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September 25, 2009 |
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| A new approach to desegregation |
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Philadelphia has set in motion a host of reforms, similar to what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would like to see across the country. These policies include eliminating seniority from hiring decisions, revising the teacher evaluation system, and offering financial incentives to teachers in low-performing schools. But they are distinctive for a particular reason, writes the Center for American Progress. Philadelphia must implement them as part of a consent agreement to end a 39-year-old desegregation lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. The suit contended that Philadelphia's schools were unlawfully segregated by race, denying minority students educational opportunities equal to those for white students. The resulting agreement emphasizes a change in teacher policies at racially isolated, low-performing schools and "signifies a new approach to remedying the problems that desegregation lawsuits first attempted to solve." To ensure that students in poverty have access to effective teachers, the human capital system -- from recruitment strategies to tenure policies -- must be dramatically restructured, in the view of the center. Such changes are a radical and often unpopular departure from the customary hiring and placement practices of most districts, but are critical to attracting, developing, and retaining successful teachers, the article says.
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| The high international cost of not educating girls |
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The third annual "Because I Am A Girl" report from Plan International finds that countries with high levels of institutional discrimination against girls and women are also the least developed, costing the world's poorest countries billions of dollars a year in lost revenue, writes CBC News. A mere one percent rise in female secondary school enrollment boosts a country's annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percent. The report gives as an example Kenya, whose economy could add $3 billion annually if the country educated its girls to secondary school level. In tough economic times, however, girls in poor countries are the first to be pulled from school, as families struggle to pay for books, uniforms, and other costs. The report's global ten-point plan calls for giving girls education, better jobs, access to land or property, and leadership opportunities, among other actions. "Study after study confirms that if young women are economically active, their country's economy grows and all members of their family benefit," said Rosemary McCarney, president of the Canadian division of Plan International. "Investing in girls delivers a higher return than any other investment made in a country's development, and yet this isn't happening. That's a huge loss for everyone."
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| New resource to maximize foundation funds for reform |
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With over $100 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to improve education nationwide, the Department of Education (DOE) is collaborating with the foundation community to support innovative education reform at the local, state, and national levels. The Foundation Center has launched a national initiative to engage philanthropies and education leaders across the country in a drive to improve public education. "Foundations for Education Excellence" offers an online resource center to help funders align grantmaking with monies available through the ARRA and thereby have maximum impact. The initiative's web portal, in cooperation with the DOE, includes: interactive maps, updated weekly, with details for each state, including foundations that have made grants for elementary/secondary school reform, total ARRA education dollars announced, available, and paid out, and key ARRA education funding resources; summaries of best and "promising" practices drawn from foundation-sponsored reports; weekly spotlights of current foundation initiatives on education reform; lists of top foundation funders and recipients in each education reform area, by state; and upcoming and archived events related to ARRA funding for education. The portal also features "What You Need to Know," a compilation of information from the DOE that includes daily news feeds, guidelines, major announcements, and grant deadlines.
Read more | Go to the portal | Back to top
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| A reliable framework for assessing turnaround |
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The Learning First Alliance, a partnership of 17 national education associations, has released "clear and actionable" principles for tracking efforts to turn around the nation's lowest-performing schools. These principles are necessary, the group says, to identify struggling schools, reliably gauge the persistence of turnaround efforts, and guide good decision-making. The group advocates moving away from quantitative assessment alone, toward a broader definition of student and school success that also uses qualitative indicators. Turnaround efforts should: 1) Measure Progress Toward a Broad Vision of Student Success -- take into account graduation rates, student participation and performance in advanced courses, and data on staff, family, and student satisfaction; 2) Measure the Conditions for School and Student Success -- look at school working conditions, investment in professional learning, student learning conditions, teacher retention and transfer rates, student mobility rates, student attendance, school safety and student discipline information, availability of support staff, and quality of facilities; 3) Ensure that Measures are Clear and Available to All Stakeholders -- prioritize transparency; 4) Track Progress Over Time -- longer than one or two years; and 5) Include Experts' Qualitative Judgment When Measuring Turnaround Progress -- prioritize school site visits by trained teams of state and local educators and community leaders.
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| Shifting terrain in California's education policy landscape |
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"The nation's public school teachers are feeling the squeeze from all sides these days," writes McClatchy Newspapers, "and some of the heat is coming from unlikely sources: minorities and longtime Democratic allies." Among these, says the paper, is President Barack Obama, which teachers and their unions did not expect when they organized to elect him. In fact, some union members are saying that it's difficult to distinguish the education policies of the current president from his predecessor, and longtime political alliances are in flux. Last month, California NAACP head Alice Huffman, who helped lead fights against school vouchers and merit pay when she worked as an organizer for the California Teacher Association, stood next to California's (admittedly moderate) Republican governor when he proposed merit pay for teachers and lifting the cap on charter schools. "The only place the NAACP can be is with this governor," Huffman declared. "If the teacher unions put a better proposal on the table, we would stand with them." And in L.A., a former employee of United Teachers Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has turned against the union to push for a school-choice plan that could allow private operators to take over failing schools.
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| Diplomacy across 'borders' leads to 'fascinating coalitions' |
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In the wake of the April 2009 McKinsey & Company report that put the economic impact of the "achievement gap" at $700 billion, a fundamental tension between the worlds of education and business was spotlit, according to Jonathan Schorr, a partner at NewSchools Venture Fund and co-founder of Teach for America. The Stanford Graduate School of Business News reports that at a symposium this spring, Schorr related that "People who make the journey between the business and education schools know you are traveling across international borders with different languages, different cultures, different systems of beliefs, and different values." Schorr likened the business/education polarities to those in politics, with the conservative (hard) right versus the liberal (soft) left. But following acknowledgment of the divide, Schorr said, he's now witnessing major changes by both sides, crossing lines, making new space where those characterizations no longer apply. "I'm beginning to see alliances between liberal and conservative groups who are saying, 'We really have to find a way to get our kids to be more competitive,' and the people who are saying, 'You don't understand what they've gone through just to show up,'" he said -- "a fascinating coalition of political opposites."
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| A 'time to act' for adolescent literacy |
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A new and final report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy looks at the imperatives for continued literacy instruction for middle and high school students. While there is currently a strong knowledge base of reading instruction for grades K-3, "the truth is that good early literacy instruction does not inoculate students against struggle or failure later on," according to the report. Literacy supports for adolescents present greater instructional challenges and demand a range of strategies. Adolescent learners must decipher complex passages, synthesize information at a higher level, and learn to form independent conclusions based on evidence. They must also develop special skills and strategies for reading across differing content areas -- for example history, social science, and mathematics. To ensure delivery of quality literacy instruction, the report lays out specific action steps for school leaders, district leaders, state leaders, and federal policymakers. Leaders at all levels must make literacy education a priority, with schools, curricula, and statewide standards designed specifically to advance literacy outcomes of students. "We already know more than enough to raise the level of adolescent literacy and learning achievement in our schools," write the authors. "The time to act is now."
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| A certain slow progress in the president's ed agenda |
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Underneath what she characterizes as "all the headline turmoil" this year, Ruth Marcus writes in The Washington Post that President Obama is overseeing a quiet revolution in the nation's approach to education from preschool through college. Marcus had been skeptical of the president's prospects, since she doubted his resolve to battle two "giants" in the education wars: teacher unions and the student-lending lobby. Now she's ready to admit "a certain slow progress." One unflashy but significant move is the recent bill approved by the House of Representatives to transform the student lending process, wherein banks -- and their federal subsidies and loan guarantees -- would be pushed aside for direct federal lending. The Senate is not certain to approve the measure, but its passage looks promising. Money saved would be directed in both sensible and innovative ways, she says, bolstering Pell Grants, community colleges, and better tracking of graduation rates. Marcus also praises the motivating Race to the Top fund, and an appropriations bill that would prompt merit pay for teachers and principals. The overhaul of NCLB, however, is a potential pitfall. "On education, the administration gets high marks for its first semester," Marcus writes, but "the final exam is still to be administered."
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| K-12 exposure to engineering yields a wealth of benefits |
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A new report from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council finds that the introduction of K-12 engineering education can improve student achievement in science and mathematics, increase awareness of engineering as a profession and career, and boost technological literacy, according to Science Daily. "The problem solving, systems thinking, and teamwork aspects of engineering can benefit all students, whether or not they ever pursue an engineering career," said Linda Katehi, chancellor of the University of California, Davis, and chair of the panel that wrote the report. Engineering education at the K-12 level should emphasize engineering design, creative problem-solving, and concepts in mathematics, science, and technology. The report also found that of all the so-called "STEM" disciplines, engineering is often absent from policy discussions and in the classroom, so much so that engineering, or E, might be called the missing letter in STEM. Despite this, the committee found that engineering education opportunities in K-12 schools have expanded considerably in the past 15 years. Since the early 1990s, about six million children have been exposed to some formal engineering coursework, although the number is still small compared with the overall number of students in K-12 schools (approximately 56 million in 2008).
Read more | See the report | Back to top
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| NCES predicts coming decline in private school enrollment |
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The National Center for Education Statistics, the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States, has just released Projections of Education Statistics to 2018, the 37th report in a series begun in 1964 and the first to include projections of first-time freshmen in public and private post-secondary institutions. In addition to projections at the national level for key education statistics, including graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, the report includes projections of public elementary and secondary school enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2018 at the state level. According to the report, total public and private elementary and secondary school enrollment reached a record 55 million in fall 2006, representing a 12 percent increase since fall 1993. Between 2006, the last year of actual public school data, and 2018, an enrollment increase of eight percent is expected, with increases for public schools and decreases for private schools. The number of teachers in elementary and secondary schools is also expected to rise in both public and private schools, with pupil/teacher ratios expected to decrease in both. Correspondingly, the annual number of new teacher hires is projected to increase in both public and private schools.
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Budget cuts bring perilous overcrowding
Some L.A. classrooms now have 50 or more students.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ed-cuts20-2009sep20,0,2312077.story
Handicapping the RttT
Alexander Russo gives a level-headed assessment of the fund's potential success.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752575
Documenting the 'Harlem-Scarsdale' gap
Students who entered lotteries and won spots in New York City charters did better on state exams than students who entered the same lotteries but did not secure charter seats, according to study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/education/22charters.html?_r=1
A first step toward common standards
At the behest of the nation's governors and schools chiefs, experts have proposed a set of math and English skills to master before high school graduation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/21/AR2009092102289.html?hpid=topnews
Test yourself for hidden bias
Psychologists at Harvard, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington have developed online tests to measure unconscious bias.
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Volunteer USA: Family Literacy Initiative
The Volunteer USA Foundation's family literacy initiative will give planning grants to existing literacy programs interested in serving as Volunteer USA Foundation family literacy academies for the 2011 school year. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: Programs must serve families and/or children with hearing impairments, have nonprofit 501(c)(3) status, and be located in the southern United States. Priority will be given to programs in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisiana. Deadline: October 1, 2009.
http://www.volunteerusafoundation.org/
U.S. Dept. of Education: I Am What I Learn Contest
The Department of Education is asking students to respond to President Obama's challenge to take responsibility for their own learning by creating videos, up to two minutes in length, describing steps they will make to improve their education and the role of education in fulfilling their dreams. Submissions can be video blogs, public service announcements, music videos, or documentaries, and will be voted on by the public. Maximum Award: $1,000. Eligibility: students age 13 and older. Deadline: Students must upload their videos to YouTube by October 8, 2009.
http://www.ed.gov/iamwhatilearn
NEA/Nickelodeon: Big Green Grants
The NEA Foundation and Nickelodeon's Big Green Grants program is dedicated to the development and implementation of ideas, techniques, and approaches for teaching green concepts to elementary and middle school students. Green Grants to Public School Educators support projects that integrate green-related topics with various standards-based content areas to increase student engagement and improve academic achievement. The grants target environmental education as an area of great promise in helping students develop a sense of environmental stewardship. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: K-6 public school educators. Deadline: October 15, 2009.
http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/educators/grant-programs/nea-foundation-green-grants/
NSTA: Sylvia Shugrue Award for Elementary School Teachers
The National Science Teachers Association Sylvia Shugrue Award honors a teacher who has established (or is establishing) an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based lesson plan. The lesson plan must fully reference sources of information and any relevant National Science Education Standards and benchmarks found in The Atlas of Science Literacy. Maximum award: $1,000, as well as up to $500 to attend the NSTA National Conference on Science Education, March 18-21, 2010, in Philadelphia; the recipient of the award will be honored during the Awards Banquet at the NSTA Conference. Eligibility: full-time elementary school teachers (grades K-6) with a minimum of three years of experience. Deadline: Nov. 30, 2009.
http://www.nsta.org/main/pdfs/awards/Shugrue.pdf
Allstate: Grants for National and Local Programs
The Allstate Foundation supports national and local programs for new partnerships that fit within its current focus areas of Teen Safe Driving and Economic Empowerment for Domestic Violence Survivors. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline: rolling.
http://www.allstate.com/foundation/funding-guidelines.aspx
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter -- that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."
-President Barack Obama, September 9, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/09/AR2009090902341.html
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