ABC News (8/29, Bruce) reported on its website that Education Secretary Arne Duncan supports using value-added data “to evaluate teachers.” In an interview on Sunday, Duncan told ABC, “Teachers want to get better. It shouldn’t take a newspaper to give them that data. The district, the union, the education stakeholders have to work together to empower teachers. This should be a piece of how teachers are evaluated.”

Study Criticizes “Value-Added” Teacher Evaluation Method. Valerie Strauss wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/29), “Student standardized test scores are not reliable indicators of how effective any teacher is in the classroom, not even with the addition of new ‘value-added’ methods, according to a study released today” by the Economic Policy Institute. According to Strauss, “‘Value-added modeling’ is indeed all the rage in teacher evaluation: The Obama administration supports it, and the Los Angeles Times used it to grade more than 6,000 California teachers in a controversial project.” However, the rush to implement this evaluation system “is being done without evidence that it works well.”

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In the Classroom
Online Course Offerings Expanding In Chicago Public Schools.
The Chicago Tribune (8/30, Ahmed) reports on the online learning programs offered in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The district “now offers a battery of online programs, ranging from math and reading enrichment” for elementary students “to a virtual charter school with students learning almost entirely from home.” The prevalence of online course offerings in CPS has increased from “two years ago,” when “online courses were offered in just a handful of high schools. This year, they’re slated to be in all of them.” And last week, CPS “officials announced a pilot program to add 90 minutes to the day at 15 elementary schools using online courses in place of certified teachers.” Still, the Tribune points out that even as these programs expand supporters and critics of online education both acknowledge that “research hasn’t kept up with the rapid expansion, making it tough to know whether the programs really work.”

Themed Curriculums Are Top Choices For Baltimore’s Middle School Students.
The Baltimore Sun (8/29, Green) reports, “Baltimore City schools that offer themed curriculums were the top choices of middle school students and their parents this year, the first time they were allowed to select alternatives to their neighborhood schools.” The new “middle school choice” program “allows some sixth-graders to choose their school – similar to what is offered to rising ninth-graders in the city.” Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso “made the proposal in January to expand the options of middle-schoolers, citing the need to create competition among schools and because ‘poor, urban parents should not be imprisoned by their geography.’” Several of the district’s STEM schools have proven particularly popular, representing three of the district’s most-popular schools. “The Stadium School, which has a project-driven curriculum,” as well as a fine arts school were also in the top five. The district’s STEM- and CTE-focused high schools are also popular.

Summer Program Offers Full Algebra I Credit In Six Weeks.
The Sacramento Bee (8/30, B1, Gutierrez) reports on a partnership between the University of California-Davis and Grant High School in Del Paso Heights, California, to offer “a six-week summer program where students can earn full credit for Algebra I by taking” a class “five hours a day, four days a week.” Called Pacers Achieving College, “the program has helped bring 59 of 60 students up to grade level” in the past two years. In addition to taking summer classes, “students in PAC were mentored during the summer by UC Davis graduates and also took field trips to local colleges to integrate a college-going culture into the program.”

Law & Policy
New STEM School Part Of Tennessee’s Race To The Top Efforts.
The Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel (8/28, Alapo) reported, “Knox County will be the pilot site for a state-of-the-art high school that focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” according to an announcement by state Sen. Jamie Woodson, who called STEM “critically important for preparing [students] for this global economy.” The new STEM school, which will focus on technology and is expected to open next year or in 2012, is one of several “initiatives being implemented as part of the $500 million in education innovation funds Tennessee received through the federal Race to the Top competition.” Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre said that “in the short term,” the school “could be a professional development center, (offer) Saturday schools to have educational opportunities.”

NYTimes Urges Congress To Fund Race To The Top. The New York Times (8/29) editorialized, “The Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative has shown that competitive grant programs can be a powerful spur to innovation in education. Most of the 12 states that were awarded grants this year — and the more than 30 states that changed education policies in hopes of winning grants — would never have attempted reform on this scale without the promise of federal help.” According to the Times, “The administration secured $4.35 billion for the program in the stimulus package and has requested $1.35 billion for next year” and “Congress should find the money.”

Former Education Secretary Urges Congress Not To Eliminate NCLB Free Tutoring.
Former Education Secretary Rod Paige writes in an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle (8/29), “While we often hear criticism of NCLB, what has often been lost is the fact that amid a very troubled public education system, the law is providing sorely needed opportunities to so many at-risk students.” Because of NCLB, nearly 50,000 “Texas schoolchildren were able to receive free tutoring.” He points out that the Obama administration has recently proposed eliminating the tutoring program. In conclusion, he writes that Congress must “continue to support those few opportunities in the law that provide resources directly to children and families to ensure that students in need continue to receive the specialized attention that is taken for granted in so many other communities.”

Middle School In Mississippi Revokes Race Restrictions On Student Offices.
ABC News (8/27, Spellman) reported on its website that the Nettleton school district in Mississippi is revoking a policy at Nettleton Middle School that barred “black students from running for class president.” The old policy, in place since 1969, specified that “in all three grades, only white students could run for president.” The policy also specified which offices black students could hold, but it had “no assigned positions for students of other races and no mention of students who are mixed race.” A statement from Nettleton superintendent Russell Taylor last week said, “It is the belief of the current administration that these procedures were implemented to help ensure minority representation and involvement in the student body.” But an unnamed source from within the district “said the policy was a reflection of the district’s deep-seated ‘racism’ and not simply a misguided attempt to ensure black students were included in student government.”

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Safety & Security
Investigators Find Merit In Harassment Claims Against Philadelphia School.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/28, Gammage, Graham) reports that US Department of Justice “investigators have informed the Philadelphia School District that they found merit in the claims of Asian students who said they were abused at South Philadelphia High School. The school exploded in racial violence on Dec. 3, when 30 Asians were attacked during a daylong series of assaults carried out by groups of mostly African American classmates.” According to the Inquirer, “It was not immediately clear what form a settlement might take, though it would require the district to improve the treatment of Asian students, who say they have been mocked, harassed, and beaten at the school.”

More Kansas Schools Conducting Concussion Testing.
The AP (8/27) reported, “More than a dozen high schools in northeastern Kansas are testing how the brains of their student-athletes work normally in case any of them suffer concussions. De Soto High School athletic trainer Steve Hawkins says the high schools are relying on something called ImPACT, which stands for Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing.” According to the AP, “The test can be taken at the beginning at the season and measures such things as the athletes’ memories.”

School Finance
New Jersey Education Commissioner Fired Following Race To The Top Application Error.
The AP (8/27) reported that New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler was fired last week “in the wake of a mistake that may have cost the state $400 million in federal Race to the Top money.” New Jersey was a runner up for the US Department of Education’s Race to the Top competition, but was a few points shy of winning. The state mistakenly gave “budget figures for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years where the application called for data from 2008 and 2009.”

The AP (8/27) reported in a separate story that after the Race to the Top winners were announced last week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Schundler “tried to correct the error in an Aug. 11 presentation to a federal panel that was judging the application,” and “blasted the Obama administration for docking the state precious points in its evaluation for what he called a ‘clerical error’ on an otherwise strong application.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/28, Katz) reported Christie (R) “fired Education Commissioner Bret Schundler on Friday after the US Department of Education released a video that showed Schundler had two opportunities to address the blunder in a meeting with federal officials but failed to do so.” Christie said in a statement released Friday, “I never promised the people of New Jersey that this would be a mistake-free administration. … I did promise that the people serving in my administration would be held accountable for their actions.” Meanwhile, Schundler told the AP “late Friday that he had not misinformed Christie. ‘In fact, I was very direct with him that we didn’t get the panel the numbers,’ he said.”

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NEA in the News
Van Roekel Says Research Does Not Support Charter School Expansion.
The Dallas Morning News (8/28, Stutz) reported that NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said last week that “efforts to expand the charter school program in Texas and other states ignore the track record of those schools and their lack of success with many students.” He noted that “student achievement results in those schools” are mixed. While acknowledging “successes in some charter schools,” Van Roekel “pointed to a ‘very sizable group at the bottom’ that are not effective and should be closed.” Said van Roekel, “If you look at the research for charters, the results are not there. You cannot make a case that we ought to invest more money in charter schools based on the research.” The Morning News notes that his comments came “in response to question about a recent decision by the State Board of Education to set aside money from the state’s education trust fund for charter schools.”

Duncan Starts Second Leg Of “Courage In The Classroom” Tour In New York.
CNN (8/30) reported on its Website that US Education Secretary Arne Duncan “opened the second leg of his ‘Courage in the Classroom’ bus tour Monday with a stop at the state Capitol in Albany, New York. Introduced by Gov. David Paterson, Duncan congratulated New York on its success in the competitive ‘Race to the Top’ program, which awards grant money to states that demonstrate plans for reform in areas of the educational system.” Also on Monday, Duncan traveled “to Springfield, Massachusetts, to praise that state’s victory in the Race to the Top program,” and he visited to Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire to “participate in a classroom observation session, followed by an open forum.”

The Times Union (NY) (8/31, Karlin) reports, “The nearly $700 million that New York state will receive as part of the federal Race to the Top innovation program will help revamp the way teachers are trained and evaluated in future years. One effect of that change: The lowest-performing teachers will likely be let go or denied tenure in light of more expansive future evaluations that will include a look at their students’ test scores.”

Duncan Praises New York Education Officials’ Teacher Evaluation Reform Efforts. New York’s Post-Standard (8/31, Nolan) reports that Duncan on Monday met with a group of New York education officials “who are developing a new teacher evaluation model.” North Syracuse Education Association President John Kuryla was one of several education officials to “meet with Duncan for about an hour at the offices of New York State United Teachers in Latham.” Duncan told members of the “coalition of labor and management” representing six school systems that “education faces two challenges”: a “lack of funding” and a “lack of courage to make change.” He added that the group’s efforts to reform teacher evaluation showed “amazing courage.”

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In the Classroom
Despite Improvements, Diversity Eludes New Orleans Public Schools.
NPR (8/30, Abramson) reports on its website that while public schools in New Orleans have seen many changes since Hurricane Katrina hit five years ago, “the population of the city’s public schools” has remained much the same. About 95 percent of students in most schools are African-American, according to Jay Altman, “head of FirstLine Network, which runs” four charter schools in New Orleans. Caroline Roemer Shirley, head of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, said that “for decades, white and black families ran away from the city’s schools, because they were terrible.” Now that test scores are improving, white parents are hesitant to send their children to schools that “are completely focused on educating low-achieving, inner city kids” or that do not have many white students, Altman said.

Miami-Dade High School International Studies Program Sees Increasing Enrollment.
The Miami Herald (8/31, Valdemoro) reports on the International Studies Preparatory Academy @ Gables (ISPA) in the Miami-Dade public school system. ISPA, “a venture between Miami-Dade Schools and the consulates of Spain, France and Italy,” is the school system’s “first magnet school…to offer only International Studies in a high school setting.” Students at the school “will be able to go from first to 12th grade and take courses in history, foreign languages and some math and science classes — in Spanish, French, Italian or German.” The Miami Herald points out that Miami-Dade’s International Studies program started in 1986 and has since grown to include “more than 2,900″ students in grades 1-12. “Students take…grammar, literature, history, humanities and civics — in one of the languages they’re mastering. They learn math, science and English — in English, except for the students being taught in French, who are required to take” those classes in French.

High School Debuts Sustainable Design Program.
The Tacoma News Tribune (8/31, Schilling) reports on the G2 Design course, “a new class at Southridge High School in Kennewick [that] aims to give students a window into the growing field of green design” by teaching “everything from alternative fuels to using design techniques to create greater energy efficiency.” The sustainable design class, “part of the district’s Career and Technical Education program,” will include both classroom learning and hands-on activities. “Debbie McClary, director of Career and Technical Education for Kennewick schools, said the Tri-Cities is an ideal place for a green design class because of the construction and technology companies here. There’s potential for community partnerships, she said.” The article notes that the curriculum was developed by area educators “and representatives from the construction industry and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.”

Middle School STEM Program Hopes To Cut Down On Outsourcing.
WTSP-TV Tampa Bay, FL (8/30, Porter) reported, “The S.T.E.M. program, offered at some Hillsborough County middle schools, hopes to cut down on the number of American jobs being outsourced overseas.” Specifically, the program seeks “to help American kids standout in the international market, where so-called “back-office jobs” like payroll processing and accounting are being lost by the millions to other countries.” The county’s schools have differing focuses. “Biotechnology is taught at Buchanan Middle School, pre-engineering at Greco Middle School, aeronautics at Madison Middle School, robotics at McLane Middle School and engineering and robotics at Young Middle School.”

On the Job
State Group Piloting Teacher Prelicensing Exam.
Education Week (8/30, Sawchuk) reported, “Education programs across 19 states are piloting a performance-based assessment for teacher-candidates that potentially could serve as a common prelicensing measure for new teachers. Based on a test in use in about 30 education schools in California, the Teacher Performance Assessment includes a ‘teaching event’ requiring teachers to extensively document and submit for review artifacts of their planning, instruction, and ability to assess and respond to student needs.” According to Education Week, “Supporters of the initiative see in the work an opportunity to focus on classroom-based effectiveness at the precertification benchmark-an area that has not received much attention as policymakers tackle the tenure-granting and annual evaluation processes.”

Law & Policy
Cincinnati Parents Raise Concern Over Rushed Lunch Period.
The Cincinnati Enquirer (8/30, Brown) reported, “The Enquirer talked to parents in districts across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky who claim that by the time their children get into the cafeteria and get their food, they have as little as 14 minutes to eat, leading many to throw food away, bring it home mostly untouched or rely on vending machine fare. With the help of Parents for Public Schools, more than a dozen Cincinnati Public School parents have been bringing their concerns with increasing regularity to school board meetings.” According to the Inquirer, the parents “researched health studies and even drafted sample resolutions in their push for a districtwide policy requiring at a 30-minute lunch period.”

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Special Needs
Special Education Students In Texas Expelled Disproportionately, Report Says.
Texas’ Reporter-News (8/31, Peters) reports that according to a recent report from the Texas Education Agency, “special education students make up just 10 percent of the enrollment in Texas public schools, but they account for 21 percent of expulsions.” But, “the gap in disciplinary treatment between special- and non-special-ed students has been narrowing in recent years.” Abilene school system official Larry Davis said that his district “is seeing a similar trend,” which he attributes to school “programs reinforcing good behavior and intervention teams.”

School Finance
School Districts’ Creative Budgeting Approaches Noted.
Investopedia (8/30, Folger) reported that all US school systems “struggle with budgeting and finding the money that is necessary to providing high-quality education and a positive work environment for the dedicated teachers and staff.” Some districts “are taking a creative approach to budgeting” in an effort to achieve those goals. This year, for instance, some schools are asking parents to purchase janitorial supplies, “copy paper, construction paper…and other arts and crafts items typically provided by the school.” In California, meanwhile, one school has started requesting “donations from parents when children miss school for absences such as family vacations. During the 2008-2009 school year, this district received $20,217 in donations.”

Also in the News
Nonprofit Will Pay Students Who Choose To Attend Public School In St Louis.
The AP (8/31, Cochran) reports that the nonprofit group Urban Strategies is offering students in St. Louis, Missouri, $300 if they choose to attend Jefferson Elementary School “over competitors such as charter schools and magnets.” The stipend will only be given “to students who didn’t attend the school last year…have near-perfect attendance, and avoid out-of-school suspensions. Parents must also attend three PTO meetings.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (8/30) noted that several other schools throughout the US are debating “paying families for their children’s behavior and attendance.” Those who support such incentives “say the cash rewards are no different from offering college scholarships to top achievers at a high school, and that low-income families need the extra help.” But critics argue “that the cash prizes fail to address problems that lead to truancy and poor test scores, such as bad teaching or a dull curriculum.”

School Officials In Central Falls, Rhode Island, Expect “Significant Change” This Year.
WJAR-TV Providence (8/30, Washington) reported that school officials in Central Falls, Rhode Island “said Monday they are looking forward to a fresh start.” Last school year, the district considered “firing the entire staff” at Central Falls High School, but new goals this year are aimed at avoiding a similar outcome. “Those goals include: improving math scores, increasing graduation rates, tackling the drop out rate and building an academics-first climate.” Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist said district officials will “be implementing additional evaluation for educators, which is going to give them feedback to help them grow and develop. So we expect this is going to be a year of significant change for the school,” she added.

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NEA in the News
Seattle Public School Officials, Teachers Union Near Agreement On Tentative Contract.
The Seattle Times (8/31, Shaw) reports, “Seattle Public Schools and the” Seattle Education Association “said Monday evening they believe they have reached a tentative agreement on a new teacher contract.” Today, the two sides will meet “to make sure they are on the same page.” If so, teachers will “vote on the contract Thursday.” The district and the teachers union came to a stalemate earlier this month “over the district’s proposal to use student academic growth, measured by test scores, as one factor in judging how well teachers do their jobs.” Both sides agree, however, “that the current teacher-evaluation system needs to go.” And “they endorse the recommendations of a union-district committee, which call for replacing the existing system, in which teachers are judged as simply satisfactory or unsatisfactory.”

Teachers Still Without Contracts In Five Rhode Island Districts.
The Providence (RI) Journal (8/31, Jordan) reports that when “most public schools in Rhode Island open their doors this week,” teachers at five schools will begin the “year without new contracts in place. As of Monday afternoon, school committees and teachers’ unions in” those districts “had failed to reach agreement, despite weeks or even months of negotiations.” Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island, “which represents four of the five districts with unresolved contracts,” said, “We expect that in districts that don’t have settled teacher contracts, the language in the previous contract will stay in effect.”

“Superman” Documentary Draws Praise, Controversy.
Education Week (8/30, Aarons) reported, “Well in advance of its official release, the education film ‘Waiting For ‘Superman’ has attracted a level of attention that could make it one of the year’s most-watched documentaries-and one of the most controversial among educators, some of whom question its depictions of the American school system and how to improve it.” According to Education Week, some educators “see the film as cheerleading for charter schools and putting teachers’ unions in an unfairly negative light. Its descriptions of teacher tenure have been criticized by teacher bloggers and others, as has the fact the students featured are looking toward nontraditional public schools as the cure for their education ills.” NEA Executive Director John I. Wilson said that the movie was inspiring, but added that “when you give the impression that charter schools are the panacea for allowing kids to escape from public schools, I think that’s unfair.”

More Districts Using Value-Added Modeling In Teacher Evaluations.
The New York Times (9/1, Dillon) reports, “A growing number of school districts have adopted a system called value-added modeling” which has provoked “battles from Washington to Los Angeles – with some saying it is an effective method for increasing teacher accountability, and others arguing that it can give an inaccurate picture of teachers’ work. The system calculates the value teachers add to their students’ achievement, based on changes in test scores from year to year and how the students perform compared with others in their grade.” According to the Times, “People who analyze the data, making a few statistical assumptions, can produce a list ranking teachers from best to worst.”

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In the Classroom
Washington State Test Results Show Mixed Progress.
The AP (9/1, Blankinship) reports, “Fewer Washington schools are failing to help students make [AYP], but statewide test results show many students continue to struggle to meet state learning goals in reading, writing, math and science. Results released Tuesday showed fewer fifth graders passed the tests last year, and 10th graders showed a drop in passage rates in every subject except science.” According to the AP, “Both seventh and eighth graders, however, posted improved pass rates in all subjects.”

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (9/1, Raftery) adds, “This was the first year that Washington students took new tests — the High School Proficiency Exam and the Measurements of Student Progress — that replaced the controversial Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL. Randy Dorn, the state schools’ chief, worried that a favorable bump in scores would make the test look too easy; a fall would make it look overly rigorous.” According to the Post-Intelligencer, “Statewide, 41 percent of 10th grade students passed the math exam” and around “44 percent passed the science exam, an improvement over last year’s class, of which 38 percent passed.”

Two Schools In California Launch 9-Hour Days For Sixth-Graders.
The AP (8/31) reports that sixth-graders at two schools in the Oakland, California, school district this year “will be in school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this year, three hours longer than their peers at other schools in the Oakland district.” The move targets the two of the state’s lowest-performing schools. “District officials are hopeful that the additional time will help boost students’ test scores.”

The San Francisco Chronicle (8/31, Tucker) reported that “the additional three hours of academics and activities” at United for Success Academy and Elmhurst Community Preparatory School will be run by the nonprofit CitizenSchools.” Oakland schools will pay “up to $2,400 more per school year for each of the 270 or so sixth-graders attending the schools.”

Some Schools Banning, Restricting Wear Of Controversial Breast Cancer Bracelets.
USA Today (9/1) reports that Schools throughout the US are either banning or restricting the wear of breast-cancer awareness bracelets with “a message some say is in poor taste: ‘I love boobies.’” In Fresno, California, for instance, “students in the Clovis Unified School District were told not to wear the bracelets in class – or to turn them inside out so the message is not visible.” USA Today adds that the bracelets, created by the breast cancer awareness group Keep A Breast Foundation, “have caused controversy in schools in states including California, Colorado, Idaho, Florida and Wisconsin.”

On the Job
New York DOE Suggests Districts Not Seek Information Revealing Students’ Immigration Status.
The New York Times (9/1, A21, Semple) reports that the New York Department of Education is “strongly recommending” that school districts “not ask for information that might reveal the immigration status of enrolling students,” such as “asking for a Social Security number.” On Monday, the DOE sent a memo to districts “after a civil liberties group complained that” many “were requesting such information in possible violation of federal law.” According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, about 20 percent of school systems in the state “were requiring children’s immigration papers as a prerequisite to enrollment, or asking parents for information that only lawful immigrants could provide.”

School Centers Help Parents Help Kids.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/1, Staples) reports that “the parenting center at Summerour Middle School” in Norcross, GA “is part of a quiet effort at schools across metro Atlanta to help boost student achievement and encourage parental involvement in education, a benefit for both families and teachers.” According to the Journal-Constitution, “Once relegated to a corner office or cubbyhole in the hallways of Title I schools, new parenting centers are more akin to lounges decorated with tables and chairs, wide screen televisions and banks of computers where parents can check on grades, write resumes, search for employment or even volunteer their time.” The Journal-Constitution adds that according to Michelle Tarbutton, parent engagement program manager at the Georgia DOE, “Creating a welcoming environment in the school…is the first step to getting parents in the door and ensuring continuous parental involvement.”

First Virtual School In MA Opens Thursday.
The AP (9/1, Moran) reports, “The Massachusetts Virtual Academy opens in Greenfield on Thursday, not only as the first in the state, but also as the first virtual school in New England to serve students from kindergarten through high school. At virtual school, the students will take all of their classes online and have a learning coach make sure they complete their assignments.” According to the AP, “Greenfield officials believe 10,000 to 20,000 students in Massachusetts could benefit from a virtual school, but the school is limited to 500″ and “officials expect enrollment this first school year to reach 250.”

Tennessee Educators Praise New Virtual High School. The Dickson (TN) Herald (8/31, Smith) reports, “High school principals had nothing but praise for the school system’s newly implemented virtual high school, an online curriculum program for students who have fallen behind, or want to get ahead. The virtual high school is a series of online curriculum operated through e4TN, a state-owned e-learning program aligned with state education standards. School officials have said it is intended for students who have fallen behind on coursework, or were on the verge of dropping out.” According to officials, the new program has been so popular that some students have been “turned them away for fear of overcrowding.” But those who did enroll have, in some cases, managed to recoup “an entire coursework of credits from last year.”

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Law & Policy
Texas Leaders Urged To Break Stalemate Over Teacher Jobs Funding.
The Austin American-Statesman (9/1) editorializes, “We urge [Texas] Gov. Rick Perry [R] and state leaders to break the political stalemate that is holding up $830 million in extra funds slated for Texas schools. … It’s disappointing that state and federal officials were unable to work out a deal to release the money when they met in Washington last week.” According to the American-Statesman, “There is greater urgency in ensuring that Texas schools get their share of federal jobs dollars given that the Legislature is looking at a budget gap in the neighborhood of $18 billion.”

Ohio Law Emphasizing School Nutrition, Physical Activity Goes Into Effect This Month.
WKBN-TV Youngstown, Ohio (9/1) reports that on Sept. 17, S.B. 210 will go into effect, placing “tough restrictions on beverages in schools and vending machines from kindergarten to 12th grade” and “banning the sale of some items.” In addition, “the law requires better teaching of nutrition and physical activity benefits and requires schools to calculate” and report students’ body mass indexes. Parents can “opt out of some parts of the law because of cost.”

Facilities
Ohio School Gets New Aeronautics-Focused Engineering Lab.
WDTN-TV Dayton, Ohio (8/31, Edwards) reported on the new Engineering Lab at Oakwood High Schools, a “21st century engineering lab that encourages students to carve out a career in engineering with a focus on aeronautics.” In addition to new computers, the lab features a 3D printer. Officials noted the importance of guiding more students into STEM studies, as countries such as China and India are producing vastly more engineers than the US. “The lab is part of Project Lead the Way, a national pre-engineering curriculum based on partnerships with business and industry while students gain college credits, giving students the ability to dream it, design it and to create all in one lab.”

School Finance
Several Alabama Districts Taking Out Private Loans To Cover Expenses This Year.
CNN Money (8/31, Olster) reported that several school systems in Alabama are taking “out private loans” for expenses this year. So far, “five school districts have…borrowed against lines of credit they have with local banks to fund basic school operations, and 25 additional districts” plan to do the same within “the next few months.” CNN notes that some states “have a state-sponsored loan program for schools that lack funds to cover operational expenses,” but in Alabama, “districts must apply for loans with private banks,” and “like any other loan applicant, they are subject to rejection.” After a bank rejected Coosa County Schools’ “request for an additional $550,000 line of credit…in June,” the state took over finances for the district.

Also in the News
Teacher Strike In South Africa Puts Spotlight On Nation’s Poor Education System.
Bloomberg News (8/31, Cohen) reported that in South Africa, teachers unions “representing about 1.3 million state workers started an open-ended strike on Aug. 18, after the government rejected their demands for an 8.6 percent wage increase.” On Tuesday, “the government offered an increase of 7.5 percent today to end the deadlock.” Union officials say they will reply to the government’s offer today. Bloomberg notes that as a result of the strike, schools throughout South Africa were shut down “just weeks before year-end exams.” The situation compounds the nation’s poorly-regarded education system. Last year, “final-year pass rates fell to 61 percent…from 67 percent in 2006.” And, the National Treasury said in a 2009 report that “teacher training programs were poorly coordinated and the quality of courses was ‘questionable.’”

NEA in the News
Rhode Island Governor Wants To Use Federal Money For Teacher Jobs To Balance State Budget.
The Providence Journal (9/1, Jordan) reports that instead of saving teaching jobs with “the $32.9 million Rhode Island is eligible to receive” under the federal teacher jobs bill, Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) wants to use the money to fill a $38 million state budget gap. State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist does not support the plan and “has ‘strongly advocated’ that the money be used ‘for its intended purpose,’” she said. National Education Association of Rhode Island Executive Director Robert A. Walsh Jr. also opposes the plan, “particularly after [lawmakers] reduced state education aid to schools by 3.6 percent this year, a $29-million cut.” Said Walsh, “The intended purpose of this money is to bring back teachers who have been laid off or to prevent layoffs, and replace school programs. … This money would have allowed the important work of public education to go on in this state.”

Education Department Awards $330 Million To States To Develop Standardized Tests.
The New York Times (9/3, Dillon) reports, “The Department of Education on Thursday awarded $330 million to two groups of states to design new standardized tests to replace the end-of-year reading and math exams used…to measure achievement under the federal No Child Left Behind law.” The tests, which “are to be ready for the 2014-15 school year” will “be aligned with the common academic standards that nearly 40 states have adopted in recent months.” The first group of 25 states, named the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, “is led by Florida” and received $170 million. The second group of 31 states, called the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, is led by Washington and was awarded $160 million.

The Washington Post (9/3, Anderson) reports that according to the Department of Education, “the first group” will “assess how students read complex texts, complete research projects, handle classroom speaking and listening assignments, and work with digital media.” The second group, meanwhile, “would assess students through computer-adaptive technology.”

The Los Angeles Times (9/3, Blume, Song) reports that the nationwide tests would be computer-based and would “strive to evaluate critical thinking, writing, researching and even listening skills.”

The Christian Science Monitor (9/3, Khadaroo) quotes Education Secretary Arne Duncan saying, “These new tests will be an absolute game-changer in public education.” Duncan noted that “students currently have to take a patchwork of local, district, and state tests, and the new system should lessen that redundancy.” The Salt Lake Tribune (9/3, Schencker) and the Boston Globe (9/3, Vaznis) also cover the story.

Duncan Hopes New Tests Will Work For Students With Learning Disabilities. Christina Samuels writes in her “On Special Education” blog for Education Week (9/3) that Secretary Duncan “made several direct references to what these new tests may mean for students with learning differences.” That’s because “all English language learners and students with disabilities will take the new assessments, with the exception of the 1 percent of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.” In his speech, Duncan indicated “he has pretty high hopes” for the tests because they incorporate “smart technology.”

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In the Classroom
Texas Instruments Pilot Tests 3-D Technology In Classrooms Nationwide.
The Dallas Morning News (9/3, Weiss) reports on a “new kind of technology just starting to filter into North Texas classrooms: a 3-D projection system, coupled with interactive, computer-driven content.” Some teachers in the Richardson Independent School District, for instance, are taking part in a pilot program by DLP, a division of Texas Instruments, “that produces hardware for…3-D projection.” The pilot is taking place in eight school systems in five states. Schools in participating districts receive “projectors and content.” The Morning News notes that according to “early studies…kids taught with the technology learn some particularly challenging lessons faster and better.” Some teachers, however, say that the new classroom technology could wear out quickly, so they warn “not to put too much emphasis on 3-D.”

Philadelphia Public Schools Seeks Solution To High Dropout Rate.
WTXF-TV Philadelphia (9/3) reports on its website that the Philadelphia public school district is facing a dropout crisis in which four out of every ten students do not graduate high school. Moreover, 43 percent of black males and 51 percent of Latino males do not graduate. A new study “conducted by a special task force for Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission” says that part of the problem is that “Philadelphia’s zero tolerance policy drives off boys who might otherwise have succeeded eventually.”

KYW-TV Philadelphia (9/2, Duncan) reported that the reform commission’s study recommends “eliminating the achievement gap, eliminating the opportunity gap and holding adults accountable.” Said Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Arlene Ackerman, “I’m not going to rest until all recommendations are fully implemented in this school system.”

On the Job
Los Angeles Superintendent Told To Include Score Data In Teacher Evaluations.
The Los Angeles Times (9/3, Blume, Song) reports that this week, for the first time, the Los Angeles Board of Education “formally directed its superintendent…to include student test score data as part of teachers’ evaluations.” Even before the mandate was handed down, the Times points out, Supt. Ramon C. Cortines had already announced that the district would issue “confidential value-added scores to employees by October and” include “school scores on campus “report cards” posted online and sent to parents.”

LATimes Defends Use Of Testing Data In Teacher Evaluations. The Los Angeles Times (9/3) in an editorial defending its decision to publish the data criticizes the response of the teachers union and of teachers who claim they are focused on more important matters than test scores. The paper argues that California has “some of the best curriculum standards in the nation” and that it is not calling for teachers to teach to the test as its “reporters uncovered ample anecdotal evidence that teachers whose student scores improve the most are…engaging students in challenging, often lively, academic work.” While the Times says that “the Obama administration has been too hasty to push states into linking test scores to teacher evaluations,” it still calls for using test data along with other measures to “help calculate teacher compensation.”

Seattle Public School Teachers Approve New Three-Year Contract.
The Seattle Times (9/3, Shaw) reports that on Thursday, teachers in the Seattle public school district “approved a new three-year contract…ending rancorous negotiations over the use of test scores in evaluating how well teachers do their jobs.” Members of the Seattle Education Association also “voted ‘no confidence’ in Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson.” The no-confidence vote, the Seattle Times adds, is a “sign that Goodloe-Johnson hasn’t been able to gain community buy-in for her ambitious agenda” focused on increasing accountability “for everyone.”

The AP (9/3) reports that the contract “includes a new evaluation system that takes into account improvement in student learning.” In addition, it would provide for teachers a one percent raise, “more collaborative planning time,” and bonuses for those “who work in the lowest performing schools and meet performance expectations.”

Law & Policy
West Virginia To Keep Swings At Schools Due To DOE Policy.
The Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch (9/3, Chambers) reports that school officials in Cabell County, West Virginia, have halted plans to remove swings from elementary schools due to a West Virginia Department of Education Office of School Facilities policy that requires swings at elementary schools with kindergarten programs. “The policy states: ‘All centers housing kindergarten programs shall contain a segregated blacktopped area and a large grassy area with climbing equipment and swings.’”

West Virginia’s State-Journal (9/3, Brennan) reports that “the biggest issue ahead of Cabell County Schools now is the surface. The surface must extend at least double the amount of feet on both sides of the swing, and the mulch must be nine inches deep.” Also, Superintendent Bill Smith “will meet with State Senator Evan Jenkins next week to discuss what can be done to limit lawsuits in the future if children are injured as a result of the swing sets.”

President Urged To Stick To Education Reforms.
Columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. writes at CNN (9/3) that both President Obama and Secretary Duncan “have shown themselves to be deeply informed about what’s wrong with our schools and how to fix it” but are “trying to make peace with a powerful Democratic ally. Unfortunately, this ally also happens to be one of the things that’s wrong with our schools: some of the teachers unions.” Navarette describes the initiatives brought in by Obama and Duncan adding, “Until recently, Obama deserved an ‘A’ for his education reform efforts, which included a willingness to take on teachers unions.” He concludes, “Don’t worry about teachers unions. They can take care of themselves. But there are a lot of kindergarteners out there whose future depends on our ability to get this right.”

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Safety & Security
Several Maine Schools Close Early Thursday Due To Heat.
The Bangor Daily News (9/3, Curts) reports that children at several schools in Maine were sent home early on Thursday after “temperatures reached more than 100 degrees inside some classrooms‎.” The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the state on Thursday and the state DOE sent out a heat alert that “encouraged schools to consider closing based on the heat index inside the building.” Meanwhile, instead of closing, some schools found “innovative ways to keep students cool.” Students and staff in the Brewer school district, for instance, were given Popsicles. WABI-TV Bangor (9/2) also covered the story.

School Finance
Memphis Mayor Proposes 25 Percent Division Cuts To Pay School System $57 Million.
WHBQ-TV Memphis (9/2) reported that in order to pay Memphis Public Schools $57 million, Mayor A C Wharton this week “asked all 13 of his division directors to cut 25 percent of their budgets.” The Memphis Commercial Appeal (9/3, Maki) notes that in 2008, the Memphis City Council “slashed $57 million from its annual contribution to Memphis City Schools.” The school system sued the city and “two courts since have ordered the city to pay the school district.” And, last month “the state Supreme Court…refused to hear the city’s appeal.”

Wyoming Districts Slowly Spending Stimulus Money.
The AP (9/3) reports, “Wyoming has been slow to spend its $64 million in stimulus money for elementary and secondary education. Little more than one-fourth of the state’s stimulus funding for K-12 public education has been spent, according to reports from the state Department of Education.” The money “must be allocated before Sept. 30, 2011, and spent before Dec. 31, 2011.” So far, some districts have used the money to hire tutors, to buy technology faster than otherwise would have been the case and to pay for training.

Also in the News
New Jersey District Reinstates Recess After Four-Year Hiatus.
New Jersey’s Record (9/3, Cunningham) reports that after four years of not having recess, the Totowa school district is bringing it back this year, giving students “20 minutes of play outside after lunch each day.” Superintendent Vincent Varcadipane “recommended the no-recess school day four years ago.” But, he told the Record, “I was wrong on the assumption that they don’t need that time to run around and clear their heads. It’s important.” Now, students will have “a 45-minute lunch period with about 20 minutes for recess, the same amount of outside time students had before district officials eliminated it.”

NEA in the News
Nebraska BOE Approves Resolution Opposing Unfunded Mandates.
The AP (9/3) reports that the Nebraska BOE this week approved a resolution that “says unfunded mandates should be opposed to protect education funding.”

The Lincoln Journal Star (9/2, Reist) reported that originally, the resolution called for “repeal of the ‘unfunded mandates’ in federal health care reform,” but that plan was opposed by some BOE members who thought the language “pitted education against health care.” The Journal Star notes that last week, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman wrote a letter to state “education leaders urging them to support repeal of health care reform or risk losing state education aid as Medicaid costs rise.” Jess Wolfe, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, said that “his board would discuss the letter” at a meeting later this month.

More US Schools Operating Without Principals.
The Christian Science Monitor (9/2, Khadaroo) reports that more schools throughout the US are operating without principals. The concept is becoming more popular as educators brainstorm ways to boost student achievement and the call for more “teacher accountability” grows. The Monitor points out that in teacher-led schools, “teachers’ participation tends to create a culture quite different from that in a traditional principal-led school: Teachers can’t hide behind the classroom door or complain about policies, because they have to come up with solutions.” While most “student achievement…results are still coming in,” the Monitor says that some teacher-run schools do have a history of success. For instance, “in Milwaukee, where teacher cooperatives contract with the district to run about a dozen schools, standardized test scores are higher than the district average at some of the schools, but lower at others.”

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In the Classroom
Utah Districts’ Plans Vary For Airing Obama Back-To-School Speech In Classrooms.
The Salt Lake Tribune (9/2, Schencker) reports that President Obama will speak to students again this year in “his second annual ‘Back to School’ speech” to Sept. 14. Last year’s speech drew concerns from parents who feared “it would amount to political indoctrination,” and “at least one Utah district initially refused to show it.” University of Utah Political Science Professor Matthew Burbank predicts that less controversy will surround this year’s speech. “My impression is this is going to be much less of an issue this time around largely because I think of what we saw last time, it really was a tempest in a teapot,” he said. The Salt Lake Tribune notes that this year, some Utah districts will leave it up to individual schools whether to show the speech live, while others plan to show the speech in all schools or encourage schools to do so.

Study Says K-8 Schools May Be More Critical Than Middle Schools In New York City.
Education Week (9/1, Sparks) reported that a new study by the journal Education Next “suggests that moving to middle school can be more detrimental to” the academic progress of New York City students “than staying in a K-8 school.” The report posted online showed that “students who move from elementary school to middle school experience a bigger dip in mathematics and language arts achievement than their K-8 counterparts,” who tended to be absent more frequently. According to Education Week, the study, conducted by researchers at Columbia University, “found students in K-5 or K-6 schools performed slightly better than their K-8 peers in math and language arts in 5th grade, but when they made the move to a middle school, the situation reversed.” NY1 News (9/1) adds that “the study was based on data for city school children who were in grades 3 through 8 between 1998 and 2008.”

On the Job
Los Angeles School Board Members Weigh In On “Value Added” Evaluations Of Teachers.
The Los Angeles Times (9/1, Song) reports, “Los Angeles school board members made their first public statements Tuesday about evaluating teachers partially by analyzing student test scores, with most saying that the current system needs to be reworked and some adding that parents deserve more information about their children’s teachers.” According to the Times, “During a presentation to the board, recently appointed Deputy Supt. John Deasy said the district would move quickly and planned by October to begin issuing confidential scores to employees that would be based on a ‘value-added’ analysis of student scores on standardized tests.” Deasy “has said in the past that he believes that it should make up at least 30% of an instructor’s review but that the majority of the evaluation should come from classroom observation.”

Los Angeles Civic Leaders Call For Overhaul Of Teacher Evaluations. The Los Angeles Times (9/2, Song) reports, “A group of business and civic leaders is urging the Los Angeles school district and teachers union to quickly develop a new evaluation system that incorporates student test score data and gives families more access to information about instructors.” A letter signed by former US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the presidents of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, “and 18 other people,” also expressed support for the inclusion of value-added analysis “in teacher performance reviews and cited a Times series on the subject as one reason [the leaders] decided to weigh in.”

Law & Policy
Alabama Superintendent Issues Open Letter Noting Flaws With Race To The Top Application Process.
WSFA-TV (9/1, Shryock) reported that Alabama Superintendent of Education Joe Morton on Wednesday “issued an ‘open letter’ to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outlining his reasons for believing the” Race to the Top “application process is flawed.” It “gave states that allowed charter schools an automatic 40 points on the application.” But, Morton wrote, “The RTTT criteria do not appear to distinguish quality among charter school states — just that they allow them.” Morton also criticized the requirement that called for union support, noting that the Alabama Education Association’s “state headquarters told all 132 local affiliates not to sign any support document…and none did.”

Safety & Security
West Virginia District Removing Swings From All School Playgrounds.
The AP (9/2) reports that West Virginia’s Cabell County school district is removing swings from all schools “in part because of lawsuits over injuries.” According to Cabell County schools safety manager Tim Stewart, “the cost of maintaining a safe surface” for the swings “is too expensive.”

The Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch (9/2, Chambers) reports that Stewart “estimates it would cost about $8,000 to cover the ground around each of the 36 swing sets” for “a total of $288,000…at least every seven years.” The school system plans to have all swings removed by December, but West Virginia Sen. Sen. Evan Jenkins “is asking…Superintendent William Smith to suspend the removal of swing sets from all elementary school playgrounds until he can bring involved parties to the table.” Jenkins wants to meet with Smith “and the school system’s casualty insurance provider” to discuss options that would allow Cabell County to keep the swings.

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School Finance
Textbooks On Chopping Block As Texas Leaders Seek To Close Budget Gap.
The Dallas Morning News (9/2, Stutz) reports, “English textbooks and new science labs for Texas students would be on the chopping block under a proposal to trim the budget for the Texas Education Agency by 10 percent in the next biennium. The budget reduction plan, asked for by Gov. Rick Perry [R] and other state leaders in anticipation of a revenue shortfall that could reach $18 billion, also would scale back the state’s merit pay program for teachers and reduce funding for a steroid testing program for high school athletes.” According to the Morning News, “Cutbacks in the proposal total nearly $262 million over the 2012-13 biennium.”

Also in the News
Competition Seeks Ideas For Revamping Washington Monument Grounds.
The Washington Post (9/2, Trescott) reports on the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds (WAMO), a contest that kicked off earlier this week and is seeking methods to improve the area, which WAMO considers “too barren and devoid of information.” Submissions “for the 60-acre esplanade could encompass architecture, engineering, landscaping, history and design,” according to Ellen Goldstein, a member of the WAMO steering committee. “The competition is open to anyone 12 years and older, but she said the group’s outreach is focused on middle school, high school and college students.” The Post includes a link to the competition’s website, along with deadlines for the competition. “The jury will pick 25 semifinalists, each of whom will be awarded $100, and the final submissions will be put to a public vote.”

Thousands Of Teachers In Toronto Attend Back-To-School “Revival.”
The Toronto Star (9/1, Brown) reported that on Wednesday, about 19,000 teachers attended a back-to-school pep rally at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The $345,000 event, described as “part rock concert, part revival meeting,” featured motivational speakers and musicians. It “was designed by new education director Chris Spence as a way to meet the vast Toronto District School Board staff face-to-face and thank them for their work.”

NEA in the News
NEA Survey Shows Teachers Want Comprehensive, Realistic Evaluation Model.
Dave Murray writes in a column for the Grand Rapids Press (9/2) that on Wednesday, the NEA asked “members how they’d like to be” evaluated. NEA employee Kevin Hart reported that based on responses, teachers “believe a well-designed process can help them improve at their jobs and will ultimately benefit students.” They want the “evaluation process [to] be fair, consistently applied, and take into account the realities of their profession,” he added. Overall, teachers want administrators to be “better trained on how to conduct evaluations,” and would like evaluations to be comprehensive, rather than mainly based on test scores, responses showed. In his assessment, Hart noted that “the tone around the national teacher evaluation debate needs to change, focusing more on supporting educators and not punishing them.”

Seattle Education Association Reaches Tentative Contract Agreement With District.
The AP (9/2) reports that on Wednesday, Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association (SEA) “reached a tentative agreement on a three-year labor contract.” The Seattle Tribune (9/2, Long) reports that the contract calls for a new teacher evaluation system, “stipends to highly-effective teachers,” and a one-percent raise for teachers “in 2011 and 2012.” However, these changes – worth $19 million – “hinge on voter passage of a $48 million school levy Nov. 2.” Still, “both the district and the union described the tentative agreement as a strong step toward better evaluations of teachers,” the Seattle Times adds. The new evaluation system rates school employees based on “a four-level scale: unsatisfactory, basic, proficient and innovative. Currently, teachers are rated on a two-level scale: satisfactory and unsatisfactory.”

KIRO-TV Seattle (9/2) reports that “teachers are scheduled to vote on the contract Thursday.” If they approve the agreement, “the school board will then vote on the final agreement.”

Superintendent Criticizes Christie’s Failure To Take Responsibility For Application Error.
New Jersey’s Record and Herald News (9/1, Ebbels) reported that in his third letter to the governor’s office this year, Glen Rock Superintendent David Verducci criticized Christie “for failing to take responsibility for the mistake” on New Jersey’s Race to the Top application. “Will the buck stop with you or will someone else become the ‘fall guy’ and receive the blame for this mind-boggling mistake,” Verducci wrote. The grant “application asked for data from 2008 and 2009, but New Jersey submitted data from the 2010 and 2011 state budgets.” The Record and Herald notes, however, that “an earlier version of the application, which had been approved by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), included the correct data.” But the governor “ordered a last-minute re-working of the application that included amendments to merit pay, which lost the application the support of the NJEA and many more points.”

Our world has changed considerably since this time last year. In September 2009, we had a governor who supported public education. He increased school funding during a recession and was the only governor in 16 years to PUT money into our pension system. A year later we have a governor who constantly uses CONFRONTATIONAL, rather than COLLABORATIVE tactics in dealing with school employees and their representatives. He has called us “greedy” and accused us of using children as “drug mules.” He and his accomplices in the Legislature are attacking our salaries, benefits and collective bargaining rights. This governor’s budget cut $ 1.2 billion in school funding. Our schools are cash-strapped. We are being asked to do more with less. Programs are being cut. Class sizes are increasing. Too many of OUR teachers and educational support professionals are on the unemployment line instead of HERE AT WORK where they belong.

This hostile governor and an unsupportive Legislature, are not just threatening our rights as professionals; they are destroying the quality of the great public schools we worked so hard to achieve. Make no mistake our public schools are under attack. WE are under attack. The governor has a so-called “toolkit.” Right now we are facing four bills that if passed would have a devastating effect on us. These bills are designed to CRUSH our collective bargaining rights and make it impossible for us to earn a decent living. These so-called reforms are nothing less than a direct ATTACK on us. And they are a direct attack on our public schools. Information will be forwarded via email as I receive it. So if I don’t have your email, please let Pat Errico know immediately.

Since the beginning of collective bargaining 42 years ago, New Jersey’s public schools have become the gold standard for the rest of the nation. Property values have soared. Home buyers and business owners cite our public schools as a main reason for locating in New Jersey. We’ve attracted the best and brightest college graduates to our profession. Our bargaining doesn’t MAKE the economy, it follows it. In times of prosperity, salary increases have been higher. Times are tough right now and settlement rates reflect that. That’s how bargaining works. We cannot allow this governor or this Legislature to destroy a system that works for our members, for our students and for our community. WE are not an insurance policy to fall back on in tough times. Membership is a commitment to ACTION. We are engaged in all-out war to protect public education. And that also means that the administration must join us in this fight. We are in the frontline trenches and sitting it out is not an option.

The good news is that we have the POWER to win. We know that collective action works. This summer, NJEA members sent over 64,000 e-mails to our legislators in Washington to pass the Ed Jobs bill. As a result, 3,900 teachers and educational support professionals in New Jersey are slated to get their jobs back. As late as last week, we met with Central Office to return 5 more teachers back to work from the RIF list. I thank Central Office for working with me, even though I respectfully disagree with some of the other decisions that have made, and I have made my opinion very public about it.

So, I am calling upon every person in this room to join this fight. Fight for our schools, our students, our profession, our unions, and ourselves. We need to mobilize parents to support our schools and the work we do. We need to lobby our legislators and remind them that the decisions they make impact the state’s most vulnerable citizens – our children. We need to educate our communities that an investment in public education is an investment in our future prosperity and remind business leaders that the workers of tomorrow are sitting in our schools today.

Only we – professional educators – know how to make our public schools great. We know which reforms truly work and we know which ones don’t. We know how to motivate students. We know what resources our schools need to serve our students. So WE should lead way. We deserve respect, we deserve recognition, and we deserve a voice. We need to lead the dialogue about public education instead of just responding to the accusations of our critics who have no background in education.

As we begin a new school year, I am asking each of you to make some new year’s resolutions. Over the summer I reached out to you to contact legislators, attend board meetings, talk with parents and participate in community events or even join a committee. I am going to continue to request your help. The activities you choose will be up to you, but you MUST do something. We are facing a monumental challenge. If you sit idly by and allow legislators to enact these laws, our profession and our public schools will be irrevocably harmed. Our rights to bargain professional salaries and benefits will be diminished and our public schools will begin a downward spiral.

However, if we take a determined, COLLECTIVE stand, we can emerge even stronger than ever before. We can take back control of our profession. We can take back control of the dialogue. We can continue our journey to achieve great public schools for every child in Asbury Park. We know firsthand how much things can change in one year. I know the people in this room care far too much to let any governor or any Legislature diminish the quality of our schools.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

So today let’s vow to organize, advocate, and fight for our members, our schools, and most importantly, the children that we educate on a daily basis.

Thank you and have a great year!

WAGA-TV Atlanta (8/19) reports that Perdue called previous “probes into alleged cheating on” state tests “woefully inadequate.” WSB-TV Atlanta (8/19) quotes Perdue as saying, “This overwhelming statistical data was met with, as you saw, no wrong doing and no testing violations. … Not only was the investigation in APS lacking in both scope and depth, but the district’s response report completed by the blue ribbon commission has also been unacceptable.”

Organization Withholds Grants To Atlanta Teachers. WGCL-TV Atlanta (8/19, Mayerle) reports that as a result of the cheating controversy, some “APS teachers and principals given an award for excellence in education may never see their monetary award.” More than a dozen APS teachers and principals won “grants from Atlanta Families’ Award for Excellence in Education.” The organization has awarded $2,500 for a school project, “but postponed giving the rest after the” cheating scandal broke.

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In the Classroom
Program Uses Dogs To Help Children Improve Reading Skills.
The AP (8/18) reports on programs that use dogs to help children improve their reading skills. Carol Kellerman, coordinator of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society’s Reading to Rover program, said that a dog’s presence helps create a “relaxed, nonjudgmental atmosphere” in which a child can feel comfortable reading. The AP added that “canine mentors have been proven to lower children’s anxiety, which helps boost literacy skills.” Dogs chosen for Reading to Rover program “must first pass good citizenship training through the American Kennel Club, and are screened through the shelter to work with children.” The program allows students 20 minutes of reading time with the dogs each week.

National Council To Develop “Best Practices” For Digital Learning.
Education Week (8/18, McNeil, Samuels) reported that former governors Jeb Bush of Florida and Bob Wise of West Virginia introduced in a press release on Wednesday the Digital Learning Council, “an effort intended to encourage states to more deeply weave current and future technology innovations into public education.” The council consists of 50 leaders in education, politics, and business who will “create a set of best practices” for “digital learning issues” by December. Afterward, council members will “encourage states to adopt” the best practices. Jeff Solochek also covered the story in the St. Petersburg Times (8/18) “Gradebook” blog.

Pinellas County, Florida District Disputes Report On Black Male Graduation Rates.
The St. Petersburg Times (8/19, Marshall, Catalanello) reports that a report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education released this week said that Florida’s Pinellas County school district ranks lowest among large US school systems for graduating black male students. In 2008, “21 percent of black males earned regular diplomas…after four years of study, compared to 50 percent of white males and a national average of 47 percent.” But district officials argue that the data is “inaccurate and unfair.” To come up with the figures, Schott Foundation Research Consultant Micahel Holzman “divided the number of standard diplomas awarded in 2008 by the number of students who entered high school four years earlier.” Pinellas Superintendent Julie Janssen said the method was “totally nonstatistical.” According to the district, 50 percent of its black male students graduated in 2008. Still, Janssen acknowledges, “There is a gap.”

Kindergartners At Elementary School In Tennessee To Use iPads In Classroom.
WMSV-TV Nashville (8/18, Williams) reported on its Website that soon kindergartners at Julia Green Elementary School in Nashville “will be using iPads as part of the learning experience.” Eileen Wills told WMSV, “The emphasis is on global mindedness.” The Green Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization raised money for the iPads.

On the Job
CONNECT-ED Helps New Jersey Teachers Connect New Concepts To Prior Education.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/18, Rich) reported, “Through a unique partnership with Rider University and Princeton University, public school science teachers” throughout New Jersey “have received hands-on” training on helping students make connections between concepts learned “in prior years” of schooling. Kathleen Browne, assistant provost and director of CONNECT-ED, the Consortium for New Explorations in Coherent Teacher Education, said that until connections are made, students do not usually understand how a learned concept “connects to other concepts already learned or to be learned, it’s just bits of information,” she said. “The latest CONNECT-ED program spanned two weeks, with a focus on making connections in physical and earth sciences from the elementary grades to the high school level.” Teachers said that “the experience has switched on a light bulb in terms of methodology.”

Law & Policy
District’s Abandonment Of “D” Grade Questioned.
Joe Bower, a teacher in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/18), “I read in the New York Times that Mount Olive School District in New Jersey has abolished the ‘D,’” and “I fear that the Mount Olive School District has just doomed itself to mediocrity, if it is lucky, or very likely something much worse.” According to Bower, “Despite good intentions, Mount Olive School District’s best-case scenario involves some of those ‘Ds’ turning to ‘Fs’ while others become ‘Cs’. … This is exactly why tougher standards, grading, test scores and competition don’t make schools better – they simply make schools more like their mediocre neighbors.”

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Safety & Security
Preliminary Tests Find Elevated PCB Levels In Three New York City Schools.
The New York Times (8/19, Navarro) reports, “Elevated levels of toxic chemical compounds were found in the first three New York City public school buildings tested in a pilot study meant to assess the risks posed by PCBs, according to preliminary results. Officials of the city’s Department of Education said the study at first focused on cracked caulk, but that air sampling also pointed at a lighting ballast, a regulating device in fluorescent lights made with oil containing PCBs.” According to the Times, “Workers have been removing caulk and replacing light fixtures at those three schools to get them ready for students.” The Wall Street Journal (8/19, Martinez) also covers this story.

School Finance
Utah Will Apply For Federal School Assistance.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/19, Schencker) reports that Utah will “apply for $101 million in federal cash for schools despite criticism from some who say the feds are forcing the money upon states.” The money could save between 1,600 and 1,800 teacher’s jobs in the state, according to federal and state data. Gov. Gary Herbert (R) decided to apply for the money “after meeting with legislative leaders on Wednesday.” Said Herbert, “I am of a mind that first and foremost you’ve got to protect education. My frustration comes in that if you don’t take it, you’re going to have to pay it back anyway. That’s doesn’t make a lot of sense for the taxpayers of Utah.”

Utah District Implements “Farm To School” Program. The Salt Lake Tribune (8/19, Winters) reports that the Jordan School District’s “Farm to School” program, which supports Utah farmers, teaches students “about their food supply and” enhances school lunch with freshly picked produce from local farms, is “the first of its kind in Utah.” All Jordan elementary schools will offer the program beginning next week when school starts. As part of “Farm to School,” students “will receive informational cards about each featured item, including the farm where the fruit or vegetable was grown and the nutritional benefits.”

Also in the News
ACT Scores Show Mixed Progress.
The AP (8/18, Gorski) reported, “Average scores on the ACT college entrance exam inched downward this year, yet slightly more students who took the test proved to be prepared for college, according to a report released Wednesday.” The report says that “24 percent of ACT-tested students met or surpassed all four of the test’s benchmarks measuring their preparedness for college English, reading, math and science, … up from 23 percent last year and 21 percent in 2006.” However, test results also indicate that “three in four test-takers will likely need remedial help in at least one subject to succeed in college.”

Education Week (8/18, Gewertz) reported that “the number of Hispanic students who have taken the college-entrance exam during high school grew 84 percent in the past five years.” Meanwhile 63 percent more Asian-American students to the test this year, and 55 percent more African-American students took the test, “compared with a 29 percent rise in the number of white students.” The Washington Post (8/19, Birnbaum) and the Dallas Morning News (8/19, Stutz) also cover the story.

Many Experts Agree Wi-Fi Does Not Cause Negative Health Effects.
Fox News (8/18, Liu) reported that while “some parents in Canada are blaming their children’s illnesses on the wireless Internet routers installed in their schools,” many scientists still insist that radio frequency radiation does not “cause any negative health effects.” The World Health Organization, for instance, says “that the range of radiation exposure from Wi-Fi routers is between 0.002 percent and 2 percent of recommended maximum levels — less than people receive from televisions and FM radios.” Fox News added that “numerous studies over the years have supported the safety of low-level radiation from devices like cellphones…and Wi-Fi routers are even further removed from the body, lessening their impact.”

Columnist Says There Are Reasons To Question Health Effects Of WiFi. Columnist Moira McDonald writes in the Toronto Sun (8/19) that despite the controversy over Wi-Fi in classrooms, “the Toronto District School Board is still poised to go full speed ahead with plans to make every school wireless by 2015.” And, according to Health Canada, “‘there is no convincing scientific evidence that this equipment is dangerous to schoolchildren’ and based on continuous review of new scientific studies, the energy from Wi-Fi systems ‘is not dangerous to the public.’” But, McDonald adds, a study on the issue set for publication shows “the development of irregular or very rapid heart rates…in six out of 25 study participants during exposure to a 2.4 GHz radio frequency, the same frequency used in wireless routers.” The rapid heart rates slowed “when the frequency was turned off.” According to McDonald, the data show that there is room for questioning the health effects of Wi-Fi.

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NEA in the News
Lakota Education Association Official To Retire.
Ohio’s Journal-News (8/19, Hilty) reports that Judy Buschle, who “oversees more than 1,200 Lakota Education Association members that work in 23″ schools in the Lakota Local district , is retiring next year. “Since 1992, she has negotiated contracts with four superintendents and has helped develop a teacher evaluation method.” Buschle said that in all her years with the district, she is most proud of “bringing in labor management to bring about interest-based bargaining.” She added that “despite a rocky contract dispute that led to a near strike in 2007, relationships between administration and the union…are good.”

Colorado Opens First K-8 STEM School.
The Denver Post (8/19, DeHaas) reported on Adams 12 Five Star Schools’ new Magnet Lab STEM School, which according to officials is the first K-8 STEM school in the state. “Its most unique feature is that local business and technology experts worked with the district to design its hands-on, science-based curriculum. The whole idea is to restock America’s dwindling supply of scientists and innovators, said Principal Penelope Eucker.” When setting up the school, “Eucker and the district invited private companies to advise about what should be taught at the STEM school.” She noted that a special effort was made “toward keeping the school as diverse as the rest of the Adams 12 district.” Officials said “instruction will be based on real-world problem solving” and will emphasize collaboration.

The Broomfield (CO) Enterprise (8/20) reports students kicked off the new school year by building rockets and firing them off. Describing the local industry’s input into the development of the school’s curriculum, industry liaison Kellie Lauth said, “Industry is usually brought in on the back side.” The Enterprise notes, “Science will infiltrate every area of education at the school. Art class includes discussion of the physical properties of light, music class discusses sound waves, and physical education uses heart monitors. Wednesdays, students will either go on a field trip or have engineers and researchers come to school to lead a project.”

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In the Classroom
Detroit Public Schools Rescinds All Teacher Layoffs Announced in April.
The Detroit Free Press (8/20, Dawsey) reported that on Thursday, Detroit public school officials announced the district “has rescinded all of the teachers layoffs that were announced in April.” About 40 percent of DPS teachers received layoff notices in April. Since then, “more than 1,000 employees [have] retired.”

Judge Orders Detroit Public Schools To Rehire Security Guards. The Detroit News (8/19, Schultz) reports that “a Wayne Circuit Court judge Wednesday ordered the Detroit Public Schools to reinstate security guards the district terminated to make way for a private security firm.” After DPS “signed a $6.5 million contract with” the Securitas security firm, 226 school security officers were fired. “The union representing the security officers went to court to stop their termination and won a victory Wednesday.” The school district plans to “fight the decision.”

Perdue Skeptical About Thoroughness Of Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Probe.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/20, Torres) reports that Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) “questioned Thursday whether a test security firm hired to help investigate 58 Atlanta Public Schools for alleged cheating on state tests may have deliberately narrowed its search for wrongdoing — a key concern to his decision this week to appoint a special investigator to broaden that probe. Results of the local investigation were released Aug. 2, but Perdue said he had concerns as far back as June that a commission set up to lead Atlanta’s investigation may have gotten off the tracks.” The Journal-Constitution adds, “Perdue’s comments came as Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall said she wished the state had handled the initial investigation.”

On the Job
Washington State Math And Science Teachers Paid Less Than Teachers Of Other Subjects.
The City Town Info Education Channel (8/20) reports that “an analysis from the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)” found that, in Washington State, “the average pay for math and science teachers in high schools is less than the average pay for teachers in other subjects.” According to Education Week, “this difference in pay is due to the fact that Washington’s salary schedule rewards longevity and credentials,” and that “compared to other teachers in the study, math and science teachers had a high rate of turnover…which results in a less experienced group of educators.” And although “one reason for high turnover may be because of the pay difference…it was also hypothesized that teachers with math and science skills have more opportunities to advance–and better pay–outside of education and, thus, leave after only a few years of teaching.”

Safety & Security
Survey Indicates Increased Drug Activity In Public Schools.
The Chicago Tribune (8/20, Geiger) reports that “more than a quarter of public middle and high school students say both gangs and drugs are present at their campuses, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.” The survey “was conducted in April and was based on responses from more than 2,000 students and 456 parents from across the country who were surveyed by phone or over the Internet.”

Health Day (8/19) reported that 46 percent of the “public school students aged 12 to 17″ that were surveyed said “there are gangs in their schools and 47 percent of teens say that drugs are used, kept, or sold on school grounds.” Caitlin Hagan wrote in the CNN (8/19) “The Chart” blog that “one in three middle-schoolers say drugs are used, kept, or sold at their school,” compared to 23 percent last year. Overall, “66 percent of high school students said their schools were drug-infected, a steep increase from last year when 51 percent said their schools had drugs.” Moreover, based on the survey, researchers “found that children who go to schools where both gangs and drugs are present are five times more likely to smoke marijuana” and “12 times more likely to smoke.”

CDC Study Examines Prevalence Of Heat-Related Illnesses Among High School Athletes.
HealthDay News (8/20, Preidt) reports, “Heat-related sicknesses sideline American high school athletes for more than 9,000 days a year, a new study” from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds. According to HealthDay, the study finds that the “majority of such illnesses (70.7 percent) occur among football players, according to” CDC “researchers who analyzed 2005-09 data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study.” HealthDay adds, “No heat illness-related deaths were reported by any of the schools in the study,” yet “heat stroke has claimed the lives of 31 US high school football players since 1995, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.”

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Facilities
Energy-Efficient Elementary School Relies On Pump House For Air Conditioning.
NEWS14-TV Charlotte, North Carolina (8/20, MacRoberts) reports that Cumberland County’s New Century Elementary School “has earned a 99 Energy Star rating for energy efficiency.” The school’s “green technology is expected to save an estimated $75,000 a year.” Innovations include “heavy insulation, use of natural lighting, and lights that turn themselves off.” New Century also has “a pump house that is the heart of the school’s air conditioning and heating system.” By next summer, solar panels will be installed. Principal Felix Keyes “said that the new school should hopefully make a positive impact on the students to become conscientious members of society.”

School Finance
Parent Volunteers Fill-In At Colorado Schools Hit By Budget Cuts, Layoffs.
KMGH-TV Denver (8/20, Hernandez) reports that Tracy Stegall, principal at Birch Elementary School in Broomfield, Colorado, “is asking parents to volunteer inside and outside the classroom” to help the school save $36,000. So far, “more than 100 parents have signed up.” Some volunteers are being “assigned to help students with reading comprehension,” help in the library, and to run the copier. In addition to volunteering their time, Birch Elementary parents this year “helped raise more than $12,000 part of which is being used to help keep the art club and choir going.”

KWGN-TV Denver (8/20, Romero) reports that parents at Superior Elementary School in Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District are also responding to the school’s call for volunteers. The school “lost 5 para-professionals” and asked parents to step in their place. “Over 200 parents are volunteering at Superior Elementary…working as everything from assistants, to crossing guards,” according to Principal Mary Hausermann. KWGN points out that “parent volunteers are nothing new in schools, but it is rare, as with Boulder Valley, they directly replace paid staff.”

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Also in the News
California District To Hire Manager To Help Bridge Cultural Gap Between Educators, Families.
California’s Contra Costa Times (8/20, Calhoun) reports that in an effort to close a widening gap “between its white teachers and administrators and its ethnically and racially diverse students and parents,” the Berkeley school board agreed Wednesday to hire a “manager of culture and linguistics.” He or she will observe operations “critically” to help schools “become more culturally and linguistically sensitive to students and parents,” said Christina Faulkner, the director of curriculum and instruction. The Berkeley school district has majority white teachers and administrators, but the student population is made up of mostly black, Latino, and Asians. Nicole Sanchez of the Berkeley Alliance, which aims to help the “school district…close the achievement gap by the year 2020,” said that “a contributing factor in the achievement gap is parents who do not know how to advocate for their children in a culture dominated by the white middle class.”

New Science Show From MythBusters Aimed At Middle Schoolers.
Daniel Terdiman writes in his CNET (8/19) “Geek Gestalt” blog about Kari Byron, a co-host of the Discovery Channel show “MythBusters” who is hosting a new show, “Head Rush,” that is “aimed at getting middle school kids hooked on science.” The new program “is the result of conversations that Byron had had with a Science Channel producer about trying to figure out a way to show kids that science is easily worth their after school time.” Byron described the show as “similar to ‘MythBusters,’” except “aimed specifically at kids.” It is also “part of President Obama’s STEM…Initiative.” Terdiman notes, “While it might seem difficult to convince kids that they should drop their video games and their cartoons and their text messaging for science, imagine the charismatic Byron talking to them through their TVs about the science behind fainting goats.”

Businesses Taking Action To Increase Students In STEM.
Daily Tech (8/19, McDaniel) reports, “As companies brace for a flood of retirements, they anticipate a shortage of workers across the country,” particularly in STEM-related fields. “Some businesses are taking measures to increase their efforts by partnering with schools, calling for higher national education standards, and sponsoring more student competitions,” a recent report indicates. Raytheon CEO William Swanson went so far as to say “the shortage could pose a national security danger because it can limit the ability of the United States to be innovative and compete on the world stage.” Daily Tech notes, “And while many engineering jobs in these fields are only open to US citizens because of security requirements, some aerospace and defense companies say they will recruit more workers from outside of the states recruiting in STEM-strong countries like China and India if necessary.”

Some Teachers In Central Florida Using Social Media To Enhance Instruction.
The Orlando Sentinel (8/23, Lundy) reports that “more Central Florida educators are using social media and technology in classrooms.” Although most schools “block Facebook and YouTube…on school computers because of the distractions to students and potential for inappropriate material,” some teachers find “Facebook a helpful way to communicate with kids away from school.” Skype and Apple’s iChat are also used “to communicate in a video conference call on computers” between classrooms. The Sentinel notes that “there are several websites created to help match up classrooms from across the country and the world.” Also, text messaging is being incorporated into some teachers’ lesson plans. “For example, a teacher can ask a question in class and tell the students to text the answer to a specific number. Using a special program, the teacher can immediately see their responses in the classroom computer and it can show them whether the students understand the lesson.”

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In the Classroom
Georgia, South Carolina Schools Adopt Changes To Math Programs.
The Augusta (GA) Chronicle (8/22, Fetter, Sellers, Sparks) reported on math curriculum changes in some Georgia and South Carolina schools. In Georgia middle and high schools, math classes that “once were delineated by a particular discipline, such as algebra or geometry…now combine” the concepts. In Math III, students learn “multiple concepts to see the relationship between and discover for themselves why those formulas work,” said Kimberly Belcher, a Math III teacher at Lakeside High School. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s Aiken County school district has “created an Algebra Institute with instructors from the University of South Carolina Aiken and Aiken Technical College to ensure that eighth- and ninth-graders are prepared for high school math and can have smoother transitions into college.” Schools in Columbia, South Carolina now offer 30-minute power periods in which students can receive math “remediation or enrichment.”

School Offers Math, Science Curriculum With Strong Support.
The Springfield (IL) State Journal Register (8/22, Sherman) reports, “The Springfield School District’s new Capital College Preparatory Academy opens for the first time Monday.” The program will begin with “115 sixth-graders this year and then gradually expand by one level each year up through 12th grade. A lot of work has gone into developing the academy’s math and science curriculum, which is enhanced by grant funding. It offers an extended school day that provides enrichment programs for top students and tutoring for struggling ones, regular Saturday sessions, single-gender classrooms and teachers who will stay with their students for three straight years.” The program “was created in large part for students who need a strong support system, but who also have college aspirations. The first class is about 50 percent black and 45 percent white (district-wide, 52 percent of the students are white and 37 percent are black).”

Philadelphia Schools Celebrate School Turnaround Successes.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (8/21, Graham) reported that Roosevelt Middle School “was singled out as one of the Philadelphia School District’s top performers Friday – a school that has jumped 46 points in reading scores and 52 points in math scores on state exams in the last four years. Along with 157 other schools that made [AYP], Roosevelt was celebrated at a district event Friday.” According to the Inquirer, “More than half of district schools made the mark, and for the first time since Pennsylvania has been keeping tabs under [NCLB], more than half of city students met state standards in reading and math.” Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) was among numerous leaders at a celebration recognizing Philadelphia schools’ successes and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also called Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman to offer congratulations.

On the Job
Educators In Florida County Seeking Alternative Ways To Discipline Students.
The Miami Herald (8/22, Burnett) reported, “As the new school year gets underway, Broward [County, FL] school principals say too many children are getting criminal records for what used to be considered mischievous behavior in the classroom, so they are looking for alternatives to the controversial Zero Tolerance discipline policy. More than 1,000 Broward public-school students were arrested last school year for relatively minor infractions — 66 percent of which resulted in misdemeanor charges.” According to the Herald, “Principals took up the issue at a recent gathering of Broward Schools’ Summer Leadership Academy at Cypress Bay High School — a three-day training marathon for principals and other administrators” and “local and state law enforcement officials also were on hand to discuss alternative ways of discipline.”

Law & Policy
Columnist Says Successful School Reformers Are Often Polarizing.
Jay Mathews wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/22) that if DC “Mayor Adrian M. Fenty loses the Democratic primary, Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee – the most divisive D.C. educator in my 39 years at The Washington Post – will probably leave. … People I respect who want Rhee to go say she is too impulsive, too disrespectful of community leaders, too quick to dismiss experienced teachers, too wedded to test scores and always convinced that she is right.” However, these arguments “contradict what I have learned about improving schools from educators who have done so” as “these ultimately successful school leaders were as divisive as Rhee has been.”

Rhee Setting High Expectations For Principals. The Washington Post (8/23) runs an excerpt from a blog by Bill Turque which reads, “Sounds as if the D.C. schools chancellor was channeling Mike Shanahan, but that was her message to principals at a recent ‘academy’ at Gallaudet University. According to an attendee who shared notes with me, Michelle A. Rhee said that with the installation of the new IMPACT system, principals now have unprecedented ability to remove ineffective teachers.” According to Turque, “Rhee said in an interview that the locker-room aphorism is one she has used with her senior staff, but as she begins her fourth school year as chancellor, she wanted to use it to put principals on notice.”

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Safety & Security
Utah School Safety Report Contains Inaccurate, Inconsistent Information.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/22, Schencker) reported that Utah’s annual school safety report with information on “incidents of truancy, aggravated assault, tobacco, alcohol, drug, arson and weapons violations” has “inaccuracies and inconsistencies that make it all but impossible to judge the safety of one district compared with another.” According to State Superintendent Larry Shumway, variations “in how schools and districts decide what constitutes a reportable incident can lead to inconsistencies in the state report.” He noted, for example, that “different principals might have different ideas of what qualifies as a fight.” Experts say that inaccuracies in school safety reporting are “a nationwide problem,” with crimes “often underreported.” Ronald Stephens, executive director of the nonprofit California-based National School Safety Center said that principals lack incentive to report school crimes. “If you report too much crime, then the public will say, ‘Wow, you have some real problems over there,” he said.

Fire Marshal Enforcing Wall Covering Restrictions In Texas District.
Texas’ American Statesman (8/23, Heinauer) reports that schools in the Leander district “are trying to conform to local fire codes that say no more than 20 percent of any wall…or hallways may be covered with teaching materials or student artwork.” Leander “adopted international fire code recommendations years ago,” but the county fire marshal is sending inspectors to campuses during school hours this year “so they can personally let teachers know when they are in violation.”

Facilities
Los Angeles District To Open Most Expensive School Ever Built In US.
The AP (8/23, Hoag) reports, “With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million” the opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles next month “will mark the inauguration of the nation’s most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of ‘Taj Mahal’ schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.” According to the AP, “Nationwide, dozens of schools have surpassed $100 million” and the “extravagance has led some to wonder where the line should be drawn and whether more money should be spent on teachers.”

Numerous Dallas Schools Undergo Extensive Renovations.
The Dallas Morning News (8/22, Hobbs) reported, “Many Dallas students will return to class Monday to more modern surroundings, cooler buildings and much improved restrooms. Nearly one-third of the schools in Dallas ISD have been under construction this summer, part of a first phase of improvements in the district’s $1.35 billion bond program.” According to the Morning News, “Officials expect most of the work to be completed by Monday, but they said some projects could carry through to November, as scheduled.”

School Finance
Mississippi Governor Asks Schools To Wait Until Next Year To Use Stimulus Funds.
McClatchy (8/20, Maxey) reported, “Mississippi will apply for $98 million in federal stimulus funds to help education, and Gov. Haley Barbour [R] is urging local districts to save the money for a tough fiscal challenge next year.” Barbour “said he made the decision after learning that Mississippi meets the requirements allowing states to access the funds and won’t be forced to shift money from other departments to qualify, as initially appeared to be the case. .. In the letter, Barbour urged districts to use the money in their fiscal 2011-2012 budgets rather than in the current budget year.”

Also in the News
Parents Should See Teachers’ Grades, Columnist Says.
George Shelton writes in his Los Angeles Times (8/23) “Capitol Journal” column, that even though “state law for more than three decades has required that pupil progress be one of the factors in evaluating teachers,” the concept is “highly contentious” when put into practice. According to Shelton, the standardized tests students take each year are “public information.” He quotes Bonnie Reiss, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education advisor, as saying, “Maybe in the private sector there’s some expectation of privacy. But if you’re in the public sector and supported by taxpayers, the people have a right to know.” Shelton concludes, “The parents’ children are being graded. Their teachers should be too. And the parents should see all the scores.”

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NEA in the News
White House Back-To-School Message Marks “Truce” With Teachers Unions.
Politico (8/23, Marr) reports that the White House’s “back-to-school message” is that teachers play an essential role “in shaping a competitive American work force.” Last Wednesday, President Obama said in a speech, “Teachers … are the single most important ingredient in the education system.” And, according to Politico, “after 18 months of frosty relations that at times bordered on outright hostility, it seems that Obama has called a truce” with teachers unions. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel “said that Obama’s recent pro-teacher language has been appreciated.” Politico quotes Van Roekel as saying, “[The President is] recognizing that the very thing he cares most deeply about can’t happen without the involvement and collaboration of those people who are teaching. … I like the message he’s sending.”

Laptops Becoming Increasingly Popular As Classroom Tools.
USA Today (8/24, Steinberg) reports laptops are becoming standard back-to-school supplies “for a growing number of families,” and are becoming increasingly integral to some districts’ curricula. Michigan’s Walled Lake Consolidated School District offers “a districtwide laptop program” that “starts in the sixth grade and incorporates technology in math, science, English and history lessons.” Most of the students’ work is done on their computers, although they “also use ‘smart boards’ and electronic clickers to key in answers.” Officials there “say laptops improve grades, boost critical-thinking skills and increase collaboration among students.” And Michigan is not alone; Maine has been pursuing the goal of expanding classroom laptop use since 2000, and has set a goal of “a laptop for every student in grades 7 through 12 by 2013.”

High School Renovated To Appeal To “Tech-Savvy” Students. The Miami Herald (8/23, McGrory, et al.) reported that the first day of school in Miami-Dade County, Florida “kicked off in some unconventional ways.” At the new iPrep Academy in Miami, for instance, “classrooms are furnished with plush leather couches and decorated with large mirrors, retro lamps and colorful throw pillows.” Students also “have access to the school iCafe, where they can purchase wraps, smoothies, and power bars,” and “there’s a Wii hooked up to a large flat screen TV.” Moreover, each student at iPrep Academy gets and iBook. The academy “seeks to reinvent high school by making it relevant to today’s tech-savvy teenagers.”

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In the Classroom
New K-5 STEM School Helps District Fight Enrollment Losses.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune (8/24, Smith) reports on the opening of a new K-5 STEM school in Richfield, which has led to an enrollment increase for the district. “The hands-on, interactive program was designed not just to integrate more science within the curriculum to boost test scores but also to keep more students in the district,” and it appears to have seen some success in this respect. “More than 800 students have registered to attend it,” which is “100 more students than officials expected” but slightly lower than its capacity. Overall, the number of STEM programs in the state has been expanding, as have the number of teachers who have received specialized training in the subjects. However, Richfield expects its particular program to “stand apart” because of “a school-wide science emphasis embedded in its classes, three labs and special programs — such as monitoring water quality.”

Detroit Public Schools Sends Students Test Prep Homework During Summer Break.
The Detroit News (8/24, Lowery) reports that Detroit Public Schools (DPS) “will mail 62-page packets of homework this week to 28,650 students in grades three through eight.” Students are expected to complete the packets and turn them in on the first day of school. The packets target “areas in which DPS students have tested poorly.” Jan Ellis spokeswoman for the Michigan DOE, noted, “There is often a ‘brain-drain’ for students over the summer, and often for those students most at risk.” She added that “Detroit’s effort to ensure parents are involved in areas of student involvement and success is critical.” This is the first year DPS has given students “homework before the start of school.” University of Chicago researcher Julie Spielberger said that the success of the homework initiative “will depend on getting parents involved” and actively encouraging “their children to complete the assignments.”

On the Job
Chicago Public Schools To Use “Nonteachers,” Online Classes In Some Elementary Schools.
The Chicago Tribune (8/24, Ahmed) reports that according to unnamed sources, Chicago Public Schools “plans to add 90 minutes to the schedules of 15 elementary schools using online courses and nonteachers.” The district will save money by hiring the nonteachers “and get around the teachers’ contract, which limits the length of the school day.” Five schools will start the “Additional Learning Opportunities” pilot program this fall and 10 more will start the program in the spring. The extra instructional time “will be divided between math and reading, with a short break for a snack and recess.” The Tribune adds that Additional Learning Opportunities “is the product of a” different program lunched last year that offered “online math courses to” some elementary students. District officials saw a dramatic increase in test scores among students taking the online classes.

Law & Policy
Education Department Will Announce Race To The Top Second Round Winners Today.
CNN (8/24, Holland) reports that the US Department of Education today will announce “the winners in the second round of its Race to the Top competition.” Nineteen states are finalists in the competition. Throughout the summer representatives in each state made “their case in front of a group of peer reviewers and education department officials.” More than $3.4 billion will “be granted” in the second round.

Sean Cavanagh wrote in the Education Week “Politics K-12″ blog that each of the 19 finalists “notched at least 400 points on the competition’s 500-point grading scale. The finalists are “Arizona, California, Colorado, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.”

States, Districts Mull How To Use Education Jobs Bill Funding.
Education Week (8/23, Aarons, Klein) reported, “As governors gear up to apply for federal money from the $10 million Education Jobs Fund, states and school districts are wrestling with how they plan to spend the aid the Obama administration said was desperately needed to save what the administration said would be some 160,000 educators’ jobs that otherwise would be lost.” According to Education Week, “Some districts will use the money to roll back furloughs and restore jobs slated to be cut for the 2010-11 school year.” Other “districts are planning to spend the lion’s share of the money in the 2011-12 school year, because they are concerned about the forthcoming ‘funding cliff’ after funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal economic-stimulus program, dry up at the end of this year.”

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Safety & Security
Former Teacher Develops Disaster Preparedness Curriculum.
The Washington Post (8/24) reports, “In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Michelle Collins,” a “second-grade teacher in Baton Rouge, La., in 2005″ saw “how disasters impact children. … Collins quickly discovered that the children who were best able to handle the situation were those who had some knowledge about emergencies, those, for example, who knew what a hurricane was before Katrina struck. In 2008, Collins was hired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to translate her insights into a new curriculum to teach elementary school students the ABCs of disaster preparedness” and the program, “known as Student Tools for Emergency Planning, or STEP, teaches fourth- and fifth-grade students what to do in emergency situations and empowers them to implement life-saving preparedness initiatives in their homes.”

Some Iowa Schools Close Due To Soaring Temperatures.
The AP (8/24) reports, “Some school districts in northern Iowa are closing early as temperatures flirted with 90 degrees outside and classroom temperatures topped 80 degrees. The Nora Springs-Rock Falls and North Central community schools shut down before 1 p.m. Monday” as “did Howard-Winneshiek, Riceville and St. Ansgar.” According to the AP, “Nora Springs-Rock Falls Superintendent of Schools Steve Ward says he visited more than a dozen classrooms on Monday and found temperatures of 85 degrees and higher at 9 a.m.”

Facilities
America’s Five Most Expensive Public Schools Each Cost More Than $100 Million.
Dana Chivvis in the AOL (8/24) “Surge Desk” column lists the five most expensive public school buildings in the US. Topping the list is Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, a $578 million, 452,000 square foot building “on the grounds of the former Ambassador Hotel, where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.” Each of schools on the list cost “more than $100 million.”

School Finance
Lag In School Overhaul Funding Stalls Nationwide Effort.
The New York Times (8/24, A13, Dillon) reports that a nationwide effort to overhaul 1,000 public schools each year has gotten “off to an uneven start,” with schools across the US postponing their overhaul plans or confused about spending guidelines. “The turnaround effort is being financed with $3.5 billion this year,” and states have been allowed to delay “disbursement of federal money to schools if more planning was needed.” But because there has been a “lag in disbursing” funding for the initiative, students in some states “were unable to participate in summer activities that were supposed to be part of their school’s turnaround strategy.”

California To Delay Monthly Payments To Schools, Counties Beginning Next Month.
The AP (8/24) reports that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the state controller and treasurer announced in a letter Monday that they will “delay $2.9 billion a month in payments to school districts and counties” beginning in September “so the state can meet debt and pension obligations.” The delay was originally expected to happen in October, and it “came on top of a July deferral of $2.5 billion for schools and $700 million for counties.”

Florida District Has $35 Million At Stake Under Class-Size Mandate.
The St. Petersburg Times (8/24, Marshall) reports that when classes begin today in the Hillsborough County, Florida district, there will be “an added sense of urgency” for teachers “to check their attendance lists.” If even one student in attendance is not counted “when the state eventually makes its official tally in October,” the district stands to lose “up to $35 million.” That money could be added, however, if Hillsborough is found in compliance “with the class-size amendment” that “moves into its final phase across Florida this week.” Under the final phase, classes must be capped at “18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade and 25 in high school.”

Also in the News
Former Surgeon General Calls For Community Efforts To Prevent Brain Injuries In Sports.
David Satcher, former US Srugeon General and director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/24) that in the past several months, “increased attention has been given to the issue of concussions sustained by athletes in all levels of sports participation.” The National Federation of State High School Associations last week issued “new concussion rules.” Also that week, the Journal of Neuropathlogy & Experimental Neurology published a report examining “the link between head and brain injuries and dementia and cognitive decline in NFL players who develop symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…later in life.” In light of such findings, Satcher urges communities to “create a ‘game plan’ for reducing stigma while influencing supportive measures to address mental disorders and prevent traumatic brain injury across all sports.”

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NEA in the News
Van Roekel Kicks Off National Tour With Visit To Denver Schools.
The AP (8/23) reported that NEA President Dennis Van Roekel visited the Math & Science Leadership Academy and the Lake Intermediate Baccalaureate Middle School in Denver on Monday, where he “met with teachers” and served students lunch. The visit kicked off Van Roekel’s “national tour looking at how teachers, parents and communities can help transform schools.” Throughout the week, he will also visit schools in St. Louis, Missouri, Columbus, Ohio, Tampa, Florida, and San Antonio and Austin, Texas.

Nine States, DC Win Second Round Of Race To The Top.
The AP (8/25, Turner) reports that the US Education Department on Tuesday announced second-round winners of the Race to the Top competition. The winning states and DC will get “a cash infusion at a time when education funding is dwindling, forcing teacher layoffs and program reductions.” Grants “range from $75 million for Rhode Island and D.C. to $700 million for New York.”

USA Today (8/25) reports that the winners are “Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.” Focusing on Florida’s win, USA Today adds that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) “attributed the success to the working group led by Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to rewrite the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) after being rejected in the first round.” The first round’s MOU was rejected by “teacher unions and school boards” because, they said, “it didn’t seek teacher input on performance-based pay policies the first time around.”

The New York Times (8/25, Dillon), meanwhile, notes that 11 of the 12 Race to the Top winners from both rounds are located “east of the Mississippi and most hug the East Coast.” Educators in states that did not win “said the competition’s rules tilted in favor of densely populated Eastern states, which tend to embrace more the ideas that Washington currently considers innovative, including increasing the number of charter schools and firing principals in chronically failing schools.” Still, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan insists the winners “were chosen because they outlined the boldest plans for shaking up their public school systems.”

In a separate story, the New York Times (8/25, Medina) called New York’s $700 million Race to the Top win “a victory for state education officials as well as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who had pushed the Legislature to enact changes that helped secure the money.” But, the Times notes, the changes fell short of “more wide-ranging” reforms favored by Bloomberg and New York City Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

The Washington Post (8/25, Anderson) reports that DC and Maryland’s grants of $75 million and $250 million, respectively, “will help the city and state ramp up plans to turn around struggling schools and measure the effectiveness of their teachers, in significant part through student achievement.” The Washington Times (8/25, Simmons) notes that “officials said the District was boosted to the top by reforms that tie teacher performance to student progress, a new teachers’ contract that institutes a ground-breaking merit pay plan and a flourishing charter-school movement.”

Education Experts Puzzled By Some Race To The Top Winners, Losers. The Christian Science Monitor (8/25, Paulson) adds that “the big news among many education experts was who lost – particularly Louisiana and Colorado, widely considered leaders in education reform with priorities that are strongly aligned with those favored by the administration.” Also, some of the Race to the Top “winners – including Maryland, Ohio, and Hawaii – raised eyebrows, as well. ‘What’s really going on in these states and the degree of sincerity of their reform convictions, I don’t think has made it through these review decisions,’ said Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Meanwhile, Andrew Rotherham of Bellwether Education, “which advised some of the states on their applications,” said that the scoring may have been “skewed by the same problem that occurred in Round 1, which saw some uneven scores that weren’t always in line with the goals of the administration.”

The Wall Street Journal (8/25, Banchero, King) also coves this story, as does the Wall Street Journal (8/25, Martinez) in a separate report. The Chicago Tribune (8/25, Malone, Rado), the AP (8/25, O’Connor), Bloomberg (8/25, Lauerman), the Miami Herald (8/25, McGrory), the Boston Globe (8/25, Vaznis, Levenson), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/25, Badertscher, McWhirter), the Providence (RI) Journal (8/25, Jordan), the Baltimore Sun (8/25, Bowie), North Carolina’s News & Observer (8/25), Ohio’s Plain Dealer (8/25, Starzyk), the Arizona Republic (8/25, Kossan), South Carolina’s The State (8/25, Rosen) and Education Week (8/24, Cavanagh, Sawchuk, Sparks) also cover this story.

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On the Job
Duncan Want School Districts To Disclose Teacher Data.
The Los Angeles Times (8/25, Song) reports, “US Education Secretary Arne Duncan will call for all states and school districts to make public whether their instructors are doing enough to raise students’ test scores and to share other school-level information with parents, according to a text of a speech he is scheduled to make Wednesday. ‘The truth is always hard to swallow, but it can only make us better, stronger and smarter,’ according to remarks he plans to deliver in Little Rock, Ark.” According to the Times, “The lack of public accountability in California’s schools compared with those in some other states could have been a factor Tuesday in the state’s failure to win any money in the federal government’s competitive Race to the Top education grant program.”

Summer STEM Institute Provides Teacher With Ideas, Joint Study Opportunities.
The Gainesville (GA) Times (8/25, Crist) reports on Kathy Mellette, a North Hall Middle School teacher who was one of 50 from “across the nation” to attend the Siemens STEM Institute over the summer. She is returning to school with “seminar notes and contacts” in order to help students better explore careers in STEM. Through the program, “Mellette spent the week working with government officials, leading scientists and STEM educational leaders in Washington, DC.” She also “coordinated with teachers from a school in Texas and a school in Minnesota to conduct class projects on their local lakes. Mellette’s directed studies eighth-grade elective class will study Lake Lanier, testing the pH levels and temperature changes.”

Law & Policy
Texas Districts Decide Not To Appeal Ruling On Minimum Grade Requirements.
The Dallas Morning News (8/25, Stutz) reports that a “group of school districts” in Texas “that sued the state over its truth-in-grading law has decided not [to] appeal a court ruling in June that upheld the law” barring “districts from requiring teachers to give minimum grades on student report cards.” The districts “filed suit against the state earlier this year,” arguing that the “law applied only to class assignments and not to progress reports or semester report cards.” But the judge in the case said that the law “was ‘not ambiguous’ and reflected the Legislature’s intent to protect teachers from having to give unearned grades.”

Report Ranks Cities Based On Openness To Education Reforms.
The Christian Science Monitor (8/24, Paulson) reported that a study released Tuesday by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute ranks US cities according to “how welcoming they are to [education] reforms and new ideas.” Titled “America’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform: Attracting Entrepreneurs and Change Agents,” the report “looked at six measures: human capital, financial capital, quality control, political environment, openness to charter schools, and the district environment.” Researchers “relied extensively on survey data, with standardized surveys issued both to local education operators and national groups.” New Orleans topped the list of cities most open to reform and “received a B” for openness. No city on the list received an A grade.

Utah Lawmaker Proposes Grading Schools.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/25, Schencker) reports that some Utah lawmakers “want to follow in Florida’s footsteps when it comes to school reform by grading” public schools. State Sen. Wayne Niederhauser (R) announced Tuesday “that he’s drafting a bill that would hold Utah schools accountable by giving them A-F grades.” The grades “would likely take into account student academic growth.” Niederhauser’s announcement came amid a visit to the state by former Florida Gov. Geb Bush. State Rep. Greg Hughes (R), who is the bill’s House sponsor. The Salt Lake Tribune adds after listening to Niederhauser and Bush, some state leaders “wondered how labeling schools with F grades would improve them, especially when many low-performing schools face challenges others do not, such as serving students from low-income families and students learning English.”

Geb Bush Tells Utah Leaders Little Evidence Links Class Sizes To Student Achievement. The AP (8/25, Vergakis) reports that during the meeting on education, Bush told Utah officials “that there’s little evidence to link smaller class sizes and student achievement.” Utah Superintendent Larry Shumway, however, “said there’s significant research to show class size has the greatest impact on minority students.” The AP notes that “Utah has long been home to the nation’s largest class sizes largely because it…spends less per student than any other state.”

Students Without Immunizations Not Able To Attend School In Some Texas Districts.
The San Antonio Express News (8/24, Lloyd) reported that more than 2,000 San Antonio public school students could not “attend their first day of class because they didn’t have updated immunization records.” Many Texas districts have a “no shots, no school” policy, according to the Express News. In the Northside Independent School District, 1,248 students came to school on the first day Monday “without proper immunizations and had to be picked up by a parent or guardian.” But, “at least two area districts, Fort Sam Houston and Randolph ISDs, touted perfect immunization rates.” Meanwhile, other school systems are “more lenient.” For instance, the South San Antonio district “gives students a 30-day grace period on immunizations if they are classified as homeless, enrolling from another Texas district, or a military dependent.”

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School Finance
Analysis Shows Link Between Race, School Budget Approval In New York.
The New York Times (8/25, A19, Roberts) reports that a new New York Times analysis shows that school budget proposals are more likely to fail in “districts with a large number of white voters and a large number of nonwhite students.” Nathan Rothschild, president of the East Ramapo, Board of Education noted, “Economics is a bigger factor when the majority of voters do not have children in public schools.” But “budgets were also defeated in the three districts where blacks and Hispanics constitute most of the eligible voters as well as the students.” Sociologists say the data “suggests the possibility of a growing demographic divide over public policy – school spending, in particular – that has been identified elsewhere in the country between an older, white electorate and a population of voters who are younger and members of minority groups.”

Critics Target $578 Million High School In Los Angeles.
The Christian Science Monitor (8/24, Wood) reported that the $578 million price tag makes Los Angeles’ new Robert F. Kennedy High School “the most expensive public school in American history and an easy target of criticism.” The schools’ opening comes as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which “laid off 3,000 teachers in the past two years,” cuts “academic programs this year to close a $640 million budget gap.” LAUSD superintendent Ramon Cortines insists that construction funding “didn’t come from” state or city education budgets. “It came from $20 billion in bond measures approved by voters back in 2006.” But critics, including California Board of Education member Ben Austin, “feel money should be spent on teachers, not structures.” Said Austin, “When taxpayers see that we’re spending half a billion dollars to build one school, they are not going to open their wallets again to invest in teachers, invest in textbooks and kids, that’s what we need.”

Also in the News
Poll Shows Most Americans Have Favorable View Of Local Public Schools.
The AP (8/25, Blankenship) reports that a new Gallup poll shows that “fewer Americans approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing in support of public education, but they continue to have a highly favorable opinion of their local schools.” Thirty-four percent of about 1,000 Americans who responded to a “random telephone poll” in June “gave the president a grade of A or B for his work in support of public schools, compared with 45 percent at the same time in 2009.” And while giving “worse grades for the quality of the nation’s schools,” most said “they approve of their local schools.” Also, the majority of respondents “picked school budgets and improving teacher quality as their top education issues.”

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NEA in the News
Columbia Public Schools Wins $10,000 NEA Public Engagement Grant.
The Missourian (8/25, Hendry) reports that Columbia Public Schools in Missouri has received a $10,000 public engagement grant from the NEA. The money will “supplement plans the district has to bridge academic achievement gaps among students.” The purpose of NEA public engagement grants is to help “to remove some of the obstacles that stop students from succeeding by improving parental and community involvement in…schools.” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel told school officials when presenting the check on Tuesday, “This problem cannot be solved by the school district alone. … If your desire is to do more, we want to assist you.”

Teachers Expected To Pay More Out Of Pocket For Classroom Expenses This Year.
CNNMoney.com (8/25, Yousuf) reports that the New York City Council this year scaled back its fund to reimburse teachers for classroom expenses by nearly 30 percent. “That breaks down to just $110 per teacher — or roughly $4 per student per year.” Consequently, teachers, who already dip into their own pockets to purchase items for the classroom, are likely to spend even more of their own funds. A national survey by Kelton Research shows that “a whopping 97 percent of teachers frequently dip into their own pockets to purchase necessary classroom supplies.” On average, teachers spent more than $350 of their own money last year. Al Campos of the National Education Association noted, “They’re not required to, but teachers will pay out of their own pockets to make sure their students have the supplies they need to receive a quality education.”

Duncan Calls On Public Schools To Disclose More Data On Teacher Effectiveness.
The AP (8/26, Demillo) reports, “US Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged schools across the country on Wednesday to disclose more data on student achievement and teacher effectiveness, saying too much information that would help teachers and parents is being kept out of public view.” According to the AP, “Duncan, who spoke at a lecture hosted by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and the Clinton Presidential Library, said his remarks were prompted by a Los Angeles Times series analyzing teacher performance. The newspaper took seven years of student test data from Los Angeles and developed a ‘value-added’ analysis to show which third through fifth grade teachers were making the most gains.”

The Washington Post (8/26, Anderson) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan, stoking a national debate over a Los Angeles Times series that examines how much individual teachers have raised test scores, urged public schools Wednesday to give educators more data on student achievement and parents a full report on teacher effectiveness.” In advance text of a speech Duncan planned to give Wednesday night in Little Rock, AR, Duncan is quoted saying, “Every state and district should be collecting and sharing information about teacher effectiveness with teachers and – in the context of other important measures – with parents.” According to the Post, “Duncan, who plans a back-to-school bus tour this week through the South, appeared to straddle a fine line: He wants more disclosure to teachers and the public but wants it to be done judiciously.”

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In the Classroom
Benefits Of Smaller Classes Questioned.
USA Today (8/26, Henry) reports that despite “$10 billion in additional federal money, part of the $26 billion bill President Obama signed recently, the struggling economy is expected to reverse a decades-long trend toward smaller classes.” USA Today adds, “Conventional wisdom says the smaller the classes, the better the education, because teachers can pay more attention to each child. But while smaller classes are popular, decades of research has found that the relationship between class size and student outcomes is murky.”

On the Job
New Report Ranks Detroit Schools.
The Detroit News (8/26, Schultz) reports, “The first-ever ranking of the city’s public, charter and private schools is being released today in an effort to help parents choose good schools and pressure failing schools to shut down. The US News & World Report-style listing of schools in the city is produced by Excellent Schools Detroit, a broad coalition that includes Detroit Public Schools, charter school leaders and several foundations.” According to the Detroit News, “The report uses student test scores to rank the best and worst schools in the city” and though “some schools stood out as high achieving, the rankings highlight that about 90 percent of the schools scored below the state average on student achievement indicators.”

The Detroit Free Press (8/25, Dawsey) added, “The report card, ‘From Top to Bottom on Student Achievement,’ follows the rankings released this month in the Michigan Department of Education’s ‘Top to Bottom’ school list. That statewide list of public schools was based on 2006 to 2009 testing data.” According to the Free Press, “The ESD rankings use reading and math MEAP results for 2007-09, ACT results for 2008-10 and the 2009 graduation rate.”

Law & Policy
Missouri Teachers Sue Over Virtual Schools Cuts.
The AP (8/25, Blank) reported, “Fourteen teachers have filed a lawsuit over state budget cuts that cost them their jobs with Missouri’s virtual schools program. According to the lawsuit, cuts last year to the virtual schools program led teachers to be laid off despite contracts guaranteeing them jobs for longer, and officials did not make the impending financial difficulties known.” According to the AP, “Missouri’s virtual schools program grew from a $5.2 million program with more than 2,000 students in the 2007-2008 school year to a $5.8 million program with about 2,500 students in the following year.”

Safety & Security
Oklahoma Districts Remove X-Wave Playground Equipment After Student’s Death.
The AP (8/26, Juozapavicius) reports that education authorities in Wyandotte, Oklahoma are investigating the school playground death of a 9-year-old student last week. Meanwhile, “some schools are pulling equipment off the playground” in response to the incident. According to the AP, the child died after falling off a piece of playground “equipment known as the X-Wave, which has plastic hinges and moves up and down.” Even though “officials are considering that it may have been natural causes,” some administrators are rethinking “having the set and other similar equipment in their schoolyards.”

KJRH-TV Tulsa (8/26) reports that Tulsa Public Schools sent “certified inspectors to survey playgrounds at 58 playgrounds across the district” this week and has “located and removed the only X-Wave apparatus on district property.” Duane Beamer, a certified playground inspector, told KJRH that “the X-Wave had been at Zarrow for about five years without incident,” and “is now being stored at the district’s maintenance department.” KOTV-TV Tulsa(8/26, Vreeland) notes that “officials in at least six other school districts across the state– Moore, Edmond, Oklahoma City, Putnam City, Deer Creek and Norman — have either already removed the structures or prohibited children from playing on them.”

Missouri To Open Center for Education Safety In September.
The AP (8/25) reported that the Missouri School Boards’ Association has partnered with “the state Department of Public Safety to form the Center for Education Safety.” The center, which opens Sept. 1, “will work with preschools, K-12 schools and higher education institutions to increase school safety and emergency preparations.” KMOX-AM St. Louis (8/25) also covered that story.

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School Finance
Clerical Error Cost New Jersey Five Crucial Points In Race To The Top Competition.
The New York Times (8/26, A20, Otterman) reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christi (R) said Wednesday that “a clerical error by a midlevel official had caused the state to lose out on $400 million in federal school reform money.” The mistake was made on a question asking states “to compare their 2008 and 2009 school budgets to illustrate their commitment to education financing. Instead, a New Jersey official, whom the governor would not identify, compared the state’s 2010 and 2011 financing, thus forfeiting the points.” New Jersey fell “short of the 10-member winner’s circle by just three points,” the Times adds.

The AP (8/26, Mulvihill) notes that Gov. Christie “blamed the administration of President Barack Obama for docking the application because of” the error. State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler “provided the correct information” at a meeting with Race to the Top judges this month. The mistake “was still held against the application, which was reviewed by a national panel of education experts.” The AP notes, however, that “it’s not certain that the state would have aced the section if the right numbers had been used.”

New Orleans To Receive $1.8 Billion Reimbursement For School Reconstruction.
The New York Times (8/26, A18, Robertson) reports that US Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D- Louisiana) announced Wednesday that New Orleans will receive a $1.8 billion “lump-sum reimbursement for schools that were damaged or destroyed in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.” The money “will pay for 87 school campuses in the city to replace the 127 that existed before Katrina.”

CNN (8/26) reports that the federal reimbursement comes from “a provision in an appropriations bill.” A statement from Landrieu’s office said, “The provision also reduced penalties for insufficient flood insurance and alternate projects, which yielded more than $500 million in savings for Louisiana schools.”

Also in the News
Poll Shows Public Support For Obama Administration Education Policy Slipping.
The Christian Science Monitor (8/26, Paulson) reports, “Just 34 percent of Americans give the president a grade of A or B in his support of public schools, compared with 45 percent a year ago, according to the survey of public opinion on education, conducted by Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK) and Gallup.” However, the survey also reveals that support “is growing for ideas like charter schools and merit pay for teachers, which are being pushed by the administration. But support is slim for the sort of drastic school-turnaround strategies sometimes favored by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.”

Ron Matus wrote in a blog for the St. Petersburg Times (8/25), “There are a lot of nuggets to chew on in the latest PDK/Gallup education survey, released today, but here’s one that seems to put parents at odds with school districts and teachers unions: They really, really like the idea of paying teachers more for working in tough schools.” According to Matus, “Asked if teachers should be paid higher salaries as an incentive to teach in schools which have been identified as in need of improvement, 68 percent of the parents who responded said yes.”

New Guidelines Allow Ontario Teachers To Give Grades Of Zero For Late Assignments.
CBC News (8/26) reports that under “new guidelines from the Ontario Ministry of Education” this year, teachers in the province will be allowed to give a grade of zero to students who “fail to hand in assignments on time — something teachers have been discouraged from doing in the past.” Previously, teachers were urged only to “give students a mark of zero as a last resort. Some schools even took it further and banned the zero mark completely.” The Toronto Sun (8/25, Dempsey) noted that “until now, handing in a late assignment would have had an impact on the work habit component of a student’s report card, but not necessarily on the student’s academic grade.”

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NEA in the News
Some Districts Plan To Save Federal Funding Meant To Bring Back Teacher Jobs.
USA Today (8/26, Toppo) reports that teachers throughout the US have waited months for “for long-sought federal funding to save their jobs.” Now, eve after “Congress finally appropriated $10 billion this month to bring back thousands” of school employees, many teachers are still waiting to be rehired. According to USA Today, “many school districts might not get the money in time to bring back teachers” and others may save most of the money for “next spring.” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel noted, however that “Congress wanted districts to use the money to save jobs now, ‘not as a savings account for next year.’”

Van Roekel Says Obama Administration Willing To Listen To Teachers.
The Columbia (MI) Daily Tribune (8/25, Silvey) reported that Missouri National Education Association leaders met with Missouri Senate hopeful Robin Carnahan (D) in St. Louis to discuss “education and politics.” During the meeting, Charles Smith, vice president of the state association asked if the NEA made a mistake in working to elect President Obama. The Daily Tribune notes that NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said “he realizes programs such as Race to the Top aren’t popular among some educators, but” that “the administration has been willing to listen to NEA.” And, “unlike his predecessor, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan meets regularly with the group, Van Roekel said.” For her part, Carnahan pledged to also “listen to teachers…if elected.”

Los Angeles Schools To Adopt “Value-Added” Method For Teacher, School Evaluations.
The Los Angeles Times (8/26, Blume) reports that Los Angeles school Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines “said in an address to administrators Wednesday” that “the district will develop and adopt a ‘value added’ method that determines teachers’ and schools’ effectiveness based on student test scores.” Cortines also said that the school system “The district plans to publish such data about schools…but not the scores for individuals.” The Times notes that “linking student test scores to individual teachers became an especially heated topic after The Times published a series of stories based on a value-added analysis of teachers and schools.”

The AP (8/26) adds that Cortines “says 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation should be based on student test scores.” According to the AP, “Such a plan would need approval from the teachers’ union, United Teachers Los Angeles,” an NEA affiliate. “Union president A.J. Duffy said Thursday the district needs to examine data before moving forward with such a plan.”

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In the Classroom
Some Academics Argue Family And Consumer Sciences Should Be Mandatory.
The Los Angeles Times (8/27, Scattergood) reports on “the evolution of the home economics program,” now called Family and Consumer Sciences, which since its inception has evolved “into classes focusing on child development, nutrition, family health, food service and hospitality.” One thing that has remained constant, however, is student participation. “More than 5 million students were enrolled in secondary FCS education programs in the 2002-03 academic year,” or “about 25% of all students, almost the same percentage” as in the late 1950s. Despite “this upbeat picture” however, “FCS programs are overwhelmingly electives, determined state by state, always under threat of budget cuts and frequently recalibrated to fit an individual school’s needs, student demographics and teacher ideology.” And because of its malleable nature, “it can also mean that basic cooking skills can get lost.” FCS educators stress that the skills they teach are “used every day,” and some academics are pushing for FCS to be compulsory.

Houston Public Schools Experiment Pays Fifth-Graders For Passing Math Tests.
The Houston Chronicle (8/27, Mellon) reports that Houston public schools this year will experiment with paying fifth-graders for “passing math tests,” under a $1.5 million program aimed at boosting performance. The money would be paid to both students and their parents, up to $1,020 per family. Fifth-graders could “earn up to $440 for passing short math tests that show they have mastered key concepts, according to the draft proposal.” Parents would get less for the passing scores, but they will be able to earn “for attending nine conferences with teachers to review the youngsters’ progress.” Teachers, meanwhile, will receive “up to $40 per student for holding the parent conferences.” The program is being funded by the Liemandt Foundation of Dallas.

Maryland District Launches New Natural Resources, Agricultural Sciences Magnet Program.
The Baltimore Sun (8/27, Hare, Sun) reports that the 60 freshmen who make up the “first class in Harford County’s [MD] Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences magnet program will start high school next week in the company of cows, sheep, horses, alpacas and a pig. They will take classes in barns, pastures, waterways and forests, all while pursuing the traditional core courses required of ninth-graders.” According to the Sun, “The instruction runs the gamut from classrooms and computer labs to livestock barns and woodlands.”

Analysis: Number Of Hispanic, Asian Kindergartners On The Rise.
USA Today (8/27, El Nasser, Overberg) reports that its “analysis of the most recent government surveys shows” that the “kindergarten class of 2010-11 is less white, less black, more Asian and much more Hispanic than in 2000, reflecting the nation’s rapid racial and ethnic transformation. The profile of the 4 million children starting kindergarten reveals the startling changes the USA has undergone the past decade and offers a glimpse of its future.” According to USA Today, “In this year’s class, for example, about one out of four 5-year-olds will be Hispanic.”

Progress Slows In Closing Achievement Gap In DC Schools.
The Washington Post (8/27, Turque) reports, “After two years of progress, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s effort to narrow the vast achievement gap separating white and African American students in D.C. public schools has stalled, an analysis of 2010″ DC Comprehensive Assessment System test scores reveals. According to the Post, “After narrowing from 2007 to last year, the gap in secondary math proficiency widened by slightly less than 2 percentage points. Secondary reading scores show the same flattening trajectory.”

New Orleans School System Experienced Vast Transformation In Katrina’s Wake.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune (8/27, Chang) reports, “When US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Hurricane Katrina was ‘the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans,’ the backlash was swift, and he soon apologized.” However, “many in this city would agree with this rephrasing of Duncan’s January remark: Only because the old was wiped out could the new take root so quickly.” According to the Times-Picayune, “Of all the things damaged by the storm and subsequent levee breaches, public education has arguably undergone the most far-reaching makeover” as New Orleans is now “the first majority-charter city in the country” and though test scores “as a whole have risen rapidly,…some schools are performing abysmally, with others comprising a vast middle group, improving but still struggling to teach basic reading and math.”

On the Job
California District Will Hold Teacher Training On Explaining Math To English Learners.
District California’s Mercury News (8/26, McCord) reports that California’s Santa Cruz City Schools has hired a consulting firm to help “teachers better explain math to English learners.” Under an agreement with the education firm WestEd, the district will pay $8,000 on “four workshops for middle and high school teachers to offer advice and skills to teach mathematical reasoning and conceptual development to non-English speakers.” The workshops will be paid for using Title II funds designated for teacher training. “The days the teachers take off for the workshops will be paid with Title III English learners funding.”

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Law & Policy
Judge Allows Lawsuit Challenging Florida’s Funding, Quality Of Education.
The Orlando Sentinel (8/27, Postal) reports, “A judge has denied Florida’s request to toss out an education adequacy lawsuit, ruling the plaintiffs – including three Orlando mothers – can challenge in court the state’s commitment to public education.” Pointing to state budget cuts and “low high school graduation rates,” the plaintiffs say that Florida “is violating its own constitution by failing to adequately fund education or provide a system of ‘high quality’ public schools.” The Sentinel notes that “a similar adequacy lawsuit filed in 1996 was dismissed when a judge ruled the constitution’s language was too vague to allow a ruling on school quality.”

The St. Petersburg Times (8/27, Matus) that the ruling this week came in response to a suit filed in November “by the Orlando-based Fund Education Now and other plaintiffs.” In an email, State Department of Education spokesman Tom Butler said, “We are reviewing our options at this point. … No decisions yet on what our next steps will be.” The defendants in the case “now have 20 days to file a response to the complaint.”

School Finance
Judge Denies City Of Memphis’ Appeal In $57 Million School Funding Case.
Tennessee’s Daily News (8/27, Dries) reports that the Tennessee Supreme Court decided this week it would not “hear an appeal in the long-running school funding case” between Memphis City Schools and the City of Memphis. “The school system’s general counsel, Dorsey Hopson, said the city owes the district $57.4 million for the 2008-2009 school year.”

Tennessee’s Commercial Appeal (8/27, Maki) explains that “the City Council slashed $57 million from its annual contribution to Memphis City Schools two years ago but put no money aside in case of unfavorable court rulings in its dispute with the school district.” Now Mayor A.C. Wharton and city council members “are scrambling to raise” what amounts to “9.1 percent of the city’s operating budget for a one-time payment to the school district.” The options Wharton laid out on Thursday included “spending cuts, layoffs and a tax increase.” WHBQ-TV Memphis (8/27, Johnson) on its website quotes Wharton as saying, “The courts have spoken, let’s go forward.”

Also in the News
Texas District Considering Incentives For Students Who Return To Teach.
The Dallas Morning News (8/27, Haag) reports that as the Plano, Texas school system struggles to recruit experienced teachers, it is now considering “offering financial incentives to students who return as teachers.” The Morning News notes that many school districts nationwide offer incentives for teachers accepting hard-to fill positions, “but few…have targeted their own students to become teachers.” District officials have not completed the plan, but “say they could offer no-interest loans to students to help pay for college,” and the district “has already set aside $600,000 to finance the loans.” Students would pay back the loans when they began working, thus allowing “the district to continue providing aid.” The Plano district is also looking at reinstating “teacher courses in its high schools and offer[ing] students classroom internships several times a week.”

Agriculture Secretary Visits Denver School.
KUSA-TV Denver, CO (8/26, Clough) reported on its Website that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, “Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp and Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg visited Centennial Elementary School” in Denver “to highlight improving access to quality, healthy meals. Congress is currently working to bolster the Child Nutrition Act, which authorizes the National school lunch, breakfast and food service programs.”

KVDR-TV Denver, CO (8/26, Posey) added, that Vilsack “visited Centennial Elementary school to see the changes the school has made,” to its lunch menu “and to push for the passage of the Child Nutrition Act. Starting this week, kids eating lunch at Centennial Elementary get to chose from fresh fruits and vegetables on the brand new salad bar.” Also, “meals are made from scratch, and the beef is grass-fed.” The AP (8/25) also reported on Vilsack’s visit to Centennial Elementary School.

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NEA in the News
Van Roekel Says Ways Of Achieving Reform Goals At Issue In Debate With Duncan.
The St. Petersburg Times (8/27, Marshall) reports that NEA President Dennis Van Roekel on Thursday spoke “to local union members and district officials in Hillsborough County” about education reform. While noting that “public schools aren’t working for…many students,” Van Roekel “said reforms won’t get far if legislators don’t consult teachers, or” if they “hang everything on the results of a high-stakes test.” He also praised Hillsborough’s “seven-year, $202 million partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” which among other moves “toughens teacher evaluation,” adding “a peer evaluation system and ties student test scores to teacher pay.” Van Roekel told the audience that “he has no argument with” US Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s goals, but he clarified, “What we’re debating is the best way to get there.”

Texas State Teachers Association Region 4C Elects New President.
Michigan’s Argus Press (8/27) reports that “John C. Brunger, a 1966 graduate of Corunna High School” recently was elected president of the Texas State Teachers Association Region 4C, the Texas affiliate of the NEA. “Region 4C covers a large area of the Fort Worth metro area with more than 33 Texas school districts,” the Argus Press adds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advertisement

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advertisement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advertisement

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advertisement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ousted Asbury Park schools chief to return as principal – Link
By NANCY SHIELDS • STAFF WRITER • August 9, 2010

ASBURY PARK — Antonio Lewis, who twice lost his job as schools superintendent, is expected to return in an administrative capacity now that the state education commissioner agreed that he retained his tenure rights as a middle school principal.

Bret Schundler, the education commissioner, last week adopted an administrative law judge’s decision in which Lewis retained his rights as a middle school principal and the city Board of Education is required to give him a job for which he is qualified. His pay and benefits would be retroactive to June 30, 2009, when his contract as superintendent expired.

Lewis’ position is expected to be finalized when the school board meets Aug. 18, board President Gregory Hopson said Monday.

As of Monday, it appeared that Lewis will be given a new position as principal on special assignment at the middle school where he was principal from 1992 to 1999 before being appointed superintendent.

Lewis would work out of the middle school where Howard Mednick will continue as principal, and would not get his own school.
“As the president of the Asbury Park Principals and Supervisors Association, I welcome him back,” Mednick said Monday. “Beyond that, I have no comment. Any comment should go to the Board of Education.”

Hopson said the board was looking at two options: appointing Lewis a co-principal at the middle school or appointing him a principal on special assignment, which means he can be in any of the buildings when needed. Those schools include the high school, three elementary schools, the middle school and a new alternative high school starting up this fall.

It appeared Monday that Lewis would share some principal duties with Mednick, being in charge of some classes and students.

“I’m very comfortable with the approach we’re taking,” Hopson said.

Lewis was first suspended in December 2003 when the board said he had failed in his leadership responsibilities. In June 2004, then-Education Commissioner William Librera reinstated Lewis, saying the school board did not give Lewis written notice of what he was doing wrong and 90 days to improve his performance.

In September 2006, the school board, with some new faces, again suspended Lewis. Lewis and the board reached a settlement for Lewis to be paid about $600,000, which included $150,000 he was owed from a lawsuit regarding the first suspension.

But the state was launching an investigation of Lewis and said the board could not use its state aid to fund such a settlement, which in effect canceled the agreement because most of the board’s revenue came from the state.

Lewis continued to draw his annual salary of $188,000 while administrators filled his role until Lewis’ contract expired last June 30. The district hired a new superintendent, Denise Lowe, and Lewis sued to get hired as a principal.

State investigators never filed charges against Lewis.

“I maintained my stance from the beginning that I didn’t feel Dr. Lewis had done anything wrong,” Hopson said Monday. “I didn’t feel what was being done to him was just. In three years, in every level of court where he’s been, the decision has gone his way.”

Schundler made his decision Wednesday to uphold the findings made in June by Administrative Law Judge Ronald W. Reba.

In his decision, Schundler said he was “compelled” to concur with the administrative law judge, that current law gave him (Schundler) no recourse, and that “the result in this matter is mandatory, not discretionary in nature.”

He quoted the provision: “A superintendent of schools promoted from within a district shall retain all tenure rights accrued in any position which was previously held by the superintendent in the district.”

“We have no idea what is in store for Dr. Lewis at the moment,” said Robert T. Pickett, Lewis’ attorney. “We will be in communication with the board attorney and the school superintendent to move forward consistent with the commissioner’s ruling.”

Lewis had both fervent supporters and detractors during his years leading the district, when disagreements often centered on who was to get what job. In the end, the district was marked by instability and a lack of leadership that did not end until Lowe was hired a year ago.

John Napolitani, president of the local teachers union, Monday blasted the district’s creating a new principal position for Lewis, which Napolitani estimated could be in the $140,000-a-year salary range.

The union lost dozens of members in layoffs last spring, and Napolitani said the money should be going to restore teacher or support staff positions.

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On the Job
Pittsburgh Public Schools Hosts Inaugural New Teacher Induction Program.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (7/28, Weigand) reported, “Students and parents on Tuesday helped about 80 Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers better understand what students need, as part of the district’s inaugural three-week teacher induction program.” The rookie teachers, each with no “more than three years’ experience, toured city neighborhoods and visited community organizations.” The tour was meant to inform the teachers about resources available in the community. The teachers also learned about “philosophies and curriculum unique to the district, as well as strategies for classroom management and engaging students.”

Educator Says “Value-Added” Measures For Evaluating DC Teachers Are Flawed.
Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (7/28), “We live in an age of accountability and transparency – and yet some school districts seem not to be playing by the rules. I recently wrote about the lack of accountability in the way districts report how they calculate teacher ‘value-added’ measures that are used for medium-stakes and high-stakes personnel decisions (such as granting teachers tenure or firing them).” Pallas goes on to “illustrate how value-added scores may have been misused in the termination of 26 teachers in the D.C Public Schools last week and the classifying of hundreds of other general education teachers in grades four through eight as ‘minimally effective.’”

DC Teacher Dismissal Policies Analyzed. Former UCLA School of Education lecturer Walt Gardner wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/28), “When Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 241 teachers in Washington D.C. on July 23, the news was heralded as evidence that true accountability was finally a reality because the evaluation system used is considered one of the most rigorous in the nation,” yet “like most controversial issues in education, there’s more to the story than initially meets the eye.” According to Gardner, “Rhee acknowledged that she didn’t know how many teachers were fired for low student achievement on standardized tests, and how many were dismissed for poor classroom performance” and this “is a crucial distinction. Despite what is widely believed, these are not necessarily interchangeable criteria.”

Law & Policy
Second Suit Filed Against Pennsylvania District Over Alleging Laptop Spying.
The AP (7/28) reported, “A second lawsuit has been filed against a suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students through cameras in school-issued laptop computers. Jalil Hasan, who graduated from Lower Merion High School last spring, says the school district activated remote-tracking software after he left the laptop at school Dec. 18.” According to the AP, “The suit alleges that more than 1,000 photos were taken, 469 from the webcam and 543 screen shots. Attorney Mark Haltzman is representing Hasan and his family, as well as the family that filed the original lawsuit against the district in February.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (7/29, Nunnally) adds that Hasan’s “suit joins one filed in February by Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton High School, and for the first time draws in Lower Merion High School, where Jalil Hasan was a senior.” According to the Inquirer, the “cases are similar in their broad outlines” as the “electronic monitoring began after school-issued computers were reported missing” and in “both cases, the system was simply left on long after the laptops were recovered. Hundreds of photos and screen shots were captured on a predetermined schedule.” KOTV-TV Tulsa (7/28, Surette) also covered this story in a report on its Web site.

Illinois District Loses Chance At $22 Million After Quinn Vetoes School Funding Bill.
Illinois’ Courier News (7/28, McFarlan) reported, “Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have brought an estimated $22 million more in state funding this year to Elgin School District U46.” Each year, the district “misses out on millions…because the state uses estimated data to determine the funding it gets.” Under Senate Bill 2499 the state would have had to use “the actual property tax cap rate of Cook County, rather than an estimate.”

The Chicago Daily Herald (7/28, Lester) reported that in a message to the Senate, Quinn wrote, “I cannot approve a measure that would boost state aid to one district at the expense of others.” State Rep. Keith Farnham (D) issued a statement pledging to work next fall “to override [the] veto in a speedy manner and bring U-46 the funding it deserves.” He added, “I understand that all schools need more money, but our community has been unfairly losing out.” Illinois’ Winfield Press (7/29, Bruno) notes that “the state owes U-46 about $24 million on top of the money they lost from the bill’s veto. The district is expected to begin the school year more than $40 million in the hole.”

Senate Majority Leader Seeks Passage Of Child Nutrition Bill Before Recess.
Mike Lillis wrote in a blog for The Hill (7/28), “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said this week that Democrats are hoping to pass a child nutrition bill before lawmakers leave town for the August recess. The $4.5 billion proposal, sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), would expand eligibility for school meal programs; establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and provide a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals.”

School Bus Seat Belt Bill Languishes In Massachusetts Legislature.
The Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette (7/29, Monahan) reports that a bill that “would require shoulder straps in school busses within two years” in Massachusetts is currently active in the state’s house, but “few lawmakers have heard about the legislation and there is little momentum to pass it. The bill is competing with hundreds of other bills with high-profile legislative battles raging among lawmakers on expanded gambling, economic development, health care cost-cutting, drug sentencing and criminal record and gun-buying restrictions, with only four days left for formal sessions in this two-year legislative session.”

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School Finance
Concessions From Teachers Would Save Chicago Public Schools $446 Million.
The Chicago Tribune (7/29, Ahmed) reports, “Chicago Public Schools officials have suggested a list of concessions from its teachers to close a $370 million budget hole, including unpaid holidays, frozen wages, and unpaid school recesses.” The district would save a total of almost $446 million “if all eight suggestions were implemented.” The proposals would also keep the district from having to increase class sizes. “Already, 600 teachers have received pink slips because of budget constraints,” the Tribune notes.

Oregon District Turns To Grants, Donations To Fund Construction Projects.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/28, Ruttan) reported, “At a time of funding crises and recession, school districts have been putting extra focus on grant writing to sustain programs and to pay for building projects.” The North Santiam School District, for instance, has in the past two years “raised $600,000 to $700,000 for a variety of projects” through grants and donations. In addition, it has “been ramping up partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community like Friends of the Family, Santiam Family YMCA, Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company (SCTC) and Slayden Construction.”

Also in the News
Condoleezza Rice, Aretha Franklin Perform Duet In Support Of School Arts Programs.
The AP (7/28) reported that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and singer Aretha Franklin “took the stage Tuesday evening at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center in a rare duet for Rice, the classically trained pianist, and Franklin, the divalicious voice of a generation. Their aim was to raise money for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.” According to the AP, Franklin “deplored school budget cuts of music and arts programs as ‘a travesty’ that cannot be allowed” and “Rice, in a separate interview, agreed.”

Announcement Of India’s $35 Laptop Prototype Met With Skepticism.
Wright Bryan wrote in the NPR (7/28) “All Tech Considered” blog, “Despite the ever-decreasing cost of computing power and components,” India’s announcement last week that it “has prototyped a $35 Linux-powered tablet” was met with some skepticism. For example, “education technology leading light” Gary Stager posted on Twitter, “Newsflash: India invents schools so its children have a place to store their useless ‘$35 laptops.’ #vaporware.” When Bryan asked Stager several questions about India’s invention, Stager mentioned the One Laptop per Child project, saying, “It now appears that ‘mine’s bigger’ has been replaced with ‘mine’s cheaper.’” And, “when asked what defines an effective computing tool for education,” Stager said, “Since the only functionality of the “device” is communication and information access (the low-hanging fruit of education), where will that connectivity come from? At what price? How much time will be spent haggling over which information children can or can’t have access to?”

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NEA in the News
West Virginia Teachers Unions Say Some Proposed State Education Reforms Are Unproven.
WVNS-TV (7/29, Williams) reports that “the conflict between school unions and policymakers over education reform is one that has played out in many states since the launch of Race to the Top.” But West Virginia, which has “some of the most powerful state teachers unions in the nation,” may “be the strength of the opposition,” according to WVNS. Teachers unions in the state have said that Gov. Joe Machin’s (D) education reform “proposals lacked what they saw as scientifically proven methods for improving school performance.” For instance, Machin “proposed a bill allowing public schools to adopt some aspects of charter schools found in other states, but it did not go as far as actually creating charter schools.” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee noted, however, that “data supporting charter schools is a very mixed bag. … There are a very large number of charter schools that are not doing well,” he said.

Teachers Unions In Michigan Want Repeal Of Some Laws Made For Race To The Top.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (7/28) reports that “with hopes of $400 million in federal money for school reform fading fast, teachers union leaders say the state should consider repealing some of the changes made this year as part of Michigan’s Race to the Top application.” Michigan’s “new laws…include raising the dropout age to 18, expanding charter schools and accepting common academic standards.” In the first round of Race to the Top, “teachers union leaders fought some of the proposals.” But in the second round, the unions were included in the policy-making process. Doug Pratt of the Michigan Education Association (MEA) asserted, “Anyone who thought we were the reason for the failure in the first round certainly can’t say that now. … We’re disappointed, because that $400 million would have been a big help.” But, he added, “That $400 million in one-time money would not have solved the long-term problems facing Michigan schools.”

Groups Will Ask Obama’s Debt Commission Not To Suggest Social Security Cuts.
Bloomberg News (7/29, Faler) reports, “A co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s debt commission said as much as three-quarters of the panel’s proposed savings ought to come through cuts to government spending rather than tax increases.” The panel was commissioned by the President in February to search “the government’s budget” for areas that can be cut “to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of the economy by 2015, from the current 10 percent.” Bloomberg notes that “the AFL-CIO, NAACP, National Education Association (NEA), Moveon.org, and others” will hold “a joint news conference…in Washington” today “to caution the panel not to suggest cuts to the Social Security program.”

North Santiam Education Association Reaches Agreement With District.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/29, Ruttan) reports that “the North Santiam Education Association teachers’ union and North Santiam School District have reached an agreement that will save eight full-time positions and one half-time position.” Under the agreement, teachers will take “a six-day pay cut and an across-the-board cost-of-living increase.” Teachers with less than 15 years of service “will receive their step increases,” but those “with more seniority will not receive step increases.” In addition, class sizes will increase, the art program at Stayton Middle School will be eliminated, and the technology program at Stayton High School will be smaller.

NEA Alaska Supports State’s Incumbent For US Senate.
NEA Alaska Joshua Saul wrote in the Alaska Dispatch (7/28) “Political Animal” blog that in the US Senate race in Alaska “between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, the candidates are seizing every opportunity to show off their big name supporters.” Miller is backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, while Murkowski’s supporters include “organizations like the NRA and the National Education Association’s Alaska offices.” According to Saul, those and other endorsements reinforce Murkowski’s “establishment image.”

Obama Defends Education Reform Ideas At Urban League Convention.
The AP (7/30, Pace) reports, “Challenging civil rights organizations and teachers’ unions that have criticized his education policies, President Barack Obama said Thursday” in a speech at the National Urban League’s 100th anniversary convention “that minority students have the most to gain from overhauling the nation’s schools.” The President also pointed out that the purpose of the reforms is not “to fire or admonish teachers, but to create a culture of accountability” and “pinned some of the criticism on a resistance to change.” Noting that teachers are “the single most important factor in a classroom,” Obama called “for higher pay, better training and additional resources to help teachers succeed.”

The New York Times (7/30, Calmes) adds that Obama “chose the civil rights organization as his audience to address specifically the complaints of minority groups.” The Washington Post (7/30, Anderson) notes that “the National Urban League, the NAACP and some other groups…have questioned the competitive emphasis of Obama’s $4 billion Race to the Top grants, which produces winners and losers.” They are asking “the administration to seek more equitable funding for schools,” instead.

The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Mamoli) adds that Urban League head Marc Morial “was one of several civil rights leaders who met with Duncan earlier this week to discuss their concerns with” Race to the Top, “specifically that black and Latino students were not benefiting from the federal resources.” Teachers unions “have also objected to the program, which encourages evaluations.” The President “acknowledged the discord over the program,” saying, “We get comfortable with the status quo even when the status quo isn’t good.” But, he told the audience, “The program has already been successful even where federal dollars have not yet been spent.”

The Christian Science Monitor (7/30, Khadaroo) reports that The President “made it clear…that he has no intention of backing down from his education reform agenda, despite criticism from core constituencies in his own party.” Bloomberg News (7/30, Herbst, Runningen), Education Week (7/29, Klein), Reuters (7/30, Bohan), ABC News (7/29, Bruce), MSNBC (7/29), the New Republic (7/29), and The Hill (7/30) also covered this story.

Civil Rights Leaders Soften Criticism Of Education Program. Politico (7/30, Marr) reports that “despite their tough rhetoric earlier this week, civil rights leaders have softened their criticism of the president’s education reforms. A ‘conflict in schedules’ led the coalition to cancel a Monday press conference to air their criticism and tout their 17-page framework for reform.” Politico notes that “instead, the leaders met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes,” and “afterward, they released a new statement declaring they are ‘confident’ that, working with the White House, ‘a plan can be developed that will provide a high-quality education for all students.’”

Alexander Hails Obama’s Education Remarks, Praises Duncan. The Tennessean’s Bill Theobald (7/30) reports in a blog entry that “Sen. Lamar Alexander has taken his share of pot­shots at” Obama. But yesterday, he “took to the Senate floor to applaud Obama’s education speech.” Said Alexander, “I commend the president for his courage, his vision and for his willingness to undertaken the hard work of helping children across the country learn what they need to know and be able to do.” Of Duncan he said, “He is an excellent leader in education and he has a big heart and he’s worked in a bipartisan way.”

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In the Classroom
Program Helps Prevent Summer Slide For Students In Maryland District.
The Baltimore Sun (7/30, Burris) reports on a summer program in Anne Arundel, Maryland, that targets “the so-called summer slide. The county’s Elementary Summer Academy offers classroom instruction and activities to ensure that students retain the previous grade’s language and math skills.” First, “students are tested…to determine which areas they need to focus on,” and “at the end of the program” they are tested “to see how they’ve progressed.” In between testing, students receive classroom instruction. As part of a behavior modification system, students can earn prize tickets “for such tasks as completing homework assignments or exhibiting good behavior in class.” The tickets can be redeemed “at the schools’ stores” for “items including balls and temporary tattoos.”

Change In Proficiency Standards Leave Some Educators Confused About Schools’ Improvement.
New York Times (7/30, Otterman) reports that the release of state test scores this week “left the city with math and English proficiency rates lower than they had been in 2006, when the state last overhauled grade school testing.” Though “the average city student this year answered about the same number of questions correctly as last year…the number required to pass the tests, or show proficiency,” increased this year. The change has left educators and education stakeholders wondering “exactly how much the city’s schools had improved during the last decade.” Experts agreed that scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will be the most reliable tool for “deciphering where the schools are now.”

District Teams With West Point, Clemson And NASA For STEM Career Program.
The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal (7/30, Healy) reports on a group of Carver Junior High students who “agreed to give up three days of their summer vacation to participate in the US Military Academy at West Point’s Summer STEM Quest Institute, a program aimed at boosting student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career fields.” A similar focus will continue into the school year, which “will be dedicated to professional development as teachers learn to integrate science, technology, engineering and math into the entire curriculum” on a district-wide basis. Carver Principal RaaShad Fitzpatrick said, “It’s going to be a wall-to-wall program. … Every student in the building will participate in the STEM program.” The article notes, “West Point will continue to partner with Carver throughout the year. The district has also formed partnerships with NASA and Clemson University.”

On the Job
Teachers Contract In Ohio District Allows For Recall Of Some Teachers Let Go In April.
WJW-TV Cleveland, Ohio (7/30) reports that teachers in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will have a new contract when they start school next fall. “The new contract features more than $17 million in concessions” and will “allow the District to recall many of the 545 teachers, who were laid off in April.” WJW adds that “in addition to the financial components of the contract, both parties agreed to develop a model for teacher development and evaluation.” The new system “will include student performance data, unannounced teacher observations and increased flexibility for evaluation timing.”

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Law & Policy
Public Will Soon Deem Race To The Top Likely A Failure, Educator Says.
Jeff Passe, chairman of the Department of Secondary Education at Towson University, writes in the Baltimore Sun (7/30, Passe) that money from the federal Race to the Top competition “is needed.” But, he asks, “Has anyone stopped to ask whether these changes will actually improve public schools? Is it a race to the top, or to somewhere in the middle?” Passe outlines the benefits of the Race to the Top qualifying criteria: charter schools, tenure, common core standards, and use of student achievement data. He asserts that “the public will soon regard Race to the Top as a failure — a race to the middle that didn’t make a real difference.” Moreover, educators will somehow “be blamed for policies developed not by scholars who have studied educational reform, but by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a well-meaning but ill-informed leader.”

Tennessee Governor Signs Order Establishing STEM Network.
The AP (7/30) reports from Tennessee, “Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) has signed an executive order that promotes expanding science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in K-12 public schools across Tennessee.” The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network “will conduct various STEM educational activities in coordination with local education agencies, including teacher professional development and curriculum development,” and “will be managed by Battelle Memorial Institute.”

Massachusetts Governor Expected To Sign School Nutrition Bill.
WSHM-TV Springfield, Massachusetts (7/30, Stewart) reports that today, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “will sign the School Nutrition Bill,” which mandates that all public schools in the state “stop selling deep fried foods, unhealthy snacks, and vending machine soda.” It also requires that schools “provide more nutrition education.”

School Board Discusses “Controlled Choice” As Alternative To Diversity-Based Assignments.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (7/30, Goldsmith, Hui) reports that Wake County school board members on Wednesday discussed a “controlled choice” school assignment model to replace its former school diversity assignment policy. The model has drawn interest from members “on both sides of Wake’s school assignment fight. … Those in the minority hope such a model will help keep school populations more demographically balanced; those in the majority hope the approach will give parents more choice and allow for school system growth.” The school board’s plan “would divide the county into attendance zones that are supposed to allow children to go to schools in their communities.” Families would be able to choose “among a variety of schools” in each zone. The News & Observer adds that one of “the challenges facing the system is where to draw the lines and what factors will be used in assigning students.”

Safety & Security
Chicago Public Schools Rolls Out Cyberbullying Policy.
NBC Chicago (7/30, Wojciechowski) reports that Chicago Public Schools has rolled out a strict new policy on cyberbullying. The policy imposes “serious new sanctions for offenses that previously were outside the bounds of school discipline.” Punishments include “mandatory suspensions, possible expulsions, and police investigations.” NBC Chicago notes that “the new Student Code of Conduct treats cyberbullying offenses with the same severity as burglary, aggravated assault and other crimes.”

Anti-Bullying Program Yields Positive Results For Massachusetts District.
The Boston Globe (7/29, Travaglini) reported that Danvers school administrators plan to expand an anti-bullying program they say saw positive results “at the elementary schools last year.” The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was implemented at the elementary level in 2008. The program includes training for all school employees “on how to recognize bullying and ways to deal with it. … Regular school-wide assemblies, classroom discussions on bullying and parent meetings on the topic were introduced as the final phase of the program.” Its “success is measured in part by” a decline in the “number of reports of possible bullying incidents the school” received last year.

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Also in the News
High School Principal Criticized For Selling Weight-Loss Products To Students.
The Washington Post (7/20, Chandler) reports that “an advertisement that Principal Nardos King placed in the Mount Vernon High School yearbook, for weight-loss products she sold in her free time, surprised and upset many parents this summer, and prompted an apology” this week. The ad for “a two-step weight-loss system called Body Magic,” a spandex undergarment, included promises of “Instant Transformation While Losing Weight in the Process!” and loss of “up to 2-3 sizes in minutes.” Members of the community expressed displeasure with the ad “on a Facebook page dedicated to Mount Vernon news,” questioning “the principal’s ethics for selling products to students.” According to a spokesperson for Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, King “has stopped selling the products” and that she is likely not in violation of the district’s conflict-of-interest policy.

ADHD, Smoking May Be Linked With Dropping Out Of School, Study Shows.
The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Stein) reports, “Many roads can lead to a teen dropping out of high school, but a new study finds that having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and smoking may be strongly linked to not finishing school. Researchers from UC Davis looked at data on 29,662 people from the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions.” They found that 32.3 percent “of students who had a combined form of ADHD (hyperactivity and inattentiveness) dropped out of high school.” They also found that 29 percent of “tobacco users…dropped out.”

Arizona State Superintendent Wants Videos Of Tuscan District’s Ethnic Studies Classes.
Arizona’s Daily Star (8/4, Huicochea) reports that Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne is requesting that the Tuscan Unified School district “videotape courses over the fall semester to be used as evidence that would show whether they are in violation of House Bill 2281.” The legislation restricts schools from offering “courses that promote the overthrow of the US government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, and advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Mary Ann Zehr wrote in the Education Week (8/3) “Learning the Language” blog that Horne “has told the superintendent of Arizona’s Tucson Unified School District that he will announce a withholding of 10 percent of the district’s funds as soon as” the law “goes into effect Dec. 31.” On Tuesday, Horne sent a letter to Superintendent John Carroll, in which he also made the request for a videotape of the ethnic studies classes “in their entirety.” Zehr added that “Tucson Unified officials would have the opportunity to appeal [a] withholding of funds before an administrative judge.”

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In the Classroom
Progress In Closing Achievement Gap Stalled, New Report Finds.
Valerie Strauss wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/3), “Progress seen over several decades in narrowing the educational achievement gap between black and white students has remained stalled for 20 years, according to data analyzed in a new report. Called ‘The Black-White Achievement Gap: When Progress Stopped,’ the report by the Educational Testing Service examines periods of progress and stagnation since 1910 in closing the achievement gap.” According to Strauss, “The authors discuss various issues that could help explain why progress stopped, including some sensitive ones such as inadequate care in early childhood, the decline of communities and neighborhoods, the explosion of single-parent families, the employment plight of black males and stalled intergenerational mobility out of seriously disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

Researchers Will Test Use Of iPads In K-8 Classrooms.
T.H.E. Journal (8/3, Schaffhauser) reported, “Through a partnership with a large urban school district in Utah, a research project at the University of Cincinnati will experiment with the use of Apple iPads in K-8 classrooms. The initiative will test the use of 35 Apple iPads to collect educational research in a federally funded partnership to improve teacher quality in elementary math and science education.” T.H.E. Journal added, “An overarching purpose for the project, however, is to help schools to become greener and reduce the amount of paper shuttled among researchers and stored for archival purposes.”

On the Job
Chicago Teachers File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Job Cuts.
The Chicago Tribune (8/4, Ahmed) reports, “The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt teacher layoffs, the latest move in a months-long battle between union and school officials. The action comes as the two sides are locked in negotiations over layoffs and increases in class size to alleviate a $370 million budget deficit.” According to the Tribune, “The lawsuit comes after the district fired 239 citywide teaching coaches and sent layoff notices to at least 600 teachers and other personnel.”

The AP (8/4) reports that the Chicago Teachers Union “has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools in an attempt to halt the dismissals of hundreds of teachers and support staff. CTU President Karen Lewis said Tuesday the school board is arbitrarily dismissing some of the system’s most qualified teachers in a manner that violates their constitutional rights to due process under the 14th Amendment and their current labor contract.” According to the AP, the suit “filed Monday in US District Court seeks the reinstatement of all teachers and support staff dismissed to date.”

Georgia Officials Reviewing Report Into Cheating On Standardized Tests.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/4, Torres) reports that Georgia “began its review Tuesday of a long-awaited investigative report into alleged cheating in Atlanta Public Schools, even as top education officials wondered how far they can go with what remains an unofficial document. … The state Board of Education had set Monday as a belated deadline for the Atlanta system’s investigation of possible cheating in schools identified by a state review of standardized tests early this year.” However, “it was unclear whether the report, transmitted to the state without the city board’s stamp of approval, met that deadline” as “City school board members declined Monday by a vote of 5 to 4 to accept the report from the commission it appointed to study suspicious erasures on standardized tests.”

WSB-TV Atlanta (8/3) reported on its Website, “A Blue Ribbon Commission finished its investigation into Atlanta Public Schools’ involvement in the 2009 CRCT cheating scandal. While it found no evidence of district-wide or centrally controlled cheating, it did find evidence involving individual schools and district employees.” WSB added, “The commission said it found statistical evidence and qualified allegations of widespread cheating at 12 elementary schools” and the “commission recommended further investigations into 109 teachers and administrators for their possible involvement in the scandal.”

Fewer Schools In Delaware Receive “Superior” Rating This Year.
WBOC-TV Milton, Delaware (8/4, Tucker) reports that according to education officials in Delaware, there has been “a dramatic drop in the state’s federal school rankings this year.” The number of schools earning a “superior” rating shrunk this year to 66, down from 83 last year. Meanwhile, national standards are becoming stricter. In order “to meet standards…there will be a new focus on science math and technology as well as early childhood education” next year, said Lillian Lowery, Delaware’s Secretary of Education.

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Law & Policy
Massachusetts District Approves New Pledge Policy.
The Boston Globe (8/4, Parker) reports that the Arlington, Massachusetts, School Committee on Tuesday “unanimously approved a new pledge policy.” The decision follows a six-week deadlock on “on a proposal that would have required the pledge to be lead in all Arlington schools.” The approved policy “will allow school principals to determine how the pledge will be recited in their schools each day.” However, “no students or faculty will be required to participate in a recitation.” The Globe points out that while “state law requires that teachers lead their classes in the Pledge of Allegiance each day,” the US Supreme Court has ruled “that making students recite the pledge is contrary to the First Amendment.”

Massachusetts To Require Insurance Companies To Cover Autism.
The AP (8/4) reports, “Massachusetts insurance companies will now be required to offer autistic people coverage for a range of treatments, under a bill Gov. Deval Patrick [D] signed into law on Tuesday. Parents of autistic children say the new measure closes a loophole in insurance plans that will help them pay for the cost of medicines and therapies” yet “business leaders oppose it, saying it will drive up the cost of health care benefits for workers as insurance premiums are already on the rise. … Massachusetts is the 23rd state to pass such legislation.”

Proposed Law Would Link Getting Driver’s License To School Performance.
The Las Vegas Sun (8/3, Ramirez) reports, Though “in Nevada, as in other states, a driver’s license has had little or no connection with attending or graduating from high school,” the Clark County (NV) School Board “on Wednesday will discuss whether to push for a new state law that will link driving to school work. … The proposal under consideration at Wednesday’s work session would require ‘proof of high school enrollment including demonstrated attendance and evidence of passing grades’ to get – and keep – a license until the age of 18.” Also, “And if a student were to skip school three times or more and become what is known as a ‘habitual truant,’ his parents would have to go to ‘Saturday intervention sessions’ to learn how to be better parents.”

School Finance
Detroit Public Schools May Save $5.5 Million With Security Services Contract.
WDIV-TV Detroit (8/4) reports that Detroit Public Schools officials are expecting a new contract with Securitas security services “to save the district more than $5.5 million annually” and help “reduce absenteeism among security personnel.” The $6.5 million year-long contract is less than the $11 million DPS paid in previous years “to employ 226 security officers.” In the past, DPS “has faced challenges…with security officers not showing up for work.” For instance, according to reports from July, “11 to 12 percent of the district’s security officers were absent on a daily basis.”

Directive From Chicago Mayor Spares School Sports Programs From Cuts.
The Chicago Sun-Times (8/3, Spielman) reports, “Mayor Daley said Tuesday he ordered the Chicago Public Schools to restore non-varsity high school sports programs to keep young people occupied and off the streets. One day after the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed the reprieve to the cheers of coaches and student athletes, Daley stepped forward to claim credit for it.” According to the Sun-Times, “CPS spokesperson Monique Bond acknowledged that it was Daley’s directive that convinced the board to restore $2 million worth of sophomore sports programs previously on the chopping block.”

Report Says Pre-K Programs Across Nation Face Deep Budget Cuts.
The AP (8/4, Turner) reports, “States are slashing nearly $350 million from their pre-K programs by next year and more cuts are likely on the horizon once federal stimulus money dries up, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The reductions mean fewer slots for children, teacher layoffs and even fewer services for needy families who can’t afford high-quality private preschool programs.” According to the AP, “One state – Arizona – has proposed eliminating its 5,500-child program entirely” and Illinois “cut $32 million from last fiscal year’s pre-k budget and plans to slash another $48 million this year.”

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Also in the News
Florida District Seeks To Save Money By Contracting With Local Clinics To Serve Employees.
Jeff Solochek wrote in the St. Petersburg Times (8/3) “Gradebook” blog that the school board in Pasco County, Florida “is looking into contracting with one or more local medical clinics to serve district employees and their immediate family members.” This effort, they hope, will save the district about $100,000 annually “in health insurance and workers compensation.” Board Chairman Allen Altman “said if the program succeeds, he hoped to partner with county government to further reduce costs.”

New Documentary Focuses On Education Reform.
Tom Marshall wrote in the St Petersburg Times (8/3) “Gradebook” blog that David Guggenheim, creator of the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” is directing a new documentary that focuses on education reform called “Waiting for Superman.” DC Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is in the documentary, as is Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone. Marshall added, “Judging from the trailer,” Waiting for Superman makes an “emotion-laden call to action” similar to that of “An Inconvenient Truth,” “just substitute Al Gore for a classroom’s-worth of ambitious kids, angry parents, lagging Pisa scores, and a star-studded cast of national ed reformers.”

England Releases Results Of Tests Boycotted By Thousands Of Schools.
The AP (8/3) reported that on Tuesday, results of England’s Standard Assessments Tests (SATs) were released, reviving “a long-running debate about whether the government’s determination to rank schools based on standardized tests does anything to improve education.” According to England’s Education Department, “4,005 of 15,515 English primary schools chose to boycott the tests.”

The UK’s Independent (8/4, Garner) reports that reading test scores for 11-year-olds fell “for the second year” in a row. Some educators say “that the drive to boost writing standards, which still lag far behind reading, may have caused teachers to focus less on reading.” The Independent adds that while “overall performance in maths and English both increased by 1 percentage point…officials said the figures should be treated with caution because” 25 percent of schools boycotted the tests. The boycott was led by two national teachers unions, which “complained that too much teaching to the tests was ruining children’s education.”

Teachers Attend Sally Ride Science Academy.
USA Today (8/2, Steinberg) reported on how astronaut Sally Ride and her Science Academy are trying to encourage girls to go into math and science careers. “Last week, 100 elementary teachers from across the US attended the academy, sponsored by ExxonMobil, in Washington, D.C. Ride was there to talk with educators and prove her teaching strategies combat the notion that science is ‘uncool.’” According to the article, Ride “blames society” for how science is perceived, especially to girls. “It’s essential for girls to see examples of women in whatever career they want to pursue, says Ride, who sees herself as a role model.”

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In the Classroom
Former Superintendent Develops Research-Based Summer Reading Program.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/2, Richards) reports on “the Milwaukee Summer Reading Project, a five-week summer reading program for elementary school children” created by former Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Howard Fuller. After “results of a national assessment revealed” in March “that Wisconsin’s black fourth-graders tested more poorly in reading than black children in any other part of the country,” Fuller “mobilized a community group to research, analyze and discuss the best ways to teach reading.” Based on that research, he developed the Reading Project. “The program cost $200,000 to implement” this summer “and was paid for by individual donations and foundation support as well as funding from MPS and the city.”

Some High Schools In California Offer Nation’s First Stem-Cell Curriculum.
The San Francisco Chronicle (7/31, Allday) reported that “California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has developed the country’s first high-school stem cell curriculum. … It is already being taught at a handful of Bay Area high schools,” and “will be pitched to science teachers this fall.” The entire curriculum “is available to teachers online.” It contains units “on embryonic stem cells; adult stem cells and regenerative medicine; stem cell behaviors and cancer; and the immune system and hematopoietic stem cells.” Every unit includes “some political or ethical topic” for students to discuss.

Students Launch Rockets For Young Math And Science Course.
The Orange County (CA) Register (7/31, Koerner) reports, “The 17, sixth through eighth graders enrolled in UCI’s Young Math and Science course have spent the last two weeks learning about satellites, rockets and robotics with some help from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On Thursday, the class launched their creations.” Sandra Kaszynski, who is working with the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education Resource Center, “said she wants to encourage a love for science in the younger generation. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory continues to work on robots used in space exploration, and the goal of a human expedition to Mars in 2035 remains.”

Technical High School Maintains 100 Percent Graduation Rate.
The Hagerstown (MD) Herald-Mail (8/1, Lowrey) reported an informational article on area career and technical institutions, outlining the benefits these schools provide as an alternative or compliment to university studies. One of the schools highlighted by the article is Washington County Technical High School, which both trains students to enter the workforce directly and also encourages them to pursue higher education. “At Tech High, which [Principal Jeffrey Stouffer] noted had a 100 percent graduation rate in 2009 and no dropouts for 2 1/2 years, education goes beyond training in a trade.” Stouffer explained, “We have the students for two straight years. They come in and get their academics, they are able to play all the sports at their home school, and it really works.” He added, “We are one of three high schools in the nation to have top modeling programs for biomedical science and pre-engineering. And we are expanding. We have new programs coming in.”

New Governor’s STEM School First In Virginia To Partner With Four-Year University.
Virginia’s News & Messenger (7/31, Chumley) reported on the Governor’s School at Innovation Park, which will be “an intensive and advanced science, technology, engineering and mathematics course of study…for qualified students from the region” when it opens this fall. “It’s also the first school of its kind in Virginia to partner with a four-year university.” This school is partnering with George Mason University, where students will attend classes “each morning” before “returning to their base high schools each afternoon to complete other requirements for graduation.”

NASA, UIC-Supported Program To Offer STEM Enrichment To Underserved Middle Schoolers.
The Chicago Sun-Times (7/31, Guy) reports on the NASA Summer of Innovation project, which “offers a series of two- to four-week science enrichment camps aimed at getting middle school students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The goal is to reach children in neighborhoods that otherwise have no access to these programs.” So far, “the program has enrolled 1,100 students but aims to double that by Aug. 27.” The University of Illinois at Chicago and the XSTREME Learning Foundation, a number of school districts and a host of other organizations have partnered to support the effort.

On the Job
Massachusetts Education Officials Look At
Impact Of Student Turnover On School Performance. The Boston Globe (8/2, Vaznis) reports that “as state education officials push school districts to overhaul the lowest-achieving schools, they are focusing on a long-overlooked issue they say could be a key in raising performance — the frequency that students switch schools.” State data show that of the “400 schools across Massachusetts” with “have high turnover rates,” most are “considered underachieving.” Meanwhile, “about half the state’s nearly 1,900 schools had enrollment changes of less than 10 percent and tended to have stronger records of academic performance.” However, Massachusetts has not yet “studied how transient students perform on the MCAS or whether schools with high turnover score lower overall.”

Arizona Will Roll Out New Teacher Evaluation System In 2012.
The Arizona Republic (8/1, Ryman) reported that “by the school year 2012-13, up to 50 percent of teachers’ performance reviews will be based on the progress their students show in the classroom, likely measured in part by scores on standardized tests.” The state BOE still has to decide on the details of the evaluation plan, “including how student progress will be measured and how much progress is required.” Teachers, meanwhile, are concerned “that they will be judged primarily on test scores, which they say don’t provide a full picture of learning.”

Boston Schools Chief Criticized For Abandoning Teacher Relocation Plan.
The Boston Globe (8/2) editorializes, “The Boston school system cannot succeed in elevating underperforming schools unless it gets top-notch teachers into city classrooms.” But, Boston school superintendent Carol Johnson turned down the opportunity “to recruit dozens of highly-qualified teachers from across the nation” with a $225,000 grant from the Lynch and Highland Street foundation. According to the Globe, Johnson “was prepared to offer $5,000 in relocation expenses to each” new highly qualified teacher. But, “members of the school system’s administrative and custodial unions” complained, asking “why they faced the prospect of layoffs due to budget cuts while Johnson was promising relocation funds to out-of-state teachers.” The Globe asserts that by abandoning the relocation plan, Johnson “lost a great opportunity…to recruit potential stars to replace the weak teachers she is trying to broom out of the system’s weakest schools.”

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Law & Policy
First Lady Calls For Passage Of Child Nutrition Bill.
The AP (8/2) reports that First Lady Michelle Obama “urged Congress to pass legislation that calls for higher nutritional standards for school meals. In an op-ed appearing in Monday’s edition of The Washington Post, Mrs. Obama wrote that the Child Nutrition Bill would require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less fat and salt in school lunches and breakfasts.” According to the AP, Obama also said the bill “would help eliminate junk food in vending machines,” adding, “‘We owe it to the children who aren’t reaching their potential because they’re not getting the nutrition they need during the day.’”

Time Running Out To Pass School Lunch Legislation. Education News Colorado (8/2, Jones) reports, “As the clock ticks down on the 111th Congress, child and health advocacy groups are lobbying furiously for lawmakers to reauthorize the nation’s school lunch program with an expansion that would provide free, healthy meals to tens of thousands of additional children and tackle the problem of childhood obesity. One major hurdle was cleared this month when the House Education and Labor Committee passed HR 5504, the ‘Improving Nutrition for America’s Children’s Act.’” Also, in “March, the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously passed a similar-though much less costly-bill, the ‘Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,’” yet “both bills must still be passed by their respective chambers and then be reconciled before the legislation can be signed into law” and with “a dwindling number of days left for this Congress to act, advocates of the legislation fear it may not work its way to the top of the priority pile.”

New Jersey District Eliminates “D” Grades.
The Toronto Star (7/29) reports that New Jersey’s Mount Olive Township School District last week “the D grade in Mount Olive middle and high schools starting this fall. Students must either get a C or they will fail.” Under the new system, the first D a student makes will result in “an email to parents with the escalating options of three days to redo the test or project, followed by tutoring with honors students, a 30-hour, five-week, $150 night school, summer school or, ultimately, repeating the course.” Superintendent Dr. Larrie Reynolds told the Toronto Star, “I’m tired of kids coming to school and not learning and getting credit for it.” Still, Reynolds admits to having made Ds when he was in high school.

Special Needs
Madison, Wisconsin, Among Top Cities In US For Inclusion Classes.
The New York Times (8/2, A9, Winerip) reports that public schools in Madison, Wisconsin, “are nationally known for including children with disabilities in regular classes.” That is why “families with children with autism and developmental disabilities move from all over the country” to Madison. Colleen Capper of the University of Wisconsin said that “inclusion was cheaper than segregating students.” Within the Madison school district, “88 percent of elementary students with disabilities were fully included in classes, along with 81 percent of middle school students and 63 percent of high school students,” according to John Harper, a special education official. In addition to Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina and Clark County, Nevada, Madison rounds out the top three school systems in successful implementation of inclusion, said David Riley of the Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative.

Also in the News
University Cases Indicate Many Students Do Not Grasp Concept Of Plagiarism.
The New York Times (8/2, Gabriel) reports that college professors “used to deal with plagiarism by admonishing students to give credit to others and to follow the style guide for citations, and pretty much left it at that,” yet plagiarism cases at Rhode Island College, DePaul University and the University of Maryland detailed by the Times “suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed. It is a disconnect that is growing in the Internet age as concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality are under assault in the unbridled exchange of online information, say educators who study plagiarism.”

Many Organizations Moving To Provide Open-Source Textbooks Online.
Madison, Wisconsin The New York Times (8/1, BU3, Vance) reported that Curriki, “an online hub for free textbooks and other course material,” was “spearheaded six years ago” by Scott McNealy, co-founder and former chief executive of Sun Microsystems. Curriki, a nonprofit organization, is one of many “organizations that seek to bring the blunt force of Internet economics to bear on the education market.” The Times notes, however, that “progress with these open-source texts has been slow.” California and Texas, the largest markets for textbook publishers, “have only recently established procedures that will let open-source textbooks begin making their way through the arduous approval process.”

Assessment Leaders, Publishers Offer Testing “Best Practices” Guide.
Education Week (8/2, Gewertz) reports, “The test-publishing industry and state assessment leaders have come together for the first time to define a set of best practices for large-scale state testing. The result of the collaboration” coordinated by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Association of Test Publishers “is a new best-practices guide intended to serve as a road map to improving state assessment procedures.” The guide “tackles areas that have been nettlesome for state assessment officials as well as test publishers, including procurement, item development, test security, scoring and reporting, testing special populations, and transitioning assessment work from one provider to another.”

NEA in the News
Objectives Of NEA Priority Schools Campaign Detailed.
Stephen Sawchuk wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/30) on the National Education Association’s Priority Schools Campaign, “a 2009 mandate of the union’s 9,000 delegate Representative Assembly.” The $6 million effort “will focus on four core tenets for improving low-performing schools: increasing staff effectiveness; developing family and school partnerships; increasing district and local-union collaboration; and leveraging community assets.” Sawchuk added that the NEA will place particular emphasis “on schools in 13 states it’s identified as having a strong state affiliate that can help guide the work.”

Panel Releases Findings Of Investigation Into Cheating On Georgia Standardized Tests.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/3, Torres) reports that “an audit…suggested irregularities on state standardized tests,” an investigative panel has “found evidence of suspected cheating at 58 Atlanta Public Schools.” The panel is now recommending “further scrutiny or sanctions” for “109 principals, assistant principals, school-based testing coordinators and teachers” that may have been involved. Although “none of the employees confessed or admitted to wrongdoing in interviews,” the panel focused on the 109 school employees “through data and statistical evidence” and through “qualified allegations.” Investigators looked at “testing documents, policies and procedures, and…more than 50,000 emails” before releasing their findings.

The New York Times’ (8/3, A13, Dewan) coverage of the story is more positive. It reports that the results of the investigation largely vindicated Atlanta Public Schools. The “independent commission, using a national firm that specializes in rooting out cheating, found no evidence of ‘any district-wide or centrally coordinated effort to manipulate’ test scores, and no direct evidence of cheating.” WABE-FM Atlanta (8/3, Scott), WGLC-TV Atlanta (8/3), and WXIA-TV Atlanta (8/3, Quince) also cover the story.

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In the Classroom
Texas’ Formula for Predicting If Students Will Pass State Tests Yields Mixed Results.
The Dallas Morning News (8/3, Weiss) reports that the results of Texas’ formula measuring “whether students who fail the TAKS tests are likely to pass in the future” are mixed. The formula was effective in “predicting which schools and school districts should have received the benefit of the” Texas Projection Measure “in their 2009 accountability ratings.” But, it failed “one-third of the time” to predict “whether a student who failed one of eight TAKS tests in 2009 would pass in 2010.” The Projection Measure, introduced last year, allows schools “to take credit for students who failed but are predicted to pass” for accountability ratings, and aims to “reward schools for improvement.”

Many High School Students In Georgia Graduate Despite Failing Exit Exam.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/3, Badertscher) reports that since 2004, Georgia “has required students to pass the Georgia High School Graduation Test in either their junior or senior years in order to graduate.” Currently, nearly 80 percent “of all students who start ninth grade are eligible” to graduate. A provision in the law “has allowed 2,896 students to graduate, even though they didn’t pass the five-part test of their math, science, social studies, writing and English language arts skills.” The State Board of Education is looking at ways “to further expand the opportunities for students to obtain variances.”

Middle School STEM Academy Offers Eco-Architecture, Mars Settlement Activities.
Louisiana’s Daily Advertiser (8/2) reported on the Science Technology Engineering and Math academy at N.P. Moss Middle School. The academy “is now an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate school, which provides a stronger emphasis on student involvement in lessons, focuses on hands-on projects and relates academics to the real world.” It also “incorporates the arts and foreign language.” The article notes, “Using the IB method, students in the STEM academy can participate in activities such as designing a building using eco-architecture, discovering problems and solutions to creating a settlement on Mars and study environmental regulations.” An official said the academy “can prepare students for any of our nine high school career academies.”

On the Job
Hawaii Teachers To Furlough Professional Development, Not Instructional Days This Year.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (8/2, Vorsino) reported that school begins this week in Hawaii and teachers “are looking forward to no longer having to teach around furlough days, which forced them last year to cram lessons into shorter periods,” and “scale back on other activities.” This school year will have “178 instructional days, up from 163 last year, when students lost 17 days to” furloughs. But even though “furloughs on instructional days are over, teachers will still be furloughed this year on” six to ten days designated for professional development. Also “this year, NCLB math and reading proficiency benchmarks rise after remaining the same for three years.” The new targets “come as Hawaii public schools are also moving to tougher curriculum standards, which will be formally adopted statewide in 2011.”

Texas Has Too Few Minority Teachers, Experts Say.
The Dallas Morning News (8/3, Stutz) reports that as “Texas’ minority student enrollment continues to surge…the state’s teacher corps isn’t keeping pace,” leaving many students “without the role models experts believe would help them achieve more.” Throughout the state, “more than 62 percent of students are minorities,” but “the teacher pool was 22 percent Hispanic and 9.6 percent black last year.” Ed Fuller of the University Council for Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin said that Texas does not try hard enough “to get more minority college graduates into the classroom.” The Dallas Morning News points to research indicating that minority and non-minority students perform “better on state tests with teachers of their own race.”

New Jersey Educator Evaluation System To Utilize Student Test Scores.
The NJ Spotlight (8/3, Mooney) reports, “Detailed in its application for federal Race to the Top money,” New Jersey’s new system to evaluate public school educators “would include for the first time using student achievement measures like test scores to judge teachers and administrators across the state. The system will also include measures of agreed-upon ‘effective practices.’” According to NJ Spotlight, “The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s dominant teachers union, is cautious about what may come out of the project, especially if there is heavy emphasis on standardized test scores.”

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Law & Policy
Michigan Supreme Court Says Teachers Can Sue School District Over Student Discipline.
The AP (8/3, White) reports, “The Michigan Supreme Court has…loosened the standard for people who want to file some civil lawsuits.” Overruling decision by the former majority in 2001, justices said Monday that “Lansing teachers had a right to sue the school district over how it disciplined students.” The “four teachers and their union, citing state law, sued the Lansing School District, saying it should have automatically expelled four students, not suspended them, for” violent assaults on teachers. Lower courts “said school boards had discretion in how to handle students and teachers had no standing to sue.” But Supreme Court Justice Michael Cavanagh wrote in an opinion that “The statute is intended to not only make the general school environment safer but additionally to specifically protect teachers from assault and to assist them in more effectively performing their jobs.”

Massachusetts District Officials To Decide On Pledge Recital Policy.
The Boston Globe (8/3, Parker) reports that the School Committee for Arlington, Massachusetts, on Tuesday will decide “on a proposal that would ensure that every student has the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance each day in school.” Under the proposed policy, school principals would have to ensure “that students have the opportunity to say the pledge, but no students for faculty would be required to say the pledge.” The issue was brought up by a high school senior who “asked the School Committee in June to require that the pledge be led in all Arlington schools so students would have the opportunity to participate in a daily recitation,” the Globe adds.

Immigration Law May Have Contributed To Lower Enrollments In Some Arizona Districts.
The AP (8/2) reported that Arizona’s “immigration law may be a contributing factor to reduced school enrollment” in the Phoenix Balsz Elementary School District and the Chandler Unified School District, some officials say. Phoenix Balsz has lost 500 students this year and Chandler enrollment “is down by about 100 students.”

Nevada District Braces For Increased Enrollment Due To Arizona Immigration Law. The Las Vegas Sun (8/2, Richmond) reported, “Arizona’s incendiary immigration law has” education leaders in Clark County, NV “keeping a close eye on enrollment for the upcoming academic year because of the potential influx of students fleeing the Grand Canyon State.” The new law, which has yet to be fully implemented due to a federal court order, “would require Arizona police officers to verify the immigration status of anyone believed to be in the United States illegally.” According to the Sun, “It’s too early to tell whether families with school-age children will leave Arizona, particularly because a federal judge last week suspended the more severe elements of the law.”

California BOE Votes To Adopt National Standards.
The Los Angeles Times (8/3, Blume) reports that the California BOE “unanimously adopted common national academic standards” which “are to ultimately supplant California’s current academic framework, which is widely viewed as among the best in the nation, although the same cannot be said of the results in the classroom.” The Times adds that the vote by the California board “enhances the state’s chances in its bid” for Race to the Top funding, and the “decision before the California board went right to the wire, with a federal deadline set for 1:30 p.m.” on Monday “for states to vote on the standards, to qualify for added points in the Race to the Top competition.”

The AP (8/3) adds that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “praised the board’s unanimous vote Monday saying the standard’s ‘maintain California’s high expectations and our belief that every student is capable of success in the classroom.’ … The board also voted to direct the state Education Department to create an implementation plan.”

The Sacramento Bee (8/2, Lambert) added that California “school trustees praised the standards, which were molded to California’s standards by a commission over six days last month. They said the standards are more focused than the previous standards and teach critical thinking instead of memorization.” Catherine Gewertz also covered this story in a blog for Education Week (8/2).

Also in the News
Increasing Numbers Of Minority Families Homeschooling, Researchers Say.
Louisiana Weekly (8/3, Sundaram) reports that “as California’s public schools buckle under the weight of the state’s catastrophic budget problems, more and more parents” are homeschooling their children. And, according to Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Fund (HSLDF), “a lot of Black and Hispanic students are home-educated.” Researchers say that African-Americans are “the fastest-growing minority in the home-school movement.” In immigrant communities, says Loren Mavromati of the California Home School Network, more parents would likely home school, except for the fact that many “don’t want their children to miss out on the opportunity to learn English.” In 2009, a National Home Education Re­search Institute study showed that “home schooling is growing at about seven percent a year” nationwide. But, since “home schooling is loosely regulated” in most states, “exact figures are hard to come by.”

Salt Lake City Schools Shuts Down Some Free Meal Sites Due To Theft.
The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune (8/3, Schencker) reports that the Salt Lake City School District this week “closed 10 sites that serve free lunches to kids after catalytic converters were stolen from 19 district delivery vehicles during the weekend.” Even though “families who showed up to the closed sites were re-directed to open ones,” the district does not know “how many families and kids might have missed the lunches despite the re-direction.” Officer Gary Keller of the South Salt Lake Police Department said that “catalytic converters are often stolen and sold to scrap metal dealers because they contain platinum.” Repairs for the vehicles are estimates at “more than $9,000.”

Auditors Find No Fault With Florida’s Standardized Tests.
The Orlando Sentinel (8/5, Postal) reports that two outside auditors have found that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) this year “was a well-designed series of exams with data that fit within historical patterns.” In light of those assessments, State Education Commissioner Eric Smith told school superintendents in a conference call on Wednesday that the test “was ‘high-quality,’ and its results are accurate.” Two companies were chosen “to audit the FCAT last month after five school superintendents questioned ‘anomalies’ with this year’s test results,” the Sentinel notes.

Florida’s Ledger (8/5, Green) reports FCAT results were released in June and “were independently confirmed by The Buros Center for Testing.” The two “additional independent reviews were conducted” after “concerns were raised by five of the state’s largest school districts.” The Miami Herald (8/4, McGrory) reported that “most districts said the percentage of fourth- and fifth-graders making improvements had tumbled — a statistical anomaly on such a large scale.” But, auditors “found the variations to be within normal ranges.”

The St. Petersburg Times (8/5, Solochek) notes that the state hired the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment to review “the design of the test” and determine “the validity of the FCAT, with a particular focus on Grades 3, 4, and 5 reading and mathematics for 2007 through 2010.”

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In the Classroom
High School Students Developing Online Education Program For Somalia.
The Washington Post (8/5, Hobbs) reports on Bashir Warsame and Sahnun Mohamud, two students at Annandale High School in Virginia who “are working to establish an educational program in the West African coastal nation of Somalia, the birthplace of their parents and home to many of their relatives. The venture, Wake Up Somalia, seeks to help reestablish the country’s education system, which has been fractured by civil war.” The two students’ program “will consist of an online curriculum of math, science, reading and writing,” and they “hope to establish their first two pilot schools in September 2011. They also are raising money to buy laptops and projectors, which will be shipped to schools in the country” so that “lessons could be shared in class.”

Number Of Michigan Schools Making AYP On The Rise.
The AP (8/5) reports that more public schools in Michigan are “making progress toward meeting academic performance goals…for the third consecutive year, according to a report by the Michigan Department of Education released on Wednesday. The DOE examined “progress for the 2009-10 school year” and “found 86 percent of the state’s K-12 schools made progress the last school year, up from 80 percent in 2007-08.” Moreover, the “report also showed an 11 percentage-point increase — from 70.9 percent to 81.9 percent — in the number of high schools” making AYP.

The Detroit News (8/5, Schultz, Wilkinson) notes that “for the first time since 2006, Detroit Public Schools, “Michigan’s largest district with about 87,000 students” made AYP “this year as a district.” The Detroit Free Press (8/4, Walsh-Sarnecki) also covers this story.

On the Job
Teachers Agree To Forgo Six Days’ Pay To Save Eight Jobs.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (8/4, Ruttan) reported that the North Santiam Education Association has agreed to a plan under which teachers “will give up six days’ pay to save eight and a half jobs.” In addition, “teachers with fewer than 15 years of experience in their total career in education will receive their step increases,” but those “with more seniority will not get step raises.” As a result of the deal, only 3.5 jobs will be cut in the North Santiam School District schools this year.

More Districts Nationwide Experimenting With Single-Sex Schools.
The Washington Post Magazine (8/5, Houppert) reports, “The boys and girls at Imagine Southeast Public Charter School” in DC “are part of a national experiment in public schools: single-sex education. While a debate rages about the potential merits and dangers of separating students during the school day based on gender, two-year-old Imagine is one of at least four publicly funded schools in the District, a smattering of public schools in Maryland and Virginia, and a profusion of public schools across the country.” The Post adds that the “surge in these schools followed new rules the Education Department published in 2006 allowing for single-sex classes.”

Law & Policy
Jobs Bill Preventing Teacher Layoffs Reportedly Near Approval.
The AP (8/5, Taylor) reports, “The votes of a couple of GOP moderates are expected to help keep legislation on track that would provide billions to save the jobs of teachers and other public workers.” The legislation “would help states ease their severe budget problems and, advocates say, stop the layoffs of perhaps 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees.” The Los Angeles Times (8/5, Mascaro) reports that the Senate “is scheduled to give its final approval to the bill” today.

The New York Times (8/5, Herszenhorn, 1.09M) reports that President Obama “praised the Senate’s action, saying in a statement that it would save teacher jobs and ensure ‘cash-strapped states can get the relief they need.’” Politico (8/5, Rogers), meanwhile, notes that US Education Secretary Arne Duncan “has been a sometimes lonely voice in support of the teacher aid within the administration.”

Bill Could Cost Texas More Than $800 Million In Education Funds. The AP (8/5, Castro) reports that a provision in the legislation “would require Texas to maintain state education spending levels through 2013.” But according to state officials — including Gov. Rick Perry (R) — that requirement would keep Texas from getting “more than $800 million in federal money for its schools,” because the state’s Constitution “prohibits the governor from committing to future legislative spending.” The AP adds that according to NEA estimates, “$800 million would help save nearly 13,400 jobs in Texas education.”

Wisconsin District Drops Indian Mascot.
Wisconsin’s Journal-Sentinel (8/4, Richards) reports that Wisconsin’s new law allowing “the state superintendent of public instruction to order schools to drop race-based mascots found to be discriminatory is having a ripple effect across the state.” The Mukwonago School District, which has the Indians as its mascot, “will likely face a hearing on the matter in the coming weeks.” Meanwhile, on Tuesday, “the Kewaunee School District near Green Bay dropped its mascot, also the Indians, before a hearing on the issue scheduled for today.”

The Green Bay (WI) Press (8/4, Zarling) reported that officials in the Kewaunee School District said that “although they felt no malice was intended by the name, they weren’t confident it was a battle they could win.” They made the decision to drop the name “after meeting with legal counsel.” School Board President Brian Vogeltanz said that the decision “allows the district to maintain better local control over a new team name, as well as the history of the old nickname.” He pointed out, however, that it will cost about $10,000 for the district to “paint logos and names, buy new uniforms…and take down some signs.”

WLUK-TV Green Bay (8/5, DeVries) questions the legality of how the Kewaunee school board “decided to abandon” the old mascot. Board President Brian Vogeltanz is quoted saying, “There was no school board meeting. … They had just given me the authority to contact the attorney and seek legal advice about this in the past, and we’re operating off of that.” Mary Gerbig, an attorney for the district said that the school board “knew about, and supported, the board president’s efforts on this issue as he worked with legal counsel to prepare for the DPI hearing.” But, according to Bob Dreps of the firm Godfrey & Kahn, “A governmental body like a school board cannot make substantive decisions without a motion.”

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Special Needs
Lawmakers In Texas Consider Education Options For Autistic Students.
The Texas Tribune (8/4, Ergenbright) reported that “the number of children believed to be autistic has skyrocketed in Texas and worldwide.” Data from the Texas Education Agency shows that “the quality of Texas special education programs for autistic students runs the gamut, and the number of autistic students in classrooms decreases as children get older.” Currently, policymakers and educators are focusing on “how to best educate [autistic] students and how to pay for” that education. One idea lawmakers are considering is “building charter schools for special ed students and integrating them into existing campuses.” A variation of this would be to place “autism charter schools on state university campuses, where they could draw on university money, staff, and expertise.”

School Finance
Iowa Governor Seeks Four Percent Increase In Education Spending In 2012.
Staci Hupp posts at the Des Moines (IA) Register (8/4) “Iowa Politics Insider” blog that Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) announced Wednesday that he wants to increase school spending in 2012 by four percent. The increase “could add up to more than $100 million.” Culver also “repeated his plan to expand public preschool to every Iowa 4-year-old whose family wants it.”

The Quad-City (IA) Times (8/5, Boshart) reports that in a speech to the Iowa State Education Association and others Wednesday, Culver “also pledged support for…raising graduation rates for minority students, eliminating the so-called ‘achievement gap’ by improving curriculum, programs and instruction, boosting professional development, and emphasizing money management for Iowa students.” He also noted that the four percent “in ‘allowable growth’ funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2011″ would have a price tag ranging “between $300 million and $400 million.” The Mason City (IA) Globe (8/5, Boshart) also covers the story.

Schools In Oklahoma Find “Creative” Ways To Limit Spending On Sports.
The Oklahoman (8/5, Przybylo) reported on “creative” ways school districts in the state have found to adjust sports programs in order to reduce spending. This year Oklahoma City Public Schools must “cut $17 million from its budget.” The district still plans to “pay for transportation and security at” sports events “but is not buying any uniforms this year.” Meanwhile, Tulsa Public Schools “is combining boys and girls basketball coaching jobs into one position,” to save about “$80,000 in stipends and utilities.”

Also in the News
Girl Scouts Placing Priority On Introductions To STEM Careers.
Tampa Bay Online (8/5, Spann) reports, “Girl Scouts may be known for cookies and camping, but careers for the girls are also a priority. The Girl Scouts organization is placing a priority on introducing the girls to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers.” To that end, “a recent summer camp called Minds for Design” had girls “building electrical circuits for devices like a doorbell or electric fan.” The article notes that “only 27percent of current STEM-related jobs are held by women, and the Girl Scouts is hoping to increase that number by highlighting female role models who have already blazed a path in these careers.” An official with the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida noted that the organization “has been making STEM a priority for the past 20 years.”

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NEA in the News
Seattle Education Association Says Teacher Evaluation Plan Would Cost $3.9 Million.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (8/‎5, Rolph) reports that this week, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson sent teachers an email detailing the district’s proposed teacher evaluation system. The plan is to roll out a “four-tier evaluation system…over two years.” Teachers would be able to choose to be evaluated based on “student growth outcomes and peer and student feedback.” Those who do “would be eligible for…an immediate 1 percent pay increase” and other perks. But, the Seattle Education Association said in a letter, “The truth is [the plan] will cost over $3.9 million dollars over the next four years” and that money “does not include any of the stipends for career ladders, stipends for working in low performing schools, or the 1 percent increase for opting in to the program.”

US Department Of Education Names Investing In Innovation Grant Winners.
The New York Times (8/6, A12, Dillon) reports that the Education Department has announced winners of its $650 million Investing in Innovation grant competition. School districts and nonprofit groups throughout the nation received small grants totaling $455 million. The remainder went to higher education programs, charter schools, teacher recruiting programs, and other organizations.

The Miami Herald (8/6, McGrory) reportsthat “a project to train master teachers in Miami-Dade County was among the big winners this week of a national competition for federal education dollars. The Florida Master Teacher Initiative — a joint effort of the Miami-Dade school district, the University of Florida and The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation — beat out more than 1,600 applicants nationwide for a share of the grant money.” The Herald adds, “‘We were really struck by the number of high-quality applicants and winners who were not among the usual suspects,’ Assistant Deputy Education Department Secretary Jim Shelton said.”

The Seattle Times (8/6) reports, “The Bellevue (WA) School District was awarded $4 million in federal grant money by the Education Department this week as part of the Investing in Innovation program, or I3. The school district was among just 49 applicants chosen out of nearly 1,700 applicants.”

The Oregonian (8/6, Navas) reports, “The Beaverton [OR] School District is one of 49 finalists nationwide in the running for highly coveted federal grant money that will allow it to use arts education to boost student achievement, particularly among its high needs students. The district would receive $4 million over the next five years to fund the Arts for Learning Lessons Project.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (8/6, Rujumba) and the Denver Post (8/6, Meyer) also report on winning programs.

Utah School Districts Loses Out On Grant. The Salt Lake Tribune (8/6, Schencker) reports, “A coalition of 18 Utah rural school districts that had hoped to win $30 million to support computer-adaptive testing is out of the running for those dollars for this year.” According to the Tribune, “The Utah coalition of 18 rural districts, two elementary schools and three charter schools, was not on the list of potential winners. The coalition had applied for $30 million to implement and support computer-adaptive tests, which change in difficulty as students take them to help educators pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses.”

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In the Classroom
“Engineering Is Elementary” Encourages Trial-And-Error Method To Find Technical Solutions.
The Carolina Weekly (8/6, Roberson) reports that several educators in the North Carolina’s ­Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district have expressed interest “in using the Engineering Is Elementary curriculum during the 2010-11 academic year.” The curriculum “teaches students about the engineering field and related technology concepts” through problem solving, trial-and-error, and hands-on activities. “The students try out their solutions, observe what has happened and modify their ideas.” According to Liz Parry, director of K-16 STEM Partnership Development at N.C. State’s College of Engineering, “the curriculum taps into students’ natural desire to solve problems.” Said Perry, “It really humanizes engineering. We are accessing in these kids an innate ability to look at a problem, think of several different solutions and devise ways to solve a problem.”

Baltimore Schools CEO Says AYP Targets Do Not Reflect Progress.
The Baltimore Sun (8/6, Green) reports that this year, 60 percent of elementary and middle schools in Baltimore, Maryland, did not may Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). But, according to schools CEO Andrés Alonso, AYP “targets are far from the strongest method for determining a school’s successes and shortfalls.” He explained, “It’s a perverse conversation, because schools can be improving and not make AYP and other schools can be declining and still make AYP. … It focuses school attention only on the tested subjects as part of the push for accountability.” Alonso predicts that soon, education reform will “overshadow AYP” by tying “accountability to progress for individual students.”

School Officials In Austin, Texas, Pleased With Progress, Despite Failure To Meet AYP. Texas’ American-Statesman (8/6, Taboada) reports that the Austin public school district has, “for the second consecutive year…failed to meet” AYP. Special education students were the main group needing improvement. Still, Austin’s “results were better than in 2008,” showing some progress. Bill Caritj, the district’s chief performance officer, said that officials have “been very pleased with the results.” He acknowledged, however, “There’s still a lot of work to do, and we’re still not satisfied with the gains of some schools.”

Building Robots Helps Students Retain STEM Learning, Officials Say.
In a story titled “Building Robots Help Students Retain Information,” WJZ-TV Baltimore (8/5, Barnett) reported on the summer STEM Academy started by Baltimore City Public Schools with the help of federal stimulus funds. “School leaders say robot parts, a remote control and a little competition keep middle school students interested in science, technology, engineering and math classes.” Over the course of five weeks, middle schoolers “complete math courses in the morning and then in the evening, they take what they learn and apply it to robots.” Then, “they battle it out in the summer VEX Competition.” Officials said that in addition to engaging students, “by building robots, students remember the math and science they learn over the summer, making them ready for the new school year.”

On the Job
Some Superintendents In Florida Seek Delay In Release Of School Grades.
The St. Petersburg Times (8/6, Mitchell) reports that on Thursday, some Florida school superintendents “raised strong objections…to the release of school grades planned for today.” They said that “recent state audits of questionable” standardized test “results [were] insufficient.” Hillsborough County superintendent Mary Ellen Elia told the St. Petersburg Times, “We’re very concerned that the accuracy of the Florida accountability system be maintained as fair and reliable.” Throughout the state more than half of all “school districts reported finding statistical anomalies within Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test data.”

The Miami Herald (8/6)‎ reports that State Education Commissioner Eric Smith “has expressed confidence in the scores. A news conference announcing this year’s grades is scheduled for” this afternoon.

Review Shows Lax Investigation Into Test Fraud At Some Atlanta Schools.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/5 Judd, Vogell) reported that the commission “chosen by Atlanta’s school system gave only cursory attention to evidence suggesting extensive cheating on standardized tests in more than half the 58 schools they examined,” a Journal-Constitution review shows. After studying “questionable gains on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT),” the commission this week reported “that alleged cheating seemed to permeate just 12 Atlanta schools, rather than the 58 — more than half the schools in the district — state officials flagged last winter.” But, according to the review, “the Atlanta commission did little to investigate 17 of the 43 schools where state officials had found excessive erasures on test papers” and at some schools “investigators spoke to as few as two staff members.”

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Law & Policy
Senate Approves Bill Aimed At Preventing Teacher Layoffs.
The AP (8/6, Taylor) reports, “Congress is moving rapidly just weeks before the start of the school year to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of reversing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers.” The AP adds that “some $10 billion in aid to school districts is set to flow after a 61-39 Senate vote Thursday — to be followed quickly by a House vote next week — in hopes that it will come in time for many school districts to reconsider teacher layoffs.” The New York Times (8/6, Hulse) notes, that the $10 billion is meant “to retain teachers who might otherwise lose jobs to cutbacks.”

Education Week (8/5, Klein) reports that language in the bill specifies “that the money would have to be used for salaries, benefits, and support services for school staff.” School systems “also could use it to recall or rehire former staff members, or to bring on new employees for K-12 schools and early childhood programs.”

The Los Angeles Times (8/6, Mascaro) reports that “the bill is paid for by the food stamp cuts, closing foreign tax loopholes, eliminating advance filing of a low-income tax credit that President Obama had sought to end, and trims in various other government programs.” The Christian Science Monitor (8/6, Khadaroo), Washington Times (8/6, McLaughlin, Bloomberg News (8/6, Faler), Reuters (8/6, Lambert, Cowan) and KGO-TV San Francisco (8/5, Ishimaru) also covered this story.

Texas Official Threatens Legal Action Over Provision In Jobs Bill. Texas’ Star-Telegram (8/5, Montgomery) reported that Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) on Thursday threatened “legal action against the federal government if the House upholds” a “mandate on education funding” passed by the US Senate this week. The Star Telegram added that “the provision applies only to Texas and was crafted by Texas Democrats in Congress” to make sure that $800 million in federal funds for education are not “diverted to other purposes.” Dewhurst and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) say that the provision does not comply with state law and would cause Texas to lose out on the $800 million.

Senate Approves Additional $4.5 Billion For Child Nutrition.
The Washington Post (8/6, Black) reports, “The Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Thursday, a bill that provides an additional $4.5 billion over 10 years to federal child nutrition programs including school lunch. If signed into law, it will be the first time that the federal government has increased funding for the programs in 30 years.” First Lady Michelle Obama had urged senators to pass the bill, and “in a statement released” on Thursday afternoon, she “commended the Senate for its leadership,” saying, “While childhood obesity cannot be solved overnight, with everyone working together, there’s no question that it can be solved — and today’s vote moves us one step closer to reaching that goal.”

The Los Angeles Times (8/6, Mascaro) reports, “The bill would continue existing school nutrition programs that expire at the end of the federal fiscal year Sept. 30,” and “would enable school cafeterias to overhaul their menus and provide updated, healthier choices, supporters said.” The Tribune adds that Mrs. Obama, “who has made childhood nutrition a signature issue, called the bill ‘a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will help us provide healthier school meals to children across America, and will play an integral role in our efforts to combat childhood obesity.’” The AP (8/6, Jalonick) and Politico (8/6, Phillip) also cover this story.

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Thousands Attend Dallas Mayor’s Back-To-School Fair.
The Dallas Morning News (8/6) reports that Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert on Thursday, held his annual Back-to-School Fair at Fair Park. According to the Morning News, “thousands of parents” attended the event that featured “Clowns, jugglers, balloon artists and mascots from area businesses and sports teams.” School supplies were handed out at the event, which also had “booths for free medical, dental and vision screenings, immunizations and haircuts for school-age children.” Said Leppert, “We want to start the kids with a base for a successful year. The basic school supplies are so important and things a lot of people take for granted.”

Student Killed In Two-Bus Crash On I-44.
The New York Times (8/6, Robbins) reported on a highway collision that occurred on Thursday morning involving “two school buses carrying high school band members.” The buses “crashed into a tractor trailer cab and a pickup truck as they were traveling” on I-44 near Gray Summit, Missouri.

The AP (8/6) reports that the two buses “slammed into a freeway wreck that happened right in front of them, crushing a pickup truck and killing its driver and one of the students.” More than 40 more students “were taken to hospitals,” but most did not have life-threatening injuries. According to Highway Patrol Cpl. Jeff Wilson, the first bus crashed after the driver “moved into the passing lane to give a distressed vehicle in the shoulder more room.” The driver “was checking her rearview mirror while returning to the right-hand lane when she noticed the first impact but could not stop in time, hitting the pickup.” Then, “the second bus then rear-ended the first, vaulting the first bus onto the top of the pickup, which was crushed.”

USA Today (8/6, Bello) reports that “the buses were carrying band students to Six Flags amusement park in St. Louis to celebrate the coming school year.” It also notes that both of the people killed in the accident were teenagers.

Bus Safety Expert Says Seat Belts Could Have Prevented Serious Injuries. KTVI-TV St. Louis, Missouri (8/6) reports that according to Dr. Alan Ross, president of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, “seat-belts would have made the injuries” in the school bus crash “less severe.” According to KTVI, Ross — who has been following the story — said he believes money and politics are the main “reasons why states don’t require seat belts.”

Down Economy Brings Instability To Teaching Profession.
The Chicago Tribune (8/9, Rubin) reports, “Illinois’ budget woes threw schools into a firing frenzy last spring, and many educators remain in layoff limbo. Other teachers have a job but are dreading a year of larger class sizes – followed by what is expected to be years more of budget cutting.” According to the Tribune, “The whole notion of teaching being a profession where you could find a job, earn a comfortable paycheck, get tenure and retire with a tidy pension is changing, experts say.”

Competition Is High For Teaching Jobs In Vermont. Vermont’s Times Argus (8/8, Kumka) reported that in Vermont, “competition is high for teaching jobs.” The Times Argus cites several reasons for this, including late retirement for “teachers in their 60s” who are either waiting “to get better insurance benefits from the state or because they can’t afford to retire in the current economy.” School administrators said that this year, “they are receiving hundreds of applications, mainly from out-of-work teachers.” And, they said that many of the applicants have “more qualifications” than applicants in the past. According to a spokesperson for the Vermont-National Education Association, teaching in the state is still “more secure than in other states where teachers are being laid off in great numbers or threatened with deep cuts in their pensions or benefits.”

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In the Classroom
Arizona School Districts Expanding Online Course Offerings.
The Arizona Republic (8/8) reported that in March 2009, “more than 17,800 students were enrolled full time in an online class” throughout Arizona. Education officials in the state are continuing to expand online learning. Recently, the State BOE “approved applications from 20 districts that will begin offering online classes as early as this academic year.” The Arizona Republic noted that a new survey by Blackboard Inc. and Project Tomorrow shows that students sometimes prefer online classes because they are able “to work at their own pace and personalize their learning.” Students also go online for “classes not offered at their school” or classes that do not fit into their schedule of face-to-face classes.

New Jersey District Fights Grade Inflation By Eliminating D’s.
The New York Times (8/8, Hu) reported that New Jersey’s Mount Olive School District has eliminated the D grade. Now, students can only earn A’s, B’s, C’s, and F’s. The move, according to Superintendent Larrie Reynolds, is “a way to raise the bar and motivate students to work harder.” The Times points out that even though “few high schools have banned D’s outright as Mount Olive has, some have sought to tamp down grade inflation by quietly tightening their standards over the years.” Some schools, “for instance, have raised the minimum for D’s to 70, which is traditionally the C-minus range.” In Mount Olive, students who fail a test or assignment will have the opportunity “to repeat the work for a C.” Those who fail a class will be able to attend evening school for a fee.

New Fitness Programs Aims To Curb Obesity Among DC Students.
The Washington Post (8/8, Seiss) reported, “The days of students fretting over being the last one picked during volleyball or the first one tagged in dodge ball are fading in many D.C. area schools as physical education classes…focus more on individual fitness, personal growth and development.” Via the Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) program, “all of the District’s schools will receive a new physical education curriculum with age-appropriate fitness lessons and activities, on-site teacher training and equipment: jump ropes, Frisbees, hula hoops and balls, as well as parachutes, rhythm sticks and juggling scarves. .. School officials said their goal is to help reduce the increasing number of children who are overweight, which is in line with the Healthy Schools Act, passed this year by the D.C. City Council and signed into law by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.”

Observers Say New York’s High Standards Result In Average Test Scores.
The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal (8/8, Davis) reported that even though New York “spends more per pupil than any state in the nation,” its “students score in the middle of the pack or below when their state test scores are compared with the 49 other states.” Some observers say that one reason for this is that New York’s standardized test is more difficult than those of other states. The Poughkeepsie Journal points out, for instance, that the state’s special education “standards exceed those of the federal government,” and high school seniors must “to graduate with a Regents diploma.”

Refugee Students In Dallas Resist Reassignment To Overage School.
The Dallas Morning News (8/8, Hobbs) reported that about “500 students in the Dallas Independent School District” (DISD) “are slated to attend a new school for” students who are much older than the students “at regular campuses.” The overage school, “district officials say…will better address the needs of older students, such as providing flexible schedules.” The reassigned students include some refugees who say that the switch to a new school “brings yet more challenges to their lives.” Rob Mezger of Refugee Services of Texas said that “refugees like to stay within their comfort zones in their new community.” He explained that “when they have to leave that area, it’s a foreign country again.”

After-School Robotics Program Persists, Despite Challenges.
The Arizona Republic (8/9, Ruelas) reported a lengthy profile of Faridodin Lajvardi, a marine science teacher at Carl Hayden Community High School, and the work he does leading the school’s robotics club. “Lajvardi has worked late most nights during the nearly two decades he has run the program. His teams have won numerous awards, including a national prize considered the highest distinction in robotics.” The team competes in the FIRST competitions each year, as well as other events. The article details the challenges of running a robotics club in “a school where nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches,” chronicling the team’s journey last year when they competed in Breakaway.

Virginia To Use Last Year’s AYP Targets To Mark School Progress This Year.
The Richmond (VA)Times-Dispatch (8/8, Pounds) reported that the Virginia Education Department announced recently that the state has been granted “permission to use last year’s goals as targets for school progress this year under the No Child Left Behind Act.” Under normal circumstances, AYP “benchmarks increase each year by 4 percentage points.” But this year, Virginia schools that “exceed last year’s goals by just a fraction of a point” will meet AYP. The Times-Dispatch noted that “it is not unusual for the federal government to allow states to adjust AYP goals,” but “this is the first time that Virginia had requested it.”

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On the Job
Grant Helps District Provide Teachers With Extra STEM Training.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/8, Pikulsky) reported, “Ringgold School District is one of several benefiting from a grant that will help elementary and middle school math teachers receive more training throughout the year.” The STEM education initiative “is part of a program designed to encourage cooperative efforts among teachers on varying educational levels.” Ringgold assistant superintendent Karen Polkabla “said the training should help improve Ringgold’s math scores on state standardized tests.” Polkabla said, “A lot of students have math anxiety, because they’re just fearful of it. We just wanted to do this to better prepare our teachers to work with the students. I think it will be very helpful.” She added that “giving the teachers a chance to network with college professors will provide extra perspective.”

Florida District Begins Teacher Evaluation Revamp Under Gates Foundation Grant.
The St. Petersburg Times (8/8, Marshall) reported that starting this fall, the Hillsborough County school district will “revamp teacher evaluation” with a $100 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The district “will launch a system” that rewards effective teachers and helps “struggling teachers succeed.” Over the summer, “principals and their assistants — along with a corps of 120 peer evaluators and mentors drawn from the teaching ranks” — were trained on the new evaluation system. Throughout the school year, they will “observe, mentor and rate every teacher in the district.” Those ratings, “along with student test scores, will help determine which teachers get tenure, promotions, or pink slips, and will eventually place them on a new salary scale,” the St. Petersburg Times added.

Experienced Teachers Sought Out For Three Turnaround Schools In Boston.
The New York Times (8/9, Winerip, A9) reports that three turnaround schools in Boston are using a new program “to assemble teams of experienced teachers who will make up a quarter of the staff of each” school this fall. Teach Plus, a nonprofit organization funded by the Gates Foundation will put the teams together. “While teaching a full load,” the selected teachers “will serve as team leaders for their grades and specialty areas like English immersion.” And instead of working 185 days a year, they will work “210 days…and get paid $6,000 extra.”

Law & Policy
Race To The Top Spurring Unprecedented Education Reforms.
McClatchy Newspapers (8/8, Yadron) reported, “When Education Secretary Arne Duncan inserted a half-page program description into the economic stimulus act last year, few except top Democratic leaders knew that it would create Race to the Top, a multibillion-dollar sweepstakes to overhaul US schools that gave Duncan’s department unprecedented power.” According to McClatchy, “With only $4.3 billion – less than 1 percent of federal, state and local education dollars – Race to the Top is one of many small, relatively inexpensive projects that lawmakers plopped into the recovery act.” However, via Race to the Top, Duncan “arguably got more states to buy his brand of change in 18 months than any other US school chief had in the Cabinet-level Education Department’s 29-year history.”

School Finance
Mobile County, Alabama, Asks BP To Build It A New CTE School.
Alabama’s Press-Register (8/9, Philips) reports from Mobile, “Expecting a loss in tax revenue because of the oil spill, Mobile County school officials are getting in line with business owners, fishermen, government agencies and others who are asking BP PLC for money.” School system officials “have said they might be satisfied if BP would step up and build the stand-alone, career-technical academy that local officials have wanted for years but have been unable to afford,” adding that the move “would be a good public relations move on the part of BP.” A new CTE school would cost an estimated $15-20 million. “Although the school would accept students countywide, board President Bill Meredith has suggested that it be built in south Mobile County, where the spill has thrown many fishermen and others out of work.”

More Money Needed For Education Of Native American Students, Tribal Leaders Say.
The AP (8/7, Brokaw) reported, “American Indian students could achieve more academically if their crumbling schools are fixed, more money is provided for teachers and supplies and tribes gain more control of what happens in classrooms, tribal officials said Friday at a congressional hearing. … Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., held a field hearing on Indian education on behalf of the House Natural Resources Committee, which deals with Native American issues.” According to the AP, “Representatives of many tribes said schools need to teach more native language and culture, which would help build the self-esteem needed to reduce teenage suicide and also motivate students to learn more in traditional academic courses.”

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Laptop Initiative Helping Change Students’ Attitudes Toward Education In Rwanda.
The Miami Herald (8/7, Whitefield) reported that the Miami-based One Laptop Per Child Association has distributed 65,000 laptops to children in Rwanda and plans to send another 40,000 to the nation. “The association handles logistics, finances and training for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation” (OLPC). So far, OLPC has distributed about 85 percent of its computers to children in Latin America, with Peru receiving the largest shipment of about 450,000 computers, with another 300,000 on the way. In Rwanda, “the computers are changing children’s attitude toward school,” according to OLPC Country Manager Samuel Dusengiyumva. Last month, he showed a video “to local business executives” of children using their laptops to perform “Google searches and peer at a map of Africa on their computer screens. Some don’t even stop using the machines as they walk home from school,” said Dusengiyumva.

NEA in the News
Teachers’ Unions Are “Leaders In Education Reform,” Union President Says.
Karen Aronowitz, president of the United Teachers of Dade, wrote in an opinion piece for the Miami Herald (8/8), “It is with dismay that I listen to the relentless attacks against public school teachers and their unions.” She attempts to “set the record straight” by pointing out ways in which “teachers’ unions lead the way in educational reform initiatives.” The NEA, for instance, “has grants that support feeding children in our schools, understanding that hunger is a factor in children’s learning.” Moreover, NEA president Dennis Van Roekel “has continued reform initiatives that include Read Across America, an effort that aims to make reading a joy for our students.” Aronowitz concludes that “teachers and their unions are not standing in the way” of reform. Instead, they “are leaders in educational reform.”

Leading the News
Illinois Law Will Establish Anonymous Hotline For Reporting School Violence.
The Chicago Sun-Times (8/10, Janssen) reports that reports that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed into law on Monday legislation that establishes a hotline for students to anonymously “tip police off about after-school fights and other violence.” The law is aimed at breaking “the code of silence protecting gang members and [helping] prevent shootings and fights like those that claimed the lives of” two high school students within the past year.

Monique Garcia wrote in the Chicago Tribune “Clout Street” blog that under the new law, the Chicago Board of Education will “work with city police to create the hotline by January.” All calls, though anonymous, “must be recorded by police, who also are charged with investigating the tips. Information about the hot line, including the yet-to-be-established phone number, must be posted in each school.”

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In the Classroom
Teacher, Administrator Antics Help Motivate Students.
The Wilmington (NC) Star News (8/10) reports that the antics teachers and school administrators use to motivate students sometimes work. Richard Kortan, a fifth-grade teacher at Codington Elementary school, promised his students last year that if 90 percent of the class or more scored “a passing grade on all three end-of-year tests,” he would “wear a chicken outfit and serve them ice cream.” His students “exceeded the 90 percent pass mark, and he found himself wearing feathers, a Carolina Panthers football jersey and a handwritten sign professing his love for the Dallas Cowboys, a team he greatly dislikes.” Diane Cargile, former president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, said that such antics encourage students and show parents that educators “care about the children.”

Online High School Programs Expanding In California.
The Bakersfield Californian (8/10, Barrientos) reports that online education programs “have blossomed in California and will continue to, school officials say.” Carol Abbott, an independent study program consultant for the California Department of Education, said that her office is “creating a database of” accredited online-only programs for high school students. The Bakersfield Californian adds that “online public high schools, which are free, partner with local districts and by state rules can recruit students from surrounding counties.”

New York High Schools Getting Reports On Graduates’ Status In Public City Colleges.
The New York Times (8/10, A1, Medina) reports that this year the New York City Department of Education “has sent detailed reports to all of its high schools” showing the number of students from the schools “who arrived at the city’s public colleges needed remedial courses, as well as how many stayed enrolled after their first semester.” The reports will go out each year. According to the New York Times, Illinois “began tracking how its high school graduates fared in college several years ago,” and Denver and Philadelphia plan to do the same.

University Hosts Science Camp For Homeless Students.
The Los Angeles Times (8/9, Rivera) reported that a summer science camp organized by Cal State Long Beach gives homeless students “a chance to explore concepts and career options they might not otherwise. For parents, the camp offers a haven for their children during the day, when many of them must leave the emergency shelters where they stay each night.” According to the Times, “This year the campers, who ranged in age from kindergarteners through eighth-graders, studied animals and bugs, launched rockets and kites and investigated ‘crime’ scenes, including a mysteriously contaminated cake.”

Some Education Stakeholders Advise Cautious Approach On Use Of E-Books.
USA Today (8/10, Marklein) reports, “Compared with traditional textbooks, the iPad and other devices for reading digital books have the potential to save on textbook costs in the long term, to provide students with more and better information faster, and — no small matter — to lighten the typical college student’s backpack.” However, “the track record on campus so far for e-readers has been bumpy” and “some of the most tech-savvy students aren’t quite ready to endorse the devices for academic use” Moreover, “some educational psychologists suggest the dizzying array of options and choices offered by the ever-evolving technology may be making it harder to learn rather than easier.”

On the Job
Utah Districts Win $2.5 Million In Federal Grants To Improve History Education.
The Salt Lake Tribune (8/10, Schencker) reports that Utah’s Jordan, Granite and Tooele school districts recently “won nearly $2.5 million in federal grant money to enhance the way they teach American history.” With the Teaching American History grants, the school systems will “partner with Utah universities to continue to teach educators more about history and how to teach it.” Teachers in Jordan “will also each get iPod touches and will have access to one classroom set of iPod touches to be shared among the teachers and their history classes for each year of the three year grant.”

California District Receives $100,000 Grant For Teacher Math Training.
California’s Mercury News (8/10, Eslinger) reports that the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto, California, will receive a $100,000 grant form Hewlett-Packard “to send sixth- through eighth-grade teachers to” math training courses. “The professional development is provided through RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching), a Bay Area nonprofit that provides teachers with project ideas, training and hands-on learning materials.” The Mercury News notes that students in Ravenswood generally “score progressively lower” on state standardized math tests “as they move up grade levels.” The hands-on training will teach educators to incorporate “investigative learning” into their instruction to help students boost their math and critical thinking skills.

More Than 80 Percent Of New Jersey Public Schools Will Have Fewer Teachers, Survey Shows.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (8/10, Fleisher) reports that according to a new survey released by the New Jersey School Boards Association on Monday, “more than 80 percent of New Jersey’s public schools will [have] fewer teachers” next fall. District officials “cited student enrollment declines, defeated budgets…long-term financial planning,” and $820 million in state aid cuts “for the reductions.” The school boards association “said the survey — completed by 40 percent of the state’s school districts — shows the importance of $268 million in federal aid expected to be passed [today] by the US House of Representatives.”

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Law & Policy
Arizona Hotel Association May Seek Fixed Start Date For Schools Statewide.
Barbara De Lollis wrote in the USA Today “Hotel Check-In” blog (8/9) that the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association may soon ask state lawmakers to pass legislation “that would require all schools to start at the same time after Labor Day.” The Association wants “all public schools in the state to start later so that families can squeeze in a few more vacation days and fill their rooms.” A spokeswoman for the organization said that schools would still be able to “fit in the required number of days by eliminating breaks in the fall.” De Lollis notes that “educators in the state aren’t pleased with the idea.” Said Lucy Messing, president of the Tucson Education Association, “We certainly should not be run by the hotel lobby.”

Facilities
Miami-Dade Schools Use Existing Buildings To House Innovative Classrooms.
The Miami Herald (8/9, McGrory) reported that instead of building new schools, the Miami-Dade public school district “is transforming existing spaces into technology-rich, innovative classrooms.” This month, the district is opening “two new schools-within-schools specifically for children with autism spectrum disorders” and “a state-of-the-art magnet school for biomedical sciences” among other additions. The biomedical school “will be called the Medical Academy for Science and Technology, or MAST.” The district will invest “$8 million into rehabilitating the building,” which “will likely be ready for the start of the 2011-12 school year.”

School Finance
Many Georgia Districts Compressing School Year To Cut Costs.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/10, Badertscher) reports that in an effort to save money, “school systems across Georgia are compressing the school year into fewer days to save money.” The state requires 59,400 minutes of instructional time, but it is being more lenient on other “long-standing rules this year” due to the economy. For instance, school districts “are being allowed to assign more students to each classroom — which means fewer teachers.” They may also apply for a waiver in order to “shorten the employment contracts of teachers and bus drivers to coincide with their condensed school years.” Also according to the Journal-Constitution, “some school systems are obtaining hardship waivers” that exempt “them from a requirement” to spend 65 percent of state funds on classrooms instruction.

California District Seeks Donations To Save High School Sports.
The Sacramento Bee (8/9, Lambert) reported that California’s Elk Grove Unified School District officials seek to raise $700,000 for high school sports programs by asking families to make donations. The school system’s “parent advisory committee formed by district officials” is asking players’ families to contribute between $450 and $75. The Sacramento Bee notes that Elk Grove “cut more than $900,000 to high school athletics to help fill a $60 million gap in its 2010-11 budget.”

ACLU Looks Into Extra-Curricular Activity Fees In California Schools. The AP (8/9) reported that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is looking into school fees charged by school districts in California for anything from textbooks to extracurricular activities. Recently, the ACLU “sent a letter to the San Diego Unified School District, stating fees being charged at various schools for extracurricular activities…were illegal.” According to the ACLU, the fees violate “the state constitution’s guarantee of a free, public education.” The California Supreme Court said in 1984 that “a district’s financial hardship cannot be used to justify levying fees.” The AP adds that some districts request donations or suggest fees for extracurricular activities in order to comply with the law.

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Also in the News
Volunteers Knock On Doors To Enroll Students In Detroit Public Schools.
The Detroit Free Press (8/10) reports that contractors and volunteers in the Detroit public school (DPS) system are “going door-to-door” this summer “to enroll students from…closed” schools “into other DPS schools.” The effort is part of a campaign launched by DPS last year called “I’m In!” In order to avoid more budget cuts, DPS “must retain 77,314″ students. “Officials hope that giving parents doorstep service will help slow the” nation’s worst “enrollment crisis,” which is currently taking place in Detroit. The campaign will include “celebrity visits, citywide events and a mobile enrollment vehicle that will crisscross the city and adjacent suburbs over the next month.” MLive (8/10, Oosting) reports that on Monday, district officials announced that Cosby “will serve as Grand Marshal of the” campaign’s “I’m In!” parade on Aug. 26. The AP (8/9) also covered the story.

At University Of Texas, Obama Restates Goal To Boost Number Of College Graduates.
The New York Times (8/10, Stolberg) reports that in Texas on Monday, President Obama said in a speech at the University of Texas, Austin, that “education is an economic issue,” and he “restated his call for the United States to produce an additional eight million college graduates by the year 2020.” The Dallas Morning News (8/9, Gillman) reported that right now, “about 40 percent of younger adults have college degrees.” In order to reach the goal set forth by Presidnet Obama, 60 percent of younger adults need college degrees, “an extra 8 million graduates that population growth alone would entail.”

The New York Times (7/24, A8, Levin) reported that in a statement, Rhee said “Every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher – in every classroom, of every school, of every neighborhood, of every ward, in [DC].” In all, 302 school employees were fired. In addition to the teachers, “librarians, counselors, custodians and other employees” were also dismissed. The Times notes that “Friday’s dismissals were not the chancellor’s first. In the 2007-8 school year, a district spokesman said, 79 teachers were fired for poor performance, and in 2008-9, 96 were.”

CNN (7/24, Holland) noted on its website that “under the IMPACT program, teachers were judged on five classroom observation visits by principals and outside education experts. The system also rates teachers based on their students’ achievement.” The teachers union argues that “teachers under the IMPACT system need clearer communication on expectations, among other things.”

The AP (7/25) reported that teacher’s union President George Parker said the evaluation method is dramatically different from other evaluation systems around the country and that it is “flawed” and has “many loopholes.” Moreover, “he said the evaluation was a ‘subjective way to fire teachers, many of whom were not evaluated fairly.’” The AP notes that in addition to those who were fired Friday, “another 729 employees who scored ‘minimally effective’ are being put on notice that they will be fired after the upcoming school year if their performance doesn’t improve.” Stephen Sawchuck also covered this story in the Education Week (7/23) “Teacher Beat” blog. The Washington Times (7/26, Simmons) also covers the story

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In the Classroom
Maryland Teachers No Longer Allowed Advance Look At State Tests.
The Washington Post (7/24, Birnbaum) reported that “until this year, many Maryland teachers were allowed an advance look at state exams.” But, on Friday, “state education officials said…they had eliminated” the policy due to concerns about test security. The state’s assistant superintendent for accountability and assessment, Leslie A. Wilson, “said the policy was intended to allow teachers to prepare for the most basic aspects of administering the test, such as when to distribute and collect answer sheets and calculators.” When the policy was discontinued in 2002, she said, proctors required “much more preparation.” According to the Post, “there are no apparent cases in which the policy led to cheating on the” Maryland School Assessments. But Linda R. Valli, an education professor at the University of Maryland, “said the state was wise to end the practice.” Said Valli, “It’s almost like asking teachers to go in and be sure you’ve covered everything.”

School Districts Work To Balance Use Of Computers For Testing, Instruction.
The Oregonian (7/24, Owen) reported that “mandatory computerized state testing” and federal requirement that “students to be ‘technologically literate’ by the end of eighth grade” has created a dilemma “for schools as educators try to teach” technology “but find computer labs consumed for days or weeks at a time throughout the year for state testing.” Carla Wade of the Oregon Department of Education said that “ten years ago, Oregon received about $6 million in federal funding for technology, but it has declined every year since.” Some districts “are trying out smaller, less expensive laptops” and asking students to bring their own laptops to school to use. Others concerned about “the liability issue of broken or lost equipment” will consider whether “computer use for assessment tests should continue to trump technology education.”

Test Proctors Accuse Florida Teacher Of Helping Students Cheat.
Florida’s Sun-Sentinel (7/23, Hijek) reported that Katherine Harris, “teacher at Bradenton’s R.H. Prine Elementary School, could soon lose her job for allegedly helping her first-grade class cheat on the Stanford Achievement Test this past spring.” According to “two teacher’s aides who proctored for [her] during the test,” Harris “told some students to re-work parts of the test if their answers were wrong, and even told students where they could find the answers to the problems they were working on.”

Analysis: New Policy Will Increase Student Bodies’ White Majorities In Top Chicago Schools.
The Chicago Tribune (7/24, Ahmed) reported that Chicago’s “top elementary schools are on pace to become more white under a new admissions plan that relies on socioeconomic factors instead of race, according to a Tribune analysis. About three-quarters of selective and magnet schools that are already majority white will grow more segregated under the one-year pilot, which was created after the district was released from a federal mandate to racially integrate last September.” Though the “preliminary figures could change before the school year starts,” the “trends that are emerging under the new admissions plan trouble many academics and parents, who say the benefits of having diversity in the classroom extend to all races.”

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Law & Policy
Some Hawaii Educators Seek Exemption Form Federal Rules Inhibiting Language-Emersion.
Hawaii’s Star-Advertiser (7/25, Vorsino) reported that some educators in Hawaii are seeking a federal exemption “from English-language testing standards and other No Child Left Behind mandates, saying they present big obstacles for language-immersion schools.” Native American leaders say “language-immersion schools are struggling to meet NCLB requirements — which include testing their students in English — while adhering to their mission of perpetuating native languages and culture.” They also “also say NCLB conflicts with the Native American Languages Act, which encourages the use of indigenous languages ‘as a medium of instruction.’” According to the Star-Advertiser, the US Education Department is looking into those concerns, “but has not said when a determination on possible changes could be made.”

Fairness Of New York City Gifted Kindergarten Program Admissions Test Questioned.
The New York Times (7/26, Winerip) reports that in 2008, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “made the score on a citywide standardized test the sole criteria for admission” to gifted kindergarten programs and since then, “Blacks and Hispanics in gifted kindergarten programs dropped to 27 percent this year under the test-only system, from 46 percent under the old system (66 percent of city kindergartners are black or Hispanic).” According to the Times, the “test-prep industry for 4-year-olds has burgeoned” following Klein’s decision, yet “testing experts – including Tonya Moon, a University of Virginia professor and principal investigator for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, and Robert Tobias, a New York University professor who directed assessment for city schools from 1988 to 2001″ say “tests need to be supplemented with teacher evaluations, classroom observation and interviews.”

California District To Deny Permits For Nonresident Children To Attend Schools.
The Los Angeles Times (7/25, Rivera) reported that under a new policy, about 200 families have been “denied permits for their children to continue attending Beverly Hills [CA] Unified schools because they live outside of the city.” According to the Times, “Parents from the Beverly Hills school district are not the only ones affected by such residency disputes. Many cash-strapped school districts want to keep more of their students – and the state funding they bring” and families “of many of these students are filing appeals.”

Safety & Security
Investigation Of Well-Traveled Teacher Reveals Pattern Of Sexual Abuse.
The Washington Post (7/25, White, Harden, Buske) reported, “Kevin Ricks was a gregarious, well-traveled English teacher at Osbourn High School” in Manassas, VA, who would walk around the school “with a leather-bound journal of his musings tucked in his bag, next to his laptop computer. What teachers, parents, students and even his wife didn’t know was that his journals contained decades of dark secrets, a running handwritten commentary of Ricks’s world of obsession, infatuation, pursuit, sexual abuse and international child exploitation.” According to the Post, “A four-month Washington Post investigation of Ricks’s career as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor has revealed a pattern of abuse that dates to at least 1978 and has left a trail of victims spanning the globe” yet “despite the abuse, Ricks moved from one teaching job to the next over nearly 30 years, navigating the nation’s public and private school systems undetected, evading traps designed to catch him.”

The Washington Post (7/25, Chandler) reported, “For nearly three decades, Kevin Ricks exploited gaps in a system that is supposed to keep sexual predators out of the classroom. He landed teaching jobs at one school after another — public and private, urban and rural, domestic and foreign — despite mounting evidence of his troubling personal relationships with male students.” According to the Post, “some experts say federal legislation is needed for a coherent approach to preventing teacher sexual abuse” yet others “say the answer could be found in the courts — that more school divisions should be held liable for abuse that happens to children in their care.”

Also in the News
India Develops $35 Laptop For Students.
The AP (7/23, Kinetz) reported that “India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.” The computer “can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing” and “has a solar power option” at an additional cost. India’s human resource development minister Kapil Sibal “turned to students and professors at India’s elite technical universities to develop the $35 tablet.” Eventually, “he hopes to get the cost down to $10.”

New Programs Aim To Help Bolster Education Inventors.
The AP (7/24, Matheson) reported, “A movement is under way to make it easier for entrepreneurs to navigate the lucrative and sometimes-tricky education market and introduce new technology and products into classrooms.” The University of Pennsylvania “has already held two summits on education entrepreneurship and hosted its first business plan competition, sponsored by the school and the Milken Family Foundation” and ED “hopes to bolster entrepreneurship with its Investing in Innovation fund. Jim Shelton, assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Innovation and Improvement, said it is easier than ever for schools to use new ideas and products because of increasing Internet connectivity, cheaper technology and the growing use of hard data to measure outcomes.”

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NEA in the News
Some Teachers Take Jobs During Summer Break.
The AP (7/25, Smith) reported that “when school resumes in August, many” teachers in Fargo, North Dakota, “will have spent their summer working second jobs — from tutoring and teaching to seasonal work.” Statistics from the National Education Association show that “in 2005, 37 percent of teachers in the country received an income from summer jobs.” For some teachers, “working non-teaching jobs in the summer gives work a temporary change of pace,” the AP adds.

Eighteen States, DC Announced As Finalists In Race To The Top.
CNN (7/28, Hornick) reports on its website that “eighteen states and the District of Columbia were selected as finalists to receive more than $3 billion in the second round of funding for the Race to the Top Program.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the finalists “at the National Press Club in Washington” on Tuesday. Speaking of the administration’s Race to the Top grants, Duncan told the Press Club audience, “As I have said many times before, this isn’t just about the money — this is about working together and putting the needs of children ahead of everyone else. … This entire process has moved the nation and advanced education reform.”

Education Week (7/27, McNeil) noted that “the list announced Tuesday includes all of the states that were finalists in the first round, but lost, along with five additional states: Maryland, which did not compete in round one; New Jersey, which placed 18th; Hawaii, which placed 22nd last time; California, which placed 27th; and Arizona, which placed 40th.” The other finalists are “Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.”

The AP (7/28, Turner, Amario) reports that finalists were chosen out of the 35 states and DC that applied for the grants. “Applications were screened by a panel of peer reviewers, and finalists will travel to Washington in coming weeks to present their proposals.” The Christian Science Monitor (7/27, Paulson) noted, “Perhaps the biggest surprise on that list is Arizona, which, in Round 1 of the competition, finished 40th out of 41 applicants.” Charles Barone, director of federal policy for Democrats for Education Reform, said that “since the first round ended in the spring…Arizona has passed two major laws, increasing education funding and revamping the state’s teacher-evaluation system.”

The Washington Post (7/28, Anderson), Wall Street Journal (7/28, Banchero), Reuters (7/28), Miami Herald (7/28), Chicago Tribune (7/28, Malone, Skiba), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/28, Badertscher), Los Angeles Times (7/28, Blume), Baltimore Sun (7/28, Bowie), Providence (RI) Journal (7/28, Jordan), Pittsburgh Tribune (7/28, Kurutz), and Louisiana’s Times-Picayune (7/28, Chang) cover the finalists. The Salt Lake Tribune (7/28, Schencker), Seattle Times (7/28), Detroit News (7/28, Hurst), Connecticut Mirror (7/28, Shesgreen, Frahm), and AP (7/28, Crumb) covered some of the states let out of the competition.

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In the Classroom
Employees At Florida School Propose Plan For Teaching Six Out Of Six Periods.
Jeff Solochek wrote in the St. Petersburg Times (7/27) “Gradebook” blog that Pasco County, Florida, schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino has “proposed requiring all secondary-level teachers [to] teach six periods of six.” School employees this week “put forth an offer to seek volunteer middle and high school teachers to teach all six periods of the day.” The offer would give “those who teach an extra period of a course they already teach would get 15 percent of their salary. Those who have to prepare a new course would make 20 percent more.” Pasco schools’ director of employee relations, Kevin Shibley, said that he “would likely make a counter proposal.”

Law & Policy
Detroit City Council Falls Short In Vote To Put Mayoral School Control On Ballot.
The Detroit News (7/28, Schultz, Nichols) reports that the Detroit City Council “failed to muster the votes to consider asking voters in November if the mayor should control Detroit Public Schools.” Instead, they referred the matter “to a committee that is scheduled to meet Wednesday.” On Thursday, the “measure could resurface.”

The Detroit Free Press (7/28, Dawsey, Erb, Trammell) reports that the issue of “mayoral authority over Detroit Public Schools” has prompted “passionate, contentious public debate for at least a few more days.” However, On Tuesday, “the discussion changed course…when council President Pro Tem Gary Brown…tried to simplify the issue by proposing to ask voters: Do you want to keep the elected school board?” According to the Free Press, council members “argued that proper procedure was for the issue to be addressed first at the internal operations committee” and that “will happen today, with a possible full council vote later this week.” Michigan Live (7/28, Foley) also covers this story.

Duncan Says Voters Should Decide On Detroit District Mayoral Control. The Detroit Free Press (7/27, Dawsey) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said last year that the Detroit Public Schools were ground zero for public education and that the district’s crises kept him up at night, but on Monday, he said the system faces a ‘tremendous’ opportunity,” as in “an interview with the Free Press, Duncan said the public discussion about putting DPS under mayoral authority gives him hope. He is encouraging Detroit and other big cities to consider this path, saying that with broad support, it could work.” According to the Free Press, “Today’s Detroit City Council meeting could be the third and final chance for a vote on whether to place a non-binding question on the November ballot asking Detroiters whether the mayor should have authority over DPS.”

The Detroit News (7/27, Nichols, Donnelly) reported, “The nation’s education czar joined a growing chorus of public officials who believe residents should decide whether Detroit Public Schools is placed under the mayor’s control. For that to happen, however, the City Council has to place the question on the November ballot.” According to the Detroit News, “On the eve of the meeting, and a week after Gov. Jennifer Granholm supported such a move, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he also favored the ballot initiative,” said spokesman Peter Cunningham.

Arizona Requires Parental Consent For Sex Education.
The Arizona Daily Star (7/27) reported that Arizona now requires parental consent for children to receive sex education in school. Senate Bill 1309 signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in May “also mandates Arizona schools to notify parents when materials regarding ‘sexuality’ are presented in non-sex-education classes.” However, the “Parental Bill of Rights,” as the law is known, leaves implementation “up to individual school district governing boards.” The Daily Star notes that unlike 35 other states and DC, Arizona does not require public schools to teach sex education. But, “abstinence must be promoted in any sex-education program in Arizona schools that choose to offer one.” Schools also must “discuss the consequences of sexual activity, including the possibility of STDs and pregnancy” if they offer sex education classes.

Maryland Governor Endorses Environmental Literacy.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) writes in an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun (7/28), “Every child deserves the right to discover and enjoy our natural world – to catch a fish, camp under the stars, follow a trail and play and learn outdoors in countless other ways.” He says that the State Board of Education is currently “considering a remarkable proposal…that would require all” students in Maryland “to be environmentally literate in order to graduate from high school.” O’Malley concludes that “the proposal before the State Board of Education requires no new money or new staff, but is an investment that will return incalculable benefits for” students.

US Reps. Say Passage Of Funding Bill Places War Above Children’s Welfare.
Several Democratic US lawmakers write in The Hill (7/27) “Congress Blog” that with passage of the war-funding bill on Tuesday war is “once again…being paid for with a credit card while investments in our children’s future are tossed aside.” Investments include “$10 billion for teacher jobs, $1 billion for summer youth employment, $5 billion for Pell grants,” and “$701 million for border security.” They note that “the $10 billion…would have saved 140,000 teacher jobs across the nation.” Meanwhile, “pervasive corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan siphons resources so that even worthwhile projects are doomed to fail.” The US must “prioritize and make the right choices, not continue as before out of inertia or a lack of urgency,” the lawmakers conclude.

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Safety & Security
Anti-Semitism Rampant In Schools In South Florida, Group Says.
Florida’s Sun-Sentinel (7/28, Trischitta) reports that while “assaults and harassment of Jews in South Florida is declining,” anti-Semitic behavior “in schools has grown ‘toxic,’” according to the Anti-Defamation League. The announcement is based on harassment claims “investigated by the ADL in 2009.”

School Finance
Class-Size Law Compliance Could Cost Florida District $1.4 Million.
The Tampa Tribune (7/27, Scullin) reported that “complying with the class-size mandate that takes effect next month could cost Hillsborough County Schools about $1.4 million, according to school district cost estimates.” According to the Tampa Tribune, “The cost estimates being worked out in Hillsborough County Schools give a sense of the practical and financial challenges” other “school districts are facing in order to provide the smaller class sizes everyone hopes will boost student achievement.” Several recommendations are being considered for finding alternative options for “students closed out of their neighborhood schools.”

Amendment Would Make Florida Class Size Requirements “More Rational.” The St. Petersburg Times (7/28) editorializes that according to Florida TaxWatch, “a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to loosen class size requirements” could save “up to $1 billion annually.” That savings “could be better spent on real education reform, not just counting heads in the classroom.” The group “used historical data and educated assumptions to calculate that fully implementing the 2002 class size amendment would cost the state $4 billion each of the next 10 years.” The St. Petersberg Times asserts, “As the TaxWatch report shows, Amendment 8 would…make the class size limits more rational in an era of limited resources.”

Budget Cuts Leave Washington District With One Summer Program.
The Seattle Times (7/27, Schleif) reported that Washington’s Wenatchee School District now has just one summer school program after budget cuts “began two years ago.” Many other districts throughout the region “have eliminated or scaled back their summer school offerings in the last six years.” The Seattle Times explains how funding for summer school has diminished in Wenatchee since 2008.

Also in the News
Reality Television Series Aims To Boost Understanding Among High School Students.
The AP (7/27, Rancilio) reported that “If You Really Knew me,” a new reality series on MTV, “attempts to help students look past school stereotypes.” The show features a different school in each episode and follows students who “go through a program called Challenge Day. They share their experiences with each other in exercises designed to cut down on bullying and gossiping.” Student Leiken Poppino said that after Challenge Day, her school “had a ‘miraculous change’ for about a week.”

Program Recruits African-American Teachers For Schools Nationwide.
WFMY-TV (7/28, Arquilla) reports on the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Teacher Quality and Retention Program, which recruits and trains African-American teachers. Now in its second year, the program is recruiting from “47 college campuses across the country.” Director Misha Lesley explains, “We really want to support African American males in the classroom, in communities that have students that look like them and who would really be able to look to them as role models.” The program’s directors “plan to evaluate the success and retention rate of teachers next year.”

State Test Pass Rates See Sharp Decline In New York City.
The New York Times (7/29, Medina) reports on its front page, “Applying new, tougher standards,” New York “state education officials said Wednesday that more than half of public school students in New York City failed their English exams this year, and 54 percent of them passed in math.” But, according to state education officials, the results were “misleading” because scores from previous years “were inflated by tests that had become easier to pass.” In math, “61 percent of state students were deemed passing, or at grade level” this year, “compared with 86 percent last year.” And in English, 53 percent of students passed, “down from 77 percent.” New York’s Post-Standard (7/29, Doran, Nolan) and WNYC-FM New York City (7/28) also covered the story.

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On the Job
Pittsburgh Public Schools Hosts Inaugural New Teacher Induction Program.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (7/28, Weigand) reported, “Students and parents on Tuesday helped about 80 Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers better understand what students need, as part of the district’s inaugural three-week teacher induction program.” The rookie teachers, each with no “more than three years’ experience, toured city neighborhoods and visited community organizations.” The tour was meant to inform the teachers about resources available in the community. The teachers also learned about “philosophies and curriculum unique to the district, as well as strategies for classroom management and engaging students.”

Educator Says “Value-Added” Measures For Evaluating DC Teachers Are Flawed.
Aaron Pallas, professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (7/28), “We live in an age of accountability and transparency – and yet some school districts seem not to be playing by the rules. I recently wrote about the lack of accountability in the way districts report how they calculate teacher ‘value-added’ measures that are used for medium-stakes and high-stakes personnel decisions (such as granting teachers tenure or firing them).” Pallas goes on to “illustrate how value-added scores may have been misused in the termination of 26 teachers in the D.C Public Schools last week and the classifying of hundreds of other general education teachers in grades four through eight as ‘minimally effective.’”

DC Teacher Dismissal Policies Analyzed. Former UCLA School of Education lecturer Walt Gardner wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/28), “When Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 241 teachers in Washington D.C. on July 23, the news was heralded as evidence that true accountability was finally a reality because the evaluation system used is considered one of the most rigorous in the nation,” yet “like most controversial issues in education, there’s more to the story than initially meets the eye.” According to Gardner, “Rhee acknowledged that she didn’t know how many teachers were fired for low student achievement on standardized tests, and how many were dismissed for poor classroom performance” and this “is a crucial distinction. Despite what is widely believed, these are not necessarily interchangeable criteria.”

Law & Policy
Second Suit Filed Against Pennsylvania District Over Alleging Laptop Spying.
The AP (7/28) reported, “A second lawsuit has been filed against a suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students through cameras in school-issued laptop computers. Jalil Hasan, who graduated from Lower Merion High School last spring, says the school district activated remote-tracking software after he left the laptop at school Dec. 18.” According to the AP, “The suit alleges that more than 1,000 photos were taken, 469 from the webcam and 543 screen shots. Attorney Mark Haltzman is representing Hasan and his family, as well as the family that filed the original lawsuit against the district in February.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer (7/29, Nunnally) adds that Hasan’s “suit joins one filed in February by Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton High School, and for the first time draws in Lower Merion High School, where Jalil Hasan was a senior.” According to the Inquirer, the “cases are similar in their broad outlines” as the “electronic monitoring began after school-issued computers were reported missing” and in “both cases, the system was simply left on long after the laptops were recovered. Hundreds of photos and screen shots were captured on a predetermined schedule.” KOTV-TV Tulsa (7/28, Surette) also covered this story in a report on its Web site.

Illinois District Loses Chance At $22 Million After Quinn Vetoes School Funding Bill.
Illinois’ Courier News (7/28, McFarlan) reported, “Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have brought an estimated $22 million more in state funding this year to Elgin School District U46.” Each year, the district “misses out on millions…because the state uses estimated data to determine the funding it gets.” Under Senate Bill 2499 the state would have had to use “the actual property tax cap rate of Cook County, rather than an estimate.”

The Chicago Daily Herald (7/28, Lester) reported that in a message to the Senate, Quinn wrote, “I cannot approve a measure that would boost state aid to one district at the expense of others.” State Rep. Keith Farnham (D) issued a statement pledging to work next fall “to override [the] veto in a speedy manner and bring U-46 the funding it deserves.” He added, “I understand that all schools need more money, but our community has been unfairly losing out.” Illinois’ Winfield Press (7/29, Bruno) notes that “the state owes U-46 about $24 million on top of the money they lost from the bill’s veto. The district is expected to begin the school year more than $40 million in the hole.”

Senate Majority Leader Seeks Passage Of Child Nutrition Bill Before Recess.
Mike Lillis wrote in a blog for The Hill (7/28), “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said this week that Democrats are hoping to pass a child nutrition bill before lawmakers leave town for the August recess. The $4.5 billion proposal, sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), would expand eligibility for school meal programs; establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and provide a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals.”

School Bus Seat Belt Bill Languishes In Massachusetts Legislature.
The Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette (7/29, Monahan) reports that a bill that “would require shoulder straps in school busses within two years” in Massachusetts is currently active in the state’s house, but “few lawmakers have heard about the legislation and there is little momentum to pass it. The bill is competing with hundreds of other bills with high-profile legislative battles raging among lawmakers on expanded gambling, economic development, health care cost-cutting, drug sentencing and criminal record and gun-buying restrictions, with only four days left for formal sessions in this two-year legislative session.”

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School Finance
Concessions From Teachers Would Save Chicago Public Schools $446 Million.
The Chicago Tribune (7/29, Ahmed) reports, “Chicago Public Schools officials have suggested a list of concessions from its teachers to close a $370 million budget hole, including unpaid holidays, frozen wages, and unpaid school recesses.” The district would save a total of almost $446 million “if all eight suggestions were implemented.” The proposals would also keep the district from having to increase class sizes. “Already, 600 teachers have received pink slips because of budget constraints,” the Tribune notes.

Oregon District Turns To Grants, Donations To Fund Construction Projects.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/28, Ruttan) reported, “At a time of funding crises and recession, school districts have been putting extra focus on grant writing to sustain programs and to pay for building projects.” The North Santiam School District, for instance, has in the past two years “raised $600,000 to $700,000 for a variety of projects” through grants and donations. In addition, it has “been ramping up partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community like Friends of the Family, Santiam Family YMCA, Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company (SCTC) and Slayden Construction.”

Also in the News
Condoleezza Rice, Aretha Franklin Perform Duet In Support Of School Arts Programs.
The AP (7/28) reported that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and singer Aretha Franklin “took the stage Tuesday evening at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center in a rare duet for Rice, the classically trained pianist, and Franklin, the divalicious voice of a generation. Their aim was to raise money for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.” According to the AP, Franklin “deplored school budget cuts of music and arts programs as ‘a travesty’ that cannot be allowed” and “Rice, in a separate interview, agreed.”

Announcement Of India’s $35 Laptop Prototype Met With Skepticism.
Wright Bryan wrote in the NPR (7/28) “All Tech Considered” blog, “Despite the ever-decreasing cost of computing power and components,” India’s announcement last week that it “has prototyped a $35 Linux-powered tablet” was met with some skepticism. For example, “education technology leading light” Gary Stager posted on Twitter, “Newsflash: India invents schools so its children have a place to store their useless ‘$35 laptops.’ #vaporware.” When Bryan asked Stager several questions about India’s invention, Stager mentioned the One Laptop per Child project, saying, “It now appears that ‘mine’s bigger’ has been replaced with ‘mine’s cheaper.’” And, “when asked what defines an effective computing tool for education,” Stager said, “Since the only functionality of the “device” is communication and information access (the low-hanging fruit of education), where will that connectivity come from? At what price? How much time will be spent haggling over which information children can or can’t have access to?”

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NEA in the News
West Virginia Teachers Unions Say Some Proposed State Education Reforms Are Unproven.
WVNS-TV (7/29, Williams) reports that “the conflict between school unions and policymakers over education reform is one that has played out in many states since the launch of Race to the Top.” But West Virginia, which has “some of the most powerful state teachers unions in the nation,” may “be the strength of the opposition,” according to WVNS. Teachers unions in the state have said that Gov. Joe Machin’s (D) education reform “proposals lacked what they saw as scientifically proven methods for improving school performance.” For instance, Machin “proposed a bill allowing public schools to adopt some aspects of charter schools found in other states, but it did not go as far as actually creating charter schools.” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee noted, however, that “data supporting charter schools is a very mixed bag. … There are a very large number of charter schools that are not doing well,” he said.

Teachers Unions In Michigan Want Repeal Of Some Laws Made For Race To The Top.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press (7/28) reports that “with hopes of $400 million in federal money for school reform fading fast, teachers union leaders say the state should consider repealing some of the changes made this year as part of Michigan’s Race to the Top application.” Michigan’s “new laws…include raising the dropout age to 18, expanding charter schools and accepting common academic standards.” In the first round of Race to the Top, “teachers union leaders fought some of the proposals.” But in the second round, the unions were included in the policy-making process. Doug Pratt of the Michigan Education Association (MEA) asserted, “Anyone who thought we were the reason for the failure in the first round certainly can’t say that now. … We’re disappointed, because that $400 million would have been a big help.” But, he added, “That $400 million in one-time money would not have solved the long-term problems facing Michigan schools.”

Groups Will Ask Obama’s Debt Commission Not To Suggest Social Security Cuts.
Bloomberg News (7/29, Faler) reports, “A co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s debt commission said as much as three-quarters of the panel’s proposed savings ought to come through cuts to government spending rather than tax increases.” The panel was commissioned by the President in February to search “the government’s budget” for areas that can be cut “to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of the economy by 2015, from the current 10 percent.” Bloomberg notes that “the AFL-CIO, NAACP, National Education Association (NEA), Moveon.org, and others” will hold “a joint news conference…in Washington” today “to caution the panel not to suggest cuts to the Social Security program.”

North Santiam Education Association Reaches Agreement With District.
Oregon’s Statesman Journal (7/29, Ruttan) reports that “the North Santiam Education Association teachers’ union and North Santiam School District have reached an agreement that will save eight full-time positions and one half-time position.” Under the agreement, teachers will take “a six-day pay cut and an across-the-board cost-of-living increase.” Teachers with less than 15 years of service “will receive their step increases,” but those “with more seniority will not receive step increases.” In addition, class sizes will increase, the art program at Stayton Middle School will be eliminated, and the technology program at Stayton High School will be smaller.

NEA Alaska Supports State’s Incumbent For US Senate.
NEA Alaska Joshua Saul wrote in the Alaska Dispatch (7/28) “Political Animal” blog that in the US Senate race in Alaska “between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, the candidates are seizing every opportunity to show off their big name supporters.” Miller is backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, while Murkowski’s supporters include “organizations like the NRA and the National Education Association’s Alaska offices.” According to Saul, those and other endorsements reinforce Murkowski’s “establishment image.”

Obama Defends Education Reform Ideas At Urban League Convention.
The AP (7/30, Pace) reports, “Challenging civil rights organizations and teachers’ unions that have criticized his education policies, President Barack Obama said Thursday” in a speech at the National Urban League’s 100th anniversary convention “that minority students have the most to gain from overhauling the nation’s schools.” The President also pointed out that the purpose of the reforms is not “to fire or admonish teachers, but to create a culture of accountability” and “pinned some of the criticism on a resistance to change.” Noting that teachers are “the single most important factor in a classroom,” Obama called “for higher pay, better training and additional resources to help teachers succeed.”

The New York Times (7/30, Calmes) adds that Obama “chose the civil rights organization as his audience to address specifically the complaints of minority groups.” The Washington Post (7/30, Anderson) notes that “the National Urban League, the NAACP and some other groups…have questioned the competitive emphasis of Obama’s $4 billion Race to the Top grants, which produces winners and losers.” They are asking “the administration to seek more equitable funding for schools,” instead.

The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Mamoli) adds that Urban League head Marc Morial “was one of several civil rights leaders who met with Duncan earlier this week to discuss their concerns with” Race to the Top, “specifically that black and Latino students were not benefiting from the federal resources.” Teachers unions “have also objected to the program, which encourages evaluations.” The President “acknowledged the discord over the program,” saying, “We get comfortable with the status quo even when the status quo isn’t good.” But, he told the audience, “The program has already been successful even where federal dollars have not yet been spent.”

The Christian Science Monitor (7/30, Khadaroo) reports that The President “made it clear…that he has no intention of backing down from his education reform agenda, despite criticism from core constituencies in his own party.” Bloomberg News (7/30, Herbst, Runningen), Education Week (7/29, Klein), Reuters (7/30, Bohan), ABC News (7/29, Bruce), MSNBC (7/29), the New Republic (7/29), and The Hill (7/30) also covered this story.

Civil Rights Leaders Soften Criticism Of Education Program. Politico (7/30, Marr) reports that “despite their tough rhetoric earlier this week, civil rights leaders have softened their criticism of the president’s education reforms. A ‘conflict in schedules’ led the coalition to cancel a Monday press conference to air their criticism and tout their 17-page framework for reform.” Politico notes that “instead, the leaders met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes,” and “afterward, they released a new statement declaring they are ‘confident’ that, working with the White House, ‘a plan can be developed that will provide a high-quality education for all students.’”

Alexander Hails Obama’s Education Remarks, Praises Duncan. The Tennessean’s Bill Theobald (7/30) reports in a blog entry that “Sen. Lamar Alexander has taken his share of pot­shots at” Obama. But yesterday, he “took to the Senate floor to applaud Obama’s education speech.” Said Alexander, “I commend the president for his courage, his vision and for his willingness to undertaken the hard work of helping children across the country learn what they need to know and be able to do.” Of Duncan he said, “He is an excellent leader in education and he has a big heart and he’s worked in a bipartisan way.”

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In the Classroom
Program Helps Prevent Summer Slide For Students In Maryland District.
The Baltimore Sun (7/30, Burris) reports on a summer program in Anne Arundel, Maryland, that targets “the so-called summer slide. The county’s Elementary Summer Academy offers classroom instruction and activities to ensure that students retain the previous grade’s language and math skills.” First, “students are tested…to determine which areas they need to focus on,” and “at the end of the program” they are tested “to see how they’ve progressed.” In between testing, students receive classroom instruction. As part of a behavior modification system, students can earn prize tickets “for such tasks as completing homework assignments or exhibiting good behavior in class.” The tickets can be redeemed “at the schools’ stores” for “items including balls and temporary tattoos.”

Change In Proficiency Standards Leave Some Educators Confused About Schools’ Improvement.
New York Times (7/30, Otterman) reports that the release of state test scores this week “left the city with math and English proficiency rates lower than they had been in 2006, when the state last overhauled grade school testing.” Though “the average city student this year answered about the same number of questions correctly as last year…the number required to pass the tests, or show proficiency,” increased this year. The change has left educators and education stakeholders wondering “exactly how much the city’s schools had improved during the last decade.” Experts agreed that scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will be the most reliable tool for “deciphering where the schools are now.”

District Teams With West Point, Clemson And NASA For STEM Career Program.
The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal (7/30, Healy) reports on a group of Carver Junior High students who “agreed to give up three days of their summer vacation to participate in the US Military Academy at West Point’s Summer STEM Quest Institute, a program aimed at boosting student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career fields.” A similar focus will continue into the school year, which “will be dedicated to professional development as teachers learn to integrate science, technology, engineering and math into the entire curriculum” on a district-wide basis. Carver Principal RaaShad Fitzpatrick said, “It’s going to be a wall-to-wall program. … Every student in the building will participate in the STEM program.” The article notes, “West Point will continue to partner with Carver throughout the year. The district has also formed partnerships with NASA and Clemson University.”

On the Job
Teachers Contract In Ohio District Allows For Recall Of Some Teachers Let Go In April.
WJW-TV Cleveland, Ohio (7/30) reports that teachers in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will have a new contract when they start school next fall. “The new contract features more than $17 million in concessions” and will “allow the District to recall many of the 545 teachers, who were laid off in April.” WJW adds that “in addition to the financial components of the contract, both parties agreed to develop a model for teacher development and evaluation.” The new system “will include student performance data, unannounced teacher observations and increased flexibility for evaluation timing.”

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Law & Policy
Public Will Soon Deem Race To The Top Likely A Failure, Educator Says.
Jeff Passe, chairman of the Department of Secondary Education at Towson University, writes in the Baltimore Sun (7/30, Passe) that money from the federal Race to the Top competition “is needed.” But, he asks, “Has anyone stopped to ask whether these changes will actually improve public schools? Is it a race to the top, or to somewhere in the middle?” Passe outlines the benefits of the Race to the Top qualifying criteria: charter schools, tenure, common core standards, and use of student achievement data. He asserts that “the public will soon regard Race to the Top as a failure — a race to the middle that didn’t make a real difference.” Moreover, educators will somehow “be blamed for policies developed not by scholars who have studied educational reform, but by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a well-meaning but ill-informed leader.”

Tennessee Governor Signs Order Establishing STEM Network.
The AP (7/30) reports from Tennessee, “Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) has signed an executive order that promotes expanding science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in K-12 public schools across Tennessee.” The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network “will conduct various STEM educational activities in coordination with local education agencies, including teacher professional development and curriculum development,” and “will be managed by Battelle Memorial Institute.”

Massachusetts Governor Expected To Sign School Nutrition Bill.
WSHM-TV Springfield, Massachusetts (7/30, Stewart) reports that today, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “will sign the School Nutrition Bill,” which mandates that all public schools in the state “stop selling deep fried foods, unhealthy snacks, and vending machine soda.” It also requires that schools “provide more nutrition education.”

School Board Discusses “Controlled Choice” As Alternative To Diversity-Based Assignments.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (7/30, Goldsmith, Hui) reports that Wake County school board members on Wednesday discussed a “controlled choice” school assignment model to replace its former school diversity assignment policy. The model has drawn interest from members “on both sides of Wake’s school assignment fight. … Those in the minority hope such a model will help keep school populations more demographically balanced; those in the majority hope the approach will give parents more choice and allow for school system growth.” The school board’s plan “would divide the county into attendance zones that are supposed to allow children to go to schools in their communities.” Families would be able to choose “among a variety of schools” in each zone. The News & Observer adds that one of “the challenges facing the system is where to draw the lines and what factors will be used in assigning students.”

Safety & Security
Chicago Public Schools Rolls Out Cyberbullying Policy.
NBC Chicago (7/30, Wojciechowski) reports that Chicago Public Schools has rolled out a strict new policy on cyberbullying. The policy imposes “serious new sanctions for offenses that previously were outside the bounds of school discipline.” Punishments include “mandatory suspensions, possible expulsions, and police investigations.” NBC Chicago notes that “the new Student Code of Conduct treats cyberbullying offenses with the same severity as burglary, aggravated assault and other crimes.”

Anti-Bullying Program Yields Positive Results For Massachusetts District.
The Boston Globe (7/29, Travaglini) reported that Danvers school administrators plan to expand an anti-bullying program they say saw positive results “at the elementary schools last year.” The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was implemented at the elementary level in 2008. The program includes training for all school employees “on how to recognize bullying and ways to deal with it. … Regular school-wide assemblies, classroom discussions on bullying and parent meetings on the topic were introduced as the final phase of the program.” Its “success is measured in part by” a decline in the “number of reports of possible bullying incidents the school” received last year.

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Also in the News
High School Principal Criticized For Selling Weight-Loss Products To Students.
The Washington Post (7/20, Chandler) reports that “an advertisement that Principal Nardos King placed in the Mount Vernon High School yearbook, for weight-loss products she sold in her free time, surprised and upset many parents this summer, and prompted an apology” this week. The ad for “a two-step weight-loss system called Body Magic,” a spandex undergarment, included promises of “Instant Transformation While Losing Weight in the Process!” and loss of “up to 2-3 sizes in minutes.” Members of the community expressed displeasure with the ad “on a Facebook page dedicated to Mount Vernon news,” questioning “the principal’s ethics for selling products to students.” According to a spokesperson for Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, King “has stopped selling the products” and that she is likely not in violation of the district’s conflict-of-interest policy.

ADHD, Smoking May Be Linked With Dropping Out Of School, Study Shows.
The Los Angeles Times (7/30, Stein) reports, “Many roads can lead to a teen dropping out of high school, but a new study finds that having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and smoking may be strongly linked to not finishing school. Researchers from UC Davis looked at data on 29,662 people from the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions.” They found that 32.3 percent “of students who had a combined form of ADHD (hyperactivity and inattentiveness) dropped out of high school.” They also found that 29 percent of “tobacco users…dropped out.”

Duncan Meets With Civil Rights Leaders To Discuss Education Reform.
The AP (7/27, Armario, Turner) reports, “Eight civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, contend in a document released Monday” that the Education Department “is promoting ineffective approaches for failing schools” claiming that Race to the Top “leaves out many minority students.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “and a White House adviser met with the groups Monday, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the presidents of the National Urban League and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. … ‘The administration is dedicated to equity in education and we’ve been working very closely with the civil rights community to develop the most effective policies to close the achievement gap, turn around low performing schools and put a good teacher in every classroom,’ Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton said.”

Education Week (7/26, McNeil) added that the civil rights “groups, which today released their own education policy framework and launched the National Opportunity to Learn campaign to advance their ideas, want Mr. Duncan to make big changes to his draft proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.” According to Education Week, on Monday, “leaders from each of the groups (minus Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP) met with Mr. Duncan and Melody Barnes, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, to discuss their ideas. Both Mr. Duncan and President Barack Obama are scheduled to address the National Urban League this week during the group’s annual convention.”

Duncan To Announce Race To The Top Finalists Today. The Orlando Sentinel (7/27) reports that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “is slated to announce the Race to the Top finalists during a speech Tuesday. … In the first round, just Delaware and Tennessee won money (Florida came in fourth), but in the second round there could be 10 to 15 winners, Duncan said.”

Lesli Maxwell wrote in a blog for Education Week (7/26), “Michele McNeil, blogger over at Politics K-12, and I put our heads together to come up with a list of 20 states that we think will end up on the list” of Race to the Top round 2 finalists. Maxwell added, “You’ll notice that some of the new states we’ve added to our list from last time include Oklahoma, which Michele likes as a dark horse for the aggressive package of legislation it passed in the last few months,” and California “has a more legitimate shot this time, if for nothing else than going with an entirely different tack in Round Two. Rather than mustering as many districts and local teachers’ unions to buy in to the state’s plan, as many states seemed to do in their second try at this, California opted to limit its application only to those districts that signed on fully to its menu of reform proposals.” Maxwell goes on to post the Race to the Top finalist predictions in full.

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In the Classroom
Florida District Considers Dual Enrollment, Virtual Classrooms To Comply With Class-Size Rules.
WFTV Orlando (7/27) reports that schools throughout Central Florida are trying to find ways to meet state rules on class size. Districts that do not comply could lose state funding. Orange County schools are considering “dual enrollment, virtual classrooms and seven period days.” School board charwoman Joie Cadle said that “parents may not see much change this year, because the county has been preparing.” But next year when “stimulus money runs out,” the county expects to lose $90 million.

Most Tennessee Voters “Strongly Support” High Academic Standards, Poll Shows.
Tennessee’s Chattanoogan (7/26) reported that a new poll shows most “Tennessee voters ‘strongly support’ high academic standards in K-12 public schools despite expectations that raising the bar will lead to lower student test scores in the short term.” The State Collaborative on Reforming Education commissioned the report, which looked at overall voter attitudes toward public education. It found that about 69 percent of voters “‘strongly support’ the State Board of Education’s decision to raise standards in subjects like reading and mathematics.” And, about 82 percent said that “having a strong K-12 public education system is ‘very important’ to Tennessee’s economy.” WPLN-AM Nashville (7/26, Farmer) reported that “the survey also found mixed opinions on charter schools, new teacher evaluations and state takeovers of low-performing schools” from 600 respondents.

Google Changes Domain Of Encrypted Search In Response To Educator Concerns.
eSchool News (7/26, Stansbury) reported that in response to “to concerns from education technology officials, internet search giant Google Inc. has” changed the domain name of “its encrypted search feature.” The move will allow schools to “block Google’s encrypted search feature without having to block the company’s other services, too.” The encrypted search feature rolled out in May “lets internet users hide their search queries from third parties,” eSchool News added. But “educators in school systems using Google services…worried that the new encrypted search feature would keep them from complying with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and put their federal e-Rate funding at risk.”

On the Job
Workshop Teaches How To Make Lessons Interactive.
WBIR-TV Knoxville, Tennessee (7/27) reports that teachers in West Knox County, Tennessee this week are attending a series of “grade specific” workshops that are “part of Knox County Schools strategic plan to give teachers the tools for highly effective instruction.” At the workshops teachers are learning “ways to incorporate interactive learning into their own lesson plans.” One experiment showed “teachers how to use the oil spill to create a hands-on learning opportunity for their students.” It began “with a demonstration: oil, water, and a bonding agent. Let it settle for a few minutes then just peel the oil off the top.” Presenter Andrea Allen said that students will automatically wonder why the same technique is not applied to the Gulf oil spill. She explained how teachers could guild the students to think through the kinds of problems the technique could cause in the real-life situation.

Teachers In Florida District Gain Training Supplement In Contract Negotiations.
The St. Petersburg Times (7/27, Matus) reports that “the Pinellas (FL) school district and its teachers union formally yanked furloughs off the negotiating table” Monday. In addition, “district negotiators agreed to nix a plan to sign new teachers to cheaper, $100-a-day, provisional contracts, and to support a union counter offer to give every teacher a $250 training supplement.” While district and union negotiators both agreed “to shift slightly more health insurance cost to workers…the change will be minimal” for most workers. The “tentative changes will not affect the pay raises — from $300 to $5,300 — that teachers were already slated to get this year,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.

School Employees Face Higher Insurance Co-Payments After Boost In Claim Costs. The St. Petersburg Times (7/27, Marshall) reports, “Hillsborough County (FL) teachers and staffers will get their first glimpse today of a more frugal health care plan, part of the district’s effort to close a shortfall of more than $41 million in next year’s budget.” Under the proposed new healthcare plan, school employees would pay more in co-payments and “will lose the ability to see out-of-network doctors or specialists,” unless they “pay more for a premium plan.” Last month, the Times notes, “district officials were shocked to learn that claim costs had shot up by around 12 percent. Keeping the existing health plan without changes would have added $29 million to last year’s total of $120.4 million.”

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Law & Policy
Economic Woes Force States To Pare Back Scholarship Programs.
Education Week (7/26, Adams) reported, “In Nevada and across the country, the weak economy is forcing many states to cut back their merit-based scholarship programs. The combination of rising tuition and decreasing tax revenues has put many lawmakers at a crossroads” and to “keep programs from going under, some states are raising the minimum grade point average or testing criteria to reduce the number of awards.” According to Education Week, other states “are offering a set amount rather than total tuition coverage” and some states, “such as Michigan, have ceased financing merit-based scholarship programs altogether.”

Policies Keeping Students Out Of School For Head Lice Are Too Strict, AAP Says.
Time (7/26, Park) reported on its website that a clinical report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that head lice “do not pose enough of a contagious hazard to justify the strict policies that many schools use to keep infected children out of class.” The new report “updates [the AAP's] 2002 guidelines for the treatment of lice infestation.” Former AAP Council on School Health chariwoman Dr. Barbara Frankowski said that “that parents wrongly tend to blame schools for the spread of head lice,” noting, “A lot of head lice comes from situations where kids are in close contact, such as sleepovers and camps.” According to Time, between 6 million to 12 million cases of head lice occur among school-aged children each year, “based on extrapolations from documented local infestations.” WCCO-TV Minneapolis (7/27, Douda) and WLS-TV Chicago (7/26) also covered the story.

Special Needs
Colorado’s Special Education Rating Improves.
The Denver Post (7/25, Meyer) reported, “For the first time in three years, Colorado improved its special-education federal rating from ‘needs intervention’ to the slightly better ‘needs assistance.’ The rankings are based on an annual survey required for every state under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” According to the Post, “Every state submits a report about its performance on 20 goals, including the percentage of students with disabilities who graduated from high school and the [percentage] who dropped out.”

Facilities
Detroit Public Schools Announces Start Of $60 Million School Renovations.
The Detroit News (7/27, Shultz) reports, “Detroit Public Schools (DPS officials hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking [Monday] for about $60 million in renovation work set to start this summer at Western International, Henry Ford and Denby high schools.” Improvements will be completed “by fall 2011.” They include more modern classrooms, enhanced security, and “new technology” including “such as sustainable technology labs, security fencing and new exercise facilities for student and community use — services often described in top-performing school districts,” according DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. The AP reports that “the schools are expected to serve nearly 4,000 students as part of the district’s $500.5 million capital improvement program.” The renovations are “being paid through voter-approved bonds.”

School Finance
Stolen Textbooks Cost Los Angeles School District Nearly $10 Million, Audit Says.
The AP (7/27) reports that an audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) “says stolen textbooks and unnecessary book purchases have cost the [district] nearly $10 million.” The findings were based on 21 “randomly sampled” high schools. The report concluded that LAUSD “has an outdated and substandard textbook inventory system” and “its elementary schools have no system at all.” Last year, “the district spent more than $83 million on textbooks,” the AP notes.

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Also in the News
Neighboring CTE Schools Divided Along Achievement Lines.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/27, Dodd) reports, “When a new $35.4 million [CTE] campus opens in Gwinnett County next month, two high schools will share teachers, a library and classroom space, but not a name.” One, Maxwell High School of Technology, is a general CTE school that sometimes focuses on “teens at risk of dropping out,” while the other, the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology, will be “an ambitious academy aimed at high-achievers.” While all students “share similar career interests…they will learn how to become architects, bioengineers and mechanics separately.” However, “some Gwinnett residents wonder whether maintaining similar schools for different kinds of students is the best use of tax dollars.” They also point out that combining the two could “challenge lower-performing students to step up their game.”

More States Joining Common Education Standards Movement.
The Christian Science Monitor (7/27, Paulson) reports though most developed countries have “a national set of education standards for students” and the US “has long been the exception,” 28 “states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the so-called Common Core standards, which were released in the spring. Several more were poised to do so by early August. Some 40 states are likely to have signed on by next spring.” According to the Monitor, “The rush to acceptance has surpassed the wildest hopes of many education reformers, even as it alarms those who see common standards as usurping local control and a bad idea.”

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In the Classroom
New Calculation Shows Improving Graduation Rate In Maine.
The Kennebec (ME) Journal (7/20, Stone) reports, “Newly released data” from the Maine DOE show that the state’s “high school graduation rate dipped” by about three percentage points “between the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years.” But, “the 2007-08 rate was calculated using a formula that takes into account those who took more than four years to graduate but still received conventional diplomas.” The newer formula used to calculate the 2008-09 graduation rate, however, “highlights only the percentage of students who graduated in four years or fewer, or who completed their coursework during a summer session after their fourth year.” School officials say that because of the difference in calculation, “it’s unclear whether fewer students are graduating.”

Critics Say Texas’ Dropout Data Is Inaccurate.
The AP (7/29) reported that according to a report by the Texas Education Agency, “the state dropout rate declined by almost 11 percent over the last year, but critics say the data being used is flawed and doesn’t accurately reflect what’s going on in Texas schools.” The Intercultural Development Research Association looked at “the number of students who enrolled in 2005 and finished in 2009″ and found Texas’ dropout rate to be 31 percent. But Texas, which recently adopted the national dropout definition, “still uses a series of ‘leaver’ codes to account for students who don’t finish school but aren’t necessarily considered dropouts.” Included in these numbers are “students who leave school to pursue an associate’s degree or who were removed by Child Protective Services.”

Ed-Tech Implementation In K-12 Schools, Colleges Slowly Increasing, Survey Shows.
T.H.E. Journal (7/19, Aronowitz) reported that according to an education technology survey recently released by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), “American primary and secondary schools and colleges are definitely showing progress in ed tech implementation,” but at a slow rate. There are “five primary areas of technology” that according to the SIIA show “institutional progress.” They include “ease of access, availability of 21st-century tools, differentiated learning, assessment tools, and enterprise support.” The survey was created “to track how well the aggregated nationwide education community was progressing towards” goals in those areas. Findings for 2010 indicate an improvement in overall progress “over 2009 in four of the five areas measured.” Still, the average improvement “was less than one percent.”

Summer School Attracting Students For “Third Semester” Of Credits.
The Chicago Tribune (7/20, Malone) reports on the “third semester” for high schools, otherwise known as “summer school.” While it “was traditionally seen as remedial operation,” now “many students choose to hit the books in June and July so they can rack up extra credits…or learn the ropes before starting freshmen year.” In addition, some high schools “cater to the new type of teenager with an array of college prep courses.” Popular subjects for summer school are often difficult ones, the report noted, because “some high-schoolers, like those in Illinois, must take more courses to graduate in recent years.” The Times added, “At New Trier Township High School…nearly half of the school’s enrollment” went to the summer session. “The biggest hits are in-depth science courses where teens learn a week’s worth of lessons each day and tackle a week’s worth of homework each night.”

On the Job
Florida Community Foundation Announces $2.5 Million STEM Project For Middle Schools.
WWSB-TV Sarasota, FL (7/20) reports that the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice on Monday “announced a five year $2.5 million project to jump start improved teaching and learning results” for STEM subjects, in part because “research indicates 15 of the 20 fastest growing jobs require substantial math and science preparation, but Florida’s students trail national averages in both.” The program will affect some 9,000 middle school students in Sarasota and Charlotte counties by “training teachers on new math and science standards” and collaborating “with employers in the community to provide internships.” One such employer is Mote Marine, which has “been working overtime tracking the oil spill with their underwater robots. But Mote president and CEO Kumar Mahadeven has been desperately seeking more workers with skills in science, technology and math, and hasn’t been able to find them close to home.” Foundation spokesperson Terry Hansen pointed out, “Without a pipeline of STEM-educated workers, laboratories like Mote cannot thrive.”

The Tampa Bay Business Journal (7/20) adds that the program will include the Sarasota County middle schools of Woodland, Venice, Laurel-Nokomis and Heron Creek and the Charlotte County’s L.A. Ainger Middle School. The foundation, the “largest community foundation in Florida,” said its project “is not only to benefit the targeted schools and children but also to act as an impetus for community-wide involvement in activities related to” STEM subjects.

Law & Policy
Obey Seeks To Cut Race To The Top Funding By 40 Percent.
The Hill (7/20, Alarkon) reports that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) has proposed cutting the Obama administration’s “$1.35 billion 2011 request for Race to the Top” by 40 percent. Obey pointed out “that Race to the Top received $4.35 billion in the $862 billion stimulus, much of which has yet to be spent.” Instead of funding Race to the Top according to the administration’s wishes, “Obey is proposing a 3 percent increase for the Title I program and a four percent increase for special education aid for 2011.” The Hill notes that Obey’s approach of balancing funds “for reforms with more traditional programs is winning support from teacher unions.” Kim Anderson of the NEA said, for instance, “We fundamentally believe that the government’s role through federal funding is to be a partner to all states…instead of making states have to compete.”

Few “Side Deals” Accounted For In Florida’s Race To The Top Application.
Ron Matus wrote in the St. Petersburg Times (7/19) “Gradebook” blog, “that 14 of the 54 Florida schools districts where both district officials and teachers unions signed on to the state’s $700 million Race to the Top effort also have side agreements with local unions that some say undermine the state’s bid.” But only three of the “districts submitted their side agreements to the state.” Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton said that “if a state that wins deviates from its application, they will lose funding.” Hamilton also noted “that Florida’s application ‘does discuss side agreements.’” Matus points out that while the application does discuss such arrangements, “it only mentions the three side agreements…that were submitted to the Florida Department of Education.”

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Special Needs
Michigan District Overhauls Gifted Education.
The Jackson (MI) Citizen-Patriot (7/19, Wheaton) reported, “Jackson Public Schools is reworking its elementary school gifted and talented programs,” as under “an expanded team teaching approach, gifted and talented students at some district elementary schools will be taught by multiple teachers – with one of those instructors being a gifted and talented program teacher.” Previously, gifted students stayed “with the same gifted and talented teacher” all day, unless they “were in special classes such as physical education.” The Citizen-Patriot adds, “In March, Jackson Superintendent Dan Evans said that gifted and talented programs would be consolidated into a single elementary school to help the district fill a projected budget deficit.” The new set up will save the district about $130,000 in the upcoming school year by eliminating “two gifted and talented teaching positions.”

School Finance
Some California Districts Shortening School Year To Cut Back On Spending.
The San Francisco Chronicle (7/19, Freedburg) reported that “many California districts are…shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis.” A survey by California Watch shows that 16 “of the state’s 30 largest school districts…are reducing the number of days in the academic year” by up to five days. In addition to furlough days, “many districts also will eliminate” teacher work days reserved for “class preparation, staff training, or parent conferences.” School districts expect large savings with the reductions. For instance, “in Los Angeles…cutting the year to 175 days will save $145 million.” And, in the smaller Freemont district, officials “will save $5.8 million by reducing the school year by three days.”

Nebraska BOE May Reduce Special Education Funding To Save $96 Million Over Two Years.
The Omaha World-Herald (7/19, Dejka) reported that the Nebraska BOE is considering budget cuts that would eliminate “state funding for gifted education,” require fewer students to “take the annual statewide writing test,” and eliminate “a textbook loan program for private schools.” In addition, funding would be reduced “for a program that helps disabled people enter the work force and cut it for two new state programs aimed at improving student achievement.” Overall, the proposal represents “a 10 percent cut in state aid to schools,” equal to about $96 million in the 2011-13 school years. “Board members will meet next month to consider the proposed cuts and in September to approve the department budget.”

Minnesota Borrowing From School Districts To Cover Gaps In State Budget.
The Crookston (MN) Daily Times (7/20) reports that for “the second time in six months,” Minnesota’s Office of Management and Budget plans to borrow money from schools “to cover the state’s cash flow problems.” The first loan for nearly $423 million was taken out last winter. “At that time, the law required the state to borrow the money, so state officials said they had no choice.” But, “the law is no longer a mandate,” and “school districts must have reserves that equal at least $700 per student before the state can borrow from them.” The Crookston Daily Times notes that last year, the Minnesota Association of School Business Officials (MASBO) advised districts to “hold money in reserves for financial stability, cash flow and to maintain their credit rating.”

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Also in the News
NBC Hosting Education Summit In September.
The AP (7/19, Bauder) reported that during the week of Sept. 27, “NBC News is convening its own summit with education and political leaders in September to talk about ways to improve schools in light of statistics showing the US lagging in student achievement. The two-day ‘Education Nation’ event in New York will be carried online, and is part of a week of programming concentrating on education issues on NBC News broadcasts such as ‘Today’ and ‘Nightly News,’ and the MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo TV networks.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “the governors of Minnesota and Tennessee, MIT President Susan Hockfield and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have all said they would attend, NBC said.”

Mississippi District Settles With Lesbian Former Student Over Discrimination Complaint.
The AP (7/21, Byrd) reports that 18 year-old Constance McMillen, a “lesbian who sued her school district over its ban of same-sex prom dates, has accepted an offer to settle the case.” McMillen, who was represented by ACLU attorneys in the case, will “accept a judgment offer from the Itawamba County School District to pay $35,000, plus attorney’s fees.” The school district also says that it will “follow a policy not to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity in any educational or extracurricular activities.”

CNN (7/21) reports on its website that “the settlement comes after the ACLU sued the school district in Fulton, Mississippi, on behalf of” McMillen after Itawamba Agricultural High School officials told her “she and her girlfriend would be ejected if they attended the school-sponsored prom.” School officials eventually decided to cancel the prom. The ACLU said in a statement that McMillen “suffered humiliation and harassment after parents, students and school officials executed a cruel plan to put on a decoy prom for her while the rest of her classmates were at a private prom 30 miles away.”

USAToday (7/21, Joyner) reports that a federal judge in March “ruled that the district had violated McMillen’s rights.” But, even with the settlement “agreement, school district attorney Michelle Floyd issued a statement Tuesday saying the district ‘believes that Constance McMillen’s rights under the United States Constitution were not violated by any act, omission, policy, custom or practice of the district.’” McMillen, meanwhile, “said she was relieved when she heard about the settlement,” because of the district’s agreement to change its policy. BBC News (7/21), the USA Today (7/20) “On Deadline” blog, and the Baltimore Sun (7/20) “In Good Faith” blog also covered the story.

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In the Classroom
Minnesota Education Officials Discover Two Incorrectly Scored State Test Questions.
The Miami Herald (7/21, McGrory) reports that NCS-Pearson, “the troubled testing company that botched the release of this year’s” Florida state test scores FCAT scores, “is being blamed for problems in Minnesota, too.” According to a Minnesota Department of Education spokesperson, the company “incorrectly scored the state-mandated science tests given to fifth- and eighth-graders.” Education officials in Minnesota noticed that two questions had been scored incorrectly on the state science tests. “Pearson has apologized.”

Bangor Middle School Students Explore Transportation Careers Through Engineering Program.
WABI-TV (7/21, LaVerghetta) reports that middle school students from the Bangor area are checking out engineering and transportation careers through the Maine Summer Transportation Institute offered through the University of Maine. The idea is to get “a new generation of people” interested in the transportation “by land, air, and sea” through the study of engineering. One field trip was to the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, where participates “even got to jump aboard the US Maine.” The program, funded by the state and federal government, especially focuses on “young women,” and “the program seems to be sparking interest for some students.”

On the Job
Survey Shows Four-In-Ten Teachers In Texas Hold Second Jobs.
The Dallas Morning News (7/21, Stutz) reports that according to “a new survey by researchers at Sam Houston State University,” about 40 percent of teachers in Texas “held second jobs this past school year,” the highest percentage “in the three decades that the study has been conducted.” Of that 40 percent, about two-thirds “said the quality of their teaching would be better if they didn’t have to work another job.” The average number of hours each week the teachers spent at their second job was 15.2. In addition, 56 percent of the teachers surveyed “reported they held a job while on summer break. That figure also was up from the last survey in 2008.” The Dallas Morning News notes, “The average salary of teachers who were questioned in the study was $50,019 a year, a figure that was up nearly $2,500 from two years earlier.”

Nature Museum To Help Bring New Science-Teaching Techniques To Schools In Dallas.
The Dallas Morning News (7/21, Hobbs) reports that the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), the Dallas Citizens Council, and the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science are collaborating on “a new program,” called Leaders in Science, that will bring “fresh material and new science-teaching techniques to schools.” Fifth-grade teachers and some fourth-grade teachers “will have access to a full-time museum staffer who will coordinate the program and make classroom visits.” Teachers “also will receive lab support, collaborate with other teachers, and be able to request various artifacts to enhance learning.” The Dallas Morning News notes that the program addresses the difficulty Texas students have faced in their attempts “to pass the science portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.”

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Law & Policy
More States Poised To Adopt Common Education Standards.
The New York Times (7/21, A1, Lewin) reports on its front page, “Less than two months after the nation’s governors and state school chiefs released their final ecommendations for national education standards, 27 states have adopted them and about a dozen more are expected to do so in the next two weeks.” But even “some supporters of the standards…worry that the rush of states to sign up” they may “not have the money to put the standards in effect” immediately. Still, “the effort has been helped by financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to most of the organizations involved in drafting, evaluating and winning support for the standards.”

US House Panel Votes To Extend Race To The Top For Extra Year.
Education Week (7/20, Klein) reported, “Advocates for education redesign are encouraged by a US House of Representatives Appropriations panel’s decision to extend the Race to the Top program for an additional year. If the extension makes it into the final spending bills for fiscal year 2011, advocates say, that could mean more states will take the reform-minded steps emphasized in the Race to the Top program, such as revamping their teacher-evaluation systems and lifting caps on charter schools, in order to get a slice of the competitive grants.” According to Education Week, “The additional spending for 2011 would also include $400 million-just $100 million less than the president’s request-to extend the Investing in Innovation, or i3, grant program, which also was created under the recovery act and initially funded at $650 million.”

Lawmaker Says Administration Sought Cut To Food Stamps To Fund Race To The Top. Valerie Strauss wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (7/20), “Here’s how serious the Obama administration is about its $4.3 billion Race to the Top competitive grant competition for school reform: It was, apparently, willing to cut food stamps to keep Race funding intact.” The claim was published “in an interview with Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) published on the Fiscal Times Web site.” According to Strauss, the rationale was that “this was acceptable because the price of food is lower than it was projected to be when the money was appropriated for the stamps.”

Houston Public Schools’ Use Of Value-Added Data In Firing Teachers Questioned At Hearing.
The Texas Tribune (7/20, Titus) reported that Texas state Sen. Mario Gallegos Jr. (D) questioned Houston Independent School District (HISD) official Ann Best at Tuesday’s “Senate Education Committee hearing” on the use of “value-added data” in grading and firing teachers. HISD, the Tribune adds, “has used the data…to hand out bonus