[Ohiogift] PEN Weekly NewsBlast for September 14, 2012

[Art Snyder]

Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast

 
What neither mentions
Party platforms rarely spell out specific policy actions, but the Republican and Democratic platforms for 2012 yield clues, nuances, and an occasional stark difference on education, according to the UCLA/IDEA blog. Republicans support an "English-First approach" to counter "divisive programs that limit students' ability to advance in American society." Democrats support student retention of their home language for both pedagogical and cultural reasons. Both want greater educational choice through school options, charters, magnets, and teacher-led efforts, but Democrats oppose vouchers and prefer solutions in the public -- not private -- sector. Democrats see poverty as closely tied to educational achievement; Republicans make few explicit connections between poverty and student success. Both parties want equitable education, but neither offers specific policies to diminish funding disparities between poor and wealthy communities. Both parties favor higher standards and accountability, but neither addresses the role of standardized tests -- in fact, the word "test" appears in neither platform. Republicans would do away with "rigid tenure systems" so as to "attract fresh talent and dedication to the classroom." Democrats also support teacher evaluations, but emphasize support for struggling teachers and due process. Although both parties believe American education should be "world-class," neither platform focuses on the other purposes of public education: the cultivation of creative, civic-minded citizens.
Read more: http://idea.gseis.ucla.edu/newsroom/our-ideas/themes-in-the-news
Related: http://tinyurl.com/96y5xv5
 
What is, in fact, world-class education?
In an article in UNESCO's Prospects magazine, Henry Levin writes that restricting the meaning of "world-class" education to the narrow criterion of test scores relies on the idea that higher scores are closely linked with a capable labor force and competitive economy. In fact, Levin argues, the measured relationships between test scores and earnings or productivity are modest and explain a relatively small share of the larger link between educational attainment and economic outcomes. Missing from these assessments are the effects that education has on the development of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and capabilities -- non-cognitive skills -- that affect the quality and productivity of the labor force. Levin recommends that non-cognitive-skill areas and measures be incorporated into research on academic achievement, school graduation, post-secondary attainments, labor market outcomes, health status, and reduced involvement in the criminal justice system in conjunction with standard academic performance measures. At some point we will learn enough to incorporate specific non-cognitive measures into both small- and large-scale assessments, leading to a deeper understanding of school effects and school policy and a more inclusive framework for ascertaining what is, in fact, world-class education.
See the report: http://www.springerlink.com/content/0033-1538
 
Beyond cognition
In an interview with Larry Ferlazzo in Education Week, Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed, says schools should teach performance character -- self-control, persistence, grit, optimism -- for the practical reason that they help students do better in college and beyond, which is the core mission of our K-12 education system. Performance character is distinct from moral character -- honesty, piety, chastity, generosity -- which he notes are valuable traits, but schools are not the most effective place to teach them (though they should certainly try). The challenge is how best to teach performance character skills, Tough says. There are promising experiments in teaching self-regulation to young children and in teaching character strengths in middle and high school, but so far no "bulletproof" method of teaching non-cognitive skills. Tough has written about the "character report card" that KIPP schools in New York City are implementing. When he went to report-card night at KIPP Infinity in Harlem and sat in on discussions between teachers, parents, and students, he realized that KIPP had essentially created a character conversation piece, a way to get students, parents, and teachers talking, in an organized and practical way, about students' non-cognitive abilities and traits. This was undertaken with the explicit belief that non-cognitive traits are malleable and can improve with practice and help.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/8u3l38g
 
Sign of the times
The strike by 26,000 public school teachers in Chicago is the latest episode to throw teacher unions on the defensive in the face of demands for far-reaching changes, writes Stephen Greenhouse in The New York Times. The contest underscores how teachers' unions, traditionally Democratic allies, have been pushed back in recent years. The 1960s and '70s were the heyday of teachers' unions, Greenhouse writes. Membership exploded as many states gave public school teachers the right to bargain collectively, turning the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers into two of the nation's largest unions. Governors and mayors rushed to secure their favor, and union dollars helped elect union-friendly school boards. But while the two giant unions still wield power in federal, state, and local politics, their winning percentage in legislative fights has fallen as frustration with low-performing schools and rising property taxes has risen, and as Republicans have gained control of governor's mansions and legislatures. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken several steps -- among them pressing the school board to rescind a promised 4 percent raise -- and made numerous demands that have infuriated the Chicago Teachers Union. He wants student test performance to count heavily in evaluating teachers for tenure, and is intent on shuttering dozens of poorly performing schools. The union is seeking provisions that will reinstate teachers in other schools when theirs are closed.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/98e9fmc
Related: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2012/09/so_im_sure_youve_heard.html
Related: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chicago-teachers-strike-20120911,0,1301512.story
 
When green isn't great
Recent findings by Richard Ingersoll at the University of Pennsylvania show that as teacher attrition rates have risen to 13 percent for first-year teachers, schools must hire increasing numbers of new teachers, USA TODAY reports. Between 40 to 50 percent of those entering the profession now leave within five years in what Ingersoll calls a "constant replenishment of beginners." The end result: a more than threefold increase in the sheer number of inexperienced teachers in U.S. schools. The 1987-88 school year, Ingersoll estimates, had about 65,000 first-year teachers; by 2007-08, the number was over 200,000. In 1987-88 the biggest group of teachers had 15 years of experience. By 2007-08, the most recent data available, the biggest group of teachers had one year of experience. Heather Peske of Teach Plus says the so-called greening of the profession doesn't necessarily mean families will find "fresh-faced 23-year-olds in every classroom." Many new teachers are career-changers with experience in functional workplaces. These teachers will expect adequate materials, and the chance to collaborate with co-workers. "I do think that's good for the profession," Peske says. But parents shouldn't be surprised if young teachers soon leave the classroom for better-paying jobs. With teachers moving around more, parents should also ask how the school keeps their replacements current on student progress.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/backtoschool/story/2012-09-05/new-teachers/57581638/1
 
>From a tiny budget and 53 students, a movement
In a profile of the City Academy School in St. Paul, Minnesota, the first charter school to open in the country in 1992, NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports that its founders were veteran public school teachers who had tried but failed to create new programs for struggling students in their own schools. The effort launched a movement numbering 5,600 charter schools nationally, but back in the late 1980s, it faced strong resistance. Milo Cutter, one of City Academy's founders, wanted to help kids who were lost or forgotten. "They were older students, and as most people are aware, that's not a high-priority group," Cutter says. The idea drew opposition: Critics argued that publicly funded, privately run schools would take money away from traditional public schools. Former Minnesota State Sen. Ember Reichgott Junge, who authored the first charter law in the country, says unions in Minnesota were also opposed. Ultimately, City Academy opened with a tiny budget and 53 students. Twenty years later, it has twice as many kids, almost all low-income, many having repeatedly failed Minnesota's basic skills test. Some have been incarcerated. This fall, charters in Minnesota will enroll 38,000 students, 5 percent of the state's total K-12 population. Union opposition there has faded since many teachers in traditional schools aren't happy with the status quo, Sanchez notes.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2012/09/02/160409742/from-a-single-charter-school-a-movement-grows?ft=1&f=1013
 
No second tier
In separate decisions over the past month, courts in New Jersey and Florida have rebuffed state efforts to reduce spending on college education by denying low tuition rates and financial aid to American citizens whose parents are illegal immigrants, The New York Times reports. The latest ruling came from a federal court in Florida, which threw out state regulations defining American children of parents without legal immigration status as out-of-state residents, ineligible for tuition breaks at public colleges and universities. Tuition for out-of-state students can be as much as three times the rate for residents. The five students who brought the lawsuit against Florida education officials were born in this country, had been living in Florida for most or all of their lives, and had graduated from public high schools there. In a broad decision, Judge K. Michael Moore of Federal District Court in Miami found the regulations unconstitutional because they "create a second-tier status of U.S. citizenship," by denying benefits to the students freely available to other Americans. The policy "does not advance any legitimate state interest," the judge wrote, while it hindered Florida's goal of "furthering educational opportunities for its own residents." The lawsuit was brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/9fmtp2j
 
PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK IN THE NEWS

It's best to be in a LEF community!
PEN congratulates Mobile, New York, Norwalk, Tampa-Hillsborough, Charleston, Greenville, and Cincinnati -- LEF communities -- all of which were selected as part of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise Alliance. Each year, America's Promise and ING celebrate 100 deserving communities who effectively provide their youth with the Five Promises -- caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education, and opportunities to help others -- and work to increase graduation rates.
Read more: http://www.americaspromise.org/Our-Work/100-Best-Communities-for-Young-People/2012-Winners.aspx
 
Cuts they can't afford
In an article in The Press-Register by several organizations in Mobile in response to the possibility that city funding might be cut from them, the Mobile Area Education Foundation writes that Mobile's future cannot afford the reduction in vital services offered through performance contractors such as itself. Representing only 1.5 percent of the city's budget, performance contractors -- through the leverage of their city funding -- bring in millions of additional dollars through grants and private sector matching. "The success of our K-12 school system is the very foundation of economic development," writes Carolyn Akers, executive director of the Mobile Area Education Foundation. "The recently announced Airbus Assembly Line Mobile excited us all, but with the promise of more jobs, more revenue and more people comes the realization that we must continue on a path to keep our kids in school." Every year, if only 1,908 additional students successfully leave high school ready for college or careers, Mobile would see a $23 million increase in yearly earnings, an $18 million increase in spending, a $43 million increase in home purchases, and a $1.5 million increase in state and local tax revenues.
Read more: http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2012/09/citys_budget_woes_putting_sque.html
Website: http://www.maef.org
 
Leading the way
A $117,000 grant from Chattanooga's McKenzie Foundation to the Public Education Foundation will be put toward creating a steady leadership development for Hamilton County, Tennessee schools.
Read more: http://www.nooga.com/157050/pef-receives-117k-grant-for-leadership-development/
Website: http://www.pefchattanooga.org/
 
BRIEFLY NOTED

Impasse
Thousands of teachers have walked off the job in Chicago's first schools strike in 25 years, after union leaders announced that months-long negotiations had failed to resolve a contract dispute with school district officials by a midnight deadline.
http://tinyurl.com/8grr6ra
Reading is fundamental
The Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families have launched a campaign to improve literacy in Arkansas with a goal of all Arkansas children reading at grade level by the end of third grade by 2020.
http://arkansasnews.com/sections/news/arkansas/campaign-aims-improve-third-grade-literacy.html
A rung up
High-performing D.C. public school teachers who work in high-poverty schools will be able to accelerate through the pay scale to reach top compensation levels more quickly under a "career ladder."
http://tinyurl.com/8mm3u4x
In jeopardy
Georgia's vaunted reputation as an early-education leader is threatened by funding cuts to its state prekindergarten program that have resulted in fewer class days, reductions in the number of available slots, and an increase in class size.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/early_years/2012/09/a_new_report_suggests_that.html
What price preschool?
The Malloy administration has learned that providing universal access to preschool in Connecticut's poorest districts will cost $43.8 million a year, plus $220.6 million to build classroom space.
http://ctmirror.com/story/17403/cost-universal-preschool-poorest-districts-264-million
More STEM, some STEAM
A new batch of "Innovation Fund" grants announced by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal features a strong emphasis on improving STEM learning.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/09/georgia_gives_stem_ed_a_push_w.html
All in
Tennessee's push to implement the Common Core State Standards is getting support from a new statewide coalition that includes leaders in business, education, and other sectors.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/09/new_tenn_coalition_to_help_pro.html
Truce
For the first time, Los Angeles public school principals will be evaluated under a new system that includes student achievement as one measure of administrators' effectiveness.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd-eval-20120912,0,1737165.story?track=rss
 
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Target: Field Trip Grants
Target Field Trip Grants are available to fund scholastic outings in situations where monies are otherwise lacking. Maximum award: $700. Eligibility: teachers, principals, paraprofessionals and classified staff in K-12 public, private or charter school in the U.S. Deadline: September 30, 2012.
http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031880
 
Lexus/Scholastic: Eco Challenge
The Lexus Eco Challenge, a program designed to inspire and empower middle and high school students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. Maximum award: $30,000 in scholarships and grants. Eligibility: middle and high school teams comprised of five to ten students and one teacher advisor. Deadline: Challenge One (Land/Water) – September 24, 2012; Challenge Two (Air/Climate) – October 29, 2012.
http://www.scholastic.com/lexus/
 
VFW: National Citizenship Education Teachers' Award
The VFW's National Citizenship Education Teachers' Award recognizes the nation's top elementary, junior high and high school teachers who teach citizenship education topics regularly and promote America's history and traditions. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: teachers K-12. Deadline: November 1, 2012.
http://www.vfw.org/Community/Teacher-of-the-Year/
 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The Chicago teachers strike may in fact be the first open battle in a protracted war [over teacher evaluations and job protections.] The most sensible route to peace -- improving teachers' pay and working conditions to acknowledge that we expect more from them now -- is blocked because state and local governments are strapped for cash." -- Jacob Vigdor, a Duke University professor of public policy and economics.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chicago-teachers-strike-20120911,0,1301512.story
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