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August 7, 2009 Quality education as a civil right In an article in the Harvard Educational Review, Dr. Robert P. Moses, civil rights activist and founder of The Algebra Project, gives a history of the early civil rights movement in Mississippi. He focuses on the individuals, alliances, and strategies that forged social change in the United States, ultimately leading to the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. He describes how the efforts of Justice Department officials working from the "top" of society paralleled the day-to-day work of sharecroppers and organizers at the "bottom" to challenge Jim Crow, fundamentally altering civil rights in this country. Moses likens the struggles then to contemporary efforts to bring quality education to all children nationwide. As he is again working from the bottom of today's movement for educational equality via his organization -- which teaches math in underserved communities -- he calls on President Obama to provide the leadership needed at the top to ensure further and critical change. Read more: http://her.hepg.org/content/937m754251521231/?p=d861fc90968f4c529384e4b25e5a6195&pi=14 Spotlight on school climate In a commentary in Teachers College Record, authors Jonathan Cohen, Arnold Fege, and Terry Pickeral ask educational leaders to think broadly about the responsibility that federal and state departments of education have for the well-being of children and families in schools. The authors identify six ways to close a gap that now exists between school climate research, policy, practice guidelines, and teacher education. First, they advocate that education leaders define school climate in ways that are aligned with recent research. Second, they propose that schools routinely and comprehensively evaluate school climate, recognizing student, parent, and school personnel "voice," as well as the major dimensions of safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and overall environment. Third, they recommend that school systems adopt standards for positive school climate, and climate assessment procedures. Fourth, they propose that climate assessment be a measure of accountability. Fifth, they recommend that teacher preparation programs give teachers and administrators the tools to evaluate classroom and school climate, and use these findings to promote a climate for learning in schools. Finally, they call for increased research on the evaluation and dissemination of resources focused on improving school climate. Read more: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=15698 See the report: http://publiceducation.org/pen_news/archive/20090625_Measuring.asp Formula for measuring poverty is failing vulnerable kids In its 20th annual Kids Count report on children's health and wellbeing, the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that serious shortcomings in national data are undermining identification of and assistance to America's vulnerable children, according to The Associated Press. "Our progress in harnessing the power of data to optimize outcomes for vulnerable children and families falls far short of what is possible, far short of what is needed, and far short of what private industry has achieved in its efforts to maximize profits," the authors write. The report urges the government to overhaul its formula for measuring poverty, strengthen efforts in the 2010 census to fully count children and minorities, and improve the national vital-statistics system to better track data on disadvantaged families. "We have embraced the language of accountability and the rhetoric of results-oriented programming," writes the report, "But we've made much less headway toward putting these aspirations into effective practice." Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12934199 See the report: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/Databook/2009/OnlineBooks/AEC186_essay_FINAL.pdf Charters debate a turn to unions A growing number of charter schools nationally are unionizing, according to The New York Times, for reasons ranging from teacher dissatisfaction with work hours to teacher turnover, or in some cases, lower-than-average pay. While this will usher in conditions more favorable to charter teachers and may stabilize what is typically a young, transient teacher corps, reformers say it may inhibit the climate that has made the schools so attractive to parents and hospitable to innovation. "A charter school is a more fragile host than a school district," said Paul T. Hill, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. "Labor unrest in a charter school can wipe [a school climate] out fast." Particularly at issue is whether unionization in and of itself tamps down the collegiality among teachers that helps students thrive, and if innovation in and of itself requires teacher burnout, which is frequent in the absence of union rules. These questions are all the more immediate in light of the Obama administration's support for charters, and its announcement of Race to the Top, which will give financing to states that ease restrictions on charters and adopt charter-like standards for other schools, such as linking teacher pay to student achievement. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/education/27charter.html Importance of setting "ambitious and feasible" goals In an interview with the Business section of The New York Times, founder of Teach for America (TFA) Wendy Kopp reflects on the lessons learned about staffing an organization to promote lasting change, and setting goals that are "at the right intersection of ambitious and feasible." When starting out, she says, she'd hire people and know within days whether they would thrive or not. "So I said, 'Let's actually find out what we're going to know two days in, before someone starts,'" Kopp explained. Now, TFA sends applicants "challenges" -- "a bunch of stuff" they would encounter on their first day, and then asks them to describe how they would approach these. Through this method, Kopp feels she can determine whether a candidate has the particular skills required. With respect to goals, Kopp admitted that in TFA's early years, they occasionally got sidelined by losing focus or setting goals that in the end weren't realistic. "If you set a goal that's really not within reach, people will just give up on it and you really don't have a goal," she said. "I think there's as much talking down of goals around here as there is of actually saying, 'You're not thinking big enough.'" Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/business/05corner.html?scp=4&sq=Kopp&st=cse Related: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-29-teach-for-america_N.htm?csp=34 The gain to be had in simply 'doing what works' The Obama administration has unveiled a new discretionary fund of $4.35 billion to be disbursed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, USA TODAY reports. Using detailed guidelines, the president and Duncan have forcefully presented 19 criteria in four areas that states must meet if they are to capture valuable education dollars. These include aligning schools with internationally benchmarked academic standards, long-term data systems that track kids over several years, and letting schools pay teachers and principals more if they work in hard-to-staff schools or if student scores improve on basic skills tests. They also include provisions for increasing the supply of charter schools and alternative pathways for aspiring educators and performance-based pay. "This competition will not be based on politics, ideology, or the preferences of a particular interest group," said President Obama in announcing the fund. "Instead, it will be based on a simple principle -- whether a state is ready to do what works. We will use the best data available to determine whether a state can meet a few key benchmarks for reform, and states that outperform the rest will be rewarded with a grant." We are now being outpaced in math and science education by countries like India and China, he noted. Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-23-racetop_N.htm Related: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International-Business/Obama-starts-Race-to-the-Top-for-schools-to-beat-India-China/articleshow/4819051.cms Race to the Top: more of the same? In an opinion piece, the editors of The Wall Street Journal assert that the recently announced Race to the Top Fund (RTT) could be more than just another reform. It could, they write, be a fundamental challenge to "the public school establishment," who can no longer "say that lack of money is its big problem." They point to the fact that Race to the Top follows an additional $100 billion in education stimulus funding, itself on top of routine education spending, $667 billion for K-12 education in the 2008-09 school year. So the reformist rhetoric of RTT "sounds great" to the authors, but whether the administration can successfully face down entrenched interests remains to be seen. If it is simply a fact of throwing more money at the system, in the authors' view, the plan will fail. For decades, they write, the country has been trying to "spend its way to educational excellence," doubling per-pupil outlays in real terms, and tripling federal funding. Despite this, reading scores on national standardized tests have remained "relatively flat," with scores for blacks and Hispanics improved but lagging far behind white students in test scores and graduation rates. Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574308442726348678.html Prior to the stimulus, comparatively little for education from the feds According to the most recent Census, the federal government gives relatively little to K-12 education, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes. The 2007 Census indicates that the country's 15,638 school districts received $556.9 billion in government funding overall, but only 8.3 percent of it was federal money. The remainder -- approximately $510 billion -- came from state and local sources. However, education stimulus spending will most likely change the equation, according to Russ Whitehurst, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. With a $100 billion infusion, "the Obama administration has made it clear that it wants to spend more on education, and with the stimulus, the appetite for federal investment will be whetted," he said. "Once you start giving money to people, you create the appetite for more." The Census showed that public schools across the country spent an average of $9,666 per pupil in 2007, an increase of 5.8 percent over the previous year. Spending ranged widely per state, however, with New York school systems spending the most per pupil at $15,981, and public schools in Utah the least with $5,683 per pupil. Also at the top were New Jersey at $15,691 per pupil, and Washington, D.C. at $14,324. Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_census_school_spending.html In Delaware, practices for boosting high school success A recent study by the Delaware Education Research and Development Center suggests why some high schools in the state had higher graduation rates and did better on the Delaware Student Testing Program than others of similar socioeconomic status. The News Journal of Wilmington reports that researchers identified six best practices: transition programs to orient incoming ninth grade students, academies to organize ninth grade students into smaller groups, extra instructional time to support students not making satisfactory academic progress, after-school instructional help for all students needing extra help, mentoring, and twilight programs for students missing a small number of credits to graduate. "Having the one-on-one help really helped me understand things," agreed sophomore Shelly Horshey. "I could keep asking questions and not hold everyone else back. And it brought my grade up a lot." Though the report concedes that few conclusions about specific policies and practices can be drawn from a study of just three schools, the case studies "point to key considerations in deciding what interventions are appropriate in any school. These include student population, universal versus targeted services, resource availability, and size of school." Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090727/NEWS03/907270312/1006/NEWS See the report: http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/19716/4240/1/Successful%20Delaware%20High%20Schools.pdf Leveraging the indicators of college and career readiness In light of widespread recognition that U.S. high schools are inadequately preparing students for college and careers, a new policy brief from the Alliance for Education looks at the research on a number of high school performance indicators that have emerged as being predictive of high school graduation and college and career readiness. These include attendance, course success, on-track-to-graduation status, course-taking patterns, success on college- and career-ready assessments, postsecondary success rates, and school climate. "Given the demand for data-driven, innovative, systemic reform that leads to college and career readiness for all students," it writes, federal policymakers should leverage these indicators through a number of actions. In particular, it recommends that federal policymakers establish graduation and college and career readiness as the goal for all students and high schools; improve national indicators for measuring college- and career-ready graduation; reinvent accountability and school improvement to include multiple high school performance indicators; invest in state and local systems to collect, analyze, and communicate data, including high school performance indicators; build the capacity of educators and education leaders to use high school performance indicators; and invest in research activities to inform the use of various high school performance indicators. Read more: http://www.all4ed.org/files/SPIMovingBeyondAYP.pdf BRIEFLY NOTED Cesar Chavez does not equal Benjamin Franklin, to some Texans Experts advising the Texas Board of Education contend that civil rights leaders don't merit a place in state social studies curriculum. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/DN-socialstudies_09tex.ART0.State.Edition1.4bfaaf7.html Civics 101: what teens should know about government With an assist from Justice Souter, New Hampshire group drafts civics education guidelines. http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Civics+101%3A+What+everyone+should+know&articleId=2a56f262-1b1c-40c7-bb36-739d590d4f29 Progress in NYC, but many aren't satisfied Critics say overemphasis on standardized testing has turned learning into test prep, rendering scores meaningless. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/nyregion/04scores.html D.C. residents on education Support for Michelle Rhee is up, and continuation of the voucher program has 74 percent approval. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/07/27/daily38.html An assessment of FCAT, 10 years out The Miami Herald looks at the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, initiated by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. The reforms have left an indelible mark, but have yielded mixed grades. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/education/story/1157931.html NEW GRANT & FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Pay It Forward: Mini-Grants Pay It Forward Mini-Grants fund one-time-only, service-oriented projects identified by youth as activities they'd like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Projects must contain a "pay-it-forward" focus -- that is, they must be based on the concept of one person doing a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others, with the results growing exponentially. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: K-12 youth. Deadline: September 15, 2009. http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/educators/mini-grant.html NEA Foundation: Student Achievement Grants The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants fund the academic achievement of students by helping them to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. Work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: practicing U.S. public school teachers, public school education support professionals, or faculty or staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2009. http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/StudentAchievement_Guidelines.htm Lowe's: Toolbox for Education Lowe's Toolbox for Education grant program funds school improvement projects initiated by parents in recognition of the importance of parent involvement in education. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: K-12 schools (including charter, parochial, private, etc.) or parent groups (associated with a non-profit K-12 school). Deadline: October 16, 2009. http://toolboxforeducation.com NCTM: Using Music to Teach Math National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Using Music to Teach Mathematics Grants are available for programs that incorporate music into the elementary school classroom to help young students learn mathematics. Maximum award: $3,000. Eligibility: current NCTM members (as of October 15, 2009), or those who teach in a school with a current K–8 NCTM school membership and currently teach mathematics or collaborate with teachers of mathematics in grades K–2. Deadline: November 13, 2009. http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=1318 AMA/Leader to Leader Institute: Scholarships The American Management Association (AMA) and Leader to Leader Institute scholarship program assists social-sector nonprofit organizations in developing strong leadership. The scholarship is designed to give nonprofit leaders an opportunity to step out of the day-to-day, interact with peers across sectors, and develop practical skills they can apply immediately within their organizations. Maximum award: one-year scholarship. Eligibility: employees of 501(c)(3) organizations with a minimum of 3 years of work experience in the social sector. Deadline: December 15, 2009. http://leadertoleader.org/collaboration/ama/index.html QUOTE OF THE WEEK "We don't know the answers, because we're not asking the right questions [about American education]." -Microsoft founder Bill Gates, in a recent address to the National Conference of State Legislatures http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090721_Bill_Gates__Use_stimulus___to_revolutionize_education.html The PEN Weekly NewsBlast, published by Public Education Network, is a free electronic newsletter featuring resources and information about public school reform, school finance, and related issues. The NewsBlast is the property of Public Education Network, a national association of 79 local education funds working to improve public school quality in low-income communities throughout the nation. Please forward this e-mail to anyone who enjoys free updates on education news and grant alerts. Some links in the PEN Weekly NewsBlast may change or expire after their initial publication here, and some links may require local website registration. People wishing to add a NewsBlast subscription can go to PEN's website (http://www.publiceducation.org) and follow the instructions in the lower left-hand section of the homepage. Current subscribers can unsubscribe by clicking the appropriate link near the bottom of the NewsBlast mailing. If you use spam filters to protect your inbox, you may wish to take a moment right now to add PEN@publiceducation.org to your e-mail address book, spam-software whitelist, or mail-system whitelist. 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