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Far removed from opportunity, and despairing
A new report from the College Board cites "overwhelming barriers"
for U.S. minority males in becoming educated and productive
citizens, proposes national strategies to erase "disparities in
educational attainment" and find "new ways of reaching the
increasingly diverse U.S. student population," according to Diverse
Issues in Education. The 42-page report gives a detailed portrait of
lagging educational attainment by African-American, Hispanic,
Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and Native American males in
comparison with other groups and minority women. (Among
Asian-Americans, the data trends were disaggregated to show the most
vulnerable population are males of Southeast Asian and Pacific
Islander descent, in comparison with those of Northeast Asian
descent.) At the study's unveiling, Gaston Caperton, president of
the College Board, said it describes "young men who are so far
removed from our opportunity culture that they almost have no hope
of contributing to our social and our economic growth. As a result,
they live in despair, hopelessness, and too often violence and
incarceration." We continue to ignore their plight at our own peril,
he said. Among the report's many recommendations are that the
federal government, foundations, and concerned organizations convene
a national policy discussion and fund research to clarify issues
that could impact minority male achievement.
See the report:
http://www.collegeboard.com/press/releases/210157.html
NCLB overhaul in 2010 a stretch
According to The New York Times, it will be a "heavy lift" for the
Obama administration to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA) this year. In 2001, it took Congress over a
year to reauthorize the bill, which dates back to the Johnson
administration and in its present incarnation as NCLB has produced
widespread dissension. During the 2008 presidential campaign and his
first year in office, President Obama's stance on the law was widely
popular, with the president maintaining that it embodies worthwhile
goals like narrowing the achievement gap between minority and white
students but includes flawed provisions that need fixing. Now that
revisions are to begin in earnest, however, Mr. Obama will have to
advocate specific changes that will be unpopular with at least some
groups. "It's hard to see how they can get" a rewrite done, said
Joel Packer, executive director of the Committee for Education
funding, which includes about 80 groups representing teachers,
superintendents, principals, school boards, and others. "If there's
some bipartisan agreement about what the administration proposes,
and the Republicans say, 'We want to work together,' then maybe. But
I think it's going to be tough."
Related:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0201/Education-reform-Obama-budget-reboots-No-Child-Left-Behind
State Policy Teacher Yearbook finds most states lacking
A new study from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds most
states retain policies that protect incompetent teachers and have
poor training programs, shortchanging educators and their students,
according to the Associated Press. All but four states allow fired
teachers multiple appeals of their dismissal, a process that can
last years. Only five states have adequate preparation for
elementary educators on reading instruction, and only one trains
educators for effectiveness in math. More than half of states don't
require special education teachers to take subject-matter courses
while in school, and don't test them on content. Nearly every state
awards tenure "virtually automatically," protecting inadequate
teachers and making it difficult for schools to fire them. The
report comes on the heels of the deadline for states' applications
for the Race to the Top (RttT) federal grants, which required states
to prove strength in areas ranging from performance pay to fostering
charter schools. Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the council, said
that while some have found the report overly negative, its timing is
excellent given potential rewards from RttT. "We think it's really a
blueprint for reform," she said. "Each goal is something we think
states could and should be doing to reform teacher quality."
Related:
http://www.nctq.org/p/
Complexity needed
Claus von Zastrow at the Public School Insights blog has several
recommendations for what he deems the "shrinking rolodex" of public
education journalism. His suggestions are in response to a CBS News
segment on school reform that relied on commentary from only two
people, Andy Rotherham and Michelle Rhee, both of whom have "had a
real impact on the school reform debate," but who stand on the same
side of many issues. Von Zastrow would have those who cover
education take several steps to break this tendency. Foremost,
"don't just go where you smell blood." Chancellor Rhee is often
tapped because she is likely to display her "fighting spirit" and
foreground her take-no-prisoners policies, which make for good
theater and appeal to a general frustration with reform inertia. But
what about a deeper story, once heads have rolled and reorganization
is in place? The aftermath generally demands a collaborative culture
if change is to "take," and these are the efforts von Zastrow would
have the media showcase. He also pleads against pushing reductive
solutions as an end-of-segment wrap-up. If reform were a question of
a few simple steps, surely these would have been taken already. "Is
it impossible -- or maybe even foolish -- to acquaint the general
public with complexity?" von Zastrow muses. Stay tuned.
Not your mother's abstinence-only sex ed
A new study on sex education in the Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine relates the success of an abstinence-only sex
education program, reports National Public Radio, but it's different
from the abstinence-until-marriage programs at the center of the
sex-ed debate. Study author John Jemmott of the University of
Pennsylvania designed an abstinence-only program that used teaching
methods successful in other sex education programs. In addition to
advising against sex, specially trained teachers engaged teens in
discussions about what it would mean if they did. "They begin by
considering, what are their goals and dreams for the future?"
explained Dr. Jemmot. "What would they like to do five years from
now? What would they like to do ten years from now? And then they
have to consider how sexual involvement might make it difficult or
impossible to achieve some of those goals." For up to two years, 67
percent of teens in the program did not have sex, compared to 48
percent in the control group without sex education. The study
followed more than 600 African-American students in four middle
schools in one city in the Northeast. However, it's critical to
note, says Lauren Scher of Concentric Research & Evaluation, that
these results do not apply to all abstinence programs, the majority
of which advocate abstinence until marriage and don't discuss
contraception.
Related:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/education/03abstinence.html
See the report:
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/164/2/152?home
National Standards, take two
Writing groups convened by the Council of Chief State School
Officers and the National Governors Association (NGA) are at work on
a better-organized and easier-to-understand draft of grade-by-grade
common standards, Education Week reports. The revision is in
response to feedback that the earlier 200-plus-page version was
confusing and insufficiently user-friendly. "Teachers, experts, and
states have all said to us, 'Please pay attention to design so that
it's clear to the end-user what the standards are.' So we're trying
to both get the standards right and prepare a document that teachers
around the country are going to find useful," said Dane Linn,
director of the education division of the NGA's Center for Best
Practices. Those who participated in the feedback process said the
bulk of the current revamping involves making English standards
easier to understand. Many reviewers faulted the draft for not
making it clear which elements were the standards themselves and
which were other ideas or principles. Forty-eight states have signed
on to support the standards effort. The first public draft had been
slated for a December release, but has now been pushed to
mid-February.
What's so free-market about school reform?
In the February 1 issue of The New Yorker, Carlos Rotella profiles
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and in doing so divides
education reformers into two camps: free-marketeers and liberal
traditionalists. Not so fast, writes Kevin Carey at Education
Sector's The Quick and The Ed blog: "The 'reformist' camp, such as
it is, really consists of three only partially overlapping ideas
that are collectively pretty far from a true free-market
orientation." Roughly speaking, these can be characterized as the
standards, testing, and accountability movement, which brought us
NCLB; the strong mayor/chancellor mode of urban school reform, which
actually seeks greater power vested in central government (think
Michelle Rhee); and finally, charter schools, which Carey concedes
have significant market elements, but are a far cry from classic
free market organisms, which was how they had initially been sold.
Sure, they create market competition for students, which can promote
efficiency and customer service. But this "free market" emphasis
misstates the biggest benefits of the charter movement, in Carey's
opinion, which is that they're given an environment that shields
them from the bureaucratic and political problems that can plague
traditional school systems. "If that creates virtuous competition,
bonus," Carey writes, "but if not, it doesn't undermine the case for
charters."
Related:
http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/02/5406.html
See an abstract of the article:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_rotella
Push is on to diversify charter populations
More than 150 teachers, parents, and advocates have launched an
aggressive drive in Boston to recruit immigrant families to city
charter schools, an attempt to reverse "woefully low enrollment of
students who are not fluent in English," The Boston Globe reports.
The campaign entails canvassing neighborhoods with large immigrant
populations, handing out fliers printed in Spanish, Chinese, Haitian
Creole, and Portuguese; distributing applications; and advertising
on radio and television in a variety of languages, as well as in
ethnic newspapers. "We take the hit too often that we don't serve
these children," said Kevin Andrews, headmaster of Neighborhood
House Charter Public School in the ethnically diverse Dorchester
neighborhood of Boston, and president of the Massachusetts Charter
Public School Association. "We are going to make sure these kids get
a great education. Charter schools will step up to the plate and
show we can do it." The recruitment drive represents the first
coordinated effort among the city's 14 charter schools to attract
more English language learners, a group that has among the lowest
achievement rates across the state. The move is also in response to
a new state law that requires charters to have recruitment and
enrollment retention strategies so their students reflect the
demographics of their communities.
Are charters a segregating factor?
A new study of enrollment trends from the Civil Rights Project at
UCLA shows that charter schools are less racially diverse than their
traditional counterparts, The Washington Post reports. According to
the study, seven out of 10 black charter school students are on
campuses with extremely few white students, a reflection of high
numbers of charters in major cities with struggling school systems
and high minority populations. Professor Gary Orfield, who oversaw
the study, said that racially segregated schools tend to face more
problems than integrated schools in teacher retention, graduation
rates, and other areas; moreover, charters have not been proven to
be better academically than regular public schools -- though this is
a matter of open debate. "We actually are very proud of the fact
that charter schools enroll more low-income kids and more kids of
color than do other public schools," said Nelson Smith, president
and chief executive of the National Alliance for Public Charter
Schools. "We're happy to talk about those demographic issues. We're
also happy to talk about how to increase diversity overall in all
facets of public education. The real civil rights issue for many of
these kids is being trapped in dysfunctional schools."
See the report:
http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research.php
BRIEFLY NOTED
Oh, yes he did
Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Hurricane Katrina "the best
thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans" because
it forced widespread changes to the low-performing district,
according to excerpts from a recent television interview.
But then he apologized
Potential change for WI's sex ed
All public schools teaching sex education in Wisconsin would be
required to instruct students about birth control and sexually
transmitted diseases under a bill that Gov. Jim Doyle has said he
will sign.
Awkward...
A federal audit may force the Philadelphia School District to return
$138.4 million in funds to the U.S. Department of Education because
the money was spent on unallowable or insufficiently documented
activities across an array of programs, including Title I.
The plot thickens in NYC school closings
In NYC, the United Federation of Teachers and the N.A.A.C.P. have
filed a lawsuit to block the closing of 19 schools for poor
performance, charging that the city "studiously ignored" provisions
of state law as it moved forward in its process to shutter the
schools.
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"Sprint
Foundation: Character Education Grant Program"
Sprint Character Education Grants provide funding to districts and
individual schools for the purchase of resources that facilitate and
encourage character education among K-12 students. Maximum award:
schools -- $5,000; districts -- $25,000. Eligibility: all U.S.
public schools (K-12) and U.S. public school districts. Deadline:
February 5, 2010.
"ACTE:
Cliff Weiss Award"
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is
sponsoring an essay contest in the memory of former ACTE Senior
Director of Communications, Cliff Weiss (1951-2004). This year,
students will be asked to respond to the question, "How is CTE an
investment in your future?" The essay should be between 400-600
words in length. Maximum award: $250 and publication in ACTE's
Techniques Magazine. Eligibility: students enrolled in at least one
CTE course. Deadline: February 12, 2010.
"Ellie
Goldberg for Healthy Kids: Healthy Schools Hero Award"
The Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero Award is part of the campaign
to promote citizen awareness and responsible leadership for chemical
security by eliminating explosives and other hazards in today's
schools. Help move safety from the margins of school activity to the
core of school culture and curriculum in science education,
vocational education, occupational health and safety, community
service, comprehensive school health and injury prevention, school
security, emergency preparedness, environmental education, civic
education, school maintenance, and operations. Maximum award:
recognition. Deadline: February 15, 2010.
"Open Meadows
Foundation: Grants for Projects Run by Women and Girls"
The Open Meadows Foundation is a grant-making organization for
projects that are led by and benefit women and girls. It funds
projects that reflect the diversity of the community served by the
project in both its leadership and organization; promote community
power; promote racial, social, economic, and environmental justice;
have limited financial access, or have encountered obstacles in
their search for funding. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility:
501(c)3 organizations with an organizational budget no larger than
$150,000. Projects must be designed and implemented by women and
girls. Deadline: Feb 15, 2010.
"Humane
Society of the United States: National KIND Teacher Award"
National Association for Humane and Environmental Education National
KIND Teacher Award recognizes an outstanding teacher who
consistently incorporates humane and environmental education into
his or her curriculum. Maximum award: recognition and a packet of
grade-appropriate humane education materials. Eligibility: teachers
K-6. Deadline: February 15, 2010.
"National
Energy Foundation: Igniting Creative Energy Challenge"
The National Igniting Creative Energy Challenge is an educational
competition designed to encourage students to learn more about energy
conservation and the environment. Student entries must reflect the theme
"Igniting Creative Energy" and demonstrate an understanding of what an
individual, family, or group can do to make a difference in their home
or community. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: students in grades
K-12. Deadline: February 19, 2010.
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