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New AFT President Challenges 'Broken' NCLB
Randi Weingarten, newly elected president of the American Federation
of Teachers, has called the No Child Left Behind Act "too badly
broken to be fixed," reports The New York Times. Speaking to
delegates at the AFT's national convention, Weingarten said the Bush
administration's focus on standardized testing should be replaced
with a vision of public schools as community centers that offer not
only solid academics, but also medical and other services. "Imagine
schools that are open all day and offer after-school and evening
recreational activities and homework assistance," said Weingarten,
who previously headed the United Federation of Teachers in New York
City. "And suppose the schools included child care and dental,
medical, and counseling clinics?" As president of the
1.4-million-member national union, Weingarten will have a broad
platform from which to influence education debates. Although the AFT
is smaller than the National Education Association, which has 3.2
million members, AFT presidents have had an equal or larger
political profile because presidential tenures in the bigger union
are restricted by term limits.
Mandatory Testing Plan Stalls in Pennsylvania
Strong opposition from Pennsylvania lawmakers and constituents has
stalled a proposal requiring Pennsylvania high school students to
pass a battery of subject-specific final exams before they can
graduate, reports the Associated Press. Instead, the administration
of Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has settled on a compromise that would make
the tests optional for the 2008-09 school year. Under the proposal,
starting with the class of 2014, students would have to pass six
tests covering English, math, science, and social studies in order
to graduate. School districts would provide remedial help to failing
students and offer them opportunities to retake the tests. Districts
could use Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, Advanced
Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, or their own exams,
but only if those were approved by companies that evaluate
educational tests. Supporters of the plan say it would ensure that
all students met the state's academic standards and were ready for
college and careers. Educators, school boards, and lawmakers opposed
to the tests argue that the regulations would undermine local school
boards' policymaking authority and discourage academically
struggling students from staying in school.
Teen Pregnancies Rise in U.S. for First Time in 15 Years
The National Institutes of Health have reported that teen
pregnancies in the United States rose in 2006, for the first time
since 1991, according to CNN. Pregnancy in teens is "one of the key
indicators for the health of the teen population because it not only
reflects their health at this point, but it reflects their health
and well-being for the next 20 to 40 years," said Edward J. Sondik,
director of the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Expectant mothers aged 15 to 19
are less likely to get prenatal care or gain weight appropriately,
and they are also more likely to smoke than pregnant women aged 20
years or older. One advocate of measures to prevent teen
pregnancies, Michele Ozumba, said a cutback in community resources
over the last eight years could help explain the new data. "All
small community-based organizations doing youth programming are
struggling just to keep the doors open," said Ozumba, director of
the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. "There are
no additional resources to respond to the needs that we're seeing
every day."
Big Academic Gains Seen in D.C. School Chief's First Year
Preliminary test data indicate that public school students in the
nation's capital made major gains during the past academic year,
says the Washington Post. Math proficiency for D.C. elementary
school students increased by 11 percentage points, while secondary
school students gained nine points in reading and math. Chancellor
Michelle A. Rhee said the initial results reflected her first year's
initiatives, although she had previously said she did not expect
test scores to rise for several years. Before the D.C. Comprehensive
Assessment System test was administered, the chancellor had schools
conduct three pretests to gauge student progress, and students spent
several hours a week taking practice tests. Teachers analyzed data
and retaught material, and principals were required to devise plans
for teacher preparation. "Principals were paying more attention to
lesson plans on how teachers would cover [topics] on the test," said
Christopher Gray, an elementary school principal. "There definitely
was [more] accountability for principals and teachers." Despite the
reported gains, the percentage of students in traditional D.C.
public schools who reach proficiency is still low -- 46 percent in
reading and 40 percent in math in elementary schools, and 39 percent
in reading and 36 percent in math in secondary schools.
Ed Department Releases Evaluation Guide for Online Learning
The U.S. Department of Education has released its first guide to
evaluating K-12 online-learning programs. The report comes at a time
when online education is growing rapidly, notes Education Week, and
school districts have been turning increasingly to online courses to
fill a range of instructional and support needs. But methods for
evaluating online education have failed to keep up with its swift
growth, varying application, and complexity. The 68-page guide,
"Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success,"
draws lessons from seven recent evaluations of online programs and
instructional resources. It was prepared by WestEd , Inc., based in
San Francisco.
Undocumented College Students Worry About Their Status
In the years following a 1982 Supreme Court decision that entitled
illegal immigrants to K-12 public education, some 50,000 to 70,000
undocumented students have been graduating annually from U.S. high
schools. But their access to higher education is not guaranteed by
the courts or Congress, and many of the students are anxious. Over
the last seven years, according to the Los Angeles Times, California
and nine other states have been encouraging undocumented students to
pursue higher education by such means as offering them in-state
tuition rates and refraining from asking about their legal status on
applications. Some private universities, meanwhile, have been
extending scholarships to illegal immigrants, who generally are not
entitled to receive grants or loans at public institutions.
Attending college and doing well does not, however, alter illegal
status, and undocumented students now face college graduation with
mounting concern. "When you're in school, you have a place in
society, you're a university student," said one undocumented
Hispanic student. "When you graduate, you're just an immigrant
again." Last year's proposed federal Dream Act would have offered a
pathway to citizenship for many college students and members of the
military, but supporters could not secure enough votes to prevent a
filibuster in the Senate.
Wisconsin to Test Inclusive Science and Technology Project
Wisconsin will be one of the first states in a national project to
attract more girls, students of color, and students with
disabilities to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM), reports the Daily Kenoshan. Directors of the
National STEM Equity Pipeline Project say that many American girls
are reluctant to seek STEM careers because of stereotypes that boys
are more suited to those fields, and that disparities in STEM
participation echo general achievement gaps among students of color
and economically disadvantaged students, compared with performance
by their peers. Elizabeth Burmaster, Wisconsin's state
superintendent of public instruction, says "many strategies for
encouraging reluctant students in STEM—techniques like mentoring or
having students work in pairs—in fact serve to better engage all
students, leading to increased achievement across the board." The
national project has been developed by the National Alliance for
Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation, with a grant from the
National Science Foundation.
Texas A.G. Can't Guarantee Constitutionality of Bible Courses
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has announced that his office
cannot guarantee that elective Bible courses taught in Texas high
schools will be considered constitutional, although state standards
for those classes "appear" to be in compliance with the First
Amendment, reports the Dallas Morning News. Without a review of
specific courses taught under a 2007 state law, Abbott said he could
not assess their constitutionality. He said, however, that Texas's
Bible-study law and its curriculum, which were approved by the state
education board, complied with the First Amendment's requirement of
religious neutrality. Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom
Network, said the current standards for the course were so vague and
general that schools might unknowingly create unconstitutional Bible
classes that either promoted the religious views of teachers or
disparaged the religious beliefs of some students. However, Kelly
Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation, maintained
that the attorney general's letter meant that the state education
board could move ahead on the Bible-course curriculum. "This is a
victory for students and academic choice," she said.
Seeking New Directions for New Orleans Schools
A paradoxical effect of 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina has
been an opportunity for public school leaders to consider new models
for New Orleans's low-performing system. Katrina damaged all but
eight schools. In the city's rebuilding, 80 schools -- about half of
them charter schools -- have reopened. In an interview in the
Harvard Business School newsletter HBS Working Knowledge, Stacey
Childress, a lecturer and senior researcher at the school, observes:
"The New Orleans public school district was already in crisis before
Katrina due to financial instability, political infighting, and
allegations of corruption. The district was by far the lowest
performing in the state, and nearly half of its 125 schools failed
to meet their adequate yearly progress goals in 2004 as required by
the federal No Child Left Behind Act."
Ed Tech Summit Grapples with Digital Divide
Closing the digital divide is about more than providing access to
computers and the Internet, according to Paul E. Resta, director of
the University of Texas at Austin's Learning Technology Center. It's
about providing all the opportunities for learning that technology
affords. Resta spoke at the National Educational Computing
Conference in San Antonio, Texas, a summit that highlighted the
latest research on digital inequities in the United States and
abroad, as well as possible solutions, reports eSchool News.
Panelists at the conference agreed that students who lack equitable
access to technology resources are at a disadvantage, both
domestically and globally. Resta listed these "essential conditions"
for digital inclusion: basic literacy skills; access to information
and communications technology devices, software, and connectivity;
access to culturally relevant content in the student's local
language; the ability to create, share, and exchange digital
content; access to educators who know how to use digital tools and
resources in pedagogically sound ways, and access to effective
leadership in policy and planning.
Educational Accountability in California: Whose Job?
Examining a controversy over mandatory algebra for eighth-graders in
California, Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters says it is
emblematic of a larger issue. "Is it wise to set educational
standards that apply to all students," he asks, "even though they
have an astonishing and ever-widening array of innate abilities and
cultural, economic, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds?" Walters
says the conflict echoes a debate over compulsory exit exams for
high school seniors. Advocates maintain that such a requirement can
bring curricula into closer alignment with federal guidelines.
Others, however, contend that the rules would force some students to
drop out because they haven't been adequately prepared for the exit
exams. Still others argue that the tests are meaningless because of
their level of difficulty. Walters says a lack of accountability for
educational outcomes is the controversy's most important dimension.
"Who truly is in charge of educating those six million kids, and
therefore accountable for what happens or doesn't happen in the
classroom?" the columnist asks. The answer is "everyone, and
therefore no one," he writes, adding: "Until we refine and simplify
lines of authority and accountability and move away from democracy
run so amok that it becomes anti-democratic, all will remain
unresolved."
Struggling Economy Imperils High School Sports
School districts across the nation have been forced to rethink how
they finance school sports because of rising gas prices, inflation,
and other economic problems, reports Sports Illustrated. Some
districts have instituted or raised "user fees" for parents to pay
for their children to participate in school sports, and officials
have ordered schools to seek private funding for such activities. In
some communities, such as Mount Vernon, N.Y., the potential loss of
school sports is seen as having broader implications. Clinton Young,
the city's mayor, is worried that if schools can't raise money to
keep sports programs going, he'll have to pump more money into the
police department and youth services. "These kind of programs teach
these kids character," Young said. "They teach them to have
self-respect. And, just very bluntly, if we don't have sports, some
of these kids are not going to school."
Report Offers College Access Model for High School Dropouts
Without some form of postsecondary education, young people who leave
high school without a diploma -- 40 percent or more in some school
districts -- are at great disadvantage in their efforts to become
self-sufficient. In "Building A Better Bridge: Helping Young Adults
Enter and Succeed in College," Peter Kleinbard, executive director
of the Youth Development Institute in New York City, describes a
model for college access and completion for students who have become
marginalized in school or obtained only a General Education Diploma.
The report profiles the New York City Partnership for College Access
and Success, a pilot effort in which 50 youths who left high school
have enrolled in degree programs at New York City College of
Technology, part of the City University of New York.
Houston LEF Trains Adults and Students as 'Critical Friends'
Twelve high school students, 21 aspiring principals, 23 Houston-area
educators, and two staff members from Houston A+ Challenge, a local
education fund, completed a Critical Friends Group New Coach
Training last month. The newly trained adult coaches will use their
skills on their campuses to form groups of peers that meet regularly
to look at students' work, reflect on teaching practices, and plan
for whole-school change. The students who were trained said they
planned to use Critical Friends protocols in their campus leadership
groups at Eisenhower High School (Aldine Independent School
District) and Challenge Early College High School (Houston
Independent School District). "I'm learning how to be a good team
person, leaning techniques on how to warm people up," said Jasmine
Powell, a senior at Eisenhower High School. "Now I'm more
comfortable. I used to be more shy. I didn't think that I could be a
leader. But now I realize that leaders are regular people, too. They
just know how to use what they have."
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