[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — Dec. 10, 2013

[Art Snyder]

                December 10, 2013 - In This Issue:
       Our relative mediocrity
  A serious problem with early care and education
  EMO growth spurt, yet again
  SIG data: More questions than answers
  A retreat from the zero-tolerance fiasco
  Redistributing effectiveness
  Cultivating parent engagement
  A stab at the pension impasse
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            
Our relative mediocrity

The latest scores from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 15-year-olds in the United States were flat in reading and science, and below-average in math compared with 64 other participating countries and economies, reports Lyndsey Layton in The Washington Post. The Chinese province of Shanghai took the top slot in all three subjects, catapulting upward through a focus on teacher preparation and investment in its most challenging classrooms, among other things. Germany, Poland, and Italy were among several countries with significant improvements, while Finland, a top scorer in past exams, had a drop. American scores offer fresh evidence for those who argue the United States is losing ground to global competitors, and for others who feel a decade's worth of school reform has had little positive effect. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the scores a "brutal truth" that "must serve as a wake-up call" for the country. Yet some observers, including education historian Diane Ravitch, note that American students have not been top performers on international tests dating back to the 1960s, but this has not kept us from global success and innovation. Ravitch accused Duncan of trying to "whip up a national hysteria" over the PISA scores.??More.?Related


 
A serious problem with early care and education

The Center for Law and Social Policy and the National Center for Children in Poverty have released a fact sheet on early care and education in this country that indicates significant underinvestment at the state and federal levels. This is apparent with the three largest federal programs: the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Head Start. Funding for CCDBG has not kept pace with inflation or need, with 150,000 losing access to childcare subsidies since 2006, and an additional 30,000 losing subsidies due to sequestration. Funding for Head Start has increased by $1.2 billion from 2006 to 2012, but demand has exceeded growth, with only 42 percent of eligible children served by Head Start preschool and a mere four percent eligible served by Early Head Start. States are also falling short of recommended quality benchmarks. Currently, only four states (CT, ND, OR, VT) meet benchmarks for both class size and adult-child ratios, while 33 meet neither. A complex mix of federal and state investments and policies shapes low-income access to quality early care and education. Currently, these are too weak to benefit large numbers of young children experiencing economic hardship and other circumstances posing serious risks to their healthy development and success in school and life.?More
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EMO growth spurt, yet again

A new report from the National Education Policy Center finds that across the nation, schools managed by for-profit and nonprofit education management organizations (EMOs) continue to increase in number and enrollment. Since 1995-1996, the number of for-profit EMOs has grown from 5 to 97, and the number of schools these operate has expanded from 6 to 840. Enrollment has grown from approximately 1,000 students in 1995-96 to 462,926 in 2011-12. While the actual number of for-profit companies has grown little in recent years, many large- and medium-sized EMOs are expanding into new areas such as supplemental education services and virtual schooling. Virtual schools operated by EMOs increased from 60 in 2009-10 to 91 in 2011-12, representing 10.8 percent of all schools managed by for-profits. Imagine Schools was the largest for-profit EMO in 2011-12 in terms of number of schools: 89 during 2011-12, though it has lost contracts since then. The next largest for-profit operators are Academica (76 schools) and National Heritage Academies (68). In terms of enrollment, the largest EMO is K12 Inc., which operates 57 virtual schools with 87,091 students. Enrollment in nonprofit EMO-managed schools has expanded dramatically, from 237,591 students in 2009-10 to 445,052 in 2011-12. KIPP remained the largest nonprofit EMO: 98 schools and 35,045 students in 2011-12.?More



SIG data: More questions than answers

The recent U.S. Department of Education summary data on the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program omit a number of factors crucial to measuring the program's efficacy, writes Alyson Klein in Education Week. To begin with, the data don't indicate how struggling schools that did not receive SIG funds performed, so any analysis lacks a control group. We can't determine whether diverting non-monetary resources (e.g., highly effective principals) to SIG schools led to dips in student achievement elsewhere in a district. The data indicate modestly improved student performance nationally, but don't show individual gains. Did a handful of high-achieving schools boost the national average? Were these schools already on an upward trajectory? Were backsliding schools concentrated in particular districts or states? Schools chose "lead partners," often outside for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, to help with turnarounds, so which were most or least effective? Critically, the summary lacks breakouts for subgroups like students in special education and English-language learners, so we can't know if the program met their needs, even in schools with gains. We don't know how different proficiency standards in different states contributed to overall (modest) gains in math and reading. Finally, the data can't show us whether failures or successes rest on program design versus implementation, since we have no way of knowing whether schools implemented turnaround models with fidelity.?More


A retreat from the zero-tolerance fiasco

Faced with mounting evidence that get-tough policies in schools are leading to arrest records, low academic achievement, and high dropout rates, districts around the country are rethinking their approach to minor offenses, writes Lizette Alvarez for The New York Times. The policies, called zero tolerance, first grew out of the War on Drugs in the 1990s and became more aggressive in the wake of school shootings starting with Columbine. Districts like Broward County Schools in Florida are taking a different direction, joining other large districts like Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, and Denver. Rather than expelling lawbreaking students, they are retaining them in school, away from the streets, and offering counseling and other assistance aimed at changing behavior. These alternative efforts are increasingly supported, sometimes even led, by state juvenile justice directors, judges, and police officers. Nationwide, more than 70 percent of students involved in arrests or referrals to court are black or Hispanic, according to federal data. In Broward County, the policy shift has shown immediate results, although it's too early to predict overall success. School-based arrests have dropped by 41 percent, and suspensions, which in 2011 added up to 87,000 out of 258,000 students, are down 66 percent from the same period in 2012, school data show.?More


     
Redistributing effectiveness

A new paper from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute describes a change in education policy that could potentially solve several issues: that our best teachers aren't paid enough, that too few kids benefit from great teachers, and that too many are stuck with weak teachers. It would address these issues simultaneously and at no additional cost to taxpayers. Following this route, however, means reversing position on class-size reduction. The paper proposes leveraging existing teacher talent by enlarging classes taught by the best instructors, compensating them for the extra work. This would also help less-effective teachers by allowing them to concentrate on fewer students. To determine possible effects from manipulating class sizes in this way, the study used North Carolina data to simulate student outcomes. The results of this hypothetical suggest that student learning can improve by simply redistributing students among teachers, though the extent of the achievement gain -- and its price tag -- depend on grade level and a suite of human-resource policy decisions. Perhaps most important, the analysis indicates that universally shrinking class sizes may be counterproductive in terms of student achievement -- and that purposefully expanding some can be more efficacious.?More


Cultivating parent engagement

Getting parent engagement right takes dedicated and continued effort, writes L.A. teacher Angie Trae-Greenbarg in The Hechinger Report. Parents, teachers, and students alike are frequently frustrated by roadblocks to engagement such as scheduling conflicts, language barriers, lack of technology, and a by-the-numbers approach that doesn't account for individual circumstances. Trae-Greenbarg recommends five strategies that any school can use to improve parent participation. One is harnessing parent expertise about the community, proactively asking parents for their community connections and hosting events to which students and parents invite community members. Another is creating a range of volunteering opportunities at varying time slots and commitment levels, offering flexible ways to engage. Schools should also train parents on technology tools that already exist: have an orientation on a school's website that shows parents what information they can access where, and make sure the website is dynamic and up-to-date, offering information parents actually want. Another step is to empower parents by encouraging them to assume leadership positions and training them to lead parent-breakout sessions during monthly meetings. Finally, parental involvement should be fun. By motivating parents and students to attend activities together, meaningful and holistic relationships between teachers and families are built. Events should encourage participation and engage everyone simultaneously.?More


A stab at the pension impasse

The Illinois legislature has passed a deal to shore up the state's debt-engulfed pension system by trimming retiree benefits and increasing state contributions, reports Rick Lyman in The New York Times. With one of the nation's worst-financed state-employee pension systems -- some $100 billion in arrears -- Illinois has been the focus of intense attention across the country as states and municipalities grapple with their own public-pension problems. The compromise reached in Illinois, a staunchly blue state with a strong labor movement that had beaten back prior efforts to trim pensions, could offer a template for agreements elsewhere. The plan's architects said it will generate $90 billion to $100 billion in savings by curtailing cost-of-living increases for retirees, offering an optional 401(k) plan for those willing to leave the pension system, capping the salary level used to calculate pension benefits, and raising the retirement age for younger workers. In exchange, workers will see their pension contributions drop by 1 percent. The state will increase payments into the system by $60 billion to $70 billion. The battle now turns to the courts, where union leaders have promised to take the legislation that some assert violates the Illinois Constitution by illegally lowering pension benefits.?More


          BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
Zooming upward
Rocketship Education, with eight K-5 charter schools in San Jose, one in Milwaukee, and invitations to expand into urban districts in other states, is the sole finalist from California competing for $120 million in the second district Race to the Top competition.?More
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Welcome change
A resurgent economy and recalculations of revenue from the past two years will leave the California budget with a multi-billion-dollar surplus next year and K-12 schools and community colleges with unexpected billions more to spend, according to a projection from the California Legislative Analyst's Office. More
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Workaround?
California, threatened with the loss of $3.5 billion in federal funds for suspending high-stakes testing next spring, has tweaked its exam plan, but it's not certain that the change, which was not cleared first with U.S. officials, will ease the threat.?More
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Facelift
Districts across California are rewriting elementary school report cards to reflect the Common Core.
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Mad dash
Facing the potential loss of $200 million in state money to help educate impoverished students, Los Angeles Unified is scrambling to comply with new rules requiring financial verification for every low-income pupil.?More
          BRIEFLY NOTED?
Reprieve
Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White has announced the state will delay how students, teachers, and schools are held accountable under the Common Core State Standards and related testing for at least two years.?More
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Waiver waiver
Two states -- Nevada and Mississippi -- will get extra time to implement the teacher-evaluation portion of their waivers from the No Child Left Behind Act.?More
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Headway
This calendar year saw more than three dozen?laws enacted in 25 states that in some way support early learning, according to a list of enacted legislation compiled by the Education Commission of the States.?More
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Seeking bandwidth
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are among several philanthropists who have pledged $9 million to a nonprofit trying to bring the internet to public school classrooms around the country.?More
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Leaving on a high note
The four-year graduation rate for NYC students entering high school in 2009 reached 66 percent, an all-time high, up from 64.7 percent the previous school year.?More
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Data reckoning
Acknowledging that scores on a national reading test may have been inflated, Maryland education officials have pledged to reduce the number of special education students excluded from taking the test.?More

          
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

LEGO: Children's Fund Grants
The LEGO Children's Fund will provide grants for collaborative programs, either in part or in total, to organizations that focus on early childhood education and development; technology and communication projects that advance learning opportunities; or sport or athletic programs that concentrate on underserved youth. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: 501(c)(3) organizations. Deadline: January 15, 2014.
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C-SPAN StudentCam
C-SPAN's StudentCam is an annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think seriously about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Students are asked to create a short (5-8 minute) video documentary on a topic related to the competition theme "A Message to the U.S. Congress." Documentary should address the question, 'What's the most important issue Congress should consider in 2012?" Maximum award: $5,000, plus $1,000 in digital equipment for school. Eligibility: individuals or teams of two to three students grades 6-8 or grades 9- 12; Deadline: January 20, 2014.
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United States-Japan Foundation: Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award
The United States-Japan Foundation Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes exceptional teachers who further mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese. The award is presented annually to two pre-college teachers in two categories, humanities and Japanese language. Maximum award: $7,500 ($2,500 monetary award, $5,000 in project funds). Eligibility: current full-time K-12 classroom teachers of any relevant subject in the United States who have been teaching for at least five years. Deadline: February 5, 2014.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"I think the issue of poverty is something we've been quiet about too much." -- Harlem Children's Zone founder Geoffrey Canada, at a Rural Education Summit.

   
       
   
      
       
      
  

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