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NOTE TO READERS:
The PEN Weekly NewsBlast will not be published next week as we
celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Rise up and be thankful, for health and
food, for love and friends, and everything that goodness sends. The
next NewsBlast will be published on Friday, November 30, 2007. Thank
you for your support of all of our work and public education.
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URBAN DISTRICTS GAIN IN NAEP MATH,
SHOW MIXED RESULTS IN READING
In most of the 11 big-city school districts which voluntarily took
part in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),
continued progress has been made in mathematics, although similar
results were not seen in reading. Since 2003, the majority of
districts participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA)
had higher percentages of fourth- and eighth-graders scoring at or
above "Basic" and "Proficient" in math, and nearly half of all
districts saw higher percentages of fourth-graders scoring
"Advanced" (the highest achievement level) in math. However, reading
scores have been less consistent and not as good, which tends to
follow the national pattern. In fact, at grade four, five districts
improved the percentage of students at or above "Basic" since 2002,
but only two showed significant improvement at the same level
compared with 2005. Overall, participating districts performed as
well as large central cities across the nation and the performance
of low-income and minority students was generally the same or better
than similar students nationwide. "In Cleveland, for example, the
gap for lower-income students was 15 points less than the gap for
all students...and in New York City, lower-income students performed
above lower-income students in the nation as a whole," said Mark
Schneider, commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics.
THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE: INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS BEAT THE U.S.
Education experts generally agree that U.S. students do far better
in the earlier grades than they do in high school, especially with
regard to math. However, a new study finds that when comparing the
math skills of students in industrialized nations, U.S. students in
fourth and eighth grade perform consistently below the majority of
their peers from around the world and continue that trend into high
school. According to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the
findings, which came from data from the 2003 Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA), seem to suggest that
current U.S. proposals to strengthen math instruction at the high
school level should be expanded to include all grades. In addition,
countries that score well on mathematical reasoning items (deemed a
higher-level skill) also score well on items requiring knowledge of
facts and procedures (a lower-level skill). This may signal that
reasoning and computation skills mutually reinforce learning math
well. Unfortunately, compared to other countries, U.S. students did
not perform well on questions at either skill level. The study
presents a perhaps bleaker vision of the TIMSS and PISA results, as
it focuses solely on industrialized nations and thereby offers a
better comparison between nations.
WHAT AMERICAN DREAM- ACHIEVEMENT AND
OPPORTUNITY GAPS REMAIN
New research suggests that in addition to rampant achievement gaps,
there also is a national opportunity gap in the United States,
meaning poor and minority students do not share the same
opportunities as their rich and white peers. The opportunity gap is
far more pronounced in California, as it lags behind most states in
providing fundamental learning conditions, according to a report by
UC ACCORD and UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access.
While systematic inadequacies and inequalities leave California
students from all backgrounds unable to compete with their
counterparts across the U.S., the study shows that obstacles are
greatest for African American and Latino students, who are more
likely to attend schools with fewer qualified teachers and
resources. When looking at math curriculum, California students
learn slower than others because of a lack of access to smaller
classes, rigorous coursework and well-trained teachers. At one time,
the much heralded American dream was attainable by working hard and
taking advantage of the vital resources provided by the nation and
states, yet the persistent opportunity gap undermines this major
tenant of U.S. society.
KENTUCKY TO EMPLOY FIRST-EVER RUBRIC
TO INCREASE PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC EDUCATION
The Kentucky Parent Advisory Council has issued recommendations and
a rubric focused on increasing parental involvement in education. In
the report issued by the group, six objectives geared to increase a
community’s stake in public education, which included relationship
building, effective communication, decision making, advocacy,
learning opportunities and community partnerships, were outlined. In
addition, the rubric allows parents and educators alike to rate the
involvement parents and communities have in schools with a focus on
the six objectives. The Kentucky Commissioner’s Parent Advisory
Council (CPAC) has recommended that the Kentucky Department of
Education take major steps to implement the objectives defined by
the Kentucky Parent Advisory Council, including adopting a "customer
satisfaction" training module for school districts and establishing
community involvement councils at the school, district and state
levels. CPAC’s goal is to make Kentucky the first state to set
standards for family and community involvement that are specifically
focused on student achievement. The Kentucky Department of Education
has already pledged to incorporate the rubric into its
standards-based accountability system.
STEM DROPOUTS & HELP AT-RISK KIDS:
ADD A DASH OF CULINARY HIGH SCHOOL
The Chicago Board of Education is expected to approve plans for the
first high school designed to promote the culinary field and
encourage dropouts to come back to school in Chicago, reports Carols
Sandovi in the Chicago Tribune. The school would target dropouts and
at-risk 11th graders by providing vocational training aligned with a
real world career. Slated to open in 2008, the school would award
high school diplomas, state food-handling certificates and, through
a partnership with a culinary institute, 16 college credits. This
opportunity has the ability to change lives by giving students a
second chance at high school, a tangible real-world skill and
college credits. And maybe even the ability to make the perfect
Hollandaise sauce.
ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION CAN GROW A
HAPPY AND CREATIVE WORKFORCE
When Congress begins work on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
re-authorization process, it would behoove those in charge to add
funding to certify high school educators to teach entrepreneurship
electives, writes Michael Caslin, Porcher Taylor and Catherine
Fisher in Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Establishing a program
like this would help engage those students who are most likely to be
left behind, as this approach complements the rote learning taking
place hour after hour to meet NCLB benchmarks. In addition, this
type of education could prepare a future workforce to be innovative
and competitive and provides goals that students would strive for.
This, in turn, would increase their respect and need for higher
education.
FLYING HIGH NOW: PILOT HIGH SCHOOLS
HELP STUDENTS SOAR
Boston students who attend Pilot high schools outperform students
from non-exam Boston Public Schools (BPS) on every measure
imaginable, according to a new report from the Center for
Collaborative Education. In fact, this level of achievement holds
true for every racial, economic and academic subgroup examined, and
Pilot high schools can boast a graduation rate 23 percentage points
higher than the rate for BPS students. The study also finds that
Pilot schools are somewhat more autonomous, as they exhibit greater
control over budgeting, staffing, curriculum, governance and
schedules. The Pilot model is being replicated across the country in
places like Los Angeles and Aurora, Colo.
MOLDING INFORMED STUDENTS: GENOCIDE
CLAIMS A LARGER ROLL IN COURSES
Thanks to an array of new curriculum resources and sometimes public
awareness campaigns, teachers are finding ways to incorporate a more
comprehensive historical look at genocide. In fact, in many American
classrooms, the mass killings of Armenians has become intertwined
with lessons on the Holocaust, reports Bess Keller and Kathleen
Kennedy Manzo in Education Week. Teaching historical atrocities in
addition to the Holocaust has become important in showing students
that these incidents have happened throughout the course of
humanity, not in one isolated instance -- no matter what the
president of Iran says. In addition to new curriculum tools and
increased public awareness, the attention to genocide in schools is
in part a function of state policies. Eleven states direct schools
to include materials about the mass killings of Armenians in history
courses, and 30 recommend or require including lessons on the
Holocaust or genocide in general. Whatever the impetus, sobering
instruction of past human atrocities is necessary to create a
citizenry dedicated to stopping similar incidents in the future.
NATIONAL TASK FORCE DESIGNS PRESCHOOL
ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
Since 2005, the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force
has studied the performance of early education programs in order to
come up with the best practices states can employ to ensure early
education improves student achievement. In studying preschool
initiatives, which states have spent $1.9 billion on over the last
four years, the task force found that few states have implemented
comprehensive assessment systems that would ensure early education
returns the expected results. To address the many challenges states
face in implementing this type of accountability system, the task
force recommends that states do the following: develop a unified
system of early childhood education; align high-quality and
comprehensive standards, curriculum, instruction and assessments;
and, support the full inclusion of all children in programs and
accountability systems; and provide programs with adequate
resources. From this set of core principles, states can then use
different approaches to create an accountability system that fits
their particular needs. For the next 18 months, the Council of Chief
State School Officers will use these findings to help states
strengthen their preschool program performance.
QUALITY PRE-KINDERGARTEN IS MORE
EXPENSIVE THAN YOU THINK
Findings from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) report "Costs
Per Child for Early Childhood Education and Care" seem to suggest
that cost estimates show dramatic differences in per-child
expenditures in programs such as Head Start/Early Start and what is
actually reported. The research, which used all available government
data, indicates that the actual per-child costs of the programs are
substantially higher than what is often reported by government
agencies. According to the National Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER), total state spending in 2004-05 on
pre-kindergarten services was about $2.84 billion, with average
per-child spending of about $3,551. Since there is a wide variation
in what is considered full-time, full-year pre-kindergarten, AEI
researchers adopted the NIEER definition, which is 50 hours per week
for 49 weeks per year. For 2003-04, the Head Start Bureau reported
an average per-child cost of about $7,222 per year. However, when
applying the NIEER definition, AEI researchers found that Head
Start’s per-child cost for full-time, full-year care was about
$21,305. It is important to understand the costs associated with
universal pre-kindergarten as it becomes a major issue in
presidential campaigns.
COMBINE 17TH CENTURY LITERATURE WITH
ROBOTICS TO WIN A GLOBAL AWARD
A rural Irish school has taught the world a lesson on how best to
integrate new high-tech innovations into the classroom of the
future, reports Katherine Donnelly in the Irish Independent. Co
Kilkenny, a school with only three teachers and 58 students, won a
global award from Microsoft for their innovation in integrating
technology into education. The school impressed judges by bringing
literature and science together, culminating in a fun and well
rounded learning experience. The experience centered on the tale of
Don Quixote and his windmills, but included 21st century robotics
and real-life lessons in wind and solar energy. One of the greatest
advantages of this type of learning was that the pupils collaborated
and learned from each other while enjoying a centuries-old classic.
THE TWILIGHT ZONE OF SCHOOL
DESEGREGATION
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that two districts’ heavy
reliance on race in student assignment procedures violated the
constitution, in particular the equal protection clause, has created
a twilight zone for the 253 school districts still under federal
court supervision because of racial inequality. Consequently,
federal judges can make completely contradictory decisions for these
districts, reports the Associated Press’ Allen Breed. For instance,
in Huntsville, Ala., students are allowed to transfer from a school
where they are the racial majority, but not the other way around.
Also, in Tucson, Ariz., students could move from one school to
another only if the move improved "the ethnic balance of the
receiving school and (did) not further imbalance the ethnic make-up
of the home school." The twilight zone is the anomaly of demanding
that districts work diligently toward racial integration, but once
it is achieved, mandating that race be ignored, i.e. what is
constitutional one day ceases to be the next day.
PRINCIPALS: MASSAGE AND SMOOTH AWAY
THE CHORDS OF RESISTANCE
When school leaders face resistance, they should ignore the
temptation to batten down the hatches, damn the torpedoes and go
full steam ahead. Instead, they should relax and ascertain why and
who is opposing their improvement efforts. When looking at the
resistance this way, one understands that change can be perceived
very differently by each person in the school. Some may view it as a
routine "first-order" change, while others may see it as complex or
"second-order" change. According to McREL research, teachers who
view a change as "second-order" are more likely to think that their
principal is failing to communicate well or provide them with
opportunities for input, and as a result, will likely resist those
efforts. To overcome resistance, principals should engage their
staff to understand why change is necessary, but also adjust their
leadership styles to fit the mold.
IDEA: FOCUS ON THE WORST SCHOOLS TO
REVOLUTIONIZE EDUCATION REFORM
A major issue that has plagued education is how best to reform
failing schools, as pursuing incremental change has produced
startlingly little results. According to a new report from Mass
Insight Education, lessons can be learned from a group of
high-performing urban schools that are having success with
disadvantaged students. The report notes that these districts are
thriving because key stakeholders have adopted a "partnership
framework." Within this framework, schools have created zones with
flexible operating conditions, assembled and trained leadership
teams with turnaround skills and focused on clusters of needy
schools. It might be best to begin reforms in the indefensibly poor
schools, or the bottom five percent, as they represent an access
point for states and districts to break from the norm and implement
revolutionary reform ideas. In so doing, these reform initiatives
could gain a foothold that benefits not just the transformed schools
but other failing schools that learn of the new approaches.
CLEANING UP: CUSTODIAN TEACHES
ENGLISH TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Through hard work, patience and help from school custodian Dorothy
Montano, five-year-old Arleth Heras Marquez can now recognize the
numbers in English up to 20. Montano, who is bilingual, impressed
teachers so much at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Farmington,
N.M., with her work with Marquez that she has been given the
responsibility of working with at least 15 kids a day, reports Cory
Frolik in the Farmington (N.M.) Daily Times. While Montano’s
classroom is actually a supply closet outfitted with eight chairs in
a semi-circle, students are making strides by focusing on large
sight cards including numbers and letters. Montano is not creating
the results on her own, as the school’s kindergarten teachers spend
far more time teaching in large groups, small groups and one-on-one.
Still, the support Montano provides is invaluable, and perhaps
provides a lesson on how best to integrate English language learners
into instruction.
$300 IN DEBT, MUST HAVE BEEN THAT
$4,000 PLASMA SCREEN TV
Recently, more than 160 Somerset County, N.J. ninth graders
participated in Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs (Gear Up) II, reports Candice Evans in the
Delmarva (N.J.) Daily Times. For Gear Up II, students received a
random education level life situation tied to a monthly income and
then they had to balance real life situations. Shadae Williams
lucked out as she made more money because she was a college
graduate, which gave her benefits when looking at amenities. During
the process, students were asked to weigh the importance of real
estate, cars, all brands of insurance, college degrees and other
such living expenses. At the beginning of the program, many students
caved and purchased several luxury items including a red
convertible. Later, nearly as many were forced to trade it for
something more affordable. The event hopefully instilled some
practical knowledge in students, a value in higher education and an
understanding that the $4,000 plasma TV (with monthly payments)
isn't always the best option.
NEW CAMPAIGN ENGAGES STUDENTS TO LOOK
TO THE FUTURE AND COLLEGE
Jobs increasingly require college-trained employees, yet many
secondary-school students are not aspiring to go to college, much
less apply, reports Tim Johnson in the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press.
These students are typically from low-income families and their
parents haven't attended college. To help inform the more than 17
percent of students who decide before reaching the ninth grade that
they will not go to college, it is important to persuade families to
consider higher education as a viable option. To help foster this
encouragement, Vermont has launched a program called Start Where You
Are, which features an interactive website filled with information.
Students, trying the website for the first time, are asked a series
of questions intended to yield personality profiles associated with
possible careers. In the words of one eighth grader, "you get to
find out what your life will be like, could be like."
PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK’S LEADERSHIP
SYMPOSIUM
The recent Public Education Network Leadership Symposium emphasized
the importance leadership qualities play in education reform, and
how good leadership can help drive a district and community to
transform public education. Leadership, especially in the world of
local education funds (LEFs), is imperative at all levels to drive
the organization and by extension, the local public schools, to
success. The symposium noted how absolutely critical it is that LEF
leaders work to create the vision and mission to solve problems,
build confidence, and provide a strong culture committed to
education and motivate staff.
EXECUTIVE ORDER: DEVELOP QUALITY
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS
Governor Joe Manchin (D -W.Va.) has issued an executive order
charging the Partner Implementing an Early Child Care and Education
System Advisory Council to study early childhood programs in the
hope of developing quality standards and discerning funding
requirements. The council, which was established to develop a vision
for West Virginia’s early childhood care and education system, will
deliver its findings directly to the governor next June. Gov.
Manchin issued the executive order in response to the Policy Matters
Project, a year-long analysis of existing early child development
policies, as the governor believes "that the earlier we start with
quality education for our children, the greater their chance for
success later in life." |
