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URBAN BOARDING SCHOOLS, FAMILIES AND
COMMUNITIES KEY TO SUCCESS?
Boarding schools, long an option for the affluent, could become a
public school reality in Chicago, reports Carlos Sandovi and
Stephanie Banchero for the Chicago Tribune. Under the plan, homeless
children and those from troubled homes would be provided with the
safety and stability required for learning to take place. The plan
puts Chicago at the forefront of urban school reform, as cities
continue to struggle to raise the achievement of students hampered
by dysfunctional homes and neighborhoods. Arne Duncan, Chicago
Public Schools chief, has dreamed for years about opening a boarding
school, but only after he hired Josh Edelman did the idea take off.
Edelman served for four years as the principal of The SEED School,
the nation's oldest and most successful urban boarding school, which
has 300 students who hail from low-income and sometimes troubled
backgrounds. Nearly three-fourths of SEED students go on to
four-year colleges. Edelman said his experience at SEED proved to
him that family and community involvement are paramount to making an
urban boarding school successful.
HIGH-RISK FAMILIES LIMIT
PARTICIPATION IN OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
As research mounts, it seems certain that participation in an
out-of-school program is related to better outcomes for children.
Nevertheless, research to date has examined family and neighborhood
risks as if they operate separately. So, Child Trends conducted a
study that combines the two by analyzing data for children ages 6 to
17 from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. The study
finds that the vast majority of children in low-risk families are
involved in at least one activity with only 9 percent of children in
low-risk neighborhoods not involved, compared with 10 percent in
medium-risk and 18 percent in high-risk neighborhoods. By contrast,
neighborhood quality does not seem to matter to children from
high-risk families: nearly half are not involved in any activity
regardless of neighborhood risk level. These findings suggest that
active recruitment of children in high-risk families may be
necessary if these children are to become involved in out-of-school
activities.
FIRST YEAR TEACHERS ABOVE ALL MUST
KNOW TO AVOID 2ND FLOOR BATHROOM
On her first day as a high school English teacher in a large urban
public school, a new teacher expected to be greeted by the principal
or chairperson, guided to her classrooms and provided with what she
considered to be the essentials (schedule, curriculum, rosters and
keys), writes an anonymous second-year teacher for American
Educator. Instead, she was provided with only a piece of paper with
two numerical codes and a warning not to use the women's bathroom on
the second floor. After frantic inquiries, she learned that the
codes signified that she would be teaching 9th and 10th grade
English. She then asked a question that, two years later, has yet to
be answered: "what is taught in 9th and 10th grade English?" In
response, all she received was a list containing more than 20 books
per grade and was told to select six books from the appropriate list
and teach one book every six weeks. As her colleagues scrambled to
inspect their classrooms, one experienced teacher kindly informed
the neophyte that they wouldn't receive books for the first month,
so she should try to do poetry. This led to the inevitable and also
unanswered question: "what does 'do' poetry mean?" Before she had a
chance to find out, her students arrived eager to know what was
expected. So she reproduced the same vague responses that she was
given. She felt sorry for her students that day and each day after
because this was not the education they were intended to receive.
When she hears the commonly cited statistic, that roughly 40 to 50
percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years, she
wonders how many of those departures could be avoided if teachers
were provided with clear and achievable expectations.
MINORITIES SOON WILL ACCOUNT FOR ALL
H.S. GRADUATE NUMBER GROWTH
The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has
released their annual report, "Knocking at the College Door," which
forecasts numbers of American high school graduates. WICHE finds
that the current rapid expansion in the number of high school
graduates will reach a peak in 2007-08, when total graduates will
exceed 3.34 million. After 2007-08, overall production of high
school graduates will become much more stable and will slow
moderately between 2008-09 and 2014-15. In terms of total production
of graduates, states were categorized in six groups, including
dwindling production (eight states), slowing production (10 states),
stable production (17 states), manageable production (five states
plus D.C.), rapid expansion (four states) and explosive growth (six
states). The categories highlight how drastically different the
futures of individual states look and show that the bulk of growth
is concentrated in the south and west, especially in states with
lower latitudes. WICHE also projects that the nation's public high
schools will produce almost 207,000 more Latino graduates (an
increase of 54 percent); about 12,000 more African American
graduates (an increase of 3 percent); and nearly 197,000 fewer white
non-Latino graduates (a decline of 11 percent). This means
minorities will eventually account for all growth in high school
graduates.
"NOT ON THE TEST" SATIRIZES CURRENT AMERICAN CURRICULUM TRENDS
Tom Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning musician perhaps best known for
children's music, has released a new song titled "Not on the Test."
The song satirizes the American education system's renewed focus on
rote teaching, in which tests have become the sole reason to teach
and learn. Music, art, drama and sports were what kept Chapin
engaged in school. In addition, these subjects make the teacher's
(and the student's) job easier and infinitely more rewarding.
Unfortunately, they are also what have been cut from curriculums
across the country as Chapin explains lightheartedly in song.
A HIGH SCHOOL'S CULTURE AND FILING A
FAFSA KEY TO GOING TO COLLEGE
It seems which high school one goes to matters greatly, as a
school's culture affects college attendance rates, according to a
new report from the Consortium on Chicago School Research. The
research indicates that of the 83 percent of Chicago high school
seniors who said they wanted to earn a bachelor's degree or higher,
only 59 percent actually applied to college. Further, just 41
percent of all Chicago high school students who said they wanted to
attend a four-year institution enrolled the fall after graduation.
The numbers are far worse for Latino students, as only 30 percent
step foot on a college campus the semester after graduation. Another
stumbling block on the path to college, besides not attending a
school with a strong college-going culture, is the failure to
complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly
known as FAFSA. The study notes that not filing a FAFSA presents a
major obstacle to college enrollment.
STUDENTS INCREASINGLY TAKE OUT
STAFFORD LOANS
The Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis report finds that,
since 1995-96, the borrowing rate for subsidized Stafford loans
increased among low-income dependent undergraduates and among
independent students at all income levels. In addition, the rate of
borrowing of any Stafford loan increased among all but those in the
lowest income category. While the average amount of subsidized loans
has leveled off over time, unsubsidized loans have continued to grow
both in the amount of the average loan as well as in the percentage
of borrowers. Unlike subsidized loans, interest on an unsubsidized
loan accrues and is usually added to the principal of the loan while
the student is still in school. The study notes that between 1995-96
and 2003-04, an increasing proportion of both dependent and
independent student borrowers at all income levels took out
unsubsidized loans either alone or in addition to their subsidized
loans. In 2003-04, 73 percent of all dependent student borrowers
took out the annual maximum amount allowed in subsidized and
unsubsidized Stafford loans combined. This was an increase from 57
percent in 1995-96.
PARENTS WILLING TO BREAK THE LAW TO
GET KIDS IN GOOD SCHOOLS
As in the United States (most recently in Chicago), local councils
in England say increasing numbers of parents have been caught trying
to cheat to place their children in popular schools, reports the
BBC. Out of a survey of 31 councils, 24 said they had seen an
increase in cheating. In fact, the numbers of cases detected in
2007-08 were nine times higher than those of two years ago, and
nearly three times higher than last year. The Local Government
Association says common examples of cheating are parents giving the
address of a relative within the catchment area of a good school or
renting a home in the area but then renting it to someone else.
Still, the council admits it is unclear whether the numbers of
people attempting to cheat the system are rising or that local
councils are getting better at spotting bogus applications.
CALLING SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
"D****BAGS" NEVER A GOOD IDEA
When Avery Doninger, 17, called her school's administrators a mean
name on her blog, she didn't intend to start a free speech debate,
reports Stephanie Dahle for ABC News. In the blog post, Doninger
called the administrators "d****bags" and asked other students to
e-mail the school superintendent to complain. After her principal
learned of the crude post, Doninger was barred from serving on the
student council and from speaking at her upcoming graduation. The
punishment turned Doninger's post into the subject of a First
Amendment lawsuit that questions a school's ability to monitor and
punish what students say online. "It's really important that
students' speech rights are clarified and that schools can't reach
into your home and discipline your actions outside of school," a
more eloquent Doninger said. While students have First Amendment
rights, that doesn't necessarily give them free reign to say
whatever they want. In fact, courts have long allowed schools to
restrict student speech under certain circumstances, like when
speech causes substantial disruptions to the school day. However,
when the speech takes place on the Internet, it makes the case far
more complicated. For school districts to realistically punish
students for online activity, the speech likely has to be under the
school's jurisdiction. And deciding what speech is under school
control is hazy at best because students often create and add
content to web pages at home. The question of where the insidious
speech took place is central to Doninger's case, which is still
pending.
RESPECT STUDENTS, AS YOUR REWARD IS
DISCIPLINE AND ATTENTION
When Elizabeth Legault began as principal at Calcutt Middle School
in Central Falls, R.I., she entered a school that averaged about
1,000 suspensions a year, yet had a student body of only 800-plus.
What made matters worse is that most suspended students simply got
on their bikes and came right back, writes Julie Steiny for the
Providence Journal. When they got back to school, the kids would
ride up and down the sidewalks and make a racket, forcing their
friends to admire their freedom. Like many schools, Calcutt's
disciplinary philosophy relied on the assumption that adults can
punish children into compliance. However, punishment does not
improve behavior because it fails to cultivate cooperation or
respect. Legault believes that "if you give respect, you get
respect." So to win her teachers' trust and limit punishment as the
be all, end all of discipline, Legault began relieving teachers of
discipline issues altogether. Currently, non-teaching staff remove
disruptive kids immediately upon the request of a teacher, allowing
teaching and learning to continue. Calcutt has now become a pleasant
and productive place, with kids no longer fighting in the hallways
while waiting to be suspended.
SPELLINGS MARCHES TO HER OWN NCLB
RE-AUTHORIZATION BEAT
Regardless of how re-authorization is moving, the Bush
administration is trying to address one of the most common
complaints about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. U.S. Secretary
of Education Margaret Spellings announced March 18 that states may
submit proposals for assigning different consequences to schools
based on the degree to which they miss adequate yearly progress (AYP),
reports Nancy Zuckerbrod for the Associated Press. Under NCLB,
schools are judged in terms of AYP not just on average student
scores but also on how certain subgroups perform. Educators have
long complained that the consequences for failing to hit AYP should
not be the same for schools in which one subgroup misses the mark as
it is for schools in which many subgroups miss the mark. This new
initiative will allow states to distinguish between "on-fire schools
and those with a smolder," said Spellings. However, only a handful
of states (10) will be able to participate at first and only
carefully thought-out plans would get a green light. Senator Ted
Kennedy (D-Mass.) responded "I commend Secretary Spellings for
giving schools greater flexibility, but experience shows it won't
get us very far as long as the Bush Administration continues to
shortchange its budget for school reform" (link below).
Also:
http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=7fdf423a-8be5-48c0-aad7-3...
A DAY IN SALMON SCHOOL
Brittany Duncan, eight years old, enjoyed unearthing macro
invertebrates, which provide a tasty snack for salmon in shallow
water, as part of a national parks education program, reports
Winston Ross for the Eugene (Ore.) Register Guard. To better
understand the ecosystem that supports the sensitive fish, a United
States Forest Service biologist helped Brittany scoop the bugs and
transfer them into a plastic magnifying contraption. The program
allows youngsters to perform their own research and ecosystem
restoration, which includes water quality monitoring, conducting
stream flow measurements, making biological assessments and rearing
and releasing Coho salmon. Brittany found the whole time, even
playing with the bugs, fascinating.
COACH, DON'T
MENTOR, NEW TEACHERS
Baseball season is upon us and spring training camps are crawling
with coaches, writes Harry and Rosemary Wong for Teachers.net
Gazette. Within this setting, managers do not give each player a
mentor to go to if he needs advice on fielding a grounder, after
which he goes off to "reflect" on the proper strategy. Rather, each
positional coach has a responsibility to bring out the best in every
player under their charge. In turn, the coaches meet with the
manager on a regular basis to assess progress. Baseball, like a
school, is a team function -- everyone needs to understand the
culture of the team and how it operates. Many educators use this
same concept and have long since moved away from giving new teachers
mentors. The coaches meet with the principal on a regular basis to
assess the progress of every teacher and student. It seems to be
working, as across the country the use of literacy/academic coaches
have helped make significant test score gains.
HOW GOOD ARE STUDIES THAT FOCUS ON
TEST ACCOMMODATIONS?
A new report has been released by the National Center on Educational
Outcomes that summarizes test accommodations research that indicated
that the most commonly studied accommodations were extended time,
oral accommodations (e.g., reading aloud) and computerized
administration. The report also notes that most oral presentation
and timing accommodations empirically tested had a positive effect
on scores. A more shocking report finding indicates that testing
accommodations recorded on a student's individualized educational
plan did not always match those provided. The report did uncover
some promising trends, including the span of ages included in the
accommodations studies (from elementary to adult education) and a
focus on testing contexts. Still there were areas that could be
strengthened in future research such as increasing the racial/ethnic
diversity of participants and the construction of true scientific
experiments looking at the effects of accommodations on scores for
students with and without disabilities.
MARCH/SCHOOL MADNESS: CREATE
DIVISIONS OF SIMILAR SCHOOLS
Teachers often complain that it is not fair to compare their school
to others because of differences in demographics, writes Alexander
Russo for This Week in Education. Still, many schools exceed ("Cinderellas")
or fail to meet those demographic expectations on a regular basis.
So, what about creating NCAA-like divisions (I, II, III) based on
student poverty within public school systems? This could help some
get past the poverty-achievement fixation and help others see that
performance varies even among schools with similar demographics.
Under this format, schools in a district or state could be easily
compared to others, but unlike the NCAA divisions, schools would not
be limited to certain achievement levels. This seems to be a quasi
combination of the NCAA structure and English Premier League (which
allows teams to change divisions based on past performance). The
post provides a lighter way to think of the U.S. Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings' latest NCLB tweak.
TAKE SOME TIME TO TELL US WHAT YOU
REALLY THINK
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"American
Stars of Teaching"
The U.S. Department of Education will continue to honor exemplary
classroom teachers who are successful in using innovative teaching
strategies and raising student academic achievement as the American
Stars of Teaching. One teacher from each state and the District of
Columbia will be selected as representatives of the many teachers
who are making a difference in the lives of students. Officials from
the U.S. Department of Education will announce the 2008 American
Stars by visiting the recipients in the fall of 2008. Maximum Award:
recognition. Eligibility: teachers in the U.S. Deadline: March 31,
2008.
"Grants
for Environmental Projects"
The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects
that encourage innovative programs that empower children and youth
around the world to work individually and collectively to solve
environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities.
Maximum Award: $2,500. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline:
March 31, 2008.
"Name
this Website Contest"
New York City's Administration for Children's Services, in
partnership with New Yorkers for Children and Youth Communication,
has launched its first ever website for young people in foster care.
They have created a temporary web address and are looking for help
to get an official name for the site. The web address must include
NYC in the name and the winning name should be short, simple, easy
to remember and easy to spell. Maximum Award: A $200 Barnes & Noble
gift card. Eligibility: youth ages 12-24 who are or have ever been
in the New York City foster care system. Deadline: April 15, 2008.
"ING
Unsung Heroes"
The ING Unsung Heroes awards program recognizes innovative and
progressive thinking in education through monetary awards. Maximum
Award: $25,000. Eligibility: full-time educators, teachers,
principals, paraprofessionals, classified staff members with
effective projects that improve student learning at an accredited
K-12 public or private school. Deadline: April 30, 2008.
"Wireless
Lab Sweepstakes"
Discovery Education and CDW-G will award wireless labs to five
schools. Maximum Award: wireless lab valued at more than $50,000.
Eligibility: legal residents of the United States who are 18 years
and older and who are employed at accredited public, private or
parochial school in the United States containing any class with
students from kindergarten through Grade 12. Deadline: May 1, 2008.
"Award
for Breakthrough Middle and Secondary Schools"
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and
the MetLife Foundation are calling for entries in the search for the
nation's top "Breakthrough Schools." Applicants should be high
achieving middle or high schools, or schools that are making
dramatic improvements in student achievement, whose best practices
and outstanding results can inform other schools as they further
their own improvement efforts. Honorees will be chosen based upon
documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three
core areas of NASSP's Breaking Ranks II publication. Those three
areas are collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum,
instruction and assessment. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility:
high-achieving middle and high schools where 40 percent or more of
students are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals. Deadline:
May 15, 2008. |
