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A REMARKABLE RESEARCH PROJECT UNEARTHS WORLD WAR II HERO Some enterprising students from rural Kansas discovered a Catholic woman who saved Jewish children during World War II. The story began when four high school students were shown a news clipping, which said, "Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-43." The students began to research this amazingly underreported story by looking through primary and secondary sources. They eventually found that Irena Sendler, a Warsaw social worker, had gone into the ghetto and talked Jewish parents and grandparents into letting her take their children in order to save them from death camps. She then took the children past Nazi guards and had them adopted into the homes of Polish families or hid them in convents and orphanages. In addition, she made lists of the children's real names and put the lists in jars that were then buried. At one point, the Nazis captured her and she was beaten severely, but the Polish underground bribed a guard to release her, and she went into hiding. After the students' diligent research, they wrote a play depicting Sendler's life. Since then, they have performed for numerous clubs and civic groups all over the U.S. and Europe, notching at least 225 presentations. The students also bring a jar to every performance, aptly titled "Life in a Jar," and collect funds that are to Poland for the care of Irena and other rescuers. Read Article EVEN TEACHERS THINK IT'S TOO HARD TO FIRE BAD APPLES More than half of the teachers recently surveyed by the Education Sector believe it's too hard to weed out ineffective tenured teachers, reports Nancy Zuckerbrod for the Associated Press. Tenure is intended to ensure teachers cannot be fired on the whims of new principals or angry parents, yet it also makes it extremely complicated to dismiss a teacher who is doing a poor job. While tenure provides a sort of safe harbor for teachers, 70 percent of those surveyed said receiving tenure was just a formality that has little to do with teacher quality. In fact, only a quarter said their most recent evaluation was "useful and effective." In recent years, some educators have been looking to Toledo, Ohio for ideas on how to make evaluations more meaningful. There, experienced teachers evaluate first-year teachers and help determine the fate of veterans who get poor reviews from principals. Read Article A KEY TO LITERACY: PARENTS TALKING WITH THEIR KIDS Schooling does matter, but literacy starts at home, writes Laura Pappano for the Harvard Education Letter. Teachers have long urged parents to read aloud to their children, but now there is a second and perhaps more powerful message coming from educators: talk to your kids! Mounting research that links language-rich home environments with reading success and school achievement is driving educators and community groups to target families long before children even register for school. It is highly probable that home support for literacy markedly influences kindergarten language skills and in turn, fourth grade reading comprehension scores. In fact, exploratory investigative discussions between parents and children are central to higher-level literacy, while the social-emotional bond parents have with children can amplify learning. Parents remain uniquely able to tailor explanations that click perfectly with their child and also provide more extensive opportunities for rich discussion than a teacher attending to a class of 25 students. Read Article IS YOUR SCHOOL CLEAN? OK, BUT IS IT GREEN CLEAN? The environmentally friendly glass cleaner used in Northwest Suburban District 214 in Arlington Heights, Ill. has been leaving streaks, reports Mick Zawislak for the Chicago Daily Herald. Still, that's easily fixed by making simple adjustments in how the green formula is used. Requiring such cleaners has become part of a move to reduce toxic chemicals and thereby improve air quality in schools across Illinois. In compliance with the Green Cleaning Schools Act, 5,659 schools are required to use environmentally sensitive products in six categories covering the majority of day-to-day cleaning tasks. Just five years ago, green products either didn't work or were too costly. However, the market has changed to the point that requiring the use of green products is the logical next step in improving the environment. Also, going green does not only provide health benefits, it can save money too, reports the Tyler (W.V.) Star News team (second link). In fact, by going green, Tyler County Schools have saved nearly $1 million during the course of the past five years. In addition to the monies conserved through retrofitting lighting and other green modifications, there has been a significant reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels and the release of polluting emissions into the atmosphere. Read Article Read Article NO MORE WALKING TEN MILES BOTH WAYS IN THE SNOW TO GET TO SCHOOL Logging onto the home computer is now the preferred method of education for about 48,000 British Columbia students, reports Cathryn Atkinson for the Globe and Mail (Canada). The Learning NowBC program has almost tripled its online student body in just three years. The program appeals to families who home school their children or travel for extended periods of time, students who want to take a course that is not offered at their local school, adults who want to complete their secondary school education and young people who are either not succeeding at local schools or are not challenged by the curriculum. At the very least, virtual learning provides a reprieve to the oppressive travel some students are required to make to get to the schoolhouse. However, according to a new book from Clayton Christensen, a business professor at Harvard University, technology-based forces of "disruptive innovation" are gathering around public schools and will overhaul the way students learn, reports Andrew Trotter for Education Week (second link). The book also predicts that the growth in computer-based delivery of education will accelerate swiftly until, by 2019, half of all high school classes will be taught over the Internet. Read Article Read Article BLOGGING HELPS ENCOURAGE TEEN WRITING The big news from a recent survey that explored the links between formal writing that teens do for school and the informal communication they exchange through email and text messaging was that emoticons and abbreviations have crept into students' formal writing assignments, reports the eSchool news staff. However, there was another interesting finding that proves promising: blogging helps many teens become more prolific writers. While teens who communicate frequently with friends and those who own more technology tools do not write more often than less communicative teens, teen bloggers write more frequently both online and offline. In fact, 47 percent of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons at least several times a week compared with 33 percent of teens without blogs. In addition, 65 percent of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life. Read Article ARE WIRED KIDS WELL SERVED BY SCHOOLS? An increasing number of teens are hyper-motivated to learn a special skill like creating podcasts, directing YouTube videos, publishing a website or hacking an iPhone, reports Stefanie Olson for CNet NewsBlog. However, teachers largely have not kept up with this trend and remain unable to inspire much of the same ingenuity. In addition, researchers have begun to notice that digital media is minting a new brand of kids who are creators of media rather than simple passive consumers. Within these digital environments, kids who create and evaluate media derive a sense of competence, autonomy, self-determination and connectedness among their peers. In fact, it appears many kids are drawn to create media online because their work can be immediately recognized and evaluated by their peer groups and potentially a much larger audience. In contrast, it can take kids much longer to reap the rewards or build recognition from hard work in school. Read Article COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS KEY TO CHANGING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURES Community involvement is an extremely important factor in any college access marketing campaign, yet many campaigns forego this vital element. Ultimately, on-the-ground outreach and engagement within a community will sustain a message and change the college-going behaviors of students. Consequently, all events, presentations, outreach, partnerships and publications should be strategized and leveraged into a comprehensive community engagement plan. A new brief from the Pathways to College Network provides information on how best to target the various community audiences of a college access marketing campaign. Read Article DO VOUCHERS STIMULATE DISABLED STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PROFICIENCY? A new paper from Jay Greene and Marcus Winters of Manhattan Institute fame investigates the impact of voucher programs on disabled students in Florida, as compared to the academic performance of disabled students who remain in the public school system. The study finds that public school students with relatively mild disabilities made statistically significant test score improvements in both math and reading as more nearby private schools began participating in the voucher program. This seems to indicate that students eligible for vouchers who remained in public schools made greater academic improvements when their choices increased. In addition, disabled public school students' largest gains as vouchers opportunities increased were made by those diagnosed as having the mildest learning disabilities. Meanwhile, the academic proficiency of students diagnosed with relatively severe disabilities was neither helped nor hindered by increased voucher exposure. Read Article NEW SURVEY FINDS LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS Seventeen years after the first state charter law passed, a majority of adults still have little or no clue what a charter school is, reports Erik Robelen for Education Week. In fact, almost 60 percent of respondents to a recent survey conducted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools said they knew "very little" or "nothing at all" about the independent public schools. In addition, 37 percent of respondents guessed that charters are private or religious entities. The survey also found that 77 percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat favor giving "parents more options when choosing a public school for their children." Read Article CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS APPEAR TO HAVE HIGHER COLLEGE-GOING RATES A new study from the Rand Corporation finds that students who attend Chicago's multi-grade charter high schools appear more likely to enroll in college than their counterparts in traditional public schools. In fact, the charter school students were seven percent more likely to graduate from high school and 11 percent more likely to enroll in college. The research also indicates that charter school students perform slightly better on ACT college entrance exams, reports the Associated Press. Read Article TUITION DOESN'T APPEAR TO MAKE COLLEGE CLASSROOM IMPACT As higher education costs continue to climb, a new study fuels concerns about whether the investment in post-secondary education by families and taxpayers translates into better results, reports Mary Beth Marklein for USA Today. Students remain a growing source of revenue for colleges, yet little of that money appears to be going into classroom instruction. In addition, the study notes that the percentage of students who complete a degree hasn't kept place with increases in enrollments, revenue or total spending. Read Article THERE IS A NEED FOR INCREASED EMPHASIS ON "MIDDLE" SKILLS Recently, the Council on Competitiveness urged an increased emphasis on "middle" skills (those inherent to jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree but do require training beyond high school). The thrust of the need is a workforce that is enabled to better interact with customers, reports Mark Schoeff for Workforce Management. While it is evident that the United States needs to produce more scientists and engineers, quality alone is insufficient. For instance, technology workers need to have stronger interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial skills. Read Article TEACHER OPPOSED TO STANDARDIZED TESTING RECONSIDERS Teacher Chela Delgado recently offered a commentary on National Public Radio's May education series, and talked about how she hated the idea of making her students take standardized tests. Yet in getting to know her pupil's parents, she began to rethink her position. In her commentary, Delgado reveals how families in under-resourced schools are pursuing what they see as best for their kids and sometimes this pursuit dovetails with testing. Read Article HOW TO REALLY MEASURE QUALITY TEACHERS Identifying the skills of certain teachers who have a greater impact on student performance than others is of utmost importance. It also is vital that teacher evaluation systems transform into mechanisms for improving student learning. To that end, a new Teacher Quality Research & Policy Brief provides an overview of current teacher evaluation tools and processes and identifies the strengths and limitations of each. The brief also reveals results of new research from a REL Midwest study of district guidance to schools on teacher evaluation policies and presents policy options for states and districts. Read Article INDIANA UNIVERSITY WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR CHEMISTRY HOMEWORK Indiana University has recently set up a free web-based learning tool that allows high-school students to get instant feedback on chemistry questions. Indiana teachers, participating in the program, have found the experience quite positive, and there has been special praise for the quick feedback. This partnership provides a new example of the great benefits tat arise when the higher education world and communities work together. Read Article THE LIMITATIONS OF "CRITICAL FRIENDS GROUPS" In a new study released in the Teachers College Record, Marnie Curry, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, reports on a three-year examination of "critical friends groups" at a Pacific Northwest high school. Many staff members enjoyed the discussion groups, mostly because they enhanced relationships, boosted their awareness of research-based practices and reforms, increased their knowledge of school-wide issues and improved their capacity to undertake instructional improvement. However, Curry notes that the critical friends groups were a weak lever for improving student achievement because they actually have minimal influence on teachers' content knowledge. In fact, such groups are by nature places in which in-depth attention to subject matter is unlikely. Curry also discovered key limitations that prevented the groups from having a more positive impact in school. Read Article VIDEOS LINK EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNOLOGY USE WITH EDUCATION The National Center for Technology Innovation recently held a panel on the effectiveness of research on educational technology. The video clips show a debate over how findings from education technology research can effectively drive improvements in the field. In today's education climate, it has become critical for technology products, devices and tools to demonstrate their effectiveness. In the videos, panelists outline effective strategies to communicate research-based findings in user-friendly terms to the public. In another discussion, participants highlighted lessons learned from a wide array of implementation efforts in education, revealing the core components of successful and sustainable initiatives. Read Article NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION "Grants for Tolerance Programs" Teaching Tolerance offers grants for programs that engage collaboration between educators, researchers, parents/guardians and student groups that aim to equalize students' experience in schools. Such programs might include equitable discipline policies and practices; consistent educational experience for migrant, homeless or foster-care students; special education advocacy, with emphasis on parent and students' rights; prejudice reduction efforts in racially isolated schools; and equitable school assignment plans. Maximum Award: $10,000. Eligibility: educators, researchers, parents/guardians and student groups. Deadline for Letter of Inquiry: May 15, 2008. http://www.tolerance.org/teach/grants/schoolgrants.jsp "Nature of Learning Grants Program" The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation give grants to organizations to start or expand Nature of Learning programs in their communities. Grants support start-up expenses associated with new programs and offer continued support to existing Nature of Learning programs. Nature of Learning is the National Wildlife Refuge System's community-based environmental education initiative that seeks to use National Wildlife Refuges as outdoor classrooms to promote greater understanding of local conservation issues; encourage interdisciplinary approaches to learning that enhance student academic achievement; use field experiences and student-led stewardship projects to connect classroom lessons to real world issues; and, partner local schools, community groups, natural resource professionals and local businesses. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility: Programs involving a partnership among a local school(s), community group (e.g., Refuge Support Group), and National Wildlife Refuge. Deadline: June 16, 2008. http://www.nfwf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=4784 "Children's Dental Health Grants" The American Dental Association Samuel Harris Fund for Children's Dental Health Grants Program awards grants to oral health promotion programs designed to improve and maintain children's oral health through community education programs. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: community-based, not-for-profit, oral health promotion programs in the United States. Deadline: July 17, 2008. http://www.adafoundation.org/ada/prod/adaf/prog_access_harris.asp#eligibility "Grants for After-School Music Programs" The Mr. Holland's Opus Special Projects Program provides musical instruments and instrument repairs to existing K-12 school music programs that have no other source of financing to purchase additional musical instruments and materials. Eligibility: After-school music programs that are at least three years old or have a music-related umbrella organization that is at least three years. Maximum Award: $8,000. Deadline: August 1, 2008. http://www.mhopus.org/app_special_0.asp "Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education" The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education honors outstanding educators who excite a commitment in their students to the free enterprise system and unleash the entrepreneurial skills of their students at the elementary, junior high school, high school and college level. Maximum Award: $7,500. Eligibility: teachers at K-12 schools, colleges and universities. Deadline: October 1, 2008. http://www.ffvf.org/leavey_info.asp QUOTES OF THE WEEK "Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important." - Bill Gates (business magnate/philanthropist) http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Technorealism:+the+rhetoric+and+reality+of+technology+in+teacher...-a086065996 "A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest." - Thomas Jefferson (president, United States of America, 1801 - 1809) http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff5.htm ===========PEN NewsBlast========== The PEN Weekly NewsBlast is a free e-mail newsletter featuring school reform and school fundraising resources. The PEN NewsBlast is the property of the Public Education Network, a national association of 82 local education funds working to improve public school quality in low-income communities nationwide. There are currently 42,585 subscribers to the PEN Weekly NewsBlast. Please forward this e-mail to anyone who enjoys free updates on education news and grant alerts. Some links in the PEN Weekly NewsBlast change or expire on a daily or weekly basis. Some links may also require local website registration. Your e-mail address is safe with the NewsBlast. It is our firm policy never to rent, loan, or sell our subscriber list to any other organizations, groups, or individuals. **UPDATE OR ADD A NEWSBLAST SUBSCRIPTION** PEN wants you to get each weekly issue of the NewsBlast at your preferred e-mail address. We also welcome new subscribers. Please notify us if your e-mail address is about to change. Send your name and new e-mail address to PEN@PublicEducation.org. Be sure to let us know your old e-mail address so we can unsubscribe it. If you know anyone who is interested in receiving the NewsBlast, please forward this e-mail to them and ask them to e-mail us and put "subscribe" in the subject field or visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp To view past issues of the PEN Weekly NewsBlast, visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_past.asp To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp To read the NewsBlast submission policy, visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_submission_policy.htm If you would like an article or news about your local education fund, public school, or school reform organization featured in a future issue of PEN Weekly NewsBlast, send a note to: PEN@PublicEducation.org Albert Lang Senior Associate, Communications & Editor, NewsBlast Public Education Network 601 Thirteenth Street, NW #710S Washington, DC 20005 PEN@PublicEducation.org Howard B. Schaffer, Founding Editor |
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