[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — Oct. 29, 2013

[Art Snyder]

                October 29, 2013 - In This Issue:
         The wisdom of community  schools
     Without instructional shifts, new  standards amount to little
     The fluid classification of  'ELL'
     An ELL morass in  LA
     The language gap starts  earlier
     Alternative accountability for  alternative schools
     Districts, support staff, and the  ACA
     One vantage on the Common  Core
     BRIEFLY NOTED  CALIFORNIA
     BRIEFLY NOTED
     GRANTS AND FUNDING  OPPORTUNITIES
                           
     The wisdom of community  schools
 
     In a guest column for  the Answer Sheet in The Washington Post, Brock Cohen of the Los Angeles  Education Partnership writes that "what makes California's community schools  movement so profoundly inspiring is that its core tenets reflect the fundamental  belief that disadvantaged children are resilient, complex, thoughtful human  beings." Cohen accompanied California State Senator Carol Liu on a three-day bus  tour?of effective cross-agency partnerships in California that are having  dynamic impacts by connecting students, parents, and schools to local  resources.?The foundational principles of the community-school framework reject  a notion of students as data points, Cohen writes, addressing low achievement  through a holistic course of action. The movement's champions spotlight poverty  and social injustice as primary impediments to student learning, and emphasize  how community schools are as much an exercise in fiscal pragmatism as a moral  call to action. Past reforms have focused on channeling limited financial and  human-resource inputs to schools and districts. The community-schools model  establishes inputs as the process by which a child's needs are fulfilled. If  community partners and resources (as inputs) are actively engaged in addressing  these needs (health, wellness, literacy, and cognitive growth), the outcomes  take care of themselves. Community schools aren't a quick-fix policy instrument,  but represent a cultural shift toward "a more effective, efficient, sustainable,  and ethical public school paradigm."?More
 
 
       
   Without instructional shifts, new standards amount to  little
 A new report from the  Thomas B. Fordham Institute looks at assigned texts and instructional techniques  in Common Core states as a baseline indicator of early CCSS implementation. For  the most part, it finds the work of aligning curricula and instruction to CCSS  rigor has not yet been undertaken. The Common Core asks teachers to assign texts  with language complexity appropriate to grade level, but significant proportions  of teachers -- particularly in elementary grades -- still assign texts based on  student reading ability. Teachers are also more likely to fit texts to skills  than to ground skills instruction in texts. For instance, 73 percent of  elementary school teachers and 56 percent of middle school teachers place  greater emphasis on reading skills than text. The CCSS call for students to read  informational texts, including literary nonfiction such as speeches and essays,  and most teachers surveyed said they already assign these, but many English  language arts teachers (including 56 percent at the middle school level)  assigned none of the literary or informational texts listed in the study's  survey. The CCSS demand instructional shifts based on the best research for  boosting student reading comprehension and analysis, but if the standards are to  have any impact, they must change classroom practice.?More
 
       
   The fluid classification of 'ELL'
   If a U.S. student learning  English were to travel across the country, in some states she would be  classified an English-language learner and get extra support, but in others she  would not, writes Adrienne Liu for Stateline.org. Under the federal Civil Rights  Act, schools must provide English-language learners with additional services to  ensure mastery of both English and the material other students are learning. The  wide variety in classification policies creates problems for students who move  from state to state, or even from one district to another, as they suddenly find  themselves in a new category. Now that nearly all states have agreed to adopt  the Common Core State Standards in English and math, some are striving for a  common definition of an English-language learner, a task that likely will take  years, given the political and policy implications. For instance, California,  which has about 1,000 school districts, has "1,000 different definitions of  what's an English learner," according to Robert Linquanti of WestEd. The federal  government, which gives money to states to help English learners but struggles  to evaluate its use, hopes to prompt a common definition by requiring any state  that belongs to a CCSS consortium to establish a common definition of English  learner within its consortium to receive federal grants.?More
 
       
   An  ELL morass in LA
   Plans to separate Los  Angeles elementary students not fluent in English from native speakers in all  core classes is drawing fire, as critics say this will make students  "second-class citizens" in their own schools, reports The Christian Science  Monitor. The policy is an attempt to improve performance of non-English-speaking  students in response to a two-year-old federal civil rights lawsuit. Test  results show that roughly 50,000 district students classified as "English  Language Learners" (ELLs) in kindergarten never become proficient. The issue is  particularly urgent for the Los Angeles Unified School District because  California is one of a handful of English-only states that requires instruction  in English, and LAUSD has almost 200,000 ELLs -- nearly a third of overall  enrollment. For opponents of the district's two-year "master plan," however, a  long line of research literature and common sense suggest that ELLs have a  better opportunity to learn English if placed with English-speaking peers.  Principals and teachers have organized protests to delay implementation. But  district officials say that far from discounting the needs of ELL students, this  plan is designed to address them. Meanwhile, principals responsible for  implementing the new policies at each school are being encouraged to mainstream  children with limited English in non-core subjects such as physical education  and art.?More
 
       
   The language gap starts earlier
 A follow-up to the  study finding that by age 3, children of wealthier professionals have heard  words millions more times than those of less-educated parents, has found a  language gap even earlier, writes Motoko Rich for The New York Times. New  research finds that at 18 months, affluent children can identify pictures of  simple words -- "dog" or "ball" -- much faster than children from low-income  families. By age 2, wealthier children have learned 30 percent more words in the  intervening months than lower-income peers. Since oral language and vocabulary  are deeply connected to reading comprehension, disadvantaged children face  increased challenges once they enter school and start learning to read. However,  David Dickinson of Vanderbilt University fears teachers or parents could pervert  these findings. "The worst thing that could come out of all this interest in  vocabulary," he said, "is flash cards with pictures making kids memorize a  thousand words." Instead, experts emphasize the importance of natural  conversations with children, asking questions while reading books, and helping  children identify words during playtime. Even these simple principles may be  hard to implement, some say, because preschool instructors are paid far less  than public schoolteachers and receive scant training. Literacy experts and  publishing companies are rushing to develop materials for teachers, but  policymakers say they must focus increasingly on parents.?More
 
       
   Alternative accountability for alternative  schools
   A new report from the  National Association of Charter School Authorizers sets out recommendations for  appropriate accountability systems for the growing sector of alternative charter  schools -- schools that serve special populations, including adjudicated youth,  dropouts, pregnant teens, and recovering addicts. States have struggled with  defining and implementing academic accountability systems for these schools, and  only six states -- California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and  Texas -- have clear and separate accountability measures in place. Charter  authorizers elsewhere are left to make high-stakes decisions without adequate  guidance from state policies. The report recommends that authorizers set a high  bar when identifying a school as alternative, and that any school considered for  alternative accountability treatment must have its intentions clearly indicated  in its mission statement. Authorizers should be open to different approaches,  but these approaches must be detailed. Oversight must be specialized and  tailored to the circumstances of the school. And charter contracts must become  the central instrument of accountability, forming a solid basis for evaluating  academic and non-academic goals, as well as traditional and non-traditional  measures of academic performance. Policy for these schools is too often made on  the basis of anecdote -- recognition is needed that they engage students  differently, and that a one-size-fits-all approach to accountability will not  work.?More
 
       
   Districts, support staff, and the ACA
   Districts are facing  financial and operational challenges in complying with the Affordable Care Act,  which administrators say force them to choose between absorbing the costs of  health coverage for uninsured employees or cutting back their hours, reports  Sean Cavanaugh for Education Week. The law mandates that public and private  employers with at least 50 workers must provide health insurance to those  working an average of 30 hours a week or face steep fines. Many districts have  long relied on support-staff members such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and  instructional aides to perform a range of duties, in some cases juggling several  assignments, without offering health insurance. Some officials fear cutting  hours will hurt employees by reducing their paychecks, and undermine K-12  services. Last year, 11 percent of school officials said that the impact of the  health-care law was an issue that most worried them. That number is now 54  percent, according to a survey by the Association of School Business Officials  International. In most cases, the employer mandate does not affect teachers, who  typically receive health insurance through contracts that are collectively  bargained with districts. Backers of the ACA argue that employees who work 30 or  more hours, in education and other fields, deserve insurance.?More
 
       
   One vantage on the Common Core
   In a profile of Cecily  Woodard, an eighth-grade math teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, Barbara Kantrowiz  writes in The Hechinger Report that Woodard disagrees that the Common Core is  too hard for struggling students. She thinks its focus on fewer concepts, in  greater depth, will help them. "The goal is for me not to talk a lot, but to ask  a lot of questions so I am advancing their thinking," she says. When Woodard was  growing up in Memphis, her math teachers stood at the front of the class and  lectured, and students took notes. Because of that rote instruction, Woodard  says she wasn't a great math student. In contrast, struggling Rose Park Middle  School students get an extra math class every day called Focus Seminar. In the  50-minute class Kantrowiz observed, Woodard conducted a conversation more than a  lecture. She gave students a minute for "private think time" before they broke  into groups, using small handheld whiteboards for computations. Woodard walked  from group to group, checking on progress and guiding students. At the end of  class, she distributed Post-It notes and asked students to answer: What did you  learn? What questions do you have? Or, what stopped your learning today?  Woodard's goal is that all her students love math as much as she  does.?More
 
       BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
     ?
   Over  Deasy
   Los Angeles Schools Supt. John  Deasy, who has led the nation's second-largest school system since 2011, told  top district officials he could be leaving in coming months.?More
   ?
   Or  not
   In a communication to a reporter  John Deasy said, "I have not resigned. Have not submitted a letter of  resignation." He declined further comment.?More
   ?
   In other  news
   Providing iPads to Los Angeles  students will cost nearly $100 more apiece -- or $770 per tablet, a new LAUSD  budget shows.?More
   ?
   ?
   Time to  lay off the Doritos
   Only one in three California  students earned a "fit" rating in the annual physical fitness test given to more  than one million fifth, seventh, and ninth grade students, according to 2012-13  test results.?More
       BRIEFLY NOTED
       ?
   Adrift
   Almost six million young people  are neither in school nor working, according to a study by Opportunity  Nation.?More
   ?
   Getting  in Early
   Sixteen states plus the District  of Columbia are competing for a slice of the next round of the Race to the Top  Early Learning Challenge.?More
   ?
   More  overhauls
   Seven states will overhaul their  teacher-preparation and -licensing systems under a two-year pilot program  created by Council of Chief State School Officers.?More
   ?
   Short and  sweet
   A plan is underway to create a  three-year high school diploma in Dallas ISD.?More
   ?
   Welcome  back
   Michigan Schools Superintendent  Mike Flanagan has ordered the Michigan Department of Education to resume  implementation of the state's Common Core State Standards after the Michigan  Senate adopted a resolution to restart funding.?More
   ?
   Since gun  control is out of the question
   A new law requiring Nevada  districts to track incidents of bullying and harassment may get fresh attention  after a student opened fire at a middle school in Sparks, Nev. on Oct. 21,  killing a teacher and wounding two other students.?More
   ?
   Guess we  can all relax
   Amid growing alarm over the  slipping international competitiveness of American students, a new report from  the National Center for Education Statistics comparing math and science test  scores of eighth graders in individual states to those in other countries found  that a majority outperformed the international average.?More
 
   ?
 
   ?
       
   GRANTS  AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
   ?
   Sodexo: Steven J. Brady STOP Hunger  Scholarship
   The Sodexo Steven J. Brady STOP  Hunger Scholarship program supports the education of young people working to end  hunger in communities across the United States, and brings attention to the  innovative and effective solutions they are implementing toward ending hunger in  their lifetime. Maximum award: a $5,000 scholarship award and a matching $5,000  grant in their name for the hunger-related charity of their choice. Eligibility:  students enrolled in an accredited education institution (kindergarten through  graduate school) in the United States who can demonstrate an ongoing commitment  to hunger-relief activities in their community. Deadline: December 5, 2013.
   ?
   Children's Tylenol: National Child Care Teacher  Awards
   The Terri Lynne Lokoff/Children's  Tylenol National Child Care Teacher Awards acknowledge the critical role of  child-care teachers in providing quality early care and education. Applicants  are asked to design an enhancement project for children in their classroom,  illustrating the educational, social, and emotional benefits from the project.  Maximum award: $5,500. Eligibility: teachers of infants, toddlers, or  preschool-age children employed in a home-, group-, or center-based program that  is fully compliant with local and state regulations for operating child care  programs. Deadline: December 6, 2013.
   ?
   Starbucks Foundation: Youth Action  Grant
   The Starbucks Foundation is  interested in supporting organizations that equip young people in the areas of  Business Savvy -- the ability to leverage opportunities with integrity and  innovation, and to make good decisions and achieve results;
   Social Conscience -- the impact  an individual and enterprise can have on the community; and Collaborative  Communication -- engaging others in an inclusive manner across teams, functions,  and cultures, and leveraging new and creative ways of communication. Maximum  award: $30,000. Eligibility: organizations working with youth ages 15 to 24.  Deadline: December 15, 2013.
   ?
   Captain Planet Foundation: Grants for the  Environment
   The Captain Planet Foundation  funds hands-on environmental projects to encourage youth around the world to  work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their  neighborhoods and communities. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: 501(c)(3)  nonprofit organizations, including schools, with an annual operating budget of  less than $3 million. Deadline: January 31, 2013.
   ?
   QUOTE OF THE  WEEK:?
   "There are a lot of folk who have  a lot of money who simply don't need Social Security. And we can't even begin to  have a conversation around means testing for that group. It's unfair to the next  generation." -- ?Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone,  campaigning against entitlement spending.
 
 
   
 
    
  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiogift/attachments/20131029/0578c7fd/attachment.html>