McRel Rural E-News, November 2007

1. Reducing Class Size May Be More Cost-effective Than Most Medical Interventions
Science Daily
A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Virginia Commonwealth University suggests that students can experience significant benefits from smaller class sizes. Researchers find that graduates from smaller classes live longer and earn an additional $168,000 in lifetime revenue.

2. South's schools swell with poor kids The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
A new report shows that, for the first time ever, more than half of the students in 11 southern states are living in poverty. Policymakers in these states are struggling to face the challenges associated with educating economically disadvantaged students.

3. Snooze or Lose New York Magazine
Children are getting, on average, an hour less sleep each night than they did 30 years ago. While this may not seem significant, new research has shown that this has an exponential impact on children's cognitive development. Since the brain doesn't finish forming until the age of 21, and much of the development occurs during sleep, the cumulative effect of sleep deprivation over the years has a profound effect on children.

4. Teachers Seen as Making Difference in World's Top Schools Education Week (Subscription Required)
A new report from McKinsey & Company finds that school success depends largely on teachers. Rather than spending money on massive reform efforts, schools should focus on putting high-quality teachers in front of students. The report compared the American teacher training and selection with those of countries with highly successful school systems.

5. Texas study finds 39 model high schools in math, science The Dallas Morning News
Several Texas high schools are making impressive gains in student performance in mathematics and science. Their secrets to success? Predictably, the successful schools have a higher percentage of teachers certified to teach in their fields. Successful schools also pay their mathematics and science teachers more than other teachers. Surprisingly, however, the successful schools tend to have larger class sizes, reduced per-student spending, and less preparation time for standardized tests.

6. Science courses nearly extinct in elementary grades, study finds San Francisco Chronicle
80 percent of San Francisco Bay area elementary school teachers surveyed reported that they spend less than an hour a week teaching science. That's about half of what it was just seven years ago, largely due to the increased pressure from NCLB to focus on reading and mathematics.

7. Study: Middle school laptop program leads to writing improvements The Boston Globe
Maine's one-to-one laptop initiative is yielding a somewhat surprising result---improved writing skills. Although the laptop program was aimed to eliminate the "digital divide," school leaders are not surprised at the writing improvements that come from being able to quickly and easily re-write or revise their work, leading to improvements in overall writing skills.

8. Study examines public, private schools The Boston Globe
When income and other family characteristics are taken into consideration, students attending private schools do not perform any better than their peers in public schools, according to a new report from the Center on Education Policy. This suggests that the perceived advantages of a private education stem more from family characteristics than from fundamental differences in the private schools themselves.

9. NSDC's 39th Annual Conference National Staff Development Council
The annual National Staff Development Council (NSDC) conference will be held Dec. 1-5 in Dallas. Join thousands of educators for keynotes by nationally recognized speakers, a Texas Scholar lecture series, roundtable discussions, exhibits, and sessions---
all focused on high-quality professional learning. Conference strands focus on NSDC standards including context, process, and content standards.

10. Technology Leadership Collaborative California Technology Assistance Project
The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is offering professional learning opportunities in educational technology, open to all educators in California. The Technology Leadership Collaborative, which includes nine days of training and 15 hours of collaborative online follow-up, targets all aspiring and new school or district technology coordinators and is designed to provide leadership development in the use of educational technology to improve student learning.

11. Balanced Leadership for Technology Institute California Technology Assistance Project
The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is offering professional learning opportunities in educational technology, open to all educators in California. LACOE invites all school- and district-level leaders in California to participate in McREL's Balanced Leadership for Technology Institute. This eight-day institute, held in four sessions over the course of six months, synthesizes McREL's popular Balanced Leadership program with educational technology leadership practices and integrates our new ASCD publication, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.

12. Workshops at McREL
McREL is proud to offer the following workshops and training sessions at our office in Denver, Colo.
Classroom Instruction that Works with English-Language Learners 2-day workshop
January 17-18, 2008
Come to McREL's offices for a two-day workshop based on our popular ASCD manual, Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Learn how to improve the achievement of ELL students taught in mainstream classrooms.

Power Walkthrough(TM) Classroom Observation Seminar
January 31-February 1, 2008
School leaders can learn how to turn their classroom observations into "power walkthroughs" by using palm-held devices loaded with software that uses McREL's Classroom Instruction that Works as the basis for observing teachers.

Designing Effective Science Lessons Session 1: Building the Framework
February 7-8, 2008
This hands-on, interactive workshop shows teachers how to combine the three elements of content, understanding, and environment into high-quality science lessons that not only engage students, but also help them learn challenging science content.

Designing Effective Science Lessons Session 1: Building the Framework
April 10-11, 2008
Session 1 of McREL's Designing Effective Science Lessons will also be offered in April, for those unable to attend the February session.

Designing Effective Science Lessons Sessions 1-4
July 7-11, 2008
This week-long, intensive professional development experience provides hands-on, research-based guidance to help teachers design and deliver more effective science lessons. Learn how to identify the most important content for students to learn, develop their understanding of challenging science concepts, and create a learning environment that supports scientific discourse and higher order thinking.

Classroom Instruction that Works with English-Language Learners 2-day workshop
July 15-16, 2008
Classroom Instruction that Works with English-Language Learners will also be offered in July, for those unable to attend the January session.

13. McREL seeks participants for vocabulary program study McREL
McREL is looking for up to 50 elementary schools from across the U.S. to participate in a two-year study of Steck Vaughn's Elements of Reading: Vocabulary program. Data will be collected from two groups of students, ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, and participating teachers will receive stipends for their time and effort. Schools must have student populations with 40 percent or more students receiving free or reduced-price lunches. For more information, contact Dr. Helen Apthorp, principal researcher at McREL, at (303) 632-5622.

McREL in the News

14. Kansas Commissioner of Education Alexa Posny joins McREL's Board of Directors
McREL October 29, 2007
Alexa Posny, Kansas Commissioner of Education, has joined the McREL Board of Directors.

15. Wells Fargo VP and community developer Clinton Waara joins McREL Board of Directors McREL October 25, 2007
Clint Waara, community development officer and regional assistant vice president for Wells Fargo in Sioux Falls, S.D., has joined McREL's Board of Directors.

16. Colorado Commissioner of Education joins McREL's Board of Directors McREL
October 16, 2007
Dwight Jones, Colorado Commissioner of Education, has joined the McREL Board of Directors.

17. School leaders' pay climbs above average Appleton Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wis.) October 7, 2007
School administrator salaries in Fox Valley, Wis., are earning more money than ever before. In the article, McREL's CEO, Tim Waters, is quoted as saying that these salaries may be necessary to recruit and retain administrators who can handle the job and make a difference in student achievement.

18. Price is right for Middletown Middletown Journal (Middletown, Ohio) October 7, 2007
Middletown School District has seen many significant improvements over the past five years, thanks to the efforts of Superintendent Steve Price. The Ohio School Boards Association recently extended Price's contract in light of his success, citing McREL's research on the effects of superintendent leadership.

19. Improving high-poverty schools Rocky Mountain News (Denver) October 6, 2007
In a letter to the Rocky Mountain News editor, McREL's Vice President of Communications, Bryan Goodwin, cites research from McREL, which suggests that "improving schools is both a science and an art."

REPORT ROUNDUP

20. Do Title I School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Affect Student Achievement? RAND Corporation
A new report from the RAND corporation analyzed participation in and the effect of NCLB-mandated school choice and supplemental education services provided for students enrolled in schools "in need of improvement." The study found that supplemental education services often led to a significant improvement in student performance, although school choice had almost no observable impact.

21. Why Rural Matters 2007---The Realities of Rural Education Growth The Rural School and Community Trust
This report analyzes the importance of rural education in each state, and identifies the urgency policymakers should feel to address these issues. In a surprising reversal, this report finds that rural school enrollment is rising, and the percentage of minority students enrolled in rural schools is skyrocketing.

22. The Proficiency Illusion Thomas B. Fordham Institute
This report warns policymakers that the tests states are using to measure adequate yearly progress under the NCLB Act set low expectations for children to create the illusion of success. This is particularly true in reading, especially in the early grades.

23. Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans Public Agenda
This report shows that new teachers are particularly vulnerable to challenging teaching conditions. The report also shows that new middle and high school teachers are particularly concerned with support from school administrators, student behavior and motivation, and are less likely to consider teaching to be a life-long career than new teachers in elementary schools.

NEW FROM McREL

24. Changing Schools Volume 56: Fall, 2007 McREL
"The importance of asking why" is the theme of the fall 2007 issue of Changing Schools, McREL's free magazine. Features include articles dealing with resistance to school-wide change efforts, scientific inquiry, re-examining standards, and noting teachers' intentions when observing classrooms. To receive a copy of Changing Schools, visit www.mcrel.org and click on "Sign Up for FREE-SOURCES."