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June 4, 2010 Manna from Wall Street JPMorgan Chase & Co. has announced a $325 million effort to support the building, expansion, and renovation of charter schools, Education Week reports. The company will give $50 million to community-development institutions that support charter schools, and will provide $175 million in debt-financing and $100 million in "new markets tax-credit equity" for charters. The program is aimed at schools with strong academic track records that have had their charter renewed at least once, and at established operators that want to launch new schools. However, Alex Molnar of Arizona State University questions whether JPMorgan Chase's plan is a way for the bank to make money from public education rather than provide charity to it. For the $100 million that the bank is providing in "new markets tax-credit equity," he said, it's his understanding that JPMorgan will receive a tax credit through a federal program that lets taxpayers receive credits against income taxes for qualified investments in designated community-development entities. The credit for the investor equals 39 percent of the cost of the investment, and is claimed over seven years. "Essentially, it amounts to a loan," Molnar says. "They're making money from the government because they're able to offset these funds with this tax credit." Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/28/33jpmorgan.h29.html?tkn=QXBFdhaltmq2KHDU9guekOaOuip4D6DSP8TX&cmp=clp-ecseclips The road not taken? Education is an invaluable national resource, to be supported and protected even as it's pushed to change, writes Pedro Noguera in The Nation. Many in education who supported President Barack Obama when he was campaigning for the presidency now feel that his administration has been recreating education policies that closely mirror his predecessor's: "Market-based reforms like performance pay for teachers, the excessive emphasis on charter schools as alternatives to traditional public schools, and the distribution of federal funds -- once treated as entitlements to compensate for poverty -- through competitive grants all represent a disturbing continuity with the policies of the past." Decisive measures and bold reforms are needed, but change in education can't be implemented on a piecemeal basis, in Noguera's view. The Obama administration needs a new vision, one rooted in the recognition that schools should provide equal opportunity for all children to learn, if they are to "fulfill their vital role as the cornerstone of our democracy." For this to happen, the president must understand what was wrong with NCLB and policies pursued by the Bush administration, and direct funds where change and innovation are most needed. Read more: http://www.thenation.com/article/new-vision-school-reform Plus ça change A new study from Mathematica finds that efforts to link teacher compensation to student achievement have done little to improve test scores or retain teachers, according to The Chicago Tribune. Three years after the pilot Chicago Teacher Advancement Program was announced by Mayor Richard Daley and then-Schools Chief Arne Duncan, selected schools perform no differently than those not implementing the program. One participating school has been closed for poor performance, and others have opted out of the program. Perhaps most indicative, schools in the program for two years scored lower on assessments than schools in their first year. While some view the study as evidence that such programs are ineffective, advocates say that with just two years of data, it's too early to judge the larger concept of performance pay. School officials say that while they are disappointed, they're not surprised: Until the way teachers are evaluated and paid is changed, efforts to create compensation incentives will fall short. "Fundamentally, you still have the same performance evaluation and the same compensation system that every other school has," said Alicia Winkler, the chief of human capital at the school district. "Until you really change the base structures, I don't anticipate we'll see different outcomes." Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-cps-teacher-performance-pay-20100602,0,909542.story See the report: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/Newsroom/Releases/2010/TAP_5_10.asp Related: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/01/33tap.h29.html?tkn=WUBFMSAX%2F3%2FoxzuIZ6zT8puwSdgC3B3ZQlhI&cmp=clp-ecseclips Rising to the ChalleNGe A recent brief from MDRC gives interim results from an evaluation of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, which aims to "reclaim" the lives of high school dropouts. ChalleNGe -- which requires no military service -- is a residential program operating in more than half the nation's states, with more than 90,000 completing it since its launch in the 1990s. The program combines an intensive residential phase with military-style discipline, a comprehensive focus on activities to promote positive development, and a post-residential mentoring program. A survey was given to youth in both the program and control group 21 months after entering the study. Key findings include that the program group was much more likely to have obtained a high school diploma or a GED certificate, and to have earned college credits. At the time of survey, program members were somewhat more likely to be engaged in productive activities -- 72 percent of the group were working, in school, in training, or in the military, compared with 66 percent of the control group. Youth in both were equally likely to have been arrested in the year prior to the survey, but the program group was less likely to have been convicted of a crime or certain delinquent acts. See the report: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/557/overview.html Reading is fundamental An experimental program in seven states will give thousands of low-income students $50 worth of free books in an attempt to stave off the so-called "summer slide," USA TODAY reports. Research shows that giving children books may be as effective as summer school. Low-income students have less access to print, and in some cases even walking to the local public library may be too dangerous. Low-income students are also known to lose three months of ground each summer to middle-class peers. "You do that across nine or 10 summers, and the next thing you know, you've got almost three years' reading growth lost," says Richard Allington of University of Tennessee-Knoxville. For a study to be published later this year, Allington and colleagues selected students in 17 high-poverty elementary schools in Florida, for three consecutive years giving each child 12 books on the last day of school. The researchers found that students who had received books had significantly higher reading scores, experienced less of a summer slide, and read more on their own than the 478 who didn't get books. In all, 852 students received books, paid for mostly by federal Title I money. Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-06-01-summerreading01_st_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip The cost of excessive discipline Recently, testimony from three public hearings in Massachusetts suggested that excessive disciplinary action for non-violent offenses like tardiness and truancy exacerbated the dropout crisis. A new Rennie Center review of discipline practices in the state and nationally looks at these discipline policies, the laws that govern them, and research on the effects of disciplinary removal. The brief describes overall trends in disciplinary removal (suspensions and expulsions) of Massachusetts students, school year 2005-2006 through 2008-2009, and findings from a more in-depth analysis of discipline data from the 2007-2008 years. Key findings include that for serious infractions -- illegal substances, violence, and criminal activities -- the most common reason for disciplinary removal is violence. Out-of-school suspension is the most frequently used form of disciplinary removal, and the number of disciplinary removals peaks at 9th grade and declines in 10th through 12th grade. Particular segments (low-income, special education, male, black, Hispanic) of the student population are removed at disproportionately high rates. The brief highlights essential questions that must be answered to fully understand how discipline policies are being carried out, and to tease out the relationship between disciplinary removal, the achievement gap, and dropping out of public schools in Massachusetts. See the report: http://renniecenter.issuelab.org/research Still persistent More than 16,000 public schools "struggle in the shadows of concentrated poverty," according to The Christian Monitor, with the portion of schools where at least three-quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch climbing from 12 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2008. These data are contained in the federal Condition of Education report, which also shows a stark contrast between students in high-poverty and low-poverty schools in terms of educational opportunities and achievement. "There have been gains in achievement in high-poverty schools over the last decade or so, but what we don't see in most cases is a closing of the gap," says Daria Hall, director of K-12 policy at the Education Trust. Solutions have been hard to come by, but Hall finds hopeful signs. New attention has been focused on the subgroup of low-income students, and some schools and districts are showing success in raising achievement. "The willingness of educators to learn from these schools is heartening," Hall says. To address gaps, some reformers are trying to connect stronger teachers with the most disadvantaged students. In 2008, about 21 percent of teachers in high-poverty schools had less than three years of experience, compared with 15 percent in low-poverty schools. Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0527/Economic-segregation-rising-in-US-public-schools See the report: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/ Right up there with murderers Has the public vilification of teacher unions lead to a certain detente? Washington Post columnist Jo-Ann Armao couldn't help noticing that the final episode of the long-running series "Law & Order" -- which has tended to reflect the zeitgeist -- was entitled "The Rubber Room," and featured a teacher falsely accused of sexual molestation, waiting in a Temporary Reassignment Center, and blogging anonymously that he planned to assault a New York City high school. "What was striking," Armao writes, "was the villainous portrayal of union officials. So adamant was a union lawyer about protecting teacher prerogatives that detectives were blocked from getting any information to help them identify and locate the would-be killer." In the episode, teachers themselves were portrayed sympathetically as having hard jobs in a sometimes unjust system, and the union stonewalling was clearly exaggerated, she says. But recent events have shown the willingness of labor leaders such as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to embrace reforms once thought unimaginable, even as the National Education Association has "hunkered down." Armao wonders whether unions have become more accommodating because of changing public perceptions resulting from increased media attention. Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/05/is_the_public_turning_against.html BRIEFLY NOTED The final round-up Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming will all be on the sidelines for the second round of RttT, along with a handful of other states that didn't apply the first time. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/05/31/some_states_walk_away_from_race_to_top_millions/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news Twice the number in NY The New York State Legislature has voted to more than double the number of charter schools in the state, handing New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg a significant victory that he and education officials hope will give the state a chance of receiving $700 million in federal grant money. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/nyregion/29charter.html?ref=education Standards at last The final set of common academic standards has been released by the Common Core State Standards Initiative, ending months of closed-door work and revision and incorporating feedback from state education officials, teachers' unions, and other education interest groups. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/02/33common.h29.html?tkn=PXBFedguzDuasI77yP+j+EK4tDSM/eevDQU+&cmp=clp-ecseclips (More) trouble between Fenty and labor The leaders of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police and the D.C. Firefighters Association have said that Mayor Fenty disrespects city workers and lacks the temperament to effectively oversee public safety. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/27/AR2010052705250.html?hpid=newswell Go figure Banning junk food from schools has a beneficial effect on students, a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/health-1/school-junk-food-ban-works---.html GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION State Farm: Company Grants State Farm is committed to meeting the needs of communities by giving in three areas: Safe Neighbors (safety), Strong Neighborhoods (community development), and Education Excellence (education). Maximum award: varies. Eligibility: nonprofit, 501(c)3 organizations; Canadian charitable organizations, educational institutions, and governmental entities. Deadline: October 31, 2010. http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/grants/cogrants.asp CVS Caremark: Community Grants CVS Caremark Community Grants support programs that promote independence among children with disabilities, including physical and occupational therapies, speech and hearing therapies, and assistive technology and recreational therapies. Eligibility: nonprofit organizations that serve children with disabilities, located in a state that has a CVS pharmacy/store. Maximum award: $5,000. Deadline: October 31, 2010. http://info.cvscaremark.com/community/our-impact/community-grants/children-disabilities NSTA: DCAT Association "Making a Difference" Award The Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association "Making a Difference" Award recognizes excellence in a science program developed and implemented by middle-level science teachers, grades 6-8. Entries must show innovative and effective teaching strategies combined with a science program that has influenced students to explore and investigate science and its application to global problems. Maximum award: $2,500 to be used to enhance or expand the winning science program; the winning school's lead science teacher and principal will be awarded coach airfare and two nights' hotel accommodation to attend NSTA's National Conference March 10-13, 2011 in San Francisco. Eligibility: innovative middle-level science programs. Deadline: November 30, 2010. http://www.nsta.org/about/awards.aspx?lid=abt#dcat NSTA: Wendell G. Mohling Outstanding Aerospace Educator Award The Wendell G. Mohling Outstanding Aerospace Educator Award recognizes excellence in the field of aerospace education. The recipient will be honored during the Awards Banquet and the Aerospace Educators Luncheon at the annual NSTA Conference. Maximum award: $3,000; plus $2,000 in expenses to attend NSTA's National Conference March 10-13, 2011 in San Francisco. Eligibility: K-12 teachers of science in formal education settings (elementary, middle, high school). Individuals must be nominated and have a minimum of three years teaching experience. Self-nominations will be accepted. Deadline: November 30, 2010. http://www.nsta.org/about/awards.aspx?lid=abt#aerospace QUOTE OF THE WEEK "It's easier nowadays to create one edition for one situation and a different edition for another situation. I don't believe the Texas curriculum will spread anyplace else." -- Bob Resnick, founder of Education Market Research, June 1, 2010 http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/06/01/business-broadcasting-amp-entertainment-financial-impact-us-texas-textbooks_7649565.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. 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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