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November 7, 2008 |
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A note from NewsBlast: the transition to the Obama adminstration and its implications for education |
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One of the most phenomenal dynamics of a democracy, the peaceful transfer of power and governance from one administration to another, has begun in earnest. President-elect Obama not only has to appoint a new cabinet to head the various governmental agencies, but he must also begin to select personnel to staff the White House -- two equally important tasks. Speculation abounds on who will be appointed the new Secretary of Education (see below). In addition, Mr. Obama already knows that he could face a trillion-dollar federal deficit this next calendar year, so the passage of a number of economic stimulus plans may be the only chance the new administration has for increasing spending, including additional money for education.
The US House of Representatives and Senate are expected to call a lame-duck session with a focus on passing another economic stimulus plan. Among these lame ducks will be Senators Barrack Obama and Joe Biden, and there's a lot of inside-the-beltway discussion about whether either will be present and what roles they may play. Any serious discussion about NCLB reauthorization will take a back seat to economic crises in the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, and health care (again, see below). While House and Senate education committees are expected to begin work on an NCLB draft, it is possible that bills related to preschool, teacher quality, and college access could pass as separate categorical measures. It is certain that education spending will be squeezed by the deficit.
For their part, soon-to-depart US Department of Education (ED) officials are working to leave their ideological imprint, making it more difficult for the new administration to make changes. In late October, ED released over 440 pages of new NCLB regulations, thereby circumventing the normal legislative reauthorization process. The proposed regulations received hundreds of comments, but few were heeded in the 441-page text now available in the federal register at http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-25270_PI.pdf. In addition, ED is in the process of stacking the personnel deck by moving current political appointees to strategic civil service positions throughout the department. It is incumbent on the next administration to have an in-depth knowledge of these last minute staffing changes and work around any potential personnel obstructions that may interfere with anticipated changes the new administration proposes.
The Next Steps: Timelines to Watch
-- President-elect Obama begins assembling his White House team and cabinet secretaries. It is anticipated that the first Secretary appointments will be Treasury, State, and Defense before the Thanksgiving holidays.
-- Orientation for incoming House freshmen scheduled for November 16.
-- The House and Senate are expected to go into a lame-duck session on November 17. Part of the business is to clean up lingering non-controversial bills, and if agreement is reached with the White House, to pass the first of a number of stimulus package bills. If agreement is reached during the lame-duck, the Congress could work with a House-passed bill worth about $61 billion in public-works projects to increase jobs, extend unemployment benefits, and pay for rising state Medicaid costs.
-- Senate leadership elections planned for November 17 and House plans leadership elections for November 19.
-- The Congress has not yet passed the federal budget, but extended the FY 08 budget by continuing resolution (CR) through March 6. Speculation is that the Congress will not pass a budget based on the Bush White House numbers, but choose to extend the CR through the end of the 2009 budget year, which ends on September 30. The new Congress will instead work off of the new administration's budget.
-- Terms of members of the 111th Congress commences via constitutional mandate.
-- New members will be sworn in on January 6.
-- Inauguration Day is January 20.
-- President to submit his annual budget proposals on February 2.
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| Where campaign proposals must meet reality |
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The Associated Press looks at the challenging terrain that the Obama administration will face, where visionary rhetoric must concede ground to sobering reality. The financial crisis has emptied federal coffers through reduced tax revenues, bailouts, and anti-recessionary programs. This year's budget deficit, an estimated $438 billion, leaves little for tax rebates, tax credits for college, healthcare subsidies, and food aid to the poor, among other campaign proposals. President-elect Obama's $18 billion education plan, which features incentives for universal pre-kindergarten, links teacher pay to student test scores, and would provide a tax credit of up to $4,000 to defray college costs for students who perform 100 hours of community service a year, will probably run aground against the more urgent issues of the economy, wars in two countries, and the crisis in health care.
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| Likely candidates for Secretary of Education |
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If President-elect Obama is like his recent predecessors, he'll take several weeks to select a secretary of education and his choice will most likely have a background in elementary- and secondary-level schools, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle weighs possible candidates for the top spot at the Department of Ed, drawn from Obama campaign advisers, current and former governors and state education officials, policy research professionals, and people Mr. Obama knows through personal friendships or Illinois ties. These are: Linda Darling-Hammond, a campaign adviser and education professor at Stanford University; Arne Duncan, chief executive of the Chicago public school system; James B. Hunt, Jr., a former governor of North Carolina who served on the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education; Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona; Andrew J. Rotherham, a campaign adviser and co-founder of Education Sector; and Jonathan Schnur, chief executive of New Leaders for New Schools. Among other names floated are W. Gaston Caperton III, president of the College Board; Robert E. Wise, Jr., president of the Alliance for Excellent Education; Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; Governor Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia; Sharon P. Robinson, president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; Michael Cohen, president of Achieve; Joel I. Klein, chancellor of the New York City public schools; Paul G. Vallas, superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans and a former chief executive of the Chicago public schools; Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, DC, public school system; Michael Johnston, director of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts; and retired general and former secretary of state Colin L. Powell.
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| The Little Rock Nine celebrate the election of Barack Obama |
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Members of the Little Rock Nine, the group of African-American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, 51 years ago, expressed their joy over the election of the nation's first African-American president, according to the Associated Press. The integration of Central High School, which occurred over the objections of Governor Orval Faubus and in the face of angry, segregationist crowds, was a seminal event in the expansion of civil rights in this country, and President-elect Obama has frequently expressed his gratitude to the Nine and other key players of the civil rights movement. Ernest Green, the first black student to graduate from Central High, now an investment executive in Washington, DC, said that he found Mr. Obama's victory speech, "a very powerful moment. I had an opportunity to think that 51 years ago as a teenager, I had some ideas about wider options and wider opportunities. And last night kind of confirmed my view that we did the right thing. The nine of us are very proud of what he's accomplished and maybe we played a small role in getting there." In 1999, the Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, and last year they gathered at Central High School with President Bill Clinton to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their struggles.
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| Research suggests comprehensive teacher inductions have little effect in 1st year |
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A new study published by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. concludes that more intensive -- and expensive -- mentoring and professional development for new teachers has little impact on teacher retention, classroom practice, or student achievement in the teacher's first year. The large-scale randomized controlled study of the effects of two comprehensive teacher induction programs involved 1,009 teachers in 418 elementary schools in 17 medium and large urban school districts in 13 states. According to Mathematica, "comprehensive teacher induction provides novice teachers with carefully selected and trained full-time mentors; a curriculum of intensive and structured support that includes orientation, professional development, and weekly meetings with mentors; a focus on instruction, with opportunities to observe experienced teachers; formative assessment tools that permit ongoing evaluation of practice and constructive feedback; and outreach to school-based administrators to enlist their support for the program." Though treatment group teachers spent significantly more time in induction activities, the impact of this was not discernable when compared with the group of teachers who were inducted in the prevailing method of their district. The report cautions, however, that these results only apply to teachers' first year, and further data will be collected for two more years to analyze longer-term impact.
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| Online data tracking changes the grading dynamic |
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The advent of grade-tracking programs that students and parents can monitor online is changing the nature of interactions between parents, students, and teachers, the Washington Post reports. Users can log in to see fluctuations in grade point average, and students can use the program to calculate by what amount they need to raise their grades, or gauge the impact of a bad test or quiz. Since parents can keep abreast of their child's progress, parent-teacher conferences are no longer the setting for unpleasant surprises. On the other hand, the programs provide ample ground for the over-controlling tendencies of some parents. The service is a by-product of the move by most districts toward tracking and controlling student data to pinpoint areas of weakness and achievement, in response to the data emphases of the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition to reviewing grades, many programs allow students to download homework assignments or chat with teachers online.
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| Mismatch between exam difficulties leads to 'disconnect' in Illinois |
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Students who easily pass the Illinois Standards Achievement Exam in elementary school through the eighth grade may get a rude awakening when they take a different test, the Prairie State Achievement Exam, in the 11th grade, writes the Chicago Tribune. The latter test assesses whether students are academically prepared for college and the workplace, and is much harder, leading to dissatisfaction and complaints of a "disconnect" between the two tests. "It's sending the wrong message when you're being told [students] are doing well and two years later, you tell them they are doing terrible," said John Easton, executive director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. One high school district has lodged a formal complaint with state authorities over the standards discrepancies, which include the fact that in the elementary-level test, students are scored based on number of correct answers, whereas in the test for high school juniors, students are scored relative to each other, on a curve. The difference in difficulty is also leading some officials to worry that students who in fact need remedial tutoring are under the impression that academically, they're fine.
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| Comprehensive effort lifts scores of low-income students in AZ |
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Poorer students are making gains in Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) exam, thanks to efforts that mimic the expectations and support systems found in wealthier school districts, the Arizona Republic reports. Prompted by the significantly higher achievement of poorer students who are schooled in predominantly wealthy districts, poorer districts have begun to offer honors courses and tutoring to students in advanced work. "The discussion is not, 'How we can get you to barely pass AIMS,' " said Chad Gestson, principal of Carl T. Smith Middle School in west Phoenix. "It's, 'Listen, you have a ton of potential, and we're going to help you fill in the gaps so you can far exceed the expectations you have for yourself.' " The academic gains by lower income students have come even though Arizona has increased the difficulty of its exam.
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| Report profiles the state of online learning nationally |
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The North American Council for Online Learning has released the third in a series of annual reports on the status of online learning nationally, writes eSchool News. "Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning" looks at two areas of virtual schooling: state-led online programs and state-level policies governing online education, and the ways that the two intersect. The report states that online learning continued to grow in school year 2007-2008, both in the number of new programs and the improvement of existing programs, and many states have passed new legislation to promote further growth. Given this expansion of online learning opportunities, the study issues a number of policy recommendations, which include the creation of national content standards; the inclusion of online instruction practices in teacher college curricula; the revision of district accounting measures that take into account the particulars of virtual schooling; and the establishing of standard metrics for basic quality assurance, such as consistent measures for course completions. As of this fall, 44 states offer significant online learning opportunities for students.
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| NC seeks to increase college access via online campaign |
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In a bid to strengthen the state's economy in response to declines in the manufacturing, textile, and tobacco industries, North Carolina has begun a comprehensive effort to boost college enrollment rates among its low-income and minority students by reaching them through the Web. Inside Higher Ed reports that state educators believe encouraging poorer and first-generation students to matriculate and finish college would prepare their workforce for such skills-based industries as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, allowing the state to play a greater role in the national economy in coming years. The state-funded and -run College Foundation of North Carolina has launched CFNC.org, whose services include online application and transcript services for high school students, telephone hotlines, and online help and information on grants. Students can also find free SAT test prep, a four-year planner, and personalized services. Through a major publicity campaign, 80 percent of high school and middle school parents in North Carolina are aware of the website, and of these, 84 percent say they plan to use its services.
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| LAUSD plans to build housing for teachers |
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project will save the district an estimated $20,000 each year in training costs by reducing the teacher attrition rate at three campuses, providing affordable housing and allowing teachers to live closer to their jobs, according to school officials. The housing will be paid for out of Measure Q, the district's $7-billion construction and repair bond issue that passed on Tuesday's ballot. Critics of the move are upset that the district is increasing property taxes to pay for new facilities when it has enough real estate to start housing its employees. "They're complaining that they have a lack of revenue and yet they don't do the obvious thing with surplus property, which is to sell it to the highest bidder in a way that wouldn't conflict with . . . a school," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. District officials feel that citizens should feel encouraged by the district's efforts to maximize its land holdings in a way that generates long-term rental income.
Read more | And More | Back to top
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Georgia pre-K advocates gain ground
A movement is afoot to take 8,000 children off the waitlist by dipping into the state's lottery reserve fund.
Thousands of students in Massachusetts receive free college tuition
Nearly 17,500 Massachusetts high school seniors will get four years of free tuition at state colleges and universities because of scores of "advanced" on either the math or English portions of the state assessment exams and at least "proficient" on the other.
School funds investment debacle in Wisconsin links to European banking
NPR relates how toxic assets mistakenly bought by five Wisconsin school districts are tied in with the collapse of a German bank.
One third of Arkansas schools need improvement
The Arkansas Department of Education has announced that under NCLB, 375 of its 1,087 public schools have been designated as "needing improvement."
Alabama may introduce merit pay for teachers
Gov. Bob Riley plans to put $6 million into the proposed education budget next year to fund a pilot program for teacher merit pay in the state's neediest school systems. |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
International Reading Association: Award for Public School Service
The International Reading Association John Chorlton Manning Public School Service Award encourages and supports the improvement of public education by recognizing the importance of integrating teacher preparation, professional development, and related research with the work of public schools, classrooms, teachers, and students. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: college- and university-based teacher educators with a record of effective preparation of reading teachers and graduate students. Deadline: Dec. 15, 2008.
Cable in the Classroom: Leaders In Learning Awards
Cable in the Classroom's Leaders In Learning Awards recognize teachers, administrators, and community leaders who are helping to improve and transform education for children in and out of school, creating 21st-century learning environments that children need in order to succeed in the world that awaits them. Maximum award: $3,000. Eligibility: teachers, administrators, and community leaders. Deadline: Dec. 17, 2008.
Captain Planet Foundation: Grants for the Environment
The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects to encourage youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: schools and nonprofits. Deadline: Dec. 31, 2008.
Action for Nature: International Young Eco-Hero Awards
AFN International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the individual accomplishments of young people whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: youth ages 8-16. Deadline: Feb. 28, 2009.
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other... In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people."
-- President-elect Barack Obama
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