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THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND 'RACE'
It appears No Child Left Behind’s bark is bigger than its bite, as
thousands of schools with failing scores are passing anyway, reports
John Merrow of Learning Matters. Built into the law are "loopholes"
(which are legitimate up to a point) that allow states to circumvent
the law when carried to extremes. One example of this is re-writing
test questions to subtly make the state test easier. This practice
can be done almost invisibly as states can change tests without U.S.
Department of Education approval, and they don't typically release
the tests to the general public. So how would anyone on the outside
know the test was "dumbed down-" Another loophole is the confidence
interval, a convoluted statistical way of almost rounding the number
of kids passing up. Basically states say students that score within
a certain number of their pass score, pass, i.e., if the pass score
required was 60, and the state had a confidence interval of say
five, then students who received a 55 and up would actually be
labeled as passing. Education analysts such as Checker Finn, Jack
Jennings and Kevin Carey have provided valuable research on what
states are doing, quite legally, to manipulate the law in their
favor. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings adds her
opinions on the supposed loopholes, maintaining that the federal
government is a minority investor in public education and that she
is "a big proponent of local control."
STATE READING TESTS DEEMED EASIER
State designed math tests that students must take to satisfy No
Child Left Behind requirements appear harder than their reading
counterparts, reports Nancy Zuckerbrod of the Associated Press. The
study, released by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, comes about a
week after the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold
standard in measuring student performance, found that students were
improving their math skills at a better rate than reading skills.
The NAEP results are congruous with Fordham’s findings, because if
math is tested with greater rigor, it would follow that students’
math skills would improve at a greater rate as well. The results
also seem to indicate a general problem with the No Child Left
Behind Act, in that there is an inherent difficulty in imposing a
"national standard" when every state retains its own autonomy by
creating and managing the test and setting cut scores without
oversight. As re-authorization "nears," this information might be
used to justify modifications to the law that could include adding
incentives to encourage states to raise their standards.
GET YES VOTES: WIN EVERY SCHOOL
REFERENDUM
Financing public education is an ongoing and integral relationship
between the school system and its many constituents. Every state has
its own method for providing state or local funds, yet no state has
been able to adequately fund education in the manner necessary to
meet expanded student needs. State and federal regulations are
constantly being thrust upon local schools without either entity
appropriating sufficient monies to implement these mandates. Schools
are faced with severe budget cuts while tax dollars get spent in
other areas. In a majority of instances, school administrators and
boards of education are relying upon the same basic financial
procedures to fund their school system that were in place nearly 50
years ago. That procedure, simply stated is: Go to the voters for
additional tax dollars, and if the ballot issue is voted down, cut
out more programs, increase class sizes or reduce capital
expenditures. This approach implies that educators are not able to
convince voters how badly they need the additional funds. In
contrast to implementing the same basic procedures for generating
revenue, the general public has seen fit to make ever-increasing
demands on its school system. Nearly every year, some element within
the community seeks a new or expanded service from its school
system. Community perception is often that educators either reject
community requests, or place a high price on the services. Countless
ways for a school district to better serve a community can be
implemented at little or no cost. Once implemented, and once the
public sees the excellent results, citizens begin to show a desire
to support a larger number of enhanced programs. A new four-segment
referendum process has been developed by MacroVision Associates.
Their process relies upon building and sustaining school/community
partnerships, clarifying roles, building trust, gathering data,
grassroots campaigning, and getting people out to vote. The authors
show how school districts can lose elections by attempting to take
shortcuts, and how inadequate planning reduces the opportunity to
succeed.
S.C. PIONEERS IN SINGLE GENDER
CLASSES
Boys and girls are usually seen as different entities requiring
different needs, especially when compared to planets (Venus, Mars,
etc.). One educator, David Chadwell, believes this extends to
learning styles and therefore thinks that the best way to engage and
educate students is to do so in classrooms tailored to each gender,
reports Seanna Adcox of the Associated Press. Chadwell, the
country’s first and only statewide coordinator of single-gender
education, wants South Carolina to lead the country in offering
single gender programs, and new rules under the No Child Left Behind
Act have made it easier to implement same sex education. Chadwell
believes that separating the sexes, especially during the middle
school years, can free children of self-doubt and peer pressure and
provide lessons geared uniquely to that sex. Boys don't appear to
hear as well as girls and thus would be taught through microphones.
Boys also tend to have more difficulty paying attention, so teachers
would incorporate movement into a lesson, such as throwing a ball to
a student who has been called upon. South Carolina teachers in
all-girl classrooms have learned to speak more softly, as girls tend
to take yelling more personally. In some South Carolina schools,
boys learn algebra through skateboard parts and measuring tape,
while girls learn fractions by interviewing each other and using
their surveys to determine the fraction of girls who have dogs.
While same sex education seems to be an interesting phenomenon,
there are detractors. Kim Gandy, president of the National
Organization of Women, questions whether single gender programs’
successes are due simply to good teachers and smaller classes, not
sex segregation. However, a Columbia, S.C. parent, who was initially
hesitant about same sex education, said his daughter has flourished
because she wasn't self-conscious of boys’ opinions of her, and
consequently became more engaged in school activities and has gained
additional confidence. Quinn Martin, an eighth-grade boy, said he
started making the honor role after entering an all-boys program,
saying "it’s easier to learn." Still, there is one undeniable
benefit to same-sex education: less hair pulling.
CHARTER SCHOOLS LOOM LARGE OVER CUSHY
DISTRICTS
California parents have discovered the secret pass code that can
gain the immediate attention of school districts. The code is just
two words that have somehow taken on a fearful connotation, and they
are ‘charter school’, writes Patty Fisher in the San Jose (Calif.)
Mercury News. Charter schools scare administrators because they take
away money (in the form of per-pupil spending), invaluable classroom
space and control of education. Yet charters, as they were
originally envisioned, seem like a positive remedy when existing
schools are not up to par, or the education system is ignoring the
needs of the district’s children. In California, the majority of the
600 charter schools began in low-income or low-performing districts.
However, parents in high-performing affluent districts are beginning
to use the threat of a charter to win support for perhaps
unnecessary projects. In Palo Alto last May, the board rejected a
plan for a Mandarin-immersion choice program. The parents then
threatened to start a charter school, which the superintendent
informed the board would cost up to $5,000 per pupil and also take
up valuable classroom space. After learning the costs of the
charter, the board reversed its decision. This seems to signal that
charter schools have become a scary proposition for affluent
districts. Mandy Lowell, who switched her vote in Palo Alto, thinks
charter schools are a "wonderful alternative when public schools are
not satisfying educational needs." Yet, do all students need
Mandarin education- The problem enters when charter schools are
threatened to serve the needs of a few students, which seems to run
counter to the reason charters were established.
CLINTON PICKS UP ENDORSEMENT FROM
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has thrown their national
weight behind presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.),
reports Associated Press writer Nancy Zuckerbrod in Education Week.
The teacher union’s executive council chose the former first lady
after meeting with seven presidential candidates, all Democrats, as
no Republican accepted an invitation to participate. Clinton’s main
rival for her party’s nomination, Barrack Obama (D-Ill.), has said
he supports teacher merit pay plans. The AFT is against merit pay
because they believe linking teacher salaries to students’ test
scores is unfair for a plethora of reasons. The union, which has 1.4
million members in 3,000 local affiliates and 43 state affiliates,
represents school employees in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
The organization said it would immediately begin a plan to mobilize
voters to support Clinton.
WELCOME OR NOT, ORTHODOXY IS BACK IN
RUSSIA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS
There was a time in Russia when children would enthusiastically
respond "From The Party!" when posed this question: "Whom should we
learn to do good from-" Nearly two decades after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, localities in Russia, which carry out education policy
with some oversight from Moscow, are infusing Russian Orthodoxy into
public school education, reports Clifford Levy of the New York
Times. The religious courses are typically introduced by church
leaders, as a sort of bent stick remedy for the after-effects of
Communist rule. Opponents, and not only those remnants of the
Communist party, assert that inserting religious courses into
schools weakens the constitutional separation of church and state.
In their opinion, Russia has become a multiethnic, pluralistic
nation, and advocating one religion in public schools risks
alienating significant portions of the population, especially if
Russian Orthodoxy begins to look like a state-sanctioned religion.
The church maintains the courses are necessary as they are cultural
and not religious. As Reverend Vladimir Pakhacev notes, it would be
difficult to study the Russian language without discussing SS. Cyril
and Methodius, the two monks who helped create the Cyrillic
alphabet. While parts of Russia require these religious courses,
others allow parents to remove their children, and still others have
not adopted them. President Vladimir Putin did not say current
practices should be scaled back, but that "[Russians] have to find a
form acceptable for the entire society." Since Communism fell, the
world has experienced a great deal of change, in the way citizens
feel about religion, and in the way government feels about religion.
HOW DO CHARTER SCHOOLS AFFECT ALL
ASPECTS OF EDUCATION-
Since 1997, the number of charter schools has grown from 693 to
3,977. Even though there has been a huge increase, research, which
has focused almost exclusively on test scores, has found mixed
evidence regarding the actual impact charter schools have on student
performance. When ascertaining why charter schools remain so
popular, it is possible that the beneficial aspects of charters are
the effect they have on student performance aside from simply
boosting test scores. New research from the National Center for the
Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia
University went beyond test scores to incorporate longitudinal data
from a large urban school district to assess how charter schools
affect student discipline, attendance, and retention. Using
individual fixed-effects analyses, the research suggests charter
schools generate improvements in student behavior and attendance but
the effect on test scores differs by subject. The research also
finds little evidence that charter schools generate long-term
benefits if students return to non-charters.
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS CITE NCLB’S
FLAWS
It appears the yellow brick road leading to re-authorizations of the
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) will run through California, writes
David Hoff of Education Week. In addition to the 50 U.S. House of
Representatives members, the chairman and senior Republican on the
House’s education committee and Speaker Nancy Pelosi represent
California. This invariably places added importance on the politics
within the state, and how those constituents and their locally
elected officials view NCLB. A recent joint resolution, which passed
both chambers of the California legislature, includes typical
complaints of the law, stating it isn't flexible enough, is
inadequately funded, and places too much importance on reading and
math scores. However, the resolution adds additional "wants" to the
litany of necessary reforms, namely that parents should be allowed
to remove their children from NCLB testing, without the schools
falling prey to the accountability systems. In addition to this
resolution, a letter, vehement in its opposition to any merit pay
plan, signed by some state legislators was recently sent to Pelosi.
Unfortunately for the U.S. and California, there doesn't appear to
be a wizard anywhere on the path to reauthorization.
EDUCATION LEADERS ATTEMPT REFORM IN
WASHINGTON, DC & NEW ORLEANS, LA SCHOOLS
In the first two reports on leaders in education who are trying to
reform urban schools, correspondent John Merrow ("The NewsHour with
Jim Lehrer") investigated improvement efforts in Washington, D.C.
and New Orleans, La. The series will continue to look at the major
revitalization and reform efforts in both school districts, as they
welcome new highly publicized superintendents. In Washington, the
new superintendent, who has never run a district before, is
37-year-old Michelle Rhee. Rhee, who comes to a city that has had
six superintendents in the last 10 years, will have to overcome what
she calls a "bloated and unresponsive" central office, dilapidated
facilities and poor test scores. Unlike Rhee, Paul Vallas, the
superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans, has
had some success in running the Chicago and Philadelphia school
systems. Vallas, sometimes called the "turnaround" superintendent,
also is faced with dismal test scores, immense poverty and
facilities that were crumbling even before Hurricane Katrina hit.
Like Washington, New Orleans has seen a wave of reformers come and
quickly leave. The series has already provided a unique view into
the daily jobs of superintendents, capturing a visit by Michelle
Rhee to a supply warehouse, where she said "by the time I got onto
the second floor, I thought I was going to throw up. I actually felt
nauseous because of what I was seeing. It was boxes and boxes of
glue and scissors and composition books, binders, boxes of unopened
trade books, class sets of novels, things that teachers not only are
dying for but spend their own money on."
MORE STATES ARE REQUIRING ‘CAREER
PATHWAYS’ TO LOWER DROPOUT RATES AND ENGAGE STUDENTS BETTER
Just three years ago, Latasha Jackson of Brighton, Mass. would have
scoffed at the idea that she was college material. Now, she has
applied to some of Massachusetts’ best business colleges, and
intends to be the first in her family to pursue secondary education.
Her attitude shifted when she was enrolled in Brighton’s business
pathways curriculum, which is part of the
school-to-college-to-career program for ninth graders. Programs like
these have gained traction because classes are boring and unrelated
to students’ lives, according to dropouts. Brighton’s pathways
program places students in broad topical clusters, while other
similar programs across the country require students to think about
what specific jobs they hope to achieve and then take courses to
prepare them. There are critics of this policy, saying it is
important for high school students to gain general knowledge and
communications skills. Debra Humphrey of the Association of American
Colleges and Universities thinks this is a "colossally bad idea," as
"businesses are [saying] that the jobs that today’s ninth graders
will eventually have don't even exist yet." However, she does
approve and praise the creation of learning communities and cluster
programs like Brighton’s. Another student, Jasmin Santana,
requested to attend Brighton because of the pathways program, even
though it meant a one hour commute each way. While no one in her
family has gone past high school, Santana will apply to Harvard and
other universities in hopes of becoming a pediatrician. Latasha
Jackson says "there are some days [she] can't wait to get to
accounting class." Any program that can get a student excited about
accounting has to be doing something right.
GIRLS ARE OFTEN NEGLECTED VICTIMS OF
CONCUSSIONS
Hannah Stohler, a high school junior, viewed concussions as "a boy
thing," something associated with football, not soccer, reports Alan
Schwarz of the New York Times. But after suffering her third
concussion playing soccer, she was knocked into a winter-long haze,
wherein she forgot to play her piano, struggled to read and
frequently experienced dizziness and headaches. Hannah’s first two
concussions were caused by banging her head against turf, and each
time she experienced disorientation, blurred vision and nausea. At
the time, her neurologist told her she could play again when the
headaches subsided. In her mind it wasn't a big deal, and she
returned a few weeks before her symptoms actually went away. Then
last November, she collided with another player and could not get up
for 10 minutes. When she finally did leave the field, her vision was
totally blank, and for the next three months she suffered through
typical concussion symptoms. Unfortunately, Hannah is not alone.
While football does cause the most concussions, girls competing in
sports such as soccer and basketball are more susceptible to
concussions than boys playing the same sports. According to a recent
study, girls sustained concussions 68 percent more often then boys
when playing soccer, and three times more often when playing high
school basketball. In addition, girls took longer for their symptoms
to resolve and return to play. Doctors are largely uncertain as to
why the rates are higher in girls, and consequently how to lessen
the risk. Still, while more is known about the effects of
concussions, the decision to pull children from sports is difficult
to make. According to Hannah’s mother "it’s like [Hannah] can have
depression when she is older because of the concussions, or be in
therapy now because she hates her parents." Risking long-term health
for high school glory appears to be a scary proposition, but at
least more facts about the dangers of concussions are coming to
light.
SUPERINTENDENTS SUGGEST FIXES FOR ‘NO
CHILD’
Going against the general educational current in America,
Washington, D.C. area educators are asking that the federal
government have more involvement in schools, not less, reports Jay
Mathews of the Washington Post. In fact, the superintendents of the
Fairfax and Montgomery County school systems have gone so far as to
say national standards are necessary to measure the achievement of
public school students. Montgomery County (Md.) Superintendent Jerry
Weast has "never figured out why...we wouldn't have a national
education standard," because "we have them for toys and everything
else." Jack Dale, the superintendent of Fairfax County (Va.)
schools, echoes Weast’s sentiments. He wants to see the No Child
Left Behind Act turned upside-down, where instead of states creating
individual tests and the federal government devising sanctions and
supports for failing schools, the federal government would provide
the tests, and each state could decide what to do to encourage
improvement in low-performing schools. While Congress has rejected
the notion of national standards in the past, the advocates for
national standards had usually been academics and pundits, not
school administrators. The Council of the Great City Schools, which
is comprised of 66 large city school districts, did call for
national standards in science, math and reading in November 2006.
The one caveat with the school districts’ endorsement of national
standards is that because of unusually high household incomes and
education levels in Fairfax and Montgomery counties, students will
likely look very good on any national scale. Still, it does appear
there will be no stone left unturned when it comes to re-authorizing
NCLB.
PROGRAM PROVIDES BLUEPRINT FOR
RECRUITING MINORITIES TO SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
An initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA has
developed research over the past 11 years detailing successful
strategies for increasing the ranks of underrepresented minority
students in science and engineering fields, reports Science Daily.
The results, based on five minority-serving institutions, show that
underrepresented minority enrollment in science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) coursework increased at a higher rate
than total STEM enrollment. In fact, the total number of bachelor’s
STEM degrees increased by 44 percent from 1994-95 to 2004-05. These
results are especially noteworthy, as the percentages of bachelor’s
science and engineering degrees have remained static for nearly 40
years. The program, called Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE),
was effective because it helped bridge the transition from high
school to college, by training teachers and offering summer
orientation programs. In addition, the MIE Program provided mentors,
tutors, opportunities for group study and advice on financial aid to
college students. The institutions offer the minority community and
those institutions that serve them a model that could encourage
greater enrollment and completion of the STEM disciplines.
LEARNING ABOUT ‘THE WAR’
Even as the acclaimed Ken Burns documentary series on World War II
comes to its official close, the learning process is just beginning,
reports G. Jeffrey MacDonald in USA Today. PBS has begun a second
airing of the series and has equipped teachers at 20,000 high
schools with resources to use the film in history classes. Several
organizations in addition to PBS are encouraging ordinary people to
track down World War II veterans and record their stories -- a
renewed American oral tradition of sorts. The series, which featured
veterans’ first-person accounts, provided perhaps a different take
on the "great war," often showing viewers conflicting images of the
United States as "united, brutal, heroic and xenophobic -- all at
the same time." This doesn't quite mesh with an American
consciousness of a "morally uncomplicated war." Potentially, one
reason World War II has taken on glorified air is because teachers
have largely focused on the epic calamities (the Holocaust) and
major battles, rather than devote the limited study time they have
to the traumas associated with war. The makers of the film
understand they are not breaking new ground for historians, but
their intent was to more fully inform the general American memory,
which has perhaps been selective to date. The series’ co-director,
Lynn Novick, said "it is important for people to know that even in a
so-called good war, war is horrible."
WHY TEACH FOR AMERICA
Initially, Teach for America (TFA) -- in addition to providing a
home for directionless humanities majors -- was a small and
idealistic organization on a mission to place engaging and
intelligent college graduates into disadvantaged children’s
classrooms. The hope was to provide those students with quality
teachers with subject content knowledge, something many schools were
lacking, reports Negar Azimi in the New York Times Magazine. As TFA
has grown and expanded its reach dramatically, the group has moved
somewhat away from its roots, employing corporate-esque recruiting
efforts to fill their corps and hiring a former Coca-Cola and Burger
King marketing executive to help. Additionally, the organization has
grown increasingly focused on becoming a more national reform
movement. This approach has come into question, as some believe it
would greatly help education systems across the country if the
organization would concentrate on curbing high teacher turnover
rates rather than spending resources on attracting more and more
talented young people. TFA also has created a new debate, along the
lines of nature versus nurture, centered on whether good teachers
are simply born that way. Is being able to connect with a young
person who simply doesn't want to learn an innate skill- TFA, to its
credit, is aware of the issues raised with its programs, and admits
to being "a work in progress."
GEORGIA SEES FEWER DROPOUTS
There is good news for people from the Peach State, as Georgia had
fewer high school dropouts this year than last, while at the same
time seeing an increase in public high school enrollment, reports
Dorie Turner of the Associated Press. While enrollment increased by
nearly 10,000 students, 2,200 less students dropped out this year
than last year. Additionally, 70 percent of Georgia students are
graduating high school, while only 60 percent graduated four years
ago. The graduation rate, which everyone argues over how to measure,
was calculated using a federally approved formula that looks at the
number of diploma recipients divided by the number of recipients
plus dropouts. This is wonderful news for Governor Sonny Perdue (R),
who began an initiative a year ago that centered on placing hundreds
of graduation coaches in high schools to help struggling students.
This year, the state will spend $21.3 million to place additional
coaches at the middle school level, as educators say middle school
is a crucial time for struggling students. However, some say it is
far too early to tell if the high school coaches are making a
difference. It does appear the coaches are a step in the right
direction, however.
GRAMBLING INVESTIGATING PICTURES OF
NOOSE LESSON
Grambling State University is investigating an incident in which
adults at the university-run elementary school put a noose around a
child’s neck, reports the Associated Press. The Grambling school
newspaper published photographs of the event and shared them with
local papers. The incident occurred during a kindergarten and
first-grade lesson on racism and what nooses meant as a symbol --
the students also marched around their playground in protest of what
has become known as the Jena 6. University President Dr. Horace
Judson ordered the photos removed from the paper’s Web site as soon
as he was alerted to their presence. However by that time, the News
Star of Monroe (La.) obtained the photographs of the teaching lesson
and then sent them to the Associated Press. The pictures show a
young girl being held up by a woman while someone else holds a noose
around her neck and up to a branch. Dr. Judson told the News Star
that he was taking the incident very seriously.
RICHARD RILEY, SENATOR TED KENNEDY &
ROSA PARKS ADD UP TO EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS
The Rosa Parks School in Portland, Ore. is this year’s recipient of
the Richard Riley Award for Schools as Centers of Community, given
each year to a school that has become a center of the community.
Rosa Parks was signaled out for the award, named for former U.S.
Secretary of Education and South Carolina Governor Richard W. Riley,
because the school incorporates small learning environments,
provides a variety of services to the community and received a Gold
LEED certification for sustainability. The school will receive
$10,000 for its pro-community design. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.),
currently sponsoring legislation that will provide $260 million to
encourage communities to engage parents by making schools a center
of the community, commended the school "for this well-deserved
honor." |
