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An unbridgeable chasm, mere miles apart
"In the 20 or so miles that separate Jefferson High School from La
Cañada High," writes The Los Angeles Times, "in the miles between
inner city and suburb, there exists a social chasm so deep as to
seem unbridgeable." In a profile of two students, personally similar
but demographically opposite, The Times distinguishes between the
two poles of public education in the sprawling confines of Los
Angeles. La Cañada High, where Kyle Gosselin goes, "is about as good
as public education gets in California," according to The Times.
Jefferson, where Henry Ramirez attends, is "in hard-core South L.A.
gang territory" -- improving, but still an urban public high school.
"Let's confront a hard truth," proposes The Times. "Any visitor to
your two schools can't help but notice that the La Cañada students,
while hardly perfect, seem more focused, more driven to succeed than
the average student at Jefferson." Kyle is groomed for college, and
Henry juggles family obligations with academics. Both want to be
doctors, but everything in Kyle's environment pushes him toward
college, while much in Henry's pulls him away. "Same city, different
circles. Different boys, similar dreams."
250 D.C. teachers get the axe
In what The Washington Post is calling "a landmark, of sorts" for
D.C's public schools, Chancellor Michelle Rhee has fired about 250
instructors for poor performance or failure to obtain a license. The
move is a radical change for a system that has historically
dismissed only a handful of teachers per year. After Rhee failed to
get concessions over teacher reassignment and firing from the
Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) in contract talks, she promised to
trigger a seldom-used 90-day mechanism on the books for years. Under
it, instructors can be placed on a 90-day warning plan if a
classroom observation finds them lacking in at least six of 17
categories, which include content knowledge and classroom
management. Teachers are then assigned a "helping teacher" for a
program of improvement, and subject to a series of conferences and
scheduled and unscheduled classroom visits by administrators. Rhee's
action is notable, since 80 of the 250 teachers fired have tenure.
WTU president George Parker said the union would appeal decisions
where teachers got inadequate support. In the past, the union has
won reversals on a third of dismissals, though these have been far
fewer at a time.
Teachers in the rubber room
Over 700 NYC school teachers have been "rubber-roomed" at full
salary, waiting for disciplinary hearings on charges that run from
insubordination to sexual misconduct, according to The Associated
Press. Because union contracts make it extremely difficult to fire
them, teachers are banished to an off-campus space where they wait
months, even years, for hearings and decisions. "You basically sit
there for eight hours," said Orlando Ramos, a former assistant
principal who spent seven months in what is officially known as a
temporary reassignment center. "I saw several near-fights. `This is
my seat.' `I've been sitting here for six months.' That sort of
thing." Education officials blame union rules that require teachers
to continue their jobs in some fashion while cases are heard, and
does not permit them to be given other work. Ron Davis, spokesman
for the United Federation of Teachers, said the union and the city
agreed last year to reduce time instructors spend in reassignment
centers, but progress is slow. "No one wants teachers who don't
belong in the classroom. However, we cannot neglect the teachers'
rights to due process," Davis said. New York's Department of
Education estimates the practice costs taxpayers $65 million a year.
Ruling affirms provision in the IDEA
In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has found that an Oregon
high school student can receive a private education at taxpayer
expense without first having received public special education. His
local school system, Forest Grove, fought the ruling in court,
positing that a provision in the Individual with Disabilities
Education Act of 1975 dictates that students first receive services
in public school before private placement. Writing for the majority,
Justice John Paul Stevens said Forest Grove's argument amounts to
"immunizing" a district from liability for payment in the "egregious
situation" in which officials unreasonably deny services and parents
turn to private schools. In a dissenting opinion, Justice David
Souter, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, noted
the high cost of private school placements and said it "makes good
sense" for parents to work with administrators to come up with an
alternative within the public system. School systems nationwide warn
that the decision could drain millions of dollars from tight
education budgets.
Related:
http://www.eduwonk.com/2009/04/spec-ed-the-p-word.html
A new analysis on Reading First
In 2008, when the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S.
Department of Education published research on Reading First, the
findings were widely interpreted to mean the program did not work. A
new policy brief from MDRC feels the research was more nuanced. In
MDRC's analysis, Reading First did increase professional development
for teachers, and provide reading coaches for struggling readers. It
also influenced teaching practice, aligning it with scientifically
based research. The program's lack of impact on overall reading
comprehension scores can be traced to two connected issues,
according to the MDRC. In the first place, the type of instruction
promoted by Reading First was already in wide use when the program
came on line in 2002. The IES found that many teachers not funded by
Reading First also spent class time focusing on similar,
scientifically based reading instruction. Second, the additional
7-10 minutes a day instructional time with Reading First were too
small on average to induce improvements in student reading
comprehension. What the MDRC's new evaluation did yield, however,
was that Reading First produced improvement in schools where it
generated larger increases in instructional practice, schools that
tended to be higher-poverty, as well.
High-risk indicators in middle school for dropping out
In a new study from Johns Hopkins University, researchers pinpoint
the time in middle school when students can be seen to have "fallen
off the path to high school graduation." The study sought high-yield
indicators that identified students who, absent intervention, would
have low odds of graduating and identified at least 25 percent of
future non-graduates or dropouts. The report found that sixth
graders who failed math or English/reading, or attended school less
than 80 percent of the time, or received an unsatisfactory behavior
grade in a core course, had a 10- to 20-percent chance of graduating
on time. The brief looked at 23 middle schools in Philadelphia with
students at least 80 percent minority and at least 80 percent
qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch. The study found
middle-grade experiences "have tremendous impact on the extent to
which [students] will close achievement gaps, graduate from high
school, and be prepared for college," the authors write. The fifth
through eighth grades must therefore be reconceptualized, considered
"the launching pad for a secondary and post-secondary education
system that enables all students to obtain the schooling and/or
career training they will need to fully experience the opportunities
of 21st century America."
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