House Approves $26 Billion Jobs Bill.
The New York Times (8/11, A14, Huse) reports that the US House yesterday approved “$26 billion in aid to school districts and states to prevent large-scale layoffs of teachers and public employees.” After the Senate passed the bill last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the House “back into session…to approve the bill.” In addition to saving the jobs of “tens of thousands of public school teachers” and public employees, the bill will also “help distressed states provide health care to the poor.”

The Washington Post (8/11, Montgomery, Anderson) reports that according to some lawmakers and administration officials, “the package of state aid is likely to be the last major effort at economic stimulus — at least until after November congressional elections.” Overall, some 300,000 jobs are expected to be preserved under the bill.

Education Week (8/10, Klein) reported that $10 billion of the $26 billion aid bill that “is headed to President Barack Obama’s desk” will go toward “states and school districts to avert educator layoffs and hire new staff members.” In addition, the bill includes “a $10.7 million cut to Ready to Teach, which finances telecommunications-based professional-development programs for educators and educational videos; an $82 million cut to student financial-aid administration; and a $50 million cut to Striving Readers, which underwrites adolescent-literacy programs.”

The Providence Journal (8/11) reports that according to Larry Purtill, president of the NEA of Rhode Island “the money will help bring back laid-off educators and protect the jobs of hundreds of teachers and support staff whose jobs are in jeopardy.” In East Providence alone, he added, more than 30 teachers lost their jobs. And in the past “few months,” he added, the NEA of Rhode Island has lost hundreds of teachers and support staff. Education Secretary Arne Duncan “said states will be encouraged to use the education jobs money in the 2010-11 school year,” though they “have until September 2012 to disburse the money.”

The Springfield (OH) News Sun (8/10, Torry), reports that an NEA senior policy analyst, Tom Zembar, “predicted that most states will spend the money in the 2010-2011 school year.” Said Zembar, “Technically, if there is absolutely no need, a state could carry over potentially 100 percent. … I just would find that to be not very common.”

The Wall Street Journal (8/11, Bendavid) also covers the story. Utah’s Deseret Morning News (8/11, Dougherty, Stuart), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/11, Keefe, Baderscher), the Cincinnati Enquirer (8/10, Rulon), Alabama’s Press-Register (8/11, Philips), the Oklahoman (8/11, Casteel), and New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/11, Fleisher) also covered the impact of the bill in their respective states.

Advertisement

The Tools for Teaching Package from Janet Allen gives you two plan book-sized flipcharts that distill 58 content reading & writing instructional strategies into convenient tabbed pages, with classroom illustrations & reproducibles. Only $19.95 (regularly $24 when purchased separately). Click here for details!

In the Classroom
Elementary School Allows Students To Choose Classes In Four “Interest Areas.”
The Montreal Gazette (8/10, Harris) reported on a program at R.J. Hawkey elementary school in Calgary, Alberta, that will place students “as young as seven in classes according to their interests.” Students will choose “one of four key interest areas: humanitarian/environment, the arts, scientific inquiry, or sports…to shape every aspect of the education experience.” They will also “get exposure to other classes’ teachings” and will have “the opportunity to change specialization at the beginning of each school year.” R.J. Hawkey Principal Dan Hoch said of the concept, “Whether it’s a teacher teaching, or a student learning, when you’ve got people doing what they love, it stands to reason that engagement is going to go up.”

Indiana District Will No Longer Allow Religious Instruction Program In Schools.
The AP (8/10) reported that the Fort Wayne, Indiana, school district will no longer send “students to a religious instruction program on school grounds” that is sponsored by Associated Churches, after the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the district in June. The complaint was filed on behalf of “the parents of a third-grader who said she was sent to Bible classes in trailers on school property without their permission.” Indiana’s News Center (8/10, Donaldson) reported that school board members came to the decision at a meeting on Tuesday. They also decided that “religious education must take place after school.”

Advertisement

In Teaching with Intention best-selling author Debbie Miller helps you define your core teaching beliefs and put them into practice through classroom organization, lesson design, teacher language, assessment, conferring, and more. Click here for details!

Law & Policy
Arizona District At Odds With State Schools Chief Over Ethnic Studies.
Education Week (8/11, Zehr) reports, “Arizona education department officials and administrators for the Tucson Unified School District are set to do battle over whether the school district should continue to offer its ethnic studies, particularly Mexican-American studies, in light of a new state law tightly restricting such classes. Tom Horne, Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction, turned up the heat on the controversy by sending a letter Aug. 3 to the superintendent of Tucson Unified threatening to withhold 10 percent of basic state aid to the district when the new law goes into effect Dec. 31.” Horne “contends that Tucson Unified’s ethnic studies courses match the kind barred by the law” yet “Tucson Unified administrators say the 60,000-student district’s ethnic studies courses are open to all students and don’t fit the description of those prohibited in the measure signed into law by” Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in May.

Legislation Seeks To Promote STEM With Support For Programs Like FIRST.
The AP (8/10) reports, “US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) briefly took the controls of a soccer-playing robot Tuesday to promote legislation she’s sponsoring in hopes of encouraging students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.” Under legislation sponsored by Shaheen, “states and school districts would get federal grants to start innovative programs like the New Hampshire robotics program that inspired the legislation.” The AP notes, “The bill also would require schools to work with local businesses to mentor students,” an aspect Shaheen described as “key to ensuring that students see the connection between what they’re learning and what jobs they might eventually have.” Inventor Dean Kamen, who founded the FIRST robotics program, “said he was glad Shaheen’s bill calls for schools to compete for the grants, because competition spurs creativity.”

The Boston Globe (8/11, Krisner) reports, “Shaheen’s bill would create a competitive grant program, called the Innovation Inspiration School Grant Program, that would help fund programs like FIRST.” Shaheen said “the grant program will give top priority to schools in low income urban and rural areas…and will require members of the community to be involved in the programs as mentors (as they are with the FIRST robotics program).” The Globe notes, “The grant program could get included as the Senate deals with re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act next year.”

New Jersey District BOE Votes To Close Schools For Two Islamic Holy Days.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/10, Haydon) reported, “In a decision that sent ripples of hope across the Muslim community well beyond New Jersey, the South Brunswick Board of Education has approved school closings in the 2010-11 school year for two Islamic holy days. … About 10 of the nearly 600 school districts in New Jersey acknowledge Muslim holy days as official school holidays, according to the New Jersey School Board’s Association.” According to the Star-Ledger, “In New York City, the issue of honoring Muslim holidays is political and controversial” as during this past July, the “City Council passed a non-binding resolution calling for school closings on the same two Muslim holy days, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who controls the school district, has opposed the closings for reasons he said have nothing to do with Islam.”

Number Of Students, Faculty Affected Viewed As Central Issue In Debate Over Religious Holidays. Asma T. Uddin, an attorney who works on international religious freedom matters with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/10), “The school calendar in US public schools is typically tied to traditional Protestant holidays, largely” due to the number of students and faculty affected. According to Uddin, “The question, then, is whether Muslims present a substantial enough portion of the student body to merit a change to the academic calendar.” He asserts that this issue “should “remain central to the debate, as opposed to constitutional claims about the establishment of religion.”

Nashua Telegraph: Teachers Should Be Involved In State Evaluation Reform Efforts.
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (8/11) editorializes, “In some ways, the success of public education in New Hampshire has worked against the state in attracting federal funds made available through the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program.” The state has twice failed at its attempts to win Race to the Top funding, even as it proceeds with some of the initiative’s objectives, like adopting national educational standards and creating “new models for teacher evaluation.” The Telegraph explains the process state education officials are currently going through to “develop a model evaluation.” It asserts that “support for a more meaningful performance evaluation process in public education is not a criticism of teachers, many of whom excel in their profession.” And, in order to create an evaluation system that “meets the demands of education in the Information Age,” the Telegraph says that “teachers and their union representatives” should be involved in the process.

North Carolina District Eases Long-Term Suspension Policy To Encourage School Attendance.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (8/11, Hui) reports that the Wake County school system plans to ease its zero-tolerance discipline policy “as part of an effort to keep more students in school and off the streets.” The school board on Tuesday made the first policy change “so that long-term suspended students will no longer be kicked out for the rest of the school year.” Under current policy, students with long-term suspensions are “barred from class for the rest of the school year, with no exceptions. But the new policy, which matches state guidelines, says long-term suspensions can now be as short as 11 days.” Principals will have the authority to determine the length of the suspension, “which could still last the rest of the school year.”

Texas Will Require Safety Belts On New School Buses In September.
WOAI-TV San Antonio (8/10, Covarrubias) reported that beginning in September, “all new school buses in Texas must have seat belts.” The mandate will increase “the cost of a new bus by around $10,000.” So “lawmakers set aside $10 million to help districts across the state, but that would only pay for about one bus per district.”

Advertisement
Invest wisely in your education career future.
With school budgets under stress, explore online degree options that can set you apart and further your career, improve your earning potential and job security. Certificates for continuing education all the way to PhD’s.
Get free information now.

Also in the News
Merits Of Holding Children Back In School Analyzed.
In a column for the Wall Street Journal (8/11), Sue Shellenbarger writes though a negative stigma has long been attached to being held back a grade, more parents are embracing the move as a way to give children more time to mature and enable them to catch up to their peers academically. However, according to Shellenbarger, critics say holding children back a grade can cost districts more without benefitting students academically and mask legitimate needs for remediation and special instruction due to learning disabilities.

New Website Allows Students To Place Wagers On Their Own Grades.
The AP (8/10, Garcia) reported, “A website called Ultrinsic is taking wagers on grades from students at 36 colleges nationwide starting this month. Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on football games, Ultrinsic will pay you top dollar for A’s, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better, and so on.” According to the AP, Ultrinsic CEO Steven Wolf “insists this is not online gambling, which is technically illegal in the United States, because wagers with Ultrinsic involve skill.”

Chicago Teachers Reject Giving Up 4% Raises To Balance Budget.
The Chicago Tribune (8/13) reports, “The governing body of the Chicago Teachers Union has rejected giving up 4 percent teacher raises to avoid layoffs, continuing the standoff over Chicago’s school funding crisis. ‘No matter what savings CTU members could offer CPS, the Board offered no guarantee that layoffs or class size increases would stop,’ said union president Karen Lewis after the Wednesday vote. While the district released a balanced budget Monday that would require it to drain reserve funds, negotiations between the two sides have not determined a way to avoid about 1,200 teacher layoffs.” The union suggests cutting non-teacher expenses.

Advertisement

Drama Schemes, Themes & Dreams provides 8 units of study centered on themes- -being different, identity, bullying, communication, history, the refugee experience, war, and dreams- -that teachers in grades 6-12 can use to make connections to texts in a variety of literary genres. Preview the entire book online!

In the Classroom
Some Teachers Not Grading Homework Assignments.
The Chicago Tribune (8/13, Malone) reports, that “a growing number of teacher…have stopped grading homework or have capped how much it counts toward a student’s overall grade. Instead, they reserve their grade books for in-class work like tests and research projects. Educators say many of the daily assignments measure a student’s work ethic more than knowledge. Besides, they say, some papers come back with an obvious assist from mom and dad.” Some parents are worried that the lack of graded homework may not instill a sense of responsibility on their children.

Ontario School Builds Outdoor Theater.
The Waterloo Record (8/13, Nowoselski) reports that St. Teresa Catholic School, an elementary school in Kitchener, Ontario, “opened an outdoor theatre in hopes of using it for classes, assemblies and other student gatherings when the weather permits.” The theater “might be the first hillside learning space at St. Teresa,” but it’s part of a larger “green initiative for the school which has transformed its playground from a concrete jungle to a lush green oasis in just over four years.” The project cost nearly $13,000.

ED Holds Bullying Summit.
Education Week (8/13, Aarons) report those gathered at ED bullying summit said “more research is needed to pinpoint effective anti-bullying practices. Phillip Rodkin, an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois urged adults to talk to children about the social ecology of relationships.” Experts also said a clearer definition of bullying is needed. Dr. Joseph Write, a pediatrician, said doctors need to know how bullying connects to other serious health risks. Government initiatives, such as bullyinginfo.org, were also highlighted. Secretary Duncan said at the summit’s opening that ED “and its Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools are stepping up enforcement of civil rights violations and will issue policy guidance to schools about their responsibilities to make sure violations of civil rights law are addressed.” Efforts by the Cartoon Network and Facebook to deter bullying were also presented at the summit.

Some Minnesota Schools On Needs Improvement List Now Making Adequate Yearly Progress.
The Minnesota Public Radio (8/13) reports, “Some of Minnesota’s worst-performing schools found out this week their performance might not be so bad, after all. Earlier this year, 34 schools were identified as being the state’s persistently lowest performing. But seven of them just found out this week that they are making Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. … The seven schools in question are: Hmong College Prep in St. Paul, the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul, and high schools in the towns of Isle, Orr, Greenbush, Braham and Finlayson.” Pat King, Director of the state’s Office of Turnaround schools said that schools now making AYP are “just ahead of the game. … ‘Three years from now, we’re going to be looking at a completely different school. So if they’ve already made AYP, that will only help with their implementation of their School Improvement Grant.’”

On the Job
DC Schools Suffer From Low Teacher Retention.
The Washington Post (8/13, Turque) reports that estimates from Mary Levy, who recently worked as a budget consultant to DC Public Schools, suggest that the district has more problems retaining teachers compared to similarly-sized districts. “Using DCPS payroll records between 2001 to 2010, Levy found that an average of 76 percent of DCPS teachers leave after five years or less of service. Of the 971 teachers hired in fiscal year 2002, for example, Levy concludes that 724 were gone by 2007. About a quarter of all new hires last a year or less.”

Kansas City, Missouri Lays Off 175 Teachers Two Weeks Before Classes Start.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (8/13) reports, “The Kansas City School district has notified 175 teachers this week that they will not have jobs when the school year starts in two weeks. The late notifications are the latest in a string of troubles the district has had with teacher notifications since it voted in March to close 24 traditional schools and three leased buildings. … The district worked with the teachers’ union over the weekend to make sure cuts were made according to state law and the union contract. Principals also met to review the final report. The union is still reviewing the results and helping correct some errors, union President Andrea Flinders said.”

Rhode Island Federation Of Teachers Receives Grant To Better Teacher Evaluations.
The Providence Journal (8/13, Jordan) reports, “The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers has received a highly competitive $5 million federal ‘innovation’ grant it will share with a New York teachers union, to develop rigorous teacher evaluations in both states. … The RIFT…has been working since October to develop a teacher evaluation and support system that complies with new tough state standards on how educators must be evaluated each year. … The RIFT hopes to launch pilot programs next spring in the six participating districts: Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick and Woonsocket, according to union officials. If the system receives approval from the state Department of Education, the evaluations would be ready for use in any school district in the 2011-2012 school year.”

State Officials Question Whether Teacher Jobs Funds Will Be Distributed Fairly.
InDenverTimes (8/11, Engdahl) reported that Colorado “officials are trying to figure out if Colorado is eligible for a slice of the new $10 billion ‘Edujobs’ program, the State Board of Education learned today. … The teacher jobs money carries ‘maintenance of effort’ requirements related to how much of their own money states have devoted to education.” According to INDenverTimes, “Officials are still trying to figure out if Colorado meets those requirements, Assistant Commissioner Vody Herrmann told the board.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (8/13, Block) reports, “When President Barack Obama signed an emergency education spending bill this week, supporters said it would almost immediately send $10 billion to states – including more than $600 million in Missouri and Illinois – to spare thousands of teacher jobs. Now some educators are puzzled over how and when the money will actually reach schools.” According to the Post-Dispatch, “Federal officials say states can hand out the money through their existing state school funding formula or based on a school district’s level of poverty assistance” yet both “of those options would favor poorer school districts with low local property tax support.”

Advertisement

Help your students play with language like a skilled writer! Pyrotechnics on the Page shows how to weave various “tools” of play- -puns and double meanings, invented words, allusions, hyperbole, and more- -into everyday teaching. Includes 24 craft lessons and an extensive bibliography of relevant mentor texts. Preview the entire book online!

Law & Policy
New Jersey Teachers Receive Smallest Raises In Years.
Bloomberg News (8/13, Dopp) reports, “New Jersey teachers received their smallest raises in 30 years. … The pay increase for 75 contracts negotiated since January averaged 2.03%. … Contracts negotiated before January for the 2010-2011 school year contained average raises of 3.84%. … New Jersey voters rejected a record 59% of school budgets in April after [Governor] Christie said they should oppose the spending plans unless teachers agreed to wage freezes and other concessions to help solve the state’s financial crisis. Teacher raises for the 55 contracts negotiated since April averaged 1.58%.” Christie “cut $820 million in public school funding to help balance his $29.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. He signed legislation last month capping increases in New Jersey’s property taxes, the highest in the US, at 2% a year.” Also, Christie “has also proposed cutting salaries for 366 school superintendents when their current contracts expire, and capping them at $175,000.”

Indiana Districts Unsure How Much New Federal Funding Will Affect Them.
The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier (8/13, Schneider) reports that educators in the Lafayette, IN area “are so far withholding cheers over a $26 billion package Congress passed Tuesday that includes $10 billion to save teacher jobs.” Superintendents in the area are not sure how much money their districts will see. Furthermore, they are concerned that they will simply need to lay off teachers hired with the money at the end of the coming school year. “Indiana is slated to receive $207 million, which could translate to 3,600 saved jobs, according to government estimates. … Lauren Auld, a spokeswoman with the Indiana Department of Education, said there aren’t too many specifics yet on the funding. The state still has to apply for funds, as do other states, and then the federal government is hoping to turn around those payouts by early September for use this school year.”

Safety & Security
Students Write Anti-Bullying Book Titled “I Was A Bully.”
The Miami Herald (8/13, Finch) reports, “After the incidents of violence against Deerfield Beach middle school students Michael Brewer and Josie Lou Ratley during the last school year, schools and law enforcement officers have increasingly been tackling the issue of bullying.. One new effort has come from students. About 60 middle schoolers from across Broward County wrote two short books each titled I Was A Bully But I Stopped this summer. The students started working on the books in June and they were published this month.” The projected was funded by State Farm.

Head Of Security At Philadelphia School Resigns.
SecurityInfoWatch (8/13, Russ) reports, “James Golden Jr. resigned yesterday as the Philadelphia School District’s top school-safety official, district officials confirmed. … Golden’s former deputy, Brendan Lee, assumed the title of acting deputy chief of operations for safety, said district spokeswoman Lisa Mastoon. District officials said that Golden resigned yesterday morning, but others familiar with the safety office said that there had been speculation for months that Golden would be fired or asked to resign. … Michael Lodise, president of the School Police Association, said many officers began hearing as early as January that Golden would be ousted this year. He said Golden may be the ‘fall guy’ for the violence at South Philadelphia High School in December, when dozens of Asian students were assaulted in racially motivated attacks.”

Facilities
Idaho Charter School Begins Construction.
KIFI-TV Idaho Falls (8/13, Chabra) reports, “After a year of operating out of trailers, a permanent facility for the Idaho Science and Technology Charter School is on the horizon. The imprint for the gym and music room has already been dug out, and the foundation is expected to be laid in the coming days. … For the past year, the school has been operating out of modular classrooms in a space designated for the parking lot. Now, the students will only have to attend classes there for possibly one more semester.”

Also in the News
Many Chicago Charter Schools Run Deficits, Data Shows.
New York Times (8/13, Karp) reports that even “though Chicago’s charter schools brought in $21 million in private money from foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals in 2007 — the last year for which complete information is available — half have run an average of $700,000 in deficits in recent years, with some of the shortfalls reaching $4 million, according to an analysis of Chicago Public Schools data by Catalyst Chicago, an independent magazine on urban education. … President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a former Chicago schools chief, view charter schools as a way to spur innovation in public school systems that they say are too resistant to change.” According to the Times, “States that do not allow charters or restrict their replication jeopardize their chance to receive federal financing, Mr. Duncan said last year.”

NEA in the News
Barbara Kapinus Cautions Against “Repetitious” Homework.
The Chicago Tribune (8/13, Malone) reports nearly two-thirds of the respondents to a Chicago Tribune/WGN poll said that their children are doing about the right amount of homework, even though half of respondents said their children are doing more homework than they did. “The homework debate often splinters parents into two camps: those who think kids get too much and those who think they get too little. … A good rule of thumb is 10 minutes of homework per grade, said Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst with the National Education Association. She said students should practice at home what they learned in class, but she cautioned against repetitious, busy work. ‘I’m not sure I would ever give a kid 100 of anything to do for homework,’ said Kapinus. Research by Harris Cooper, a Duke University psychology professor and homework scholar, suggests but the payoff [for homework] ends after about 2.5 hours of work.”

Columbia, Missouri Junior High Math Teacher Is A Finalist For Horace Mann Award. The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune (8/13, Martin) reports, “Kathy Steinhoff, a ninth- and 10th-grade geometry teacher at Jefferson Junior High School [in Columbia, MO], qualified as a finalist for the National Education Association Foundation’s Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence in July after an interview in Washington D.C. ‘I just can’t say enough how honored I am,’ Steinhoff said of being nominated. ‘I truly, truly believe that I didn’t win it on my own. … It is really an award for all of Columbia Public Schools.’”

NEA: New Federal Funding Will Save 5,500 Teaching Positions In Ohio.
The Middletown (OH) Journal (8/13, Hilty) reports that a NEA analysis show that the recent passage of additional federal education funding “shows that it will save 5,500 teaching positions in Ohio.” Officials with local distraction in Ohio are unsure how much, if any, of the funds their respective districts will receive.

Advertisement
Invest wisely in your education career future.
With school budgets under stress, explore online degree options that can set you apart and further your career, improve your earning potential and job security. Certificates for continuing education all the way to PhD’s.
Get free information now.

Officials Say Teacher Jobs Bill Will Temporarily Fix State Budgets.
The AP (8/15, Fouhy) reported, “Cash-strapped states from Maine to Hawaii are tearing up the pink slips – for now – relieved that the $26 billion state aid bill passed by Congress” last week “has saved hundreds of thousands” of teaching and other public sector jobs. According to the AP, the bill “is a stopgap for long-term budget problems, letting states put off hard choices at a time of record federal deficits. While appetite for such cash infusions is wearing thin, some analysts say the latest package is essential to preserving the fragile economic recovery.”

Teacher Jobs Bill Comes Too Late To Benefit Some Laid Off Georgia Educators. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/16, Dodd) reports that for some teachers in Georgia, “the $322 million in federal aid available to save teaching jobs…was approved too late to” be of any benefit. As the school year begins, many laid off teachers are still looking for work. Others “are finding themselves in fields they never would have dreamed of in college.” Still, state “officials estimate that the money available for Georgia could save 5,700 education jobs.” Georgia DOE spokesman Matt Cardoza said that in some cases, districts will “have to hire teachers in the middle of the year.”

Some Superintendents In Texas Concerned State Budget Shortfall, Legal Action Will Stifle Federal Aid. The San Antonio (TX) Express-News (8/15, Scharrer) reported that some superintendents in Texas “are cautious about bonus funding soon heading their way from” the federal education jobs bill that became law last week. In addition to fears of “a severe state budget shortfall” next fall, district leaders say they also “worry that Texas’ $830 million share of the bill will end up in legal limbo as Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Attorney General Greg Abbott threaten to sue the federal government because of strings attached to the money.” Said San Antonio ISD Superintendent Robert Durón, “We need the money. That’s the bottom line. I would hope that cooler minds prevail and keep an open mind because our needs are great.”

New Hampshire Education Officials Concerned Schools May Not See Federal Aid. The AP (8/14, Love) reported that New Hampshire is expected to receive about $41 million from “the $10 billion federal stimulus measure for education.” But, some lawmakers and education officials worry that the money “intended to protect New Hampshire teachers’ jobs may never reach school districts if the money is used instead for other state spending.” In the current budget, for instance, “state tax money was freed up from being spent on school aid and used instead for other spending, including state aid to communities.” A spokesperson for Gov. John Lynch (D) said that after “guidelines governing the money” are written, Lynch “will develop a plan for the money.”

Advertisement

Feeling overwhelmed by your struggling readers? Catching Readers Before They Fall gives teachers a solid understanding of how kids learn to read, tailored instructional strategies, thorough answers to common questions from parents, and more. Includes a PD guide with discussion topics, group activities, and classroom follow-up. Preview the entire book online!

In the Classroom
New York City Test Scores Show Persistent Achievement Gap.
The New York Times (8/16, Otterman, Gebeloff) reports that when 2010 New York City standardized test scores “were released last month, they came as a blow to the legacy” of Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and school Chancellor Joel Klein, “as passing rates dropped by more than 25 percentage points on most tests. But the most painful part might well have been the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.” According to the Times, “Among the students in the city’s third through eighth grades, 40 percent of black students and 46 percent of Hispanic students met state standards in math, compared with 75 percent of white students and 82 percent of Asian students.”

More Schools Counting On Parents To Provide Basic Supplies.
The New York Times (8/15, Clifford) reported that schools throughout the US are looking to parents to provide more general-use classroom items like paper towels, facial tissue, garbage bags, and soap. “Now some” retailers are stocking “back-to-school aisles” with janitorial-supplies. The Times notes, “State and local school financing, which make up almost all of public schools’ money, is falling because of budget-balancing efforts and lower property- and sales-tax revenue.” Consequently, said Barbara A. Chester, president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, “Some of the things that have been historically provided by schools, we’re not able to provide at this point.”

Analysis Shows Marked Academic Gains For Students Of Highly-Effective Teachers.
In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times (8/15, Jason Felch, Jason Song, Doug Smith, 776K) previews its value-added analysis of LAUSD teacher performance, based on seven years of math and English test scores. Among the findings: “Highly effective teachers routinely propel students from below grade level to advanced in a single year. There is a substantial gap at year’s end between students whose teachers were in the top 10 percent in effectiveness and the bottom 10 percent. The fortunate students ranked 17 percentile points higher in English and 25 points higher in math.”

On the Job
Educators Gather At Dallas Conference To Discuss Anti-Bullying Strategies.
The Dallas Morning News (8/15, Hudson) reported on “The New Age of Bullying,” which was “a half-day conference put on by the I Am Here Coalition’s Bully Prevention Committee in response to recent high-profile youth suicides linked to bullying in North Texas and beyond, said Diana Weaver, executive director of the coalition.” According to the Morning News, “Nearly 100 people from varying professions – educators, administrators, counselors, foster parents and others – from as far away as Houston attended the event,” held in Dallas, “which included panels about managing online bullying, bullying laws and the long-term effects of bullying.”

Law & Policy
Seattle Teachers, District Leaders Reach Impasse Over Evaluation Plan.
The Seattle Times (8/15, Shaw) reported that Seattle Public Schools and the teachers union have come to an impasse in negotiations over an evaluation proposal that uses test scores to measure “students’ academic growth.” The district’s plan “combines increased accountability with increased support for teachers who volunteer to be a part of it” and “offers opportunities for highly rated teachers to earn higher pay.” But the teachers union says that it had already “agreed to overhaul the way teachers are evaluated, and to put” low-rated teachers “at risk of dismissal.” Union leaders want the district to implement the “four-tier evaluation system” on which “the two sides had already agreed.” Said Washington Education Association Vice President Jonathan Knapp, “Teachers aren’t afraid of accountability. … Teachers are afraid of a system that isn’t a fair analysis of what we’re doing in the classroom.”

Advertisement

“Packed with practical ideas to get students thinking deeply about nonfiction texts” (CM Magazine). Nonfiction Reading Power will help you teach students key skills and strategies before they embark on research projects. Includes children’s book lists organized by strategy and subject area. Click here to read Chapter 1 online!

Facilities
Kansas Town Once Ravaged By Tornado Opens LEED Certified High School Building.
The Kansas City Star (8/15, Bauer) reported on a new $50 million dollar LEED Platinum high school in Kiowa County, Kansas. The town was “wiped from the map three years ago” by a tornado. “Many families moved away” after the tornado, but town leaders say that the new school will help increase enrollment, now at about 900 students, “down from the pre-tornado 1,400.” The facility has motion-detecting lights that come on only when a room is in use. “Exterior walls are windows, reducing the amount of light needed during the day.” In addition, “geothermal systems will allow the school to use the heat of the Earth, to heat in the winter and cool in the summer,” and “a wind turbine near the football field will provide energy.” With the new features, “the school expects to save 40 percent or more in utility costs.”

School Finance
Reshaping, Consolidating School Districts Could Save Michigan $612 Million, Study Says.
The AP (8/16) reports that a new study from Michigan State University says that “Michigan taxpayers could save $612 million a year by reshaping or consolidating public schools along county lines.” Also according to the Study, Michigan taxpayers could save $328 million if “services such as transportation and food service” were shared “at the county level.” But, in Michigan, “forcing mergers is legally and politically difficult.” The state “has a long history of allowing local control in public school districts, and voters have approved only two mergers in the past 10 years,” the AP adds. WJRT-TV (8/15, Feick) also covered the story.

Nevada Education Officials Say School Cuts Could Reach 30 Percent.
The Las Vegas Sun (8/14, Ryan) reported that although the Nevada BOE “agreed to slice 10 percent from its upcoming budget as requested by Gov. Jim Gibbons (R),” board members say actual cuts could end up being as high as 30 percent. The state has an estimated $3 billion shortfall “for the upcoming biennium,” and State Superintendent Keith Rheault said that cutting agencies’ budgets “by 10 percent won’t fill the gap.” Each state agency will present to him “a list of priorities of their programs” showing which programs are “mandated by the federal government, the courts or state law.”

Also in the News
Parents Say Schools’ Wireless Internet Is Causing Health, Behavior Problems In Children.
PC Magazine (8/15, Murphy) reported that parents in Barrie, Ontario claim that “the wireless setups in their local elementary schools are creating a wide range of symptoms for their children, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, and increased heart rates.” In addition, some parents blame the wireless setups for lower grades and poor or antisocial behavior at school. Members of the Simcoe County Safe School Committee, a parent group also say on their website that “the Microwave intensity inside one Simcoe County classroom was measured at 4X Stronger than when standing near a cell phone tower.” The group wants the Simcoe County school board “to remove the wireless networking from the affected schools.” It has offered “to pay for wired networking.”

The Canadian Press (8/15, Leslie) reported that according to the parent group, “the children’s symptoms all disappear on weekends when they aren’t in school.” Simcoe County Safe School Committee member Rodney Palmer said that the symptoms “have been reported in 14 Ontario schools in Barrie, Bradford, Collingwood, Orillia and Wasaga Beach since the board decided to go wireless.” Said Palmer, “I’m not saying it’s because of the Wi-Fi because we don’t know yet, but I’ve pretty much eliminated every other possible source.” Susan Clarke formerly a consultant to the Harvard School of Public Health, said that Wi-Fi technology does alter “fundamental physiological functioning and can cause neurological and cardiac symptoms,” the Canadian Press added.

New York City School Helps War-Zone Refugee Children Make Adjustment To US Schools.
The AP (8/16, Hajela) reports that the Refugee Youth Summer Academy in New York City “has about 120 kids” in grades K-12 who come from “the world’s hot spots, combat zones and conflict areas.” Students in the program “work on their English, writing and math,” have “art, dance and music” classes, and “go on field trips.” The school aims to prepare refugee students for learning in an American classroom. “From the length of the day to changing rooms between classes to raising their hands and interacting with teachers, the program tries to mimic what students will experience.” Michele Pistone, a professor at Villanova University School of Law, said that such programs are beneficial to children from conflict zones. “In the United States, our system, there’s much more interaction between parents and teachers than there is elsewhere around the world. … A lot of the refugees I’ve worked with — because they’re coming from an environment where there isn’t that expectation of involvement — they tend not to be,” she said.

Advertisement
Jumpstart your teaching career with an advanced degree.
Quickly explore convenient and effective advanced online degree programs that are designed for educators looking to expand their income potential, maintain a certification, or transition into a supervisory role. A more rewarding future is a click away.

NEA in the News
NEA Opposes “Net Neutrality” Regulations.
The Wichita (KS) Eagle (8/15, Lefler) reported that US lawmakers will soon decide on “whether all data should be treated equally as it flows through the lines that make up the Internet,” also known as “net neutrality.” According to advocates of net neutrality, “allowing Internet service providers to speed traffic for some” would favor large companies that can afford to “pay for preferential service.” Those who oppose neutrality include the Internet Innovation Alliance, a group that includes the NEA, AT&T, “the American Conservative Union and the Hispanic civil-rights group LULAC.” Some opponents compare allowing internet service providers to “charge for priority access” to “internet search companies that take money to move Web sites to the top of their search lists through ‘sponsored links,’” the Wichita Eagle adds.

Officials Say Teacher Jobs Bill Will Temporarily Fix State Budgets.
The AP (8/15, Fouhy) reported, “Cash-strapped states from Maine to Hawaii are tearing up the pink slips – for now – relieved that the $26 billion state aid bill passed by Congress” last week “has saved hundreds of thousands” of teaching and other public sector jobs. According to the AP, the bill “is a stopgap for long-term budget problems, letting states put off hard choices at a time of record federal deficits. While appetite for such cash infusions is wearing thin, some analysts say the latest package is essential to preserving the fragile economic recovery.”

Teacher Jobs Bill Comes Too Late To Benefit Some Laid Off Georgia Educators. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/16, Dodd) reports that for some teachers in Georgia, “the $322 million in federal aid available to save teaching jobs…was approved too late to” be of any benefit. As the school year begins, many laid off teachers are still looking for work. Others “are finding themselves in fields they never would have dreamed of in college.” Still, state “officials estimate that the money available for Georgia could save 5,700 education jobs.” Georgia DOE spokesman Matt Cardoza said that in some cases, districts will “have to hire teachers in the middle of the year.”

Some Superintendents In Texas Concerned State Budget Shortfall, Legal Action Will Stifle Federal Aid. The San Antonio (TX) Express-News (8/15, Scharrer) reported that some superintendents in Texas “are cautious about bonus funding soon heading their way from” the federal education jobs bill that became law last week. In addition to fears of “a severe state budget shortfall” next fall, district leaders say they also “worry that Texas’ $830 million share of the bill will end up in legal limbo as Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Attorney General Greg Abbott threaten to sue the federal government because of strings attached to the money.” Said San Antonio ISD Superintendent Robert Durón, “We need the money. That’s the bottom line. I would hope that cooler minds prevail and keep an open mind because our needs are great.”

New Hampshire Education Officials Concerned Schools May Not See Federal Aid. The AP (8/14, Love) reported that New Hampshire is expected to receive about $41 million from “the $10 billion federal stimulus measure for education.” But, some lawmakers and education officials worry that the money “intended to protect New Hampshire teachers’ jobs may never reach school districts if the money is used instead for other state spending.” In the current budget, for instance, “state tax money was freed up from being spent on school aid and used instead for other spending, including state aid to communities.” A spokesperson for Gov. John Lynch (D) said that after “guidelines governing the money” are written, Lynch “will develop a plan for the money.”

Advertisement

Feeling overwhelmed by your struggling readers? Catching Readers Before They Fall gives teachers a solid understanding of how kids learn to read, tailored instructional strategies, thorough answers to common questions from parents, and more. Includes a PD guide with discussion topics, group activities, and classroom follow-up. Preview the entire book online!

In the Classroom
New York City Test Scores Show Persistent Achievement Gap.
The New York Times (8/16, Otterman, Gebeloff) reports that when 2010 New York City standardized test scores “were released last month, they came as a blow to the legacy” of Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and school Chancellor Joel Klein, “as passing rates dropped by more than 25 percentage points on most tests. But the most painful part might well have been the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.” According to the Times, “Among the students in the city’s third through eighth grades, 40 percent of black students and 46 percent of Hispanic students met state standards in math, compared with 75 percent of white students and 82 percent of Asian students.”

More Schools Counting On Parents To Provide Basic Supplies.
The New York Times (8/15, Clifford) reported that schools throughout the US are looking to parents to provide more general-use classroom items like paper towels, facial tissue, garbage bags, and soap. “Now some” retailers are stocking “back-to-school aisles” with janitorial-supplies. The Times notes, “State and local school financing, which make up almost all of public schools’ money, is falling because of budget-balancing efforts and lower property- and sales-tax revenue.” Consequently, said Barbara A. Chester, president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, “Some of the things that have been historically provided by schools, we’re not able to provide at this point.”

Analysis Shows Marked Academic Gains For Students Of Highly-Effective Teachers.
In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times (8/15, Jason Felch, Jason Song, Doug Smith, 776K) previews its value-added analysis of LAUSD teacher performance, based on seven years of math and English test scores. Among the findings: “Highly effective teachers routinely propel students from below grade level to advanced in a single year. There is a substantial gap at year’s end between students whose teachers were in the top 10 percent in effectiveness and the bottom 10 percent. The fortunate students ranked 17 percentile points higher in English and 25 points higher in math.”

On the Job
Educators Gather At Dallas Conference To Discuss Anti-Bullying Strategies.
The Dallas Morning News (8/15, Hudson) reported on “The New Age of Bullying,” which was “a half-day conference put on by the I Am Here Coalition’s Bully Prevention Committee in response to recent high-profile youth suicides linked to bullying in North Texas and beyond, said Diana Weaver, executive director of the coalition.” According to the Morning News, “Nearly 100 people from varying professions – educators, administrators, counselors, foster parents and others – from as far away as Houston attended the event,” held in Dallas, “which included panels about managing online bullying, bullying laws and the long-term effects of bullying.”

Law & Policy
Seattle Teachers, District Leaders Reach Impasse Over Evaluation Plan.
The Seattle Times (8/15, Shaw) reported that Seattle Public Schools and the teachers union have come to an impasse in negotiations over an evaluation proposal that uses test scores to measure “students’ academic growth.” The district’s plan “combines increased accountability with increased support for teachers who volunteer to be a part of it” and “offers opportunities for highly rated teachers to earn higher pay.” But the teachers union says that it had already “agreed to overhaul the way teachers are evaluated, and to put” low-rated teachers “at risk of dismissal.” Union leaders want the district to implement the “four-tier evaluation system” on which “the two sides had already agreed.” Said Washington Education Association Vice President Jonathan Knapp, “Teachers aren’t afraid of accountability. … Teachers are afraid of a system that isn’t a fair analysis of what we’re doing in the classroom.”

Advertisement

“Packed with practical ideas to get students thinking deeply about nonfiction texts” (CM Magazine). Nonfiction Reading Power will help you teach students key skills and strategies before they embark on research projects. Includes children’s book lists organized by strategy and subject area. Click here to read Chapter 1 online!

Facilities
Kansas Town Once Ravaged By Tornado Opens LEED Certified High School Building.
The Kansas City Star (8/15, Bauer) reported on a new $50 million dollar LEED Platinum high school in Kiowa County, Kansas. The town was “wiped from the map three years ago” by a tornado. “Many families moved away” after the tornado, but town leaders say that the new school will help increase enrollment, now at about 900 students, “down from the pre-tornado 1,400.” The facility has motion-detecting lights that come on only when a room is in use. “Exterior walls are windows, reducing the amount of light needed during the day.” In addition, “geothermal systems will allow the school to use the heat of the Earth, to heat in the winter and cool in the summer,” and “a wind turbine near the football field will provide energy.” With the new features, “the school expects to save 40 percent or more in utility costs.”

School Finance
Reshaping, Consolidating School Districts Could Save Michigan $612 Million, Study Says.
The AP (8/16) reports that a new study from Michigan State University says that “Michigan taxpayers could save $612 million a year by reshaping or consolidating public schools along county lines.” Also according to the Study, Michigan taxpayers could save $328 million if “services such as transportation and food service” were shared “at the county level.” But, in Michigan, “forcing mergers is legally and politically difficult.” The state “has a long history of allowing local control in public school districts, and voters have approved only two mergers in the past 10 years,” the AP adds. WJRT-TV (8/15, Feick) also covered the story.

Nevada Education Officials Say School Cuts Could Reach 30 Percent.
The Las Vegas Sun (8/14, Ryan) reported that although the Nevada BOE “agreed to slice 10 percent from its upcoming budget as requested by Gov. Jim Gibbons (R),” board members say actual cuts could end up being as high as 30 percent. The state has an estimated $3 billion shortfall “for the upcoming biennium,” and State Superintendent Keith Rheault said that cutting agencies’ budgets “by 10 percent won’t fill the gap.” Each state agency will present to him “a list of priorities of their programs” showing which programs are “mandated by the federal government, the courts or state law.”

Also in the News
Parents Say Schools’ Wireless Internet Is Causing Health, Behavior Problems In Children.
PC Magazine (8/15, Murphy) reported that parents in Barrie, Ontario claim that “the wireless setups in their local elementary schools are creating a wide range of symptoms for their children, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, and increased heart rates.” In addition, some parents blame the wireless setups for lower grades and poor or antisocial behavior at school. Members of the Simcoe County Safe School Committee, a parent group also say on their website that “the Microwave intensity inside one Simcoe County classroom was measured at 4X Stronger than when standing near a cell phone tower.” The group wants the Simcoe County school board “to remove the wireless networking from the affected schools.” It has offered “to pay for wired networking.”

The Canadian Press (8/15, Leslie) reported that according to the parent group, “the children’s symptoms all disappear on weekends when they aren’t in school.” Simcoe County Safe School Committee member Rodney Palmer said that the symptoms “have been reported in 14 Ontario schools in Barrie, Bradford, Collingwood, Orillia and Wasaga Beach since the board decided to go wireless.” Said Palmer, “I’m not saying it’s because of the Wi-Fi because we don’t know yet, but I’ve pretty much eliminated every other possible source.” Susan Clarke formerly a consultant to the Harvard School of Public Health, said that Wi-Fi technology does alter “fundamental physiological functioning and can cause neurological and cardiac symptoms,” the Canadian Press added.

New York City School Helps War-Zone Refugee Children Make Adjustment To US Schools.
The AP (8/16, Hajela) reports that the Refugee Youth Summer Academy in New York City “has about 120 kids” in grades K-12 who come from “the world’s hot spots, combat zones and conflict areas.” Students in the program “work on their English, writing and math,” have “art, dance and music” classes, and “go on field trips.” The school aims to prepare refugee students for learning in an American classroom. “From the length of the day to changing rooms between classes to raising their hands and interacting with teachers, the program tries to mimic what students will experience.” Michele Pistone, a professor at Villanova University School of Law, said that such programs are beneficial to children from conflict zones. “In the United States, our system, there’s much more interaction between parents and teachers than there is elsewhere around the world. … A lot of the refugees I’ve worked with — because they’re coming from an environment where there isn’t that expectation of involvement — they tend not to be,” she said.

Advertisement
Jumpstart your teaching career with an advanced degree.
Quickly explore convenient and effective advanced online degree programs that are designed for educators looking to expand their income potential, maintain a certification, or transition into a supervisory role. A more rewarding future is a click away.

NEA in the News
NEA Opposes “Net Neutrality” Regulations.
The Wichita (KS) Eagle (8/15, Lefler) reported that US lawmakers will soon decide on “whether all data should be treated equally as it flows through the lines that make up the Internet,” also known as “net neutrality.” According to advocates of net neutrality, “allowing Internet service providers to speed traffic for some” would favor large companies that can afford to “pay for preferential service.” Those who oppose neutrality include the Internet Innovation Alliance, a group that includes the NEA, AT&T, “the American Conservative Union and the Hispanic civil-rights group LULAC.” Some opponents compare allowing internet service providers to “charge for priority access” to “internet search companies that take money to move Web sites to the top of their search lists through ‘sponsored links,’” the Wichita Eagle adds.

Duncan Supports Public Release Of Teacher Performance Data.
The Los Angeles Times (8/17, Felch, Song) reports that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Monday endorsed “the public release of information about how well individual teachers fare at raising their students’ test scores,” saying that “parents have a right to know if their children’s teachers are effective.” Duncan framed public disclosure of teacher performance as a way to recognize outstanding teachers. Said Duncan, “We can’t do enough to recognize them, reward them, but – most importantly – to learn from them.” California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss also weighed in on Monday, saying, “Publishing this data is not about demonizing teachers. … It’s going to create a more market-driven approach to results.” Reiss also said that “the state will encourage districts to develop and release value-added scores for teachers.”

United Teachers Los Angeles President Calls For Boycott Of Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Times (8/16, Song, Felch) reported that A.J. Duffy, president of NEA affiliate United Teachers Los Angeles is calling on members to boycott the Los Angels Times “after the newspaper began publishing a series of articles that uses student test scores to estimate the effectiveness of district teachers.” The Times analysis looked at “effects of more than 6,000 elementary school teachers on their students’ learning.” It “found huge disparities among teachers, some of whom work just down the hall from one another.” Later this month, the paper will “publish an online database with ratings for the more than 6,000 elementary school instructors.” Said Duffy, “[The Times is] leading people in a dangerous direction, making it seem like you can judge the quality of a teacher by … a test.”

Advertisement

Stop those math misconceptions! Zeroing in on Number and Operations is a series of 4 practical flipcharts (grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, & 7-8) that fits with any math curriculum and aligns with Common Core State and NCTM Standards. Each one includes 30 modules with specific instructional strategies and activities. Just $15 each. Click here for details!

In the Classroom
Michigan Ranks Public Schools Based On Test Scores, Improvement.
The AP (8/17, Martin) reports that on Monday, Michigan education officials “put the state’s 92 lowest-performing public schools on notice,” warning that “they must improve their academics or risk being taken over by the state.” In a statement, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said, “Students in these schools are not receiving the education they need and deserve. That has to change and we will work together to bring about that change.” The schools must submit a turnaround plan within 90 days.

WILX-TV Lansing (8/17, Harbin) reports that the state DOE this week “released a the ranking of the more than four thousand schools in the state — using standardized test scores in math and reading as their compass and taking improvement in those score through the years into account.” The Detroit Free Press (8/17, Tanner-White) provides a search tool for “statewide achievement and academic growth rankings among Michigan schools.”

Test Scores Indicate Successful Turnaround Of Cincinnati Public Schools.
The Cincinnati Inquirer (8/17, Brown) reports, “Cincinnati Public Schools may become a national model for how a district can turn around struggling schools” as six “of CPS’ worst performing elementaries have risen out of ‘academic emergency’ for the first time in years, according to preliminary 2009-10 test scores released by the district last week.” According to the Inquirer, “CPS Superintendent Mary Ronan in 2008 targeted a total of 16 struggling elementary schools for special help – a move termed the ‘Elementary Initiative.’ Preliminary Ohio Report Card data shows all but three of those schools posted gains in overall test scores in 2009-10.”

WLWT-TV Cincinnati (8/16, Setters) reported, “Cincinnati Public Schools announced that a program aimed at improving academic performance in some of the city’s elementary schools has resulted in academic performance gains. … The improvements were enough that five schools have jumped two categories on the Ohio report card, moving from a ranking of ‘academic emergency’ to ‘continuous improvement.’” WKRC-TV Cincinnati (8/16) also covered this story in a report on its Website.

Study Examines Motivations That Drive Student Achievement.
Sarah D. Sparks wrote in a blog for Education Week (8/16), “‘Learning, Performance and Improvement,’ in the latest issue of the London-based Institute of Education journal Research Matters finds students learn and behave differently if they-and their teachers-focus on improving their knowledge and competence rather than proving it.” According to Sparks, research conducted by Chris Watkins, Institute reader in education at the University of London, “suggests two parallel motivations drive student achievement: ‘learning orientation,’ the drive to improve your knowledge and competency; and ‘performance orientation,’ the drive to prove that competency to others. Watkins found the highest-achieving students had a healthy dose of both types of motivation, but students who focused too heavily on performance ironically performed less well academically, thought less critically, and had a harder time overcoming failure.”

Rhode Island District Moves To Eliminate Recess.
The Providence (RI) Journal (8/17, Pina) reports, “Elementary school recess, the children’s version of adult coffee breaks, has essentially been eliminated” in Providence, Rhode Island public schools. “Students will no longer get 10 minutes before or after lunch to play.” Teachers may, however, “give their students a break from instruction to re-focus, stretch or participate in supervised physical activities, the school district has announced.”

Advertisement

“It isn’t often that a book reviewer finds a book so compelling that he or she would pay for it…Deeper Reading is one of those rare gems” (Education Review). Help students in grades 4-12 conquer challenging texts with this collection of classroom-tested comprehension strategies. Click here to read Chapter 1: Why Reading Is Like Baseball.

On the Job
School Board To Keep Wireless Internet Access In Schools Despite Parent Complaints.
The Canadian Press (8/17) reports that the Simcoe County, Ontario, school board plans to “keep wireless internet access in classrooms despite fears from some parents that radiation from Wi-Fi transmissions is making kids sick.” The board said Monday that “there is no scientific or medical evidence to show children complaining about headaches, dizziness and nausea are being made ill by the Wi-Fi in their classrooms.” The health and education ministries support the board’s decision. But some scientists say that wireless internet connections do emit electromagnetic radiation that can be harmful to young children, who “absorb much more radiation than older children and adults because of their thinner skulls.”

Canada’s National Post (8/16, McDowell) reported that according to Rodney Palmer of the Simcoe County Safety School Committee, the parent group behind the call to eliminate Wi-Fi in schools, “parents from 14 elementary and high schools have reported that as many as 30 children have suffered unexplained illnesses that they believe only started when wireless Internet transmitters were installed in schools starting four years ago.” The Post notes that in 2007, the British Health Protection Agency found that “a year’s worth of Wi-Fi exposure was equivalent to talking on a cellphone for 20 minutes.”

Law & Policy
New York Education Officials Uncertain About Some Aspects Of Federal Emergency Aid.
McClatchy (8/16) reported that with passage of the teacher jobs bill this month, schools in New York are expecting to receive “$607 million in federal dollars.” Still, education officials are uncertain about “how much any district will get” and about “how the money can be spent, or what happens when the new aid dries up.” What is known is that the “money can’t go to district administration jobs,” rainy day accounts, or toward property tax bills. And, “federal officials also are signaling that not all the money has to be spent in the upcoming school year.” McClatchy notes that state officials appreciate the “extra money from Washington. … But, as often is the case with budgeting in Albany, unexpected new money can sometimes produce more fights than consensus.”

Minnesota Star-Tribune: School Reports Demonstrate Need For No Child Overhaul.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (8/17) editorializes, “Last week a number of Minnesota schools should have been celebrating news that they had worked their way off the dreaded annual yearly progress list (AYP) under the flawed federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law,” yet only “a few months ago, … some of the same schools were identified as among Minnesota’s persistently lowest performers by the state Department of Education.” According to the Star Tribune, “The terribly mixed message provides yet another good reason to overhaul NCLB, which set an unrealistic mandate that every US student be proficient in math and reading by 2014.”

Advertisement
Jumpstart your teaching career with an advanced degree.
Quickly explore convenient and effective advanced online degree programs that are designed for educators looking to expand their income potential, maintain a certification, or transition into a supervisory role. A more rewarding future is a click away.

Also in the News
New Orleans School Official Helps Develop Education Plan For Haiti.
The Miami Herald (8/16, Charles) reported that “as leaders prepare to shape” Haiti’s “rebuilding effort, proponents of education want to seize the moment to fix a broken education system.” Before the quake only about 567 in every 800 children attended school and about on-third of those students finished sixth grade. In the months following the earthquake, Paul Vallas, superintendent of Louisiana’s Recovery School District “and members of a high-level Haitian presidential commission on education have been waging a quiet debate on how to transform education” in Haiti. They have developed a two-year $4.3 billion plan that includes “dozens of projects.” The plan will be presented at “a meeting of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission” hosted by former President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive on Tuesday.

Teachers Union In Canada Asks For Two-Year Freeze On Some Standardized Tests.
The Toronto Star (8/16, Brown) reported that the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is calling on province school system to discontinue annual testing in grades 3 and 6 for two years while it seeks public opinion on the standardized tests. Said ETFO President Sam Hammond, “These standardized tests disrupt class routines, put intense pressure on students and force teachers into a narrow focus on literacy and numeracy — standardized testing is a costly exercise that is failing students.” Eventually, the group wants “to see all province-wide tests eliminated.” The Toronto Star notes that standardized testing costs the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office about $32 million annually.

CBC News (8/17) reports that the Ontario government is not planning on a moratorium. “We’ve found that the results of the testing have been quite useful in providing information on how we can continue to better support teachers and school boards,” said Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky.

Some Teach For America Corps Members Placed In Subjects Outside Specialty Areas.
Politics Daily (8/17) reports that Teach for America corps members sometimes end up teaching subjects outside their specialty. “Corps members offer preferences about the subject matter, grade level and location of their assignments, but ultimately it’s up to TFA and the schools to decide their placement.” National Education Association Senior Policy Analyst Richelle Patterson “said the teachers’ union does not support placing teachers outside of their specialties, a problem she said was supposed to have been solved by the Bush administration’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ reforms.”

Report Examines States’ High School Graduation Rates For Black Males.
The Hartford Courant (8/18, Merritt) reports, “A new national report shows that while African American males in Connecticut graduate high school at a higher rate than the national average, the rate is still only 60 percent and lags far behind white males in the state. The ‘Yes We Can’ report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education also found that African American male students are expelled or suspended much more often than their white counterparts, and are much less likely to be put in gifted or advanced placement classes.” According to the Courant, “The report found that 60 percent of African American males in Connecticut graduated in the 2007-08 school year, better than the overall national rate of 47 percent.”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (8/18, Olmeda) reports, “Young black men are poorly served by Florida’s public school system, particularly in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to a new report released Tuesday. The Schott Foundation for Public Education claims in its ‘Yes We Can’ report that Broward County is third on the list of the five worst-performing districts with large enrollment of black male students.” According to the Sun-Sentinel, “The foundation’s report also listed the nation’s bright spots: The black male graduation rate in New Jersey, Maryland, California and Pennsylvania exceeds 50 percent, and Newark, N.J. led the nation with a 76 percent graduation rate (with enrollment exceeding 10,000).”

WGRZ-TV Buffalo, New York (8/17, Wooten) reported on its Website, “A new report that examines black males in public education ranks Buffalo the 5th worst large school district in the country when it comes to graduation rates among African American men. ‘Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education’ analyzes data from 2007-2008 and shows only 25 percent of black males in the Buffalo City School District graduated on time.”

Advertisement

Set the stage for those aha! moments when students suddenly understand a difficult concept. Metaphors & Analogies shows you how–across all content areas and grade levels. It will change the way you design lessons and inspire you to dig deep for the right metaphors to reach all of your students. Click here to order!

In the Classroom
Students In Oklahoma Pledge To Stand Up Against Bullies.
KOTV-TV Tulsa (8/18, Surette) reports that students throughout the state of Oklahoma “are taking a pledge to ‘stand for the silent’ and stop bullying.” By taking the pledge, students promise “to stand up against bullies and stop it from happening to others.” According to KOTV, the program is “only weeks old” and “already catching on in 35 other countries.”

Tulsa Public Schools To Launch Anti-Bullying Program. KOTV-TV Tulsa (8/18, Sims) reports that Tulsa Public Schools will launch the anti-bullying “Talk About It” program, which sets up a “team of faculty members” to offer advice to students who e-mail or call in. “Talk About It” officials say that some of the 400 schools that use the program “report student concerns about bullying dropped by half after” implementation.

On the Job
Critics Say Public Unlikely To Understand Limitations Of Teacher Evaluation Data.
The Christian Science Monitor (8/17, Paulson) reported that the Los Angeles Times plans to analyze the effectiveness “of more than 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers” based on student test scores and publish the results of that analysis “later this month.” Educators and administrators are taking sides on the issue, with union leaders denouncing the move and Education Secretary Arne Duncan supporting it. The Monitor adds that The Times database will be “the first time individual teacher performance using value-added data will be made public.” Critics say that “the public is ill-equipped to understand what the data means and what its limitations are.” Said Paige Kowalski, a senior associate at the Data Quality Campaign, “To just throw it out there kind of sets it off with a bomb.”

Experts Say Teacher Performance Database May Cause “Backlash” Against Value-Added Analysis. The Christian Science Monitor (8/17, Paulson) reported that some experts are concerned “that anger over the forthcoming Los Angeles Times article will cause a backlash against so-called ‘value added’ analysis of teacher performance – which is the method the Times uses.” Many supporters of value-added acknowledge that “student gains on a standardized test” cannot be expected to “capture the creativity or broader enrichment that goes on in many teachers’ classrooms.” They say that the data “should be only one tool among several used in teacher evaluations.”

Advertisement

The 3 Habits of Highly Successful Reading Teachers starts with the premise that every student–even those that struggle the most–can learn to read. It guides teachers in providing daily practice with high-frequency words, letter sounds, and word-solving strategies, and using formative assessment to inform instruction. Click here to read Chapter 1 online!

Law & Policy
Test Cheating Scandals Highlight Perils Of No Child Left Behind.
The AP (8/18) reports on the recent “cheating scandal” in Atlanta Public Schools. Allegations from teachers and students in “at least 12″ schools surfaced during “a statewide review of every standardized test taken in Georgia elementary and middle schools in spring 2009.” An independent investigation into the matter, said Superintendent Beverly Hall, showed that most “of the district’s 100 schools” did not have widespread cheating “and that the cheating, if it existed, was not ‘coordinated or orchestrated.’” The Times points out that cheating scandals have also taken place in “Baltimore and Houston, and Texas, Washington and Florida,” bringing attention to “federal No Child Left Behind requirements.” Experts say that some “teachers and school administrators — particularly those in low-income districts…see cheating as the only way they can avoid sanctions.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/18, Torres) reports that on Tuesday, “Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall pledged Tuesday to take full responsibility” for the cheating scandal she called “a painful chapter” in the district’s history. In a speech that marked her eleventh year as leader of the Atlanta school system, Hall “reiterated step-by-step how the system will respond to an investigative report on alleged test cheating.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/18, Judd) reports in a separate story that according to a memo recently obtained by the Journal-Constitution, Atlanta-area business leaders and Superintendent Hall “together orchestrated the district’s investigation into alleged cheating on” state tests. Nearly “two weeks after the state released the findings of an audit that suggested possible cheating in 58 Atlanta schools,” Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce President Sam Williams e-mailed a memo to chamber members on Feb 26, saying that “executives from the chamber and from the Atlanta Education Fund…had talked several times about the investigation with Hall.”

Accrediting Group To Review North Carolina District’s Abandonment Of Diversity Policy.
North Caorlina’s News & Observer (8/18, Hui) reports, “The agency that accredits Wake County’s [NC] high schools is reviewing all of the major policy changes adopted by the new school board majority, including abandoning the socioeconomic diversity policy. A special review team from AdvancED, the parent organization of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, will be in Raleigh soon to meet with school officials.” According to the News & Observer, “The review was triggered by a complaint filed in March by the state NAACP, which alleges that the move to community schools will lead to resegregation.”

Pennsylvania District Cleared Of Wrongdoing In Wiretap Investigation.
The AP (8/18, Dale) reports that after investigating Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion School District “for possible wiretap violations,” the FBI “and federal prosecutors announced Tuesday they could not prove any criminal wrongdoing.” The investigation was conducted after a student filed a lawsuit, alleging that “the district photographed him 400 times in a 15-day period last fall.” The pictures were taken as part of a remote tracking system school officials say was “activated…to try to find laptops that had been reported lost or stolen,” though it sometimes stayed active “even after a laptop was found.” On Monday, the Lower Merion school board agreed to a policy prohibiting “the remote use of the tracking software without the written consent of students and their parents or guardians.”

School Finance
Some School Officials Want To Use Federal Aid To Prevent Future Layoffs.
The New York Times (8/18, Rich) reports that “some of the nation’s biggest school districts are balking at using their share of” the recently approved $10 billion federal teacher jobs stimulus “to hire teachers right away.” District officials contend “that big deficits are looming for the next academic year and that they need to preserve the funds to prevent future layoffs.” For instance, taking into account the federal aid, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg “committed to no teacher layoffs this year in exchange for not offering raises.” Under the jobs bill, states must “distribute the money for the current school year, but” school districts have until September 2012 to spend the money.

South Carolina Does Not Qualify For $143.4 Million In Federal Education Assistance.
South Carolina’s The State (8/17, O’Connor) reported, “South Carolina does not qualify for $143.4 million in federal education assistance approved last week because the state no longer meets minimum higher education funding requirements.” The state is one of seven that do not meet federal requirements for K-12 or higher education funding. State budget officials said that they do not plan on rewriting the budget before the “deadline to apply for the new education funding.” Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said, “The simplest fix would be to change the bill’s language back to the way it was in the federal stabilization legislation.”

Policymakers Urged To Deal With “Expensive” Reality Of Educating Illegal Immigrants’ Children.
Lance T. Izumi, senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute, writes in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/18), “No one can deny that increasing numbers of children of illegal immigrants attend public schools in the United States and that US taxpayers pay the costs” According to Izumi, “The US Census Bureau just released 2008 figures showing the national average total per-pupil funding from all revenue sources was $12,028″ and “if one multiplies $12,028 by the roughly 3.7 million students with illegal-immigrant parents, then one gets a national total funding cost of $44.5 billion. … Policymakers should acknowledge and wrestle with this expensive reality instead of satisfying themselves with cheap rhetoric.”

Advertisement
Jumpstart your teaching career with an advanced degree.
Quickly explore convenient and effective advanced online degree programs that are designed for educators looking to expand their income potential, maintain a certification, or transition into a supervisory role. A more rewarding future is a click away.

Also in the News
Researchers To Study Impact Of Idling School Buses On Cincinnati Students’ Asthma.
The Cincinnati Enquirer (8/17, O’Farrell) reported that Cincinnati Public Schools, University of Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Health Department have aligned “to monitor air quality at four” Cincinnati schools “and in the neighborhoods those schools serve.” The goal is to determine the “impact pollutants from idling school buses and other vehicles have on Cincinnati students’ asthma.” For three years, researchers will study “the level of exposure to air pollution produced by vehicles and come up with strategies to reduce that exposure in the hopes of minimizing risks to students.” Meanwhile, school officials will begin this year to take “steps to cut the time buses spend idling while waiting for students.”

Teachers Union Rejects Call To Seek Wireless Technology Ban In Ontario Schools.
The Toronto Star (8/17, Brown) reported that on Tuesday, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario mulled over “whether to push for a ban on wireless technology in Ontario schools for fear of health hazards.” By the end of the meeting, the union’s 500 delegates “rejected the call.” Third-grade teacher Kevin Couch reasoned, “Microwaves used to be scary and we got over that. And if the World Health Organization says there’s no threat from exposure to wireless levels here in Canada, I think we should not limit it for students.” The Toronto Star noted that “the ban would have been the first in Canada, if not North America.”

Pennsylvania District Settles Dispute With Teacher, ACLU Over Facebook Photos.
The AP (8/18, Mandak) reports, “A Pennsylvania school district has agreed to pay $10,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union” and Ginger D’Amico, a “Spanish teacher at Brownsville High School, south of Pittsburgh,” after she “was suspended after someone posted a Facebook photo of her with a male stripper.” D’Amico “also will get more than $4,000 in back pay. … D’Amico never sued, but ACLU attorneys contacted the district shortly after the suspension in January, leading to the settlement announced Tuesday.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 7:28 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.