The Houston Chronicle (1/14, Mellon) reports that Perry’s “decision to forgo the money available in the Race to the Top grant competition defied pleas from local school leaders who said their districts could use it.” Terry Grier, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, asked, “If our standards are that much better, why don’t we get in there and convince everyone else in the nation to rise to our level?” Meanwhile, many state teachers groups praised the decision. The Houston Chronicle adds that “as of last week, Texas Education Agency staff had spent 700 to 800 hours on the application in case the governor gave the green light.”

The San Antonio Express-News (1/14, LaCoste-Caputo) reports, “Perry’s objections seem to center on the fact that the grant rules give preference to states that sign on to a push for national curriculum standards.” The governor and education commissioner “have been critical of the Common Core Standards Initiative, a state-led effort” that aims to “create common standards for math and English in kindergarten through 12th grade across states.” Alicia Thomas, associate superintendent of Texas’ North East Independent School District, “where officials have declared a state of financial exigency,” spoke in favor of the standards, saying, “We are working to prepare our students to be ready to be part of a global economy. … It might be helpful to have some best practices established across the country. Texas has something to add to that conversation.”

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In the Classroom
Experts Push Introductory Science Education For Preschoolers.
Education Week (1/13, Viadero) reported, “Three years ago, when a task force of the congressionally chartered National Research Council issued influential recommendations for improving K-8 science education, it also made a pitch for introducing scientific study” to “children as young as 4.” This call has been highlighted in recent years by educators and policymakers concerned “about American students’ performance on international science tests and the supply of students pursuing” STEM careers. According to some experts, “decades of research in cognitive science and developmental psychology” dispute the idea that young children are “simplistic thinkers” and are unable to “make predictions” and understand science concepts. Still, a study by University of Miami researcher Daryl B. Greenfield concluded that “science is one of the areas in which children show the least learning growth during their preschool years.”

Minnesota Elementary School Piloting Junior FIRST Program.
The Austin (MN) Daily Herald (1/14, Drewelow) reports that Southgate Elementary “is piloting a Junior FIRST Lego League (FLL),” geared toward first- through fifth-graders. The local high school “has had a robotics team for two years, and Southgate is the only other school in the district that is now involved. The program will grow next school year when Southgate fifth graders graduate and move on to Ellis Middle School.” Students participating in the school’s Junior FIRST program “meet twice a month…to reflect on and meet a challenge,” which varies from year to year. “This year’s challenge is to find out what types of transportation are used to get products to Austin.”

Engineering Club Prepares For FIRST, Other Upcoming Competitions. The Frederick (MD) News Post (1/13, Leckie) reported on the Linganore High School engineering club’s preparation for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition. Just prior to the announcement on this year’s game, the group “gathered for a pep talk from their adviser and mentors.” The News Post noted, “The club operates like a small business. Students set their goals and establish a budget. They obtain grants and sponsors through recruiting and advertising.” The article describes the club’s fundraising efforts, including a “$5,000 grant from NASA”, and notes that its “estimated budget for the 2009-10 school year of $24,500 represents competition fees, materials and travel expenses.” In addition to FIRST, the club’s members “participate in events such as rocketry challenges, electronics projects and robotics.”

On the Job
Education Week Releases Quality Counts Report.
The Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (1/14, Roth) reports that Virginia “has ranked fourth in the nation for the second year in Education Week’s annual Quality Counts report, behind Maryland, New York and Massachusetts.” The Education Week report “measures states in six areas: success factors outside school, such as parent income and education; standards, assessments and accountability; transitions between early-childhood, K-12 education, college and the workplace; teaching; school finance; and student achievement.” Virginia’s “lowest rankings were in assessments, college preparation and funding equity.”

Florida Schools Seen As Heading In Right Direction. Ron Matus writes in a column for the St. Petersburg (FL) Times (1/14) that Education Week researchers have ranked Florida schools No. 8 in the nation, cautioning that “it’s dicey to make year-to-year comparisons, because they look at slightly different indicators every year.” The researchers “also did not update what is arguably the most important piece of their analysis: the national test scores and graduation rates that gauge student progress.” However, “as a broad measure, they say their report shows Florida is headed in the right direction.”

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Law & Policy
Bipartisan Group Proposes Changes To Utah’s Sex Education Guidelines.
The Salt Lake Tribune (1/14, Schencker) reports that in Utah, “a Republican senator, a Democratic representative, the Planned Parenthood Action Council (PPAC), and the state PTA [are] working together” to get a sex education bill passed. Current “state law allows educators to teach students about contraceptives, but it prohibits ‘advocacy or encouragement’ of their use, leading some educators to avoid the topic out of fear of accidentally crossing the line.” The legislation proposed by Sen. Stephen Urquhart (R) “would remove that prohibition and instead require teachers to talk about the limitations and benefits of contraceptives and the importance of parental guidance in such matters.” In addition, it would “require the State Board of Education to select instructional materials about contraception for districts to use.”

Special Needs
New Jersey School Aims To Help Special Needs Students Reach Full Potential.
The Advertiser-News (NJ) (1/13, Wilinski) reported, “Unable to attend school in a traditional setting due to disability,” 19 students attend Special Children’s School in Sparta, NJ “to receive the academic, social, cognitive and physical education and therapy they need, according to their Individualized Educational Program, or IEP.” The Special Children’s School “seeks to provide all of its students with a well rounded education that will help each one reach his or her full potential, utilizing individual strengths.”

Missouri Education Department Holds Hearing On Proposed Special Ed Regulation Changes.
The Missourian (1/13, Ziemba) reported that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education “held a public hearing on proposed changes in state regulations for special education services in Missouri on Tuesday.” Missouri “is changing its state plan to comply with new federal guidelines that regulate federal funding for special education services, Jim Morris, the department’s spokesperson said. … Most of the changes are for clarification purposes, but there is a new federal regulation that will allow parents to withdraw their child from special education services with written consent, Jackie Bruner, special education services director, said.”

Facilities
Parents Pitch In To Update Elementary School.
The Agoura Hills (CA) Acorn (1/14, Fischer) reports that parents in the Oak Park school system spent time before and during winter break making improvements “to the aging multipurpose room, the central quad area and a prominent wall in the outdoor lunch area” of Brookside Elementary School. “Before the winter break, parents,” including PTA president Toni Caruso and her husband, “removed deteriorating and discolored ceiling tiles and cleaned and prepared the walls for painting.” The Carusos also “removed bulletin boards and an unused trophy case, fixed broken walls, installed new ceiling tiles and painted the entire room beige.” Then, during the break, they spent time “updating the multipurpose room.” Overall, the updates cost less than $40,000.

Also in the News
Group Releases List Of 10 Education Technology Issues Expected To Drive Policy Decisions.
Dave Nagel, “executive editor for 1105 Media’s online education publications,” asks in T.H.E. Journal (1/14, Nagel), “Which issues in education technology should drive policymaking in 2010?” The International Society for Technology in Education has “published a list of its top-10 priorities for decision makers for the coming year.” The list includes: “Increasing federal funding support for technology through Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT); Keeping educators up to date on the latest technologies to help them be more effective in their teaching environments;” and “Ensuring universal access to broadband services, which ISTE described as ‘critical so that students and parents have access to school assignments, grades, announcements and resources.’”

Denver Public Schools’ Attempt To Honor King Seen By Some As Insensitive.
The Denver Post reported that the Denver public school district’s attempt to “to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” was met with disdain from some who found the gesture insensitive. “Friday’s DPS lunch menu, headlined ‘In Honor Of M.L. King,’ offered students ‘Southern Style’ chicken and collard greens — a meal that some say is an offensive caricature of black culture.” On Tuesday, an apologetic statement was posted “on the district’s website,” saying “the meal was ‘highly insensitive in light of certain hurtful cultural stereotypes still harbored in parts of our society.’” The slight was brought to the attention of the school board by teacher Jennifer Holladay, who said “she was instantly upset” when she saw the menu entry. But, School Board President Nate Easley Jr. “said he thinks there are bigger problems facing DPS than what is on the lunch menu.”

NEA in the News
Minnesota School Districts Urged To Settle Teacher Contracts.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (1/14) editorializes, “The clock is ticking toward a Friday deadline, and dozens of Minnesota school districts have yet to settle teacher contracts.” According to the Star Tribune, the National Education Association “says nationwide teacher salary increases in the past year have averaged 1 to 3 percent. During the same period, teachers’ share of health insurance premiums have risen between 7 and 30 percent.” Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) “has said he’s rethinking his recent policy of protecting K-12 education from budget cuts because some districts have approved pay increases.” The Tribune asserts, “School boards know their local circumstances best, and they should continue to have flexibility to decide on where to make cuts and increases, and on borrowing.”

Michigan Teachers Union Declines To Endorse Race To The Top Plan.
The AP (1/13) reported that Michigan Education Association “won’t endorse the state’s efforts to win up to $400 million for schools through the federal Race to the Top competition.” MEA President Iris Salters “sent a memo to union members this week calling the state plan flawed and incomplete. … The MEA is concerned that collective bargaining rights could be jeopardized when the state takes over low-performing schools.”

Obama To Call For More Race To The Top Funding.
The Washington Post (1/19, Fletcher) reports that President Obama “plans to go to Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church [VA], which the White House calls a low-income but high-achieving school, to signal his intention to expand his Race to the Top program” via $1.35 billion in his next budget. According to the Post, though “money from the first year of funding is just now moving toward being awarded to states, Obama administration officials credit it with prompting education policy changes in many parts of the country.”

Race To The Top Competition Spurs Changes But Also Faces Opposition. The New York Times (1/19, A18, Dillon) reports that the Race to the Top education stimulus competition “has spurred education policy changes in states across the nation, but it is meeting with some last-minute resistance as the first deadline for applications arrives Tuesday.” According to the Times, “thousands of school districts in California, Ohio and other states have declined to participate, and teachers’ unions in Michigan, Minnesota and Florida have recommended that their local units not sign on to their states’ applications.” However, since the competition “got under way last summer, with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan bluntly criticizing school policies in many states, legislatures and officials from Rhode Island to California have reworked laws or policies in ways that have advanced President Obama’s vision: more charter schools, better-qualified teachers and a national effort to overhaul failing schools.”

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In the Classroom
New Hampshire High School Students’ Budget Proposal For District Touted As Model.
The Nashua Telegraph (1/19) editorializes that when school board members begin making cuts to the “school budget proposal for 2010-11,” they should “emulate the innovative and analytical approach taken by a group of Nashua High School South students who took on that challenge as part of a class project.” The “accounting and business law students” examined “the district’s financial problems and came up with suggested new revenue and budget cuts that resulted in between $3.3 million and $4 million in savings.” Cuts were made by “scrapping the Phoenix Program for at-risk students ($994,000) laying off five janitors each from the third shifts at the two high schools ($300,000)…and canceling some or all freshman sports ($16,000 to $33,000).” To generate revenue, the students suggested “soliciting gym and stadium advertising ($265,000)…and renting out space to a franchise such as Dunkin’ Donuts ($100,000).” The Nashua Telegraph provides details on the students’ methods for determining what to include in the proposal.

California District Pilots After-School Elementary Music Program.
The Orange County (CA) Register (1/19, James) reports that “when budget cuts forced the closure of the elementary school music programs,” the city of Tustin joined the Tustin Public Schools Foundation and Tustin Unified School District “to create an after-school music” pilot “program for fourth- and fifth-grade students.” The classes, offered through the city Parks and Recreation Department “cost $55 for 12 weeks, and scholarships are available.” One challenge facing the program is “finding transportation for the elementary students to get to the afternoon classes.” The program also needs “music teachers, volunteers, and donations.”

Some Students Honor King’s Memory By Volunteering.
The Chicago Tribune (1/19) reports that about 25 groups from Chicago and suburbs “participated in volunteer events for King Day, said Paula Phillips, civic engagement coordinator for City Year, an AmeriCorps program that works in inner-city public schools and enlists teens and young adults in 10 months of community service.” City Year “bused groups of students throughout the day to about seven locations to help refurbish schools, senior homes, public housing and community centers. At Wadsworth Elementary School, students marched up stairs and ladders to paint murals of King and President Barack Obama on the walls.

Students In Class On Martin Luther King Day Learn About Civil Rights Struggle. WHSV -TV Harrisburg, VA (1/18, Knight) reported on its Web site that Rockingham County, VA students “were some of the only ones who were in class on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. Teachers say they’re using the day in school, along with much of this week, to talk about King and his message.” According to WHSV, “Students in elementary schools have been reading books, as well as coloring pictures and other activities, to help them understand the civil rights struggle.”

Astronaut Visits Middle School In Virginia.
The Washington Post (1/17, Williams) reported that astronaut Robert Satcher visited Potomac (VA) Middle School last week, speaking “to the eighth grade in the Dumfries school’s gymnasium Thursday before moving to the library for a 30-minute question-and-answer session with about 25 science students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades.” Satcher “showed a video” of a mission “and entertained the students with tales of playing weightless football and snoozing in a sleeping bag attached to a wall with Velcro. He compared launches to being on a roller coaster for 8 1/2 minutes.”

On the Job
Blogger Develops Performance-Pay Program For Physical Education Teachers.
Mike Thomas writes in his blog in the Orlando Sentinel (1/19) that he has “come up with a solution” for tying physical education teachers’ “raises to improvements in their students’ test scores.” Each fall, students would “be tested for their Body Mass Index, fat percentage, their time in a mile run, the number of push-ups and sit-ups performed in a two-minute period and, with parental consent, a lipids test.” Then the physical education teachers would develop “exercise programs for each at-risk student, and monitor improvement. … No more simply sending them out to play dodge ball and collecting a paycheck,” he adds. “If more than half the students do not show improvement in all areas, the teacher gets no raise. If more than half the students show regression, the teacher is replaced with a non-union trainer. Obese students will be given YMCA vouchers.”

Special Needs
Teacher Encourages Students With Disabilities To Evaluate Service.
The Whittier (CA) Daily News (1/17, Markus) reports, “Special education instructor Tammy Torres had enough of watching her transitional program students get treated with intolerance while out in their neighborhood.” Torres’s students have disabilities such as “Down syndrome, autism, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy.” Torres “developed a customer service survey” for her students to fill out when they “go out for training” to rate “their experience at local businesses.” Students mostly experience a “lack of communication or lack of eye contact,” said Torres. She added that the transitional program, which includes 18-22 year-olds, is new to the community, but, “as the group makes its way out in the neighborhoods, they will gain more acceptance and above all, respect.”

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Facilities
Texas District Considers Grants To Replace Aging Playground Equipment.
The Dallas Morning News (1/16, Unmuth) reports, “After the principal and parents expressed their concerns to the” Irving Independent School District school board about the poor playground equipment at Farine Elementary School, “the board directed district administrators to create a committee to examine ways to better fund playgrounds at the district’s schools.” The committee “found aging equipment was a problem at elementary and early-childhood schools throughout the district,” with safety a major concern. “Repairs and construction” have been estimated at “between $1.5 million and $3.9 million. Irving ISD plans to use its own funds but also is considering applying for grants and seeking community support.”

School Finance
Grants Will Help Three Schools In Michigan Build Schoolyard Habitats.
The AP (1/17) reported, “The nonprofit group Friends of the Rouge has awarded grants to three Michigan schools to build schoolyard habitats. Each school’s grant includes $500 to purchase native Michigan plants and another $500 in expert assistance with implementing the project. Each school also will get $400 for tools or other garden items.

Firm Aims to Help School Districts Generate Revenue Through Advertising.
The AP (1/19, Workman) reports, “Advertising within school districts has long been a controversial topic. … But a new revenue stream…that could save a few programs or even pay for bus transportation in difficult economic times can certainly look like an attractive option.” Sam Curcuru created the business plan for Alternative Revenue Development with school districts in mind. His “business includes four different media for advertising, none of which are within the classroom.” They include “direct-to-home mailings such as school newsletters;” use of “new media and technology” with tools “such as social networking sites,” and “cell phone texting;” banner ads on “district and school Web sites;” and “on-campus signage” for high schools. Said Curcuru, “We only want areas in the high school where the community comes and attends events, like athletic fields, performing arts centers, media centers and gyms.”

Also in the News
Opinion: Business Model Not Appropriate For Schools.
Former UCLA Graduate School of Education lecturer and 28-year teaching veteran Walt Gardner wrote in an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee (1/17), “If schools were allowed to be truly run like businesses, they (employers) would be able to deny enrollment (hiring) of students (workers) who have neither the ability nor desire (qualifications) to be there. But public schools, unlike private and religious schools, must accept virtually all who show up at the schoolhouse door.” According to Gardner, “This is the antithesis of how business operates. … If taxpayers were to spend time in the classroom, they might gain more respect for the work that public schools do in the face of daunting challenges. At the least, they’d come away realizing the futility of running schools like businesses.

NEA in the News

Repeal Of Gambling Loss Limit Brings Less Revenue Than Expected Into Missouri Districts.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1/19, Logan) reports, “When Missouri casinos asked voters to end the state’s one-of-a-kind gambling loss limit, they wrapped their appeal in education.” A year later, however, the loss-limit repeal “has generated less than a quarter of the school funding that was predicted.” Data from state gambling regulators show that “in 2009…Missouri’s 12 casinos won $1.73 billion from gamblers,” and “with a new, higher tax rate,” Missouri schools received “an additional $22 million…far less than even the lowest estimates that Proposition A’s supporters projected during their campaign.” According to Otto Fagen, legislative director for the Missouri National Education Association, “there are flaws in a system that ties school funding to such an unstable source of revenue.” Suggested Otto, “Maybe we should dictate school funding based on what schools need. … Not, he said, on how much people gamble.”

Rhode Island NEA Will Not Endorse State’s Race To The Top Application.
Jennifer Jordan wrote in the Providence Journal (1/19) Projo 7 to 7 News Blog that the National Education Association of Rhode Island, which represents most of the state’s suburban and rural districts, has declined to endorse” the state’s Race To The Top application. National Education Association of Rhode Island Executive Director Robert A. Walsh Jr. said, “At this time, we see no reason to send a letter and don’t think a letter would be helpful to the cause. … Our list of objections is quite extensive and has not been adequately addressed.” Jordan notes that support for states’ grant applications from teachers unions nationwide has been “mixed.” Meanwhile, “federal education officials [say] that signatures of teachers’ unions, while not required, greatly enhance a state’s competitiveness.”

Oregon Education Association President Explains Support For State’s Federal Grant Bid.
Betsy Hammond reports in The Oregonian (1/19, Hammond) Chalk It Up blog about the reasons why the Oregon Education Association is supporting the state’s Race To The Top application, which includes “a plan to tie student test scores back to the teachers responsible for those students.” Hammond summarizes a letter sent by Oregon Education Association President Gail Rasmussen supporting “Oregon’s application for $200 million of federal Race to the Top money.” Rasmussen points out that “leaders and members of OEA were included on the planning team, were listened to and many of their ideas are reflected in Oregon’s application.” She also notes that “Oregon did not bend to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s urgings that it promise to close down low-scoring schools or look to charter schools as a means of educational salvation.” Moreover, the state’s plan “doesn’t mention merit pay and speaks respectfully of collective bargaining.” It also supports “more mentoring, better on-the-job training…and better teacher evaluations.”

Obama Reveals Plan To Expand Race To The Top.
The Washington Post (1/20, Turque) reports that as 40 states and D.C. submitted “Race to the Top” applications by Tuesday’s deadline, President Obama visited Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, VA “to announce that he will seek an expansion of the $4.3 billion program that would allow individual school districts to compete for the money.” The Los Angeles Times (1/20, Silva) reports that the President “promised Tuesday to ‘raise the bar’ on what is expected of public school teachers and students.” He “plans to include the additional $1.35 billion for the program in the fiscal 2011 budget, which he is due to propose next month.” According to the White House, “the extra funding would enable more states, as well as individual school districts, to apply for some of the money.”

The AP (1/19, Superville) reported, “With the grant programs, Obama is trying to make federal education spending more of a competitive endeavor to encourage states and school districts to do better, rather than a solely formula-driven effort in which states and districts look forward to receiving a certain amount of money each school year, regardless of how good a job they do educating students.”

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In the Classroom
Study Shows Girls Less Engaged In Science Than Boys.
The AP (1/20, Sutschek) reports that according to “a study by two Northern Illinois University professors…high school girls are bored, disengaged, and stressed in science classes when compared with boys.” Co-principal investigators, Jennifer Schmidt and M. Cecil Smith “looked at 244 high school students and 13 science teachers.” Responding to a pager “students immediately reported what they were doing and thinking, rating their engagement, enjoyment, anxiety and concentration levels.” According to Schmidt, boys and girls put forth equal efforts into lessons, “but for whatever reason the engagement switch is not being flipped for the girls, in spite of the fact that they get similar grades,” said Schmidt. Smith added that girls often rated “lectures and completing work at their seats as the most engaging classroom activities.” The researchers cited “societal expectations and the role of the teacher” as possible “causes for the gender differences.”

Montgomery, Alabama Students Engage In Various Haiti Relief Efforts.
The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (1/20) reports that since news broke of the destruction and need left by the earthquake in Haiti, student in the Montgomery, AL, Public School (MPS) District have “engaged in a number of relief efforts ranging from canned food and clothing drives, to selling items to purchase bottled water, first aid kits and flashlights.” Some “student groups are also collecting funds that will be given to support agencies like the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and the Yele Haiti Foundation.” At Goodwyn Jr. High, for instance, the “Student Council and ninth grade homeroom classes are collecting items” for earthquake survivors and “have issued a challenge to all other MPS middle and junior high schools to join their effort.” The Montgomery Advertiser lists various “Haiti relief efforts in MPS schools.”

Some Say New Math Curriculum In Seattle District Could Widen Achievement Gap.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer (1/20, Mongillo) reports, “Last May, the Seattle School Board approved implementing a district-wide high-school math curriculum called Discovering Math. … In June, two parents and a University of Washington professor went to King County Superior Court to overturn the School Board’s decision and force the district to consider other textbook options.” The plaintiffs “fear the new curriculum will only increase an already widening achievement gap between middle-class and disadvantaged students. … Edie Harding, executive director of the State Board of Education, said the board was asked by the state superintendent’s office to evaluate the Discovering Math series last winter and found it wanting.”

On the Job
Massachusetts Elementary School Staff Mistakenly Given Insulin Instead Of Vaccine.
The AP (1/20) reports that school officials in Wellesley, MA, said on Tuesday that “several staff members at” Schofield Elementary School “had to be taken to the hospital after being injected with insulin rather than the swine flu vaccine.” According to Superintendent Bella Wong, “the insulin belonged to students with diabetes and was provided by their parents.” She added that “no students were ever in danger…and all the people who got the wrong shot have recovered.” Meanwhile, “the school nurse who administered the insulin to staff has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.”

Law & Policy
Federal Complaint Filed Against Philadelphia School District.
The AP (1/20) reports that the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice “against the Philadelphia school district” on Tuesday. “The complaint says the district acted with “deliberate indifference” toward harassment of Asian students and failed to prevent attacks” at the school in December, “which hurt about 30 Asian students.” According to school officials, “10 students were suspended over the attacks.”

Oregon Education Reforms Viewed As Step In Right Direction.
The Oregonian (1/20) in an editorial writes, “For Oregon’s education leaders, especially its teacher unions, navigating the new politics of education is like walking blind into a room of rearranged furniture and sharp edges. Every move seems risky, every step forward dangerous.” According to the Oregonian, “Yes, Oregon is treading carefully. … But at least Oregon is finally moving forward on school reforms, including using test scores to better judge teacher performance.” Oregon’s education reforms are “surely not all that Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, hoped for when they launched the Race to the Top competition.” But they are “a meaningful step forward.”

Merit Pay Seen As Most Contentious Part Of Oregon’s Race To The Top Bid. Betsy Hammond wrote in a blog for the Oregonian (1/19), “I’ve been wondering what, exactly, would prove to be the most controversial part of Oregon’s mammoth plan to win federal Race to the Top money. … Bottom line: Merit pay — phrased in the application as ‘using evaluations to inform compensation, promotion and retention’ — is hands-down more controversial than any other element.” Only 65 percent of the Oregon school districts that signed on — and these are the districts that like the concepts in the application — checked the box saying they would be willing to use teacher and principal evaluations to help set pay.

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Safety & Security
New York City, EPA To Monitor Contaminated Caulk In Some Schools.
The AP (1/19, Matthews) reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “and New York City announced a pilot program Tuesday to address the problem of potentially hazardous PCBs in construction materials in some city schools.” According to the AP, “Under the agreement announced Tuesday, New York City will pick five public schools – one in each borough – to monitor for PCB-contaminated caulk. If the caulk is found to contain PCBs, the city will come up with a plan for removing it or covering it up to limit exposure.”

Facilities
Public School In Brooklyn Will Have Year-Round Edible Schoolyard.
The New York Times (1/20, D3, Severson) reports that PS 216 in Brooklyn, NY, is planning the first year-round Edible Schoolyard in the nation. “This summer, supporters will tear up a quarter-acre of asphalt parking lot behind PS 216…and start building the first New York affiliate of the Edible Schoolyard program, developed by the restaurateur Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.” The lot will contain “a kitchen classroom with communal tables where children can share meals they make from food they grow in the garden,” as well as “a chicken coop, a composting system, an outdoor pizza oven and a cistern to collect rainwater.” In addition, “a movable greenhouse will be rolled out each fall.” Students will be taught “lessons in subjects like art, math, history and science” in the $1.6 million schoolyard with a curriculum that “will be designed with help from Teachers College at Columbia and will meet New York State standards.”

School Finance

Most District Officials In Virginia Plan To Increase Student-Teacher Ratios, Survey Says.
The AP (1/20) reports that based on a survey of 133 school districts conducted this month, “Virginia’s public school superintendents are considering increasing class sizes, slashing teacher positions and cutting programs to deal with expected budget cuts.” Nearly 90 percent of responding districts are “considering increasing pupil-to-teacher ratios, 91 percent ” are “considering cutting teaching jobs and half” are “looking at cutting programs such as summer school.” Support Staff are being targeted for many cuts also. According to the AP, “Virginia’s public schools face hundreds of millions in budget cuts over the next two years.” Meanwhile, state lawmakers “have until March to reconcile a $4 billion budget deficit that threatens not only education funding, but money for public safety, health care and other core services.”

Also in the News
Ohio Town Divided Over Teacher Accused Of Teaching Creationism.
The New York Times (1/20, A11, Urbina) reports that in Mount Vernon, OH, eighth-grade public school science teacher John Freshwater “is accused of burning a cross onto the arms of at least two students and teaching creationism, charges he says have been fabricated because he refused an order by his principal to remove a Bible from his desk. After an investigation, school officials notified Mr. Freshwater in June 2008 of their intent to fire him, but he asked for a pre-termination hearing, which has lasted more than a year and cost the school board more than a half-million dollars.” Freshwater’s “hearing is finally scheduled to end Friday,” yet the “the town – home to about 15,000 people, more than 30 churches and an evangelical university – remains split.”

NEA in the News
One NEA Chapter In Rhode Island Supports Proposed School Reform Package.
The Providence Journal (1/20, Borg) reports that the Foster school district in Rhode Island — with just one school and 260 students — has the only local NEA chapter in the state “to support the school-reform package proposed by state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist.” Before making the decision, Foster Superintendent Davida Irving “met frequently with small groups of teachers, and each time she stressed that change was coming and this was a great opportunity for Foster to show what it can do – and is already doing.” Said Irving, “It was a very, very difficult decision for the teachers, for myself and for the School Committee.” Still, she added, “Rather than sitting back and watching the larger districts working on reforms, we wanted a seat at the table.”

New Jersey Files Race To The Top Application Without Union Support.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (1/20, Alloway, Rundquist) reports that New Jersey “completed its application…for a share of $4.35 billion in federal Race to the Top education funding with 378 of the state’s 591 school districts signing on to the bid – but without the support of most of the state’s teachers unions.” The New Jersey Education Association “had recommended its local unions not sign on, objecting to grant provisions that link teacher pay and evaluations to student performance” and questioning “how programs would be paid for when the grant money ends, as well as the emphasis on charter schools,” the Star Ledger noted.

Recent Graduates Mentor Students In Miami-Dade High-Need Schools.
The Miami Herald (1/22, McGrory) reports that eight schools in Miami-Dade County, FL, are hosting student mentors from City Year corps. The mentors are recruited “from across the country to serve…in high-need public schools. They “are recent high-school and college graduates who commit to serve full time for at least 10 months” and they “receive a stipend to help cover living expenses and basic health insurance during their time in the program.” Corps members are instantly recognizable in their red bomber jacket uniforms.” The mentors “work with students in small groups” during class “to help build their reading skills.” The Miami Herald notes that City Year “is part of AmeriCorps.”

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In the Classroom
Quality Of Common Tests Questioned.
Education Week (1/21, Sawchuk) reported, “Most experts in the testing community have presumed that the $350 million promised by the US Department of Education to support common assessments would promote those that made greater use of open-ended items capable of measuring higher-order critical-thinking skills.” However, as “measurement experts consider the multitude of possibilities for an assessment system based more heavily on such questions, they also are beginning to reflect on practical obstacles to doing so.” According to Education Week, “The issues now on the table include the added expense of those items, as well as sensitive questions about who should be charged with the task of scoring them and whether they will prove reliable enough for high-stakes decisions.”

Curriculum Seen As Having Broadened After Merger Of Pittsburgh-Area Districts.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1/21, David) reported, “When the merger of Center Area and Monaca school districts was being debated from 2005 until 2008, educators insisted that the consolidation would improve education.” Now, according to Mike Thomas, former Superintendent of Monaca and current superintendent of merger affairs, the school curriculum has broadened and has increased in depth. High school students now have the option of taking “two levels of British literature, speech and ‘Classics and Film,’” as well as “advanced placement calculus and statistics, finite math, logistics and a hands-on problem-solving track that includes forensics” and robotics. For middle schools, “the district is adopting a team-teaching approach that blends the nurturing environment of elementary school with the variety and challenges of high school.”

Middle School Students Design, Create Quilts For Children In Foster Care.
The Fairfax County Times (1/21, Schumitz) reported that Owlin Burke’s consumer sciences class at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church, VA, is sewing “child-sized quilts” that the class will donate “to children in Fairfax County’s foster care program.” Students in Longfellow’s geometry classes “design quilt patterns, and then students in each eighth-grade family and consumer sciences class pick a design with which they want to work. Each student makes a quilt square for a graded project. Students then volunteer their time after school to help assemble the quilts.”

First US Female Astronaut Addresses Efforts To Boost STEM Education.
Forbes (1/21, Dolan) ran a Q&A with Sally Ride, the first female astronaut from the U.S. Ride “retired from NASA and saw a great need to improve the science curriculum for elementary and middle school students. She started a company, Sally Ride Science, which develops programs for students and teachers.” Ride addressed the need to boost STEM education in the U.S. and is quoted saying, “In the days just following Sputnik, it was cool to be a scientist. It was nationally important that we have scientists and engineers. It was recognized that this was something we needed for the future of our country.” However, according to Ride, “In the last 20 years or so, we’ve lost that focus. Our culture doesn’t put a premium on science and technology. So the kids naturally go into other fields.”

Online Technology High School To Open In Washington State.
Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal (1/22) reports on the opening of Giant Campus of Washington by technology education program company Giant Campus, “an accredited, public and tuition-free online school that provides technology courses to Washington state high school students.” Students will be able to work from home as they “gain knowledge and skills in high tech career areas, like game design, flash animation, digital photography and graphics, and more.”

Texas District Showcases Career Technology Education Program.
The Midland (TX) Reporter-Telegram (1/22, Campbell) reports, “Trying to point up that career technology education isn’t just for shop class anymore, officials from Midland Independent School District and Midland College on Thursday gave members of Key Communicators a tour of the Advanced Technology Center.” Officials said that “at least 200 MISD students come through the ATC daily for courses ranging from certified nursing assistant, cosmetology to welding and automotive technology.” An MISD official “said the programs aren’t meant to pigeonhole kids but help them figure out what they might be interested in. They also won’t ‘wreck’ a student’s GPA.” The school also offers “the Bridges program, software that has kids pick a field they may want to pursue and has them answer questions about their interests. It then shows them the education they will need and possible salaries.”

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On the Job
Study Suggests Need For “More Nuanced” Understanding Of Student Engagement.
Inside Higher Ed (1/22, Lederman) reports on a study from the New England Consortium on Assessment and Student Learning that offers “greatly varying portraits of how students ‘engage’ with their academic work and what happens to them as a result.” The researchers said that the findings “suggest the need for a far more nuanced understanding of the ‘student engagement’ theory of learning than has sometimes been the case.” The research also “suggests a ‘complex,’ and unclear, relationship between engagement and student grades, the researchers say,” noting that in some cases, “there appeared to be little or no connection between how enmeshed [students] felt in their work and their grades in those courses.”

AYP Ratings Don’t Tell Full Story About Schools, Some New Jersey Officials Say.
New Jersey’s Today’s Sunbeam (1/22, Davis) reports, “Every year, schools across the country are required to meet [AYP] standards set forth by” NCLB. However, “according to officials, it doesn’t paint a completely accurate picture to just say whether a school passed or failed.” According to Today’s Sunbeam, “If a school misses just one of the 41 indicators,” the New Jersey Department of Education “considers the school to have failed meeting AYP standards. While officials agree with the purpose of the AYP, to show how schools are progressing each year, some officials disagree with the way the criteria is calculated.”

Law & Policy
Missouri Budget Shortfall May Force Education Cuts.
The AP (1/21, Lieb) reported, “Missouri’s public schools may be forced to freeze salaries, expand classes, cut extracurricular activities or seek local tax increases to cope with a funding shortfall, education advocates warned Thursday. K-12 schools – though spared from cuts in their basic state aid – still might have to scale back because of Gov. Jay Nixon’s [D] plan to provide barely one-sixth of the funding increase needed to meet the state’s financing formula, said Brent Ghan, a spokesman for the Missouri School Boards’ Association.” According to the AP, “Until now, Missouri’s 523 public school districts have weathered the state budget woes remarkably well.” However, Nixon’s “budget office confirmed Wednesday that schools would not get the $43 million midyear increase called for under the school funding formula for the 2009-2010 academic year.”

Washington State Legislature Urged To Take Up Cyberbullying Issue.
The Seattle Times (1/22) editorializes, “Bravo to the principal at McClure Middle School in Seattle who suspended 28 students for bullying a classmate on the Internet. … The state Legislature has pondered anti-cyber bullying laws in the past. Online misdeeds from sex texting to harassing students via text messaging underscore the challenges of technology’s growing acceptance and use in and out of school.” According to the Times, “A legislative effort to require districts to collect data on these incidents could be useful in making informed policy down the road.”

Safety & Security

EPA Promises Vigorous Effort To Reduce Toxic Air At Schools Near Marietta, Ohio.
USA Today (1/22, Morrison, Heath) reports that on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would “‘use all the tools at our disposal’ to reduce high levels of a toxic chemical that continues to permeate the air outside an elementary school in Marietta, Ohio.” The EPA will “release data today that show high levels of manganese outside a cluster of schools in and near Marietta.” In October, the air samples taken from the schools showed “manganese levels that were” between five and 23 “times above what the EPA considers safe for long-term exposure.” The EPA will also “investigate the source of the manganese in Marietta. According to data” already collected by the agency, “several companies in Marietta reported releasing manganese into the air in 2008, the most recent year for which complete records were available.”

School Safety Progress In Mississippi Analyzed.
Mississippi’s Jackson Clarion Ledger (1/21, Fritscher) reported, “The high school shootings of the late 1990s…created the era of tighter security on campuses nationwide. The Mississippi Department of Education created a school safety division.” Also, schools “added safety personnel, and trained teachers about dealing with bullies and disruptive behavior, said Pete Smith, spokesperson for the Education Department.” However, numerous “factors play a role in whether a child will express violence at school, said Kevin Williams, a Mississippi State University assistant professor specializing in media and violence. Williams said parental attitudes are the No. 1 indicator of a potentially violent child”

School Finance
Denver Public Schools To Receive $10 Million Gates Grant For Teacher Effectiveness.
The Denver Business Journal (1/22, Harden) reports that the Gates Foundation will issue Denver Public Schools a $10 million grant “to support teacher-effectiveness initiatives.” The school district will “release details of the programs the grant will support” today.

Also in the News
Students Facing Hard Times At School, Poll Shows.
The Los Angeles Times (1/21, Blume) reported that California youth “found no escape from harder times last year whether at school, where they endured larger classes, unfamiliar teachers and scarce supplies — or at home, where they faced family stresses from emptier refrigerators, job losses and more frequent dislocation.” This “grim compilation comes in a report,” based on an anonymous poll of principals, from UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access and the University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity. According to the Times, some principals “reported collecting money to help families and told of teachers who bought food and clothes for students, and, in a few cases, took students into their homes.”

Teachers Trained To Help “Average” AP Students.
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (1/23, Matus) reported that “the new reality facing Advanced Placement teachers” are classrooms of students at varied reading levels. To help AP teachers accommodate all students, the Pinellas school district last week offered “training workshops with a consultant” who preaches the message: “You can reach all kinds of AP kids in the same class.” The consultant, former AP teacher Robyn Jackson, “shared techniques aimed at boosting the ‘soft skills’ that many unprepared AP student don’t have — like how to closely read a text, or focus quickly, or think more critically.” She “outlined specific exercises — like ‘interrupted reading’ and ‘exam stacks’ — that can shore up soft skills in ‘average’ students but can challenge the brightest kids, too.”

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In the Classroom
More School Districts Requiring Public Finance Education.
The AP (1/23, Armario) reported, “The number of states requiring public high schools to offer a personal finance course rose from nine to 15 between 2007 and 2009, according to the Council for Economic Education.” And in some districts, the “lessons…start young.” For instance, in Miami-Dade County, FL, “social studies classes at every grade level have an economics component. … In kindergarten, that starts with discussing needs versus wants.” Because “squeezing a separate personal finance class into the curriculum can still be difficult as schools focus on state and federal testing standards while dealing with budget constraint,” the AP points out, many schools offer personal finance “as part of another subject rather than a separate course.”

Experts Note Resurgence Of Handwriting Lessons In Schools.
The Livingston (MI) Daily Press & Argus (1/24, Rose-Church) reported that the focus on handwriting in teacher training decreased significantly in the 1970s, and “ten years later, the number of students experiencing handwriting difficulties was on the rise.” Tara DiMilia of Handwriting Without Tears explained, “In general, what has happened over the last 25 to 30 years with handwriting, with the onset of computers and technology, is the mind-set we don’t need handwriting anymore.” But, she added, “We can’t eliminate (handwriting) completely — we need it for jobs, and its important to student success.” According to experts, handwriting is currently making a comeback, “but it still takes a backseat to the pressure to teach to tests.” The resurgence of handwriting in schools is due, in part, to standards set by states such as Michigan, which requires that students learn “how to form uppercase and lowercase manuscript letters in kindergarten and first grade” and learn “cursive writing in second grade.”

Students Create Public Blog In Lieu Of School Newspaper.
The Lancaster (OH) Eagle Gazette (1/24, George) reported that instead of resurrecting a school newspaper that “had lain dormant for 15 years,” students in Chad Sinnott’s journalism class at Lancaster High School created “a public blog featuring articles on news, school events, sports, features and opinion pieces”– all written by students — called “Eye of the Gale.” The blog features new articles each week. Said Sinnot of the blog, “We went from being a dinosaur without a newspaper to being one of the few schools in Ohio to deliver the news in a new and technologically advanced way.” Some students “say they like how the blog…makes it easy for them to deliver news to students and community members.” They do not have to “spend time laying out pages and editing stories to make them fit; instead, they write up the news and send it off to Sinnott, who can have it online within a matter of minutes.”

Students Challenged To Create Model For Earthquake-Resistant Buildings.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (1/24, Ranii) reported, “Months before Haiti was devastated by an earthquake, a Ligon Middle School class wrestled with the problem of engineering buildings to withstand seismic shifts.” The students participated in “the statewide Future City Competition on Saturday” at North Carolina State University that was “part of a national competition sponsored by a coalition of engineering groups.” The News & Observer lists some of the “innovations unveiled in Saturday’s competition.”

On the Job
Most North Texas Districts Have Not Developed Policies For Sale Of Lesson Plans.
The Dallas Morning News (1/24, Haag, 350K) reported that “online auction sites and marketplaces” for teachers to sell their lesson plans has allowed some teachers to boost “their incomes by selling thousands of dollars worth of lesson plans a year.” Still, some “legal and ethical questions remain” such as “who owns the education materials, and does a school district deserve all or a cut of the money a teacher makes?” According to the Morning News, there is no clear answer to these and other questions surrounding the practice. “Online lesson plan marketplaces…are so new that some North Texas school districts say they haven’t heard of them.” Consequently, the districts “have no policies or rules that directly apply to teachers buying or selling education materials.” Policies some districts state that “any materials created by employees while at school belong to the district.” However, the Morning News points out, “applying those policies, which likely predate the Internet, might be difficult.”

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Law & Policy
Report: Some Chicago Schools Make Readmission Difficult For “Troubled” Students.
The Chicago Tribune (1/25, Casillas, Mills, 534K) reports, “In spite of Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman’s pledge to help at-risk teenagers, in some instances school officials are undermining that effort, making it difficult for such troubled youths to return to school after they have been incarcerated, according to judges, attorneys, probation officials and others in the juvenile justice system.” According to the Tribune, “In some cases, officials refuse to re-admit students for fear they will disrupt classes or be violent but do not move to formally transfer or expel students as school rules and the law requires. In other cases, parents cannot navigate the school district’s bureaucracy to re-enroll their children after they have been in custody or suspended.”

No Child Left Behind Seen As Boon For Private Tutors.
The Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette (1/24, Soderlund) reported, “Not meeting federal accountability standards can mean a lot of hard work for school officials. But for private tutoring companies, it means big business.” According to the Journal-Gazette, “If a school fails to meet the standards under No Child Left Behind for two consecutive years, that school must pay for private tutors to help struggling students.” According to the Journal-Gazette, “Indiana public school districts spent more than $13.7 million on private tutoring services for low-income and low-performing students in the 2008-09 school year, according to the state Department of Education.” Before No Child Left Behind, districts “were not required to pay for private tutoring.”

School Finance
Wealthy New York Districts’ Reserves Seen As Buffer For Proposed Education Cuts.
New York Times (1/23, A18, Confessore, 1.09M) reported, “When Gov. David A. Paterson proposed this week cutting more than $1 billion in school aid to help address the state’s financial crisis, the critics quickly pounced.” But, according to the Times, “Mr. Paterson’s cuts…may not be quite as dire as some education advocates make them appear.” This may be especially true in many of “the state’s wealthier and more politically connected school districts…where suburban lawmakers have long flexed their muscle to ensure that their districts receive a disproportionate share of state money.” Moreover, “wealthy districts have also piled up significant cash reserves in so-called undesignated accounts, to be used for emergencies.” Statewide, the “50 richest districts have about $100 million in such reserves.”

Many Ohio Districts Diverting Money From Special Education To Stabilize Budgets.
The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (1/25, Richards) reports, “Ohio school districts are spending money meant for disabled students to stabilize their shaky budgets, and the state has made it easier for them to do so.” Many Ohio districts are receiving double the average amount for special education programs through a $438 million “federal stimulus” reserved for special education. “The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act says that, in years where districts receive more special-education funding, they can reduce their local spending by up to 50 percent of the increase.” Last year, however, “the Ohio Department of Education lowered the requirements,” allowing “99 percent of Ohio” districts and charter schools to redirect money. Critics say this provision cheats students with special needs.

Also in the News
Appeals Court Upholds Ruling That Illinois District Is Not Liable In Teacher Sex Abuse Case.
The AP (1/23) reported that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has “has upheld a lower court’s ruling that a central Illinois school district can’t be held responsible for the behavior [of] a former teacher who was convicted of sexually abusing students.” The appeals court said the Normal, IL-based Unit 5 school district “could not be held liable for White’s behavior, including the injury of one of the students.”

NEA in the News

Reforms Reportedly Taken Out of Alabama’s Grant Application To Appease Teachers Union.
Rena Havner Philips wrote at Alabama’s Press-Register (1/24) Breaking News blog that while “Other states are promising sweeping reforms as they compete for a share of $4.35 billion worth of” race to the Top grants, “Alabama’s application for $181 million basically says that schools here would use the money to expand existing programs.” According to the Press-Register, “more extensive reforms” such as merit pay for teachers and “quarterly standardized tests for all students” were nixed after Deputy Superintendent Tommy Bice received a letter from Alabama Education Association President Paul Hubbert opposing the reforms. The deputy superintendent “said that he wanted many of AEA’s directors in each county to sign off on the” application, but added that “the fact that the items were taken out of the application doesn’t mean the state will stop pursuing them.”

Education Leader Says Additional Cuts To Schools Would Violate Federal Stimulus Rules.
The Arizona Republic (1/24, Gersema, Snyder, 393K) reported, “Child and education advocates are worried about Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R) new round of proposed cuts to Arizona’s education budget, including axing state financial support for all-day kindergarten.” Cuts to all day kindergarten “would save the state $218 million,” according to Brewer. In addition, her budget “calls for cutting $180 million in soft capital used for books, technology, and other teaching tools.” John Wright, president of the Arizona Education Association, has cautioned that “if the state cuts any more money from the schools’ budget this fiscal year, Arizona is in jeopardy of violating a ‘maintenance of effort’ requirement for obtaining and retaining federal-stimulus funds.” Meanwhile, Chuck Essigs of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials said that it is not clear “whether the state can cut more money from education to offset the budget deficit for fiscal year 2011.”

Ames, Iowa, Education Association Seeks Collaborative Approach To District Budgeting.
The Ames (IA) Tribune (1/24, Hanson) reported, “When negotiations for teacher contracts begin Monday, Ames teachers said they want to be part of the solution to the problem of the shrinking school budget.” Ames Education Association chief negotiator Aileen Sullivan said “teachers know there’s a good chance schools will get no new money, and the district may be looking for ways to trim up to $3 million from its budget.” Sullivan “said in the past, the negotiators asked for raises in salary or benefits without knowing the impact on staff or programs. ‘This year, we want to negotiate our impact on the budget,’ she said.” Sullivan “said both sides are rising to the challenge, on the basis of good relationships and mutual goals.”

Girls May Learn Math Anxieties From Female Teachers, Study Finds.
The AP (1/26) reports that, according to a recent study, “female elementary school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach.” This insecurity, the researchers say, could be a factor in perpetuating the continuing gap between men and women “in some areas of math achievement.” Sian L. Beilock, a University of Chicago associate professor in psychology and one of the study’s authors, said that “young students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex, and having a female teacher who is anxious about math may reinforce the stereotype that boys are better at math than girls.” Janet S. Hyde, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, praised the study. Hyde noted that “girls who grow up believing females lack math skills wind up avoiding harder math classes.”

The Los Angeles Times (1/26, Kaplan) reports, “First- and second-graders whose teachers were anxious about mathematics were more likely to believe that boys are hard-wired for math and that girls are better at reading,” according to the study’s findings. Further, “the girls who bought into that notion scored significantly lower on math tests than their peers who didn’t.” The researchers noted that “the gap in test scores was not apparent in the fall when the kids were first tested, but emerged after spending a school year in the classrooms of teachers with math anxiety. That detail convinced researchers that the teachers — all of them women — were the culprits.”

“Researchers said the next step is to determine what teachers did or said to transfer their anxieties,” the Chicago Tribune (1/26, Mack) reports. Beilock said, “There are lots of questions to be answered about what’s going on in the classroom.” Levine added that “the x-factor did not appear to be teachers’ knowledge of the subject, but rather ‘their feeling about the discipline.’” The study, “Female Teachers’ Math Anxiety Affects Girls’ Math Achievement,” appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers speculated that “increasing math requirements for elementary education programs could help alleviate math anxiety in elementary school teachers, thereby influencing girls’ math achievement,” the USA Today (1/25) “Science Fair” blog reports. The blog notes, “Women make up 90 percent of elementary school teachers in the United States.” HealthDay (12/25, Thomas) also reported the story.

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In the Classroom
Elementary School Pulls Dictionaries From Classrooms Over Sexually “Explicit” Entry.
The Los Angeles Times (1/26, Kelly) reports that after a parent “called the principal of Oak Meadows Elementary School” to complain that an entry in dictionaries available at the school was “too [sexually] explicit,” the dictionaries “were immediately pulled off the shelves and ‘temporarily housed off location’ until a committee could determine their suitability for children.” District Spokeswoman Betti Cadmus emphasized, “The dictionaries have not been banned.” Still, “a panel of parents, teachers and administrators will” determine if the dictionaries are appropriate for the school curriculum. The panel will “meet later this week to comb the dictionary for potentially graphic words or definitions and issue a report within a month.”

Memphis Schools Adding Earlier Introduction To Math, Science.
Tennessee’s Commercial Appeal (1/25, Roberts) reported that Memphis City Schools is increasing emphasis on math and science “in several elementary schools.” Linda Sklar, head of optional schools in the city system, said, “We’re encouraging students to understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world and making them critical, reflective thinkers.” There will be a STEM “optional [elementary] school” and a K-8 school with a focus on media arts and public service. The programs beginning this fall will begin in middle and high schools and will be open to all students who meet requirements. Meanwhile, the school system also plans to open “an International Baccalaureate program in schools that feed into the Ridgeway High IB program…as early as 2011.”

Colorado District To Open Science And Technology Institute.
The Denver Post (1/26, Nicholson) reports on The Institute of Science and Technology at Overland and Prairie being built by the Cherry Creek School District, which “serve 6th- through 12th-graders, offering them a curriculum in STEM subjects.” Students at the institute will be able to concentrate in engineering, computer science, technical communication, mathematics, and health sciences. “The institute will also offer introductory programs for kindergarten through 5th-grade students to encourage them to pursue STEM courses when they’re eligible to attend.” A ground-breaking event for the school featured Governor Bill Ritter, as well as “representatives from the City of Aurora, Arapahoe County, CH2M Hill, the Colorado School of Mines, DeVry University, and others.”

On the Job
Utah, France Sign Teacher Exchange Agreement.
The Salt Lake Tribune (1/26, Schencker) reports that France is paying three French teachers “to work in Utah schools as part of the state’s dual-immersion program this year.” On Monday, “Utah education leaders signed an agreement with French officials to continue the cooperation in hopes of bringing more French teachers…from France and eventually sending Utah teachers there to teach English.” Utah is the twelfth state to “to sign a memorandum of understanding with a French education system.” The state also has “agreements with Spain, Mexico and China, which help supply some of the state’s Spanish and Mandarin teachers.”

DC Schools Chancellor Expected Today To Explain Claims Against Fired Teachers.
The Washington Post (1/26, Turque) reports that a spokesperson for D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said that Rhee will make a statement Tuesday morning regarding comments she made “that appear in the February issue of ‘Fast Company’ magazine.” Rhee “faced mounting pressure Monday to explain her statement…that some of the 266 teachers laid off in last October’s budget cuts ‘had sex with children,’ hit them or were chronically absent without authorization.” D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray said the claims were “alarming and deeply troubling.” He has “set a Wednesday deadline for Rhee to provide each instance since July 1, 2007 — the beginning of the chancellor’s tenure in the District — in which a teacher who sexually assaulted or hit a child was reported to the D.C. police department or Child and Family Services Agency, as required by law.” And, he wants “to know what actions were ultimately taken.”

In the Washington Post (1/25) the Answer Sheet blog, Valerie Strauss wrote, “What was she thinking,” regarding Rhee’s comments. According to Rhee, the statement she made to “Fast Company magazine was something she had already told the D.C. Council.” Strauss said, “I can’t figure out if Rhee actually likes stirring up controversy or just muddles her way into it — or both — but in this instance, whether it was a hasty remark she didn’t intend to make or an intentional bomb, I don’t see a good way out.”

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Law & Policy
Florida Governor Wants Voters To Reconsider Smaller Classes.
The St. Petersburg Times (1/26, Colavecchio, Solochek) reports that with Florida “having already spent $16 billion to reduce class sizes — and facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit,” Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is asking “voters to reconsider their 2002 vote in favor of smaller classes. Crist, who in the past has opposed tinkering with the class size amendment, on Monday said he now supports essentially freezing it where it is now — with mandated caps calculated as school-wide averages.” According to the Times, “Superintendents and others say going to the next phase — caps for every classroom, beginning next school year — would cost too much, create problems with student enrollment and do little to improve student achievement.”

The Tampa Tribune (1/25, Peterson) reports that Crist “said today he wants to ask Florida voters to freeze school class sizes where they are now without reducing them further. Voters in 2002 approved a constitutional amendment requiring that by fall 2010, each class be limited to a set number of pupils.” According to the Tribune, “Most schools already have met the schoolwide enrollment-reduction goals, after spending a total of nearly $16 billion on teachers and other resources. Officials feared they would have to spend billions more to meet more focused class-level requirements.”

New York City Steps Up Efforts To Close Underperforming Schools.
The New York Times (1/26, A17, Otterman) reports that in New York City, closing underperforming schools, “especially large high schools, has been one of the most controversial hallmarks of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s control of the school system. And it is taking on a new urgency, both in New York and around the country, with the Obama administration putting a premium on ‘school turnaround’ policies” as a part of the Race to the Top stimulus grant competition. The Times notes that since 2002, New York City “has closed or is in the process of closing 91 schools, replacing them with smaller schools and charter schools. … This year, the city has proposed phasing out 20 schools, the most in any year.”

Proposal Seeks To Address Program Equity, Enrollment Problems.
The Business Gazette (MD) (1/25, McKeever) reported on a proposal from Prince George’s County schools Superintendent William Hite Jr. that “seeks to provide equity in high school programs while addressing enrollment problems.” Under Hite’s proposal, “the county would be split into five areas, with each area offering International Baccalaureate, science and technology programs and career and technical education programs. … There would also be one visual and performing arts, world languages and non-traditional high school alternative program in the northern and southern part of the county.” Hite pointed out that “program availability is closely connected with enrollment at county high schools.” The response from school board members was positive, according to the article, although “they were concerned with the financial impact.”

Facilities

Georgia District Fined $30,000 by State EPA For Water Contamination.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1/26, Matteucci) reports, “DeKalb County schools have been fined $30,000″ by Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division “for draining muddy water into a Dunwoody stream and other environmental violations while building an elementary school.” The Journal-Constitution points out that “The fine comes as the school system is considering a decrease in teachers’ salaries, closing magnet schools and cutting other programs to meet a $56 million deficit.” According to a spokesman for the district, “the fine was paid by the contractor, the architectural firm and the geotechnical firm hired by the district” for the construction.

Also in the News
Study Links Students’ Scores On International Test To Nations’ GDPs.
Education Week (1/27, Robelen) reports that a new study by researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggests that “modest gains in student achievement as measured by” the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) “could cumulatively boost the country’s gross domestic product by tens of trillions of dollars over the coming decades.” Researchers used “economic modeling to relate cognitive skills… to economic growth.” According to the report, “The international average on PISA is 500.” Researchers predicted that a “‘modest goal’ of having all 30 industrialized countries in the OECD raise their average scores on PISA by 25 points in the next 20 years would provide an aggregate gain of $115 trillion in GDP ‘over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010.’”

NEA in the News
Missouri Lawmakers Introduce Three Improvements To Education.
Missouri’s News Tribune (1/25, Watson) reported that Missouri lawmakers introduced a bill last week that seeks to improve public schools with three policy changes. The first would be to pay teachers on merit, schedule “classes on a year-round basis,” and authorize “kindergarten students to begin school twice a year.” Chris Guinther, president the Missouri National Education Association, said that teacher pay should be based on more than just students’ test scores.

ANALYSIS OF RTTT PROPOSAL
Based upon the discussion at that meeting, NJEA leadership’s discussions with NJ DOE staff, and review of New Jersey’s grant application, NJEA believes the grant application is severely flawed and that it contains numerous objectionable provisions as it now stands.

Among the provisions causing the greatest concern are those which would tie teacher evaluation, compensation, and tenure to student test scores.

In addition, it appears that the application would commit New Jersey to a massive expansion of its standardized testing program and a significant increase in the educational bureaucracy.

Finally, the provisions dealing with merit pay, evaluation, and length of school day/year have significant collective bargaining implications for local associations.

Based on our assessment of the proposal as it now stands, we are advising our local associations NOT to sign the memorandum of understanding because it includes merit pay, pay for performance, and/or the utilization of student test scores for teacher evaluation.

NEXT STEPS
The Department of Education has created a Memorandum of Understanding and is asking each district to obtain signatures from the superintendent, the president of the board of education, and the local association president.

On the form, it reads that the signatures are required. Please be advised you are not required to sign this form and be aware that your signature on the form would commit your local association to support all of the items included in the state’s RTTT application.

TO DO
If your district is applying for a Phase 1 RTTT grant, we strongly urge you to contact your UniServ representative for more information and for an in-depth discussion of the potential negative impact on your members and your district.

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In the Classroom
Bismarck Public School District Switching to Project Based High School Business Curriculum.
The Bismarck (ND) Tribune (1/7, Kincaid) reports, “Students in Jennifer Anderson’s Web design class” at Bismarck High School are creating WebPages for “local businesses that needed help with their Web presence.” Next year, the entire Bismarck Public Schools district will have a project-based curriculum with similar assignments, as it has joined “the High School of Business program offered by the MBA Research and Curriculum Center.” The center curriculum is made up of “business courses that build on one another with the goal of preparing students to enter business administration programs in college.” The Bismarck Tribune adds, “One way business classes will become more meaningful is through class projects like the Web design classes. Potentially, the students would try to come up with solutions for the community or local business.”

NASA Loans Moon Rocks To Elementary School In New York.
The Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette (1/8, Neumann) reports that Beecher Elementary School this week received a shipment of “moon rocks” loaned to the school by “the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.” In addition to the rocks, the shipment also included “three soil samples” and “six small pieces of meteorites,” all of which were taken “from the surface of the moon” during “the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions.” The samples “will be studied by fifth-graders at the school under the direction of teachers who were trained for the purpose by a NASA instructor.”

New York District’s Student Body Honors Fallen Soldier, Former Student.
New York’s Journal-Register (1/8) reports that on Tuesday, when Army Spc. Jason Johnston “was laid to rest,” thousands of Albion community members “lined the street to watch the funeral procession pass.” Amid the crowd, “the entire Albion Central School District student body (2,300 students) stood shoulder to shoulder, showing support for the former” student. Superintendent Ada Grabowski wanted students to be a part of the processional because, she said, “I think it is just important for our kids to understand that Jason certainly was one of us, one of them. … For us to be able to enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy, our children need to understand that sacrifices are being made and this brings it really home to them.” That day, “teachers were asked to give lessons before they went outside.” Afterward, a “fifth-grade teacher…asked her students to reflect on the event they had just participated in. … Each student reflected on their experience in letter form.” The Journal Register story includes the students’ letters.

Law & Policy
Indiana Board Approves New Teacher Licensing Rules.
The AP (1/7, Martin) reported that the Indiana panel “overseeing teacher licensing has approved new rules Indiana’s state superintendent says will allow future educators to spend less time learning how to teach and more time focused on subject matter. The Division of Professional Standards Advisory Board on Thursday approved the proposal, which had drawn sharp opposition from universities and others who said Superintendent Tony Bennett shouldn’t dictate college curriculums.” The “rule approved Thursday allows students who want to be high school teachers to major in secondary education, but only if a college’s secondary education program meets or exceeds the content requirements of a specific subject major, such as math or physics.”

Rhode Island Education Commissioner Discusses Reform With State’s Distinguished Teachers.
The Providence Journal (1/8, Jordan) reports that Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has invited about three dozen “award-winning educators” from throughout the state “to meet with her every few months, giving her feedback and advice.” The group includes “distinguished educators” who “have received either the Teacher of the Year award or the Milken Award, which recognizes educator excellence.” According to the Providence Journal, Gist has “made improving teacher quality the cornerstone of her seven-month tenure.” She has backed “profound changes” in the state’s education system, including “making it harder to become and continue to work as a teacher” and “tying student test scores to new yearly educator evaluations.” At this month’s meeting, “Gist shared details about the state’s” federal Race To The Top application. She “said that test scores would only be one factor in examining a teacher’s effectiveness” and that samples of student work, and long-term improvement would also be a factor.

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New York Governor Proposes Education Law Changes.
The New York Times (1/8, A21, Medina) reports that New York Gov. David A. Paterson (D) “on Thursday proposed a host of changes in state education law, including eliminating the cap on the number of charter schools, which he said would make the state more likely to receive $700 million” in Race to the Top funds. Paterson’s “bill would also repeal a 2008 law that banned the use of standardized test scores in tenure decisions, as well as give the state the ability to pay for charter school construction and allow the state to take over low-performing schools. … Aides to the governor said that he had spoken with Education Secretary Arne Duncan in recent weeks and was convinced that the changes he proposed on Thursday were necessary to qualify for” Race to the Top funds.

California Governor Signs Education Reform Bills.
The Los Angeles Times (1/8, Blume) reports that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) visited Bethune Middle School in Los Angeles Thursday for a signing ceremony “to celebrate legislation that sets the course for future school reforms and improves the state’s chances at qualifying for federal money to carry them out.” The “bills are intended to increase California’s eligibility for as much as $700 million in federal Race to the Top grants, which the Obama administration is using to advance favored reforms. The measures call for districts to take aggressive steps to turn failing schools around, including firing staff, closing schools and converting campuses to independently operated charter schools.”

California BOE To Oversee Low-Performing Schools. The AP (1/7) reported that California’s Board of Education “has decided to oversee four of the state’s poorest-performing school districts. Officials say the Alisal and Greenfield districts in Monterey County and McFarland and Arvin districts in Kern County-failed to meet federal standards set” by NCLB. The board “opted for the oversight rather than harsher sanctions, such as recommending a district takeover by the state.”

School Finance
Washington, DC-Area’s Largest School System Facing Drastic Cuts.
The Washington Post (1/8, Chandler, Kravitz) reports that this week, “the Fairfax County school system, the Washington area’s largest…became the latest to propose dramatic spending reductions.” Superintendent Jack D. Dale’s $2.3 billion budget proposal would increase class sizes, scale back the full-day kindergarten program, force teachers to forgo “raises for the second year in a row,” and eliminate “elementary band and strings music programs and foreign language-immersion programs.” The Post notes that “the potential cuts in Fairfax are unprecedented for the” 173,500-student “school system, which prides itself on offering exceptional programs and cutting-edge practices.” Said Dale, “What this comes down to, quite frankly, is the quality of life in Fairfax County. … Quality of life should determine the tax rate, not the other way around.” His “2011 spending plan” also seeks “a $58 million increase in funding” that “is tied to enrollment growth and rising costs for retirement benefits, utilities and health insurance.”

School Leaders In Oshkosh, Wisconsin Say Budget Cuts May Help Improve Special Education.
Opportunity To WBAY -TV Green Bay, WI (1/8, Arnold) reports, “Next week the Oshkosh School Board will start to consider making some very drastic cuts to its budget to make up a potential $5 million gap,” including “school closures and teacher layoffs.” Some “parents of special needs students” think “this crisis might actually help their children.” Parent Shannon Walter explained, “Kids in general have trouble with transition” between schools and districts when they are forced to move due to school closures or “lack of classroom space.” Special needs students, she said, struggle even more socially. Interim Superintendent Bette Lang points out that expected cuts will allow the district “to put more services in a building. Fewer buildings allow you to expand your services,” she said. And “fewer schools,” administrators say, “would also mean fewer chances special needs kids would have to bounce around the district.”

NEA in the News
Vermont NEA Will Fight Governor’s Proposal To Cut 1,200 Teaching Jobs.
Vermont Public Radio (1/8) reports that Vermont Governor Jim Douglas “wants to reduce the amount the state spends on schools.” But his proposals have been met with “a cool reception from Democrats and from interest groups.” Among other solutions, Douglas has proposed cutting 1,200 teaching jobs “over the next four years as older teachers retire.” The Vermont chapter of the National Education Association plans to “fight the cuts” Vermont NEA Executive Director Joel Cook said of the governor’s plan, “There’s nothing new about his desire to shrink the number of teachers that take care of our kids in all of our communities around the state.” Also, he pointed out that the number of teachers in the state “has increased, despite a drop in the student population, because of the demands of special education and other classroom services.”

Kansans for Quality Communities To Discuss Balancing State Budget With Moderate Cuts.
David Klepper wrote in the Kansas City Star (1/7) Prime Buzz blog that the Kansans for Quality Communities, an alliance of organizations that advocate “passage of reasonable and responsible tax policy” for Kansas, will discuss at a press conference today “its ideas for how to balance the budget this year without crippling more state programs and agencies.” The Kansas chapter of the National Education Association is part of the alliance, which also includes “advocates for the disabled, mentally ill and the elderly, and state employee unions.”

Kansas District Leaders Spar With Teacher’s Union Over Race To The Top. The Bonner Springs (KS) Chieftain (1/7, Treolo) reported, “Whether or not to apply for Race to the Top grant funds and how receiving those funds might affect teachers in the district is a bone of much contention between members” of Bonner Springs–Edwardsville (KS) Unified School District 204 “and the Bonner Springs Kansas National Education Association.” According to the Chieftain school districts have been asked “to submit a memorandum of understanding signed by that district’s superintendent, school board president and the teacher’s union president, signifying their collective support of the program.” But Deb Loker, president of the Bonner Springs KNEA refused sign the memo, saying “that the guidelines of the Race to the Top program don’t protect the rights of the teachers.”

Pennsylvania NEA Endorses Community Learning Center Concept.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1/8, Chute) reports that the Pennsylvania State Education Association “issued its vision of the best ways to enhance education in a 169-page report called ‘The Power of a Great Education: PSEA’s 20/20 Vision for the Future — Strong Schools, Successful Children, Vibrant Communities.’” The report highlights strategies the PSEA says have been “proven to work, including smaller classes, supports tailored for students at risk of academic failure and encouragement of parental involvement.” Also in the report, the PSEA suggests that Pennsylvania “create a demonstration project by designating a small number of schools as community learning centers.”

Obama Announces “Educate to Innovate” STEM Training Initiative.
The AP (1/7) reports that on Wednesday, President Obama his $250 million “Educate to Innovate” campaign “to train math and science teachers and help meet his goal of pushing America’s students…to the top of the pack in those subjects in the next decade.” According to the President, “teacher quality is the most important single factor” influencing students’ success or failure in STEM subjects. Educate to Innovate, he added, “will help train more than 100,000 teachers and prepare more than 10,000 new educators in the next five years.” The AP listed “Intel Corp., the National Math and Science Initiative, PBS and the National Science Teachers Association” as investors in the initiative. Moreover, Obama “called on the 200,000″ scientists employed by “the federal government to help by speaking at schools and participating in hands-on projects to help stoke a youngster’s curiosity in science.”

The Washington Post (1/7, Anderson) reports that President Obama “announced the initiative in an afternoon ceremony at the White House as he honored…about 100 outstanding math and science educators from around the country.” It also points out that the campaign “effectively doubles, to more than $500 million” the “philanthropic” STEM education campaign that the President “launched in November.” Specifically, Educate to Innovate includes “a $13.5 million expansion of a university-based program called UTeach that aims to deliver 7,000 expert teachers by 2018; a commitment from public universities to prepare 10,000 math and science teachers a year…and efforts by NASA and PBS to promote effective math and science teaching.” Said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, “If we’re going to be economically competitive and continue to innovate and create jobs, we have to get much, much better in STEM education. … There’s a huge sense of urgency.”

The Christian Science Monitor (1/7, Paulson) notes that “the push for more attention on STEM subjects has been building for some time, with educators, business leaders, scientists, and policymakers calling attention to American students’ lackluster math and science performance relative to other countries and sounding the alarm for what it means for the country’s future.”

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In the Classroom
South Is First Region In US Where Majority Of Students Are Minority, Low Income.
The New York Times (1/7, A20, Dewan) reports that a report by the nonprofit Southern Education Foundation shows that “the South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities.” The report said that “an influx of Latinos and other ethnic groups, the return of blacks to the South and higher birth rates among black and Latino families have contributed to the change.” According to the Times, “the numbers also herald the future of the country as a whole, as minority students are expected to exceed 50 percent of public school enrollment by 2020 and the” number of students who qualify for “free or reduced-price lunches is on the rise in every state.”

Sacramento-Area Nonprofits Rely Heavily On Student Volunteers.
The Sacramento (CA) Bee (1/6, Rosenhall) reported that when Sacramento-area “school leaders began requiring students to perform community service about 10 years ago, they were largely motivated by what the experience could give to teenagers: character, civic engagement, a sense of purpose.” Now, “most charitable organizations in the Sacramento area…rely heavily on student volunteers.” Christine Wallace of the Volunteer Center of Sacramento said that student volunteers are such “a huge trend” that her organization “created an entire directory specifically for junior high and high school students” on its website. While California’s Department of Education does not count “how many…schools require community service,” the Corporation for National and Community Service reports that “service learning takes place at 32 percent of elementary and high schools” nationwide.

Wisconsin District Adding Engineering, Global Leadership Academy.
WAOW-TV Wausau, WI (1/6, Bonacorsi) reported that the Wausau School District “is opening a specialized charter school” next fall. The Wausau Engineering and Global Leadership Academy “will operate independently within Wausau East High School,” and “will also focus on teaching from a global perspective.” Robert Marlowe, Wausau School District’s Career and Technical Education Coordinator explained, “It will really draw a population of students who have a very strong interest and aptitude in the areas engineering, technology, science and math.” The school “has several area businesses ready and willing to partner” with it, something that Marlowe said was important. “The component of having experts in the field as engineers and so forth into the class room and take students out on the work sites is invaluable,” he said.

On the Job
“Model” STEM Teacher Training Initiative Launched In Michigan.
Michigan’s Business Review (1/7, Beeke) reports, “The W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek joined President Obama [Wednesday] in announcing the $16.7 million Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellowship, which will pay to educate science, technology, engineering and math teachers at six Michigan universities and place them in select public schools, primarily in West Michigan beginning in 2011.” The Kalamazoo (MI) News (1/7, Mack) reports that five school districts have also been chosen for the program. The universities will each receive $500,000 “to redesign their teacher education programs in math and science.” The fellows will then launch their teaching careers at one of the five participating school districts. “Each fellow will receive a $30,000 stipend while they complete the program, which includes training in math or science as well as adolescent development, classroom management and working with parents and teachers.” The Kalamazoo News adds that Michigan’s “program was mentioned [Wednesday] by President Barack Obama, who described it as a model effort to inspire students to excel in math and science.”

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NASA Program Will Target Minority Students.
The Daily Tell (1/6, Curnow) reported, “A new partnership led by NASA will pilot a series of multi-week math and science education programs this summer, the space agency announced on Wednesday.” NASA’s “Summer of Innovation” program will “come under the umbrella” of the Educate to Innovate program. According to the article, NASA will “encourage low-income, minority students to pursue careers in engineering, math or science.” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “This is an incredible opportunity for our administration to come together to address our nation’s critical science, technology, engineering and math education needs.”

Law & Policy
Schwarzenegger Promises Not To Cut California Education Spending In 2011 Budget Proposal.
The AP (1/7) reports, “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Wednesday acknowledged that more pain lies ahead for California as it confronts yet another massive” $20 billion “budget deficit, but pledged deep reforms he said are vital to the state’s economic future.”

Education Week (1/7, Maxwell) reports that in his last State of the State address, Gov. Schwarzenegger promised that no cuts to education would be included in his 2011 state budget proposal. “Because our future economic well-being is so dependent upon education, I will protect education funding in this budget,” said Schwarzenegger. He also “proposed a constitutional amendment to guarantee that the state will never spend more on prisons than it does on higher education.” California is currently “spending nearly 11 percent of the general-fund budget on prisons and 7.5 percent on colleges and universities,” according to the governor. “In his address, Mr. Schwarzenegger cited the passage of controversial education reform legislation on Tuesday… which aims to help make California a strong contender for” the federal Race to the Top grant competition. The California Teachers Association, an NEA affiliate “has opposed the legislation and continues to urge its defeat.”

Jason Song wrote in the Los Angeles Times (1/6, Song) LA Now blog that prior to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s announcement Wednesday, “state labor leaders held a conference call…to urge” him “not to propose education funding cuts when he releases his budget later this week.” California “has cut education funding by nearly $17.8 billion” over the past two years, according to the California Department of Education.

Ohio Law Requires School Districts To Address Abusive Student Relationships.
The AP (1/6) reports that Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) has signed a bill “that requires school boards to adopt policies to prevent and address abusive student relationships, train staff members on the subject, and add lessons on the prevention of dating violence to health classes for grades 7-12.”

Maryland District’s New Grading System Placed On Hold.
The Baltimore Sun (1/6, Bowie) reported, “Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston backed away Tuesday from a directive requiring teachers to start immediate use of a complex online grading system after intense criticism from teachers who say the program is cumbersome, time-consuming and redundant.” The system would have required “every teacher to judge each student’s performance in 100 different skills.” Teachers were concerned that the reporting system would result in extreme amounts of additional work, “noting that they already collected much of the same information on unit tests in key subjects and through new elementary report cards.”

Also in the News

Study Finds No Gender Gap In Math Ability.
The UK’s Telegraph (1/6) reported that a recent study from researchers at Villanova University “found that girls had equal ability to boys” in mathematics, and “that the stereotype that [math] was for boys was holding girls back because they thought they were not good enough. The lack of confidence girls had in their maths ability meant they were less likely to pursue a career in maths-based professions such as engineering, information technology and science.”

The UK’s Daily Mail (1/7) quotes Villanova professor Nicole Else-Quest, the study’s lead author, as saying, “These results show that girls will perform at the same level as the boys when they are given the right educational tools and have visible female role models excelling in mathematics.” She added, “Despite overall similarities in math skills, boys felt significantly more confident in their abilities than girls did and were more motivated to do well.”

The Scientific American (1/6, Nicholson) “60-Second Podcast” reported that “most countries showed no gender gap,” with Else-Quest noting “that there is some association between the status of women in each country and their ability to do mathematics.” This association “would seem to imply that achievement levels are not innate and fixed.” Else-Quest said, “It’s because of social forces — which suggests that they can be changed.” WHYY-FM Philadelphia (1/6, Scott) also reported the story.

Health Experts Offer Guidance On Cold-Weather Safety For Schoolchildren.
The Dallas Morning News (1/7, Weiss) reports that below-freezing temperatures pose “special challenges for chilled children waiting for the school bus — or any plans outdoors.” Throughout North Texas, “districts take a variety of positions about outdoor activities like recess.” For instance, “in Richardson, schools are supposed to keep kids inside once the thermometer drops to 36 degrees,” while “in Plano, the limit is 20 degrees or a wind chill of 10 degrees.” According to health experts, young people and those with “with existing respiratory problems” such as “asthma need to be particularly careful.” But even those “who don’t have breathing problems” may suffer adverse reactions to the cold, dry air. Moreover, “Children can get overchilled faster than adults, doctors say.” But “frostbite should not be an issue unless a child stays outside for more than a half-hour when the temperatures are at their lowest,” according to asthma educator Chris Wagner.

In the Classroom
Few eligible students applying for Washington state scholarships.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (9/4, Blanchard) reported, “More than 56,000 Washington middle-schoolers qualify for a new scholarship that would give them a free ride at a state college,” according to the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB). “College Bound Scholarships are open to any middle-school student in a low-income home or foster care.” Under the scholarships, if students “maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average through high school and stay out of trouble with the law,” then “the state will pay for up to four years of tuition and books at any accredited public or private college, community college or vocational/technical program in Washington.” But, the HECB noted, “only about 16,500 of 56,000 eligible students statewide have applied” to participate in the scholarship program. “State and local officials are hoping to boost those figures over the next year by encouraging students to apply and touting the program’s benefits, such as help with choosing coursework in middle and high school to prepare for college.”

Virginia test results show students’ math skills trail reading.
In a front-page story in its Virginia section, the Washington Post (9/4, VA1, Chandler) reported that “Virginia test results released last week showed rising scores in reading and math in Fairfax County and a skewed trajectory, as students’ literacy skills outpaced their computational abilities.” The Post described the difference as “not dramatic. In spring, 92 percent of students passed the state’s Standards of Learning reading exams, compared with 87 percent in math. But in middle school, the gap was wider.” The Post explained that “in grades six and seven, more than 90 percent of students passed reading tests. Meanwhile, 75 percent of sixth-graders and 72 percent of seventh-graders passed the math tests.” Fairfax School Superintendent Jack D. Dale said, “Math pass rates are not up to where they should be.” Dale acknowledged that “the school system’s goal of getting students to take Algebra I by eighth grade should help math departments ‘plan backward’ and strengthen instruction and curriculum leading to middle school.”

North Dakota school employs dropout prevention program.
North Dakota’s Williston Herald (9/4, Kliner) reported that Williston Public Schools “are the first in the state to use the Jobs for America’s Graduates program to help reduce the district’s dropout rate.” The school-to-career program aims to provide students with work-based learning experiences while helping them graduate. Williston High School teacher Luanna Fisketjon said, “When I was hired last year, we were concerned about the dropout rate, and we started looking at some different solutions to help us.” The school “explored the options of the JAG program, which is specifically tailored to students who ‘slip through the cracks.’” Fisketjon said that she thinks “a lot of kids that slip through the cracks are not in extracurricular organizations” or in “sports because of home lives, or whatever their situation.” She acknowledged that JAG is “not really for kids at high risk.” According to the Herald, “Students must have a certain number of barriers, or risk factors, to qualify for the program.”

Pennsylvania district expands methods for teaching environmentalism.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (9/4, Sostek) reported, “Where environmental correctness used to involve a basic recycling program or an outdoor education class, districts now are coming up with programs, practices,” and “curriculums…that emphasize environmental awareness.” For instance, Pennsylvania’s Mt. Lebanon School District last year “expanded its recycling program…as part of a student-led initiative.” Third-grade teacher Adam Humes said that students got so involved in the recycling program that they “sometimes booed classmates who threw away paper in the trash can rather than the recycling bin.” Also, this summer, a “group of elementary school teachers” in Mt. Lebanon brainstormed “ways to infuse environmentalism into the existing science curriculum.” One idea was to “include a lesson on recycling, which could carry over into other subject areas,” in the “standard second-grade unit on ‘changes.’”

Indiana students to take standardized test twice this year.
Kentucky’s Courier-Journal (9/4, Kaukas) reported that because of “Indiana’s transition from a decade of fall testing to a new system of administering” the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) “only in the spring,” Indiana students will take the ISTEP twice this year. “The change, adopted in the hope that spring tests will be a better indicator of student achievement, reflects how important such yardsticks have become in evaluating U.S. schools,” the Courier-Journal noted. “The fall ISTEP…takes between 4.5 and 6.5 hours to complete,” and “tests students on what they learned the previous year.” On the other hand, the “spring ISTEP, which will be about as long…will gauge students on what they’ve learned during the current school year leading to exam time.” Although some educators are concerned “that giving ISTEP twice” takes away from instructional time, others “see advantages to spring over fall for testing,” and consider the one-time “doubling up on the exams” to be “an unavoidable necessity.”

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Virginia community college to offer nanotechnology technician training program.
Virginia’s Star-Tribune (9/5) reports that Danville Community College (DCC) and Luna Innovations Inc. of Roanoke, “have entered into a partnership to provide nanotechnology technician training to Southside Virginia residents.” According to the Star-Tribune, the “partnership is being funded through a three-year, $638,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).” This new “nanotechnology track will be part of DCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology program, which currently offers Associate of Applied Science degrees in manufacturing engineering technology and polymer manufacturing technology.” The Star-Tribune points out that “both degree tracks were developed under prior funding from the” NSF, and now, DCC students will be able to “earn AAS degrees in the Nanotechnology Technician track.”

Achievement gap between lowest, highest performing students in California narrows, report indicates.
California’s Sacramento Bee (9/4) reported, “The achievement gap between the state’s lowest performing students and their typically high-performing peers has narrowed, according [to] school accountability measures released today.” California’s 2007-08 Accountability Progress Report “includes results from the state accountability system — the Academic Performance Index (API) — and the federal accountability system — Adequate Yearly Progress and Program Improvement (PI).” The API results “show some narrowing of the achievement gap between students who are white or Asian and their peers who are African American, Hispanic, or learning the English language.” Specifically, “the 2008 API report shows that African American students statewide increased their API this year by 14 points. Hispanic students increased by 17 points, while white students increased by 10 points and English-learner students increased by 14 points.”

On the Job
Missouri teachers groups express concern over bonus proposal.
The AP (9/5, Lieb) reports, “Missouri teachers groups are expressing some concern about a proposal to entice more teachers into the math and science fields with annual bonuses.” Kenny Hulshof, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, “has proposed bonuses of $15,000 over five years, with the goal of getting 1,500 new math and science teachers into the classroom.” In response to the proposal, lobbyists for both “the Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) and Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA)…said that there could be dissension within schools if teachers of certain subjects get more money than others.” But even so, the organizations “are split on whether” the idea is “worth pursuing.” The MSTA has said that it “could support Hulshof’s plan as a step toward a general improvement in teacher recruitment and retention,” while the MNEA said it “still would have concerns about a statewide bonus plan for math and science teachers.”

Arkansas educators learn about new ethics code.
Arkansas’s Morning News (9/5, Flowers) reports, “Standards in a state teachers’ code of ethics are vague and won’t be clarified until a licensing board holds hearings or lawsuits are filed in court,” according to Bob Gettino, “Zone 1 director for the Arkansas Education Association.” The new code of ethics “requires teachers to maintain standards of professional conduct, to not use or possess drugs or tobacco on school property and to keep test scores and student performance confidential.” During a presentation to educators, “Gettino advised teachers to…read the district’s personnel policies and the student policies, to know what is allowed and what is not.” He also pointed out that “teachers following discipline and personnel policies cannot lose their licenses or be fined by the Professional Licensure Standards Board (PLSB).” However, Gettino noted that “any complaint filed with [the PLSB] is open under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act…so teachers may get bad publicity whether the complaint is found true or not.”

Law & Policy
Indiana to cover student PSAT costs.
The AP (9/5, Martin) reports, “The Indiana Department of Education said Thursday it would pay the fee for students to take the Preliminary SAT, or PSAT.” According to the Education Department, “the state’s newly negotiated contract with the College Board, which owns the test, gives Indiana a discounted rate of $10.40 per test, as well as professional development opportunities for educators.” The reduced cost “allows the department to offer free tests to all sophomores and juniors without spending more than $1.8 million.” The testing is “paid for with savings from Indiana’s revamped statewide testing system.”

Indiana’s Journal Gazette (9/5) notes, “Fewer than half of Indiana sophomores and juniors took the PSAT last year,” Education Department figures show. Indiana’s Star Press (9/4) and Journal & Courier (9/4) also reported the story.

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California district partners with city to increase recycling.
California’s San Jose Mercury News (9/4, Doolittle) reported on the Union School District (USD), which has partnered “with the city of San Jose” to become “the first district in the San Jose area to go green.” The USD “will recycle 70 percent of its waste in recycling bins and composting containers provided by the city,” and will also “recycle all cans, bottles and cardboard and compost all food services, paper plates and food waste, lessening the amount of waste going into landfills.” The Mercury News noted, “The city is subsidizing the district program, with a goal of breaking even or saving money” by reducing garbage “hauling costs.” Under the USD’s plan, “each school will have a team made up of teachers, students and parents that will be in charge of training students to recycle at stations set up around campus.”

Technology allows greater transparency for parents.
The Los Angeles Times (9/5, Semuels) reports that “technology is helping eliminate some of the guesswork about what happens after kids climb onto the bus,” and these programs “are gaining popularity as more parents demand transparency in schools.” For example, by the 2009-10 school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District will offer “a program called MealpayPlus to let parents see what their children are eating for lunch.” The program will allow parents to “go online and add money to their child’s account,” as well as “flag foods that their child is allergic to, and elect whether their child could buy only meals or could buy items not in the meal plan.” Another program applies “a similar idea to grading and attendance,” and allows “parents to see what subjects their child needs to improve in,” among other things. Some critics argue that “some programs give parents too much control,” but advocates say that the programs foster “timely communication.”

Also in the News
Educator gives advice on suspending students.
In the Neighbors column of Canada’s Calgary Herald (9/4), Donna Gray wrote, “Unruly behavior isn’t uncommon in kids, especially growing teens, but tantrums, bad habits, and even violent acts can be scary for teachers and fellow students. To diffuse such situations, administrators may be forced to suspend a child or expel them altogether.” Anne Sherman, “vice-dean at the University of Calgary’s faculty of education,” said that, even though “every student is required to comply with a school’s particular social, academic, and behavioral expectations…sometimes, those goals need some flexibility.” Regarding what days suspensions should be scheduled for, Sherman noted that, if a “suspension comes before a long weekend, or starts on a Friday,” student may consider it “a holiday” rather than “a punishment.” Therefore, she suggested that suspensions “begin on a Monday, which forces the child to come to school.” Sherman added “that in-school suspensions offer a better opportunity for a student to reflect” than out-of-school suspensions.

Researchers testing method to counter cheating.
The Hartford Courant (9/8, Merritt) reported on Jason Stephens, “an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut,” who “thinks he has an answer for what he describes as a cheating epidemic.” Focusing on six schools, Stephens and a partner from The School for Ethical Education “have been meeting once every two weeks with a small group of students and teachers to craft their own academic integrity policy,” which could eventually “include a combination of an honor code, a public awareness campaign about the importance of academic honesty, and setting consequences for cheating.” As the project progresses, “Stephens plans to hold professional development workshops for teachers to show them ways they can deter cheating by creating an environment that stresses learning and mastery of the subject over test scores and high grades.” Additionally, Stephens “plans to work directly with students to teach them about the psychological mechanisms that allow them to justify cheating.”

In the Classroom
More Arizona students attending school online.
The Arizona Daily Star (9/8, Bodfield) reported, “Arizona has been operating schools without walls for a decade now, with almost 27,500 students last year attending programs approved in seven districts and seven charter schools.” In the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) alone, the online learning program “has about 600 students signed up.” Stuart Baker, “TUSD’s principal of distance learning,” noted that “students likely will experience some form of online learning in postsecondary education, so early exposure is helpful.” He added, “Virtual education is the wave of the future. It’s exploding everywhere, and it’s being looked to as a real way to deliver education quickly and efficiently to kids all over the world.”

Number of homeless Minneapolis students is growing.
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (9/8, Relerford) reported, “The number of students who are homeless or constantly on the move is growing, prompting schools to work harder to identify them and make sure they stay in school.” According to estimates, “about 5,500 of [Minneapolis'] 35,000 students — about one out of six — are homeless or lack permanent housing at some point during the school year,” an increase of “18 percent over the year before.” Further, “roughly 80 percent of Minneapolis’ homeless kids spend at least part of the year in local shelters, while others jump between motels, homes of friends or relatives and other temporary homes.” Similarly, experts noted, “the Chicago district, more than 10 times the size of Minneapolis’, experienced a 35 percent increase from 2002 to 2007.” In response, Minneapolis educators “have recently been trained to watch for students who hoard food or wear the same outfit for several days, both signs of homelessness.” Officials say that “Minneapolis is one of the best districts nationally for screening students for homelessness.”

Data indicate sex education may have little impact on teen pregnancy.
USA Today (9/9, Jayson) reports, “Sex education may not have the influence that many assume in averting teen pregnancy,” according to “new international data that find U.S. teens have babies at much higher rates than peers in many countries, regardless of the sex education received in those countries.” Sociologist Julien Teitler of Columbia University noted that “Finland and the Netherlands, for example, have a history of comprehensive sex education,” while “there’s almost no sex education in Greece, Italy and Ireland.” Even so, “teen birth rates are much lower in all those countries than the USA’s 42 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19.” USA Today notes, “Teitler’s figures, 2005-06 vital statistics and birth data from a dozen countries will update a study he conducted on 1960-95 data published in 2002 in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.”

Some California educators employing electronic “student response devices.”
California’s Riverside Press Enterprise (9/8, Klampe) reported that some educators in Inland Empire, California “are passing out electronic devices in their classrooms this year to encourage student engagement and get instant feedback on lessons.” The devices “can be used for just about any subject and at any grade level for true/false, multiple choice or even hand-keyed answers using a keypad,” and “connect to the teacher’s computer as well as to an interactive white board that can display questions for the entire class to see.” Further, the devices “allow two-way communication, so teachers can create customized test questions for individual students or send a quick message to remind a student to stay on track.” Some educators that employ such technology in their classrooms say the devices help to “ensure that all…students are engaged in a lesson and understand it.” Others, however, say that “student-response devices” promote guessing over the application of knowledge, and recommend “Web-based resources and concept-mapping tools” instead.

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Georgia initiative provides frequent assessment of kindergartners.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/8, Dodd) reported on the Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS) initiative, which “replaces the traditional tri-annual pencil and paper test used in the past by Georgia kindergarten teachers to rate students. The upgrade means more frequent assessments and academic rigor for five- and six-year-olds in kindergarten.” The tests “can be performed in the areas of English/language arts, mathematics, approaches to learning, personal and social development, social studies, science and motor skills.” And, “educators say the yearlong evaluations should provide a more accurate picture of what a kindergartner knows because they are done over time.” According to Robert Schaeffer of Fair Test, the assessments have “the potential to give more immediate feedback to the teacher without having the high-stakes emotional baggage for little kids.” The Journal-Constitution added that “most times, kindergartners being assessed have no idea,” and “the evaluations can be done as they work on group tasks or go it alone.”

On the Job
New York teachers receive lessons in classroom management.
New York’s Westchester Journal News (9/8, Weiner) reported that in Thiells, New York, “only about a third of the brand new teachers standing in front of a classroom have any training in handling student behavior.” To rectify this, area middle and high school teachers attended classroom management classes with James Gilbert, a “staff developer with the Rockland Teachers’ Center Institute.” Gilbert “outlined the three characteristics of effective teachers — good classroom” management skills, “positive expectations,” and a knowledge of “how to deliver instruction.” He added that “the most important element in their classrooms, after themselves, was consistency.” Gilbert also specifically addressed “problem students: how to recognize them, the reactions they evoke and possible ways of dealing with them.” Gilbert then “outlined strategies to deal with these children, from moving a child to another desk to sending them to a time-out room.” The Journal News noted, “Much of his advice is distilled from his own experience, but much comes from authors he recommended, Harry and Rosemary Wong and Jane Nelson.”

Montana teachers move to Wyoming for better pay.
The AP (9/8) reported that “more than 400 teachers from Montana…have signed on to teach in Wyoming’s booming education industry in the past few years. The trend has school districts across the state — particularly in low-paying, rural districts — nervous about their ability to continue recruiting new teachers.” The AP noted that “the overall budget for K-12 education in Wyoming is about $1.2 billion this year, compared with approximately $704 million in Montana.” However, “Montana has approximately 140,000 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grades, while Wyoming has 85,000 students. That means Montana spends about $5,000 per student, while Wyoming forks out more than $14,000 per student.” Because Wyoming’s Supreme Court in 1995 “called for education to be a ‘fundamental right’…an additional $150 million to $200 million” is now “spent annually on education” in the state. According to the Professional Teaching Standards Board in Wyoming, “416 licensed educators…earned their education degree at a Montana university.”

Study indicates Alabama mentoring program increased new teacher retention.
Alabama’s Montgomery Advertiser (9/8, Klass) reported, “Alabama’s new teacher mentoring program has helped beginning teachers get their start and convinced many to remain in the classroom,” according to Gov. Bob Riley (R). “All 2,900 beginning teachers in Alabama last school year were assigned veteran teachers to serve as their mentors through the program, which was funded at almost $4 million its first year.” A survey of the results found that “84.2 percent of first-year teachers thought their mentor was ‘Important’ or ‘Extremely Important’ to their ‘successful induction into the teaching profession.” A similar percentage “indicated that their mentors provided extensive ‘insights and strategies for classroom organization and management.’” Further, the Advertiser noted, the program “helped reduce the number of first-year teachers leaving the profession.”

Law & Policy
DOE promotes use of special education funding for early intervention services.
Education Week (9/8, Samuels) reported, “Bit by bit, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is trying to pull down the walls that have traditionally separated general and special education.” To that end, the DOE has recently focused on early-intervening services, such as “response to intervention” (RTI), “an educational technique that bolsters the skills of academically struggling students before they fall so far behind that they need special education services.” These “services are not intended for students in special education, but for those who need extra support for academic or behavioral success.” Yet, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows states to use “up to 15 percent of the money they receive from the federal government for special education” for “coordinated, comprehensive early-intervening services,” as long as they “make up the decrease in the special education budget through another source.” According to Education Week, the DOE “promotes this option as a win-win proposition: General education can benefit by programs aimed at reducing academic and behavioral problems.”

Safety & Security
Chicago schools, police increase security to protect students from street violence.
The Chicago Tribune (9/9, Sadovi) reports, “Faced with the first two killings of Chicago Public Schools students this academic year, officials from the district and the city’s Police Department on Monday unveiled beefed-up safety initiatives designed to help reduce the number of students injured or killed in street violence.” The measures include “increasing the number of police at schools where violence is brewing to offer ‘safe passage’ to and from schools,” increasing the number of patrols near “bus and train transfer spots,” and “introducing a new cell phone text option to give students at 10 pilot schools a way to secretly text police about concerns at their school or neighborhoods.” Students “from any school in the city may text a tip to the police.” Meanwhile, the school district has “increased the number of surveillance cameras” this year.

WBBM-TV Chicago (9/8, 4:11pm, CT), a CBS affiliate, reported that if the Txt2Tip “pilot program is successful it eventually could be implemented in all 125 Chicago public high schools. Similar text message programs have already been set up by about 50 police departments in about fifty cities around the country.”

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North Carolina district using GPS to track buses, students.
The AP (9/8) reported that Union Elementary School in Shallotte, North Carolina, “is using a global positioning system to keep track of buses bringing students to class.” Additionally, students will be given cards to scan as they board the buses, in order “to provide an electronic head count.”

North Carolina’s Star News (9/8, Ribeiro) noted that the system “will indicate whether the buses are early, on time, late or stationary, whether they’re speeding and how many miles they’ve traveled.” And, “if there’s an accident or the bus breaks down, the driver presses a panic button that alerts the school’s transportation department, and it dispatches emergency personnel or mechanics.” While the “live tracking system” has cost the school system $300,000 so far, school officials noted that, “by seeing the routes the buses actually travel, the staff will be able to make them more efficient.” The Star News added that Union Elementary is “test-driving the live tracking system this year, and the Brunswick County school district expects to gradually expand the program to its other schools.”

Florida district tests lunch menu items suggested by parents.
Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (9/8, Solocheck) reported, “This year, the Pasco school district added several new options to the lunch menu at the request, primarily, of adults who said that’s what their children want. New items include a hummus platter, a cottage cheese platter, a Caribbean shrimp and rice bowl, and a Miami pork rice bowl.” Yet, “in the first two weeks of school, those offerings haven’t attracted many takers.” While “students purchased 13,220 individual five-inch pizzas in…two weeks,” only “316 yogurt platters” were sold. “The shrimp bowl did slightly better with 1,533 sold.” Still, “School district food and nutrition planners are counting on kids’ willingness to try new things before they completely give up on any menu option. They plan to assess sales after a couple more weeks to determine whether some items can viably remain on the menu.” In addition to “student comments and sales…nutritional values of the weekly offerings” will also help determine which items stay on the menu.

NEA in the News
NEA recognizes Arizona district for teacher mentoring program.
The Arizona Republic (9/9, Scott) reports, “The Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) was recently nationally recognized for its efforts to keep young teachers in the district. Despite being in a state with inadequate school funding, National Education Association leaders said, the district, along with the Paradise Valley Education Association, developed a mentoring program for new teachers that has made retaining teachers easier.” Under the program, PVUSD teachers “meet with their mentors several times a month for instructional coaching, collaborations, one-on-one conferences and other methods to improve student achievement.” The article also contains a short interview with Julie Salley, director of professional development for the district

Education Week (8/26, Cech) added, “Scores were down slightly from those of the class of 2007 on the critical-reading section among all ethnic and racial groups except whites, who improved by 1 point.” Regarding the math section, “white students and those identified as ‘Asians, Asian-Americans, or Pacific Islanders’ posted the only gains.” In terms of “the writing section, only students in the Asian/Pacific Islander category improved on last year’s crop of scores.” Education Week also noted that “gender gaps persisted on this year’s SAT.” While there were “narrowing score differences between men and women on some other standardized math exams in recent years,” on the SAT, “the mean math score” for males “was 533 out of a possible 800 points, 33 points higher than the mean score for women.”

The Los Angeles Times (8/26, Holland) reported, “About 40 percent of those who sat for the exam were minorities, up from 33 percent a decade ago.” However, “the gap between average scores for black and Mexican American students and for white and Asian American students persisted.” According to the Times, “Asian American students topped the math scores, with an average of 564, compared with 549 for white students, 453 for Mexican American students and 429 for black students.”

Regarding these “racial and socioeconomic gaps” in scores, the New York Times (8/27, A15, Rimer) notes that “College Board officials said they reflected similar gaps in other areas of academic achievement, like grades, as well as in access to education.” A College Board official also “addressed what he called the myth of SAT preparation,” arguing that preparatory courses “result only in very small score improvements.” However, “longtime critics of the SAT disagreed, saying that private test preparation was unfairly distributed,” particularly in terms of “class and race.”

The Chicago Tribune (8/26, Malone), the Boston Globe (8/27, Schowrm), the Dallas Morning News (8/27, Scudder), New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/27, Mooney), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/26, Diamond), and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (8/26, Agee), among others, reported on the results for individual states.

In the Classroom
Dual-language kindergarten program profiled.
Texas’s Express-News (8/26, Kastner) reported on a dual-language kindergarten class at Regency Place Elementary School, “one of four new dual-language classrooms to open this year in North East Independent School District.” Educator Yesenia De Angel “teaches entirely in Spanish,” although “nearly half the students in her class are native English speakers who have little or no experience with the new language.” As a result, “pantomime goes a long way toward understanding — a finger to the lips, for instance, and everyone knows to be quiet — but De Angel never lapses into English.” The Express-News noted, “The students receive 90 percent of their instruction in Spanish and 10 percent in English, although the English-portion of the day is with another teacher.” According to De Angel, the “students begin to have comprehension in the new language right away.” She added, “By October, they’re writing in their journals.”

New York City pilot program to extend standardized testing to kindergartners.
On the front page of its Metro section, the New York Times (8/27, B1, Gootman) reports that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) “administration, which has made accountability the watchword of its overhaul of public education, is asking elementary school principals across the city to give standardized tests in English and math to children as young as kindergartners.” School administrators have been “urged…to join a yearlong pilot program with five testing options for kindergarten through second grade, including timed paper-and-pencil assessments in which students record answers in booklets for up to 90 minutes, as well as ones in which teachers record observations of individual students on Palm Pilots.” The program “is already inciting outrage among some educators and advocates who worry that [the mayor's] efforts to overhaul the school system have been overly focused on standardized testing.” The Education Department’s chief accountability officer, however, “stressed that the pilot program was voluntary…and that the tests were not high-stakes.”

Latino student population increasing nationwide.
California’s Mercury News (8/27, Noguchi) reports, “Latinos make up nearly half of California’s K-12 public school students, and their numbers are surging across the country, underscoring a growing challenge for educators.” Latino students account for a third of California students, and they “now make up the largest minority student group in 22 states.” The Mercury News notes that in California, “educators are struggling to address an academic achievement gap between Latinos and blacks and their higher-performing Asian and white peers.” Their “biggest challenge…is educating immigrant students, especially those who start school at an older age.” To help those students, California’s Oak Grove School District offers teachers “training in teaching English learners.” It also offers “English classes to parents, and…a program to help parents prepare their children for college.” Higher achievement has resulted from the district’s outreach efforts.

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California school uses character-education curriculum.
The Los Angeles Times (8/26, Rivera) reported on St. Genevieve High School, which “has gained a reputation as one of the most innovative high schools in Los Angeles.” The school provides “classes in Mandarin, overseas trips to China and France,” and “fitness instruction that includes salsa and tai chi.” It also has a policy of closing “for a week each year for a teachers retreat to discuss educational goals,” and “to foster cooperation and trust.” The school is particularly “well-known for its character-education curriculum.” This includes a number of field trips to public venues where “part of the goal is to teach the teenagers comportment.” The Times noted that “character education has its skeptics,” supported by a 2007 U.S. Department of Education report which “found that many programs have failed to prove their effectiveness.” But the school’s principal “cites the turnaround of his school as the best evidence” of the policy’s success, noting increases in student attendance and performance.

On the Job
New Orleans superintendent addresses social, economic challenges with operational changes.
USA Today (8/27, Toppo) reports that as New Orleans superintendent Paul Villas “begins his second…year trying to rebuild the ailing public school system, he not only has more teachers than he needs, he has eye-popping funding, nearly unchecked administrative power, and ‘a sea of goodwill’ that stretches across the USA.” Villas, described as a “renowned leader,” who “helped transform Philadelphia’s and Chicago’s public schools,” currently “faces challenges few other leaders do.” They include educating many children who are over-aged, not living with their parents, and also some schools where all students qualify “for free or reduced-price lunches.” To address these issues, Villas has been steadily making changes to the system. For instance, he has added “seven weeks of instruction” to the school year, “including two more hours of math and 1.5 hours of reading each day.” In addition, Villas “has remade [the district's] high schools into career-themed academies, and opened a school for ‘over-aged underachievers.’” In addition, he has implemented a computerized program “for older, struggling readers.”

New York City to reduce number of parking permits issued to educators.
On the front of its Metro section, the New York Times (8/27, B1, Neuman) reports, “The city announced on Tuesday a drastic cut in the number of parking permits given to teachers for parking around schools, to about 11,000 from about 63,000.” City officials are not sure “what effect, if any,” the move will “have on parking on crowded neighborhood streets around schools,” as “the amount of parking space reserved for teachers will not be cut, and could even grow.” According to Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, “an inventory found that there were more than 63,000 parking permits distributed to Department of Education employees but only about 10,000 parking spaces on the streets around schools designated for their use.” Therefore, “officials decided to limit the number of parking permits to the amount of available space, with an additional 1,143 for administrators, teachers, nurses and other employees whose jobs require them to travel around the city.”

Law & Policy
Connecticut state senator wants uniform calendar for schools.
The AP (8/26) reported that Connecticut state Sen. Thomas Gaffey (D), “the co-chairman of the legislature’s education committee, doesn’t want Connecticut schools open before Labor Day.” Gaffey “is seeking a uniform school calendar that begins after the Labor Day weekend,” arguing that “it makes no sense to hold classes for a few days this week, only to send students and teachers home for a long three-day holiday weekend.”

Special Needs
Michigan school to implement new program for dyslexic students.
Michigan’s Charlevoix Courier (8/27, Hoffman) reports on Learnable Linguistics, “a new teaching project is taking place at Northwest Academy to help students with dyslexia.” The project will teach students “a structured, phonetic and multi-sensory approach to teaching reading, spelling and other language skills based on the Orton-Gillingham approach and philosophy.” The goals “are to first train the teaching faculty at Northwest Academy the Learnable Linguistics program,” and then “screen students at the beginning of the year for the purpose of setting a baseline against which to measure improvement.” Educators “will then re-screen students at the end of the year and compare each score to evaluate the gain/loss of skills during the year.” The Courier notes, “The two final steps include using the Learnable Linguistics materials consistently and having the teachers keep a journal throughout the year of what they teach and how the skills they learned…helped or hindered their classroom activities.”

School Finance
Texas district may close small schools if state does not provide more funding.
Texas’s Forth Worth Star-Telegram (8/26, Ayala) reported, “The Fort Worth school district is dipping heavily into reserve funds to balance its budget this year, but officials warn that small schools could be closed next year if the state doesn’t provide districts more money.” If the district were to cover a $42 million budget “gap with reserve funds,” it would be left with “a balance of about $64 million next year, enough for about six weeks of operating expenses, officials said.” If the district is left with “less than three months’ worth of reserves,” it may not be able to “sell bonds as it tries to fund projects approved by voters in November.” Meanwhile, “the district is…working on next year’s budget. Administrators hope to offer recommendations to trustees by December.”

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Commercial links school hot dogs to colorectal cancer.
The AP (8/27, Tanner) reports on “a new TV commercial” that “shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria.” One of the children tells the audience, “I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer.” According to “the commercial’s pro-vegetarian sponsors,” The Cancer Project, “it’s a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon cancer.” But, the AP notes, “that connection is based on studies of adults, not children, and the increased risk is slight, even if you ate a hot dog a day.” Colleen Doyle of the American Cancer Society says she is concerned that the television campaign may give children the impression “that the occasional hot dog in the school lunch is going to increase cancer risk. … An occasional hot dog isn’t going to increase that risk,” she said

Educator provides advice for back-to-school events.
In a column for Teacher Magazine (8/27), National Board-certified teacher and author Marsha Ratzel provided strategies for “a successful parent meet-and-greet experience.” Foremost, Ratzel wrote, “is preparation. Think about the questions that most parents are going to want answered and make a list.” This way, “you’ll be able to think about your responses.” New teachers unsure of “how to respond to parent questions,” or what parents may ask, should “ask a colleague” for advice. Ratzel added, “Remember that this is what most parents want to know: (1) You’re going to treat their child fairly; and (2) You are committed to teaching both the curriculum and other skills well.” They also “want reassurance that you’ll listen to them as a valued partner in their child’s school year.” Ratzel also provided a list of “what is most important to remember” during back-to-school events, and added, “Learning the ropes of back-to-school events is tough work.” However, “once you have, you’ll have a powerful tool at your disposal for any event where parents are gathered.”

In the Classroom
California high school to offer legal career academy.
California’s Ventura County Star (8/27, Finch) reported that Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley, Calif., the “Simi Valley Unified School District’s award-winning magnet high school,” is offering students “classes…through the Law in Society Academy, a new program offering students a deep look into the country’s legal system.” The academy was “created out of student interest in the subjects,” and “consists of a handful of classes dedicated to law” such as Applied Legal Studies and Constitutional Law. And, “in a yet-to-begin class called Law & Order, seniors will be job shadowing and interning in legal careers.” Teacher Matt Long said, “They’re going to learn to be advocates for themselves. … They’re going to learn how to write well, speak for themselves and feel comfortable or competent with public speaking.” The Ventura County Star noted that the academy was funded with a $200,000 state grant for its first three years.

Virginia students show gains in math, reading on statewide tests.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (8/28, B1, Chandler, Glod) reports, “A switch in testing for students who are learning English fueled a rebound in scores this year for immigrant-rich schools in Northern Virginia that had failed the year before to meet targets set under” NCLB. The Post adds that unlike “last year, when the federal government…required Virginia school systems to give English learners the same reading tests as” fluent English-speakers, “federal officials” this year “allowed the state to assess…English-learning students through portfolios of their work over the school year.” Test results for the Virginia Standards of Learning show that “84 percent of students passed the standardized math exams, a four-point increase over the previous year…and 87 percent passed the reading tests, a two-point gain. In both subjects, African American and Hispanic students made the greatest gains, narrowing the gap between them and white students.” Furthermore, 75 percent of limited-English-speaking students passed the regular reading test, up from 64 percent last year.

The AP (8/28, Sampson) notes that 74 percent of Virginia’s public schools “met annual performance benchmarks in reading and mathematics under the No Child Left Behind law, but 93 schools face sanctions after failing to achieve those goals, state education officials said Wednesday.” According to the AP, Virginia Department of Education statistics show that 1,355 of 1,837 schools met all AYP goals in 2007-08, “largely tied to increased student success on the state Standards of Learning exams.” Virginia’s Daily Press (8/28, Grimes) also reports the story.

Workshops explore impact of writing on student achievement.
Education Week (8/27, Manzo) reported on workshops being sponsored by the National Writing Project, which “have drawn a steady and loyal following…among teachers seeking to refine their own skills, reflect on their practice, and learn strategies for teaching their young scribes.” But over time, as “the demands of high-stakes testing have led to a curriculum dominated by reading and mathematics instruction, discussion in the seminars these days is more likely to turn to the practical challenges of fitting writing into the school day, and how to show that it makes a difference in student achievement.” Participants in the workshops “work on their professional writing skills…study successful teaching practices” for developing critical thinking and analytical skills, and learn “strategies for teaching specific writing skills or genres, or for instilling science or math concepts through writing.” And, during “the school year, the teachers hold follow-up discussions on how they’ve applied their new skills and share findings of their classroom research.”

Head Start accuses immigration officials of targeting program’s centers.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/27, Pabst) reported, “Immigration enforcement officials are now targeting migrant and seasonal Head Start centers in some states as part of efforts to track down illegal immigrants,” according to the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association. President Yvette Sanchez “said immigration surveillance is emerging as one of the top three issues for the group, comprising migrant and seasonal Head Start directors, staff, parents and friends.” Other concerns were “financial appropriations and the need for more bilingual materials.” Sanchez said, “Since early 2007 many of our programs started to notice that Border Patrol of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles were parked outside their centers and some were following buses picking up children.” An ICE official “said it’s not the agency’s policy to stake out Head Start centers.” However, he added, “we will take into custody during…targeted operations anyone encountered who may be in the country illegally.”

Law & Policy
Pennsylvania school board to create “geographic seats.”
The AP (8/27) reported, “A federal judge has approved a legal settlement aimed at adding Hispanic representation to” Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Area School District. The decision “settles a lawsuit filed by a former school board candidate in Bethlehem,” who said that the district’s “methods of electing the board” kept “Hispanics from being elected.” Board members “are currently elected at-large. The agreement will create three geographic seats, including one in an area where voting-age Hispanics make up nearly 40 percent of the population.”

Safety & Security
Knoxville teachers seeking access to student criminal records.
The AP (8/28) reports, “Some Knoxville (Tenn.) teachers want to know about students’ juvenile crime records in light of last week’s fatal school shooting at Central High School.” Athanasios Bayiates, president of the Knox County Education Association, “said he has been talking with teachers at that school and in the county about a possible change in school procedures.” Bayiates “said that if teachers are aware of a student’s background, educators will ‘be able to approach that child in a more proactive way and de-escalate a situation.’”

Tennessee’s Knoxville News Sentinel (8/27, Alapo) added that the shooting has not only “prompted questions about whether teachers and administrators should know of a student’s juvenile record and background,” but “also raises a concern about the line between a student’s right to privacy and a second chance versus a teacher’s right to information about his or her students.” According to police, “there had been ‘recent contact’ between the boys” involved in the shooting, but the police “have declined to detail the nature of the disagreement.” The News Sentinel noted that Bayiates “said he’s been in talks with the Knox County Schools’ central office and security officials about creating procedures to that effect.” Bayiates added that student information provided to teachers “needs to be used in not judging that student, but it would inform you in how you relate to that student.”

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Maryland county approves “body safety” curriculum for elementary students.
Maryland’s Business Gazette (8/28, Raycheva) reports that the Frederick County, Md., school board approved a new “elementary school body safety curriculum” that “teaches students what to do if they are being treated inappropriately, and tells them where to seek help.” The program “will be field tested in three Frederick County schools this spring and offered throughout the county next year. Materials for the class were selected this year and included a video called ‘Joey Learns the Touching Rule;’ and books such as ‘Your Body Belongs to You,’ by Cornelia Spelman…and ‘Too Nice,’ by Marjorie Pellegrino.” Meanwhile, in order to “ensure the safety of the system’s youngest students,” the board also voted to make the program’s opt-out process more difficult. “Parents of pre-kindergarten to second graders who don’t want their children to” participate in the lessons “must meet with their child’s principal to work out an alternative way for the child to get the information.”

Facilities
School adds outdoor classroom designed by kindergartners.
The Tennessean (8/27, Highland) reported that Southside Elementary School’s “outdoor classroom is a new addition this school year, complements of last year’s kindergarten class, which helped design it.” The classroom has “a small amphitheater for seating, a rainwater-measuring device, and [a] grid patio. Flowers and small trees surround the classroom.” Last year, kindergarten students “were asked to draw out the things they wanted to have in an outdoor classroom,” and “their drawings were incorporated into the design.” Lisa Baines, a second-grade teacher said that for students, the classroom’s “setting makes the difference. Bringing them outside makes them more relaxed.”

School Finance
North Carolina district receives planning grant for technical high school.
North Carolina’s Havelock News (8/27, Buday) reported that “Craven County Schools will look at the possibility of a new high school that will focus on technology in Havelock.” Last week, Superintendent Larry Moser told the Board of Education “that the system had received a $40,000 planning grant for the” school, which “would focus on science, technology, engineering and math.” Annette Brown, Craven County assistant superintendent for instruction and curriculum, said that “the money from the state grant would be used to discover whether such a school would be feasible in the area.” According to Brown, Havelock High School’s principal, “officials at the Havelock campus of Craven Community College, and officials with Fleet Readiness Center East at Cherry Point would all be involved in the process.” She said that they would “tour other similar schools and assess the possibility of a STEM school in Havelock.”

Also in the News
Maryland county advertising campaign targets truants.
The Washington Post (8/28, B2, Hernandez) reports that Prince George’s County, Maryland’s Board of Education “is unleashing a barrage of television, radio and print advertising as part of a crackdown on one of the school system’s most serious problems: the 6,000 students who are regularly skipping class.” The school’s “public relations campaign…asks adults to call police if they see students out of class during school hours.” School board member Rosalind Johnson said that the system was “going to enforce the law, which is compulsory attendance.” Johnson added, “If we have to jail them, I want them jailed.” The Post notes, “In most cases, a truant apprehended by police would be taken to school, not to jail. From there, the student’s parents would be contacted.” However, Johnson “did not rule out harsher measures for repeat offenders.”

The AP (8/28) notes, “The 130,000-student school system has the second-highest truancy rate in Maryland after Baltimore. State data shows in the 2006-07 school year, more than 4 percent of county students were habitually truant.”

U.S. Army opens prep school to help recruits earn their GED.
The AP (8/27, Schafer) reported that the U.S. Army formally opened “its first prep school” yesterday to help recruits earn their GED. “Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.” The recruits’ “day begins in uniform at 5 a.m. with physical training,” after which “they attend about eight hours of academic review classes, followed by homework each evening.” The recruits also participate in “an hour of marching drills and military discipline” each day. “The soldiers work in small classrooms outfitted with simple desks, chairs, and dry-erase boards,” as well as “in-desk computers…used for test-taking.” Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson, “said the Army prefers those who graduate from high school on their own, because it demonstrates ‘tenacity.’” However, he added, “the reality of current graduation rates has the Army pressed to find an alternative.”

NEA in the News
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More NEA affiliates joining AFL-CIO.
Education Week (8/27, Honawar) reported, “When the National Education Association gave its affiliates the green light to join the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) two years ago, there was no stampede to the giant federation of labor unions, and it looked as if the national teachers’ union was more eager to take the step than its state or local groups were.” More recently, however, “a steady trickle of NEA locals…have begun to affiliate formally with the umbrella group.” Currently, “nearly one-third of the NEA’s 3.2 million members” have joined the AFL-CIO, and “labor experts say that both state and local affiliations are set to increase as teachers seek strength in numbers to fight battles over tenure, salaries, health care, and No Child Left Behind Act mandates.”

In the Classroom
Illinois district’s program allows students to learn in their native languages.
Illinois’s Niles Herald-Spectator (8/21, Bertuca) reported, “This year will be the first time East Maine Elementary School District 63, one of the most ethnically diverse in the state, will teach some children how to read and write in their native language, other than English.” School officials say that “with 85 percent of the student population speaking a language other than English at home…educating children in their mother tongues will lay the groundwork for their ability to learn English in the future.” For the optional program, schools throughout the district will teach kindergarten through second-grade students in Spanish and Gujarati. In third grade, students in the program will transition to English instruction. The district’s bilingual coordinator said, “By fourth grade, we hope the students (in the program) will be able to be in all-English classes.”

Federal program seeks to help students learn foreign languages.
eSchool News (8/21) reported on the National Security Language Initiative, “introduced by President Bush in 2006 to teach students Chinese and other foreign languages considered critical to the nation’s future security.” The initiative “is based on the premise that you can engage foreign governments and their citizens more effectively when you speak their language,” and emphasizes “‘critical need’ languages” such as “Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, and Farsi.” To facilitate the program, the Department of Education, “one of four federal agencies involved in the program, has awarded 88 grants totaling about $26 million to communities around the country to expand instruction in these languages beginning in kindergarten.” eSchool News noted, “Studies have shown that young children are much quicker than adults to pick up foreign languages.” Further, “research suggests that elementary school students perform better in other subjects…if they also take a foreign language.”

D.C. schools to offer money as incentive to boost student achievement.
In a front-page story, the Washington Post (8/22, A1, Haynes, Birnbaum) reports, “D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced plans yesterday to boost dismal achievement at half the city’s middle schools by offering students an unusual incentive: cash.” Students participating in the pilot program “will be eligible to earn up to 50 points per month and be paid $2 per point for attending class regularly and on time, turning in homework, displaying manners and earning high marks.” In the past, D.C. schools “have used detention, remedial classes, summer school and suspensions to turn around poorly behaved, underachieving middle school students, with little results.” The Post notes, “A study of the program released yesterday by a Cornell University economist said the incentive resulted in higher scores and an increase in the number of students attending college.” D.C. officials will also track the performance of similar programs elsewhere in Virginia, and in several other states.

In the Washington Post’s (8/21) D.C. Wire blog, David Nakamura noted that “students will get debit cards…and the money will be deposited in a bank that will be selected shortly.” Nakamura described the program in New York City that provides financial incentives for high AP test scores, and added, “As in New York, the D.C. program is being run in conjunction with Harvard University, which has also partnered with Chicago’s public schools.” In an interview, Rhee defended the program by saying that “it prepares students for getting a job, where showing up, being professional and doing good work is rewarded with a pay check.”

Texas educators trained in new hands-on science, math curriculum.
The Dallas Morning News (8/21, Wisk) reported that Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) Infinity Project “has drawn acclaim for its high school curriculum, which places emphasis on the real world and innovative applications of math and science in engineering.” So SMU “staff decided to expand” the program to include middle-school teachers, “piloting the program in 2005. A weeklong training program last week prepared teachers to implement the 2008-09 program.” At a Dallas-area park, the teachers fired “off Estes Alpha II rockets — a high-flying entry point into the practical application of what is taught to the students.” According to Rosemary Aguilar, director of professional development and curriculum for the Infinity Project, “Translating the technical to a student’s life can prevent disenfranchisement with science and math in school.”

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Nebraska writing assessment scores improve.
The AP (8/22) reports that “91 percent of [Nebraska's] fourth-, eighth- and 11th-graders tested proficient or better on the statewide writing assessment,” a two percent increase over “the 2006-2007 school year and the best proficiency rate since the state began the tests in 2001.” Additionally, “proficiency of minority students increased more than that of white students, as blacks, Asians and Hispanics increased by an average of more than 5 percentage points.” Pat Roschewski, the director of statewide assessment, “said the 7-year-old writing assessments have helped not only students, but teachers, who have seen their professional development bolstered, thereby improving classroom performance across all subjects.” Roschewski added, “There is a focus on writing that did not exist in every classroom in the state prior to the 2001 launch of this statewide assessment.”

Kansas, DOE partner for aviation technology design competition for students.
Kansas CBS affiliate WIBW-TV (8/22) reports that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) “has announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Kansas students to enter the ‘Real World Design Challenge’ — a nationwide contest that puts high school students along side industry experts to solve real engineering problems.” The challenge will “give Kansas high school students the opportunity to use computer-aided design (CAD) software while looking for ways to increase aircraft performance and reduce operating costs.” Student participants “will also be able to collaborate online with mentors from the aviation/aerospace industry; Department of Energy laboratories across the country; and scientists from the Oakridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.”

On the Job
Online professional-development networks being developed for educators.
Education Week (8/21, Sawchuk) reported, “As support and professional-development opportunities for teachers begin to move from conference rooms to chat rooms, a burgeoning number of states and districts are drawing on features from course-management software and popular social-networking sites to establish online networks connecting teachers to peers who may live dozens or even hundreds of miles away.” These networks are designed to allow “teachers at a school site” to “seek feedback, glean new ideas, and reflect on instructional practices through discussions with their colleagues.” The article features descriptions of programs being instituted in several states. An official with a pilot program for online teacher networking in South Carolina explained, “The idea is that teachers would leave their college [online social] network and enter a professional network.” While agreeing that “online networking can afford teachers opportunities to deepen their content-area knowledge,” some experts “underscored the importance of supplementing online interactions with face-to-face meetings.”

Connecticut Board of Education to propose overhaul of secondary schools.
The AP (8/21) reported that Mark McQuillan, “Connecticut’s education commissioner, says the state Board of Education is compiling a comprehensive proposal to overhaul the state’s secondary schools.” According to McQuillan, “the plan is still in the works, but will emphasize ways to improve student engagement and their performance in math and science.” McQuillan added that “education leaders also want to continue investing in preschool, reverse the causes of early reading failure, and develop better strategies to hire teachers for students who learn English as their second language.”

Number of male teachers declining, research suggests.
The Missourian (8/22, Rogers) reports that, “according to the National Education Association, the number of men teaching in elementary schools nationwide has declined steadily since 1981, when male teachers made up 18 percent of the staff. As of 2002, that number had halved to nine percent.” Two common factors that deter some males “from entering the education field” are “relatively low teacher salaries” and “the dated idea that teaching is ‘women’s work.’” Still, University of Missouri Fellows Mentor Sally Widbin “finds the trend troubling in light of her perception of male teachers as popular figures in elementary school.” Widbin “said she believes” that the men who do enter the education field “are more likely to gravitate toward secondary school teaching” because, as research suggests, “men prefer to ‘teach the subject’ while women prefer to nurture children.”

School Finance
State-funded grants allow Washington districts to provide fresh local produce.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (8/22, Langston) reports, “Twenty-five schools statewide will be able to buy Washington-grown fruits and vegetables as snacks this year, thanks to new legislation. The Local Farms-Healthy Kids bill passed nearly unanimously in Olympia earlier this year aims to get nutritious food to schoolchildren and provide economic opportunities to state farmers.” The legislation provides “state-funded grants” of “$57 per student…to allow” districts “to buy local food if it can find suppliers.” Schools then can “offer extra fruits or vegetables…every day, along with nutrition information and a story about where the produce is grown.” In some cases, officials are able to negotiate deals that are “no more expensive than…with large-scale distributors. But” providing fresh local produce “does require extra district staff time to wash [it] and make deliveries that small farmers can’t afford to individual cafeterias.”

Also in the News
Scotland charity launches teacher support hotline.
Scotland’s Herald (8/21) reported, “A 24-hour support service for teachers was launched” this week “by the charity Teacher Support Scotland. The free telephone service aims to improve the wellbeing of teachers by providing them with practical and emotional support.” In addition to the telephone service, “teachers will also be able to access self-help information online, ask questions of qualified coaches, and sign up for email coaching.” During a trial period of the service, “the top reason given by teachers for” calling the hotline was “working conditions (32 percent). This included workload and legal issues. Personal issues were rated second (24 percent), followed by health and wellbeing (18 percent). Careers and people skills were placed fourth and fifth (16 percent and 8 percent).” Dr. Ivor Sutherland of Teacher Support Scotland said that he is sure the “new services will make an invaluable contribution to the wellbeing of Scottish teachers — and thereby the education of Scottish children.”

Olympic medalist’s mother, a school principal, gives advice on helping students with AD/HD.
The AP (8/21) reported on Debbie Phelps, “principal of Windsor Mill Middle School in Baltimore” and mother of Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Michael Phelps. Ms. Phelps plans to return to Baltimore from Beijing, China, this week in order “to run two staff meetings and a leadership meeting” at her school before the classes begin on Monday. According to the AP, Phelps “has used her visibility to promote awareness for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), with which Michael was diagnosed as a child. She believes that more than medication is needed to help kids with AD/HD.” Phelps said, “Kids need structure. Kids need consistency. … I don’t care if they have AD/HD or not, they have to have those parameters in order to be successful.”

NEA in the News
NEA, education advocates propose NCLB changes.
The Christian Science Monitor (8/21, Khadaroo) reported, “Many groups have called for the” federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) “law’s accountability system to be refined or overhauled.” In fact, “dozens of proposals for changes…have already surfaced on Capitol Hill.” One proposal that is “gaining popularity is the use of ‘growth models.’ These [models] offer a way to track the progress of individual students over the course of a school year, which advocates say is fairer to schools and more useful for teachers and students.” The NEA “has called for states to be allowed to use such growth models for federal accountability. It also wants multiple measures of student achievement, not just standardized tests.” Meanwhile, the Alliance for Excellent Education in Washington wants the federal government to “give incentives for states to work together to develop common standards,” and to “place more weight on boosting graduation rates.”

Study indicates gains, remaining issues for girls in mathematics.
Education Week (8/22, Cavanagh) reported, “Educators and advocates have been pointing to the data and trying to get the word out for years: Girls perform as well as boys in mathematics.” A recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Berkeley, supports this conclusion. The study’s findings are “generally consistent with research dating to the 1990s showing both genders performing at roughly the same level in math.” Additionally, the new study “shows males [as] having no advantage over females in high school in that subject,” indicating that “young women have made strides in taking an increasing number of advanced math and science courses in high school.” Even so, “there is ample evidence that educators and policymakers should still be concerned about the waning of girls’ interest in certain math-related subjects as they move through the pipeline,” and the impact of negative stereotypes. The study concluded that, “overall, differences in math performance are ‘insufficient to explain lopsided gender patterns in participation in some STEM fields.’”

In the Classroom
Some Utah districts to receive arts specialists.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/22, Dicou) reported that, “starting this year, 50 schools” in Utah “will have arts specialists on staff thanks to a four-year grant.” These specialists are “highly trained and experienced educators with college degrees in teaching and their art specialty,” and “will integrate arts into subjects such as history, science, and even math.” One of the specialists involved explained that “educational studies have shown that students learn in a variety of ways, and one effective way to teach is through art.” Douglas Allen, a fine arts consultant for one of Utah’s districts, added that “using art to reinforce ideas taught in other subjects transfers the concept from a student’s short-term memory to the long-term.” The Tribune noted, “Specialists will work side by side with teachers and will collaborate behind the scenes so teachers can continue to use art principles in their own lesson plans.”

Massachusetts schools work to boost math education.
Massachusetts’s Standard Times (8/24, Evans) reported, “With MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) test results showing slumping middle school math performance across the state and South Coast, local school districts are finding creative ways to increase math instruction and channel adolescent energy.” For example, one district “has addressed its elementary school math gap by instituting math liaisons,” who “act as coaches and help other elementary school teachers perfect their math teaching techniques.” The district is also “introducing changes in the daily schedule to allow for additional math and English language arts classes at the expense of music and arts.” In another district, “educators are placing their focus on raising students’ motivation by offering after-school programming that will get kids off the couch and working on their math and language skills instead.”

Vermont schools increase use of technology in classroom.
Vermont’s Rutland Herald (8/24, Peters) reported, “Vermont schools are trying to embrace a wider variety of technology” by “bulking up on interactive white boards and smaller laptops, and…taking advantage of free software programs whenever possible.” Many would also “like to be able to incorporate technology like Skype that, outside of the classroom, are already popular with kids.” When deciding which technological devices to incorporate in the classroom, however, “schools must consider socioeconomic and geographic problems, professional development, and educational value,” the Herald noted. For instance, “content-driven technology can be easily controlled and monitored by teachers — unlike a personal laptop or PDA — while still providing a fun, hands-on experience, according to” an official with Vermont’s Department of Education.

Florida educators cope with new state regulations on evolution.
In a front-page story, the New York Times (8/24, A1, Harmon) reported on David Campbell, a biology teacher at Ridgeview High School in Orange Park, Fla., who is teaching to new state regulations that “explicitly require…public schools to teach evolution.” The article chronicles the first classes of the semester for Campbell, who “helped to devise the state’s new evolution standards.” The article also details the history of evolution being taught in the classroom, both in Florida and across the U.S. The decision by the Florida Department of Education, along with “legal rulings against school districts seeking to favor religious versions of natural history,” have contributed to more states giving “more emphasis in recent years to” the concept of evolution. The Times continued, “With a mandate to teach evolution but little guidance as to how, science teachers” in Florida “are contriving their own ways to turn a culture war into a lesson plan.” And the results of their instruction “may bear on whether a new generation of Americans embraces scientific evidence alongside religious belief.”

Some districts experimenting with ninth-grade-only schools.
The AP (8/24, White) reported, “Some educators are turning to ninth-grade-only schools to separate 14- and 15-year-olds from older kids and make the transition easier.” A school superintendent in New York, explained, “People just really value having our ninth-graders have a chance to develop intellectually, emotionally and socially outside of the context of a large comprehensive high school setting.” Experts say that “the ninth-grade year is crucial to success in high school,” and also a time “when most problems start to appear.” The AP added, “There are more ninth-graders in U.S. high schools than any other class,” as “many students either aren’t promoted to 10th grade or drop out before they get there.” Critics of the ninth-grade-only schools say the idea makes “some sense,” but add that “simply moving students to another campus, building or wing isn’t enough.” One educator added, “The key…is making sure that you’re facilitating the communication between teachers and administrators in ninth grade who are preparing students for eventual promotion.”

On the Job
Some Illinois districts trying to recruit more minority teachers.
The AP (8/25) reports, “School districts in downstate Illinois are trying to recruit more minority teachers.” In some districts, “more than half of the students are minorities but more than 80 percent of teachers are white.” To help recruit more minority teachers, districts are taking steps such as “offering tuition assistance, providing mentors to potential teachers and expanding recruiting to places as far away as Louisiana.” According to an area school board president, “among the challenges they face in a competitive recruiting environment is finding minority teachers who want to come there.”

Arizona educators adjust to online instruction.
The Arizona Republic (8/25, Parker) reports, “A growing number of educators have moved into online teaching to fit into their day jobs or as a part-time position to fit into their home schedule,” and are “finding [that] it takes awhile to go from traditional classrooms to computer courses, especially when dealing with the hurdles of electronic communication.” The article focuses on Arizona’s Mesa Distance Learning, which “has such high standards that a 2007 Arizona Auditor General’s report recommended other state distance-learning programs follow its example, such as requiring proctored final exams and that students pass the final exam to receive class credit.” The program’s director noted that, in the past ten years, online education programs in the U.S. have grown from 50 to 5.5 million. The Republic chronicles how different teachers have adjusted to online instruction, and how they build relationships with their students.

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D.C. students return to school under changes implemented by new chancellor.
The Washington Post (8/25, A1, Haynes) reports on its front page, “After a tumultuous year of unprecedented change, the fingerprints of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will be found all over” Washington D.C.’s “120 public schools as students return today.” This past year, Rhee closed “23 under-enrolled schools;” finalized “overhauls at 26 academically ailing schools; and” fired “150 people she considered poor performers.” The Post notes that Rhee’s success “will depend on what happens in the classroom.” Currently, Rhee “is widely expanding intervention programs for students who need help…and offerings in science, technology, art, music, gifted education, and Advanced Placement.” In addition, Rhee “is seeking a contract with the Washington Teachers’ Union that would give its members the option of making higher salaries in exchange for relinquishing tenure and seniority protections.”

According to the AP (8/25, Westley), “Rhee is convinced a motivated teacher can help even the most disadvantaged student achieve.” That belief, she said, is “shaped by three years of teaching in Baltimore.” Rhee explained, “We drove the kids relentlessly and they achieved.” The AP notes that “recent test scores show the number of [D.C.] schools making adequate progress in math and reading under the federal No Child Left Behind law increased from 31 to 47.” While “some say the credit lies with reforms by Rhee’s predecessor, Clifford Janey, who now leads the schools in Newark, N.J., Rhee attributes the change to a culture of accountability.”

Law & Policy
Truant Texas students to be tracked with GPS anklets.
The AP (8/23, White) reported that court authorities in San Antonio, Texas, “will be able to track students with a history of” truancy “under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring.” Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said that she expects approximately 50 students “from four San Antonio-area school districts” to “wear the anklets during the six-month pilot program” announced last week. “Penn said students in the program will wear the ankle bracelets full-time and will not be able to remove them.” According to the AP, “Penn will target truant students with gang affiliations, those with a history of running away and skipping school, and those who have been through her court multiple times.” Penn said, “Students and parents must understand that attending school is not optional. … When they fail to attend school, they are breaking the law.” The AP noted that the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said that the program “raises privacy concerns.”

Safety & Security
Violence in Pennsylvania schools increases.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/23, Hardy, Graham) reported, “Violence and other serious incidents in Pennsylvania schools jumped statewide by 13.1 percent in 2006-07, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s annual school safety report, released yesterday.” The report also revealed that Philadelphia had 20 persistently dangerous schools in 2007-2008, up from 12 such schools in 2006-2007. In addition, “Philadelphia…also had a six percent jump in serious incidents for the latest school year.” The Inquirer noted that of the 82,267 “incidents of misconduct and 12,918 arrests reported to the state in 2006-07, about two-thirds were serious offenses.” And although “the number of assaults on students…fell,” over a one-year period, “the number of aggravated assaults on staff increased. Pennsylvania DOE spokeswoman Shiela Ballen attributed the increased rates to “a push by the department for more accurate figures from school districts.”

Facilities
Massachusetts district to remove lead paint from school exterior.
The Boston Globe (8/24, Travaglini) reported that Winchester schools board of selectmen voted “to accept a $298,000 bid from Environmental Restorations Inc. to remove lead paint from the exterior of the Muraco Elementary School before the Sept. 3 start of the school year.” Parents have expressed concern “over work left undone posing health risks to staff and students,” as the school “was in poor condition, with peeling paint hanging from the entryway and around its windows.” Town Manager Melvin Klecker has “said [that] the town would pay the contractor out of the existing operating and capital projects accounts and consider replenishing a portion of those funds from the reserve fund.”

Also in the News
Experts say parents accompanying children to school should balance “support and suffocation.”
ABC News (8/22, Childs, Chitale) reported that “many parents remain unsure as to whether they’re doing more good than harm when tagging along with their kid for the first day of class.” According to child-development experts, “while parental accompaniment can be important in making a child feel secure at school, parents must be very careful to strike a balance between support and suffocation.” One expert said, “Going to school by yourself is an important developmental step for children.” He cautioned parents that “hanging on too tightly can send a message that you don’t think the child can do it on his or her own.” Jan Harp Domene, the national president of the Parent Teacher Association, urged parents of young children “to institute a five-minute limit on the first day, staying only long enough to ensure that their child is settled in.”

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School phobia experienced by about five percent of students.
The Houston Chronicle (8/25, Radcliffe) reports that “roughly five percent of youngsters experience” school phobia “at some point in their academic careers, struggling for at least two weeks to attend or remain at school.” According to experts, “pre-teens starting at new campuses are especially susceptible” to the condition, also known as “school refusal” or “school avoidance.” Experts describe school phobia as an anxiety-based condition, “where a child gets anxious at the idea of going to school. It may manifest itself in a physical way, stomach pains, leg pains.” And, “in some cases…the condition becomes so severe that” a child may “refuse to do homework, dawdle getting ready in the morning, or throw tantrums.” Sargent suggests that “children with chronic complaints…be taken to a pediatrician to rule out any physical problems. If the doctor suspects school phobia,” solutions such as “therapy, medication, and behavior modification” could be considered.

Students struggle with new Algebra 2 exam.
Education Week (8/25, Cavanagh) reported, “Students across the country struggled with advanced algebra on a first-of-its-kind test in that subject, according to a report to be released this week by Achieve.” The nonprofit organization is “part of the American Diploma Project Network, an effort among two-thirds of the nation’s states to align standards, tests, and graduation requirements.” The Algebra 2 exam was developed by the organization in cooperation with a number of states, and “is designed to be a demanding exam,” its authors say. As a result, “scores from the 12 participating states were low. North Carolina’s students earned the highest average of percentage points correct, 35 percent.” Organization officials “cautioned against reading too much into individual states’ results, which they said could be affected by several factors.” But “even so,” they said, “it’s a big reminder of how much further we have to go.”

California mathematicians dispute traditional role of teaching algebra. The San Francisco Chronicle (8/25, Tucker) reported that in July, the California “Board of Education decided every eighth-grader must have a healthy dose of algebra.” While critics attacked the decision “as failing to recognize the lack of qualified math teachers and the high failure rate for the middle school students already taking it,” supporters pointed out that “algebra improves critical thinking, is the gateway to college and puts all kids, regardless of income or ethnicity, on the path to a good career.” Keith Devlin, Stanford University researcher and mathematics professor, explained that algebra has many uses, but state “schools don’t always do a very good job teaching it.” He argued that “instead of showing students the possibilities and beauty algebra offers,” schools “ultimately steer frustrated and bored students away from math and the 21st century careers that use it.” Former University of California-Santa Cruz mathematician Paul Lockhart “believes today’s schools have killed the fun part.” He “favors self-discovery in math, letting students” solve “problems like a fun puzzle rather than learning and solving equations for no apparent reason.”

In the Classroom
Ten NYC schools pilot new early literacy program.
The New York Times (8/26, B3, Gootman) reports that New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein has launched a “pilot program that would overhaul the way children in 10 city schools are taught to read. … Called the New York City Core Knowledge Early Literacy Project, it will run for three years, following kindergartners at the 10 schools through the first and second grades.” According to the Times, the pilot program will involve approximately 1,000 children and “represents a shift from the Bloomberg administration’s longstanding approach to teaching children to read, known as ‘balanced literacy.’ Under that approach, children are encouraged to select books that interest them, at their own reading levels, from classroom libraries.” However, the Core Knowledge curriculum “is heavily focused on content, vocabulary skills and nonfiction books, based on the belief that when students struggle in middle school and beyond, it is largely because they lack basic knowledge in subjects like history, science and literature.”

Some D.C.-area schools face issues at start of school year.
In a front-page story, the Washington Post (8/26, A1, Hernandez) reports on the first day of classes for many Washington-area public schools. “Like others nationwide, they are trying to meet steadily rising academic requirements under the No Child Left Behind law, close achievement gaps between students of different races and economic groups, and deal with tighter budgets caused by the economic slowdown.” The article profiles a school that “reflects the challenges and possibilities of teaching in” Maryland’s Prince George’s County. “More than 90 percent of the school’s 440 students come from families poor enough to qualify for meal subsidies.” Further, “about 85 percent of them are Hispanic,” and “about 57 percent have limited English skills.” The school also faces issues with truancy and graduation rates, as well as “the financial woes brought on by the national economic slowdown.” Despite these issues, “the school met state testing goals for the past three years,” and educators say they are confident of continued success.

Parents concerned over new Rhode Island graduation standards.
The AP (8/25) reported that Rhode Island’s Education Department is pushing new standards that “would make state tests in math and English administered to 11th-graders count for one third of a student’s graduation requirements. Currently, the test counts for 10 percent.” While education officials say the measure “will make school districts work harder to support struggling students,” some parents are concerned “that the newer standards will make it more difficult to earn a diploma and boost the dropout rate.”

Arizona district shows greater AIMS progress compared to state.
Arizona’s Yuma Sun (826, Roller) reports, “The most recent results of the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) reveals Yuma high school students have shown greater rates of progress than students across the state,” district officials say. “Between 2004 and 2008, the number of” students at Yuma schools “meeting or exceeding mathematics standards increased by 34 percent, compared to Arizona’s 28 percent,” while in terms of reading scores “the increase was 28 percent compared to Arizona’s 14 percent.” District officials noted that although “increased enrollment” had led to “decreases [in] teacher-to-student time,” the schools had made progress “over the last four years,” due “in part to the Yuma Professional Learning and Networking consortium (PLAN) to maximize teacher training.” The Sun notes that PLAN “is a staff development protocol to show teachers how to get and keep students engaged in the learning concepts they present in the classroom.”

Fewer Michigan students may be graduating on time.
The AP (8/26, Martin) reports, “Michigan’s revised, lower high school graduation rates resulted in fewer schools meeting federal No Child Left Behind goals,” according to state officials. “About 80 percent of Michigan’s public schools made adequate yearly progress under the federal law for the 2007-08 report year,” a decline “from 83 percent in the 2006-07 report.” The falling rate “in part reflects the state’s revised methodology for calculating high school graduation rates.” The AP explains that, “for the first time, the rates reflect the percentage of students getting a regular diploma within the traditional four-year high school timeframe — a change required by No Child Left Behind rules. All states either have adopted or are moving toward similar methodology.” In addition to this, Michigan has “raised its scoring requirements for standardized tests,” so although “test scores were generally better in the past year, in some cases they didn’t improve enough to meet the higher standards.” The Detroit Free Press (8/25, Higgins) also reported the story.

On the Job
Nebraska districts adopting more aggressive recruitment tactics.
The AP (8/25) reported, “It can be difficult to attract new teachers to small Nebraska school districts,” particularly “for specialized positions such as music and industrial arts.” According to the Nebraska State Education Association, “state statistics show that only about half of the people…who received teaching certificates from the state in 2005 were teaching here two years later.” As a result, “superintendents have had to get more creative and aggressive” with their recruitment drives. “Many are diligent in building relationships with education departments in the state’s colleges, then relentless in pursuing the graduating students in those departments.” Some superintendents try “to determine early in the school year which of [their] teachers aren’t planning on returning, so [they] can advertise earlier and get a better crop of candidates.” Many districts also “try to develop their own teachers” by helping with professional development and encouraging bright students “to come back and teach in their hometown.”

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Law & Policy
Ohio school reports to include value-added data.
Ohio’s Plain Dealer (8/25, Stephens) reported, “This year’s district and school report cards, which will be released [today] by the Ohio Department of Education, for the first time will include a measurement known as value-added.” The value-added measurement “tracks whether a year’s worth of learning is actually happening in the course of a school year — regardless of whether a child passes a test at the end of that year.” Ohio’s value-added data is based on the reading and math scores of public-school students in grades” four through eight. The measurement “takes into account a student’s academic background and comes up with a predicted score.” But, “the most potentially explosive thing about value-added is its ability to determine which individual teachers are effective and which are not.” The Plain Dealer noted that “Ohio and just three other states — Tennessee, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — use the value-added measurement statewide.” Ohio’s Marion Star (8/25, Moore) also covered the story.

Special Needs
Pennsylvania district begins inclusive education initiative.
Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/25, Panian) reported that the Greater Latrobe School District has begun an “inclusive education initiative” for its special-needs students, which it embarked on “by learning how state laws dictate the inclusion of special-needs children at public schools.” The article chronicled the integration of the first student, noting that Pennsylvania “law gives special-needs children the right to pursue an education with non-disabled peers in regular schools and classrooms.” However, currently the state “ranks 46th in least restrictive educational settings for special-needs children.” Stephen Suroviec, “executive director of The Arc of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg,” said that the state’s low ranking was not the result of “parents of special-needs children” choosing “to segregate them to keep them safer from more stringent learning environments.” Rather, Suroviec said, it is because school districts in the state “have not embraced [the law] as much as they should.”

Safety & Security
Most Pennsylvania schools are safe, report shows.
Pennsylvania’s Times News (8/25) reported, “The vast majority of Pennsylvania’s public school students continue to attend schools that are safe places to learn, according to the Department of Education’s latest annual school safety report.” According to the report, “less than four percent of students statewide were involved in incidents of misconduct during the 2006-07 school year and 12 Pennsylvania schools — less than one percent of all public schools in the state — were considered ‘persistently dangerous’ due to safety-related incidents.” Furthermore, “the 82,267 total reported incidents in 2006-07 involved 67,088 offenders — or 3.7 percent of all Pennsylvania students.” Also, “nearly one-third of the incidents reported were classified by schools as violations of the student code of conduct, meaning they were non-violent incidents that did not rise to the level of any other reportable offense.”

Parents have mixed reactions to Texas district’s teachers carrying guns in school.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of The Opening Bell, the AP (8/26) reports, “Along with normal first-day jitters and excitement, students in” the Harrold school “district started school Monday wondering which teachers might be toting firearms.” Some parents said that they were unaware of the school board’s decision last fall to allow school employees “to carry concealed guns on campus until recent publicity about the school board’s policy.” Feelings about the policy varied. “Some parents said they felt their children were safer,” while “others opposed the plan, which appears to be the first of its kind nationwide.” Superintendent David Thweatt said that “each employee who wants to carry a weapon first must be approved by the board based on his or her personality and reaction to a crisis. … In addition to training required for a state concealed weapons license, they also must be trained to handle crisis intervention and hostage situations.”

School Finance
Most states report educational funding gaps, report shows.
Education Week (8/25, McNeil) reported, “Just two months ago, states had already racked up $40 billion in budget shortfalls so far this fiscal year.” That number continues to rise, and “as a result, some states, “including Alabama, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Nevada…have made targeted cuts to certain education programs, according to a June report by the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures.” The report also “found that 31 states reported budget gaps, ranging from $10 million in Hawaii to $2 billion in Arizona –nearly 20 percent of that state’s general-fund budget.” Education Week noted that for schools, “the problem isn’t just with revenue, but [also] with inflation…as the price of everything from fuel and clothing to food and textbooks is increasing.” Meanwhile, “officials point out that…while” some states “have been hit particularly hard by the housing market slump, energy-rich states such as Alaska and Wyoming are profiting from high fuel prices and socking away billions of dollars in reserves.”

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Fewer families offering to host foreign exchange students.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of The Opening Bell, the AP (8/25) reported, “With many families cutting back on vacations and restaurant meals in tight times, some who might have willingly taken in a foreign exchange student are opting out until the economy improves.” As a result, some exchange programs have “found new ways to recruit hosts,” while “others have reduced the number of foreign teenagers they accepted.” For example, the Forte International Exchange Association “brought 60 high school students to American public schools in the United States last year including a few in the Portland (Ore.) area — and had planned to bring 75 this year, but with a shortage of host families, they capped applications at 40.” AYUSA International, on the other hand, “will host its usual 1,500 high school students this year.” Group director Sherry Carpenter “said the group concentrates on areas without severe economic problems,” and added that “area representatives explain costs upfront.”

In the Classroom
NYC program paying students to pass AP exams shows mixed results.
On the front page of its Metro section, the New York Times (8/20, B1, Gootman) reports on the 31 New York City high schools that “[o]ffered up to $1,000 for scoring well on Advanced Placement exams” through a program “aimed at closing a racial gap in Advanced Placement results.” The schools’ students “took 345 more of the tests this year than last,” and the number of students scoring 5′s, “the highest possible score,” increased. However, this was offset “by a decline in the number of 4′s and 3′s,” and has “rais[ed] questions about the effectiveness of increasingly popular pay-for-performance programs in schools here and across the country.” Critics of pay-for-performance programs said the first year’s result “sort of undercuts the argument that the problem is the question of motivation.” Proponents of the program, however, “said they were encouraged by the increase in test-takers and student survey results.” They added that “they never expected to see significant change in the first year, noting that the program was announced after the school year was under way and students had signed up for Advanced Placement classes.”

Utah third-graders show improved reading skills.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/19, Schencker) reported, “Utah third-graders became better readers over the course of last school year and outperformed the nation as a whole, according to results of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills reading test.” The results coincide with the first year that “Utah third-graders took the Iowa Reading Test twice — once in the fall and then again in the spring.” In the fall test, “79 percent of Utah third-graders were reading on grade level.” That figure had risen to 86 percent by spring. That figure puts Utah third-graders “in the 60th percentile nationwide,” up from the 57th percentile. Further, “almost all ethnic, economic and ability groups improved between the fall and spring tests.” The results are attributed to a state-wide program in which “school districts create plans to improve student reading achievement and can use state money for reading coaches, reading materials and some assessment tools, among other things.”

Minnesota district creates Hmong magnet school.
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (8/20, Johns) reports, “For six years, Phalen Lake [School] has served its large Hmong population by offering Hmong culture and language classes during an enrichment period in the school day. But this fall, the school is converting into a Hmong magnet school, tying Hmong culture and history into the core curriculum at each grade.” Now, “[i]nstead of the once-a-day cultural enrichment class that students could take in the past, the school will now embed parts of the Hmong culture into the core curriculum.” This fall, “each grade will study a different aspect of the Hmong migration story. In the winter, they’ll study village life in Laos.” Principal Catherine Rich said that the Hmong history curriculum is “aligned to the state’s social studies standards.” The Star Tribune notes that of Phalen Lake’s 63 percent Asian student population, the majority are of Hmong heritage.

On the Job
Connecticut district’s program ties students’ test scores to teacher evaluations.
Connecticut’s Greenwich Time (8/20, Gustafson) reported on the “Teacher Evaluation and Professional Learning” program, “which encourages school administrators to take a more hands-on role in advising teachers and evaluating their performance.” The Greenwich Times explains, “Under the new system, teachers will in large part be rated on how their students are performing under a broader — and, district officials say, much more specific — list of standards.” If a teacher’s performance does not meet the standards, “the administrator must offer a variety of ‘professional development’ opportunities, from special workshops and coursework to classroom visits at other schools.” In a prior version of the program, “principals typically spent several days observing teachers in the classroom before writing evaluations, which ranged widely in length and detail, and did not use standardized benchmarks.” The program was then revised “in response to a state requirement for periodic reviews as well as teachers’ union demands for a more streamlined evaluation system with clear-cut standards.”

Denver union, school leaders debate proposed changes to merit-pay system.
Time (8/19, Kingsbury) reported, “At its heart is a notion everyone seems to agree on: better teachers deserve better compensation. But it’s the finer details that are calling into question the future of Denver Public Schools’ acclaimed pay-for-performance program.” Denver Union and district leaders have been at odds with each other since February over proposed changes to the Professional Compensation System for Teachers (ProComp), which was implemented in 2006. At issue is Superintendent Michael Bennet’s “proposal to cap base salaries, while increasing performance-based bonuses.” Other proposed changes “could lead to all teachers” receiving up to $9,000 more each year, mostly through incentive pay. “And while the district’s offer would raise starting salaries from $35,000 to $42,000, base salaries of more-tenured teachers would not rise.” The teachers union is “calling instead for an across-the-board salary bump.”

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Louisiana receives grant to train principals.
The AP (8/19) reported, “Louisiana is receiving a $3.4 million education grant designed to help recruit and train qualified school principals.” The grant funds, given by the Wallace Foundation, “will be used to pay for research involving ways to get well-trained principals into districts with underperforming schools.”

Law & Policy
Massachusetts school requires students to take Breathalyzer tests before social events.
Massachusetts’s Standard-Times (8/19, Brown) reported, “Dartmouth High School students will now be required to take Breathalyzer tests in order to attend proms, banquets and dances.” The School Committee changed the student handbook following a “controversy in June when nearly two dozen students were found to be drinking at the senior prom and were barred from participating in graduation.” Officials hope “the new policy will discourage students from drinking before a school social event.” Robert Taylor, a Dartmouth High School assistant principal, “researched the use of the Breathalyzer over the summer, receiving 72 replies from secondary schools regarding their use at proms and dances.” While methods for employing the Breathalyzer differed, “most schools claim the Breathalyzer is used less and less over time once students learn it is being used.” Taylor added, “Since we Breathalyze every student, it definitely has been effective in curtailing drinking before events.”

Illinois law requires early vision screening for school children.
The Chicago Sun-Times (8/19, Thomas) reported that “Illinois law now requires all children enrolling in kindergarten — and any student enrolling for the first time in any school — to have an eye exam done by a doctor or optometrist.” The purpose “of the new law is to spot vision problems that could affect school performance at an earlier stage, when they’re often easier to treat.” The Sun-Times noted that eye examinations performed by an optometrist are “more thorough” than the “basic vision screenings done during school physicals.” An optometrist “can detect problems such as nearsightedness, astigmatism, and amblyopia, the condition sometimes known as ‘lazy eye.’” For families that “can’t afford the exam or lack health insurance, the state offers waivers.”

Congress authorizes national center to study education technology.
Education Week (8/19, Klein) reported, “Congress has authorized” the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies, “a new federal research center that will be charged with helping to develop innovative ways to use digital technology at schools and in universities.” The National Center “will be charged with supporting research and development of new education technologies, including internet-based technologies,” and “will also help adapt techniques already widely used in other sectors, such as advertising and the military, to classroom instruction.” Margaret D. Roblyer, of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, noted that “[t]he center could help educators and researchers keep track of changes in educational technology.” Education Week added, “The program’s initial funding will come from [the] Education Department, but it will be able to receive funds from any federal agency, as well as from private donors, such as corporations and foundations.”

Florida board approves changes to NCLB policies.
The AP (8/20) reports, “Florida’s education board approved a federal pilot program on Tuesday to give the state more flexibility dealing with troubled schools.” The pilot program “is a softening of the current program.” Under the new rules, “schools that fail to meet standards under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program will receive targeted help from education experts.” Additionally, “state education leaders can [now] assess each failing school and design programs that best fit the school.” Under the previous version of the program, “schools were required to take specific, federally mandated steps at specific times if they failed to make adequate yearly progress.” Florida is one of several states “accepted to the pilot program earlier this year.”

Special Needs
Missouri district works to keep AD/HD students focused.
The Southeast Missourian (8/19, Dohogne) reported on methods used by educators in the Cape Girardeau School District for educating students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Educators in the district, which in 2007 had about 132 AD/HD students, prefer to “teach a student with AD/HD…in a regular classroom.” To help keep AD/HD students focused during class time, teachers remind the students “of what is expected of them to succeed,” and they may look a particular student “in the eye when talking to the class.” Teachers also “use visual aids to help the students focus.” For instance, “[i]f a student is having trouble in the hallway staying in a single-file line with the rest of the class, a teacher might show a picture of students in a straight line.” Still, “[i]f a classroom is too distracting to” a child with AD/HD, he or she may “be moved to a special classroom, where more one-on-one instruction time with a teacher can be provided.”

Safety & Security
Safety audit reveals flaws in Missouri public school practices.
The AP (8/19) reported, “A state review of safety at Missouri’s public schools found problems with discipline policies, emergency planning, building security, and Internet safety.” Auditors “evaluated education officials and school districts based on compliance with state laws and recommendations from the Missouri Center for Safe Schools.” They found “that school districts had not always provided parents and students with complete disciplinary policies,” needed to better educate “students about potential Internet dangers, and could do more to prepare for emergencies.” Additionally, “[a]uditors found that school districts have either not reported to the education department or been too vague in how the incidents are categorized.” Further, according to the audit, “nine state agencies have independently spent $64 million for almost 50″ school safety “programs over the past six years.” Auditors instead recommended the establishment of “a state safe schools program” with “one state agency” designated to oversee it.

According to Missouri CBS affiliate KRCG-TV (8/20, McGowin), State Auditor Susan Montee said that overall, schools are safe, and that parents should not “feel bad about sending…children to school.” Missouri’s News-Press (8/19, Raletz), NBC affiliate KOMU-TV (8/20, Navarette), NBC affiliate KYTV (8/20), KWMU-FM (8/19, Griffin), and the Missourinet blog (8/19, Martin) also covered the story.

Public alert radios being distributed to some schools.
The AP (8/20) reports, “Federal agencies are distributing 182,000″ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Public Alert Radios “to schools across the country.” The radios “sound an alarm automatically to warn of weather hazards and other emergencies.” According to NOAA officials, “the current effort will provide the radios to preschools, Head Start programs, school district offices and nonpublic schools and offices.” In a previous phase of the program, “97,000 public elementary and secondary schools across the country received radios.”

School Finance
California city may use proceeds from land sale to fund after-school programs.
California’s Fresno Bee (8/20, Boyles) reports that “after-school programs could get some financial help from the sale of city-owned land.” A plan developed by the Fresno City Council would “transfer to the Park and Recreation Department $345,000 from the sale of 1.75 acres.” According to the Bee, the “money would help fund capital improvements to citywide after-school programs.” Park and Recreation Director Randall Cooper indicated that the “money could be used to expand the BEST (Business, Education and Service Training) program, which provides computer training, financial literacy, business skills and job shadowing to high school students.”

Minorities, students with disabilities receive more corporal punishment, study finds.
The Washington Post (8/20) reported, “Minority children” and children with disabilities “received a disproportionate share of the corporal punishment given to 223,190 American school children last year, says a study released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU).”

The AP (8/21, Quaid) notes that the study “used Education Department data to show that, while paddling has been declining, racial disparity persists.” Specifically, “African American students are more than twice as likely to be paddled,” a “disparity [that] persists even in places with large black populations.” The study also found that “Native Americans were more than twice as likely to be paddled.” While schools offer parents forms to opt out of corporal punishment, “many parents find that such forms are ignored.” Additionally, “even if schools make a mistake, they are unlikely to face lawsuits” because “teachers and principals” in states that allow corporal punishment “generally have legal immunity from assault laws.”

USA Today (8/20) reported that, according to the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, corporal punishment “creates a ‘violent and degrading school environment.’” The groups have asked “federal and state lawmakers to ban it.” The report’s author, Alice Farmer, noted “that children in Texas and Mississippi are routinely paddled for ‘minor infractions’ such as chewing gum or violating school dress codes.” Farmer called corporal punishment “fundamentally ineffective in terms of improving school discipline,” and said that it teaches students “to be violent.” Advocates for the practice call the report’s findings “simplistic,” and say that communities “support the practice.”

CBS News (8/20) noted that “there’s been little research done on the effectiveness of corporal punishment in schools,” although “plenty of studies have shown it doesn’t work in the home.” The UPI (8/20) and Canada’s Globe and Mail (8/21, Jegatheesan) also reported the story.

In the Classroom
Indiana homework assistance hotline to remain in operation.
The AP (8/21) reports that an Indiana “homework hotline that helps public school students perplexed by their math and science assignments has won a” $2.7 million Lilly Endowment grant “to remain in operation for the next three years.” The “hotline isn’t an answer line, but an educational resource that reinforces classroom concepts by offering students help on areas they find confusing,” the AP notes. The grant, “announced Wednesday for the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT),” will “boost efforts to urge the state’s principals and teachers to encourage students to use the toll-free ‘Homework Hotline.’” The AP points out that the “hotline is staffed by students at” RHIT’s Terre Haute campus. In 2007, a “record 44,151 callers got help through the hotline…while another 2,652 email senders used its website.” Since its inception in 1991, the hotline “has helped more than 250,000 students.”

Indiana’s Tribune-Star (8/21, Loughlin) adds, “This year, the hotline will undertake some special outreach efforts with math and science teachers, and it will have a new online newsletter,” according to hotline officials. “Use of the hotline has increased significantly since 1999-2000, when it fielded 5,563 calls. This past year, it received 44,151 calls.” Indiana’s WTHI-TV (8/20) also reported the story.

Philadelphia opens school catering to dropouts.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/20, Graham) reported, The Philadelphia School District has opened “its new Re-Engagement Center, a one-stop spot that matches students who have left school with appropriate programs and services and provides support after they enroll.” The center, “staffed by district and city personnel…not only focuses on academics, but also connects students with the social and emotional services whose absence might have caused them to leave school in the first place.” The center features “a bank of computers for assessing where students are scholastically, and a waiting room with comfy furniture and artwork chosen by students.” In terms of staffing, “employees from the Philadelphia Youth Network and the Philadelphia Departments of Human Services and Behavioral Health work on-site, as do student peer advisers.” The Inquirer noted that “the office was begun with government and nonprofit donations,” as well as district funds.

Washington, D.C. schools to begin offering “green-collar” curriculums.
The Washington Times (8/21, Lipscomb) reports that “D.C. schools will begin teaching environmentally friendly construction techniques to prepare the next generation of workers for the anticipated increase in demand for ‘green-collar’ workers.” Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) on “Wednesday introduced the city’s first such curriculum — at Cardozo Senior High School’s Academy of Construction and Design, which will prepare students to enter construction trades immediately after high school.” According to the Times, the green-collar “move comes as deadlines for the Green Building law loom on the horizon.” That law “requires all new government buildings meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.” According to Washington, D.C.-area “construction companies and environmental experts,…the curriculum is essential to building a solid workforce as the demand for green-collar jobs is expected to explode at the same rate technology jobs have in the past decade.” Steven J. Donohoe, president of Donohoe Construction, said that it has “been difficult” to find people with “job-ready skills.”

Missouri program pays dropouts to attend GED classes.
The Southeast Missourian (8/20, Bavolek) reported that the Scholars at Work program, run by Metropolitan Employment and Rehabilitation Services (MERS)/Goodwill, “will pay seven to 10 students” $7 an hour “to attend GED and employability skills classes.” DeAnn Briggs, an assistant vice president with MERS/Goodwill, said, “Scholars at Work will not only make obtaining a GED attractive but will make it feasible.” According to the Southeast Missourian, “From 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, the ‘employees’ will attend classes taught by instructors from the Adult Learning Center, which is operated by the Cape Girardeau School District.” Pam Wiliams, coordinator of the program, “will teach the soft skills component, such as the importance of arriving on time, dressing appropriately, and staying on task.” For example, “students will be required to clock in and out and wear a uniform of khaki pants and a polo shirt.” Funding for the program comes “from the Workforce Investment Act, federal money overseen locally by the Workforce Investment Board.”

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Pennsylvania school continues virtual kindergarten program.
T.H.E. Journal (8/20, Schaffhauser) reported on the Rose Tree Media School District in Pennsylvania, which “will be continuing its Virtual Kindergarten program this year at one of its elementary schools after piloting it during 2007-2008.” According to the Journal, “The idea of the Virtual Kindergarten is to support and enrich the half-day in-person program and increase parent involvement in their child’s education.” The program utilizes “a suite of virtual classroom services that include audio, video, application sharing, and content display,” as well as a program that “allows the teacher to embed audio, including voice, into a webpage.” The program “includes interactive lessons to augment literacy, numeracy, technology, and science standards, as well as individual lessons that cater to a specific child’s needs.” The Journal added “a parent email account” is available, which “puts them on the list to receive ‘Virtual K’ announcements with details about weekly extra-curricular activities.”

On the Job
Texas Education Agency assigns monitor to underperforming schools.
The Dallas Morning News (8/20, Fischer) reported, “The Texas Education Agency has assigned a monitor to keep tabs on improvement efforts at three schools in the Dallas school district.” The Morning News explained, “The monitor’s duties will include coordinating the state’s assistance with district efforts to improve the schools and recommending additional actions for the TEA to take, if necessary.” Additionally, the monitor will “keep an eye on other [Dallas Independent School District] schools that have failed to meet state standards for at least two years.” However, “the monitor won’t have powers to hire or fire school personnel or oversee spending.” The Morning News noted, “The schools are on the cusp of state closure after four consecutive years of lackluster academic performance.”

California faces shortage of math teachers.
The Sacramento Bee (8/20, A1, Kollars) reported in a front-page story, “Now that the state has mandated Algebra 1 for all eighth-graders within three years, a deeply entrenched problem has become even more urgent: California does not have enough qualified teachers of mathematics.” Both school districts and universities have been taking steps to address the issue and “cultivate more teachers.” The Bee noted, “The number of new math teachers emerging from colleges has been going up.” But even so, “the looming shortage of math teachers stands as one of the biggest challenges facing schools in coming years.” According to the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, “nearly 100,000 teachers of all types are expected to retire in the next decade,” at a time when California “may need more than 33,000 new math and science teachers…at the middle and high school levels.” Additionally, school officials “are scrambling to train elementary teachers to make sure younger children are ready for Algebra 1 by eighth grade.”

Safety & Security
Number of “persistently dangerous” New York schools declines.
The AP (8/21) reports, “A total of 19 New York schools have been labeled ‘persistently dangerous’ this year, down from 27 last year,” State Education Commissioner Richard Mills said. In comparison, “the other 49 states last year reported 21 schools — collectively — as ‘persistently dangerous.’” However, “states set their own criteria for identifying schools, and New York school officials have said their standards are more rigorous.” The AP notes, “The listed schools must offer parents the right to transfer their children to safer schools in the district and will have to submit plans for reducing violence to the state. Under federal law, states are required to release their lists of dangerous schools at least two weeks before the school year starts.”

In the New York Times’s (8/20) City Room blog, Elissa Gootman wrote, “The list of schools deemed persistently dangerous has long been a source of confusion. Because the state relies on schools’ own reports of violent and disruptive episodes rather than on police records, the list bears virtually no resemblance to the city’s own list of dangerous schools.” Gootman added, “The persistently dangerous list has long included a disproportionate number of schools for children with severe disabilities; city officials argue that those schools may experience chronic behavioral problems, but are not dangerous.” New York’s NY1 (8/20) and NBC affiliate WNYT-TV (8/20, Craig) also reported the story.

NEA in the News
NEA project gives makeover to Virginia school.
On the front page of its Virginia section, the Washington Post (8/21, VA1, Vargas) reports on Wakefield High School in Arlington County, Virginia, which “was chosen for a makeover this year as part of the National Education Association’s annual convention,” where the association chooses “a public school to pamper for a day as part of the NEA Student Program’s ‘Outreach to Teach.’” Over the course of one day, over 350 volunteers furnished “a new dressing room for the theater department…planted trees across the campus,” fixed the press box in the football stadium, and lined the hallways “with college-themed bulletin boards,” among other things. And, “the teachers’ lounge and cafeteria received a special redesign by Evette Rios, a featured interior designer for the ‘Rachel Ray’ syndicated TV show.” Wakefield Principal Doris Jackson said, “Environment does affect the way you feel about what you do. … So I expect the new paint, the new furnishings and the murals will just make the building a lot more attractive and make us feel good about being here.”

NEA, AT&T foundations work to narrow achievement gaps.
Tennessee’s Chattanoogan (8/20) reported, “The AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc. has announced a $300,000 award to the National Education Association Foundation’s Closing the Achievement Gap initiative.” The foundation’s “initiative is a large-scale pilot effort to close the achievement gaps between minority and disadvantaged students, while raising achievement for all students, by supporting collaborative efforts between local unions, school districts, and community partners to improve teaching and learning.” The Chattanoogan noted that, “through the initiative, educators will be provided with the opportunities to: support innovation in the classrooms and improve content to students; support teacher knowledge and growth; deliver engaging instruction through experimental learning opportunities; and connect community assets and resources in pursuit of increased student achievement.” NEA Foundation President and CEO Harriet Sanford said, “Our work in these pilots will play a critical role in learning how we can best ensure that American high school students are prepared for the next level of education.”

In the Classroom
Essay considers evolving role of technology in the classroom.
In an essay for the New York Times (8/17, BU4), Steve Lohr wrote that “the time may have come to reconsider how large a role technology can play in changing education.” In particular, “[t]he new Web education networks can open the door to broader changes,” as parents can “become more engaged because they can monitor their children’s attendance, punctuality, homework and performance.” Additionally, “[t]eachers can share methods, lesson plans and online curriculum materials.” And, “[i]n the classroom, the emphasis can shift to project-based learning,” which “some educators say encourages active learning and produces better performance in class and on standardized tests.” According to Lohr, “The educational bottom line…is that while computer technology has matured and become more affordable, the most significant development has been a deeper understanding of how to use the technology.” Lohr also described the efforts of the New Technology Foundation, a nonprofit that “has developed a model for project-based teaching and is at the forefront of the drive for technology-enabled reform of education.”

Program seeks to foster hands-on science education in California district.
California’s San Mateo County Times (8/18, Gonzales) reports, “Organizers of” the Gene Connection program, “a long-running science-education program, hope to infuse new excitement among San Mateo County high school teachers and their students” by “provid[ing] high schools 18 new Apple laptops and other equipment for use in lab projects.” The program’s “renewed effort should boost project-based biotechnology and chemistry instruction in a time when hands-on science education is being challenged by school budget cuts and an increased focus on curriculum standards set by the state.” Further, “the program is developing new curriculum as part of a National Science Foundation grant to help students pursue a career in the field and offering new lab projects in biotechnology and chemistry.” According to Gene Connection officials, the program helps educators reach state standards “in a different way, while keeping up the kids’ interest.”

Theater program combines art, finance, and marketing lessons.
The New York Times (8/17, NJ9, La Gorce) reported on “students in ArtWorks, the South Orange Performing Arts Center’s first summer arts education program.” The program, “which celebrated the culmination of its first three-week term with a July 25 performance of ‘Beat,’ an original musical, never intended to coddle its inaugural class with an onstage-all-the-time curriculum.” The program included not only “scripting, casting, choreographing and writing upward of five original songs” for the play, but also required “crunching numbers to arrive at a ticket price,…designing fliers, [and] coming up with a text-message marketing campaign.” Ondine Landa Abramson, ArtWorks’s executive director, explained, “A lot of people think if you want to work in the arts you have to be an artist. But some kids came in and learned, hey, I really enjoy working in development.” Abramson added, “It’s important in the time and age we live in that kids understand there’s a thriving industry around the performing arts.”

Iowa school considers linking students’ performance to college funding.
Iowa’s Des Moines Register (8/17, Hawkins) reported that Scavo Alternative High School, “Des Moines’ only alternative high school, hopes to boost graduation rates with an idea that has triggered controversy nationwide: Pay students to perform.” Through the “learn and earn” program, “students would be paid, for example, $1 a day for attendance, $10 for timely completion of a class, $20 to enroll in an advanced course and more at graduation.” However, “[s]tudents would only cash in when they enroll in college or another secondary education program. The money would be sent to their colleges of choice and be spread out over the time it takes them to graduate.” Currently, “no money is in the district budget for the program,” and the educator backing the program “said she will rely on grants and community donations.” The Register noted that while “[a] handful of U.S. school districts have experimented with similar incentive programs,…experts say the idea is too new to be accurately assessed.”

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Utah program offers bicycles to encourage reading.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/16) reported, “This year, 220 Utah schools in 13 school districts will participate in” a program that “challenges students in grades K-6 to read at least 20 minutes a day throughout the school year.” Under the program, “[f]or each 100 minutes a student spends reading, the student can enter his or her name into a drawing to win a bicycle. … Each school will get four bikes to give away.” The Tribune noted, “This is the program’s second year. Last year, 50 Utah schools participated.”

Wisconsin district develops plans to lower dropout rates.
Wisconsin’s Post-Crescent (8/17, Nufer) reported, “With its dropout rate creeping upward, the Appleton Area School District has developed a district plan detailing programs and services for students at risk of not graduating.” The district’s “plan also lays out goals for closing the achievement gap for at-risk students, from identifying children in grades 5-12 who are performing a year or more behind their peers to monitoring test data and making sure parents know their child is at-risk and the services available to them.” According to Katherine Crowley, who oversees the district’s alternative schools, “the district at-risk committee looked at ‘pages’ of interventions the district offers, including reading specialists and after-school tutoring, police-school liaisons and homeless parent programs.” The district also heard from schools that have lowered teacher-student ratios “in the early grades” and “boost[ed] skills such as reading and math support and literacy coaching, and after-school tutoring.”

Texas project teaches educators how to feature nature in science instruction.
Texas’s Star-Telegram (8/16, Smith) reported that Mark Bloom, professor of science education at Texas Christian University (TCU), “has been helping area teachers use outdoor spaces to teach science.” The goal of the program is to “inspire students to question their own impact on nature.” TCU’s Andrews Institute of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education hosts the program, which is “funded through two federal Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants.” The Star-Telegram pointed out that “[t]this summer, teachers participated in a two-week academy that included lessons on exotic species, insect collecting, guided hikes, and a biology scavenger hunt.” In addition, the group “stayed overnight at the Fort Worth district’s Outdoor Learning Center in Azle.”

Law & Policy
Some parents, education advocates critical of D.C. school choice program.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (8/18, B1, Turque) reports, “Earlier this month, parents of students in 81 low-performing D.C. public schools — almost two-thirds of the District system — got a packet in the mail announcing that federal law entitles them to transfer their children to a stronger school.” However, only “34 applications for transfer” have been received, which educators and parents attribute, in part, to “[t]he eight other mainstream high schools” in the District “also [being] under federal mandate to restructure and improve.” And while the district has “five ‘specialty’ high schools,” these schools “[a]ll have admission requirements.” Additionally, some “parents and school activists” have complained that “[t]he notification packets were mailed Aug. 5, giving families less than three weeks to make decisions and apply for transfers before classes begin.” However, school officials say “the information could not have gone out earlier because results of the District’s annual standardized test…needed to be ‘crunched, analyzed and verified’ to determine which schools were failing.”

Safety & Security
Poverty, language barriers, and autism case may play role in Florida’s high vaccine noncompliance rate.
The Miami Herald (8/15, Tasker) reported that, by law, and “[i]n theory, the immunization rate” in Florida “should be nearly 100 percent.” But according to Florida Department of Health records, “[m]ore than 10,000 students sought exemptions from required vaccinations last year in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe county schools, giving South Florida some of the highest noncompliance rates in the state.” While the “records count only kindergartners and seventh graders,” health officials suspect that the percentage of unvaccinated children is higher, and growing. Many “[d]octors say childhood vaccinations are a crucial underpinning of public health, protecting against such serious diseases as mumps, measles, polio, and meningitis.” But “[l]ocal health officials say” that children are foregoing immunizations because of “a high-profile court case that seemed to link vaccines to autism.” Moreover, “high poverty rates,” a “transient population,” and language barriers make vaccination compliance difficult. Yet, “[w]ith public concern growing, Florida’s legislators are taking steps” to alleviate the problem by examining the vaccine-autism link, and creating new measures regulating adherence and “opt out” clauses.

Experts say bullying becoming more extreme, public.
The San Francisco Chronicle (8/17, McMahon) reported, “It is unclear whether bullying is on the rise, whether new technology has caused an increase, or whether, like sex abuse, it is simply being reported more often these days.” Regardless, Berkeley psychotherapist Elayne Savage says, “The coloration of it is changing — it’s more extreme, more humiliating and more public.” The Chronicle noted examples of different types of bullying, steps educators and lawmakers have taken to prevent it, and includes a list of anti-bullying resources. The article also quoted experts explaining why some schools are “slow to respond to cyber-bulling.” According to Nancy Willard of the Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet, there are “[t]hree reasons. … Lack of clarity on the legal parameters; the incidents can be very difficult to unravel and find out who is the real victim; and many school officials and safe-schools personnel understandably do not fully understand youth culture online.”

Facilities
New Orleans to spend $685 million renovating, constructing schools.
New Orleans’s Times-Picayune (8/17, Carr, Simon) reported, “Armed with $685 million in recovery cash, New Orleans public school leaders aim to radically remake the city’s bloated portfolio of aged school buildings, most of them rotted as badly from neglect and plummeting enrollment as from the” effects of the flooding after Hurricane Katrina. Much of the funding will come “from Federal Emergency Management Agency rebuilding programs.” The schools’ “master plan…calls for the construction or complete renovation of 28 schools in about five years, including eight new high schools.” Additionally, “the plan would close or liquidate dozens of buildings…to create a more efficient system housed in state-of-the-art environments,” and “recommend[s] the establishment of a separate construction authority to manage the projects of all entities, and to bring continuity as work proceeds in the future.” The Times-Picayune noted, “The proposed master plan ignores the newly balkanized school governance landscape” by “focus[ing] only on matching building capacity with anticipated enrollment.”

School Finance
Schools, parents taking steps to deal with rising costs.
The AP (8/18, Quaid) reported, “Harder times and higher fuel prices are following kids back to school this fall.” The rising prices “present a tricky math problem: Where can schools subtract to keep costs under control?” Some schools, such as one in Minnesota, are “skipping classes every Monday to save a day’s worth of fuel,” and extending the school day Tuesday through Friday to compensate. “The other option for the district…was to start cutting electives.” Some districts have also altered their supplies lists that they send home; one district’s “supply lists include copy paper,” while another has held “a toilet paper drive.” Further, “[n]early half of the schools” that were polled “in [a] school administrators’ survey said they are curtailing field trips,” and many are charging more for lunch. The article also notes measures parents are taking to save money on back-to-school costs, such as reusing supplies and clothing.

Research suggests mathematical ability may be innate.
The AP (8/19, Schmid) reports that “people whose languages don’t include words for more than one or two…are still able to compare quantities,” according to a recent study. The researchers “compared the numerical skills of children from two indigenous Australian groups whose languages don’t contain many number words with similar children who speak English,” and found that “[a]ll the groups performed equally well.” The researchers concluded that “[b]asic number and arithmetic skills are built on a specialized innate system,” and that “[u]sing words for exact numbers is ‘useful but not necessary.’” Some experts, however, contend that the study “doesn’t support the conclusion that the understanding of exact numbers does not depend on language.”

Participants “were asked to ‘copy’ the number of objects the researchers placed on a mat,” the BBC (8/19) explains. “They then had to repeat the exercise when objects were added under a cover — so they could not see how many objects were now there but had to work it out.” Finally, “the children had to match the right number of counters to the number of times the researcher banged two sticks together.” The study’s leader, Brian Butterworth, said the results “may help explain why children in numerate cultures with developmental dyscalculia find it so difficult to learn arithmetic.” Butterworth explained, “Although they have plenty of formal and informal opportunities to learn to count with words and do arithmetic, the innate mechanism on which skilled arithmetic is based may have developed atypically.”

The U.K.’s Telegraph (8/19, Highfield) quoted the study’s co-author Dr. Bob Reeve, who “says that the study has implications for the way numeracy is taught.” Reeve said, “We need to investigate ways in which we can add on to these building blocks to develop ways of teaching numeracy that are relevant to Indigenous students’ culture.” He added, “We also need to redefine the way we think about numeracy across the board — moving away from the view that we need words to describe numbers and basic computations.”

The Australian (8/19, Trounson) notes that the study’s findings “contradict earlier results that found that some indigenous communities in the Amazon with similarly few number words in their language had difficulty with some basic mathematical tasks.”

In the Classroom
Three Pennsylvania high schools to add engineering programs.
Pennsylvania’s Intelligencer Journal (8/18) reported that three schools in Lancaster County, Pa., “are adding college-caliber engineering programs to their curricula to spur students’ interest in science, mathematics, technology and engineering.” The Journal explained that “[a]ll three schools will offer an introductory engineering course as part of a multiyear pre-engineering program.” In the future, the schools are expected to “add courses in digital electronics, civil engineering and architecture, computer-integrated manufacturing, biotechnology, and aerospace engineering.” Students who successfully complete the program will “be able to earn up to 11 college credits.” The Journal pointed out the “courses were developed by Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit that” that was formed to “develop a pre-engineering curriculum to bridge America’s ‘engineering gap.’”

Alabama district experiments with low-cost laptops.
eSchool News (8/18, Van Dusen) reported on “One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative’s first foray into the United States” through a pilot program in Birmingham, Alabama. The program “began with 1,000 of the group’s $200 laptops for students in Glen Iris Elementary School’s first through fifth grades,” and later expanded with “the city’s purchase of 14,000 more…, with plans to eventually include all 15,000 students in the school system’s first through eighth grades.” However, “concerns remain.” In particular, “critics wonder whether a computer initially designed for children in poor, rural parts of the world — and primarily using its own non-Windows operating system — is the right learning tool for students who eventually will seek to join the general computing population in the U.S.” There are also concerns “that it could be difficult to track progress and achievement on machines that promote a constructivist approach to learning,” especially “in today’s educational climate of high-stakes testing and accountability.”

Kansas school designed to educate problem students.
Kansas’s Lawrence Journal World (8/18, parker) reported on “the Day School, a joint educational effort between the Lawrence school district and Douglas County” where students are sent “either for committing crimes or behavior problems.” The school has “no classes, no group projects, [and] no extracurricular activities,” and the “[s]tudents are frisked to ensure no contraband, iPods or cell phones enter the classroom.” Further, “[s]tudents are subject to at-home supervision checks and take home a daily report card, which charts behavior and academics.” In the classroom, “[t]hree teachers, assisted by three teacher aides, give students tips as they work to complete [individualized] assignments each week” at their own pace. Day School educators admitted that students are “missing out on the social structure and the activities of their regular schools,” but pointed out that “[t]here’s no getting left behind” because of the level of individualized attention.

More Ohio schools offering Chinese programs.
The AP (8/18) reported that there is a growing demand for Chinese language classes in Ohio schools, but many of the schools struggle with “finding someone qualified to teach the language.” According to the Ohio Department of Education, “[t]he number of Ohio schools offering Mandarin Chinese tripled last year from 777 to 2,287.” In order to meet their demand for teachers, “[t]wenty school districts…this year will turn to a Chinese-government-sponsored program that offers American schools a native Chinese teacher for three years,” with the schools needing “only…to provide housing and transportation.” The AP added that, last year, the Ohio Foreign Language Advisory Council “released two reports…that said schools should offer long, uninterrupted stretches of instruction as early as kindergarten.” The council “also said the state must increase instruction in languages such as Chinese and Arabic.”

The Toledo Blade (8/18, Schmitt) added, “Government incentives are helping signal the conversion. Last year, the National Security Language Initiative provided $24 million in support to primary and secondary schools to provide instruction in Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean.”

Pittsburgh program teaches educators about job opportunities for high school students.
Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (8/18, Sostek) reported that in the last two months, 13 teachers “have fanned out across the region, participating in the ‘Educator in the Workplace’ program run by the Career Dynamics office of the Allegheny [Pa.] Intermediate Unit.” The program seeks to “improve the career prospects of high school students by facilitating connections between teachers and employers.” The program also “helps businesses recruit new employees and gives them a chance to tell teachers what skills prospective employees might be missing.” The teachers are then “required to complete two lesson plans about the experiences.” Educator Norma McGinnis of Northgate High School in Pittsburgh visited a construction site, where she was informed that “construction offers more of a career path than many other industries.” She was also told “that it’s important for high school students to have basic math skills, a strong work ethic and good communication skills, but that most everything else can be taught on the job.”

On the Job
Alabama school district seeks more minority teachers.
Alabama’s Eufaua Tribune (8/18, Woo) reported, “Eufaula City Schools board president Otis Hill and board member Louise Connor are concerned about the racial gap of teachers in core classes.” Hill “also asked administrators to look at options for hiring minorities whenever possible.” Last year, the high school “lost 32 people and rehired 17. … Demographically, the school lost 13 white and three black teachers during the change and gained one Hispanic teacher.” School board member Dr. Jimmy Lockwood said, “If you look at these numbers, we’re losing a lot of our minority teachers because they aren’t getting recertified. We’ve got to keep our minorities certified.” He added, “A lot of times, [minority] teachers have already taken jobs by the time we are ready to hire. So, I think that policy that was supposed to help us attract minorities by posting longer actually hinders us in some cases.” The Tribune noted that the school board plans to look into the matter.

Safety & Security
Test-preparatory firm accidentally exposes students’ personal data on website.
The New York Times (8/18, Stone) reported, “The Princeton Review, the test-preparatory firm, accidentally published the personal data and standardized test scores of tens of thousands of Florida students on its website, where they were available for seven weeks.” The scores of “about 34,000 students in the public schools in Sarasota, Fla.” were discovered by “[a]nother test-preparatory company…while doing competitive research.” According to the Times, the “file included the students’ birthdays and ethnicities, whether they had learning disabilities, whether English was their second language, and their level of performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. … Another folder contained dozens of files with names and birth dates for 74,000 students in the school system of Fairfax County, Va.” Both districts hired the Princeton review to help them “measure students’ academic progress.”

Facilities
Kentucky district offers boxed lunches as menu item.
Kentucky’s Courier-Journal (8/18, Konz) reported that Jefferson County Public School officials have added a new item to the lunch menu — a lunchbox “filled with either a sandwich or salad.” Every day “this month, elementary school students will have the option of choosing either the” Pyramid Power Pack “meal or one of the regular menu items for lunch.” The Power Pack “lunch box contains a different sandwich or entr

Seen another way, that figure means “that more than three in four test takers will likely need remedial help in at least one subject to succeed in college,” according to the AP (8/13, Pope). Even so, “the ACT’s creators said it was good news that average scores held nearly steady even as more students took the exam,” as it indicates that “the total number who have earned benchmark scores showing they are ready for college-level work is rising.” An ACT official explained, “We have a more heterogeneous population of test takers, so we’re including those kids who weren’t considering college or aren’t considering college.” The AP notes, “A record 1.42 million…of this year’s high school graduates took the ACT.” The growth comes as a greater number of states have begun offering the exam state-wide, or requiring it. Additionally, in some areas “where students have historically taken the SAT exam,” students are now “taking both to try to boost their college application credentials.”

Education Week (8/13, Cech) adds, “Much of the growth can also be chalked up to the raw numbers of college-going young people. ACT test-takers represented 43 percent of all high school graduates nationally this year — up from 42 percent in 2007 and 40 percent in 2006.” A number of papers, including the Arizona Republic (8/13, Ryman), the Dallas Morning News (8/13, Stutz), Minnesota’s Star Tribune (8/13, Shelman), the Salt Lake Tribune (8/13, Schencker), West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette (8/13, White), New Jersey’s Star Ledger (8/13, Mooney), South Carolina’s Post and Courier (8/13, Courr

In the Classroom
Indiana students struggle with financial skills, report indicates.
The AP (6/3) reports, “Six in 10 [Indiana] high school students failed a national survey on good financial habits, which may not be surprising since their parents may also be struggling with money management,” a report from the Indiana Youth Institute indicates. “The report found that about 60 percent of high school students say they learn to manage finances at home,” in a state that “ranks fourth in bankruptcies and” had “its mortgage foreclosure rate” increase by “nearly 38 percent” over four years. Further, “[m]ore than 60 percent do not have checking accounts, and 50 percent have cars but do not help pay for insurance.” Lena Yarian of Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana noted that “[i]t can be difficult for kids to learn checkbook-balancing skills in a more paperless society,” where “[a] lot of kids aren’t even exposed to checks.”

Virginia camp to introduce high school students to science, engineering careers.
Virginia’s Times-Dispatch (6/2) reported that “[a]spiring engineers from Virginia Peninsula high schools will” be participating in the “Time for New Choices, Engineering 101″ free “summer camp offered by the Office of Outreach and Recruitment at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) in Hampton,” Va. The camp is geared toward “students in grades nine and 10,” and “is designed to expose students to careers in the science and engineering industry.” According to the Times-Dispatch, the camp will feature “TNCC faculty and other professionals teaching engineering lessons through hands-on activities, demonstrations, lectures and field trips.” In addition, campers will “also be given individualized career and educational development plans to share with their parents and guidance counselors for support in accomplishing their goals.”

NCLB gives little credit for ELL progress, some educators argue.
Education Week (6/2, Zehr) reported that, according to some educators, “the accountability provisions of” NCLB “don’t provide a complete picture of the quality of education at a school that has a high number of ELL (English language learner) students.” As a result, “[t]hey argue, the federal accountability system puts a negative label on schools that receive students who have little or no academic preparation, even though the schools may help them make significant progress.” Because of this, “[s]ome have called for changes that would let a school more precisely measure students’ academic growth, rather than try to ensure that all students meet rigid academic targets.” Education Week noted that U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has “responded to such concerns with a pilot program that would let states track and use individual students’ academic progress in assuring accountability under the NCLB law.” The article also details strategies that schools have taken to improve ELL programs.

California initiatives aimed at improving reading instruction.
California’s Ventura County Star (6/2, Carlson) reported that educators “have increasingly turned to scientific research and collaborating with fellow teachers to find new ways to reach kids and teach them how to read.” To this end, California has the California Reading and Literature Project, “a state initiative designed to improve elementary and secondary school teachers’ instruction of reading and literature,” which “offers personalized training and workshops” to educators. The project “is one of nine California Subject Matter projects designed to improve student performance and teacher training by linking academic research and theory to individuals working in the classrooms.” In another move to improve reading education, California’s “Board of Education is expected to adopt new and improved textbooks,” and educators note that the publishers “have ‘spent a great deal of time developing materials’ to meet criteria developed by state officials.” Requirements included “expand[ing] the focus of reading textbooks, targeting vocabulary development, writing, oral-reading fluency and student assessments.”

Research suggests that teacher absences have adverse affect on student achievement.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of Opening Bell, the AP (6/2, Zuckerbrod) reported, “Despite tremendous pressure on schools to increase instructional time and meet performance goals, the vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been ignored — even though research suggests it can have an adverse effect in the classroom.” The number of full-time teaching positions covered by substitutes has increased “dramatically,” according to the AP, and some districts find it difficult to fill substitute positions with qualified substitutes. According to one researcher, many substitutes “don’t have all the behavioral expectations that the regular teachers have established, so it’s basically a holding pattern.” Furthermore, research indicates that “10 teacher absences within a year cause a significant loss in math achievement. When the regular teacher is gone for two weeks, it can set students back at least that amount of time,” because “‘teachers often have to reteach material, restore order, and rebuild relationships after absences.”

On the Job
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Carnegie Institution program seeks to train more math educators.
The AP (6/3) reports, “The Carnegie Institution for Science is starting a fellowship program to improve math education in…D.C. public and charter schools.” The program will recruit and train “34 fellows…over five years in partnership with the Math for America program,” and will provide “full tuition and stipends” for the fellows to “earn a master’s degree in teaching at American University and a teaching certification.” In order to qualify, the fellows “must commit to four years of teaching in D.C., where math scores have been chronically low.” The AP notes, “The first fellows will be recruited in fall 2008 from D.C., Virginia and Baltimore-area colleges and universities.”

Educators differ on their views of online education.
Minnesota’s MinnPost (6/2, Boyd) reported that with an estimated one million “Americans in kindergarten through 12th grade” taking classes online, “computerized learning is about to transform public education both inside and outside the classroom.” However, some educators are concerned that “[b]ecause online school programs know no geographic boundaries, they create keen competition for students that could endanger some districts’ finances and futures.” Nevertheless, “online and computerized learning programs appear to be leveling the playing field between rich and poor school districts and between rural and urban students.” Advocates for online learning say it is “a way of making the world every student’s classroom by catering to individual learning styles and answering the needs of kids who march to the beat of a different drummer.” Michael B. Horn, co-founder of nonprofit think tank Innosight Institute, said that online learning will not replace teachers, but it will shift their roles “from being the star on the stage as [they are] now to a guide on the side.”

Law & Policy
Florida sets higher physical education standards.
The AP (6/3) reports that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) “has signed a bill requiring Florida elementary schools to provide 30 minutes of continuous exercise daily for their students.” The new law “also requires middle schools [to] offer a daily physical education class to students in the sixth through eighth grades beginning in fall 2009.”

Special Needs
Virginia youth center organizes prom for students with disabilities.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (6/2, B1, Glod) reported on “the Cinderella Ball, an annual prom for students with disabilities held” in Washington, D.C. “Helen McCormick, a former Arkansas schoolteacher, held the first Cinderella Ball three years ago at the House, a youth center she runs with her son…in a” warehouse in Virginia. “Last year, the dance outgrew the building, spreading into a tent in the parking lot,” and this year the Willard InterContinental hotel donated its ballroom. The House raised $100,000 for the event by going “door-to-door and st[anding] outside convenience stores collecting change.” Donated dresses for students were altered by “[v]olunteer seamstresses,” while the center provided “tables of jewelry, shoes and evening bags” for the students. In addition to the dance, the event featured a motivational speaker and a performance by “‘American Idol’ winner Ruben Studdard.”

Safety & Security
Activism against “Beach Week” celebrations growing.
The Washington Post (6/2, B2, Strauss) reported, “Parents, school administrators and police officials are joining forces to address problems that result from ‘Beach Week,’ the annual celebrations by newly minted high school graduates.” While “[t]he vast majority go and return without much incident,” a growing number of students “wind up arrested or sick.” The Post noted that “[i]n Rehoboth Beach, 72 people were arrested for underage possession or consumption of alcohol…last year, compared with 22 arrested during the same period the year before.” In response, “activism on the issue appears to be rising this year.” Students and their “parents are jointly signing voluntary contracts of behavior, and police are asking parents to take a bigger role, including staying in hotels nearby.” Additionally, “[p]arents are meeting to discuss strategies to keep kids home or find alternative celebrations.” In Virginia, “Arlington Public Schools joined with the PTA Family Network this spring to host for the first time a panel for parents on the pitfalls of Beach Week, which included [police], parents and educators.”

Louisiana district school board member seeks to make returning to school after hitting teachers more difficult.
The AP (6/3) reports that a school board member in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana “wants to require a school board hearing before students expelled for hitting teachers can return to class.” The district’s “[c]urrent policy expells students for the rest of the school year.” However, following a recent fight at a junior high school in the district, two students who “were charged with battery on a teacher…were allowed to return later that week to finish their LEAP (Louisiana Education Assessment Program) tests.”

Facilities
New Hampshire forestry students clear land for new library.
New Hampshire’s Nashua Telegraph (6/2, Milbouer) reported that high school students from Alvirne High School’s forestry program are clearing “tall pines near Hills Garrison Elementary and” AHS in Hudson, N.H., in preparation of the George H. and Ella M. Rodgers Memorial Library. And according to the Telegraph, “those teens, along with their teacher, Rick Martineau, are saving the town a good $5,000 to $10,000.” After the trees are felled by the students, they are then sorted. “Ten percent of the harvested logs go to the school, and forestry students process the logs using the school’s own portable sawmill.” Next, the wood “goes to building and woodworking students, who will use it to make” a variety of products. The leftover logs will be sold to “several area lumber companies.” The Telegraph pointed out that “[p]rofits from the sale of the wood goes into the forestry program’s student fund, and is used for forestry school scholarships and expense money when the teens compete in national forestry competitions.”

School Finance
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Arkansas lawmakers disagree on school transportation funding proposal.
The AP (6/2) reported, “Arkansas lawmakers deadlocked Monday over whether to provide relief for schools suffering from rising gas prices as they began revisions to the formula that decides what per-student funding districts will get from the state.” At issue were two proposals that “address the effect of spiraling fuel prices on the state’s 254 school districts.” Both proposals “failed before the panel, and a recommendation to increase funding for teacher and principals’ salaries also failed because not enough members were there.” Rep. Bill Abernathy (D) “proposed that the state create a new funding category for school districts with high transportation costs.” However, some lawmakers criticized the proposal, saying “it would commit the state to creating a new category of funding before studying how much would be needed to pay for it. Abernathy estimated the new transportation category would cost $35 million a year.”

Bloomberg (5/30) notes, “The cause of the gender gap in math and reading performance has been widely debated. Males generally perform better in spatial tests, while females come out ahead on verbal exams.”

According to the Baltimore Sun (5/30, O’Brien), “Math skills tested included basic geometry, algebra, arithmetic and probabilities.” The study’s “[g]ender equality profiles were determined by measures such as the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index, which ranks countries based on economic and political opportunities for women, and on other barometers such as longevity rates.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (5/30, Flam) adds, “Certain patterns held true across countries,” according to the study’s lead author. “The average girl, for example, did better in arithmetic than geometry, and better on reading than in math. For the average boy, it was the reverse.” The Inquirer also notes one critic, therapist Michael Gurian, who “said the study would have done better to separate arithmetic, where girls perform as well as boys, and what he calls ‘iconic and symbolic math,’ where boys tend to outperform girls.” Gurian said that “the gap…is due to brain differences that should be addressed in education.” The Economist (5/29), ABC News (5/29, Phillips), the U.K.’s Telegraph (5/30, Devlin), and WebMD (5/29, Boyles) also reported the story.

In the Classroom
Students build underwater robots.
The Washington Post (5/29, GZ08, Rasicot) reported on students at Neelsville Middle School in Maryland, who this week tested aquatic robots they had built “for a science project sponsored by the Navy’s Office of Naval Research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.” The project, the Sea Perch program, “teaches students about math, engineering, science and robotics, as well as teamwork and problem-solving skills.” In preparation for the project, “[t]he students learned about ship design” from scientists and engineers “and saw how sound waves can be used to measure distances.” Then, the students began constructing their own robots. With supervision from educators, they “measured and cut [plastic] pipes, used electrical tape and melted wax to waterproof motors and build control boxes.” The Post noted, “The program, funded by a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the Office of Naval Research, aims to inspire students to think about careers in math, science and engineering.”

Utah seeks more students for college incentive plan.
The AP (5/30) reports that a Utah program has been created to provide “$1,000 to nearly 1,000 high school graduates heading to college,” but “only 150 [students] have signed up, and the deadline is Friday.” The program was created as “an incentive for students to prepare for college,” and requires students to “graduate with a ‘B’ average in college-preparatory courses.” It applies only to “students who enter college in Utah within a year of graduating from high school.” In order to increase the numbers of students taking advantage of the program, the Utah System of Higher Education “sent letters about the scholarship program to all high schools last month,” and announced that “applications that arrive next week will be considered” despite the passage of the deadline. The AP notes, “Students graduating with a 3.5 grade-point average or better, and earn an ACT score of 26, are also eligible for additional money covering up to 75 percent of tuition for the first two years of college.”

Massachusetts students build home addition for local couple.
Massachusetts’s Kingston Reporter (5/29, Annear) reported that Halifax, Mass., residents “Pete and Karen Townsend can soon enjoy their greatly expanded home,” thanks to the work of Silver Lake High School’s (SLHS) carpentry students. The students “spent the last two years building a large addition to the…home from the foundation up.” The project was started in 2006, by that year’s “graduating carpentry students, who placed the foundation for the addition. The returning students came in and worked from there, finishing the add-on in just under two years.” SLHS carpentry student Kyle Marble said, “The seniors built [the foundation] all the way up, put the walls up. When the juniors got there, we built the roof and the gable walls.” According to the Kingston Reporter, “The students had a chance to learn while they built, constructing the house from the ground up.” In addition, they received “hands on experience with framing, siding, door and window installation and other skills that can only be developed during the actual building process.”

Reports differ on Georgia state test scores.
The AP (5/30) reports, “New data from the Georgia Department of Education shows students improved in the vast majority of subjects on a state-mandated exam.” The results “bolste[r] claims by education officials that scores went up on most Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests where new curriculum has been in place two years or more.” The AP notes, “Scores plummeted on the sixth- and seventh-grade social studies test and the eighth-grade math test, both of which were in the first year of a new curriculum.” Officials, however, “say those scores aren’t comparable to previous years.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (5/29, Diamond), however, “[p]reliminary scores on all state exams elementary and middle-school students took this year show mixed results, with small improvements on most tests but significant drops on a handful of others.” The Journal-Constitution explained, “The state is phasing in new learning standards for all grades and subjects,” and “eight of the 36 CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests) were new.” Improvements occurred when the CRCT exams “were based on curricula teachers have been using for at least two years,” but “if the exams covered material schools just started teaching this year” then “students failed in large numbers.” The Journal-Constitution adds, “Widespread failures on middle school math and social studies tests have frustrated parents and educators,” particularly as “[m]any students who earned As and Bs in the classes all year bombed the exams.”

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Students build boats in wood tech class.
The Boston Globe (5/29, Judge) reported on Ralph Arabian’s Wood Tech II classes at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, Massachusetts, where “students…spent the semester building one-sheet boats.” The boats are “simple but elegant vessels” that “are constructed from single 4×8-foot sheets of plywood and can hold up to three people.” The Globe explained, “Using donated wood and glue, the students cut the bottom and sides of each boat from the plywood, then screwed and glued the pieces together, with care being taken to make sure the boats were leak-proof.” Arabian said, “I used to be an engineer, so I thought it would be a good project that would not only teach woodworking, but also the engineering and geometry of the boats.” Students said they enjoyed the project, and that they “liked the idea of making something that can be used.”

Defense contractor’s program promotes STEM education.
The Boston Globe (5/29, Buote) reported on an engineer from defense contractor Raytheon that “has been volunteering his time at Doherty Middle School in Andover,” Massachusetts, “helping students discover the power of math and science through hands-on experiments.” The engineer “is one of some 200 Raytheon employees who volunteer countless hours each year working with students,…guiding them to victory in local math competitions and success on the MCAS exam.” In order to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, the company “has created MathMovesU, a program that encourages students to realize their math potential by showing them the connection between math, their passions and interests, and ‘cool’ careers.” While the goal of the program “is to inspire youngsters to consider careers in engineering,” Raytheon officials noted that “[h]elping children imagine themselves as great inventors is probably good for business.” One executive explained, “Raytheon can only hire U.S. citizens, so the decline in engineering degrees over the last 10 to 15 years was particularly alarming to us.”

On the Job
Utah Foundation suggests focusing on teacher compensation before class size reduction.
Utah radio station KCPW-FM (5/29, Ziegler) reported, “Utah spends $3,007 per pupil less than the national average; its classes are the largest in the country; and teachers here make significantly lower salaries, according to a Utah Foundation (UF) analysis of education spending.” UF president Stephen Kroes said that “state leaders would be wise to focus on teacher compensation before addressing large class sizes,” which “would require a significantly larger corps of teachers than is currently available.” Kroes added that to reduce class size, key decision makers should seek to reform “how teachers are trained, and mentored, and prepared for the classroom” because new teachers “quit the profession at the highest rates.”

Law & Policy
Ten states implement new abuse prevention measures.
The AP (5/30) reports, “Ten states have taken action in recent months to crack down on sexually abusive teachers following a stream of arrests and reports that have documented the problem of educators victimizing students.” And, “[a]t least four more states are still considering legislation.” The AP notes, “While the vast majority of America’s roughly 3 million public school teachers are committed professionals, a disturbing number have engaged in sexual misconduct.” An AP investigation last year that chronicled “allegations of sexual misconduct” from 2001 to 2005 “inspired some of the tougher measures, including Utah’s legislation to permanently revoke the licenses of sexually abusive teachers and a new Maine law to share information about teachers disciplined for any reason…with other states.” The article explores the specific measures implemented in each state.

In regards to South Carolina’s efforts, Education Week (5/29, McNeil) noted that the state Department of Education “is launching a statewide effort to prevent sex abuse in schools by training 10,000 teachers and other school employees this summer in how to spot potential problems and intervene in abusive relationships.” Educators “will take part in a 2 1/2-hour training course through [a] national nonprofit group” that “works to combat child sex abuse.” And, “[i]n addition to the training, each of the state’s 86 school districts will identify a facilitator who will complete a more in-depth, full-day training in the curriculum.” These “facilitators will then help train other teachers, enforce good child-safety practices, and lead a response team if abuse is reported or suspected.”

Federal judge extends ban on moment of silence in Illinois schools.
The AP (5/29, Robinson) reported, “A federal judge on Thursday barred school districts” in Illinois “from holding the daily moment of silence suitable for prayer that is required under state law.” U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman “said he had given school districts time to object to his March 28 preliminary injunction on enforcement of the moment of silence law but received no objections.” Gettleman “therefore extended to the entire state the preliminary injunction originally designed to apply only to suburban Buffalo Grove District 214.”

Idaho BOE requests extension for meeting NCLB goals.
The Idaho Statesman (5/29, Roberts) reported, “Idaho’s State Board of Education (BOE) wants a fresh start for hundreds of public schools facing sanctions under” the federal No Child Left Behind Act. “The board has asked the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to wipe away the student progress measurements between 2002 and 2006″ and “restart the No Child Left Behind clock,” starting “with spring 2007 statewide exam results, after the state made improvements to its testing system.” The reason, the board claims, is that prior to 2007, “Idaho had poorly written education standards and statewide exams not aligned to what instructors were expected to teach.” In a letter to the DOE, State Board executive director Mike Rush wrote, “It is unreasonable to label schools and districts based on student achievement data that was measured with an invalid and unreliable tool.”

NEA in the News
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Article notes NEA recommendations for classroom technology integration.
New York’s Post-Journal (5/30, Gerould) reports on the uses of technology in the classroom, pointing out that “[a]long with the [textbooks], classrooms now feature lap-top computers, pod casts and smart boards.” The Post-Journal notes, “According to the National Education Association, there are numerous ways of integrating technology into the classroom.” First, the NEA recommends that “teachers should…assess their situation — including students and teacher skills and attitude and what resources are available — before zeroing in on which type of tech would work best for their classroom.” Then, “the NEA suggests teachers make sure their classrooms are able to support the type of technology selected, before finally following through with their selection.” The article also features educators explaining how they have integrated technology into their classrooms.

Enter the June NEA Great Escape.
Visit neamb.com/vac2

What kind of a vacation are you dreaming about

Bloomberg (5/30) notes, “The cause of the gender gap in math and reading performance has been widely debated. Males generally perform better in spatial tests, while females come out ahead on verbal exams.”

According to the Baltimore Sun (5/30, O’Brien), “Math skills tested included basic geometry, algebra, arithmetic and probabilities.” The study’s “[g]ender equality profiles were determined by measures such as the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index, which ranks countries based on economic and political opportunities for women, and on other barometers such as longevity rates.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (5/30, Flam) adds, “Certain patterns held true across countries,” according to the study’s lead author. “The average girl, for example, did better in arithmetic than geometry, and better on reading than in math. For the average boy, it was the reverse.” The Inquirer also notes one critic, therapist Michael Gurian, who “said the study would have done better to separate arithmetic, where girls perform as well as boys, and what he calls ‘iconic and symbolic math,’ where boys tend to outperform girls.” Gurian said that “the gap…is due to brain differences that should be addressed in education.” The Economist (5/29), ABC News (5/29, Phillips), the U.K.’s Telegraph (5/30, Devlin), and WebMD (5/29, Boyles) also reported the story.

In the Classroom
Students build underwater robots.
The Washington Post (5/29, GZ08, Rasicot) reported on students at Neelsville Middle School in Maryland, who this week tested aquatic robots they had built “for a science project sponsored by the Navy’s Office of Naval Research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.” The project, the Sea Perch program, “teaches students about math, engineering, science and robotics, as well as teamwork and problem-solving skills.” In preparation for the project, “[t]he students learned about ship design” from scientists and engineers “and saw how sound waves can be used to measure distances.” Then, the students began constructing their own robots. With supervision from educators, they “measured and cut [plastic] pipes, used electrical tape and melted wax to waterproof motors and build control boxes.” The Post noted, “The program, funded by a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the Office of Naval Research, aims to inspire students to think about careers in math, science and engineering.”

Utah seeks more students for college incentive plan.
The AP (5/30) reports that a Utah program has been created to provide “$1,000 to nearly 1,000 high school graduates heading to college,” but “only 150 [students] have signed up, and the deadline is Friday.” The program was created as “an incentive for students to prepare for college,” and requires students to “graduate with a ‘B’ average in college-preparatory courses.” It applies only to “students who enter college in Utah within a year of graduating from high school.” In order to increase the numbers of students taking advantage of the program, the Utah System of Higher Education “sent letters about the scholarship program to all high schools last month,” and announced that “applications that arrive next week will be considered” despite the passage of the deadline. The AP notes, “Students graduating with a 3.5 grade-point average or better, and earn an ACT score of 26, are also eligible for additional money covering up to 75 percent of tuition for the first two years of college.”

Massachusetts students build home addition for local couple.
Massachusetts’s Kingston Reporter (5/29, Annear) reported that Halifax, Mass., residents “Pete and Karen Townsend can soon enjoy their greatly expanded home,” thanks to the work of Silver Lake High School’s (SLHS) carpentry students. The students “spent the last two years building a large addition to the…home from the foundation up.” The project was started in 2006, by that year’s “graduating carpentry students, who placed the foundation for the addition. The returning students came in and worked from there, finishing the add-on in just under two years.” SLHS carpentry student Kyle Marble said, “The seniors built [the foundation] all the way up, put the walls up. When the juniors got there, we built the roof and the gable walls.” According to the Kingston Reporter, “The students had a chance to learn while they built, constructing the house from the ground up.” In addition, they received “hands on experience with framing, siding, door and window installation and other skills that can only be developed during the actual building process.”

Reports differ on Georgia state test scores.
The AP (5/30) reports, “New data from the Georgia Department of Education shows students improved in the vast majority of subjects on a state-mandated exam.” The results “bolste[r] claims by education officials that scores went up on most Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests where new curriculum has been in place two years or more.” The AP notes, “Scores plummeted on the sixth- and seventh-grade social studies test and the eighth-grade math test, both of which were in the first year of a new curriculum.” Officials, however, “say those scores aren’t comparable to previous years.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (5/29, Diamond), however, “[p]reliminary scores on all state exams elementary and middle-school students took this year show mixed results, with small improvements on most tests but significant drops on a handful of others.” The Journal-Constitution explained, “The state is phasing in new learning standards for all grades and subjects,” and “eight of the 36 CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests) were new.” Improvements occurred when the CRCT exams “were based on curricula teachers have been using for at least two years,” but “if the exams covered material schools just started teaching this year” then “students failed in large numbers.” The Journal-Constitution adds, “Widespread failures on middle school math and social studies tests have frustrated parents and educators,” particularly as “[m]any students who earned As and Bs in the classes all year bombed the exams.”

Advertisement

Students build boats in wood tech class.
The Boston Globe (5/29, Judge) reported on Ralph Arabian’s Wood Tech II classes at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, Massachusetts, where “students…spent the semester building one-sheet boats.” The boats are “simple but elegant vessels” that “are constructed from single 4×8-foot sheets of plywood and can hold up to three people.” The Globe explained, “Using donated wood and glue, the students cut the bottom and sides of each boat from the plywood, then screwed and glued the pieces together, with care being taken to make sure the boats were leak-proof.” Arabian said, “I used to be an engineer, so I thought it would be a good project that would not only teach woodworking, but also the engineering and geometry of the boats.” Students said they enjoyed the project, and that they “liked the idea of making something that can be used.”

Defense contractor’s program promotes STEM education.
The Boston Globe (5/29, Buote) reported on an engineer from defense contractor Raytheon that “has been volunteering his time at Doherty Middle School in Andover,” Massachusetts, “helping students discover the power of math and science through hands-on experiments.” The engineer “is one of some 200 Raytheon employees who volunteer countless hours each year working with students,…guiding them to victory in local math competitions and success on the MCAS exam.” In order to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, the company “has created MathMovesU, a program that encourages students to realize their math potential by showing them the connection between math, their passions and interests, and ‘cool’ careers.” While the goal of the program “is to inspire youngsters to consider careers in engineering,” Raytheon officials noted that “[h]elping children imagine themselves as great inventors is probably good for business.” One executive explained, “Raytheon can only hire U.S. citizens, so the decline in engineering degrees over the last 10 to 15 years was particularly alarming to us.”

On the Job
Utah Foundation suggests focusing on teacher compensation before class size reduction.
Utah radio station KCPW-FM (5/29, Ziegler) reported, “Utah spends $3,007 per pupil less than the national average; its classes are the largest in the country; and teachers here make significantly lower salaries, according to a Utah Foundation (UF) analysis of education spending.” UF president Stephen Kroes said that “state leaders would be wise to focus on teacher compensation before addressing large class sizes,” which “would require a significantly larger corps of teachers than is currently available.” Kroes added that to reduce class size, key decision makers should seek to reform “how teachers are trained, and mentored, and prepared for the classroom” because new teachers “quit the profession at the highest rates.”

Law & Policy
Ten states implement new abuse prevention measures.
The AP (5/30) reports, “Ten states have taken action in recent months to crack down on sexually abusive teachers following a stream of arrests and reports that have documented the problem of educators victimizing students.” And, “[a]t least four more states are still considering legislation.” The AP notes, “While the vast majority of America’s roughly 3 million public school teachers are committed professionals, a disturbing number have engaged in sexual misconduct.” An AP investigation last year that chronicled “allegations of sexual misconduct” from 2001 to 2005 “inspired some of the tougher measures, including Utah’s legislation to permanently revoke the licenses of sexually abusive teachers and a new Maine law to share information about teachers disciplined for any reason…with other states.” The article explores the specific measures implemented in each state.

In regards to South Carolina’s efforts, Education Week (5/29, McNeil) noted that the state Department of Education “is launching a statewide effort to prevent sex abuse in schools by training 10,000 teachers and other school employees this summer in how to spot potential problems and intervene in abusive relationships.” Educators “will take part in a 2 1/2-hour training course through [a] national nonprofit group” that “works to combat child sex abuse.” And, “[i]n addition to the training, each of the state’s 86 school districts will identify a facilitator who will complete a more in-depth, full-day training in the curriculum.” These “facilitators will then help train other teachers, enforce good child-safety practices, and lead a response team if abuse is reported or suspected.”

Federal judge extends ban on moment of silence in Illinois schools.
The AP (5/29, Robinson) reported, “A federal judge on Thursday barred school districts” in Illinois “from holding the daily moment of silence suitable for prayer that is required under state law.” U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman “said he had given school districts time to object to his March 28 preliminary injunction on enforcement of the moment of silence law but received no objections.” Gettleman “therefore extended to the entire state the preliminary injunction originally designed to apply only to suburban Buffalo Grove District 214.”

Idaho BOE requests extension for meeting NCLB goals.
The Idaho Statesman (5/29, Roberts) reported, “Idaho’s State Board of Education (BOE) wants a fresh start for hundreds of public schools facing sanctions under” the federal No Child Left Behind Act. “The board has asked the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to wipe away the student progress measurements between 2002 and 2006″ and “restart the No Child Left Behind clock,” starting “with spring 2007 statewide exam results, after the state made improvements to its testing system.” The reason, the board claims, is that prior to 2007, “Idaho had poorly written education standards and statewide exams not aligned to what instructors were expected to teach.” In a letter to the DOE, State Board executive director Mike Rush wrote, “It is unreasonable to label schools and districts based on student achievement data that was measured with an invalid and unreliable tool.”

NEA in the News
Advertisement

Article notes NEA recommendations for classroom technology integration.
New York’s Post-Journal (5/30, Gerould) reports on the uses of technology in the classroom, pointing out that “[a]long with the [textbooks], classrooms now feature lap-top computers, pod casts and smart boards.” The Post-Journal notes, “According to the National Education Association, there are numerous ways of integrating technology into the classroom.” First, the NEA recommends that “teachers should…assess their situation — including students and teacher skills and attitude and what resources are available — before zeroing in on which type of tech would work best for their classroom.” Then, “the NEA suggests teachers make sure their classrooms are able to support the type of technology selected, before finally following through with their selection.” The article also features educators explaining how they have integrated technology into their classrooms.

Enter the June NEA Great Escape.
Visit neamb.com/vac2

What kind of a vacation are you dreaming about

In the Classroom
Teachers, parents ask California district to revert to year-round schedule.
On the front of its Metro section, the Sacramento Bee (5/28, B1, Minugh) reported, “Parents and teachers are pleading with Sacramento City Unified trustees to rescind a decision to put the district’s last eight year-round schools on a traditional calendar. District officials argue that the change will save as much as $550,000 — and help them chip away at a $24.5 million deficit.” According to school board president Manny Hernandez, “[i]f the district doesn’t cut costs on year-round education,…it will have to eliminate class-size-reduction efforts for an entire grade level.” Meanwhile, supporters “tout the benefits of year-round schedules: Students are less likely to suffer from ‘brain drain’ over the traditional three-month summer vacation. Scattering short breaks throughout the year helps keep children engaged,…and it offers non-native students more constant exposure to the English language.” Several teachers “have asked that a task force study both the true costs of year-round education and other potential savings for the district.”

Analysis suggests lack of soft skills contributes to South Carolina’s education gap.
South Carolina’s Morning News (5/28, Bell) reported that the “lack of soft skills, computer skills, motivation and communication between educators and business leaders were listed” by the Pee Dee Regional Education Center “as some of the key areas that have led to a gap in the state’s educational system.” At a town hall meeting, civic and education leaders “discuss[ed] ways to bridge the gap between education and the workforce.” According to the Morning News, the “information gathered from the town hall meeting will be used in the regional center’s gap analysis of the Pee Dee’s educational system.” Cheryl Lewis, coordinator for the education center, said that the “analysis…shows there is a lack of knowledge about jobs or careers and professional development opportunities for educators to learn about the workforce in order to better prepare students once they leave high school.” Lewis added that the “development of soft skills is an urgent need, not only in the Pee Dee, but across the state.”

Tennessee district contracts private firm for struggling students.
The Tennessean (5/28, Sarrio) reported that Nashville school system “plans to hire a private, for-profit company to educate about 500 of the district’s struggling students.” If final approval is given, the program from Educational Services of America (ESA) will “launch at seven or more locations during the 2008-09 school year and serve 480 students at a time.” ESA “employs its own certified teachers and will offer flexible schedules for students who have been chronically absent from school, have behavioral problems or have fallen behind.” The cost, which will be met with federal funds, “breaks down to about $5,300 per slot, compared to the $7,500 to $9,000 per year spent on an alternative-school student.” According to the Tennessean, school board “members were enthusiastic about being the first district in Tennessee to try the alternative program, mainly because it promises quick improvements.” They also point out that state Education Department “officials are in favor of the program.”

Shop teacher uses mechanics to teach physics, art.
USA Today (5/29, Kornblum) reports on Alvin Schroeder, a teacher in Merced, California who “uses shop to inspire children who would otherwise have problems learning, slipping in information in bits and pieces.” Schroeder’s lessons center around “the rusty hull of a 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo” that his classes are rebuilding. “Lessons on welding disguise instruction in geometry and mathematics. Lessons about engines slip in physics,” and discussions of car design include “[l]essons on art.” Schroeder explained, “If I lectured them, they would fall asleep.” Schroeder “says his dedication stems from empathy with these special-education students,” as he “battled dyslexia and attention deficit disorder” himself as a youth. USA Today notes, “When he was a younger teacher,” Schroeder “was more rigid,” but eventually decided “that doesn’t really work, especially with these students. Instead, he says he likes to figure out how students learn and then approach each one.”

California students learn science, social studies lessons through virtual field trips.
The Sacramento Bee (5/28, Rosenhall) reported that as California districts face “strained budgets” that do not allow for many extra expenses, schools throughout the state are using videoconferencing technology “to virtually visit state parks in San Mateo, San Diego, and Tuolumne counties.” Students learn science and social studies lessons from park rangers, who also answer their questions live. “The virtual field trips are offered by the state Parks and Recreation Department through a program called Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students, or PORTS, which started in 2005.” The program is free to schools, but they “must have the right technology to participate — a high-speed Internet connection and a screen and camera for videoconferencing.” Elementary school teacher Nichole Harshbarger said, “Getting a bus to send 70 kids somewhere is often so much of a hassle with time constraints and finances. … Whereas in this situation, I just took the whole class to the ocean and we didn’t have to get on a bus.”

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CTE courses transforming despite budget cuts.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (5/28, Epps) reported that career and technical education (CTE) teachers “love to tout proof of the transformation of courses that used to wear the ‘vocational education’ label and catered to students bound for blue-collar jobs instead of college.” Classes “under the CTE umbrella have been revamped, tailored to the modern workplace that demands workers with a higher degree of technical savvy.” However, the News & Observer pointed out that “CTE courses have been frequently threatened by proposed [federal] budget cuts,…including a recommendation this year to slash more than $1 billion from the programs.” Those cuts would have cost North Carolina “$30 million in federal support,” $12 million of which “goes to job training for community colleges.” But “[s]o far, both the House and Senate have rejected” such “cuts to education, including money for CTE programs.”

On the Job
Minnesota establishing STEM academies for teachers.
The AP (5/29) reports, “The Minnesota Department of Education has established nine academies to give extra training to teachers this summer” in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics, “with the expectation that those who participate will then become trainers in their regions.” The academies will “focus…on helping teachers implement state subject standards, use different instruction techniques and improve their ability to assess student learning needs.”

Minnesota’s Star Tribune (5/29, Draper) points out that the “academy, proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R),” is “funded by the 2007 Legislature and a grant from the National Governors Association.” The academy “stands as one of several measures meant to address what some educators and public figures consider to be a dangerous deficiency in STEM knowledge and interest among Minnesota students.” Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said that “[s]tate officials don’t yet know how many teachers will participate in the summer academy sessions.”

Texas district recruits teachers from Florida.
Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (5/28, Matus, Solochek) reported, “The Fort Worth school district needs teachers, and it has its eyes on Florida, a state…that only two years ago launched a $2.5-million national recruiting drive of its own.” The district is advertising for teachers in Jacksonville, Fla. because “it’s a large metro area with a concentration of colleges and schools, which could help attract teachers with a range of experience,” said Fort Worth school officials. Fort Worth schools recruiting director Terry Buckner said that the district is “getting a lot of applications from Florida” teachers who say that “Florida doesn’t have many teaching jobs, the cost of living is high and pay is bad.” The Times noted that “starting teacher’s salary in” the northern Florida bay area ranges from $34,000 to $37,000, compared to $44,500 in Fort Worth. “In addition…[the] district is offering new teachers a $3,000 signing bonus, and up to $20,000 in merit pay for those who agree to work in struggling schools.”

Law & Policy
Plan for San Francisco schools to address racial inequalities.
The San Francisco Chronicle (5/28, Tucker) reported that a “strategic plan adopted by the” San Francisco district’s “school board 6-0 Tuesday night focuses on reversing the typical academic outcomes for black, Hispanic and poor students.” In an attempt to “solve…deep-rooted societal problems that are playing out in schools,” the district’s initiative “work[s] off a corporate model that puts everyone — from school board members to custodians — under the microscope in different ways.” Included in the plan is training for educators, as well as “[a] new grading system” designed to “expose schools…that are failing to address the institutional racial inequities within their walls.” Schools will be graded “across a wide range of indicators,” allowing each school to “be judged by how well it ‘serves each and every student based on that school’s ability to disrupt the historically predictive power of racial, ethnic, linguistic and socio-economic student attributes.’” The Chronicle added, “Successful programs [will] be identified and worked into other schools.”

Safety & Security
Nine hundred students remain banned from Maryland district for lacking vaccines.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (5/29, B1, Hernandez) reports that, of the “more than 2,600 students…banned from” attending class in Prince George’s County, Maryland, “because they lacked vaccinations for chicken pox and hepatitis B” at the start of the school year, “more than 900 remain barred.” This is despite “[l]etters, phone calls, home visits and even threats of jail time” and fines. Efforts by school officials “have been impeded by inaccurate phone and address information,” and “[e]ven when the school system reaches a family, things can go wrong.” Students who get vaccines, for example, but fail to receive follow-up shots “fall out of compliance” again. Officials noted that there is likely some overlap with “chronically truant students who don’t attend class,” and also said that there is “a large population of immigrants who might not readily understand the requirement.” Even so, a district spokesman said that the figures represent “real progress” as 900 students is “less than 1 percent” of the student population.

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New Hampshire legislative committee reaches agreement on predator bill.
The AP (5/29) reports, “A committee of House and Senate members has reached a tentative agreement on New Hampshire’s Online Child Safety Act — legislation designed to protect children from online predators and child pornographers.” Among other things, the bill “spells out how illegal images will be handled as part of court proceedings, allowing experts who testify on the images to have access while protecting against any further dissemination.”

Facilities
California district approves scaled-down lunch program.
California’s Palo Alto Daily News (5/28, Peterson) reported that this week, “the Palo Alto school board unanimously passed a new trimmed lunch program that will reduce meal options to a single choice at the elementary schools.” Under the new lunch program, “meals at the elementary schools will also no longer be heated, while at the middle and high schools, students will also choose from a smaller menu of items during a condensed lunch period.” District officials say that the “fewer menu options and shorter lunches [will create] an opportunity to lower labor costs.” Yet, even with the changes, “the school lunch program may not recover all of its costs. Next year’s deficit may come in around $220,000 because fewer choices will likely translate into a 15 percent drop in sales, district staff estimated in a staff report.”

In the Classroom
School meets NCLB requirements through classroom norms.
In a front-page story, the Washington Post (5/28, A1, de Vise) reported, “Last spring, all 184 students in the third and fourth grades at Ocean City Elementary School passed the Maryland School Assessment, or MSA, a battery of tests given by the state every year since 2003 to satisfy the” requirements of NCLB. This makes it “the first in the state, apart from a few tiny special-education centers, to meet the goal that has defined public education this decade.” Part of the school’s success is attributed to its “Ask and Answer” policy, which “abolished the practice of teachers asking questions, students raising hands and the teacher picking one to provide the answer. Instead, students pair off and answer the question between themselves.” This is one of “an ever-expanding list of” school-wide norms that “include broad directives about perseverance and choice as well as specific rules,” such as one that “dictates…students speak in complete sentences.”

Maryland district holds leadership workshop for students.
The Baltimore Sun (5/28, Williams IV) reports that “400 fourth- and fifth-graders from 27 Howard County,” Maryland schools “learned about leadership at the fifth annual Peer Leadership Conference,” a “four-hour event comprised [of] a series of seven workshops on topics that included leadership traits, effective decision-making, positive communication and conflict resolution.” The conference, which “was sponsored and coordinated by school counselors,” was originally created “to groom primary school leaders.” However, since that time the “[o]fferings have expanded to include conferences at the middle and high school levels.” The Sun notes that the “[s]tudents were chosen to attend by staff members at their schools,” in large part “because of their participation in their school’s safety patrol, peer mediation group, student government or anti-bullying initiatives.”

Ohio elementary school students to be taught engineering concepts.
Ohio’s Canton Repository (5/28, Duer) reports that “[s]tudents in grades three through five will be taught engineering concepts next fall,” Perry Local School District officials “said Tuesday night.” The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Coalition “provided the grant money to the district,” in the amount of $19,000. Assistant Superintendent Joe Chaddock said that “a growing shortage of U.S. engineers has caught the attention of educators, so a movement to teach students engineering is under way.” According to the Repository, “Elementary-level courses will provide future high-school students a jump-start on engineering concepts.” The goals of the program “are to increase children’s technological literacy and elementary teachers’ abilities to teach engineering and technology to their students.” The Repository adds that a “proposal to expand this exposure to sixth- and seventh-graders is under design.”

Program helps New Jersey students transition into working world.
New Jersey’s Press of Atlantic City (5/27, Lemongello) reported that “[r]ather than just stand by while students are thrown out into the real world, more and more schools are playing active roles in helping them transition into the workforce after high school.” Karol Bucci, of Oakcrest High School’s School-to-Work program, said, “We like to think of ourselves as an empowerment program.” Students are “empowered to find their real strengths and choose individual pathways.” According to Bucci, “[t]he number of students involved in the program at the Hamilton Township school has increased every year since its inception in 2004.” Students can join the program in their junior year, “and what follows is an immersion into the working world.” Bucci described the initial phase of the program as one of self-assessment. “As part of that process, students” found out that their chosen pathways are “many times…not what they imagined.” Bucci described the program “in two words — experience and networks. We provide the experiences and we provide the networks.”

Study finds Chicago ACT prep ineffective.
Education Week (5/27, Samuels) reported that, despite Chicago’s teachers spending “about one month of instructional time on ACT practice in the core classes offered during junior year,” students’ “ACT scores were slightly lower in schools where 11th grade teachers reported spending 40 percent of their time on test preparation, compared with schools where teachers devoted less than 20 percent of their class time to ACT preparation.” This is according to a study from the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), which “examined surveys and test scores of high school juniors in 2005,” and also surveyed teachers. Elaine Allensworth, a co-director at the CCSR, “identified two problems: First, devoting so much time to preparation diverts attention from the broad content knowledge that students need to do well on the test. Also, the test preparation that most teachers are doing in the classroom is poor.” A spokesman for the ACT agreed with the former issue, noting that “[t]he best preparation for students is to take a broad and rigorous high school curriculum.”

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Program helps dropouts find graduation path.
The Denver Post (5/27, Sherry) reported on the West Career Academy, a “school within a school” at West High School in Denver that is designed to help dropouts complete their high school educations. Run jointly by the United Way, two Teach for America educators, “two hip Goodwill caseworkers and a program manager,” the program addresses multiple aspects of its students’ lives. The “lessons [are] based on what pique[s] the students’ interests,” while “Goodwill Industries caseworkers help students with everything from getting a bus pass to finding a career path” and the “United Way [runs] a leadership class.” The program offers a large amount of flexibility; students can “take courses at different times of the day to accommodate work schedules.” Also, “[f]or students needing science and math classes to graduate, program director Susan Cardasis helped them enroll in an online high school run by” the Denver Public Schools, and “classes were augmented by tutors on loan from West High.”

Three out of 10 Florida students do not graduate, state figures show.
The Orlando Sentinel (5/27, Weber) reported that, across Florida, “72.4 percent of students who enrolled in ninth grade managed to graduate last spring,” according to state figures, “which means more than 37,000 students didn’t make it.” While “[t]he state’s graduation rate has been inching up in recent years,” Florida officials say more improvement is needed. Yet “[t]he real picture in Florida may be even uglier than what the state presents,” as the National Center for Education Statistics “pegged Florida’s graduation rate at 64.6 percent in 2005,” while the state’s “officials claimed a 71.9 percent graduation rate.” Experts cite a number of factors for the low graduation rates, ranging from home issues and grade repetition to higher FCAT standards. However, the graduation statistics also reveal “some bright spots, especially among technical and magnet schools that offer programs tailored to students’ special interests.”

Cell phone use in schools a growing problem.
Utah’s Deseret News (5/27, Reavy) reported, “Not only can cell phones be distracting to other students and teachers, but now police are coming across a growing number of incidents where the communication devices are also being used to help facilitate crimes.” Teachers say that “most of the problems range from simple disruption to students texting answers to tests, taking pictures of tests and distributing them, to storing cheat sheets on their phones.” However, teens also use their phones to send inappropriate photos to each other at school and record on-campus brawls to show their peers. In Utah, many districts “have policies that students cannot have their cell phones on during class,” but according to Cal Evans, executive director of compliance for the Jordan District, “banning cell phones from school altogether would not work,” because it would be impossible to enforce such a policy.

Law & Policy
New Pennsylvania gifted regulations under consideration.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (5/27, Snyder) reported, “Pennsylvania is taking steps to make gifted education available to more students, but that has done little to quell long-standing tension between parents and school districts over how the state’s brightest are educated.” A new proposed policy keeps “a 130 IQ as the trigger for gifted education,” but would “make clear that districts must use more than an IQ score to identify gifted students.” The majority of “area school administrators interviewed said they already use more than an IQ score to evaluate students,” but “education advocates disagree.” And, “[s]ome parents are skeptical that the new rules will help their children” because “[t]here’s neither a carrot nor a stick for a district to comply.” They note that it is “up to the parents to file legal action,” and that “no on-site monitoring is required to see if programs are meeting student needs.” Even so, “experts say it’s encouraging that Pennsylvania took on changes in gifted education at a time when so many states are focused on meeting federal targets.”

School Finance
Dallas schools may cut teachers’ bonus pay from budget.
The Dallas Morning News (5/28, Fischer) reports, “Dallas school officials plan to cut an estimated $4 million from the district budget in the coming fiscal year because of a shortfall largely due to declining enrollment.” The cut “represents less than one percent of total spending from the district’s general fund, which is filled by local property taxes and state aid.” Under the 2008-2009 school spending plan, teacher pay raises “would average just less than $1,000. Still, that totals $11 million in new spending. To offset that increase, district administrators are recommending eliminating $9.6 million in longevity pay bonuses.” The Morning News notes that “[t]rustees have until June 30 to adopt the budget.”

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New York City schools chancellor defends plan to cut school budgets.
The New York Times (5/28, B3, Medina) reports, “During a nearly four-hour hearing filled with skepticism that bordered on hostility from council members,” New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “testified that the city badly needed more flexibility from the state to avoid significant cuts at dozens of public schools.” Klein noted “that many of the schools facing the harshest cuts were some of the most coveted and top-performing in the city, and that if the state allowed him flexibility, he would cut all school budgets by 1.4 percent.” He added that “if…regulations were scaled back, the Education Department would be roughly $99 million short of keeping all schools from facing cuts,” versus $400 million if “the state did not amend its restrictions.” During the meeting, “[s]everal council members criticized Mr. Klein for not doing more publicly to fight the mayor’s education budget, which allocated $428 million less than what had been planned for education,” to which Klein responded, “The city can’t give us what it doesn’t have.”

New York public radio station WNYC-FM (5/27, Rivera) added that council members also “criticized Klein for lobbying Albany to change the law to lift restrictions that regulates how $63 million of school education money should be spent.” Some are concerned “that the change would take money away from the lowest performing schools to buffer cuts at better performing schools.”

Nutrition advocates cite obstacles to nutritional overhaul in schools. The Washington Post (5/19, D1, Marr) reports on the front page of its Business section, “For years, consumer advocates and nutritionists have said that schools should stock more healthful snacks, but schools and districts have been reluctant to make that change. Advocates say a number of obstacles have slowed efforts to overhaul the nutritional quality of snacks and drinks.” One reason is that “[b]udget-strapped principals have signed lucrative” vending deals with soft drink companies that give schools a portion of sales, which the schools can spend on unbudgeted items, such as band uniforms. According to a 2006 study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “on average schools raise 33 cents for every dollar that students spend at soft drink machines.” Other obstacles include some schools avoiding “perishables such as fruit and yogurt” because of monetary losses linked to expiration dates, as well as “the notion that schoolchildren will not eat healthful foods.”

In the Classroom
Idaho online school recruiting Latinos, at-risk students.
The AP (5/18, Bonner) reported that iSucceed Virtual High School, Idaho’s “newest virtual charter school, is expected to go online this fall, but only after a strategic campaign to recruit Hispanics and teenagers at risk of quitting or getting kicked out of public high schools.” The school’s executive director, Cliff Green, “spent the past two months stumping in juvenile correctional facilities, cities with significant Latino populations and community programs aimed at getting kids off the streets.” Also, school officials “bought ads on Spanish radio stations, advertised classes with bilingual brochures and drafted Latino community leaders to serve on its board of directors.” The goal, Green said, is “to maintain a Latino student population of at least 20 percent.” The Tribune noted that, while “online schools have historically targeted advanced students who learn at a faster pace, or those who struggle adhering to a normal class schedule,” a number of “virtual schools nationwide have shifted focus to at-risk students.”

High-profile competitions seek to raise status of math, science.
The Christian Science Monitor (5/16, Jonsson) reported that, “[a]t a time when the U.S. is desperate to halt its slide in the world’s math and science rankings,” a “growing number of