[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast for April 10, 2013

[Art Snyder]

                April 10, 2013 - In This Issue:
       Before they walk through the doors of kindergarten
  Gap perpetuated from the start
  Breaking: high-quality preschool yields gains
  Ground zero in 'reinventing public education'
  Community school partnerships: Better Together
  Charter policy needs a little work done
  Bill Gates: Everybody slow down
  How flexible is too flexible for students with disabilities?
  BRIEFLY NOTED.
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            
Before they walk through the doors of kindergarten

If the intent of American public education is to redress inequities at birth and improve the lot of disadvantaged children, it is failing, writes Eduardo Porter in The New York Times. Studies have found the difference in cognitive performance between privileged and disadvantaged children to be as big at age 18 as it was at 3, one of the largest achievement gaps of the 65 countries participating in the Program for International Student Achievement (PISA). The gap is comparable to that between average scores in the United States and Tunisia, and a key reason why income equality in the United States follows generations at a much higher rate than in most advanced nations. This is a scandal, writes Porter, considering the government spends about 5.5 percent of the nation's economic output on education, preschool through college. It also suggests that "the angry, worried debate over how to improve the nation's mediocre education -- pitting teachers' unions and advocates of more money for public schools against the champions of school vouchers and standardized tests -- is missing the most important part: infants and toddlers." Public spending on higher education is over three times that of spending on preschool in this country, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 2009. Another recent study found that in 2008, federal and state governments spent around $10,000 per child, kindergarten through 12th grade. Three- to five-year-olds got less than $5,000, and children under three got $300. More


 
Gap perpetuated from the start
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A new report from the Education Commission of the States finds that provision of kindergarten in terms of availability, duration, and quality is highly unequal across states, and perpetuates, if not exacerbates, the achievement gap. Only 11 states plus D.C. require full-day kindergarten; Alaska, Idaho, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania do not require kindergarten at all, leaving the decision to districts. Kindergarten enrollment is mandatory in only 15 states and the District of Columbia, and half-day programs range from a minimum of two hours to three-and-a-quarter hours per day, while full-day programs are a minimum of four hours to seven hours per day. In terms of kindergarten class size, the lowest maximum teacher/student ratio specified in law is 1:15, the highest 1:30. Some states offer a P-3 license, but many principals prefer staff hold K-6 or K-8 licenses because it provides flexibility in teacher placement. With such significant diversity in kindergarten policies both within and across states, the education some students receive is far superior to that of others. It's impossible to expect students in low-quality programs -- whether due to length of day, teaching quality, or low standards -- to develop at the same speed as their peers. The result is different outcomes for children, and the perpetuation of the achievement gap. More

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Breaking: high-quality preschool yields gains?

As the national debate continues over how much and how best to invest in preschool, two new studies of large-scale programs have shown significant gains for students compared with similar peers not enrolled, The Christian Science Monitor reports. Backers have identified key factors they believe contribute to program success:?teachers' educational backgrounds, pay, and support (such as coaching) are higher than typical at the preschool level; the programs are full-day and open to all students of a certain age group, regardless of family income; curricula are linked to system-wide educational standards; and districts monitor preschool teacher and student improvement on an ongoing basis. The Boston study of the district's universal program for 4- to 5-year-olds found greater gains in vocabulary and math for participating students, compared with nonparticipants after one year, larger than in any other study of large-scale pre-K programs around the U.S. The New Jersey study updates a long-term assessment of the Abbott Preschool Program, high-quality pre-K in 31 low-income districts, which had found sizable effects as students entered kindergarten; these effects continued in language, math, and science scores in fourth and fifth grades. The National Institute for Early Education Research estimates that high-quality preschool costs a national average of $8,000 per child per year.?More

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Ground zero in 'reinventing public education'

In what she describes as "a radical experiment in reinventing public education," Motoko Rich reports in The New York Times that last fall, Tennessee began putting schools with the lowest student test scores and graduation rates into the state-run Achievement School District, a "veritable petri dish" of practices favored by data-driven reformers across the country. The district is mostly run by charter operators, emphasizes frequent testing and data analysis, has performance pay for teachers and longer school days, sources about a fifth of its teachers from Teach for America, and does not offer tenure. The turnaround has been bumpiest with Cornerstone Prep, a nonprofit charter group that took over prekindergarten through third grade at a school in one of the poorest Memphis neighborhoods. No teachers remain from the previous year. At one explosive community meeting in December, parents complained that children had suffered repeated bathroom accidents under strict new disciplinary policies. Others fumed that teachers were taking shoes from students caught fiddling with them. "They don't understand black folk," said Sara Lewis of the merged Memphis and Shelby County School Board. "They don't understand our values or events in our history." Ms. Lewis said taking away students' shoes, for example, evoked masters who did the same to punish slaves. But some community members feel tensions are an adjustment period. "I think sometime where I come from, people don't know that change is good," said Sarah Carpenter, a Memphis mother and grandmother on an advisory council to the district. "The expectations are higher and the kids are not used to that. But they can live up to these expectations."??More


Community school partnerships: Better Together

A new brief from the Partnership for Community Schools describes how local government agencies can partner with schools to align existing resources, how these partnerships can be truly effective, and how to pay for them. Through a coordinated delivery system, a community school offers more effective programs and services than any partner could offer on its own. The brief profiles five efforts in California that illustrate the critical role of coordination and intentional collaboration between partners. The core tenet of the community schools approach is that partnering entities share resources, including funds, time, personnel, and/or other assets. Funding is not always the most important shared asset: Sharing buildings and other facilities make significant contributions to meeting a collaborative's goals. Many community schools are started with a single public agency partnering with a district to expand reach to a certain population. Once an effective partnership is established around one type of service, the agency and school identify another service to integrate into the school site that helps both agency and school meet its goals. Results from the partnership attract other entities with complementary services to join the collaborative, so that they too can reach their goals. However, without staff specifically responsible for coordination, maximizing the resources brought together by partner organizations is not possible. More


Charter policy needs a little work done
Over the course of its 20-year history, American education and its charter school sector have evolved in important ways, writes Adam Emerson in a policy brief from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. A crucial area for overhaul is charter-school governance. The growth of nonprofit charter networks (called "charter management organizations" or CMOs), for-profit school-management companies (called "education management organizations" or EMOs), and "virtual" charter schools have upended the notion that charters are freestanding, community-based schools of the one-off variety. The brief calls for a charter-governance blueprint that retains the founding vision of charter schooling while seeking economies of scale, efficiency, and uniformity. The brief recommends eliminating the common requirement that each charter school have its own governing board, since this hampers the growth of high-achieving networks. It is also essential that EMOs and CMOs be subordinate to the boards of schools they operate, not "puppeteers determining all the moves," so strong laws and rules demanding greater accountability and transparency, along with vigilant authorizing, must provide effective checks. And in the "virtual" charter sector, 19th-century political boundaries drive policies that constrain promising 21st-century reforms. States should allow virtual charter applicants to seek authorization from a suitable state-level -- rather than district -- entity that is serious about innovation and educational quality.?More



Bill Gates: Everybody slow down

We have a window of opportunity in public education to create systems that encourage and develop fantastic teachers, writes Bill Gates in The Washington Post. But as states and districts rush to implement new teacher-development and -evaluation systems, they risk using hastily contrived, unproven measures. If we don't build a system that offers feedback that teachers trust, this opportunity to dramatically improve U.S. education will be wasted. We need thoughtfully developed teacher evaluations that include multiple measures of performance, such as student surveys, classroom observations by experienced colleagues, and student test results.? Of particular concern is the possibility that test results alone will be used to determine a large part of how much teachers get paid. In top-performing education systems such as Singapore and Shanghai, accomplished teachers earn more by assuming additional responsibilities such as coaching and mentoring other teachers, and helping to spread effective teaching techniques. Such systems attract, retain, and reward the best teachers; make great use of their skills; and honor the collaborative nature of work in schools. States such as Connecticut, Delaware, and Kentucky are showing leadership in creating feedback and evaluation systems that reflect the patience and involvement of teachers and administrators. This is required to build an infrastructure that stands the test of time. More

 
How flexible is too flexible for students with disabilities?

A new report from the Advocacy Institute identifies several issues that could negatively impact students with disabilities in states with approved ESEA flexibility, or waivers. One concern is loss of subgroup accountability. While some states have kept test participation requirements the same (i.e., a 95 percent participation requirement for all schools), other states have relaxed requirements, which could excuse significant numbers of students with disabilities from testing. Also, many states have consolidated subgroups under ESEA waivers -- often called "super groups" -- with no student counting more than once, even if a student belongs to more than one subgroup. Additionally, waiver flexibility around Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) -- the percentage of students who must score proficient or above on state assessments in reading and math -- allows states to set new AMOs for subgroups and schools, potentially lowering expectations for lower-performing groups. Flexible AMOs may mislead parents and stakeholders about how students are actually doing, and be an incentive for schools to move low-performing students into special education to minimize the impact of their scores. Flexibility may also bring a decreased focus on graduation rates, which could marginalize the importance of graduation rates for students with disabilities. Finally, many states with waivers have not indicated how students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, who participate in alternate state assessment systems, would be included in growth calculations. All states with ESEA flexibility are required to end use of the Alternate Assessment on Modified Academic Achievement Standards, which could ensure better access to the general curriculum and a regular diploma for alternately assessed students, but poses a significant risk if handled poorly.?More


    BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
Writing on the wall
California's largest teacher union is backing a measure that makes it easier to discipline and fire teachers accused of misconduct, after successfully fighting a similar proposal last year. More
?Lovers, not fighters
Rather than battle a controversial parent-empowerment law, Los Angeles school officials earlier this year opted for collaboration, resulting in a plan by the LAUSD and a charter school being endorsed by leaders of a parents group. More
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BRIEFLY NOTED
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Survival of the fittest
Twenty-five out of 125 low-performing Head Start providers that went through a recompetition process to maintain federal funding have lost their entire service area. More
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Maintaining focus
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has developed an evolving, performance-based funding formula that rewards schools for growth in number of overall degrees; on-time graduation rates; student retention; number of degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math; and degrees granted to students receiving federal Pell grants. More?
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Long overdue
Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed into law a bill that grants in-state tuition to undocumented Oregon high school graduates who meet certain criteria. More

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How accommodating?


With a rollout of the new Common Core State Standards assessments in 2014-15, test developers aim to streamline the types of testing supports offered to special education students and English-language learners, and to ensure the tests are broadly accessible to all students, regardless of profile.?More
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Smart man
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam abruptly withdrew his proposal for school vouchers after he and the bill's sponsor in the state Senate failed to get guarantees from fellow Republicans that they would not try to expand the measure. More
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Smarter man
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has announced he wants to spend $25 million more than he previously proposed on K-12 education in the next biennium for programs to help English language learners and to expand all-day kindergarten.?More
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Better late than never
Mississippi would directly fund a limited preschool program for the first time under a bill on its way to Gov. Phil Bryant.??
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Devil/details




Report cards released annually by New Jersey that provide detailed information about public schools' spending, enrollment, and test scores will now include new indicators of student performance. More
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Public-ish
Asked whether Michelle Rhee's daughters attend public school, a spokesperson for Rhee asserted Rhee was "a public school parent." ?More?

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GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
?Institute for Global Environmental Strategies: Thacher Environmental Research Contest
The 2013 Thacher Environmental Research Contest, sponsored by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, challenges high school students to conduct innovative research on our changing planet using the latest geospatial tools and data. Eligible geospatial tools and data include satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, geographic information systems (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS). The main focus of the project must be the application of the geospatial tool(s) or data to study a problem related to Earth's environment. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: any student attending high school (grades 9-12 -- public, private, parochial, Native American reservation, or home school) in the United States or U.S. territories; or any student who is a United States citizen and enrolled in a high school (grades 9-12) attending a Department of Defense Dependents' Overseas School or an accredited overseas American or International School; or foreign school as an exchange student; or a foreign school because his/her parent(s) are temporarily working and living abroad. Deadline: April 15, 2013.
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NSTA: New Science Teacher Academy
The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy Foundation is a professional development initiative created to promote quality science teaching, enhance teacher confidence and classroom excellence, and improve teacher content knowledge. Maximum award: program expenses. Eligibility: middle or high school science teachers entering their second or third year of teaching, working a schedule with 51 percent of their classes in science. Deadline: July 1, 2013.
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Mickelson/ExxonMobil: 2014 Teachers Academy
The Mickelson ExxonMobil 2014 Teachers Academy offers a five-day program, with camp in New Jersey designed to provide third- through fifth-grade teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to motivate students to pursue careers in science and math.?Maximum award: all expenses paid five-day program in July 2014. Eligibility: third- through fifth-grade teachers from all over the United States. Deadline: October 31, 2013.
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Brown Rudnick Center for the Public Interest: Community Grant Program

The Brown Rudnick Center Community Grant Program recognizes, encourages, and collaborates with front-line workers within the educational system who often do not have a voice in funding decisions; and provides funding to assist with small, concrete projects or needs that will make an improvement in inner-city education in Boston, Hartford, New York City, Providence, and Washington, D.C. within a year of the award. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: "front-line educational workers" involved in the education field or a related field in Boston, Hartford, New York City, Providence, or Washington, D.C. partnered with a non-profit organization or tax-exempt organization (e.g. a public school) that is willing to accept the grant and use it in the required manner. Deadline: rolling.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Arming the teacher is merely a response to the last tragedy. The one before that was in a shopping mall in Oregon, and the one before that was in a movie theater in Colorado. I don't think the proper response is to arm all the projectionists in the movie theaters or all the vendors in the mall." ? ? ? ? ? ? ? --?Representative Mike Thompson, California Democrat, in response to the National Rifle Associations's new report on school safety.



 

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