By Jarrett Renshaw/Statehouse Bureau The Star-Ledger

More than one in three school administrators in New Jersey have failed to disclose the value of their unused sick and vacation time as required by a state law intended to make their compensation plans more transparent, a Star-Ledger analysis shows.

In 2007, lawmakers approved legislation calling for school districts to provide the state Department of Education with details each year on the salaries and benefit packages of administrators who earn at least $75,000. The department is then expected to post the information on its website under the heading “user-friendly” budgets.

But that does not always happen.

A Star-Ledger review of the most recent state data found that only 1,305 of 3,447 school administrators statewide — or 38 percent — disclosed the price tag of their accrued time, and even less provided the required details on how the payout is calculated.

Despite the lack of participation, the cost of the reported accrued time still amounts to $25.2 million, the data show.

“It’s defeating the purpose of the law,” said Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), a co-sponsor of the legislation. “The public deserves to know how much they are paying, and we need to find why that’s not happening.”

Some of the districts that did not disclose any financial information on unused sick and vacation time are among the state’s largest, including Camden, Atlantic City and Paterson as well as suburban districts like South Brunswick.

Justin Barra, a spokesman for the Department of Education, pointed a finger at the school districts, which he said had failed to provide the required information. Barra declined to say why the department permitted the districts to skirt the requirement or provide any remedies.

“Those districts not reporting the information must do so,” he said. “We will continue to improve in our role of enforcing this disclosure requirement on behalf of local districts.”

The requirements were put in place following a scathing state Commission of Investigation report that said school administrators were being showered with lucrative perks with little public scrutiny. Under the 2007 guidelines, districts are required to disclose the value of their administrators unused sick and vacation time, how it’s calculated and other items like clothing and phone allowances.

Lawmakers froze the administrative sick day payouts at 2007 levels and capped such payouts for all new administrators at $15,000.

In the meantime, Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) are said to be nearing an agreement to help rein in the perk for all local public employees and not just school administrators.

One sponsor of the 2007 disclosure law was state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson), who is also mayor of Union City. His school district was among those that failed to report the cost of the administrators’ unused time.

“It was an oversight,” the Union City school superintendent, Stanley Sanger, said this week. “We are updating our information on our website as we speak.”

If Sanger stepped down today, he would be owed $157,650 for his unused time, according to figures provided by the district at The Star-Ledger’s request, and Anthony Dragona, the district’s business administrator, would get $137,091.

State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) is an assistant school superintendent in North Bergen and supported the disclosure law, but his district has also failed to say how much he and other administrators were owed last year. If it had, the information would have shown Sacco was owed $331,970 for his unused time.

Last week, Sacco agreed to give up nearly $190,000 of his payout after the state said he was not entitled to all the money he was claiming. The state inserted language into his 2011 contract making it appear he was entitled to a huge bump, but officials later said that in 2007 lawmakers had frozen the payouts of Sacco and other administrators.

Daniel Gerardi, superintendent of the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District, said if a taxpayer wants to know how much he will be paid for his unused sick and vacation time, the answer is just clicks away on the Department of Education website.

As of last year, Gerardi was owed $75,203, records show, and the district’s business administrator, Ronald Skopak, can expect $156,746.

“These are public records,” Gerardi said, “and taxpayers deserve to know the costs.”

The New York Times (3/25, Dillon) reports that some experts attribute “the lagging reading scores…to declines in the amount of reading children do for pleasure as they devote more free time to surfing the Internet, texting, on cellphones or watching television. Others blame undemanding curriculums.”

The AP (3/25, Armario) reports that “the nation’s fourth-grade math scores flattened last year and eighth-grade scores improved two points.” It points out, however, that since 1990, “there has been a 27 point increase overall” in math “for fourth-grade students.” Brookings Institution senior fellow, Tom Loveless, noted, “To the extent that there are gains, they’re found amongst the lowest achievers.” This, “he suspects…is related to the enactment of more accountability systems at the state and federal level that focus attention on the lowest achievers and punish or reward schools based on progress with that group.”

Georgia Achievement Gap Narrowing. The AP (3/24) reported, “A new national report shows black and Hispanic eighth-graders in Georgia are gaining on their white counterparts in reading. … Overall, Georgia’s eighth-grade [NAEP] scores did not change significantly from 2007, with 72 percent of students passing. In fourth-grade, scores rose slightly, from 66 percent passing in 2007 to 63 percent last year.”

Florida NAEP Scores Outpace National Average. The Miami Herald (3/24, McGrory) reported, “Florida’s fourth-graders outperformed the national average on the national reading test, according to a new report released Wednesday. The report, which is mandated by Congress, looks at scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a standardized test given to fourth- and eighth-grade students nationwide.” According to the Herald, “Florida’s eighth-graders posted scores that matched the national average.” The Providence (RI) Journal (3/25, Borg) also covers the story on the state level.

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In the Classroom
Seeking To Stem Enrollment Declines, Chicago High School Adopts New Curriculum.
The Chicago Tribune (3/24, Reinwald) reported, “Faced with an enrollment of just 140 students, massive deficits and possible closure, officials of St. Gregory the Great High School” in Chicago “are getting a reprieve with a new technology-based teaching and learning initiative that will start in the fall.” The school’s board “voted last month to pin its hopes on a curriculum based on a national model that emphasizes analytical thinking, problem solving and communication, among other things. Behind the model is the non-profit Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which has programs in place in several states.”

On the Job
Maryland District Testing New Anti-Truancy Program.
The Washington Post (3/25, Birnbaum) reports, “A new anti-truancy program in Montgomery County [MD] is trying to reach out to students before they miss too much school, a month-old effort that advocates say already is yielding results. Educators and county officials lauded the program Wednesday at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring.” According to the Post, “Students in a similar five-year-old program in Baltimore have reduced their unexcused absences and lateness by 50 to 75 percent, said Gloria Danziger, a fellow at the University of Baltimore School of Law who is one of the administrators of the program.”

Law & Policy
In Unanimous Vote, Senate Agriculture Committee Passes School Lunch Bill.
USA Today (3/25, Eisler) reports that in a unanimous vote, the Senate Agriculture Committee “cleared the path Wednesday for a final vote” by the full Senate “on legislation to bolster the safety and nutritional value of school lunches, including provisions to improve training for cafeteria workers and to alert schools more quickly about recalls of contaminated food. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 would commit an additional $4.5 billion to child-nutrition programs over the next 10 years and implement the most sweeping changes to those programs in decades.” According to USA Today, “Among other things, the bill directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set new nutrition standards for all food served in schools, from lunchrooms to vending machines.”

Florida Governor Eager To Sign Teacher Tenure, Merit Pay Bill.
The St. Petersburg Times (3/25, Silva) reports that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R), “who brags about coming from a family of educators, said he’s ready to sign a bill” that will make “it easier to fire teachers and” that “ties pay increases to student test scores.” The bill was passed in the Senate by a 21-17 vote. Said Crist, “This is a bill that really focuses on trying to help children and encouraging better teachers. … It pays better teachers more, and that just seems like the right thing to do to me.” According to the St. Petersburg Times, the legislation was “a big blow…to the Florida Education Association (FEA), whose bargaining power and clout in the Capitol hang in the balance.” The Times adds that other education measures passed Wednesday call for a replacement for the state’s standardized tests and an expansion of “the state’s tax credit scholarship program.”

The Palm Beach (FL) Post (3/25, Kam) reports that state Sen. John Thrasher (R), “crafted the plan” to eliminate teacher tenure “as part of major education reforms he says are necessary to get the state’s 75 percent graduation rate up and raise student performance.” But FEA President Andy Ford has “accused Thrasher of ‘punishing and scapegoating teachers, driving experienced and skilled teachers out of the classroom, and creating more chaos in Florida public schools.” Moreover, “the teachers union called [the legislation] an ‘all-out assault’ on educators.”

The WSVN-TV Miami, FL (3/25) reports that “South Florida teachers, students and parents” plan to hold a rally in Tallahassee on “Thursday to protest against a cut to school funding.” But “a group of teachers from the Bob Graham Education Center began the rally early in Miami Lakes to protest against Senate Bill 6.”

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School Finance
Illinois BOE Identifies 29 School Districts On Financial Watch List.
The Chicago Tribune (3/25, Ahmed-ullah) reports that the Illinois State Board of Education’s “annual report on the financial health of school districts” released Wednesday shows that “twenty-nine school districts…are on the state’s financial watch list,” up from 22 last year. The Tribune notes, “Each year, the education board analyzes school districts’ finances and designates them as financially sound, under review, under warning or – in the worst case – on a financial watch list.” The assessments are based on the districts’ “ratio of expenditures to revenue, the number of days of cash a district has on hand to pay its bills, and its short- and long-term borrowing ability.” According to Illinois ASBO executive director Michael Jacoby, districts will face even more financial difficulty next year. “Not only are districts facing pressures from the economy, but they’re also looking at state payment delays and state budget reductions,” said Jacoby.

Illinois District Cut Nearly 1,100 Teachers, Staff To Close $44 Million Gap. The Chicago Tribune (3/24, Marrazzo) reported that administrators in the “Elgin-based School District U-46…have cut nearly 1,100 jobs, including more than 700 teachers, to help close a $44 million deficit.” Cut positions “include tenured and non-tenured teachers, central office administrators, counselors, nurses, coaches, librarians, clerical workers and transportation staff.” District officials had hoped “to hire some back,” but “there’s little hope of salvation from the state since Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed slashing $1.3 billion in education funding.”

Maryland Senate Approves Shift Of Teacher Pension Payments To Local Governments.
The Baltimore Sun (3/24, Linskey) reported, “The Maryland Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday night to a plan that would balance future state budgets by shifting hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher pension payments to local governments.” Beginning in 2011, “the new pension plan would require local governments to contribute an added $63 million in the first year,” increasing to $337 million “within two years.” The Baltimore Sun adds that “the Senate voted 28-19 to approve the pension change, but the entire budget is pending approval in the Senate and changes could still occur.”

Texas Senate Education Committee Considers Options For New School Funding System.
The Dallas Morning News (3/25, Stutz) reports that Texas Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, who co-chairs “a special legislative committee on school finance,” said that state “lawmakers are working with an ‘antiquated’ system for financing education that has been in and out of legal trouble in the courts for several years.” The panel is seeking “proposals for an entirely new” funding system. The Dallas Morning News notes, “Currently, local school districts levy significant property taxes on homes and businesses, the state provides tens of billions of dollars in funding every year, and districts get a small amount of federal money.

Prince William County, VA School Board Approves Plan To Cut More Than 200 Jobs.
The Washington Post (3/25, Chandler) reports, “The Prince William County [VA] School Board adopted a $760 million operating budget Wednesday that will cut more than 200 jobs, freeze salaries and raise class sizes in many grades. Even deeper cuts were anticipated, but the system’s fiscal forecast brightened over the past month with an increase in state funding.” According to the Post, Prince Williams County Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts “outlined what he called an ‘unprecedented’ spending plan last month that included eliminating more than 700 jobs, increasing class sizes to the maximum allowed by the state, and introducing new student fees for sports and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests.”

Also in the News
Students Complain To Chicago BOE About Quality Of School Lunches.
Chicago Public Radio (3/25, Lutton) reports on its website that the Chicago public school district “is re-negotiating its meals contract for the first time in five years.” On Wednesday, the Board of Education heard comments from students about school lunches. Some said that “their lunches are unhealthy and they leave school feeling sick and bloated.” Chicago Public Radio adds, “Many schools don’t have full kitchens. Kids get cellophane-wrapped lunches heated on site,” and one student at the hearing complained that his school serves “the same three choices every day.” The school system “is asking vendors to meet higher nutrition standards in the new contract, worth about $60 million.”

ABC News (3/24, Pinto, Murray) reported on its Website, “A coalition of high school students in Chicago spoke out against their school lunch menu today at a meeting of the Chicago Board of Education. Schools have tended to defend their menus as giving students what they want, but students at the meeting said those foods are sickening.” According to ABC, “Kids have grumbled for years about the salty fries and mystery meats found in many high school lunches, but in Chicago, those complaints have launched a revolution,” which “started in a nutrition class, when the students learned just how little nutrition they were getting in the cafeteria.”

New DC Schools Food Director Tasked With Major Overhaul.
The Washington Post (3/24, Black) reports, “Since Chancellor Michelle Rhee handpicked him” to overhaul food service in D.C. Public Schools in January, former restaurateur Jeff Mills, the new director of food service for DCPS, “has toured the area’s models of school-food reform” in order “to create the best school food service possible.” Currently, Mills “is launching several pilot programs, including one to expand the number of schools that serve breakfast in the classroom.” However, he says that his main goal is to “put more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains and fewer processed foods on school lunch trays.”

Chicago Schools To Phase Out Many Unhealthy Foods From Menus. The Chicago Tribune (3/24, Eng) reports, “Chicago public schools plan to ditch their daily nacho service in high school and get rid of doughnuts and Pop-Tarts for breakfast as part of a major nutritional overhaul of menus, according to interviews and documents examined by the Chicago Tribune. New standards from the Chicago Public Schools Nutrition Support Services address many of the concerns raised in Tribune articles describing the daily serving of nachos, doughnuts and desserts in a district with an inordinate number of overweight and obese children.” The Tribune adds, “According to the district’s current food service operator, starting in June, nacho service will be reduced to once a week in high school and once a month in elementary school; sweet packaged desserts will also be reduced to weekly treats; and doughnuts and Pop-Tarts will be eliminated.”

Push To Serve Healthy Food In School Cafeterias Challenges Districts. The Seattle Times/McClatchy (3/23, Lubrano) reported, “Unlike most” Philadelphia schools, the High School of the Future in West Philadelphia “has a full kitchen where many meals are prepared practically from scratch. … Future is emblematic both of what healthy school eating can look like and of Philadelphia’s place in the forefront of cities seeking to improve school meals.” However, Future “is a relative anomaly” and stakeholders say “much work has to be done to get other schools in the city — as well as across America — up to that same standard.”

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In the Classroom
Google Launching Competition For Ultra-Fast Broadband Test Sites.
The AP (3/24) reports that Google “is giving interested communities until March 26 to apply to be test sites for a broadband network capable of delivering information at speeds of up to 1 gigabit,” up “to 300 times faster than current DSL, cable and fiber-optic networks in use today.” Cabell County, West Virginia, schools Superintendent William Smith “envisions the Google network helping public schools in a variety of ways,” including making “it easier to have online lessons, so a child who gets stuck doing homework can turn to a teacher rather than a parent who’s less familiar with the material.”

On the Job
Teachers Say Leadership, Curriculum Changes Biggest Factors In Rhode Island School’s Failure.
The Providence Journal (3/24, Jordan) reports that “more than a dozen teachers who were fired a month ago spoke Tuesday night about the upheaval in leadership and curriculum the struggling Central Falls High School has experienced for many years.” The school has had “five principals in seven years” on top of “schedule changes” and some effective and ineffective “programs about how to teach low-income, special education, and English language learners how to read and do math.” The teachers argued to “the city’s Board of Trustees” that those factors contributed more to “the school’s poor performance than the effectiveness of the 93 teachers, support staff, and administrators who were terminated on Feb. 23 as part of a dramatic reform effort.”

University Dean Advises Future Teachers To Study Specialized Fields.
WSBT-TV South Bend, Indiana (3/24, Paul) reports, “School budget cuts across the country may eventually create some trouble for those working to become teachers,” according to Dr. Michael Horvath, Dean of the Indiana University South Bend School of Education. “Horvath said professors at the school have encouraged future teachers to study specialized fields like special education, math, and science.” Said Horvath, “If you are looking for a job in one of those shortage areas, you are going to be in good shape.”

Law & Policy
California Seen As Losing Best Teachers Due To Quality-Blind Layoffs Law.
Timothy Daly, president of the New Teacher Project, and Arun Ramanathan, executive director of the Education Trust-West, write in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times (3/24), “Over the last several weeks, in what has become a dismal rite of spring, nearly 30,000 teachers throughout California received layoff notices. … Unfortunately, the only tool that California schools can use to make these decisions is a calendar,” due to “an outdated state law that prevents schools from considering anything other than how long a teacher has worked in the school system to decide who stays and who goes.” According to Daly and Ramanathan, “Forcing schools to fire some of their best teachers while keeping less effective teachers is just one of many perverse side effects of California’s quality-blind layoffs law.”

Duncan’s List Of Chicago Schools’ Admission-Seekers Under Investigation.
The New York Times (3/24, Lewin, Davey) reports that when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was Chicago Public Schools CEO, “his office kept a log of nearly 40 pages listing the local politicians and business people and others who sought help getting children into the city’s most selective public schools.” According to a Department of Education spokesperson, “the log was a record of those who asked for help, and…neither Mr. Duncan nor the aide who maintained the list, David Pickens, ever pressured principals to accept a child.” The Chicago Sun-Times (3/23, Rossi) reported that the “list has now come under the scrutiny of both federal officials and the schools inspector general as part of a probe of whether clout played a role in admissions to Chicago’s elite schools, sources said.” Bloomberg News (3/23, Hechinger) also covered the story.

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Florida Senate Pushes Forward With Education Overhaul Legislation.
The St. Petersburg Times (3/24, Solocheck) reports that the Florida Senate “pushed forward a series of…education measures Tuesday that could dramatically alter the landscape of Florida’s public schools.” The measures would make academic requirements tougher, all more money to be directed “toward private, religious schools,” and eliminate teacher tenure. If approved, “Florida would be the first in the nation to so closely link student test scores to teacher salaries, and one of just a handful of states that do not award multiple-year contracts to teachers with classroom experience.” Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association, said of the proposed legislation, “It’s a new dynamic we have. We have a new senator who came in during a special election who is also the party chairman. … That does account for some of the increased movement to the right.”

California Proposal Would Lower Amount Of Votes Needed To Pass School Parcel Taxes.
California’s Contra Costa Times (3/24, Jordan) reports, “Schools districts around the state are taking a stand on an initiative that would amend the state constitution to make it much easier to pass new taxes for education.” The Local Control of Local Classrooms Funding Act “would amend the state constitution by lowering the amount of votes required to pass a school parcel tax from two-thirds to 55 percent.” Current law requires “two-thirds of the vote to pass a special tax.” Californians for Improved School Funding are working to “to collect the required 694,354 signatures” by May 1 in order to get the proposal on November’s ballot.

Chicago Public Education Fund Official Says NCLB Should Focus On School Leadership.
Penny Pritzker, chairwoman for the Chicago Public Education Fund, writes in a commentary for BusinessWeek (3/24), “Business leaders, no matter their political persuasion, understand that our nation’s primary and secondary schools face a leadership crisis. She asserts that “business has a vested interest in improving our schools,” because education “is the foundation upon which the workforce and successful commerce are built.” She notes that for businesses, “it is significant that the U.S. Education Dept. is now focusing on school leadership” indicating that “leadership is now recognized as critical to school and student success.” Pritzker concludes, “This focus should be maintained as Congress continues to debate the future of the No Child Left Behind federal education law.”

Special Needs
Court Rules Against Overhaul Of Bilingual, ESL Programs In Texas.
Texas’ Monitor (3/24, Roebuck) reports that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled “on Monday overturned a decision that promised a complete overhaul of bilingual and English as a second language programs in Texas schools.” The court “found that despite a lower court’s ruling that the state had failed to provide adequate education to non-native English speakers in its secondary schools, insufficient evidence existed to suggest that local school districts had violated the rights of these students.” The appellate court’s decision “is expected to spare Texas’ more than 1,000 school districts a massive reorganization of not only the way the state tracks the performance of underperforming Spanish-speaking students but also the programs used to educate them.”

School Finance
Texas State Committee Says School Funding Formula Should Be Rebuilt.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/23, LaCoste-Caputo) reported that “a joint select committee on school finance met Tuesday and lawmakers, educators, and business leaders agreed” that “the state’s school funding system is complicated, convoluted, and needs” to be rebuilt. The consensus was reached after the committee heard “a two-hour presentation to explain how the current school funding system works.” Said State Sen. Florence Shapiro afterward, “We just spent the better part of two hours trying to figure this out, and I guarantee you we have more questions now than we did when we started. … We’ve got to find a way that makes more sense so we can be more responsive to taxpayers.” The Express News notes that Texas’ “school funding system…has evolved into complex, multi-tiered formulas that are difficult for even education experts to understand.”

Teacher, Staff Positions Saved In Texas District Due To Attrition.
The Cleburne (TX) Times-Review (3/23, Kendall) reports, “Cleburne Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard would like to be able to guarantee Cleburne ISD won’t experience a reduction in force,” but “he can’t.” He did, however, say the district will not see “a huge multi-person [reduction in force] as” other districts have seen, “because we’ve already eliminated so many positions by attrition,” said Beard. He added, “The determining factor will be whether we have sufficient numbers of employees leave in positions we can absorb. We’re liable not to know that until June.”

Also in the News
Canceling Prom Violated Student’s Rights, Judge Rules.
The AP (3/24) reports that on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled that Mississippi’s Itawamba County school district “did violate the…constitutional rights” of a student when it canceled prom, rather than let the “lesbian student bring her girlfriend.” The judge, however, “refused the American Civil Liberties Union’s demand to force the…district to put on the April 2 prom.” Davidson said that “he would hold a trial on the issue.” Though the trial “would come too late for the prom to be salvaged at Itawamba Agricultural High School,” ACLU Mississippi Legal Director Kristy Bennett “called the decision a victory.”

Community Impact Of School Closures Analyzed.
The AP (3/24) reports, “Superintendents of struggling districts are winning praise for confronting budget woes by shuttering half-empty and underperforming schools, a move often blocked by local politics in the past. … Now school leaders have an argument that trumps any parent outrage: The struggling economy makes these schools a luxury that districts can no longer afford.” According to the AP, “About 6% of districts closed or consolidated schools this year, compared to about 3% in 2008-09, according to a survey conducted by the American Association of School Administrators.”

NEA in the News
Wisconsin Teacher Earns NEA Peace and International Understanding Award.
The Pierce (WI) County Herald (3/24, Schulte) reports that Ellsworth High School teacher Ryan Casper created the school’s “Hearts and Minds Club when he was deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan” in order to “show his students what it would be like to help someone overseas,” he said. Moreover, he wanted to “show Iraqi and Afghan students US and coalition forces were there to help, not hurt, their country.” Casper’s efforts are being recognized by the NEA. He has been “named the recipient of the” NEA’s Applegate-Dorros Peace and International Understanding Award,” which he will receive in July. “The award is presented to those NEA-affiliated whose activities in education contribute to international understanding and motivate youth to work for world peace.”

NEA Honors Sioux Falls District’s Homeless Liaison With Human and Civil Rights Award.
The KELOLAND TV Sioux Falls, SD (3/23, Janssen) reported that about “1,000 kids in the Sioux Falls School District are homeless, and that number is growing steadily every year.”" In addition to tracking the students, the district also offers “resources and support for families in need” including “supplies and clothing” through its homeless education liaison, Wendy Giebink. “For her work with these families, the National Education Association has given Giebink the Reg Weaver Human and Civil Rights Award,” which it will present to her in July. “The Reg Weaver Human and Civil Rights Award is the first-ever for the National Education Association and is named for the organization’s past president.”

Analyses Show California Ranking Near Bottom On Per-Pupil Funding.
KPBS-TV San Diego (3/23, Taylor) reported that “the last time California spent more money on students than most other states in the country was 45 years ago, according to government and education association statistics.” Since 1965, the state has gone from having the fifth-highest per-pupil spending of all US states “to 43rd in 2009.” KPBS investigates how that state fell “to the bottom of the heap and how much of that decline is directly attributable to Prop 13,” legislation “that capped property taxes at 1 percent of purchase price and limited yearly increases to 2 percent.” It notes that the NEA, “the California Department of Education…and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), all keep stats on per pupil funding,” using different calculations. But regardless of “which measure is used, California repeatedly ends up below the national average.”

Arizona Teacher Proposes Mandatory 30 Minute Recess Everyday.
The Arizona Republic (3/23, Gersema) reports, “Parents, students, and educators generally agree that recess is beneficial to students, but over the years, many schools across the country have chosen to reduce recess to spend more time on classroom lessons because of increased academic requirements.” Now retired teacher Steve Gall is asking Arizona lawmakers “to consider a baseline requirement of 30 minutes of recess every day. Arizona has no requirements for recess; times vary from school to school.” Gall is currently “urging school-board officials in Tucson” to back his proposal and will later ask “boards statewide to implement his idea through board policy.”

In the Classroom
Career Program Allows Students To Earn College Credit, Learn About Criminal Justice.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/23, Kastner) reports on the career pathways program at Edison High School in the San Antonio Independent School District. “Trustees in the San Antonio Independent School District voted Monday night to move forward with plans for the program, which will allow students to earn college credits while learning about jobs in the criminal justice arena.” San Antonio fire and police department members “helped create the blueprint for the program after visiting similar programs in Phoenix and Austin.” The school district expects the program to cost “$120,000 in startup costs and an additional $50,000 a year.”

Elementary School Program Merges Science, English Language Development.
The Sonoma (CA) Index-Tribune (3/23, Charrier-Botts) reports that the “a pilot program launched last year at El Verano Elementary School is attempting to kill two birds with one stone by merging science education with English language development through a new partnership between the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, the Exploratorium’s Institute for Inquiry, the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and the Vadasz Family Foundation.” Through the program, students will be able to “explore scientific concepts on their own without being required to follow predetermined steps.” Then, “after making an educated hypothesis on what the students’ think might happen, they test out their assumption. All steps, including the inquiry, question and discovery, are compiled on a poster that outlines the students’ findings.” Grants will help the district cover the program’s cost of “$398,662 over three years” for “Exploratorium salaries, teacher salaries, materials and evaluations.”

Washington District’s Math Curriculum Review Reveals Teaching Inconsistencies.
The Tacoma (WA) News Tribune (3/23, Cafazzo) reports that last fall, administrators for Tacoma (WA) Public Schools “launched a district-wide review of math teaching” The review, conducted by “a committee of 30 Tacoma administrators and teachers” discovered “that elementary school teachers in the district aren’t consistent in how they use two available sets of lessons:” Investigations, and Saxon Math. In 2006, the district invested “more than $1 million in the Saxon series,” though “Saxon didn’t replace Investigations entirely.” Assistant Superintendent Rosanne Fulton “said that using an inquiry-based math text requires lots of teacher support,” so she supports “more teacher training and the further development of math coaching by teacher peers at the elementary level.”

Study: Math, Reading Scores In Urban Districts On The Rise.
Education Week (3/22, Aarons) reported, “Students in the nation’s urban school districts have improved markedly in mathematics and reading proficiency as measured both on state exams and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, according to a new report by the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools.” According to Education Week, the “council’s ninth annual ‘Beating the Odds’ report looks at how students in urban districts stack up on state tests compared with students in their respective states as a whole.” The study “examines state assessment data for 4th and 8th graders from 65 school districts in 37 states and the District of Columbia” and the “statewide data come from administrations in the 2005-06 through 2008-09 school years.”

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On the Job
Report Gives US Poor Grades In Fostering STEM Diversity.
Following an article yesterday in the New York Times about a report, from the American Association of University Women, that found continued impediments for women in math and science, Education Week (3/22) reported, “The nation’s K-12 education system gets an average grade of D for the job it does ‘engaging and nurturing’ minorities to pursue careers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and a D-plus for such performance with girls.” This is according to a survey from the Bayer Corp. of female and minority members of the American Chemical Society. The Education Week article also notes the results of the AAUW study, which “offers a set of recommendations for educators, parents, and others, including a call to ‘spread the word about girls’ and women’s achievements in math and science’ to combat negative stereotypes…and explain to girls that buying into negative stereotypes can diminish academic achievement,” among other things. “The two new reports come amid strong and growing interest in promoting improved STEM education and stronger interest among young people in the subjects.”

eSchool News (3/22, Prabhu) reported on the Bayer Corp. survey, which “identified the three top causes or contributors that respondents thought lead to underrepresentation in STEM fields.” These were “a lack of high-quality science and math education programs in poorer school districts (cited by 75 percent of respondents); persistent stereotypes that STEM isn’t for girls or minorities (66 percent); and financial issues related to the cost of education (53 percent).”

Columnist Says Teachers Need More Training, Not Threats.
Columnist Lawrence Harmon writes in an op-ed for the Boston Globe (3/23), “In the battle for accountability, school superintendents in Boston, Washington, and elsewhere are dragging ineffective educators in front of figurative firing squads. But it’s hard to see how firing or transferring teachers will save schools unless teacher training – both in-service and in schools of education – improves dramatically.” Harmon adds, “If school districts are going to demand so much of teachers, then the least superintendents and schools of education can provide is basic tools” as effective training has more power “than there could ever be in threats.”

Law & Policy
Chicago Students Seek School Lunch Menu Overhaul.
The Chicago Tribune (3/23, Eng) reports, “When school officials defend serving a daily menu of nachos, pizza, burgers and fries, they often say they’re just giving students what they want. But you wouldn’t know it by listening to an angry coalition of high school students who plan to speak out on Chicago Public Schools meals Wednesday at the monthly Chicago Board of Education meeting.” According to the Tribune, “One of those students is Teresa Onstott, a sophomore at Social Justice High School who last week practiced a speech that details the ‘sickening pizza, chicken sandwiches and nachos’ the district serves each day and urges the board not to renew the contract for” Chartwells-Thompson, “the company providing the food.”

Race To The Top To Spur Teacher Merit Pay Pilot Programs In Georgia.
Maureen Downey wrote in a “Get Schooled” blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3/22) that Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue’s (R) teacher merit pay bill “was likely off the table” for this legislative “session after its sponsor told educators he was settling for a study committee. But the pay for performance issue still looms as it is a key part of the state’s Race to the Top application and would be mandatory in the 23 participating school districts.” According to Downey, “Those districts, which represent 41 percent of the students in Georgia schools, would, in essence, pilot performance pay for the rest of the state.”

Illinois House Votes To Allow Districts To Set Four-Day School Weeks.
The Chicago Tribune (3/23, Manchir) reports, “In an effort to help strapped school districts save money,” the Illinois House “on Monday approved a bill that would let local school boards set four-day weeks for students,” and the bill now “goes to the Senate for consideration.” According to the Tribune, “Lawmakers said the move could save school districts money on fuel for buses and utility costs for buildings.” However, “the legislation is opposed by some major education groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union.”

Duncan’s Office Maintained List Of Chicago Politicians’ School Admissions Requests.
The Chicago Tribune (3/23, Ahmed) reports, “For several years when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was Chicago Public Schools chief, his office maintained a list of politicians and others seeking help for applicants to selective schools, former top aide David Pickens told the Tribune today. The list is being investigated as part of a wider inquiry into allegations of back-door admissions practices at the elite schools, now being conducted by the school district inspector general and part of a federal probe.” According to the Tribune, Duncan spokesman Peter Cunningham is quoted saying that admissions decisions were “up to the principal” and any admissions queries that came from Duncan’s office were “part of our process of being responsive to people.”

The Chicago Sun-Times (3/23, Rossi) reports, “For several years during U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s tenure running Chicago’s public schools, his office kept a list of elected officials and others trying to get children into the city’s elite selective enrollment schools, top CPS official David Pickens told the Chicago Sun-Times today. … The CPS inspector general is investigating the list, Pickens said, adding that they began keeping it at the request of principals who were inundated with calls from parents about gaining a seat in a magnet or selective enrollment college prep school.”

School Finance
Official Says Mismanagement Of Construction Cost Hampton, Virginia, District $2 Million.
The Daily Press (3/23, Shalash) reports, “Since 2008, Charles Roberts has kept an eagle-eye on the pre-K-8 school construction in Hampton to make sure it ran smoothly and taxpayer money wasn’t wasted.” In his position as director of facilities and planning , Roberts “alerted his boss about mismanagement on the $100 million projects that led to the schools opening a year late and costing $2 million in delays,” but those alerts, “were ignored by his boss, Deputy Superintendent for Facilities Victor Hellman and former Superintendent Patrick Russo.” Now, his job “has been eliminated from the proposed 2011 budget that the School Board will finalize March 31.” Hellman said the position is no longer needed.

Bills Would Allow Minnesota Districts To Raise Taxes Without Voter Approval.
The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer-Press (3/23, Boldt) reports that “state aid for schools is frozen … forcing districts to dip into their reserves and take out loans.” Some education officials say that “school districts should have more authority to raise property taxes without voter approval.” State Rep. Mindy Greiling (D) “introduced a bill…that would allow school districts to levy up to $200 per pupil from local taxpayers without voter approval.” Two other bills will also be examined: the first “would allow school boards to renew an expiring levy,” and the second would “let districts increase taxes to help pay for proposed increased contributions to help stabilize the state pension fund for teachers and administrators.”

Also in the News
Teen Juries Hear Cases Of First-Time Offenders In Los Angeles District.
The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Kim) reported that a “teen court, which convened after last bell on a recent Wednesday at Dorsey High in South Los Angeles, is one of 17 in the county where students decide the cases of first-time juvenile offenders accused of misdemeanors including tagging, petty theft, drug possession and prostitution.” According to adults involved in the process, “these teens, who perform their civic duty with part somber responsibility and part gleeful curiosity, often know better than legal professionals why a teen did what he or she did, and what punishment will change his or her behavior.” The Times noted that “the idea behind having teens’ cases heard by peers is that the combination of questioning, sanctions and involvement in the legal process — most defendants are ordered back to serve as a juror on teen court as part of their community service — will steer them away from more serious offenses.”

Teens Help Adults Pass California High School Exit Exam.
The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Cruz) reported that Brandy Rice was “one of 20 Compton Adult School students in a tutoring program for the California High School Exit Examination. The tutors weren’t teachers, but teenagers from Palos Verdes High School,” set in a wealthy “beach community on a hill.” According to the Times, the “adults receiving tutoring…all have the same regret: They didn’t get a high school diploma.”

News 8 Austin (2/16) reported on “Discover Engineering Week” in the Austin area, which will give students “a hands-on and updated view of the engineering industry,” and will include visits from industry professionals who “will talk about the importance of engineers in society and provide interactive features for students and teachers.” Another News 8 Austin (2/16, Iglehart) story reported, “IBM is one of the companies participating in” the initiative. Yesterday, “IBM trained volunteers for the program and taught various activities to get students acquainted with the life of an engineer. … Each activity gives students an idea of how important engineering is to their community and the impact it can have on their daily lives.”

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In the Classroom
US Customs and Border Protection Donates Seized Vehicles To Four Arizona High Schools.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (2/17, Gilbert) reports that the US Customs and Border Protection’s donation of “eight vehicles to vocational automobile programs at four Yuma-area schools” will give high school students in automotive classes “the opportunity to hone their auto mechanic skills.” Each of the four schools will receive two of the vehicles. The “five sedans and three minivans…had been seized during the commission of crimes over the past six months,” the Yuma Sun adds.

North Carolina Education Officials Come Up With New US History Curriculum Options.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (2/17, Bonner) reports that North Carolina “education officials yielded to critics of a proposal that would have limited the required high school US history course to events of the last 132 years.” On Tuesday, the state Department of Public Instruction’s chief academic officer, Rebecca Garland, “told legislators” that “the agency used…feedback from 7,000 emails on the proposed social studies curriculum to come up with two new options.” Garland added that the options “will be ready in April.”

More Special-Needs Utah Students Learning In Regular Classrooms.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/16, Stewart) reported, “Today, 52 percent of Utah’s special-needs learners spend most of the school day in regular classrooms, up from 42 percent in 2004. … Technology has driven advances in learning aids and textbook publishers are now producing adaptive instructional materials.” Also, Christine Timothy, severe disabilities specialist at the Utah State Office of Education, “said mounting evidence shows mainstreamed students fare better as adults in terms of employability, wages and independence.”

Students Design Machines To Measure Licks Needed To Reach Center Of Tootsie Roll Pop.
The Ipswich (MA) Chronicle (2/17, Dooley) reports, “Engineering Tech II students at Ipswich High School have undertaken a sweet challenge: They’ve designed machines to measure how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop.” The students’ designs included “donated motors with worm gear drives intended to power automobile seats, scraps of wood, calculators, a laptop computer, gears, axles, and Lego parts.” Teacher Bill Gallant, who found the project in “Technology Teacher” magazine, said, “The project takes students through all the stages of the engineering design process. They have to think like an engineer.” He added, “The Tootsie Roll pop assignment follows the trebuchet catapult project students worked on previously to throw an egg into a frying pan.”

On the Job
Illinois State University Student Group Provides Urban School Instruction Training.
The Chicago Tribune (2/17, Cvetan) reports that Urban Needs in Teacher Education (UNITE), a “student-led organization at Illinois State University,” aims to “change the way education is taught for urban schools, thereby having a greater impact on issues such as high dropout rates. … The group’s most recent effort was Project 43, a 43-hour marathon event for about 40 budding educators focused on how make their instruction relevant to students, excite the desire to learn and help them go on to college.” According to the Tribune, “The weekend featured workshops and seminars on professional development, social justice and school improvement; meetings with Chicago Public Schools teachers; and speakers who addressed issues related to the dropout problem.”

Law & Policy
National School Nutrition Reform Efforts Show Promise.
Education Week (2/16, McNeil, Quillen) reported, in a story outlining the various nutrition efforts planned for schools, that “while states and school districts have tried to promote healthier foods and distribute them to more students, the possibility of national nutrition reform may be starting to show some real teeth.” The current “push to reauthorize the 64-year-old federal school meals program” coincides with “a new anti-obesity campaign headed by the first lady” and proposed changes from the Obama administration “that stretch across both the US Departments of Education and Agriculture.” The Department of Agriculture’s plan focuses on “improving nutrition standards” critics say have remained about the same since 1946. Mrs. Obama’s campaign, “Let’s Move,” aims to “encourage more physical activity for children, healthier foods, and more accurate food labeling,” Education Week adds.

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Special Needs
Criticism Grows Against State, District Home-Language Survey To Identify ELLs.
Education Week (2/16, Zehr) reported, “A growing chorus of people are saying that some school districts are overzealous in categorizing students as English-language learners” and that “information requested on” a home-language survey filled out by parents “can be misleading or misused.” Education Week also points out that in “districts across the country, once a student is designated as an ELL, the label is not readily lifted.” State officials in Arizona, meanwhile, “have changed the home-language survey there to ask only one question rather than three,” in an effort to “cut down on the overidentification of students as ELLs.” However, the move has prompted a complaint — currently being investigated by the US Department of Education’s office of civil rights — that the simplified “home-language form” promotes discrimination “against children who may be dominant in English, but still need extra help to gain proficiency in it.”

Safety & Security
Maryland Districts Taking Precautions As Schools Reopen Today.
The Baltimore Sun (2/17, Fuller) reports that officials in Maryland school systems reopening on “Wednesday after the recent snow storms that blanketed the area with more than 3 feet of snow” are taking precautions to promote safety. For instance, “Anne Arundel County police are deploying a helicopter to assist an increased police presence on major streets during school arrival and dismissal times Wednesday.” Meanwhile, Baltimore County “school officials are calling for students to wear bright clothing for greater visibility.” In many areas “sidewalks still covered with ice and huge piles of snow.” And some school systems plan to start schools “two hours late for the rest of the week.”

School Finance
Florida District May Charge Parents Full Price For Lost Or Damaged Textbooks.
Denise-Marie Balona wrote in a “Sentinel School Zone” blog for the Orlando Sentinel (2/16) that Lake County, FL “school officials are considering charging families the full price of lost or damaged materials, regardless of their age or condition. Right now, principals charge students a replacement cost based on the number of years the item has been in use.” According to Balona, Lake officials “say they can’t afford to keep shouldering the bulk of the financial burden — $90,000 a year, on average.”

Florida District’s Penny Sales Tax Helps Pay For Most Promised School Projects.
The St. Petersburg Times (2/17, Solochek) reports, “The Pasco County School District’s income from the Penny for Pasco sales tax, approved in 2004,” reached its highest “single-month revenue” of $1.48 million in December 2005. In 2006, tax money peaked “at $14.44 million.” But “since then, the annual revenue has declined,” and in October of last year the district received its “single lowest” collection of $717, 626 from Penny for Pasco. Mike Williams, the districts construction manager told the School Board on Tuesday, “The positive point is, we’re still collecting money.” On the other hand, “there’s little money available for any additional construction and maintenance projects.” The Times notes, however that “the majority of the new schools and additions promised with the Penny for Pasco are either complete or in the works.”

Louisiana Governor Proposes “No-Growth” In State Aid To Public Schools.
Louisiana’s Advocate (2/16, A6, Sentell) reported, “Basic state aid to Louisiana public schools would be virtually frozen for the second consecutive year under the budget Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) unveiled last week.” The budget would provide “$3.3 billion in basic aid to public schools, which aside from money for new students is the same as what schools got last year.” Still, state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Chairwoman Penny Dastugue pointed out that “a no-growth budget is better than reductions in state aid.” The BESE will make decisions about the proposal on March 11.

Also in the News
Indiana Foundation In Talks To Preserve Historic Grade School.
The AP (2/16) reported, “The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana says it wants to talk with officials in Lowell about saving an old grade school. The Board of Zoning Appeals could vote Feb. 23 on whether to condemn the Old Lowell Grade School.” According to the AP, “Historic Landmarks’ Central Region Director Mark Dollase says options include a program in which the building could be stabilized and then resold.”

Army General Takes “Second Act” As CEO Of DC Public Schools.
The Washington Post (2/15, Turque) reported on Army Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata, who once served in Afghanistan and is now CEO for DC public schools. In the “newly created post,” Tata overseas “purchasing, food service, technology and other support areas.” The Post explains that while serving in “Afghanistan’s Kunar Province in April 2006…a Taliban rocket slammed into a primary school in Asadabad, killing seven children and wounding 34.” That event and “others like it by the Taliban” inspired Tata’s pursuit of a career in the education sector. Said Tata, “It struck me at the time that if the enemy of my enemy is education, then perhaps that’s a second act for me.” According to the Post, since joining the DC public school system, he has “helped win certification for 77 D.C. public schools to serve free lunch to all children” and revamped the district’s warehouse system.

NEA in the News
Alabama Teacher Accuses Principal Of Harassment.
The Decatur (AL) Daily (2/17, Hughes) reports that the Morgan County, AL school board was asked to intervene after Dawn Davis, “a Danville Middle School teacher who was forced to remove her nose stud, accused her principal of ‘systematic and ongoing harassment.’ Alabama Education Association representative Gloria Johnson said the request to remove the nose stud was just an example of the harassment of Davis by Principal Gary Walker during a 12-year period.” Johnson “accused Walker of being inconsistent in his decisions because, she said, he let some students wear” clear studs, yet the board ultimately “denied Davis’ grievance.”

School System Offering Camp To Expose Students To Nontraditional Careers.
The Newton (GA) Citizen (2/23, Floyd) reports on the Girls in Engineering Camp that Rockdale County Public Schools offered its middle schoolers. Jill Oldham, the camp’s organizer, said the idea was “to expose students to nontraditional careers.” Interest from students was higher than expected, Oldham added. For four days over winter break, “instructor Casey Martin introduced a specific engineering career field to the class, and then a guest speaker talked to the students and answered questions from them; three of the days included a female working in the engineering field or from a engineering organization. Afterward, Martin told them about education requirements in that field, and then the girls completed a project related to the field.” Oldham noted that “RCPS later will try to offer camps or special programs for other nontraditional careers, like boys in health care.”

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In the Classroom
As Student Interest “Ebbs And Flows,” Budget Cuts Seen To Threaten Sewing Classes.
The Evansville (IN) Courier & Press (2/23, Bartels, Owen-Phelps) reports on the decline of sewing classes in Tri-State schools. “While interest in sewing ebbs and flows among the young, budget cuts and increasing academic standards discourage some school systems from offering sewing classes.” At time same time, “television shows such as ‘Project Runway,’ ‘What Not to Wear’ and home improvement programs have piqued the interest of some young people.” The article notes the experiences of students who have participated in programs that include sewing, and the benefits they gleaned from developing those skills. And while some schools have been reducing and eliminating programs, “at North High School in Evansville, sewing is part of a fashion and textiles class,” and the two sessions offered each semester are routinely full. Teacher Alyson McIntyre-Reiger said “she recruits on the middle school level.”

School’s Natural Resources Pathway Adds Course In Environmental Services And Wildlife.
In the seventh of a series of article produced for National Career and Technical Education Month at Winfield High School, the Winfield (KS) Daily Courier (2/23, Hogan) reports on “the Natural Resources pathway in Ag Education,” which “provides students with a unique opportunity to study science and how it applies to their world as well as explore related careers and compete in FFA.” In addition to classes such as horticulture and animal science, the department is now offering a course in environmental services and wildlife. For the “first semester, students studied land conservation and wildlife management and visited with several representatives from colleges and [CTE] schools about job opportunities related to this class.” They also “learned about heavy equipment operation” through a simulator at North Central Tech. College, among other things. Students are currently preparing to compete based on what they have learned.

Study Shows “No Cussing” Clubs Helped Reduce Violence, Profanity In Schools.
KSTU-TV Salt Lake City (2/23) reported on its Website that McKay Hatch, founder of the “No Cussing Club,” spoke to students at Bennion Elementary School in West Jordan on Monday. Hatch “taught students about the power of their words and how to combat bullying and cyber bullying.” KSTU added that “a two year study in Louisiana shows that violence and profanity decreased 64 percent after their school implemented the No Cussing Club chapter in their district.”

Evolution Of Student Assessment Tools Analyzed.
Stanley N. Rabinowitz, director of the Assessment and Standards Development Services Program at WestEd, wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (2/22), “An unprecedented confluence of factors — economic, political, and educational — is causing many states to rethink their student-assessment programs,” however, “careful thought and expert guidance will be needed if they are to avoid the problems of the past and take advantage of promising new developments” like the current NCLB renewal push. According to Rabinowitz, “Our assessment and accountability systems should reflect what we value most for our students, schools, and society, and what we think it means to be a well-prepared student, worker, and citizen. Once these are clear, we should be willing to fight and to pay for their reflection in our system for measuring academic progress.”

On the Job
More Maryland Districts To Become Majority-Minority.
The Baltimore Sun (2/22, Carson) reported that by the start of classes in the fall of 2011 in Maryland, “white students in Howard County are expected to be a minority, joining those in Baltimore County. The two school systems are riding a demographic wave” that is “sparking intensive efforts to shape children from all backgrounds into eager, high-achieving students.” According to experts, school enrollments are a reflection of the growth in diversity that is happening nationwide. Mark Goldstein, “an economist and state planner,” said, “Statewide, the population is clearly becoming more minority. … That is increasingly true as we go through the decade.”

More Georgia Districts Planning Switch To Four-Day Weeks.
The AP (2/22) reported, “With budget cuts looming, more Georgia school systems are considering switching to four-day school weeks. Peach County took the step last fall when officials decided to hold classes Tuesdays through Fridays.” District officials saw the four-day week as “a way to fill a nearly $800,000 budget shortfall.” So far, “Peach County officials have estimated they saved $313,000 in transportation and utilities costs by making the schedule change.”

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Law & Policy
Some Education Stakeholders Want More Federal Recognition, Funding For Magnet Schools.
Education Week (2/22, Zehr) reported that when compared to the attention given to charter schools, “some educators and researchers” say that “magnet schools have been given short shrift by the Obama administration.” Magnet schools, which “typically have a particular academic focus,” increase the “racial or economic diversity” of a school and “deserve more federal funding and support than they are receiving,” some argue. U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton said that “the administration thinks magnet schools play an important role.” He also clarified, “Arne Duncan has consistently said he’s not for all charter schools, just good charter schools.”

DC Schools Chief Submits Teacher Abuse, Misconduct Report To City Council Chairman.
Bill Turque wrote in a “D.C. School Insider” blog for the Washington Post (2/22) that D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “has fired ten DCPS teachers for administering corporal punishment and two for sexual misconduct since July 2007, according to a report she has submitted to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. Another 28 served suspensions ranging from two to ten days for some form of corporal punishment, defined by District law as the use or attempted use of physical force against a student, ‘either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the student’s safety, as a punishment or discipline.’” According to Turque, the report “was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling ‘Fast Company’ magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students.”

Sex Education Bill Dies In Utah Senate.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/23, Schencker) reports that “after months of negotiations,” state Senate bill 54 “died with barely a whisper Monday morning after lawmakers chose not to talk about it.” The bill would have changed “language in state law to clarify that Utah teachers are allowed to talk about contraception.” It “also would have directed the State Office of Education to develop materials on contraception for teachers to use and would have made those materials available for parents to review.” The Tribune notes that “state law already allows schools to teach students about contraceptives, but it prohibits ‘advocacy or encouragement’ of their use.”

School Finance
Arts Classes Jeopardized By Michigan Education Cuts.
The Detroit News (2/23, Hodges) reports, “Only 40 percent” of Detroit Public Schools “have an art teacher, down from 80 percent 10 years ago.” And though “Detroit’s public schools have been in crisis mode for far more than a decade,” schools in Detroit’s suburbs “may not be far behind,” as late last year, “all public schools suffered a $165 per pupil cut in state aid — some suburbs lost even more — leaving even wealthy-by-comparison systems contemplating cuts to programs once regarded as indispensable.”

Chicago-Area Districts Blame Recession, State Financial Crisis For “Deep Cuts.”
The Chicago Tribune (2/23, Black) reports that “Chicago-area school districts already struggling with multimillion-dollar budget deficits are warning of mass teacher layoffs and deep program cuts for the coming school year — an impending crisis they blame on the recession and the state’s chronic financial woes.” State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus called Illinois’ current financial crisis “unprecedented.” Even with $3 billion “in federal stimulus funding provided over the last two years,” the state has not “paid the current school year’s education bills in months,” the Tribune notes. Consequently, many school districts in the state have had to “cut band programs, increase class sizes, reduce field trips and use fewer substitute teachers.” Michael Jacoby, executive director of the” Illinois ASBO pointed out, “Cutting supplies or taking a copy machine out of a school — they are low-hanging fruit but really won’t balance the budget. People are the thing you need to remove to balance the budget.”

Also in the News
“Keep Fit Club” Helps Overweight Texas Youth Get In Shape.
The Houston Chronicle (2/22, George) reported on the Keep Fit Club, “a free program offered to overweight and obese 10- to 18-year-olds in the Texas Children’s Health Plan, which provides medical care for 250,000 area children on Medicaid or CHIP. Keep Fit Club families are taught how to make healthier choices during Saturday exercise and nutrition sessions.” According to the Chronicle, the “program is among several in the Houston area helping youngsters beat childhood obesity through exercise and healthy eating — key goals” of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “‘Let’s Move’ initiative announced this month.”

Amid Spying Lawsuit, Pennsylvania District Asked Not To Delete Evidence From Computers.
The AP (2/23) reported, “A student who accuses his suburban Philadelphia school district in a lawsuit of spying on students via their school-issued webcams will ask district officials not to remove any potential evidence from student computers, his lawyer said Monday. Lawyers for the Lower Merion School District are due in federal court on the issue Monday afternoon, on an emergency petition from student Blake Robbins of Penn Valley.” According to the AP, “Lower Merion officials confirmed last week they had activated the webcams to try to find 42 missing laptops, without the knowledge or permission of students and their families.”

Teachers To Appeal Mass Firings At Rhode Island High School.
The AP (2/26, Henry) reports, “The entire staff of teachers fired in a radical attempt to improve one of the worst performing high schools in Rhode Island will appeal their dismissals to school authorities, the head of the teachers union said Thursday. The board of trustees overseeing the school system in Central Falls, one of the poorest communities in the state, voted Tuesday to fire 88 high school teachers and other support staff by the end of the year.” According to the AP, Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers’ Union, says she “still hopes negotiations will resume, although her union has not made any requests to school officials to continue talks.”

The Christian Science Monitor (2/26, Khadaroo) reports, “To the dismay of many local and national union members, all the teachers, the principal, and other staff of Central Falls [RI] High School were fired by the board of trustees this week,” as “part of a dramatic turnaround plan proposed by the superintendent and approved by the state education commissioner.” According to the Monitor, “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan applauded the Rhode Island decision this week. But Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers president, shot back with a statement that ‘firing all of the teachers is a failed approach and will not result in the kinds of changes necessary to improve instruction and learning.’”

In the Classroom
Saturday Science Academy Uses Hands-On Approach To Motivate Students.
The San Gabriel Valley (CA) Tribune (2/25, Irwin) reported that Kwis Elementary School is “trying an experimental Saturday science academy,” and “is using a hands-on approach to science to motivate students.” The academy takes place “one Saturday a month from 9 to 11 a.m.” Instructors “use ‘guided discovery’ to pique the students’ interest.” For example, “the first class gave the students a ‘mystery powder’ to figure out. The kids used microscopes to study the crystalline structure of the mysterious substance.” The Kwis academy is made possible through a federal grant.

Report Analyzes “Best Practices” Among Middle Grades.
Education Week (2/25, Zehr) reported, “Using students’ test scores as one part of evaluations for teachers, principals, and superintendents is associated with better academic performance at schools serving the middle grades, a report released this week has found. Linking students’ test scores with evaluations was one of the ‘best practices’ that high-performing schools serving students in grades 6 to 8 have in common,” the EdSource report found. According to Education Week, “Researchers analyzed the relationship between students’ spring 2009 scores on California’s tests in mathematics and English/language arts and answers to surveys by 303 principals, 3,752 English and math teachers, and 157 superintendents in the state.”

After-School Enrichment Program Introduces Elementary Schoolers To Hobby, Career Skills.
The Jackson (MI) Citizen Patriot (2/26, Wilson) reports on the Challenge U program at Bean Elementary School, and “after-school enrichment program, which has been offered at Bean for almost two decades” and “gives students a chance to learn about a variety of activities” that could be applied to hobbies or careers. The 16 classes offered this year encompass “soccer, wrestling, cake decorating, knitting, sewing, jewelry making and photography,” as well as courses on animals and electronics. ‘”I hope they gain an understanding of engineering and that there are careers in Jackson County related to electrical engineering,’ said Albert Rossner, a digital electronics instructor for Project Lead the Way at the Jackson Area Career Center, who was teaching students how to build a circuit.”

Grant To Help Colorado District Beef Up STEM Programs, Serve As National Model.
The Colorado Springs Gazette (2/26, McGraw) reports, “Falcon School District 49 has received a $100,000 federal grant to beef up its fledgling science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program” by funding teacher training. It will also be used to “provide programs and buy equipment such as laptops and interactive videos.” A district official said “that over five years Falcon will create a program that will serve as a state and national model. In this effort, the district will partner with the Center for STEM Education at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and the Museum of Science and the National Center for Technological Literacy, both in Boston. The district also will consult with industry professionals from around the state.”

On the Job
Orange County, California, Schools Chief Calls For Elimination Of Teacher Tenure.
The Orange County Register (2/26, Leal) reports that Orange County, CA schools Superintendent William Habermehl “proposed eliminating teacher tenure, boosting local control of education funding and reducing federal and state regulations Thursday during his annual State of Education speech.” Habermehl “admitted many of his proposed reforms would face tough challenges from lawmakers, unions and other groups. But the several consecutive years of massive budget cuts have severely damaged the ability of schools to provide an education necessary for students to succeed in the 21st century, he said.”

Law & Policy
Parents Push For Ban On Solitary Confinement In Georgia Schools.
The AP (2/26, Turner) reports that the parents of a 13-year-old student who “hanged himself while in” a seclusion room at school “are pushing state education officials to pass a policy banning the use of solitary confinement in Georgia schools, which they say led directly to their son’s death in 2004.” A “federal report released this week” by the Department of Education says that “19 states, including Georgia, do not regulate” seclusion of students in schools. However, it also shows “that many of the states that have no policy are in the process of developing regulations, and a handful of the states that have policies are reviewing them to ensure they are sufficient.” The AP notes that the report “stems from Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s query to state school chiefs last year on policies for confinement and restraint of misbehaving students.”

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New York City Education Panel Approves Ban On Bake Sales.
The New York Times (2/26, A24, Medina) reports that the New York City Department of Education’s Panel for Education Policy unanimously approved a new policy that “bans most bake sales but allows students to sell premade items including Pop-Tarts and Doritos.” The Times notes that the vote was made after 11:30 pm Wednesday night, and “by then, just one mother…was waiting to speak out against the new policy.”

Los Angeles District Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over School Layoffs.
The Los Angeles Times (2/25, Song) reported that a class-action lawsuit was “filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of students at three of the city’s worst-performing middle schools. The suit claims those students were denied their legal rights to an education and aims to prevent the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off more teachers there.” The “student body at the three schools is almost exclusively minority, and campuses in more affluent areas were not hit as hard by teacher layoffs.”

School Changes Policy On Sending Students To Office After Child Walks Off Campus.
The Dallas Morning News (2/26, Mueller) reports that Casa View Elementary School in Dallas “has changed its policy regarding sending students to the principal’s office after a 7-year-old walked off campus.” The student “was missing for about two hours Wednesday after being sent to the office” for “playing in the boys’ bathroom.” Instead of going to the office, the boy walked off campus and “hid behind a nearby house.” The student told a local television station “that he skipped out because he” thought the principal would suspend him. Though school employees did follow “procedures according to Dallas ISD policy, which requires students to be paired up when going to the office,” the school will now require that teachers call “the office to let the principal’s staff know when students are on the way.”

Special Needs
Ontario District Using Online Technology To Support Autistic Students.
T.H.E. Journal (2/25, McCrea) reported that knowing autistic students “need special attention in the learning environment and that the instructors who teach those students require additional support,” Joel Godecki, autism spectrum disorders project director for the 8,000-student Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board in Northwestern Ontario, “looked around for a technology tool that could serve both purposes.” Godecki “decided to try a suite of products developed by AutismPro. ‘I was intrigued by the fact that the system was based on the Web and that it would be easy to implement at different schools,’ said Godecki, whose district is currently using AutismPro’s workshops, resources, and professional and resource management products.”

School Finance
Chicago Public Schools Faces Up To $1 Billion In Debt Next Year.
The Chicago Tribune (2/26, Ahmed) reports, “Chicago Public Schools is facing a deficit of up to $1 billion next year that can be reduced only through a combination of pension reform, union concessions and job cuts, schools chief Ron Huberman said Thursday.” He added that “without all three measures in conjunction…teacher layoffs, increased class sizes and cuts to important programs are distinct possibilities.” The Tribune notes that the “2011 budget forecast takes into account a skyrocketing pension obligation next year and contractual raises for teachers that together increase costs by about $450 million over this year.”

More Funds Could Be Cut From Hawaii Schools’ Budget.
The AP (2/26) reports that the Hawaii Board of Education “has found an additional $37.7 million it could cut from the budget of Hawaii’s public school system. State Sens. Norman Sakamoto [D] and Donna Mercado Kim [D] had asked the Department of Education to prioritize a list of cuts amounting to about $78 million,” about five percent “of the system’s general fund budget.” The AP added, “Island public schools have already absorbed $269 million in cuts over this year and next,” which “have resulted in teacher furloughs that have cost students more than three weeks of class time.”

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Utah Assembly Votes Against Equal Distribution Of Funds Between Split Districts.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/25, Schencker, Drake) reported that on Wednesday night, Utah’s House Education Committee “shot down HB292, a bill that would have brought property tax revenues per student in” the Canyons and Jordan school districts “back to equal levels by redistributing money,” and would “have applied to splitting districts in the future.” As a result, “Canyons will not be required to send $15 million in property tax revenue to Jordan.” Before the vote, “administrators from both districts presented financial arguments.” Burke Jolley, Jordan deputy superintendent for business services, said that “Jordan now collects only $1,136 in property revenue per student compared with $2,087 collected by Canyons.” But, according to Canyons’ business administrator Keith Bradford, when “taking into account other factors, such as the property tax money Canyons already sends to Jordan under a county-wide equalization law passed two years ago,” the Jordan school district “now collects $1,467 per student and Canyons gets $1,899.”

Also in the News
Television Station Owner Launches Ad Campaign Advocating Diversity In Schools.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (2/26, Goldsmith, Hui) reports, “Capitol Broadcasting Corp., owner of WRAL, is airing an editorial ad campaign on the television station proclaiming that ‘diversity matters.’” The ads “come as a new majority on the county school board has proposed getting rid of Wake’s current diversity policy of trying to balance the numbers of students at each school based on families’ economic backgrounds.” Capital Broadcasting Corp. CEO Jim Goodmon “said today that the spots are not meant as direct endorsement of the current policy, but as an editorial statement in favor of the principle of diversity.”

Duncan To Announce Ramped-Up Civil Rights Enforcement.
The Washington Post (3/8, Anderson) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to announce Monday that his agency is ramping up enforcement of civil rights laws in schools and colleges, a move that seeks to draw a contrast with the policies of his Republican predecessors. In a speech drafted for an appearance” at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, “where civil rights marchers were beaten by state and local police in March 1965,” Duncan “said the department’s Office for Civil Rights expects to issue a series of guidance letters to educators to address ‘issues of fairness and equity.’” Duncan “said the department will also announce in coming weeks and months several enforcement actions to ensure that students have equal access to a college-prep curriculum, advanced courses, and classes in math and science.”

The AP (3/7, Armario) reported that ED “plans to intensify its civil rights enforcement efforts in schools around the country, including a deeper look at issues ranging from programs for immigrant students learning English to equal access to a college preparatory courses. … ‘For us, this is very much about working to meet the president’s goal, that by 2020 we will regain our status in the world as the number one producer of college graduates,’ Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights in the Education Department, said.”

The Wall Street Journal (3/8, King) also reports on the story, quoting Ali saying, “We are back in business … Across all of the statutes under our jurisdiction, we will vigorously enforce civil-rights laws.”

Duncan To Participate In Selma Event As Planned. The AP (3/6) reported, “Alabama’s Legislative Black Caucus on Saturday called on U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to cancel a planned appearance at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery. State Rep. Alvin Holmes said the school and its principal publicly opposed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Selma-Montgomery march in 1965.” The AP added that Duncan “is scheduled to meet with teachers and students at the school and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ the violent clash between civil rights protesters and state troopers in Selma.”

The AP (3/7) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “will meet with students as planned at Montgomery’s Robert E. Lee High School, despite a state legislator’s call to cancel the appearance. … Officials in Duncan’s office said the school is now majority black and the current principal was 2 years old at the time of the march.”

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In the Classroom
New Math Curriculum Credited For Improvement of DC Students.
The Washington Post (3/8, Turque) reports that educators say a new emphasis on “deeper conceptual understanding” of Math concepts as opposed to rote memorization in D.C. school is “paying off,” as “December results for the National Assessment of Educational Progress…showed that the District was the only one of 11 urban school systems tested that made significant gains in math in 2007 and 2009.” The “shift is a legacy of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s predecessor, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who imported more rigorous math and reading standards to the District from Massachusetts in 2005, along with the DC-CAS, an annual standardized test that resembles the NAEP. That year, he also introduced Everyday Mathematics, a K-6 curriculum developed in the 1990s by the University of Chicago.”

All-Male All African-American Urban Prep Academy Sends Entire Class To College.
The Chicago Tribune (3/5, Eldeib) reported that Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, Chicago’s “only public all-male, all-African-American high school,” has “fulfilled its mission: 100 percent of its first senior class had been accepted to four-year colleges. Mayor Richard Daley and city schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at the all-school assembly Friday morning with congratulations, and school leaders announced that as a reward, prom would be free.” According to the Tribune, “The achievement might not merit a visit from top brass if it happened at one of the city’s elite, selective enrollment high schools,” but Urban Prep, “a charter school that enrolls all comers in one of Chicago’s most beleaguered neighborhoods, faced much more difficult odds.”

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On the Job
New Report Highlights Challenges Faced By High School Guidance Counselors.
Valerie Strauss wrote in an “Answer Sheet” blog for the Washington Post (3/6) wrote that high school counselors “are overworked,” many are not “well trained” and many students “think their counselors don’t really know them.” According to Strauss, these were among “key conclusions of the study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation…and conducted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit research group Public Agenda. … The report, entitled ‘Can I Get A Little Advice Here: How an Overstretched High School Guidance System Is Undermining Students’ College Aspirations,’ is the second in a Public Agenda series on college completion.”

Law & Policy
US To Step Up Collections Of Delinquent Federal Loans From Social Security Checks.
The Wall Street Journal (3/8, Schultz) reports that the federal government will start “offsetting,” or taking a portion of Social Security or disability benefits of individuals who owe on debts to the Department of Education or other federal departments. The Journal notes that before 2008, the U.S. government could not offset debt more than 10 years old, but a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted that restriction.

More Districts Moving To Four-Day Weeks.
The Wall Street Journal (3/7, Herring) reported that an increasing number of school districts around the U.S. are shifting to four-day weeks amid major budget shortfalls, but critics say education quality will suffer if instruction days are reduced. The Journal noted that more than 100 districts in about 17 states are currently using a four-day week, according to Education Commission of the States data. An ED spokeswoman is quoted saying in an e-mail that “generally, we are concerned about financial constraints leading to a reduction in learning time.”

The Macon Telegraph (3/8) reports Ray Markwalter of the Baldwin County Board of Education “plans to move forward with a proposal for a four-day school week for the district.” He first heard the idea “during the Georgia School Boards Association conference in December after listening to Peach County Superintendent Susan Clark present her school system’s results.” He said that “the drop in disciplinary incidents, as well as fewer teacher absences, were among the appealing aspects of adopting a four-day school week.”

Special Needs
Florida Accommodates Special Needs Students On Testing.
The Miami Herald (3/8, McGrory) reports, “When students sit down this week to be tested on their knowledge of math, reading and science, not all will be putting pen to paper.” That’s because accommodations for students with disabilities mean that “some may be dictating” while “others may use switches, or computers that play back text in a spoken voice.” And “beyond the accommodations outlined by the state, individual school districts can petition the state Department of Education for other adjustments, said Bambi Lockman, the state director of Exceptional Education and Student Services.” Also, “administrators try to assure that special-needs students take the tests with teachers they know. They also have counselors and school psychologists on hand to help students who are frustrated.”

Facilities
Kansas City, Missouri, May Close Nearly Half Of Schools To Reduce Deficit.
The AP (3/8) reports, “Kansas City was held up as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many kids were moving.” But “now it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat.” Superintendent John Covington has proposed “closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall.”

School Finance
Louisiana Districts Use Stimulus Funds To Keep Programs Operating.
The Shreveport (LA) Times (3/8, Johnson) reports, “Title I and special education programs and technology upgrades are set to receive the bulk of millions of federal stimulus dollars rolling into northwest Louisiana school districts through the end of next academic year.” The state “will receive more than $377 million in stimulus money this academic year.” Janis Parker, Title I director for Caddo public schools, said that “She is using a portion of her department’s $18.4 million allotment to continue a Reading First Grant.” The funding is reportedly allowing many school districts to keep programs operating that they otherwise might have had to close down.

Des Moines To Cut 60 Percent Of Art, Music And Phys Ed.
The Des Moines Register (3/6, Reynaud) reports, “Des Moines elementary school students would spend less time singing, drawing and running next school year under a proposal that already is drawing criticism from parents.” That’s because “on Friday, district officials unveiled $33 million in spending cuts including eliminating 60 percent of the district’s elementary art, music and physical education jobs.” Superintendent Nancy Sebring “expressed frustration” but explained that “the district also has a commitment to making sure students pass core subjects and meet federal requirements.”

Texas District Superintendent Proposes Merger Of Districts To Get More State Aid.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/8, MacCormack) reports, “School officials in Hunt and Ingram are exploring the feasibility of consolidating their two small districts in western Kerr County as a way to boost state funding.” Ingram Superintendent J. T. Stroder “has concluded that Texas school finance laws disadvantage smaller districts.” In response, “Hunt School Board President Sandra Schmitt said she’s open-minded but noted previous talks on consolidating the neighboring districts didn’t get far.” Meanwhile, “Hunt Superintendent David Kelm said he’s awaiting input from the Texas Education Agency on Stroder’s unusual proposal.”

Houston To Cut Back On Cafeteria Expenses.
The Houston Chronicle (3/8, Mellon) reports, “More than 425 cafeteria workers in the Houston school district will have their wages slashed this month, dozens of other positions will be cut and students likely will pay more for lunch next year to cover a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. The Houston Independent School District also is expected to take the rare step this year of spending $10.5 million from savings – about 3 percent of the account – to meet cafeteria expenses.” Superintendent Terry Grier “said part of the deficit could have been avoided with better management.” Grier said that “payroll expenses should have been cut sooner, and the district should not have been serving what he dubbed ‘platinum’ meals with pricey fresh fruit daily.”

Also in the News
Analysis Documents College “Grade Inflation” Over Decades.
USA Today /Inside Higher Ed (3/6, Epstein) reported, “Grades awarded to U.S. undergraduates have risen substantially in the last few decades, and grade inflation has become particularly pronounced at selective and private colleges, a new analysis of data on grading practices has found. In ‘Grading in American Colleges and Universities,’ published Thursday in Teachers College Record, Stuart Rojstaczer, a former Duke University professor of geology, and Christopher Healy, an associate professor of computer science at Furman University, illustrate that grade point averages have risen nationally throughout most of the last five decades.” Also, the study “indicates that the mean G.P.A. at an institution is ‘highly dependent’ upon the quality of its students and whether it is public or private.”

Los Angeles Principal Apologizes For Choice Of Black Role Models.
The AP (3/5, Jablon) reported, ‘The principal of a South Los Angeles elementary school has apologized after some children carried photos of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul and Dennis Rodman in a parade celebrating Black History Month. ‘Unfortunately, questionable decisions were made in the selection of noteworthy African-American role models,’ Lorraine Abner wrote Thursday in a letter sent to parents of students at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School.” According to the AP, “During a Feb. 26 parade in the school playground honoring Black History Month, some youngsters carried photos of Simpson, RuPaul and Rodman while others displayed more conventional role models such as President Barack Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Alexandra Zavis also covered this story in a “L.A. Now” blog for the Los Angeles Times (3/5).

The Los Angeles Times (3/6) editorialized, “As usual when things go awry in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the fiasco” concerning the choice of Black role models “was a conflation of silly, smaller mishaps and oversights. … None of this serves as an excuse for what looks like a remarkable dearth of common sense or sensitivity among the teachers involved, along with a disregard for parents and the larger community, and scorn for the curriculum they’re supposed to be imparting.”

NEA in the News
Teachers Unions Outraged By Obama’s Support For Mass Layoff.
The New York Times (3/7, Greenhouse, Dillon, 1.09M) reports, “A Rhode Island school board’s decision to fire the entire faculty of a poorly performing school, and President Obama’s endorsement of the action, has stirred a storm of reaction nationwide, with teachers condemning it as an insult and conservatives hailing it as a watershed moment of school accountability.” According to the Times, “Officials at the two unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, were so angry in the hours after Mr. Obama first endorsed the firings that an irreconcilable break with the administration seemed possible,” but “neither the president nor Education Secretary Arne Duncan backed off his support for tough action, including dismissing teachers en masse, to improve learning conditions in chronically failing schools.” NEA president Dennis Van Roekel is quoted as saying that Obama’s “position ‘set us back in how we work together. … I think the worst thing that can happen would be for President Obama to be seen as antiteacher.’”

Duncan Calls For Renewed Civil Rights Enforcement.
The AP (3/8, Johnson) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said Monday the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs. ‘We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement,’ Duncan said on a historic Selma bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of a bloody confrontation between voting rights demonstrators and state troopers.” Duncan “spoke to a crowd about 400 people on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in observance of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ the day in 1965 when several hundred civil rights protesters were beaten by state troopers as they crossed the span over the Alabama River, bound for Montgomery.”

The Christian Science Monitor (3/9, Paulson) reports that Duncan “signaled Monday the Obama administration’s intention to step up enforcement of civil rights laws that apply to schools and colleges, many of which are often ignored.” According to the Monitor, “In remarks delivered in Selma, Ala, timed to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the marches in which civil rights protesters were brutally attacked by police, Secretary Duncan said, ‘The truth is that, in the last decade, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has not been as vigilant as it should have been in combating gender and racial discrimination and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities. But that is about to change…. We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement.’”

The Selma (AL) Times-Journal (3/9, Fenton) reports, “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stood in the middle of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the first leg of the Selma-to-Montgomery March of 1965 for voting rights, and announced the Obama administration’s strengthened commitment to ensure fair opportunities and practices for all students as about 500 students, principals and elected officials listened.” ED’s OCR “will send guidance letters on issues of fairness and equality to schools and colleges, work to have equal access to educational opportunities such as college-preparatory curricula or advanced courses for all students and to ensure discipline in schools is not based on a child’s skin color.” ED “will take a look at 38 school systems this year to see how they measure up.”

The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (3/9, Ricks) reports, “Despite the controversy that proceeded his visit, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s visit to Montgomery was relatively low-key. After state Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, threatened to picket the secretary’s visit to Robert E. Lee High School, Duncan added an extra stop in Montgomery.” Duncan “participated in a panel discussion with students, a faculty member and parent at Lee High School before heading to Selma where he was to give a major speech about his plans to reinvigorate [ED]‘s Office of Civil Rights.”

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In the Classroom
Class Shows Young Women They Can Be Successful In Traditionally Male Fields.
The York County (ME) Journal-Tribune (3/9, Mendros) reports on the “Independent Woman” class at Biddeford High School, which is now in its second year. “One of the initial subjects the students learned about was electricity,” and more recently, students have been “learning how to work with wood and how to use an electric sander, a table saw and other woodworking tools and equipment.” A lamp-building project is used to pull together their skills in electricity and woodworking. “The girls will also be learning how to work with metal. They will drill into metal sheets to form a design and then the sheets will be formed into lamp shades.” Technical Education teacher Michelle Lane “also plans to teach them about basic automotive maintenance.” Lane “said she wants to show her students that they can be just as successful as their male classmates in traditionally male jobs.”

Mentor Program Introduces Students To Careers In Architecture, Engineering And Construction.
Maryland’s Daily Times (3/9) reports, “Local high school students are discovering careers in architecture, construction and engineering thanks to” the ACE Mentor Program of America, “a new mentoring program that connects them with area professionals in these fields.” Through the program, “11 volunteers from four Salisbury-based companies, and two national contractors involved with construction at Salisbury University, are teaching students about their industry through mock development projects.” Students learn about topics such as “architecture, civil engineering, electrical engineering, structural engineering, construction and cost planning,” and then discuss how these skills are applied.

Publishers Focusing On Technology Supplements To Textbooks.
Inside Higher Ed (3/9, Kolowich) reports on the increased use of software provided by publishers such as Pearson that offers automatic grading and feedback on student understanding, tools which some professors argue has improved their efficiency and their ability to address issues that students are having difficulty with. Now, major publishers “say that as instructors begin to realize the capabilities of e-learning tools, it is not enough to pitch professors — particularly those in the natural sciences — a traditional textbook or even an e-textbook.” William Reiders of Cengage’s Global New Media division said, “It is a fact that we are aggressively trying to add curricular solutions to what traditionally would have been our print textbooks – that’s really driven by what the professors want.” The article goes on to address issues stemming from the “added costs” that come along with the additional tools and content, and how these impact students.

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On the Job
FEA Denounces Merit Pay Plan.
The Orlando Sentinel (3/9, Postal) reports, “Florida’s largest teachers union lashed out Monday at a proposal to overhaul teacher pay-plans, saying it would force experienced teachers out of the classroom and lead to even more standardized tests for the state’s students.” The Florida Education Association also said the measure “would wrench control of schools away from local school boards.” FEA President Andy Ford “said the plan ‘lashes out at the teachers who have made Florida schools a model for the nation.’”

The AP (3/9, Kaczor) reports, “The sponsor calls it a ‘hammer.’ The head of Florida’s statewide teachers union says it’s more like a ‘nuclear weapon.’” The bill would penalize “school districts that fail to adopt merit pay plans by cutting part of their state funding,” and “also would reduce teacher job protection and make it easier for school officials to fire teachers.” Ford “argued state law already allows school districts to suspend or fire ineffective teachers, even those that have completed probationary periods of three or four years.”

The Naples Daily News (3/9, Albers) reports, “In Collier County, the Superintendent is calling it a disaster.” Collier County School District Superintendent Dennis Thompson also, “called the bill a nightmare.” Thompson said, “You will not improve education by paying your best teachers more … You improve education by getting rid of ineffective teachers.”

The Fort Myers News-Press (3/9, Breitenstein) reports, “A teacher-quality bill up for discussion this week by Florida lawmakers has unions in an uproar, strapping on their pads for what’s certain to be a knock-down, drag-out battle.” Under the proposed bill, “at least half of a teacher’s performance evaluation must be based on how well his or her students do on standardized tests.”

Wichita Examines Layoff Procedures.
The Wichita (KS) Eagle (3/9, Yount) reports, “Wichita school board members Monday night reviewed the processes for laying off teachers, administrators and staff as they braced for an estimated $25 million budget shortfall next school year.” Afterwards, “the board approved an updated version of layoff procedures for administrators, including allowing them to continue in the early retirement program if they come back to the district within two years.” So far, “the district has cut about $25 million from its $620 million budget since January 2009. School leaders said an additional shortfall would cut directly into positions and salaries, which make up about 80 percent of the budget.”

East Carolina University Partners With School District To Improve Teacher Quality.
The Greenville Daily Reflector (3/9, Drake) reports, “East Carolina University, Pitt County Schools and other local educational entities have formed a partnership to improve teacher quality through an $8.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The ECU College of Education, the ECU College of Arts and Sciences, Pitt County Schools and Greene County Schools have joined together for the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant.” The grant “will be distributed over five years.”

Providence, RI Proposing School Changes That Include Teacher Participation.
The Providence (RI) Journal (3/9, Borg) reports that Providence “is poised to embark on an unorthodox method of transforming four of its lowest-performing schools, asking the teachers union, long an adversary of management, to help in an overhaul. Monday night, Supt. Tom Brady presented his plans to the School Board before sending a letter of intent to state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has 10 days to approve or deny them.” The “wide-ranging reforms are the result of an order from Gist who, in January, identified the six lowest-performing schools in the state and ordered them to shape up or else.”

Law & Policy
ED Releases I3 Rules, Applications.
Education Daily (3/9, Brodie) reports that ED “released on Monday its long-awaited application for the $650-million Investing in Innovation Fund,…part of the $5 billion overall school reform investment included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” According to Education Daily, “ED grants will hone in on four areas the Obama administration has targeted in its school reform agenda: supporting effective teachers and principals; improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement; implementing standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers; and turning around persistently low-performing schools.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said the i3 rules outline ED’s definitions of what constitutes strong and moderate evidence” of successful education innovation “as well as a reasonable hypothesis, and use these definitions as a basis for awarding the money.”

Education Week (3/9, McNeil) reports that ED “today unveiled the final rules for its $650 million Investing in Innovation , or i3, grant program, standing fast in the face of criticism that its proposed guidelines demanded too much from applicants in the way of private-sector match and evidence to back up their proposals.”

Safety & Security
Police Kill Man Outside New York City School.
The New York Times (3/9, Henry) reports, “A 22-year-old man was fatally shot by the police outside a Brooklyn elementary school on Monday afternoon after he pointed a fake gun at an officer, the authorities said. The man, identified by a law enforcement official as George D’Amato Jr. of Brooklyn, showed up behind Public School 194, at 3117 Avenue W in the Gerritsen Beach neighborhood, about 3:10 p.m., and someone called 911 to report a man with a gun.” According to the Times, “School had been let out about half an hour earlier, and no children were in danger, the police said.”

WPost Says DC Teacher Pact Must Have Stronger Safeguards Against Sexual Misconduct.
The Washington Post (3/9) editorializes that D.C. law “considers it a crime when doctors betray a trust and have sex with patients,” yet, “for reasons that no one can really explain, this common-sense protection doesn’t apply to teachers and students.” The Post adds that it is “important to stress,” as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee “did in a recent letter to teachers, that the vast majority of those who work with children are hard-working professionals with a dedication to doing what’s best for their students. That makes it no less important, though, that a new contract with teachers — and an agreement is said to be near — contain reforms to deal with this serious issue.”

School Finance
Colorado District Implementing Four-Day Week.
The AP (3/8) reported, “A four-day school week is coming for students in Pueblo County School District 70 next school year, as the district tries to cut its budget by $5.8 million. … The district’s finance officer, Ryan Elarton, has estimated that the change could save between $883,000 and $1.1 million in cuts in utilities expenses, transportation costs and salaries for some workers.”

Also in the News
Officials Investigate Grade-Changing Scheme At Maryland High School.
The Washington Post (3/9, Johnson) reports, “A grade-changing scheme at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac [MD] involved the gradebooks of 35 teachers and was primarily isolated to the junior class, school officials told several hundred parents at a public meeting Monday night. Police and school officials have been investigating the security breach in which at least eight students stole teachers’ computer passwords using USB key loggers, which can be purchased inexpensively online.” The Post adds that Churchill “routinely ranks high among elite schools in the region and nation.”

Ravitch Outlines Why She Changed Mind About Longstanding School Reform Advocacy.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (3/9), education historian and former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch outlines the reasons she has reversed her longstanding support for charter schools and the strict school accountability measures contained within NCLB. Ravitch cites wide variances in charter school quality and criticizes the charter school model for siphoning the highest-performing students from regular public schools. Ravitch is also critical of the strict school accountability standards backed by the Obama administration, calling them excessively punitive and outlining complaints from colleges that many incoming students lack basic knowledge.

NEA in the News
NEA Honors Minnesota Teacher With Human Rights Award.
Coon Rapids (MN) (3/9, Lestrud) reports, “An Eagan teacher who helps students from other countries transition to a new culture is the first in Minnesota to receive a human rights award from the National Education Association. Magaly Miralles, an English language learners teacher at Red Pine Elementary, has been awarded the George I. Sanchez Award for her work with Hispanic children.”

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.

The AP (11/25, Gross) reports that the current financial crisis has made economics “more relevant and immediate to many high school and college students, and they are suddenly paying closer attention in class. … Instructors are delighted by the opportunity to use the dramatic events on Wall Street to explain concepts students might otherwise find dry, such as liquidity and Federal Reserve monetary policy.” The AP adds, “At Plano West Senior High School in a prosperous Dallas suburb, Advanced Placement economics teacher Sally Meek said her students keep veering off into politics and policy, debating the presidential candidates’ plans during the election and grappling with questions of how big a role government should take in trying to turn around the economy.” Also, the “Arizona Council on Economic Education is helping teachers design classes based on the current financial crisis.”

Atlanta District Stands To Lose $27 Million After Accreditation Revoked.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/25, Diamond) reports, “Clayton County’s schools stand to lose about $27 million in state money next school year after more than 3,200 students fled the district when it lost its accreditation.” Roger Reese, the district’s chief financial officer “warned school board members Monday that the system will have to consider a wide range of cuts, such as layoffs, reducing employee benefits and other measures to compensate for the loss of state money caused by the decline in enrollment.” Currently, Clayton operates under a $617 million budget. “About two-thirds of the $27 million Reese predicted the district will lose is because of the large number of students who left the district” after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to revoked “the school system’s accreditation.”

Springfield, Massachusetts, Seeking $60 Million Construction Funding Assistance.

Massachusetts’s The Republican (11/25, Goonan) reports that the City of Springfield “is seeking state funding assistance for a proposed $60 million, three-year capital improvement program for the schools that includes new roofs, windows, and doors and bathroom renovations.” This year, “The state has received statements of interest or renewed statements for close to 200 school projects statewide.” Still, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno “said he is very optimistic the city will secure state funding assistance, particularly with the age and condition of some of the school buildings and the strong working relationship with state officials.”

Education Advocates Pushing Increased Pay For Teachers Willing To Forgo Tenure.

The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (11/24, Loechler) reported that “nationally, a growing chorus of reformers say what works for teachers isn’t working for students, and they’re pushing something new: huge raises for teachers willing to forgo tenure. The most prominent effort is in Washington, D.C., where schools chief Michelle Rhee is offering pay hikes of up to $40,000 a year for teachers who give up tenure.” In Michigan, teachers “receive tenure after four years in the classroom.” Emily Cohen, policy analyst with the National Council on Teacher Quality, “advocates for more meaningful evaluations, to weed out less-than-stellar teachers before they receive tenure. Most area districts attempt to do just that.” However, Jim Pratt, a representative of the Michigan Education Association, a National Education Association affiliate, said first-year teacher evaluations make “a teacher’s first years among the hardest in his or her career. … ‘You literally are thrown in and you either sink or swim,’ he said.”

 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/26, Johns) reports that the St. Paul School District has “set out to find high-quality people working in other professions to improve the quality of the district’s teaching ranks and fill teaching positions where they’ve often had to rely on teachers without full licenses.” This fall, “more than 630 people applied for the St. Paul Teaching Fellows Program,” which is funded by “a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.” Forty-one applicants were selected to fill positions in “hard-to-fill subject areas such as special education and science.” According to the Star Tribune, “Of the 41 teachers in the Teaching Fellows program, 26 percent hold advanced degrees and 20 percent are people of color.” Over the summer, “The district gave them a five-week crash course…on teaching in urban settings.” In addition, “the teachers are also taking graduate education courses at Hamline University, so they’ll have a full license after two years.”

Software Allows Students To Play Games As They Learn.

The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch (11/26, Craig) reports that “Study X, a software program that allows students to play games as they learn, was recently installed on all student laptops at John F. Kennedy High School in Manchester.” With Study X, students can also “print flash cards and generate sample tests in several different formats. Study X has been used to master vocabulary, to aid in memorization and to learn dates and formulas,” and to help “students in a wide variety of subjects.” According to Dr. Patricia McLeese of the Academic Resource Center at Webster University, “the program is helpful to students who are easily bored by routine activities.”

School Building Becomes Canvas For Budding Student Artists.

The Washington Post (11/26, B6, Vargas) reports that art students at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA, have wrapped “the outside of the school in 150-foot-long colored plastic strips. Visible to thousands who drive along Route 50 past Carlin Springs Road, it will remain up at least two weeks.” According to the Post, “Shauna Dyer, who has worked with art teacher Jeff Wilson to oversee the work, described the project as a ‘great opportunity for kids to see how art can grow and extend outside the classroom and really understand the process that Jeanne-Claude and Christo go through. It connects to whatever they do in life, whether they become an artist or an engineer.’”

Canadian Scientist Gives Florida Fifth-Graders Hands-On Lessons In Biology.

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Albucher) reports that for “an environmental learning project…at” James B. Sanderlin Elementary School, educators “recruited Canadian environmental scientist Dr. Don Waite to teach students about biology and the environment through educational singing, lectures, and experiments over a course of three days.” The scientist “splits his time between working for the Canadian government…and leading educational programs for children.” The 24 fifth-graders who participated in Waite’s program “will re-teach what they learned to other fifth-graders.”

Virginia Elementary School Principal Implements Lecture-Free Days.

The Suffolk (VA) News-Herald (11/25) reported that Nansemond Parkway Elementary School principal Keith Hubbard instituted “lecture- and worksheet-free days this year to help students develop creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.” The goal of “Day Without a Desk” is “to make the students connect what they learn through lectures, books and worksheets to something that relates to them. It takes their learning to a higher level,” Hubbard said. “The students have been doing desk-free Fridays for three months now, and teachers at the school said it’s working.” So far, students have made “piñatas out of paper lunch bags” and paper lanterns, while studying Mexico and China. They have also “built motorized racecars using Legos, created salt maps showing the regions of Virginia.”

First-Graders At Washington Elementary School Taste Pies To Produce Pie Charts.

The Wenatchee (WA) World (11/25, Agnew) reported that John Newbery Elementary School first grade teachers Laurie McLaughlin and Tami Woolsey “have held the pie tasting annually for five years. Students try a small piece of each of the pies — this year they came from Costco and Albertsons — and then vote for the pie they liked best.” The activity “is part of the two classes’ math curriculum. Students count up the results of the taste test and turn them into a graph — a pie chart, so to speak. … After the students [make] their tough decision, they” color “a cutout picture of a pumpkin, apple or pecan pie.” Then, they “glue their choice to a chart on [a] wall” in each classroom.

Students At Montana High School Learn About Career Choices By Shadowing Professionals.

The Helena (MT) Independent Record (11/25) reported that “students from the Project for Alternative Learning (PAL)” spent part “of Monday gaining some real-life experience by job-shadowing professionals at businesses around Helena.” According to the Helena Independent Record “students’ interests varied, as did the participating businesses. Some students worked with professionals at St. Peter’s Hospital, many worked with teachers and administrators throughout Helena schools, and others worked at construction companies and restaurants.” PAL principal Don Wood-Foucar “said the experience is a bit like a short internship.”

On the Job

Nearly Half Of Math Teachers In High Poverty Schools Do Not Have Certification, Report Shows.

The AP (11/26, Quaid) reports that poor students “are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children’s advocacy group.” Based on data from the US Department of Education, the Education Trust found that “in high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.” Additionally, “in schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.” The report adds that “teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching. … It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline” or “where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.”

        According to the Canadian Press (11/26) the report also points out that “The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades” five through eight. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise (11/26, Parsavand) also covers the story.

Many Highly-Qualified Teachers In Georgia Say They Have Incorrect Certification.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/26, Diamond) reports, “Georgia teachers differ with the federal government as to how qualified they are, according to a national report released Tuesday.” A study from The Education Trust, a child advocacy group, shows that even though “about 95 percent of Georgia’s middle and high school teachers met the federal requirement of ‘highly qualified,’ only 65 percent of the teachers said in a survey that they had the appropriate certification.” The data “come from different reports completed during the 2003-04 school year, the last time the teacher survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.” The Journal-Constitution explains, “Georgia teachers are ‘highly qualified’ if they have an academic degree in the subject matter they’re teaching; or if their college course work is equivalent to a major in that area; or if they pass a state content test in the subject.”

        Number of “Highly Qualified” Teachers In Hawaii Increases From Last Year. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/25, Da Silva) reports, “Hawaii is making progress toward getting public school teachers qualified, but those instructors are harder to find in high-poverty campuses where students often need the most help, according to the state Department of Education.” Compared to last year, there “are more qualified teachers in Hawaii’s public schools…but the state needs to do a better job placing those instructors in high-poverty campuses where students often struggle most, figures released yesterday” by the state Department of Education show. “The number of isle teachers federally qualified in all their subjects rose to about 10,839 from 8,997 the same time last year, a 20.4 percent jump, according to the state Department of Education.” Meanwhile, “a report released by the children’s advocacy group Education Trust said that nationally, poor children and minority students are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don’t know their subject.”

Florida High School Celebrates International Week.

The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (11/26, Miller) reports, that students at Zephyrhills High School “were given the opportunity to widen their horizons a bit and travel the world” last week as part of the school’s International Education Week. During lunch periods, some students “lined up for henna tattoos penned by students in the Art Honors class or to have their caricatures done in anime form. Others took a chance at making an origami crane or smacking a pinata that was filled with Thai ginger candy and lollipops coated in chili pepper.” And “Each day on the school’s morning news show, students were taught how to say “good morning” in various languages — Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, and Korean. They also learned to write their names in different script.” Meanwhile, “students in ESOL classes created colorful and informative posters to hang and shared with other students the differences and similarities between the schools here and in their home countries.”

Law & Policy

Education Stakeholders Speculate On Who Will Be The Next ED Secretary.

In a blog posting for Newsweek (11/25), Pat Wingert wrote, “Though presidential candidates often say that education will be one of their top priorities, the job of education secretary is often among the last cabinet seats filled. While Barack Obama’s transition team hasn’t floated any names yet, the education establishment–reformers, teachers’ unions, colleges and universities–has no shortage of candidates.” According to Wingert, “What no one knows is whether Obama is leaning toward someone from the more innovative end of the reform movement…or a candidate with close ties to the teachers’ unions.” The innovators “want one of their own in the top spot. Their favorites include New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein” and Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools and founder of the New Teacher Project. However, the teachers’ unions “prefer someone like Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford who acted as a surrogate for Obama during the campaign or former Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina, both reformers who have a long history of working respectfully with the unions on issues like increased teacher professionalism.”

Safety & Security

California School District Announces Winners Of Internet Safety Video Contest.

The Sacramento (CA) Bee (11/26, Nix) reports, “Twenty-five Elk Grove Unified School District elementary, middle, and high school students have been named winners in the Internet Safety Video Contest, a collaboration between the school district and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.” According to the Sacramento Bee, “The contest is one component of Elk Grove Unified’s Internet Safety Initiative, which involves a three-pronged approach to educate staff, parents and students about cyber bullying, online predators, and other Internet safety issues, according to a district statement.”

Rumors Of Fights Lead Many Students To Skip Class At Kentucky High School.

Kentucky’s News-Democrat (11/25, Cassady) reported, “Over 200 students were absent from Logan County High School Friday after rumors of fights and hit lists circulated through the student body and into the community.” Meanwhile, “school administrators and office staff spent much of the day reassuring parents that everything was fine at the school and dealing with the few students actually involved in the situation.” After what was believed to be “a fight between two students,” students began to spread rumors, mostly via text message, “about things like a hit list of students who were to be jumped and certain groups wearing camouflage clothing on Friday. By Thursday evening…word had spread into the community and people began to panic.” Principal Casey Jaynes said that that “no incidents were reported at the school Friday and…there was no reason for people to keep their children out of school because of safety issues.”

School Finance

Minnesota District Mulls Suggestions For Cutting $10 Million In Spending.

Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin (11/25, Mann) reported, “The committee working toward recommending budget cuts of more than $10 million to Rochester schools met Monday, suggesting, among other items, that maintenance and lawn budgets be reduced.” Other “highly-supported” suggestions included having classrooms cleaned “every other day rather than each day,” which would potentially save the district $1 million, and “reducing electric, water and utility costs by five percent. That includes turning off lights more often when buildings are closed and turning down the heat, now around 70 degrees, in all buildings.” The Post-Bulletin notes, “Before finalizing recommendations in mid-December, the committee will review possible cuts in four more areas — instructional staffing, instructional programming, transportation and human resources.”

Also in the News

Students In California’s Affluent Districts Score Higher On Fitness Tests Than Peers In Other Areas.

California’s North County Times (11/26) reports, “Students in wealthier school districts tend to be in better shape than those in poorer areas, according to state fitness tests released Tuesday.” In addition to performing “better on academic tests,” state data shows that students in “affluent [California] districts such as Poway Unified, Carlsbad, and San Dieguito Union…can also do more sit-ups and push-ups.” This year, “About half of the students in those districts passed state fitness tests…compared with about a third statewide. The series of six physical fitness tests are given each year to all public school students across the state in fifth, seventh, and ninth grade.” They “assess aerobic capability, body composition, strength, flexibility and endurance.”

Parents Protest California Elementary Students’ Thanksgiving Costumes.

In the Los Angeles Times‘s (11/25) L.A. Now blog, Seema Mehta wrote, “Nearly two dozen protesters were stationed this morning in front of Condit Elementary School in Claremont, the site of a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition that is under fire because kindergartners dress up in handmade pilgrim and Native American costumes.” About half of the protesters were “parents who supported the costumes. The other half were “parents who opposed the outfits.” According to Lt. Dennis Smith of the Claremont Police Department, “their discussion grew so heated that school officials called police, who separated the protesters on separate sidewalks.”

In the Classroom

Minnesota District Recruits, Trains 41 Fellows To Teach Hard-To-Fill Subjects.

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In the Classroom
STEMfest Gives Kids Fun Introduction To Sciences.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (11/13, Miller) reports on STEMfest, “a one-day fair Saturday at Discovery World where visitors can enjoy the museum for free and get a fun introduction to the sciences that make their world go.” The fair is being funded by of Time Warner, which earlier this year “announced a nationwide effort to fund a five-year, $100 million philanthropic effort to address America’s decline in STEM.” The company’s Milwaukee office has “lined up several local partners to make their best pitch for youths to explore science, technology, engineering and math as interests and careers, including FIRST Robotics and the FIRST Lego League, Growing Power, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Engineers & Scientists of Milwaukee.” In addition, “Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, the Great Lakes WATER Council, the Badger State Science & Engineering Fair, Marquette’s College of Engineering, Lakeshore State Park, WAUK-AM (540) ESPN radio and the Urban Ecology Center also will have exhibits, information and experts on hand.”

Study Of Harlem Children’s Zone Finds Achievement Gaps Closing.
Education Week (11/12, Robelen) reported that the Harlem Children’s Zone, “a high-profile New York City initiative that combines charter schools with wraparound community services for minority students and their low-income families,” is “showing dramatic academic gains that effectively close the black-white achievement gap in most categories examined, a new study finds.” However, the National Bureau of Economic Research study also finds that what it is “less clear” is “whether the improved student performance can be explained by the quality of the schools alone, or by the combination of the schooling with the web of community supports, such as early-childhood programs, parenting workshops, and asthma and anti-obesity initiatives.”

On the Job
Detroit Academy For Boys Held Up As National Model.
Editorialist Jeff Gerritt writes in the Detroit Free Press (11/13) that “the school-to-prison pipeline, especially in poverty-plagued cities like Detroit, has become a national disgrace.” Each year, “nearly eight in 10 African-American males drop out of Detroit public schools.” As community leaders search for a solution to the problem, Garrett suggests that they look to Detroit’s Frederick Douglass Academy, “an all-male middle and high school that’s changing lives and switching the statistics.” The academy was “formerly an alternative school for bad boys,” but in the last five years has transformed into “a high-achieving college preparatory academy. All 32 of this year’s graduating class were accepted to college, clocking $1.2 million in scholarships and financial aid.” Garrett profiles several students at the school. He concludes that “schools like Frederic Douglass Academy show how Detroit, and the nation,” can reverse the high school dropout trend.

Maryland District To Continue Use Of Troubled Computer System.
The Washington Post (11/13, Hernandez) reports that the Prince George’s County, MD school system “will continue using the $4.1 million computer system that left 8,000 high school students stranded without schedules at the start of the school year, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday after an investigation of the debacle was completed.” Hite “said that many of the problems with SchoolMax, a new computer system chosen in 2005 to help Prince George’s comply with federal requirements for keeping track of data, had been ironed out and that it would be easier to get SchoolMax working correctly than to build a system from scratch.”

In Survey, DC Principals Report Having Improved Resources.
The Washington Post (11/13, Wilson) reports, “Five years ago, some principals from D.C. public schools took part in a survey that revealed their disappointment with the lack of support and resources they received from the school system. Some principals were so unprepared that they began the school year without adequate staffing, textbooks, supplies or security officers.” However, findings from the Ready Schools survey “show that principals are receiving more support and resources from the school system since the initial report in 2004.”

Law & Policy
Texas’ Failure To Adopt Education Reforms Could Cost State Millions.
The Houston Chronicle (11/13, Mellon) reports that Texas “is in the running for hundreds of millions of federal dollars to spur school improvement, but the state’s reluctance to embrace some of President Barack Obama’s education reform ideas could hurt its chances. Guidelines released Thursday show Texas is eligible for $350 million to $700 million, but it must beat out other states to get it.” Texas “could lose points in the grant contest because it is one of four states that has not joined an effort to develop national standards that spell out what all U.S. students should learn.”

Michigan Schools Chief Urges Education Stakeholders To Compromise.
The Detroit News (11/13, Bouffard) reports that on Thursday, Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan “urged lawmakers and the state’s largest teachers union to compromise on education reforms required within 60 days to qualify Michigan for up to $400 million through President Barak Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative.” The Detroit News notes that “the House and the Senate each have proposed their own package of education reform bills.” But Michigan Education Association “lobbyist Dave Stafford told the committee that some of the proposed reforms would hurt education in the state. He said if teachers are evaluated on the basis of their students scores, some teachers will be reluctant to take on hard-to-educate students.”

Bloomberg News (11/12, Peterson) reported that the Department of Education’s “final rules in a competition for $4.35 billion in education stimulus grants include union-backed changes to teacher- assessment requirements.” According to Bloomberg, the Obama administration “wants public schools to tie teacher evaluations and pay to student performance, and unions have sought to ensure that test scores aren’t the sole measure.” The AP (11/12, Martin) also covered this story.

Safety & Security
California District Revamping System To Alert Teachers Of Students With History Of Violence.
California’s Press Democrat (11/13, Benefield) reports that the Santa Rosa, CA, school district “is revamping its system for alerting teachers if a student with a history of violence is enrolled in their class.” The move is being made upon the insistence of “teachers after a string of assaults prompted the district to seek restraining orders against students in four incidents within four weeks this year.” Currently, schools keep “a binder in the main office in which student suspension notices for the current school year are kept. But teachers said that system is too passive and instructors aren’t alerted when a student with a violent history is on their roster.” At Santa Rosa High School “this year instituted an e-mail alert system that provides student information through the computerized attendance and grading system.” Now, “the district is trying to create a uniform policy.”

Georgia District Urged To Shift Resources To Ensure Safe School Environment.
Charles Richardson writes for the editorial board of the Macon (GA) Telegraph (11/13, Richardson) that this week, “Bibb County schools Superintendent Sharon Patterson told the Bibb County legislative delegation…that the school system didn’t have the resources to keep students, teachers and administrators safe, and that the state needed to provide those resources.” However, Richardson asserts, “Children with behavioral issues need to be taught in an environment where they can be successful.” The problem, she adds, is that “Bibb County hasn’t created that environment — and it can’t wait for the state to act.” Instead, “the Bibb system must shift resources to deal with children who cannot adapt to a normal school setting before somebody gets seriously injured.” And these steps, Richardson concludes, must be taken “now, not later.”

School Finance
Michigan School District Chief Seeks To Quell Rumors Surrounding Budget Shortfall.
The Kalamazoo Gazette (11/12, Haroldson) reported that Portage, MI Public Schools Superintendent Marsha Wells “on Wednesday said rumors are rife but facts are scarce about where the school district will make millions of dollars in budget cuts. Wells presented the district’s budget outlook to the Portage Rotary Club, saying rumors of privatizing bus transportation, massive layoffs and eliminating programs and services are just that — rumors.” Nevertheless, millions “will have to be cut from the school budget this year and next year because of losses in per-student funding. Portage schools is projecting a loss of $2.5 million to $3 million this year because of per-student funding cuts of $165 and $127 this year.”

New Jersey Governor-Elect Pledges To Maintain Support For K-12 Funding.
Education Week (11/12, Gewertz) reported that the “election of Republican Chris Christie as New Jersey’s next governor has drawn cheers from the state’s charter school and voucher advocates, even as it sparks worry that his promise to reduce taxes and spending in the face of a massive budget shortfall could result in cuts to precollegiate education.” Christie “wasted no time sending signals of support for urban education and for charter schools. … The day after his election, he visited a charter school in his hometown of Newark.” Also, five days later, Christie “appeared at a high school in suburban Hamilton, where he pledged to maintain support for K-12 education despite a looming $8 billion deficit in the state’s $29 billion budget.”

Also in the News
Former President George W. Bush Outlines Vision For His Institute.
The AP (11/12, Ball) reported that education “will be the first of four areas former President George W. Bush said his Dallas-based think tank will address. Global health, human freedom and economic growth are the other focus areas, Bush said during a Thursday speech at Southern Methodist University.” The George W. Bush Institute will also “include an ongoing women’s initiative that his wife” Laura will lead.

NEA in the News
Labor Union Membership In US Has Declined Since Early 1980′s.
The Salt Lake Tribune (11/13, Stewart) reports that “the Utah Education Association (UEA) won’t release membership data. But union spokesman Michael Kelley acknowledged numbers are down ‘slightly.’” Kelly added that teachers have not been “dropping out,” but that the UEA “didn’t get as many new members this year, because fewer teachers were hired due to the economy.” Last year, however, the association saw a “considerable” increase in membership, Kelley confirmed. The Salt Lake Tribune points out that UEA membership “parallels a national trend. Union membership in the United States rose last year by the largest amount in a quarter-century, up 428,000 people, according to U.S. Census Data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Still, “the percentage of the labor force in unions” has declined “since the early ’80s.”

Former Television Actor Wins Florida Education Association Teaching Excellence Award.
The Miami Herald (11/13, McGrory) reports on Joe Underwood, a former television actor who appeared on the show Miami Vice. “But when the series went off the air, Underwood took on a new role: He became an educator.” Now, a 25-year teaching veteran, Underwood runs Miami High School’s “TV and film production academy — a program he created.” This year, Underwood “won the prestigious Award for Teaching Excellence from the Florida Education Association,” and “he will represent the Sunshine State in the National Education Association’s competition in February.”

Obama Administration Releases Final Race To The Top Guidelines.
Education Week (11/11, McNeil) reported that to win a portion of the $4 billion “in grants from the federal Race to the Top Fund, states will need to make a persuasive case for their education reform agenda, demonstrate significant buy-in from local school districts, and develop plans to evaluate teachers and principals based on student performance, according to final regulations set for release Thursday” by the US Department of Education.

The New York Times (11/12, A20, Dillon) reports, “Three months after provoking an outpouring of criticism with preliminary plans for” Race to the Top, “the nation’s largest competitive education grant program, the Obama administration has added flexibility in the program’s final rules, released Wednesday, drawing praise” from North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D), “who was initially critical and from leaders of the national teachers’ unions.” For instance, NEA president Dennis Van Roekel said that “the draft rules had seemed to encourage states to evaluate teachers and principals largely ‘based on a single standardized test score.’” The new rules, Van Roekel said, “put more emphasis on student growth, teacher practice and improving instruction. So I’m really pleased that they listened.”

The Washington Post (11/12, Anderson) adds that Race to the Top bids “will be rated on the point system,” with “improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance…worth more than any specific improvement: 58 points.” Other criteria include “making education funding a priority,” and “demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps.” The highest number of points possible — a perfect score — is 500 points. The Post adds that the “call to action on teacher-principal improvement, which means factoring student test score growth into job evaluations, is likely to draw intense scrutiny from unions.” Van Roekel “said…the continuing focus on tying test scores to job evaluations” is one area in which the administration “missed the mark.”

The AP (11/11, Quaid) reported that unions “had argued that student achievement is much more than a score on a standardized test, in part because only about one-third of teachers teach subjects and grades that are actually tested. In response, the Department of Education changed the rules to say that teachers and principals must be judged on several different measures of student achievement.” But even though some unions “feel better about the competition, plenty of criticism remains,” according to the AP. The Los Angeles Times (11/12, Song) reports that states “now have 60 days to apply for federal funding. … The deadline to apply for the first round of federal dollars is in mid-January.”

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In the Classroom
All-Girls Engineering Club Part Of Middle School’s STEM Initiative.
The Washington Post (11/12, Buck) reports on the “all-girls engineering club” at Calvert Middle School in Prince Frederick, Maryland, which was recently visited by Karin Hill, the director of education and public programs for the National Museum of the United States Navy, who taught the students “how to make a barometer out of a soup can, a balloon, a sewing needle and a straw.” The group is “part of a school system initiative to get students interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” which “is in turn part of a national initiative launched by the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Coalition.” Officials said they “try to have female engineers as weekly guests to show the girls ‘that they have families and that engineering can be a great career for a woman,’” and note that “so far the club, which has about 30 members, has been a success.”

On the Job
Teachers Younger Than 33 More Open To Merit Pay, Study Shows.
The Orlando Sentinel (11/12, Balona) reports that a study by “two nonprofit research groups called ‘Supporting Teacher Talent: The View from Generation Y’” shows that “younger teachers are open to the idea of merit pay. … According to a national survey of teachers ages 32 and younger, 71 percent think teachers who work harder and put in more time should be paid more. Sixty-three percent of older teachers felt the same.” Furthermore, 70 percent “of younger educators also think they should earn more if they receive a prestigious certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards,” while “only 58 percent of older teachers agreed.” Still, “few teachers from any of the age groups surveyed thought that tying teacher pay to student performance would be a ‘very effective’ way to improve teaching.”

North Carolina District Halts Middle School’s Grades-For-Cash Fundraiser.
The AP (11/12) reports that “Wayne County school administrators have halted” a fundraiser “at Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro,” NC, that offered “20 test points to students in exchange for a $20 donation.” North Carolina’s News & Observer (11/12, Bonner) reports that “the fundraiser came to an abrupt halt” Wednesday “after a story in The News & Observer raised concerns about the practice of selling grades.” On Wednesday morning the district said in a statement that administrators met with Rosewood principal Susie Shepherd “and directed the following actions be taken: (1) the fundraiser will be immediately stopped; (2) no extra grade credit will be issued that may have resulted from donations; and (3) beginning November 12, all donations will be returned.”

Audit Finds Lack Of Teacher-Union Leave Guidelines In Utah Districts.
The Salt Lake Tribune (11/12, Schencker) reports that some Utah school districts “need to better track how teachers on paid association leave spend their time, according to a legislative audit released Wednesday. In Utah and other states, school districts sometimes give teachers leave from their jobs when they’re elected to serve as local union leaders.” And some districts “pay part of those leaders’ salaries, even when they’re on leave from teaching, saying their work still benefits the district.” However, auditors “found that none of the six districts they examined had guidelines defining which activities benefit the district versus the union.”

Law & Policy
Hawaii’s Furlough Friday Policy Generates International Media Coverage.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/12, Essoyan) reports on the media coverage that has been generated by Hawaii’s “decision to shut public schools for 17 Furlough Fridays.” In addition to coverage by “national television networks” and periodicals, international media outlets such as The Guardian of London, the BBC, and Radio Australia have also covered the story. Comedian Frank De Lima has even written a song about Furlough Fridays, “written to the tune of Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” with the refrain, “Friday come and we gotta stay home.” School Board Chairman Garrett Toguchi “said the news coverage tends to sensationalize the issue,” but added, “if the negative press encourages our leaders to put education at the top of our priority list, I’m more than happy to accept it.” The Star-Bulletin points out that “part of the reason for the widespread media coverage is that closing schools seems like a drastic measure compared with cutting salaries or laying off teachers and boosting classroom size.”

Furlough Fridays Jeopardize Hawaii’s Prospects For Additional Stimulus. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/11) reports that Hawaii “has prevailed in federal court in fighting off a challenge to school Furlough Fridays, but the system is far from stable. The schools desperately need federal assistance that they are not likely to receive without changing direction.” According to the Star-Bulletin, the court rulings follow “blistering criticism by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan warning that cutting the number of school days “‘is a step in the wrong direction.’” States “have received more than $67 billion in federal stimulus and an additional $11.5 billion soon will become available to those deserving of it.” Duncan’s “criticism is compounded by Hawaii’s poor grades in a new report by the Center for American Progress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Enterprise Institute.”

Baltimore School Board Approves Policy Allowing For Permanent Expulsions.
The Baltimore Sun (11/11, Bowie) reported that Baltimore’s school board “voted 5-2 Tuesday night to adopt a policy that allows students to be permanently expelled for setting fires or other violent acts that threaten the safety of staff and students.” The vote “came after months of public comment and haggling over the details of the policy. In the end, the board and schools CEO Andres Alonso compromised.” Alonso “retained his authority to permanently expel students, but under more narrow circumstances and with a greater weight given to the student’s home life and experiences, and right to due process.”

Special Needs
Children Seen As Being “Hidden Casualties” Of Economic Recession.
The New York Times (11/12, Luo) reports that for “many families across the country, the greatest damage inflicted by this recession has not necessarily been financial but emotional and psychological.” According to the Times, children “have become hidden casualties, often absorbing more than their parents are fully aware of. Several academic studies have linked parental job loss – especially that of fathers – to adverse impacts in areas like school performance and self-esteem.”

Facilities
Clark County School District’s Maintenance Backlog Nearly Triples From 2008.
The Las Vegas Sun (11/12, Richmond) reports that “as of July 31,” the Clark County school district’s “backlog of maintenance work orders had nearly tripled to 12,937 from 4,327 at the end of July 2008.” While the exteriors of district buildings “appear clean and crisp,” a report presented to the school board on Thursday shows that the “buildings generally are not in ‘showpiece’ condition.” Moreover, the Nevada district’s “schools are at risk of looking downright shabby with building systems — heating, air conditioning, even fire alarms — in constant need of repair, according to the district staff’s assessment.” Paul Gerner, Clark County schools’ associate superintendent of facilities, said, “Current levels of maintenance services are unsustainable and not in the long-term interests of the district.” The Las Vegans Sun points out that “most campuses are not in obvious neglect. But some of the chores that were once part of the daily routine are being put off, increasing the risk for larger and more expensive problems.” The maintenance shortage stems from recent budget cuts to an already understaffed facilities division.

School Finance

Detroit District Cuts Budget Deficit By Nearly $87 Million.
The AP (11/11) reported that an audit “shows Detroit Public Schools has cut its budget deficit by nearly $87 million. The deficit was projected at $305.9 million.” The district’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and Annual Single Audit “reveal the accumulated general fund deficit was down to $219 million as of June 30. … Emergency financial manager Robert Bobb credits the decrease to personnel cuts, weeding out of fraud and waste, and cancellations of unnecessary and costly contracts.”

Also in the News
Chicago School Defends Student Arrests For Participation In Food Fight.
ABC News (11/12, Pinto, Dwyer) reports on its website on the arrest of “two dozen children” after a food fight last week at Chicago’s Perspectives Charter Middle School. The students, “ages 11 to 15, were rounded up by police, arrested and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct. One 13-year-old student recalled, “[The police] took us to jail, fingerprinted us, mugshotted us, or whatever, all because of a food fight…I was arrested. Handcuffs on.” In a statement, the school defended the officers’ action, saying, “The Chicago police officers who help protect our school, concerned about potential injuries resulting from the fight, felt it was necessary to arrest those responsible.”

Children Seen As Being “Hidden Casualties” Of Economic Recession.
The New York Times (11/12, Luo) reports that for “many families across the country, the greatest damage inflicted by this recession has not necessarily been financial but emotional and psychological.” According to the Times, children “have become hidden casualties, often absorbing more than their parents are fully aware of. Several academic studies have linked parental job loss – especially that of fathers – to adverse impacts in areas like school performance and self-esteem

Students, Parents, School Officials In Michigan Rally Against State Budget Cuts.
The AP (11/11) reports that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) on Tuesday said that “school officials and parents must persuade lawmakers more needs to be done to shore up education funding in Michigan.” She “ordered a $127 per student cut in school funding to take effect in December unless the legislature votes for additional revenue within the next two weeks.”

The AP (11/11, Martin) reports in a separate story that “hundreds of students, parents and school officials rallied Tuesday at the state Capitol,” calling “on the Legislature to avoid budget cuts that could trim school programs across the state.” Seventeen-year-old Zane Thomas said that he participated in the rally to show lawmakers that the state budget cuts are “hurting [students] more than they think it is. … I don’t think they understand how deep these cuts really are,” he added. “Granholm called on the Senate to immediately act to avoid cuts that she recently ordered because of falling tax revenues” and suggested that lawmakers “avoid the cuts by eliminating a scheduled inflationary increase in the state income tax personal exemption or scaling back some exemptions on taxes affecting oil, gas and tobacco companies.” Meanwhile, “Republicans counter that Granholm is making unnecessary cuts to try and force them into approving a tax increase.”

Michigan Radio (11/10, Pluta) reported that according to Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, “Senate Republicans want to see cost-saving measures such as benefits pooling and bigger co-pays instead of more revenue. He also says the governor can reverse some of the cuts being made to schools.” The Lansing (MI) State Journal (11/11, Martin) and the Detroit News (11/11, Bouffard, Hornbeck) also cover the story.

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In the Classroom
High School Students In California Produce Solar Suitcases To Help Power Medical Clinics.
The Sacramento Bee (11/10, B1, Lambert) reported that “engineering students at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove,” CA, “are producing solar suitcases that will help power medical clinics in impoverished villages around the world.” The suitcases contain “charging stations for police radios and electrical outlets for lights or medical equipment.” They “will be plugged into a large solar cell that will offer immediate power and charge a 12-volt battery that can offer power after dark.” So far, “students have completed two of the suitcases, with one bound for the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico at the end of this week.”

North Carolina Middle School Offers Students Test Points In Exchange For Donations.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (11/11, Bonner) reports that Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, NC, “is selling grades” to raise funds. “A $20 donation…will get a student 20 test points — 10 extra points on two tests of the student’s choosing.” Principal Susie Shepherd said that “a parent advisory council came up with the idea” as a way to raise money. ‘Last year they did chocolates, and it didn’t generate anything,’ Shepherd said.” So far, “no donations have been collected.” But Shepherd “rejected the suggestion that the school is selling grades,” because, she said, “extra points on two tests won’t make a difference in a student’s final grade.” But Rebecca Garland, the chief academic officer for the state Department of Public Instruction, said that “exchanging grades for money teaches children the wrong lessons. She also said it is bad testing practice and is unfair to students whose parents can’t pay.”

Museum Loans Teachers History Kits With Interactive Lessons About Florida.
The St. Petersburg Times (11/11, Miller) reports on History to Go, a program by the Tampa Bay History Center “that allows educators to bring” history kits “to their school for three weeks at no charge.” Each kit has “artifact reproductions and classroom activities concerning Tampa Bay area history such as the Rough Riders — the first American volunteer cavalry that camped in Tampa before heading to Cuba during the Spanish-American War.” They also include “reproductions of some handmade tools of the first Florida natives and the Seminole Indians.” Some teachers say that with little time to cover Florida history in class, the kits offer memorable, interactive lessons.

Elementary School Adds Engineering To Math, Science Curriculum.
The Lynchburg (VA) News and Advance (11/10, Pounds) reported that T.C. Miller Elementary School this year “added engineering to its science and math curriculum,” which “means a new emphasis on making, building and designing, whether it is kindergarteners engineering Big Bad Wolf-proof houses or fifth graders experimenting with electrical circuits.” The elementary school “became a School for Innovation in 1993, with a focus on math, science, technology and the performing arts,” and the “addition of engineering makes it one of two Science, Technology, Engineering and Math schools in Virginia.” Younger students craft “math tool boxes” while fifth-graders work on chemical engineering projects like making bouncy balls out of water and polymer. For teacher Tawanda Johnson, “it is supremely important that her students understand not just the lesson of the day, but also how the hands-on activities could relate to future careers,” and “she works to make sure” students understand what professions utilizing that day’s lessons entail.

Middle School Students Paint Periodic Table Of Elements On Teacher’s Car.
The Miami Herald (11/10, Pagliery) reported that Rohr Middle School science teacher Daniel Dreyfuss last week gave his students acrylic latex paint for them to “paint blue, green, yellow, orange and red squares all over his 1999 Plymouth Voyager.” The purpose of the exercise was to help them remember the periodic table of elements. The Miami Herald adds that “of the 117 elements that currently make up the periodic table,” Dreyfuss’ class “managed to squeeze in 75.”

On the Job
Killeen Schools Foster Atmosphere of Normalcy After Ft Hood Shootings.
The Dallas Morning News (11/10, Meyers) reported that “the shock and uncertainty caused by last week’s bloodshed” in Fort Hood, TX, “is giving way to a semblance of routine in Killeen classrooms.” Killeen Independent School District (KISD) “officials here are hoping to hasten the return to normalcy by sticking to regular lessons while encouraging students to seek support if they need it,” the Dallas Morning News added. The district’s guidance and counseling coordinator, Bob Criswell, said that “the district is emphasizing counselor services without peddling them. Teachers are told to monitor students’ attendance and outbursts but to discuss the shooting only if the subject arises.” KISD has readied “a 42-member crisis team” to help students cope, if needed. Meanwhile, “individual schools and teachers are responding differently. One teacher on the base wrote a letter to all her students’ parents. Another teacher pasted newspaper clippings from the Killeen Daily Herald onto a hallway bulletin board. They discussed community support.”

Opinion: Students Benefit When Teachers Shown Respect.
The Charleston (SC) Post Courier (11/10) editorialized that “when teachers have low morale, an entire school district feels the pain,” because “unhappy teachers with low energy can mean that scores drop.” According to “a new survey by the Charleston Teacher Alliance…60 percent of Charleston County teachers don’t feel valued by the district.” The majority of those surveyed also said that “district leaders aren’t responsive to them, haven’t treated them fairly regarding their pay, and waste money.” Superintendent Nancy McGinley “responded to the survey by reiterating that teachers are the most important people in the district and by vowing not to take the survey lightly.” McGinley plans “to make a video to outline for teachers her decisions and her reasons for making them.” The Post Courier concludes that “when teachers are shown that respect, students likely will benefit and teachers will be better able to soldier on in difficult times.”

Law & Policy
Report Recommends Multi-Tiered Teacher Licensing System For States.
Education Week (11/11, Maxwell) reports that a study by “a high-powered education task force called last week for states and school districts to overhaul how they recruit, prepare, evaluate, and compensate teachers.” The Consortium for Policy Research in Education released a “series of 20 policy recommendations for state and district policymakers” in its report Strategic Management of Human Capital. The recommendations are “aimed primarily at improving the teaching corps in the nation’s 100 largest school districts, although some recommendations are geared toward improving the effectiveness of principals.” The task force “recommends that states adopt a multi-tiered licensing system; require evidence of effectiveness before granting tenure; and use performance-based evaluation systems to drive professional development and help reset teachers’ salary schedules.” Its “final recommendation to states is to create performance-based evaluation and pay systems for principals.”

Colorado Seen As Mounting One Of The Most “Energetic” Race To The Top Campaigns.
The New York Times (11/11, A18, Dillon) reports that “Colorado’s lieutenant governor, Barbara O’Brien (D), has been parsing every public statement by Education Secretary Arne Duncan for nuances that could help her position the state as a winner in the $4 billion” Race To The Top competition for. And, according to Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, “officials in dozens of other states have been doing the same.” Wilhoit said, “Whenever we have a conversation about any issue these days, Race to the Top is the gorilla in the room.” Some experts compare the excitement over Washington’s largest ever school grant initiative to “watching dozens of states bid for the Olympics.” According to the Times, “Colorado has mounted one of the most energetic campaigns. Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., a Democrat, has directed $7 million in federal stimulus money to programs he hopes will improve Colorado’s chances.” And, according to Ms. O’Brien, “Colorado’s effort…has consumed 5,000 hours of staff and volunteer time.”

Hawaii’s Lt. Governor Suggests Teacher Pay Cuts In Lieu Of Furlough Fridays.
The AP (11/11, Sample) reports that in letters sent to on Monday, Hawaii Lt. Gov. James ‘Duke’ Aiona (R) asked “representatives of the parties involved in Hawaii’s controversial teacher furlough program to meet with him immediately to work out a settlement.” Aioa wants “to state Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, Board of Education chairman Garrett Toguchi and Hawaii State Teachers Association President Wil Okabe” to consider “amendments to a new teacher contract that would allow pay cuts or a shifting of some furlough days to existing non-instructional days.”

Also in the News
Middle School Students In Chicago Are Arrested After Food Fight.
The New York Times (11/11, A18, Saulny) reports that last Thursday at the Calumet middle-school campus of Perspectives Charter Schools in Chicago’s South Side, 25 students, “ages 11 to 15,” were “rounded up, arrested, taken from school and put in jail” for engaging in a food fight in the school cafeteria. “A spokesman for the Chicago police said the charges were reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.” Experts said that “if the charges are not thrown out when the students go before a judge this month, criminal justice experts said, the accused will most likely be sentenced to community service or probation.” Parents are now “questioning what seem to them like the criminalization of age-old adolescent pranks, and the lasting legal and psychological impact of the arrests.” On Tuesday, “school officials met with parents…to explain the events from their point of view.”

NEA in the News
NEA Suggests NAEP Test Items Be Written In “Plain English” For Students With Disabilities.
Education Week (11/11, Zehr) reports, “Representatives of education organizations who appeared at a Nov. 9 public hearing” in DC “agreed with the governing board for the National Assessment of Educational Progress that the ‘nation’s report card” should be as inclusive as possible of English-language learners and students with disabilities.” However, they disagreed with all of the board’s proposals for how to do that.” One of the most contentious issues discussed “at the hearing was the board’s proposal that students with disabilities be permitted to receive only accommodations approved by NAGB and not all of those that may appear in their individual education programs, or IEPs.” NEA representatives said that “it would be frustrating for students with disabilities not to be able to use on NAEP the accommodations that they are normally permitted to use on state tests.” Patricia K. Ralabate, ‘a senior policy analyst for the NEA,” suggested that “the board should consider creating test items based on universal-design principles, such as using very straightforward language,” also called “Plain English.”

Educators In Springfield, Missouri, Choose Single-Union Representation.
The Springfield (MO) News Leader (11/11, Livengood) reports that “a majority of Springfield educators who voted Tuesday want a single labor union to represent them at the bargaining table.” The 574-404 vote “was seen as a major victory for the Springfield National Education Association (SNEA), which has been fighting for the right to be the sole labor union.” SNEA president Ray Smith called the outcome “a step in the right direction.” Currently, both the SNEA and the Missouri State Teachers Association “represent teachers, although their bargaining power is limited.” The News Leader adds that “second election will likely be held early next year in which teachers will officially choose between SNEA and MSTA for exclusive representation. The 574 votes were for exclusive or single union representation,” while “the 404 votes were cast for” representation by both unions.

Report Grades States On Educational Innovation.
Education Week (11/9, McNeil) reported that a “report card issued Monday on state-level innovation in education found what a trio of ideologically varied groups sees as deeply disturbing results, with most states earning C’s, D’s, or even F’s in such key areas as technology, high school quality, and removal of ineffective teachers.” The report, titled “Leaders and Laggards,” uses “state data and existing and original research to assign letter grades to states, based on seven indicators of innovation.” It was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for American Progress. Although Center for American Progress President/CEO John Podesta called the results “deeply disturbing,” there were some hopeful findings. For instance, “Massachusetts, Colorado, and Rhode Island got gold stars for their policies to promote extended learning time in schools, while” Hawaii was recognized “as the only state with a school-based funding policy.”

The Washington Post (11/10, Anderson) reports that the report card “contends that principals in Maryland and the District of Columbia face too many barriers to ousting bad teachers.” Barriers cited by principals in Maryland and DC included “personnel policies, paperwork and teachers unions.” Maryland state education spokesman William Reinhard points out that “teacher termination is primarily a function of locally negotiated contracts. He also noted that Maryland, like the District and Virginia, received a B for hiring and evaluation policies.”

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In the Classroom
Agricultural Science Thriving In City, Suburban Schools.
The Dallas Morning News (11/9, Peterson) reports, “Agricultural science education is thriving in unexpected places: the state’s urban and suburban school districts.” Gerald Young, executive director of the Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas said, “Our program is probably going stronger in the urban areas than it is in the rural areas,” explaining that “much of that trend marks a population shift from rural areas.” Yet “agricultural education has also broadened to encompass a wide range of city-based careers from veterinary science to biomedical research,” and officials say they are working to change students’ perceptions about the industry. Many of the classes feature applied learning, such as labs, which “is invaluable to students, and that’s why certification and licensure programs are being emphasized like never before, said Ron Whitson, director of agriculture, food and natural resources for the Texas Education Agency.”

Federal Grant Will Fund Arabic Program In Chicago Schools.
The Chicago Sun-Times (11/9, Spielman) reported that that the Chicago public schools system “will expand its Arabic-language program to three more high schools, thanks to a three-year, $888,000 federal grant announced this morning. Mayor Daley accepted the grant at Durkin Park Elementary School…as he rejected suggestions that the Fort Hood, Texas, massacre could lead to an outbreak of anti-Muslim sentiment.” The “new federal grant, on top of $1.6 million in state and federal funds the schools already have gotten, will fund the expansion to three additional high schools that have yet to be identified.”

Elementary IB School In Texas Publishes Student-Written Book.
Texas’s News-Journal (11/9, Lane) reports, “Dozens of elementary school students became authors Monday as J.L. Everhart Magnet Academy of Cultural Studies released its first book written by kids, for kids.” Publication of the book, titled Who Cares? I Do!, “also made Longview the first school in the state’s International Baccalaureate program to publish an elementary-aged student-written book, according to Karen Phillips, executive director of Texas IB schools.” Students began writing the book a year ago.

New York City Students Get Elevator Safety Lesson.
The New York Times (11/10, A26, Fernandez) reports that following a presentation on elevator safety by New York City officials, students at Public School 19 in New York City “were given handouts to take home, reminding them to ring the alarm and wait for help if they get trapped in an elevator.” Elevators “are the real mass transit of New York City: There are 60,000 of them in residential and commercial buildings, giving millions of New Yorkers millions of rides each day at home and at work, and while the majority of these rides end uneventfully, a few occasionally end tragically.”

On the Job
Fitness Competition Motivates Compton, California Teachers To Focus On Health.
The Los Angeles Times (11/10, Kennedy) reports that “more than 300 staff members from the Compton Unified School District” are “competing to lose weight. Nearly $9,000 in cash prizes — provided by the district’s insurance broker — is at stake.” Sixty-one five-member teams throughout the district “have been attending weekly weigh-ins where they are given recipe cards and diet tips from the district’s nutritionist” since the competition began in October. For exercise, “most of them walk and do cardio at nearby El Camino College Compton Center.” The team that wins the competition, ending in early December, receives $4,000. The Times notes that “the competition is a local version of the 50 Million Pound Challenge, a nationwide initiative started by Dr. Ian Smith, known for his appearances on ‘Celebrity Fit Club.’”

Opinion: Georgia Public Schools Need Same Strong Support As Charters.
Maureen Downey wrote in a “Get Schooled” blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/9) that as she watched “at least 1,500 students, parents and politicians celebrate charter schools and demand more of them” at the Georgia Capitol on Friday,” her response to lawmakers at the rally was what are they “doing to improve the education of the 1.6 million Georgia children who are not in charter schools? Why aren’t we talking about improving teacher quality, expanding early childhood education and enhancing math and science performance for students, whether they attend charters or traditional schools?” Ultimately, top charter schools “succeed for the same reasons that top traditional public schools do: Visionary principals, committed and competent teachers, adequate funding, relevant curriculum and involved parents.”

Law & Policy
Louisiana Schools Turning To Career Diploma To Cut Dropout Rate.
The AP (11/10, Simpson) reports on the response among Louisiana’s public schools “to a 2009 law passed by the Legislature that encourages teaching skills that students will need in the work force.” Under the new law, the state will offer a “career diploma” that can be awarded “to students who opt for lower academic standards in math and English, while taking classes such as welding, woodworking and small engine repair.” The law, and the diploma, are part of “an effort to reduce the dropout rate” in Louisiana, where nearly a third of students “drop out or otherwise don’t graduate.” While “the new curriculum hasn’t been fully formed,” educators “expect skills classes will be popular with parents and students who aren’t academically inclined and expect to attend community or technical college after high school.” Critics, however, say the new curriculum and diploma are “it’s just a way to lower academic standards.”

Next Round Of Education Stimulus Will Come With Reform Mandate.
The AP (11/10, Quaid) reports that the Obama administration “is ready to hand out more stimulus dollars for schools, but this time, strings are attached.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said another $11.5 billion is available to states, which have already received more than $67 billion.” Duncan “said the administration wanted to distribute most of the money quickly to bolster state budgets that have been ravaged by the recession. Now Duncan is making it tougher to get the rest of the dollars because the administration wants states to adopt” President Obama’s reform agenda. States “will have to fill out a far more detailed application that demands information on Obama’s broad goals – tougher academic standards, better ways to recruit and keep effective teachers, a method of tracking student performance and a plan of action to turn around failing schools.”

Federal Judge Turns Down Motion For Injunction Against Hawaii’s Furlough Fridays.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/10, Essoyan) reports, “A federal judge turned down a request” on Monday “to reopen schools on Furlough Fridays, saying that although some students may be suffering ‘irreparable harm,’ he thought that the plaintiffs were not likely to succeed in their lawsuits.” The “three cases were filed against the state in US District Court in Honolulu on behalf of public school children.” But even though Judge Wallace Tashima, “of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, declined the motion for a preliminary injunction against the recently enacted plan,” that will not stop the plaintiff’s case from continuing. “Tashima urged the parties to continue to working with special master Judge David Ezra in trying to settle the case. Otherwise it will go to trial.”

Lawmaker Calls For Safeguards To Protect Schoolchildren From E Coli. Outbreak.
The AP (11/9) reported that House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Rep. George Miller (D) “is worried about a recent outbreak that killed at least two people and sickened about two dozen others in 11 states. The E. coli outbreak was linked to ground beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.” Though no schools “were involved in the outbreak,” Miller “said he’s worried that tainted food might be purchased for school meal programs. Miller asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to see whether there are adequate protections for school meals at the local, state and federal level.”

Safety & Security
Safety Expert Calls For Education About Consequences Of School Bomb Threats.
The New Haven (CT) Register (11/10, Smith) reports, “Thankfully, school bomb threats usually turn out to be hoaxes, but the mere possibility of deadly consequences force school administrators and police to treat each and every threat like the real thing.” Recently, West Haven High School in Connecticut “had two bomb threats in one week, and parents became upset when evacuated students were made to sit outside in the cold for several hours in response to the first threat.” A third bomb threat was received later. According to the New Haven Register, “administrators worry that the commonality of bomb threats might mislead students into underestimating the severity of punishment for the prank.” This concern is why “retired fire chief and former city emergency management director James T. Burns Jr. is calling for more education about the repercussions of making a bomb threat.” Burns stressed, “A class D felony doesn’t go away after 30 days. It stays with you.”

School Finance
Pinellas County, Florida, School District Decreases Administrative Spending By 40 Percent.
The St. Petersburg Times (11/10, Matus) reports that although “the Pinellas school district is no longer No. 1 when it comes to spending the most on administration,” it still, “despite a major effort to cut and reclassify costs…spends more per pupil on general administration than just about every other large district in Florida, according to a St. Petersburg Times analysis.” The district “ranked No. 2 or No. 3 among the 12 biggest districts” for expenditures during the 2008-09 school year, “depending on how broadly general administration costs are defined.” For its analysis, the St. Petersburg Times “focused most on general administration costs in the general fund, the primary pot of money for day-to-day operations.” Pinellas started “scrutinizing its administrative expenses last January, after an earlier Times analysis noted how top heavy Pinellas was compared to peer districts. By the end of the fiscal year in June, it had reduced spending in the main general administration category from $6.58 million to $3.94 million — a whopping 40 percent.”

Stimulus Helps Save Thousands Of Oregon Teaching Jobs.
The AP (11/9) reported that the “biggest share of spending from the federal economic stimulus package has gone to pay teachers, in Oregon and elsewhere.” Yet while “stabilization fund” stimulus spending “has kept a couple thousand Oregon teachers in the public elementary and secondary classrooms, it hasn’t brought stability to the school districts and probably couldn’t.” The “hit Oregon state government took in revenue during the Great Recession was, proportionally, one of the largest in the country, and the largest single part of the state government’s budget is school aid.”

Also in the News
PBS Teacherline Wins Grant To Develop Climate Change Curriculum.
T.H.E. Journal (11/10, Aronowitz) reports that “PBS Teacherline, the online preK-12 professional development resource of the Public Broadcasting Service, has announced it has received a NASA Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) Grant to provide professional development courses and teaching resources to encourage the teaching of climate change topics in conjunction with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.” The grant, worth $600,000, “is aimed at ensuring that teachers are adequately trained to educate students to the point at which they’ll understand the issues and dangers, ask the necessary questions, set realistic priorities, and possibly become either politically or occupationally active in dealing with the ongoing problem.”

Texas Districts Considering More Comprehensive Sex Education.
The Dallas Morning News (11/9, Meyers) reports that North Texas school “districts are rethinking what they can and should be teaching” in sex education classes “because of cuts in federal funding, a new state law that requires more parental involvement in sex-education decisions, and increasing reports about Texas’ high teenage pregnancy rate.” One idea is “‘abstinence-plus,’ a curriculum that warns of the perils of early sexual activity while also discussing more comprehensive methods of prevention.” A similar curriculum is Big Decisions, which “discusses birth control options.” The Dallas Morning News notes that “Texas is regularly singled out for its clashing statistics. More government money is spent on abstinence education here than any other state, but Texas leads the country in the percentage of teen mothers who’ve given birth more than once.” And, “it has the country’s third-highest teen birth rate.”

Report: Effectiveness Of Abstinence Teaching Unclear. The Washington Post (11/7, Stein) reported that sex-education programs “that encourage teens to delay sexual activity and teach them about contraception cut risky sexual behavior, increase condom use and lower the chances of getting the AIDS virus and other infections, a panel of independent experts concluded in a report released Friday.” However, there “is insufficient evidence to know whether programs that focus on encouraging teens to remain sexually abstinent until marriage are effective, the panel concluded.” The “conclusions came after the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent 15-member panel that issues public-health recommendations, reviewed an analysis of 83 studies of sexual-education programs conducted between 1980 and 2007.”

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In the Classroom
Educators At Florida School Aim To Improve Math Scores By Increasing Classroom Interactivity.
The St. Petersburg Times (11/8, Solocheck) reported that at Bayonet Point Middle School in Bayonet Point, Florida, “math results on the latest” state “exam dropped dramatically from a year earlier, costing Bayonet Point Middle its A rating.” After that, school administrators and teachers “set a goal of improving the number of students achieving proficiency on the FCAT by 10 percent, and they were to do it through something other than the well-worn drill and kill.” To do this, educators aimed to “improve student interactivity in the classroom. … They got students to become peer tutors for classmates who are further behind” and “they added computer labs in some classrooms to give children more time for individualized skill building.” The St. Petersburg Times notes that “most of the activities have the kids racing to complete math problems in order to finish a puzzle. There are matching games, memory games and games that force students to work out word problems.”

Some School Leaders Say Inquiry-Based Science Curriculum Does Not Improve Test Scores.
The South Bend (IN) Tribune (11/9, Lowe) reports that “third-graders at Beiger Elementary School [have been] studying under an inquiry-based or project-based science curriculum,” which “means they do experiments themselves.” Many educators say that “students remember things better if they’re actually doing something rather than being talked to.” But even though local school administrators like the “inquiry-based curriculum,” they say that it “doesn’t always produce higher standardized test scores.” Such is the case at South Bend public schools, according to the curriculum facilitator, Jesse Warren, who added that “teachers are feeling pressure to have some sort of textbook work to supplement the inquiry-based curriculum.”

Grant Helping High School Participate In NASA Meteorite Program.
The Florence (AL) Times Daily (11/8, Singleton-Rickman) reported, “In January, earth science students at Muscle Shoals High School will have a new telescope to use for a special NASA-endorsed research project.” The school district is using a Science and Math Improvement Grant from the Toshiba America Foundation for a “major upgrade” to its telescope, allowing it to participate in a NASA program to study lunar meteorite impacts. “The project involves juniors and seniors who’ll be looking for strikes and determining their detriment to astronauts.” Teacher Kathy Eldridge “said the opportunity to conduct research on a NASA project is a wonderful opportunity for her students.”

On the Job
Few Elementary, Middle School Students In New York City Getting H1N1 From School Clinics.
The New York Times (11/9, A20, Konigsberg) reports that seven h1N1 clinics operating out of New York City schools “had the staff and enough vaccine to accommodate about 500 middle- and high-school students per clinic per hour — or as many as 31,500 vaccinations a day,” said “the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley.” However, on Saturday, only 1,701 vaccinations were administered, according to a spokesperson for the department. “So on Sunday, the clinics…began offering the vaccine to pregnant women and increased the age limit for others to 24 from high school age. Still, the turnout was low: 1,749.” Meanwhile, about 23 present of the consent forms sent out to elementary students for in-school H1N1 vaccines were returned.

Many Districts Coping With Conflict Between Gender Expression, Dress Codes.
The New York Times (11/8, ST1, Hoffman) reported that in “recent years, a growing number of teenagers have been dressing to articulate – or confound – gender identity and sexual orientation. … Last week, a cross-dressing Houston senior was sent home because his wig violated” his school’s dress code rule. In October, “officials at a high school in Cobb County, Ga., sent home a boy who favored wigs, makeup and skinny jeans. In August, a Mississippi student’s senior portrait was barred from her yearbook because she had posed in a tuxedo.” Yet, other schools “are more accepting of unconventional gender expression. … Dress code conflicts often reflect a generational divide, with students coming of age in a culture that is more accepting of ambiguity and difference than that of the adults who make the rules.”

Law & Policy
Texas Poised To Revamp College Of Education Standards.
The Houston Chronicle (11/7, Mellon) reported that Texas “is among the first states to toughen its standards for colleges of education and other teacher-training programs amid criticism that too many are ‘cash cows’ that produce weak instructors.” According to the Chronicle, “Under a proposed new rating system, the programs would be held accountable for their graduates’ effectiveness on the job especially regarding student achievement. Teacher programs that repeatedly fall short of the standards could lose their state accreditation.” The “changes to Texas’ accrediting system come as U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is reiterating long-standing criticisms of teacher training.”

School Finance
Stimulus Funds Speed Up Renovation Of Baltimore-Area Schools.
The Baltimore Sun (11/7, Bowie) reported that stimulus dollars are allowing school districts in Baltimore City and Baltimore County to speed up construction projects “that have been on hold for years for lack of funding, including the possible construction of the first new city school in a decade.” Though “most of the money – $300 million to be spent statewide over four years – will go toward essentials such as new boilers, chillers, roofs, doors and windows – the city hopes to use some of its dollars to build a new Lexington Terrace school on the west side and an athletic facility on the east side.” Also, dozens “of schools would get new media centers.”

Minnesota Poised To Receive Race To The Top Funds, Experts Say.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (11/9, Johns) reports that Minnesota educators “think the state has a good chance to receive a chunk of some $4.35 billion” in Race to the Top grants “the Obama administration plans to give to states to promote school innovation.” States “compete against each other for the money, and experts say Minnesota’s history as an education reformer that gets results means the state could win part of the pot of money.” Though ED “has not given any indication of how many states might receive the money, experts predict that anywhere from 10 to 15 might get funding.”

Also in the News

UK Lawmakers Plan Evolution Curriculum For Primary School Students.
The UK’s Guardian (11/9, Curtis) reports, “The government is ready to put evolution on the primary curriculum for the first time after years of lobbying by senior scientists.” According to schools minister, Diana Johnson, “the plans will be included in a blueprint for a new curriculum to be published in the next few weeks.” The Guardian notes that the action “follows a letter signed by scientists and science educators calling on the government to make the change after draft versions of the new curriculum failed to mention evolution explicitly.” In an “open letter sent in July to Ed Balls, the children’s secretary…25 leading figures from science and education” pressed “the government to rewrite the curriculum before it was finalized. Among the signatories were the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, three Nobel laureates, and Reverend Professor Michael Reiss, the professor of science education at the Institute of Education in London.”

Pension Checks Of Retired New York City Teachers Canceled.
The New York Times (11/7, A19, Lee) reported that the pension checks “of tens of thousands of retired New York City teachers and school staff members were electronically canceled as of Friday morning, just days after they had been deposited, according to city and union officials.” According to the Times, the officials “laid blame on the Bank of New York Mellon, which oversees electronic transfers for the Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York.” The “checks, totaling $185 million, were part of the monthly pension payments made by New York City through the city comptroller’s office.” Ron Gruendl, a spokesman for the bank said BNY Mellon “is taking a number of actions” to re-deposit the funds and compensate retirees for any overdraft fees resulting from the incident.

NEA in the News
Van Roekel Says Hawaii Politicians Need To Restore School Days.
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel wrote in a letter to the editor of the New York Times (11/7) that “Hawaii’s Children, Left Behind,” a Times editorial published Oct. 31, “castigated the public school teachers in Hawaii for agreeing to statewide furloughs to help balance the state’s budget and implied that furlough days were in some way a desired outcome that Hawaii’s teachers actively sought.” However, according to Van Roekel, “the editorial did not mention the more draconian options Hawaii’s teachers were forced to consider and the personal and professional toll that these furloughs are taking on the state’s educators.” He adds that instead of using federal stimulus dollars to save public school jobs, “Hawaii’s politicians used the state’s stimulus dollars to offset general revenue shortfalls,” which is why they were “singled out by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.” Van Roekel concludes that Hawaii’s elected officials should “find the right mix of taxes and cuts to restore the schools to a full year of class days.”

Hawaii State Board Member Says State Shortchanges Education. Hawaii State Board of Education member, Kim Coco Iwamoto, also wrote in a letter to the editor of the New York Times (11/7) that “compared with the rest of the country, Hawaii does not tax enough, and with what little revenue it raises, it shortchanges public education.” Furthermore, she says that “almost 10 percent of Hawaii’s public school students are from migrant military families, most of whom do not remit income taxes to Hawaii.” And, “after deducting the nominal Department of Defense Impact Aid Funds, the uncompensated expenses to the Hawaii public school system remains in the hundreds of millions of dollars every year.” Iwamoto concludes that because public school system in one of the most expensive states in America” is inadequately financed, “it’s no accident when Hawaii’s children get left behind.”

Louisiana To Replace High School Exit Exam With End-Of-Course Tests.
Louisiana’s Advocate (11/6, A1, Sentell) reports on its front page that Louisiana “is about to replace its high school exit exam, which came under scrutiny today in a national report.” Current rules require that “high school student…pass the Graduation Exit Exam and meet other course requirements to earn a high school diploma.” The exit exam includes “tests on math, English,” science, and social studies. “But that system, which won praise for narrowing the achievement gap, is about to be scrapped in favor of end-of-course tests.” The Advocate notes that “about one in three ninth-graders failed the Algebra I end-of-course test in a trial run in May and December. One in four 10th-graders missed the mark on English 2.” Nevertheless, “state educators say they are confident the results will improve when students have to pass those and other tests to get a high school diploma.”

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In the Classroom
School Districts Nationwide Increasingly Going Paperless With Report Cards.
USA Today (11/6, Carey, Wallace) reports that “a growing number of districts nationwide are” going paperless with report cards, opting instead to deliver them to families online. “Districts in Louisiana, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas are among those that have gone paperless since 2008.” And, according to Ann Flynn, director of education technology with the National School Boards Association, districts “making the change ‘are no longer the exception. They are becoming the rule.’”

Dallas School Officials Propose Repealing Minimum Grade Rule.
The Dallas Morning News (11/6, Rado) reports that “In the latest flap over grades, Dallas school officials are proposing that teachers no longer be required to give students a grade of at least 50 on report cards.” However, the proposal would still allow teachers to “use their discretion to give higher grades than students actually earned.” But at a meeting on Thursday, “some school board members questioned whether it could violate a new state law on grades and create uneven grading practices across the district.” The Dallas Morning News notes that “no decisions on the proposal were made Thursday,” but “a vote could happen as early as the Nov. 19 board meeting.”

New Hampshire District To Fund Curriculum Development, Special Ed With Donation.
Seacoastonline (NH) (11/6, Feals) reports that the East Kingston (NH) Elementary School Board “has allocated $115,000 of a $300,000 donation earmarked to the town for education purposes. The money will be put towards curriculum development, special education and recreation initiatives.” Board members “decided to appropriate $80,000 from the donation over the next three years to further develop the school’s science curriculum. Principal Jim Eaves will organize a committee of science faculty and others to examine how to do so within the cost guidelines and report back to the board.” Also, $25,000 of the donation “will be placed into a special education trust fund to be used after the school’s budgeted special education funds are exhausted.”

NASA, PBS Helping Teachers With Climate Change Lessons.
School Library Journal (11/6) reports, “If you’re looking for a way to teach a lesson on climate change that includes science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts, you’re in luck. PBS TeacherLine has partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to create a series of professional development courses and teaching resources on the subject.” PBS TeacherLine will be using a $600,000 NASA Global Climate Change Education to “help pre-K-12 educators engage students in critical lessons on climate change, while also incorporating crucial STEM concepts.” The money will be used to develop courses for teachers and produce a series of “online self-paced lessons” using PBS and NASA resources. “The online professional development courses and resources will be available by the summer of 2012.”

On the Job
Alabama Education Officials Say Stimulus Saved More Jobs Than Shown In White House Report.
Alabama’s Press-Register (11/5, Philips) reported, “Though White House officials are boasting that the stimulus package has created or saved 325,000 education jobs nationwide, that only amounts to 841 in Alabama, according to a newly released report.” However, Alabama Department of Education spokesman, Michael Sibley, “said the state’s tally on the federal report is lower because officials have not finished the calculations,” adding that “the final number should ‘show significant increases.’” According to Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, the final number will be “at least 4,000 jobs, about 2,500 of which are teaching positions.”

Hawaii Seen As Needing To “Rebound” From Furlough Friday Criticism.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (11/5) editorializes, “Embattled by Furlough Friday furor, a jab by the federal education secretary and national humiliation, Hawaii’s school system must find a way to rebound. More important, it should devise a method of keeping up with other schools across the country in the years ahead despite circumstances that will remain uniquely difficult.” Recently U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan “said that instructional time in public schools should increase, and he scolded Hawaii for its ‘step in the wrong direction.’” According to the Star-Bulletin, “the right direction is demonstrated by the Boston-based National Center on Time & Learning, which has engaged in a pilot program that resulted in an addition of 300 hours to the curricula of 26 schools in Massachusetts.”

Law & Policy
Michigan Governor Says She Supports Measure To Use Stimulus Funds For Education.
The Detroit Free Press (11/6, Higgins) reports that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) “said she’ll support a measure passed by the [state] House today that would use remaining stimulus money to avoid deep cuts to school districts. But she said it’s only a temporary solution.” Signing the bill, she said, would help “avoid the nearly $300 per students school districts would absorb this school year.” At a “private meeting she held with Macomb parents and educators” on Thursday, however, Granholm likened the bill to “kicking the can down the road. … We will be back at it again in a couple more months,” she said. After the meeting, “she called on the Legislature to come up with a solution in the week that remains for them to act.”

ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Florida Over Palm Beach County Graduation Rates.
The AP (11/6, A17) reports that “the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing state officials in Florida of failing to ensure that students in Palm Beach County receive a high quality education, as evidenced by their poor graduation rates.” The lawsuit “filed in West Palm Beach names Gov. Charlie Crist, the Board of Education, and several political leaders,” saying that “they are violating a requirement in the Florida Constitution to provide a ‘uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality’ education.” Specifically, “The suit contends that one-third to one-half of the county’s students do not graduate on time with a regular diploma, well below state and national averages, and that graduation rates varied from 56 percent to 71 percent in 2006, depending on the method used to calculate them.”

Special Needs

Texas Report: Physical Restraint Used More Than 18,000 Times Last School Year.
The Texas Tribune (11/6, Ramshaw) reports that Texas educators “forcibly pinned down students with disabilities more than 18,000 times in the last school year, sometimes injuring them in the process.” A Texas Tribune “review of state data shows public school educators used so-called ‘physical restraints’ – a tool to control or discipline students with disabilities – roughly 100 times a day during the 2007-08 school year.” According to the Tribune, “Educators say restraints are sometimes the only way to prevent disasters. … But disability rights advocates say the numbers point to a crisis in Texas special education,” as teachers “are resorting to physical restraints because they aren’t properly trained to manage their students’ disabilities – posing a threat to vulnerable children and to themselves.”

Safety & Security
Report Says Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program Helps Improve School Safety.
Health Day (11/6) reports that “a program called Safe Schools/Healthy Students greatly increases the safety of students, says a U.S. government report.” School districts participating in the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program, according to the report, “had a 15 percent decrease in the number of students involved in violent incidents, from 17,800 to 15,163. … The number of students who reported experiencing or witnessing violence fell 12 percent.” Also, “among school staff, 84 percent said the program improved school safety, 77 percent said it reduced violence on campus, and 75 percent said it reduced violence in the community.” Health Day notes that the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program is “a comprehensive, community-wide plan that” offers mental health services, aims to improve “the safety of school environments and providing violence prevention activities,” implements “alcohol-, tobacco- and drug-prevention activities,” focuses “on student behavioral, social, and emotional supports,” and offers “more access to early childhood social and emotional learning programs.”

School Finance
Officials In Maryland County Threaten To Sue State Over School Funding Ruling.
The Washington Post (11/6, Hernandez) reports that “top Montgomery County officials threatened Thursday to sue the state and ‘aggressively pursue’ legislation that would change state law after Maryland’s attorney general found that the county had failed to meet the state’s minimum level of funding for education,” and opinion that renders the district “potentially liable for millions of dollars in penalties.” In a joint statement County Executive Isaiah Leggett (D) and County Council President Phil Andrews (D) said that the attorney general’s opinion “‘second-guesses’ the efforts of county and school officials to balance their budgets during economically troubled times.”

Colorado Vigorously Plotting Strategy For Race To The Top Competition.
Education Week (11/6, Klein) reports, “If the competition for a slice of $4 billion in federal Race to the Top Fund money were a school class, Colorado would be one of the kids sitting up front, furiously taking notes, and leaping up to answer every one of the teacher’s questions.” The state “began plotting their strategy for receiving one of the coveted grants nearly as soon as the Race to the Top program was created in February.” Since then, “officials have been crisscrossing the state, letting district officials know how they will benefit if Colorado gets a grant.” Education Week points out that “the vigorous outreach campaign is partly to gain an advantage” in the competition, which will judge states, “in part, on the extent to which they have buy-in from various stakeholders for their proposals.” As such, “the meetings have also provided a forum for considerable state collaboration with” the Colorado Education Association,” which “is sending representatives to each of the working groups to make sure the union’s voice is heard.”

Los Angeles Public School Enrollment Decline Exacerbates Budget Crisis.
The Los Angeles Times (11/5, Blume) reported that “an apparent exodus of students to charter schools, combined with an overall enrollment decline, is disrupting Los Angeles-area schools and exacerbating an ongoing budget crisis.” This fall, “local independently run charter schools added more than 9,500 students…a surge of almost 19 percent to more than 60,000.” Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District has lost “more than 19,000 students, about 3 percent” of its previous enrollment. Because public school funding is “based on student attendance … schools simply cannot afford to employ more teachers than their student enrollment will pay for. The result is that many schools had to release teachers and distribute students into other classes a month or more into the school year.”

North Las Vegas Utilities Department Donates Sports Equipment To Elementary School.
The Las Vegas Sun (11/6, Gibson) reports that “the North Las Vegas Utilities Department refused to let money woes cripple Cahlan-Edison Elementary School’s physical education classes.” The department has, over the past two weeks, collected donations for “new sports equipment and two large bins” to give to Cahlan-Edison, an Edison Learning Institute school in North Las Vegas. “Amanda Dillard of the Utilities Department said employees set a goal to raise $1,000 worth of equipment but have exceeded that amount,” raising about $1,500.

Also in the News
Comedian Encourages Hispanic Students To Stay In School, Attend College.
The Washington Post (11/6, Chandler) reports that Los Angeles comedian Ernie G “is the spokesman for the Washington-based Hispanic College Fund.” He “is moving from the nightclub circuit to the high school circuit so he can encourage the country’s fastest-growing group of high school students to stay in school and go to college.” U.S. Education Department statistics show that “one in five Hispanic teens drops out of high school,” nearly “twice the rate for black students and more than three times the rate among white students.” Furthermore, “only 12 percent of Hispanics ages 25 to 29 have a bachelor’s degree or higher.” The Post adds that “as the compositions of the nation’s high schools change, educators have sought out Ernie G” because “he makes kids laugh while they hear an important message.”

NEA in the News
Union Representatives Say Teacher Improvement Report Disrespects Profession.
Education Week (11/5, Maxwell) reported that a member of NEA, along with 3 other teachers union representatives, was part of “the 30-member task force that helped shape a series of 20 policy recommendations to improve the teaching corps in the nation’s 100 largest school districts” that was included in a report released Tuesday by Strategic Management of Human Capital. Although “some recommendations are aimed at improving the effectiveness of principals…teachers are the overwhelming focus of the report.” According to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, “who chaired the task force over the course of the past year…the panel had a ‘consensus on much of what’s in the report,’” but he “explained that there had been no formal vote of its members to endorse the report because of some disagreements.” But some teachers union representative are saying that the task force had too few members speaking on the behalf of teachers and that the report is “disrespectful of the [teaching] profession.”

African-American Male Teachers Seen As Key To Reducing Achievement Gaps, Dropout Rates. In a separate story, the AP (10/10, Matheson) reported, “Only about two percent of teachers nationwide are African-American men. But experts say that needs to change if educators expect to reduce minority achievement gaps and dropout rates.” Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the majority of “American teachers are…white (87 percent) and female (77 percent), despite minority student populations of about 44 percent.” But Greg Johnson, a policy analyst for the National Education Association, said that having “minority teachers is important because of ‘the role model factor.’ … ‘These students need to see successful adults of color in front of them,’” Johnson added. To that end, Cheyney University sophomores Lenny Macklin and Gregory Georges founded the Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) teaching program, which “offers scholarships in exchange for teaching in public schools.

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In the Classroom
Teachers Aiming To Present “Balanced View” In Lessons On Christopher Columbus.
The AP (10/12, Armario) reports that Christopher Columbus’ “stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years,” as “many teachers [try] to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.” According to James Kracht of the A&M College of Education and Human Development, the term “discovery” is not being used much any more to describe Columbus’ voyage to America. And “in Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the Columbian Exchange — which consisted not only of gold, crops and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.”

The Providence Journal (10/12, Borg) reports that “from elementary schools to college campuses, a new narrative is being written about the once-storied first contact between [Christopher] Columbus and the indigenous people of the West Indies.” Now, Columbus is not often “portrayed as an intrepid adventurer whose accidental arrival in the Bahamas ushered in wave after wave of civilizing European influence in North and South America.” Instead, students today “are taught that Columbus didn’t discover America, the Vikings did; that Columbus didn’t demonstrate that the Earth was round, that it was widely known during the late 15th century.” However, “some historians…say that the public schools haven’t gone far enough in providing a full picture of the devastation wreaked by the European explorers on the Americas.”

Teacher Turns Science Lab Into Whodunit Caper.
Texas’ Star-Telegram (10/9, Jinkins) reported that “third-, fourth- and fifth-graders” at Vandagriff Elementary School in Aledo, Texas, “have been busy since August, studying clues in their own whodunit caper that was masterminded by science lab teacher Charlotte Schweitzer.” The classroom lesson began “with an assembly where a ‘crime scene’ was staged.” Afterward, students “experimented on some white powder found at the scene — it turned out to be flour — and a dirty footprint. It was matched to soil samples around the Aledo area, in vicinities where suspect teachers lived.” On Friday, the lesson “ended…with the shocking revelation of the culprit’s identity.”

Students Learn From Working Scientists During Trip To Johns Hopkins University.
The Washington Post (10/10, Hernandez) reported, “Montgomery County [MD] has hit on the formula for getting young people interested in science: Unleash 190 seventh-graders in a building full of robots, prosthetic limbs, microscopes, remote-controlled surgical arms and bacteria-filled flasks, and watch what happens.” Last week, students from Shady Grove Middle School went “on a field trip to the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center. During the “field trip, dubbed Frontiers in Science and Medicine Day, the students walked into the Montgomery County campus of Johns Hopkins University and were handed a white lab coat and a pair of latex gloves, then set loose to check out exhibits by working scientists. When they got through a lab, they were awarded a sticker for their troubles.”

On the Job
Elementary School In DC Uses Staff Development Technique From Japan.
The Washington Post (10/9, Brown) reports that Marie Reed Elementary in DC is employing “a model of professional development for teachers that was developed in Japan” called “lesson study.” In lesson study, “teachers work together on a ‘research lesson,’” for which they “identify an objective, come up with a way to teach it and then script students’ anticipated misunderstandings and the teacher’s response to those misunderstandings.” Then, “one member of the group teaches the lesson in front of observers, who are instructed to record students’ responses and reactions.” But the individual teacher is not evaluated, because “the purpose is to discover how” well the lesson “is received by students.” After “teachers began practicing lesson study,” the math scores for Reed students “on the District’s Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) standardized test have risen substantially,” the Post notes.

Law & Policy
Debate Grows Over Zero Tolerance Policies In Schools.
The New York Times (10/12, A1, Urbina) reports on its front page that after “the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many school districts around the country adopted zero-tolerance policies on the possession of weapons on school grounds.” But a debate has “been growing” recently “over whether the policies have gone too far.” According to “some school administrators…it is difficult to distinguish innocent pranks and mistakes from more serious threats, and” disciplinary “policies must be strict to protect students.” But critics say “that zero-tolerance policies…have led to sharp increases in suspensions and expulsions, often putting children on the streets or in other places where their behavior only worsens, and that the policies undermine the ability of school officials to use common sense in handling minor infractions.”

Rhode Island Raises Cut Score For Potential Teachers.
The Providence Journal (10/12, Jordan) reports that Rhode Island “Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has made teacher quality the cornerstone of her three-month-old administration, is raising the score that aspiring teachers must achieve on a basic skills test required for admission to all of the state’s teacher training programs.” The state’s current “‘cut score’ ranks among the lowest in the nation, alongside Mississippi and Guam.” Because Virginia’s cut score is “the highest in reading, math and writing,” Gist raised “Rhode Island’s score one point higher than Virginia’s in each subject, saying she wants to make Rhode Island’s education system the envy of the nation.” In addition, “Gist says she intends to transform ‘the entire career span of a teacher,’ including who is allowed to train to become a teacher, the rigor of the programs, mentoring of new teachers, support and training for veteran teachers, and the reward of higher pay for high performance.”

California Lifts Ban On Tying Student Achievement To Teachers’ Pay.
The AP (10/12, Thompson) reports, “California is removing a legal ban on using the results of student achievement tests to evaluate teachers, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).” The new legislation “lifts a barrier that prevented California from applying for $4.5 billion under the federal Race to the Top program.”

Pennsylvania Governor Signs Bill Increasing Public School Funding By $300 Million.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (10/10, Cattabiani, Worden) reported, that last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) “signed into law a $27.8 billion state budget 101 days in the making,” thus ending “the nation’s longest state budget impasse.” The new budget “cuts overall spending by more than one percent from last year while increasing public school funding by $300 million. Rendell had set the added education money as his precondition to any budget deal.”

New York City Mayor Says Parents Do Not Need Voice In All School-Related Decisions.
New York’s Downtown Express (10/12, Shapiro) reports that according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), “parents do not need a role in decisions like new school sites or school zoning.” They “need only be involved in the micro issues of their child’s education, like the child’s attendance, behavior and grades.” However, when he was “asked about parental involvement in larger decisions, Bloomberg said parents could have influence through the city councilmembers and mayor they elect.”

Facilities
Outdated Billing Information Hinders California District’s Energy-Saving Efforts.
The Orange County (CA) Register (10/12, Emery) reports that “the idea for a friendly competition among students to see who can reduce energy use at their respective schools is the latest in an ambitious” campaign by the Irvine Unified School District to “go green.” District officials, however, say they “still need Southern California Edison’s help to get the up-to-date energy usage info needed to get the effort under way.” The district has “already asked teachers and staffers to cut back on their energy usage at work, last year directing them to remove personal appliances from their offices and classrooms.” Next, it plans to time “district activities to avoid the peak hour expenditures that can quickly run up an electricity bill.” But “the move to smart usage and friendly energy conservation competition is hampered by billing info that is several months old and isn’t specific about each school and district facility.”

Also in the News
Education Expert Debunks Merit Pay “Myths.”
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post (10/12). Thomas Toch, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, lists five myths about teacher performance pay. The Toch points out that merit pay does not have “a strong track record,” adding, “over the years, there have been few long-term performance pay experiments in public education.” Regarding the idea that “teachers unions are the biggest barrier to merit pay,” the Post says that performance pay experiments in several states in the early 1980s failed in part because they gave “teachers the possibility of” bonuses that were too small “to mean much to those who got it, but enough to irk those who didn’t.” Moreover, “the number of teachers receiving the rewards shifted with annual appropriations, regardless of how many teachers” earned them.

NEA in the News
One-Time Federal Money Seen As Insufficient For Fixing Nevada Schools.
The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal (10/11, Damon) reported that “because Nevada law prohibits student achievement data from being used in teacher evaluations, the state can’t enter the Obama administration’s Race to the Top, a $4.3 billion competition for states willing to take sweeping action to turn around failing schools.” And some critics say that “the state…should do everything it can to win the money.” The Gazette-Journal points out that “Nevada consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in education funding and suffers from one of the highest dropout rates.” But Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne contends that the federal money will not “help what ails Nevada schools,” adding that she is not “in favor of changing state statute for one-shot, one-time, maybe money.” Meanwhile, Dan Burns, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons said that changes to the education law “would likely be part of the agenda if a special session must be called for other reasons.”

Successful Schools Seen As Sidestepping Common Education Debates.
Education Trust Senior Writer Karin Chenoweth wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (10/12) that education “tends to get whipsawed between what seem like incompatible alternatives: We can teach phonics or surround children with literature; we can teach skills or content;” the “examples are endless.” Chenoweth added, “For the past five years, I have been examining schools that have, for the most part, sidestepped these battles. … Ultimately, there’s no magic to how these schools achieve success.” In “visiting these schools,” Chenoweth notes he has been “struck by how free they are from the frustrating controversies other schools get mired in” such as the phonics-vs.-whole-language debate.

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In the Classroom
Career School In Indiana To Add Technology-Intensive High School Curriculum.
The Evansville (IN) Courier Press (10/13, Martin) reports that next school year, a “technology-intensive high school curriculum” will be in place at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp’s Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center. “Unlike other programs at the center — which are half-day and for juniors and seniors only — the technology curriculum will be all day and will be for students at all high school grade levels.” Students in the program will engage in “project-based learning.”

Gates Foundation To Test Method For Predicting New Teachers’ Success.
The Oregonian (10/12, Hammond) reported, “Leading thinkers and researchers” often disagree about “how a principal or a school district that needs to hire a teacher is supposed to tell if an applicant is a future star or a dud.” Over the next two years, a Gates Foundation study will test a method for predicting which new teachers “will go on to greatness.” Researchers will study “early career teachers in Washington state…over the next two years. Beginning next year, Washington teachers who are in their first few years of teaching will have to compile a portfolio of lesson plans, tests and other work they’ve done,” and “show they’re competent in 12 areas.” Researchers will look at “the reading, math, and writing scores of those teachers’ students for the next two years to see whether a teacher’s getting high marks on certain of those 12 areas correlates with high achievement among his or her students.”

Minnesota Districts Using Computer-Driven Data To Aid In Improving Student Performance.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (10/13, Patterson) reports, “St. Paul Public Schools set an unprecedented goal this year to boost achievement by 10 percentage points for every demographic group on all-important state tests, following a year in which barely half its students scored proficient in math and fewer than that in reading.” In an effort to reach that goal, “district leaders…have given the schools data on how every student has performed in reading and math over the past year, online tools to diagnose individual weaknesses, suggestions for solutions, and a cache of resources to apply them.” The Star-Tribune points out that “St. Paul is just one of many” Minnesota “districts harnessing computer-driven data to advance student performance. Minneapolis Public Schools and other districts are doing so as well.”

On the Job
Regional Centers To Provide Massachusetts Teachers With Support, Professional Development.
The Republican (10/13, Goonan) reports that Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick (D) “has announced plans for six regional ‘readiness centers’ across the state…designed to provide increased support and professional development for area teachers under education reform.” According to State Education Secretary S. Paul Reville, “the centers will focus on enhancing the quality of teaching from the early childhood years through higher education.” Although few details have been released about the centers, Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association, said he hopes the program will help teachers. Collins noted, “The problem with education reform is that teachers are the object of the reform rather than the architect of the reform.”

Law & Policy
House Bill Would Increase Tax Deduction For Classroom Supplies.
Tennessee’s Messenger (10/13) reports, “Teachers purchasing classroom supplies — often with their own money — stand to benefit from legislation introduced in Congress of late.” The Teacher Tax Relief Act, “submitted as House Resolution 3758, would increase and make permanent the maximum tax deduction available for teachers purchasing classroom supplies,” and it would “expand the deduction to include expenses associated with qualified professional development pursuits, such as continuing education.”

Missouri Adjusting Swine Flu-Related School Policy.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (10/13) reports that “with student absences piling up at some schools during the swine flu outbreak, education leaders are asking districts to rethink policies and procedures that were designed with healthy students in mind.” But even though “the U.S. Department of Education has recommended that school districts develop illness action plans, which include putting materials online…and creating take-home packets for up to 12 weeks of classroom material,” many St. Louis- area districts have made only minor changes to their existing illness action plans. Meanwhile, “policy adjustments tied to the H1N1 virus are popping up” in Missouri at the state level. For instance, “Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro asked school administrators to suspend any rules that require a doctor’s note for readmission. … The department also sent a memo to districts outlining how to get meals to low-income students in the event of school closures due to a flu outbreak.”

Politics Seen As Factor In New York City School Reform Debate.
Jennifer Medina wrote in a “City Room” blog for the New York Times (10/12) that supporters of mayoral control of New York City schools “like to say that having one person in charge of the schools eliminates the old politics of the Board of Education.” However, “it’s simply been replaced by a different kind of politics, centered on just how well Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, have done in the battle to improve city schools.” Thus, it “was hard to put aside politics Monday at an hour-long presentation Mr. Klein gave to business leaders on the 50th floor of the J.P. Morgan Chase building on Park Avenue.” Klein “went over a dozen graphs charting out what he called tremendous progress of the city’s schools.” The “positive analysis comes less than a month before Election Day as Mr. Bloomberg tries to ride his education credentials to a third term.”

Safety & Security
Six Year-Old Suspended For Carrying Camping Utensil With Knife Attached To School.
Fox News (10/12) reported on its website on six-year-old Zachary Christie, who brought a Cub Scout “camping utensil to school” and was suspended for it, because the knife attached to the utensil “violated his school’s zero-tolerance policy on weapons.” In addition to suspending the student, the Christina School District in Newark, Delaware also “ordered him to attend the district’s reform school for 45 days.” Now, Zachary’s parents “are fighting to overturn the ruling.”

NYT: “Common Sense” Should Guide Delaware’s School Disciplinary Code. The New York Times (10/13, A30) editorializes that school officials “are understandably concerned about preventing violence and safeguarding the children in their care. But over the last 10 years or so, this legitimate concern has too often led to poorly thought out, rigidly implemented policies that stigmatize or even criminalize children rather than protect them.” The Times adds that a task force appointed by the Delaware State Legislature “has been reviewing Delaware’s statewide disciplinary code. … The task force is scheduled to deliver its recommendations in January. ‘Use Common Sense’ should be at the top of the list for the state.”

School Finance

Op-Ed: Private Capital Should Be Leveraged To Improve Public Schools.
Former Virginia Gov. George Allen (R) and former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman write in a op-ed for the New York Times (10/13) that given President Obama’s call for all US students to have access to world-class educations, “we have come together – one Republican, one Democrat – to develop a common-sense solution to fix the problem of crumbling schools in a manner that doesn’t require the federal government to tax, borrow or spend one dime.” Allen and Goldman add, “Our School Modernization and Revitalization Tax Credit – Smart Credit,” which facilitates selling crumbling schools to private investors and modernizing them and leasing them back to school authorities, is “guaranteed to create hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs.” Critics “may scream that our approach ‘sells our schools’ to the private sector.” However, “what national interest is served by denying local officials access to private capital to provide schoolchildren the opportunities they deserve?”

Louisiana District Assures Parents Gifted Programs Will Not Lose Funding.
Louisiana’s Advocate (10/13, B1, Sills) reports that “State and local officials assured more than 120 parents Monday that gifted and talented programs are not in danger of losing funding, and the parish school system has no plans to revamp its program.” Parents of gifted students raised concerns about “a state task force considering revisions of the state bulletin for special education… after the Louisiana Association of Special Education Professionals recommended that gifted and talented education be removed from the special education designation.” But Madelyn Maragos, the gifted and talented program supervisor for the Lafayette Parish School System, explained that “the proposed revisions…are routine to keep the state mandates in line with the reauthorization of the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act,” noting that the school system “is not planning on changing anything about gifted education.”

Also in the News
Kindergartner Dropped Off At Wrong Bus Stop, Returned To Parents Unharmed.
The Washington Post (10/13, Strauss) reports that Gavin Salinas, a kindergartner at Mount Vernon Community School in Alexandria, VA, was mistakenly put on a school bus “and dropped off at an unfamiliar stop, where he wandered the streets crying before he was returned to his parents unharmed.” School officials “have apologized for the mistake and said they have overhauled the dismissal system at Mount Vernon Community School,” which Taryn Salinas, Gavin’s mother, “described as ‘chaotic.’” Also, the Salinases “said that while inquiring about their son, they discovered that other mistakes were made the same day. A young girl was put on the wrong bus, but the error was caught in time, they said.”

NYTimes: New York State Should Invest In Efforts To Boost GED Pass Rates.
The New York Times (10/13, A30) editorializes, “Millions of Americans are trapped at the margins of the economy because they lack the basic skills that come with a high-school education. This year, more than 600,000 of these people will try to improve their prospects by studying for the rigorous, seven-hour examination known as” the G.E.D., a credential “that employers and colleges recognize as the equivalent” of a high school diploma. States like Delaware, Kansas and Iowa “have well-managed programs in which 90 percent or more of the test-takers pass.” However, New York State “has the lowest pass rate in the nation, just behind Mississippi.” New York “drives up its failure rate on this costly test and wastes precious resources by allowing people to take it without first taking preparation courses.” New York “will need to invest a great deal more than it spends at the moment. But the costs of doing nothing clearly outweigh those of remaking a chaotic and ineffectual system.”

Delaware District Revises Code Of Conduct To Add Leniency For Youngest Students.
The New York Times (10/14, A18, Urbina) reports that school board members in Newark, Delaware, said yesterday that “they would revise the district’s code of conduct to exempt kindergarteners and first graders from some of its automatic and harsher punishments.” The amendment creates “a separate category of rules for students in kindergarten and first grade.” Under the amendment, these students will “face three to five days out-of-school suspension and referral to school-based counseling” if they “engage in what is known as a Level III offense for the first time.” Under current policy such students are “sent to the local reform school.” The Times notes that “level III offenses include possession of a ‘dangerous instrument,’ including knives under three inches in length, and more serious offenses like assault, arson or drug possession.”

USA Today (10/14, Price, Kenney) reports that the school board’s decision came in response to the reaction of the public to the suspension of 6-year-old Zachary Christie last week after he brought “camping utensil with a knife, fork and spoon to his elementary school.” USA Today adds that “Zachary’s case has brought loads of national media attention to Delaware in part because the district told the first-grader he is required to complete at least 45 days at an alternative school before returning to Downes Elementary School.”

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In the Classroom
Graduation Rates On The Rise In Southern States, Study Finds.
Education Week (10/14) reports that a new Southern Regional Education Board report, titled Ground on High School Graduation Rates in SREB States: Milestones and Guideposts, finds that “high school graduation rates in most Southern states have climbed this decade, with Tennessee leading the pack in growth.” However, the report also finds that “more than one in four 9th graders in the region still are not graduating on time, and the recent gains only bring the South close to the same level it saw in the early 1990s, says the SREB.”

Teachers Develop Integrated Physical Education Course.
The Columbus Local News (10/14, Willis) reports, “Keeping kids fit for life is the aim of a new physical education graded course of study in the Worthington City School District.” The Wellness4Life curriculum focuses “on helping students learn a lifetime of fitness techniques.” Liberty Elementary School teacher Rob Smith said that “teachers identified four ‘pillars’ that make up the structure of the new course: lifetime fitness, sport skills and strategies, character development, and wellness integration.” The program also gives students more choices for “physical education activities.” Smith noted that “if the new course is approved by the school board, it will be implemented across the district.”

German Language Programs Less Popular Than Spanish, Mandarin.
The Dallas Morning News (10/14, Meyers) reports that in districts nationwide, German language programs are far less prevalent than Spanish, “and now Mandarin is grabbing the spotlight.” In Texas, “a state once known for its meat-and-potatoes heritage and annual polka festivals, German’s lost the love.” Several school systems in the state have “dropped their German programs and taken up Mandarin instead.” The Dallas Morning News points out the “overall, foreign languages “remain a low priority among American students, who start later and study fewer years than counterparts in many other countries. Teachers blame this language loss on budget constraints and a heavier focus on core subjects such as science and math.”

Elementary School Combines First, Second Grade Class Due To Low Enrollment.
The Gainesville (FL) Sun (10/13, Daniels) reports that “Shell Elementary School officials have combined the first- and second-grade classes after too few students enrolled within the first week of school.” Principal Denise Schultz “she knew small class size would be an issue this year, since the school’s enrollment numbers were down,” and initially, she had “anticipated that second- and third-grade classes would need to be combined.” She noted that the challenge with creating a multi-age class was to “build one class rather than it feel like two classes.” According to Sandy Hollinger, deputy superintendent for curriculum for the district, “multi-age classrooms often end up being a two-way advantage for students — those in the higher grade who need extra help with a skill and those in the lower grade who are advanced academically.”

On the Job
Survey Of Oregon Districts Shows Average Staff Reduction Of 5.6 To 6.2 Percent.
The Eugene (OR) Register-Guard (10/14, Williams) reports, “A recent statewide survey confirms what was already abundantly clear to school employees but perhaps less so to students and parents: Class sizes are larger, course offerings fewer, and school calendars shorter in many districts across the state.” The survey, conducted online during “the last week of September by” the Oregon Association of School Business Officials and other Oregon education organizations, found that on average, school systems “reported reducing staff positions by between 5.6 percent and 6.2 percent…a decline that largely explains why course offerings, both electives and core subjects, have shrunk at many districts.”

Law & Policy
Duncan Reiterates Reform Goals For “Race To The Top.”
The AP (10/13, Quaid) reported that in an interview, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reminded states that the goal of the “Race to the Top” competition “is to help kids do better. … ‘It’s really not about the money — it’s about pushing a strong reform agenda that’s going to improve student achievement,’ Duncan said.” The AP noted that “nine states have changed their laws or made budget decisions to improve their standing. The latest is California, where a bill was signed Sunday allowing student test scores to be used to evaluate teachers.” Duncan “said the moves are encouraging. Still, he said states will have to do more than make promises. … ‘If folks are doing this to chase money, it’s for the wrong reasons.’”

Parents Of Special Needs Students In Hawaii May Sue Over Teacher Furloughs.
The Honolulu Advertiser (10/14, Moreno) reports that “an attorney representing parents of special needs students may ask the court to stop public school teacher furloughs that are to begin Oct. 23″ in Hawaii. Attorney Eric Seitz said that “is representing an unspecified number of parents of special needs students and regular education students.” In a letter, Seitz outlines explanations for why parents may file the lawsuit. The parents say that “in addition to their concern about special education cutbacks,” they also are concerned that “loss of learning time would affect a child’s standardized test scores and “adversely affect their future educational opportunities,” among other things. “Seitz said he would prefer to resolve the issue through negotiations but only if the state agrees to postpone the ‘most imminent furlough days.’”

School Board In New York Lifts Ban On 9/11 Moment Of Silence For Elementary Students.
New York’s Newsday (10/14) reports that elementary students in East Islip “will observe a moment of silence on 9/11 next year, putting to rest a protest that erupted after the district superintendent banned the observance for younger students this year.” Superintendent Wendell Chu was concerned that the “more ‘fragile’ youngsters might have been emotionally harmed” by a moment of silence, because, “he feared it would have sparked discussions about terrorism.” But last week, the school board “approved the recommendations of a committee of staff and residents,” who also suggested that 9/11 be referred to as Patriot Day.”

Special Needs

Children With Autism Gain More Educational Options In South Florida.
The Miami Herald (10/13, McGrory) reported that “school district data” indicate that “more than 4,400 children enrolled in the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts have been diagnosed with” autism. To serve those children, “the South Florida Autism Charter School in Hialeah opened in August with 81 students from Miami-Dade and Broward counties,” and “the Miami-Dade school district recently launched South Florida’s first choice program for” students with autism in a “program…housed at Blue Lakes Elementary, a traditional school in Southwest Miami-Dade.” According to the Herald, “nationwide, only about a dozen public schools are geared exclusively toward autistic children, including two in Palm Beach County,” despite expert estimates that “one in every 150 children born in the” US may have an autism spectrum disorder.

Safety & Security
Detroit Public Schools Steps Up Anti-Violence Efforts.
The Detroit News (10/14, Esparza) reports that by cracking down on truants, “school officials throughout Detroit Public Schools are trying to head off the violence that has plagued the district’s estimated 84,000 to 88,000 students.” Other anti-violence measures “range from fixing broken security cameras to staggering patrol shifts to embracing volunteer patrol groups.” And the district is working closely with police as well. “Detroit Police and district officials vowed an increased presence through more efficient deployment following the shooting of seven teens in June as they stood at a bus stop.” Moreover, “the Police Department is working on a uniform standard for recording various incidents” in order to better understand the scope of the problem of school violence. Currently, “there is no clear district-wide standard for determining when an incident is a crime rather than a violation of school policy.”

Detroit Police Chief, School District Police Chief Aim To Cooperate In Promoting Safer Schools. The Detroit News (10/14, Hunter) reports in a separate story that last year, Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans said that “a school safety plan…had been rejected ‘because DPS security was concerned about protecting their turf.’” Recently, “students and educators” have been calling “for the city and DPS officers to put aside their differences to better respond to school emergencies,” noting that “the lack of coordination between agencies resulted in slow response time — or no response at all.” In response, “Evans and Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes [have] pledged to try to heal the rift, which they said existed before they took over.”

Evidence-Based Programs Seen As Necessary In Preventing Youth Violence.
University of Virginia professor of education Dewey Cornell wrote in an op-ed for CNN (10/13) responding to the beating death of Chicago teenager Derrion Albert that “it is critical that schools implement evidence-based” violence prevention “programs with fidelity in order for them to work.” He notes that a 2003 Vanderbilt University “analysis of 221 controlled studies of school-based programs designed to reduce student aggression” found that “when programs were fully implemented and carefully monitored, they reduced aggressive behavior such as fighting by about 50 percent.” However, when the “programs were not so carefully implemented,” they “demonstrated smaller or no effect.” Cornell points to state funding cuts as an obstacle that may hinder efforts to “instill evidence-based programs in schools.” Furthermore, he acknowledged that “some schools lack the capacity for mental health and safety programs because their resources are stretched to the limit and prevention is regarded as a lower priority.”

Also in the News
Students Caught In Middle Of Political Battle Over DC Teacher Layoffs.
The Washington Post (10/14, Turque) reports that seniors at D.C.’s McKinley Technology High School who marched to protest teacher layoffs “have found themselves in the midst of a bitter adult struggle that involves politicians, educators and labor leaders.” Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “met with them for 90 minutes. One of them was invited to speak at last week’s teacher rally in Freedom Plaza. For the most part, they are not inspired by what they have seen.” The Post adds that looking back, the students “said they still do not understand why Rhee would introduce a new teacher evaluation system and then fail to use it in deciding who would be dismissed.” They are also “convinced that their principal, David Pinder, pursued a personal agenda in laying off some McKinley teachers, including two popular guidance counselors.”

Epcot Attraction Teaches Math As It Lets Children Design Their Own Rides.
The New York Times (10/14, Miller) “Bits” blog reports on “a new initiative from Disney and Raytheon,” a game called Sum of All Thrills will “let children design their own theme-park ride using math tools and then hop in a robotic simulator to try it out.” The game will be available to both visitors to the park, and online. “Visitors to Disney’s Epcot theme park in Orlando, Fla., will be able to use a touch screen to choose whether to design a roller coaster, bobsled or jet ride,” and will be able to “use engineering tools like rulers and speed dials to add hills and corkscrews to the rides, while mathematical formulas for things like velocity and acceleration flash across the screen.” They will also be able to use “a robotic simulator designed by Raytheon and Disney engineers [to] experience the ride.” Meanwhile, “Raytheon will offer a version of the program at MathMovesU.com” in which “visitors will have to answer math questions in order to get new pieces for the ride.”

The AP (10/14, Reed) reports, “‘Sum of All Thrills’ is the first ride in Epcot’s Innoventions pavilion, where businesses sponsor educational attractions and hawk their brands.” While unlike some other sponsors, “Raytheon has nothing to offer the average consumer,” it “does have jobs for those passionate about engineering, and would like to broaden the field.” Eric Goodman, a “Disney Imagineer and ‘Sum of All Thrills’ project manager,” said that during preliminary discussions with kids he found that they “didn’t understand how [math] applied in their lives.” Goodman added, “They always felt there was one answer, and that’s what you’ve got to do – find that one answer. What this does is show kids and adults the possibilities. If you have a math-controlling view, you get to control it.”

Jay Mathews wrote in a “Class Struggle” blog for the Washington Post (9/30), “Data show that schools in poor neighborhoods tend to have a disproportionate number of unqualified, inexperienced or out-of-field teachers. That compounds the schools’ many academic challenges.” Thus, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel “said in prepared testimony that the union would ask ‘every local NEA affiliate to enter into a compact or memorandum of understanding with its local school district to waive any contract language that prohibits staffing high-needs schools with great teachers.’”

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In the Classroom
Florida District Sees Some Gains With “Inquiry Math”.
The Orlando Sentinel (10/1, Weber) reports, “Gains in student test scores offer evidence that a controversial approach to teaching math is working in Seminole County public schools, district officials said Tuesday night. Since Seminole began using ‘inquiry math’ in middle schools three years ago, they said, the number of students scoring at the proficiency level in math on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test has risen from just over 67 percent to nearly 73 percent.” In the program, “teachers don’t explain formulas or ways of solving problems. Instead, they encourage students to work in small groups and discover solutions on their own.” That “has brought complaints from some parents and even some teachers, who question the effectiveness of the new instructional method and call it ‘fuzzy math.’” Yet at Tuesday’s school board meeting, “most of the approximately 130 people who showed up were teachers and principals supporting the new program.”

Kentucky School Uses Literacy Program, Weekly Tracking To Address AYP Shortfall.
The Louisville Courier-Journal (10/1, Cunningham) reports, “Principal Rob Clayton said he wasn’t surprised that his South Oldham Middle School didn’t make enough progress on state reading tests to meet one of its No Child Left Behind goals. But that didn’t make it an easy thing to hear.” Principal Clayton said, “We’re already putting a few things in place to help us address what’s going on.” Among the things being put in place are “a literacy program that provides one-on-one and small-group interventions for students,” and “a new program that will help teachers track progress on a weekly basis.”

Nevada District Developing Aligned Reading Curriculum For Whole District.
The Nevada Appeal (10/1, Vance) reports, “Each school in the Carson City School District has milestones in reading that students are expected to meet.” Now “teachers are beginning a three-year process to align the reading curriculum throughout the district.” So “reading specialists at each of the schools met last week with teachers to introduce the process, called ‘curriculum mapping,’ where individual elements of learning are broken down and analyzed.” Then “teachers will collaborate to assign specific goals, from the big ideas they want students to think about to what each student should be able to do to demonstrate proficiency in the particular area.”

Law & Policy
Indiana Legislators Hear Arguments For Later School Starting Date.
The AP (10/1, Smith) reports, “Having a uniform starting date for schools in late August or early September would save schools money and give families and kids more prime vacation time, several parents told an interim legislative committee Wednesday.” And “some tourism industry lobbyists also said a later, uniform starting date statewide would boost the tourism industry, but some education lobbyists said the issue should be decided locally.” Some districts had started earlier in August “because statewide standardized tests were given in the fall,” but “tests are now given in the spring.” Supporters of a later starting date, “Save Indiana Summers…say it would save schools cooling costs in the dog days of August — money that could be used instead on education. They also say a later date would allow high school students to work longer in the summer and earn money for college.”

Michigan District Uses Truancy Court To Combat Absenteeism.
The Lansing (MI) State Journal (10/1, Lavey) reports, “Almost 20 percent of students in the Lansing School District missed more than 21 days of class last year,” and “the problem is most acute in high schools,” as “almost 47 percent of Eastern High School’s 1,604 students … A third of Sexton High School’s 992 students,” and “about a quarter of Everett High School’s 1,835 students missed 21 or more days.” Supt. T.C. Wallace Jr. said, “It’s unacceptable.” Lansing is said to be having some success with a truancy court, where “Kids who are ticketed for skipping school appear in after-school sessions with Ingham County Probate Judge Richard Garcia to explain why they haven’t been coming to school.” Julie Lemond, chief academic officer in Lansing, said that “the district will be able to use Title I money…to help boost attendance rates. But she said getting kids to show up more often for school requires creativity from administrators and teachers in each school.”

Facilities
Geneva, Illinois, Completes Long Period Of Construction.
The Geneva (IL) Sun (10/1, Norgaard) reports, “Last month’s official opening of Geneva’s Fabyan Elementary School finally gave residents of South Mill Creek their own neighborhood school,” as “construction on the 103,000-square-foot building was completed over the summer.” And “the completion of Fabyan marks the end of a long period of construction within the Geneva School District, which was intended to accommodate the rapid growth in the community in recent years. However, the slowdown in the housing industry has curbed that growth for the time being, and no further construction is planned in the immediate future.”

New Orleans Has Yet To Create Oversight Panel For $2 Billion In School Facilities Projects.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune (10/1, Carr) reports, “Nearly a year after the state and the Orleans Parish School Board approved a nearly $2 billion facilities spending blueprint for New Orleans schools, the panel charged with overseeing the projects and spending has yet to meet. In fact, it doesn’t even exist.” Yet “school officials have already spent or committed to spend more than one-third of the $700 million designated for the projects in the first phase of the plan.” But “state officials said the process of collecting nominations for the panel has gone more slowly than anticipated, but that it’s now a priority. They anticipate the panel will be formed in the next month.” Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas said that “he’s not opposed to the oversight committee, but doesn’t think it’s as vital as some do.”

Massachusetts School Building Authority Approves $660 Million In Construction Projects.
The Boston Globe (10/1, Parker) reports, “State officials moved ahead with $660 million in school construction projects in 15 districts throughout the state yesterday in a move that State Treasurer Tim Cahill said would provide a boost to the state’s economy.” The projects “approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority will combine state and local funding to build or renovate three high schools, three middle schools and nine elementary schools, said MSBA Executive Director Katherine Craven,” and “serve about 1 percent of the state’s total student population.”

School Finance

DC Schools Chancellor Launches New Teacher Evaluation System.
The Washington Post (10/1, B1, Turque) reports that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “has launched a rigorous evaluation system that will make some District teachers among the first in the nation to have their job security tied to standardized test scores.” The effort “is a cornerstone of Rhee’s agenda and a goal for education reformers nationwide.” Rhee “is investing $4 million in the system, called IMPACT, which will also assess teachers against an elaborate new framework of requirements and guidelines that cover a range of factors, including classroom presence.” However, IMPACT “is likely to be another flash point in Rhee’s turbulent relationship with local and national teachers union leaders. They say that growth statistics are too unreliable to include in performance evaluations and that the new assessment system…is an instrument to identify and remove struggling teachers, not a means to help them improve.”

Oregon May Adopt Performance Pay To Be Eligible For Race To The Top Funds.
The Salem (OR) Statesman Journal (10/1, Loew) reports, “Oregon school districts soon may evaluate teachers and principals based on their students’ performance. The state is gearing up to compete for federal ‘Race to the Top’ funds,” and “‘pay for performance’ is among the reforms required to win a share of the federal stimulus money.” While, “Oregon’s education unions traditionally have opposed the concept,” yet “Margie Lowe, education policy adviser for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said the potential amount of grant money — $43 million or more — has prompted a new level of cooperation.” Still, “Becca Uherbelau, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Education Association, said the group remains opposed to tying teacher pay to student test scores.” Instead, “OEA and the National Education Association are lobbying U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to revise the rules.”

Arizona Charter Advocates Warned Against Seeking Funding Equity Through Courts.
The Arizona Republic (10/1) in an editorial notes that “a group of parents and a student supported by the Arizona Charter Schools Association have filed a pair of lawsuits to force the Legislature to spend more on public education,” to attain “funding equity among traditional, district schools,” and “for charter-school students.” Yet, “If there is an education-funding cause the Arizona Legislature might consider favorably, it would be more money for these public-school hybrids.” Also, “Charters came into being here in 1994 based, in part, on the premise they could do more for students with less money.” While “there is no doubt both traditional and charter schools in Arizona operate on skin-and-bones budgets,” and “many of the most successful national charter organizations will not open shop here because per-student funding just won’t cut the bottom line,” yet “pursuing that equity through the courts is a dodgy proposition.”

Also in the News
Brookings Estimates Cost Of Closing Schools At Nearly $50 Billion.
The AP (10/1) reports, “Closing schools and day care centers because of swine flu could cost between $10 billion and $47 billion, a report by the Brookings Institution think tank found.” Brookings “called that a conservative estimate.” Closing schools would require “parents to stay home from work too, and some of those parents are health care workers, the report said.”

On its “Booster Shots” blog, the Los Angeles Times (10/1, Maugh) reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that schools only close in “exceptional circumstances,” since the swine flu virus is already widespread. Brookings figured that “as much as 12% of the workforce would be absent from the job” if schools were to close, and that “up to 17% of healthcare personnel would also be absent, severely impeding the ability of authorities to deal with the pandemic.”

Police Increase Security At Chicago High School Plagued By Violence.
The Chicago Tribune (9/29, Mack) reports that “Chicago police geared up to provide extra security at Fenger High School” in Chicago “on Monday as they reviewed a graphic amateur video showing a student beaten to death with wooden two-by-fours.” After the incident, some families “expressed reservations about” their children “returning to Fenger on Monday.” The school has been closed since last Thursday, “when brewing gang rivalries that started at school spilled onto the streets of the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s Far South Side.” Police presence around the school is expected to be increased in order to “ease fears students and their parents may have about safety, Morgan Park District Cmdr. Mike Kuemmeth said. The beefed-up security will remain until the public perception that the school is dangerous decreases, he said.”

The AP (9/29, Hawkins) reports that “for Chicago, a sharp rise in violent student deaths during the past three school years — most from shootings off school property — have been a tragedy and an embarrassment.” Between “10-15 students were fatally shot each year” before 2006. Then, “in the 2006-07 school year,” the number rose to 24. Last Year, “and 34 deaths and 290 shootings” occurred. To address the problem, the city of Chicago this month “announced a $30 million project that targets 1,200 high school pupils identified as most at risk to become victims of gun violence, giving them full-time mentors and part-time jobs to keep them off the streets.”

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In the Classroom
Top-Performing New York City High School Teeming With Students.
The New York Times (9/29, A1, Medina) reports on its front page that Francis Lewis High School in Queens, NY has “nearly twice as many students as the 2,400 it was designed for,” forcing administrators to “look for every possible nook and cranny of space – and time – to cram in more bodies.” Francis Lewis “is just one of a number of New York City public school buildings teeming with students despite an overall drop in enrollment in the past few years.” Students “extol the benefits of Lewis, as students call the school – their electives have included forensics, psychology, bioethics and aerobics.” Francis Lewis’ “graduation rate, 81 percent, far exceeds the citywide rate of 56 percent.”

Teacher Eliminates Desks From Classroom To Allow Free Movement.
Indiana’s Journal and Courier (9/28, Watling) reported that “instead of rows of desks in fifth-grade teacher Rebecca Schpero’s Murdock Elementary classroom, there are piles of colorful pillows for students to grab and create their own seats.” Schpero created “the nontraditional setting” in her classroom “after attending training through the Kennedy Center for the Arts” to make the room more conducive for integrating art into lessons. Schpero said “the desks were in the way.” However, a few desks are available in the class “for children who aren’t comfortable with the freedom of movement. And there are a few tables on the side in both rooms where kids can use a solid surface, if they want.”

On the Job

Expert Says Reduced “Total Student Load” Is Key To Improving Test Scores.
Education Week (9/30, Viadero) reports that according to “management expert William G. Ouchi…the key to improving student achievement is lightening teaching loads.” Mr. Ouchi studied “442 schools in eight large urban districts that have devolved power to local principals” and found “that schools that have reduced” total student load (TSL) “in measurable ways also tend to have higher passing rates on state exams.” Ouchi explained, “When you reduce TSL, you increase by far the likelihood that a student will encounter a teacher in a hallway or an office and have a one-on-one conversation that will motivate the student to keep going.”

Law & Policy
Texas Students Face October 1 Deadline For Vaccinations.
The Dallas Morning News (9/29, Farwell) reports that Thursday “is the deadline for kindergartners and seventh-graders in Texas to meet new vaccination requirements.” After the deadline, students “who have not received the necessary shots — or a waiver” will not be allowed to attend school. The Dallas Morning News notes that earlier this month, Dallas County health officials “expressed concern that thousands of children had not been properly vaccinated,” and a last-minute vaccination rush would lead to “long lines at clinics.”

School “Thoroughly Cleaned” Following Possible Swine Flu-Related Student Death. The Dallas Morning News (9/29) reports that the Fort Worth, TX, school district said “it has thoroughly cleaned” Leonard Middle School in southwest Fort Worth after a student “died at Cook Children’s Medical Center on Sunday night, four days after showing signs of illness.” Sandra Parker, medical director for the Tarrant County Health Department, “would not say whether or not the swine flu was a possibility in the death. Further test results are due Tuesday.”

State Laws Seen As Likely To Spur Resurgence In Public School Driver’s Education.
USA Today (9/29, Copeland) reports that “driver’s education in public schools, which virtually disappeared a generation ago, could be staging a comeback.” Currently, only “about 15 percent of eligible students take high school driver’s ed compared with 95 percent in the 1970s, says Allen Robinson, CEO of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association.” But the trend is moving upward in some areas nationwide. In Georgia, for instance, “the number of high school driver’s ed programs…has increased 22 percent to 150 since the state required that any 16-year-old seeking a driver’s license after Jan. 1, 2007, complete a state-approved driver’s ed course.” And this month, Texas “enacted a law…requiring police investigating crashes involving new drivers to determine whether they took driver’s ed in a public or commercial school or learned from their parents.”

Special Needs
Chicago Public School District Refutes State’s Special Education Review.
The Chicago Tribune (9/29, Ahmed, Huppke) reports that an Illinois State Board of Education report on special education in Chicago Public Schools found that “40 percent of the 96 schools” observed “were not properly implementing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Another one of the report’s 11 findings says that “about half the schools reviewed failed to give enough services to kids with disabilities, stifling their ability to make appropriate progress from year to year.” The report is “part of a 17-year-old federal case in which the district was accused of illegally segregating special education students.” Part of the settlement for that case “requires routine monitoring of the district’s special education program.” The Chicago Tribune adds that the school district “is challenging the report,” arguing that “there are only six areas that need more work, and” blaming “the state’s findings on flawed methodology.”

Safety & Security
Most Complaints Sent Through Florida District’s Online Bullying Hotline Are Unfounded.
The Tampa Tribune (9/29, Ackerman) reports that by the end of last week, Hillsborough County, FL, school officials received 45 incident reports “under a new anonymous online reporting system designed to make it easier for victims of bullying to step forward.” Judith Rainone, Hillsborough’s director of administration, said that “most complaints came from parents and most were unfounded. … Some of the complaints started with bullying allegations but escalated into complaints from parents about other parents.” Another complaint “involved charges of one teacher bullying another,” but “only a handful of incidents fit the state’s definition of bullying.” Through the system, each complaint is “automatically…sent to four people — the school principal, the school’s area director, Rainone, and Tracy Schatzberg, supervisor of the district’s psychological services. The district has three days to respond and then must work to resolve complaints or forward them to the proper authorities.” None of the complaints, so far, “have resulted in law enforcement involvement.”

School Finance
Federal, State Funds Do Not Cover Expense Of Autism Education In Some California Districts.
California’s Press Enterprise (9/28, Perrault) reported that “five years ago, the Riverside County office of education created a class for one preschooler with autism.” Now, “there are 28 classrooms for students ages 3 to 22 and another 120 students attending in-home programs.” Although “students with mild autism often can be blended into general classroom environments,” those with “more severe cases” often must be in smaller classes with “a teacher and two education assistants…to provide intense, one-on-one instruction.” Such “classes required to teach autistic children cost an average of $36,000 per student, compared to just under $8,600 for mainstream students,” but “federal and state funding hasn’t kept pace, forcing districts to be creative about staffing classrooms, finding additional resources for more services and tapping innovative programs that have worked elsewhere.”

Also in the News

EPA Advises Schools To Test Caulk For Toxins.
The AP (9/29, Quaid) reports that “hundreds of school buildings across the United States have caulk around windows and doors containing potentially cancer-causing PCBs,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency is not sure how dangerous the situation is for students or “how many schools could be affected.” However, it is advising schools officials to “test old caulk and remove it if PCBs turn up in significant amounts.” Meanwhile, the EPA plans to “conduct new research into the link between PCBs in caulk and in the air, which it said is not well understood.” In addition, it will “conduct its own tests on PCBs in schools.” Currently, the agency “recommends testing for PCBs in peeling, brittle, cracking, or deteriorating caulk in schools and other buildings that were built or renovated between 1950 and 1978. The caulk should be removed if PCBs are found at significant levels, the agency said.”

NEA in the News
Duncan Seen As Revitalizing School Reform.
The New York Times (9/28, A22) editorialized, “With sound ideas and a commitment to rigorously monitor the states’ progress, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has revitalized the school-reform effort that had lost most of its momentum by the closing days of the Bush administration.” The NEA also “seems to understand that the time for defending the status quo has passed.” Still, the Times added, “the difficult part is yet to come. Mr. Duncan must be prepared to reject” Race to the Top fund applications from states “that do not meet the eligibility requirements, but he also must be willing to encourage states to innovate.” Furthermore, Mr. Duncan must resist “pressure from politicians demanding that he finance all of their states’ programs and from community purists demanding that he reject projects that don’t comply with their views.”

Oregon Officials Formally Announce Race To The Top Effort.
The Oregonian (9/29, Hammond) reports that on Monday Oregon “Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) and Oregon schools superintendent Susan Castillo made their first formal joint pronouncement today that Oregon is going to mount a serious effort to win part of the $4 billion in ‘Race to the Top’ money that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to award next spring.” The officials named “22 people, mostly educators and education advocates, who are the ‘design team’ for Oregon’s bid for the money,” and “unveiled a web site where the public can learn more about the Race to the Top and Oregon’s plans to try to win.” According to the Oregonian, “officials at the Oregon Education Association say they support high-quality performance evaluations of teachers” — a preliminary guideline for states hoping to win the grant — and hope that “the final rules on Race to the Top” will not require states to “promise performance pay for teachers.”

Rhode Island Working “Closely” With Teachers Unions On Education Reforms.
The Providence Journal (9/29, Jordan) reports, “Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist says the state is well-positioned to institute the reforms” necessary to win a portion of the federal Race To The Top grant “and will aggressively compete for the unprecedented infusion of federal education money.” Gist “has assembled a 23-member steering committee” made up of “lawmakers, parents, students, K-12 and higher education leaders, union officials and representatives from principal, superintendent and school committee organizations.” The Providence Journal notes that the NEA “has criticized the Race to the Top Fund,” but Gist said that the state is “working very closely with” the NEA in Rhode Island and other state teachers unions, and “is hopeful [they]…will support the state’s application.”

Hawaii Teachers, State Agree To Schedule Furlough Days On Fridays.
The Honolulu Advertiser (9/27, Moreno) reported that “to the dismay of thousands of public school parents,” Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) “officials stood by their decision last week to schedule 17 teacher furlough days on Fridays.” Last week, “teachers approved a new two-year contract…that, starting Oct. 23, will close schools on 17 Fridays — equal to a 7.9 percent pay cut.” Although the lost instruction days could have been avoided if the union and state “had scheduled furloughs on holidays and teacher planning days,” HSTA president Wil Okabe “said that opting for furloughs on Fridays” is “consistent with potential furlough days chosen by other state worker unions.” He added that Friday “was the day Gov. Linda Lingle (R) initially planned to furlough state workers.”

In a separate story, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (9/27, Kubota) also reported that “as Hawaii education officials and teachers revise public school schedules, parents are beginning to ask questions about the effects of a shortened instructional year on students.” And some critics say that “the elimination of 17 days of instruction lowers the state in the standings” in national rankings. Critics also “critics point out that students in special education will have more difficulty adjusting to the 17-day furlough.” Meanwhile, some parents “with children in special education are considering litigation” over the deal.

NEA Opposes Furloughs, Layoffs In Response To School Budget Crisis. In a separate story, the Honolulu Advertiser (9/25, Wilson) noted that “other cash-strapped school districts in the nation that have implemented furloughs are scheduling them to take place on teacher preparation and training days, though most are dealing with far fewer furlough days than Hawai’i's public schools.” However, the NEA, “of which the HSTA is an affiliate, opposes furloughs and layoffs as a means of responding to budget shortfalls.” NEA spokeswoman Cynthia Kain explained, “Our position is still that there are other ways we can deal with this crisis other than furloughing teachers or laying off educators. Even in an economic crisis, we should be finding money to invest in education.”

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In the Classroom
President Obama Seeks To Lengthen Time In Class, School Year.
The AP (9/27) reported, “Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.” Obama “says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.” As such, he “wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late, and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.” The AP points out, however, that “while it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it’s not true they all spend more time in school.” In the US, children “spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013).”

“Executive Function” Seen As Strong Predictor Of Academic Success For Preschoolers.
The New York Times Magazine (9/27, MM31, Tough) reported that in recent years, executive function is “a new buzz phrase” that “has emerged among scholars and scientists who study early-childhood development.” Though executive function was “originally a neuroscience term, it refers to the ability to think straight: to order your thoughts, to process information in a coherent way, to hold relevant details in your short-term memory, to avoid distractions and mental traps and focus on the task in front of you.” According to the Times, recently, cognitive psychologists “have come to believe that executive function, and specifically the skill of self-regulation, might hold the answers to some of the most vexing questions in education today. The ability of young children to control their emotional and cognitive impulses, it turns out, is a remarkably strong indicator of both short-term and long-term success, academic and otherwise.”

On the Job

Georgia Cuts Bonuses For National Board Certified Teachers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/28, Salzer, Badertscher) reports, “More than 2,000 of Georgia’s most highly certified teachers are getting hit with the biggest pay cuts in the profession this fall as the state trims spending.” The state has decided “to slash the 10 percent bonuses they have received for earning national board certification.” As a result, “many teachers who hold the certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards will likely see their pay drop a minimum of $3,000 to $4,000 this year. And for some, that’s on top of local salary cuts or furloughs.” And, some Georgia districts “have been slow to pass on even the smaller bonuses, fearing the state will not reimburse them next spring because of continued spending cuts.”

Florida District Revamps Incentive Pay At Low-Income Schools To Retain Certified Teachers.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/27, Marshall) reported that “money really does draw qualified teachers to high-poverty schools where they’re needed the most.” A “new evaluation of an incentive pay program in Hillsborough schools” shows that “twice as many teachers have applied to teach in the district’s low-income Renaissance schools since 2003, when Hillsborough began offering a 5 to 10 percent bonus.” When it first began, “the Renaissance program made a difference in recruiting good teachers, but they weren’t always staying long-term and making a clear difference in their schools.” This year, “experienced teachers who are certified in their subject areas will qualify for a 5 percent bonus to teach in a Renaissance school.” The “teachers will have to stay at their schools or transfer to another Renaissance school the following year to qualify for an additional bonus of 5 percent or more, which is tied in most cases to schoolwide performance gains.”

Teaching Profession Seen As Difficult To Improve.
NPR (9/26, Abramson) reported, “Everyone from President Obama on down seems to agree: a good teacher can make a huge difference in the life of a child.” However, “teaching performance is difficult to improve in part because the profession is so large.” Some blame the teacher “certification process,” saying that state requirements help “create a hiring market that is very localized.” And although “alternative routes to certification” aim “to make it easier for mid-career professionals to jump into teaching,” many such programs “are run by teacher colleges and tend to require unnecessary coursework that discourages career changers from making the switch.” NPR points to “teaching fellowships and…Teach for America” as programs that “are helping to raise the standard for all teachers.”

Special Needs
Group Says Gifted And Talented Education Takes Money Away From Disabled Students.
Louisiana’s Times-Picayune (9/27, Bronston) reported that “the Louisiana Association of Special Education Administrators has recommended that gifted and talented education no longer be part of special education.” The organization is “concerned that money dedicated for disabled children is being used for gifted and talented services.” In a letter to the Louisiana Department of Education dated March 4, Susan Vaugn, then president of the organization, wrote, “We question the ability of anyone to prove that a student with a 4.0 GPA needs special education services because his educational performance is significantly affected.” This month, “the issue appeared on the agenda of a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education committee,” but was deferred, “and a task force was appointed to discuss ways of keeping the gifted and talented program in special education without affecting services for disabled children.”

Facilities
New Jersey Districts Seek More Than $157 Million In Energy-Saving School Renovations.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (9/28, McCarron) reports, “School districts across New Jersey will ask residents on Tuesday to spend $440 million on construction projects, many them energy-saving initiatives.” Of those projects, “more than $157 million would qualify for state aid, either through one-time grants, annual ‘debt service aid’ payments or rebates through the state’s Clean Energy Program.” They include “the addition of solar panels” at six schools in Rahway, “a state-of-the-art building that includes a geothermal well and energy-saving materials” in East Brunswick, “ten referendums specifically citing new windows, doors, boilers or HVAC systems, and another eight including solar panels projects,”

Insurance Dispute Delaying Rebuilding Of Fire-Damaged Los Angeles High School.
The Los Angeles Times (9/28, Rivera) reports that Garfield High School in Los Angeles “has not hosted a play, a musical performance or an assembly in its historic auditorium since an arson fire gutted it nearly 2 1/2 years ago. … After pledges to rebuild the facility, a benefit concert by Los Lobos and donations from boxer Oscar De La Hoya, among others,” the Los Angeles district “is mired in an insurance dispute that could create additional delays and leave the school system footing more of the bill.” According to the Times, community members and alumni, “who long relied on the auditorium for neighborhood meetings and events, are frustrated — as are school administrators and students.”

Also in the News

PTA Membership On The Decline Across The US.
The Washington Post (9/28, Chandler) reports, “From a high mark of 12 million in the 1960s, national PTA membership has dropped to a little more than 5 million.” Though school enrollments “have ballooned, the PTA lost a million members in the past decade alone. Through the years, Washington’s inner suburbs have been high-profile exceptions to the general decline.” However, more than 90 percent of the schools in some districts in the D.C. metropolitan region “have PTAs, for instance, compared with about 25 percent nationally.” Yet, some signs point to a future decline in PTA membership in the D.C. area.

WPost Says Teachers Unions Blocking Successful Charter Schools.
The Washington Post (9/27) editorialized, “Opponents of charter schools are going to have to come up with a new excuse: They can’t claim any longer that these non-traditional public schools don’t succeed. A rigorous new study of charter schools in New York City demolishes the argument that charter schools outperform traditional public schools only because they get the ‘best students.’” The Post adds that this “evidence should spur states to change policies that inhibit charter-school growth.” Also, when teachers unions score “another lobbying success” to “hold charters back, more poor children will pay a price.”

NEA in the News
Nebraska State Education Association Recommends Teachers Seek $1,000 Salary Increase.
The AP (9/28, Beck) reports, “With an infusion of $234 million in federal stimulus dollars headed to Nebraska’s public schools and words of support from the governor, state teachers might finally realize their long-running push to raise their pay rank from among the lowest in the country.” According to the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA), which “represents the state’s nearly 23,000 public school teachers…148 of the state’s 250-plus school districts have settled negotiations for teachers’ pay, with all of them seeing a raise in base pay despite the nation’s troubled economy.” NSEA “has been recommending teachers seek a $1,000 increase in base salary.” So far, according to Larry Scherer, director of bargaining and research with the NSEA, “teachers in more than four dozen districts have done…that,” with teachers in Giltner Public Schools managing “to secure a $2,000 raise this year and another $1,500 next year.”

List Of Suggested Common Math, English Standards Is Extensive.
U.S. News and World Report (9/25) notes that “in recent months, an alliance of the nation’s governors and state education officials has led an initiative to develop common academic standards to which all public K-12 students would be held.” Although “feedback from national organizations representing teachers, such as the National Education Association Last… has been part of the standards development process,” officials from various standardized testing agencies and Achieve Inc., “a standards reform group,” have done the “the actual writing and determination of what goes into” the standards. Last week, the officials “released a set of math and English skills they say students should master before high school graduation.” The standards “range from core practices such as constructing viable arguments…to modeling quantitative relationships and mastering probability and statistics” in math. In English, they incorporate “reading and writing skills as well as speaking and listening proficiencies, including…responding constructively to advance a discussion.”

School Of The Future Seen As Falling Short Of Goals.
Education Week (9/25, Manzo) reports, “The promise of technology and change, so far, has fallen short at Philadelphia’s School of the Future.” The school “opened in 2006 with a relatively small student population, a computer-based curriculum delivered with the latest technology tools, and a unique partnership with corporate giant Microsoft.” Its aim was “to upend a secondary school model that had changed little since the industrial era.” However, the school has had to contend with “leadership instability, wavering commitment from the central office to its mission, swings in curricular approaches, technological glitches, and challenges in meeting the academic needs of a disadvantaged student population.” And, in its fourth year, Education Week points out that “a visitor would be hard-pressed to decipher how the school is fundamentally different from a typical high school, aside from the superiority of the facility.”

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In the Classroom
Critics Question Validity Of New York City Public School Grades.
Education Week (9/23, Robelen) reported, “The recent news that 97 percent of New York City public schools got an A or B under the district’s grading system might be seen as reason for celebration, but critics suggest the grades hold little value and highlight the need to rethink the state assessment system.” In 2008, 38 percent “of the city’s 1,058 public elementary and middle schools received an A on the city’s report cards.” This year, however, 84 percent earned an A, “while 13 percent received a B, city officials announced this month.” Aaron M. Pallas, “a professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University,” said the grades tell “virtually nothing about the actual performance of schools.” Meanwhile, New York University education historian, Diane Ravitch, called the grades “bogus.” Education Week explains that the main factors affecting school grades are “results from statewide assessments in reading and mathematics, which themselves have encountered considerable skepticism lately.”

Arts Education Seen As Key To Providing A “Complete” Education.
Arts Education Partnership Director Sandra S. Ruppert wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (9/23) that “arts learning experiences play a vital role in developing students’ capacities for critical thinking, creativity, imagination, and innovation.” Increasingly, “these capacities are” being “recognized as core skills and competencies all students need as part of a high-quality and complete 21st-century education,” Ruppert added. She lists “five strategies, drawn from” the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ arts assessment, released in June 2009, “that can help arts education leaders, policymakers, and educators improve performance in the arts and narrow achievement gaps.”

On the Job

School Administrators Nationwide Increasingly Seeking Out Male Teachers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/25, Staples) reports that at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Clayton County, GA, “female teachers outnumber males by almost three to one.” However, “Principal Machelle Matthews has made a conscious effort to recruit and retain black male teachers.” Currently, 14 of the school’s 60 teachers are male. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out that “although the percentage of male teachers across the state is growing — from 17.9 percent in 2002 to 19.3 percent in 2008 — officials say there is no concerted effort to increase the number of men — black or white — in classrooms.” Nationwide, however, “efforts to increase the presence of male teachers, and black men in particular, are growing.” Programs such as “MenTeach and Clemson University’s Call Me MISTER” are encouraging “males to consider education as early as middle school.”

DC Teachers Hold Rally To Protest Pending Layoffs.
The Washington Post (9/25, Turque) reports that a “small but vocal band” of about 60 D.C. teachers, “angry about impending layoffs, rallied against Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and their own union president in front of the school system’s central offices early Thursday evening.” Washington Teachers Union President George Parker “did not attend the rally, which was organized in part by two of his most outspoken critics, union board of trustees member Candi Peterson and its general vice president, Nathan Saunders.” Teachers “protested Rhee’s Sept. 16 announcement of a still-unspecified number of layoffs,” following the D.C. Council’s decision to cut $20.7 million from the 2010 D.C. Public Schools budget.

Rhee Intends To Target Underperforming Teachers In Layoffs. The Washington Post (9/23) reports in its D.C. Wire blog that Washington Teachers’ Union President George Parker, “among others, has wondered out loud why Rhee waited three weeks into the school year — and nearly seven weeks after the D.C. Council sliced $20.7 million from the 2010 DCPS budget — to announce the still-unspecified number of job cuts.” Parker “called it mismanagement at best, and at worst a cynical backdoor effort to replace established teachers with freshly-minted young graduates of Teach For America and other increasingly popular alternative training programs.” Though Rhee said the budget cuts were unexpected, she “acknowledges that she also intends to use the cuts as an added opportunity to weed out” teachers “she regards as under-performers.”

Law & Policy
Education Secretary Discusses Reform Vision.
The Christian Science Monitor (9/25, Kehe) reports that in an interview following a forum on President Obama’s Fatherhood Initiative in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “talked about plans for reform of America’s education system. One thing he stressed: The leadership may come from Washington, but the best ideas on which steps to take will probably be found somewhere else.” Concerning NCLB, Duncan “was generous in his assessment of what the Bush administration did well when it crafted the legislation,” applauding the decision to disaggregate data to clearly show achievement gaps when present. Duncan “did not have many other kind words about NCLB, however, saying that he hopes to essentially turn the law on its head. The Bush administration’s legislation, he says, kept the ‘goals loose but the steps tight.’” Duncan “hopes instead to see a law that keeps the ‘goals tight but the steps loose.’”

Duncan Outlines NCLB Reauthorization Views. Education Week (9/25, Klein) reports that Secretary of Education Arne “signaled this week” that the Department of Education “is poised to launch reauthorization efforts” for NCLB and he outlined his views of how NCLB should be changed during a “packed” meeting in Washington with over 200 education stakeholders. Duncan “said the new version of the law will need to ensure effective teachers and principals for underperforming schools, expand learning time, and devise an accountability system that measures individual student progress and uses data to inform instruction and teacher evaluation.” Duncan said DOE officials “will convene a series of meetings” to solicit recommendations from education stakeholders on how NCLB should be adjusted.

School Finance
Education Department Identifies States At “High Risk” For Stimulus Spending Problems.
The Education Week (9/24, McNeil) reported that ED “has identified four states that are at ‘high risk’ for economic-stimulus spending problems, according to a Sept. 23 report by the Government Accountability Office.” California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas “have been singled out for intensive technical assistance by [ED] to help them implement good practices in using the federal money.” D.C. and Puerto Rico “also made the department’s list.” The latest report from the GAO “offers insight” into how ED and other federal agencies are “trying to minimize the potential for misuse of the approximately $100 billion in such aid it oversees.”

Parents In Some Arizona Districts Leading Efforts To Raise Money For Schools.
Arizona’s East Valley Tribune (9/25, Reese) reports, “With Arizona school districts cutting back on supplies, staffing and budgets, parents at Chandler High School” in Chandler, AZ, “are stepping up to fill in the gaps.” For example, “parents of marching band members” started a “penny war,” in which “the different band instrument groups — winds, brass, percussion — try to outdo each other by collecting pennies.” The East Valley Tribune counts that effort among a growing number of others “in school districts around the East Valley” since January, when “declines in general fund coffers resulted in $133 million cut from school districts. … As a result, at least one school is asking parents or guardians to spend two hours a semester helping on campus. Others are asking parents to buy reams of paper to offset supply cuts.”

Also in the News
Federal Regulators To Consider Banning Cell Phone Use By Bus Drivers While On The Road.
The AP (9/24, Lowy) reported that safety investigators “told federal regulators three years ago that it was dangerous for bus drivers to talk on cell phones while driving, and recommended a ban.” However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “has done little more than study the issue. Now, after several high-profile accidents that focused public attention on using cell phones on the road, the Obama administration has decided to act on the issue.” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood “will convene a two-day summit next week on distracted driving and plans to announce actions to address cell phone use by bus and truck drivers, said spokeswoman Jill Zuckman.”

NEA in the News

NEA Calls Race To The Top An “Intrusion.”
The Washington Post (9/25, Anderson) reports, “To the surprise of many educators who campaigned last year for change in the White House, the Obama administration’s first recipe for school reform relies heavily on Bush-era ingredients and adds others that make unions gag.” For instance, “standardized testing, school accountability, performance pay, charter schools” are all significant parts of “President Obama’s $4.35 billion ‘Race to the Top’ grant competition to spur innovation.” The NEA called the proposal “‘disturbing’ federal intrusion.” In a written statement, the NEA said it “cannot support yet another layer of federal mandates that have little or no research base of success and that usurp state and local government’s responsibilities for public education.”

NEA-Alaska Shows Support For Hotel Employees Union Members.
Barb Angaiak, President of NEA-Alaska, writes in the Alaska Dispatch (9/25, Angaiak), “The Alaska chapter of the National Education Association has been monitoring the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Anchorage Hilton Hotel and its bellmen, housekeepers, food servers, and other employee groups for some months.” For over a year, the local Unite HERE members “have been attempting to bargain a new contract,” but “hotel management shows no signs that it is willing to settle.” According to Angaiak, “This is part of a national pattern of union-breaking tactics and unfair treatment of employees by the Columbia Sussex Corporation.” Consequently, NEA-Alaska has decided “to cancel its multi-year contract with the Hilton,” severing “all business ties with the hotel.” This included canceling “six conferences, all scheduled outside the tourist season” and asking NEA-Alaska “members not to eat, sleep, or meet at the Hilton until the hotel settles a fair contract.”

California Teachers Unions File Complaints Over Increased Class Sizes.
California’s Union-Tribune (9/24, Writer) reports that the Sweetwater Union High School District’s union and the San Diego Education Association “have filed unfair-labor-practice complaints with the state, insisting that class-size changes must be negotiated.” In October, “a state panel will hear both sides in the South County dispute in October and will issue a nonbinding opinion.” One complaint by the Sweetwater union is that “the school board failed to negotiate with educators as required before changing last year’s 28-to-1 student-teacher ratio to 30-to-1 this year.” Other teachers’ unions are also filing complaints over class size. According to the California Teachers Association, “the teachers union for the Travis Unified School District in Fairfield filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint over increased class sizes.” Still, “in most other districts that moved toward bigger classes this year…there has been no legal action.”

Some Students In Chicago Afraid To Return To School After Classmate’s Violent Death.
Following a story that has made national and international headlines this week, the Chicago Tribune (9/30, Mack, Banchero, Sweeney) reports that days after the beating death of sixteen-year-old Chicago high school student Derrion Albert, “the leisurely walk to school — once a tradition in American education — took on an air of fear and anxiety Monday as some Christian Fenger High School students returned to campus for the first time since” their classmate’s death. Other students, however, “were so afraid, they simply stayed home.” This week, police officers were stationed throughout the Fenger campus as “squad cars positioned in the neighborhood” announced, “by their mere presence, that they would guarantee safe passage to and from school.” Still, many “students and residents” say that Chicago Public Schools officials and police should have acted sooner, “especially in the hours before Albert died when someone fired a gun outside Fenger.”

CNN (9/30) reports that the fighting that led to Albert’s death started after “school let out at 2:50 p.m. [last] Thursday,” when “two groups of students converged on the street” and “began fighting.” Albert was first attacked by members of one group. Then, “after being knocked unconscious briefly, Albert regained consciousness and tried to move from the fight but was…attacked by” members of the opposing group. CBS News (9/30) reports on its website that “authorities in Chicago are offering $6,000 for information that leads to more arrests in the fatal beating.”

In a separate story, CNN (9/30, Fantz) reports that four boys between the ages of 16 and 19 “have been charged” in the murder. CNN also notes that according to mediator Ameena Matthews, who “works with Cease Fire, a Chicago, Illinois, grassroots organization” that seeks to “curb gang violence,” Albert told her last year “that some boys were threatening him and that his leather jacket and shoes had been stolen from his locker.” Matthews also said that “Albert, like many kids, hung out with some of the same boys who were known to menace other children in the neighborhood.” She pointed out that generally, children “want to be friends with the kid who lives next door or in their project,” even if that person is involved with a gang. The UK’s Guardian (9/30, Camera) also covers the story.

Dismissal Said To Be Most Dangerous Part Of School Day. Mark Brown writes in his column for the Chicago Sun-Times (9/30) that most people “who view the grisly video” of “Derrion Albert’s beating death near Fenger High School” are shocked. “But for anyone familiar with the after-school scene outside many of the city’s high schools, the fighting was” similar to “what they deal with on a regular basis.” According to Brown, “school dismissal is one of the most dangerous times of any day.” Brown recounts his experience observing the Bowen High School campus in South Chicago last spring “to see how students and staff were trying to maintain a safe setting following earlier incidents of violence in the neighborhood.” He notes that “as dismissal time approached, a large group of gang members emerged” from a park near the school and positioned themselves “outside the school.” Brown adds, “It was explained to me that they were mainly there to protect their own members who attend the school,” though the potential for conflict was evident.

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In the Classroom
Maryland Districts’ AYP Results Mixed.
The Washington Post (9/30, Hernandez) reports that the Montgomery County and Prince George’s County districts “failed to meet Maryland’s standards for elementary, middle and high school students, according to state data on standardized tests taken in the past school year. The results amount to a warning for Montgomery, which will be designated a ‘system in improvement’ if it fails again next time.” In Prince George’s, educators “were set back two years in their quest to escape the state’s ‘corrective action’ watch list.” However, the Baltimore school system, “long considered the worst in Maryland, was removed from the watch list after showing two consecutive years” of AYP, leaving Prince George’s “as the state’s only system in corrective action.”

California Schools See Test Improvements After Using Interactive Math Software.
California’s Mercury News (9/30, Fernandez) reports that in 2007, “nine percent [of] fourth graders at LeRoy Anderson Elementary School in San Jose “scored ‘proficient’ in math in 2007.” But after students at the school began using a software program called JiJi, proficiency “jumped to 39 percent in 2008, and 70 percent in 2009.” JiJi was developed by “three University of California scientists came up with a visual math program to teach complicated ‘spacial temporal’ concepts.” The program is interactive, thus students are able to find out immediately if they choose the correct answer. Currently, “30 schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are using” Jiji.

Astronaut Shares Hubble Telescope Repair Mission Experience With Elementary Students.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer (9/30, Stevick) reports that NASA astronaut Greg Johnson spoke with “hundreds [of] students from Horizon Elementary School in south Everett during a visit to the Mukilteo School District campus last week.” Johnson also answered students’ questions and “shared a computer slide show with family photos of his childhood and aviation and aerospace career that literally reached new heights last spring when he piloted a NASA shuttle mission to make repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.” And he “showed video footage of the mission.”

On the Job
Middle School’s Zero-Tolerance Policy Results In Improved Discipline, Test Scores.
The Sacramento Bee (9/30, B1, Lambert, Reese) reports on the front of its regional section that “Samuel Jackman Middle School in south Sacramento had 507 suspensions last year for drugs and violence — more than any other school in Northern California.” The school, however, is not “a typically troubled school.” Its “high suspension rate is due to a zero-tolerance policy designed to put an early lid on trouble, according to school officials.” The majority “of the school’s violent offenses last year” were “pre-fighting” incidents such as a student “taking a fighting stance or threatening to fight.” The zero-tolerance policy was enacted after Principal William Del Bonta “counted 35 fights in his first 10 days on the job in 2004.” Each year since the policy began, discipline at Jackman Middle has improved, Del Bonta said. “There were 64 percent fewer fights last year than in 2004″ and “the school also has increased its API score 64 points and its graduation rate by 34 percent.”

Seattle Area Schools Use Federal Grant To Develop Distance Learning.
The Seattle Times (9/30, Thompson) reports that “while many private schools in the” Seattle, WA, “region have been practicing distance learning in the event of a natural disaster or pandemic for several years, many public schools are only now beginning to ask how they might continue their students’ education during an extended school closure.” According to many public school officials, “they face challenges that their private counterparts don’t: Some students may not have computers at home or Internet access. Not all students or their families speak English. And public-school teachers may have limited tech support.” Meanwhile, Seattle Public Schools “received a federal grant last year that included money to develop an emergency distance-learning plan.” The district wants “to provide classroom teachers with two weeks’ worth of lessons that could be delivered through a variety of means, including paper packets and Web-based technologies.” It “is now tackling how to translate those materials into nine languages so parents can help their children at home.”

Law and Policy
Finance committee approves measure restoring abstinence-only education funding.
The AP (9/30) reports that the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday voted 12-11 to “restore $50 million a year in federal funding for abstinence-only education that President Barack Obama has pushed to eliminate.” The amendment, proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), “would still have to pass the full House and Senate.”

Facilities
LAUSD Chief Urged To Maintain High Efficiency Standards In Construction Efforts.
The Los Angeles Times (9/30) editorializes, “The Los Angeles Unified School District does few things efficiently and competently. The big exception has been its construction effort of the last several years, guided by Guy Mehula.” However, Mehula’s “resignation on Monday, and the loss of a measure of that independence, are discouraging signs not only for the future of school construction but for the district as a whole.” Schools Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines “may have felt compelled to act after a 2008 audit revealed that many of the consultants working for the facilities division were paid much more than district staff. … But Cortines must make sure that he isn’t being penny-wise and pound-foolish if he restricts consultant pay and moves more of that work under the district, as he reportedly intends to do.” LAUSD “is seldom at its best when it micromanages — a lesson worth remembering.”

Also in the News
Few New York City Schools Serve Freshly-Cooked Meals.
The New York Times (9/30, D1, Severson) reports on the front of its Style section that many advocates for healthier school food “have begun to believe that the only way to improve what students eat is to stop reheating processed food and start cooking real, fresh food.” However, “little actual cooking goes on in the nation’s largest public school system, largely because little of it can,” as only about “half of New York’s 1,385 school kitchens have enough cooking and fire-suppression equipment so cooks” can prepare food over an open flame. New York “is not that unusual. More than 80 percent of the nation’s districts cook fewer than half their entrees from scratch, according to a 2009 survey by the School Nutrition Association.”

NEA in the News

NEA Supports Local, State-Established Learning Schedules.
FOX News (9/30, Starr) reports that “the Obama administration wants to extend classroom time to boost retention rates and test scores, but the president will have to convince teachers to give up their vacations to do it.” According to Aaron M. Pallas of Columbia University’s Teachers College, “it’s hard to isolate the effect of year-round schooling.” He added that it is “important” to clarify “whether year-round schooling means more schooling, or simply redistributing the traditional 180 days in a different way.” Under Obama’s plan, which calls “for a longer school year as well as a shortened summer…the length of the school year may in fact be more important.” In a statement, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said, “NEA believes that the learning schedule should be decided at the local and state levels, but will work with the Obama administration to help set guidelines that ensure each of our students gets the quality education he or she deserves.”

Critics Say Year-Round Schooling Would Be Detrimental To Economy. In a separate story, FOX News (9/29, Corbin) reports that “while Obama’s proposal is meant to improve education, critics say a curtailed summer vacation will have a dire economic impact on school systems, which could be forced to retrofit their schools for air conditioning, pay overtime to teachers, and incur higher utility costs.” Furthermore, they warn that “the leisure industry, which relies on family vacation travel, could take a major hit.”

Lawmaker Resigns To Become Utah Education Association Government Relations Director.
The Salt Lake Tribune (9/30, Gehrke) reports, “Kory Holdaway, a moderate Republican legislator” in Utah since 1999, “is resigning his seat in the Legislature to become government relations director of the Utah Education Association.” Holdaway is “a special education teacher at Taylorsville High School” and “has been a leading proponent for public and higher education, including serving most recently as co-chairman of the Higher Education Appropriations Committee.” In November, he will begin working with the UEA.

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In the Classroom
Nearly All Maryland Students Pass High School Exit Exam.
The Baltimore Sun (9/22, Bowie) reports, “State education officials reported Monday that after a decade-long attempt to raise high school graduation standards by instituting high-stakes tests only 11 students of about 63,000 in the Class of 2009 did not graduate because they failed to meet the new requirement.” According to the state, thousands of other students did not graduate because they “failed to pass the courses they needed to collect enough credits. Overall, the dropout rate for last year’s seniors fell to 2.6 percent.”

The Washington Post (9/22, B8Hernandez) reports The class of 2009 was the first in Maryland required to pass the High School Assessments, a battery of English, algebra, biology and government tests. Though test results “are encouraging, some are asking how tough the tests could be if only a tiny percentage of the students fail.” According to the Post, proponents of tougher academic standards, led by State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick “successfully pushed through the testing plan, arguing that it would hold schools accountable for educating children who had been allowed to slide through in the past.” However, these proponents “made compromises that effectively allowed nearly a third of the Class of 2009 to graduate without passing all four exams.”

High School’s New Engineering Class Attracts Home School, Out-Of-District Students.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/22, Solochek) reports on a new engineering class at East River Ridge High School in Pasco County, FL, in which students can “mess with robots” and “experiment with 3-D design software,” among other activities. “River Ridge showed off its new career academy to the public on Monday, taking the time to highlight the team effort among educators, business partners and community leaders who made it happen.” The class is a hit with students, with 67 students signing up for the class, “including 10 from outside the attendance zone and one homeschooled teen who comes to River Ridge just for engineering.” School administrators had expected only 30 enrollees the first year. School Board member Kathryn Starkey said “that county leaders are working to extend the River Ridge program’s ties to college courses,” noting that “They’re in talks to bring courses from Kettering University, rated one of the nation’s top undergraduate engineering schools, to Pasco County.”

More Dallas-Area Students Using Netbooks In Class.
The Dallas Morning News (9/21, Unmuth) reported that more Dallas-area students “are using ‘netbooks’ at school,” small computers that “are much lighter and cheaper than traditional laptop computers.” Netbooks “are more closely related to cellphones, which many students are familiar with.” However, netbooks are “not the best option for advanced video production capabilities.” Yet, educators “say they are ideal for basic functions as more schools get wireless access and move textbooks and lessons online.”

Students Explore Agriculture During Field Trip To Oklahoma State Fair Park.
The Oklahoman (9/22, Brown) reports that several Spencer Elementary School teachers took “nearly 80 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students to State Fair Park” to learn about agriculture. “Students walked through the Barnyard Birthing Center where they experienced newly born piglets and goats nuzzling close to their mothers,” and “learned farming and ranching vocabulary.” Meanwhile, the “AGtropolis exhibit, a make-believe city…that is centered on teaching youth interesting facts about present-day agriculture,” gave students the opportunity to “plant seeds, pick apples, pumpkins and potatoes and gather eggs.”

Law & Policy
Opinion: Michigan Lawmakers Should Look To Detroit Public Schools For Reform Ideas.
Editor Amber Arellano wrote in an opinion piece for the Detroit News (9/21), “To the surprise of many, Detroit could be held back by the state when it comes to educational progress, or at least the strategic policymaking needed to make that happen.” She asserts that “the Detroit Public Schools’ emergency financial manager Robert Bobb and his impressive administration appear to be well-prepared to compete for President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top competitive education stimulus money.” State lawmakers, however, are “stuck in an ideological battle, threatening to risk Michigan’s application to win hundreds of millions for Michigan schools.” Arellano pointed out that “Bobb has made such sweeping changes” in the district since taking over in March that “even his critics have had to pause in awe.” She urged readers to pressure lawmakers “to do what’s best for students — not for special interests. Michigan needs to do that — and for once, follow Detroit’s lead.”

Education Funding “Race” Seen As Fueling Teacher Evaluation Reform Efforts In Colorado.
The Colorado Independent (9/21, Redding) reported, “If Colorado doesn’t win Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top, it won’t be for lack of studies. Last week, yet another ‘How Colorado Can Win the Race to the Top’ study was released by the Colorado Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Colorado Department of Education.” Two other similar studies were published this summer. The Legacy foundation’s report argues “that the most important topic in education reform right now is the concept of ‘teacher effectiveness.’” The Colorado Independent points out that although “a new teacher evaluation still looks like it’s still in the brainstorming phase,” it seems inevitable that, “given the state’s enthusiasm for the Race to the Top contest, Colorado teachers shouldn’t expect the current evaluation system to last much longer.”

Border District Chief Moves To Prevent Students From Illegally Attending Schools.
The AP (9/21, Roberts) reported that Mexican students living close to the U.S. border “have skirted residency requirements to attend U.S. public schools for generations,” but when Kelt Cooper, superintendent of the San Felipe Del Rio (TX) Consolidated Independent School District “got word that about 400 school-age children were crossing the international bridge each day with backpacks but no student visas, he figured he had to do something.” Cooper “directed district officials to stake out the bridge and warn students they could face expulsion if they don’t prove they live in the district – a move that’s brought complaints from civil rights groups and support from anti-immigrant proponents.”

Students Speak Out Against High School’s Backpack Ban.
The Jackson (MI) Citizen-Patriot (9/22, Cummings) reports, “A new policy that bans backpacks from being used during the school day at Jackson High School drew criticism from several students and parents Monday who urged the board to rethink the policy it approved in August.” According to Principal Barbara Baird-Pauli, “the policy was enacted as part of the school’s student handbook to improve safety, stem congestion caused by backpacks left in aisles and between lunch tables, and eliminate a way for students to easily steal things.” But students argued that the five minutes between classes “make it difficult to run back and forth to store and retrieve books, and get to class on time.” The school board left the decision on whether or not to change the backpack policy “up to Baird-Pauli, who said she would take a few days to consider the options.”

Safety & Security

Audit Finds Deficiencies In Federal Food-Safety Notification System For Schools.
USA Today (9/22, Eisler, Morrison) reports, “Federal agencies that supply food for 31 million schoolchildren fail to ensure that tainted products are pulled quickly from cafeterias, a federal audit obtained by USA Today finds.” The audit reviewed recent recalls of food, “including one this year in which salmonella-infected peanut butter sickened almost 700 people.” It focused “on the Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS, an arm of the Department of Agriculture that provides states and school systems with federally purchased commodities for school lunch and breakfast programs.” According to the audit, FNS “lacks systems to ensure that it is notified when the Food and Drug Administration begins a food-safety investigation that may lead to a recall.”

Administrators To Undergo Sensitivity Training To Address High School’s Hazing “Tradition.”
The New York Times (9/22, A26, Kelley) reports, “The president of the Millburn Board of Education said on Monday night that district administrators would have to undergo sensitivity training and ordered them to come up with a plan within the next two months to address the longstanding tradition of hazing at Millburn High School.” The board decision came after “parents reported that their freshman daughters were pushed into lockers, that senior girls blew whistles in their faces and that girls were made to wear camouflage shirts” on the first day of school Sept. 8.

Also in the News
Students Can Interact With College Counselors Through Virtual College Fair.
The San Francisco Chronicle (9/22, Asimov) reports on the website CollegeWeekLive.com, which gives students the opportunity to “correspond with college counselors about everything from her SATs to college sports.” The site, “billed as ‘the world’s biggest virtual college fair,’” features “a virtual trade show, with booths for about 200 colleges. More than 100 additional colleges are due to join in the next few weeks, said spokeswoman Martha Collins.” Students can also log onto the site for “interactive seminars on numerous topics, including writing college essays and interviews with experts on student aid and admissions strategies.”

NEA in the News
Linking Teacher Performance To Tests Causes Contention Between Unions, “Democratic Allies.”
McClatchy (9/21, Hotakainen) reported that “the nation’s public school teachers are feeling the squeeze from all sides these days, and some of the heat is coming from unlikely sources: minorities and longtime Democratic allies.” For instance, President Barack Obama is “suggesting that student test scores be used to judge the success of educators.” David Sanchez, “president of the 340,000-member California Teachers Association,” an NEA affiliate, “said teachers had high hopes for Obama but that so far there has been little change.” In a speech to the NEA this summer, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “teachers unions are ‘at a crossroads’ and” urged union members “to think differently about the role of unions in public education.” Sanchez, however, argues that “teachers are being unfairly picked on in the current education debate. And he said teachers know much more about teaching than Duncan.”

High Erasure Rates On DC Standardized Tests Cast Scores In Suspicious Light.
The Washington Post (9/23, B1, Turque) reports on the front of its Metro section that Bowen Elementary School was part of what D.C. officials “hailed as the success story of their 2008 standardized test results.” The reading proficiency rate at Bowen “jumped 27 points, to 63 percent of the student population. The math score surged 17 points, to 41 percent.” However, Bowen “also had four classrooms where children erased wrong answers and replaced them with correct ones at abnormally high rates.” According to the Post, 45 of D.C.’s 150 public schools “had at least one classroom with an elevated erasure level in 2008,” according to an analysis by CTB McGraw-Hill, publisher of the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS).

Opinion: Cheating Undermines NCLB Accountability Approach. Diane Ravitch wrote in a “Bridging Differences” blog for Education Week (9/22) that the problem with NCLB’s “incentives and sanctions approach” to prodding teachers and schools to produce higher test scores “is that it works. … We see scores going up in many states, sometimes at rates that defy belief.” However, the “problem is that schools, principals, teachers, and students will reach the goal by hook or by crook. Some states, like New York and Illinois, will play statistical games.” Also, some states “will dumb down their tests, carefully field-testing the tests and removing any questions that are too difficult.”

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In the Classroom
Program At High School In Massachusetts Pays Students, Teachers For Passing AP Test Scores.
The Salem (MA) News (9/22, Galang) reported that “a controversial grant program that pays both teachers and students at Peabody High School for success on Advanced Placement tests kicked off yesterday with triple the student enrollment.” With the “$640,000, five-year grant from Boston-based nonprofit Mass Insight,” up to 345 juniors and seniors at the school will be able “to participate in the classes,” up from 99 students who “took Advanced Placement courses in math, science and English at Peabody” last year. “Mass Insight’s grant will provide $100 to students who earn a 3, 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement exams in math, science and English. Teachers” meanwhile, “receive a $500 stipend to participate plus a potential of another $1,000, $2,000 or $3,000 depending on the numbers of their students in who pass.”

Schools Urged To Expand Literacy Testing To New Media Forms.
Paul Barnwell, a middle school language arts teacher in Shelbyville, KY, writes in a commentary for Education Week (9/23), “The federal No Child Left Behind Act and standardized state curricula and assessments are stuck on a notion of literacy that does not reflect the reality of our time.” He asserts that schools are testing students’ literacy based “on print media only. It’s time,” he adds, “for the accountability movement to demand that schools teach and foster responsible student use of new literacy forms” such as assessing “the validity of a Web site” or understanding “the point of view and potential bias of” a YouTube clip. Barnwell points out that “some may argue that it’s a waste of time to assess other forms of literacy if students aren’t ‘proficient’ at more traditional forms of reading and writing.” However, he argues, “If we develop critical literacy skills with new forms of media, the skills can transfer to the written word.”

Schools Urged To Grant Greater Authority To Students.
Joan F. Goodman, “a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate school of education,” writes in a commentary for Education Week (9/23, Goodman), “The requirement that schools meet state standards, or else, is in conflict with the notion of student autonomy. How this plays out in classrooms is all too familiar to teachers.” For instance, “a child may want to do research on turtles, but mastery of turtles is not a state objective.” As a result, the child’s teacher would insist “that [the] child adhere to the required curriculum.” Goodman suggests that, “given the existing constraints of imposed instruction,” teachers can include “students in the authority structure” by reviewing “all the controls exercised by adults in a school day” to “determine which might gradually be shifted to students, in part or in their entirety.” She concludes that “increasing students’ authority in schools is likely to reduce problems that currently create the demand for so much adult authority.”

Renaissance Festival Character Teaches Elementary Students Elizabethan Customs.
The Shawnee Dispatch (9/23, Kieler) reports, “Sixth-graders at Blue Jacket-Flint Elementary School went back in time Friday afternoon with a visit from a Renaissance Festival character” for a lesson about “Elizabethan times.” Linda Boyce, “who performs during at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs, was dressed in full period gear” during the classroom presentation. “She told students about the lives they would have led during the time of Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England in the late 1500s.” Boyce also “taught the students how” they would have greeted “each other during the period.”

Principal Credits Research-Based Literacy Initiative For Students’ Improvement On State Tests.
New York’s Post-Standard (9/23, Potrikus) reports, “Five years ago, about 60 percent of the students at Camden Elementary School passed state literacy assessments.” Now, “90 percent of the students are passing, with some students getting perfect scores.” The school was recently named “a Blue Ribbon School, one of 314 picked nationwide as the best schools.” Principal Nick Pulizzi said school improvement efforts were based “on research that students from low-income homes are less prepared than their more affluent peers when it comes to vocabulary. … The building’s schedule now includes 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading, where students rotate between literacy stations aimed to help them with reading, writing, listening and comprehension.”

On the Job
Georgia District Seen As Leading Data-Driven Decision-Making Trend.
Education Week (9/23, Ash) reports that the Fulton County, GA district “is so well known for its data-management system and data-driven decision-making techniques that it has been named a ‘best practice’ district by both the Washington-based Consortium for School Networking’s Data-Driven Decision Making Initiative and the education division of the Houston-based American Productivity and Quality Center.” Fulton County “is one of various school districts across the country that have made data-driven decision-making a top priority.” According to Education Week, “Part of what helps keep each school, as well as teachers, on track is the Balanced Scorecard, a system implemented in the district in 2001 that defines specific district-wide targets and benchmarks, which are then used to create individualized objectives for each school.”

Law & Policy
Obama’s Education Reform Successes Noted.
Ruth Marcus writes in a column for the Washington Post (9/23, A29) that beneath the “headline turmoil” surrounding President Obama’s efforts to enact overhauls of the healthcare and financial regulatory systems, the President “is overseeing a quiet upheaval in the nation’s approach to education from preschool through college.” Though Marcus says she has “been somewhat skeptical of the president’s ability” to enact education reforms, given resistance from student lenders and teachers unions, so far, “so good,” as numerous states have revoked their caps on charter schools and the House has cleared a bill overhauling the student loan system.

Task Of Finding Impartial “Race To The Top” Judges Seen As Difficult.
Education Week (9/23, McNeil) reports that ED “is seeking 50 to 80 outside judges to help award $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund grants under the economic-stimulus program — job openings that demand both education policy expertise and a detached interest in the high-stakes education reform competition.” According to Education Week, finding these “‘disinterested superstars,’ as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called them, could be difficult, given the scope, scale, and money attached to the competition, observers say.” The potential conflicts of interest remind “many observers of the awards process for President George W. Bush’s $1 billion-a-year Reading First program, which was marred by charges that independent experts who reviewed grant applications had inappropriate interests in the selections.”

Safety & Security

GAO Finds USDA Failed To Tell Schools Of Suspect Food.
The AP (9/23, Quaid) reports, “Federal authorities failed to tell schools about recalls of potentially tainted peanut products and canned vegetables, and cafeterias may have unknowingly served them to children, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday. A GAO investigation found the Agriculture Department didn’t always make sure states and schools were notified promptly about recalled food distributed through the federal school lunch and breakfast programs, which serve 30 million students.” According to GAO, it took as much as a week for states to determine which products had been recalled, and schools could have served the suspect food in the meantime. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in a written statement, said that the agency was working to develop a better food safety system; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also said it was moving to improve notification to schools.

School Finance
Many Districts Have Yet To Use School Modernization Stimulus Funds.
Alyson Klein wrote in a Politics K-12 blog for Education Week (9/22) that only three states, Arkansas, North Dakota, and Wyoming, have “been able to use a portion of their state stabilization money for school modernization and repair, according to a preliminary analysis by the very knowledgeable folks at the 21st Century School Fund.” Also, states are just beginning to spend $22 billion in school construction stimulus bonds, though some advocates “are worried that needy school districts won’t be able to take advantage of the bonds because they can’t even put up the principle.”

Texas District Bracing For Another Round Of Budget-Cutting.
The Houston Chronicle (9/23, Jackson) reports that Cypress-Fairbanks school district (TX) officials “are working on the 2010-11 school year budget, which is projected to have a $10 million deficit.” Superintendent David Anthony “said the district’s inadequate state funding level will not change next year, and the district needs to prepare for another tough budgeting process,” following cuts of $41 million “in the past two budget cycles. … Anthony said state legislators will not meet until 2011 to discuss the school funding formula that has created financial challenges for Cy-Fair ISD.” However, Anthony added that additional funding will likely not be available in light of a projected $5 billion state budget deficit.

NEA in the News
Film Aims To Present Charter Schools “Laboratories Of Innovation.”
Education Week (9/23, Cavanagh) reports on the documentary Two Million Minutes: A 21st Century Solution, the sequel to a 2007 “documentary that presented a critical view of American students’ academic performance and motivation compared with their peers in China and India.” The new film “focuses on a single U.S. school, BASIS Tucson, which the filmmakers hold up as a model for how the American education system can meet the challenges of international competition.” BASIS “is a high-performing charter school serving grades 5-12 in Tucson, Ariz.” Filmmaker Robert A. Compton “said he hopes the new documentary will present charter schools as ‘laboratories of innovation,’ and persuade policymakers to lift restrictions on their growth.” Education Week notes that NEA Executive Director John Wilson, who has “seen only a trailer for the film,” acknowledged that the US “should consider international models in teacher development,” but “pointed to high-scoring Finland, where educators are required to receive extensive educational training yet are also given significant classroom autonomy.”

Concurrent Enrollment Becoming Mainstream For Colorado High School Students.
The Denver Post (9/24, Simpson) reports that under a new Colorado law, concurrent enrollment, which allows high school students to take college courses, has become mainstream in Colorado, in an effort to expand “the pool of potential college students and offering those who might drop out a reason to stay in school.” Students use “their share of K-12 tax dollars for postsecondary courses” and “reap economic benefits of paid-for college credit hours while getting an academic jump-start.” The Denver Post explains that “the process begins with a high school striking a concurrent enrollment agreement with a postsecondary institution. With the help of counselors, students explore class options that move them toward career goals.” In the last several years, “the number of 11th- and 12th-graders statewide who take college courses has risen…to a little more than 5,000.”

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In the Classroom
Principals In Clark County, Nevada, Aim To Preserve Music Programs Amid Budget Cuts.
The Las Vegas Sun (9/24, Richmond) reports that in the Clark County School District, “principals have some discretion in deciding which programs to cut and which to protect as the district reacts to the first drop in student enrollment in more than 25 years.” Most “are working hard to preserve the district’s much-lauded music program.” The Las Vegas Sun notes that “research has long shown that students who are involved in fine arts programs typically do better in their academic classes than their peers who don’t take part.” Alpin Hong, a professional pianist and artist-in-residence at Clark County’s Basic High School who has “seen firsthand the impact of the economic downturn on the nation’s public schools,” said that ‘there’s no question Clark County’s commitment to its fine arts program sets it apart from other districts.”

Educators Weigh Social Effects Of Online Learning.
The Wall Street Journal (9/24, Glader) reports that as more students enroll in online high schools, educators are intensifying efforts to prevent the social isolation that sometimes accompanies online learning. Also, sociologists and child psychologists are conducting research on how online schooling may or may not help students develop social skills.

On the Job

District Will Require Teachers To Follow Professional Growth Plan Tied To Student Performance.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (9/24, Lizama) reports, “Starting in the fall of 2010, the Chesterfield County school system will require all teachers to follow a professional development growth plan that will be tied to student academic performance and job evaluations.” Goals for “professional growth development” will be set by teachers “based on student academic progress, the school improvement plan and the teacher’s evaluation results.” Based on the evaluations, school officials will decide whether “to keep or dismiss teachers.” The plan was piloted in 16 schools last year. “This year, those same schools are continuing with the initiative. In the 2010-11 school year, it will be implemented in all schools.”

Law & Policy
Maryland Education Officials Consider Raising Standards On High School Exit Exam.
The Baltimore Sun (9/24, Bowie) reports, “Members of the education community questioned Tuesday whether Maryland should raise its standards, a day after the state released data showing that only a handful of seniors did not graduate because they could not pass newly required tests.” Only 11 of 62,000 students in the class of 2009 “were denied a diploma because they had not met the High School Assessment requirement.” School officials “engineered a system that included projects and waivers to ease the state into the high-stakes tests so that thousands would not fail the first year.” And “in most schools in the state, the data show that nearly all the students can pass the tests.” Still, “the discussion of how high to set the mark is” expected to “bubble up in the next year throughout the U.S. as a coalition of states, including Maryland, works on adopting common-core standards.”

Graduation Rate In Maryland County Falls To 13-Year Low. The Washington Post (9/24, Hernandez) reports that the high school graduation rate in Montgomery County, MD “has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to state data, continuing a trend of declines that county officials said they will investigate.” According to the Post, from a “high of about 93 percent in 2003, the graduation rate had fallen to 87 percent for the class that graduated in the spring, according to state data released this week.” The county’s graduation rate “fell from 89 percent last year to 87 percent for the Class of 2009. That is the lowest graduation rate recorded since 1996, when the state changed the way it measured the statistic.”

Superintendent’s Tweet Sparks Dialogue About Utah Math Standards.
The Salt Lake Tribune (9/24, Stewart) reports, “Weeks ago from his seat at a statewide meeting of educational chieftans,” Canyons School District Superintendent David Doty “logged onto Twitter and posted a tweet challenging Utah State Superintendent Larry Shumway’s philosophy on math standards.” During the meeting, Shumway said that “Utah’s ‘math curriculum shouldn’t automatically end in calculus for every student.’” In a matter of “minutes, Doty’s tweet surfaced in a popular education listserv, resulting in a reportedly ‘cordial’ conversation between the two superintendents.” Doty said that his remarks were meant to be “provocative,” but not “critical.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that Doty and Shumway both “support upping graduation requirements from three years of math to four,” but “differ…on the type of math that should be taught.” Shumway prefers “a dual track that requires some level of Algebra, and then lets students choose between calculus and quantitative reasoning or statistics.” But Doty supports “a single track geared to preparing all students for college.”

Safety & Security
Safe Schools Czar Criticized For Referencing Personal Drug Use.
FOX News (9/24, Lott) reports that the Obama administration’s “safe schools czar,” Kevin Jennings “is a former schoolteacher who has advocated promoting homosexuality in schools, written about his past drug abuse, expressed his contempt for religion, and detailed an incident in which he did not report an underage student who told him he was having sex with older men.” According to Fox News, “Jennings was appointed to the position largely because of his longtime record of working to end bullying and discrimination in schools.” But Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, said that while Jennings’ progress in making schools “safe for homosexuality,” is apparent, there is no evidence “about what qualifications Jennings has for promoting drug-free schools.” Sprigg points to quotes in Jennings 2007 autobiography, Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son: A Memoir, that refer to “his personal drug abuse.” Supporters, however, argue Jennings “is fully qualified for his position and is the victim of a right-wing smear campaign.”

Also in the News
Education Secretary Encourages Fathers To Be More Involved In Children’s Education.
The AP (9/23) reports that during a “National Conversation on Fatherhood” event in Manchester, NH yesterday sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said getting fathers “involved in their children’s education will take turning off the TV at home and opening the school doors to them.” Duncan is quoted saying, “Educators desperately need parents to be more involved, particularly fathers, and fathers desperately need to be involved in their children’s education. … When fathers step up, students don’t drop out.” Duncan “said lengthening the school day, week and year also would allow nonprofit groups to get more involved in schools.”

NEA in the News
Teachers Accused Of Ongoing Harassment Of High School Student.
Newsweek (9/24, Dokoupil) reports, “Teachers are supposed to prevent harassment of students. But in a controversial case, they were allegedly the harassers.” Last month, “a report issued by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights” was made public, which detailed verbal attacks including “homophobic slurs” against then-16-year-old student Alex Marritt in 2007 that “were perpetrated by social-studies instructor Diane Cleveland and Walter Filson, a former cop who taught a course on law enforcement” at Secondary Technical Education Program (STEP) in Anoka, MN. But both teachers “deny Merritt’s allegations, and maintain that they have been miscast as homophobes.” Meanwhile, “the school district, despite its own findings, has not acknowledged wrongdoing.” The NEA suggests in a 2009 report that schools “provide programs that promote tolerance among students, provide training for educators, and include policies that specifically prohibit harassment and bullying on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Gay Middle School Students Often Face Hostile Climates. The New York Times Magazine (9/24, MM36, Denizet-Lewis) reports that for many “gay youth, middle school is more survival than learning.” A national 2007 survey of 626 gay, bisexual and transgender middle-school students by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, found that 81 percent of respondents “reported being regularly harassed on campus because of their sexual orientation. Another 39 percent reported physical assaults.” Also, “of the students who told teachers or administrators about the bullying, only 29 percent said it resulted in effective intervention.” The Times adds, “As a response to anti-gay bullying and harassment, at least 120 middle schools across the country have formed gay-straight alliance groups, where gay and lesbian students — and their straight peers — meet to brainstorm strategies for making their campus safer.”

Duncan To Challenge Education Stakeholders To Focus On Underperforming Schools.
USA Today (9/24, Toppo) reports that in a speech on Thursday in DC, “U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to challenge educators, civil rights groups and others to put aside ‘tired arguments’ about education reform to help him craft a sweeping reauthorization of federal education legislation by early 2010.” Duncan plans to “challenge the groups to focus on getting ‘great teachers and principals into underperforming schools’ and giving schools a testing system that ‘accurately and fairly measures student growth and uses data to drive instruction and teacher evaluation,’ among other measures.” The speech will be delivered to a “stakeholders’ forum” that includes the NEA, “as well the NAACP, National Governors’ Association, United Way of America, the Children’s Defense Fund and the Business Roundtable, among others.”

The AP (9/23, Quaid) added that in his speech, Duncan will point out that the Obama administration “is committed to the testing and school accountability at the heart” of NCLB, and will acknowledge that the law has put “a spotlight on kids who need the most help.” According to the AP, the education secretary has said, however, that “there is plenty he wants to change about the law,” agreeing with critics that standardized tests “are not ideal measures of student achievement.” But, he has also pointed out that standardized tests “are the best” gauges of student achievement “we have at the moment.”

iPods Used To Help ESOL Students Improve English Skills. The Hilton Head Island (SC) Packet (9/14, Cerve) reports that “at Hilton Head Island Middle School and others with high numbers of students with limited English skills, teachers use” iPods “to help students learn to read.” Sarah Owen, the district’s ESOL coordinator, said that “the school district paid about $200 for each” of the 30 iPod Touch units it purchased last year “using federal money earmarked for ESOL students.” In Nancy Davis’ ESOL class, “students use the iPods about twice a week” to “listen to stories as part of a fluency program designed to develop vocabulary, improve pronunciation and emphasize important words and concepts taught in core subjects.” In addition to Island middle school, five other “county schools will use iPods in their English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes this year to tailor instruction to students with different levels of English proficiency.”

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In the Classroom
Dallas Magnets Among Highest-Performing Schools In Texas, New Rankings Show.
The Dallas Morning News (9/13, Hacker) reported that several Dallas Independent School District magnet campuses “are among the best public schools in Texas, based on a new set of rankings that considers everything from test scores to class sizes to graduation rates.” Though many organizations “try to pinpoint top campuses,” the Children at Risk study “ranks Texas elementary, middle and high school campuses based on more measures than most. … The Children at Risk study uses 14 categories to measure high schools, which gives parents a different lens through which to view their schools.”

Educators See Up To 21 Percent Gains On Writing Tests For Students Who Used Online Tool.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (9/13, Lizama) reported, “Last school year, five Chesterfield County middle schools piloted an online essay-grading tool and saw as much as 21 percent gains on eighth-graders’ Standards of Learning writing test scores.” The MyAccess online writing tool is intended to “supplement writing instruction.” It “offers students more than 200 writing topics,” then “the system scores and grades student essays instantly on grammar, content and focus, and gives feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.” The Chesterfield county school board last week “authorized the school system to spend about $45,000 to buy licenses for all eighth-graders to use the MyAccess online writing tool to supplement writing instruction, and an additional $5,000 to train teachers.”

Elementary School Offers Gifted, Performing Arts Programs.
The Arizona Republic (9/14, Javier) reports on the Renaissance Gifted Academy and Music Academy at Esperanza Elementary School in north Phoenix, which “offers a program for students who have a passion and talent for music.” Electives include “choir, band, and” handbells. In addition, “the school is set to receive pianos for a piano lab and violins for third-graders. Students also will have the opportunity to take part in three music classes every week.” The school is “operated by the Deer Valley Unified School District, one of several school districts offering performing-arts magnets and gifted programs.” According to Lynn Tuttle, director of arts education and comprehensive curriculum for the Arizona Department of Education, “students with an integrated fine-arts education can better recall important facts and topics during a test and retain what they’ve learned longer.”

Oregon’s Lack Of Spanish-Language Standardized Tests Seen As Disadvantage For Schools.
The Oregonian (9/14, Owen) reports that “The federal No Child Left Behind Act allows students to be tested in their native languages, but the U.S. Department of Education decided the commercial Spanish test that Oregon used — Aprenda — did not meet federal requirements. So the state cut it last winter.” Consequently, “the number of third-graders meeting or exceeding state benchmarks for reading dipped at some schools in Forest Grove, Woodburn and Beaverton, making it appear as if fewer students met ‘adequate yearly progress.’” Forest Grove Superintendent Yvonne Curtis said the unavailability of tests written in Spanish is “a disadvantage for…children whose first language is Spanish.” However, the Oregon Department of Education “is developing a Spanish language test that meets federal requirements, said spokesman Jake Weigler. The test is expected to be available next spring.”

Some Arizona Valley Schools Opt Not To Hold 9/11 Commemoration Activities.
The Arizona Republic (9/11, Gersema) reported, “Ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, teachers and schools have grappled with talking to kids about the impact and significance of that day in American life.” This year, some schools in the Arizona valley had “special events commemorating the day, such as a flag ceremony or an extended moment of silence.” Other schools, however, did not hold “any events or special classroom activities to honor the victims of 9/11, and their teachers” did not discuss “the topic in class.” For instance, San Tan Elementary, “in the Higley Unified School District…held a Patriot Day but didn’t talk about 9/11.” Maureen Migacz, principal at San Tan, said she “would rather have the students celebrate democracy than focus on 9/11.” Furthermore, officials in the Osborn District and other Valley school districts say that “most students don’t relate to the subject” of 9/11 because many of them “had not been born yet” or were very young “when the attacks happened.”

On the Job
District’s Consultant Links Teacher Absenteeism To Achievement Gap.
Washington’s News Tribune (9/12, Cafazzo) reported that “after receiving a consultant’s report” noting “the gap between white students and many racial and ethnic minorities on test scores, grades and other measures of student achievement,” Tacoma School District officials “pledged this week to” work toward eliminating the gap. According to the consultant, “students who are taught by substitute teachers, or who spend time in the library or gym because no substitute can be found, lose out on learning opportunities.” Furthermore, “the impact can be greater on students who are already struggling.” Each year, “Tacoma teachers earn 12 sick leave…as well as an additional five days of leave that can be used for other reasons.” Tacoma’s assistant superintendent for human resources, Laurie Taylor, “said the district is working to create data that can help principals identify patterns of absenteeism.” Last year, Tacoma schools began studying absenteeism within the district.

Zoo Director Provides Educators With Hands-On Science Ideas For the Classroom.
Julia Steiny, a former member of the Providence School Board, writes in an opinion piece for the Providence Journal (9/14) that “these days, teachers are seeking out real-science experience for themselves, to make science more engaging and a lot less abstract for their students.” Lou Perrotti, “the conservation director of Roger Williams Park Zoo,” provided this experience to a group of teachers “from Westerly, East Providence, West Warwick, and Central Falls” last week by showing them “how to make their own beetle traps.” After constructing the traps, the teachers buried them in a field. “Each day subsequently, teachers took turns pulling out the traps and tallying the yield.” Steiny notes that the training was a collaboration between the zoo and the East Bay Educational Collaborative (EBEC). Furthermore, she adds, “the Web sites of the zoo, EBEC, and Audubon provide a wealth of information about all sorts of professional-development opportunities for teachers,” which she says “will spark kids’ interest in how really cool science can be.”

Teacher Of The Year Says Classroom Management, Fun Are Keys To Learning.
The Ridgefield (CT) Press (9/11, Sanders) reported on the Effective Ridgefield Teacher workshop, a day-long, “annual session put on at the end of each August for teachers joining the Ridgefield Public Schools.” The agenda included topics ranging from effective teaching techniques to “nurturing the self-reflective learner.” The training was made up of “presentations to the whole workshop as well as smaller ‘break-out’ discussions by elementary, middle school, and high school teachers.” In the middle school breakout discussion, Mike Settanni, a former Teacher of the Year, told the teachers, “Kids really want to know the boundaries in the classroom. … If they know the boundaries, they know they’re safe – that’s for any level kid. It doesn’t matter how old they are.” He also noted that in addition to classroom management, “having fun” is also a “key to success in the classroom.”

Sole Teacher Strike In America Nears End.
The AP (9/13) reported that Dale Folkerts, a Kent, WA teachers union official “says a tentative agreement has been reached aimed at ending the nation’s only teacher strike.” Folkerts “says the agreement came around 7 p.m. Sunday during weekend talks between the Kent School District and union negotiators.” According to the AP, a “key element for the strikers was smaller class sizes.”

Special Needs
Appeals Court Ruling Aims To Define Public Education Standards For Disabled Students.
The Dallas Morning News (9/13, Weiss) reports that a recent federal appeals court ruling “is the latest attempt by judges to define the level of public education that disabled students are entitled to receive.” The ruling “imposes new standards for parents in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi who seek reimbursement from school districts for some special education services not available from public schools.” The case “focused on the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” and involves a girl from Richardson, TX who “entered the Richardson public schools in 1999,” and “was found to be autistic and bipolar with a constellation of other personality disorders, all of which qualified her as disabled.” The federal appeals court vacated a lower court ruling in favor of the parents, sending the case back to assess a new legal test outlined by the federal panel.

Safety & Security
High School Violence-Prevention Efforts Lacking, Parent Survey Finds.
U.S. News and World Report/HealthDay (9/13) reported that a University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds that “only about one in four U.S. parents say their child’s high school deserves an ‘A’ for its bullying- and violence-prevention efforts.” However, nearly four in 10 respondents “gave an ‘A’ grade for such efforts at their child’s elementary or middle schools.” According to HealthDay, last May, researchers “asked 1,087 parents across the United States about how they would grade their child’s school in five categories: safety of the school overall, building security, bullying and school violence prevention, safety during school-wide emergencies, informing parents of school-wide emergencies.”

Some School Districts Ban “Jelly” Bracelets Over Concerns About Use In Sex Games.
The New York Times (9/13, A31, Frosch) reported that Mike Medina, principal of Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, CO has “sent an e-mail message to parents on Thursday warning” about “jelly” bracelets, “whose colors are said to indicate a level of sexual activity that a student has either experienced or is willing to engage in, said Briggs Gamblin, a spokesman for the Boulder Valley School District.” The “rubbery bracelets look like the sort that became popular during the ’80s. But over the past few years, some schools across the country have banned them amid fears that they have become synonymous with sex.”

Also in the News
Average Class Sizes World Wide Similar To US Average.
Catherine Rampell wrote in an Economix blog for the New York Times (9/11), “Earlier this week we posted some new data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on teachers’ working hours, pay and demographics around the world.” In response to a request from a reader about class sizes around the world, Rampell added that American schools “aren’t really much more crowded than educational institutions in other developed countries,” as on average, 23.1 students “fill the typical American primary school classroom, which is just above the O.E.C.D. average of 21.4 students.” Also, “some of the countries with some of the world’s highest achieving student bodies – like Korea and Japan – have the biggest class sizes.”

Parents Sue South Dakota District Over Dress Code, Citing Financial Hardship.
The AP (9/13) reported though unexpected school expenses “can stress any parent,” for many with students in South Dakota’s Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School District, “finding gas money or a ride to an affordable store can prove all but impossible, much less paying for the clothes if they get there.” Carol Moran and other parents have joined the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe “in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the school district from enforcing the dress code, which requires students to wear black, white or tan shirts, pants, skirts or shorts.” Administrators “say it is intended to avoid gang violence.”

NEA in the News
Judge Finds Missouri District’s Collective Bargaining Policy Constitutional.
Missouri’s News-Leader (9/11, Trotter) reported that last week, “Greene County Circuit Judge Michael Cordonnier ruled in favor of the” Springfield (MO) school district, “and against the district’s largest teacher organization, the Springfield National Education Association,” when he found a “disputed collective bargaining policy” to be constitutional. In June, the SNEA “sued Springfield Public Schools…after the school board adopted policy HH,” which “requires teachers to vote if they want just one labor group to represent them. If they do, they would be asked to choose between” the Springfield National Education Association and another teachers union “or for no representation at all.” According to SNEA attorney Sally Barker, “the policy is unconstitutional because it allows a minority party to potentially undermine the majority interest.” She “also said collective bargaining is accepted to mean the exclusive representation by a majority vote.” The News-Leader notes that “SNEA will have 40 days to appeal the decision.”

Teachers In Washington Accept Tentative Contract, End Strike.
The Seattle Times (Bartley, Brunner) reported that “The Kent teachers strike ended shortly before 10″ Monday “morning after teachers voted overwhelmingly to accept a tentative contract agreement reached Sunday evening.” Under the new contract, class enrollments for grades K-3 will be capped at 29 students, “and grades 4-6 at 32. In the contract that had expired, the caps were 31 and 34 respectively.” The Seattle Times pointed out that “class size had been the most contentious issue in the strike that began Aug. 27, with teachers asserting that not only are Kent’s classrooms seriously overcrowded, but many students have health or behavior problems, come from impoverished families and are not native English speakers.”

Lynne Varner wrote in the Seattle Times (9/15) Ed Cetera blog, “Facing $200 a day in court-ordered fines, teachers in the Kent School District chose to return to work” on Monday. Meanwhile, some “interesting” casualties “of the strike may be some members of the School Board,” who, “during the strike…cancelled” the board’s Sept. 9th meeting. This angered some parents, including “a group calling itself the Kent Parents Coalition” who “launched on Facebook a petition to recall the elected board.”

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In the Classroom
Online Program Allows Teachers To Add Standards-Based Data To Progress Reports.
With The Baltimore Sun (9/15, Gencer) reports that for Baltimore County public school students, “an online program that has been in the works for several years will allow teachers to detail students’ specific skills,” on progress reports and report cards “such as whether they can describe what running water does to the Earth’s surface in science or know how to work with variables in math.” The information is aimed at providing student feedback “beyond the typical As, Bs and Cs.” The reports also provide “a list of key course objectives, with more detailed skill indicators under each element.” School officials said that “training for teachers and administrators” on how to use the online program “started this month…and parents should receive the progress reports in the spring semester.” Baltimore County also plans to share “the copyrighted program…at no cost with all of the state’s school systems.”

Students Fold Flags For Soldiers To Commemorate National Day Of Service And Remembrance.
Maryland’s The Capital (9/14, Hulette) reported that students at Crofton Woods Elementary School in Maryland folded 2,000 flags last week that are being “sent to U.S. soldiers serving overseas.” The flags were also a way for Crofton Woods teachers to “broach the subject” of Sept. 11 “with children born around the same time it happened.” According to Principal John Barzal “the details of Sept. 11 are best left to parents to discuss with their children.” So educators at the school instead took “a cue from President Obama’s declaration of Sept. 11 as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance” and “put together an afternoon curriculum for third-graders that included lessons on American landmarks and the national anthem…a chorus of ‘I’m Proud to Be an American,’” and the paper-folding project.

Closing Latino Achievement Gap Seen As Crucial For Nation’s Economic Progress.
William McKenzie writes in a column for the Dallas Morning News (9/15) that if “we don’t close” the Latino achievement gap, “America’s workforce will lack the high-order skills the economy demands. There’s no upside to allowing such a fast-growing demographic group trail behind, unless we prefer second-tier nation status.” However, the Obama administration “gets the problem, as did the Bush administration. In fact, going back to the first Bush presidency, the White House has had an initiative to improve Latinos’ educational progress.” Juan Sepuvelda “now heads that effort, and the former San Antonio management consultant was in Dallas last week as part of a national listening tour. He’s learning what communities are doing to improve Latino success in schools and what they must do to ramp it up.” Both Sepuvelda and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are on a campaign to boost the number of Latino teachers, and the “answer is not a quota system, but more teachers who can reach students from a similar culture.”

On the Job
State Grants Provide Monetary Incentives For Some Teachers In Richmond, Virginia.
The Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch (9/14, Lizama) reported, “Although the debate about performance-based pay for teachers is a long way from being settled, many Richmond-area teachers already receive thousands of dollars in additional pay for education degrees and certifications through state grants.” During the 2008-09 school year, for instance, “the Henrico County school system paid about $260,000 in extra pay for teachers…through different state-administered programs” such as the Virginia Middle School Teacher Corps. “For every hired teacher accepted for Teacher Corps, school systems receive $10,000 for an annual salary differential for that teacher. If a teacher who is already working at a school system is accepted into Teacher Corps, that teacher gets a $5,000 annual salary differential.” Some school systems also “participate in the National Board Certified Teachers Program, a voluntary program that allows teachers to demonstrate competence in teaching.” Once they become certified, teachers “receive a one-time $5,000 bonus…and $2,500 annually for the life of the certificate, which is nine years.”

Virginia District Prepares To Launch Merit-Pay Pilot Program. The Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch (9/14, Lizama) reported, “The Henrico County school system is poised to start a pilot program in which teacher pay would be tied to student performance.” District officials are “waiting for Congress to authorize hundreds of millions in funding for performance-based pay programs for teachers.” President Barack Obama “has recommended $487 million in funding in fiscal 2010 — up from $97 million the previous year — for the Teacher Incentive Fund to support performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-needs schools.”

Teachers In Some Colorado Districts Working Without Contracts.
The Denver Post (9/15, Meyer) reports, “Nearly a month into the school year and teachers in several Front Range districts are still working without a contract.” Although “Colorado teachers have not waged a strike for 15 years,” and “no one expects a strike this year…teachers unions from Pueblo to Greeley are battling their districts over contract offers they say are unfair.” However the state has “asked districts to hold back $110 million from their spending for a crisis reserve that most expect the legislature will raid in January.” Kerrie Dallman, president of the Jefferson County Education Association, noted that more is being demanded of teachers, but compensation is not keeping up. Meanwhile, “federal mediators are being called in to help negotiations this week” in two districts.

More Districts Hiring Foreign Teachers, Report Says.
The New York Times (9/15, A16, Dillon) reports that some school districts in the U.S. “have turned increasingly to overseas recruiting to find teachers willing to work in their hard-to-staff schools, according to a new report” by that by the American Federation of Teachers. The study “used government data to estimate that 19,000 foreign teachers were working in the United States on temporary visas in 2007, and that the number was rising steadily.” The AFT “published the report in the hope it would lead to heightened regulation, it said. The report cited the prosecution of several recruiting companies and three Texas school administrators on charges related to smuggling immigrants and visa fraud and other cases as examples of the dangers that can accompany the foreign recruiting of teachers.”

Law & Policy
State Anti-Bullying Laws Not Uniformly Enforced, Review Finds.
The AP (9/14, Walker) reported that in light of recent student suicides, parents and advocates are “complaining that anti-bullying laws enacted in nearly every state are not being enforced and do not go far enough to identify and rid schools of chronic tormentors.” According to the AP, 44 states “expressly ban bullying, a legislative legacy of a rash of school shootings in the late ’90s, yet few if any of those measures have identified children who excessively pick on their peers,” an AP review finds. Also, few states “offer any method for ensuring the policies are enforced, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures.”

Education Data Systems Viewed As Key To California’s “Race To The Top” Eligibility.
The Los Angeles Times (9/15, Felch, Song) reports that California’s chance to receive hundreds of millions in “Race to the Top” funds “may rest heavily on an obscure and long-neglected piece of education infrastructure: a statewide data system that tracks students, teachers and administrators year to year.” Such data systems “are expensive, complex and do not win elections for politicians.” Yet experts “say they are essential to learn how much of the nearly $60 billion that California spends on K-12 education makes a difference, a fact that student achievement tests only hint at.” According to the Times, last month, California “rolled out the first component, a student database known as CalPADS. … The second major component, a teacher and administrator database known as CalTIDES, will not come online until 2011.”

Safety & Security

Cyber Thieves Targeting Public Schools, Universities Across US.
Brian Krebs wrote in a Security Fix blog for the Washington Post (9/15), “A gang of organized cyber criminals that has stolen millions from businesses across the United States over the past month appears to have turned its sights on public schools and universities.” According to Krebs, on Aug. 17, hackers “who had broken into computers at the Sanford [CO] School District…initiated a batch of bogus transfers out of the school’s payroll account.” Also, the Sand Springs, OK district “was attacked by a cyber gang the week prior on Aug. 11,” and cyber thieves stole more than $189,000 from Marian University in Fond du Lac, WI.

Levels Of Toxicity In Air Worse Than Once Thought At PA School.
USA Today (9/14, Morrison, Heath) reports, “Almost a year after tests by USA Today found significant levels of two potentially toxic metals in the air outside” Highlands High School in Pennsylvania, local health officials “expanded their own monitoring efforts here. The reason: Air samples taken by the county earlier this year showed even higher levels of the metals than what USA Today found — on two days, at least nine times more.” Highlands “is among scores of schools where regulators…are monitoring outdoor air for toxic chemicals, many that pose unique dangers to kids.” The monitoring “came in response to the USA Today investigation that identified hundreds of schools where chemicals from nearby industries may permeate the air.”

Deaths Of Three High School Football Players Heat-Related, Researcher Says.
The AP (9/14) reported that Dr. Fred Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, “says at least three teenage football players died as school practices started up this summer” in the U.S., fatalities “which followed new health warnings to coaches about the risks of heat stroke.” Though none of the deaths “have been confirmed as heat-related,” each “has heightened awareness about heat illness.”

Also in the News
ACT Viewed As Better Gauge Of Academic Achievement Than SAT.
The Washington Post (9/14) published excerpts from a recent “Answer Sheet” blog written by Valerie Strauss in which Edward Carroll, a standardized test expert and tutor at the Princeton Review answered questions on the relevance of the SAT and the ACT. Carroll is quoted saying that the SAT is “not a measure of a student’s raw math or verbal ability. The College Board itself does not claim that the SAT predicts subject skills, but rather that it is a predictor of performance in college.” However, according to Carroll, the ACT “tests what students learn better than the SAT. It has its own flaws, but what it purports to do it does better than the SAT.”

NEA in the News
Labor Groups Working Out Details Of Reunification.
The Washington Post (9/15, MacGillis) reports, “When President Obama arrives” in Pittsburgh today “to address the AFL-CIO’s convention, he will find a labor movement eager for the opportunity his election presented — and yet still consumed with divisions that threaten to distract from its agenda.” Four years ago, the Service Employees International Union “and a handful of others broke away from the AFL-CIO, declaring that the federation had grown complacent and was too focused on preserving the gains of existing members instead of the organizing needed to reverse labor’s decline.” Now, union “leaders in both coalitions” are “looking to patch things up.” Still, “what form reunification might take is unclear. Former Michigan congressman David Bonior presided over discussions this spring among the two federations and the National Education Association, which is independent.” Bonior said that the unions have had differences, but added that they are not “insurmountable.”

Illinois Allows Labor Leaders To Base Pensions On Union Salaries.
The Chicago Sun-Times (9/15, Novak, Golab) reports that “A Chicago Sun-Times examination of the state’s 17 largest government retirement plans found more than five dozen retired government workers whose pensions are based not on their public salaries but, instead, on what they were paid by labor unions, lobbying groups and other non-governmental organizations.” For instance, “Reginald L. Weaver, a former elementary school teacher in Harvey, gets a yearly state pension of $226,485 based on his salary as president of the National Education Association in Washington, D.C.” He has “12 years with the NEA and the Illinois Education Association.” While Weaver “contributed about $200,000 toward his state pension…the unions contributed about $492,000, records show.

NEA To Spend $6 Million Increasing Teacher Effectiveness In High-Needs Schools.
Education Week (9/17, Sawchuk) reports, “The National Education Association plans to put $6 million over six years into ‘comprehensive strategies and policies to increase teacher effectiveness in high-needs schools.’” The money will be used to support “four strategies outlined in” a report by Barnett Berry, president of the Hillsborough, N.C.-based Center for Teaching Quality. “Among Berry’s major recommendations, states and districts should focus on comprehensive initiatives to lure teachers to hard-to-staff schools and ensure that they grow in effectiveness while there.” The NEA “will survey teachers in high-needs schools to understand the working conditions they need to be successful and review policies that seem to get in the way of those working conditions.” It also “promises support for the national-board-certification process and to encourage incentive-pay systems to offer at least $10,000 for such teachers to work in hard-to-staff schools.” Furthermore, the NEA “pledges to support ‘state and local affiliates who are legitimate partners in pursuit of innovative incentive and compensation programs, through funding streams such as the [Teacher Incentive Fund] grant program.’”

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In the Classroom
New York To Launch First Game-Inspired Public School Curriculum.
Popular Science (9/17, Hsu) reports the upcoming “launch of the first U.S. public school curriculum based entirely on game-inspired learning,” which “hopes its guided approach can help students take on the role of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers and evolutionary biologists.” Manhattan’s Quest to Learn (Q2L) school is not a place “where children spend their day playing commercial videogames,” and “a look at the school’s curriculum confirms a far more ambitious and hands-on approach to education.” Attending students, “each equipped with a laptop, attend four 90-minute periods each day, rather than study individual subjects.” A noted “sample curriculum” has “students create a graphic novel based on the epic Babylonian poem ‘Gilgamesh,’ record their understanding of ancient Mesopotamian culture though geographer and anthropologist journals, and play the strategic board game ‘Settlers of Catan,’” as well as use Google Earth to “explore the regions of ancient Mesopotamia.”

Florida IB Student Refuses To Read Sexually Provocative Required Novel.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/17, Solochek) reports that “in the world of literary criticism, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is considered a modern masterpiece, its best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami worthy of the Nobel Prize.” The book features “themes of self-identity and post-war Japan,” but the sexual imagery Murakami employs in the novel are offensive to some, including Gulf High School student Mari Mercado, who “refused to read the book, even though it is a key requirement in her IB English course.” Mercado’s “parents, Rafael and Mindy, support her decision and have asked for an alternative text.” The family has “not reached a compromise with Mari’s teacher or administrators,” but it has “reached out to the Pasco County School Board with their concerns. And they’ve sought guidance from the Christian Law Association.” At least two school board members agree with the Mercado’s’ decision.

Reliability Of Standardized Test Results Questioned.
Maureen Downey wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/16) Get Schooled blog, “I have to tell you that after writing about education for 12 years, I am still baffled by whether any test results can be trusted, whether in Gwinnett County…or on the national level.” Recently, the New York Times noted that on New York’s state tests, “even random guessing could produce a passing score. … On the sixth-grade English test, for instance, a student had an 89 percent chance of reaching Level 2 this year by randomly guessing,” the Times analysis said. Downey admits, however, that she has found “high SAT and ACT scorers” to be, “in fact, smart kids.” She added that the “tests seem fair reflections of the students operating at the highest proficiencies,” but questioned their reliability “with lower performing students.”

Blogger Notes Lack Of Analysis On Asian, White Achievement Gap. Liz Bowie wrote in the Baltimore Sun (9/16) Inside Ed blog, “We spend a lot of time concentrating on how to improve the achievement of African Americans and Hispanic students, but when I pore over data sometimes I wonder: Why aren’t we analyzing the achievement gap between Asians and whites?” Asians students tend to “have higher pass rates on most of the state and national tests that” Bowie has observed “in the last several years.” She noted, specifically, that on Maryland’s “list of…National Merit Semifinalists,” the percentage of “Asian surnames” appeared “to be higher than the percentage of Asians in the general population in Maryland.”

On the Job
Teachers Increasingly Turn To Local, National Donors For Classroom Supplies.
The Dallas Morning News (9/17, Holloway) reports that “Vernon Lewis, a music teacher at Mesquite’s Poteet High School,” wrote grant proposals in hopes of winning money to pay for “electronic tuners and metronomes” needed to keep instruments in tune. Vernon was able to secure two grants for that purpose. The Dallas Morning News notes that “more and more teachers are turning to outside donors to provide everything for their classrooms from Manila paper to iPods, from books to scientific equipment and even rugs to keep students off the floor.” The funding comes from “local school foundations [and] national nonprofit groups” such as the NEA.

Students At Elementary School In Maryland Learn H1N1 Prevention Techniques.
The Washington Post (9/17, A1, Hernandez) reports on its front page that schools throughout the Washington, D.C. area “are building up chemical stockpiles and barraging students with lessons on how to wash their hands and cough into their elbows,” to combat the spread of swine flu. Because “all the soap and sanitizer in the world won’t do much good if children don’t use it,” educators at Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School in Germantown, MD, teach students how to master “the art of coughing into their elbows and not touching their eyes, nose or mouth.” Students are also reminded “to be on guard against germs” at all times by “the posters of the hand-washing cartoon Henry the Hand” hanging on walls.

District Allows Unlimited Excused Absences To Encourage Sick Students To Stay Home. The Clanton (AL) Advertiser (9/16, Averette) reported, “The Chilton County Board of Education has suspended a rule that limits how many excused absences students can have per year” in order to “combat the spread of the H1N1 flu by keeping sick students home.” After a student has reached the district’s limit of six excused absences per year, “parents or guardians must provide medical or legal documentation for absences to be excused.” Superintendent Keith Moore said that the move was temporary, but he was unsure how long the new policy would be in place.

Denver Teachers Union Members Voting On Pay Deduction.
The Denver Post (9/17, Meyer) reports, “Teachers in Denver’s union are voting on whether to accept a renegotiated contract with the district that would pay them 1.65 percent less this year, saving DPS about $5 million.” They “began voting on the tentative agreement Tuesday, and ballots are expected to be returned by Friday.” Wednesday, “the district and union released a joint press release…outlining the terms and reasons for reopening the three-year contract that was inked last year.” While “the original agreement gave teachers a cost-of-living raise that was the rate of inflation in the metro area plus 0.25 percent … since that agreement … the economic situation has drastically declined.” As a result, districts have been forced “to hold back 1.93 percent of state funding in a reserve until January, when the legislature will decide what to do with it.”

Law & Policy
Education Department’s School Improvement Efforts Said To Circumvent Local Prerogative.
Education Week (9/16, Klein) reported that as the Department of Education “prepares to throw $3 billion in one-time money on the table to improve perennially foundering schools, a gulf is emerging between what federal officials would like to see done with the funds and what many districts say is their capacity — and inclination — to deliver.” Though some districts say the federal funds “and direction will help advance improvement strategies already under way,” other districts warn the Department’s vision, “leaves little room for local prerogative.” That “proper balance of federal oversight” will be a crucial test for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s “pledge to turn around what he has termed the nation’s 5,000 ‘chronically underperforming’ schools,” via the Title I School Improvement fund, which is receiving $3 billion in stimulus dollars for fiscal 2010 “on top of $546 million the program already is getting this fiscal year.”

School Finance
DC Schools To Lay Off Teachers As A Result Of City Budget Shortfall.
The Washington Post (9/17, B1, Turque) reports on the front page of the Metro Section that D.C.’s budget woes “will force its public schools to trim as much as $40 million in spending by the end of October, prompting teacher layoffs and, in some cases, increasing class sizes, Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced Wednesday.” Rhee “said she did not expect any disruptions to major academic programs or course offerings,” adding that the moves “are the result of a shortfall created when the D.C. Council made additional cuts to the fiscal 2010 budget in August.”

Also in the News

Aldine, Texas Independent School District Wins Broad Prize.
The AP (9/16, Rhor) reported that the Aldine, TX Independent School District “won the nation’s top prize in public education, winning $1 million for making strides in student achievement.” Aldine was honored with the Broad Prize for Urban Education “for showing consistent student improvement over the last 10 years. The prize money goes to scholarships for graduating seniors who show financial need and academic improvement.” The Broad Prize “is given annually to an urban district that shows the strongest student performance, while closing achievement gaps between ethnic and racial groups.” The Christian Science Monitor (9/17, Paulson) reports that Aldine “was up for the award for the fourth time. … Between 2005 and 2008, it reduced the gap in middle-school math scores for African-American students by 14 percentage points.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the winner in Washington, and is quoted saying, “Aldine shows us that it’s possible for a district facing tough circumstances to get excellent results.”

Seema Mehta wrote in a L.A. Now blog for the Los Angeles Times (9/16) that the Long Beach, CA Unified School District “failed to capture the top prize of $1 million in college scholarships,” but “received $250,000 in scholarships for the class of 2010 as one of five finalists.”

NEA in the News
East Providence Education Association Continues To Reject Performance Pay Plan.
The Providence Journal (9/17, Morgan) reports that in a letter dated Tuesday, the East Providence Education Association “has offered to resume negotiations with the School Committee, but again rejected the committee’s call for paying teachers based on their performance rather than their seniority.” EPEA President Valarie Lawson said that the committee’s proposal for “a collaboration to develop the performance system beginning in 2011″ was “just another publicity stunt.” She added, “The School Committee knows we’re ready to sit down and talk if they have something to say other than ‘You’re going to have to pay for the deficit,’ she said.”

Texas Aligns High School, College Standards.
Education Week (9/17, Gewertz) reported, “Educators nationwide are becoming increasingly aware that high school diplomas too often leave young adults unprepared for college.” Thus, experts say the development of the Texas College and Career Readiness Standards puts the state “at the leading edge of a movement to reshape K-12 education into an experience that ensures students are ready for college or for careers that increasingly demand college-level skill.” According to Education Week, other states like South Carolina “are beginning to grapple with pieces of the gap separating high school and college.” However, “experts say Texas boasts more elements of a systemwide effort to align high school with college.”

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In the Classroom
Schools Celebrate Constitution Day.
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (9/18, Brindley) reports, “Schools around the nation will celebrate Constitution Day today, holding a variety of lesson plans and activities on the historic document’s 222nd anniversary.” Schools that receive federal funding “have been required to teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the anniversary of the date on which the document was adopted,” since 2005. Although “many educators were caught off guard by the requirement” in 2005, principals now say “they are…fully aware of the requirement and have been planning activities for the day.” Nashua’s Pennichuck Middle School Principal Paul Asbell said that he is not bothered that schools must “teach about the Constitution on a specific day. … Setting aside a day each year will hopefully raise student awareness about its historical significance, he said,” noting, “It’s a critically important document.”

Student Permitted To Choose Alternate To Required Novel For IB Course.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/18, Solochek) reports that “after meeting with school officials Thursday,” Mari Mercado will “no longer would be required to read an assigned novel that” she “thought contained too much graphic sex.” Instead, she and her parents “will get to pick an alternate book from an approved list.” Mercado, a high school junior, will be able to use that book instead of Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for her required world literature essay.” Before the agreement was reached, Mari would have gotten “a zero for not writing the essay, a grade that could have jeopardized her chances to successfully complete an IB diploma.” But, “on Thursday, assistant superintendent Ruth Reilly said the district had consulted with IBO officials, who said that in instances where parents cannot be convinced of the value of the material selected, the program will allow for an alternate text.”

On the Job
Dallas District Schools’ “Organizational Health” Scores Mixed.
The Dallas Morning News (9/18, Rado) reports that school “organizational health” scores provided by the Dallas district “reveal a wide range of working conditions at more than 200 buildings in 2008-09, based on surveys that rate factors such as staff morale, problem-solving ability, innovation and creativity at schools.” According to the Morning News, the data reveals that middle schools “fared worst in the analysis.” Organizational health “relates to a school’s ability to function effectively, cope with problems, focus on goals and change and grow.” Organizational Health: Diagnostic and Development Corp. “has been doing the organizational health surveys and other consulting work since 2003-04,” and the company “links this health to students’ performance on state achievement tests.”

New York City Schools Chief Pressures Principals To Hire From Reserve Teacher Pool.
The New York Times (9/18, A28, Medina) reports that in light of the fact that more than 1,500 existing teachers on New York City’s payroll are without permanent job placements, schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein “has told principals that if they do not fill those jobs by the end of next month, they will lose any money they had allocated for their teacher vacancies.” Principals across the city “have resisted hiring teachers from the so-called absent reserve pool, in which teachers are placed if they lose their posts when a school is shut down or forced to shrink its teaching staff because of budget cuts or declining enrollments.” According to the Times, by “forcing principals to fill the remaining 1,050 vacancies in the system from the existing pool,” city education officials “expect to save about $75 million.”

Elementary School Staff Employ Heimlich Maneuver Training To Save Choking Students.
The Plainfield (IL) Sun (9/18, Lundquist) reports that at Lincoln Elementary School, “two children choking on food were saved by fast-acting staffers in separate incidents that occurred weeks apart.” The first incident occurred on Sept. 2 when a fourth-grader choked “on a piece of chicken” in the school cafeteria. “Lunchroom Supervisor Abigail Carter performed the Heimlich maneuver on” the student, and when she had “dislodged the chicken…the lunchroom burst into applause.” Then, last Friday, a student in Jill Beckes’ first grade class choked on a grape in the classroom during snack time. “Beckes knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver from information provided by the school nurse” days earlier.

DC Mayor, Schools Chief Accused Of Using Budget Cut “Pretext” To Fire Union Teachers.
The Washington Post (9/18, B2, Turque) reports that D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray “angrily accused” Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration “of seeking to ‘scapegoat’ the council for impending public school budget cuts announced this week and called the reductions a pretext for firing unionized teachers.” Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “announced late Wednesday that the District would be forced to lay off teachers as part of an estimated $30 million to $40 million cut in the $770 million public school budget for the new fiscal year.” Gray “said the mayor and chancellor were attempting to deflect responsibility for cuts in a budget that the mayor signed last month without any mention of possible teacher layoffs.”

Law & Policy
Federal Judge Backs South Carolina District’s Ban On Confederate-Themed Clothing.
The AP (9/17) reported, “A federal judge has sided with a South Carolina school district in a lawsuit by a student who says a ban on Confederate-themed clothing violated her right to free speech.” According to the judge, the student “didn’t have enough evidence to mount a successful case. The North Carolina-based Southern Legal Resource Center in 2006 filed a lawsuit to force Latta High School to let the then-15-year-old sophomore wear the Confederate emblem. School officials said the apparel was disruptive.”

Student Will Appeal Ruling On Confederate-Themed Clothing. The AP (9/17) reported that Candice Hardwick, a student who sued the Latta School District (SD) “over the right to wear Confederate-themed clothing to school will appeal a ruling that sides with the district,” said Kirk Lyons, an attorney for the Southern Legal Resource Center. In 2006, the SLRC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Hardwick, then a high school sophomore. Hardwick’s attorneys “argued that the teen – who was forced to change clothes, turn shirts inside-out and was suspended twice for Confederate-themed clothing in middle school – felt that a ban on wearing the Confederate emblem violated her right to free speech.” That argument “was tossed out last week by a federal judge, who ruled that Hardwick’s attorneys didn’t have enough evidence to succeed with their case.”

Parents Concerned “Religious Release Time” For Some Students May Disrupt Learning.
The Oregonian (9/18, Navas) reports that “a religious group wants to pull elementary students out of Sherwood schools for bible study, drawing concern from a group of parents who say the missed time could disrupt their own children’s learning or allow religion to spill into the classroom.” The nonprofit Christian group PREP4Kids “wants to offer the off-campus classes for Sherwood School District’s five elementary schools for the first time this year.” In Oregon, “school districts must allow for up to two hours of religious release time per week for elementary students.” In Sherwood, “students will only be allowed to participate if their parents sign permission slips,” education officials say. Also, the district “will not pay for transportation to and from the off-site church location and students would be responsible for making up any missed assignments.”

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging South Dakota District’s Dress Code.
The AP (9/17) reported that U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann “has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to prevent a South Dakota school district from imposing a dress code.” Kornmann “took the action Thursday after learning that the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal council, which filed the suit, had withdrawn its support.” According to the AP, some parents “had complained they couldn’t afford the required clothing. … School officials say the dress code already has helped reduce gang-related behavior problems.”

Safety & Security
Report Examines Efforts To Ensure Safe Schools In Tennessee.
The Clarksville (TN) Online (9/18) reports that a study “released Tuesday by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Offices of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) examines Tennessee’s efforts to make sure that its schools are safe.” The Keeping Tennessee Schools Safe report was initiated “after a tragic fatal shooting at a Tennessee high school in 2008.” It “provides a comparison of state laws, policies, and requirements with accepted best practices for keeping schools safe from violence.” According to the report, “Tennessee has made significant progress since the mid-1990s toward ensuring the safety of its students and school personnel.” However, even though “safety and violence prevention efforts are addressing most of the identified best practices for safe and secure learning environments, staff and funding needed to implement the requirements are limited and decreasing,” it said.

Georgia District Will Allow Random School Searches Before, During, And After Class.
WJBF-TV Augusta, GA (9/17, Clervaud) reported that “this year, officers with the Richmond County Board of Education Public Safety Department” will work “with faculty and staff to have random searches before, during, and after school.” Josey High School Principal Dr. Donald Wiggins said that the “new random searches can be used as an education tool.” He noted, “If students do have questions about school safety, it can give them a chance to actually counsel those students into making better decisions.” Furthermore, the “searches will give students and faculty a better sense of security,” educators say.

Also in the News
Students In Los Angeles Create Social Network Site To Educate Peers On Obesity.
Robert Lopez writes in the Los Angeles Times (9/17) LA Now blog, “Teachers and students from South Los Angeles and Baldwin Park this morning will announce the launch of a social network website to educate youths about junk food and obesity.” A group of “40 students from high schools in the two areas” created the WereFedUp website “to share information about the perils of fast food and teen obesity.” It “features photos of the students involved in the social network, as well as videos and blog posts about nutrition, junk food and exercise.”

School Crossing Guard Donates Bikes To Students.
The St. Petersburg Times (9/18, Perez) reports that last weekend, school crossing guard Denice Rigali “and her husband, Darryl…hit the flea market, garage sales, and pawn shops” for bicycles. “Sellers conspired like elves, letting the bikes go for $5 to $20, or even free.” Once home, Darryl “tweaked” the bikes before handing them over on Monday to six children who cross Denise Rigali’s path to school. “The Rigalis plan to give away about six more, so that every kid on the route who wants a bike has one.”

Fewer Schools Teaching Penmanship Amid Rise Of Computer Technology.
The AP (9/19, Breen) reported that penmanship “is being shunted aside at schools across the country in favor of 21st century skills.” According to the AP, the “decline of cursive is happening as students are doing more and more work on computers, including writing. In 2011, the writing test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress will require 8th and 11th graders to compose on computers, with 4th graders following in 2019.” According to Katie Van Sluys, president of the Whole Language Umbrella, handwriting “is increasingly something people do only when they need to make a note to themselves rather than communicate with others,” as students “accustomed to using computers to write at home have a hard time seeing the relevance of hours of practicing cursive handwriting.”

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In the Classroom
Teachers In Central Texas Rely On “Subtle Technologies” To Facilitate Learning.
Texas’ American Statesman (9/19, Gallaga) reported on four “subtle” technologies that are “changing the ways students learn and teachers teach” and “helping educate Central Texans in new and surprising ways.” One of these technologies, the dolce database, is a collection “of more than 50″ musical selections that “have been arranged so that students at different skill levels can play [guitar] together.” The database was “created by Austin’s Classical Guitar Society” and is currently being used by “twelve schools in Austin. There are also subscribers in other parts of the country and even one in Norway.” Another technology being used in Austin schools is a website called VolunteerSpot. Teachers use the website to communicate important messages to parents, and both “teachers and parents in the Eanes school district also use VolunteerSpot to coordinate lunchroom volunteers, recess chaperones, and concession workers for sports events.”

Efforts Of Teachers Who Transferred To Struggling Schools Chronicled.
The Houston Chronicle (9/20, Mellon) reported in a story “chronicling the experiences of Houston ISD teachers who accepted a $20,000 bonus to transfer to a troubled middle school,” on the efforts of Cheryl Contreras and Nicholas Lopez, both of whom started this year at “Fondren Middle School, a southwest Houston campus branded ‘academically unacceptable’ by the state.” They “are part of a national study that seeks to” determine whether “standout teachers” can “get the same results from students at troubled campuses” that they get from students at higher-achieving schools. The study involves seven districts and is known as the Talent Transfer Initiative. Lopez “teaches eighth-grade English to non-native speakers,” and is said to be “making headway with his second-period class, his toughest, with 33 students of different literacy levels.” Meanwhile “Contreras is worried that her first-period advanced class is falling behind.” She also “has turned to her former co-workers at Marshall for copies of their lesson plans” and said that Marshall “also had a better-stocked library.”

On the Job
Arizona District Sets Aside $1.2 Million For Professional Development Initiatives.
The Arizona Republic (9/18, Scott) reported that the Paradise Valley Unified School District “has fewer teachers this year than it would like,” but “is committed to developing existing teachers as much as possible, officials say.” Professional development will be provided by “more than 10 firms” under the district’s $1.2 million “budget for professional development.” The money “can be used to assist teachers in achieving highly qualified status, hiring substitute teachers for teachers involved in professional development, teacher mentors, academic coaches, stipends, trainers and consultants among other things.”

Law & Policy
New York City Extends Cash Incentive Anti-Poverty Program.
The New York Times (9/21, A20, Bosman) reported that an experimental New York City “antipoverty program that pays poor families up to $5,000 a year for going to regular medical checkups, attending school and keeping jobs has been extended for a third year.” According to Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services for New York City, “early results in the education component of the program that showed students improved their attendance and passed more exams when they were rewarded with cash.” Still, “results are not yet available in the work and health categories of the program,” so “it is still too early to tell if the program will be successful.” The program, Opportunity NYC Family Rewards, has distributed “more than $11 million” to “2,400 low-income families” so far.

Massachusetts Praised For Standards That Put Many Schools Out Of Compliance With NCLB.
The Boston Globe (9/21) in an editorial says, “Massachusetts maintains among the highest academic standards and toughest tests for students in the nation, even at the risk of looking bad on federal measures of ‘adequate yearly progress.’ That’s the right course, even when the latest scores on the MCAS tests in math and English push more than half of the state’s schools out of compliance with federal expectations.” So “parents should take a deep breath. Ten years ago, only 24 percent of the state’s 10th graders scored proficient or higher on the math MCAS exam. Today, 75 percent do. There’s no sense in losing sleep over each quiver in the federal government’s hypersensitive needle.”

Columnist Calls Arizona District’s Discipline Policy “Genuine Apartheid.”
Columnist Doug MacEachern wrote in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic (9/19), Over the summer, the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) “board adopted a ‘Post-Unitary Status Plan’ that it expects will help the district escape a decades-old federal desegregation order.” While he described the goal “to see more minority students enrolled in advanced-placement programs” as “laudable,” MacEachern points out that the school board is also “calling for a two-tiered form of student discipline. One for Black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else.” Under the premise of “creating a ‘restorative school culture and climate’ that conveys a ‘sense of belonging to all students,’ the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect ‘no ethnic/racial disparities.’” MacEachern asserts that “the students of the Tucson Public School District certainly deserve more” than “genuine apartheid.”

Federal Policymakers Urged To Promote Use Of Healthy Foods In School Lunches.
The Washington Post (9/21) editorializes that it is “encouraged that there is a growing movement” to promote the use of healthier foods in school lunches. Amid a pending reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, President Obama “has signaled his interest by including an extra $1 billion in his 2010 budget proposal for school food improvements, and his administration is formulating policies said to be aimed at improving the nutrition and ultimately the health of children.” First Lady Michelle Obama “has made healthier eating a signature issue, using the White House garden as a way to engage children in the importance of fruits and vegetables.” According to the Post, “Key to the movement is revising the nation’s outdated nutrition guidelines,” and “coming up with the money that school officials need to cover the cost of quality ingredients, train staff and provide proper facilities.”

Special Needs
Maine Seeking To Reduce Use Of Private Schools For Students With Severe Special Needs.
The Kennebec (ME) Journal (9/20, Stone) reports, “The way school districts provide special education services to a segment of students with severe special needs could gradually change, if state education officials have their way.” That is because the state has “a $66 million budget gap this year,” and so is seeking to develop “more public programs that serve students with autism, mental illness, rare learning disabilities and emotional disorders.” Currently, “school districts and Maine state government spend millions of dollars each year to send students with severe special needs to private schools” at a cost for instruction and transportation that “can exceed $100,000″ per student. Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said last week “that she’s working with superintendents to identify lower-cost alternatives to placing students in private programs.” Meanwhile, she is “urging special education directors to work with neighboring districts to establish regional, in-school programs serving high-need students.”

Facilities

Detroit District’s Emergency Financial Manager Seeks To Convert Schools Into Elemiddles.
The Detroit Free Press (9/21, Walsh-Sarnecki) reports that “after nearly a century of middle and junior high schools, Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb wants to eliminate all the district’s middle schools and switch back to kindergarten through eighth grade buildings.” Elemiddles, which “can be found in a handful of other metro Detroit districts,” are also “springing up in large cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati.” Some educators say elemiddles provide “a more nurturing environment” for students and “give children consistency in their learning…make it easier for teachers to know their students, and” allow teachers to “coordinate the curriculum across the grades.” Although “there’s no fixed timetable,” Mr. Bobb “would like the approximately 90 remaining elementary and middle schools changed as quickly as possible,” and “he has earmarked $189 million to convert schools.”

School Finance
Early Learning Challenge Fund Could Be Created By End Of Year.
The New York Times (9/20, A20, Dillon) reported, “Tucked away in an $87 billion higher education bill that passed the House last week was a broad new federal initiative aimed not at benefiting college students, but at raising quality in the early learning and care programs that serve children from birth through age 5.” The Early Learning Challenge Fund “would channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve standards, training and oversight of programs serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers.” The Senate is expected to pass similar legislation this fall, and President Obama could sign it in December. Education Week (9/18, Klein) also covered the story.

Also in the News
New Guidelines On Treating Hoarseness May Benefit Teachers.
In the USA Today (9/21) Your Health column, Kim Painter writes that “new guidelines on treating hoarseness published in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery” may benefit “more than half of teachers” who are sidelined by the condition “at some point” in their careers. “Singers may be better known for losing their voices, but 28 million Americans in jobs ranging from telemarketing to fitness instruction are at risk.” And, “teachers are among the hardest-hit.” But few seek medical attention. However, “if you smoke, have a lump in your throat, have trouble swallowing, are coughing up blood or have injured your throat, a full evaluation is urgent.” Fortunately, “many schools are becoming more aware of teachers’ voice problems and installing amplification systems in classrooms,” which “also help students with certain hearing or learning problems.”

South Africa’s Education System Seen As Failing Many Children.
The New York Times (9/20, A1, Dugger) reported on its front page, “Thousands of schools across South Africa are bursting with students who dream of being the accountants, engineers and doctors this country desperately needs, but the education system is often failing the very children depending on it most to escape poverty.” According to the Times, since the end of apartheid, South Africa “is at grave risk of producing what one veteran commentator has called another lost generation, entrenching the racial and class divide rather than bridging it.” Half of South Africa students “never make it to 12th grade. Many who finish at rural and township schools are so ill educated that they qualify for little but menial labor or the ranks of the jobless, fueling the nation’s daunting rates of unemployment and crime.”

Hazing At Top-Ranked High School In Massachusetts Stigmatizes Some Female Students.
The New York Times (9/19, A13, Kelley) reported on an annual hazing ritual at top-ranked Millburn (NJ) High School in which senior girls create a “‘slut list’ of incoming freshmen for the first day of school. A dozen or more names are written on a piece of notebook paper, with crass descriptions, and copies are passed around — hundreds this year, some say.” According to the Times, numerous stories detailing hazing incidents “were out in the open on Friday after half a dozen parents complained to public school officials and a discussion of hazing on a private email group for mothers made its way around this Essex County township.”

NEA in the News
NEA Disapproves Of Senate Finance Committee’s New Health Care Bill.
Alyson Klein wrote in Education Week’s (9/18, Klein) Politics K-12 blog, “The National Education Association, which is pouring money and manpower into the effort led by Democrats to overhaul the healthcare system, is less than thrilled with the new bill released earlier this week by the Senate Finance Committee.” According to the NEA, “the bill fails to provide affordable coverage for the 46 million uninsured through a public option, and will raise costs even more for middle-income workers.” Furthermore, the group “is disappointed the bill doesn’t include a public option.” Klein points out that “it may be important for Democratic leaders that groups like the NEA support their bill, particularly if there aren’t any GOP takers.” However, “leaders are also working hard to get moderate Democrats on board, who might have a different view from the NEA’s.”

Merit Pay Seen As “More Generous” Than Firing Underperforming Teachers.
The Richmond Times Dispatch (9/20) editorialized, “Merit pay is not rocket science. It obeys the obvious principle that good employees should not be treated the same as bad employees, and that bad employees can be encouraged to improve by offering them higher pay if they do so.” The Times-Dispatch asserts that this “certainly seems a more generous approach to work force motivation than simply firing those who underperform.” The paper concludes, “We wonder if the National Education Association…would find that line of reasoning persuasive.”

USA Today (6/11, Eisler, Weise) reported, “Nearly 20 million children now receive free or reduced-price lunches in the nation’s schools, an all-time high, federal data show, and many school districts are struggling to cover their share of the meals’ rising costs.” Data from the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) show that, “through February, nationwide enrollment in free school lunch programs was up 6.3% over the same time last year,” and “demand in some states has climbed at an even greater rate: Enrollment in free lunch programs jumped almost 17% in California, and several states – Arizona, New Jersey, Utah and Vermont – also saw more than 10% growth.” FNS Administrator Julie Paradis said that “many new enrollees are believed to be first-timers from families hit by the recession.” While “the federal government pays schools $2.57 for each free lunch served,” the School Nutrition Association says “the average food and labor cost for each meal is about $2.92.”

In the Classroom
California School Suggests Motivation Is Key To Helping At-Risk Students.
In a front-page story, the San Francisco Chronicle (6/11, A1, Tucker) reports that Palo Alto’s Eastside College Preparatory School is “a Cinderella story with an academic record any school, public or private, would envy.” It “shows one way to set at-risk students squarely on the academic path to success, closing the seemingly unmovable achievement gap between poor and often minority students and their white, Asian and wealthier peers.” Founded without a building, for the last decade it’s “had a 100 percent graduation rate, with every graduate heading to four-year colleges.” While “the admission process is selective,” it’s based on motivation, not grades or test scores. However, “public schools will have a hard time following Eastside’s recipe for success,” as the school receives donations of $17,000 per year for each child to pay for the program. Still, Phil Halperin, president of the Silver Giving Foundation, which has helped fund the school for the past 10 years, said that “a key is believing that the students can make it, and that’s part of the recipe public schools can follow.” He added, “It takes a really dedicated staff.” The school’s “teachers earn $45,000 to $90,000 annually, on par with public school salaries.”

Louisiana’s Proposed “Career Diploma” Criticized.
The Baton Rouge Advocate (6/12, 7A, Sentell) reports that three national education groups criticized “legislation that would offer public high-school students a new curriculum to try to trim Louisiana’s dropout rate.” The legislation “would offer high-school students a new curriculum and a ‘career diploma’ for those that meet the requirements,” but “the groups said the new courses would be less rigorous than those offered now” and “may end up lowering expectations for Louisiana’s students at the very time other states are raising their standards.”

California Governor Pushes For Digital Textbooks.
The Christian Science Monitor (6/12, Farrell) reports that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “is taking a page from high school science books in an effort to shrink California’s $24 billion budget gap. In fact, he wants to take the entire book – and do away with it.” According to the Monitor, “By next fall, Governor Schwarzenegger intends to make free, open-source digital textbooks available for high school math and science classes throughout California, a move that he says will help reduce the more than $350 million the state spends annually on educational materials. Some critics doubt the idea will result in any immediate cost savings – and question a plan that might require investment in technology and teacher training at a time when schools face deep budget cuts.”

Pediatric Association Recommends Anti-Bullying Program.
The AP (6/11, Johnson) reports, “The American Academy of Pediatrics wants doctors to take an active role in preventing bullying in schools” and gives doctors tips in an updated policy being published in the July issue of its journal, Pediatrics. The policy says that “doctors should tell parents to talk to their children about bullying, teach children how to resolve conflicts,” and “volunteer to talk about the topics at schools, churches and youth organizations.” The policy also says the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, “a European program that emphasizes the role of bystanders in preventing bullying in schools,” might “be a good model for prevention efforts in the U.S.” It “teaches children that bullies are kids with problems and bystanders can protect victims.” Dr. Robert Sege of Boston Medical Center, who also helped write the policy update, said that “schools that use the program teach children that ‘we take care of our own.’”

Students, Including Witnesses, Parents, And Schools Can Be Financially Accountable For Bullying. The Bakersfield Californian (6/12, Nachtigal, Wenner) reports, “Students, including minors, and their parents can be held financially accountable for bullying allegations.” Student can be liable, “even if they are witnesses or simply know about such incidents, but don’t tell authorities.” In a case that was just settled, on a class trip, five upperclassmen from the Stockdale High debate team encased a ninth-grader “in plastic wrap and bound him tightly with duct tape.” The five filled the next half-hour with “mockery and threats” and took pictures, which they showed to other students. The “upperclassmen were expelled. They and two other students, their parents and the Kern High School District paid $260,000 to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the boy’s father.”

Maryland County’s Taskforce Says Suspensions Don’t Improve Student Discipline.
The Maryland Business Gazette (6/11, King) reports that the Prince George’s County, Maryland school system’s task force on suspensions and expulsions found that “suspensions are ineffective in improving student discipline and are applied unevenly as a ‘reflex response’ to infractions.” Task force member Phil Lee said, “Suspensions have become a way to become legitimately truant.” Board members called for “alternatives to out-of-school suspensions, except for the students who are considered dangerous to the school” and such as a “program in some schools that allows students to spend their suspension days being educated and counseled by local nonprofit organizations.”

Study Finds Commonalities In Successful, Rural Alabama Schools.
The Daily Yonder (6/11, Bishop) reports that the Center for Rural Alabama issued a report, “Lessons Learned From Rural Schools.” The report’s authors “combed through this economically troubled landscape to find 10 elementary schools that were succeeding.” They requires that “test scores had to be well above the state average”; at least 65 percent of their students had to be eligible for a free lunch (to eliminate economic outliers); and the schools couldn’t be close geographically. The report found that the successful schools are integrated into the community, with “local institutions cooperat[ing] with the schools.” Also, they have “something in the air;” they’re clean and creative in their ambiance and activities. The schools’ “teachers understood the children because they understood the rural life.” Also, on a Myers Briggs personality indicator examination, the “teachers are, by nature, introverts, even if they can become extroverted in leading a class. And they found that teachers’ personalities were of the type that resisted change.”

On the Job
Indiana School District Delays School Starts For Professional Development Time.
The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier (6/11, Watling) reports that the Tippecanoe School Corp. school board on Wednesday approved starting elementary and middle schools “20 minutes later this fall to make time in the morning for staff meetings and professional development.” This will allow elementary and middle school teachers to have “one half-hour of professional development each morning” for “everything from bringing in speakers to staff meetings to working on school improvement plans.” The “school principals who spoke to board members Wednesday said they were 100 percent behind the idea.” Cole Elementary Principal Mike Pinto said that we want students “to be exposed to the best, most rigorous instruction that meets their needs. We can’t do this without this time.”

Strategies To Deal With Low-Performing Teachers Outlined.
Sue Shellenbarger wrote in The Juggle blog for Wall Street Journal (6/11), “Education Secretary Arne Duncan is out beating the drum for nationwide school reform, talking recently on NPR about how schools can do a better job of weeding out bad teachers. The interview rocketed me back in time to a dark chapter for my family – the year of the bad teacher. … Of course, a large majority of teachers are well-qualified. Sometimes, parents get only a child’s side of the story and jump to wrong conclusions about who’s at fault. Also, school officials “warn that if parents rush too quickly to rescue a child from classroom challenges, they risk producing a child too fragile to weather life’s storms. But in other cases, like my daughter’s, parents aren’t aware, until it’s too late, when changes truly are needed in the classroom.”

Teacher Fired Over Allegedly Preaching In Classroom.
The AP (6/11) reports, “An Ohio school teacher fired over accusations that he preached Christianity in class says in a $1 million lawsuit that his free speech and civil rights were violated. John Freshwater, an eighth-grade teacher, also says he was harassed because of his religion, was defamed and suffered a hostile work environment.” The Mount Vernon school board “fired Freshwater last year, citing an internal investigation that found he had preached his Christian beliefs in class, in violation of the traditional separation of church and state.”

Law & Policy
WPost: DC Schools Chancellor Right To Push Hard For Education Reforms.
The Washington Post (6/12) editorializes, “You can list Michelle A. Rhee’s accomplishments since becoming D.C. schools chancellor two years ago today, and they run more than 10 pages.” Yet ask her “to grade her tenure, and she volunteers an F. She judges her performance solely on whether the children in her charge are getting the education they deserve. Better than anyone, she knows they aren’t.” The Post adds that teachers’ union officials and their city council allies seek “to nibble away at the mayoral control that has allowed Mayor Adrian M. Fenty — much to his credit — to give the chancellor the support and resources she needs.” Rhee “should not have to spend time fighting the efforts of those who would hold her back, and the District’s children along with her.”

Bush Advisor Defends NCLB.
In an op-ed in Education Week (6/11), Alexander Kress, the senior adviser on education to President George W. Bush during the consideration and passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, writes, “Diane Ravitch’s evidence for ‘killing off’ the No Child Left Behind Act (“Time to Kill ‘No Child Left Behind,” June 17, 2009) really comes down to her shrewd and misleading comparison of student-performance data on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 1999 to 2004 with the NAEP data from 2004 to 2008.” Ravitch “fails to mention” that “two-plus years of NCLB are in the base period she’s comparing against the NCLB period.” Also, “she fails to offer any sort of hypothesis for why 1999-2004 had strong results.” As “the standards-based reform movement kicked into gear in the mid-’90s,” Kress asserts, “it’s safest either simply to say both periods were relatively strong or” that the two periods “should be joined together for analytical purposes, since similar policies were being administered throughout the decade.” Kress concludes, “The No Child Left Behind Act has worked.”

Also in the News
Obama Writes Note Explaining Student’s Absence.
NBC Nightly News (6/11, story 10, 1:00, Williams) reported, “A man who had a question for the President explained he brought his young daughter along, but she had to skip her last day at school to attend the town meeting. The President was worried and offered to help.” President Barack Obama was shown saying, “Do you need me to write a note?” Williams added, “And he did. The President delivered the note in person to the little girl who, of course, thought better of it, made a copy for her teacher and kept the original for herself.”

Georgia School Officials Fired, Reassigned For Changing Test Answers.
The AP (6/11, Turner) reports that suburban Atlanta elementary school principal James Berry resigned and assistant principal Doretha Alexander “has been reassigned because they changed answers on fifth-grade standardized tests to improve scores and help the school meet federal achievement standards” and avoid penalties under federal No Child Left Behind standards. “State officials said no students are under suspicion.” Kathleen Mathers, head of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, said, “We don’t think kids cheated.” As yet, no complaint has yet been filed with the Professional Standards Commission.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (6/12, Badertscher) reports, “According to state officials, someone deliberately erased a high percentage of wrong answers on student answer sheets at…four schools and filled in the correct ones, causing passing rates on the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Test to spike.” Mathers said that “officials in all four school systems have been kept abreast of the state’s investigation and have been given until the July meeting of the state Board of Education to officially respond to the investigation’s findings.”

Florida’s Data Warehouse Tracks Student Progress From Primary School To Workforce.
Education Week (6/11, Aarons) reports that “Florida has been hailed as one of the nation’s bright spots in the use of longitudinal data” because it has built “an information-rich ‘data warehouse’ that connects K-12, postsecondary, and workforce information.” The data is being used by “educators and policymakers at the state, district, and school levels…to improve schools.” Access to student information has also been given to “students and parents…to help them plan for a future that includes a college degree.” And, “because the data system is linked with Florida’s postsecondary institutions, high schools find out the percentage of their students who must take remedial courses, the percentage that took and passed freshman math and English courses, and the percentage who maintained at least a 2.0 GPA as their college careers continued.”

In the Classroom
Schwarzenegger Seeks To Replace Textbooks With Online Learning Materials.
The AP (6/11) reports, “In the state that gave the world Facebook, Google, and the iPod, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says forcing California’s students to rely on printed textbooks is so yesterday.” He has “recently launched an initiative to see if the state’s 6 million public school students can use more online learning materials, perhaps saving millions of dollars a year in textbook purchases.” Suppliers have been asked to submit proposals for math and science curriculum “to state officials by next week. The materials that survive state review will be made available to school districts by Aug. 10.” However, USA Today points out, “Schwarzenegger’s plan will probably not produce the budget bonanza he envisions — at least not anytime soon. The online material would supplement textbooks that teachers already use, meaning California will continue buying traditional books.”

Virginia District Introduces Anti-Gang Education In Elementary Schools.
The Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (6/11, Wittmeyer) reports that the Chesapeake schools wish to extend anti-gang lessons from high school and middle school to elementary school. So “starting this fall, students in grades three to five will have gang prevention and awareness classes,” as “part of a series of steps Chesapeake schools have taken since the School Board retreat in January, when the board discussed ways to prevent gang activity in schools. The Police Department also has conducted sessions with school administrators, and new teachers and student council members have been instructed to watch a presentation on recognizing gangs and gang members.” Anita James, director of elementary curriculum and instruction, said that “the lesson plans haven’t been completed…and teaching elementary schoolers about gangs isn’t the same as teaching older students. Some might not understand, she said, but they can learn to deal with specific situations and about the concept of gangs.”

New York Elementary School Adds “SMART Table” Technology To Classroom.
WBGH-TV Binghamton, NY (6/10) reported that while many schools are now “equipped with SMARTBoards — the interactive whiteboard computer that is revolutionizing classroom instruction,” Horace Mann Elementary School in Binghamton “is taking the SMART technology a step further by using a brand-new ‘SMART Table,’ which allows up to four students to use the interactive computer simultaneously.” The school’s technology coordinator will spend “the next six months writing curriculum and lesson plans to use with the SMART Table.”

South Carolina District Seeks To Teach All Kindergarteners To Swim.
The Post & Courier (6/11, Slade) reports, “In reaction to recent Lowcountry drowning deaths that included 6-year-old Lambs Elementary School student Jah’Quez Smith Hamilton, the Charleston County School District is pursuing a plan aimed at teaching all kindergartners to swim.” Superintendent Nancy McGinley said, “With all the pools and all the water around Charleston, we can’t afford to lose one more child.’” The effort “is an ambitious one, considering that the school district owns no pools, and right now it’s more of an idea than a plan.”

Law & Policy
New York State Assembly Moves Closer To Renewing Mayoral School Control Law.
The New York Times (6/11, A27, Hernandez) reports, “The New York State Assembly moved closer to preserving mayoral control of city schools as lawmakers on Wednesday night considered a proposal by Speaker Sheldon Silver that would maintain the mayor’s dominance but add checks, including limiting his ability to approve contracts and close schools.” The proposal “includes several measures aimed at increasing transparency, by requiring, for instance, that the Department of Education’s data and finances be regularly audited. But it leaves largely untouched a key point of contention: the mayor’s power to appoint a majority of the central education board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy, and remove them at his pleasure.”

Los Angeles School Board Approves Request To Ease Firing Of Teachers For Serious Crimes.
The Los Angeles Times (6/10, Song) reported, “The Los Angeles Unified school board narrowly passed [4-3] a resolution Tuesday to suggest changes to state laws that would expedite the firing of teachers accused of serious crimes.” The measure “was a much milder version of an unsuccessful proposal by retiring school board member Marlene Canter to facilitate the teacher dismissal process.” Earlier versions that had included requests for an alteration in “state laws to ease the firing of teachers deemed to be poor instructors” were “withdrawn twice because of lack of support and union opposition.” The version that passed “revised it to focus only on teachers accused of egregious or immoral acts.” United Teachers Los Angeles leaders “said they had no input into the resolution — an allegation Canter denied — and that it would be sure to fail in Sacramento without their support.”

Teacher Who Tried To Commit Suicide At School Not Expected To Lose Job Or License.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/11, Solochek) reports, “It has been three years since Pasco schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino first tried to fire teacher Patti Withers for trying to commit suicide at Pasco High School. The School Board wouldn’t let Fiorentino do it. And now the Florida Education Practices Commission is set to deny Fiorentino’s effort too.” Instead, the commission will consider administrative law judge R. Bruce McKibben’s “recommendation that Withers be placed on two years of monitored probation rather than lose her job and have her teaching license revoked.” McKibben found that “Withers did fail to use ‘reasonable caution’ to protect students from harm,” but failed to find that Withers “was guilty of ‘gross immorality’ or ‘moral turpitude’ in her actions.”

ACLU Wants Louisiana To Prohibit Creationism, Intelligent Design In Science Standards.
The AP (6/11) reports that in January, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved “legislation [that] allowed local school systems and teachers to introduce into science classes supplemental teaching materials in addition to state-approved textbooks.” On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “urged the state education board to revisit the issue.” The group “complained [that] the board in January rejected language specifically forbidding the teaching of creation science and intelligent design concepts” determined by federal courts to be religion-based. Furthermore, the ACLU wants restored to the science guidelines “draft language prohibiting teaching materials that ‘advance the religious belief that a supernatural being created humankind’ and another sentence stating, ‘Religious beliefs shall not be advanced under the guise of encouraging critical thinking.’” Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute contends that “the more specific language favored by the ACLU is redundant and could actually discourage free and open discussion in the classroom.”

Safety & Security

Hillsborough County, Florida, To Allow Students To Post Complaints On District, School Websites.
The Tampa Tribune (6/10, Peterson) reported that beginning “next fall, Hillsborough County students who are being bullied will be able to post their complaints anonymously on a school district Web site.” In addition, “students and parents with a complaint will also be able to make a report at the school site, using a new form the district has created especially for bullying cases.” District leaders “say that giving students anonymity will embolden them to reveal incidents they have seen or experienced and been afraid to talk about.” Site planners have thus far “decided they want each report to go directly to the school involved. The school will then investigate and report back to district officials.”

School Finance
Unexpected Financial Windfall Leads To Budget Uncertainty In Maryland District.
The Washington Post (6/11, De Vise, Marimow) reports that Montgomery County, MD, School Board members “signed off this week on the final $2.2 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 with lingering reservations about how the Montgomery County Council arrived at the sum. The school system reaped an unexpected boost in state and federal aid for fiscal 2010.” Thus, the council and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) “asked the state for permission to reduce the local share of funding to the county school system below a state-mandated minimum, by a factor of $79.5 million.” However, the “Maryland State Board of Education denied the request. In response, the county is asking the school system to repay the entire sum, $79.5 million, by covering debt payments on school facilities that the government currently handles.”

Arizona District Hopes To Raise Money To Fund Sports Programs.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (6/11, Roller) reports, “Yuma Elementary School District 1 scrambled to find alternative funding to keep sports programs wide open for another season Wednesday as parents, coaches, administrators and students brainstormed at district offices.” Supt. Darwin Stiffler “said there was currently no identified funding to support athletics for the 2009-10 fiscal year.” The program “costs $175,000 per year,” so the district is relying on Arizona law that provides “residents a dollar-for-dollar credit to deduct up to $400 per year for each couple who donates to school extracurricular activities.” Stiffler also has suggested “a ‘pay-to-play’ plan, where parents could contribute anywhere from $28 to $40 per student to fund athletics, which would cover the cost of sports officials but not coaches.”

Also in the News
Georgia Investigating Alleged Cheating On Standardized Tests.
The AP (6/11, Turner) reports, “State education officials are investigating whether students, teachers or someone else changed answers on more than 100 standardized tests at four Georgia elementary schools.” School officials found “high numbers of erasures on a fifth-grade math Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, taken last summer,” which led to the investigation into whether unauthorized corrections were made. Kathleen Mathers of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement said, “We have very strong information to say someone changed these answers.” Now “the state Professional Standards Commission, which oversees teacher certification, will investigate who is to blame for the cheating.”

Some Neighbors Oppose Expansion Of Islamic Academy In Fairfax County, Virginia.
The New York Times (6/11, A20, Emery) reports that a proposal “to erect a new classroom building” at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County, VA, which is funded by the Saudi government, and to “move hundreds of students from a sister campus on the other end of Fairfax County” has started “a noisy debate and exposed anew the school’s uneasy relationship with its neighbors.” Residents “say they oppose it because they fear it will bring more cars, school buses and flooding of land that would be paved over for parking lots.” Others, meanwhile, “object to the academy’s curriculum, saying it espouses a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism.” But Saudi Academy officials and parents argue that the “academy is no different from other religious schools” and that it “educates model students who go on to top schools, teaches Arabic to American soldiers, and no longer uses texts that drew criticism after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”

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In the Classroom
New York City Students Improve Math Scores.
On its front page, the New York Times (6/2, A1, Hernandez) reports, “New York City’s public school students showed large gains on state math tests this year, particularly in the middle school grades, and black and Hispanic students continued to edge closer to their white counterparts,” according to “the city and state education departments.” Eighty-two percent of New York City “students in Grades 3 through 8 passed the test, compared with 74 percent last year.” Meanwhile, the achievement gap between black and white students narrowed to “17 percentage points this year, on average, compared with 31 points in 2006.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “trumpeted the results as evidence that mayoral control had produced revolutionary improvements and brought city students within spitting distance of state averages after years of mediocrity.”

Elementary Students Receive Lesson In Baking, Charity.
The Springfield (OH) News Sun (6/2, Sanctis) reports, “Just a few days after they learned to bake their first loaf of bread, several Mechanicsburg Elementary School students also spent Monday, June 1, learning about community service.” At an assembly last Friday, “a representative from the King Arthur Flour Co. spent about two hours…teaching the students the basics of baking. At the end of the assembly…students were sent home with enough ingredients to bake two loaves of bread.” They were “asked to keep one loaf, and the others would be donated to the apartment complex, as well as the Caring Kitchen in Urbana.” Over 50 loaves of bread were delivered on Monday.

On the Job
Pinellas County, Florida, School Board Chair Suggests Extended Workday For Teachers.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/2) reports, “Pinellas [FL] School Board chairwoman Peggy O’Shea said Monday she will float an alternative at today’s board workshop to the controversial plan to release students early every Wednesday starting in the fall.” Last week, the school board approved a teacher contract that included an “early release” day clause that “has prompted a flurry of e-mails from parents…worried about having to arrange for additional after-school care.” O’Shea will suggest that instead of “shortening the students’ day to give teachers planning time…teachers stay an hour longer on Wednesdays.” She explained that “since they must be at school longer than students, teachers could leave 15 minutes early the other four days of the week without affecting children.” The teachers’ union president “she would be willing to take O’Shea’s proposal back to union reps, but indicated that no changes are likely at this point for the coming school year.”

Law & Policy
Duncan Wants To Close, Reconstitute 250 Schools Next Year.
The New York Times (6/2, A15, Dillon) reports, “As chief executive of the Chicago public schools, Arne Duncan closed more than a dozen of the city’s worst schools, reopening them with new principals and teachers.” Now, those “who worked with him, and some who fought him, say those school turnarounds were worth the effort, but all aroused intense opposition.” As education secretary, Duncan now “wants to take school turnaround efforts nationwide on a scale never tried before.” He “wants to see 250 schools closed and reconstituted next year,” which “would mean dismissing thousands of teachers next spring, hiring replacements and opening newly reconstituted schools in fall 2010.” According to Duncan, closing and then reopening the schools would “reset the learning environment more dramatically than simply tweaking the curriculum and retraining the old staff.” The Times points out some challenges such schools might face such as “recruiting the high-quality educators” and “union contracts.”

South Carolina Governor Blocks State Participation In Common Core Standards Initiative.
USA Today (6/2, King) reports that while “46 states have agreed in principle to develop a set of rigorous criteria — Common Core State Standards Initiative — designed to prepare high school graduates for college and the workforce,” Alaska, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas have “yet to sign up.” WCBD-TV Charleston (6/1, Murray) reported that South Carolina “State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said that South Carolina hopes to participate ‘to whatever extent possible’ in [the] national effort” aimed at “common academic standards in mathematics and English language arts.” However, “the state cannot officially join the Common Core State Standards Initiative…because Gov. Mark Sanford (R) refused to co-sign South Carolina’s application with Rex.”

School Finance
South Carolina Supreme Court To Hear Federal Stimulus Cases.
The New York Times (6/2, A16, Dewan) reports, “Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who has refused to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money, was dealt a major blow on Monday when a federal judge said two lawsuits seeking to require him to take the money should be heard in state court.” Sanford acknowledged after the ruling “that he faced long odds in a state with…several previous court rulings that favor the legislature’s authority over the governor’s.” The governor has said that “his refusal to take the money has more to do with his desire to strengthen the state executive branch” than to “boost his national profile for a presidential run,” as some critics have said.

According to the AP (6/2, Davenport), “The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday in lawsuits filed by two students and the South Carolina Association of School Administrators that seek to force Sanford to take the cash.” School districts throughout the state stand to gain a total of $185 million from South Carolina’s share of the federal stimulus package. “Kershaw County Schools Superintendent Frank Morgan said” that news that the cases will be heard “brought an ‘overwhelming feeling of relief. This has been such a long, long, long process. … I think we’ve put a lot of good people through a lot of stress and anxiety that I’m not sure was necessary,’” Morgan added.

Nevada Lawmaker Commits To Helping Schools Qualify For Maximum Stimulus Funds.
The Las Vegas Sun (6/1, Richmond) reported that “during a visit to Centennial High School [last week], Rep. Dina Titus [D] said she’s committed to helping agencies in Nevada qualify for as many federal stimulus dollars as possible, particularly public schools.” Speaking mainly of the “$1 billion allocated for dropout prevention programs at Title I schools,” Titus said “that her staff will help them navigate the application process, rather than wait for larger grants to flow through the Nevada Education Department.”

Also in the News
Research Links Math Gender Gap To Gender Equality.
Jeannine Stein wrote in the Los Angeles Times’ (6/1) Booster Shots blog, “Math hasn’t always been thought of as a girl thing. For decades, boys in the U.S. were considered the brainiacs when it came to mathematics, with many believing that their gender predisposed them to better understanding it.” But a study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, “published in the June 2 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” concludes that “the gap is more a cultural issue than a gender-based one.” Researchers “sought to answer three questions: Do gender differences in math performance exist in the general population, do gender differences exist among the mathematically talented, and do females exist who possess profound mathematical talent?” They “found that the way women are treated overall in various cultures has an impact on their math performance. Countries with obvious gender inequality found a similar disparity in math skills, and vice versa.”

In Newsweek’s (6/1) The Human Condition blog, Sharon Begley added that according to Janet Mertz, professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UW), and UW psychology professor Janet Hyde, “countries with as many or more girls at the upper extreme” in terms of math skill “tend to be those with the greatest gender equality, such as Germany and the Netherlands.” Meanwhile, Hyde pointed out in the paper, “On average, girls have reached parity with boys in the United States and some other countries, and the gender gap at the high end is closing.”

The Madison (WI) Capital Times (6/2) notes that “The report builds on a study led by Hyde that was published last July in the journal Science” which “examined SAT results and math scores from 7 million students who were tested in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act and showed girls measured up to boys in each grade, from second through 11th.”

Frequent Family Moves Said To Affect Quality Of Education.
The AP (6/2, Allen) reports that the current economic downturn is beginning to take its toll on children, who “children are grappling with more stress at home, and low-income families,” who “are being forced to pull up stakes and move more often.” These “frequent moves can lower school performance and increase chances that students will drop out of school.” Furthermore, they make it harder for schools “to provide appropriate resources to children who have learning disabilities and behavioral issues.” The AP notes that “despite all the bad news, many children said they’ve hardly noticed the recession. Others said it’s affecting their parents, but not them.” Meanwhile, educators caution parents “to be careful about discussing personal financial or job-related struggles with younger children.”

NEA in the News
Alaska To Monitor Nationwide Education Standards Effort.
The Anchorage (AK) Daily News (6/2, Holland) reports that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R) “decision to opt out of an effort to write nationwide education standards in reading and math has some Alaska educators cheering and others dismayed.” Palin said on Sunday that Alaska will “‘monitor but not yet actively participate’ in the process of standardizing K-12 education.” Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau “said she was disappointed with the governor’s decision.” Meanwhile, “Barb Angaiak, president of the teacher’s union, the National Education Association-Alaska,” agreed with Palin’s decision, saying, “It’s a good idea to proceed with caution before we blindly sign on to something.” And “John Pile, executive director of the Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals,” says he “supports the governor’s choice,” but he also acknowledges that “national tests would help teachers with kids who move into Alaska from other states.”

Five Utah Schools Chosen For Pilot Merit Pay Program.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/3, Schencker) reports that education officials in Utah “have chosen” three elementary schools and two charter schools “to divvy up a state allocation of $300,000 a year for two years to create performance pay pilot programs for elementary school teachers and classroom-related staff.” Teachers at those schools will receive bonuses “based on quality of instruction, students’ academic progress, and parent, student, or community satisfaction.” Next year, the schools will “work with their faculties to develop plans and ways to measure success.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that “despite opposition from the Utah Education Association (UEA),” the pilot program “was one of the only new education programs to gain approval in a session where lawmakers cut school funding by a net 5.2 percent.”

North Carolina District Considers Applying For Grant To Expand Merit Pay Program. The Raleigh News & Observer (6/3, Hui) reports that “Wake County [NC] school administrators warned today that offering merit pay to teachers at high-poverty schools could lead to fairness and equity issues.” Currently, only one school “offers merit pay.” But “the school board is considering whether to apply for a federal grant that would allow it to expand a pilot program to lure high-quality teachers to schools that have many low-income students.” Wake schools’ Chief Business Officer David Neter said that “if more schools offered merit pay…they’d have to answer questions from teachers who weren’t getting the additional money.” But “board member Lori Millberg argued that wasn’t a problem at all. She said the whole point is to encourage teachers to work at schools that have more challenges.”

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In the Classroom
Dropping Out Of School Seen As Result Of “Long Process Of Disengagement.”
The AP (6/2, Harpaz) reported that “One out of every four students fails to graduate from high school in four years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.” And, Lynne Strathman, director of the Lydia Urban Academy in Rockford, Ill, said “one thing that she consistently finds is that ‘the last time these students felt successful was the fourth grade.’” Furthermore, Stuart Udell, chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Center, noted, “Dropping out of school is often the result of a long process of disengagement.” According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Risk factors for dropping out include low academic achievement, mental health problems, truancy, poverty and teen pregnancy.”

Oregon District Makes Special Effort To Keep Students Engaged Through End Of School.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (6/2, Ryan) reported on efforts in the Salem-Keizer school district to keep students coming at the end of the year with three make-up days added resulting in the last day of school being a Monday. Schools are said to be particularly worried about attendance on the final day “because schools can fail to meet adequate progress under the No Child Left Behind law if attendance is not high enough.” So “Sixth-grade teacher Jana Avison saved one of her most engaging projects, in which students create blogs about ancient cultures.” The schools have also delayed special events including overnight trips to the end of the year. “Teachers and principals said they plan on having students learning right up to the special field days or assemblies planned for the last day of school.”

Actor’s Civics Curriculum Focuses On Origins Of U.S.
The AP (6/3, Szkotak) reports on The Dreyfuss Initiative, a civics curriculum that “would use scholarly presentations in videos and the Oscar-winning actor” Richard Dreyfuss “as a storyteller, to engage, enlighten, and empower students of all ages in an entertaining way.” The curriculum was developed by Dreyfuss during his recent studies “at St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.” Dreyfuss is currently engaged in “a fundraising campaign to produce videos and the curriculum.” During “public appearances,” he addresses “the origins of our nation and…a citizenry that he believes has lost its way.” He “blames a lack of civil discourse, the din of television and any number of distractions for moving us away from understanding our origins as a nation,” and he is concerned “that future generations will view our freedoms as a fairy tale.” The AP also notes that with The Dreyfuss Initiative, the actor also seeks to be rewarded with a Nobel peace prize.

California District Increases Summer Enrichment Programs.
The Sacramento Bee (6/3, Gutierrez) reports that California’s “Twin Rivers Unified is one of the only school districts in” Sacramento County “adding enrichment programs to their summer lineup this year.” District “officials say the need for summertime programs – school or otherwise – in their area will increase this year because a local nonprofit had to cut a kids’ summer camp that served district students.” The programs are being made possible, in part, by “A $14,000 donation from district cabinet members and $5,000 from a nonprofit education foundation called Project DREAM.” Meanwhile, most other districts in the region “will offer only remedial classes.”

On the Job
Effectiveness Rarely A Factor in Teacher Retention Decisions, Study Says.
The Denver Post (6/3, Meyer) reports, “Excellent teaching goes unrecognized and poor teaching is ignored across the country and in Denver, according to a” study released on Monday by the New Teacher Project called The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness. Based on the examination of “12 school districts” nationwide, “including those in Denver and Pueblo,” the study concluded “that teacher effectiveness rarely factors into decisions, such as how teachers are hired, fired, or promoted.” It “recommends [that] districts adopt fair evaluation systems; train administrators to conduct the evaluations; tie evaluations to compensation and dismissal; and give poorly performing teachers a dignified way out.” The Denver Post lists several other findings in the report as they pertain to Denver Public Schools.

Potential Teachers Vie For Fewer Positions At South Carolina Job Fair.
The AP (6/2) reported that “hundreds of people packed into South Carolina’s annual teachers’ job fair Monday as laid-off teachers, recent college graduates, and others trying to relocate from across the nation competed for limited classroom openings.” The 2,000 pre-registration applications were “nearly double” the number from last year. Participants “were vying for a shrinking number of positions as districts struggling with budget cuts have laid off teachers and halted hiring.” Some “stood in lines for an hour or more,” only to find that “open positions were filled before they reached the booth.” Statewide, “as of last week, there were 300 teacher jobs listed,” but “fewer were available Monday, with just 40 percent of the state’s 85 school districts attending,” down from last year’s 75 percent of districts attending with 900 openings.

Survey Said To Show Baltimore County, Maryland, Teachers Are Happy In Schools.
The Baltimore Sun (6/2, Gencer) reported, “Results from a state survey indicate that a considerable majority of Baltimore County teachers are happy where they are, in what one school official described as a ‘ringing endorsement’ of the district.” The survey, which was conducted online, “had a more than 50 percent participation rate” among “certified school employees” in Baltimore County schools. “Nearly 90 percent” of respondents “said they want to stay in the county, and about 75 percent indicated that they think their respective schools are ‘a good place to work and learn.’” Superintendent Joe A. Hairston said the survey “reinforces the fact that people aren’t running away to another school district in droves.” Meanwhile, teachers’ union President Cheryl Bost insists that “the school district needs to work on retaining teachers, developing a long-term plan to hold onto the experienced ones — and to keep beginners beyond their first few years.”

Law & Policy
California Budget Expected To Include More Cuts To Education.
The Los Angeles Times (6/2, Mehta, Holland) reported, “As the state weighs cutting about $8.1 billion from public schools, colleges and universities, scores of educators, parents, students and others told lawmakers Monday that such reductions would jeopardize student success and safety in the short term and California’s prosperity in the long term.” The “$1.6 billion in spending” cuts are seen as a threat to small class sizes. Furthermore, in response to earlier proposals, school districts throughout “the state announced last week that they were eliminating or reducing summer school sessions to save money.” In a separate story, the Los Angeles Times (6/3, Rothfeld, Goldmacher) reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “told lawmakers” yesterday that “he would not agree to any budget deal that would take money from schools or healthcare without first eliminating the high-paying posts on the state Integrated Waste Management Board and other panels laden with former legislators.”

Most Districts Reduce Summer School. California’s Mercury News (6/3, Noguchi) reports, “From Los Altos to San Jose, school districts caught in the state’s budget vise have cut back severely on summer school.” For example, “the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose has pared back from 1,000 to 300 students this summer.” Other districts have limited enrollment “to only those students lagging furthest behind” or “trimmed summer school from five hours to three” or to students from a few key grades. The Mercury News explains that “while many people regard summer school as an extra, it actually serves an important part of the curriculum, especially as California and the federal government demand that schools and students meet rigorous standards.” And according to most educators, “keeping slower students on track throughout the year is essential.”

Facilities
Beach Towns In Pinellas County, Florida, Lose Schools.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/3) reports on schools closing in Pinellas County, FL, with a focus on Gulf Beaches, as “fewer families are moving into pricey beach homes, and more are moving out. … Gulf Beaches is one of eight Pinellas schools shutting their doors because of declining enrollment and tighter budgets.” But “Gulf Beaches didn’t go down quietly. Everyone from parents to grandparents to local politicians raised hell with the Pinellas County School Board when rumors arose last year.” Yet “the efforts failed. Mayor Mike Finnerty called the closing devastating, saying the beach town may never be the same.”

Also in the News
Parents Offer Teachers Creative Gifts Of Appreciation Amid Recession.
The Baltimore Sun (6/2, Burris) reported that the current end-of-the-year teacher “gift season comes amid a national recession and hard economic choices for Maryland families. … So creative giving is in.” Parents in the Baltimore area are “are giving lottery tickets; others, at a teacher’s request, have donated money to underwrite an arts performance or brighten up the set of the school play.” In Carroll County, Hampstead Elementary School PTA members “will give individual and group gifts” after having provided “gift cards, ice cream sundaes, and lunch during Teacher Appreciation Week.” Meanwhile, “Heather Boos of Pikesville, who has two children at Fort Garrison Elementary, said the school’s PTA has been mindful of choosing creativity over cost. By getting students involved and allowing parents to offer services instead of money, gifts have included everything from massages to gourmet omelets (one parent is a chef) to paper quilts made by students.”

NEA in the News

SNEA Sues Springfield, Missouri, Public Schools.
Missouri’s News-Leader (6/2, Livengood) reported that “the Springfield National Education Association (SNEA) teachers union sued Springfield Public Schools” on Tuesday, “seeking exclusive representation rights for the district’s 1,747 teachers.” The suit “seeks a vote of the teachers to decide whether they all want to be represented by NEA or the Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA).” The SNEA currently represents about 1,000 of the teachers, while the MSTA represents “the rest.” The Springfield school board decided last week to “let teachers” vote on “whether they want single representation. If teachers approved that question, then a vote would be held to decide” between the two unions.” But “in its lawsuit, SNEA seeks to bypass the first election in favor of an up or down vote for the competing groups or no representation at all.”

US Education Department Investigates Special Education Programs In Florida.
WPBF-TV Palm Beach (6/3) reported that “nearly every school district in Florida…has recently come under the microscope of the U.S. Department of Education” regarding “how students with disabilities are taught and disciplined.” Officials from “the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights” are looking into “whether or not the rights of children with disabilities are [being] upheld” at 64 of Florida’s 67 school districts.

WPTV-TV West Palm Beach (6/3) added that the investigation has come as the result of a lawsuit filed by a Florida advocacy group which alleges that “dozens of districts don’t make the grade.” According to WPTV, “the investigation is the largest of its kind and is only the beginning of what parents hope will be a major overhaul of the state’s special needs education.” Some parents of children with special needs say “one of the major problems is that there is not a uniform policy for all districts to follow.”

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In the Classroom
Schools Use Pen Pal Program, Fishing Trip To Help English Learners.
The Washington Post (6/4, Pearson) reports that nearly 35 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students from Montgomery County, MD’s, “Bethesda and Chevy Chase elementary schools met at Rockville’s Lake Needwood last Thursday to” fish and learn “about one another’s backgrounds.” The fishing field trip “is a culmination of a school year’s worth of pen pal letter-writing among students from each of the schools, an exercise designed to improve each child’s English skills.” Debbie Birgfeld, an ESOL teacher at Bethesda Elementary School, said that “most of the students have little to no fishing experience.” However, “the field trip is as much about interacting with one another and learning English as it is about catching something.” With ESOL students representing 19 percent of Montgomery County’s student population, the program aims to “teach students how to function linguistically and culturally within schools and U.S. society.”

Arizona Elementary School To Offer Both Traditional, Classical Curriculums.
The Arizona Republic (6/4, Fehr-Snyder) reports that Patterson Elementary School in Gilbert, AZ, will offer a “back-to-basics curriculum” in addition to its classical curriculum next school year, which begins July 27. “The decision to add a second curriculum track upsets some parents who don’t like the non-classical curriculum” because, they say, “the homework demands are unrealistic for young children and that the atmosphere is too rigid and fosters rote memorization, not independent thinking.” District officials, meanwhile, argue “that the dual-track offers parents the best of both worlds. Students who chose the traditional track won’t wear uniforms like children at the district’s four other traditional elementary schools,” but they will “receive direct teacher instruction, work independently rather than collaboratively and follow more regimented learning methods of Spalding, a phonics-based reading program, and the Saxon math model.”

Virginia Elementary School To Use Onsite Greenhouse, Pond Habitat In Curriculum.
WDBJ-TV Roanoke (6/3) reported that Fishburn Park Elementary School in Roanoke, VA, “has about ten acres of land to develop, and in doing so teachers hope to develop young minds.” Beginning “next school year, Fishburn will be dubbed as an environmentally focused school, meaning students won’t just be reading about science, they’ll be helping to create it.” The campus contains a greenhouse, a “pond habitat,” and “different butterfly and bird habitats.” School administrators hope that Fishburn’s environmentally friendly status will help attract more students. Currently, they are recruiting “students who don’t live in the area, though they’ll have to apply to get in.”

Volunteers Teach Elementary Students How To Cook.
The Miami Herald (6/4, Kanner) reports that for ten weeks, “chef Michelle Bernstein and a group of volunteers” taught “16 youngsters from North Miami’s William Jennings Bryan Elementary School how to cook” through “a national nonprofit program” called Common Threads. The goal of the program is to teach “the importance of nutrition and physical well-being” and foster “an appreciation of cultural diversity through cooking.” On the first day of the program, “the students, ages 9 to 13,” prepared “grilled flank steak and sautéed corn.” In addition, they “learned about everything from table manners to tahini, all by making — and eating — food from a different country each week.” The program was made possible by monetary and supply donations from the Children’s Trust, Johnson & Wales University, William Jennings Bryan Elementary School, and individuals.

Gifted Program Offers Residential College Education To Students After Middle School.
Education Week (6/4, Cavanagh) reports on the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG) at Mary Baldwin College, which is “one of several around the country that cater to students with superior talents and achievement who are seeking a different, and more academically challenging environment than they would likely encounter even at a specialized academy or magnet program.” Such programs “allow students to work alongside peers with similar gifts and, supporters say, nurture their talents in ways that generally aren’t available in traditional American schools.” At PEG students enroll “at age 13 or 14″ and graduate “with other Mary Baldwin undergraduates four years later.” The students are housed in a separate dorm and “follow a fairly strict schedule, which eases a bit as they get older.” The school recruits students identified through the Duke University Talent Identification Program as having standardized test scores similar to those of normal college freshman age on ACT or SAT exams.

On the Job
Dallas School Officials Will Not Fire Teachers Based On Classroom Effective Index Scores.
The Dallas Morning News (6/4, Hacker) reports, “Teachers cannot lose their jobs solely because of low scores calculated by a controversial ratings system, officials from the Dallas Independent School District have decided.” After DISD officials “told more than 200 teachers” in April “that they had to improve their scores by next year or look for a new job,” NEA Dallas “protested the…decision to measure teacher performance with the Classroom Effective Index (CEI).” According to critics, “teachers do not understand how the CEIs are calculated and they haven’t been told how to improve them.” Furthermore, “the CEIs are based on student test scores from 2007-08, not the school year that just ended.” DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said that “the district is reviewing how CEIs are used to evaluate teachers.”

Stimulus Dollars Allow District To Rescind Teacher Layoffs.
California’s Contra Costa Times (6/4, Lockett) reports, “On the heels of learning money had been raised to save its newest elementary school, Knightsen School District has rescinded all teacher layoff notices passed out earlier this year, and brought back the music program part time.” Superintendent Vickey Rinehart said that “a combination of federal stimulus money along with the laying off of part-time classroom aides and reducing hours of some other business and custodial employees,” has allowed the district to rescind the layoffs. And “counselor hours that were cut were also recovered, and the school board also voted to bring back the music teacher part time.”

Special Needs
Special Education Student In Wisconsin Leads High School’s Car Show Committee.
Wisconsin’s Journal Times (6/4, Fiori) reports on Chris Roberts, a “16-year-old Walden III High School special education student who has difficulty with organization and memory.” Roberts is the chairperson this year for “the school’s annual car show” Walden Wheels. In that position, he is responsible for keeping “the committee on track…telling them what needs to be done and” leading meetings. Julie Fornary, “special education teacher and car show advisor,” said that “while most special education students tend to steer clear of areas they struggle with, Chris is drawn to them and that seems to be helping him improve his skills.” Prior to heading the car show committee, Roberts would “forget math formulas and couldn’t remember what teachers said to take notes in class.” Fornary noted, “Three years ago he couldn’t keep track of his books. Now he’s running one of the longest-running events at our school. He’s proven labels mean nothing.”

School Finance
Michigan Eligible For $1 Billion In Education Stimulus Funding.
The Detroit Free Press (6/4, Spangler) reports that “Michigan can collect more than $1 billion in federal funding to help save teachers’ jobs and turn around schools, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today.” In the fall, “Michigan will be eligible for another $525 million” from the $787-billion federal stimulus bill’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. “The state…has already received $421 million” from the fund, “much of it committed to help school districts improve education for disabled and low-income students.” To receive the aid, states must agree to “report on teacher performance, student improvement, college readiness, and the success of turning around underperforming schools.”

Also in the News
Overexposure To Technology Seen As Distorting Kids’ Perception Of “The World.”
USA Today (6/4, Thompson) reports that Emory University English professor Mark Bauerlein says in his book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), that because “Generation Y, ages 16-29, has been shaped by exposure to computer technology since elementary school,” they may have “a distorted understanding of how the world works.” Even as kids write “more than ever online or in text messages,” they are not developing “the kind of narrative skill needed as adults. … ‘Those forms groove bad habits, so when it comes time to produce an academic paper…or when they enter the workplace, their capacity breaks down,’” Bauerlein says. He suggests that parents “do more to pull their teens away from technology, including being role models in developing intellectual pursuits.”

Wisconsin District Considers Eliminating Class Rank.
The Wisconsin State Journal (6/4, Kittner) reports, “The fight to be head of the class could be replaced with a less competitive, but some say more fair, system as the Waunakee School District — like others in Dane County — considers doing away with class rank.” Those who oppose “the ranking system say it forces unneeded competition and stress on students, while encouraging others to take less-challenging classes for the easy A.” Waunakee “has studied the issue for much of the school year — surveying high school students, teachers and some parents.” Waunakee High School principal Brian Kersten said that if the elimination of class rank is approved by the school board on Monday, rankings could be replaced “with another form of recognition” such as “a ‘laude’ system” in under which high performing “students [could] earn the distinction of summa cum laude, magna cum laude or cum laude.”

Firm Ships Laboratory Experiments Complete In Box.
The Denver Post (6/4, Plaven) reports Hands-On Labs Inc. of Englewood, CO, “is helping to bridge the gap between home-based education and laboratory experience.” The firm “through a product line called LabPaqs, has adapted laboratory experiments to a smaller scale that fits in a cardboard box and can be mailed to students.” LabPaqs was created by Peter and Linda Jeschofnig who said that the firm offers “more than 80 course-specific LabPaqs…in subjects that include chemistry, anatomy and geology,” and “20,000 LabPaqs will be shipped this year.”

NEA in the News
Indiana State Teachers Association Seeks To End Long-Term Disability Insurance Program.
The AP (6/4, Martin) reports that the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), “Indiana’s largest teachers union wants to stop offering school districts its own health and long-term disability insurance in July after the state found that questionable investments landed its insurance trust in financial trouble.” The ISTA’s “Insurance Trust has a net worth of negative $67 million, according to a state Department of Insurance order issued earlier this month.” Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt said that a consultant hired by the department “found so many red flags that it contacted state and federal regulatory agencies to investigate.” For instance “some trust investments had ‘disturbingly low liquidity’ and…too much was put in private investments that are not publicly traded.” Currently, “ISTA is working with [a] company it hopes will take over its long-term disability insurance, which is used by about a third of the state’s nearly 300 school districts.”

By ending its “troubled long-term disability program next month,” the Indiana State Teachers Union could leave “about one-third of the state’s school districts on the hook to pay benefits to 650 former school employees,” The Indianapolis Star (6/4, Ruthhart) adds. However, “it is unclear whether districts would have to pay those disability claims.”

Some School Districts Declare Financial Emergencies.
The AP (6/4, Armario) reports on school districts that have declared financial emergencies and their efforts to respond by cutting budgets, pay and staff. Yet “the designations are rare, even in a poor economy, said Mike Griffith, senior finance analyst with the Education Commission of the States in Denver.” Griffith attributes such emergencies to failures by the finance staff or political leadership not “paying attention” or “making the cuts they should have.” The districts affected are said to number “as many as two dozen of the more than 15,000 districts nationwide.” Meanwhile, “the National Education Association…said it’s concerned about districts targeting teacher salaries to balance their books.”

Public Military School Network Expanding Nationwide.
The AP (6/5) reports that “the US Marine Corps is wooing public school districts across the country, expanding a network of military academies that has grown steadily despite criticism that it’s a recruiting ploy.” Now, “more than a dozen public military academies” are open nationwide.” And, according to “Bill McHenry, who runs the Junior ROTC program for the Marines,” six other districts are considering “opening schools where every student wears a uniform, participates in Junior ROTC and takes military classes.” The efforts are encouraged by “a defense policy bill” passed by Congress last year “that included a call for increasing the number of Junior ROTC units across the country from 3,400 to 3,700 in the next 11 years.” McHenry noted that “the process will go faster by opening military academies, which count as four or more units.” Meanwhile, critics argue that “the schools are breeding grounds for the military.”

In the Classroom
Elementary Students Learn History, Math Concepts By Geocaching.
Virginia’s News & Advance (6/5, Desrets) reports that on Thursday, “Forest Elementary School fifth-grade students” participated “in what could be equated to an electronic scavenger hunt.” Debbie Newman is “one of 11 Instructional Technology Resource Teachers in the county who arranged the project,” which required students to use “satellite coordinates to find a container that someone else has hidden.” The container is “called a geocache.” According to the News & Advance, “More than 810,000 caches are active around the world.” The project falls in line with the Virginia Standards of Learning that focus on “latitude and longitude in…history class, and” on “using coordinate grids in math.” Furthermore Bedford County “elementary schools have used geocaching as a way to link their classes with a lesson in technology” throughout the school year.

Utah Districts Report Adaptive Testing Pilot Is Successful.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/5, Schencker) reports on a pilot testing program offered in the Sevier and Juab school districts in which “the districts dropped the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and Utah Basic Skills Competency Test and instead gave computerized, adaptive tests to students several times a year and college preparation tests to students in some grades.” The initial results reported are that “students are learning more, teachers are providing better instruction and parents have a deeper understanding of their children’s academic progress.” Principals in the districts are cited having “told State Board of Education members on Thursday that the tests…allow teachers to adjust instruction based on each student’s skills,” and “teachers also use the results to show parents graphs that chart their children’s progress compared with students in other districts and nationwide.” Though, “the federal government…denied Utah’s request last year to use adaptive tests to fulfill the requirements of No Child Left Behind,” some “state leaders say they’re optimistic about the future of adaptive testing in Utah.”

Law & Policy
South Carolina Supreme Court Orders Governor To Request Federal Stimulus Funds.
The AP (6/5, Davenport) reports, “South Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford (R) on Thursday to request $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools, ending months of wrangling with legislators who accused him of playing politics with people’s lives.” Without the money, educators “had predicted hundreds of teachers would lose jobs.” Sanford had “objected to the stimulus money on several levels that were consistent with his small government, anti-spending stances.” But after the ruling, the governor said that “he [would] not appeal the Supreme Court ruling and plans to sign paperwork to request the money Monday.”

Special Needs
Study Finds Many Retained Elementary Students Do Not Receive Special Education Plans.
Health Day (6/4) reported that “many elementary school students who are held back don’t receive a plan for special education services, according to a” report “published in the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.” For the study, Dr. Michael Silverstein, of Boston Medical Center, and colleagues, “looked at 380 kindergarten, grade 1 and grade 3 students who had to repeat a grade.” They found that “among the 300 kindergarten and grade 1 students, only 12.9 percent had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) on record during the year they were held back and 18.2 percent received an IEP in the next one to five years.” Furthermore, 18.9 percent of third-graders “had an IEP during or before the year they were held back, 8.8 percent received one within the next one to two years, and 72.3 percent never received an IEP, the study found.”

Student “Turnaround” Attributed To Wisconsin District’s Special Education Restructuring.
The Beloit (WI) Daily News (6/5, Rhodebeck) reports that according to educators in the School District of Beloit, “restructuring the special education program and providing more learning alternatives…has contributed to the recent turnaround among students with special needs.” The Hendricks Charter School, for example, “offers character education classes and job skills training that address struggles…special ed students often face.” Another example is Beloit Memorial High School, which “is moving away from teaching students” in classes “that move at a slower pace and have fewer students. Instead, the school next year will offer co-teaching in its required math courses and most of its English classes. The concept pairs a special ed teacher with non-special ed teacher.” Furthermore, staff relocations throughout the district have allowed “the special ed department increased teachers in the elementary and high schools. The department has 127 employees, including coordinators and speech therapists.”

Safety & Security
Florida Schools Urged To Review Supervision Policies To Prevent Crimes.
The St. Petersburg Times (6/5) asks in an editorial regarding allegations that “four Tampa teenagers…repeatedly raped a 13-year-old schoolmate on campus grounds … Where were the adults at Walker Middle School?” At a hearing on Wednesday, “prosecutors said…the victim endured months of abuse and intimidation — all apparently in silence.” Hillsborough County School District is said to have “anti-bullying policies in place,” but “those policies are not good enough,” the St. Petersburg Times stresses. “Staff should reasonably monitor every facility on campuses that holds large groups of students,” because “common sense says locker rooms and the like are easy places for students to gang up on others.” It concludes that the allegations “should be a warning to Hillsborough and other school districts to review their supervision policies and make sure their campuses are well-monitored.”

Results Of EPA Study Of Safety Of Synthetic Fields Expected “Within Weeks.”
USA Today /AP (6/5, Beamish) reports that “for years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has endorsed the use of ground-up tires to cushion the surfaces of children’s playgrounds and sports fields — a decision now being reconsidered because of concerns among the agency’s own scientists about possible health threats.” Currently, “the EPA is conducting” a study “of air and surface samples at four fields and playgrounds that use recycled tires.” Internal documents show that “doubts were raised by research suggesting potential hazards from repeated exposure to bits of shredded tire that can contain carcinogens and other chemicals.” USA Today points out that last year, a study by “the Consumer Product Safety Commission concluded…that synthetic fields pose no lead hazard for kids.” EPA study results “are expected within weeks.”

School Finance
Police Investigate Pennsylvania District’s Missing Construction Funds.
Pennsylvania’s Tribune-Review (6/5, Lowe, Hasch) reports that “Baldwin-Whitehall school officials have asked police to find out what happened to money that is missing from the district’s construction fund.” On Thursday, Superintendent Lawrence Kolchak said that he did not “know how much money is missing from the fund that was used to pay for the recently completed $64 million high school renovation project, which came in about $1 million under budget.” Whitehall police were called to investigate after questions were raised “about a check drawn from the construction fund.” The Tribune-Review adds that on Wednesday, “the school board…unanimously agreed to terminate the contract of business manager Jennifer Pesanka.” Pesanka called the termination “a personnel matter,” and said that he could not discuss it.

Also in the News
Teachers To Earn $125,000 Annually At New York City’s Equity Project.
On its front page, the New York Times (6/5, A1, Gootman) reports on the Equity Project, “an innovative charter school that will open in Washington Heights in September.” The school “is premised on the theory that excellent teachers — and not revolutionary technology, talented principals or small class size — are the critical ingredient for success.” It “will open with 120 fifth graders chosen this spring in a lottery that gave preference to children from the neighborhood and to low academic performers.” The Equity Project’s eight teachers will earn a $125,000 annual salary, “nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, and about two and a half times as much as the national average for teacher salaries.” In addition to their teaching responsibilities, teachers will also “hold responsibilities usually shouldered by other staff members, like assistant principals.” They will also have “about 6 [students] more than the typical New York City fifth-grade class.”

Teachers At Boys School In New York City Accuse Principal Of Mandating Grade Inflation.
The New York Daily News (6/4, Kolodner) reported, “Educators at the celebrated Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx have accused the principal of ordering them to inflate grades of special-needs students.” Some of the students, teachers say, “did not even attend class” or submit work. In response to the allegations, Eagle Academy Principal Osei Owusu-Afriye, “who is in his first year on the job, accused the teachers of being ‘disgruntled.’” While “he didn’t dispute that some grades were changed,” Owusu-Afriye “said the students in question had not received instruction that fit their individual education plans.” The Daily News notes that the teachers’ claims were “referred…to the Special Commissioner of Investigation Wednesday.”

Massachusetts District Switches To 1, 2, 3 Report Card Grade Format.
The East Bay (RI) Newspapers (6/4, Morse) reported that “a new standards based report card system will replace the traditional A,B,C format” for kindergartners, first- and second-graders in Seekonk [MA] public schools next year. “In September 2010, this format will be applied to all other elementary students up to fifth grade.” The East bay Newspapers explains that with the new report card system, “each number will indicate how well a student is meeting a grade level standard.” The “one” indicates that students are “beginning to develop a standard but are not yet able to produce required grade level work.” A “two” means that “they are approaching the grade level standard, and a ‘three” shows that “they are meeting or exceeding the grade level standard. In grades two through five, the scores will go from ‘one’ to ‘four.’”

NEA in the News
Teachers In Colorado District Seek Permanent Base Pay Increase.
The Denver Post (6/5, Meyer) reports that even though the Boulder Valley School District and the Boulder Valley Education Association “have reached a tentative contract agreement,” the conflict between the two groups is not necessarily over. “The union is recommending teachers vote against the agreement Aug. 17-18, because the proposed one percent increase will be for one year only and will not become part of their permanent base pay.” District leaders contend that “Boulder Valley cannot afford to build in a permanent pay increase because of looming financial problems. The state is withholding $110 million from school districts until Jan. 29, 2010, when state officials will determine whether they need the money.” But teachers argue that the district will receive “4.9 percent more” from the state “for 2009-10 compared with the previous year, or about $250 more for every student.”

Connecticut District’s Teachers Revamp Math Curriculum, Cut Topics Covered In Half.
The New York Times (6/8, A15, Hu) reports that teachers in the Westport, CT, school district rewrote “the algebra curriculum, limiting it to about half of the 90 concepts typically covered in a high school course in hopes of developing a deeper understanding of key topics.” The teachers began “replacing…math textbooks with their own custom-designed online curriculum” last year. “The lessons are typically written in Westport and then sent to a program in India, called HeyMath!, to jazz up the algorithms and problem sets with animation and sounds.” The new math curriculum scales “exercises like long formal proofs in geometry, revising lessons and homework assignments to teach students to defend their answers to math problems as a matter of routine rather than repeatedly writing them out.” According to Westport school officials, the changes have led to “less review in math classes, higher standardized test scores and more students taking advanced math classes”

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In the Classroom
Increasing Numbers Of Portfolio Tests Being Submitted In Virginia.
The Washington Post (6/8, Chandler) reports, “The District and many states, including Maryland and Virginia, use portfolios for students with serious cognitive disabilities.” Virginia, however, “has gone much further, expanding their use for students with learning disabilities or beginning English skills.” Throughout the state, “the number of math and reading portfolios submitted for such students” increased from “15,400 in 2006-07 to more than 30,000 in 2007-08, and state officials predict another jump this school year.” Pass rates for portfolio tests are also increasing in some districts. “Statewide, 87 percent of” students who submitted the portfolios “passed in reading and math last school year, up from 81 percent and 84 percent the year before. But because “pass rates for portfolio tests are relatively high,” some question their “value in rating schools.”

Standardized Tests Should Not Undercut Effective Teaching, Superintendent Says.
In an opinion piece for the Daily Press (6/7), York County School Division Superintendent Eric Williams wrote, “Students throughout Virginia have been taking the Standards of Learning (SOL) exams.” But even though “the SOLs provide focus, state assessment tests should not be emphasized in a way that leads educators to make decisions that undercut effective teaching and learning.” Williams contends that “this emphasis throughout the nation on just covering content, of exposing students to content, can come at the expense of true learning.” In order to “promote the joy of learning,” he suggests that teachers “focus not just on the SOLs, but also on…truly engaging students.” Williams concludes, “It is almost as if we need permission to have fun again as educators and students. Let’s give ourselves that permission.”

Floating Classroom Aimed At Increasing Students’ Interest In Science.
The Seattle Times (6/8, Guerrero) reports that “during the Puget Sound Student Science Symposium Friday at the REI store in Seattle,” High School senior Krystal Stewart “presented the results of a three-day research project she conducted with her class through Salish Sea Expeditions, a local nonprofit that tries to interest fifth- through 12th-grade students in science while aboard a floating classroom in Puget Sound-area waters.” Through Salish Sea Expeditions, students “are taught the scientific method. They pinpoint what they’re curious about, form a hypothesis, and then hop aboard a 61-foot sailing research vessel, where they learn to sail and camp for three to five days while collecting data.” Students pay “about $90 per day on the boat,” with some paying “on a sliding scale.”

Utah Board Of Education Adds STD Testing To Health Curriculum.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/8, Schencker) reports, “Utah schools should teach students about the importance of getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases, according to an updated state health curriculum approved Friday by the State Board of Education.” The guidance regarding “the importance of early detection” of STDs was added “at the urging of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Planned Parenthood, and about a dozen high school students who spoke at the board’s meeting.” Prior to the addition, “teachers were allowed to talk about testing…but it wasn’t an explicit part of the curriculum,” according to Frank Wojtech, “health and physical education specialist at the State Office of Education.”

Wake County, North Carolina, Group Calls For Expanded Cultural Studies.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (6/6, Hui) reported on a study by the Wake Education Partnership faulting the curriculum in Wake County because it “teaches more about North Carolina history than world history and doesn’t require learning another language.” Partnership president Ann Denlinger “warned that failing to adopt a system of ‘world-class education’ will leave Wake County and America behind the rest of the world.” The report calls for greater attention to world history and says “students should be required to learn one [foreign language] starting in kindergarten.” The report also calls for “changing the testing system to measure performance against that in other nations; and greater study of science, math, engineering and technology.”

More Schools Adopt Service Requirement.
The New York Daily News (6/7, Tewa) reported, “In April, Mayor Bloomberg launched the NYC Service Initiative, a wide-ranging program that includes requiring city schools to provide students access to service and volunteer programs by September. The move follows the federal Serve America Act and President Obama’s call for volunteerism amid these tough times.” Now “an increasing number of city high schools — public and private — are including volunteerism in the curriculum.” A Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement study found that “students who participated in community service for school were 22 percent more likely to graduate than those who didn’t,” thought it “also found that a majority of young people oppose community service as a requirement for high school graduation.”

Law & Policy
Doctors Dispute Over Proper Care For Athletes With Concussions.
The New York Times (6/8, D5, Schwarz) reports, “New guidelines for the care of youth athletes who sustain concussions are causing controversy among brain-injury experts, reigniting the debate over whether strict rules regarding concussions can actually leave athletes at greater risk for injury. An international panel of neurologists, updating their recommendations on concussion care in the May issue of The British Journal of Sports Medicine, said that any athlete 18 or younger who was believed to have sustained a concussion during a game or practice should never be allowed to return to the playing field the same day.” Yet “other doctors, many of whom work the sidelines of high school athletic events, said they feared the effects of such strictness. They predicted that athletes would respond by hiding their injuries from coaches and trainers even more than they are already known to do, leaving them at risk for a second and more dangerous concussion.”

California Abstinence Education Group At Center Of Argument Over Curriculum.
California’s Press Democrat (6/7, Benefield) reported, “A battle over sex education is under way in Sonoma County, pitting a longtime abstinence-only group against California Department of Education officials who say the group breaks state law when it teaches in the classroom.” The ACLU of Northern California “has worked for months to keep Free to Be from giving presentations in public schools.” Yet many “schools and districts…have hosted Free to Be speakers, including teens, to talk to students about the benefits of abstaining from sex until they are married.” The group “has received annual federal funding for its abstinence program” since at least 2000, and “in 2007, the group received approximately $540,000 in federal funding from the Community-Based Abstinence Education Program under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

San Francisco School Board Urged To Approve ROTC Physical Education Credit.
In the San Francisco Chronicle (6/8, H6, Saunders), Debra J. Saunders writes, “When the San Francisco school board voted last month to restore the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program, it seemed that sanity had prevailed — three years after the board voted to kill the popular program.” But, she pointed out, it the board does not vote “to recognize that JROTC fulfills students’ high school physical education requirements,” its “vote to keep JROTC could be viewed as a conniving stunt and a cruel hoax.” That is because “many students will not be able to fit [JROTC] into their schedules” unless it is counted as a PE credit. On “Tuesday, the board will vote on a measure to allow RO students to get their gym credits through independent study — but that’s onerous and unnecessary,” according to Saunders. She adds that “unless the board quickly makes up for its folly, there will be fewer such students graduating San Francisco schools.”

Education Cases Said To Offer Clues To Sotomayor’s Stance On School Matters.
Education Week (6/5, Robelen) reported that “during her 17 years on the federal bench, Judge Sonia Sotomayor has handled a relatively small number of cases dealing directly with K-12 education.” However, “those disputes…offer clues to the direction she might take on school matters if she joins the U.S. Supreme Court.” Education Week details Sotomayor’s opinions regarding some of those cases. According to Perry A. Zirkel, “a professor of education and law at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, PA,” in a sampling of these cases, Sotomayor “appears to exhibit ‘moderation, rather than radical revisionism,’ in her approach to the law, at least in school cases.” Furthermore, “Of 13 cases on special education, she ruled in favor of districts 58 percent of the time.” Still, “Mr. Zirkel and others have been quick to note that she doesn’t always — or in any automatic way — side with school districts.”

Special Needs
Arizona English-Immersion Program Shows Early Positive Results.
The Arizona Republic (6/8, Kossan) reports, “The U.S. Supreme Court this month will determine if Arizona has satisfied a federal court order to spend enough money to help English-language learners succeed in school. But no matter what the court decides in Flores vs. Arizona, one thing is not likely to change: the type of program — a unique, four-hour-a-day English-immersion course — that every English learner from kindergarten to high school must take.” The course is said to be showing positive results as “many schools report that a record number of students tested proficient in English at the end of this school year and will enter mainstream classes.” Yet “many educators maintain that the four-hour immersion course is expensive and difficult to implement and has no underlying research that proves it works.” Still, Arizona superintendent of public instruction Tom Horne said, “I’m hearing positive things, and enthusiastically positive things.”

California District’s Disagreements Over Special Education Often Lead To Legal Hearings.
The Fresno (CA) Bee (6/8, Kohlruss) reports that “parents and Clovis Unified School District officials are butting heads over how to teach special-needs children — and their disagreements are resulting in drawn-out, costly legal hearings.” Most of the “disagreements…stem from the district’s individual education plan, a teaching guide that is designed for each child. The plan is based on district assessments that may include other professional opinions.” If “a parent won’t accept what the district says it can provide, and mediation fails to find common ground, a hearing is the next step.” According to the Fresno Bee, “there were 38 requests for hearings at Clovis Unified since September 2005 — more than double the number filed for Fresno Unified, which is twice the size of the Clovis district.” A spokesperson for Clovis said that the district “is more willing to fight than other districts — even when it means racking up more than $100,000 in costs for a case.”

School Finance
Teacher Layoffs Expected In South Carolina Despite Federal Aid.
The AP (6/5, Adox) reported that even though federal “money will flow to South Carolina” after the state “Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to seek $700 million in federal stimulus money,” there will still be holes in the state budget, resulting in the loss of “hundreds of teachers’ jobs.” But “without the stimulus, kindergarten-through-12th-grade education would be starting the 2009-10 school year with about $500 million less than approved in budgets last summer.” The AP notes that “the state’s 85 public school districts will share the largest chunk of the cash: $185 million, with the amounts varying widely based on districts’ property values.”

Also in the News
Texas All Girls School Graduates First Class.
The Dallas Morning News (6/6, Fox) reported that “the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, a college preparatory magnet near Fair Park” graduated its first class last week. The school opened in 2004 “with only 124 students, a dozen teachers and one committed group of parents. Today, several of the girls say they are deeply grateful for the confidence, opportunity and rigor the school provided them.” Some in the graduating class said that they “initially balked at the same-sex environment and mandatory uniforms. But they said the school leaders put college in the front of their minds and removed ‘distractions’ that exist at coed schools.” At Irma Rangel, “the overall TAKS passing rates in all grades and all subjects” have been “near or at 100 percent” during “the school’s first five years.” Still, school officials say that “the real success of the school…will be measured over time, as Irma Rangel turns out more graduates and more grade levels take standardized tests

New York City DOE Seeks School Year Extension Waiver. The New York Daily News (5/27, Armaghan, et al.) reports, “It was back to class Tuesday for students at more than 20 schools closed because of swine flu fears, including one where an assistant principal died from the virus.” The city’s “Department of Education is seeking a waiver from the state so the school year doesn’t have to be extended past June 26 for closed schools.” Some schools that reopened Tuesday had been closed since as early as May 14.

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In the Classroom
Students In Baltimore Learn About Locally-Grown Foods From Well-Known Chefs.
The Baltimore Sun (5/26, Kelly) reported on the “Days of Taste” seminar that is currently being “offered at 17 Baltimore city and county schools.” The seminar “teaches children about what’s produced on Maryland farms, tells them about non-processed foods and encourages them to grow a little more adventurous at mealtime.” Last week, for instance, third-graders from Catonsville Elementary School visited “One Straw Farm in White Hall in northern Baltimore County,” where they “saw lettuce being started in the greenhouse and the growing fields.” According to the Baltimore Sun, “the instructors who donate their time” to the program “are some of [the city's] best-known chefs.” The seminar “is a project of the American Institute of Wine and Food, a nonprofit educational organization founded by television chef Julia Child, wine maker Robert Mondavi and others.”

Middle School Courses Combine Culinary Arts, Costume Design, And Business.
The Tampa Tribune (5/26, White) reported on “the culinary arts and costume design program at Progress Village Middle Magnet School for the Performing Arts, where acting and appetites mingle in an untraditional classroom setting filled with ovens, computers, refrigerators, sewing machines and dress mannequins.” Under the direction of Debbie Scourtes the “students learn the art of cooking and costume design,” and “in the classroom next door students study acting with drama teacher Tyler Leavitt.” The students put on dinner theater productions with the help of the two teachers, and “also hosted a Spring Fling food expo and fashion show” earlier this month. “During the expo, culinary arts students sold foods they produced in a challenging end-of-year project that incorporated their cooking abilities with computer, math and marketing skills.” In addition, “Once a month the students open the doors to Curtain Call Café, inviting teachers and staff to dine on a different style of international cuisine.”

California District To Teach Respect For Gays, Lesbians.
The San Francisco Chronicle (5/27, Tucker) reports, “The Alameda school board narrowly adopted an elementary school anti-bully curriculum Tuesday night intended to teach respect for gay and lesbian families and students.” As such, teachers in the Alameda school district will join those in “only a handful of Bay Area school districts” that “use the words ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay’ in fourth-grade classes.” While some spectators cheered “as the school board completed its 3-2 vote,” others “in the overflow audience were angered by the board’s decision to adopt the curriculum, which contains no opt-out provision for parents.” The new curriculum contains “six 45-minute lessons, one per year from kindergarten through fifth grade.” Younger students will learn about “the negative impacts of generic teasing. As students advance, the lessons introduce vocabulary such as gay, lesbian and bisexual, and include discussions related to diverse families and sexual orientation stereotypes.”

On the Job
Detroit Financial Manager, Teachers’ Union Work Together On Education Reform.
The Detroit News (5/26, Mrozowski) reported that on Tuesday, “Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb joined…with the head of the district’s teachers’ union and other state and national union leaders in a show of collaboration and a call for reform as the school system moves toward contract negotiations.” The district held a “training meeting…with all of its teachers to explore innovative instruction and teacher pay models used in other districts across the United States.” The Detroit News added that when Bobb “begins negotiations this month with the” teachers’ union, “finding new methods to improve student achievement” will be “at the forefront of the discussion.” The two sides will discuss, among other things, “peer review, differentiated pay systems, site-based school management and a chancellor district approach, such as the one in New York City schools.”

Law & Policy
Virginia Receives $806 Million From Education Stimulus.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (5/27, Meola) reports that “Virginia now has access to $806 million in education stimulus funding to help local school districts back fill budget cuts and save teaching jobs.” The largest portion — $659 million — of the stimulus “will be used to maintain state support to K-12 education and colleges and universities and to mitigate the need to raise in-state tuition rates, according to Sens. Jim Webb (D) and Mark R. Warner (D).” In the fall, “the state can apply for an additional $397 million.” The rest of the money “will be put toward other projects, including construction at higher education facilities.” Meanwhile, “educators hope to compete for part of an additional $5 billion in stimulus money that will be awarded to states most aggressively trying to improve student achievement.”

Texas Teachers Would Receive $800 Annual Pay Raise Under Bill Approved By State Senate.
The Dallas Morning News (5/27, Stutz) reports, “Texas teachers would be in line for an $800-a-year pay raise under a school finance bill that the Senate passed late Tuesday.” The bill would provide an overall “average funding hike of just under three percent” for “school districts across the state,” which would be “paid for with $1.9 billion in new state aid over the next two years.” The legislation, which “was approved unanimously” by the Senate, would also “raise the threshold for determining which school districts must share their property tax revenues under Robin Hood provisions of the school finance system.” Robin Hood districts gave “more than $1 billion” last year “to help equalize funding across the state.”

Alabama Increases Dropout Age To 17.
WTVY-TV Dothan, AL (5/26, Araizza) reported that “Ozark City Schools Superintendent Michael Lenhart agrees with Governor Bob Riley’s (R) decision to raise the dropout age. Last week, the governor signed a bill upping the age to dropout from 16 to 17.” The law also requires that before a student drop out, he or she “attend an exit interview with a school administrator and a parent or guardian” and “sign a document showing they understand the consequences of leaving school early.” The Ozark school system is currently “below the 90-percent graduation rate,” but school officials “are hopeful the new law will increase the number of students graduating.”

Special Needs
Sensory Room Helps Calm, Stimulate Students With Special Needs At Florida Elementary School.
The Miami Herald (5/27, Mazzei) reports on “the new sensory room at Hollywood Park Elementary,” for special needs students, which is “part classroom, part indoor playground.” The purpose of the room is to “help calm anxious kids and stimulate nonresponsive ones during the school day.” In one “corner of the room” is “a vibrating mat for kids to lie down. For fine motor skills, there’s a tabletop sandbox with different textures and little shovels.” Moreover, “a tunnel to tumble through and brightly colored circles that look like lily pads and make noises when kids step on them” help “to improve large-muscle coordination.” And “across the room, a sound-responsive panel lights up to students’ vocalizations to encourage them to speak.”

One-Third Of Special Education Students In Virginia District Drop Out Of High School.
The Virginian-Pilot (5/27, Garrow) reports that “state statistics on dropouts released in March revealed that one-third of the special education students” in Suffolk Public Schools [VA] “who entered ninth grade for the first time in fall 2004 dropped out within four years.” The rate is “well above the state rate of 13.5 percent and the highest among all South Hampton Roads school divisions.” School officials say that “poor record keeping” may “have misidentified some students. … Despite those inconsistencies, school officials don’t deny there’s a problem. Now, they’re trying to find out why.” According to the data, “The special education dropouts were across several disability categories — from mild learning delays to more severe disabilities — and had no particular IQ scores.” District officials are currently “brainstorming new ways to prevent special education students from dropping out.”

School Finance
New Formula Would Increase Per-Pupil Funding To $68,750 In New Jersey Village.
New Jersey’s Star Ledger (5/27, Spoto) reports that under New Jersey’s “new school funding formula, the average cost per student in the tiny village of Loch Arbour is increasing to a whopping $68,750.” But school officials say that would be “impossible for homeowners to shoulder and will surely drive prospective homebuyers away.” Even though “the average home in Loch Arbour is assessed at $1.4 million,” the median household income is $74,250. And because the village “pays to send its pupils to schools in neighboring Ocean Township,” homeowners would have to pay “$1.6 million in education costs. The hike would mean a $12,000 annual tax increase for the average homeowner — just for the school portion of their property tax bills, which go out in August.” As such, “State Sen. Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) has drafted legislation phasing in the hike for Loch Arbour over five years” that “would require the state to pick up the difference.”

Also in the News

Study Shows That Attention Problems Strongly Impact Children’s Future Academic Success.
The Sacramento Bee (5/26, White) reported, “Six-year-olds who don’t pay attention well in class apparently struggle throughout their school years, and reach age 17 with lower math and reading scores than their peers,” according to a study published “in the June edition of the journal Pediatrics.” HealthDay (5/26, West) added that for the study, researchers from the University of California-Davis (UC-Davis) School of Medicine “used data” from a previous study in which investigators “followed more than 800 children from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds in the Detroit area.” Researchers “used information collected on 693 of these children, from ages six through 17,” and “found that attention problems — including symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) — had the strongest impact on a child’s future academic success.” The authors “suggested that school officials need to focus more resources on identifying and helping young children who are struggling with attention problems.”

Virginia Considers Eliminating Third-Grade History Test.
The Washington Post (5/28, Birnbaum) reports that on Thursday, “the Virginia Board of Education will take up eliminating the third-grade history test, a move state officials say would open up time for core subjects such as math and reading.” Schools in Virginia have administered the test for 11 years. “Forty multiple-choice questions cover material from kindergarten through third grade, which state officials say puts an unfair burden on the memories of young children.” Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright expects that the change would be popular among teachers and school administrators, “but some educators say that without test pressure forcing history standards to be taught, class time devoted to the subject could dwindle.” And “many Virginia history education proponents,” who “often complain that the multiple-choice format emphasizes rote memorization over analytical skills” agree that it’s better for the state to “have something than nothing.”

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In the Classroom
Solitude Seen As Necessary For Learning.
In a commentary for Education Week (5/27) Diana Senechal wrote that “unlike many who either praise” teenagers’ use of online networking, “or warn of its external dangers,” New York University education history professor Jonathan Zimmerman “brought up a rarely mentioned subject” in his “recent opinion piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer.” He focused on “the loss of solitude.” According to Senechal, “It is strange that we hear so little about solitude in the schools.” There is “so much emphasis on socialization and so little on aloneness.” But, she noted that “both are needed for learning and for life.” Other “forces” are also “tearing away at solitude. Schools bombard students and teachers with the rhetoric and practice of group work.” Consequently, “schools seem to have forgotten that students need ample quiet time for thinking, reading, and puzzling over problems.” Meanwhile, Senechal warns that “solitude should not become a fad; that would make some of us wish we had never brought it up at all.”

On the Job
North Carolina District’s Best Teachers Found To Transfer After Busing Changes.
Education Week (5/27, Viadero) reported, “The best teachers tend to leave when their schools experience an influx of African-American students, according to a study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school district published” Wednesday in the Journal of Labor Economics. For the study, “C. Kirabo Jackson, an associate professor of labor economics at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y.,” looked at “patterns of teacher movement in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools between 2002 and 2003… when the 137,000-student district ended its long-running policy of busing students to keep schools racially integrated.” He found that “at all levels of schooling, high-quality teachers — both black and white — were more likely to switch schools as the policy change began to take effect and student populations shifted.” But, Jackson said that it is unclear whether the teachers moved “to schools…so that they could be closer to their own suburban homes, or for higher salaries, or because they were drawn to certain types of students.”

Florida District’s Contract Provides More Planning Time For Teachers.
The St. Petersburg Times (5/28, Winchester) reports that “the Pinellas School Board ratified the working portion of a new teacher contract Tuesday, agreeing by a narrow margin to end the school day early every Wednesday beginning in August to provide teachers with” an additional hour of planning time. Furthermore, “middle and high school teachers will be required to prepare no more than two sets of lesson plans for their students in the coming school year,” and they “will work six out of seven periods each day.” The agreements comes “after 18 months of negotiations” between district officials and the teachers union. “The teachers ratified the contract last week.”

Manhattan Judge Rules In Favor Of Teacher In Corporal Punishment Case.
The New York Times (5/28, A22, Hernandez) reports, “When Glenn Storman, a guidance counselor at Public School 212 in Gravesend, Brooklyn, came across an unruly student cursing at a substitute teacher in 2004, he ordered the boy to ‘zip it’ and brandished a rolled-up piece of paper, thinking that would be the last he heard of the encounter.” Now, Storman “is embroiled in a legal dispute over allegations that he committed corporal punishment.” He received “an unsatisfactory rating” from the principal, and wants the rating to be erased. But “the [New York] Department of Education…has defended the rating, arguing that Mr. Storman did indeed touch the student.” A Manhattan judge “ruled in Mr. Storman’s favor” this month, “saying she did not find evidence of corporal punishment.” The Times points out that the ratings teachers receive from principals “can determine whether they are eligible for lucrative teaching opportunities outside of the normal school year.”

Law & Policy
Washington’s Education Reforms Said To Offer Case For Race To The Top Funds.
The Seattle Times (5/28) editorializes that “states making the most strides to transform their public schools will snag part of a $5 billion federal ‘Race to the Top’ fund meant to push innovation and reform.” And “Washington must aggressively go after this money.” According to the Seattle Times the state would be a strong competitor for Race to the Top funds because “the education-reform bill recently signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) calls for improvements in preparing students for college and work, closing the achievement gap, and a database that tracks student and teacher performance.” Furthermore, “the state Board of Education has improved math and science standards. … And the Legislature authorized $4 million in the budget for technological improvements to the state’s testing system.” However, the Seattle Times points out, “if the applications run into trouble it will be because the state is long on good intentions and short on results.”

Oregon Legislature Approves Anti-Bullying Legislation.
The Oregonian (5/27) reported, “By a vote of 26-2, the Senate approved House Bill 2599, requiring school districts to establish clear, uniform policies to combat bullying and to appoint specific individuals to investigate incidents.” According to “a recent survey by the Oregon Students of Color Coalition…41 percent of eighth-graders in Oregon reported being subjected to name-calling, bullying or other harassment at school, with the highest rates among students of color, girls, and gays.” The bill will go to the governor for his signature.

Facilities
Arizona Parents, Education Leaders Concerned About School Inspection Oversights.
The Arizona Republic (5/28, Boehnke) reports that “for 13 years, the roof of a Tempe elementary school supported more weight than it was designed to bear before caving in without warning two months ago. Inspections had failed to uncover significant problems.” And “parents and educational authorities are concerned that recent roofing problems at…three Valley schools could indicate a larger, statewide pattern of schools in disrepair.” According to forensic engineer John Denny, school inspections “are usually done by people who do not have the training or the skills to detect structural problems.” State School Facilities Board Director John Arnold “says he intends to meet with experts and insurance-company representatives to review the findings from all three schools and design protocols that would consider all potential problems and warning signs.”

School Finance
Virginia School Officials Concerned About Flat, Reduced Budgets.
The Washington Post (5/28, Birnbaum) reports, “As the toughest school spending cuts in several years become reality July 1, Virginia education officials credit the federal stimulus law for helping them avoid more onerous reductions.” Nevertheless, “they are looking nervously to the next budget cycle.” Some “school officials…are concerned about the consequences of flat or reduced budgets as they struggle to accommodate enrollment growth.” For instance, while “Fairfax County schools are expecting 5,200 new students next fall,” the district’s budget has “a decrease of almost 1 percent from this year’s level,” and eliminated “800 staff positions,” increased “class sizes,” and froze employee salaries. Meanwhile, “Prince William school officials approved a $786 million spending plan this month, representing a 1.6 percent cut from current levels.” While “no staff members were laid off, and employees received a 2.9 percent salary increase,” the “average middle and high school class sizes will increase.”

Oklahoma City, Tulsa School Leaders Praised For Work On Curriculum Reform.
The Oklahoman (5/28) editorializes that “innovation” is “what U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan repeatedly says he’ll be looking for as his department awards special pots of federal stimulus money set aside for schools.” Some are concerned that “the approach will swap untested new ideas for solid old ones. And then there’s the not-so-small problem that judging the success of any innovation doesn’t happen quickly.” Because “school reform takes time,” the Oklahoman is “encouraged by efforts in Oklahoma City and Tulsa to leverage federal stimulus money to revamp curriculum for secondary schools.” Administrators in both districts have “described a partnership with two well-known education groups to keep what’s working and change what’s not.” It concludes that “this effort strikes us as a good and meaningful investment. And it’s another reminder that both cities are fortunate to have bright superintendents who are working with and on behalf of each other for the benefit of kids.”

Also in the News
Florida High School Students Protest On Behalf Of Suspended Classmates.
The St. Petersburg Times (5/28, Solochek) reports that three seniors from Hudson High School in Hudson, FL, “have taken the heat for taking over the school public address system on the last day of senior classes to tell all seniors to come to a stage near the cafeteria.” The three boys were suspended “from all further school activities, including graduation.” That decision, said Principal Dave LaRoche, “was not an easy” one, “but it was one that would stand.” Meanwhile, “assistant superintendent for high schools Jim Davis deemed the matter closed, saying that principals have the authority to suspend students up to 10 days for violating the student code of conduct.” On Wednesday afternoon, about “three dozen of their…classmates and friends held up banners,” chanting, “Let them walk!” One of the suspended students, senior Frank Serrano, said, “We take it almost as a personal insult when administration says three of us can’t walk. … We’re going to try our best to get them to change it.”

Group Starts Hunger Strike To Protest Los Angeles Teacher Layoffs.
In the Los Angeles Times’ (5/7) LA Now blog, Ruben Vives wrote, “A group of teachers and community activists plans to start a hunger strike [this week] in protest of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s plan to lay off thousands of teachers.” According to Lincoln High School teacher Sean Leys, who plans to participate in the strike, “the group is demanding a new budget from the district that will not include layoffs or class-size increases. It also wants the district use part of its federal stimulus money to avoid budget cuts.”

NEA in the News
Poorly-Performed Audits Do Not Help Educators Identify Problems, MEA President Says.
In a column for the Detroit News (5/28), Michigan Education Association president Iris Salters writes, “The debate over how to fix failing schools remains front and center in Lansing and at local school board meetings.” Yet, “many failing schools are not getting crucial information that could help turn them around.” Specifically, “audits that are supposed to identify what poorly performing schools are doing wrong are being done superficially, if at all.” And “failing schools no longer get intense attention from the state Department of Education,” including “comprehensive interviews and observations as well as the in-depth personal reviews by experienced auditors that lend crucial information.” The Michigan Education Association wants “to be — and should be — part of the solution,” but Salters points out that educators must be given “the tools to figure out the problem before [they] propose solutions.”

Arizona Mandate Aims To Reduce Number Of Students In ELL Classes.
The AP (5/29) reports, “A new mandate that will reduce the number of students who get special help to learn English has stirred up another controversy over Arizona’s 150,000 so-called English-language learners [ELL].” Previously, parents were asked to list “the primary language used in their home…the language that is most often used by their child, and” which language “the student first acquired.” Next year, however, schools must “only ask what the student’s primary language is. If the answer is English, schools are now required to place the student into a mainstream classroom without testing English proficiency.” According to Arizona schools Superintendent Tom Horne, “the change stems from too many children being identified as English learners because they are behind academically, not because they have problems with the language.” But “some…see Horne’s changes as a way to save money at the expense of students who can’t read, write or speak English well enough to achieve in school.”

The Arizona Republic (5/29, Kossan) adds, “Nearly 50,000 new students enroll in English-language programs in Arizona schools each year.” Yet it is “unknown how many students statewide would be affected by the new screening.”

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In the Classroom
Florida Officials Highlight Long-Term State Testing Gains.
The St. Petersburg Times (5/29, Marshall, et al.) reports, “Performance slipped this year for 10th graders on the high-stakes reading portion of the” Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), “with large majorities of students still below grade level.” However, when test scores were released on Thursday, “state officials accentuated the positive Thursday, pointing to long-term gains in every subject since 2001.” Every Florida district except Pinellas “has improved its 10th grade reading score by 2 to 4 percentage points” for the “past five years.” Meanwhile, “elementary and middle school students gained 1 to 3 percentage points over last year in math, science and reading. And middle-schoolers statewide made a fourth straight year of improvements in reading, after years of stagnant scores.”

Report Suggests Changes To Maryland’s Math Curriculum.
WBAL-TV Baltimore (5/28) reported, “A consultant’s report released Thursday” by “consultants from a company called Achieve Inc.” sheds “light on what still needs to be done in the mathematics department of Maryland schools.” Achieve spokesman Matt Gandal said, “Too many young people, when they leave high school in Maryland, are not prepared for their next steps, whether that’s college or trying to get a good job. So, I think some hard questions need to be asked about what they are being taught.” Maryland educators say they will “review the recent report before deciding whether to change standards. The report suggested Maryland make changes in specific areas such as geometry and probability.”

Law & Policy
Sotomayor Seen As Exhibiting Smarts, Independence In Education Cases.
The Seattle Times (5/29) editorializes, “On the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Sonia Sotomayor has exhibited judicial smarts and independence, offering her thoughts on cases even where she sided with the majority.” For instance, the 1999 case of Gant v. Wallingford Board of Education involved “the mid-year transfer of an African-American student at a public school in Wallingford, [CT]. The student’s family claimed the school…discriminated against the student by showing ‘deliberate indifference’ to racial hostility he encountered at the nearly all-white school. The school also demoted the boy to kindergarten from first grade.” While “Sotomayor sided with the majority in…rejecting the racial-harrassment claim,” she also “offered a forceful dissent of the panel’s conclusion that the transfer was not an act of racial discrimination.” Meanwhile, “In the 2006 2nd Circuit case, Frank G. v. Board of Education of Hyde Park, Sotomayor was part of a unanimous decision allowing parents to be reimbursed for private school tuition for a child with disabilities.”

New Jersey Supreme Court Upholds School Funding Formula.
The New York Times (5/29, A19, Hu) reports, “The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new school financing formula that replaced a controversial one that had favored poor urban districts.” The old formula “concentrated education spending in 31 so-called Abbott districts,” providing less for “the state’s 584 other districts in suburban and rural areas. The new formula apportions money to all districts based on the characteristics of their students, like family income…and special academic needs.” It “was adopted by the state early last year in response to widespread complaints that the previous version.” According to Justice Jaynee LaVecchia in her written opinion, the state no longer must “provide supplemental money to the Abbott districts, which got their name from a long-running lawsuit about inequalities in school financing, Abbott v. Burke. But she also wrote that the formula must continue to be fully financed, and that it needed to be reviewed after three years.”

Texas Senate Rejects State BOE Nominee.
The AP (5/29, Stone) reports, “Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked the reappointment of the conservative chairman of the State Board of Education, which sets standards and policies for public schools.”

The Dallas Morning News (5/29, Stutz) adds that the Senate “Democrats decried” board member Don McElroy’s “lack of leadership and ‘endless culture wars’ over evolution and other volatile topics.” The vote went “along strict party lines” with the 19 Republicans voting in favor of the nomination and 11 of the 12 Democrats voting against it. “One Democrat abstained from the vote.” Republicans “rejected the criticism and accused the Democrats of holding an ‘inquisition’ against the College Station Republican for holding views shared by many Texans — including a Bible-based explanation for the origin of humans.” Because McLeroy did not get the two-thirds majority vote required for approval, “Gov. Rick Perry (R), who nominated McLeroy, will now have to select another member of the board to serve as chairman.” Meanwhile, McLeroy will keep “his seat on the board.” The Houston Chronicle (5/29, Scharrer) also covers the story.

States Seeking Education Stimulus Funds Should Embrace Innovation, Duncan Says.
The AP (5/28, Quaid) reported, “States will hurt their chance to compete for millions of federal stimulus dollars if they fail to embrace innovations like charter schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Thursday” during a visit to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. Duncan “was responding to a question about Tennessee, where Democratic state lawmakers have blocked an effort to let more kids into charter schools.” According to the AP, the state is “a logical candidate for the stimulus money” because it “recently overhauled its graduation requirements, academic standards, and state tests” –all of which are education priorities for the Obama administration. However, Tennessee “has perhaps the most restrictive charter school law in the country.”

Facilities
Education Department Using Stimulus Funds To Encourage “Green” School Projects.
In the New York Times’ (5/28) Green Inc. blog, Libby Tucker wrote, “Faced with a large stock of deteriorating public school buildings, school districts across the country are experimenting with new construction and renovations that save energy as well as improve educational facilities.” For instance, at the Da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland, OR, a “prototype green classroom addition” currently “under construction…includes natural daylighting, passive heating and cooling systems, solar roof tiles and other green features that yield a 70 percent efficiency improvement over Oregon building code requirements.” To encourage such efforts, the U.S. Department of Education will allow states to use some of the $48.6 billion for education provided under the stimulus bill for “school construction, renovation, and repair projects” that apply “to ‘green’ buildings.”

School Finance
Los Angeles Unified School District Cancelling Most Summer School Programs.
The Los Angeles Times (5/29, Mehta, Song) reports, “The Los Angeles Unified School District [LAUSD] announced Thursday it is canceling the bulk of its summer school programs, the latest in a statewide wave of cutbacks expected to leave hundreds of thousands of students struggling for classes.” According to LAUSD officials, “all summer school classes and most non-academic offerings such as playground and pool programs are being canceled at elementary and middle schools.” And at the high school level, “only credit-recovery courses in core requirements will be offered.” The cancellations will eliminate $34 million from the district’s budget, “although officials must cut almost $97 million more before July.”

Also in the News
Kansas Student Wins National Spelling Bee.
ABC News (5/29, News) reports, “The fourth time was the charm for spelling bee veteran Kavya Shivashankar, who won the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night in Washington with the correct spelling of ‘Laodicean,’ which means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics.” The AP (5/29, White) notes that as first-place winner, Shivashankar took “home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes and, of course, the huge champion’s trophy.” The Economic Times (5/29) adds, “Tim Ruiter, 12, a seventh grade student from Centreville, Virginia was declared the runner-up, while Aishwarya Pastapur, 13, from Springfield in Illinois got the third spot.” In the Kansas City Star’s (5/28) Midwest Voices blog, editor Miriam Pepper wrote that Shivashankar “gives Kansas a welcome national reputation boost. Instead of garnering headlines for evolution flaps, a 13-year-old shows America an awe-inspiring talent in spelling expertise.”

Focusing on the event, the Washington Post (5/29, Birnbaum) reports that “the contest bore the trappings of an athletic event, with sweeping boom cameras, heavily made-up announcers, and 41 semifinalists, who had been winnowed from a field of 293.” The post also points out that “the high-gloss event, televised on ESPN and prime-time ABC, is perhaps the one time a year that sportscasters cover the English language with the same alacrity they do college football.” In the Boston Globe’s (5/29) Viewer Discretion blog, Joanna Weiss lists her “favorite things” about this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. She noted that “unlike some young professional athletes, these kids weren’t universally poised or preternaturally cheery.” Some cried, others “grimaced, and all of them were lovable.”

Parent Link Allows Parents To Access Interactive Academic Portfolio.
The New York Times (5/29, A19, Hernandez) reports that “after several months of delays, a Web site that offers an interactive portfolio of” New York City “public school students’ test scores, grades, and attendance rates will be available for all parents by the end of June, the Department of Education said on Thursday.” Parent Link, which “is available in nine languages,” was “developed by I.B.M.” as “part of an $80 million data and information initiative.” It will allow parents “to view overall course grades and scores on state tests, but not individual scores on class assignments.” They will also “be able to see attendance histories and look at the probability of a student passing state math and English exams, based on how they have scored on periodic city tests. It will also show how their child is doing compared with children at schools serving similar student populations.”

Forty-Six States Involved In Effort To Create Uniform Academic Standards.
The Washington Post (6/1, Glod) reports, “Forty-six states and the District of Columbia today will announce an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools.” Currently, states decide on their own “what to teach in third-grade reading, fifth-grade math and every other class.” But the uniform standards movement “led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers” aims “to define a framework of content and skills that meet an overarching goal. When students get their high school diplomas, the coalition says, they should be ready to tackle college or a job.” Moreover, “the benchmarks would be ‘internationally competitive.’” After “the organizers of the effort agree to a proposal, each state would decide individually whether to adopt it.”

Education Week (6/1, McNeil) adds that as of last week, “the four states not on board…were Alaska, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas.” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the collaboration “a giant step. … It would have [been] unimaginable, this kind of thing, just a year or two ago,” he noted.

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In the Classroom
Preschool Drama Program Teaches Problem-Solving, Vocabulary.
The Dallas Morning News (6/1, Meyers) reports that preschoolers at the Carpe Diem school “attend a weekly drama class that retools the traditional pencil-and-paper curriculum.” Conducted “by Dallas-based Capers for Kids,” the program “is a rare form of art-driven schooling that takes place in few other preschools outside of North Texas.” It aims to “balance educational advancement with the playful aspects of childhood” by teaching “sequencing and…vocabulary through storytelling.” Students also tackle “problem-solving by throwing out impromptu lines” while developing confidence “and public speaking skills.” The Dallas Morning News notes that Capers for Kids founder Sherry Capers “started the program three decades ago as an extracurricular activity for elementary school students. But she found that younger children responded just as energetically to fairytale skits and superhero characters.”

Middle School Students In Kentucky Correspond With Soldier In Afghanistan Via Blog.
The New York Times /AP (6/1, A16) reports that “Aaron Connor, a Ballard Memorial High School graduate now serving near Ghazni City, Afghanistan, with the Illinois National Guard,” answers questions from “sixth-grade social studies students at Ballard County Middle School” via his blog.

Kentucky’s Courier Journal (5/30, Kinsey) added that “middle school teacher Ashley Bodell, who graduated with Connor in 2001, arranged the correspondence between him and Cathey Seaton’s social studies classes.” Seaton had first planned to have her students write letters by hand, but finally settled on the internet correspondence. “Student Logan Pickett helped design the blog. He included a photo of [an] ice storm” that hit the area “in January and a local weather map.”

Kindergartners Create Class Podcasts To Present Research Projects.
The Kingsport (TN) Times News (5/31, Wagner) reported that at Miller Perry Elementary School, “all 85 or so kindergarten students” learned to podcast this year. And students in Jamie Whitinger’s class collaborated on a series of podcasts. “For the most recent of Whitinger’s class podcasts, viewable on the Web sites of the school and their teacher, the class split into two self-chosen groups: planets and animals.” Students found information about their subjects using the Google search engine. Whitinger also taught her students “which photographs and images they could re-post as podcasts and which they could not.” After gathering the information, “students copied and pasted their research into a PowerPoint program, afterward pulling it into a Windows Movie Maker program. … The last component was the spoken words of the students, explaining what they had found and what the photographs and images meant.” Principal Karen Broyles said that she plans for the entire school to begin podcasting in August.

Students In Arizona District’s After-School Ballet Program Raise Reading And Math Scores.
The Arizona Republic (6/1, Smokey) reports that instructor Camden Lloyd’s after school ballet program “has taught hundreds of children from needy families the fine art of classical dance. It was named a 2009 A+ Exemplary Program by the Arizona Educational Foundation.” Aimed at “third- [through] eighth-graders at Clarendon and Encanto elementary schools and Osborn Middle School,” the program “is funded primarily by grants, school tax credits, and donations.” Participants, including both male and female students, are provided with “shoes and clothing…a healthful snack, a library of ballet literature, a nutrition teacher, and a teacher to help with study hall.” Since the program began, participants “have read, learned about, and seen performances of” various popular plays. According to “Sindi Westberg, the Osborn District’s resource developer…this year, for the first time, the district extracted how students in the program performed academically.” Officials found that “reading and math scores” were about eight points higher for ballet program participants “than the rest of the school.”

On the Job
“Successful” Public Schools Said To Have Teacher Pay Programs Overseen By Principals.
Columnist Jay Mathews writes in the Washington Post (6/1), “It is hard for me to find a school leader with a track record for raising student achievement who does not admire almost everything Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is doing with the D.C. schools.” According to Mathews, “Rhee is right when she says that the standard way of assessing and compensating teachers is a mess.” As such, she has “proposed paying teachers as much as $135,000 a year based on achievement gains,” among other criteria…as long as they are willing to forgo tenure protection.” Mathews acknowledges that “the idea of” merit pay “makes sense to many people.” But, he adds, if merit pay is “done in the public and scrutinized way indicated by Rhee and the president, it could ruin the team spirit that has produced the most successful public schools.” Those schools often allow “carefully selected and trained principals” control over “decisions [about] salary and other matters.”

Law & Policy
Supreme Court Expected To Decide On Reimbursement For Private Special Education.
The New York Times (6/1, A14, Lewin) reports, “In a case with potential financial repercussions for school districts and families alike, the United States Supreme Court will soon decide when public schools must reimburse parents of special-education students for private-school tuition.” The Supreme Court case centers on “a struggling Oregon high school student…whose parents enrolled him in a $5,200-a-month residential school after he became a heavy marijuana user and ran away from home.” The student “was found ineligible for special-education services at his high school in the Forest Grove School District” despite his “history of behavioral problems.” According to the Times, “disability rights advocates” and “the federal Department of Education” agree “that the law must allow such reimbursement, even for children who were never in special education.” But “school districts…contend that paying for private school for students whose parents enrolled them without district consent…diverts precious resources from the millions of special-education students served in the public schools.”

Education Advocates Propose National World Class Schools Act To Replace NCLB.
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post (5/30), former secretaries of labor William Brock and Ray Marshall and National Center on Education and the Economy president Marc Tucker wrote, “The key to U.S. global stature after World War II was the world’s best-educated workforce. But now the United States ranks No. 12, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and today’s younger generation is the first to be less educated than the preceding one.” The authors “propose the National World Class Schools Act to replace” No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in order to get the US on the track toward improved education. Brock, Marshall, and Tucker list several guidelines states would have to meet in order to receive federal education funds under the National World Class Schools Act. They include getting “outstanding students to go into teaching and” treating “them like professionals” and providing “high-quality training” to schools “whose students are not on track to succeed.”

Nevada Senate Unanimously Passes Board Of Education Reform Bill.
The Las Vegas Sun (6/1, Ryan) reports that “a bill to overhaul the hierarchy of education has sailed through the [Nevada] Senate 21-0 after its sponsor said it would position Nevada to make future improvements in the public schools.” According to “Senate Majority Leader Stephen Horsford (D)…Senate Bill 330 calls for closer evaluation of how the students are progressing or not progressing.” The legislation would replace the “10-member state Board of Education” with “an elective-appointive board.” One board member would be elected “from each of the three congressional districts.” Another would be appointed by the governor, “the Legislature would select two persons, and the Nevada System of Higher Education would name one non-voting member.” Moreover, “many of the education advisory committees would be eliminated” under SB 330.

Oklahoma Law Will Ease Career Switchers’ Transition To Teaching.
The Oklahoman (5/31) editorialized, “We wouldn’t expect teacher unions to get excited about the idea of more teachers coming to the profession via non-traditional routes. … But that’s part of what ails education — it’s too old school.” Legislation was recently signed into law, allowing “teachers certified through the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence to be hired in Oklahoma schools.” This “program…is designed for professionals who want to change careers” and will open “the door for school administrators to cast a wider net when searching for teachers.” According to the Oklahoman, “Good teachers don’t just come from colleges of education, and it’s about time the education sector finally left behind that mind-set.” It concluded that “principals are tasked with hiring the best applicant for the job available. Maybe that’s a teacher with alternative certification. Maybe it’s not. But administrators should embrace the possibilities.”

Special Needs
Virginia’s Guidelines On Student Restraint, Seclusion Do Not Apply To Public Schools.
Virginia’s Daily Press (5/31, Grimes) reports, “At first glance, Virginia looked reasonably good in a scathing federal report on the use of restraints and seclusion rooms in public and private schools released this month by the Government Accountability Office.” According to GAO officials, even though “no federal laws govern the use of restraints and seclusion on students…17 states, including Virginia, had regulations.” Furthermore, “none of the report’s case studies originated in Virginia.” Still, state Department of Education spokeswoman Julie Grimes pointed out that the guidelines only apply to private schools and that “no state law” governs “the use of restraints…in the state’s public elementary, middle, and high schools.” In 2005, “the state Education Department developed guidelines…to help districts develop policies.” However, “in April, only 38 districts had them.”

Also in the News

American Indian Charters Among Highest Performing Schools In California.
The Los Angeles Times (6/1, Landsberg) reports that “not many schools in California recruit teachers with language like this: ‘We are looking for hard working people who believe in free market capitalism. … Multicultural specialists” and “ultra liberal zealots…need not apply.” But the “American Indian Public Charter and its two sibling schools” often “mock liberal orthodoxy.” At these schools, most students are “poor, wear uniforms, and are subject to disciplinary procedures redolent of military school.” And, “school administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming.” According to the Times, “It would be easy to dismiss American Indian as one of the nuttier offshoots of the…charter school movement.” But, “by standard measures, they are among the very best in California.” While the “statewide average” Academic Performance Index “for middle and high schools is below 750,” the American Indian School surpass even the state target of 800 with an API of 967. “Its two siblings…are not far behind.”

Henry Osmers, author of ON EAGLE’S BEAK: A HISTORY OF THE MONTAUK LIGHTHOUSE

State-Appointed Financial Manager Restructuring Detroit Public Schools.
The AP (5/22) reports that under Detroit Public Schools’ (DPS) restructuring process, “29 public schools will close, another 40 will be restructured, 900 teachers and staff will be pink-slipped and 33 principals fired” next fall. Robert Bobb, the state-appointed emergency financial manager for DPS “has one year to correct a $300 million budget deficit, improve test scores and address a graduation rate that’s among the nation’s lowest.” Bobb has even sought to have the school system “‘placed under a special presidential emergency declaration’ to get federal funding for infrastructure and curriculum.” The AP notes that “Detroit’s schools have been plagued by mismanagement, lack of oversight and corruption, which has cost the district millions of dollars.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan “described Detroit as ‘ground zero’ for education and said that ‘Detroit is New Orleans two years ago without Hurricane Katrina.’”

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In the Classroom
California Schools Chief Warns Budget Cuts May Undermine Testing Gains.
The AP (5/22) reports that Jack O’Connell, California’s superintendent of public instruction, “said Thursday that students made modest gains in academic performance last year but warned that the [state's] budget crisis poses a serious threat to public education.” The percentage of schools reaching the state’s “target API score of 800″ increased by “3.3 percent for elementary schools, 5.7 percent for middle schools and 2.8 percent for high schools,” according to the report. But those improvements “could be jeopardized by anticipated budget cuts to education,” O’Connell said. “California faces an estimated $21 billion budget deficit after voters this week rejected a package of ballot measures that would have reduced the shortfall by about $6 billion.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has “proposed cutting education funding by $5.3 billion, in part by reducing the 180-day school year by 7.5 days,” in order to balance the state budget. The San Francisco Chronicle (5/22, Asimov) also covers this story.

High School In North Carolina Targets Dropout Rate With iPods.
News14Carolina (5/21, Moxley) reported that “every freshman at North Rowan High School” in Spencer, NC, has received an iPod touch, “a handheld touchscreen device” that allows them “to access information on the Internet and create just about any kind of project.” With the device, “students can create multimedia podcasts in any subject and on any subject.” The goal of incorporating the iPods in the classroom is to keep students’ interest and “help lower the drop-out rate.”

Student Technology Competition Features Robot Face Offs, “Bench” Race.
The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader (5/22, Warren) reports on the Student Technology Leadership Program competition that took place on Thursday at Rupp Arena and Heritage Hall in Lexington, KY. “More than 2,500 students, representing 300 schools from 93 Kentucky school districts, poured into” the venue, which “featured technology competitions of all types for elementary, middle and high school teams.” Events included “robotics face-offs” and “‘bench’ competitions, in which teams of youngsters had 30 minutes to figure out what’s wrong with some deliberately sabotaged computers, fix them and get them working again.” While at the arena, students could also “try out various pieces of new technology, enjoy student-created digital art, music and videos, and immerse themselves in a ‘technology playground’ on the floor of Rupp Arena.”

Pennsylvania High School Students Interview Veterans For Nationwide History Project.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (5/21, Conway) reported that “Nearly 15 North Allegheny American History students volunteered on May 11 to interview Mr. Lloyd and several other veterans so their stories could be documented and kept at the Library of Congress as part of the nationwide Veterans History Project.” The initiative was approved by Congress in 2000 to collect, preserve, and make “accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war,” according to its Web site www.loc.gov/vets.” Eleventh grade history teacher Jamey Pirring “had already assigned veterans interviews to his students when he saw an e-mail last winter asking for a teacher to organize the interviews and tapings of the history project.”

Sixth Graders Teach Younger Students At Pennsylvania School’s Latin American Festival.
The Lancaster (PA) News (5/22, Pennino) reports that sixth-graders at Fritz Elementary School “have been learning about various countries in Latin America as part of the school’s social studies curriculum.” At the Latin American Festival at Fritz on Thursday, “sixth-graders explained the history, culture and infrastructure of countries in Latin America through 25 exhibits.” Throughout “the day, students in kindergarten through fifth grade strolled outside in a grassy area behind the school to visit the exhibits.” They “learned facts about countries by playing games and looking at pictures, clothing and other items native to the countries.” Along with learning “about the politics of each country,” the younger students “also learned about the major industries that contribute to the economies.”

On the Job
Science Teacher Heads Up Construction Of County-Wide Model Of Solar System.
The Washington Post (5/22, Birnbaum) reports on Seneca Ridge Middle School “sixth-grade science teacher” Rick Peck, who “has banded together with other teachers, parents, and students to try to build a Loudoun County-size model” of the solar system. Peck got the idea for the project after seeing a “solar system model in Switzerland a few years ago. ‘I tried to guess where the next planet was, and I was totally off…I had zero visual sense of the locations and the size of the planets, even though I knew mathematically where they were,’” he said. The model will “acknowledge marble-size Pluto’s recent slip to dwarf-planet status. Another dwarf, Ceres, and an asteroid, Vesta, would get representations as big as pebbles.” Peck wants to build the model “by mid-2010.”

Technology Seen As An Important Educational Supplement.
In an opinion piece for the New York Daily News (5/22) Publisher Mort Zuckerman writes, “By far the most important task performed by government in America is public education. Yet teachers, parents, the President, and his secretary of education are all intuitively aware that our system is, by and large, a failure.” Even though “we’re spending 700 percent more per pupil than we were 50 years ago,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that “twelfth-graders’ scores in math, science and reading have been flat for 30 years” and “large [achievement] gaps persist between whites and African-Americans and whites and Hispanics.” According to Zuckerman, research indicates that the quality of teachers is “the most important factor affecting a young person’s chances of success.” In order to get the best teachers to reach the most students, Zuckerman suggests using technology, which he describes as “an important supplement in providing a new form of blended learning.”

Stanford Professor Identifies Qualities Of Effective Teachers.
The Des Moines Register (5/22) features an interview by Editorial-Page Editor Linda Lantor Fandel of Stanford University Education Professor Linda Darling-Hammond. Fandel asks, “What are the qualities of a great teacher?” Darling-Hammond asserts that “teachers tend to be more effective when they have a strong background in the field they are teaching, and a strong background in how to teach that content, how to make it understandable to other people.” She also notes that in practice, “effective teachers set up active learning situations for students, so kids are applying and using their knowledge.” These teachers usually “have a wide repertoire of teaching strategies” and “are very attentive to the learning of each individual child.” To become more effective, Darling-Hammond noted that “in most high-achieving countries, teachers have 15 to 25 hours a week where they are planning collaboratively with their colleagues.”

Law & Policy
Colorado School Districts To Pay For High Schoolers’ Community College Courses.
The Denver Post (5/22, Slevin) reports, “Colorado is making it easier for schools to offer teens a chance to earn an associate’s degree while still in high school, a move backers say could help lower the dropout rate and help the state win millions in extra federal stimulus money.” Under House Bill 1319, which Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed into law on Thursday, high school students will be able to “take an unlimited number of college courses a community college with school districts picking up the tab.” And “students who stay for a fifth year of high school can use a state subsidy set aside for all Colorado high school graduates to pay their tuition.”

South Carolina Governor Sues State Attorney General Over Stimulus.
The AP (5/22) reports that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) “has for months blocked the receipt of $700 million in federal bailout money intended to stop education cuts.” In a lawsuit against “his state’s attorney general,” Sanford is now asking “a federal court to declare that the Legislature violated the state Constitution by trying to require him to take the money.” Attorney General Henry McMaster (R) is named in the suit “because he’s the chief enforcer of South Carolina laws.”

Also in the News

Army National Guardsman Struggled To Regain Teaching Position After Iraq Deployment.
The Washington Post (5/24, Davenport) reports on Craig Lewis, a teacher and Virginia Army National Guard helicopter pilot. In 2005, Lewis was pulled from his teaching job at Fluvanna High School to attend flight school in Fort Rucker, AL. When he returned to Fluvanna in 2007 after fighting in Iraq, Lewis said that he was at first disappointed that the school had not held his teaching position for him while he was away. And even though “his principal had said he would keep Lewis in mind for any job openings, Lewis saw it as a flat-out rejection.” The Post points out that Lewis’s position at Fluvanna “was filled by a substitute qualified to teach special education. Still, as Barlow would later observe, ‘it’s always difficult when you lose the regular teacher.’” Eventually, Fluvanna High offered Lewis “his job back.” But Lewis, who was grappling with the thought that the position was offered just a “few weeks before the start of school,” refused.

Project Seeks To Improve On Utah’s Above-Average Bioscience Education Rankings.
Utah’s Deseret Morning News (5/22, Leonard) reports, “Utah seems to be keeping above the national average in most of the core subjects taught in schools, specifically in science and life science achievement ratings, which were released this week during the Biotechnology Industry Organization international convention.” At the same time, “the findings indicate a clear need for improved science education that incorporates the biosciences at the middle and high school levels if the country’s bioscience industry sector is to remain globally competitive.” Suzanne Winters, a Utah Science Technology and Research outreach director, described the state’s performance as “OK,” but added, “If we want to compete, I don’t think OK is good enough.” Currently, “Winters is heading up a collaborative project, called the BioInnovations Gateway, with the Granite School District’s Technical Institute and Salt Lake Community College” designed “to give students an opportunity to work directly with USTAR business incubator companies while utilizing sophisticated equipment and getting hands-on experience.”

Robot-Building Program Offers Alternative Way To Teach Math.
The Los Angeles Times (5/25, Watanabe) reported, “Cal Poly Pomona engineers help fifth- and sixth-graders build and program robots for sumo-style competitions” that “educators say…shows math’s relevance and makes learning fun.” The Cal Poly engineers brought the program to Montvue Elementary School last year “in an effort to excite kids about math by making it less abstract and more connected to real-life problem-solving.” The engineers “took care not to tell the students how to” build the robots, “but encouraged them to figure it out on their own, aiming to foster scientific inquiry, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.” By taking part in the activity, “students learned measurement, fractions, decimals, proportional reasoning,” among other things. According to the Times, Cesar Larriva, “a Cal Poly Pomona associate professor and math education specialist,” came up with the idea because “frustrated with the way math is taught in U.S. schools.”

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In the Classroom
High School Law Enforcement Class Provides “Realistic” Firearms Training.
The Sacramento Bee (5/25, B1, Lambert) reported on “the Law Enforcement Careers Class that began this year at Roseville High School.” In the class, students “are taught firearms training, weaponless self-defense, [and] forensics and law, among other things.” Each Wednesday and Friday, groups of 10 students visit a shoot house “after school to practice with Airsoft pistols – exact replicas of the Sig Sauer pistols used by the Placer Sheriff’s Department.” But instead of bullets, the pistols fire plastic BBs. Retired sheriff’s deputy Dee Ingram teaches the class, and said that “the air pistols make the training more realistic and the class more exciting.” In addition to using pistols, “the realistic training also has included being doused with pepper spray and practicing hand-to-hand combat with martial arts students.” The class, Ingram noted, “is covered by workers’ comp insurance.”

Some Educators Question Effectiveness Of Maryland’s High School Exit Exams.
The Washington Post (5/26, Hernandez) reports, “When Maryland’s high school class of 2009 graduates next month, it will become the first in the state to prove it can solve an equation such as 12x + 84=252.” And while “about 4,000 of 58,000 seniors statewide hadn’t passed the High School Assessments (HSA) or met an alternative academic standard,” education “officials predict that graduation rates will remain roughly the same and that only a handful of seniors will be denied a diploma based on the HSA requirement.” Consequently, some question whether “graduates benefit from the tests in the long run” and if the test made a difference for students at all. According to the Post, “proponents and critics agree [that] the exams measure a standard that can be met by many ninth-graders.” And “some educators, including Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, say the exams should test for a higher standard of knowledge.”

Workshop Aimed At Teaching Elementary Students the Importance Of Writing Skills.
California’s Contra Costa Times (5/26, Mather) reports that on Thursday, Dapplegray Elementary School “hosted its third annual Writers Workshop, bringing 18 professionals to campus to show students how they use writing in their work.” Featured writing professionals included “screenwriters and magazine editors” in addition to “professional athletes, actors, and musicians.” The event was geared toward “third-, fourth- and fifth-graders,” aiming “to show students they would use writing for the rest of their lives, regardless of their careers.” Dapplegray “students attended three workshops throughout the day, where volunteers explained how they used writing in their jobs and led students through various exercises.” Susan Liberati, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District,” said that “devoting the entire day to writing showed students how vital writing skills are.”

On the Job
Baltimore Seeks More Teach For America Teachers.
The Baltimore Sun (5/26, Bowie) reports, “The Baltimore school system has asked Teach for America, which sends thousands of recent college graduates into public schools around the nation, to nearly double the number of teachers it puts in city classrooms in the next two years if enough private money can be raised.” Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso said, “I think of [Teach for America] as almost an instrument of reform in the district, in that the mission and the commitment of the partners is very much in line with the thrust of the reforms we are putting in place.” He noted that in Baltimore, “middle and high school students taught by Teach for America participants outperformed the students in the rest of the district even though the program’s teachers were assigned to schools with the neediest students.” The school system’s proposal “would supply about 150 first-year teachers to classrooms from pre-kindergarten through high school next fall and in 2010, up from 90 this school year.”

Most Teachers In Washington District Who Received Layoff Notices May Keep Jobs.
The Sammamish (WA) Review (5/25, Kagarise) reported, “Issaquah School District Superintendent Steve Rasmussen said today some — and possibly all — of the158 teachers marked for layoffs may be able to keep their jobs.” District officials had expected “$10.5 million in cuts,” but now they expect “to lose $7.3 million in state funding.” While most teachers who received layoff notices are likely to be recalled, the district still stands to “lose between 40 and 45 positions as a result of attrition, retirements, and contracts that will not be continued.”

Illinois District Recalls 77 Teachers’ Aides, 34 Teachers.
The Joliet (IL) Herald News (5/25, Velasco) reported that the “Valley View School board has recalled all of the 77 paraprofessionals and teacher’s aides the district sent ‘reduction in force’ letters to last March and has recalled 34 of its 136 teachers.” All of the recalled paraprofessionals and aides are first-year educators. The district sought to “reduce its teaching ranks” because “a $7 million deficit [was] predicted last fall.” In March, Superintendent Phil Schoffstall said that “the district identified about $9.5 million in potential savings.”

Massachusetts Districts Implementing Strategies To Decrease Dropout Rate.
Massachusetts’ Sun Chronicle (5/25, Foster) reported that “according to the Rennie Center, a think tank that recently published a study on Massachusetts dropouts and methods for dealing with at-risk teens, Bay State school districts are trying a number of innovative strategies to reach students.” These initiatives include “ninth grade academies to keep students from falling off the pace early, credit recovery programs to help those who fall behind and mentoring and counseling programs to ensure that each student is connected with an adult vitally concerned about their future.” The Sun Chronicle pointed out that while “dropout rates increased this year in most school districts, percentages still remain below the 2006 level.”

Law & Policy
Duncan Challenges California Lawmakers To Embrace Reform.
The Los Angeles Times (5/23, Mehta) reported that “as California schools brace for billions of dollars in budget cuts,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan “warned Friday that the state’s students were in peril, and he challenged politicians and educators to embrace difficult reforms.” California was one stop on Duncan’s “15-state listening tour intended to help shape the Obama administration’s proposal to rework the federal No Child Left Behind reform law.” Duncan told lawmakers that while “stopping teacher layoffs and reducing class sizes are important,” federal stimulus dollars “must also be used to drive reform, such as using student achievement data to evaluate teacher effectiveness and turning around the most troubled schools.” Furthermore, he “challenged state and local leaders to tackle the most difficult reforms, such as reconstituting failing high schools, evaluating teachers based on their students’ performance, and paying more to teachers who work in challenging communities.”

New York City Schools Chief Favors “Rational” Teacher Pay Systems.
The Washington Post (5/25, Chandler) reported, “Before D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) took over” DC “public schools two years ago, he paid a visit” to New York “to learn about a school system at the center of urban education reform.” In 2002, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Joel I. Klein as chancellor “of the 1.1 million-student system.” As schools chief, Klein “has emphasized accountability and school choice” and “has granted principals more autonomy and money in exchange for results.” He is also “a supporter and confidant” for DC schools chief Michelle Rhee. When asked how he thinks teaching should be reformed, Klein said that the “seniority-driven, life-tenure-driven, across-the-board salary-driven model of compensation” should be overhauled in favor of “more rational pay systems, the kind of thing Michelle [Rhee] is proposing. So, in the third or fourth year, people who would like to stay teaching, they are not capped at $50,000 or $52,000.”

Some Officials Seek To Limit Teacher-Student Contact On Social Networking Sites.
The Arizona Daily Star (5/24, Bodfield) reported that as social networking sites continue to increase in popularity, “some teachers have started using the new tools to build rapport” and “update students on classroom activities.” However, such openness could lead to “the appearance of impropriety and other ethical issues.” It may also lead “to criminal cases.” Last Week, an eighth-grade teacher in Arizona was arrested after “the mother of a 15-year-old student…told police she found suspicious chats between the teacher and her daughter on the girl’s Facebook page.” Some “school officials say it’s hard to know where to draw the line — although there has been some movement to do just that.” In Missouri, the state legislature “is debating a proposal to ban elementary-school teachers from having social-networking friend-ships with their students. And the Lamar County School District board in Mississippi recently passed a policy that bans ‘fraternization via the Internet’ between staff members and students.”

US Joblessness Linked To Future Of Education.
Bob Herbert writes in his column for the New York Times (5/26, A19), “America has become self-destructively shortsighted in recent decades.” That shortsightedness, he asserts “has kept us from acknowledging the awful long-term consequences of the tidal wave of joblessness that has swept over the nation since the start of the recession in December 2007.” According to Herbert, “the maintenance and development of the infrastructure” is “about schools.” A statistic from the Education Trust shows that “the U.S. is the only industrialized country in which young people are less likely than their parents to graduate from high school.” Herbert says that it is “tragic” that the US is “so dysfunctional at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.” But, if the US is to get “its economic act together over the next few years, there will have to be a much greater focus on putting people back to work. Rebuilding the infrastructure is the place to start,” he concludes.

Special Needs
Montana District’s Special Education Director Credited With Improving Communication.
The Bozeman (MT) Daily Chronicle (5/26, Schontzler) reports, “Chad Berg is just finishing his first school year after taking over the Bozeman School District’s troubled special-education program, and parents of children with disabilities say he is making a big difference.” Bozeman-area Special Education Parent-Teacher Association (SEPTA) president Maggee Harrison said that Berg has “improved communications between parents and the school district.” After taking over the special education program last summer, Berg held “a series of consensus meetings with parents, teachers and administrators. The consensus process, promoted in the Bozeman school system, requires participants to actively listen to each other, and aims to increase communication and trust.”

School Finance
Teachers In Some New York Districts Volunteer To Take Pay Cuts.
The New York Times (5/24, CT1, Hu) reported, “Bankers, lawyers, and journalists have taken pay cuts and gone without raises to stay employed in a tough economy. Now similar givebacks are spreading to education, an industry once deemed to be recession-proof.” For instance, “all 95 teachers and five administrators in” New York’s Tuckahoe school district “agreed to give $1,000 each to next year’s school budget to keep the area’s tax increase below three percent.” And “in the William Floyd district,” most teachers voted in favor of “giving up what amounted to $1,190″ of each of their salaries to help cut costs. While New York’s “teachers’ unions have rarely agreed to reopen contract negotiations in bad economic times,” teachers in some “suburban areas have opened the door to compromise to save jobs, preserve programs and smaller class sizes, and show support for the towns and villages where many of them have taught generations of families.”

DC Chancellor At Odds With Council Over School Enrollment, Funding.
The Washington Post (5/26, Turque) reports, “Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and the D.C. Council are at odds over projected enrollment for the coming academic year, and the outcome of the dispute could have consequences both for District students and the nationally prominent schools leader.” Earlier this month, the council voted “to hold back $27 million of the system’s $760 million budget for 2010, claiming that Rhee’s enrollment forecast — which calls for an increase of 373 students to a total of 45,054 after years of steady decline” — is inaccurate. The council projects a student population of 41,541 “based on the downward trend of the past three years.” Since the vote, “Rhee has waged an aggressive public and private campaign to roll back the council’s decision.” According to the Post, Rhee’s campaign “has turned the heat up on council members, who are getting anxious calls and e-mails from constituents.”

NEA in the News
Union Leader Calls For Transfer Of Principals From Maryland District Schools With Low Morale.
The Baltimore Sun (5/24, Williams) reported that the head of the Howard County [MD] Education Association, Ann DeLacy, “wants the school system to explore the option of transferring principals from schools where employee morale is low.” Results from an annual survey by the organization “show that eight of the school system’s 73 schools fall below 50 percent when it comes to teacher morale.” Furthermore, “many of the schools with the lowest numbers have consistently had low results, said DeLacy.” However, Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin said, “We can’t just use a survey — one data point — to make the decision about where an administrator is put. … A job satisfaction survey is one of many points I would look at.”

Hundreds Of Los Angeles Unified Teachers, Students Stage Protests Over Budget Cuts. The Los Angeles Times (5/16, Song, Blume) reports, “The head of the Los Angeles teachers union was among 39 people arrested Friday during a sit-in outside the school district headquarters, one among dozens of peaceful protests around the city by teachers and students outraged by plans for deep cuts in education spending.” The protest was fueled “by plans for layoffs of as many as 2,500 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers, the consequence of billions of dollars in statewide cuts to education.” Meanwhile, “hundreds of teachers called in sick and hundreds of high school students walked out of classrooms” in protest. After the demonstration, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said that he was open to a compromise in which “the district would spend more of its federal stimulus money than planned in the coming year, forestalling the need for any teacher layoffs, and the union would agree to concessions, such as a wage freeze or unpaid furloughs.”

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In the Classroom
Educators, Corporations Aim To Heighten Students’ Interest In Mathematics.
The Washington Post (5/16, Chandler) reported that in an effort “to counter the notion that mathematics ability is inscribed in DNA, school officials and corporate executives are waging a public relations campaign for the hearts and minds of the average math student.” Their ultimate “goal is to immerse more middle school students in algebra and toughen high school math requirements so graduates can compete for increasingly technical jobs.” For instance, the defense contractor Raytheon “is designing a math-oriented attraction at Disney World’s Epcot. It also has brought professional football players to school rallies to talk about math in sports, tackling a stereotype that math is for nerds.” There are also math-themed contests, like those that “offer rewards for students who design robots.”

Students Compete In Physics, Engineering Challenges At Utah Theme Park.
The Salt Lake Tribune (5/18, Schencker) reports on the “the annual Utah State University (USU) Physics Day at Lagoon, now in its 20th year,” where “more than 6,500 students from across Utah and neighboring states” on Friday “competed in physics and engineering challenges amid — and often while riding — the park’s attractions.” This year was the first in which “elementary school students were invited to participate.” Activities for middle and high school students included dropping “eggs — in specially built containers — from the park’s Sky Ride, 60 feet above the ground” and wearing “homemade accelerometers to measure G-forces” on “the park’s Colossus roller coaster.” Elementary students, meanwhile, participated in robot races. In preparation for the race, “teams spent months meeting after school with Boeing workers to build and program their Lego Mindstorms robots, using computer software, typical Lego parts, ultrasonic sensors and motors.”

First-Graders Learn About Pollution Through Stage Play.
The North County (CA) Times (5/18, Kelly) reports that “in a homicide investigation like no other, a classroom of Butterfield Elementary School first-graders recently staged a play called ‘Who Killed Phinneas Frog?’” Through the play, students “investigated how pollution from cow and horse droppings, fertilizer, pesticides and litter can harm animals that live in streams. Teacher Vikky Pickett said she wrote the children’s version for her students, and made the costumes, after starring in the play at a national conference.”

High School Students In California Create Underwater Robots For Regional Competition.
The Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel (5/18, Wilson) reports that “students in the Aptos High Robotics Club practiced the mock mission in preparation for the 2009 Math Advanced Technology Education Center’s Regional Robotics Competition today.” Three groups of students each “created underwater remotely operated vehicles with flotation and steady movement capabilities using plastic pipe, motors, cameras and claws.” Their goal was to “maneuver their ROVs to accomplish specific challenges centered on the rescue of a mock submarine sitting at the bottom of the pool.” At the regional competition held on Saturday, the teams from Aptos went “head to head with more than 20 teams from all over the West Coast. The winners will go to an international competition on June 24-26 at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.”

On the Job
Massachusetts To Require Math Test For Elementary Teaching Licensure.
Education Week (5/15, Cavanagh) reported that “Massachusetts is preparing to require all elementary educators to pass a math-specific test for state licensure, as opposed to simply mandating that they notch a general passing score across all subjects.” The proposal intends to address the concern that some elementary teachers “have been able to do poorly on the math” portion of the general licensure test and still pass, according to Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell D. Chester. “The requirement would apply to teachers in grades 1-6, and special education teachers of children with moderate disabilities in pre-K-8.” Chester is also planning to “recommend a three-year grace period for teacher-candidates who struggle to pass the math test.”

Law & Policy
New York Times Urges Focus On Most Troubled Schools To Reduce Dropout Rate.
The New York Times (5/18, A22) editorializes, “About one in five American students drops out of high school today, and there are some schools where students have only a 50-50 chance of getting a diploma.” In order to solve this problem, “federal, state and local governments will all need to focus intensely on the relatively small number of troubled schools that produce a majority of the nation’s dropouts,” the Times argues. “According to Robert Balfanz, of Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center, just 12 percent of the nation’s 20,000 high schools account for half of the country’s dropouts.” If lawmakers and educators focus “on these high schools — and the lower schools that feed them — the country stands a good chance of keeping in school millions of students who would otherwise drop out.” This will require “putting public money into prevention programs that have been shown to keep children in school,” the Times concludes.

Arizona Schools, Parents Said To Face Choice Between Class Size, Teacher Pay.
The Arizona Republic (5/18, Kossan) reports that “a recession forced the” Arizona “Legislature this year to cut money for K-12 education, school-tax revenues are falling, and enrollment is declining, which means less per-student state funds but often consolidated classes.” And because “federal stimulus dollars are seen as a short-term patch by many schools,” the problems are expected to persist next year. The dilemma schools and parents will face is whether to support “larger classes, taught by high-quality teachers who earn better pay, or smaller classes.” Due to “limited funds, Arizona schools must find a balance among the number of teachers hired, the number of students each teacher will have, and how much each teacher will be paid.”

Special Needs
Special Needs Students Produce Film About Bullying.
The AP (5/18, Slagter) reports that Since January, students in “Robbie Svegel’s special education class” in Michigan’s Reed City Area public school district have been working on a film about bullying. They brainstormed “ideas for characters and wrote the entire script themselves.” It tells the story of “a student who is being picked on at recess.” Although the subject matter is serious, “the film remains light-hearted and full of action. The moral of the story, Svegel said, is that good defeats evil. Two aliens appear to help spice up the plot.” Independent Film Director Jeni Decker-Lopez has been volunteering time to the project to make “sure that students write interesting dialogue, tell a compelling story, and operate all of the camera and media equipment.” Through the project, “students have learned how to properly frame shots, match sound to film and cooperate throughout the filming process.”

Safety & Security
Some Studies Show That Artificial Turf Use Unlikely To Pose Health Risks.
The AP (5/18) reports that “some health experts, activists and parents from Seattle to Chicago to Stamford, Mass.” are worried that “tiny bits of the ground-up rubber tires that are used as filler between the blades of artificial grass” may expose children “to chemicals if they inhale or swallow the rubber granules, known as crumb rubber. Some are calling for a moratorium until the issue is more fully studied.” Due to “potential health concerns,” Connecticut and California have conducted “their own studies on the health effects of turf. New York City health officials recently commissioned a study to evaluate air quality above synthetic turf and found it didn’t show appreciable effects from contaminants in the rubber.” Furthermore, “some studies in the U.S. and Europe have assessed potential exposure and health risks for people using turf and concluded that health effects are unlikely.”

School Finance
Per-Pupil Funding For Most Florida Public Schools Will Increase By $28.
Education Week (5/15, Robelen) reported, “Despite fears that school funding would be cut amid a continued fiscal squeeze, the $66.5 billion budget approved by Florida lawmakers this month for fiscal 2010 keeps overall K-12 spending at roughly the current level, with extra aid from the federal stimulus package playing a big role.” Under the budget, “the average per-pupil funding amount across school districts would rise by about $28, to $6,873.” Still, “some categories of funding did see reductions, including the nationally known Florida Virtual School. Its per-pupil allocation was reduced by about 10 percent.”

Also in the News

Education Secretary Hears School Reform Ideas From Detroit Public School Students.
The Washington Post (5/16, A2, Glod) reported that last week, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan heard tips from Detroit students “on how to fix America’s schools during the second stop of [his] 15-state tour to seek — and pitch — ideas for school reform.” The Cody High School Students “asked for more hands-on lessons. They want more career and technical classes to help prepare them for jobs. They want guidance counselors and teachers to push them.” Also during the 45-minute meeting, the high schoolers talked about “the successful debate and robotics programs, and lamented that the band program was canceled when money got tight.” Duncan is pushing for “new Mayor Dave Bing to take control of” Detroit Public Schools “in a massive overhaul.” Only 38 “percent of Detroit’s ninth-graders get a high school diploma within four years, according to one estimate.”

Maryland District Implements “Seven Keys To College Readiness” Campaign.
The Washington Post (5/18, De Vise) reports that educators in Montgomery County, MD, “are blitzing parents and students with information on what they call ‘Seven Keys to College Readiness.’” The brochures and a website dedicated to the initiative spell “out in detail the courses and tests that officials say point toward academic prosperity.” The information explains to parents “how their children should score on each test, and which courses they should take — and when — if they wish to earn a college degree.” Although some of the information is common knowledge, the “campaign also suggests that a child can be deemed college-bound from a first-grade reading score or a fifth-grade math course.” Meanwhile, “some parents say the campaign is costly and unnecessary.”

Incorporating Digital Capabilities Said To Aid Yearbook Sales.
The Dallas Morning News (5/18, Meyers) reports that “the traditional yearbook is no more.” Two of the nation’s “largest yearbook companies…Dallas’ Taylor Publishing Company and Minneapolis’ Jostens Yearbooks, won’t report exact figures but admit to a slight decline in sales.” According to Linda Drake, the Journalism Education Association’s yearbook adviser of the year, “this disconnect is most prevalent” in “poor towns and inner cities where school affinity wanes and some families can’t afford $60 mementos.” A lack of attachment students feel toward their high school “is the yearbook’s greatest challenge,” said James Anderson, a North Texas representative for Taylor Publishing Company. Anderson points out that “successful sales come from” incorporating “newer digital capabilities, like DVD enhancements and links that allow students to create their own page.” At McKinney High School, for instance, “students can add quotes and pictures to the yearbook via the yearbook’s Facebook page, which can be included in print.”

NEA in the News
Washington State Aims To Overhaul Education System, Cut Back On Funding.
Education Week (5/15, Ash) reported, “Lawmakers in Washington state recently passed a bill designed to overhaul the public education system by 2018 and redefine ‘basic education’ for the first time in the state since 1979.” Meanwhile, they also “voted to cut close to $1 billion in education funding for fiscal 2009.” Beginning in 2011, the state plans to “increase the number of high school credits needed to graduate from 19 to 24; provide all-day kindergarten for all children; extend the school year by 80 hours for grades 7-12; increase the number of teacher professional-development days;” and “establish a new data system to track student and teacher performance,” among other things. Although it “received widespread support from” most in “the education community,” HB 2261 “was opposed by the…82,000-member Washington Education Association (WEA).” WEA President Mary K. Lindquist said, “[Legislators] passed this bill with some broad general direction about how to overhaul K-12 education…and they came up with absolutely no funding.”

Restraints For Students With Disabilities Sometimes Lead To Harm, Death, GAO Says.
USA Today (5/19, Toppo) reports that according to a report being released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), “children with disabilities are being secluded from classmates and restrained against their will to control their behavior…interventions that have led to harm and, in rare cases, deaths.” Although the report does not attach “a hard number to how many children are subjected to the practices…investigators say they found ‘hundreds of allegations’ of abuse involving restraint or seclusion at schools from 1990 to 2009; in Texas and California.” The GAO points out that “there’s no federal system to regulate such practices in schools — and teachers are often inadequately trained.”

“The GAO report was prepared for the House Education and Labor Committee, which is considering new laws governing what actions teachers can take to rein in disruptive special-needs students,” CNN (5/19, Boudreau, Turnham) adds. Currently, “only five states keep track of incidents where special-needs students are separated or restrained.” Although experts recommend “that children should only be isolated when they posed an immediate threat to themselves or others,” CNN was told by some parents “that when they got into a dispute with the teacher, their child was made to suffer as retribution.” USA Today (5/19, Toppo) also covers this story in a separate article.

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In the Classroom
Report Shows Disparity Among States In Student Performance In Biosciences.
The AP (5/19, Majors) reports, “Middle and high school students across the country are generally falling behind in life sciences, and the nation is at risk of producing a dearth of qualified workers for the fast-growing bioscience industry, according to a report released Monday” by Battelle, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and the Biotechnology Institute. The report indicates that “high schools are doing a poor job of preparing students for college-level science,” and there is “a wide disparity among the states in student performance in biosciences and science.” For the study, “researchers evaluated student performance using four…measuring tools,” including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test and “average math scores on the SAT and ACT.” The report suggests that “to improve U.S. competitiveness in the biosciences industry…states incorporate biotechnology into their science standards.”

International Student Comparisons Said To Be Misleading. The AP (5/19, Quaid) reports, “While they’re not in first place, U.S. students generally hold their own on international tests.” Furthermore, “they spend more time in school than the Obama administration would have you believe. And their college graduation rates stack up better than reported.” According to the AP, “international comparisons…tend to be misleading and at worst are deeply flawed.” The tests do not take into account the fact that “the United States has a much bigger and faster-growing population than the other countries that participate in global assessments” or that “unlike many global competitors, the U.S. is growing ever more diverse, with a large share of children who are learning English.” The AP compares several “recent statements” from the Obama Administration “about the standing of the U.S. educational system” with “the facts.”

Lunar Electric Rover Visits Texas School For Earth Day.
KTRK-TV Houston (5/18) reported that on Monday, “students at Robinson Elementary School in Seabrook celebrated Space Day with a visit from the Lunar Electric Rover (LER).” The rover “was led by police escort from Johnson Space Center to the elementary school.” After it arrived at the school, students watched “the Lunar Rover in action” and “got to look inside the vehicle and ask a few questions. NASA aerospace engineers were on hand to speak to the students about the technology used for the rover and to answer questions about the space program.”

On the Job
Teachers In Colorado District Stage “Sick Out” Amid Contract Negotiations.
The Denver Post (5/19) reports that the administrators of six schools in Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District had to “scramble to find substitute teachers [Monday] after 342 teachers called in sick.” Because “they were unable to find substitutes for 118 of the vacancies,” administrators “combined some classes and used…administrators with classroom experience to fill the void.” According to the Denver Post, “The ‘sickout’ came amid contract negotiations between the teachers and the” school system.

Education Experts Urged To Find Common Ground On Teacher Recruitment.
In an opinion piece for Education Week (5/18) Barnett Berry, “the founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality,” wrote, “Over the past two decades, researchers of all ideological stripes and methodological perspectives have converged around a view that teachers are the key to whether or not students achieve.” Meanwhile, they disagree “on how best to recruit and reward teachers, how much preparation talented candidates need, how to use test-score data in assessing teachers, or how long we should expect to retain recruits in teaching careers.” One side sees “teachers as the problem,” while the other side sees “them as the solution.” Barnett, however, pointed out that neither side “seems to have all the answers.” Therefore, he suggests that they try to find some common ground, and offers several points on which the two sides may agree. Barnett concludes that “researchers and policy wonks need to end the bickering and listen carefully to…young professionals eager to make change.”

Indiana To Reward Schools That Achieve Largest Graduation Rate Gains.
The AP (5/19, Callahan) reports, Indiana “high schools that achieve the biggest graduation rate increases between now and next spring could receive up to $20,000.” The incentive aims to encourage “public high schools to find the most innovative ways to graduate more students by encouraging would-be dropouts to stick with their studies and get their diplomas.” It would reward “10 high schools with at least 300 students…$20,000 each. Two other schools with enrollments under 300 will receive $10,000 each.” Five thousand dollars would go to the school’s principal “for his or her personal use. The remainder will be split up among those teachers, counselors or others determined to have played the biggest role in boosting graduations.” The AP notes that “The $220,000 for the program is coming from savings the state Department of Education has realized through cost controls and efficiency efforts” implemented by state Superintendent Tony Bennett.

Law & Policy
Illinois Joins Movement For Common Learning Guidelines Among States.
The Chicago Tribune (5/19, Malone) reports, “Illinois has joined a growing list of states that favor common learning guidelines for math and English, a movement that could lead to national testing.” State “officials hope to move quickly and have set December as a target for mapping out grade-by-grade standards from kindergarten through senior year.” The Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, who organized the initiative, “plan to start by deciding what skills every high school graduate needs to succeed in college or the workplace and then backtrack to create ‘fewer, clearer, and higher’ expectations for what’s taught in each grade level, high school through elementary school.” Still, “the details of what a common test might involve remain unclear.”

Texas House Approves Bills To Make Information In Teachers’ Records Private.
The Dallas Morning News (5/18, McNeill) reported that on Friday, Texas House members “quickly approved” bills by Rep. Diane Patrick (R) and Sen. Royce West (D) that “would make moot a 2008 Texas attorney general’s opinion and an Austin district court’s January decision that some information on school-district employees is public.” The Dallas Morning News pointed out that “much of the language in the bills was drafted by the…state’s largest teachers’ union, which sued to overturn the attorney general’s opinion.” Those who support the bills “say school employees face unfair scrutiny and embarrassment if criminal information is public.”

Call For Innovation In Schools May Lead To Another Era Of Fads, Expert Says.
Education Week (5/18, Gewertz) reported, “School leaders are under increasing pressure to ‘innovate.’” The Obama administration’s “call for innovation to improve the nation’s schools strikes a chord with many in policy circles.” However, “some experts are pointing out that significant barriers inhibit real innovation in education. And others question whether ‘innovation’ is really what schools need.” Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, “the director of the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy,” pointed out in his paper Innovation, Motherhood, and Apple Pie, that “there are effective and ineffective innovations.” He cautioned, “Unless effectiveness is thought of as a central dimension of innovation, the current innovation zeitgeist will subject the nation to yet another era of fad and fancy in education, rather than continuous improvement.” Whitehurst also “expressed concern…that new federal innovation grants will be biased toward those who propose innovations in ‘product’” instead of through “‘process’ innovations that improve education’s efficiency, functionality, productivity, or customer satisfaction.”

Schwarzenegger Proposes Digitizing High School Textbooks.
Education Week (5/18) reported, “California will offer free, open-source digital textbooks in mathematics and science for high school students, under a plan unveiled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [R].” The governor said that digitizing textbooks “and other resources” would “relieve costs and encourage collaboration between school districts. He wants to have a set of approved digital math and science textbooks ready for the coming fall of 2009.”

Alabama BOE Approves Changes To Teacher Evaluation Process.
Education Week (5/18) reported, “Members of the Alabama board of education have voted to make the process of evaluating the state’s teachers more streamlined.” School administrators will have more time “to spend talking with their teachers instead of doing paperwork and tedious observations.” Under the previous system, administrators had to “record verbatim what teachers said and did” during observations.

Safety & Security

Experts Weigh In On Stopping Spread Of Swine Flu At Schools.
On its front page, the New York Times (5/19, A1, McNeil) reports, “As schools shut down because of the flu…health officials are asking a question for which there is little guidance, even in pandemic plans: what is the best way to stop an epidemic that spreads mostly in schools rather than in nursing homes?” Infection control experts say that “disinfecting closed schools is pointless. Flu viruses are believed to live on objects for perhaps two to eight hours, so a week’s closing will kill them.” However, if a few sick children “return…every cafeteria table, desk, lab beaker, doorknob, bathroom tap and basketball will soon be recontaminated.” According to Dr. Yoko Furuya, an infection control specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital, “keeping sick students out of school is the most crucial step.”

School Finance
Elementary Schools In Florida District May “Add Back” One Teaching Position.
The Florida Times-Union (5/19, Cravey) reports, “Because of improved education funding levels, Clay County elementary schools may get back one of the three 2009-10 teaching positions each of them lost to budget cuts.” If approved by the School board on Thursday, “one basic education position” would be restored “at each elementary school, according to Deputy Superintendent Denise Adams.” The Times-Union explains that “earlier this year,” Clay county “Elementary schools each lost three teaching positions — two basic education teachers and a media specialist or resource teacher who taught music, art or technology” — due to the school system’s “projected $43 million shortfall for 2009-10.” The “add backs” would be made possible through “an infusion of federal stimulus money to Florida, as well as budget tweaking by the Legislature,” which “recently improved the district’s financial picture, reducing the likely shortfall to about $25 million.”

Also in the News
Researchers Studying How Arts Training Affects Students’ Thinking Ability.
The Baltimore Sun (5/18, Bowie) reported that “a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching the arts may be good for students across all disciplines.” Over “the past several years,” brain research has begun “to uncover some startling ideas about how students learn. … Now neuroscientists are investigating how training students in the arts may change the structure of their brains and the way they think.” And while “there aren’t many conclusions yet that can be translated into the classroom…there is an emerging interdisciplinary field between education and neuroscience.” For instance, one study “has shown that children who receive a small amount of training — as little as half an hour of lessons a week and 10 minutes of practice a day — do have structural changes in their brains that can be measured.” Those students have also shown to perform “better [on] tests that required them to use their fingers with dexterity.”

NEA in the News
California Teachers Association, NEA Contribute $12.2 Million To Support Ballot Measures.
The AP (5/18) reported, “The battle over six budget-related measures on Tuesday’s special election ballot has generated more than $31.5 million in campaign spending, split the state’s labor community and created strange bedfellows on both sides.” Over $27.6 million has been raised in support of Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F from “business allies” of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and organizations such as the California Teachers Association. Specifically, “The California Teachers Association [CTA] and its national affiliate, the National Education Association, have spent $12.2 million, mostly in support of propositions 1A and 1B. But the CTA also has given nearly $2 million to a campaign committee backing all six measures.” Meanwhile, opponents of the measures, “a collection of unions, anti-tax groups and supporters of children’s and mental health programs, have raised $3.8 million.”

Swampland columnist Amy Sullivan wrote in the Time (5/7) blog that “abstinence-only programs have not proven nearly as successful as approaches that combine the message that abstinence is a good goal for teenagers with comprehensive and accurate education about contraception, disease prevention, and decision-making skills.” She argued that “with teen pregnancy rates inching up again after a nearly 15-year drop and the vast majority of parents in favor of comprehensive sex education…it’s long past time to develop sex ed programs that work.”

Meanwhile, On Women columnist Deborah Kotz pointed out in the US News & World Report (5/7) blog that “what’s not clear…is which comprehensive sex education programs will be funded. There’s quite a bit of difference among them, with some far better than others.” Kotz added that it is also unclear “how ‘evidence-based’ will be defined. Just how many studies are needed to determine if a program is effective,” she asked. “And how few are needed to deem a program ‘promising’?” Reuters (5/8) and the New Mexico Independent (5/8, Doland) also cover the story.

In the Classroom
Sixth Graders Attend Classes In Semi-Darkness For Energy Conservation.
The Washington Post (5/7, Bahrampour) reported that “over the past week, sixth-graders at Seneca Ridge Middle School in Sterling have roamed the halls in semi-darkness” for “an experiment designed by their science teacher, Rick Peck, to teach them how they can help reduce their carbon footprint by conserving energy.” The experiment took place “focuses on the school’s C wing, which houses the sixth grade.” Fifty-six of the wing’s 750 lights “were disabled,” for the project, reducing “energy use by about 4 percent,” the students calculated. To enable students to monitor the number of “kilowatts…being used at [any] given time,” electrical workers “tapped into the wing’s transformer and put a doughnut-shaped meter around the wires.” The project was made possible through a “$5,000 grant from Dominion Virginia Power…as well as $500 grants from the Chamberlain and Hrdlicka law firm and the Loudoun Educational Association.”

Sixth Graders, Teacher Embark On 27-Hour Simulated Space Mission.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (5/8, Blatt) reports, “six fifth-graders and a teacher” from Russell Elementary School in Smyrna, GA, are simulating a space shuttle mission for 27 hours this week. “While inside the shuttle (a portable classroom), the astronauts, along with teacher Michaela D’Aquanni-Swift, do routine tests, perform medical checks, conduct experiments, and handle in-flight simulation problems.” They also ate, slept, and used the restroom “aboard the makeshift shuttle.” During the mission, “closed-circuit televisions monitor their activities and broadcast them schoolwide. A mission control center also keeps a close eye on the shuttle.” The Journal-Constitution notes that the space mission is the culmination of “an eight-month program” at Russell Elementary “in which students — 39 this year — study and train for a…flight around the earth.”

Crash Simulation Shows Prom-Bound Students Dangers Of Drunk Driving.
The St. Petersburg Times (5/8, Lee) reports, “With its evening of enchantment scheduled for Saturday, Tarpon Springs High spent Thursday morning demonstrating the realities of driving while impaired to its juniors and seniors.” The demonstration included a “simulated car crash with a passenger being killed, one transported by helicopter, and another arrested for drinking while driving.” In addition, “There were the heart-tugging stories by teacher Jerry Woodka, who lost a brother to a drunken driver, and Renee Napier, who lost a daughter. There were a hearse and caskets.” According to high school senior Luis De La Espriella, the presentation did have an effect. “I looked over, and there were girls crying. It worked,” he said.

Creative Thinking, Mastering Skills Go Hand-In-Hand, Educator Says.
In the Las Vegas Sun’s (5/8) Teacher’s View column, fourth and fifth grade teacher Cathy Estes writes, “As education in the United States moves more and more toward a uniform curricula and as we rely more heavily on standardized test scores to judge or students and schools, I worry about how education is moving away from fostering original thinking and creativity in our students today.” While “young children are naturally curious about almost everything,” a person’s “imagination seems to decrease as he or she grows older.” Estes ponders whether “our overemphasis on standardized testing has discouraged divergent thinking and problem solving.” Thinking creatively, she adds, goes hand-in-hand with mastering skills. “The trick is to continue to foster creativity in our students as the curriculum is being mastered.” Estes concludes that “the thing to keep in mind is that ultimately our job is not to impart knowledge on others, but to empower others to seek knowledge.”

Florida High School Seniors Score Better In Reading, Worse On Math Retests.
The AP (5/8) reports that “twelfth-grade students retaking Florida’s standardized test performed slightly better in reading but worse in math, and a majority still failed, according to figures released Thursday by the state education department.” This year, “26 percent of the 8,540 students retaking the math section passed, down from 32 percent last year.” The AP notes that “Students must pass both parts of the 10th grade FCAT to receive a standard diploma, or achieve certain levels on SAT or ACT college entrance tests. They are given up to five opportunities before graduation to pass the test.” Students “who do not pass both FCAT sections will get a certificate of completion.” The St. Petersburg Times (5/8, Solochek) also covers this story.

Increased Exercise At School Found Not To Help Obese Students.
The AP (5/8) reports, “The problem of overweight children won’t be solved by piling on exercise in school, according to new research presented Thursday” to the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam. Lead researcher Terry Wilkin, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at Peninsula Medical School in the British city of Plymouth, and colleagues, found that children “who have a lot of physical activity during school hours tend to wilt when they get home,” and “children who have less action in school are more active after the final bell rings.” The study included followed “206 children aged 8-10 over two years beginning in 2003.” The subjects came from three different schools in Plymouth and “had widely different activity levels.” Each student wore an accelerometer “all day for one week during four consecutive school terms. In addition, blood samples and measurements of their weight and body mass were repeatedly taken.”

Law & Policy
Obama Budget Cuts Back On Education Technology Funding.
The T.H.E. Journal (5/8, Nagel) reports that “for the first time in two years,” the No child Left Behind Act initiative Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) “isn’t on the chopping block in a Presidential budget proposal.” However, “it is on the proverbial shawarma spit, as the budget proposed for 2010 by the Obama administration seeks to shave off $169 million from the 2009 figure, bringing it down to $100 million.” According to T.H.E. Journal, after the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was passed, adding $650 million to the existing $269.9 million funding for EETT, “it seemed…that [the program] would be fairly safe under the Obama administration’s patronage.” As a result, some were surprised by the reduction in the education budget proposal. On Thursday, “several education technology advocacy groups released a joint statement…on the budget proposal” in which they “expressed dismay at the proposed cuts and urged Congress to reject them.”

Maryland Set To Implement Battery Of High School Exit Exams.
The Washington Post (5/7, Hernandez) reported, “After many twists, turns and brushes with oblivion, Maryland’s system of requiring students to pass four tests to graduate from high school is finally going to take effect in just over a month. As of March, about 4,000 seniors statewide had not met the requirements for the High School Assessments, a set of exams in algebra, English, biology and government.” However, Maryland “officials predict the vast majority of the state’s 54,000 seniors will graduate on time, and those who don’t might be able to meet the testing requirement during the summer.” The Post notes that for “the past few years, it looked like the tests would never see the light of day. … It is a victory for an accountability movement that has gained strength across a country anxious to stay competitive in the global market.”

Also in the News
Federal Study Examines Factors In Adult Reading, Writing Difficulties.
The Christian Science Monitor (5/8, Khadaroo) reports that a new government study explores the factors seen as contributing to the difficulties some teens and adults have with learning “basic reading and writing.” These factors “include poverty, ethnicity, native language background, and disabilities.” According to the Christian Science Monitor, “about 30 million people — 14 percent of the US population 16 and older — either cannot read or write, or have limited reading and writing ability. The report “presents new analyses from a nationally representative survey conducted in 2003 by the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).” It “looks at specific skills such as oral fluency (the ability to read out loud quickly and accurately) and decoding (the ability to break apart unfamiliar words and sound them out).”

Teacher Criticized For Berating Student Found Surfing Fox News Site.
Marybeth Hicks wrote in a column in the Washington Times (5/7), “Last week in the computer lab,” of a northern Michigan school, “a student who completed his video production assignment killed time by surfing the Internet on a school computer.” A teacher caught a glimpse of the Foxnews.com screen the student was looking at and “publicly berated and belittled him for reading the ‘wrong’ news. … That a teacher would discourage such an activity in any way, shape or form is beyond disconcerting – it’s truly incompetent. According to a recent survey of 65,000 teens by USA Weekend magazine, only 18 percent of teens read newspapers.” Thus, “getting teens to pay attention to the news in any format is a crucial educational goal.”

Facebook Use Found More Common Among Students With Higher Grades.
USA Today (5/8, Marklein) reports, “A small study presented at an education conference last month showed a link between Facebook use and lower grades — but stressed that the findings don’t prove that one leads to the other.” A new study “published this week in an online journal First Monday” says that “the two variables are ‘likely unrelated.’” For the new study, researchers Eszter Hargittai, a Northwestern University professor, a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania, and “Stanford doctoral candidate Josh Pasek… analyzed three existing data sets, including a sample of more than 1,000 undergraduates from the University of Illinois-Chicago and other data involving teens and young adults.” They “found no ‘robust negative relationship between Facebook use and grades,’” and concluded, “If anything, Facebook use is more common among individuals with higher grades.”

NEA in the News
Proposed Budget Designates Over $500 Million For Performance Pay.
The Washington Post (5/8, Glod) reports, “President Obama is seeking to add hundreds of millions for teacher merit pay programs, an investment in a reform that has often drawn criticism from teachers unions.” Obama’s $47 billion spending plan, includes “$517 million for performance pay grants, up from $97 million in last year’s budget. In addition, the stimulus law included an additional $200 million for such programs.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that “he envisions performance pay programs that will give a boost to the best teachers and encourage them to work in struggling schools in high-poverty neighborhoods.” The Post notes that even though “he position of teachers unions on performance pay has softened in recent years,” their remains some skepticism “about systems that tie bonuses to test scores.” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, said “that the “money should be tied to quality professional development” and to reward national board certification

California Dropout Rate Improved By One Percent.
In the Los Angeles Times’ (5/13) LA Now blog, Mitchell Landsberg reported, “The high school dropout rate improved slightly in California last year but rose in Los Angeles, where more than one-third of students are officially classified as dropouts, state officials said Tuesday.” The statewide dropout rate was 20.1 percent, one percentage point less than last year, “according to data released by the state Department of Education. For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the dropout rate was 34.9 percent,” an increase of three percentage points from last year. “Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said that although he was encouraged by the slight progress statewide, the dropout rate remained ‘unacceptably high’ and was ‘alarmingly high’ among African American and Latino students.”

The San Francisco Chronicle (5/13, B5, Asimov) added that according to analysts, “more than 6,800 quit school after satisfying all but one requirement: the exit exam.” Meanwhile, “black students quit school far more often than other groups, about 35 percent. … Latinos are next, at 26 percent. About 12 percent of white students drop out, and about 8 percent of Asian Americans do.”

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In the Classroom
Hong Kong’s Third-Grade Assessments Seen As More Difficult Than Massachusetts’.
Education Week (5/13, Cavanagh) reported, “A host of recent studies have examined how U.S. students’ mathematics skills compare against those of their foreign peers.” But a study released on Wednesday by the American Institutes for Research “finds that elementary students in Hong Kong are exposed to more difficult and complex math than pupils in Massachusetts, an elite scorer on national and international exams.” The report “examines the math content of Hong Kong and Massachusetts by comparing the two jurisdictions’ standardized tests in 3rd grade math.” Researchers found that “Hong Kong’s test includes a higher percentage of number and measurement concepts than Massachusetts’ exam does.” Furthermore, Hong Kong’s exam incorporated “much broader use of questions requiring students to construct responses to math questions, rather than simply check boxes through multiple choice.” Moreover, 55 percent of “Hong Kong’s test questions…were deemed to have moderate or high ‘cognitive complexity,’ compared with just 34 percent of Massachusetts’ questions.”

DC Program Gets Students Involved In Schoolwide Energy Conservation Efforts.
The Washington Post (5/14, Wilson) reports, “With the increasing cost of and demand for energy, many D.C. schools are taking suggestions on how to conserve from some unlikely consultants: their students.” The Saving Energy in DC Schools program is “an initiative by the Alliance to Save Energy and the D.C. Department of the Environment to promote better energy use at schools.” In their first year of the program, “some schools have reduced energy use by 5 to 15 percent.” Students got involved by forming “green teams,” and measuring “energy usage with tools provided through funding from the D.C. Public Service Commission’s Natural Gas Trust Fund.”

Arizona District Cuts Back On Art, Music, Physical Education For Kindergartners.
Arizona’s East Valley Tribune (5/14, Ringle) reports, “Next year’s Gilbert district kindergartners will have less art, music, and P.E. instruction, and their teachers will have less time with help from instructional assistants.” The change comes about as the Gilbert Unified School District tries to “cut costs during the budget crisis.” Under the new schedule, “physical education and music teachers will only give their classes to kindergartners on early-release days, which is about an average of once a month.” Furthermore, “kindergarten instructional aides are also getting their hours reduced next school year.” Instead of working 5.5 hour days, full-day instructional aides will work 4 hours, and “Aides for the half-day kindergarten will work two hours, which is a half-hour less than what they work now.”

Maryland High School Students Build Four-Bedroom House.
The Washington Post (5/14, Holzheimer) reports that “this year as part of the annual Student House Project, coordinated by” the Prince George’s County [MD] “Career and Technical Education program and its Foundation of Automotive & Construction Technology for Students,” high school students built “a two-story, four-bedroom house.” The Post notes that “more than 24 groups took part in the student project, including realty companies, banks and construction contractors, who supervised the students.” Each year, “the foundation sells the finished homes and uses the profits to pay for next year’s project, scholarships, and other expenses, said Pat Belser, the group’s director.” This year’s house is on the market for $359,000, “slightly lower than planned due to the housing market.”

Graduation Rate Decrease An Inevitable Consequence Of Exit Exams, Teacher Says.
In the Las Vegas Sun’s (5/14) Teacher’s View column, Rene Hill writes, “A new study conducted by the Center for Education Policy has shown that exit exams impact some groups of students more than others.” Although some see “exit exams…as a way to motivate students to higher levels of achievement, critics are concerned that these exams come down harder on students from poor families and minority groups or under-resourced schools.” Hill points out, “There are several explanations as to why certain groups tend to fail the test,” one of which “is called a ‘stereotype effect.’” This “refers to the tendency of people to fare less well on tests when they fear their efforts will confirm a negative stereotype about their group.” She concludes that “as long as an exit exam is required of our graduating high school students, graduation rates will drop.” Nevertheless, “a diploma must have requirements in order to mean something, and some students will not be up to those standards.”

On the Job
Merit Pay Can Bring About Unintended Negative Consequences, Report Says.
Education Week (5/14, Viadero) reports, “Merit-pay plans for teachers may be growing more popular with politicians, but a report released [Thursday] argues that such compensation plans are rarely used in the private sector and can sometimes bring about unintended negative consequences.” According to the Teachers, Performance Pay, and Accountability report by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, “only one in seven workers in the private sector is covered by bonus or merit-pay plans, and most of those workers are in the real estate, finance, and insurance fields.” Although some workers may earn bonuses, “compensation plans that use formulas or indicators to reward employees on the basis of their productivity — which are among the kinds of programs that growing numbers of policymakers have in mind for teachers — are less common.” Furthermore, the report says that “research on the private sectors’ experiences with pay-for-performance schemes suggests that they sometimes yield unproductive results.”

Law & Policy
Texas Leads In Education Reform, Spellings Says.
In an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News (5/14), former US Education Secretary Margaret Spellings writes, “As Texas goes, so goes the nation. That’s especially true when it comes to education reform.” During her tenure as Education Secretary, Spellings “was surprised by the large number of states that, unlike Texas, shied away from confronting the huge achievement gap between advantaged and low-income and minority students in their states.” Still, she points out, “The Texas approach has worked. Because of” the state’s “policies, [its] students perform better than their peers across the country.” And, “because of these policies now being put in place across the nation, thanks to No Child Left Behind, students all over the country are doing better.” While “Texans should be proud of [their] work,” Spellings points out, “we cannot be satisfied with where we are. Our achievement gap is still large, our standards are too low, and our work is unfinished.”

Louisiana Senate Approves “Nonacademic” High School Curriculum.
The AP (5/13) reported that Louisiana State Sen. Robert Kostelka (R) “won unanimous Senate approval for his plan to allow high school students to follow a nonacademic curriculum if they’re not on course to graduate.” The bill “would expand the state’s existing programs that allow some students to get credit for studying trades if they don’t want to go to a four-year college after graduation.” According to Kostelka, the legislation is aimed at lowering the state’s dropout rate. The AP notes Kostelka’s “bill moves to the House, where Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, is sponsoring identical legislation.” Louisiana’s News Star (5/13) also covered the story.

Bill Would Loosen New York City Mayor’s Control Over Education Policy Panel.
The New York Daily News (5/13, Lovett) reported that “the battle for control over” New York City “schools is heating up with a bill quietly being floated in the Legislature that would weaken the mayor’s tight grip on education.” The Campaign For Better Schools backs the legislation that “would take control of the city education policy panel and its chairman away from the mayor.” According to “Billy Easton, an organizer of the Campaign for Better Schools…the proposal provides more checks and balances, transparency, and parental involvement.” It calls for the addition of 4 members to the current 13-member education policy panel. And “the mayor would have eight appointments, one less than the majority. He now has the majority of appointments.” A spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) said, “This is an outline for ending mayoral control. … The return to an unaccountable board would leave no one…held responsible for failed policies and poor performing schools — except the students.”

Missouri Lawmakers Reject Comprehensive Education Bill.
The AP (5/14, Logan) reports, “The Missouri House on Tuesday rejected a wide-ranging education bill that some members considered too bloated and too expensive.” Included in the bill were “an expansion of a college scholarship program,” an increase in teachers’ minimum pay, a restriction on state college enrollment for illegal immigrants, and creation of “a five-star rating system for preschools.” Although the measure was defeated “on a 116-43 vote,” the House also “voted to send the measure to the Rules Committee, where it was expected to be rewritten and returned to the House floor for another try before the session ends at 6 p.m. Friday.”

Also in the News

Study On Physical Education In School Highlights Importance Of Healthy Eating.
Time (5/13, Cloud) reported that “in 2006, a blue-ribbon commission released a worried report about the precipitous decline of physical education in schools since the early ’90s, coinciding with a ballooning rate of obesity in kids.” Since then, “both Democrats and Republicans have” criticized “school districts for eliminating P.E. in order to spend more” time preparing for standardized tests. But “last week at the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam, a team of researchers from Peninsula Medical School in the U.K. presented findings from a painstaking study of physical activity in 206 children ages 7 to 11 from three schools in and around Plymouth,” England. They found that “no matter how much P.E. they got during school hours, by the end of the day, the kids from the three schools had moved around about the same amount, at about the same intensity.” This “research comports with a growing body of data saying that” exercise alone cannot increase one’s health. Eating “better, or less” is also important.

NEA in the News
Senate To Consider Bill Offering Matching Funds For High School Business Classes.
The Charleston (WV) Gazette (5/14, Nyden) reports that a new bill that was introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) on Wednesday “is designed to provide matching federal funds to states that offer students new content in their core high school courses, content including financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, and civic literacy, and health awareness.” The legislation “would give the U.S. Department of Education $100 million annually to administer matching grants in states where schools integrate teaching these special skills into existing courses.” Rockefeller’s bill is supported by the National Education Association, the Charleston Gazette notes.

House Of Representatives Approves $6.4 Billion “Green” School Construction Bill.
CNN (5/15, Hornick) reports, “The House on Thursday passed a $6.4 billion school modernization bill that would commit funds for the construction and update of more energy-efficient school buildings.” The AP (5/15, Abrams) adds that the “multiyear school construction bill” is aimed at “producing hundreds of thousands of jobs, reducing energy consumption, and creating healthier, cleaner environments for the nation’s schoolchildren.” The legislation “would provide states with money to make grants and low interest loans so school districts could build, modernize, and repair facilities to make them healthier, safer, and more energy-efficient.” It would also guarantee “that every district that receives federal money for low-income students will get at least $5,000.” Most of “the funds — rising to 100 percent by 2015 — would have to be used for projects that meet green standards for construction materials and energy sources. Those include the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and Energy Star.” CQ (5/15) also covers the story, and the Houston Chronicle (5/15) emphasizes how the bill would affect Texas schools.

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In the Classroom
Most Educators Do Not Understand Importance Of Critical Thinking, Author Says.
The Des Moines Register (5/15) features an interview with Tony Wagner, the co-director of the Change in Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author of the book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need – And What We Can Do About It. In the book, Wagner asserts that “the seven survival skills…all students should master are critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration across networks and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship; effective oral and written communication; accessing and analyzing information; and curiosity and imagination.” Those skills, he says will help teach “students how to think.” When asked why the push to teach critical-thinking skills has not “taken hold” in schools, Wagner said, that “most teachers, parents, and employers don’t understand the importance of critical thinking.” Some contend “that critical thinking is too fuzzy. Therefore, it’s not tested. If it’s not tested, it’s not going to be taught.”

Elementary Students Learn About Matter By Experimentation At School Museum.
Wisconsin’s Herald-Times Reporter (5/14, Millard) spotlighted Stangel Elementary School’s Magic of Matter Museum, which displayed science-themed objects such as “a sticky solution demonstrating the difference between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures,” the elements “mercury and neon,” and “acid and alkaline chemical reactions in test tubes.” The museum encouraged hands-on experimentation for the students. For instance, one “group of students mixed Alka-Seltzer tablets with water inside a film canister and then placed the cap on the canister.” In another experiment “showed the effects of mixing certain solids with liquids,” producing carbon dioxide. According to sixth-grade teacher Andrew Best, who came up with the idea for the museum, “as students worked on their project, they became experts on the display. Their knowledge spilled to other classmates as they began talking about what they learned.”

Nevada District Offers Program To Help Parents Improve English Alongside Students.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal (5/14, Haug) reported on the family literacy program being “offered at three Clark County School District campuses” to help “Spanish-speaking adults improve their English alongside their children.” The program “is funded with a $600,000 grant from Toyota” awarded through the Kentucky-based National Center for Family Literacy. In Clark county’s program, “parents attend two classes a week with their children. They also take nine hours of English instruction for adults. An additional two hours are devoted to learning about opportunities in the school system and parenting tips.” The program is geared toward Spanish speakers, and “each of the three participating schools have enrollments that are about 78 percent Hispanic,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted.

Students At Elementary School In Oregon Learn How To Compost Food Scraps.
Oregon’s News-Review (5/14, Loznak) reported on “an environmental education program” at McGovern Elementary School that teaches students how “to compost food scraps.” During the presentations, which began in April, Sarah Davis, a project coordinator at Umpqua Community Action Network, “explained [that] compost is made by layering ‘brown stuff,’ like dead leaves, with ‘green stuff,’ such as food scraps, and then watering each layer, kind of like making a messy lasagna.” In addition to learning how to compost, students also “learned about recycling and how to save electricity by switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs.” According to the News-Review, “Some of the program’s lessons have already taken hold. Recycling stations have been set up around the school.” In addition, students “have persuaded teachers to turn off one of three rows of lights in school classrooms,” and “students and teachers are talking about setting up a school garden.”

Reading Buddy Program Said To Help Fifth Graders Learn To Read With Expression.
Michigan’s Tri County Times (5/14, McKay) reported on the “reading buddy ” program taking place at Central Elementary School in Linden, MI, this year. For the program, “second-graders from Ted Allessie’s class” team up with “fifth-graders from Elise Sulick’s class to share stories and read to each other. Sometimes the students share original stories, as well.” They “meet once every two weeks, generally on Tuesday mornings.” Sulick said that “being a reading buddy to the second-graders helps the fifth-graders read with expression and” boosts their self-esteem.

Elementary Students Learn About Dinosaurs From Milwaukee Museum Webcast.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (5/15, Crompton) reports, “A group of second-grade students at Pleasant Valley Elementary School [PA] got the chance to travel back 65 million years, courtesy of 21st century innovation.” The students were able to visit “the Milwaukee Public Museum’s dinosaur collection via live webcast May 1″ as part of the museum’s “‘Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Facts’ interactive distance learning program and other virtual curriculum.” During the presentation, students viewed “up-close views of paleontologists’ tools and fossils, including the bottom jaw of a tyrannosaurus rex.” Furthermore, “the hour-long presentation also focused on unique characteristics of dinosaurs, their relationship to modern birds and reptiles, and theories about their extinction.”

On the Job
North Carolina District To Replace Some Experienced Teachers With TFA Recruits.
The Charlotte (NC) Observer (5/14, Helms) reported that “Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will bring in 100 new Teach For America (TFA) cadets, who lack teaching experience and credentials, as the district lays off experienced teachers next school year.” Mary McCray, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, said, “I think it is a slap in the faces of the ones who are going to be losing their jobs. It’s more or less telling them, ‘We don’t give a flip about you.” But Superintendent Peter Gorman contends that the Teach for America teachers “would be bumping a teacher who’s below standard.” He said that “job performance will be the biggest factor in deciding which teachers will be cut,” but experience will also be taken into consideration.

Florida District Considers Offering Benefits To Persuade Employees To Retire.
The St. Petersburg Times (5/15, Solochek) reports that “layoffs remain a last resort for Pasco County school district leaders as they look for ways to slash spending by as much as $45 million.” So the school board is looking into ways to encourage school employees to leave voluntarily. “Board members reviewed…possible offers that they might put forth as a way to draw some people into retirement who otherwise might wait for their full state pension to kick in.” One plan “focused on employees between 62 and 65 who are mainly keeping their jobs for health insurance: Offer them $425 a month toward health benefits until they qualify for Medicare.” A second “idea targeted workers who have yet to qualify for full state retirement benefits: Pay them the difference until they can get their full amount.” The St. Petersburg Times notes that “the concepts…could save a projected $970,000 to $10 million, depending on how they play out once offered.”

Law & Policy
Missouri Increases Age Requirement For Students To Drop Out.
The AP (5/15) reports, “Missouri students would have to stay in school longer or complete a minimum number of credits before they can drop out under legislation sent to Gov. Jay Nixon (D).” Current law allows “students [to] quit school when they turn 16.” But “a bill given final approval by the House and Senate on Thursday would let students drop out when they turn 17 or complete at least 16 credits.” Next year, Missouri “students will need at least 24 credits to graduate instead of the current 22.” And “because a student usually can earn up to eight credits per year, the practical effect of the Missouri legislation is that most students would be required to stay in school through their junior year,” the AP points out.

School Finance
School Fundraisers Said To Be Exploitative, Economically Discriminating.
In a commentary for Education Week (5/14) freelance writer and parent Elly Schull Meeks wrote, “U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently told the nation that education ‘is the civil rights issue of our generation, and it is the one sure path to a more equal, fair, and just society.’” This statement made Meeks wonder how Duncan feels about the “practice of fundraising during the school day, with the students recruited as salespeople.” Meeks called the practice “coercive, exploitative, and economically discriminating” and “blatantly commercial.” Through fundraising activities such as magazine sales and book fairs, “the only lesson kids are guaranteed to learn is how to become cogs in the $4 billion-a-year commercial school-fundraising industry.” Meeks concludes that although “parochial interests seem unwilling or unable to confront the problem,” Secretary Duncan “might just be the player to take a shot at the issue.”

Also in the News

College Board Postpones Release Of Eighth Grade Exams.
The New York Times (5/15, A16, Steinberg) reports, “The College Board said Thursday that it was putting off the unveiling of a new standardized test intended to help eighth graders prepare for rigorous high school courses and college. It cited school districts’ tight finances as the cause of the delay.” Last fall, the College Board announced “that it would begin offering the test, known as ReadiStep, this fall. It had described it as being for assessment and instructional purposes only, and not for any college admissions purpose.” But in an email this week, a spokesperson for the College Board wrote, “With the unforeseen challenge of the current economic situation, many states, districts and schools simply don’t have the resources to spend on new programs. … When a large enough group of states, districts, and schools have the resources that will enable them to launch ReadiStep, we will launch it.” The Los Angeles Times (5/15, Holland) also covers the story.

Scholastic Chess Becoming More Popular In Schools.
USA Today (5/15, Berman) reports that “over the past few years scholastic chess, or chess for educational purposes, has taken U.S. schools by storm.” According to USA Today, “This increased interest can be seen in the number of young people competing in chess at high levels. This week the nation’s top chess players are gathering in St. Louis to compete in the “Super Bowl” of chess — the U.S. Chess Championship.” This year, four of the “24 players vying for the $200,000 prize…are under the age of 21.” According to “Wendi Fischer, executive director of America’s Foundation for Chess…she’s seen a “huge increase” in the number of schools and students interested in chess.” USA Today adds that “when the program started in 2003 it was in one state, serving about 1,500 kids, but by 2008 First Move expanded to 26 states, to serve about 50,000 kids.”

NEA in the News
Iowa District, Teachers Union Reach Agreement On Pay, Benefits.
The Des Moines Register (5/15, Ryan) reports that “teachers and staff in the Johnston school district will receive a total compensation increase of four percent each of the next two years under an agreement between the district and the Johnston Education Association, its teachers union.” The raise “will not be a straight salary increase but will include all related tax-benefit and insurance costs as well.” Specifically, “the package includes additional benefit costs such as a health-insurance premium increase and Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System contributions paid by the district.,” according to Don Miller, a spokesman for the Johnston Education Association. “It also includes, for the first time, contributions by the district to employees’ 403(b), or tax-sheltered annuity accounts.”

Iowa’s Des Moines Register (9/28, Hupp) noted that education officials in some districts “want a waiver from the mandatory state schools calendar so they can switch to a four-day week as soon as next year,” while “other educators who aren’t completely sold on the idea want state lawmakers to free them from the calendar’s confines, just in case.” Heather Chikoore of the National Conference of State Legislatures pointed out that, “in many cases, state laws give school districts the freedom to decide.” In terms of Iowa, Jeff Berger, the education department’s legislative liaison, said that “one approach is to set a minimum number of hours in the school year instead of days.”

In the Classroom
Some Wisconsin schools end class ranking.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (9/27, Richards) reported that some schools in Wisconsin have quit ranking high school students in a move to improve students’ chances of getting into college. In Waukesha County, “last year’s seniors with a GPA of 4.05 weren’t in the top 10 percent of their class, and 3.8 GPA students didn’t clear the top 20 percent.” Administrators in districts that have ceased using the statistic “say they’ve seen more seniors being accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison.” But while “reports show that college admission departments have already started to ease scrutiny on class rank” nationwide, “at least one UW-Madison official is still perturbed by the trend at high schools, saying that withholding a piece of data impedes their work and forces them to more heavily emphasize ACT or SAT scores.” The official noted that “the UW system has comprehensively reviewed incoming freshmen, rather than making an initial determination based on GPA and class rank.”

Most students are not overscheduled with activities, studies indicate.
The Washington Post (9/28, C1, St. George) reported on the front page of its Style section that two recent studies “into the lives of middle-class children bucks conventional wisdom and concludes they are not the overscheduled, frazzled generation that many believe them to be.” The research found “that only a minority are heavily scheduled and that organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behavior.” Specifically, “a higher level of activity was not linked to such stress symptoms as depression, anxiety, alienation and fearfulness.” In fact, the results indicated that “the children most at risk have no activities at all.” However, “parental stress…might be another matter.” One of the researchers said that parents “are having a hard time trying to figure out how to manage children’s lives as well as their own.” The Post noted that, “until recently, overscheduling as a phenomenon has not been widely explored in data-based studies.”

School officials, parents clash over math program.
The Washington Post (9/28, PW3, Shapira) reported on “the math wars in Prince William County,” Virginia, where parents and education officials have been at odds over the district’s use of the Investigations in Numbers, Data and Space program. “County school officials have presented data indicating that elementary students are improving in math,” and say “that county schools need “to push on with the…program as long as it is balanced with traditional lessons.” Parents who oppose the program counter that “the school system is experimenting at their children’s expense,” and say they “will continue to scrutinize school system data and might file Freedom of Information Act requests to examine documents related to the evaluation of the program.” The Post noted that “the Investigations program requires students to use inanimate objects and protracted methods that school officials say prepare them for algebra, but some parents think it does not focus enough on traditional drills and the memorization of algorithms.”

Oregon develops more rigorous physical education curriculum.
The Oregonian (9/29, Melton) reports that as Oregon “moves to teach fitness and nutrition to a new generation, hallowed physical education traditions are morphing into a more rigorous curriculum that emphasizes specific skills, building self-esteem, and reducing alarming obesity rates.” The emerging physical education curriculum includes activities such as “hiking and geocaching (an outdoor treasure hunt using navigation tools) to build practical skills such as walking on uneven terrain and using a compass.” And, “Unusual sports such as juggling, table tennis, and cup-stacking to give kids an opportunity to excel at more things.” Many schools are also beginning to include textbooks in physical education classes because “the Oregon Department of Education last year added PE to its list of subjects that must have books. Districts have until 2015 to get them into schools.” According to some advocates, “the state PE effort is a targeted response to the growing obesity and health problems facing young people today.”

Full K-12 curriculum to be made available to Florida students online.
The Palm Beach Post (9/28, Breen) reported, “Next school year, the first generation of Florida students can begin to earn a diploma from local public schools entirely online, without ever setting foot in a classroom from kindergarten through 12th grade. A new state law requires districts to create their own full-time virtual schools, collaborate with other districts or contract with providers approved by the state.” The law’s “vague reference to providing computers and Internet access to students ‘when appropriate’” is open to interpretation to each district, “raising concerns that the program may not benefit students whose families cannot afford home computers and reliable Internet access.” Officials in Palm Beach County are working to resolve that issue. Because “it would be too expensive to provide computers to all virtual students to use at home,” school “administrators have proposed opening school computer labs.”

Science curriculum emphasizes genetics.
The Baltimore Sun (9/28, Gvozdas) reported on a “two-week lesson on genetics” developed at Glen Burnie High School in Maryland by science teacher Pam Engel that allows students to “create their own family trees.” The “students had to list three generations and include medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, along with causes of death. Then they had to act as genetics counselors and predict which conditions might be passed on in their families.” The Sun noted that the program “helped Engel earn a certification from the Geneticist-Educator Network of Alliances (GENA).” She had been “part of a pilot project of 13 teachers nationwide who teamed up with geneticists to develop lesson plans for high school students.” Engel and her partner focused “on inherited traits,” as they are “the ‘cornerstone’ of any genetics patient’s visit.” The Sun noted that “the National Science Foundation provided the grant for the GENA project to improve science education and get more high school students to pursue careers in the field.”

On the Job
D.C. teacher vacancies concern some educators.
On the front of its Metro section, the Washington Post (9/29, B1, Turque) reports, “After spending more than $200 million this summer to renovate and repair its buildings, the D.C. school system is having trouble filling them with teachers, listing more than 90 vacancies five weeks into the academic year.” The vacancies indicated on “a list generated by the system’s human resources department” include special education, math, science, English, and foreign language positions, as well as elementary teacher positions. And, “despite Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s promise that every school would have a music and art teacher, the list shows several openings in those areas” as well. But, Rhee’s spokeswoman “said that the document is outdated and that the chancellor’s office is aware of only 42 openings.” The Post points out that even “in a teacher corps of about 4,000 in 120 schools…teachers say that” a small number of “vacancies can have significant ripple effects. Teachers” could be “pressed into classroom service instead of having free periods to work on lesson plans, and class sizes can grow.”

Law & Policy
Arizona considering statewide district unification.
The Arizona Republic (9/ 29, Reid) reports, “For the first time in Arizona’s history, voters will be considering proposals to merge districts around the state. The proposals on the Nov. 4 ballot would unify 76 elementary and high school districts into 27 K-12 districts.” The unification proposals were developed by the Arizona School District Redistricting Commission “after nearly three years of discussions.” Those who support the proposals say that “unification would improve Arizona education by saving administrative costs and putting more dollars into classrooms.” Jay Kaprosy, chair of Maricopa County United for Student Success, said, “By eliminating administrative duplication and inefficiencies more money can be directed to teacher salaries and classroom spending.” Still, many “school boards” have “strongly opposed unification.” Unification “opponents say the proposal is vague, lacks funding, and its cost and legal impact has not been thoroughly analyzed.”

Special Needs
Documentary studies potential of disabilities-awareness education.
The Christian Science Monitor (9/29, Khadaroo) reports on Maggie Doben, a first grade teacher and the creator of a “new documentary, ‘Labeled Disabled,’ which she hopes will help parents and teachers see the potential of disabilities-awareness education.” Doben developed an eight-week curriculum during which her students “have the chance to befriend at least half a dozen people with a wide range of physical disabilities.” Prior to the visits, the students “learn the alphabet in sign language or make textured vases for a blind guest,” and learn why certain terms are used to refer to specific conditions while others are not. They also “find out it’s OK to ask whatever they’re curious about.” An educator who works with Doben explained that “the students start off not knowing what ‘disability’ means and become ‘completely conversant … about disabilities in a way that’s mature for little guys.’”

New York schools offer gym class with greater accessibility for special needs students.
New York’s Observer-Dispatch (9/28, Potts) reported that several New York school districts have found “ways to make…gym classes accessible for all students, regardless of their abilities.” The districts “provide special equipment for students with disabilities. Examples include softer foam balls, larger bats and beeping soccer balls for visually impaired students. Games themselves also can be modified by using smaller playing areas or simpler rules.” And, “the most severely disabled students make use of the swimming pool several times a week with the help of individual aides.” Meanwhile, “students with anxiety disorders often engage in physical activity outside a classroom setting and log their hours toward gym credits.” The purpose of making such accommodations, school officials said, is “to help each student make the most of his or her own physical abilities.” Teachers, meanwhile, said that “it really comes down to making sure students are having fun.”

Safety & Security
Some Massachusetts districts adopting stricter anti-drinking policies.
The Boston Globe (9/28, O’Brien) reported that “a growing number of high schools” in Massachusetts “are now using breathalyzers at school events, testing students they believe to be intoxicated or sometimes testing every single student to make sure no one has been drinking.” Some schools are even requiring parents “to sign in their students at the door,” and “have adopted zero-tolerance policies” such as denying the ability to graduate to students who are “caught drinking at the prom.” The Globe noted that “even though Massachusetts’ rates of underage drinking overall have fallen in recent years, state and local officials are troubled by” the level of binge drinking that some studies have found. But while many administrators tout the use of breathalyzers in particular, others “say breathalyzers…offer a false sense of security,” and instead advocate “adopting stiffer penalties for alcohol use,” such as “banning violators from the prom and other dances for the rest of the year.”

Also in the News
Album based on California State Standards.
California’s Press Enterprise (9/29, Dean) reports on “the album ‘Math’ by Rockin’ the Standards,” which addresses the California State Standards and “has held a top 10 position…in bestseller downloads in the Children’s Music/Compilations/Education category of Amazon.com.” The album was created by teacher Tim Bedley. It is based, he said, “on the standards and what I’ve experienced in the classrooms…the things kids tend to forget.” The album was preceded by “Singin’ the standards: Simple to Learn, Impossible to Forget,” which Bedley released in 2006. “Bedley offers training for educators interested in using “Rockin’ the Standards” albums in the classroom.”

NEA in the News
NEA voices opposition to Massachusetts ballot measure to repeal income tax.
The New York Times (9/28, A21, Belluck) reported on a ballot contest in Massachusetts regarding the elimination of the state income tax. “It would save the average taxpayer about $3,600 a year. Annual revenue from the tax is about $12.5 billion, roughly 45 percent of the state’s budget of about $28 billion.” The measure has caused concern among state officials, such as Gov. Deval Patrick (D), who “has called the ballot measure ‘just a dumb idea.’” Additionally, “healthcare workers, small-business owners and unions are especially concerned about that prospect.” Karen White, “director of campaigns and elections for the National Education Association, said the ‘reckless proposal’ would have ‘dire consequences that will put education at risk, healthcare at risk, public safety at risk.’” White added, “We’re prepared to commit more money if we need to. We’re going to do what we need to do to make sure that we win this one.”

New federal rules give school districts oversight of 403(b) accounts.
Education Week (9/29, McNeil) reported that, because of new federal rules (pdf) regarding supplemental retirement plans, “district business officials must now vet and pick the investment firms that offer such plans, craft a highly technical document governing the 403(b) accounts, and assume responsibility for making sure employees seeking hardship withdrawals or loans from their accounts are following the rules.” According to experts, “the changes represent dramatic new responsibilities in oversight and administration that had been ‘virtually nonexistent’ for district business officials” in the past. Because of the new rules, “teachers and other employees may find their investment choices limited as their districts…seek to scale down the number of investment companies allowed to offer their plans.” Additionally, “employers used to dealing directly with their investment houses for loans and other withdrawals will have to apply through their districts, or through designated school system contractors.” However, “some district decisions…may be subject to collective bargaining with employees’ unions, depending on the existing labor contract.”
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In the Classroom
Fifteen D.C. schools launch experimental student performance-pay program.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (9/30, B1, Turque) reports on Capital Gains, an experimental program which pays students “cash for good grades and behavior.” The program, created by Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer, “began yesterday at 15 D.C. schools.” The program is aimed at closing “the academic achievement gap that separates white and minority children.” Fryer has said that “it is important to find ways for children to learn that academic achievement also has short-term and tangible rewards.” The Post explains, “Under Capital Gains, every two weeks, students will be scored on 10-point scales according to a series of performance indicators. All schools in the program” must “review behavior and attendance,” but “individual schools can choose other criteria, including grades, homework, class participation, and adherence to the dress code. Each point is worth $2.” Half of the program’s $2.7 million budget will be funded by the District, the rest will be “from a grant to Harvard by the Broad Foundation.”

Program builds English language, science skills.
Education Week (9/29, Cavanagh) reported that “more than 400 educators in the Miami-Dade County, Fla., school system” are “taking part in a professional-development and curriculum program that attempts to build students’ science knowledge while also helping them master English.” The program, Promoting Science among English Language Learners (P-SELL), “addresses a number of the crucial challenges facing elementary teachers in urban districts and other communities that have seen an influx of non-native English-speakers.” Educators involved in P-SELL attend professional-development workshops that are “focused on improving teachers’ science understanding,” and also demonstrate “how different activities, such as hands-on experiments, small-group discussions, and writing, can improve students’ knowledge of both science and English.” According to P-SELL officials, hands-on projects and small group activities are particularly effective. Educators involved in the Florida effort called P-SELL “a very easy and manageable curriculum,” and noted testing gains made by students under the program.

California district applying interactive whiteboards to most classroom subjects.
California’s San Mateo County Times (9/30, Scott) reports on the use of interactive whiteboards in San Mateo County and surrounding areas. “The whiteboard is a projector, a movie screen and a drawing pad all at once — with instant Internet access and hundreds of pre-programmed learning games designed to function with a child’s touch” — that can be applied to nearly every academic discipline. During “a unit on fossils,” for example, “teachers [were] screening videos of dinosaurs off the Internet, stopping the video and ‘drawing’ on the screen to help make a point.” Educators also note that whiteboards foster group learning. According to the article, “Not only do students absorb more information” using such whiteboards, “they are training for a time in their lives when they will be creating everything with computers.” The Times notes that “many of the programs used in the classroom are available on the Web for free, and students download them to complete their homework assignments.”

CSMonitor calls for de-emphasis of SAT, ACT.
The Christian Science Monitor (9/30) editorializes that “the frenzy and anxiety that have built up over [the] potentially life-altering” SAT and ACT admissions tests “must recede.” The Monitor points out that a “study released last week by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)” suggested that “students spend far too much time and money on the SAT and its counterpart, the ACT.” The study “recommends that colleges and universities review the role of the SAT and ACT in admissions and merit aid and, if the tests don’t predict performance, consider not requiring them.” In order to “de-emphasize standardized tests,” the NACAC study suggested “that U.S. News & World Report magazine…stop using the test scores as a benchmark,” and that “the National Merit Scholarship Program stop using the PSAT…as the initial screen for eligibility.” The Monitor argues that “the onus is on colleges to more fairly weigh the tests along with other measures — and to get that message out to applicants.”

Teacher coaching program focuses on learning retention, testing scores.
California’s Tri-Valley Herald (9/30, Gokhman) reports on the Direct Instruction (DI) coaching program, which provides “a way for teachers to help improve students’ learning retention as well as their standardized testing scores.” The certification “program is a means of intervention to help” schools raise their status under NCLB, and “includes a lesson structure guide that breaks up lessons into pieces so that teachers can frequently check for understanding and pinpoint where a child needs help.” According to educators certified under the program, “benefits of the Direct Instruction style include being able to get through lessons faster and to cover more material, to more quickly identify students who need help and to keep students moving so they don’t ‘tune out.’” And although “lessons are structured in certain steps” under the program, educators say “that there’s room for teachers’ own creativity and style,” noting that “DI should look different in everybody’s class.”

Author advocates for financial literacy classes.
In an opinion piece for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (8/30), financial author Braun Mincher asks, “Why does the school system require classes such as math, English, and science but not basic personal finance?” A “2007 survey commissioned by the National Council on Economic Education” reveals that “only seven states require students to receive some form of financial education in the school system.” Meanwhile, recent headlines about “the mortgage meltdown, the stock market crisis, the housing slump,” and “the rising cost of oil” are indicators that financial literacy will be relevant “for the next generation.” Moreover, “personal finance is a subject that will affect each and every consumer for the rest of their lives.” And, since schools have “an obligation to prepare students for success in an ever-changing world,” Mincher concludes, “the public needs to put pressure on lawmakers to mandate” that financial literacy “be properly taught in the school system, alongside traditional math, English, and science.”

On the Job
Two states to institute performance-based teacher evaluations.
Education Week (9/29, Sawchuck) reported, “With the pressure on to increase student learning,” Georgia and Idaho “are in the process of overhauling what analysts say is among the most neglected pieces of the teacher-quality continuum: evaluation.” The states “are working to help districts institute performance-based teacher evaluations built on clear descriptions of effective teaching practices.” The “evaluation frameworks…are built on standards of teacher behavior that research links to improved student learning.” And, each standard falls under one of “four domains: instruction, classroom environment, professional responsibilities,” or planning and preparation. Typically, every standard “includes a description of the practice and examples of the evidence, such as lesson plans and student work, [which] evaluators are expected to seek in making judgments about teacher attainment of the standard.” Some experts say that “evaluating teachers against [the] framework” allows the evaluations to “essentially become a form of professional development that helps teachers…analyze their cognitive decision-making.”

Law & Policy
Texas considering standardized GPA calculation.
Education Week (9/29, Gewertz) reported, The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board “is expected to vote on [a] proposed rule at its Oct. 23 meeting” that would require all Texas high “schools to compute GPAs by including only courses in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign languages.” Additionally, all schools would have to calculate GPAs “on a four-point scale,” and extra points would be limited to “Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual-enrollment courses.” According to the article, this would mark “a significant change” in policy, as “many districts…give added weight to honors, ‘pre-AP’ and ‘pre-IB’ courses.” Districts have also traditionally given GPA credit for “a vast array of courses ” that would no longer qualify. The proposal “is encountering strong resistance from educators who fear it could discourage teenagers from taking challenging courses.” There are also “widespread concerns about the…elimination of career and technical education courses from the calculation.”

Facilities
Maryland district’s school lunch program praised.
In the Eat Drink, & Be Healthy column on the front page of the Washington Post’s (9/30, HE1) Health section, Jennifer Huget writes about the praise-winning lunch program in Maryland’s Montgomery County public school system. In addition to providing “a variety of nutritious meals,” such as “Teriyaki Beef Bites With Asian Vegetables” and “Baked Shrimp Poppers With Cheesy Rice,” the district “also uses applesauce instead of fats when baking cookies and doesn’t add salt to foods it offers, instead adding flavor through a variety of spices.” Eight dieticians have been staffed by Montgomery County “to plan and implement its school lunch program.” In addition, the school system “solicits input from parents.” And, “last year, the system hired a private company to run the food service. Now, along with such lunch-menu choices…District schools offer information about foods’ nutritional content and guidance in making sound choices, and advise parents on how to encourage healthy eating habits at home.”

School Finance
Connecticut districts seek more state funding for student meals.
UPI (9/30) reports, “A number of Connecticut school districts say they plan to ask the state Legislature for more money to pay for student lunches.” This year, “some school lunch programs in Connecticut [are] facing huge deficits” because of “increasing poverty, lagging subsidies, and rising food costs.”

According to Connecticut’s Hartford Courant (9/29, Stacom), “in communities where poverty is rising sharply…more needy families mean more children lining up for free and lower-cost lunches,” which can “lead to deficits for programs that emphasize nutritious foods and operate with relatively high fixed costs.” Meanwhile, some “districts hold down costs by contracting their lunch programs.” Others, like the Enfield district, limit “expenses by cooking all meals at two kitchens, then distributing them to the schools. That saves dozens of hours of preparation and cooking time at individual schools. Enfield students pay in their classrooms for meals, so” no cafeteria cashiers are needed.

Also in the News
Male teachers serve as important role models, study suggests.
The U.K.’s Press Association (9/30) reports, “Male primary school teachers are vital role models for boys, new research suggests.” A poll “commissioned by the Training and Development Agency (TDA)” of over “800 men looked at the impact of male primary teachers in boys’ development.” Results showed that nearly half of those surveyed believe “that a male teacher has been a fundamental role model in their life,” and “more than a third (35 percent) felt that having a male primary teacher challenged them to work harder at school.” Furthermore, 50 percent of respondents said they “were more likely to approach a male teacher about bullying,” 49 percent “were more likely to approach them about problems with school work,” and 29 percent “went to them with problems at home.”

According to the U.K.’s Independent (9/30, Garner), “the research…comes as the number of males qualifying to teach is at its lowest for five years — 23.8 percent. Only 13 percent of all primary school teachers are men.” The U.K.’s Telegraph (9/30, Paton) adds that according to child psychologist Tanya Byron, “paranoia about child abuse” accusations drives many men away from teaching. Dr. Byron also noted that the male teacher “shortage particularly [affects] children from single-parent families who often” do not have “father figures in the home.” The Independent notes that the TDA is launching a campaign urging “men to consider” teaching.

Harvard institute to address perceived decline in U.S. education system.
The Financial Times (9/30, Knight) reports that the United States “public education system, once considered the ‘great equalizer’ in U.S. life, is failing its students, and multibillionaire Eli Broad wants to do something about it.” Broad “has announced the creation of an education research institute at” Harvard University “that will focus on public schools.” The Times explains that “the $44 million…Education Innovation Laboratory will connect economists and scholars from other academic fields with research and development teams embedded in school districts in New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.” Broad believes that “the troubled public school system [has] hurt U.S. competitiveness,” and noted that countries in Europe and Asia “are rapidly improving their education systems.” Roland Fryer, “the Harvard economist who in January at the age of 30 became the youngest black professor ever to earn tenure from the university,” has been selected to “serve as the head of” the project.

Missouri school district to return to traditional approach for teaching math.
The Missourian (9/25, Call) reports that after the Columbia schools district’s six-year review of it’s math curriculum, “the ‘investigations’ program won’t be considered the district’s everyday math program anymore.” Instead, elementary school students “will learn math with a traditional approach.” The decision was made by Interim Superintendent Jim Ritter, who “said he was concerned that the district’s math issues had divided the community.” The Missourian points out that “discussion about the district’s math programs has been ongoing for months, if not years,” as some parents raised concerns “that the…nontraditional approach leaves students unprepared for standardized tests or college.”

MCAS results released.
The Boston Globe (9/25) reports on the release of “the school and district results on the” Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), which indicated that “math scores hit a historic high for all grade levels.” However, the “scores were largely disappointing in English.” Further, “the percentage of sophomores who passed the MCAS on the first try this year declined for the first time because thousands of students failed the science section, a new graduation requirement.”

The Boston Herald (9/25, Szaniszlo) notes that “Boston public school students improved in English and Math, but continued to lag behind the state, particularly in science.” The city’s “students scored the worst on the eighth-grade MCAS science test, with 0 percent scoring in the ‘advanced’ category and 52 percent earning a ‘warning/failing’ grade.” In comparison, “statewide, three percent of eighth graders scored ‘advanced’ in science and 22 percent scored ‘warning/failing.’” Massachusetts’s Daily News Tribune (9/25, Gilbride) also reports aspects of the story.

On the Job
Teacher describes experiences in high-needs, urban classroom.
In an article for Teacher Magazine (9/24), Ariel Sacks wrote about her experiences as a new teacher in an “‘under-resourced,’ ‘high needs,’ ‘inner-city’ and ‘high poverty’” school. Sacks noted “a constant sense of instability” from consistently unmet needs, felt by students, parents, and educators, all of whom “have reason to be angry over what often feels like an unworkable situation.” To thrive in this environment there were two important characteristics for her to exhibit, Sacks wrote. “Don’t give up, no matter what — I must demonstrate persistence, especially if I hope to see it in my students. Don’t take it personally when students exhibit what I interpret as negative behaviors — most of the time, it’s not about me, so my job is to understand the reasons for my students’ behaviors and find ways to help.” Sacks also acknowledged the value of “advice and support from experienced educators,” and the importance of “getting to know [her] students” in order to develop the most effective curriculum.

Some L.A. Unified clerks struggle with new technology requirement.
The Los Angeles Times (9/25, Song) reports on the “L.A. Unified School District employees, mainly women nearing retirement age, whose jobs were eliminated in budget cuts in June” and must now “pass a test proving that they can manage a spreadsheet and type a letter” in order to qualify for new positions. The need for computer skills was expected, a labor relations representative said, noting that “the district implemented an expensive computer program last year to manage its complex payroll system.” Yet “virtually all of the test-takers worked for the transportation department, one of the least technology-reliant departments in the district,” and as a result the average level of computer literacy is low. The Times points out that “employees can take the test once every four months, but they run the danger of their jobs being eliminated if they fail the first time.”

Massachusetts program aims to quickly produce new math, science teachers.
The Boston Globe (9/25, Vaznis) reports on “a new program at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth” that “is sending a small army of math and science teachers to Fall River and New Bedford. After a crash course in taking the qualification test, they obtain their teacher licenses and begin immediately running their own classrooms, earning full pay while still working toward their postgraduate degrees.” Also known as “TEACH! SouthCoast,” the program offers “candidates free college classes, a two-year guarantee of mentoring from a veteran teacher and a university professor, and a full-time paid teaching job.” In return, candidates must stay where they are assigned for three years.

Diversity key in New York City’s teacher recruiting efforts.
The New York Sun (9/25, Green) reports, “The percentage of new teachers in New York City public schools who are black has fallen substantially since 2002, dropping to 13 percent in the last school year from 27 percent in 2001-02, city figures show.” The school system “is increasingly made up of non-white students,” while a 2006-07 state report showed that “black people made up just four percent of new certified teachers who identified their race.” Bernstein “she said she has made recruiting black and Latino teachers a priority for her staff.” Her recruiting efforts have included “visiting historically black colleges to recruit possible teachers; publishing advertisements that focus groups show appeal to black and Latino applicants, and making a concerted effort to follow through with those candidates as they make their way through the application process.”

Law & Policy
Group pushes for community schools, NCLB revisions.
Education Week (9/24, Maxwell) reported on the Community Agenda for America’s Public Schools, a group composed of “more than 100 leaders from education, youth-development, community, health and social-services, and university organizations,” that is calling “for more partnerships between public schools and local community groups, healthcare providers, and other resources that aim to improve the lives of poor families, especially in the nation’s urban core and rural pockets.” The “community schools” the group seeks to develop would “work with local organizations and social-service providers to offer such services as school-based healthcare, counseling, and academic tutoring.” To achieve these goals, “the group…will push for changes in federal policies, including the No Child Left Behind law, that encourage the types of partnerships between schools and neighborhood organizations that have been successful.”

Proposed Texas standards would limit teaching of intelligent design.
The AP (9/25) reports, “A proposal for science courses in Texas would drop language requiring students be taught the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ of all scientific theories,” language that “some say has been used to undermine the theory of evolution.” The proposal “would also put up roadblocks for teachers who want to discuss creationism or ‘intelligent design’ in biology classes when covering the subject of evolution.” The AP notes, “The standards are subject to approval by the State Board of Education early next year,” where “a majority of members have said they favor keeping the current mandate to cover both strengths and weaknesses of major scientific theories, notably evolution.”

School Finance
Dallas district’s plan to shift teachers’ salaries to federal grant program may be prohibited.
The Dallas Morning News (9/25, Fischer) reports, “State officials have raised doubts about the Dallas school district’s plan to erase a substantial chunk of its $84 million budget deficit by shifting the salaries of 300 teachers to” the federal Title I grant program. The “estimated $18 million” payroll shift “is a key part of the district’s plan to cut into its growing deficit.” Dallas schools’ chief financial officer “told board members that” after the district enforced “its staffing policies…by firing about 650 teachers,” it “would reclassify…300 teachers and instructional coaches as supplemental to district programs.” But, Texas Education Agency Spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe said that “federal grant rules prohibit districts from using grant money to make up for local spending cuts, which is essentially what the district is proposing.” The only way the plan would work, she added, is if the teachers whose salaries are shifted to the grant program “are given new jobs with different duties.”

Also in the News

CDC recommends 86 percent of U.S. receive flu shot.
The Washington Post (9/25, A2, Brown) reports, “A record-setting amount of influenza vaccine is available this fall for a record-setting number of people being advised to get it. … The number of people targeted for flu vaccination has grown steadily in recent years and now constitutes 86 percent of the population,” or about 261 million Americans. “For the first time,” health officials are “recommending…that children five to 18 years old get vaccinated, along with the previously targeted group of six months to five years. That will add about 30 million children to the number advised to get the shots.” In addition, targeted groups will “include pregnant women, people 50 and older; younger adults with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and asthma; healthcare workers; people in contact with children younger than six months; and people in contact with those who are at high risk of flu’s complications.”

The AP (9/25, Neergaard) reports that the “CDC released disappointing counts Wednesday of how many people at highest risk from influenza get vaccinated.” According to its figures, “roughly one in five children under two got vaccinated during the 2006-07 season, the latest data available. And, just 35 percent of young adults at high risk because of chronic illnesses, such as asthma or heart conditions, comply.”

CNN (9/25), Bloomberg News (9/24, Lauerman), ABC News (9/24, Brownstein), the San Francisco Chronicle (9/24, Fernandez), the San Jose Mercury News (9/24, Gomez), the San Antonio Express (9/25, Finley), HealthDay (9/24, Reinberg), and WebMD (9/24, Zwillich) also cover the story.

Prisons across U.S. increasingly using education for rehabilitation purposes.
USA Today (9/25, Barnett) reports on “students in the Palmetto Unified School District in South Carolina” who are part of the prison education program there. The students “have performed well enough behind bars to earn their school district an ‘Excellent’ rating on the South Carolina Annual School Report Card each of the past five years.” According to USA Today, “the Palmetto program is one of many across the USA increasingly turning to education to reduce the rate of recidivism and to give inmates hope for their future.” The article details the educational and support programs of several states, and notes that, according to an official from the American Correctional Association, “the educational emphasis represents a shift away from warehousing prisoners and toward preparing them for life after prison.” Critics of such programs, however, “argue that spending money to educate prisoners is neither effective nor appropriate.”

Web platform designed to organize student information, communication.
The Boston Globe (9/25, West) reports on “a Web 2.0 platform called SchoolPulse.com — an online community for families, organized not around towns or special interest groups but around schools.” The platform was created to be “a place for school-centered communities to discuss matters of importance to them,” but evolved into “a way to better manage their families’ schedules and the communications around the activities.” SchoolPulse attempts “to consolidate all the information and communication that surrounds the lives of students” and “generate a singular family calendar that has all…kid-related events and information on it.”

Studies find schools likely to miss NCLB targets, face restructuring.
Education Week (9/25, Cavanagh, Hoff) reported, “A pair of new studies cast doubt on U.S. schools’ ability to make the academic improvements required under the No Child Left Behind Act.” The first study examined “a central tenet of” NCLB, the requirement “that all students will reach academic proficiency by the 2013-14 school year.” Focusing on California, the researchers found “that nearly all the state’s elementary schools will fail to meet that target, in large part because of the difficulty of bringing English-language learners and economically disadvantaged students up to speed academically.” Despite the likelihood of failure, “states are required to hold schools accountable for meeting achievement targets based on that goal.” The second study “estimates that during the 2007-08 school year, 3,599 schools nationwide were forced to choose one of several restructuring options to change their management or instructional strategies with the goal of improving student performance.” This marks “a 56 percent increase” over the 2006-07 school year.

In the Classroom
Website fosters charitable giving for classroom needs.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of The Opening Bell, the Washington Post (9/26, King) reports on DonorsChoose.org, which “has facilitated $23.9 million in donations to students nationwide, mainly in low-income communities, according to its website.” The organization “requires teachers to submit proposals for items they need. Once proposals are verified, they are posted for donations.” Although “there is no limit on how much funding a teacher can request…the site advises that requests under $400 are more likely to be fulfilled.” The Post continues, “Once enough money is donated, DonorsChoose.org purchases the materials and ships them to the school.” Then, “teachers are required to photograph students using the items, and the photos are sent to donors, along with thank-you letters.” The article relates the stories of a number of teachers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, who have successfully used the site to improve their classrooms.

California school participates in fitness campaign.
The Los Angeles Times (9/26, Pool) reports on “a nationwide fitness campaign” being staged by the YMCA that seeks to get students to take “10 billion steps this week.” To that end, the roughly 500 students at Knollwood Elementary School in California are “trying to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.” Their steps are measured by “$2 pedometers donated by State Farm Insurance and distributed by the North Valley Family YMCA.” According to organizers, “it appeared that most youngsters average about 4,000 steps a day, far short of this week’s daily goal.” The Times notes, “A person taking fewer than 5,000 steps a day is considered by some experts to have an inactive lifestyle,” which can, in turn, “lead to lifelong health problems.”

Texas program lets students learn about being a teacher.
Texas’s Sun (9/26, Scott) reports on “an internship program called Ready, Set, Teach!” that allows students at Lake Dallas High School to “learn about being a teacher and the education industry first hand.” Through the program, “students learn about the career itself, what qualities it takes to make an effective teacher, the communication skills they need to develop and the education field in general.” One of the program leaders explained, “A good teacher can know their information but how to communicate it is a different area. … So we focus a lot on communication.” The students also “intern teach with a teacher of their choice.” According to the Sun, program participants “are so well-received in the area schools that there is a waiting list to get one of these motivated young-adults working under their wing.”

Arkansas high school to offer IT academy.
Arkansas’s Morning News (9/26, Pearce) reports on Springdale High School’s (SHS) “new Information Technology (IT) Academy, the only one of its kind in Arkansas.” According to the Morning News, the program “continues to elevate Springdale High School in the development of career academies.” The Arkansas Department of Workforce Education “recently awarded Springdale a $75,000 grant to implement the district’s newest academy, one of eight schools in the state to receive a grant for offering programs in high-demand, high-wage and high-skill careers.” The academy aims to “give the students a broad-based foundation in information technology to carry them into post-secondary education programs, and, eventually, high-paying jobs.” Students will receive “mentoring by — and personal relationships with — teachers. There are field trips, job shadowing, guest speakers, internship opportunities, and working relationships with local educational centers and industries,” as well. The Morning News points out that SHS “now has four career academies, three of which are accredited by the National Career Academy Association.”

Accreditation denied to five public schools in Virginia.
The AP (9/26, Sampson) reports, “Five public schools in Petersburg [Va.] have again been denied accreditation because of low test scores, state education officials said Thursday.” This marks the third year that four of the schools — two elementary and two middle schools — have been denied accreditation. One of the schools, Vernon Johns Middle, “was denied accreditation for a second straight year, the Department of Education (DOE) said. The results prompted the state Board of Education to direct Petersburg to provide an independently managed middle school program starting next year for all students who wish to attend.” According to the DOE, “a school is denied accreditation if its students don’t pass Standards of Learning exams in English, mathematics, science, and history/social science for more than three straight years.” Ninety-five percent of all “Virginia’s public schools are fully accredited. The department says that’s the highest percentage since statewide testing in English, math, history, and science began 10 years ago.”

Alabama revamps high school diploma options.
Alabama’s Dothan Eagle (9/25, Cook) reported that “Alabama has been tweaking its high school diploma options, recently beefing up its academic endorsement and adding a new credit-based diploma endorsement to help students who struggle with the state exit exam to graduate on time.” Among the changes are two new technical education endorsements for the state. The first one is the “Advanced Career and Technical Endorsement.” It is similar to the “Advanced Academic Endorsement,” which is described by the Eagle as “college prep,” because it “requires the same coursework.” However, “the foreign language requirement is replaced with three career and technical courses.” In addition, students must “pass all five sections of the Alabama High School Exam.” The next technical education endorsement is the “Career and Technical Endorsement.” Students are required to pass “all standard coursework,” as well as “three career and technical courses and all five sections of the Alabama High School Exam.”

On the Job
New York City Schools Chancellor proposes time limits for teacher reserve pools.
The New York Times (9/26, B3, Hernandez) reports that New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced a proposal on Thursday to “set a limit on the time teachers can spend in a” teacher reserve pool, which keeps “teachers whose positions have been eliminated on the payroll.” Teachers “currently…can remain in the pool indefinitely.” According to “a report issued this week by a teacher recruitment organization,” funding the reserve pool of nearly 1,400 “educators who have lost their classroom assignments because of shrinking enrollment, school closings, or the elimination of programs” cost about “$74 million this year.” Still, teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten disagrees with the chancellor’s proposal, calling “instead for a freeze in the hiring of any new teachers so that vacancies could be filled from the reserves.” She also said that “principals should be given more incentives to hire more expensive, more experienced [reserve pool] teachers.”

South Dakota pays enough to attract good teachers, economist says.
The AP (9/26) reports that economist Michael Wolkoff, of the University of Rochester in New York, “says South Dakota schools are paying sufficient salaries to attract and keep qualified teachers.” Although the state “is consistently ranked as having the nation’s lowest average teachers’ salary,” Wolkoff noted that the “average teachers salary is competitive with wages paid in other occupations.” The AP notes that Wolkoff was testifying “for the state in a trial over a lawsuit” that “alleges the state is violating a constitutional provision by not providing adequate funding for schools.”

Law & Policy
Virginia considers changes to gifted-education programs.
The AP (9/26, Chen) reports, “Potential changes to education regulations could give local school boards authority to approve gifted-education plans, instead of the Virginia Department of Education (DOE).” Among the proposals being considered by the state Board of Education are those “that would require local school divisions to submit annual gifted-education plans, instead of the current five-year plans,” and could also “remove a requirement that state funds that provide for gifted programs go only toward local gifted plans.” Several of the proposals are opposed by “teachers and other advocates of gifted students,” who argue that “turning over review and approval of schools’ plans to local divisions would transfer the costly process from the state and could potentially pose problems for districts that lack support for such programs.” They also argue that “requiring school divisions to come up with annual plans would just mean they would be constantly mired in paperwork revising their goals, rather than being allowed to work toward long-range goals.”

Citizen panel says Oregon voters should reject limited bilingual education measure.
The Oregonian (9/26, Hammond) reports that on Thursday, an independent citizen review panel recommended that voters “reject a measure that would keep Oregon schools from teaching nonnative English speakers in their native language because the timelines are too rigid and research says the approach won’t work.” Before reaching that conclusion, the 23-member “panel spent five days weighing input from experts on language acquisition, prolific ballot measure author” state Sen. Bill Sizemore (R), “and others who favor or oppose his ballot measure to limit teaching in languages other than English.” The nine panel members who approved of measure recommended that “voters approve it because Oregon schools’ current approach to teaching English as a second language isn’t getting all students proficient, and other states get better results while spending less money.” The Oregonian points out that the panel was “convened by the nonprofit, nonpartisan group Healthy Democracy Oregon.”

Safety & Security
Louisiana district establishes measures to improve school bus behavior.
Louisiana’s Daily Enterprise (9/26, Helbling) reports, “The Morehouse Parish School System has established measures for positive reinforcement to improve student behavior and ensure safety on school buses” that, according to transportation director Debbie Buckley “have been successful.” Bus drivers “are able to offer rewards for good behavior in the form of ‘Safety Bucks,’” which can be redeemed for rewards ranging “from concessions to trinkets, pencils, moving to the head of the cafeteria line and getting to attend ball games.” School “bus driver Judy Aswell said her students have embraced the new incentive system, particularly the younger children.” She added, “You can see their faces just smiling when they are recognized for good behavior.” Teachers also work “school bus behavior and safety into their lesson plans,” to teach students that “being on the bus is the same as being in the classroom.” Through the lessons, “students are learning to show courtesy to the driver and others, to speak quietly, to keep the bus clean and to sit and stay in their assigned seats, among other rules.”

Also in the News
World leaders pledge $4.5 billion for universal primary schooling.
The AP (9/26, Spielmann) reports, “A coalition of governments, charities, and U.N. agencies pledged $4.5 billion on Thursday in an effort to get all the world’s children in school by 2015.” Attendees of the “Class of 2015: Education For All,” pledging summit “included British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Australian Prime Minister Mark Rudd, Jordan’s Queen Rania, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick, and former child laborers.” During the meeting, “rock star humanitarians Bono and Bob Geldof…pledged to do their part by opening two new teacher training colleges in Malawi and Rwanda.” The AP noted that the purpose of the summit was “to boost the effort to eradicate illiteracy and provide universal primary schooling by 2015″ by “getting 75 million more children into school — and ending discrimination against girls, who are frequently the last to be sent to school and the first to be pulled out in much of the world.”

NEA in the News
Virginia county considering merit pay for teachers.
WVIR-TV Virginia (9/26, McDaniel) reports that Albemarle County is considering a merit pay system for teachers, as it is “anticipating a teacher shortage with fewer people going into the business and baby boomers retiring.” The county’s “merit pay system for teachers would incorporate a number of different factors” including “whether an employee was teaching at a desirable school, working with at risk kids or had additional knowledge in a subject area.” And although “pay would not be based solely on how students performed on tests,” it “could be affected by student growth.” WVIR notes that the NEA “says merit based pay can be a positive so long as performance is measured in a quantifiable way.” Regardless, according to the article, if the Albemarle County School Board decides “to make the switch” to merit pay “it will be a long and intense process.”

In the Classroom
Some eighth grade students are not prepared for advanced math, study finds.
In continuing coverage from previous editions of The Opening Bell, the Los Angeles Times (9/22, Blume) reported, “The new [California] policy of requiring algebra in the eighth grade will set up unprepared students for failure while holding back others with solid math skills, a new report has concluded.” The study found that, “over five years, the percentage of eighth-graders in advanced math — algebra or higher — went up by more than one-third.” In 2005, “about 37 percent of all U.S. students took advanced math.” But, about eight percent of students who took advanced math scored “in the lowest 10 percent on the eighth-grade National Assessment of Educational Progress.” According to the Times, “at least two students in every eighth-grade algebra class [have] second-grade math skills.” Further, “that number rises in urban school systems where these students are more likely to attend overcrowded schools with teachers who are less experienced and less likely to have math degrees or college-level advanced math.”

Research indicates NCLB test scores inflated, misleading.
Education Week (9/22, Cech) reported that, according to Harvard University researcher Daniel M. Koretz, “rampantly inflated standardized test scores are giving the misbegotten impression that…all children are above average.” Speaking at a recent panel discussion in Washington, D.C., Koretz also said “that under the No Child Left Behind law, widespread teaching to the test, strategic reallocation of teaching talent, and other means of gaming the high-stakes testing system have conspired to produce scores on state standardized tests that are substantially better than students’ mastery of the material.” Some education experts agreed, calling the testing system “officially sanctioned malpractice.” Others disagreed with Koretz’s assessment. The “senior education adviser to U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)” agreed that “a more effective accountability system ‘needs to be a goal.’” However, he added that “summative assessment is a critically important area of accountability.”

Some community colleges replacing remedial math courses with online programs.
eSchool News (9/22, Carter) reported, “College officials nationwide are concerned about the number of recent high school graduates in need of remedial math courses.” This is a particular problem at the community college level, where “more than 60 percent of students in community colleges need some kind of remedial class — most often, math training — before they can take credit-bearing courses.” However, such remedial courses can prove expensive for schools. As a result, “some schools have turned to online programs that could preserve shrinking operating budgets.” The article profiles an online math program that provides “students a self-paced system for catching up to basic college math standards.” Despite the benefits of such programs, experts pointed out “that while online math programs are valuable for self-disciplined students, professors can’t always trust students to work through math problems without prodding.”

Few students in South Carolina district enroll in free tutoring.
The AP (9/23) reports that, according to district administrators in Columbia, South Carolina, it is “difficult to get poor parents to enroll their children for free tutoring because the after-school help is inconvenient or seen as a stigma instead of an opportunity.” Under No Child Left Behind, the AP notes, “high-poverty schools that don’t meet educational goals for several consecutive years must offer free tutoring to poor students.” District schools have made multiple outreach efforts to increase participation, and officials say it is “frustrating that so few parents take advantage of the government-paid services.” Barbara Ragin, the assistant superintendent, noted that “parents often let their children decide whether they want to be tutored, and, though transportation is provided, staying after school means students may not get home until late in the evening.” Officials “suggested more money for at-home computers that would allow for online tutoring,” and said that “educators may need to try harder to communicate in a way parents will understand.”

Some parents, teachers in Dallas district object to PBS art documentary.
The Dallas Morning News (9/22, Hobbs) reported on the objections of “some teachers and parents in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD)” to “a PBS documentary given to middle and high school art teachers to use as a” curriculum supplement. The series, “art:21-Art in the Twenty-First Century…features short biographies of more than 40 artists and describes their techniques,” and contains images that some “consider too disturbing or sexual for the classroom.” Although art teachers have been given the “choice whether to use the documentary, which is not rated,” those who oppose the series fear that the images in question “may be acceptable to some art teachers,” and that students may “search the Internet for more information about some artists in the documentary and get an eyeful.” DISD officials defended the series by explaining that it focuses “on ‘problem-based learning’ by presenting students with situations that sometimes involve moral issues…found in controversial art.”

Audit finds Georgia math tests were not defective.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/23, Diamond) reports that “an independent audit of Georgia’s math tests has found that questions on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) strongly matched what the state says students should learn, supporting the state’s position that defective exams did not contribute to high failure rates.” The results of the most recent CRCT exam indicated that “about 38 percent of eighth-graders had failed.” The Journal-Constitution points out that Georgia “drastically changed” its math curriculum after the previous curriculum was criticized as “too weak;” the state now uses “an integrated approach, which weaves elements of algebra, geometry and statistics into a single math class, rather than teaching each separately.” While some parents expressed dissatisfaction with the results, and said there were “more questions that must be answered,” state education officials “predicted math scores will increase as students and teachers get used to the more rigorous expectations.”

North Carolina district expands robotics program.
North Carolina’s Dispatch (9/22, Edwards) reported that “after Tyro Middle School piloted the First Lego League program to excite students about science, math and engineering,” the Davidson County, N.C., school system “has now expanded the program to two more of its six middle schools and a special-purpose school.” According to the Dispatch, “the new schools are Ledford and Brown middle [school], and Extended Day.” The Dispatch explains that the “First Lego League is an international program for children ages 9-14 that combines a hands-on, interactive robotics program and a research presentation with a sports-like atmosphere.” Marty Tobey, director of career and technical education for Davidson County Schools (DCS), said, “After a weeklong camp held during the summer to help students gain exposure to the field of robotics, the system wanted to broaden the program to more schools due to the high interest.” One DCS technical education teacher said that “the program will allow students to gain some development skills to take with them to high school and college.”

After-school programs seek to attract high school students.
Education Week (9/22, Jacobson) reported that, “of the more than six million children enrolled in after-school programs across the country, only about eight percent are high school students, according to the Afterschool Alliance.” That is “why after-school-program leaders and youth-development experts have recently been paying more attention to how to attract older students and hold their interest when other opportunities, or distractions, are available.” Supporters of after-school programs maintain “that the variety of opportunities…such as apprenticeships should be considered part of the discussion about extending learning time.” However, Georgia Hall, a senior research scientist at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, pointed out that “funding for out-of-school-time programs is skewed more towards younger school-age and middle school youth.”

Safety & Security
Growing drug problem leads to new school search policy for Maine district.
Maine’s Current (9/22, Clark) reported, “Concerned about what officials fear is a growing drug problem among area teens, the Cape Elizabeth School Board has adopted a new policy that allows searches of student cars and use of drug-sniffing dogs on school property.” The new rule “expands the definition of a ‘storage facility’ to parking areas, and states specifically that canine patrols may be used to conduct searches anywhere on school property.” As such, school administrators will be permitted to “bring a drug-sniffing dog into the school if they suspect students are using drugs, and use the dog to detect drug traces in student vehicles that might not be visible to the average police officer or principal.” Superintendent Alan Hawkins “said school officials haven’t gotten any comments about the new policy from parents, students, or staff.”

School Finance
New Mexico district assures employees, parents that budget shortfall is not a crisis.
KOAT-TV Albuquerque (9/23) reports, “Rio Rancho Public Schools is cutting $4 million for this year’s budget to make up for a shortfall.” On Monday the schools superintendent “sent home a letter to all employees,” reassuring them that “the number one goal is to cut ‘things’ and not ‘people.’” As such, “the district is asking every school to reduce supplies and materials and have smaller utility bills.” The shortfall “will also put limits on trips for band and sports” and teacher “training and conferences that are not mandated.” Meanwhile, “district officials said the cuts will have a minimal effect on students and want to emphasize the budget shortfall is not a crisis. It is just a cause for concern.”

Also in the News
School soda bans may not greatly reduce consumption among students.
In the New York Times’s (9/23, F6) Vital Signs column, Eric Nagourney writes that “banning soft drink sales in elementary schools” does not significantly “reduce how much soda children drink,” according to a study appearing in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The researchers “analyzed surveys done in 2004 that looked at more than 10,000 fifth graders in 40 states,” and found that “only about 4 percent fewer children from” schools that banned soft drinks “said they did not drink” soft drinks than those from schools that allowed sodas. The researchers noted that “these restrictions have value,” but added that “health officials need to act more broadly, focusing on dietary habits in the home and doing more to encourage healthy eating.”

Effects of energy drinks on student behavior debated. Canada’s National Post (9/22, Blackwell) reported that, while “schools in at least three Canadian provinces have issued warnings to parents about” energy drinks, “lawmakers in some U.S. states are pushing for the products to be prohibited.” And, “Denmark and France have already banned Red Bull.” The beverage industry, meanwhile, “argues that many of the drinks have less caffeine than a single coffee.” But, because “cans of energy drinks can contain about as much as or sometimes considerably more caffeine than a cup of coffee,” many experts “worry about [their] impact” when consumed by “adolescents and…pre-teens.” Side effects of consuming too much caffeine can include “hyperactivity, excitement, agitation, inability to concentrate,” and, “for the minority of people with cardiac-rhythm problems” erratic heartbeat. While experts noted that the effects of high caffeine intake are relatively unknown, the Post points out that many in the education system discourage the presence of energy drinks on school campuses

Georgia district develops plan to regain accreditation.
The AP (9/23) reported, “The troubled Clayton County school district will overhaul its superintendent’s contract, hire an internal auditor, and appoint a rules expert for board meetings under a plan adopted Monday to help it win back its accreditation.” Furthermore, “district staff and board members…will be required to sign affidavits swearing they will uphold the district’s ethics and conflict of interest policies.” The plan is part of a “months-long process of demonstrating to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that” the school district “deserves accreditation, which it lost Sept. 1.” The AP noted that since losing its accreditation, Clayton has sworn “in four new board members,” and “two remaining vacant seats will be filled during a special election in November.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/24, Matteucci), “on Monday, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools signed off on a detailed improvement plan for the district.” The Journal-Constitution lists the mandates and “action steps” Clayton must follow in order to gain back its accreditation.

Florida universities to consider Clayton students for admission. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/23, Matteucci) reported that Florida’s public universities “have decided they will, after all, admit Clayton County students.” Despite the decision by Florida officials “to uphold a policy that says students should have a diploma from a ‘regionally accredited high school’ to attend a state university,” Florida Chancellor Mark B. Rosenberg said this week that the policy would be overlooked for Clayton County Students. “Admissions officials at Florida schools will look at students’ grades, SAT scores, extracurricular activities and public service, just as they do any other students,” according to State University System of Florida Board of Governors Spokesman Bill Edmonds. Edmonds explained, “We’re not holding it against the students the fact that they are coming from schools that lost accreditation.”

In the Classroom
Number of schools offering Chinese language instruction increasing.
Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (9/24, Matus) reports that the Mandarin Chinese classes “offered for the first time this year” at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School in Pinellas County, Fla., “are among hundreds cropping up around the country, fueled by awareness of China’s growing economic muscle, the demands of parents and the prodding of educators.” According to a “national survey…by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages,” in 2000 only about “5,000 students were learning Chinese…compared to the 4.8 million learning Spanish.” Currently, however, “an informed guess pegs the figure at 50,000, making Chinese far and away the fastest-growing language taught.” In fact, demand for the language “has been so great that it’s outstripping the ability of schools to find good teachers.” Meanwhile, the number of schools in Pinellas County offering Chinese classes continues to grow, and “efforts are under way to get more teachers in the pipeline.” Aiding in those efforts are the state Department of Education,” which “recently created an expedited certification process for potential Chinese language teachers,” and the Chinese government, which offers “a teacher exchange program.”

New Hampshire schools seek to revitalize education approaches.
Education Week (9/23, Sawchuk) reported on “a burgeoning high school redesign effort in New Hampshire” that seeks “to personalize learning for students, offer them the chance to apply content in real-world contexts, and engage struggling students in content through alternative approaches outside of classrooms, including internships, exhibitions, graduation projects, and apprenticeships.” The redesign stems from a panel, convened in 2004 “to study how to prepare students for the 21st century.” The panel lead to “an overhaul of the state’s school-approval standards,” in which “districts are now encouraged to support alternative education programs, distance-learning opportunities, and ‘extended learning opportunities,’ in which students can get credit for activities outside of school, provided that such activities permit students to acquire knowledge and skills taught in the classroom.” A state education official said that there remained an emphasis on “a core curriculum of courses,” but added that “it doesn’t always have to be delivered in the traditional Carnegie [unit] mode of delivery.”

Panel recommends colleges reduce focus on standardized test scores.
In continuing coverage from a previous edition of The Opening Bell, the Christian Science Monitor (9/24, Khadaroo) reports that a commission “of high school counselors and college officials” has issued a report that “urges colleges to study how well [standardized] tests predict academic success of freshmen on their own campuses.” The group also “highlights what it considers misuse of test scores,” calling on U.S. News and World Report “to stop using average test scores in its ranking formulas for top colleges,” and also asking “the National Merit Scholarship Corp. to stop using the PSAT/NMSQT…as the ‘initial screen’ for scholarship eligibility,” since “lower scores are correlated with lower-income or minority status.” Critics of the report say that standardized testing “is still the single most reliable, comprehensive metric that one can find,” and argue that while “expensive test-prep courses may give affluent students a marginal advantage,” their advantage “would be exacerbated in an SAT-less universe, because then the kind of schools they go to…would get enormous preference in the admissions process.”

Illinois district bans Halloween parties.
Illinois’s Rockford Register Star (9/24, Backman) reports, “Harlem schools will no longer be hosting Halloween parties that involve children wearing costumes,” according to Harlem School Superintendent Julie Morris. Morris explained that such parties were “unsafe because students are wearing costumes and you don’t know who it is, and who should or shouldn’t be in the buildings.” She added that “schools can host fall parties that deal with the season but aren’t focused on dressing up for Halloween.” Even without a Halloween theme, a School Board official noted, such “parties encourage parent involvement,” and also provide students with time for “socializing and having fun.”

On the Job
Many teachers not getting enough sleep, study indicates.
Teacher Magazine (9/23, Rebora) reported that “many teachers may not be getting enough sleep at night to be fully effective in the classroom,” according to a study by researchers at Ball State University. “Some 43 percent of teachers surveyed said they slept an average of six hours or less per night…while half admitted to missing work or making errors due to a ‘serious lack of sleep.’” Further, almost “one-fourth said their teaching skills are ‘significantly diminished’ due to lack of sleep.” The study’s authors classified the results as “preliminary and descriptive,” noting that it was based on “survey responses of 109 teachers in one Indiana district.” But although “the study doesn’t correlate teachers’ reported sleep problems with instructional quality or student performance, the researchers speculated that the potential effects on schools could be significant, based on what is known about job performance and lack of sleep.”

FCAT analysis indicates students have misconceptions about science.
The AP (9/24, Kaczor) reports, “Florida students have misconceptions about science, and they need more practice demonstrating its concepts and relating them to the real world,” an analysis of Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) indicates. The Department of Education “assembled a task force of science curriculum supervisors and specialists, resource teachers, school administrators and other educators to review FCAT science results.” The task force found that “students are hampered by common misconceptions such as thinking plants get their energy by ‘eating plant food’ instead of from the sun through photosynthesis.” The resulting report “recommends more practice demonstrating and explaining scientific concepts and processes, especially in writing, because FCAT results show students are struggling with developing a deeper understanding of science.” Additionally, the report recommends “teachers to use correct science terminology, especially when a scientific term differs in meaning from its everyday usage, such as ‘work.’”

Senior teachers in D.C. said to mistrust chancellor’s salary proposal.
The Washington Post (9/24, B5, Turque) reports, “Senior D.C. teachers’ fear and mistrust of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s intentions are a major obstacle to approval of her potentially lucrative salary proposal,” according to Washington Teachers’ Union President George Parker. “Parker said many older teachers believe that they have been targeted for dismissal by Rhee,” noting that under Rhee’s “two-tiered salary plan that would pay many instructors more than $100,000 annually,” teachers who choose “the ‘green tier’ would be required to spend a year on probation, risking termination.” The other option would be to select “a ‘red tier’ that would allow them to keep tenure and accept lower raises.” Meanwhile, Parker is pressing for Rhee to add to her salary proposal provisions for “an appeals process that would give teachers recourse if they were fired under the new plan.”

Educators at five failed New York City schools receive bonuses.
The New York Times (9/24, B1, Medina) reports on the front page of its Metro section, “Efforts by the Bloomberg administration to add accountability to the public school system have included moving quickly to shut down schools deemed beyond repair, and rewarding those that make significant progress on standardized tests.” But, “those initiatives seemed to collide last week, when teachers and principals at five of the failed schools earned cash bonuses for their successes.” Four of those schools “closed last spring,” and “the fifth scheduled to close in 2010.” Yet, the according to the state Education Department (ED), “during the 2007-8 school year, each of the schools met the improvement targets set by the ED on their report cards, making” teachers “eligible for performance bonuses of about $3,000 each, and $7,000 for each principal.” Garth Harries, “who oversees the ED office…that decides which schools will close, said” that even if they are being phased out, schools should be “celebrated” for the improvements they make.

Law & Policy
Minneapolis schools, community set “covenant” for African-American achievement.
Education Week (9/23, Gewertz) reported, “The Minneapolis school board and the local African-American community have taken an unusual step toward healing fractured relations and improving schooling for black children by signing a ‘covenant’ that places responsibility for improvement on the shoulders of parents and district leaders.” The covenant, which was under development for a year, “says education is a ‘shared responsibility,’ and commits the district and the community to a decade of work ‘with a deliberate focus on African-American students in order to overcome a legacy of educational inequity.’” Education Week noted, “The district agreed to work with…community groups to establish three model school sites with ‘stable teaching teams,’ where best practices in offering a challenging curriculum, culturally responsive teaching, and effective parent involvement can be put into effect.” Meanwhile, “teams of parents, students, and community members at those schools will work with teachers and principals to develop programs.”

Maryland BOE to reconsider standardized testing requirements for graduation.
The AP (9/24) reports that the Maryland “State Board of Education (BOE) will decide next month whether to continue requiring high school students to pass standardized tests in order to graduate.” James DeGraffenreidt, president of the BOE, said “it was prudent to revisit the issue given the heated debate about the tests known as High School Assessments.” The state is still compiling data from this year’s senior exams, and therefore it remains “unclear how many students in the class of 2009 are in danger of failing because they haven’t passed the tests.” However, “board members took issue Tuesday with a claim by [the] assistant state superintendent…that there’s no reason any student will be denied a diploma solely for failing the tests.”

Minnesota governor announces performance pay expansion proposal.
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (9/24, Doyle) reports that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) “announced a plan Tuesday to expand on his longstanding effort to link teachers’ pay to improved student performance and calling for more rigorous training for educators.” In addition, he “proposed new ways to encourage the recruiting of mid-career professionals to teach math and science in high schools and intensive new remedial courses for eighth-graders falling behind classmates.” The Star Tribune notes that the merit-pay plan “follows the governor’s Q Comp program, a merit pay system that allows districts to give teachers extra money for meeting personal, classroom and school goals.” But, “the new version would base a portion of teachers’ pay raises on improvements by their students during the year and be required of districts that aren’t participating in Q Comp.” Although “the head of Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers union,” voiced disapproval of the pay-plan, the governor “defended the idea,” calling it “a way to improve a generally effective education system. ‘We need to modernize and improve our expectations for teachers in Minnesota,’” he said.

Safety & Security
Elementary students in West Virginia district receive bullying, sexual harassment training.
West Virginia’s Charleston Daily Mail (9/23, Rivard) reported that in Kanawha County, W.Va., “young schoolchildren are being taught how to recognize and communicate what school counselors call ‘uh-oh moments.’” All primary students and school employees receive “training in identifying and avoiding bullying and sexual harassment.” During the training, “students are taught to come to counselors and other adults in the school, like the principal, with their problems.” They are also taught the difference between “tattles,” or “something students tell to get other students in trouble for the fun of it,” and “tales,” when students tell adults about situations “that could hurt the student or someone else.” The Daily Mail noted that Kanawha County elementary schools received “95 complaints of possible sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious harassment” last year, and “about half of the complaints…ended up being substantiated.”

Pell Grants face $6 billion shortfall. The New York Times (9/18, A21, Dillon, Lewin) reported that “college students are seeking federal financial aid in record numbers this year” in response to the worsening economy, “leading Bush administration officials to warn Congress that the most important federal aid program, Pell Grants, may need up to $6 billion in additional taxpayer funds next year.” According to the Department of Education, “Congress appropriated $14 billion for the grants for the current fiscal year, but because of the increase and because of accumulated shortfalls from previous years, lawmakers will need to add $6 billion in new funds next year or cut the size of the grants.” Officials say that part of the reason for the increase in federal aid applications is that nontraditional students are “returning to school to improve their job skills during the economic downturn.” Texas’s Star-Telegram (9/18) also reported aspects of the story.

NEA poll indicates college affordability a major concern. The Chronicle of Higher Education (9/18, Basken) reported, “The National Education Association is trying hard to promote the notion that college affordability will be a major factor in this year’s elections.” The association yesterday “issued poll results…that show that college affordability will be ‘an important issue’ in the November elections for 65 percent of students and 34 percent of all surveyed.” According to the Chronicle, however, “the poll didn’t make clear…how college affordability ranks as an issue among all voters, or whether the high rate of concern about college costs among college students is distinguishable from the nation’s overall economic concerns.”

In the Classroom
Educators increasingly using video games as curriculum supplements.
The Christian Science Monitor (9/19, Yusuf) reports, “In classrooms across the country, electronic games have increasingly become tools for teaching problem solving and critical thinking.” At the Seward Montessori School in Minneapolis, for example, eighth-graders in Brock Dubbels’s English class read “Homer while playing Sega’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ to better understand Odysseus’s quest.” Dubbels told the Monitor, “The big idea is to identify what students are already invested in, and that’s video games.” Proponents liken video game “play to the scientific method: Players enter a phenomenon that doesn’t make sense, observe problems, form hypotheses, and test them while being mindful of cause and effect.” Scot Osterweil, creative director of the Education Arcade, “a games and learning research group,” said the successful incorporation of game play into the learning process depends on “good game design and a realistic understanding of how much game play teachers can allow in their classes, given limited time and resources.”

Illinois after-school program builds math, science skills.
Illinois’s Beacon News (9/18) reported on an “after-school…enrichment program” that “was created by the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA)…to encourage minority students and students from rural areas to excel in math and science.” The IMSA Excellence 2000+ “program emphasizes problem-solving and hands-on experience through lessons like exploring prairie and forest habitats and observing patterns in the moon’s appearance.” The Beacon News noted that “more than 50 schools in 23 counties throughout Illinois are participating in Excellence 2000+ this school year.”

Classroom order attributed to strong routines.
The Las Vegas Sun (9/18, Vanderploeg) reported that the secret to fostering order in the classroom, particularly for new teachers, “is establishing a routine early and sticking to it.” Jeff Horn, principal of Green Valley High School, said that “these routines are crucial.” Horn explained that, “by providing regular systems to follow, teachers are better able to teach their students and less likely to deal with chaos.” Jim LaBuda of Nevada State College’s school of education added that teachers should have a routine “figured out before they get into class, not as an after-thought, and even then, they will find the plan is constantly changing.” The article also details the routine developed by Josh Adams, a first-year teacher at Green Valley High School, and his classroom experiences.

Pilot software allows high school students to conduct online experiments.
Illinois’s Evanston Review (9/18, Berkowitz) reported that Evanston Township High School (ETHS) physics teacher Dr. Mark Vondracek, has introduced to ETHS “an iLabs pilot that will allow high school students to run research experiments remotely from their own computers, using equipment at major universities.” Vondracek, “a particle physicist who did graduate studies at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory” in Batavia, Ill., “teaches an online physics course” for Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, “which serves students in smaller locales who have surpassed what their own schools have to offer.” He explained that “remote research capabilities were first developed…as a way to let college students conduct experiments from their dormitory rooms rather than consuming class time.” But now, “the capabilities allow the student to go beyond a computer simulation involving theoretical data.”

On the Job
Impact of recent Wall Street events on teacher retirement funds discussed.
Education Week (9/18, Jacobsen) reported, “School business officials kept a close watch on the financial markets this week — and on district investment portfolios and teacher-retirement funds — as stock prices tumbled and once-sound institutions got government bailouts or crumbled into bankruptcy.” According to some observers, it is “too soon to predict how the upheaval on Wall Street might affect school districts.” Yet others “said that state-backed employee-pension funds…should be secure.” Robert Snell of the National Conference of State Legislatures “said that, while such funds might lose some money, school retirees would not be directly affected because” those accounts “guarantee a certain defined payout for retirees.” Meanwhile, “a greater source of anxiety for many teachers may be the fate of AIG, a…major provider of 403(b) retirement accounts.” Education Week noted that AIG released a memo this week which “indicated that the company’s financial troubles won’t affect district employees who have annuity products from AIG because those policies are underwritten by the Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co., which was described as a ‘strong insurance company.’”

Many New York City educators will receive bonuses based on school progress.
The New York Times (9/19, B4, Medina) reports, “Teachers at 89 elementary and middle schools will receive bonuses of several thousand dollars each, based on the progress their schools made on report cards released this week, Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced on Thursday.” In all, $14.2 million in bonuses will be distributed to teachers and administrators in “more than half [of] the 160 high-poverty schools the city.” As per an agreement “with the city’s teachers’ union…each school that earned the bonus got a pot of money to distribute as it chose.” The majority of schools spread bonuses “evenly for classroom teachers, with several giving less to special-education aides and other staff members. A few schools constructed more elaborate systems, like basing bonuses on extracurricular activities.”

Law & Policy
North Carolina district considers new grading policy.
North Carolina’s News-Argus (9/19, Moore) reports that school officials in Wayne County “are re-examining a proposed grading policy that encourages teachers not to give a ‘zero’ to students.” Under the policy, a draft of which was approved by the Board of Education earlier this year, “students’ performance will be evaluated on a nine-week basis. The recommendation is that a ‘minimum grade of 60′ will be issued at the end of the first, second and third grading periods for year-long courses for students who did not achieve a passing grade, ‘but who made a reasonable effort.’” Officials say they are still reviewing the policy, in part because it conflicts with the schools’ use of “NC Wise, the state’s [online] student management system,” which tracks “enrollment and attendance, as well as grades.” Under the system, grades recorded as incomplete are automatically recorded “as a zero.”

Maryland group meets to discuss model anti-bullying policy for schools.
Maryland’s View from Ellicott City (9/18, Hursky) reported, “In May 2008, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed Maryland House Bill 199, a law that requires” the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), “as well as local school systems within Maryland to develop a model policy to prohibit bullying, harassment, and intimidation in schools.” This month, the Anti-Bullying Workgroup, which will recommend a MSDE model bullying policy, met for the first time in Columbia, Md. The model policy is expected to include “statements prohibiting bullying, harassment, and intimidation, as well as statements prohibiting reprisals against individuals who report such acts.” According to the View, “The MSDE model bullying policy is due to be presented at Annapolis by March 31, 2009.” Meanwhile, “County school systems throughout Maryland have until July 1, 2009, to submit their bullying policies to State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick.”

Safety & Security
Students at California school train as peer mediators.
California’s Enterprise Record (9/18, Gullick) reports on the Peer Mediation Club, which “formed a couple of years ago” at Chico High School in California. Students involved in the club meet during lunch “to polish their skills at conflict resolution — skills that get called into play when other students agree they need help settling differences.” Exercises include role-playing arguments and interventions. According to Mike Carroll, “the school psychologist who advises the group,” the mediation process “is strictly scripted and outlined in a training booklet each student was given.” The students are expected to “act like boxing referees, not counselors.” Carroll explained, “Mediators are not allowed to give advice. The disputants have to come up with the solutions.” The Enterprise Record noted that student “mediators and disputants” use Carroll’s office while Carroll waits “outside the closed door. That way, the session would be confidential, but he would be available if a problem arose.”

Las Vegas Sun praises schools’ anti-bullying programs. The Las Vegas Sun (9/19) editorialized that bullying is prevalent in schools “and, thanks to the Internet and cell phones, [it] has taken on a whole new dimension. … That’s why we were happy to see several schools in Southern Nevada start off the new school year by hosting…programs aimed at reducing bullying.” For instance, John C. Bass Elementary School recently “held an assembly featuring students performing in skits that demonstrated how to properly handle situations involving harassment and bullying. … Even more encouraging,” the Sun notes, is that “the Bass faculty is committed throughout the school year to guiding students away from destructive behaviors like bullying.” According to school counselor Lori Stout, “school progressive discipline programs should become stricter, with more parent conferences taking place right off the bat as opposed to just warnings for first-time bullies.” The Sun agrees, adding that, “in the end, anything students learn about bullying must be reinforced by a strong anti-bullying message at home.”

School Finance
Arizona district reduces number of school resource officers due to budget constraints.
The Arizona Republic (9/18, Ferraresi) reported, “Phoenix school districts will have fewer school resource offices on campus this fall than last year in the wake of statewide budget cuts.” This year, the number of resource officers dropped to 70, “from 95…last year, after the Arizona Department of Education said it would approve less grant money for school districts’ campus police officers.” The Arizona Republic explained that resource officers are needed in Phoenix schools to help “students better understand how law enforcement works. … Law-related education is a primary component of the city’s campus officer program. Officers assigned to schools are there not only to police the campus, but to serve as a community liaison for students.” Their duties as community liaisons are to “investigate truancy [and] reports of child abuse, and guide students or parents about social service agencies.”

Also in the News
NASA develops free educational videos.
UPI (9/18) reported that NASA “says it has developed a free Web-based educational product consisting of more than 55 short minute video segments.” The eClips, which are available on the Internet for the current school year, “feature many of the agency’s missions and engages students in the excitement of science and engineering, the space agency said.” Officials stated that the “program is separated into grade-appropriate topics and designed as a resource for classroom teachers.”

Many low-performing students take advanced math before mastering basic skills, study finds.
USA Today (9/22, Toppo) reports that “a new study out [Monday] finds that many of the nation’s lowest-performing middle-schoolers…take algebra and other advanced math courses before they’ve mastered basic skills such as multiplication, division and problem-solving with fractions.” Based on “data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress,” researchers found that, “between 2000 and 2005, the percentage of very low-performing students in advanced math classes more than tripled.” More specifically, “among the lowest-scoring 10 percent of kids, nearly 29 percent were taking advanced math, despite having very low skills.” That translates to “about 120,000 kids” that were “inappropriately enrolled in classes that are supposed to level the playing field,” according to Brookings Institution researcher Tom Loveless.

The AP (9/22, Quaid) adds that “the study is alarming to some advocates who worry its focus will add to an argument that minority and low-income kids should not take the class,” when in fact such students need better preparation. Loveless concluded that, “in the end…it does more harm than good to put unprepared students in what he called ‘fake’ algebra classes taught by under-prepared teachers.”

Schools place increased focus on algebra. On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (9/21, C1, Chandler) reported on the push, both in D.C.-area schools and nationwide, to increase students’ aptitude for mathematics. “Research shows that those who complete Algebra II are more than twice as likely to graduate from college as those who do not,” and “are also better positioned for admission to competitive colleges.” Further, some data indicate “that jobs in science, technology and engineering are growing at three times the rate of jobs overall.” However, “strengthening the math abilities of all students is a steep challenge” that requires schools to “reinforce basic concepts early on, attract teachers talented enough to go beyond dictating formulas, and…overcome an anti-math bias many students harbor.” The Post article is the first in a series that “will examine how ready students and teachers are for the change, and what it takes to convince a roomful of teenagers” that “they might actually use algebra later in life.”

In the Classroom
Baltimore schools ordered to address dropout issues.
The AP (9/19) reported that Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso had ordered “the city’s high school principals…to track down more than 900 students who have dropped out since January — and try to get them back in class.” Beginning this week, “staff at city high schools will…make at least one phone call to each of their 2008 dropouts.” And, “by the end of the month, they must have personally visited the students at home.” Roughly one third of the city’s “925 dropouts are ages 19 to 21,” and an official said that the school “system will work with the older students to find the best place for them, whether it’s a GED program, a regular school or an alternative school.” The AP notes, “Dropouts who return to a city school will get an individual re-entry plan outlining the support they have available.”

The Baltimore Sun (9/19, Neufeld) pointed out that “students are legally permitted to drop out of school once they turn 16.” However, Alonso said it was “unacceptable that they’re allowed to go without a fight.” While “graduation and dropout rates are difficult to calculate,” by Alonso’s estimate “nearly half of city students don’t finish high school.” In response to Alonso’s plan, State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick said “she applauds the initiative, but the system needs to be sensitive to the demands it places on its staff.”

Maryland delays release of testing results. The Baltimore Sun (9/21, Bowie) reported, “Maryland education officials said they will wait until late October to release detailed data on how many seniors in each county and school risk not graduating in June because they have not passed the High School Assessments.” School officials said that the data are “not ready,” in part “because local school districts have not given the state complete files on each student in the class and where he or she stands academically.” The Sun noted that “data showing a large percentage of students in a given school or district falling behind on the tests could add fuel to arguments that implementing the graduation requirement should be pushed back.” Maryland “is being cautious about releasing the data to make sure it doesn’t include students who weren’t on track to graduate anyway, because those cases might make the impact of the tests seem greater than it is.”

Enrollment in D.C. public schools declines.
On the front page of its Metro section, the Washington Post (9/20, B1, Turque) reported, “Despite an intensive registration effort over the summer, D.C. public school enrollment has dropped more than 8 percent since last year.” This marks “the steepest annual decline since the District first hired an outside auditor to verify the student population in 1999.” The enrollment decline comes after Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “fired more than 50 principals and assistant principals, closed 23 under-enrolled schools and mandated academic reforms at 26 others.” Additionally, charter schools have become increasingly popular in the city, which has “the nation’s largest system of charter schools outside New Orleans.” Enrollment in charter schools is projected to rise by 20 percent. The Post attributes “a significant portion of that increase…to the conversion of seven financially struggling Catholic schools that reopened this month as secular charters.”

Colorado classes prepare CTE students for careers in clean energy.
The Coloradoan (9/21, Woods) reported that “two new Poudre School District (PSD) classes will help graduating high school students break into the booming clean energy industry.” According to the Coloradoan, “the idea for the classes began when local businesses Woodward Governor Co. and TechniGraphics approached the district searching for ideas to get students into the industry.” One of the classes “will focus on clean energy…while the other” will focus “on Geographic Information Systems technology.” The Coloradoan pointed out that Kathy Hanson, PSD’s career and technical education (CTE) coordinator, applied for a “$115,000 Metro Denver Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development, or WIRED, grant to fund the programs.” The two classes “will be offered to 50 high school seniors across the district and aim to ensure that skilled employees are available to fill entry level positions.” Rob Ufer, a CTE teacher and the grant project manager, noted that “both classes will offer instruction in soft skills such as interviewing, punctuality, teamwork and organization,” as well.

Florida school’s program seeks to fulfill physical education mandate.
Florida’s St. Petersburg Times (9/22, Solocheck) reports on how one school in the Pasco school district is complying with Florida’s “latest mandate on physical education,” which requires that “elementary students get 150 minutes of weekly PE,” with “each block of exercise” lasting “no less than 30 minutes.” Moon Lake Elementary School has implemented a program called PE by the Teacher (PET), “a simple, single lesson plan that everyone follows,” and that has gone over well with both teachers and students. For the program, “everyone walks around the quarter-mile bus loop for 30 minutes twice a week” during the first quarter of school. “They get a regular PE class the other three days. For the next quarter, they’re looking at a fitness trail. After that, team competitions.” The Times notes that “teachers came up with the idea” for PET, “and physical education department chairman Doug Anderson helped implement it.”

D.C.-area teachers discouraged from using sweets as rewards.
The Washington Post (9/21, C4, de Vise) reported, “In the District and many suburbs, school systems have imposed rules during the past two years that discourage teachers from using candy or other junk food as an incentive.” The new policies are “part of a broader ‘wellness’ movement that has swept public schools this decade,” regulating and in some cases removing products such as “sodas [from] vending machines.” According to the Post, “a consensus is emerging that food as a classroom incentive sends bad messages,” as “it encourages children to eat when they are not hungry, and eat poorly,” among other things. In place of candy, “teachers are increasingly embracing rewards that are inedible, even intangible.” For example, one Silver Spring, Maryland teacher “uses a series of color-coded ‘karate belts’ to reward students who learn musical compositions of increasing difficulty,” while another teacher awards “privileges such as being first in line to go to recess.”

Educator turns free writing into group competition.
In a blog for Education Week (9/19), writing teacher Emmet Rosenfeld wrote about the “free write wars” he holds in his classroom, which use groups of 4-5 students to write as much as they can about a topic in a few minutes, with each student writing for 45 seconds per turn. This concept turns free writing “into a game, something 8th graders love,” Rosenfeld noted. Following the first free writing competition, Rosenfeld sought “a new topic and a confident focused approach by each writer.” He “extended the time to 1 minute per kid,” and found that, not only did the time extension “not slow the game,” but students’ “fluency increased in the second round, for the most part.” Going forward, Rosenfeld asked his students to do a similar assignment “three times this weekend, not all in a row,” and will “start to mine the journal entries for topics for the first paper, a personal narrative.”

Law & Policy
Commission recommends colleges reduce reliance on SAT, ACT scores.
The New York Times (9/22, A14, Rimer) reports, “A commission convened by some of the country’s most influential college admissions officials is recommending that colleges and universities move away from their reliance on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admissions exams more closely tied to the high school curriculum and achievement.” The commission further “encourages institutions to consider dropping admission test requirements unless they can prove that the benefits of such tests outweigh the negatives,” and “also calls for an end to the practice of using minimum-admissions-test scores to determine students’ eligibility for merit aid,” among other things. The recommendations come “amid growing concerns that the frenzy over standardized college admissions tests is misshaping secondary education and feeding a billion-dollar test-prep industry that encourages students to try to game the tests.”

Safety & Security
Several New Jersey middle schools surpass high schools in number of reported violent incidents.
New Jersey’s Courier-Post (9/21, Gidjunis) reported, “At least a half-dozen tri-county middle schools reported more violent incidents than their high schools, even though high schools are typically at the center of such incidents, a state education report shows.” A “2006-07 violence, vandalism, and substance abuse report” indicated that “the most common offenses include fights, simple assaults, and bullying or harassments.” In response to the report, “local educators are advocating for additional resources for intermediate school-age students who may be overlooked.” The Courier-Post noted that “at Bunker Hill Middle School in Washington Township, Gloucester County,” a guidance counselor is assigned to each grade. Eighth grade counselor Madeline Morros gives her students “tips on how to succeed by managing time, relationships, and responsibilities. … Throughout the year, she will also hold small counseling groups and classroom discussions on topics such as peer pressure, gossip and how to not be a victim.”

Also in the News
Dallas schools increasingly making accommodations for students’ religious observances.
The Dallas Morning News (9/20, Unmuth) reported, “For an increasing number of Muslim public school students in the Dallas area, fasting” during the “holy month of Ramadan…can prove to be an extra challenge.” Although “children are not required to fast until they reach puberty…many start trying out half days at first.” At the request of parents, “public schools are gradually making accommodations” for fasting students. For instance, “some schools allow students to spend their lunch hour in the library or in an office to avoid the temptation of food or the stress of feeling different from other kids.” Still, “other schools excuse students from recess or other physical activity if they appear to be drained.” Regarding such accommodations, Charles Haynes of the Freedom Forum advises school leaders to “take into account” students’ religious observances, but to “shy away from endorsing religion” and to be careful not to “disrupt the education system for [any] one group.”

Researchers study effects of exposure to reasoning strategies on children’s brains.
Minnesota’s Star Tribune (9/21, Johns) reported that “two researchers at the University of Minnesota are doing research on children’s brains that could have broad-ranging implications on how we understand how children reason and learn.” Researchers Phil Zelazo and Stephanie Carlson at the Institute for Child Development are focusing on “the development of ‘executive function’ in the brain,” or “the way humans regulate their thoughts and actions, such as delaying gratification and controlling their attention span.” Zelazo and Carlson say that “teaching children different kinds of reasoning strategies…could make children better at regulating their own behavior,” which could also make them “less likely to get into fights at school.” Michael Feuer, executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Science, said that Zelazo and Carlson’s research “is starting to show…that exposure to certain kinds of education and certain kinds of nurturing environments actually produce physically measurable changes in the brain.”