Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast

PEN Weekly NewsBlast for March 14, 2008

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STUDY QUESTIONS WHETHER SMALL CLASSES CLOSE ACHIEVEMENT GAPS
For 20 years, a large study of class size in Tennessee, known as Project STAR, has raised hopes that reducing class size in inner-city classrooms to 17 or fewer would yield significant increases in achievement, reports Jay Mathews for the Washington Post. However, Spyros Konstantopoulos, a Northwestern University researcher, has concluded that high achievers benefited more from the smaller classes than low achievers. By looking closely at the same data as Project STAR on thousands of students from kindergarten through third grade in 79 schools, Konstantopoulos found that decreasing class size might drive some achievement (on average) yet it does not appear to reduce achievement gaps within classes.

EVERY SCHOOL DAY THERE IS SMALL JOY
For good reason, practically no profession complains about their jobs as much as teachers, writes Will Okun for the New York Times. Still, ask dedicated and passionate educators about their favorite aspect of teaching, and the answer is always the same: the students. Quite simply: every school day there is small joy. Okun’s post includes a mirage of pictures of smiling, happy students. Tip of the hat to This Week in Education (link below) for finding this short yet profound post.

Also: http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/

THE $10,000 QUESTION: IS MY TEACHER WORSE THAN YOUR TEACHER?
Ladies and gentlemen, here is your latest reality show, only this one takes place in the physical -- not virtual -- world. The Center for Union Facts, a Washington-based anti-union group, has asked parents, students and teachers to nominate the "worst unionized teacher in America," reports Greg Toppo for USA Today. The Center says it will choose 10 and offer each $10,000 to quit. The catch (other than being labeled a failure): "winners" will have to allow the center to write about them on its website. Still, the center will not publish details about teachers who don't consent to contest terms. Some critics within education have long argued that collective-bargaining agreements in many school districts make it difficult, if not impossible, to fire poorly performing or even misbehaving teachers. This would seem to make getting bad teachers to voluntarily quit by introducing severance packages the next best thing in the center’s eyes. Still a study released last month (link below) did find that while one-third of school districts have contracts that tie the hands of administrators, most agreements give them a fair measure of flexibility in firing poor teachers.

Also: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast/February08/February15.htm

TEACHERS: "HOMEWORK, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE"
A new chorus has begun questioning the assignment of homework in the United Kingdom, reports the BCC. Some teachers want homework to be abolished for primary school children, as the difficulty of completing homework may set up a cycle of school resistance in children, especially those from poorer homes who often don't receive the same level of support as others. The guidelines for schools in England state that children should be doing homework from the day they start school, rising from one hour a week at five to 90 to 150 minutes a day at 16. Recent research (both in the United States and England) has cast some doubts on homework’s effectiveness, and has even gone so far as to suggest that it is counterproductive. Maybe, all along, Pink Floyd should have sung "hey homework leave us kids alone."

ALL YOU (DID NOT) WANT TO KNOW ABOUT TEEN CONTRACEPTION USE
A new fact sheet from Child Trends examines the contraceptive use patterns across teens’ sexual relationships. The research finds that teens reported they or their partners always used contraceptives in 59 percent of their relationships, yet on the flip side did not use any in 24 percent of relationships. In addition, those who chose to use hormonal methods of contraception (e.g. birth control pills) had a higher level of contraceptive consistency. Female teens that used a hormonal method in previous relationships were 74 percent more likely to always use contraceptives in subsequent relationships than were female teens who used other contraceptive methods or no methods. The study also notes that if teens become involved in a large number of relationships, they are more likely to report never using contraceptives. This suggests that teens who were involved in only one relationship were more likely to have always used contraceptives. For those teens involved in two or more sexual relationships, more than one-half reported that how consistently they used contraceptives varied across these relationships. So for one relationship they would always use a contraceptive, yet with another partner they might use a contraceptive sometimes or not at all. The study finds that it pays to practice safe sex early: teens with experience using contraceptives consistently in an earlier relationship were better able to maintain a pattern of using contraception consistently in future relationships. Alternatively, teens with a history of inconsistent contraceptive use were more likely to continue this pattern. It seems that waiting to have sex increases the chance of using a contraceptive, as teens who were older when they first had sex with their partners were more likely to use a contraceptive at least once. However, these teens were actually less likely to use a contraceptive every time that they had sex.

TODDLERS LEARN LITERACY FROM ROCK ‘N’ ROLL GREATS
Children’s voices filled the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s main floor, where cars from U2’s Zoo TV tour and Phish’s giant hot dog dangle overhead. The 3-, 4- and 5- year-olds were there to take part in the Toddler Rock program. While the museum devotes a lot of attention to honoring legendary artists, the Toddler Rock program helps fulfill an education necessity, reports Joe Milicia for the Associated Press. The program provides inner city children with lessons in music and literacy in an environment that they otherwise wouldn't experience. Letter recognition, rhyming and alliteration are crucial to developing reading skills and thusly comprise important parts of the program. Many of the participants live in housing projects and share stories with instructors about the violence they have seen. The hope is to give children a reference for something better as they have already witnessed more than anyone should.

STATES, POLICY GROUPS WANT MORE INTERNATIONAL AND HIGH SCHOOL TESTS
For the first time, a select group of states is expected to take part in a 12th grade version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), reports Sean Cavanagh for Education Week. This potentially lays the foundation for even greater state participation at that grade level on the heavily scrutinized test. A separate NAEP, the long-term trend, is given to 17-year-old students, as well as children ages 9 and 13. But policymakers, especially those in the volunteer states, have told federal officials they need more detailed, state-specific information about high school students’ performance than the national trends provide. This marks another burgeoning coalition of states that are ramping up standards and accountability. In the past few years, Achieve has led a group of now 18 states that have adopted rigorous high school course requirements. Achieve, along with the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), is also pushing states toward international benchmarking as a way to better prepare students for the 21st century, reports Michelle McNeil also for Education Week (link below). It remains to be decided whether states would participate in the already established international tests or would measure their own academic standards against those of other countries. Still, education policy staff for the NGA want to put the issue before the governors this summer, while CCSSO is exploring whether states want to take part in the next round of international tests. Meanwhile, Achieve is studying standards in other countries to see how they stack up with American standards. As with any major movement, a push toward international benchmarks faces political pitfalls, as many educators and parents object to what they already perceive as an overemphasis on assessments and rankings (even agreeing on a test could be difficult). It is also possible that any comparisons based on international tests would be more reflective of a state’s poverty level than education quality.

Also: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/12/27nga_ep.h27.html

HELPING STRESSED-OUT TEENS COPE WITH ALL SORTS OF PRESSURE
As Andre Zayas lay on the gym floor, the 14-year-old from Dorchester, Mass., struggled to clear his mind of his many burdens. He ached for a friend who was recently shot to death and worried about finding a job to help his single mother pay the bills. Next to him, Chanel Peguero closed her eyes and imagined graduating high school in four years with a scholarship, the only way she would be able to afford college. The teenagers, among two dozen other freshman, breathed deeply as a stress-reduction trainer instructed them on how to relax, reports Tracy Jan for the Boston Globe. In addition to deep breathing and goal visualization, students learned muscle-relaxation techniques and how to focus before a test. While high schools have always been pressure cookers, students say stress is fueled by increased competition to gain admittance into selective colleges and demanding parental expectations. At the same time, others face more life-and-death anxieties as violence penetrates their neighborhoods. A study conducted in the late 1990s of students in a South Central Los Angeles middle school showed that relaxation training boosted grade point averages and test scores and improved attendance. Jenny Huezo-Rosales, 16, said she regularly uses the techniques to help her decompress. She has trouble focusing on school work at home because she shares a room with six siblings. Now, her siblings know to leave her alone when she turns out the lights, lies on her bed and shuts her eyes for 10 minutes.

IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL
Current school improvement practices present an inadequate response to the complex factors that interfere with positive development, learning and teaching, argues a new paper from the University of California at Los Angeles Center for Mental Health in Schools. A major problem is that recent policies perpetuate narrow-focused, categorical approaches. These methods must be revised to promote an orientation that overemphasizes individually prescribed services. It follows that school improvement policies should be expanded to support development of the type of comprehensive, multifaceted and cohesive approaches that effectively address all barriers to teaching and learning. This includes a fundamental, systemic transformation in the ways schools, families and communities address individual barriers. In addition, the paper provides frameworks to guide school improvement efforts in transforming student/learning supports at both the school and district level.

LEARNING COMMUNITIES HELP STUDENTS SHRUG OFF REMEDIATION
Currently one of the most significant challenges facing education is how to meet the needs of students who lack basic reading, writing and math skills. This problem is ever present in the need for remediation, as 29 percent of incoming college freshman enroll in at least one development/remedial class. To help these students, schools have turned to "learning communities," wherein students take remedial classes linked with other college-level courses. A new study from MDRC of a one-semester learning community for freshman offers the first experimental evidence that learning communities help students make a successful transition to college and move more quickly through developmental English requirements. In fact, the program increased by 13 percent the proportion of students who passed reading and writing assessment tests. Students in the program also attempted and passed more courses and earned more credits their first semester than students in the control group. The program places freshman in groups of up to 25 that take three classes together during their first semester. Also included is enhanced counseling and tutoring along with a textbook voucher. Just one year after entering the program, students in the learning communities report that they feel more engaged with their coursework, instructors and fellow students.

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION IS GREAT, BUT DON'T FORGET CAREERS
There is great concern with ensuring high school graduates are college ready, but it appears the second part of the equation, being career ready, has fallen by the wayside. Educators, policymakers and the public have been too willing to define "success" as a four-year college degree and tend to concentrate most resources toward that single goal, according to a new report from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). At the same time, many Americans have in their minds a particular kind of learner who fits a traditional academic picture. This disconnect between post-secondary schooling and careers begins with high schools as they direct most of their guidance and counseling services toward students pursuing further study. Consequently students going to community colleges, technical schools, apprenticeship programs or directly to work are often overlooked. The SREB report recommends that high schools, school districts and states offer career guidance and information about technical postsecondary programs to students who are ready to enter the workforce, rather than simply allowing students to drop out and settle for low-paying jobs. This would require schools to either provide technical training or direct students to programs that allow them to become certified for skilled, higher-paying and high-demand jobs.

RAY CHARLES, STEVIE WONDER, ANAIS MARTINEZ
When its time for recess, most elementary school kids are eager to run outside and play, reports the Associated Press. Not Anais Martinez, a fourth-grader, who prefers to head to a school piano and jam. Because of a disorder, her eyes never fully formed, but the fact that she cannot "read" music has never held her back. Swaying back and forth in rhythm, she plays by ear everything from Christmas carols to Bach. Unfortunately, Anais’ talent has quickly outgrown the small xylophone and undersized piano at school and the electric keyboard at home is in sad condition. So, the local Lions Club is going to change all that by buying her a piano. In addition, on March 25, Anais will give her first performance away from school at the local Lions Club.

GIVE PARENTS OPTIONS AND THEY'LL LEARN MORE ABOUT SCHOOLS
Political theorists have long argued that the average citizen’s lack of clear policy preferences and understanding provide the rationale for public policy to be guided by experts and elites. Others counter that it is precisely the practice of deference to elites that perpetuates and even exacerbates the problem of apathetic and uninformed citizens. In a new paper for the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Brian Kisida and Patrick Wolf turn to the environment of school choice programs to provide insight into this important debate. School choice theories suggest that parents need to and can make informed decisions that will tend to situate their children in appropriate and desirable schools. It also makes sense that choice parents should have more reasons to gather more information about their schools than parents without options. Alternatively, a lack of any increase in information levels amongst school choosers would suggest that despite increased incentives to gather information, having choices per se is not sufficient in overcoming the costs of information gathering. The results of the study make a strong case for the notion that school choice leads to higher levels of accurate parental information about schools. In fact being in the school choice treatment group had a negative and statistically significant relationship to the dependant variable which measured how far off parents’ estimates were from school-supplied data. Specifically, this means that parents in the treatment group provided responses that more closely matched school reported data about class size than did the control group. In addition, the benefit of improving the accuracy of parental knowledge of schools appeared to increase slightly over time. Still, the small increase in the treatment impact is not statistically significant, which suggests that the positive impact of school choice on parental information about schools over time is not confirmed conclusively by the collected data.

HOW MUCH FREEDOM IS TOO MUCH FREEDOM?
The best school leaders are often visionaries. However, sometimes they become frustrated when they lack the authority to carry out their visions. This caused the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning to ask the question in "Changing Schools:" how much autonomy should superintendents grant principals? The article reports that effective superintendents provide principals with "defined autonomy;" that is, superintendents in high-performing districts set clear, non-negotiable goals for learning and instruction while providing school leaders with the responsibility and authority for determining how to meet those goals. The article also includes guidance on how district leaders strike a balance between micro-managing and stifling school innovation on one hand with granting too much latitude and allowing uneven school performance on the other.

WHAT CAN KIDS DO? CREATE A HINDI-ENGLISH DICTIONARY FOR STARTERS
Capturing a "day in the life" of a person, group or place has become a popular form of photojournalism. Through images and simple text, the photographer shows the details of daily life. In two audio slideshows compiled for What Kids Can Do (WKCD), students at the Government High School-Cotton Pet in Bangalore, India and at Lilian Baylis Technology High School in London, England photographed the people and places within walking distance or a bus ride from their school. The students organized their photo essays into chapters, with each presenting a very different -- albeit parallel -- view of the world around them. In addition, WKCD’s work with students in Bangalore, New Delhi, and Noida, India led to the creation of a one-of-a-kind multimedia Hindi-English dictionary.

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"Questbridge College Prep Program for High School Juniors"
Questbridge, a non-profit organization dedicated to giving high-achieving low-income students resources during the college application process, is accepting applications for its College Prep Program for High School Juniors. Maximum Award: full scholarship to summer program, coverage of expenses for college travel visits, SAT prep course and material, and a new laptop computer. Eligibility: Qualified low-income High School Juniors. Deadline: March 31, 2008.

"IREX U.S. Embassy Policy Specialist Program"
The IREX U.S. Embassy Policy Specialist Program will allow fellows to travel to Eurasia and serve the embassy as policy specialists on a chosen topic and also pursue their own research project independently. Fellows will serve the embassy and conduct their own research for up to eight weeks. Fellowship length and dates will be decided upon consultation with the specific embassy. Examples of embassy service can include conducting field research, writing policy papers, consulting embassy staff, and assisting with grant panels. Maximum Award: Eight week fellowship. Eligibility: Fellowships are available to successful applicants who demonstrate how their experience, skills, and knowledge will benefit US embassy personnel, as well as the academic merit and feasibility of their proposed research. Deadline: April 4, 2008.

"ESA Grants for Youth Programs"
The ESA Foundation is dedicated to supporting geographically diverse projects and programs that benefit American youth of all races and denominations and make a difference in the quality of their life, health and welfare. The Foundation seeks to harness the collective power of the interactive entertainment industry to create positive social impact in our communities, and supports. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility: 501(c)(3) organizations with programs that serve youths ages 7-18. Deadline: April 15, 2008.

"Green Works! Service Learning Projects"
Project Learning Tree GreenWorks! offers grants to implement community action and service-learning projects. GreenWorks! projects should address an environmental issue and involve students from pre-school to high school in hands-on community action. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: applicant must have received training in PLT; youth must implement the project; project must integrate student learning and community service; project must include at least one community partner, such as a local organization or business; project must acquire 50% matching funds. Deadline: April 30, 2008.

"College Bound Scholarship"
Coca-Cola Food Services and Chuck E. Cheese’s are offering a College Bound Scholarship. Maximum Award: $25,000 college scholarship to an accredited U.S. college or university. Eligibility: legal residents of the U.S. and Canada who are 18 years or older at the time of entry. Deadline: May 1, 2008.

"Challenge 20/20 Partnership"
The National Association of Independent Schools has created Challenge 20/20, a program that brings together two schools: one from the United States and one from outside the country. Teacher-student teams from both schools work together throughout the fall 2008 school semester to come up with a solution to a global problem. Challenge 20/20 is based on Jean Francois Rischard's book, High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them. Maximum Award: n/a. Eligibility: All U.S. schools, elementary and secondary, public or private. Deadline: August 15, 2008.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"Education -- lifelong education for everyone -- from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers -- is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole."
 - Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve Chairman)
http://www.bis.org/review/r070928a.pdf

"It is a truism that education is no longer a luxury. Education in this day and age is a necessity...And in my judgment, this Nation can never make a wiser or a more profitable investment anywhere."
 - Lyndon B. Johnson (president, United States, 1963 - 1969)
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/lbjforkids/edu_whca370-text.shtm

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