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BUILDING DEMAND FOR QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
WITH PARENTAL & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Parental and public
engagement is a critical element in the process of creating and
sustaining educational equity. It is often a civic process, one that
not only focuses on volunteerism, supporting individual children,
and conducting fundraisers, but also organizes and mobilizes the
community; knows how to collect and evaluate school performance
information; builds collaborations between the school and community;
votes for education-oriented candidates; pressures the school board
and decisionmakers; knows how to "work the system"; and understands
big public education issues such as equitable funding, teacher
quality, instructional leadership, broad school curriculum, and
modern school construction. There are some parents and communities
that are much more adept at using these civic highways than others.
In this article from Harvard Educational Review, Arnold Fege, Public
Education Network’s director of public engagement & advocacy,
identifies parental and public engagement as critical to sustaining
equity in public education. He traces the history of this engagement
from the integration of schools after Brown v. Board of Education in
1954 and the implementation in 1965 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act through the provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
He finds that while NCLB gives parents access to data, it does not
foster use of that information to mobilize the public to get
involved in school improvement. Fege concludes with historical
lessons applicable to the reauthorization of NCLB, emphasizing
enforcement of provisions for both parental and community-based
involvement in decisionmaking, resource allocation, and assurance of
quality and equity.
PLEDGING ALLEGIANCE: THE POLITICS OF PATRIOTISM IN AMERICA'S SCHOOLS
Patriotism is highly contested territory, especially when it comes
to the daily activities of the nation’s schoolchildren. Complex
notions of patriotism reflect and shape various ideas about
patriotism and its importance to national unity. Some citizens seek
to advance particular notions of patriotism over others. Nowhere are
the debates around these various visions of patriotic attachment
more consequential than in our nation’s schools. In Madison, Wisc.,
the parent community erupted in fierce debate over a new law
requiring schools to post American flags in each classroom and to
lead students in either pledging allegiance each day or playing the
national anthem. In Detroit, Mich., a student was repeatedly
suspended, first for wearing a T-shirt with an upside-down American
flag, and then for wearing a sweatshirt with an anti-war quotation
by Albert Einstein. A new book edited by Joel Westheimer, and filled
with essays by education luminaries, explores the relationship
between patriotism and education, and it does so from a variety of
perspectives. There are plenty of sources from which to find
arguments for the kind of patriotic allegiance to government that
borders on what Westheimer calls "authoritarian patriotism." This
position is well represented in our daily exposure to news,
television, advertising, and other manifestations of popular
culture. This book predominantly and unapologetically emphasizes the
other side -- a kind of patriotism that goes by many names:
cosmopolitan patriotism, real patriotism, progressive patriotism,
and democratic patriotism. This volume is a detailed articulation of
the inherent complexity in forging a critical kind of patriotism
that allows -- indeed encourages -- healthy democratic dissent,
especially as it relates to schools.
EDUCATION AT RISK
We hear a lot these days about the catastrophic state of American
public schools. According to pundits' dire pronouncements, our kids
supposedly compare terribly when ranked academically against all
others in the world. Politicians ask us to take a stand: Are we for,
or against, school reform? Standing for reform apparently means
supporting rigorous testing, a back-to-basics curriculum, higher
standards, more homework, more science and math, more phonics,
something called accountability, and a host of other often daunting
initiatives. Some educators worry about the fallout from these
measures, such as the proliferating plague of standardized testing,
but don't know how to oppose them without casting themselves as
obstructionists clinging to a failed status quo. Today, a movement
that stretches back several decades has narrowed us down to a single
set of take- 'em-or-leave-'em initiatives. How did this happen?
Nearly 25 years ago, "A Nation at Risk" hit our schools like a brick
dropped from a penthouse window. One problem, writes Tamim Ansary
for Edutopia: The landmark document that still shapes our national
debate on education was misquoted, misinterpreted, and often dead
wrong. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is set up to label most American
public schools as failures in the next six or seven years. Once a
school flunks, this legislation sets parents free to send their
children to a school deemed successful. But herds of students moving
from failed schools to (fewer) successful ones are likely to sink
the latter. And then what? Then, says NCLB, the state takes over.
And there's the rub. Can "the state" -- that is, bureaucrats -- run
schools better than professional educators? What if they fail, too?
What's plan C?
SHELBY STEELE:
IT IS RACIST NOT TO EXPECT EVERY CHILD TO DO THEIR BEST
If a young black boy cannot dribble well when he comes out to play
basketball, no one will cast his problem as an injustice. His
deficiency will be allowed to be what it is -- poor dribbling. And
he will be told to "tighten his game," which simply means to
practice more. Very likely his peers will taunt him mercilessly, and
even adults will give him no hugs to assuage his self-esteem. The
standard of excellence for dribbling will be so high that many will
not reach it and nothing less than virtuosity will satisfy it. … But
if this boy’s problem is reading or writing rather than basketball,
white guilt will certainly prevent even a modified version of this
natural human process from occurring. Career-hungry academics will
appear in his little world, and they will argue that his weaknesses
reflect the circuitous workings of racism. His reading and writing
problems will be seen to follow from the countless racial and
psychological determinisms that make it impossible to ask that he
and his family be fully responsible for overcoming his problems. The
boy will not be asked to truly work harder, nor will he be guided in
the mastery of sentence structure, parts of speech, and verb tenses.
Permeating his classroom, like a stalled weather pattern, will be a
foggy academic relativism in which scholastic excellence is
associated with elitism, and rote skill development with repression.
(excerpt from Shelby Steele, "White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites
Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era" New York:
HarperCollins, 2006, pp. 66-67. Referred to the NewsBlast by Will
Fitzhugh of The Concord Review.)
DEALING WITH A VINDICTIVE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
Vindictive board members usually seek an elected position of
authority because they have had an unpleasant experience in the
school system and they think the solution is to become a member of
the board of education so they can seek to remove a specific
employee or a program (sex education, social behavioral teaching,
etc.). Others target a single issue -- limiting the school tax or
changing attendance boundaries -- with uncompromising annoyance or
anger. During an election campaign, single-issue board members can
become quite vocal about their personal gripe with the school
district and express, verbally and in writing, exactly what they are
going to do about it if elected to the board. Vindictive candidates
often recruit others who've had some negative experiences with the
school district to support their campaign. When that happens, the
vindictive person begins to think he or she is the "voice of the
people." An ego becomes inflated, writes Terre Davis in The School
Administrator. Ultimately, it's the role of the superintendent, hand
in hand with the board president, to keep the board functioning as a
team. This article offers several tips for staying positive and
managing conflict.
DISCARDING THE DEFICIT MODEL
University of Miami Professor Beth Harry, writing with Janette
Klingner, an associate professor at the University of Colorado in
Educational Leadership, says the traditional model of putting
resources toward determining whether children have disabilities is
often based on ambiguous criteria and has resulted in the
over-representation of black and Hispanic children in special
education classes. The intertwining of race and perceptions of
disability are so deeply embedded in our way of thinking that many
people are not even aware of how one concept influences the other.
According to Harry and Klingner, a more progressive model of
identifying specific instructional needs at early ages is beginning
to emerge, posing a challenge to the deficit approach that has
prevailed for so long. Many students have special learning needs,
and many experience challenges learning school material. But does
this mean they have disabilities? Can we help students without
undermining their self-confidence and stigmatizing them with a
label? Does it matter whether we use the word disability instead of
"need" and "challenge"? Language in itself is not the problem. What
is problematic is the belief system that this language represents.
Why can't we see students' difficulties as "human variation rather
than pathology"?
IS IT GOOD FOR EDUCATION FOUNDATIONS TO FUND
WHAT TAXES DON'T COVER?
In the suburbs south of Boston, active, education-focused parents
frustrated with tight school budgets have taken matters into their
own hands, accelerating fund-raising efforts that make car washes
and bake sales look quaint. Where parents once opened up their
checkbooks for team uniforms and field trips, today they help build
computer labs, reinstate extracurricular clubs, and revive academic
programs lost in budget cuts. Education foundations still primarily
award grants for enrichment programs that fall outside of the school
budget, but more are financing core programs threatened by cutbacks
and other educational nuts and bolts. "Extra has taken on a
different meaning," said Carol Rosner, a Milton parent active in
PTOs and the Milton Foundation for Education , which raises as much
as $300,000 a year. "What once was extra is now a necessity." But
some education specialists say public schools' increasing reliance
on private donations dilutes efforts to increase school funding and
widens the gap between schools in wealthy and poor communities,
reports Peter Schworm in The Boston Globe. Budget pressures brought
on by the advent of high-stakes testing under the federal No Child
Left Behind law have pushed parent groups and education foundations
to intensify their fund-raising, forcing some schools to act like a
charity rather than a public service.
NYC HIRES "PARENT IN CHIEF" FOR CITY SCHOOLS
Faced with mounting criticism from parents over recent changes in
school bus routes and plans to reorganize the city school system,
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg named a veteran education advocate
yesterday to represent them at the Department of Education. Martine
G. Guerrier, 36, will have the title of chief family engagement
officer, reports Elissa Gootman in the New York Times. Ms. Guerrier
most notably voted against the mayor’s plan in 2004 to hold back
third graders largely on the basis of test scores. She will earn
$150,000 in her new post. Ms. Guerrier’s appointment came just hours
before a raucous rally where more than 1,000 politicians, parents,
community activists and teachers protested Mr. Bloomberg’s plans to
further overhaul the city school system. At the rally, the city
comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., mocked the mayor’s multiple
efforts to reorganize the schools. "I haven't seen this many parents
and teachers and students together in over five years," he said.
Earlier, in announcing Ms. Guerrier’s appointment, Mr. Bloomberg
said city schools had made great strides in reaching out to parents
under his leadership, particularly by placing "parent coordinators"
in every school. But Mr. Bloomberg’s critics said Ms. Guerrier’s
appointment -- and the fact that it was announced by the mayor, and
not simply by Mr. Klein, to whom Ms. Guerrier will report -- signals
that the administration recognizes that parents feel shut out. And
those parents, the critics say, could be a liability when mayoral
control of the school system comes up for legislative renewal in
2009.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR EDUCATORS TO GET $250 FEDERAL
TAX DEDUCTION
The Educator Expense Deduction was reinstated by congress. However,
the legislation made it into law in late December, long after the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) printed this year's official tax
forms. This means that to claim the $250 deduction for out-of-pocket
classroom expenses, educators will need to follow special
instructions issued by the IRS -- or to file their tax returns
electronically, which the IRS recommends. Along with the deductions
for educators' out-of-pocket classroom expenses, lawmakers extended
tax deductions for higher education tuition and fees and state and
local sales taxes. The IRS has drawn up special instructions for
claiming each of the three deductions. To learn how to claim these
credits, click the above link.
A STATE-BY-STATE REPORT CARD ON EDUCATIONAL
EFFECTIVENESS
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has issued a state-by-state report card
on educational effectiveness that shows America’s K–12 schools are
failing their students and putting America’s future competitiveness
at risk. The report graded all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on
nine broad categories including academic achievement, return on
investment, truth in advertising, rigor of standards, and data
quality. The report and accompanying recommendations for reform were
prepared with John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress
and former Clinton White House chief of staff, and Frederick M.
Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise
Institute. Education is critical to the American dream. Unemployment
rates for those without a high school degree are 8.1 percent
compared with 2.2 percent for college graduates. Yet, approximately
40 percent of all U.S. college students take at least one remedial
course, and most students who take remedial courses never earn a
college degree.
EARLY MUSIC LESSONS CAN HAVE MAJOR BENEFITS
Adam Hammerle, a first-grader, is among a growing number of
youngsters enrolling in formal music lessons at an early age. Some
instructors teach children as young as four; others prefer to wait
until the children can read. Some instructors say that, because more
children are attending preschool -- and thereby being introduced to
music in class -- they are interested in music lessons at an earlier
age. The decision usually falls to parents, many of whom view music
as an alternative to sports or other extra-curricular interests.
"Parents know that music carries our culture forward. If you want
your child to be culturally literate, then you want him to study or
listen to music," says Michael Blakeslee of the National Association
for Music Education. "Music isn't a magic pill, but there are a
variety of studies that show how music supports a child's
development," says Blakeslee. Some of those benefits include
socialization, cooperation and mental agility, adds Blakeslee. Other
studies suggest that music helps children focus on the structure of
sounds, an important aspect in language development, Blakeslee says.
The challenge comes when parents set their expectations too high,
hoping for instant results, reports T. J. Banes for Gannett News
Service. Music lessons at any age are an investment in time and
money.
WITH FEWER NUNS & MORE COMPETITION, CAN
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS BE SAVED?
A report in the new issue of Education Next finds enrollment
declines and rising tuition costs in Catholic schools in the United
States despite their history of strong educational achievement. The
rising cost of providing a Catholic education has been affected by
the loss of nuns in the classroom, where for years they provided
high value at relatively low cost. The ranks of nuns and other
minimum-wage religious teachers in Catholic schools have declined by
62 percent in the last five decades. Staff composition has shifted
from being some 90 percent female and religious to less than 5
percent; laypeople now make up more than 95 percent of all Catholic
school employees. With these changes have come cost increases:
Average annual tuition has gone from next to nothing to more than
$2,400 in elementary schools and almost $6,000 in high schools.
Although still a bargain by private school standards, Catholic
schools must compete with "free," public charter schools.
Demographic shifts have also hurt Catholic schools. As working- and
middle-class Americans left inner cities for the suburbs, immigrants
from Catholic nations in Latin America and the Caribbean took their
place in the downtown churches, but the new groups are largely poor
and lack a tradition of Catholic school support. The United States
is still the only country with a formal system of independent
Catholic schools. Faced with a new educational landscape, many
Catholic schools are trying innovative tactics to deal with the
challenges.
DRAMATIC RISE IN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS FALLING
BEHIND ON NCLB GOALS
The architects of the federal No Child Left Behind Act hoped that
showering schools with extra money and expert advice over several
years would make them succeed. But a new study shows that only 10
out of hundreds of low-scoring California schools facing severe
consequences under No Child Left Behind have improved enough to get
off of a state watch list this year. At the same time, the number of
schools facing such consequences for failing to get enough students
scoring at their grade level has jumped from 401 last year to 701
this year, says the Center on Education Policy, in its latest look
at how the federal law is working in California. Federal law offers
five options for schools identified for corrective action: reopening
as a charter school, replacing teachers and the principal, hiring an
outside agency to run the school, being taken over by the state, or
"any other major restructuring." Nanette Asimov reports in the San
Francisco Chronicle that the California Department of Education has
refused to take over any schools, saying it is too poor and
overworked for the job.
STUDENTS SAY SCHOOL LOCKERS ARE TOO SMALL
Oversize textbooks, rolling backpacks, sub-zero mountaineering
parkas: The gear required to equip today's student is getting
bigger. But the school locker, that shrine to adolescent personal
space, is not. A typical school locker is one foot wide, one foot
deep and six feet high, reports Daniel de Vise in the Washington
Post. The dimensions are meant to balance the needs of students --
who desire sufficient space for their books, jackets and Justin
Timberlake collages -- and the concerns of school officials, who
don't want lockers so large as to hold an entire wardrobe or an
entire student. Crowd-control issues have led principals to restrict
the times students may go to their lockers and to shorten periods
between classes; some students at sprawling high schools have
stopped using lockers altogether because of that. Similar crowding
concerns have led administrators to ban backpacks in classrooms and
common areas; a 40-pound pack on the back of a 70-pound middle-schooler
creates something administrators call the "turtle effect," causing
collisions and the occasional fight. Rolling backpacks, road hogs of
the halls, are particularly unwelcome. All this makes kids more
dependent on the locker as a place to unload. Middle school
students, some principals say, are especially prone to treat a
locker much as a Southern Californian would a car: as a second home. |
