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August 27, 2010 Americans lukewarm on Obama education agenda A new poll by Phi Delta Kappa International and the Gallup Organization finds that just 34 percent of respondents would give the president an A or B when grading his performance on education during his first 17 months in office, Education Week reports. The president's grades fell not only among Republicans, but also among Democrats and Independents, who often gave Mr. Obama grades of C or lower. Those polled disagreed significantly with the administration's approach to turning around schools. When asked for the best solution, 54 percent said schools should remain open with the existing teachers and principal and receive outside support. The president's lower numbers on education reflect the overall decline in his approval rating, presently at 44 percent, compared with 52 percent this time last year. However, respondents showed strong support for work on teacher effectiveness. Many chose improving teacher quality as the most important national education strategy, over creating better standards, devising better assessments, or improving failing schools. More than a third of those polled also said improving the quality of teaching is the top task a school must accomplish. Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/25/02gallup.h30.html?tkn=TOBFmwQEBlrCj1GhJNVsoUj1C2tgLjhWthGD&cmp=clp-ecseclips See the poll results: http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/poll.htm An easier race if you're starting from the East Coast Of the dozen states that won major grants in the Race to the Top initiative, 11 are east of the Mississippi, and many are on the East Coast, including Florida and Georgia in the South and New York and Massachusetts in the North, The New York Times reports. Hawaii is the geographic exception. Educators in many states that did not win or did not participate in the competition (which includes every state from Tennessee west to the Pacific) said they were hamstrung from the outset, since the competition's rules favored densely populated Eastern states over the nation's rural communities and sparsely populated Western regions. For example, small towns often have a single school, so setting up a charter alternative might not be feasible. It can also be hard to attract principals to small communities. And many rural states lack the resources or staff to write sophisticated grant applications. "This whole effort had more of an urban than a rural flavor," said Armando Vilaseca, commissioner of education of Vermont, whose state did not participate in either round of the Race to the Top. The 10 winners of the competition's second round were the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/education/25schools.html?_r=1 Related: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5he7W5YALS0v8qptiZJXe56f8zRogD9HPU9J03 Weigh-in on value-added rankings In The Los Angeles Times, various education leaders and professionals shared opinions on the value-added approach to evaluating teachers, which the Times catapulted to national attention by announcing it will publish value-added rankings of 6,000 Los Angeles Unified District (LAUSD) teachers. Professor Stephen Krashen of USC's Rossier School of Education writes that we would do better to alleviate the effects of poverty if we really want to help students. Ted Mitchell of the New Schools Venture Fund says that value-added analysis should be a part of a teacher's evaluation, and as methodology improves, should grow in importance. Marco Petruzzi of the Green Dot charter network feels the primary goal of value-added analysis should not be evaluation; it should form the basis of conversations with teachers about their practice. John Rogers of the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access says the publication of teachers' names will cause harm, and that value-added methods are a limited and underdeveloped tool. Yolie Flores, an LAUSD board member, says The Times series has spurred a long-overdue public dialogue. A.J. Duffy, president of the United Teachers Los Angeles, says The Times is right to bring attention to the lack of effective data analysis in the LAUSD; however, the rankings tell teachers nothing about how to improve. California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss applauds The Times, and says that rather than boycotting the paper, union leaders should work with district leaders to create multiple-measure evaluation plans that support effective teachers. Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-miller-value-added-scores-20100822,0,7965568,full.story Related: http://educatedguess.org/2010/08/23/lausd-teachers-negotiating-use-of-test-scores/ The numbers don't add up (yet) On The Numbers Guy blog in The Wall Street Journal, Carl Bialik writes that efforts by some districts to assess teachers based on student test scores "deserves an 'incomplete'," since the method relies on a flawed statistical approach, and studies find that the assessments don't really predict how much students' test scores will change. For instance, students aren't always assigned to teachers randomly: A teacher who gets more than his share of students who learn slowly because of his knack for helping them might be penalized at the end of the year. Elementary-school teachers might have just 15 or 20 students in their classes, which is a small sample on which to evaluate a teacher's achievements. Research also suggests that using multiple years of data helps, though only so much. A report from the Department of Education released last month shows that even with three years of data, one in four teachers is likely to be misclassified because unrelated variables creep in. Bialik feels that even with these questions, relying on student test scores to create a quantitative assessment of teachers is better than the current standard practice, where principals grade teachers based on a few minutes of classroom observation (and then give mostly high scores). Advocates of the student test-score measure say it can be improved with a carefully constructed model that takes into account such factors as students' family income and schools' support for teachers. Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575440100517520516.html?mod=dist_smartbrief Burying the hatchet, for now After 18 months of strained relations with teacher unions, it appears that President Obama has called a truce, according to Politico.com. This comes just in time for the midterm elections, when teacher unions have traditionally been powerful Democratic allies. The national teachers unions' 4.6 million members spent tens of millions of dollars to help elect Mr. Obama and other candidates in 2008. The president recently called teachers "the single most important ingredient in the education system," and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says although the administration is not pacifying teachers because of midterms, he conceded that improved relations were important. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has found a "shift in tone," and said the president's recent speeches have "made it clear that his strategies were not about firing teachers." The danger is not that teachers would switch party affiliation, but that they sit out the election -- a "disaster for Democrats," according to Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation. Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute agrees: "Given the stakes on the table in November and given there's a number of things they can agree on together, they're in this delicate dance of trying to make it work." Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41306.html#ixzz0xjCslGqh Quitting as soon as they're ahead? As 4,500 Teach for America (TFA) recruits enter schools this year after just five weeks of intensive training, many educators and experts are questioning the premise that teaching is best learned on the job, according to The Washington Post. "For inner-city kids, it's a huge disadvantage to have a teacher who doesn't know how to teach," said Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College at Columbia University. And even if the teachers rapidly improve, they just as rapidly quit. Almost half of TFA instructors leave the profession after their two-year commitment, according to a 2008 Harvard study. Such turnover, Levine said, "ensures a continuous array of rookies." After a review of nearly two dozen studies on the program, researchers reported in June that after several years, recruits perform equal to or better than their peers, but often leave the profession before the benefits of their experience can make an impact in the classroom. Some say TFA sets up its recruits for a fall. "They promote these corps members as adequate to the task of teaching in some of these most challenging assignments after just five weeks of training," said Sharon Robinson of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. "It creates a situation that will likely soon drive the passion out, in favor of 'How do you keep your head above the water?'" Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082202893_2.html?wprss=rss_print&sid=ST2010082301888 Turnaround appears to be in turnaround Schools from Maine to California have postponed their turnaround plans because negotiations among federal regulators, state officials, and local educators have led to delays and confusion, The New York Times reports. The turnaround initiative -- 3.5 billion this year -- has been overshadowed by the Race to the Top, and a compressed timeline has forced local officials to abandon comprehensive plans in favor of smaller, more manageable changes to struggling schools. From the outset, states have had the option of delaying disbursement to schools if more planning was needed, and districts can rollover money to the following year if necessary. Still, experts have been warning for months that the administration's timetable was too tight, forcing schools and districts to create last-minute plans. "To do this right, schools needed to know probably nine months ago that they'd be funded, but many are only finding out now," said Robert Manwaring of Education Sector. The lag in disbursing money affects students in various ways, such as less-qualified instructors in the classroom because schools were not able to hire in the spring when the best candidates were available. In several states, summer activities planned as a part of a school's turnaround strategy were canceled because financing did not arrive in time. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/education/24schools.html?_r=2&ref=education An agenda founded on mixed results In a critique of the education policies of the Obama administration, David Moberg writes in In These Times that on the campaign trail, then-Senator Obama offered Arne Duncan's efforts in Chicago as an alternative model for improving American schools, but in fact Duncan's reforms were too mixed "to justify pushing them on every financially desperate school district." During his tenure, Duncan promoted charter schools and a program known as Renaissance 2010, which involved shutting down poorly performing schools, dismissing all staff, and reopening them with or without the old student body. Chicago's charters have performed no differently in reading than public schools. Bonus payments to "good" teachers had "no significant impact on student achievement or teacher retention" in Chicago, according to Mathematica Policy Research. Other studies have concluded that Renaissance 2010 schools only occasionally performed better than demographically similar schools, and that Duncan's "portfolio strategy" yielded "no dramatic improvements." Nor did strategies imposed on schools as consequences for low scores produce higher outcomes. The number of high school students who failed to meet grade-level performance remained between 69 and 73 percent from 2001 to 2008, the year before Duncan left Chicago for Washington. Read more: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6324/can_our_schools_run_on_duncan BRIEFLY NOTED Out of the frying pan and into another frying pan Connecticut parents are finding that even when they try to transfer their children under provisions of No Child Left Behind, neighboring schools often aren't performing any better, and if they are, they often don't have space for newcomers. http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/School-transfers-rare-in-Conn-under-No-Child-law-625455.php Desperate parents vote with their feet San Francisco's school choice methods are so confusing and frustrating that they are driving middle class parents out of the system. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/19/BAJM1EVTTB.DTL&type=education#ixzz0x8k58gOP Streamlining for everyone As more and more states adopt Common Standards, education groups and publishers are preparing curriculum materials that aim to embody them. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/20/01curriculum_ep.h30.html?tkn=YWBFtrqPyfxULMNIiajyckArrk34oJZPGamz&cmp=clp-ecseclips Deep in the heart of Texas Over the coming week, members of the Austin School Board will take a survey that evaluates their level of cultural acceptance and cultural competency. http://www.austindailyherald.com/2010/08/24/cultural-survey-will-evaluate-school-boards-level-of-cultural-acceptance/ GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Carnegie/New York Times: I Love My Librarian Award The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award recognizes the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. Maximum award: $5,000, a plaque, and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times. Eligibility: school, public, college, or university librarians. Deadline: September 20, 2010. http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian/home.cfm Verizon Foundation: Literacy Grants Verizon Foundation Literacy Grants are available to organizations committed to basic literacy skills in the United States. Verizon has invested in a network of collaborative literacy partners, offering a wide variety of programs with a focus on e-learning. Verizon's leadership in technology and communications provides the distribution network. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline: October 31, 2010. http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml Tiger Woods Foundation: Grants for Underserved Youth Tiger Woods Foundation grants provide opportunities to children who are underserved, focusing on programs and projects that enhance the learning process for children, and transitional programs for young adults to become productive adults. Maximum award: $25,000. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations; see website for further stipulations. Deadline: November 1, 2010. http://web.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/programs/grants/index QUOTE OF THE WEEK "The truth is always hard to swallow, but it can only make us better, stronger, and smarter. That's what accountability is all about -- facing the truth and taking responsibility." -- Secretary Of Education Arne Duncan, regarding the publication of value-added assessments of teachers http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ed-grants-20100825,0,1448546.story 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. Adding the address will help ensure that you receive the NewsBlast and that your e-mail software displays HTML and images properly. |
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