The Morning Bell by NEA
Gates Foundation Playing Key Role In Education Reform Movement.
The Washington Post (7/12, A1, Anderson) reports on its front page, “Across the country, public education is in the midst of a quiet revolution” as states “are embracing voluntary national standards for English and math, while schools are paying teachers based on student performance. It’s an agenda propelled in part by a flood of money from a billionaire prep-school graduate best known for his software empire: Bill Gates.” According to the Post, “It is unclear whether philanthropy…can find large-scale solutions to problems that have beset schools for generations” yet “what is certain is that Gates grants have become a leading currency for a particular kind of education reform” that has “won praise from the Obama administration and others, while prompting questions from some about the foundation’s pervasive presence and its emphasis on performance measures.”
Gates Hears Cheers, Jeers At Teachers Convention. The Seattle Times (7/11, Thompson) reported that “Rowdy delegates to a national teachers convention Saturday gave several standing ovations to Bill Gates, whose billions in foundation grants for experimental-education-overhaul efforts over more than a decade have sparked widespread controversy and debate.” But some attendees booed the Microsoft founder, while others walked out on his speech “and led chants afterward of ‘Hey, hey, ho, ho, Bill Gates has got to go.’” The Seattle Times points out that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “has led efforts to improve education, including charter schools, which while public are largely nonunion and run by autonomous management organizations.” Gates has also supported “linking teacher pay to classroom performance.” In his speech, Gates said that “his foundation is working with teachers to develop a teacher-evaluation system that is fair and will help teachers improve.”
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In the Classroom
New York School Facing Investigation For Alleged Testing Improprieties.
The New York Times (7/12, Gabriel) reports, “New York State’s fifth-grade social studies test was given Nov. 16 and 17″ and after “students completed the test” at Public School 86 in Queens, they “received their test booklets back the next week and were allowed to answer omitted questions.” According to the Times, “Across the country, states and school districts have pursued cases against teachers and principals suspected of cheating to raise students’ scores on standardized tests. Critics of testing point to the pressure on educators to produce results that are used to determine their merit pay, tenure and career advancement.”
Atlanta Schools Cheating Probe Faces Scrutiny.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/11, Judd, Vogell) reported that Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall “promised an impartial inquiry into reports of cheating on state achievement tests” and having recused herself, Hall “declared the investigation would be conducted by ‘a respected outside organization.’” The Journal-Constitution added, “Five months later, the investigation remains incomplete, and questions have emerged that challenge its independence. The ‘blue-ribbon’ commission appointed to oversee the investigation is populated with business executives and others who have done business with the school district or who have other civic or social ties to the district or to Hall” and “raising perhaps the most serious doubts, the district has been far more involved in investigating itself than originally suggested.”
On the Job
Varying Bonuses Offered In Florida Districts Disappoint Some Teachers.
The Orlando Sentinel (7/11, Balona) reported, “Florida schools struggling to emerge from the bottom of the heap have started offering merit pay to teachers.” Some of the bonuses “will be handed out this summer” and will “vary in amount from county to county.” But, “some educators are disappointed that some districts’ bonuses are much smaller than others.” For instance, “teachers in Orange and Polk counties will receive $1,000 and those in Osceola can earn as much as $2,000.” Meanwhile, the Pinellas County school district “couldn’t afford to introduce performance pay,” but “it did give a $300 bonus to educators at low-achieving schools who took on extra job-related tasks.” District administrator Charlene Einsel said that “Not all teachers were thrilled to receive just $300.”
Hawaii To Hire Fewer New Teachers Than In Previous Years.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser – (7/11, Vorsino) reported that Hawaii “again expects to hire about half as many teachers to fill vacancies for the coming school year…as teachers hold off on retirement or abandon plans to switch jobs because of the uncertain economic picture.” Last year, just 800 new teachers were hired, a contrast to the average 1,500 new teachers hired in previous years. The Star-Advertiser adds that “the trend is being seen nationally, too, and is a dramatic shift from predictions of a few years ago, when educators warned of big teacher shortages as baby boomers neared retirement and college graduates migrated to higher-paying fields.” In Hawaii, “the decline in teacher departures comes as the DOE is trying to beef up its teacher retention and mentoring programs.”
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Law & Policy
Duncan Urges Congress To Increase Education Funding.
The AP (7/10, Blankinship) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, speaking at a forum on innovation in education at Aviation High School in Des Moines, Iowa, urged Congress “to act soon to increase education funding because cash-strapped states can’t wait until the fall to determine if they must lay off thousands of teachers.” The House “has proposed cutting money from Race to the Top and other Duncan initiatives in order to send $10 billion to the states to keep 140,000 teachers in the classroom, and about $5 billion to shore up the Pell Grant program.” Duncan “said he was impressed by students and teachers at Aviation High School and would like to see a hundred more schools like it across the country.”
Duncan Met With Calls For Resignation During Visit To High School In Washington. KPLU-FM Seattle (7/10, Davis) reported that Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Des Moines, Washington last Friday “to tour a high school in the Highline District, and do a little campaigning” for Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), “who is seeking a fourth term.” Duncan arrived at Aviation High School “to find a few dozen protesting teachers outside the school calling for his resignation.” KPLU notes that “Duncan is leading the Obama Administration’s ‘Race to the Top’ reforms that have angered the teacher’s unions.” Last week, the NEA voted “no confidence” in guidelines for “the $4 billion federal grant program.” According to KPLU, “Duncan criticized the media for being more focused on the conflict between his office and the NEA, which represents most state public school teachers, than examining ‘innovative solutions.’”
Cyber Bullying Now A Crime In Louisiana.
KSLA-TV Shreveport, LA (7/11, Pieper) reported, “As of this week, cyber bullying is now illegal in the state of Louisiana.” State “lawmakers passed a bill that makes” online bullying a crime. “Now, anyone over the age of 18 caught cyber bullying anyone younger could face a $500 fine or 6 months in jail. Kids under 17 caught cyber bullying will have to undergo counseling.” KSLA notes that “stories of online abuse leading to teen suicide in Texas, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and California led state lawmakers to take action against the crime.”
Bill Restricts “Job Hopping” For Teachers In North Carolina Facing Dismissal.
Job HopNorth Carolina’s News & Observer (7/10, Bonner) reported, “It will be harder for teachers and other school employees” in North Carolina “who get into trouble to job-hop to another school district under a bill lawmakers approved in the waning days of the session.” Under the measure, “if teachers, principals or other career employees resign before they can be fired, prospective employers will be able to see that superintendents were preparing to recommend dismissal.” Also, “if an employee quits a school job before the firing process is complete, the employee’s license will be suspended for 45 days, pending an investigation by the State Board of Education.”
Special Needs
NASA Education Activities Target Children With Special Needs.
The Orlando Sentinel (7/11, González) reports, “Even as uncertainty looms over the future of US space exploration, NASA staff was in Orlando on Saturday, encouraging children to embraces science, math and technology. NASA educators teamed with University of Central Florida students to entice [youths] with activities such as observing stars in an inflatable planetarium, launching stomp rockets and exploring a ‘robonaut.’” Some parents who attended the event were particularly pleased with activities geared toward special needs children. Sara Aronin, an educator with the UCF College of Education who works with NASA’s Educator Resource Center noted, “Einstein was kicked out of a school because he couldn’t do math. Einstein, today, would have been diagnosed with a learning disability.” Aronin “thinks it is crucial schools and society invest on education in math, science and technology.”
Demand For Special Needs Teachers Expected To Grow.
The Boston Globe (7/11, Carrns) reported, “The sluggish economy, combined with uncertainty over federal stimulus aid, has public school districts cutting back on spending on everything from supplies to staff” yet “over the long term, demand is expected to be strong for teachers who are proficient in math and science, as well as those trained to work with students with special needs or who can speak a language other than English.” The Globe added, “By far,” the “fastest-growing teaching segment is in special needs” as though “growth in student enrollment overall is expected to slow, special education needs are rising, in part because of better and earlier diagnoses of developmental problems.”
School Finance
Obama Administration Urged To Accept Race To The Top Cuts To Save Teacher Jobs.
The Los Angeles Times (7/12) editorializes, “All across the country, the most pressing need in schools right now is to keep as many teachers, janitors, counselors and librarians as possible” and less critical goals include “expanding charter schools and linking teachers’ evaluations to their students’ test scores. So we’re surprised by the tumult over a school-aid package approved by the House last week as part of a larger appropriations bill” which “would provide $10 billion to keep as many school employees as possible in their jobs during the recession, but would do so, in part, by imposing some cuts on the Obama administration’s key education initiative,” Race to the Top. The Times adds, “Even with the reduction in its budget, Race to the Top would have billions of dollars to hand out,” and thus, would President Obama “really undermine desperately needed school funding over a less-than-lethal reduction in the grant program’s coffers?”
California School Districts Seek To Raise Cash With Hollywood Deals.
The AP (7/11, Hoag) reported, “In an era of yawning budget deficits and teacher layoffs, schools in the Los Angeles area are looking at a nontraditional source for some extra cash – Hollywood. School districts from Lawndale to Glendale are seeking to earn thousands of dollars a day from renting their campuses as locations for movies, TV shows, commercials, and even truck parking.” According to the AP, “The money is being used to save teachers’ jobs, upgrade school facilities and replenish districts’ dwindling funds.”
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Also in the News
Scientist Developing Teacher Robots.
The New York Times (7/11, Carey, Markoff) reported, “In a handful of laboratories around the world, computer scientists are developing robots” that are “highly programmed machines that can engage people and teach them simple skills, including household tasks, vocabulary or…playing, elementary imitation and taking turns. So far, the teaching has been very basic, delivered mostly in experimental settings, and the robots are still works in progress, a hackers’ gallery of moving parts that, like mechanical savants, each do some things well at the expense of others.” However, “the most advanced models are fully autonomous, guided by artificial intelligence software like motion tracking and speech recognition, which can make them just engaging enough to rival humans at some teaching tasks.”
NEA in the News
New Georgia Association of Educators President Says Public Education Is Threatened.
The Albany (GA) Herald (7/10, Fowler) reported that Calvine Rollins, a counselor at Bainbridge High School, “said she looked forward to leading the 43,000-member organization as its 26th president.” In order to serve as president of the Georgia Association of Educators, “Rollins took a two-year leave of absence from the Decatur County Schools. She recently returned to Bainbridge after attending the National Education Association Representative Assembly in New Orleans.” Said Rollins, “Public education is being threatened. As president, I’m going to advocate for great public schools, great teachers and to have the funding that our schools need to do our jobs — and that job is to present a quality education for our children.” The Albany Herald notes that she has been “involved with the Georgia Association of Educators since 1988.”
Former Union Board Member Defends Teachers’ “Standing Up For Themselves.”
Seth Goldberg, a former member of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Education Association (MCEA) board wrote in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post (7/11), “Why do teachers standing up for themselves, playing hardball in politics, so gall The Post’s editorial board ['Under the influence,' editorial, July 6]?” He points out that “many people in Montgomery County gather collectively with others whose needs are similar, be it through civic, religious, vocational or identity group affiliation, to have a political voice.” Goldberg asserts that in reality, the MCEA, “like other special-interest groups, is only somewhat — certainly not spectacularly or exclusively — successful either in influencing elections or the decisions of elected officials. Were it otherwise, teachers would not have been forgoing negotiated raises again and again in recent years,” he concludes
Detroit Set To Open Michigan’s First Teacher-Run School.
The Detroit Free Press (7/8, Walsh-Sarnecki) reports that “Detroit Public Schools is set to open its first school without a principal — teachers will be running the day-to-day operations and making all pertinent decisions.” At Barbara Jordan elementary School, teachers will not “have to wait for the central office’s OK to purchase needed items or increase their emphasis on” particular skills as dictated by the central office. The K-4 school “will be the district’s first” led by teachers and will be “open only to students whose parents agree to be involved.” According to teachers union representative Michael McLaughlin, families are “clamoring to get into” the school. Proponents say that “without bureaucracy,” decisions will be made in a timelier manner than at other schools. School staff will make “all the decisions, from lessons to hiring to building repairs.”
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In the Classroom
DC Schools Chancellor Plans To Increase Use Of Standardized Tests.
The Washington Post (7/8, Turque) reports, “D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee plans to significantly expand the use of standardized tests so that, eventually, every D.C. student from kindergarten through high school is regularly assessed to measure academic progress” and teacher effectiveness. The new tests would measure “English language arts and math” skills for K-2 students, “math “pretesting” in third grade before the” state tests, “social studies and science in grades six through eight and core subjects in high school.” The assessments “would be given about every six to eight weeks and at the end of the year, allowing teachers to identify student weaknesses and adjust classroom strategies.”
Georgia Teachers Facing Cheating Probe.
The AP (7/7) reported that about 80 educators from 14 districts in Georgia “are being investigated by the state for possible cheating on standardized tests last year.” According to officials, the “list of educators under investigation could grow as the state waits for another 18 districts to complete their own probes.” The AP noted that teachers “found guilty of cheating could face sanctions up to losing their teaching licenses.”
US Officials Participate In Summer Reading/Obesity Program.
The Christian Science Monitor (7/8, Khadaroo) reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan took part in a “Let’s Read. Let’s Move” gathering at the ED headquarters in DC, where Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood “brought to life ‘The Little Engine That Could.’” Duncan “joined with him in asking the excited K through 5th-graders questions about the story – and answering their questions about everything from trains to the Obamas.” The program is “designed to combat the learning loss that can occur over the summer, as well as weight gain, and it’s in conjunction with first lady Michelle Obama’s work against obesity. ‘We encourage all youngsters to take on this challenge and read at least five books over the summer months to keep their skills sharp,’ Secretary Duncan said in a press statement.”
High Schools Placing Too Much Focus On College, Teacher Writes.
Patrick Welsh, a teacher at TC Williams High School in Virginia, wrote in an opinion article for USA Today (7/8) that many high schools, including his own, have been focused on sending “as many warm bodies as they could on to higher education regardless of whether the students had the skills or motivation to do rudimentary high school work.” This is unproductive, Welsh argues, particularly when so many future opportunities are anticipated to be middle-skill jobs. “I am the last to say that the liberal arts or learning for the sake of learning are a waste of time and money,” Welsh writes, “but given the nature of the market that is developing, for many kids, the liberal arts, in fact the very idea of a four-year college degree, will be taking a back seat to training geared to the jobs that are coming out of this economy.”
Students Across Southeast Not College-Ready, Report Says.
The Thibodaux (LA) Daily Comet (7/8, McBride) reports, “Across the Southeast, students are graduating from high school unprepared for college.” This is according to a report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), which found that “not only do high-school diplomas fail to guarantee college readiness, but most college-preparatory curricula do not prepare students for the rigor of college courses.” In order “to address the problem, the report recommends six steps,” including curriculum adjustments, teacher training and increased academic standards. “Though the report suggests these goals will require collaboration from the governor down through classroom teachers, local education officials say they have already begun some of these processes.”
On the Job
Teachers Observe, Discuss Instruction Techniques In Experiential Training Program.
The Selma (AL) Times-Journal (7/7, Fenton) reported that “more than 20…Selma City Schools teachers, reading coaches, retired teachers and central office employees will spend two weeks of professional development and experiential training at Knox Elementary’s Innovative Academy summer program” For the training, “students from Clark Elementary, Payne Elementary and Knox Elementary attend classes from 8 a.m. until noon.” Trainees will observe the classes, then meet in small groups to discuss “saw students actively paying attention and excited about activities, such as reading excerpts aloud or learning to count. After identifying the methods that engaged students, educators learn a new skill…and add that technique to the lessons for the next day.” The Times-Journal adds that time spent in the training program will “count toward the required 50 hours of continuing education for teachers and the 100 hours for retired teachers to renew certification.”
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Law & Policy
Indiana Schools Could Save $454 Million Annually By Sharing Insurance, Study Says.
The Indianapolis Star (7/8, Schneider) report that Indiana “schools, universities and the state would save $454 million annually if all were on the same health insurance plan, according to a study delivered Wednesday to the State Budget Committee.” However, many “of those savings would come in the form of higher premiums or deductibles paid by school and university employees, or because the insurance offers less generous benefits than some schools currently provide.” The Indiana ASBO “has always supported giving schools the option of switching to the state government’s health insurance program,” according to the group’s executive director, Dennis Costerison. “But, he said, it should be voluntary, not mandated.”
The AP (7/8, Martin) reports that “the analysis — done by consulting company Mercer Health & Benefits LLC and presented to lawmakers on the State Budget Committee Wednesday — found that it would cost public schools and universities about $270 million to get the same level of insurance they’re getting now. Choosing that higher level of coverage would reduce the savings to $180 million a year.”
School Finance
Maryland Governor Promises To Increase School Construction Funding By $1 Billion.
The Washington Post (7/8, Wagner) reports that on Wednesday, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) promised “to spend an additional $1 billion on public school construction if elected to a second term.” Under O’Malley’s leadership, the “legislature has approved almost $1.3 billion in state spending on school construction” since 2007, “about $460 million more than it did under” O’Malley’s predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Ehrlich “is trying to win the job back from O’Malley this fall.” In addition to pledging “to meet a target of at least $250 million” in school spending each year, the governor has “also offered several ideas to make schools more energy-efficient and less costly, including relying more on standardized designs.” The Post adds that O’Malley recently won recognition from the NEA “as the ‘Greatest Education Governor.’ The NEA credited O’Malley with largely avoiding the deep education cuts that other states have endured during the recession.”
Texas District Expects Extra $300,000 From School Fee Increases.
Texas’ Star-Telegram (7/7, Cadwallader) reported, “For the first time in eight years, the Arlington school district will raise fees for transfers, GED tests, musical instrument rentals and other student services.” The 20-30 percent fee increases for the 2010-11 school year are expected “to generate about $300,000 toward a projected $8.4 million budget shortfall for the coming school year.” The Star Telegram noted that “Arlington faces its fourth consecutive annual shortfall, which would again require dipping into the district’s reserve fund, which stands at $70 million. The challenge got tougher last week when the Texas attorney general issued an opinion that school districts must pay teachers their regular step increases next year.”
Dallas District’s Debt Outlook Improves After Spending Cuts.
The Dallas Morning News (7/8, Stahl) reports that “Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on the Dallas Independent School District’s debt from negative to stable, saying the improvement was due to recent spending cuts.” In a statement, Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Horacio Aldrete-Sanchez said, “The outlook revision reflects our view of the district’s expenditure cuts, which have resulted in a projected increase to reserve levels at fiscal year-end 2010.” The Morning News notes, however, that “even before the latest outlook improvement, the district was able to tap credit markets with an AAA rating provided by a state debt guarantee program.”
Also in the News
Increasing Graduation Rates Would Improve Economy, Report Says.
The Sacramento Bee (7/8, Gutierrez) reports, “Lowering the dropout rates of minority students in Sacramento would drive $223 million into the local economy through increased spending and home and car purchases, a study released Wednesday found.” The Alliance for Excellent Education study looked at “the 45 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, finding an estimated 600,000 minority students dropped out of the Class of 2008.” It found that “cutting that number in half would generate $2.3 billion in increased earnings nationally for the Class of 2008.” The Sacramento Bee notes the findings specific to the Sacramento area.
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NEA in the News
Van Roekel Suggests Changes For Obama Administration’s Education Policy.
NPR (7/7) reported, “The nation’s two largest teachers unions are holding their annual conventions this week and have been saying some harsh things about the Obama administration’s education agenda.” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said, “The narrowing of the curriculum, the overemphasis on tests, the labeling and punishment of [school] districts is not working and the students are losing.” Instead, Van Roekel suggests that the administration “reward schools for raising kids’ academic performance, no matter how small; stop relying on tests as a single measure of students’ academic growth; and absolutely stop supporting the use of test scores to evaluate teachers or decide how much they should be paid.”
NEA Endorses US Senate Candidate From Kentucky.
The AP (7/7, Alford) reported that the Kentucky Education Association and the National Education Association are endorsing US Senate candidate Jack Conway (D) of Kentucky. “In a statement Wednesday, Conway said he is grateful for the support of the groups, which have some 41,000 members in Kentucky.” Conway said that if elected, he “will fight to expand early childhood education and improve K-12 and post-secondary education from the bottom up.”
Milwaukee Public Schools Applies for $45 Million In School Improvement Grants.
Wisconsin’s Journal Sentinel (7/7, Richards) reports that last week, Milwaukee Public Schools, which has “all of Wisconsin’s lowest-performing schools,” submitted an application “for $45 million in school improvement grants that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is authorized to distribute.” But, according to Vanderbilt University Education professor Joseph Murphy, the prospects for change are unlikely. Said Murphy, “It isn’t like there’s a whole pile of new ideas on the table. … They’re going to ratchet up quality of instruction, they’re going to increase academic rigor, they’re going to get good leaders in there – the pieces of the puzzle have been known for a long time.”
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In the Classroom
Florida District Expects Class-Size Caps Will Cause Scheduling Disruptions.
The St. Petersburg Times (7/7, Buie) reports that school officials in Pasco County, Florida “expect disruptions and disappointment for some students this fall as the district complies with the hard caps on the number of students in each core curriculum class.” For instance, they anticipate “lotteries for certain classes for older students if too many sign up.” And in elementary schools, “students may be moved from one classroom to another if the head count is too high after the first few weeks of school.” Right now, “school Board members are mulling over how to best tell parents about the effects, caused by a combination of shrinking revenue and stricter class-size accounting rules that could kick in this year if at least 60 percent of the state’s voters don’t agree to relax them.”
Summer Program Offers Elementary Schoolers A Variety Of STEM Topics.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (7/6, Lockley) reported on the Science in the Summer program, held in area libraries and “hosted by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.” The program, which has been around for over two decades, “is meant to prevent the ‘summer slide,’ when children forget what they learned during the school year, and to give second through sixth grade students a chance to participate in hands-on experiments.” In each county hosting the program, the sessions are different: “bioscience in Montgomery, chemistry in Delaware, genetics in Chester, oceanography in Bucks, and electricity in Philadelphia.” A GlaxoSmithKline official said, “America needs an educated workforce…and we hope that our program will not only spark a lifelong interest in science, but, who knows, one day they may end up working at GSK.” The article also details some of the activities.
On the Job
Chicago Teacher Warns That Layoffs Set Bad Precedent.
The Chicago Sun-Times (7/6, Rossi) reported that 226 Chicago Public Schools teachers “who are not formally attached to a classroom…were laid off June 30, without regard to seniority or tenure, in a new CPS interpretation of the teachers contract. All lost the 10-month pay cushion usually offered displaced and often less-credentialed CPS teachers.” According to the Sun-Times, nationally certified teacher Erin O’Brien was among those laid off, and she “and others predicted the system’s decision to dump expert tenured teachers who advanced beyond a daily classroom could come back to haunt CPS.” O’Brien reasoned that in the future, “teachers may avoid leadership roles if they think they could lose their tenure rights by taking them.”
San Antonio District May Restrict Jeans, Flip Flops In Teacher Dress Policy.
The San Antonio Express News (7/6, Kastner) reported that the San Antonio Independent School District is considering teacher dress code revisions that “would prohibit jeans, T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops.” In addition, “halter tops, spaghetti-strap tank tops and other revealing clothing…would be no-nos.” Jeans are “a big point of discussion” within the district. Some argue that jeans can be worn “in a professional manner.” A spokesperson for the district “said jeans likely would be permitted on Fridays or designated ‘spirit days,’ when students and staff dress in shirts with school or college logos.” The revisions are being considered in “an attempt to provide greater clarity for employees.” The current dress code “simply states that employee dress ‘shall be clean, neat, in a manner appropriate for their assignments.’”
Law & Policy
Districts Implementing “Mutual Consent” Teacher Placement Policies.
Education Week (7/6, Sawchuk) reported, “A handful of districts and two states are doing away with the forced placement of teachers in schools in favor of a system requiring both the teacher and principal to agree to a transfer.” School leaders generally support the policy, because, they say, “they must be able to have a choice in the selection of talent in their building if they are to be held accountable for achievement results.” According to Education Week, “The shift in policy has many implications for teachers, not the least of which is that a process known as ‘mutual consent’ effectively shifts onto displaced teachers the responsibility for seeking out and applying for new positions within the district.”
Experts Say Indiana Policies Undermine Pre-K, Kindergarten Education.
The Indianapolis Star (7/6, McCleery, Gammill) reported, “Indiana does not require children to attend school until they turn 7.” And, “it does not require children to attend kindergarten at all.” But early childhood development experts say that “those policy decisions send” the message to parents that “school isn’t really that important until first grade.” Consequently, just “twenty percent of preschool-age children in Indiana are enrolled in public pre-kindergarten programs — compared with 87 percent in Oklahoma…according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.” Indiana districts do provide preschool to some children — generally those “who will be eligible for special education and for whom preschool is mandated by federal law.” According to state officials, the costs associated with pre-kindergarten are “a significant barrier” to a state-funded program.
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Special Needs
Virginia District Officials In Dispute Over Program For Needy Students.
The Washington Post (7/7, Kravitz) reports that Fairfax County, Virginia, officials argued “Tuesday over the funding provided to programs for the area’s neediest schoolchildren, with Board of Supervisors members accusing public school officials of not considering the impact program changes would have on the students.” The dispute centers on “an $8 million program that extended the Monday school day by two hours at about 20 elementary schools in Fairfax’s worst-off neighborhoods.” Although the Project Excel program has “won admirers” over the years, “many of its key components, including full-day kindergarten, have been phased out over the past decade.”
Safety & Security
Consumer Product Safety Commission Recalls Falling Stadium Light Poles.
The AP (7/7) reports that the Consumer Product Safety Commission “on Tuesday announced a recall of light poles that can crack and fall after 11 of them crashed at stadiums and school gymnasiums over a decade-long period.” The CPSC “said there are more than 2,500 of the affected steel poles installed around the country” which were manufactured “by the now-defunct Whitco Co.” of Fort Worth, TX. The AP adds, “The recall, which urges facility managers to bring in a professional to evaluate the poles and repair them as quickly as possible, affects poles between 70- and 135-feet tall made of steel with a galvanized coating.”
The Austin (TX) American Statesman (7/7, Dexheimer) adds that “Whitco’s poles have toppled in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota. A few fell at minor league baseball stadiums.” However, “many of the defective structures were located along playing fields at Texas high schools.”
Facilities
Construction Workers In Chicago Cross Picket Lines To Continue School Project.
WLS-TV Chicago (7/6, Knowles) reported that despite a strike that “shut down job sites across the Chicago area since last week.” Some construction workers crossed “picket lines [Tuesday] to finish a project at a” Naperville High School. “Union officials say a work stoppage would threaten to delay the start of the school year.” Roughly “20 workers on the Naperville project…are striking, but other workers who are not included in the strike had refused to cross the picket line.” Attorneys for the Naperville school district had planned to file “court action Tuesday to get the workers who are not technically part of the strike to get back to work.” If construction workers continue “working every day, school leaders say everything will finish on time.”
School Finance
District Stimulus Spending Difficult To Track.
The Dallas Morning News (7/6, Meyers, Holloway) reported that according to federal rules, school districts “must report whom they’ve paid when they spend at least $25,000 in stimulus funds, but don’t have to say what they’ve purchased.” And, because “few districts break down the purchases, most taxpayers don’t know how their stimulus money gets spent.” Purchases of $25,000 or more can be tracked through the recovery.gov website, though it “offers only vendor names and total spending amounts.”
Also in the News
Later School Start Time Improves Student Performance, Study Finds.
The AP (7/7) reports, “Giving teens 30 extra minutes to start their school day leads to more alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness, and even healthier breakfasts, a small study found.” According to the AP, “The results appear in July’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine” and the “results mirror those at a few schools that have delayed starting times more than half an hour. … ‘There’s biological science to this that I think provides compelling evidence as to why this makes sense,’ said Brown University sleep researcher Dr. Judith Owens, the study’s lead author and a pediatrician at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.”
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NEA in the News
NEA Delegates Throw Out Business Item Calling For Duncan Replacement.
Stephen Sawchuk wrote in Education Week (7/6) “Teacher Beat” blog that even though US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has received “quite a bit of criticism at this year’s National Education Association Representative Assembly,” NEA delegates on Tuesday dismissed a business item that “would have encouraged President Obama to replace Duncan with ‘a person who is aligned with the interests of the NEA, its members, and especially the students it serves.’” Sawchuk notes that normally, “unpopular resolutions are defeated, but not removed entirely from consideration.”
Ravitch Receives “Friend of the NEA” Award. In another Education Week (7/6) “Teacher Beat” blog post, Steven Sawchuk writes that “education historian and advocate Diane Ravitch” received a “Friend of the NEA” award on Tuesday at the Representative Assembly. After delivering a “speech panning the No Child Left Behind Act, the Race to the Top, charter schools, the ‘privatization’ of public schools, merit pay, and efforts to shift away from seniority and tenure,” Ravitch also received a standing ovation. Sawchuk added, “If this appearance is any indication, Ravitch now views herself as the defender of public education against forces that are bent on destroying it.” Steven Sawchuk also summarized the five-day NEA Representative Assembly in the Education Week (7/6) “Teacher Beat” blog.
San Diego Education Association President Co-Sponsored “No Confidence” Resolution. The San Diego Union-Tribune (7/7, Smolens) reports that Camille Zombro, the outgoing president of the San Diego Education Association, “helped rally labor leaders from across the country to take a position of ‘no confidence’ in the guidelines for Race to the Top competition for federal stimulus money during a national conference in New Orleans.” She also “co-sponsored the resolution calling for the ‘no confidence’ position.” According to the Union-Tribune, “the resolution vote stirred a heated debate among the labor leaders, with some reportedly worried about the political ramifications of such a stance.”
Salt Lake City Teacher To Lead Utah Education Association.
The Salt Lake Tribune (7/7, Schencker) reports that throughout her career, teacher Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh “has taught hundreds of Salt Lake City children to love learning, mentored other teachers and earned a slew of prestigious awards.” Starting July 15, she will lead the Utah Education Association (UEA). The Tribune describes the challenges Gallagher-Fishbaugh will face during her tenure. “She’ll have to fight for school funding when there aren’t as many dollars to go around.” And, she will “continue UEA’s battle to urge lawmakers to re-examine recent tax changes that are costing Utah schools hundreds of millions of dollars.”
No Federal Officials Speaking At NEA Conference This Year.
The New York Times (7/5, A8, Dillon) reported that “in a sign of the Obama administration’s strained relations with two of its most powerful political allies, no federal official was scheduled to speak at” the National Education Association’s “convention this month, partly because union officials feared that administration speakers would face heckling.” Some speakers at the convention that opened Saturday in New Orleans have called for Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign, and NEA president Dennis Van Roekel told attendees, “Today our members face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment I have ever experienced.” The Times notes that The Obama administration has so far supported “historic increases in school financing to stave off teacher layoffs,” charter schools, and “the dismissal of ineffective teachers as a way of turning around failing schools.”
NEA Delegates Vote “No Confidence” On Race To The Top. Stephen Sawchuck wrote in the Education Week (7/4) “Teacher Beat” blog that on Monday, “after a protracted debate, delegates to the National Education Association approved a new business item…that takes a position of ‘no confidence’ in the US Department of Education’s Race to the Top guidelines and in the use of competitive grants as a basis for the reauthorization of ESEA.” According to Sawchuck, “the item passed by a razor-thin margin.” While some delegates said that a no confidence vote “didn’t accurately represent the diversity of opinion about the program,” others “felt that it was time for the NEA to come out more strongly against the administration.”
NEA Conference Aids New Orleans Economy Amid Gulf Oil Spill. The AP (7/6) reports that “New Orleans has seen steady convention traffic and a high volume of visitors virtually throughout the 2 1/2-month” Gulf oil spill. Roughly 35,000 hotel rooms “are booked for the weekend because of the [Essence] music festival, spill relief workers, and the National Education Association’s 15,000-delegate conference,” the AP adds.
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In the Classroom
Educators Strive To Keep Pace With High-Tech Cheating.
The New York Times (7/6, A1, Gabriel) reports on its front page, “As the eternal temptation of students to cheat has gone high-tech — not just on exams, but also by cutting and pasting from the Internet and sharing of homework online like music files — educators have responded with their own efforts to crack down.” A number of school are requiring incoming students “to complete online tutorials about plagiarism before they can enroll,” and “anti-plagiarism services requiring students to submit papers to be vetted for copying is a booming business.” Schools such as the University of Central Florida have developed highly monitored testing centers that try to account for as many methods for cheating as possible. “An online tutorial in plagiarism may prove an elegantly simple technological fix,” as research indicates it has “an outsize impact” on the body of students studied. The article also discusses some of the potential root causes of rising plagiarism.
Kansas City District To Group Students By Skill, Not Grade Level.
The AP (7/6) reports that instead of grouping students by grade level, more districts “are grouping students by ability.” Though this “practice has been around for decades,” it “was generally used on a smaller scale, in individual grades, subjects or schools. Now, in the latest effort to transform the bedraggled Kansas City, Mo. schools, the district is about to become what reform experts say is the largest one to try the approach.”
Native American Students In Oklahoma Outperform Those In Other States.
Tulsa World (7/6, Myers) reports that while Native American students in Oklahoma “continue to outperform those in other states…academic progress for American Indian students nationally remains stalled, a new study indicates.” The National Indian Education Study 2009 showed that “gaps in [test] scores among Indian students and white students in Oklahoma also were smaller than the figures nationally,” but “math continues to be a weak area” for students of all backgrounds. The report also showed that “more than a third of American Indian and Alaska Native fourth- and eighth-graders nationally scored below the basic level in math and reading.” And, those scores did not improve much from 2007.
More US High Schools Offering International Baccalaureate Program.
The New York Times (7/3, A1, Lewin) reported on its front page, “The alphabet soup of college admissions is getting more complicated as the International Baccalaureate, or I.B., grows in popularity as an alternative to the better-known Advanced Placement program.” According to the Times, “The lesser-known I.B., a two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, first took hold in the United States in private schools” and “it is now offered in more than 700 American high schools – more than 90 percent of them public schools – and almost 200 more have begun the long certification process.” According to the Times, “Many parents, schools and students see the program as a rigorous and more internationally focused curriculum, and a way to impress college admissions officers.”
On the Job
New Center To Help Teachers Make STEM More Relevant To Students.
North Dakota’s In-Forum (7/5, Dalrymple) reported on the Great Plains STEM Education Center at Valley City State University, which is dedicated to training “K-12 teachers how to integrate science, technology, engineering and math and make it relevant to students,” thereby increasing the number that eventually go into STEM-related fields. Don Mugan, director of the new center, noted that “science and math have traditionally been taught as separate subjects, and engineering and technology have been electives.” He said, “If we want kids to get fired up, we have to connect with their lives, which our traditional model does not allow for.” The article noted, “The center will offer workshops to teachers around the state, as well as serve future teachers and make connections with businesses.”
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Law & Policy
Poor-Performing Schools In California Hardest Hit By Teacher Layoffs.
The Sacramento Bee (7/6, Lambert, Reese) reports, “A year of sweeping teacher layoffs at schools around the state has” shown that schools in California “with the lowest test scores — and traditionally the highest numbers of poor and minority students — tend to be staffed with the least experienced teachers.” State “law requires that, in a time of layoffs, teachers with least experience in a district are the first to go.” As a result, teachers in low-performing schools are being cut at disproportionately high rates, as compared to better-scoring schools. “The situation has caught the attention of” Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who “”has introduced Senate Bill 1285, which would prohibit districts from laying off teachers at low-performing schools at a higher rate then the district average.”
House Votes On $800 Million Cuts To Cover Teacher Jobs Bill.
Education Week (7/2, Klein) reported that “the US House of Representatives voted” last week “to cut $800 million from key administration initiatives to help pay for an effort to avert teacher layoffs. The legislation-which the White House has threatened to veto-takes aim at three of the administration’s most-prized education priorities” including the Race to the Top program. Education Week added, “The money cut from the education programs would go toward a $10 billion fund aimed at helping states keep what congressional supporters say would be an estimated 140,000 teachers on the job and toward providing nearly $5 billion to help close a major shortfall in the Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students gain access to college.”
The Washington Post (7/3, Anderson) reported that the provision cuts $500 million from the “$4.35 billion Race to the Top reform contest.” According to the Post, Rep. David R. Obey (D), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, “said the cut is necessary to free up money for a new $10 billion fund to help save more than 100,000 education jobs at a time when states and local governments are facing major budget challenges.”
New Oregon Law Aims To Protect Students From Teacher Sexual Misconduct.
The AP (7/2) reported that a new Oregon “law intended to protect K-12 students from sexual misconduct by school employees is expected to reform school districts’ hiring and training procedures and add to their workloads. During a time of shrinking budgets and staffs, school officials say they hope technology can help them handle what is expected to be an influx of personnel information requests about former employees.” According to the AP, “House Bill 2062, which took effect Thursday, defines sexual misconduct for the first time” and it “is intended to end the practice of what has been known as ‘passing the trash,’ in which an educator facing discipline for misconduct may negotiate a deal with a school district to resign in exchange for the district concealing his or her record of misconduct.”
End Of Stimulus Bill May Leave Districts Looking For Replacement Funds.
Vermont’s Times Argus (7/5, Porter) reported that “money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), designed primarily to help schools improve infrastructure, instruction for low-income students and students with disabilities, could also be setting up schools for a problem in 2011 when the funding…starts coming to an end.” Even though the federal government specified that the money should be used “for one-time expenses rather than ongoing needs,” the Times Argus adds that “it isn’t clear how many districts complied – or even how many could comply while still taking advantage of the funding.” Rob Bliss, assistant superintendent for Rutland City Schools, said that “as far as he can tell, schools are using the money for one-time needs and investments,” like integrating “technology into the school curriculum” and funding “staff positions.”
School Finance
Oregon District Presented As Example Of How Not To Cut Spending.
Columnist Elizabeth Hovde writes in The Oregonian (7/6), “As school districts around the state propose cuts of various kinds to live within budgets that are lower than expected, they can learn a thing or two about what not to do from the West Linn-Wilsonville School District.” District officials there have “decided to suspend a beloved Spanish immersion program” in an effort to save money. “The supposed cost savings would come primarily by way of teachers’ salaries, but,” Hovde points out, “if kids who were in Spanish immersion now head into traditional classrooms, the district still needs teachers to keep traditional classrooms within district-dictated class sizes.” She concludes, “Cuts are often unavoidable. How those cuts are communicated and how possible solutions are explored is everything.”
California District Negotiates Agreement On Increased Class Sizes To Balance Budget.
California’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (7/4, Woods) reported, “Bonita Unified School District classes this fall will be larger as a result of the balanced budget passed by the Board of Education.” Under a “memorandum of understanding with the Bonita Unified Teachers Association for the next school year,” the district “will increase class-size averages in kindergarten through third grade from 22 to 25 students.” Class size averages for “grades six through eight” will increase “from 31 to 31.5″ students, and high school class size averages “will rise from 31.5 to 32.5.” The Daily Bulletin adds that “the district will have a $10.8 million unrestricted budget, with reserves about $2 million for each of the next three years.”
Also in the News
Online School Registration Rolled Out For Families In Texas District.
The Frisco (TC) Enterprise (7/6, Rush) reports that the Frisco Independent School district “is hoping to alleviate some of the hassle” of school registration “by getting away from the traditional paper forms for the first time and moving the registration process online.” The district plans to “open up registration through the school’s web site…around July 26.” Frisco “is planning on communicating the new process through phone or e-mail soon.” Also, school officials will “hold seven open lab nights spread out throughout the district for people who do not have Internet access or who do not feel comfortable filling out the forms on their own.”
Sixty-Year-Old Completes Elementary School In Texas.
The Dallas Morning News (7/4, Fleck) reported that 60-year-old Antonio Laguna “just completed elementary school” and “was among about 60 students recognized at the 12th annual graduation ceremony of Debes Creer en Ti/Believe in Yourself on Friday evening. The Irving nonprofit run by the energetic Elvia Wallace-Martinez offers a range of classes to help the Latino community.”
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NEA in the News
Illinois Education Association To Endorse Quinn For Governor.
The Chicago Tribune (7/6, Pearson) reports that the Illinois Education Association (IEA) is expected to endorse Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for governor today, “citing concerns over Republican Sen. Bill Brady’s efforts to cut taxes instead of raising them.” IEA President Ken Swanson “said the endorsement…reflects the union’s desire to get Illinois on a sustainable financial path. Quinn, who became governor after Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office, has unsuccessfully pushed for higher taxes to counter a massive deficit.” The Tribune adds that the IEA’s endorsement “is a big victory for Quinn.”
More California Schools Planting Gardens.
The Los Angeles Times (7/2, Simmons) reports, “While most schools sit like dormant ghost towns during the summer, a few are breaking up the asphalt, planting seeds that will be sprouting edible gardens come September.” Though it “may seem counterintuitive to start new programs in this economic climate” this “groundswell, largely sparked by parent and community interest — and perhaps some inspiration from Michelle Obama’s White House garden — is finding support in all the right places. Ben Ford, chef-owner of Ford’s Filling Station, and Akasha Richmond, chef-owner of Akasha, both restaurants in Culver City, spearheaded the recent work day” at Farragut Elementary School in Culver City “where parents, grandparents, children, chefs and politicians worked to lay the ground for a green space for students.”
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In the Classroom
Duncan Discusses Challenges Facing Children Of Service Members.
The Washington Post (7/1, Hobbs) reported, “Children of military service members face unusual challenges” and numerous “transfers to new schools, sometimes in the middle of the year, and the deployment overseas of a parent for months at a time can cause disruptions and problems at school, parents said. Such problems are familiar to Fort Belvoir Elementary School students — 98 percent of whom are the children of military service members stationed at the US Army base in southeastern Fairfax County [VA].” According to the Post, about a dozen parents “met June 22 with Vice President Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and high-ranking military officials for talks about issues facing the children of service members.”
State Test Results Worry Administrators In Florida.
The Hernando (FL) Today (7/2, Schmucker) reports, “Lower than expected FCAT scores for some schools have education leaders concerned and looking for answers.” As fourth graders, students at Chocachatti Elementary in Florida tested at 87% and 84% in reading and math proficiency, respectively. However, this year as fifth graders, those students’ scores dropped by more than ten percent. Other schools throughout Hernando County, FL experienced similar results. Schools administrators are working to assess the problem. Chocachatti Elementary Princiapal Maria Rybka said, “We didn’t do anything different that would cause that group to jump, so it’s a question of whether it was just something with that group or something that we need to do different. But it is a concern.” Florida Today (7/2, Downs) also covers the phenomena, but highlights example from Broward County.
Teach For America Program Draws Record Number Of Students To Summer School.
The Arizona Republic (7/2, Gordon) reports, “The summer partnership between Agua Fria Union High School District and Teach for America is in its third year, and administrators say the collaboration has drawn a record number of students.” 164 Teach For America corps members are involved with this year’s summer school. “The members team-teach lessons and are critiqued and mentored by 25 Agua Fria teachers labeled ‘highly qualified’ because they meet state and federal standards in their subject areas.” 850 students attend the program this summer.
Georgia School Recognized By American School Counselor Association.
The Gainseville (GA) Times (7/2, Crist) report that Chestnut Mountain Elementary in Georgia “is one of 85 being recognized nationally by the American School Counselor Association as an exemplary model of school counseling.” The school’s guidance counselor, Sydney Holmes, initiated several programs to better the school and the counseling office.
On the Job
Minnesota Teacher Discusses School Co-Op Model With Duncan.
MinnPost.com (7/1, Hawkins) reported, “St. Paul schoolteacher Carrie Bakken recently got a chance to do something most of her peers dare not dream of: schooling US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his highest-ranking advisers on the topic of education reform. Her message: If the Obama administration is serious about staffing the nation’s schools with better teachers, Duncan might want to think about putting teachers in charge” and to “Bakken’s utter shock, Duncan listened.” According to MinnPost.com, “For the last nine years, Bakken has belonged to a 15-teacher cooperative that literally owns and operates Avalon, a public charter school serving grades 7 to 12″ in St. Paul, MN.
Law & Policy
More Than 80 Groups Vie For Chance To Lead Turnaround Effort At Los Angeles Schools.
Howard Blume wrote in a blog for the Los Angeles Times (7/1), “More than 80 groups will bid for control of eight low-performing schools and nine new campuses that could be not directly supervised by the Los Angeles Unified School District in the fall of 2011.” According to Blume, “The latest bidding process represents a second try at giving other parties the job of running successful schools in the nation’s second-largest school system” and the “fate of more than 35,000 students will be affected, an enrollment that by itself would qualify as one of the state’s largest school systems.”
Failing New York City Schools Likely To Stay Open Due To Court Ruling.
The Wall Street Journal (7/2, Martinez) reports that a New York state appeals court has ruled that New York City did not comply with legal mandates when it decided to close 19 failing schools. According to the Journal, the schools are likely to stay open at least one year due to the ruling, which found that the city failed to comply with a law mandating a detailed account of the school closures’ impact on students.
New York City Schools Chief’s School-Closing Strategy Aims To Kick-Start Education Progress. The Wall Street Journal (7/2, Martinez) reports that New York City schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s school-closing strategy is founded on the premise that students’ demographic profile does not dictate their education outcomes. As an example, the Journal cites a school building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which houses two middle schools, each with a student population that is 90 percent black and 10 percent Hispanic. However, though one school has been targeted for closure by Klein due to low performance, the other school is among the city’s better-performing schools.
States, Districts Scramble To Launch School Turnaround Efforts.
Education Week (7/1, Maxwell) reported, “The fast-track effort to overhaul low-performing schools, a centerpiece of US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s school improvement agenda, has state and local education leaders scrambling to prepare and launch aggressive interventions at their most troubled campuses. Within two months, hundreds of low-performing schools targeted for turnaround must make drastic changes-in many cases, replacing the principal and at least some teachers-under new rules for the federal Title I School Improvement Grant program.” However, “at least 16 states, including Illinois, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, were still waiting as of June 30 for officials at [ED] to give final approval to their plans for overseeing scores of school turnarounds over the next three years” and other “states have had since March and April to plan their interventions.”
Special Needs
In Cost-Saving Move, DC Mayor Proposes Returning Special Ed Students To Public System.
The Washington Post (7/2, Turque) reports, “The administration of D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, seeking to whittle the annual $280 million cost of sending special education students to private schools, said Thursday that it will study several options to return as many as possible to the city’s public schools. The options, which officials said they will present to parents in meetings over the next few weeks, include forming public-private partnerships to build new facilities, co-locating ‘schools within schools’ in joint ventures with private operators, expanding special education services in neighborhood schools by establishing separate classes for students who need full-time services, modernizing the city’s special education schools and retraining staff, and offering scholarship-type grants so parents can buy special education services on the open market.”
Massachusetts District’s Special Ed Program Undergoes Independent Review.
The Daily Hampshire (MA) Gazette (7/2, Palpini) reports, “Graduation rates for special education students in the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District outperform the state average but parent satisfaction with the program is low,” according to an independent review. Federal stimulus funds help pay for the study. The report criticized Amherst Schools “for inadequate student transitions between schools and MCAS progress.” Also, “another area of concern was in a category called ‘parent satisfaction’ with their participation in developing their children’s education plan.” Administrators hailed the study as “useful.”
New Jersey School Boards Seeks Property Tax Exemptions For Special Needs Students.
The Record and Herald News (NJ) (7/2, Brody) reports that New Jersey Governor Christie’s “proposal to cap property tax increases should allow school districts waivers for high and unpredictable costs for special education, the New Jersey School Boards Association said Thursday.” Marie Bilik, President of the New Jersey School Boards Association said, “A reasonable cap would take into account expenditures that are clearly outside a local school district’s control.” Parents, teachers, and special ed advocates say the 2010-11 budget already is “taking a toll on services for special needs children.”
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Safety & Security
On-Call Advocates Aim To Prevent Chicago Student Deaths.
The New York Times (7/2, Saulny) reports, “Last school year, 258 public school students were shot in Chicago, 32 fatally, on their way to or from school, traveling through gang-infested territory and narcotics wars on the South and West Sides. In an effort to get ahead of the next killings, the schools conducted an analysis to identify the 250 students most at risk of being shot (by studying profiles of 500 recent victims).” According to the Times, “Since December, each of those students has had an advocate…on call to offer caretaking and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week” and experts “consider it to be perhaps the most intensive safety intervention tried in big-city schools; its results are being watched nationally.”
Facilities
Bank Lends Rhode Island City $5 Million For School Repairs, Despite Junk Bond Rating.
The Providence Journal (7/2, Hill) reports that Washington Trust Co. in Rhode Island agreed to loan Central Falls, RI “$5 million over 10 years for school repairs and renovations, despite the city’s junk-bond credit rating.” Expected state money will be used to repay the loand. The acting Director of the RI Department of Revenue said Washington Trust “really stepped up to the plate, in terms of community service.”
Ohio High School Construction Project Ahead of Schedule.
Cincinnati.com (7/2, Dannemiller) reports that construction is ahead of schedule at Milford High School in Ohio. “The new commons area, ninth-grade wing, cafeteria and music rooms at the Milford High School construction site are starting to look a lot more like rooms.” The construction should be complete in time for the return of students.
Wisconsin School Receives Interest-Free Bonds Through Recovery Act.
The Onalaska Holmen (WI) Courier Life News (7/2, Seaquist) reports, “a million dollars in interest-free bonds will help Onalaska schools pay for capital equipment as well as ease the strain on the district’s tight budget.” A program of the Recovery Act, the Qualified School Construction Bond Program, will provide the money. Larry Dalton, Onalaska’s Finance Director told school board members Monday, “We’re needing to find more money” because the Recovery money isn’t enough. “The ARRA money will help fill district technology needs, purchasing various Internet and data transfer equipment.”
School Finance
Michigan Lawmakers Approve School Budget.
The AP (7/2) reports, “Michigan’s public schools won’t get all of their financial problems fixed with a budget bill that sailed through the state Legislature on Thursday, but at least they’re safe from state aid cuts in the upcoming year. Public schools will get a small $11 per student increase by the end of September, raising the minimum per student foundation grant received from the state to $7,162 a year but still leaving schools below 2009 funding levels.” According to the AP, “The new funding levels will remain intact for the state fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, meaning school districts will fare much better than most state programs in a budget plan that likely will be full of cuts.”
Study: Proposed Title I Overhaul May Hurt Rural Schools.
Mary Schulken wrote in a blog for Education Week (6/30), “Re-upping the Elementary and Secondary Education Act may be a long shot this year, but that hasn’t stopped the drumbeat from rural schools to overhaul the way federal Title I funds for disadvantaged students are allocated. The latest round: A study by a research and advocacy group suggests one talked-about fix would hurt rural schools, not make funding more equitable.” According to Schulken, “The June 25 issue of Rural Policy Matters, published by the Rural School and Community Trust, argues that tying funding to average salaries in local communities is no more equitable than tying it to state spending on education.”
Also in the News
Minnesota Standardized Test Scores Show Mixed Progress, State DOE Data Reveals.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (7/1, Johns, Howatt, Lemagie) reported, “Minnesota students have not made much progress on state reading and math tests since last year, and the state’s stubborn achievement gap hasn’t budged, according to data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Education. On required tests, 66.1 percent of the state’s public school students were proficient in math, compared with 64 percent last year. In reading, 72.5 percent of the state’s students were proficient, up from 72.1 percent last year.” The Star Tribune noted that NCLB “requires that every student in the nation reach ‘proficiency’ by 2014, a goal that many say is impossible” and “Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said Wednesday that the state’s progress isn’t sufficient to meet that standard ‘unless we see some extraordinary changes.’”
The St. Paul Pioneer-Press (7/1, Boldt, Webster, Belden) reported, “Minnesota’s concerted efforts to boost students’ math skills seem to be paying off. Students across the state have made gains on statewide math tests over the past five years while reading scores remained stagnant.” The Pioneer-Press added that state DOE data reveals that “Minnesota’s students of color also are making progress, but the state’s wide and persistent achievement gap remains.”
NEA in the News
Pennsylvania Teachers’ Union Official “Thrilled” About State’s Budget.
WTFX-TV Philadelphia (7/2) reports, “The National Education Association is opening its annual convention Thursday in New Orleans.” Pennsylvania State Education Association Treasurer Jerry Oleksiak said “he is thrilled that the latest state budget includes a $250-million increase in funding for schools.” He added, “the Governor from the beginning of his first term has committed to increasing public education funding. It’s the reason the budget was held up for so long last year.” Referring to merit pay, Oleksiak said, “We need is a system that looks at the impact of their entire staff on the school. It’s not about single high stakes tests that are going to determine whether a school is doing well or a teacher.”