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December 5, 2008 |
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| No investment more strategic than public education |
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If financial companies get a federal bailout, then public education should get one too, Miami-Dade Schools chief Alberto Carvalho told The Miami Herald. “The most commonly heard solution out of Washington these days is a bailout where the federal government intervenes to safeguard key industries, and in the process, the quality of American life,” he said. “If that's the rationale, then I cannot think of a more strategic investment than safeguarding the quality of public education.” Florida ranks in the bottom quarter nationally in terms of spending per student, and Carvalho says he has already cut so much from his already-lean budget that he can’t cut much more. An education bailout is unlikely, however, according to Miami-area Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R), since Congress “is not in favor of any other bailouts.” She added that this does not diminish the seriousness of the Miami-Dade district’s financial situation. Still, some feel Carvalho’s analogy doesn’t hold: “If the Florida school system goes down the drain, it will make no difference to the U.S. economy. If we have AIG or Citicorp fail, then we have a systemic failure in our financial system. Everybody goes down,” according to Michael Connolly, an economics professor at the University of Miami.
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| American lack of civics knowledge “alarming” |
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A study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute finds that Americans are "alarmingly uninformed” about the country’s history, founding principles, and economy, reports USA TODAY. Of the 2,508 Americans given the 33-question civics quiz, only half could name all three branches of government, and 54 percent knew that the power to declare war belongs to Congress (almost 40 percent incorrectly said that it belongs to the president). Only 21 percent knew that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and just 54 percent could correctly identify a basic description of the free enterprise system. "Without knowledge of your country's history, key texts, and institutions, you don't have a frame of reference to judge the politics and policies of today," says Richard Brake, head of the American Civic Literacy Program. Other key findings: 71 percent of the quiz takers earned an F; the average quiz score was 49 percent; and civic knowledge declined in proportion to time spent using passive media, such as TV.
Read more | Analysis | Report | Quiz | Back to top
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| The president-elect faces “delicate dance” over education |
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Among the many challenges President-elect Obama will face once he takes office, one of the toughest will be making good on his education campaign promises, The Washington Post writes. On his campaign website, Mr. Obama promised to "improve [No Child Left Behind’s] accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them." A prominent campaign proposal of his was merit-pay programs designed with input from teachers. Giving other pressing education concerns, how much can he accomplish? He inherits an education agency and a law that brought unprecedented federal influence into classrooms with a massive expansion of testing. The law, NCLB, is due for reauthorization, but the bipartisan consensus in Congress that fostered it has fragmented, and it is unpopular with unions and school districts, who find it over-prescriptive. Michael J. Petrilli, an associate assistant deputy secretary in the Education Department from 2001 to 2005, characterizes the steps Mr. Obama must take as “a delicate dance”: "The big challenge for President-elect Obama is he's going to have to appease the reformers, but also the teacher's unions. They are all going to be watching for signs that he's with them."
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| American high schools a locus of lax ethics |
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A Los Angeles-based ethics group anonymously surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private, and has concluded that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards, according to the Associated Press. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls -- 30 percent overall -- acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23 percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative. "What is the social cost of that -- not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?" Michael Josephson, founder and president of The Josephson Institute, remarked in an interview. "In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say 'Why shouldn't we? Everyone else does it.'" Other findings from the survey: 64 percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38 percent did so two or more times, up from 60 percent and 35 percent in a 2006 survey; 36 percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33 percent in 2004; 42 percent said they sometimes lie to save money -- 49 percent of the boys and 36 percent of the girls.
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| Kids in housing projects at great risk for failure |
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The first large-scale study to look at academic performance of children in New York City’s public housing complexes finds that students in public housing are more likely to drop out of high school and less likely to graduate in four years than those who don’t live in public housing, according to The New York Times. The report from New York University also found that fifth graders in public housing did worse on standardized math and reading tests than other fifth graders, even in comparisons of students at the same school of similar race, gender, and economic status. The study’s authors don’t have definitive answers for the disparities, but ventured that public housing’s culture of poverty offers few role models to stress the importance of education, and exposes them to crime or widespread peer pressure from those not doing well in school. Families who live in public housing may also differ from other disadvantaged families in ways that are hard to measure.
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| Omaha launches ambitious health initiative |
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A new school-based clinic initiative, Building Bright Futures, will be piloted in one middle school and three elementary schools in Omaha, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The initiative has determined that in Nebraska-area counties, there are 82,000 children without regular health care providers, 17,000 children without health insurance, and 1,321 children who missed school last year because they didn't have their immunizations. The first steps of Bright Futures' health plan will be updating information and establishing a hotline to direct families to existing services that will meet their needs. Many Omaha-area agencies already are providing health services to needy families, but the system can be difficult to navigate. In five years, according to John Cavanaugh, the initiative’s executive director, the goal is to have health services in every metro area school. The Omaha school district currently has 65 registered nurses on staff, one-third of whom travel between two or three schools. The nurses address everyday ailments and provide screenings at specific grade levels for students' vision, hearing, blood pressure, height, weight, scoliosis, and but cannot provide the more sophisticated screenings that can be provided by school-based clinics.
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| TV, Low Self-Esteem, and Family Problems Lead to Early “Sexual Debut" |
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Of the 146 girls in a comprehensive new study, those who had been sexually active before the age of 15 spent more time watching television, had lower self-esteem, had poor relationships with their parents, had lived with either a single mother or step-parent, showed signs of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and underachieved at school. Of the 127 boys studied, those who had engaged in early sexual activity were further into their puberty, spent more time watching television, had lower self-esteem, showed signs of ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and had poor relationships with their parents. Altogether, reports Science Daily, 15 percent of the study’s adolescents had experienced early sex, either intercourse and/or oral sex. Across all risk factors, the more factors pushing young people to have sex early, the more likely they were to do so, with a large effect linked to the amount of time spent watching television. The findings from the Wisconsin Study of Families and Work also suggested that parents had a heavy influence on adolescents' decision to engage, or not, in early sexual activity. A related study just released from the National Institutes of Health and Yale University that reviewed 30 years of data on the effects of media exposure on children and adolescents linked a range of ill-effects, including tobacco use, obesity, and sexual behavior to high levels of media consumption.
Read more | Study abstract | Related article | Back to top
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| Math teachers in many high-poverty schools a mere “chapter ahead” of their students |
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A study by the Education Trust has found that NCLB requirements notwithstanding, in high-poverty schools, two in five math classes are taught by a teacher without a college major or certification in math. In schools with a high proportion of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher, according to the Associated Press. Math is considered a "gateway" course that leads to greater success in college and the workplace, and the teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades (5-8) a crucial time for math. "This is a time when kids are making a really important transition from arithmetic to mathematics," said Ruth Neild, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University who has studied the problem elsewhere but did not work on the report. "It takes careful instruction, and if kids can't get that, and really get it, they're not going to succeed in math in high school." The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act requires that all teachers in core academic subjects be "highly qualified" by 2006, but allows states to define “highly qualified,” with the result that most teachers in the country have the designation. Surveys of teachers suggest that so-called out-of-field teaching is more frequent than states are reporting.
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| Magnet schools on the wane, despite proven success |
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Researchers with the UCLA-based Civil Rights Project have found that support for magnet schools has waned nationally, even when magnets continue to outperform other types of public schools, including charters, the Los Angeles Times reports. Magnet programs were created to promote voluntary integration, and have frequently delivered on their purpose while producing high-quality and sought-after academic programs. In recent years, however, magnets have suffered court setbacks, stagnant federal funding, and local budget cuts. Both magnets and charter schools typically appeal to families seeking accelerated academics and special course offerings, but magnet schools achieve ethnic balance by actively recruiting and by paying for student transportation, while charter schools don't receive funding for transportation and rarely provide it. The result is that low-income families can't get to desirable charters in higher-income areas. And while many charter schools value diversity, “The Forgotten Choice? Rethinking Magnet Schools in a Changing Landscape” found that a focus on integration makes a difference in actual diversity outcomes. As UCLA professor Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project, pointed out to the Times, educational choice produces competition, but not necessarily equity.
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Consortiums bring county no closer to desegregation
A report by the Office of Legislative Oversight in Montgomery County, Md., has found that its high school consortiums, set up to encourage desegregation, have had little effect to this end.
Era of “dumb, dissed and dysfunctional government” may be ending
In an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun, Andrew Yarrow of Public Agenda writes that three politicians -- Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil -- are emblematic of a new era of political idealism, activism, and bipartisan cooperation.
Arizona may lose powerful advocate for education
Amid speculation that Gov. Janet Napolitano will be called to serve in the Obama administration, The Arizona Republic examines her impact on public education in her state.
Alabama delays funding to school districts for second month in a row
As it did in the preceding month, the state of Alabama has paid just 75 percent of its monthly allotment to local schools on time.
Home to the Snake Clan
The Grand Haven Tribune profiles a Grand Haven, Mich., elementary school within-a-school where students are grouped based on ability and emotional maturity.
Civic engagement among youth on the rise in last decade
The Boston Globe reports that interest and participation in public service, volunteerism, and social entrepreneurship among youth have risen dramatically over the last decade. |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Toshiba/NSTA: ExploraVision Awards
All inventions and innovations result from creative thinking and problem solving. The Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision Awards Program encourages kids to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science. Maximum award: U.S. EE Savings Bond worth $10,000 at maturity for each student. Eligibility: U.S. or Canadian citizens or legal residents, living within the United States, U.S. Territories or Canada who are full-time students grades K-12 attending a public, private, or home school. Deadline: January 28, 2009.
http://www.exploravision.org/about/
Coming Up Taller Awards
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and reward outstanding after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs for underserved children and youth. Maximum Award: $10,000. Eligibility: programs initiated by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, universities, colleges, arts centers, community service organizations, schools, businesses, and eligible government entities. Deadline: January 30, 2009.
http://www.pcah.gov/cut.htm
Heinz: Ketchup Creativity Contest
The H.J. Heinz Co. is sponsoring a contest for young artists, in which winners’ designs will be on single-serving Heinz Ketchup packets for 2009. Maximum award $1,000 award for art supplies, $1,000 worth of Heinz Ketchup, and the winner’s art framed for display. Eligibility: students grades 1-12. Deadline: February 28, 2009.
http://www.ketchupcreativity.com/
National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board/USA TODAY: SAMMY Scholarship Awards
Twenty-five student-athletes will win the Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) Award, which entails a scholarship and a spot in a Milk Mustache ad to run in USA TODAY. Maximum award: $7,500, an all-expense-paid trip to Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, FL, and a spot in a Milk Mustache ad. Eligibility: legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States or the District of Columbia, and as of November 6, 2008, enrolled as full-time student in a state-accredited private or public high school, in good standing in grade 12, and a participant in a high school sport or club sport during the 2008-2009 school year. Deadline: March 6, 2009.
http://sammy.bodybymilk.com/
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
“Without data, you are just another person with an opinion.”
-Andreas Schleicher, Head of the Indicators and Analysis Division at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, speaking at the 2008 Public Education Network Annual Conference.
http://www.publiceducation.org/annualconference
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