[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — Nov. 19, 2013

[Art Snyder]

                November 19, 2013 - In This Issue:
       What the waiver about-face tells us
  The (completely unsurprising) effective-teacher gap
  Punishment or responsiveness?
  Underfunding the IDEA
  Turmoil and transformation in Memphis
  About TIME
  School assessment for school improvement
  The new edPTA
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            
What the waiver about-face tells us

On the politics K-12 blog in Education Week, Michele McNeil distills the five key take-aways from the administration's about-face on NCLB waivers. First, she says, states have the upper hand: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has little leverage left, having already given waivers and $100 billion in economic-stimulus aid to nearly all states; it's not in his interest to revoke waivers now. Second, the move shows the Department of Education (ED) is "flying by the seat of its pants": It's already issued a one-year extension for teacher-evaluation implementation, and is backtracking on renewal rules issued two months ago. Third, states have encountered vocal resistance to the Common Core as a federal initiative. Further federal mandates may only stiffen resistance, and Duncan wants both the Common Core and waivers to succeed. Fourth, ED's purported 50-state strategy to address teacher distribution will have to be strong, given anger from civil rights groups over the waiver reversal. Finally, ED is making it far simpler for states to get waiver extensions. What started as a 13-page document is now two pages. All states must do is request an extension in writing, explaining why flexibility has helped, and resolve in the letter or otherwise any monitoring problems federal officials have identified. By contrast, the August guidance from the department had extensive requirements.?More


 
The (completely unsurprising) effective-teacher gap
A new study by Mathematica Policy Research explores disparities in access to effective teaching in 29 diverse districts across the country, revealing that disadvantaged students receive less effective teaching on average than other students. The authors calculate that if free and reduced-price lunch (FRL) students had equal access to effective teaching, the achievement gap within these districts would shrink from 28 to 26 percentile points in English/language arts and from 26 to 24 percentile points in math after one year. Access to effective teaching varied across study districts, but disadvantaged students did not have greater access to effective teaching in any district in the sample. Unequal access to effective teaching was most related to school assignment of teachers and students, rather than to how teachers were assigned to students within schools. The average between-school access to effective teaching was significantly greater than the average within-school measure in both upper elementary and middle school grades. In other words, unequal access to effective teaching depended more on FRL students attending schools with less-effective teaching than on FRL students being assigned to classrooms (within schools) with less-effective teaching.?More



Punishment or responsiveness?
New understanding that stressful and potentially traumatic childhood experiences change the body and brain has far-reaching implications for schools where standard practice punishes misbehavior that children often cannot control, writes David Bornstein in an op-ed in The New York Times. Many American students come to school with emotional and behavioral difficulties that seriously impede learning. Education reforms falter when schools can't manage the behavior problems of early graders or preschoolers -- as evidenced by the crisis in school suspensions and preschool expulsions. The CLEAR Trauma Center at Washington State University and the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative in Massachusetts have been helping schools make use of emerging research on trauma. This has translated to ensuring that an entire school community -- teachers, cafeteria workers, playground monitors, office staff, bus drivers -- understand the effects of trauma on children. It has also meant moving away from reflexive discipline toward responses that teach kids how to calm themselves. Just as we send powerful messages about our values when we accommodate people with disabilities, schools send messages by how they treat children whose behavior falls outside normal bounds. Punishment can reinforce judgments and hierarchies and perpetuate crises -- or respond by deepening understanding and building supportive communities.?More



Underfunding the IDEA

Over half of parents of children with disabilities surveyed by the National Center for Learning Disabilities say schools have altered special education services in the past year due to declining funding, reports Joy Resmovits for The Huffington Post. Of the 53 percent of parents who said services changed, 29 percent said services decreased, 32 percent said class sizes grew, 27 percent reported dropped service providers, and 13 percent reported changed student placement. Sequestration gouged $579 million from special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act this year, and this figure may rise. The IDEA stipulates that Congress pay up to 40 percent of a state's average spending on each student with disabilities. The closest Congress came to meeting this level was in 2005 at 18.5 percent, and in 2009, when the one-time economic stimulus boosted payments. Since sequestration, Congress has paid 14 percent, the lowest in over a decade. The survey asked whether parents were "worried about the impact that budget cuts have" on kids' education; 94 percent responded yes. One advocate says children are not getting the interventions they need, especially in terms of effectively trained teachers, nor are they being identified early enough.?More



Turmoil and transformation in Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee's schools are in the vanguard of changes reshaping urban education, including decentralized control, charter proliferation, increased use of data to determine school closure, and a greater reliance on teachers from alternative preparation programs such as Teach for America or the Memphis Teacher Residency, Sarah Carr reports in The Atlantic Monthly. Memphis epitomizes so-called portfolio district management, in which numerous operators -- the district, the state, charter operators, community groups -- run a city's schools instead of a single entity. Under this system, school survival hinges on test-score gains. Underperformers are transferred, repackaged, or dropped outright. Supporters argue this saves children from chronically underperforming schools. Critics maintain it treats educators and students like widgets. A particularly controversial component is the state-run Achievement School District, whose fiercest opposition comes from veteran teachers: When a school is absorbed into the Achievement District, teachers must reapply. Whether the portfolio approach succeeds in Memphis in the long term will depend on whether its backers can strike a balance between respect for localism and desire for results. Backers argue that strong results -- in the form of improved test scores and college matriculation rates -- will win over skeptics in the end. But though the district is in the early stages of reorganization, results have been modest so far.?More


     
About TIME

More than 9,000 students in Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, and New York are attending select, high-poverty schools with expanded school schedules as part of the TIME Collaborative, or Time for Innovation Matters in Education, the Associated Press reports. These schools are using extra time for additional instruction and enrichment. A second group of schools in those same four states and Tennessee will soon join them, serving about 13,000 students. These schools are redesigning their schedules for 2014-15 and will use the extra 300 hours per year for enhanced programming: personalized learning technologies, studying world cultures, foreign languages, fitness and healthy living, even scrapbooking. To help ease the transition for educators, districts are cutting down on meetings and increasing flexibility. The average school day in the U.S. is 6.7 hours, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Department of Education. The five participating states are using a mix of federal, state, and district funding to cover the additional 300 hours of instruction and enrichment. The Ford Foundation is also providing grant funding, and the National Center on Time and Learning is offering technical and planning help to schools.?More.?Related



School assessment for school improvement

A new report from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) describes a system of school self-evaluation in use in parts of Western Europe, and its potential for and putative obstacles to its implementation in this country. Current U.S. test-based accountability models hold schools and teachers accountable for student outcomes with scant attention to school-improvement processes. Broadly described, the European two-part system begins with a school self-evaluation and is followed by an outside inspection (SSE/I). Such programs exist in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Netherlands. The researchers suggest that SSE/I's underlying purposes and principles, in particular its focus on quality improvement, can inform redesign and improvement of the U.S. approach. The authors recommend the U.S. employ external reviews of schools with a focus on providing guidance and support rather than punitive sanctions; set rigorous standards for external reviewers to ensure they are qualified; define school quality beyond standardized test scores, including comprehensive criteria by which to define teaching quality; in designing review and assessment systems, include the perspectives of multiple stakeholders -- administrators, teachers, students, parents, community leaders, and researchers; and redirect state financial resources to adequately support external review systems.?More



The new edPTA

A new report from the Stanford Center on Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) summarizes the design, development process, and validation results for a new performance assessment for beginning teachers, the edTPA. The edTPA is educator-designed, and can inform program completion, licensure, and accreditation decisions at the same time as supporting candidate learning and preparation-program improvement. The test is subject-specific and performance-based, and aligned with the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards, the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards, and the Common Core State Standards. It is modeled after the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' assessments, and is scored by teachers and teacher educators. Based on the 2013 field test data, at a cut score of 42, 58 percent of candidates would have "passed" edTPA on their first attempt. Under actual testing circumstances, pass rates would be expected to increase. In the operational phase, all scores on or near the cut score will be read and scored by two independent certified scorers. Differences in scores will prompt a third reader to independently adjudicate discrepancies. Candidates who do not pass on their initial attempt may retake one edTPA task or the entire edTPA assessment, with the counsel of faculty from their teacher-preparation program.?More


BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
Good money after bad?
Los Angeles Unified is moving forward with the second phase of its iPad plan, but has added a pilot test of laptops -- signaling that the district's ambitious technology project may extend beyond tablet computers.?More
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Better late
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has sold his Apple stock, eliminating his conflict of interest in the district's iPad program. More
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Progress, at least
While scoring low overall, California students posted the biggest gains on the NAEP last year.?More
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Hard to argue with
LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy?used the resolution of the Mark Berndt molestation case to campaign for a new law that would make it easier to get rid of abusive teachers.?More
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Leaner times in store
More than two dozen schools face reduced funding next year as LAUSD funnels more federal money to campuses with a higher percentage of low-income students.?More
BRIEFLY NOTED?
Fingers crossed
The latest proposal to expand prekindergarten to a wide swath of low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds has slender bipartisan backing in both chambers, but would cost more than $30 billion over its first five years and faces major hurdles in a Congress consumed with trimming spending.?More
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Fitness notwithstanding
Michelle Obama has kicked off a new White House push to increase the number of low-income students who apply to and graduate from college.?More
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Slice of the pie
Twenty-five districts and their nonprofit partners are slated to share $135 million in the latest round of the federal Investing in Innovation competition.?More
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Thanks for the memories
The Bloomberg administration has released its final batch of letter grades for more than 1,600 public schools in New York City; Mayor-elect Bill DeBlasio has pledged to do away with the grading system.?More
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Fighting the good fight
At least seven of the 45 states that adopted the Common Core are fighting to restore the cursive instruction. More
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Worthy endeavor
A group representing some of the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims is hoping to persuade a half-million people to sign on to a campaign aimed at uniting parents across the USA "despite all our differences, in our shared love for our children."?More
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Hewing to the middle
More than half of D.C.'s charter schools -- 54?percent -- are in mid-performing Tier 2, according to a recent ranking.?More
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Not incarceration?
Dozens of pre-kindergartners were suspended last school year in Maryland, with the most suspensions in Baltimore, highlighting a little-known practice that some education experts say is too extreme for toddlers who are just being introduced to educational settings.?More?
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Of predators and iPads
A Texas parent notified school authorities that a sexual predator had sent hardcore pornography videos and sexually explicit messages to her third-grader via the student's school-issued iPad.?More

GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES


NSTA/PASCO: STEM Educator Awards
PASCO has partnered with the National Science Teachers Association to reward selected K-12 STEM educators who have created and are utilizing modern and effective STEM curriculum in the classroom. Maximum award: $4,500 comprised of a monetary gift, a certificate for PASCO scientific products and expenses for the awardee to attend the national NSTA conference. Eligibility: K-12 STEM educators with a minimum of 3 years teaching experience in the STEM fields, who implement innovative inquiry-based, technology infused STEM programs; one elementary level, two middle level, and two high school level recipients will be awarded annually. Deadline: November 30, 2013.
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U.S. Dept. of State: Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching
The Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching program sends highly accomplished primary and secondary teachers from the U.S.?abroad and brings international teachers to the U.S for a three to six month long program.? Maximum award: Program costs such as tuition, room and board, and transportation are covered by the grant; participants will receive a maintenance allowance designed to assist with the costs of food and lodging during the program. Distinguished Teachers will also have the opportunity to apply for professional?development funds to support development and research, or cover the expenses of attending a conference or workshop related to their fields of teaching expertise. Eligibility (for U.S. applicants): U.S. citizens who are employed full-time at an accredited school in the U.S. or its territories, hold a Master's degree (or be enrolled in a Master's program at the time the grant begins), and are in at least the fifth year of full-time teaching. Deadline: December 15, 2013.
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Vernier: Engineering Contest
To recognize creative teaching, Vernier Software & Technology is sponsoring a contest for high school and college teachers. Maximum award: $1,000 in cash, $3,000 in Vernier technology, and $1,500 toward expenses to attend the 2014 ASEE conference in New Orleans. Eligibility: teachers in schools serving grades K-12, as well as post- secondary undergraduate college departments are eligible. Deadline: January 15, 2014.
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New Leaders for New Schools: Aspiring Principals Program
New Leaders for New Schools is currently accepting applications for candidates who meet its 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 most importantly, an unyielding belief in the potential of every child to achieve academically at high levels. Eligibility: a minimum of 2-4 years of successful K-12 instruction experience (depends on location); teaching certificate and/or advanced degree, depending on location. Deadline: January 30, 2014.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"It is absolutely clear that educational wage differentials have not driven wage inequality over the last 15 years. Wage inequality has grown a lot over the last 15 years and the educational wage premium has changed little." -- Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute.


 

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