DC Schools Chief Fires 241 Teachers With Poor Scores Under New Evaluation System.
The Washington Post (7/24, Turque) reported, “D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced Friday that she has fired 241 teachers, including 165 who received poor appraisals under a new evaluation system” called IMPACT. The firings commence “Rhee’s bid to make student achievement a high-stakes proposition for teachers, establishing job loss as a possible consequence of poor classroom results,” according to the Post. The teachers union “said Friday that it will contest the terminations.” However, “poor evaluations are generally not subject to appeal unless the union can demonstrate some procedural error in the appraisal process.”
The New York Times (7/24, A8, Levin) reported that in a statement, Rhee said “Every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher – in every classroom, of every school, of every neighborhood, of every ward, in [DC].” In all, 302 school employees were fired. In addition to the teachers, “librarians, counselors, custodians and other employees” were also dismissed. The Times notes that “Friday’s dismissals were not the chancellor’s first. In the 2007-8 school year, a district spokesman said, 79 teachers were fired for poor performance, and in 2008-9, 96 were.”
CNN (7/24, Holland) noted on its website that “under the IMPACT program, teachers were judged on five classroom observation visits by principals and outside education experts. The system also rates teachers based on their students’ achievement.” The teachers union argues that “teachers under the IMPACT system need clearer communication on expectations, among other things.”
The AP (7/25) reported that teacher’s union President George Parker said the evaluation method is dramatically different from other evaluation systems around the country and that it is “flawed” and has “many loopholes.” Moreover, “he said the evaluation was a ‘subjective way to fire teachers, many of whom were not evaluated fairly.’” The AP notes that in addition to those who were fired Friday, “another 729 employees who scored ‘minimally effective’ are being put on notice that they will be fired after the upcoming school year if their performance doesn’t improve.” Stephen Sawchuck also covered this story in the Education Week (7/23) “Teacher Beat” blog. The Washington Times (7/26, Simmons) also covers the story
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In the Classroom
Maryland Teachers No Longer Allowed Advance Look At State Tests.
The Washington Post (7/24, Birnbaum) reported that “until this year, many Maryland teachers were allowed an advance look at state exams.” But, on Friday, “state education officials said…they had eliminated” the policy due to concerns about test security. The state’s assistant superintendent for accountability and assessment, Leslie A. Wilson, “said the policy was intended to allow teachers to prepare for the most basic aspects of administering the test, such as when to distribute and collect answer sheets and calculators.” When the policy was discontinued in 2002, she said, proctors required “much more preparation.” According to the Post, “there are no apparent cases in which the policy led to cheating on the” Maryland School Assessments. But Linda R. Valli, an education professor at the University of Maryland, “said the state was wise to end the practice.” Said Valli, “It’s almost like asking teachers to go in and be sure you’ve covered everything.”
School Districts Work To Balance Use Of Computers For Testing, Instruction.
The Oregonian (7/24, Owen) reported that “mandatory computerized state testing” and federal requirement that “students to be ‘technologically literate’ by the end of eighth grade” has created a dilemma “for schools as educators try to teach” technology “but find computer labs consumed for days or weeks at a time throughout the year for state testing.” Carla Wade of the Oregon Department of Education said that “ten years ago, Oregon received about $6 million in federal funding for technology, but it has declined every year since.” Some districts “are trying out smaller, less expensive laptops” and asking students to bring their own laptops to school to use. Others concerned about “the liability issue of broken or lost equipment” will consider whether “computer use for assessment tests should continue to trump technology education.”
Test Proctors Accuse Florida Teacher Of Helping Students Cheat.
Florida’s Sun-Sentinel (7/23, Hijek) reported that Katherine Harris, “teacher at Bradenton’s R.H. Prine Elementary School, could soon lose her job for allegedly helping her first-grade class cheat on the Stanford Achievement Test this past spring.” According to “two teacher’s aides who proctored for [her] during the test,” Harris “told some students to re-work parts of the test if their answers were wrong, and even told students where they could find the answers to the problems they were working on.”
Analysis: New Policy Will Increase Student Bodies’ White Majorities In Top Chicago Schools.
The Chicago Tribune (7/24, Ahmed) reported that Chicago’s “top elementary schools are on pace to become more white under a new admissions plan that relies on socioeconomic factors instead of race, according to a Tribune analysis. About three-quarters of selective and magnet schools that are already majority white will grow more segregated under the one-year pilot, which was created after the district was released from a federal mandate to racially integrate last September.” Though the “preliminary figures could change before the school year starts,” the “trends that are emerging under the new admissions plan trouble many academics and parents, who say the benefits of having diversity in the classroom extend to all races.”
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Law & Policy
Some Hawaii Educators Seek Exemption Form Federal Rules Inhibiting Language-Emersion.
Hawaii’s Star-Advertiser (7/25, Vorsino) reported that some educators in Hawaii are seeking a federal exemption “from English-language testing standards and other No Child Left Behind mandates, saying they present big obstacles for language-immersion schools.” Native American leaders say “language-immersion schools are struggling to meet NCLB requirements — which include testing their students in English — while adhering to their mission of perpetuating native languages and culture.” They also “also say NCLB conflicts with the Native American Languages Act, which encourages the use of indigenous languages ‘as a medium of instruction.’” According to the Star-Advertiser, the US Education Department is looking into those concerns, “but has not said when a determination on possible changes could be made.”
Fairness Of New York City Gifted Kindergarten Program Admissions Test Questioned.
The New York Times (7/26, Winerip) reports that in 2008, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “made the score on a citywide standardized test the sole criteria for admission” to gifted kindergarten programs and since then, “Blacks and Hispanics in gifted kindergarten programs dropped to 27 percent this year under the test-only system, from 46 percent under the old system (66 percent of city kindergartners are black or Hispanic).” According to the Times, the “test-prep industry for 4-year-olds has burgeoned” following Klein’s decision, yet “testing experts – including Tonya Moon, a University of Virginia professor and principal investigator for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, and Robert Tobias, a New York University professor who directed assessment for city schools from 1988 to 2001″ say “tests need to be supplemented with teacher evaluations, classroom observation and interviews.”
California District To Deny Permits For Nonresident Children To Attend Schools.
The Los Angeles Times (7/25, Rivera) reported that under a new policy, about 200 families have been “denied permits for their children to continue attending Beverly Hills [CA] Unified schools because they live outside of the city.” According to the Times, “Parents from the Beverly Hills school district are not the only ones affected by such residency disputes. Many cash-strapped school districts want to keep more of their students – and the state funding they bring” and families “of many of these students are filing appeals.”
Safety & Security
Investigation Of Well-Traveled Teacher Reveals Pattern Of Sexual Abuse.
The Washington Post (7/25, White, Harden, Buske) reported, “Kevin Ricks was a gregarious, well-traveled English teacher at Osbourn High School” in Manassas, VA, who would walk around the school “with a leather-bound journal of his musings tucked in his bag, next to his laptop computer. What teachers, parents, students and even his wife didn’t know was that his journals contained decades of dark secrets, a running handwritten commentary of Ricks’s world of obsession, infatuation, pursuit, sexual abuse and international child exploitation.” According to the Post, “A four-month Washington Post investigation of Ricks’s career as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor has revealed a pattern of abuse that dates to at least 1978 and has left a trail of victims spanning the globe” yet “despite the abuse, Ricks moved from one teaching job to the next over nearly 30 years, navigating the nation’s public and private school systems undetected, evading traps designed to catch him.”
The Washington Post (7/25, Chandler) reported, “For nearly three decades, Kevin Ricks exploited gaps in a system that is supposed to keep sexual predators out of the classroom. He landed teaching jobs at one school after another — public and private, urban and rural, domestic and foreign — despite mounting evidence of his troubling personal relationships with male students.” According to the Post, “some experts say federal legislation is needed for a coherent approach to preventing teacher sexual abuse” yet others “say the answer could be found in the courts — that more school divisions should be held liable for abuse that happens to children in their care.”
Also in the News
India Develops $35 Laptop For Students.
The AP (7/23, Kinetz) reported that “India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.” The computer “can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing” and “has a solar power option” at an additional cost. India’s human resource development minister Kapil Sibal “turned to students and professors at India’s elite technical universities to develop the $35 tablet.” Eventually, “he hopes to get the cost down to $10.”
New Programs Aim To Help Bolster Education Inventors.
The AP (7/24, Matheson) reported, “A movement is under way to make it easier for entrepreneurs to navigate the lucrative and sometimes-tricky education market and introduce new technology and products into classrooms.” The University of Pennsylvania “has already held two summits on education entrepreneurship and hosted its first business plan competition, sponsored by the school and the Milken Family Foundation” and ED “hopes to bolster entrepreneurship with its Investing in Innovation fund. Jim Shelton, assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Innovation and Improvement, said it is easier than ever for schools to use new ideas and products because of increasing Internet connectivity, cheaper technology and the growing use of hard data to measure outcomes.”
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NEA in the News
Some Teachers Take Jobs During Summer Break.
The AP (7/25, Smith) reported that “when school resumes in August, many” teachers in Fargo, North Dakota, “will have spent their summer working second jobs — from tutoring and teaching to seasonal work.” Statistics from the National Education Association show that “in 2005, 37 percent of teachers in the country received an income from summer jobs.” For some teachers, “working non-teaching jobs in the summer gives work a temporary change of pace,” the AP adds.
Eighteen States, DC Announced As Finalists In Race To The Top.
CNN (7/28, Hornick) reports on its website that “eighteen states and the District of Columbia were selected as finalists to receive more than $3 billion in the second round of funding for the Race to the Top Program.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the finalists “at the National Press Club in Washington” on Tuesday. Speaking of the administration’s Race to the Top grants, Duncan told the Press Club audience, “As I have said many times before, this isn’t just about the money — this is about working together and putting the needs of children ahead of everyone else. … This entire process has moved the nation and advanced education reform.”
Education Week (7/27, McNeil) noted that “the list announced Tuesday includes all of the states that were finalists in the first round, but lost, along with five additional states: Maryland, which did not compete in round one; New Jersey, which placed 18th; Hawaii, which placed 22nd last time; California, which placed 27th; and Arizona, which placed 40th.” The other finalists are “Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.”
The AP (7/28, Turner, Amario) reports that finalists were chosen out of the 35 states and DC that applied for the grants. “Applications were screened by a panel of peer reviewers, and finalists will travel to Washington in coming weeks to present their proposals.” The Christian Science Monitor (7/27, Paulson) noted, “Perhaps the biggest surprise on that list is Arizona, which, in Round 1 of the competition, finished 40th out of 41 applicants.” Charles Barone, director of federal policy for Democrats for Education Reform, said that “since the first round ended in the spring…Arizona has passed two major laws, increasing education funding and revamping the state’s teacher-evaluation system.”
The Washington Post (7/28, Anderson), Wall Street Journal (7/28, Banchero), Reuters (7/28), Miami Herald (7/28), Chicago Tribune (7/28, Malone, Skiba), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/28, Badertscher), Los Angeles Times (7/28, Blume), Baltimore Sun (7/28, Bowie), Providence (RI) Journal (7/28, Jordan), Pittsburgh Tribune (7/28, Kurutz), and Louisiana’s Times-Picayune (7/28, Chang) cover the finalists. The Salt Lake Tribune (7/28, Schencker), Seattle Times (7/28), Detroit News (7/28, Hurst), Connecticut Mirror (7/28, Shesgreen, Frahm), and AP (7/28, Crumb) covered some of the states let out of the competition.
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In the Classroom
Employees At Florida School Propose Plan For Teaching Six Out Of Six Periods.
Jeff Solochek wrote in the St. Petersburg Times (7/27) “Gradebook” blog that Pasco County, Florida, schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino has “proposed requiring all secondary-level teachers [to] teach six periods of six.” School employees this week “put forth an offer to seek volunteer middle and high school teachers to teach all six periods of the day.” The offer would give “those who teach an extra period of a course they already teach would get 15 percent of their salary. Those who have to prepare a new course would make 20 percent more.” Pasco schools’ director of employee relations, Kevin Shibley, said that he “would likely make a counter proposal.”
Law & Policy
Detroit City Council Falls Short In Vote To Put Mayoral School Control On Ballot.
The Detroit News (7/28, Schultz, Nichols) reports that the Detroit City Council “failed to muster the votes to consider asking voters in November if the mayor should control Detroit Public Schools.” Instead, they referred the matter “to a committee that is scheduled to meet Wednesday.” On Thursday, the “measure could resurface.”
The Detroit Free Press (7/28, Dawsey, Erb, Trammell) reports that the issue of “mayoral authority over Detroit Public Schools” has prompted “passionate, contentious public debate for at least a few more days.” However, On Tuesday, “the discussion changed course…when council President Pro Tem Gary Brown…tried to simplify the issue by proposing to ask voters: Do you want to keep the elected school board?” According to the Free Press, council members “argued that proper procedure was for the issue to be addressed first at the internal operations committee” and that “will happen today, with a possible full council vote later this week.” Michigan Live (7/28, Foley) also covers this story.
Duncan Says Voters Should Decide On Detroit District Mayoral Control. The Detroit Free Press (7/27, Dawsey) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said last year that the Detroit Public Schools were ground zero for public education and that the district’s crises kept him up at night, but on Monday, he said the system faces a ‘tremendous’ opportunity,” as in “an interview with the Free Press, Duncan said the public discussion about putting DPS under mayoral authority gives him hope. He is encouraging Detroit and other big cities to consider this path, saying that with broad support, it could work.” According to the Free Press, “Today’s Detroit City Council meeting could be the third and final chance for a vote on whether to place a non-binding question on the November ballot asking Detroiters whether the mayor should have authority over DPS.”
The Detroit News (7/27, Nichols, Donnelly) reported, “The nation’s education czar joined a growing chorus of public officials who believe residents should decide whether Detroit Public Schools is placed under the mayor’s control. For that to happen, however, the City Council has to place the question on the November ballot.” According to the Detroit News, “On the eve of the meeting, and a week after Gov. Jennifer Granholm supported such a move, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he also favored the ballot initiative,” said spokesman Peter Cunningham.
Arizona Requires Parental Consent For Sex Education.
The Arizona Daily Star (7/27) reported that Arizona now requires parental consent for children to receive sex education in school. Senate Bill 1309 signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in May “also mandates Arizona schools to notify parents when materials regarding ‘sexuality’ are presented in non-sex-education classes.” However, the “Parental Bill of Rights,” as the law is known, leaves implementation “up to individual school district governing boards.” The Daily Star notes that unlike 35 other states and DC, Arizona does not require public schools to teach sex education. But, “abstinence must be promoted in any sex-education program in Arizona schools that choose to offer one.” Schools also must “discuss the consequences of sexual activity, including the possibility of STDs and pregnancy” if they offer sex education classes.
Maryland Governor Endorses Environmental Literacy.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) writes in an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun (7/28), “Every child deserves the right to discover and enjoy our natural world – to catch a fish, camp under the stars, follow a trail and play and learn outdoors in countless other ways.” He says that the State Board of Education is currently “considering a remarkable proposal…that would require all” students in Maryland “to be environmentally literate in order to graduate from high school.” O’Malley concludes that “the proposal before the State Board of Education requires no new money or new staff, but is an investment that will return incalculable benefits for” students.
US Reps. Say Passage Of Funding Bill Places War Above Children’s Welfare.
Several Democratic US lawmakers write in The Hill (7/27) “Congress Blog” that with passage of the war-funding bill on Tuesday war is “once again…being paid for with a credit card while investments in our children’s future are tossed aside.” Investments include “$10 billion for teacher jobs, $1 billion for summer youth employment, $5 billion for Pell grants,” and “$701 million for border security.” They note that “the $10 billion…would have saved 140,000 teacher jobs across the nation.” Meanwhile, “pervasive corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan siphons resources so that even worthwhile projects are doomed to fail.” The US must “prioritize and make the right choices, not continue as before out of inertia or a lack of urgency,” the lawmakers conclude.
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Safety & Security
Anti-Semitism Rampant In Schools In South Florida, Group Says.
Florida’s Sun-Sentinel (7/28, Trischitta) reports that while “assaults and harassment of Jews in South Florida is declining,” anti-Semitic behavior “in schools has grown ‘toxic,’” according to the Anti-Defamation League. The announcement is based on harassment claims “investigated by the ADL in 2009.”
School Finance
Class-Size Law Compliance Could Cost Florida District $1.4 Million.
The Tampa Tribune (7/27, Scullin) reported that “complying with the class-size mandate that takes effect next month could cost Hillsborough County Schools about $1.4 million, according to school district cost estimates.” According to the Tampa Tribune, “The cost estimates being worked out in Hillsborough County Schools give a sense of the practical and financial challenges” other “school districts are facing in order to provide the smaller class sizes everyone hopes will boost student achievement.” Several recommendations are being considered for finding alternative options for “students closed out of their neighborhood schools.”
Amendment Would Make Florida Class Size Requirements “More Rational.” The St. Petersburg Times (7/28) editorializes that according to Florida TaxWatch, “a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to loosen class size requirements” could save “up to $1 billion annually.” That savings “could be better spent on real education reform, not just counting heads in the classroom.” The group “used historical data and educated assumptions to calculate that fully implementing the 2002 class size amendment would cost the state $4 billion each of the next 10 years.” The St. Petersberg Times asserts, “As the TaxWatch report shows, Amendment 8 would…make the class size limits more rational in an era of limited resources.”
Budget Cuts Leave Washington District With One Summer Program.
The Seattle Times (7/27, Schleif) reported that Washington’s Wenatchee School District now has just one summer school program after budget cuts “began two years ago.” Many other districts throughout the region “have eliminated or scaled back their summer school offerings in the last six years.” The Seattle Times explains how funding for summer school has diminished in Wenatchee since 2008.
Also in the News
Reality Television Series Aims To Boost Understanding Among High School Students.
The AP (7/27, Rancilio) reported that “If You Really Knew me,” a new reality series on MTV, “attempts to help students look past school stereotypes.” The show features a different school in each episode and follows students who “go through a program called Challenge Day. They share their experiences with each other in exercises designed to cut down on bullying and gossiping.” Student Leiken Poppino said that after Challenge Day, her school “had a ‘miraculous change’ for about a week.”
Program Recruits African-American Teachers For Schools Nationwide.
WFMY-TV (7/28, Arquilla) reports on the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Teacher Quality and Retention Program, which recruits and trains African-American teachers. Now in its second year, the program is recruiting from “47 college campuses across the country.” Director Misha Lesley explains, “We really want to support African American males in the classroom, in communities that have students that look like them and who would really be able to look to them as role models.” The program’s directors “plan to evaluate the success and retention rate of teachers next year.”
State Test Pass Rates See Sharp Decline In New York City.
The New York Times (7/29, Medina) reports on its front page, “Applying new, tougher standards,” New York “state education officials said Wednesday that more than half of public school students in New York City failed their English exams this year, and 54 percent of them passed in math.” But, according to state education officials, the results were “misleading” because scores from previous years “were inflated by tests that had become easier to pass.” In math, “61 percent of state students were deemed passing, or at grade level” this year, “compared with 86 percent last year.” And in English, 53 percent of students passed, “down from 77 percent.” New York’s Post-Standard (7/29, Doran, Nolan) and WNYC-FM New York City (7/28) also covered the story.
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On the Job
Pittsburgh Public Schools Hosts Inaugural New Teacher Induction Program.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (7/28, Weigand) reported, “Students and parents on Tuesday helped about 80 Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers better understand what students need, as part of the district’s inaugural three-week teacher induction program.” The rookie teachers, each with no “more than three years’ experience, toured city neighborhoods and visited community organizations.” The tour was meant to inform the teachers about resources available in the community. The teachers also learned about “philosophies and curriculum unique to the district, as well as strategies for classroom management and engaging students.”
Educator Says “Value-Added” Measures For Evaluating DC Teachers Are Flawed.
Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (7/28), “We live in an age of accountability and transparency – and yet some school districts seem not to be playing by the rules. I recently wrote about the lack of accountability in the way districts report how they calculate teacher ‘value-added’ measures that are used for medium-stakes and high-stakes personnel decisions (such as granting teachers tenure or firing them).” Pallas goes on to “illustrate how value-added scores may have been misused in the termination of 26 teachers in the D.C Public Schools last week and the classifying of hundreds of other general education teachers in grades four through eight as ‘minimally effective.’”
DC Teacher Dismissal Policies Analyzed. Former UCLA School of Education lecturer Walt Gardner wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/28), “When Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 241 teachers in Washington D.C. on July 23, the news was heralded as evidence that true accountability was finally a reality because the evaluation system used is considered one of the most rigorous in the nation,” yet “like most controversial issues in education, there’s more to the story than initially meets the eye.” According to Gardner, “Rhee acknowledged that she didn’t know how many teachers were fired for low student achievement on standardized tests, and how many were dismissed for poor classroom performance” and this “is a crucial distinction. Despite what is widely believed, these are not necessarily interchangeable criteria.”
Law & Policy
Second Suit Filed Against Pennsylvania District Over Alleging Laptop Spying.
The AP (7/28) reported, “A second lawsuit has been filed against a suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students through cameras in school-issued laptop computers. Jalil Hasan, who graduated from Lower Merion High School last spring, says the school district activated remote-tracking software after he left the laptop at school Dec. 18.” According to the AP, “The suit alleges that more than 1,000 photos were taken, 469 from the webcam and 543 screen shots. Attorney Mark Haltzman is representing Hasan and his family, as well as the family that filed the original lawsuit against the district in February.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer (7/29, Nunnally) adds that Hasan’s “suit joins one filed in February by Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton High School, and for the first time draws in Lower Merion High School, where Jalil Hasan was a senior.” According to the Inquirer, the “cases are similar in their broad outlines” as the “electronic monitoring began after school-issued computers were reported missing” and in “both cases, the system was simply left on long after the laptops were recovered. Hundreds of photos and screen shots were captured on a predetermined schedule.” KOTV-TV Tulsa (7/28, Surette) also covered this story in a report on its Web site.
Illinois District Loses Chance At $22 Million After Quinn Vetoes School Funding Bill.
Illinois’ Courier News (7/28, McFarlan) reported, “Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have brought an estimated $22 million more in state funding this year to Elgin School District U46.” Each year, the district “misses out on millions…because the state uses estimated data to determine the funding it gets.” Under Senate Bill 2499 the state would have had to use “the actual property tax cap rate of Cook County, rather than an estimate.”
The Chicago Daily Herald (7/28, Lester) reported that in a message to the Senate, Quinn wrote, “I cannot approve a measure that would boost state aid to one district at the expense of others.” State Rep. Keith Farnham (D) issued a statement pledging to work next fall “to override [the] veto in a speedy manner and bring U-46 the funding it deserves.” He added, “I understand that all schools need more money, but our community has been unfairly losing out.” Illinois’ Winfield Press (7/29, Bruno) notes that “the state owes U-46 about $24 million on top of the money they lost from the bill’s veto. The district is expected to begin the school year more than $40 million in the hole.”
Senate Majority Leader Seeks Passage Of Child Nutrition Bill Before Recess.
Mike Lillis wrote in a blog for The Hill (7/28), “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said this week that Democrats are hoping to pass a child nutrition bill before lawmakers leave town for the August recess. The $4.5 billion proposal, sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), would expand eligibility for school meal programs; establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and provide a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals.”
School Bus Seat Belt Bill Languishes In Massachusetts Legislature.
The Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette (7/29, Monahan) reports that a bill that “would require shoulder straps in school busses within two years” in Massachusetts is currently active in the state’s house, but “few lawmakers have heard about the legislation and there is little momentum to pass it. The bill is competing with hundreds of other bills with high-profile legislative battles raging among lawmakers on expanded gambling, economic development, health care cost-cutting, drug sentencing and criminal record and gun-buying restrictions, with only four days left for formal sessions in this two-year legislative session.”
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School Finance
Concessions From Teachers Would Save Chicago Public Schools $446 Million.
The Chicago Tribune (7/29, Ahmed) reports, “Chicago Public Schools officials have suggested a list of concessions from its teachers to close a $370 million budget hole, including unpaid holidays, frozen wages, and unpaid school recesses.” The district would save a total of almost $446 million “if all eight suggestions were implemented.” The proposals would also keep the district from having to increase class sizes. “Already, 600 teachers have received pink slips because of budget constraints,” the Tribune notes.
Oregon District Turns To Grants, Donations To Fund Construction Projects.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/28, Ruttan) reported, “At a time of funding crises and recession, school districts have been putting extra focus on grant writing to sustain programs and to pay for building projects.” The North Santiam School District, for instance, has in the past two years “raised $600,000 to $700,000 for a variety of projects” through grants and donations. In addition, it has “been ramping up partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community like Friends of the Family, Santiam Family YMCA, Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company (SCTC) and Slayden Construction.”
Also in the News
Condoleezza Rice, Aretha Franklin Perform Duet In Support Of School Arts Programs.
The AP (7/28) reported that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and singer Aretha Franklin “took the stage Tuesday evening at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center in a rare duet for Rice, the classically trained pianist, and Franklin, the divalicious voice of a generation. Their aim was to raise money for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.” According to the AP, Franklin “deplored school budget cuts of music and arts programs as ‘a travesty’ that cannot be allowed” and “Rice, in a separate interview, agreed.”
Announcement Of India’s $35 Laptop Prototype Met With Skepticism.
Wright Bryan wrote in the NPR (7/28) “All Tech Considered” blog, “Despite the ever-decreasing cost of computing power and components,” India’s announcement last week that it “has prototyped a $35 Linux-powered tablet” was met with some skepticism. For example, “education technology leading light” Gary Stager posted on Twitter, “Newsflash: India invents schools so its children have a place to store their useless ‘$35 laptops.’ #vaporware.” When Bryan asked Stager several questions about India’s invention, Stager mentioned the One Laptop per Child project, saying, “It now appears that ‘mine’s bigger’ has been replaced with ‘mine’s cheaper.’” And, “when asked what defines an effective computing tool for education,” Stager said, “Since the only functionality of the “device” is communication and information access (the low-hanging fruit of education), where will that connectivity come from? At what price? How much time will be spent haggling over which information children can or can’t have access to?”
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NEA in the News
West Virginia Teachers Unions Say Some Proposed State Education Reforms Are Unproven.
WVNS-TV (7/29, Williams) reports that “the conflict between school unions and policymakers over education reform is one that has played out in many states since the launch of Race to the Top.” But West Virginia, which has “some of the most powerful state teachers unions in the nation,” may “be the strength of the opposition,” according to WVNS. Teachers unions in the state have said that Gov. Joe Machin’s (D) education reform “proposals lacked what they saw as scientifically proven methods for improving school performance.” For instance, Machin “proposed a bill allowing public schools to adopt some aspects of charter schools found in other states, but it did not go as far as actually creating charter schools.” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee noted, however, that “data supporting charter schools is a very mixed bag. … There are a very large number of charter schools that are not doing well,” he said.
Teachers Unions In Michigan Want Repeal Of Some Laws Made For Race To The Top.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (7/28) reports that “with hopes of $400 million in federal money for school reform fading fast, teachers union leaders say the state should consider repealing some of the changes made this year as part of Michigan’s Race to the Top application.” Michigan’s “new laws…include raising the dropout age to 18, expanding charter schools and accepting common academic standards.” In the first round of Race to the Top, “teachers union leaders fought some of the proposals.” But in the second round, the unions were included in the policy-making process. Doug Pratt of the Michigan Education Association (MEA) asserted, “Anyone who thought we were the reason for the failure in the first round certainly can’t say that now. … We’re disappointed, because that $400 million would have been a big help.” But, he added, “That $400 million in one-time money would not have solved the long-term problems facing Michigan schools.”
Groups Will Ask Obama’s Debt Commission Not To Suggest Social Security Cuts.
Bloomberg News (7/29, Faler) reports, “A co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s debt commission said as much as three-quarters of the panel’s proposed savings ought to come through cuts to government spending rather than tax increases.” The panel was commissioned by the President in February to search “the government’s budget” for areas that can be cut “to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of the economy by 2015, from the current 10 percent.” Bloomberg notes that “the AFL-CIO, NAACP, National Education Association (NEA), Moveon.org, and others” will hold “a joint news conference…in Washington” today “to caution the panel not to suggest cuts to the Social Security program.”
North Santiam Education Association Reaches Agreement With District.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/29, Ruttan) reports that “the North Santiam Education Association teachers’ union and North Santiam School District have reached an agreement that will save eight full-time positions and one half-time position.” Under the agreement, teachers will take “a six-day pay cut and an across-the-board cost-of-living increase.” Teachers with less than 15 years of service “will receive their step increases,” but those “with more seniority will not receive step increases.” In addition, class sizes will increase, the art program at Stayton Middle School will be eliminated, and the technology program at Stayton High School will be smaller.
NEA Alaska Supports State’s Incumbent For US Senate.
NEA Alaska Joshua Saul wrote in the Alaska Dispatch (7/28) “Political Animal” blog that in the US Senate race in Alaska “between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, the candidates are seizing every opportunity to show off their big name supporters.” Miller is backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, while Murkowski’s supporters include “organizations like the NRA and the National Education Association’s Alaska offices.” According to Saul, those and other endorsements reinforce Murkowski’s “establishment image.”
Obama Defends Education Reform Ideas At Urban League Convention.
The AP (7/30, Pace) reports, “Challenging civil rights organizations and teachers’ unions that have criticized his education policies, President Barack Obama said Thursday” in a speech at the National Urban League’s 100th anniversary convention “that minority students have the most to gain from overhauling the nation’s schools.” The President also pointed out that the purpose of the reforms is not “to fire or admonish teachers, but to create a culture of accountability” and “pinned some of the criticism on a resistance to change.” Noting that teachers are “the single most important factor in a classroom,” Obama called “for higher pay, better training and additional resources to help teachers succeed.”
The New York Times (7/30, Calmes) adds that Obama “chose the civil rights organization as his audience to address specifically the complaints of minority groups.” The Washington Post (7/30, Anderson) notes that “the National Urban League, the NAACP and some other groups…have questioned the competitive emphasis of Obama’s $4 billion Race to the Top grants, which produces winners and losers.” They are asking “the administration to seek more equitable funding for schools,” instead.
The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Mamoli) adds that Urban League head Marc Morial “was one of several civil rights leaders who met with Duncan earlier this week to discuss their concerns with” Race to the Top, “specifically that black and Latino students were not benefiting from the federal resources.” Teachers unions “have also objected to the program, which encourages evaluations.” The President “acknowledged the discord over the program,” saying, “We get comfortable with the status quo even when the status quo isn’t good.” But, he told the audience, “The program has already been successful even where federal dollars have not yet been spent.”
The Christian Science Monitor (7/30, Khadaroo) reports that The President “made it clear…that he has no intention of backing down from his education reform agenda, despite criticism from core constituencies in his own party.” Bloomberg News (7/30, Herbst, Runningen), Education Week (7/29, Klein), Reuters (7/30, Bohan), ABC News (7/29, Bruce), MSNBC (7/29), the New Republic (7/29), and The Hill (7/30) also covered this story.
Civil Rights Leaders Soften Criticism Of Education Program. Politico (7/30, Marr) reports that “despite their tough rhetoric earlier this week, civil rights leaders have softened their criticism of the president’s education reforms. A ‘conflict in schedules’ led the coalition to cancel a Monday press conference to air their criticism and tout their 17-page framework for reform.” Politico notes that “instead, the leaders met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes,” and “afterward, they released a new statement declaring they are ‘confident’ that, working with the White House, ‘a plan can be developed that will provide a high-quality education for all students.’”
Alexander Hails Obama’s Education Remarks, Praises Duncan. The Tennessean’s Bill Theobald (7/30) reports in a blog entry that “Sen. Lamar Alexander has taken his share of potshots at” Obama. But yesterday, he “took to the Senate floor to applaud Obama’s education speech.” Said Alexander, “I commend the president for his courage, his vision and for his willingness to undertaken the hard work of helping children across the country learn what they need to know and be able to do.” Of Duncan he said, “He is an excellent leader in education and he has a big heart and he’s worked in a bipartisan way.”
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In the Classroom
Program Helps Prevent Summer Slide For Students In Maryland District.
The Baltimore Sun (7/30, Burris) reports on a summer program in Anne Arundel, Maryland, that targets “the so-called summer slide. The county’s Elementary Summer Academy offers classroom instruction and activities to ensure that students retain the previous grade’s language and math skills.” First, “students are tested…to determine which areas they need to focus on,” and “at the end of the program” they are tested “to see how they’ve progressed.” In between testing, students receive classroom instruction. As part of a behavior modification system, students can earn prize tickets “for such tasks as completing homework assignments or exhibiting good behavior in class.” The tickets can be redeemed “at the schools’ stores” for “items including balls and temporary tattoos.”
Change In Proficiency Standards Leave Some Educators Confused About Schools’ Improvement.
New York Times (7/30, Otterman) reports that the release of state test scores this week “left the city with math and English proficiency rates lower than they had been in 2006, when the state last overhauled grade school testing.” Though “the average city student this year answered about the same number of questions correctly as last year…the number required to pass the tests, or show proficiency,” increased this year. The change has left educators and education stakeholders wondering “exactly how much the city’s schools had improved during the last decade.” Experts agreed that scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will be the most reliable tool for “deciphering where the schools are now.”
District Teams With West Point, Clemson And NASA For STEM Career Program.
The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal (7/30, Healy) reports on a group of Carver Junior High students who “agreed to give up three days of their summer vacation to participate in the US Military Academy at West Point’s Summer STEM Quest Institute, a program aimed at boosting student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career fields.” A similar focus will continue into the school year, which “will be dedicated to professional development as teachers learn to integrate science, technology, engineering and math into the entire curriculum” on a district-wide basis. Carver Principal RaaShad Fitzpatrick said, “It’s going to be a wall-to-wall program. … Every student in the building will participate in the STEM program.” The article notes, “West Point will continue to partner with Carver throughout the year. The district has also formed partnerships with NASA and Clemson University.”
On the Job
Teachers Contract In Ohio District Allows For Recall Of Some Teachers Let Go In April.
WJW-TV Cleveland, Ohio (7/30) reports that teachers in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will have a new contract when they start school next fall. “The new contract features more than $17 million in concessions” and will “allow the District to recall many of the 545 teachers, who were laid off in April.” WJW adds that “in addition to the financial components of the contract, both parties agreed to develop a model for teacher development and evaluation.” The new system “will include student performance data, unannounced teacher observations and increased flexibility for evaluation timing.”
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Law & Policy
Public Will Soon Deem Race To The Top Likely A Failure, Educator Says.
Jeff Passe, chairman of the Department of Secondary Education at Towson University, writes in the Baltimore Sun (7/30, Passe) that money from the federal Race to the Top competition “is needed.” But, he asks, “Has anyone stopped to ask whether these changes will actually improve public schools? Is it a race to the top, or to somewhere in the middle?” Passe outlines the benefits of the Race to the Top qualifying criteria: charter schools, tenure, common core standards, and use of student achievement data. He asserts that “the public will soon regard Race to the Top as a failure — a race to the middle that didn’t make a real difference.” Moreover, educators will somehow “be blamed for policies developed not by scholars who have studied educational reform, but by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a well-meaning but ill-informed leader.”
Tennessee Governor Signs Order Establishing STEM Network.
The AP (7/30) reports from Tennessee, “Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) has signed an executive order that promotes expanding science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in K-12 public schools across Tennessee.” The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network “will conduct various STEM educational activities in coordination with local education agencies, including teacher professional development and curriculum development,” and “will be managed by Battelle Memorial Institute.”
Massachusetts Governor Expected To Sign School Nutrition Bill.
WSHM-TV Springfield, Massachusetts (7/30, Stewart) reports that today, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “will sign the School Nutrition Bill,” which mandates that all public schools in the state “stop selling deep fried foods, unhealthy snacks, and vending machine soda.” It also requires that schools “provide more nutrition education.”
School Board Discusses “Controlled Choice” As Alternative To Diversity-Based Assignments.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (7/30, Goldsmith, Hui) reports that Wake County school board members on Wednesday discussed a “controlled choice” school assignment model to replace its former school diversity assignment policy. The model has drawn interest from members “on both sides of Wake’s school assignment fight. … Those in the minority hope such a model will help keep school populations more demographically balanced; those in the majority hope the approach will give parents more choice and allow for school system growth.” The school board’s plan “would divide the county into attendance zones that are supposed to allow children to go to schools in their communities.” Families would be able to choose “among a variety of schools” in each zone. The News & Observer adds that one of “the challenges facing the system is where to draw the lines and what factors will be used in assigning students.”
Safety & Security
Chicago Public Schools Rolls Out Cyberbullying Policy.
NBC Chicago (7/30, Wojciechowski) reports that Chicago Public Schools has rolled out a strict new policy on cyberbullying. The policy imposes “serious new sanctions for offenses that previously were outside the bounds of school discipline.” Punishments include “mandatory suspensions, possible expulsions, and police investigations.” NBC Chicago notes that “the new Student Code of Conduct treats cyberbullying offenses with the same severity as burglary, aggravated assault and other crimes.”
Anti-Bullying Program Yields Positive Results For Massachusetts District.
The Boston Globe (7/29, Travaglini) reported that Danvers school administrators plan to expand an anti-bullying program they say saw positive results “at the elementary schools last year.” The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was implemented at the elementary level in 2008. The program includes training for all school employees “on how to recognize bullying and ways to deal with it. … Regular school-wide assemblies, classroom discussions on bullying and parent meetings on the topic were introduced as the final phase of the program.” Its “success is measured in part by” a decline in the “number of reports of possible bullying incidents the school” received last year.
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Also in the News
High School Principal Criticized For Selling Weight-Loss Products To Students.
The Washington Post (7/20, Chandler) reports that “an advertisement that Principal Nardos King placed in the Mount Vernon High School yearbook, for weight-loss products she sold in her free time, surprised and upset many parents this summer, and prompted an apology” this week. The ad for “a two-step weight-loss system called Body Magic,” a spandex undergarment, included promises of “Instant Transformation While Losing Weight in the Process!” and loss of “up to 2-3 sizes in minutes.” Members of the community expressed displeasure with the ad “on a Facebook page dedicated to Mount Vernon news,” questioning “the principal’s ethics for selling products to students.” According to a spokesperson for Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, King “has stopped selling the products” and that she is likely not in violation of the district’s conflict-of-interest policy.
ADHD, Smoking May Be Linked With Dropping Out Of School, Study Shows.
The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Stein) reports, “Many roads can lead to a teen dropping out of high school, but a new study finds that having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and smoking may be strongly linked to not finishing school. Researchers from UC Davis looked at data on 29,662 people from the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions.” They found that 32.3 percent “of students who had a combined form of ADHD (hyperactivity and inattentiveness) dropped out of high school.” They also found that 29 percent of “tobacco users…dropped out.”
Duncan Meets With Civil Rights Leaders To Discuss Education Reform.
The AP (7/27, Armario, Turner) reports, “Eight civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, contend in a document released Monday” that the Education Department “is promoting ineffective approaches for failing schools” claiming that Race to the Top “leaves out many minority students.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “and a White House adviser met with the groups Monday, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the presidents of the National Urban League and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. … ‘The administration is dedicated to equity in education and we’ve been working very closely with the civil rights community to develop the most effective policies to close the achievement gap, turn around low performing schools and put a good teacher in every classroom,’ Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton said.”
Education Week (7/26, McNeil) added that the civil rights “groups, which today released their own education policy framework and launched the National Opportunity to Learn campaign to advance their ideas, want Mr. Duncan to make big changes to his draft proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.” According to Education Week, on Monday, “leaders from each of the groups (minus Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP) met with Mr. Duncan and Melody Barnes, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, to discuss their ideas. Both Mr. Duncan and President Barack Obama are scheduled to address the National Urban League this week during the group’s annual convention.”
Duncan To Announce Race To The Top Finalists Today. The Orlando Sentinel (7/27) reports that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “is slated to announce the Race to the Top finalists during a speech Tuesday. … In the first round, just Delaware and Tennessee won money (Florida came in fourth), but in the second round there could be 10 to 15 winners, Duncan said.”
Lesli Maxwell wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/26), “Michele McNeil, blogger over at Politics K-12, and I put our heads together to come up with a list of 20 states that we think will end up on the list” of Race to the Top round 2 finalists. Maxwell added, “You’ll notice that some of the new states we’ve added to our list from last time include Oklahoma, which Michele likes as a dark horse for the aggressive package of legislation it passed in the last few months,” and California “has a more legitimate shot this time, if for nothing else than going with an entirely different tack in Round Two. Rather than mustering as many districts and local teachers’ unions to buy in to the state’s plan, as many states seemed to do in their second try at this, California opted to limit its application only to those districts that signed on fully to its menu of reform proposals.” Maxwell goes on to post the Race to the Top finalist predictions in full.
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In the Classroom
Florida District Considers Dual Enrollment, Virtual Classrooms To Comply With Class-Size Rules.
WFTV Orlando (7/27) reports that schools throughout Central Florida are trying to find ways to meet state rules on class size. Districts that do not comply could lose state funding. Orange County schools are considering “dual enrollment, virtual classrooms and seven period days.” School board charwoman Joie Cadle said that “parents may not see much change this year, because the county has been preparing.” But next year when “stimulus money runs out,” the county expects to lose $90 million.
Most Tennessee Voters “Strongly Support” High Academic Standards, Poll Shows.
Tennessee’s Chattanoogan (7/26) reported that a new poll shows most “Tennessee voters ‘strongly support’ high academic standards in K-12 public schools despite expectations that raising the bar will lead to lower student test scores in the short term.” The State Collaborative on Reforming Education commissioned the report, which looked at overall voter attitudes toward public education. It found that about 69 percent of voters “‘strongly support’ the State Board of Education’s decision to raise standards in subjects like reading and mathematics.” And, about 82 percent said that “having a strong K-12 public education system is ‘very important’ to Tennessee’s economy.” WPLN-AM Nashville (7/26, Farmer) reported that “the survey also found mixed opinions on charter schools, new teacher evaluations and state takeovers of low-performing schools” from 600 respondents.
Google Changes Domain Of Encrypted Search In Response To Educator Concerns.
eSchool News (7/26, Stansbury) reported that in response to “to concerns from education technology officials, internet search giant Google Inc. has” changed the domain name of “its encrypted search feature.” The move will allow schools to “block Google’s encrypted search feature without having to block the company’s other services, too.” The encrypted search feature rolled out in May “lets internet users hide their search queries from third parties,” eSchool News added. But “educators in school systems using Google services…worried that the new encrypted search feature would keep them from complying with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and put their federal e-Rate funding at risk.”
On the Job
Workshop Teaches How To Make Lessons Interactive.
WBIR-TV Knoxville, Tennessee (7/27) reports that teachers in West Knox County, Tennessee this week are attending a series of “grade specific” workshops that are “part of Knox County Schools strategic plan to give teachers the tools for highly effective instruction.” At the workshops teachers are learning “ways to incorporate interactive learning into their own lesson plans.” One experiment showed “teachers how to use the oil spill to create a hands-on learning opportunity for their students.” It began “with a demonstration: oil, water, and a bonding agent. Let it settle for a few minutes then just peel the oil off the top.” Presenter Andrea Allen said that students will automatically wonder why the same technique is not applied to the Gulf oil spill. She explained how teachers could guild the students to think through the kinds of problems the technique could cause in the real-life situation.
Teachers In Florida District Gain Training Supplement In Contract Negotiations.
The St. Petersburg Times (7/27, Matus) reports that “the Pinellas (FL) school district and its teachers union formally yanked furloughs off the negotiating table” Monday. In addition, “district negotiators agreed to nix a plan to sign new teachers to cheaper, $100-a-day, provisional contracts, and to support a union counter offer to give every teacher a $250 training supplement.” While district and union negotiators both agreed “to shift slightly more health insurance cost to workers…the change will be minimal” for most workers. The “tentative changes will not affect the pay raises — from $300 to $5,300 — that teachers were already slated to get this year,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.
School Employees Face Higher Insurance Co-Payments After Boost In Claim Costs. The St. Petersburg Times (7/27, Marshall) reports, “Hillsborough County (FL) teachers and staffers will get their first glimpse today of a more frugal health care plan, part of the district’s effort to close a shortfall of more than $41 million in next year’s budget.” Under the proposed new healthcare plan, school employees would pay more in co-payments and “will lose the ability to see out-of-network doctors or specialists,” unless they “pay more for a premium plan.” Last month, the Times notes, “district officials were shocked to learn that claim costs had shot up by around 12 percent. Keeping the existing health plan without changes would have added $29 million to last year’s total of $120.4 million.”
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Law & Policy
Economic Woes Force States To Pare Back Scholarship Programs.
Education Week (7/26, Adams) reported, “In Nevada and across the country, the weak economy is forcing many states to cut back their merit-based scholarship programs. The combination of rising tuition and decreasing tax revenues has put many lawmakers at a crossroads” and to “keep programs from going under, some states are raising the minimum grade point average or testing criteria to reduce the number of awards.” According to Education Week, other states “are offering a set amount rather than total tuition coverage” and some states, “such as Michigan, have ceased financing merit-based scholarship programs altogether.”
Policies Keeping Students Out Of School For Head Lice Are Too Strict, AAP Says.
Time (7/26, Park) reported on its website that a clinical report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that head lice “do not pose enough of a contagious hazard to justify the strict policies that many schools use to keep infected children out of class.” The new report “updates [the AAP's] 2002 guidelines for the treatment of lice infestation.” Former AAP Council on School Health chariwoman Dr. Barbara Frankowski said that “that parents wrongly tend to blame schools for the spread of head lice,” noting, “A lot of head lice comes from situations where kids are in close contact, such as sleepovers and camps.” According to Time, between 6 million to 12 million cases of head lice occur among school-aged children each year, “based on extrapolations from documented local infestations.” WCCO-TV Minneapolis (7/27, Douda) and WLS-TV Chicago (7/26) also covered the story.
Special Needs
Colorado’s Special Education Rating Improves.
The Denver Post (7/25, Meyer) reported, “For the first time in three years, Colorado improved its special-education federal rating from ‘needs intervention’ to the slightly better ‘needs assistance.’ The rankings are based on an annual survey required for every state under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” According to the Post, “Every state submits a report about its performance on 20 goals, including the percentage of students with disabilities who graduated from high school and the [percentage] who dropped out.”
Facilities
Detroit Public Schools Announces Start Of $60 Million School Renovations.
The Detroit News (7/27, Shultz) reports, “Detroit Public Schools (DPS officials hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking [Monday] for about $60 million in renovation work set to start this summer at Western International, Henry Ford and Denby high schools.” Improvements will be completed “by fall 2011.” They include more modern classrooms, enhanced security, and “new technology” including “such as sustainable technology labs, security fencing and new exercise facilities for student and community use — services often described in top-performing school districts,” according DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. The AP reports that “the schools are expected to serve nearly 4,000 students as part of the district’s $500.5 million capital improvement program.” The renovations are “being paid through voter-approved bonds.”
School Finance
Stolen Textbooks Cost Los Angeles School District Nearly $10 Million, Audit Says.
The AP (7/27) reports that an audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) “says stolen textbooks and unnecessary book purchases have cost the [district] nearly $10 million.” The findings were based on 21 “randomly sampled” high schools. The report concluded that LAUSD “has an outdated and substandard textbook inventory system” and “its elementary schools have no system at all.” Last year, “the district spent more than $83 million on textbooks,” the AP notes.
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Also in the News
Neighboring CTE Schools Divided Along Achievement Lines.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/27, Dodd) reports, “When a new $35.4 million [CTE] campus opens in Gwinnett County next month, two high schools will share teachers, a library and classroom space, but not a name.” One, Maxwell High School of Technology, is a general CTE school that sometimes focuses on “teens at risk of dropping out,” while the other, the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology, will be “an ambitious academy aimed at high-achievers.” While all students “share similar career interests…they will learn how to become architects, bioengineers and mechanics separately.” However, “some Gwinnett residents wonder whether maintaining similar schools for different kinds of students is the best use of tax dollars.” They also point out that combining the two could “challenge lower-performing students to step up their game.”
More States Joining Common Education Standards Movement.
The Christian Science Monitor (7/27, Paulson) reports though most developed countries have “a national set of education standards for students” and the US “has long been the exception,” 28 “states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the so-called Common Core standards, which were released in the spring. Several more were poised to do so by early August. Some 40 states are likely to have signed on by next spring.” According to the Monitor, “The rush to acceptance has surpassed the wildest hopes of many education reformers, even as it alarms those who see common standards as usurping local control and a bad idea.”