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The genteel unteaching of America's poor
Not all schooling is equal. In too many schools, too many students
suffer an education of drill and memorization but are deprived of
high-level thinking activities, of intellectual discussions, of
opportunities to synthesize information and respond creatively --
elements that form the basis of education for other students in
other schools. Too many poor kids encounter expectations that deem
them worthy of discipline and "the basics" rather than nurturing
high-level thinking. According to Kylene Beers, president of the
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), it is critically
important that all students experience a rich, intellectually
rigorous curriculum filled with all sorts of writing. "While
writing, more than any other intellectual endeavor, sharpens our
thinking, in too many schools, especially schools overwhelmed by
poverty, writing is not about thinking but about copying; not about
creating but about editing; not about persuading or telling or
sharing or clarifying but about completing fill-in-the-blank
activities or circling verbs in blue and nouns in red or counting
the number of sentences in a paragraph to make sure the prerequisite
three (or four or five) are there." According to a new report from
NCTE, unless we can reduce the number of schools that turn to
scripted programs and highly structured class routines -- sometimes
almost militaristic environments -- we will continue to be left with
an education of America's poor that cannot be seen as anything more
than a segregation by intellectual rigor, something every bit as
shameful and harmful as segregation by color.
Public school kids outpace private school peers in math, study finds
A new study by the University of Illinois has found that
public-school students outperform their private-school classmates on
the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam, thanks to
certified math teachers and a modern, reform-oriented math
curriculum, Science Daily reports. To account for the difference in
test scores, Sarah Lubienski and her co-authors looked at five
critical factors: school size, class size, parental involvement,
teacher certification, and instructional practices. "There are so
many reasons why you would think that the results should be reversed
-- that private schools would outscore public schools in
standardized math test scores," she said. "This study looks at the
underlying reasons why that's not necessarily the case." Of the five
factors, school size and parental involvement were "mixed or
marginally significant predictors" of student achievement, while
smaller class sizes, which are more prevalent in private schools
than in public schools, significantly correlate with achievement.
Despite this, many private schools aren't accountable to an external
body when designing curricula, and thus may not be keeping up with
trends. "There's been this assumption that private schools are more
effective because they're autonomous and don't have all the
bureaucracy that public schools have," Lubienski said. "But one
thing this study suggests is that autonomy isn't necessarily a good
thing for schools."
See the report:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226093423.htm
Navigating the educational panopticon
According to Herbert Kohl, "People who insult and denigrate teachers
by forcing a scripted curriculum on them are perfectly aware that
they are forcing teachers to act against their conscience and
students to close down their minds. What must be raised and answered
for is the moral cost of creating joyless schools that resemble
panopticons." British philosopher and legal theorist Jeremy Bentham
coined the term "panopticon" to refer to a prison he designed during
the 1780s. Essentially it consisted of prisoners' cells built in a
circle around a surveillance core in the middle. The idea was to
provide complete monitoring of prisoners at all times by guards
within the core. When Kohl talks about an educational panopticon, he
means a system in which teachers and students are under constant
scrutiny, allowed no choice over what is learned or taught,
evaluated continuously, and punished for what is considered
inadequate performance. In this context students and teachers are
forced to live in a constant state of anxiety, self-doubt, wariness,
anomie, and even suppressed rage.
Secretary Duncan speaks out on school vouchers
In an apparent reversal of his position on school vouchers,
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told The Associated Press that
poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the
District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there. In a
clarification, however, Duncan said, "I don't think vouchers
ultimately are the answer. We need to be more ambitious. The goal
shouldn't be to save a handful of children. The goal should be to
dramatically change the opportunity structure for entire
neighborhoods of kids." The voucher issue has been contentious, with
Congressional Democrats hoping to kill the program by drafting a
bill that dictates Congress and the city council would have to
approve more money for it, an unlikely scenario. A closer
examination of what Duncan said shows that while he opposes vouchers
overall, his attitude in D.C.'s particular case is driven by
practicality: "I don't think it makes sense to take kids out of a
school where they're happy and safe and satisfied and learning,"
Duncan said. "I think those kids need to stay in their school."
While many urban superintendents oppose vouchers, D.C. Schools
Chancellor Michelle Rhee is similarly open to the program. The
five-year pilot gives scholarships to about 1,700 poor kids in the
District to attend private schools, and is set to end this year. A
vote on the new bill is imminent.
Related:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJue5hj8R1JXT2QPTMcrmRPjpZkQD96NJJV80
Urban districts are closing the gap
Part of a new report from the Brown Center on Education Policy at
the Brookings Institution has compared large urban schools to rural
and suburban counterparts in the same state and found encouraging
improvement. "City districts still lag behind," conceded the study's
author, Tom Loveless, "but we were glad to find that twenty-nine of
the thirty-seven big city school districts closed the gap between
their test scores and state averages." For eight districts, however,
the gap did not close, and in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, for instance, test scores are two
standard deviations below state averages. "The 2008 Brown Center
Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students
Learning?" doesn't pin improvements to a particular policy or
practice, but points to a range of explanations that include the
rise of accountability systems such as No Child Left Behind; urban
school reform strategies such as school choice, standards, and lower
class size; and the growth of mayoral control over city schools. The
report recommends collecting better data on what urban schools are
doing, and suggests an annual national inventory of local policies
and practices to allow the nation "to learn from recent successes
and to sustain gains into the future."
See the report at:
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0225_education_loveless/0225_education_loveless_release.pdf
Organized sports give at-risk youth critical support
A monograph from Team-Up for Youth, which works to expand
after-school sports programs for young people in low-income
communities, finds that students who participate in organized sports
get better grades, are more likely to finish their homework, are
less likely to drop out of school, and more likely to attend
college. "Learning to Play and Playing to Learn: Organized Sports
and Educational Outcomes" surveys more than 60 studies and articles
on various aspects of children's participation in athletics, and
concludes that through physical activity, which affects key brain
functions critical to learning, and participation in team efforts,
low-income youth are better prepared to succeed academically and
eventually hold jobs with greater responsibility and higher pay. In
particular, African-American and Latina female athletes reported
better grades in high school and greater involvement with
extracurricular activities than female non-athletes. Opportunities
to participate in organized sports are not evenly distributed across
the student population, however. One study in the monograph found
that 75 percent of children from white middle-class backgrounds
participated in organized sports, while only 40 percent to 60
percent of low-income children of color did so.
Peace is the word
In Tennessee, the Memphis City Schools will counsel 50,000 students
and staff on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s principles of nonviolence,
The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. In 2007-2008, three shootings
broke out in Memphis schools, and over 240 weapons were confiscated.
The initiative will work to build a nonviolent culture in the
district, and 27 community leaders and counselors have already been
trained at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence in
Florida by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen and Bernard LaFayette, Jr.,
national coordinator of Reverend King's Poor People's Movement in
1968. The trainers will fan out across the school system, teaching
nonviolent principles and creating a widening circle of people able
to defuse conflict. Work has already begun at one middle school,
where the principal says he hopes nonviolent strategies will sink
into the community's collective psyche. "I'm hoping that just maybe,
maybe, hopefully, [the training] will spill into the neighborhood
this summer, and we'll start to see some changes when they come back
next fall," he said. Memphis is the site of Dr. King's
assassination, 40 years ago this past April.
Districts tighten belts in new and enterprising ways
Like the citizens they serve, school districts across the country
are finding creative ways to trim budgets, The Boston Globe reports.
Suburbs, cities, and rural counties are asking principals to teach
instead of substitutes or are installing solar panels as states
drastically cut education funds. According to the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities, 46 states face budget shortfalls next year, a
projected deficit of $94 billion. The federal stimulus package, with
$100 billion for education, is expected to help, but meanwhile
districts are paring everywhere to reduce costs. In a suburb of
Atlanta, Ga., officials have refurbished busses by replacing engines
and making cosmetic repairs, for a savings of $24 million. In San
Antonio, Tex., lunchrooms are serving just two entree options and
using paper plates to avoid dishwashers and costly repairs, saving
$4 million. Employees of the Montgomery County, Md., schools will
forgo a 5 percent raise next year to save $89 million. Dave
Peterson, co-superintendent of the Scottsdale Unified School
District in Arizona, explained its economizing strategy: "Every
little bit that we can save is going to help us bring a teacher
back." His district faces $26 million in cuts, which could mean
laying off 220 teachers and 50 non-classroom workers. "Our goal is
to make sure we can get those dollars in the classroom," he said.
Troubling alternatives in Mississippi
Over the past four years, Mississippi has referred 23 percent more
students to its alternative schools, the majority of them black or
with special needs, according to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger. A
report from the American Civil Liberties Union argues that these
schools punish students instead of providing support for behavior
and academics, and raise questions about accountability. "Missing
the Mark: Alternative Schools in the State of Mississippi" focused
on five school districts from around the state where concerns had
surfaced, and a year was spent interviewing students, educators, and
others in those districts. Students reported they had classes that
were unchallenging, no homework, and no books to take home. "Many
students said they felt like they were in jail," said Jamie Dycus,
lead author of the study. "The atmosphere at the alternative school
was overwhelmingly punitive." Mississippi schools in general are
increasingly this way, according to Steve Rozman, director of the
Center for Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility at Tougaloo
College, and an over-emphasis on punishment creates a downward
spiral for vulnerable students. The next step for the state's ACLU
will be a push for legislative and policy changes.
See the report:
http://www.clarionledger.com/assets/pdf/D0129176224.PDF
Effective steps for managing students with disabilities
In serving students with disabilities, effective behavior management
is critical, writes District Administration magazine. For disabled
students, especially those with behavior disorders, the emotional
toll of inappropriate discipline can be great, "albeit intangible,"
with financial consequences for a district if a lawsuit is brought.
"Given what's at stake," the authors write, "district administrators
must be aware of both the educational and legal issues involved in
managing the behavior of students with disabilities by implementing
effective district-wide policies and implementing appropriate
interventions on a case-by-case basis." The article recommends that
districts start with a baseline climate that cultivates well-managed
classrooms and buildings for all students, using this as a
stepping-off point for interventions with students who need special
attentions and disciplinary methods. Educators can take a number of
steps to define behavioral expectations to themselves, students,
parents, and all school staff, and make sure that these are clearly
understood and consistently enforced. For students who do not or
cannot respond to district-wide strategies, other and more
individualized strategies will need to be implemented.
Administrators should seek training in drafting policies and
carrying out alternative disciplinary strategies, and then have
these disseminated to schools that serve students with disabilities.
Troops to Teachers Improvement Act of 2009
A new federal legislative proposal would allow more schools across
the nation to benefit from the Troops to Teachers (T2T) program,
which assists retiring military personnel to start second careers as
school teachers. T2T provides veterans with a $5,000 stipend to help
cover the costs of teaching certification in exchange for three
years of service in an eligible school, which was originally defined
as receiving grants under part A of Title I. Since its authorization
in 1993, nearly 10,000 troops have participated in the program,
bringing math, science, and foreign language expertise to the
classroom. Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI) noted that T2T participants
fill several critical needs among educators: 82 percent are male,
over one-third are ethnic minorities, and a majority bring an
expertise in science and math to the classroom. "In an increasingly
globalized economy, these valuable characteristics provide a vital
resource for schools across the country," he said.
BRIEFLY NOTED
Majority/near-majority of first graders in top ten U.S. cities are
Latino
Latino children now constitute a majority or near majority of first
graders in nine of the nation's largest cities. In some large urban
cities the percentage is even higher -- three out of four first
graders in these school districts are Latino.
Also see:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-03-05-minority-demographics_N.htm
Are there benefits to paying students for good performance in
school?
A new focus on school reform has led researchers on both sides of
the debate to intensify efforts to gather data that may provide
insights on when and if rewards work.
Information from Feds on school stimulus rules and regulations
The Department of Education has posted new information on its web
page concerning how schools can use State Stabilization dollars
under the stimulus package.
Deciphering the education stimulus plan made easy
Learning Point Associates has launched the Education Recovery and
Reinvestment Center as a one-stop shop for educators and
policymakers for tracking developments and finding current
information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Crossing the border to cut costs
A Massachusetts superintendent is investigating the creation of a
cross-state regional district as a means to cut costs.
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"Concern:
Creative Writing Contest"
The 2nd Annual Concern /Cecil Woodham-Smith Creative Writing Contest
asks students and others to address a written piece to President
Obama that will help him understand climate change, child labor, or
world hunger. Entries may be in the form of a factual essay or a
fictional story. Maximum award: laptops, iPods, and subscriptions to
National Geographic Magazine. Eligibility: three entrant categories
-- Junior, ages 12 to 15; Senior, ages 16 to 18; and Adult, ages
19+. Deadline: March 22, 2009.
"Captain
Planet: Grants for Environmental Education"
Captain Planet Foundation Education Grants support hands-on
environmental projects that encourage innovation and empower children and youth
around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental
problems in their communities. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: 501(c)3
organizations. Deadline: March 31, 2009.
"PTO Today:
Parent Group of the Year"
PTO Today's Parent Group of the Year Contest is an opportunity to
showcase hard work while giving schools the chance to win cash and prizes.
Maximum award: $5,000; plus a free DIRECTV system for the school, installed in
up to eight rooms; a 27-inch television; and a DIRECTV system to use as a
fundraiser (for example, as an auction item). Eligibility: all parent groups --
PTO, PTA, HSA, PTC, etc.; public and private schools; rural, suburban, and urban
schools. Deadline: June 1, 2009.
"Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation: Local Initiative Funding Partners Program"
The Local Initiative Funding Partners Program is a partnership
between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grantmakers to fund
promising, original projects that significantly improve the health of vulnerable
people in their communities. Maximum award: $500,000 in matching funds.
Eligibility: projects must be new, innovative, collaborative, and
community-based; projects must be nominated by a local grantmaker interested in
participating as one of the funding partners. See website for further
requirements. Deadline: July 7, 2009.
"Charles
Lafitte Foundation: Grants for Education & Child Advocacy"
The Charles Lafitte Foundation Grants Program helps groups and
individuals foster lasting improvement on the human condition by providing
support to education, children's advocacy, medical research, and the arts.
Maximum award: varies. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Deadline: rolling.
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