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October 17, 2008 |
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| Final question: It's about education |
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It may have taken quite a while to get there, but American education ended up grabbing the spotlight when moderator Bob Schieffer posed the last question of the third and final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain the other evening. Question: "The U.S. spends more per capita than any other country on education. Yet, by every international measurement, in math and science competence, from kindergarten through the 12th grade, we trail most of the countries of the world. The implications of this are clearly obvious. Some even say it poses a threat to our national security. Do you feel that way and what do you intend to do about it?" Said Obama: "This probably has more to do with our economic future than anything, and that means it also has a national security implication, because there's never been a nation on earth that saw its economy decline and continued to maintain its primacy as a military power. So we've got to get our education system right. Now, typically, what's happened is that there's been a debate between more money or reform, and I think we need both. In some cases, we are going to have to invest." Said McCain: "Well, it's the civil rights issue of the 21st century. There's no doubt that we have achieved equal access to schools in America after a long and difficult and terrible struggle. But what is the advantage in a low-income area of sending a child to a failed school and that being your only choice? So choice and competition amongst schools is one of the key elements that's already been proven in places in like New Orleans and New York City and other places, where we have charter schools, where we take good teachers and we reward them and promote them." A transcript of the debate can be found on the Internet.
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| Partnership seeks new federal approach for public education |
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Over the past decade, says the Learning First Alliance in a call to action, "the federal effort to help states and school districts improve public education has become distorted. We now have top-down micromanagement of our public schools without the support they require to succeed. What states and districts need from the federal government is the right kind of support to guarantee every child equal access to an excellent public school." To improve the situation, the alliance -- a partnership of 18 major national education associations -- has put forth six principles for "appropriate and constructive federal involvement in education." The principles are "a broad vision of student learning," "adequate funding for students in need," "shared accountability for student learning," "a comprehensive approach to supporting students and families," "support for education research and development," and "support for the education profession."
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| Minorities' college-enrollment gains trail population growth |
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Despite a big increase in the number of minority students enrolling in college in recent years, a report by the American Council on Education says, that gain has not kept pace with demographic changes. "The tradition of young adults in the United States attaining higher levels of education than previous generations appears to have stalled," the report declares, "and for far too many people of color, the percentage of young adults with some type of postsecondary degree compared with older adults has actually fallen." The report also notes that educational attainment among racial groups is widening. With respect to high school completion, it says the rate for African Americans remained "relatively flat" (at about 76 percent) over the past two decades. Hispanics, even with some improvement, continued to have the lowest rate (68 percent) among all racial and ethnic groups, while Asian Americans had the highest rate (about 91 percent).
AP story | Press release | Back to top
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| Investments in state plans for college tuition take a hit |
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Among those hurt by the recent turmoil in financial markets are many parents who have saved for their children's college tuition. Some people have fared better than others. In New York State's tax-free investment program, according to the Associated Press, investment results since January have ranged from a 42-percent loss for the most aggressive plans to a 2.5-percent gain with the most conservative options. "If you have a two-year-old, you've taken some hits," said John Heywood, a principal in the Vanguard Group, which manages the state's so-called 529 investment plans. But if parents of a 16-year-old have had a moderate or conservative investment approach, "they're actually ahead for the last 12 months." Many experts, noting that the plans have seen overall growth since their inception and that the invested principal remains intact, have urged anxious parents to wait out the downturn.
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| Widespread harassment of LGBT students reported |
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In what it calls "the most comprehensive report ever" about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in middle schools and high schools, a national group known as GLSEN says about 86 percent of them reported being harassed at school during the past year, three-fifths felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and about one-third skipped a day of school in a one-month period because of feeling unsafe. The findings by GLSEN -- the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network -- come from a survey of more than 6,200 students. The organization's report was released in conjunction with an announcement that it would work with the Ad Council on a national public-education campaign against teenagers' use of anti-LGBT language.
Read more | Report | Back to top
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| Thoughts from likely principal of Chicago's first gay high school |
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Chad Weiden, the man considered likely to become principal of Chicago's first high school for gay, lesbian, and transgender students, is the subject of a column by Mary Schmich in the Chicago Tribune. Weiden, who currently is assistant principal at Chicago's Social Justice High School, says in an interview featured in the column that the new school would not be a "gay school" per se, but would welcome all students and, in the process, help investigate what it means to be an ally for social justice. By "ally," he says, he means someone who can "collaborate with someone who is different, for a greater good." Weiden, who is gay, adds that if he had gone to such a high school himself, he would have had a model of what it meant to be a gay man, and known that a gay man could be in a committed relationship, marry, and have children.
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| U.S. said to be wasting math talent |
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Negative attitudes about girls involved in mathematics -- whether shown through teasing, ignoring, or ostracizing them -- are depriving the nation of some of its best math talent, says Reuters in reporting on research published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. The study challenges a widely held notion that females lack exceptional math abilities. It points to test results in elementary school showing that girls do as well in math as boys do, if not better than that. But the girls' results begin to lag in middle school and the male-female gap widens greatly in high school. The study also found that most women who become math or engineering professionals in the United States were born in other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and Asia. Comments Titu Andreescu of the University of Texas at Dallas, one of the researchers who worked on the study: "Innate math aptitude is probably fairly evenly distributed throughout the world, regardless of race or gender. The huge differences observed in achievement levels are most likely due to socio-cultural attributes specific to each country."
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| 'Let's stop blaming the boy' |
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In an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, Peg Tyre, who has often written about boys and education, says the current achievement gap between girls and boys -- which especially affects lower-income black and Latino boys -- is caused in part by educational changes in the past 10 years. Tyre blames an emphasis on computation and language, even in preschool, and challenging curricula that may not be age-appropriate in the early grades. She also cites increased emphasis on standardized assessments and "teaching to the test," along with the disappearance of recess. Tyre maintains that some schools have taken promising corrective steps, such as making sure that classroom reading material includes the kind of action stories and nonfiction that boys seem to like, integrating movement into the classroom, and increasing tolerance for noise. "Before the school year gets any further along, let's stop blaming the boy," Tyre writes. "Instead, let's ask ourselves if the schools are engaging them -- and if not, let's figure out what we can do to create an educational system in which all our children can succeed."
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| Texas district wins Broad Prize |
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The prestigious $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education, the largest education award for academic progress, has gone to the Brownsville Independent School District in southern Texas. The district is 98-percent Hispanic and among the poorest in the nation, notes the Associated Press. The Broad Foundation, which made the award, said Brownsville's Hispanic students showed more improvement between 2004 and 2007 in reading and math than their peers in other Texas districts -- closing the middle-school math gap between Hispanics and the state average for white students by 12 percent. The 50,000-student district enrolls about 2,000 students who arrive from Mexico every year. "Brownsville is the best kept-secret in America," said Eli Broad, the philanthropy's founder. "In the face of stark poverty, Brownsville is outpacing other large urban districts nationwide because it is smartly focusing all resources on directly supporting students and teachers." Finalists for the award were Aldine, in Houston; Broward County, FL.; Long Beach, CA, and Miami-Dade County, FL. Each will receive $250,000 for college scholarships.
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| Educators fear possible repeal of Massachusetts income tax |
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A ballot referendum that eventually could eliminate the state income tax in Massachusetts is worrying educators -- especially administrators in public colleges and universities, says the website Inside Higher Ed. The referendum is being spearheaded by the Committee for Small Government, a Libertarian organization, and would reduce the state's income-tax rate from 5.3 percent to 2.65 percent in the coming year and eliminate it beginning in 2010. Proponents say that would cut $12.5 billion from the state budget and return an average of about $3,700 per taxpayer each year. Opponents, however, say the effect on higher education in the state would be devastating, slashing more than two-thirds of the $1 billion that Massachusetts allocates for state universities, colleges, and community colleges. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Chancellor Robert C. Holub says tuition and fees, currently about $10,200 a year for in-state students, probably would have to be doubled. A 2002 referendum like the one coming up received 45 percent of the votes.
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| How nonprofit groups can respond in an economic crisis |
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In the widespread angst over the nation's economic woes, what about the nonprofit world? How will the crisis affect philanthropy? What should nonprofit leaders do? One set of potential answers can be found in an online "Economic Q&A" from Changing Our World, a philanthropic services company. Economic downturns are nothing new, the company notes, and experience always tells us to "start with the certainty of facts before crafting strategies ... [for] an uncertain future." That said, how bad might things get for philanthropy in the coming months? If the decline is "real," says the Q&A, the only rational approach is to "move forward." More to the point: Diversify your revenue sources, "re-examine your case for support," tell your story every day, thank donors often, start cultivating potential board members from places that may recover more quickly than others, keep seeking funds, "work with donors [and] negotiate the terms of giving," and "consider a board mini-retreat" to address issues and strategies.
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DC's charter schools feel the pinch
Accounting for more than a third of the city's public school enrollment, they are starting to see signs of cooling because of the nation's economic problems.
Website set up in Utah for reports on bullying
Students in middle school and high school can provide information anonymously about harassment and bullying so school officials can take preventive action.
Berkeley engages high school students in city planning
Edutopia profiles Y-PLAN (Youth -- Plan, Learn, Act, Now), a city program run by the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Cities & Schools.
Wyoming creates task force on at-risk students
The group will provide technical assistance for a project of the state education department that will make recommendations to the state legislature.
NYC teachers union sues city over ban on political buttons
The United Federation of Teachers argues that barring teachers from wearing political buttons at school limits their right to free speech.
Helping young children learn to read
Two free publications to help parents teach kindergarteners and first graders learn to read are available from the federal government's National Institute for Literacy.
PEN's annual conference a month away
Program details for Public Education Network's 2008 annual conference, a 25th anniversary celebration of local education funds, are available online. The deadline for special reservations at the conference hotel in San Francisco: October 17. |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Education Commission of the States: Corporate Award
The Education Commission of the States Corporate Award recognizes a for-profit corporation, nonprofit organization, or foundation that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to improving public education in the United States. Deadline: Oct. 24, 2008.
Teachers in Space: STEM Pathfinder Competition
The Teachers in Space program wants to put a thousand astronaut teachers into American classrooms within the next decade. Private companies are developing a new generation of reusable space vehicles that will dramatically improve safety and reduce the cost of human spaceflight. The Teachers in Space program is working with many of these companies to make sure that teachers are among those who have a chance to participate. Applicants to the STEM Pathfinder competition are asked to submit a proposal for an experiment that can be performed during a suborbital space flight. Maximum award: a suborbital space flight. Eligibility: K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and/or math. Deadline: Nov. 3, 2008.
Earthwatch Institute: Educator Fellowships
Earthwatch Institute Educator Fellowships bring teachers into the field to learn about cutting-edge research and conservation efforts. Educator Fellows work alongside leading environmental scientists, learning field-research methods and helping to conserve threatened natural and cultural resources. Maximum award: full cost of an expedition, including all research costs, meals, housing, and on-site travel. Eligibility: current, in-service K-12 classroom educators in the United States. Deadline: Nov. 17, 2008.
Bill of Rights Institute: Essay Contest
High school students nationwide are invited to participate in the Bill of Rights Institute's "Being an American" essay contest, which explores the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship. Maximum award: $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to Washington, DC. Eligibility: U.S. students grades 9-12. Teachers must submit students' essays. Deadline, Dec. 1, 2008.
Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Fellowships
Knowles Science Teaching Foundation fellowships are awarded to qualified young men and women committed to teaching high school science and/or mathematics in American schools. Maximum award: five years of professional and financial support, valued at $150,000. Eligibility: individuals who have earned at least a bachelor's degree in a biological science, physical science, mathematics, or engineering before the fellowship begins in June 2009. Deadline: Jan. 14, 2009.
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"The bottom line is that you are going to see things that are easiest to cut disappear -- summer school, after-school, reading programs.... [States] don't want to cut the number of teachers, [so] they will cut everything else."
-- Michael Griffith, senior policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States, quoted 10/15/08 in an Education Daily article about budget cuts expected in most states next year.
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and Editor, PEN Weekly NewsBlast
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