[Ohiogift] PEN Weekly NewsBlast for Nov. 30, 2012

[Art Snyder]

Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
Nov. 30, 2012
Common metric, disparate results
The U.S. Department of Education has released four-year high school graduation rates for 2010-11 that for the first time reflect a common method of calculation for all states except Kentucky, Idaho, and Oklahoma, reports Michele McNeil in Education Week. State-by-state data show graduation rates ranging from 59 percent in the District of Columbia to 88 percent in Iowa. The new method requires states to track individual students and report how many first-time 9th graders graduate with a standard diploma within four years. According to the department, the new common metric "can be used by states, districts, and schools to promote greater accountability and to develop strategies that will reduce dropout rates and increase graduation rates in schools nationwide." The data show glaring achievement gaps: In Minnesota, for instance, the graduation rate for black students was 49 percent; for white students, 84 percent. In Ohio, the graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students was 65 percent; for all students, 80 percent. The release of these data comes as advocacy groups are calling on the department to strengthen graduation-rate accountability in waivers issued under NCLB. These groups are criticizing U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for allowing states to violate the spirit -- if not the letter -- of the 2008 regulations that mandated a common graduation rate.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cb65pcm

Ripple effect
A new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education argues that as students of color and diverse ethnicities become the leading population of public school systems in numerous states, closing achievement gaps can secure the country's future prosperity. Given that two-thirds of our economy is driven by consumer spending, the report makes the case that raising individual education levels will boost purchasing power and by extension, the national economy. Students of color make up more than half of the K–12 population in 12 states and between 40 and 50 percent of students in an additional ten states. Yet the high school graduation rates of students of color trail whites' by an average of 20 percentage points. Disparities continue into higher education where in 2011, 31 percent of whites age 25 and older held at least a bachelor's degree, compared to just 20 percent of blacks and 14 percent of Hispanics. The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show dropouts more than three times as likely to be unemployed, and when employed and at the peak of earning capacity averaging only $9 per hour compared to high school graduates and those with bachelor's degrees, who earn $13 and $25 per hour, respectively. The report notes that if every state had graduated 90 percent of its students for just the Class of 2011, America would have more than 750,000 additional high school graduates -- many of whom would have pursued postsecondary education – who would have earned an additional $9 billion each year.
See the report: http://www.all4ed.org/

High poverty, high success
A new report from Public Impact investigates why some schools in high-poverty communities produce remarkable success where others fail. The report examines how principals, teachers, parents, and students define the keys to success, and highlights specific strategies and decisions in these high-achieving schools. It also looks at how schools sustain effective practices and what helps them weather reductions in funding. The schools in the study are a mix of traditional public schools, magnet schools, and a charter school, and face common challenges: tightening budgets, restrictive regulatory policies and labor agreements, parents whose socioeconomic situation makes it difficult for them to participate in their child's education, and a high proportion of students ill-prepared for school. Successful schools in the study have principals who lead with a strong and clear vision, engage staff in problem-solving and decision-making, and remain focused on goals and outcomes. Leaders provide genuine opportunities and incentives for teachers to collaborate and share best practices, and teachers regard student data as clarifying and helpful, using it to inform instruction. Principals and teachers have high expectations for all students and reject excuses, and set high expectations for school discipline and student behavior. Schools offer nontraditional incentives for academic success and good behavior, and students feel valued, loved, and challenged. Principals and teachers do not view lack of parent and community support as an insurmountable barrier to student achievement. Finally, school leaders and teachers seek continuous improvement on many levels.
See the report: http://tinyurl.com/cy3965p

Works, can be improved
A new study finds that Head Start programs lead to short-term benefits across multiple areas of children's well-being and school readiness, according to The Huffington Post. An advisory committee charged with reviewing the federal program has issued its final report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report suggests potential to enhance both short-term and longer-term outcomes of Head Start by making quality improvements within Head Start and Early Head Start, and by improving how gains are maintained and built upon in elementary school. The committee argues Head Start should be systematically and consistently focused on outcomes, particularly school readiness. It should also embrace innovation in locally individualized ways. Using school readiness and other key outcomes as a benchmark, Head Start should rely on data and evidence from research as well as ongoing monitoring of progress to improve and strengthen outcomes. More specifically, the department should develop federal guidelines for local programs regarding how to define and measure children's progress toward school readiness in all five domains required by the Designation Renewal System for both English-speaking and dual-language learners. Head Start must identify the most appropriate assessment tools for measuring those goals, as well as other key outcomes that contribute to readiness, including program quality, family health, and well-being. In addition, all practices and policies should be aligned within local programs and across the federal components of Head Start.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/advisory-committee-review_n_2159585.html?utm_hp_ref=education

Could help, but doesn't
A new report from the Poverty Race and Research Action Council analyzes elementary schools nearest to households receiving four different forms of housing assistance in each of the 50 states and in the 100 largest metropolitan areas. The report compares these schools to those accessible to comparable households, paying particular attention to whether housing voucher-holders are reaching neighborhoods with higher-performing schools than are other low-income households in the same geographic area. Assisted households as a whole are more likely to live near low-performing schools than other households, yet housing voucher-holders do not generally live near higher-performing schools than households receiving other forms of housing assistance. While housing voucher-holders typically live near schools that are higher-performing than those nearest to public housing tenants, they also typically live near schools that are slightly lower-performing than those nearest to households living in Low Income Housing Tax Credit and Project-based Section 8 developments, and lower-performing than those nearest to other poor households. The authors conclude that housing assistance has the potential to break the cycle of poverty through breaking the link between poor households and low-performing schools, but doesn't. More work is necessary to uncover how housing assistance can better help low-income households reach neighborhoods with higher-performing schools.
See the report: http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?item_id=12623&newsletter_id=0&header=Current%20Projects

Re-evaluated
A new report from the Center for American Progress assesses how early-adopter state departments of education are implementing new teacher-evaluation systems, based on comparative analyses of Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. Two states -- Tennessee and Delaware -- were initial Race to the Top winners, while the other states won smaller grants in later rounds. The analysis found that states vary significantly in local control of schools and the view of the state's proper role in education. The flexibility of state evaluation systems varies greatly, differing in terms of mandated centralization, standardization, and regulation. Many state education agencies are also undergoing a radical restructuring as they shift from compliance monitoring to service delivery/ school improvement. This is also creating/exposing internal capacity gaps, leading agencies to rely on outside consultants and foundations; this reliance may preclude or delay the development of fiscal self-sufficiency and internal capacity to support these systems over the long term. Some states are struggling more than others to meet timetables for evaluation implementation due to differing experience and familiarity with statewide evaluation systems. States also vary on the extent to which evaluation reforms are -- or are not -- linked to other reforms, such as new principal evaluations and common core standards and assessments. The report also finds too little communication and sharing of information about effective measures is occurring between states, states and districts, and district to district.
See the report: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2012/11/13/44494/the-state-of-teacher-evaluation-reform/

Change the data culture
A new report from the Data Quality Campaign finds that while states are making progress in supporting effective data use, collecting quality data, and enacting policy changes, they are not yet meeting people's needs. States have laid the foundation to link P–20/workforce data systems, but lack governance structures with authority to share these critical data, impeding efforts to empower stakeholders and ensure students stay on track for success in college and careers. States are producing reports and dashboards using longitudinal data, but lag in ensuring data access. And states are increasingly providing training to help some stakeholders use data, but have not built universal capacity. To change the culture of education data, states must create leadership that spans early childhood through postsecondary and the workforce, as well as policies that support data systems and use, and organize resources including time, money, and staff in ways conducive to effective data use. States must also determine their role in enabling local conditions, taking action now to meet stakeholders' needs and address priority policy issues such as teacher effectiveness and college-and-career readiness. Without a proactive, deliberate approach to understanding the implications for state data systems, policymakers will find their student achievement and teacher effectiveness efforts constrained or undermined by data that do not meet policy needs.
See the report: http://dataqualitycampaign.org/resources/details/1631

A closer look at black principalship
Still-unpublished research from Stanford University explores race in relationship to career trajectories of teachers, especially black teachers, reports Jackie Zubrzycki in Education Week. Using data from the National Center for Educational Statistics and the Wisconsin state department of education, the researchers are examining the racial demographics of the principal force; to what extent race, rather than teacher characteristics or schools where they teach, predicts which teachers become principals; where those differences emerge; and how much career preferences of teachers explain which become school leaders. The analysis finds proportionately more black principals than black teachers, especially in urban centers. Nationally, 11 percent of principals are black, compared to seven percent of teachers; 21 percent of urban principals are black. The Wisconsin data suggest the trend of minority teachers becoming administrators starts before the principalship: Black teachers were six to eight times more likely to become assistant principals than their white peers. When surveyed, higher percentages of black teachers expressed an interest in becoming a principal than their white peers, and more had taken action: 29 percent of black teachers in Milwaukee had an administrative credential required to become a principal, compared with 11 percent of white teachers. Black teachers also reported being more likely to be selected for principalship by central office or school staff. The research does not address whether having black principals is better for schools.
Read more: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2012/11/race_and_the_principal_pipelin.html

BRIEFLY NOTED

A not terrible outcome
Two-thirds of chronically underperforming schools that received School Improvement Grants made gains in math or reading, but another third saw student achievement decline in their first academic year, according to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Education.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2012/11/initial_school_improvement_ana.html

And he's off...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has unveiled major new policy initiatives that include decreasing taxes, boosting the school voucher program, and requiring Wisconsin's schools, technical colleges, and universities to meet certain benchmarks to earn state funding.
http://tinyurl.com/bsb5ty8

Seems fair
Federal education officials have denied Pennsylvania's request to evaluate charter school achievement using more lenient criteria, saying charters must be assessed by the same standard as traditional schools.
http://tinyurl.com/cw25sdy

Breakneck speed
Enrollment in Indiana's school voucher program has more than doubled in the program's second year, according to the state's Department of Education.
http://tinyurl.com/d5sp3ro

Finer-grained
The Criterion Referenced Tests most Utah students take each spring will soon be replaced with a new $39 million computer testing system designed to better pinpoint students' needs, state education officials have announced.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55349773-78/tests-state-system-students.html.csp

And the funds keep coming
The Department of Education has released a list of 61 finalists for the $400 million Race to the Top district competition representing more than 200 districts, including some of the nation's largest. http://hechingerreport.org/content/finalists-announced-in-district-level-race-to-the-top-competition_10427/

GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

General Mills: Champions for Healthy Kids Grants
General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids Grants encourage communities in the United States to improve the eating and physical activity patterns of young people. Grants will be awarded to nonprofit organizations and agencies working with communities that demonstrate the greatest need and likelihood of sustainable impact on young people's nutrition and activity levels through innovative programs. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations with a target audience of youth ages 2-20. Other guidelines apply; please see website. Deadline: December 3, 2012.
http://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Community_Engagement/Grants/Champions_for_healthy_kids.aspx

New Leaders for New Schools
New Leaders for New Schools is currently accepting applications for candidates who meet their 10 selection criteria (see website) and want to lead change for children in low-income communities by becoming urban public school principals. Candidates should have a record of success in leading adults, an expertise in K-12 teaching and learning, a relentless drive to lead an excellent urban school, and an unyielding belief in the potential of every child to achieve academically at high levels. Eligibility: a minimum of two to three years of successful K-12 instruction experience; teaching certificate preferred. Deadline: December 6, 2012.
http://www.nlns.org/Admissions.jsp

U.S. Army: eCYBERMISSION
eCYBERMISSION is a free, web-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics competition in which students compete against other students in their grades for state, regional and national awards. Teams consisting of three to four students and a team advisor work to solve problems in their community utilizing the scientific method, scientific inquiry, or engineering design process and can win at the state, regional, and national levels. Maximum award: $24,000 in U.S. EE Savings Bonds. Eligibility: students grades 6 through 9. Deadline: January 15, 2012.
https://www.ecybermission.com/public/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"It's the definition of building a car while it's careening downhill at 60 miles per hour." -- Mark Pudlow of the Florida Education Association, regarding a Common Core collaboration between Florida and the private sector that has sparked litigation between the two parties. For more, visit http://tinyurl.com/cxdvef8.
 
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