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April 30, 2010 |
Click here to read printable version |
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| Union discontent affects second round |
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States from Massachusetts to Colorado are sparring with their teacher unions as the deadline for the second round of the Race to the Top competition looms, testing how far they can go to meet federal demands for a certain kind of reform, according to Education Week. "On one hand, the federal government is saying, 'Be bold,' which implies significant challenge to the status quo, which then tends to be disruptive and generate resistance," said S. Paul Reville, the education secretary in Massachusetts, where the American Federation of Teachers affiliate has revoked its support of the state's second-round application over teacher issues. "Yet at the same time, the federal government is asking us to get full [district and union] support. That's the dynamic tension." In Maine, Florida, and Louisiana, unions have vocally opposed reforms, in some cases leading to their defeat. Kansas, Vermont, and Indiana have already withdrawn from the competition; in the case of Indiana, significant union opposition was the cause. While buy-in may not be the major determinant in application scoring (48 out of 500 points), it's crucial, said Diane Donohue of the Delaware State Education Association. "Without the very people who have to do that work, it's going to be very hard to do [any] reform effort."
Read more | Related | Related | Back to top
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| The value of a team approach |
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As reform debates focus on the importance of turning around low-performing schools, a case study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina by Education Resource Strategies shows how effective turnaround can be accomplished on the district level. Charlotte-Mecklenburg was recently nominated for the Broad Prize, and is using data and strategic staffing to create a coherent, systemic approach to school turnarounds. Its Strategic Staffing Initiative (SSI) identifies the district's top teachers and principals through effectiveness data, and recruits them with financial and other professional incentives to turnaround failing schools. According to the report, critical components to a successful district-wide turnaround strategy include a transformational leader who can build a culture of high expectations and ownership of student outcomes; high-capacity teams of teachers with know-how and expert support, collaborating to adjust instruction through assessments; school designs that prioritize core academics and individualized interventions for students; and resources and central support to implement the turnaround vision. "It's a smart policy, because effective teachers have consistently said that money alone isn't enough to bring them to struggling schools -- districts need to focus on leadership and working conditions, too," said Ross Wiener, executive director of the Aspen Institute Program on Education and Society.
Read more | Related | Related | Back to top
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| Significant change comes from inside |
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In an opinion piece on The Answer Sheet blog of The Washington Post, education theorist and reformer John Goodlad writes that as 2009 merged into 2010, the expectations for "a new dawning in schooling" that had been raised by the Obama administration were "slipping away": "the proposals for 'reform' were déjà vu all over again --been there, done that." How, asks Goodlad, could we so ignore the lessons of 50 years of failed school reform and the learning and strategies of those hundreds of "innovative boutique projects," funded by billions of dollars from philanthropic foundations, that had "excited and changed thousands of teachers nationwide?" Goodlad excoriates much of the current reform agenda as "evidence-free ideology," and says that our country will never have the schools we need until local communities, educators and their organizations, and policymakers share a common mission for them. Significant change in most organizations, corporations included, comes from inside. "Between the grammar and the cultural context of schools lies a domain of necessary collaboration and agreement among local communities, states, and the federal government," writes Goodlad.
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| Fixing NCLB |
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In light of the coming Congressional reauthorization of the ESEA, a new monograph from the RAND Corporation summarizes empirical data from the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) -- the ESEA in its current iteration -- and analyzes the reaction of state, district, and school administrators, teachers, and parents to it. The report finds that overall, NCLB has established its intended nationwide school and teacher accountability infrastructure, but its flexibility has resulted in 52 different systems (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) of varying rigor. It also finds the goal of universal proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014 unrealistic, and that the emphasis on proficiency has had well-documented negative consequences. In addition, NCLB has increased Title I appropriations to schools by 51 percent (in constant dollars), but with varied application. States typically have not implemented the most severe restructuring interventions for the chronically lowest-performing schools. As of 2006–2007, a majority of parents still did not know whether child's school was in need of improvement, and were often notified about their options too late to make an informed decision about transferring their child. To improve the law, the report issues a number of recommendations and revisions to the pending bill that will vastly improve its efficacy.
See the brief | See the monograph | Back to top
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| A reversal in Brooklyn |
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Teachers at a KIPP AMP charter middle school in Brooklyn have asked to split from the city teacher union more than a year after they voted to unionize, according to the website Gotham Schools. Sixteen out of 28 staff members have signed the petition to break from the United Federation of Teachers, including three classroom teachers who had originally worked to unionize, as well as social workers, the dean of teaching and learning, an operations manager, the office manager, and other teachers. An attorney representing Dameon Clay, the social worker spearheading the effort, said the decision is a judgment about how teachers can best help themselves and their students. "I think they've come to the conclusion that their goals and the educational mission of the school is just going to best be served by them having a direct relationship with the school's administration," Lyle Zuckerman said. The UFT plans to fight the decision when the teachers have a hearing before the state's Public Employee Relations Board, arguing that KIPP improperly intimidated teachers. UFT vice president Leo Casey said that an "active group" of teachers remains committed to working with the teachers union, but he would not describe the size of the group on the record, citing concern for them.
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| Public money, scant oversight |
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A New York Times profile of the for-profit Imagine Schools charter operator raises questions about the way it exerts power over supposedly independent school boards and how it spends public money. Regulators in some states have found that Imagine has pushed charter holders out of virtually all school decision-making -- hiring and firing principals and staff members, controlling and profiting from school real estate, and retaining fees under contracts that often guarantee Imagine's management in perpetuity. The arrangements, they say, allow Imagine to use public money with little oversight. "Under either charter law or traditional nonprofit law, there really is no way an entity should end up on both sides of business transactions," said Marc Dean Millot, a former president of the now-defunct National Charter Schools Alliance. "Imagine works to dominate the board of the charter holder, and then it does a deal with the board it dominates -- and that cannot be an arm's-length transaction," he said. Such concerns have thwarted efforts by Imagine to open a school in Florida, stalled its push into Texas, and ended its business with schools in Georgia and New York. Imagine has contracts with 71 schools in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and is the largest commercial manager of charter schools in the country.
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| Beating the odds |
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Some high schools in New York have succeeded beyond expectations, bringing students with low academic skills and high needs to graduation in four years, followed by enrollment in college. A new report from the Annenberg Institute describes a follow-up qualitative study of this small group of New York City high schools that, according to 2001 data, were "beating the odds" in preparing low-performing ninth-grade students. The 13 schools included two long-established technical-vocational schools, nine small high schools created between 1993 and 1998, and two high schools created in the reconstitution of large, failing high schools. The institute interviewed administrators, counselors, and other relevant staff to understand how the high schools identified in the earlier study were able to beat those odds. It found that the schools use four key strategies: academic rigor; networks of timely supports; college expectations and access; and effective use of data. For successful continuation of the programs and their scaling up to a wider group of New York City high schools, the report recommends a number of steps: better distribution of resources city-wide; greater control over enrollments where the schools are experiencing a disproportionate degree of enrollment increases; a stronger system of support and accountability that gives the schools due recognition; and a city office of post-secondary education.
See the report | Back to top
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| Explain and engage, for fewer suspensions |
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In response to a 2008 report from the Council of the Great City Schools that found Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) was issuing more suspensions than any other urban system, the district has piloted the behavior management program known as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), according to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The "check in, check out" system, in which an adult runs through various behavior modification goals with a student at the beginning and end of each day, has correlated with fewer suspensions and improved attendance. "What PBIS has done is laid out a framework for schools to follow when it comes to dealing with student behavior," said John Riley Hill, MPS student services coordinator. "This is helping the whole school by giving all teachers a common set of expectations to enforce." In 2007-08, MPS issued 86,675 suspensions, a number close to the entire student population of the district; infractions were sometimes minor. Researchers say educators were rewarding negative behavior by removing students from the classroom. A better way to ward off problems is to explain rules and expectations ahead of time, then praise students who follow them and engage in meaningful discussions with students who don't. Across the country, almost 11,000 schools in 44 states are implementing this approach.
Read more | More on PBIS | Back to top
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| Falling behind in the fundamentals of childhood |
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A new study from Ohio State University finds that eight out of every ten disadvantaged preschoolers from two urban areas showed significant developmental delays in basic motor skills such as running, jumping, throwing, and catching, putting them at risk of becoming obese teenagers and adults, according to Science Daily. "These fundamental motor skills -- running and catching and throwing and kicking -- are the movement ABCs," said Jackie Goodway, lead author of the study. "If children don't learn the ABCs, they can't read. And if they don't learn basic motor skills, they won't participate in sports or exercise." The researchers studied 469 preschool students enrolled in urban, state-funded programs serving disadvantaged youth. The children participated in tests of locomotor skills that included running, jumping, hopping, leaping, sliding, and galloping. They were also evaluated on object control skills through tests of throwing, catching, kicking, striking, dribbling, and rolling. Results showed that 86 percent of the children scored below the 30th percentile of children nationwide, which is considered developmentally delayed. "Most people, even many educators, believe that motor skills just naturally develop in children, but our study shows that's clearly not true," Goodway said.
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| Hirsch on Ravitch |
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What is the message we can take away from Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System? asks E.D. Hirsch in The New York Review of Books. Hirsch agrees with a central Ravitch assertion, that if states were to define a grade-by-grade elementary curriculum, then early reading tests could be based upon defined subject matters, giving schools a strong incentive to "impart substantial knowledge rather than waste time on how-to drills." Moreover, defenders of school choice, another concept that Ravitch disparages, have not yet effectively answered "[her] important observation that the very best charter schools, which benefit from heroic teacher efforts and large infusions of intense private support in addition to public funds, cannot plausibly be replicated on a large scale." In Hirsch's view, the answer is less to do away with charters than to resuscitate neighborhood schools, since most parents tend to send their children there, regardless. "The system certainly needs to be shaken up," Hirsch writes. "But we mustn't surrender the inspiring ideal of the common school, that is, the good, community-centered neighborhood school. As Ravitch convincingly argues, a brighter future for the country depends on realizing that noble ideal for our public schools."
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Alternative pathways bolstered in New York
The New York State Board of Regents voted unanimously to approve a pilot program that would allow educational groups like Teach for America to create their own master's degree programs, a role long reserved for education schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21regents.html?ref=education
Bare-bones not bare enough
In New Jersey, 41 percent of 537 town education budgets passed voter approval, down from about 73 percent last year; it's the lowest rate since 1976.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20100422_Now__towns_have_4_weeks_to_decide_school_budgets.html
Something fishy in the District of Columbia
D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Washington Teachers' Union challenging the layoffs of 266 teachers by Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee in light of a newly discovered $34 million surplus in the 2010 D.C. Schools budget.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/judge-says-she-has-concerns-about-teacher-layoffs-92014264.html#ixzz0mDwSa8TZ
Cutting out the central office
NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has announced his department is eliminating the division that oversees school curriculum and teacher-training programs, a move intended to give principals more power to determine what kind of instruction they use at individual schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/nyregion/27tweed.html |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Graffiti Hurts: National Grant Program
The Graffiti Hurts National Grant Program aims to help communities kick-start or add to local graffiti prevention programs. Grants may be used for one-time projects with the potential to reduce graffiti in the community. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations, including neighborhood groups, crime prevention associations, civic clubs or organizations, and other nonprofit groups; youth groups/schools; police departments or other law enforcement agencies; city, county, state, and federal government agencies, or subdivisions within these agencies. Deadline: June 1, 2010.
http://www.graffitihurts.org/
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Nature of Learning Grants
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation gives grants to organizations to start or expand Nature of Learning programs in their communities. Grants support start-up expenses associated with new programs and give continued support to existing Nature of Learning programs. The Nature of Learning is the National Wildlife Refuge System's community-based environmental education initiative that seeks to use National Wildlife Refuges as outdoor classrooms to promote greater understanding of local conservation issues; encourage interdisciplinary approaches to learning that enhance student academic achievement; use field experiences and student-led stewardship projects to connect classroom lessons to real world issues; and partner local schools, community groups, natural resource professionals, and local businesses. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, cooperative and interpretive associations, Audubon Chapters, and youth organizations. Deadline: June 14, 2010.
http://www.nfwf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=4784
EPA: Sense of Wonder Contest
To honor the late preservationist and ecologist Rachel Carson, the EPA, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., are holding a photo, essay, and poetry contest "that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes." In her book The Sense of Wonder (written in the 1950s and published in a magazine in 1956), Carson used lyrical passages about the beauty of nature and the joy of helping children develop a sense of wonder and love of nature. Maximum award: publication on the websites of EPA Aging Initiative, Generations United, and Rachel Carson Council, Inc. Eligibility: entries must be joint projects involving a person under age 18 and a person age 50 or older. Deadline: June 16, 2010.
http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm
AAPT: Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment for the Support of Physics Teaching
The American Association of Physics Teachers Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment for the Support of Physics Teaching was established to support special activities in the area of physics teaching. Activities can include but are not limited to the development and distribution of innovative apparatuses for physics teaching; traveling exhibits of apparatuses; and local workshops. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: AAPT members. Deadline: July 1, 2010.
http://www.aapt.org/Programs/grants/bauderfund.cfm
American Academy of Pediatrics: CATCH Resident Funds Grants
2011 CATCH Resident Funds grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for pediatric residents to plan community-based child health initiatives. CATCH Resident Funds projects must include planning activities, but also may include some implementation activities. Maximum award: $3,000. Eligibility: pediatric residents working with their communities. Deadline: July 30, 2010.
http://www.aap.org/catch/residentgrants.htm
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"What you're seeing is people fleeing out of a four-alarm fire. [Charter schools] are at best an act of desperate faith." -- New York State Senator Bill Perkins, in a New York Magazine profile of Eva Moskowitz, head of NYC's Success Charter Network, April 25, 2010
http://nymag.com/news/features/65614/
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