| Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
March 19, 2010
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A good start
Amid effusive praise for the newly released blueprint for overhauling the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Andrew Rotherham takes a harder-nosed look on his Eduwonk blog at what he deems its four-pronged problem. For starters, the blueprint is largely aspirational, with major policy details left to Congress. "Given the suburban composition of the House," says Rotherham, "there is a real risk that this ends up being a piece of legislation that lets suburban districts off the hook for educating under-served kids." In the second place, the blueprint over-relies on state capacity, with ambitions that outstrip what states can or want to do. Its third problem is a muddled political strategy, what Rotherham sees as a retread of 2007. Given this, and the context of this election year, "What is the incentive for Republicans to hand Democrats a win on a top priority?" Finally, "Common standards are a linchpin on this proposal (assuming it is supposed to happen with any rigor) so does that threaten to drag that effort into the partisan back-and-forth?" Though there's "a lot to like" in the blueprint, there's also a ways to go before the final product and verdict.
Read more: http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/03/a-blueprint-for.html
Related: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/education/16educ.html
See the blueprint: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html
In praise of structural soundness
Some of what makes the newly proposed Common Standards "pretty darned impressive," writes Chester Finn on The Education Gadfly, "is buried deep in their infrastructure and won't necessarily be obvious on first inspection." Apart from "doing justice to the 'skill side' of English language arts (from early reading on up through sophisticated writing)," language conventions and content have been taken seriously, he says. Its framers have "devised deft ways of incorporating literature," delicately balancing between so-called traditional and modern approaches, and between basic and 21st-century skills. The reading sides of science and history have been imaginatively incorporated. "My own initial reading," Finn writes, "is that millions of American kids would be far better off in schools adhering to these standards than they are today -- and if their schools are serious, their curriculum strong, their teachers competent, and the still-to-come assessment systems are well-designed and properly aligned -- those young people will emerge from 12th grade in possession of a plausible version of college readiness, at least in the fields addressed here, and the United States will be farther along the road to international competitiveness than it is today."
Read more: http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/index.cfm?issue=556&edition=N#a5921
Thomas Jefferson, suspicious character
On March 12, the Texas Board of Education put forward a series of changes to the state's history and social sciences curricula whose "overall effect, if the changes are approved in May, will to be to yank public education to the right," writes The Economist. Salient among these is that Thomas Jefferson, in the words of the magazine, has "gotten the boot," since he is "suspiciously secular." Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek will join Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, and Karl Marx in the annals of economics, and the politically unpopular terms "capitalism" and "free market" will be replaced with "free enterprise" -- which The Economist finds "inexplicable." The proposed changes have elicited national concern, since Texas is one of the country's largest textbook markets and therefore accommodated by scholastic publishers. It is quite clear, says The Economist, how the proposed edits came about. Over the years, Republicans have worked to "stack the deck" with social conservatives. School board elections are small-money races -- "a clever bit of political strategy, and Democrats could do it too if they put their mind to it." In the meantime, even some Texas Republicans are growing weary of the board's antics, with several of the farthest-right members ousted in favor of less-far-right conservatives.
Read more: http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15710558&source=hptextfeature
Related: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPQ3ktQNqImWyQ23yXKoCFXWrN1QD9EDD4EO0
Debating charter push-back
On its Room for Debate blog, editors of The New York Times asked four noted reformers about the current "push-back" on charter schools. For Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone, the issue is plainly adults versus children. The option of having their kid attend "the local failure factory" or a nearby charter school is in fact no choice at all for parents in "devastated neighborhoods"; "The real question of choice is for the public school system itself: Will it serve the children in our schools, or the adults?" For Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation, the push-back is deserved. He cites research showing high-profile successes like the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) are unrepresentative. Jeffrey Henig and Luis Huerta of Teachers College, Columbia University write that "shifting economic and political conditions at the state and national level go some of the way toward explaining the more vocal and newly energized critiques of charters." The downturn has affected all public services, making it clear that "charters and traditional public schools are no longer sharing an expanding pie." For Michael Goldstein of Match Charter Public School in Boston, the bickering is blocking important questions. For instance, if teachers in high-performing charters are working nights and weekends, how exactly are those hours used, and is there a way to create efficiencies? These insights could then be extended to all teachers, even those who aren't able to put in the grueling hours because of life commitments.
Read more: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/the-push-back-on-charter-schools/
What's the big idea?
Two features have regularly marked the history of U.S. public schools, writes education historian Diane Ravitch in an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times. One "big idea" has often captivated policymakers and the public, offering a "sure fix" to problems facing the education system. Again and again, the "miracle cure" doesn't work. We are at one of these junctures, she thinks, dominated by the widespread notions that school choice, test-driven accountability, and the resulting competition will radically improve student achievement. Ravitch concedes she once adhered to these beliefs, but has since been persuaded by empirical evidence these reforms do not work. Undeterred, and with a "confidence bordering on recklessness, the Obama administration is plunging ahead, pushing an aggressive program of school reform -- codified in its signature Race to the Top program -- that relies on the power of incentives and competition." Ravitch reiterates the common criticism that charters are not compelled to take all comers, and predicts their proliferation, along with performance-based pay for teachers, will lead to a survival-of-the-fittest education system: "If our goal is to destroy public education in America, this is precisely the right path."
Read more: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/14/opinion/la-oe-ravitch14-2010mar14
Lining up the blocks
In a profile of the Brooklyn Generation School, a small high school that shares space in a large building with six other small schools, Education Week reports that teachers instruct only three classes a day, getting two hours of common planning with colleagues each afternoon. Student load is as few as 14 students per class, yet the restructured format costs no more to operate than a traditional schedule. The school now serves about 230 students grades 9-11, most of whom qualify for federal school-nutrition programs, and the school plans to add a 12th grade and expand to the middle grades over the course of the next few years. Furman Brown, the visionary behind this model, says he spent more than a decade experimenting with teacher schedules, trying to "get the colors of the Rubik's cube to line up." The United Federation of Teachers, the local American Federation of Teachers affiliate, provided key support in helping craft a side addendum to the teachers' contract to set the new school calendar, while allowing most of the model's core features to be fleshed out using the "school-based option" agreement in the city contract.
Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/10/24brooklyn_ep.h29.html?tkn=SNMCirbVavfuuqDG3uFK92ri4pp9S9x%2Bazk8&cmp=clp-ascd
One part of the gender gap closes
A new report from the Center on Education Policy (CEP) finds that girls now perform as well as boys on state math tests, but boys consistently trail girls on state reading tests, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. "In no state in the country are boys doing better than girls in reading at the elementary, middle, or high school level," said Jack Jennings, CEP's president. "It is a clear and unmistakable trend." Researchers examined math and reading tests given in all 50 states between 2002 and 2008, focusing on differences in actual scores as well as proficiency levels between genders at the fourth, eighth, and 10th or 11th grades. The shift in reading performance raises questions about classroom changes over time, says Susan Neuman of the University of Michigan, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education. She pointed to an emphasis on storybook-type reading and a reduction in physical activity in elementary schools as two factors that could disadvantage boys, who tend to prefer nonfiction and have energy that is best channeled into exploratory activities. "I think we need to re-evaluate our curricula, re-evaluate how we are managing our classrooms," Neuman said.
Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/87999702.html
See the report: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=304
More science, yes, but still little engagement
A new study from the Consortium on Chicago School Research finds that although a 1997 Chicago Schools policy that increased the number of college-preparatory science courses that students took and passed, it also kept students from taking higher-level science courses and did not increase the college-going rate, according to Education Week. The policy made it mandatory that all freshmen take three years of science as part of a curriculum that also expanded requirements in English, social studies, mathematics, and foreign languages. Researchers found that the increase in science course-taking did not translate into higher grades. Many students passed with C's and D's, both before and after the policy was implemented, suggesting a low level of learning and engagement. Only 15 percent completed three years of science with a B average or higher. According to co-author Nicholas Montgomery, prior research shows that students who are truly gaining knowledge in courses earn grades of A or B. "Before the policy, most students received C's and D's in their classes," he said. "If they weren't being successful with one or two years of science, why would we think they would be successful with three years of science, if we don't pay attention to getting the students engaged?" The study tracked nearly 168,000 Chicago school students in 75 schools who entered 9th grade each year from 1993 to 2001.
Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/15/27science.h29.html?tkn=QRPFhX%2BsSWkMPEt4pVCEB%2Fk8aRIHS2J4Dvsf&cmp=clp-sb-ascd
See the report: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/content/publications.php?pub_id=138
BRIEFLY NOTED
Physics before biology and chemistry equals promising results
A new way of teaching physics developed by a Bergen County, N.J. teacher could offer a solution to poor student performance in math and science.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/87147317_Teacher_finds_a_solution__to_our_science_problem.html
What if she took someone from the ACLU?
A Mississippi lesbian high school senior whose district canceled her senior prom rather than allow her to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo reports getting unfriendly looks from classmates when she returned to classes.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQRDDMNSipfZL1NVG-gK2OLZHJUwD9ECKKA00
New hubs south of the Hub
Educators in several Massachusetts communities are helping to launch Readiness Centers, collaborative hubs that will work to enhance instruction from early childhood through higher education.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2010/03/11/educators_have_high_hopes_for_regional_readiness_centers_but_funding_still_lacking/
They have seen the future...
An L.A. Unified School District task force of about 50 parents, teachers, and administrators suggests paying high-performing teachers more, using student test scores in evaluations, and overhauling the tenure system.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd-teacher16-2010mar16,0,2124834.story
What's in a name?
Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings calls NCLB a "toxic brand."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124758597&ft=1&f=1013
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
NCTM: Scholarships for Prospective Secondary School Teachers of Math
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Texas Instruments Demana-Waits Fund Prospective Secondary Teacher Course Work Scholarships support college students preparing for teaching secondary school mathematics. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: persons currently completing their sophomore year of college, scheduling for full-time study at a four- or five-year college or university in the next academic year, and pursuing a career goal of becoming a certified teacher of secondary school mathematics; applicants must be student members of NCTM. Deadline: May 7, 2010.
http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=1338
NASSP/MetLife Foundation: Breakthrough Schools
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the MetLife Foundation are calling for entries in the search for the nation's top "Breakthrough Schools." Applicants should be high-achieving middle or high schools, or schools that are making dramatic improvements in student achievement, whose best practices and outstanding results can inform other schools as they further their own improvement efforts. Honorees will be chosen based on documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three core areas of NASSP's Breaking Ranks II publication: collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: high-achieving middle and high schools with 40 percent or more students eligible for free and reduced priced meals. Deadline: May 15, 2010.
http://www.principals.org/AwardsandRecognition/BreakthroughSchools.aspx
Toyota: International Teacher Program
Toyota's International Teacher Program is offering the opportunity for teachers to travel to the Galapagos Islands. Maximum award: fully-funded, 10-day trip to the Galapagos November 20 - December 4, 2010. Eligibility: teachers grades 6-12. Deadline: May 19, 2010.
http://www.toyota4education.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.WelcomeToTheToyotaInternationalTeacherProgramWiki?from=Main.HomePage
NEA Foundation: Student Achievement Grants
NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants aim to improve the academic achievement of students in U.S. public schools and public higher education institutions in any subject area(s). The proposed work should engage students in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen their knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: K-12 public school teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff at public colleges and universities. Deadline: June 1, 2010.
http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/StudentAchievement_Guidelines.htm
NEA Foundation Learning and Leadership Grants
The NEA Foundation gives grants for high-quality professional development or implementing project-based learning and break-the-mold innovations that raise student achievement. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: public school teachers, public school support professionals, and faculty and staff in public higher education institutions. Deadline: June 1, 2010.
http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/educators/grant-programs/grant-application/learning-and-leadership/
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Teachers alone cannot turn around struggling schools, and the administration's plans put 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers." -- Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in response to the proposed ESEA overhaul.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/education/17educ.html?ref=education
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