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February 20, 2009 |
Click here to read printable version |
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| Has public education replaced health care as "our greatest national shame?" |
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In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes that our education system has replaced our healthcare system as "our greatest national shame." America once held a global edge because of our willingness to educate all children well, not just male elites, but since the 1970s other countries have surpassed us, in his opinion. The stimulus bill "takes some wobbly steps toward reform," and he notes that its $100 billion for education almost doubles the entire discretionary budget for the Department of Education. He also asks pointedly: "For those who oppose education spending in the stimulus, a question: Do you really believe that slashing half a million teaching jobs would be fine for the economy, for our children and for our future?" He notes that there are numerous education programs that, while small in scale, "have done remarkably well in overcoming the pathologies of poverty," and cites researchers who say we now know from education data where there are huge opportunities to successfully change the way children are taught and encourage meaningful student achievement. We "know that the existing national school system is broken," Kristof says, "and that we're not trying hard enough to fix it."
Read more | Also see | Back to top
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| Mixed results for mayoral control |
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An analysis by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation finds that mayoral control of a school system is no panacea for what may ail it, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Mayors have taken control of school systems in some of the nation's largest cities, such as New York, Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. In some cases, the results have been applauded as a shot in the arm, in terms of both finances and education. But the record on mayoral takeovers -- or any form of school governance other than an elected school board -- remains complicated: "messy, difficult work," in the words of the report, which "requires repeated efforts over several years. In the end, governance reform may result in improvements in a district's fiscal condition, but may not have sustainable impacts on student achievement, especially of low-income and minority students." The issue is particularly relevant to Milwaukee right now, as Mayor Tom Barrett has signaled he would like to put the school system there under his control.
Read more | See report | Back to top
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| Aspiration, not ability, drives tracking in Florida |
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In Florida, black and Hispanic students are sitting out a national trend that has competitive middle-schoolers opting for high school courses, according to an analysis by The Orlando Sentinel. Using public records from the Florida Department of Education, The Sentinel found this was true even in middle schools where the student population is predominantly minority -- high-level classes are generally filled with white kids. Some experts in middle grade education fear this is basically segregation, but the issue breaks down into the familiar arguments around student tracking: some say middle-school students aren't ready to be treated like high-school students, while others complain that the brightest children shouldn't be held back because minorities aren't signing up for certain courses. Officials point out that the courses are voluntary, and this is the crux of the matter to some observers. Parent involvement is key and should be encouraged in communities where minority parents are less likely to have gone to college or have high educational aspirations for their children. "Unless you believe that African-American and Latino kids are somehow, as a group, academically inferior to white kids," said Professor Kevin Welner, who has written on this topic, "then you have to believe there are a lot of kids in those lower-track classes who have the potential for tremendous academic success."
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| Looking at what works in urban charter schools |
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A new book "Inside Urban Charter Schools" by researchers at the Harvard School of Education looks at five consistently high-performing charter schools in urban areas in Massachusetts to determine what common practices and approaches to educating children could be readily replicated in all schools, whether in traditional public, charter, private, or parochial schools. The authors liken the workings of the schools to the gear systems of fine Swiss watches, calling them "strikingly coordinated and coherent." "Within these schools, every person, program, system, structure, and decision has a special role and works in concert toward the fulfillment of clear, widely embraced goals related to academic achievement," according to the introduction. The authors spent 18 months from January 2007 to June 2008 conducting over 90 interviews with school personnel, observing in nearly 140 classrooms for more than 50 days, speaking with parents in focus groups, and examining documents and state reports. They say that they "wish to largely sidestep ideological positions and exchanges. Therefore, rather than defending or condemning charter schools or charter school policy, the book offers rich qualitative findings that often are lacking in ideological conversations about charter schools. The results of this research offer those interested in school reform a nuanced and careful analysis of the factors that likely contribute to the outstanding academic performance of these five schools." Read the introduction and a sample chapter at the link below.
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| Online opportunities for meaningful professional development: learning with Wikis & blogs |
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In an essay in ASCD's Educational Leadership, Bill Ferriter writes that the Internet has the potential to revolutionize professional development for teachers, which has been susceptible to business-driven reform fads that have little effect on student achievement. "Thousands of accomplished educators are now writing blogs about teaching and learning," he points out. "In every content area and grade level and in schools of varying sizes and from different geographic locations, educators are actively reflecting on instruction, challenging assumptions, questioning policies, offering advice, designing solutions, and learning together." This accumulated wisdom, which is driven by personal interests and connected to classroom realities, is available for free. "Professional growth for me starts with 20 minutes of blog browsing each morning," Ferriter says, "sifting through the thoughts of practitioners whom I might never have been able to learn from otherwise and considering how their work translates into what I do with students." Other educators comment and challenge him on his own blog, prompting further reflection, experimentation, and refinement of his own ideas. Ferriter provides suggested links and tips for getting started as a consumer of and participant in this forum.
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| Meeting high priority intervention needs in a time of budget cuts |
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Howard Adelman & Linda Taylor of UCLA's Center for Mental Health in Schools protest deep cuts to student support services in public schools, which they say are the first to go and the hardest hit in times of austerity. "Given the pressing need for learning supports to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at school," the authors write, "it is time for everyone to recognize that current cutbacks are so unbalanced that essential efforts to address factors that interfere with learning at school will be subverted." Given limited resources, the authors recommend that decision makers focus on meeting high priority intervention needs in new and more cost effective ways, but that they meet them. The alternative -- students who are not motivationally ready and able to learn, who are actively disengaged and alienated from classroom participation, and who act out repeatedly -- affects all students just as surely as other factors said to cause low student achievement.
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| Helping parents help students during the financial squeeze |
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Social workers and counselors in the Chicago area who have noticed students grappling with issues from the recession have convened special sessions to help laid-off or financially squeezed parents, reports The Chicago Tribune. Many families find themselves cutting costs and limiting expensive extracurricular activities, changes that impact kids and elevate their anxieties. To support parents trying to help their kids cope, Chicago-area school districts are hosting seminars on student stress and holding open houses for parents to meet with financial advisers and mental health experts. Linda Pfeifer, a community liaison from a local behavioral health hospital, emphasizes that being honest with children about financial hardship is important, but in an age-appropriate way. "They don't need to know every detail," Pfeifer told parents. "[But] let them kind of know what's going on with the finances." Children and adolescents need to know that their basic needs will be met, but it may mean they need to make sacrifices, Pfeifer said. Even when families haven't experienced layoffs, friends and acquaintances may be suffering, which stokes the fears of kids and affects their well-being.
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| Duncan to have fund to encourage innovative reform |
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Education Secretary Arne Duncan will have $5 billion to back new approaches to improve public schools, The Washington Post reports. The Race to the Top Fund, as Duncan calls it, is part of the $100 billion in education funding in the stimulus, and may signal the beginning of a deeper transformation of schools after the accountability era of No Child Left Behind. President Obama campaigned on promises to increase federal funding for schools toward traditional ends, but he also said he would shake up the status quo, drawing on a host of methods, including performance-pay plans, alternative teacher training programs, and charter schools. The special fund would allow Duncan to award grants to states that show progress in boosting student achievement, and support efforts to create better tests and shore up data systems to track student achievement. He also said he would use the fund "to really challenge states and partner with them to dramatically raise standards...and think very differently about how we recruit great teachers, reward them, recognize and incent them." The fund would include $650 million to support partnerships between schools, or schools and nonprofit groups, to "scale up what works," Duncan said.
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| A potential crisis for New York graduation rates |
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A new report by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform looks at New York State's increasing high school graduation standards and in particular, their impact on students of color, immigrant students, and low-income students. "Looming Crisis or Historic Opportunity? Meeting the Challenge of the Regents Graduation Requirements," undertaken for the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, looks at what schools need to do in order to get students ready to meet the new standards, which require that starting with this year's ninth-graders, all general education students in New York State must earn a Regents diploma to graduate high school. The change is part of efforts across the country to raise expectations and prepare all students for success in college and the labor market. But while 52 percent of New York City students graduate from high school in four years, only 37 percent of students achieve a Regents diploma, and outcomes are sharply differentiated by race and class. Low-income students of color fare far worse than their higher-income, white counterparts. The report calls on the New York City Department of Education and New York State Education Department to form an Emergency Working Group to create a plan to address this coming graduation crisis.
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| National, not federal, data analysis |
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In a column in Inside Higher Ed, Doug Lederman contemplates the issue of a national student database, for which $250 million has been allocated in the stimulus bill but which Republicans have consistently fought. GOP leaders cite privacy concerns, and question whether the federal government should delve so comprehensively into the performance of students and the institutions that educate them. The solution may have come in the form of a $2.9 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will allow a handful of states to work with the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse to develop better systems for sharing student academic data up and down their own educational pipelines, and to see whether they can develop consistent ways of collecting and reporting information across states. "The conversation as it relates to doing something at the federal level has hit a wall," said Travis Reindl, an advocate for student records systems. "What this really adds up to, with Gates stepping in and making this kind of work possible, is sending a signal that the push for getting better data is going to continue, with or without the [Washington] Beltway crowd. What we're seeing here is a way to do a national test of this [approach], not a federal test."
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Help for schools and districts in recession time
Consultant Stan Levenson discusses big-time fundraising options for public schools and their districts.
http://vermont.be/personalandpolitical/webready_MP3/2008_12_15_stanlevenson.mp3
Sex education class becomes comedy central
A veteran sex education teacher creates a local controversy and a YouTube sensation by putting underwear over his pants and a condom on his head during a classroom lesson.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch/2009/02/sex_ed_class_becomes_comedy_ce.html
Minnesota principals find proficiency by 2014 unlikely
When asked whether they think all schools will meet the federal standards by 2014, 97 percent of the 700 principals surveyed said no.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/02/17/survey_finds_principals_doubtful_of_meeting_nclb_standards/?refid=0
Kentucky considers scholarships for fast-tracking
The Kentucky state senate has proposed that students who get through high school in three years receive $8,000 -- what the state would spend on their fourth high school year -- toward college.
http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/690726.html
National standards for alternative education based on Tennessee program
The National Alternative Education Association has adopted Tennessee's alternative education program as the standard for such programs nationally.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090212/NEWS04/902120354
Charters for autistic students?
A bill that would enable up to three new charter schools exclusively for autistic students has advanced through the Colorado legislature.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/12/bill-would-create-3-charter-schools-autistic-child/ |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Miller Levine Tropical Biology Scholarship: Costa Rica Field Study
The Miller Levine Tropical Biology Scholarship 2009 will support participation of two high school biology teachers in a field study course at the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in Costa Rica. Maximum award: 13 day/12 night scholarship to OTS in the summer of 2009, including board and travel. Eligibility: high school biology teachers grades 9-12 at an accredited U.S. school. Deadline: March 1, 2009.
http://www.phschool.com/tropicalbiology/
ABC-CLIO: History Uncovered
ABC-CLIO, publisher of history reference and research resources in print and online, is sponsoring its first annual History Uncovered competition, which emphasizes research skills along with historical and critical thinking. Maximum award: see website. Eligibility: teams of secondary school students, their social studies teachers, and school library-media specialists from accredited schools. Deadline: March 30, 2009.
http://www.abc-clio.com/historyuncovered/
Ashoka Foundation: Designing for Better Health Competition
The Ashoka Foundation "Designing for Better Health" collaborative competition aims to find innovative solutions and catalyze a community of change-makers around "nudges" -- innovative little pushes -- that help people make better decisions regarding their own health and the health of others. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: charitable organizations, private companies, or public entities from all countries. Deadline: April 1, 2009.
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/14381/competition/guidelines
Libri Foundation: Books for Children
The Libri Foundation Books for Children Grants donate new, quality, hardcover children's books for small, rural, public libraries across the country. Maximum award: new, quality, hardcover books. Eligibility: Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children's department. The average total operating budget of a Books for Children grant recipient must be less than $40,000. Deadline: April 15, 2009.
http://www.librifoundation.org/apps.html
AAAS Leadership in Science Education Prize
Help spread the word about an outstanding science teacher in your school or district. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is now accepting nominations for the 2009 AAAS Leadership in Science Education Prize for High School Teachers. The $1,000 prize honors a high school science teacher who has contributed to the AAAS goal of advancing science education by developing an innovative and effective strategy, activity, or program. In addition, the winner will be invited to attend and make a brief presentation at the annual Shanghai International Forum on Science Literacy of Pre-college Students as a guest of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology. For more information, contact AAAS Project 2061's Lester Matlock at lmatlock@aaas.org. Deadline: April 24, 2009.
http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/awards/hs_scied_leadership
Lindbergh Foundation: Grants for Technological Advancement and Environmental Preservation
The Lindbergh Foundation Grants honor Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's legacy by funding projects that improve the quality of all life by seeking a balance between technological advancements and environmental preservation. Maximum award: $10,580. Eligibility: Citizens from all countries may apply. Deadline: June 14, 2009.
http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/grants/index.php
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"Imagine the outrage if, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers had to move the ball the full 10 yards for a first down during the Super Bowl while the Arizona Cardinals had to go only seven. Imagine if this scenario were sanctioned by the National Football League. Such a system would be unfair and preposterous. But there is little outrage over the uneven patchwork of academic standards for students in our 50 states and the District of Columbia."
-Randi Weingarten (president, American Federation of Teachers) arguing for national standards in The Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501257.html
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