[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — April 22, 2014

[Art Snyder]

                                                              Why community schools are part of the answer?  by guest blogger & LAEP School Transformation Coach, Brock Cohen
  
  
      "How's Cincinnati so far?"
   My question was directed  at Eddy Estrada, a 17-year-old high school senior from East L.A.'s  Esteban E. Torres High School. We'd already begun chatting it up during  the keynote of the Community Schools National Forum's dinner plenary,  which was enough time for me to: a) realize that it doesn't take me long  to set a bad example, b) learn that Eddy was slated to co-facilitate  multiple presentations, and c) seriously question whether, in talking  with Eddy, I was moving rapidly beyond my own intellectual depth.?Read More. Comment
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                             ?                                      April 22, 2014 - In This Issue:
                The resegregation of American schools
      Juvenile justice: Part of the problem
      60 years after Brown
      Black students and corporal punishment
      The money doesn't even out in the end
      What price turnarounds?
      Hope and engagement aren't frills
      BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
      BRIEFLY NOTED
      GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                                                                                                  The resegregation of American schools
  
     In a lengthy article for  Pro Publica, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes that schools in the South, once  the most segregated in the country, were by the 1970s the most  integrated as a result of federal court orders. Yet since 2000, judges  have released hundreds of districts from Mississippi to Virginia from  court-enforced integration, and many have slid back into segregation.  Black children across the South now attend majority-black schools at  levels not seen in four decades. Nationally, the achievement gap between  black and white students, which greatly narrowed during the era in  which schools grew more integrated, has widened. Hannah-Jones compares  the experience of James Dent, who attended "colored" schools in  Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the 1950s and '60s, with his daughter Melissa,  who attended a successfully integrated Tuscaloosa Central High School in  the '80s, and then with his granddaughter D'Leisha, who has attended  resegregated schools in Tuscaloosa since 2000. "Tuscaloosa's school  resegregation -- among the most extensive in the country -- is a story  of city financial interests, secret meetings, and angry public votes,"  Hannah-Jones writes. "It is a story shaped by racial politics and a  consuming fear of white flight. It was facilitated, to some extent, by  the city's black elites. And it was blessed by a U.S. Department of  Justice no longer committed to fighting for the civil-rights aims it had  once championed."?More
  
  
         Juvenile justice: Part of the problem
   A  new report from the Southern Education Foundation finds that youth in  the U.S. juvenile-justice system -- predominately minority males,  incarcerated for minor offenses -- are receiving a significantly worse  education than non-incarcerated peers. Using the nation's largest  database on teaching and learning in juvenile-justice systems, the  report finds the quality of learning programs for the 70,000 students in  custody on any given day sets them further back in their ability to  turn their lives around than if they hadn't entered the system. In 2009,  for example, most "longer-term" students (enrolled for 90 days or more)  failed to make significant improvement in academic achievement.  Incarcerated youth in smaller facilities, closer to their local  communities, actually fared worse than students enrolled in state  systems. That particularly held true in the 15 Southern states, where  the proportion of students enrolled in local facilities increased from  21 percent of all incarcerated students in 2007 to almost 60 percent in  2011.?A salient issue is that the programs, which serve youth with  serious learning and emotional problems, provide limited supports. Taken  as a whole, the report found the effects of juvenile-justice programs  are "profound and crippling."??More
  
        60 years after Brown
  
   A  new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds that school  segregation remains a central feature of American public education 60  years after Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education. Initial school  integration gains have stalled, and low-income black children are more  racially and socioeconomically isolated today than at any time since  1980. Though black student academic achievement has improved  dramatically in recent decades, nationwide and in every state, racial  achievement gaps remain huge. Per-pupil spending on black and white  students is now roughly equal, but resource equality is not enough,  since disadvantaged students require far greater resources to prepare  them for school. This includes high-quality early childhood programs;  high-quality after-school and summer programs; full-service school  health clinics; more skilled teachers; and smaller classes. The typical  black student now attends a school where only 29 percent of his or her  fellow students are white, down from a high of 36 percent in 1980. And  though black fourth-graders now have average math scores that are better  than average white math scores only a generation ago, because average  white achievement has also improved, the gap between black and white  achievement remains. The average black student now performs better than  only about 25 percent of white students, preventing equal labor market  prospects.?More
  
        Black students and corporal punishment
  
   Districts  have recently come under heavy criticism for suspending and expelling  black students at higher rates than whites, but our national  conversation has neglected the brutal truth around physical discipline,  writes Sarah Carr for The Nation. In 2012, black children made up 18  percent of the student population, but 35 percent of reported incidents  of corporal punishment, which still occurs tens of thousands of times  annually in states allowing the practice. In Mississippi, where half of  all public school students are black, black children were 64 percent of  those paddled in 2012, up from 60 percent in 2000. The issue is muted  partly because paddling is limited predominantly to the South. Only 19  states (including a few in the West and Midwest) permit the practice,  while students can (and do) get suspended in all states. But other, more  complicated reasons temper the debate: In some communities, wielders of  the paddle and its most vocal defenders are mostly black. Critiques of  the practice have become conflated with attacks on the black community's  right to self-governance, even when those critiques are voiced by other  African Americans. In addition to citing the Bible and the need to  teach children boundaries, defenders of corporal punishment often cite  the paddle's crucial role in their own upbringing.?More
  
      The money doesn't even out in the end
     For as long as critics  have questioned whether school foundations worsen inequities by raising  millions for certain schools, school foundations have countered that  they're only balancing the equation, writes Mario Koran for Voice of San  Diego. The argument goes that low-income schools get Title I and other  state funds to meet the needs of disadvantaged students. In fact, Title I  -- federal money for students living in poverty -- comes with strings  attached, to be spent on activities like boosting student achievement  rather than music, gym, or athletics. True, principals can push  boundaries in Title I spending, but ultimately it must go for a narrow  list of programs. Foundation money, on the other hand, goes for extras,  and over the years has morphed into a budget staple at some schools. The  two kinds of money don't represent an apples-to-apples comparison, but  raw totals show that schools that get public money do come out a little  bit ahead -- especially since they don't have to raise it themselves.  The losers are schools in the middle, with low-income students but  insufficient numbers to trigger funding, and weak PTAs. It would be just  as fair to blame foundations for causing disparities as it would to  fault districts for unequal distribution of Title I funds. But this much  is clear, Koran says: The money doesn't even out in the end.?More
  
  
                       What price turnarounds?
  
     At 16 of the 17 Chicago  public schools that underwent turnaround between 2007 and 2011, more  than half the teachers hired in the first year had left by the third,  reports Sarah Karp for Catalyst. In the 10 Chicago schools turned around  last year, a third of the faculty had left by the start of the current  school year. Chicago Public School (CPS) officials say most turnaround  schools have higher-than-average student growth on standardized tests,  but it has also been a rocky experience for schools experiencing the  drastic measure in which an entire staff must reapply for their jobs and  typically, most are not rehired. As Chicago Teachers Union President  Karen Lewis has pointed out, turnarounds result in a loss of veteran  black teachers with experience of the African-American neighborhoods  where most turnarounds are located. Prior to turnarounds, more than  two-thirds of teachers at targeted schools were black; among black  teachers, two-thirds had more than 10 years of experience, according to  Catalyst's analysis. One year after turnaround, less than half of  teachers at targeted schools were black and just 20 percent had over a  decade of experience. Michael Hansen of the American Institutes for  Research says there is surprisingly little research about whether  changing the majority of a school's staff leads to a better school. "The  strategies being prescribed under Arne Duncan are under-researched," he  says.?More
  
  
      Hope and engagement aren't frills
   Regarding  the recent Gallup poll that asked teachers, principals, students, and  other professionals about their hope, emotional engagement, and  wellbeing at work or school, Anya Kamenetz writes in The Hechinger  report that while these qualities may seem like frills, they powerfully  correlate with harder metrics like a company's profits or a school's  test scores. In 2009, Gallup studied?78,000 students in 160 schools  in?eight states, finding that a one-percentage-point uptick in?a  school's average student engagement was connected to a six-point  increase in reading achievement and eight points in math. Similarly, in  peer-reviewed studies, Gallup's "hope" measure was a better predictor of  grades in college than SATs, ACTs, or high school GPA. In a third  study, students' hope accounted for almost half the variation in math  achievement and at least a third the variation in reading and science  scores. An intimate connection between the schoolroom engagement of  students and the workplace engagement of teachers is unsurprising,  Kamenetz says. Yet 70 percent of teachers are classified as disengaged.  The structures teachers work in -- which may include high-stakes testing  and value-added rankings based on outside factors -- seem to impede  their happiness. Gallup's research is a powerful indicator we need to  better consider the full range of factors affecting school performance.?More
  
                        BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
    No brainer
   Most California voters  think the state should increase the availability of preschool for the  state's 4-year-olds, according to a recent poll. More
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   No bueno
   With a population more  than twice as Hispanic as the national average, California has a  lower-than-average proportion of Hispanics with college or university  educations, and no institution among the top five for awarding them  degrees. More
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   Rightly so
   The Los Angeles Unified  School District is reversing course on an unpopular proposal to reduce  its elementary school orchestra program from a full year to just one  semester. More
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   They can still Aspire
   The Los Angeles County  Board of Education has approved Aspire Public Schools' petition to renew  two charter schools, which the Los Angeles Unified school board had  declined in February. More
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   Congrats!
   From thousands of  applicants across the country, three teachers -- Leslie Schippert,  Lauren Willard, and Derek Willard -- from LAEP Partner Schools (Edison  Middle School and Washington Prep High School) were selected by the Fund  For Teachers for proposals that will bring relevant knowledge and  skills back to their students and school community. More
                        BRIEFLY NOTED?
    Gettin' SIG-y with it
   U.S. Secretary of  Education Arne Duncan has announced that Alabama and California will  receive more than $64 million to continue efforts to turn around their  persistently lowest-achieving schools through new awards from the  Department's SIG program. More
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   An offer they could not refuse
   Illinois lawmakers have  approved Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal for overhauling two city  pension programs that officials say could otherwise be out of money in  little more than a?decade. More
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   Pay later
   Facing another year of  fiscal problems, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has changed the funding  formula for the state's pension contribution to cancel $93.7 million in  previously budgeted pension payments, cut next year's pension bill by  $150 million, and put $900 million less into the underfunded pension  system by the end of his term. More
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   Slight hitch
   Kansas education  officials are considering not releasing the results of new state  computerized math and reading tests, since they've been plagued this  year with computer problems and cyberattacks. More
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   Oh, for godsakes
   South Carolina's top  education administrator has decided to withdraw the state from the  consortium that would test Common Core standards in the coming school  year, reversing the reversal of an earlier decision on the matter. More
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   Kicking it down the road
   The Alaska House has voted to remove a plan to address the teachers' retirement system from a broad-ranging education bill. More
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   New modalities
   Kansas has gotten the  go-ahead from the U.S. Department of Education to test-run alternate  assessments for all of its students with severe disabilities, using  tests developed by Dynamic Learning Maps. More
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   Corrective action
   New York City is moving  to narrow the pay gap between pre-kindergarten teachers at  community-based organizations and public schools, a divide that  advocates have warned could hobble the mayor's pre-K plan by driving the  best teachers to the higher-paying public schools.?More
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   Jammed trigger
   A Tennessee bill seeking  to make it easier for parents to convert struggling public schools into  charter schools failed in a state House subcommittee. More
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   Can't vouch for that
   A bill that would have  allowed Tennessee parents to use vouchers to move their children from a  "failing" public school to a private school has stalled in the state's  House of Representatives. More
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   Bake sale time
   The Nevada Education  Department lacks money to administer a new state-mandated exam to high  school juniors next year, so it plans to raise the funds through private  donations and grants. More
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   Compounding the bad news
   A new analysis from the  Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia finds 49 percent of  Pennsylvania public schools fail to meet the state's overall proficiency  expectations. More
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   SPED revolution
   The Pinellas County,  Florida School District intends to eliminate the gap between students  with disabilities and their nondisabled peers, to streamline classroom  lessons, and to re-evaluate special-education staffing. More
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   And bringing up the rear
   The U.S. Department of Education has granted Illinois an NCLB waiver. More
                        
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
 
 
     State Farm/Youth Advisory Board
   State Farm and the Youth  Advisory Board are offering grants for service-learning projects that  include K-12 students at public schools and focus on closing the  achievement gap, arts and culture, or improving financial literacy.  Maximum award: $100,000. Eligibility: public schools and districts,  non-profits, colleges and universities, and governmental organizations.  Deadline: May 2, 2014.
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   Captain Planet Foundation: Ecotech Grants
   The Captain Planet  Foundation, in partnership with the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, is  offering grants for the purpose of engaging children in inquiry-based  projects in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)  using innovation, biomimicry/nature-based design, or new uses for  technology to address environmental problems in their communities.  Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: schools or non-profit organizations.  Deadline: May 31, 2014.
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   QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
   "Anything that touches  on immigration generates a level of attention and controversy. But for  us, this is about finding the very best teachers for our kids." --  Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg, which has hired two illegal immigrants as teachers under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy.
  
 
   
 
    
  

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