[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — Aug. 27, 2013

[Art Snyder]

                August 27, 2013 - In This Issue:
       College for all: idealistic or paternalistic?
  Who benefits from wider access to AP?
  What parents think
  What Americans think
  Or perhaps they think this
  What charters aren't saying
  Meager vindication of the NOLA experiment
  Why states are dumping the CCSS
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            
College for all: idealistic or paternalistic?

At schools that have embraced a college-for-all aspiration, mostly poor and minority students are drilled in the humanities and sciences, which their mostly middle- or upper-income, mostly white teachers hope will yield high scores on the ACT, SAT, and AP exams and propel them to four-year colleges, writes Sarah Carr in The Wilson Quarterly. ?The opposing camp -- pragmatic -- feels that in cities where many fail tests of basic skills, a purely academic agenda is wrong-headed. Sending everyone to and through college might be egalitarian in theory, but the means to this end are often paternalistic, Carr says. And many technical education programs were designed with classist, racist assumptions about low-income and minority students and their capabilities. A recent influential report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education stresses improving traditional academic instruction, but argues that career training should be significantly upgraded through field work, extensive employer involvement, and enhanced hands-on (not classroom-based) learning. We should stop treating academic and vocational education as curricular silos, Carr says, but we should also stop viewing low-income, minority children as "other." This notional otherness underpins simplistic positions on both sides of the debate. "In the long run, social policies and programs that deny the overwhelming power of individual agency are destined to fail," in Carr's view.?More


 
Who benefits from wider access to AP?

The vast expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) classes since 2006 to bright, low-income and minority students has failed its promise, writes Liz Bowie for The Baltimore Sun. Huge numbers of students have not progressed from low-performing high schools to selective colleges with credits in hand. Students poorly prepared in earlier grades have floundered in AP classes, or been awarded As and Bs in coursework but failed AP exams. Many arrive to college with AP on their transcripts but skills so low they need remedial classes. A Baltimore Sun analysis showed that in 19 high schools in the Baltimore region, over half of students earning an A or B in an AP class failed the test. For 2011-2012, 40 percent of students failed the AP exam nationally, but 75 percent of African-American students nationwide did so. Pass rates for whites and Asians dwarf those of Latinos and low-income students. Through expanded AP participation, the College Board has expanded profits, netting $720 million in 2011; AP and the PSAT account for half of this. Federal officials sent Maryland $589,000 to subsidize AP exam fees for low-income students in 2012. County governments spent another $451,700, and principals pulled money from budgets for those who couldn't pay fees but didn't qualify for aid. Yet most fees are paid by families. Baltimore County School Superintendent Dallas Dance says the county must prepare students in middle school for AP, and give those in high school extra help.?More



What parents think

A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of 1,025 parents of children who completed grades K through 12 last school year finds 61 percent say their children are given the right number of standardized tests, and three-quarters want student performance on statewide exams used to evaluate teachers. Fifty-six percent said classroom observations should also be part of evaluations, and 74 percent want districts to help struggling teachers. Fifty-two percent of parents have heard little or nothing about the Common Core, and a third are unsure if they live in a state using them. Given a brief description of the standards, half of parents say educational quality will improve once they are implemented, 11 percent think it will worsen, and 27 percent expect no effect. Seventy-five percent of parents say standardized tests are a solid measure of their children's abilities, and 69 percent say such exams are a good measure of a school's quality. Among parents who are also teachers or share a household with a teacher, only 3 in 10 think changes in student test scores should count in teacher evaluations. Fifty-five percent of households with teachers said standardized test scores in general should not be used in evaluations.??More



What Americans think

The seventh annual Education Next poll finds two-thirds of Americans favor the Common Core State Standards, similar to last year, and 13 percent oppose them, double a year ago. Half of poll participants give local public schools a letter grade of A or B; only a fifth say the same for public schools nationally. For local private schools, three-fourths give an A or B. Seventy-five percent of respondents feel local schools meet the needs of more-talented students, but 45 percent think they fail less-talented students. Of teachers, 77 percent think the highly talented are well served; 66 percent think the less talented are. Sixty percent of general respondents were in favor of state- or federally funded preschool; just 27 oppose. Among teachers, 73 percent support preschool, 22 percent don't. Fifty-five percent of general respondents who were not informed of current pay levels favor increasing teacher pay, down from 64 percent. Only 37 percent of those informed of teacher salaries favor increases, same as in 2012. Support for performance pay remains at 49 percent; opposition has grown from 27 to 39 percent. Similarly, 27 percent oppose basing teacher tenure on student progress, double a year ago, and 58 percent support it. Twenty-nine percent opposed universal vouchers in 2012, 37 percent do now; 44 percent support them, close to last year. Those without a definite opinion on charters dropped to 24 percent from 41, and support for charters shifted from 43 to 51 percent, while opposition increased from 16 to 26 percent. Results are based on a sample of 1,138 adults and oversamples of public school teachers, parents of school-age children, African Americans, and Hispanics.?More



Or perhaps they think this

A new survey from PDK/Gallup finds that in a reversal of public opinion, a majority of Americans now oppose using student test scores to evaluate teachers, and more believe that increased testing has hurt rather than helped public schools, report Teresa Watanabe and Marina Villeneuve for The Los Angeles Times. Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled also oppose the public release of student test scores of individual teachers -- a shift from two years ago, when a majority supported it. The poll found that 36 percent of respondents believe increased testing has hurt schools, compared to 28 percent in 2007. Only 22 percent believed testing has helped schools; the rest saw no difference. The survey also found that 58 percent opposed using student test scores in teacher evaluations, a reversal from last year, when 52 percent favored it. Most respondents have never heard of the Common Core. The poll found broad support for charter schools, with a majority of respondents saying charters offer a better education than traditional schools. But 70 percent opposed using public dollars to pay for private school education -- the strongest opposition to vouchers ever recorded in the survey. In the 45th annual poll by PDK/Gallup, a nationally representative sample of 1,001 American adults, including a sub-sample of parents, were interviewed.?More


     
What charters aren't saying

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that 37 percent of charter schools in 2010-11 left blank the field in which to record number of English Language learner (ELL) students in their data reporting to the federal government, writes Katie Ash for Education Week. A blank field could indicate a charter had no ELL students, but because the number of blanks for this field was so high nationally, the GAO suspects non-reporting. One reason could be definitional: The field for ELLs asked schools for number of students enrolled in "English-language instruction educational programs," where "program" was inadequately defined. The field for ELLs was not the only common blank from charters: Some were also missing data on math and/or reading scores, as well as graduation rates, suggesting a broader reporting problem. The GAO recommends the U.S. Department of Education conduct a systemic evaluation of data-reporting practices in charters to determine the extent to which non-reporting occurs, and to explore its underlying reasons. In response, the Education Department said it was compiling a comprehensive directory of all charters in the United States; however, the GAO believes "these efforts are not designed to provide a clear picture of the extent of nor reasons for charter school non-reporting."?More



Meager vindication of the NOLA experiment

A review by the National Education Policy Center of a recent follow-up report from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University finds it overstates the positive effect of charter schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans experienced immediate and dramatic shifts in school population after the storm, with a rapid decline from 68,000 to 32,000 students -- slowly restored to 42,000 by 2011. The outward migration of students made for a much smaller proportion of poor children. Additionally, funds were reduced for traditional public schools, while funds for charters continued through federal, state, and foundation sources. Drawing an appropriate comparison group and making well-founded conclusions is problematic with such changes and potentially strong selection effects, particularly when 78 percent of New Orleans public school students are enrolled in charters. The study itself also has weaknesses. Researchers insufficiently justify their estimation of growth, expressed in a "days of learning" metric. They use regression models that fail to address independence of observations and absence of measurement error. These concerns aside, the charter effect for New Orleans is unimpressive: Differences of 0.12 standard deviations in reading and 0.14 in mathematics indicate that less than one half of one percent of the variation in test scores is attributable to charter attendance.?More



Why states are dumping the CCSS

In an opinion piece in The Hechinger Report, Charles Chieppo and Jamie Gass write that since Race to the Top money -- whose delivery was contingent on Common Core adoption -- is now spent, states are belatedly scrutinizing the standards -- and high-performing states can't like what they see. These states had rigorous standards prior to the Common Core, and the newer standards are a significant step downward. Compared to Massachusetts's earlier standards, for instance, the Common Core reduces classic literature, poetry, and drama in English classes by 60 percent, eliminating Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. In math, the new standards delay progression to Algebra I -- the gateway to higher math study -- by two years. In contrast to other states, Massachusetts's eighth-graders tied for best in the world in science in the 2007 Trends in International Math and Science Study. And the standards pose a different problem for lower-performing states. Transitioning to the standards will cost states an estimated $16 billion over seven years, mainly through technology upgrades, new textbooks and instructional materials, and teacher training and support. These costs, or costs associated with the consortia developing assessments tied to Common Core, have prompted a number of states to drop out.?More

BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
Into the breach
Days after the news that federal Head Start programs in California will serve thousands fewer children this year because of sequestration, the California Department of Education announced that state preschool programs will serve thousands more children.?More
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A question of means
Both LAUSD officials and the teacher union agree that one-time state money for the transition to the Common Core should be spent on teacher training, but they disagree over how best to provide it.?More
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Kudos
High Tech Los Angeles in Lake Balboa has been named as the top charter high school in California by the University of Southern California.?More
BRIEFLY NOTED?
Flameout
The latest ACT scores show that the average composite score on the college-entrance exam dropped to 20.9 among high school students in 2013, the lowest in eight years.?More
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Buttoning up
Many schools are opening their doors this semester with an option less controversial than arming teachers: panic buttons.?More
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Responsive
The 2013-14 version of New York City Public Schools' annually updated discipline guidelines include new rules to encourage the use of counseling, reduce bullying, and protect students with special needs.?More
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Seizing momentum
Having taken simultaneous control of both chambers of the legislature and the governorship for the first time in 140 years, North Carolina Republicans have moved aggressively on K-12 policy this year, with swift action on school choice and teacher policy.?More
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So what's the point?
At least 342 public school districts and charter schools have notified the Ohio Department of Education that they are not prepared for Ohio's new third-grade reading guarantee, which takes effect this year.?More
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Triage
The Missouri State Board of Education has approved plans for increased oversight of failing schools, while praising recent efforts to transfer students out of unaccredited districts.?More
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Not to be left out
The Maine Equal Rights Center has announced it will launch a citizens' petition campaign to repeal Maine's use of the Common Core State Standards.?More
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Sic transit commerce
The private tutoring industry, which has flourished under the No Child Left Behind Act, has been hit hard by federal waivers that have eased key provisions of the law.?More
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Bringing up the rear
The U.S. Department of Education has announced that it is granting a waiver from NCLB to Pennsylvania.?More

GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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NEA Foundation: Learning & Leadership Grants
NEA Foundation Learning & Leadership Grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education for one of two purposes: Grants to individuals fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research; grants to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Maximum award: $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. Eligibility: public school teachers grades K-12; public school education support professionals; or faculty and staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2013.
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NEA Foundation: Student Achievement Grants
The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants provide funds to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem-solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: practicing U.S. public school teachers, public school education support professionals, or faculty or staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2013.
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AGI: Mapping My Community
The American Geological Institute is sponsoring a photography contest to celebrate Earth Science Week 2013. The photography theme for this year is "A World of Change in My Community." Maximum award: $300, a copy of AGI's Faces of Earth DVD, and winner's photograph on the Earth Science Week Website. Eligibility: interested residents of the United States of any age. Deadline: October 18, 2013.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"Where before we might have been more concerned about the child's holistic development, and allowing them to move with their natural developmental process, now would we start teaching to the test?" -- Ayize Sabater, chief executive of Shining Stars Montessori Academy in D.C., regarding a proposal by the city's public charter school board to rank preschools based largely on how children as young as 3 are performing on reading and math tests.



 

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