and in “a speech to Columbia University’s Teachers College last fall, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the federal government would be investing in the reform of teacher training programs as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.”
DC Teachers Likely To Ratify Contract.
The Washington Post (6/1, Turque) reports, “Voting on the proposed contract between the District and its 4,000 public school teachers concludes Wednesday, and even educators opposed to the pact, which will trigger major changes in how they are managed and paid, expect it to be ratified. … The contract offer, which requires the approval of the D.C. Council, would give teachers a 21.6 percent salary increase through 2012.” According to the Post, “The package would boost the average salary for a D.C. educator from $67,000 to about $81,000, elevating it to near the top of the pay scale for public school teachers in the Washington region, according to a union survey.”
Law & Policy
Utah Lawmakers Consider Early Graduation Options For High Schoolers.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/1, Schencker) reports that “as high school seniors across the state gear up to graduate, policy makers in Utah and nationwide are re-examining the 12th grade.” Sen. Chris Buttars’ (R) suggestion to scale “back 12th grade to save cash” helped create “a serious discussion” on the matter. Lawmakers will soon come together to discuss early graduation for high school students. Meanwhile, Utah’s “Office of Education has created a work group to study 12th grade this summer.” The Tribune notes that “ten states are already on board to test an early graduation program developed by the National Center on Education and the Economy” that “will offer a rigorous curriculum and test students in 10th grade.” Students “who demonstrate they’re college-ready then will have the option of attending community colleges or other open-admissions colleges instead of 11th and 12th grades.” The pilot program could go into effect “as early as 2013.”
Special Needs
Wisconsin Educators Seek To Bridge Testing Gap Between Students With, Without Disabilities.
The Green Bay (WI) Press Gazette (5/30, McBride) reports that throughout Wisconsin, “46 percent of students with disabilities tested proficient or advanced in reading in 2009, versus 88 percent of those without disabilities.” In math, “45 percent of disabled students” tested “proficient or better, versus 83 percent of students without disabilities.” This “achievement gap educators say poses a concern, especially as federal No Child Left Behind legislation mandates all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014.” To address the challenge, some districts are increasing math and “reading instruction for students with disabilities” and creating more inclusive classroom environments for those students.
Gender Gap Exists Within New York City Gifted Programs.
The New York Times (6/1, Otterman) reports, “When the kindergartners at the Brooklyn School of Inquiry, one of New York City’s schools for gifted students, form neat boy-girl rows for the start of recess, the lines of girls reach well beyond the lines of boys. A similar imbalance exists at gifted schools in East Harlem, where almost three-fifths of the students at TAG Young Scholars are girls.” According to the Times, this gender disparity “is not all that different from the gender makeup at similar programs across the city: though the school system over all is 51 percent male, its gifted classrooms generally have more girls.”
School Finance
Free, Reduced Lunch Program Brings Additional Revenue Into New Jersey Districts.
New Jersey’s Press of Atlantic City (6/1, D’Amico) reports that throughout New Jersey, “the number of students in the federal free and reduced-fee lunch program jumped more than 8 percent…for the 2009-10 school year,” according to data from the state Department of Agriculture. “School food-service managers say as the number of children eating for free has increased in the poor economy, so has total participation in the meal programs, giving them a more stable budget, and even some additional revenue as the state plans to cut its meal subsidy.” The Press of Atlantic City notes that New Jersey districts received “an average $2.78 for each free lunch and $2.38 for each reduced-fee lunch” this year for “a total of about $180 million.”
Hawaii Education Official Notes Teachers’ Sacrifice Helping Balance State Budget.
Garrett Toguchi, chairman of the Hawaii State Board of Education, wrote in a letter to the New York Times (5/28) in response to a May 23 editorial titled “Hawaii’s Race to the Bottom ” that in 2009, “facing an unprecedented $470 million education cut, Hawaii’s school board urged lawmakers and the governor to tap special funds, warning that schools were at a breaking point long before the islands’ tourism-driven economy hit bottom with the recession. When education was not prioritized, the school board eliminated programs and hundreds of positions, and closed schools.” According to Toguchi, “Contrary to the editorial, Hawaii teachers did sacrifice, as furloughs amounted to a significant pay cut in a state with one of the nation’s highest living costs.”
Also in the News
Military Academies An Increasingly Popular Option Among High School Students.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/1, Lehman) reports that even though “the decision might seem baffling in an era when the human cost of military service soars in the midst of two wars, the popularity of military academies hasn’t waned.” Instead, “it has become more difficult to get into the already-competitive institutions.” The St. Petersburg Times points out that “in an economy where college is expensive and post-graduation jobs are scarce, military academies have two attractive lures: scholarship money and a guaranteed career path.”
Experts Say Texas Textbooks Are Unlikely To Spread To Other States.
The AP (6/1, Weber) reports, “As the second-largest purchaser of textbooks behind California,” Texas “has historically wielded enormous clout in deciding what material appears in classrooms across the country. That’s why the state school board’s recent decision to adopt new social studies standards was closely watched far beyond Texas.” Though critics say the “new, more conservative curriculum in Texas would spread elsewhere,” experts “say those concerns are overblown” as technology “has made it easier and more affordable for publishers to tailor textbooks to different standards.”
NEA in the News
Florida Education Association Urges Local Support For State’s Race To The Top Bid.
The Orlando Sentinel (6/1, Postal) reports, “Florida will try again for a coveted Race to the Top federal education grant Tuesday – this time with the blessing of its teachers’ unions.” In the first round, The Florida Education Association objected to provisions in the state’s plans that “would have tied teachers’ salaries to student test scores.” The FEA said that plan was “fatally flawed.” For the second round, “the association helped rework the plan and then urged local unions to support it. The union said the new application wasn’t a ‘perfect solution’ but was ‘significantly’ better than the original.”
East Providence Teachers’ Pact Reduces Salaries, Benefits.
The Providence (RI) Journal (6/1, Pina) reports that the East Providence Education Association has approved of a contract with the school district that includes “salary and benefit reductions” in addition to “longer days, a longer work year, and larger classes at the high school and two middle schools.” The Journal notes that, “while it seems one-sided, the pact secures teachers’ salaries and benefits.” Moreover, it “ends the plan by district officials to make teachers take several unpaid sick days before cashing in on paid sick days.”
Thirty-Five States, DC Apply For Round Two Of Race To The Top.
The AP (6/2, Armario) reports, that 35 states and DC “submitted applications Tuesday for the second round of” the federal Race to the Top aimed at boosting “student achievement and school reform.” Up to 15 finalists — as specified by the US Department of Education — “will be selected over the summer and” will “later make presentations to review panels in D.C. The winners will be announced in September.”
The Washington Post (6/2, Anderson) reports that in their applications, some “states made it harder for teachers to get tenure” and some states “eliminated barriers to linking teacher evaluations to student test scores.” The Christian Science Monitor (6/2, Paulson) reports that while “several states have taken major actions to try to be more competitive,” other states “handful have dropped out, either over disagreement about the framework of the competition or after a failure to get the reforms needed to have a shot at a piece of the $4.3 billion pot of federal money.” States not competing include “Minnesota, Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Indiana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Oregon, and Idaho.”
Texas Will Not Apply For Race To The Top Funds. The Houston Chronicle (6/2, Mellon) reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), “reiterating his concerns about the US government taking over public education, confirmed Tuesday that Texas again will not compete for a federal grant worth up to $700 million for local schools.” Katherine Leal Unmuth wrote in a blog for the Dallas Morning News (6/1) that “state officials are resisting taking part in competing for the money because they oppose the creation of national curriculum standards, instead supporting the state’s current standards.”
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In the Classroom
Florida High School Plans To Replace Textbooks With E-Readers Next Year.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/2, Catalanello) reports that next year, Clearwater High School in Pinellas county, Florida, “will replace traditional textbooks with e-readers.” Currently, “school officials are negotiating with Amazon Kindle to try to equip all 2,100 students with the 10-ounce devices this fall.” Teachers have already been issued e-readers. “Principal Keith Mastorides said he was inspired to make the switch earlier this school year after campus surveys revealed a desire to integrate more technology with classroom instruction.” While some schools nationwide “have used e-readers,” most have done so “on a per class basis.” According the school district’s assistant superintendent for management information systems, John Just, “Kindle officials told the district that no other high school had embarked on” an effort like Clearwater’s.
Kentucky Sees Decrease In Dropout, Graduation Rate.
Kentucky’s Courier-Journal (6/2, Phelps) reports, “Fewer of Kentucky’s high school students dropped out and more went to college, according to 2008-09 school year reports released yesterday by the Kentucky Department of Education.” Last year, “the state’s drop-out rate hit” its lowest point in 15 years, “falling from 3.3 percent in 2008 to 2.9 percent.” Also, more high school graduates went on to college last year — 56.4, compared to 55.2 percent in 2008. Education Department Spokeswoman Lisa Gross noted that “Hispanic and African-American students saw the biggest decrease in drop-outs.” Both demographic groups had a six percent dropout rate in 2006. Last year, the dropout rate for Hispanics was 4.1 percent and it was 4.9 percent for African Americans. Meanwhile, the percentage of students graduating dropped “to 83.9 percent last school year…from 84.5 percent in 2008.” Lisa Gross “had no specific explanation for the drop.”
Texas District To Start “Double-Block” Classes For High Schoolers Failing State Math, Science Tests.
The Abilene (TX) Reporter-News (6/1, Peters) reports that “As part of a new initiative to close the achievement gap, underclassmen” at “in Abilene and Cooper High schools” who failed to pass state standardized tests in math and science this year “will be getting new schedules this summer placing them in two-hour blocks of one or both of those subjects.” The “double block” classes “will be smaller and taught by teachers specially picked — and paid as much as $20,000 extra — for their intervention strategies.” In order to take these classes, students may “have to give up some electives.” The Reporter-News notes that in 2008-09, the Abilene school system’s “two high schools were on the verge of earning the state’s lowest academic rating,” a fewer “than 60 percent of minority students passed math or science.” And while official reports of this year’s test scores “won’t be released until July,” school “administrators say improvement already is evident.”
Middle School In Ohio Receives State Honor For Teaching Lifelong Fitness, Overall Health.
Newark (OH) Advocate (6/1) reports that Granville Middle School “has won the Buckeye Best Healthy School Award for the 2009-2010 school year from the Ohio Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, part of the Ohio Department of Health.” The school’s physical education program focuses mainly on fitness “and teaching kids how to stay healthy for a lifetime,” said physical education teacher Sue Borchers. For example, students participate in circuit training and weight training, and they learn exercises they can continue to do throughout their lives. The Newark Advocate points out that the Healthy School Award does not come with any prize “other than bragging rights and the knowledge the students are well cared for.”
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On the Job
Looming Teacher Layoffs May Impact New York City’s Small Schools Most.
The New York Times (6/2, Medina) reports that schools across New York City “are bracing for layoffs as city officials estimate that as many as 4,400 teachers could lose their jobs, victims of budget problems in the city and state stemming in part from the recession.” Unless “City Hall, Albany, or Congress” intervenes, “the job losses, expected to be announced this week, would be the first major cut to the city’s teaching force in more than three decades.” Small schools are expected to “feel the layoff pain most acutely.” The Times notes that “hundreds of new small schools” throughout the city “have been a cornerstone of Chancellor Joel I. Klein’s efforts to overhaul the city’s public education system.”
Study Says Chicago Teacher Pay-For-Performance Program Is Ineffective.
The Chicago Tribune (6/2, Ahmed) reports that Chicago Public Schools’ “efforts to link teacher compensation to student achievement has done little to improve test scores or retain teachers,” according to new report. The study by the research group Mathematica shows that schools selected for the Chicago Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) “are performing no differently than schools that did not implement the program.” One of the participating schools has even “been closed for poor performance.” The Tribunepoints out, however, that “research on such efforts has been mixed. A previous study of the national TAP model, which operates in more than 200 schools across the country, found some gains at the elementary level.”
Law & Policy
Analyst Says Union “Side Agreements” Could Hurt Florida’s Changes For Winning Federal Grant.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/2, Matus) reports that “even as 54″ of Florida’s 67 teachers unions “pledged their support” for the state’s Race To The Top application, “several reached side agreements with their school districts that some say could undermine the state’s bid.” Some of the “side agreements clarify that, if unions object, districts will not impose changes to things like teacher pay and evaluations.” Meanwhile, others say that “any such changes will end when the grant money runs out.” While it is “unclear how many side agreements there are,” Education Analyst Andy Rotherham said that the agreements “nonetheless raise questions about whether some districts will follow through.” He pointed out that the agreements “also create ‘unfair competition’ with other states that will be trying to show they too have broad union support, but don’t have potentially conflicting side agreements.”
Reid Says Few In Congress Support Entirely Competitive Grants For Education.
The Las Vegas Sun (6/1, Mishak, Richmond) reports on the views of “the leading US Senate candidates” regarding “No Child Left Behind, Nevada’s chances in the Race to the Top, and the move toward competitive grants.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid noted concerns about the “competition in the [federal] funding process.” Reid said that “federal education funding is intended to support our most at-risk (student) populations.” To get that funding, he added, “School districts and states should not have to use scarce resources to hire grant writers.” Moreover, he noted “‘there is very little support’ in Congress for a federal funding formula based entirely on competitive grants.” The Sun also spoke with several Republican candidates.
Also in the News
Scripps National Spelling Bee Begins Today.
USA Today (6/2, King) reports that this year’s “field of 273 spellers” competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee “includes a record 266 from the USA, but the number of foreign contestants dropped this year, says Paige Kimble, the bee’s director,” as Canada “is sending only its national champion and not the 22 regional winners who came last year.” According to USA Today, “The competition starts today with a 50-word written test that all spellers take.”
The AP (6/1, White) reported on 11-year-old Charlie Ruiter from Centreville, Virginia, who is “one of the favorites to win this year’s National Spelling Bee.” Ruiter “came out of nowhere to finish second in last year’s bee – the only non-teenager to make the finals – and now he’s considered a major contender to take home the top prize when 273 English-speaking spellers from across the US and around the world descend on Washington, D.C., for the three-day competition this week, with the semifinals on ESPN and Friday’s finals live in prime time on ABC for the fifth consecutive year.”
School Director Says Instruction Is “Most Important Component For Improving Education.”
Charles Arthur, executive director of the Arthur Academy Charter Schools in Portland, wrote in The Oregonian (6/1) “In all the discussions taking place on Oregon education reform, little is mentioned about instructional practices within the classroom.” This, Arthur says, is “the elephant in the room.” While he acknowledges the importance of other components to education such as “educational vision…more money and resources; better educational leadership and political leadership,” Arthur asserts that these components “skirt the most important component for improving education: instruction.” He points to “published professional literature” that says “detailed, carefully planned, rigorous application of particular instructional practices…can make the significant difference in a child’s academic achievement.”
NEA in the News
National Core Standards Will Be Released Today.
Maureen Downey wrote in a blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (6/1), “The long-awaited national standards will be rolled out in Georgia on Wednesday in Suwanee with an all-star cast, including…Lily Eskelsen, Vice President of the National Education Association, and Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools.” The unveiling “marks the end of the development phase of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and the beginning of the adoption process in the individual states.”
Christie Makes Last Minute Revisions To New Jersey’s Race To The Top Application.
New Jersey’s Record and Herald News (6/2, Brody) reports that New Jersey Governor Christie (R) “threw out the school reform blueprint endorsed by the state’s biggest teachers union last week and filed a new bid Tuesday for a high-stakes federal grant known as ‘Race to the Top.’” According the governor, the state’s “education commissioner had compromised too much in order to win the union’s blessing for a contest that could bring $400 million to the state.” The revised version of the application, Christie said, “reinstated key elements of earlier plans, such as merit pay for individual teachers, putting job performance over seniority when laying off staff, making it easier to fire poor teachers, and giving bonuses to successful faculty who relocate to failing schools.” Barbara Keshishian, president of the New Jersey Education Association, said in a press release that the news was “a mixture of deep disappointment, utter frustration and total outrage.”