[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — October 7, 2014

[Gifted and Talented in Ohio Discussion List]

                                  ?                October 7, 2014 - In This Issue:
       Fewer drop out
  Atlanta cheating trial opens
  Teachers 'somewhat' prepared for CCSS
  Teachers lectured on not teaching Common Core with lectures
  How poor districts will fare with CCSS
  The many benefits of deeper learning
  Obama administration urges equity
  That fuss about AP History
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            Fewer drop out
Just 7 percent of the nation's 18-to-24 year olds dropped out of high school last year, continuing a steady decline in the nation's dropout rate since 2000, when 12 percent dropped out, reports Richard Fry for the Pew Charitable Trust. The decline has been driven in part by substantially fewer Hispanic and black youth dropping out: Although Hispanics still have the highest dropout rate among all major racial and ethnic groups, it reached a record low of 14 percent in 2013, compared with 32 percent in 2000. The decline is particularly noteworthy since it comes as the Hispanic youth population is growing. In absolute numbers (889,000), it was the lowest number of Hispanic drop-outs since 1987. However, Hispanics account for just 9 percent of adults ages 25 to 29 with a bachelor's degree; by comparison, whites account for 69 percent. The dropout rate for blacks was also at a record low in 2013 (8 percent), falling by nearly half since 2000 (15 percent). Among non-Hispanic white youth, the dropout rate has also declined since 2000 to 5 percent in 2013. Asian youth continue to be the major racial group with the lowest high school dropout rate (4 percent in 2013), but it was not at a record low last year. More
 Atlanta cheating trial opens
The trial of a dozen public school educators has opened in Atlanta, with prosecutors alleging that teachers and administrators engaged in a "widespread, cleverly disguised" conspiracy to cheat on standardized test scores to protect their jobs and win favor and bonuses, reports Richard Fausset for The New York Times. A state investigation in 2011 found 178 principals and teachers were involved. Dozens of former district employees have been fired or resigned, and 21 educators have pleaded guilty to crimes like obstruction and making false statements. In her opening statement, Assistant DA Fani Willis argued that educators and Superintendent Beverly Hall had violated Georgia's RICO statute by using the "legitimate enterprise" of the school system to undertake the illegitimate act of cheating. Like the defendants -- and a majority of Atlanta residents -- Willis is African-American. She noted that many victims of the cheating were struggling black students who could have received "millions" in federal aid for tutoring, but didn't because scores showed they met or exceeded grade-level expectations. Whether a jury can be convinced that a group of teachers engaged in racketeering has been a topic of intense discussion. All defendants have pleaded not guilty to participating in a racketeering conspiracy. All but one also face various lesser charges, for which they have entered not guilty pleas. More
Teachers 'somewhat' prepared for CCSS
In a new survey underwritten by Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 79 percent of teachers say they feel "very" or "somewhat" prepared to teach under the new Common Core standards, up from 71 percent last year, reports Greg Toppo for USA TODAY. Sixty-eight percent say implementation is "going well" in their schools, compared to 62 percent last year. However, 81 percent of teachers say the Common Core is "challenging" to implement, up from 73 percent. Fewer than half of teachers say the Common Core will be "positive" for most students, but among the small group of teachers who have taught for more than a year under the standards, the vast majority are enthusiastic. The survey also found most teachers get information about the Common Core from colleagues, but also get information from newspapers and other media. As an indicator of how the debate has played out on social media, twice as many teachers this year said they got information about the Common Core through sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation said the findings show teachers are enthusiastic about the standards, but need more help in teaching lessons built around them. The survey polled 1,676 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade public school teachers from 43 states and the District of Columbia. All had participated in a similar survey in 2013. More
Teachers lectured on not teaching Common Core with lectures
The Common Core marks a stark change in what American public schools will expect students -- and teachers -- to do in the classroom, writes Alexandra Neason for The Hechinger Report. Students will need to use critical thinking, and no longer will educators teach that there's one right answer or one right path to an answer. Teachers will be held to new expectations in the way they instruct students, yet for the most part, on-the-job teacher training, which has long been criticized for its ineffectiveness, hasn't changed much in response to the demands of the Common Core. Despite research that says onetime workshops and short-term training sessions have poor track records for changing teacher practices, they continue to be the most common form of professional development. A 2009 report from Learning Forward on professional development found that while 90 percent of teachers participated in short-term training, just 22 percent observed classrooms in other schools. The same study found that fewer than half of participating teachers considered training useful. Yet districts continue to spend considerable money on professional development, receiving federal money for this purpose; more than $1 billion in federal funds went to such training in 2012-2013. Experts argue that if the Common Core is to live up to expectations, teacher training must change, and fast. More
How poor districts will fare with CCSS
Prior to the Common Core, states set their own standards and chose their own tests to measure student progress, writes Marc Tucker in Education Week. States that required a test for graduation used exams that could be passed by students with a 9th grade level of English literacy and a deeply flawed understanding of middle school math.?We currently recruit teachers from the lower ranks of those high school graduates, Tucker notes, and our expectations for their command of subjects they eventually teach is modest, especially for elementary school. The Common Core requires students not simply to execute mathematics algorithms accurately, but understand why those algorithms work.?It requires students to marshal knowledge from different arenas to make carefully reasoned and persuasive arguments in good English.?Tucker finds no reason to believe our teachers are better writers than the average college student, a lower standard than drafters of the Common Core had in mind. Only wealthy districts are likely to fulfill the promise of the Common Core unless something is done to radically improve the capacity of less-favored districts to employ teachers with the education and training to function at high levels. The Common Core is far more likely to be declared a failure by the public because states failed to implement it well than fall victim to attacks from the right or left. More
     The many benefits of deeper learning
The American Institutes of Research (AIR) has published the third of three reports from its study of Deeper Learning, which employs strategies and resources that help students master core academic content -- reading, mathematics, and science -- while developing the ability to think critically and work effectively with others. Researchers examined selected high schools in California and New York associated with 10 established deeper learning networks; the schools serve a diverse and traditionally underserved group of students, including substantial numbers in poverty, in some cases English language learners. The study finds that on average, students attending network schools achieved higher scores on the OECD PISA-Based Test for Schools -- which assesses core content knowledge and complex problem-solving skills -- than did similar students attending non-network schools. Students in network schools also reported more positive interpersonal and intrapersonal outcomes, and were more likely to graduate from high school within four years. Students in both network and non-network schools had similar rates of post-secondary enrollment, but those in network schools were more likely to enroll in four-year and selective institutions. Attending a network school had similar benefits for students entering with low achievement and those entering with high achievement, particularly for test score and graduation outcomes. Attending a network school increased the postsecondary enrollment of students entering with low achievement, but had little effect on those entering with high achievement. More

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1st report:
2nd report:
Obama administration urges equity
A new 37-page document by the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education urges state officials, superintendents, and principals to monitor policies and facilities and ensure they are equitably distributed among students of all races, reports Motoko Rich for The New York Times. Education Department data point to persistent inequality for minorities in public schools: Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where one-fifth of teachers do not meet all the requirements for state teaching certifications; Hispanic students are twice as likely. Schools with high concentrations of minorities are much more likely to have temporary classrooms in portable buildings. The document highlights Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that while students need not have identical resources, they must have equal access to comparable programs, materials, and facilities. The administration advises school officials to collect data on course offerings; gifted and preschool programs; athletics; teacher credentials; and access to librarians, psychologists and guidance counselors. The Office for Civil Rights can also monitor school facilities to make sure that minority students have the same quality of lighting and air-conditioning as white students or the same access to technology. When disparities are identified, the administration urges districts to "take prompt and effective steps to eliminate any unjustified inequities." More
That fuss about AP History
In October 2012, the College Board revamped its AP History course to encourage greater depth in fewer topics, writes Emmanuel Felton for The Hechinger Report. The class is the College Board's second most popular after AP English Language and Composition, with 442,890 students taking the exam in 2013. Its course description for the first time calls for teachers to impart critical thinking skills to their students, ideas in line with the Common Core, and raised little notice until July, when the Texas State Board of Education expressed concern that the class would bring the Common Core into Texas schools, where it is banned. In August, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution that the new curriculum "reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation's history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects." Other conservative groups joined in. Responding to concerns of anti-American bias, the College Board released a full sample exam and said the new course is more balanced than previously, as it requires "teachers and students to look at multiple sides of an issue." The framework does not mention Martin Luther King Jr., Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, James Madison, or Rosa Parks -- omissions that have prompted complaints -- but neither did the course description in effect from 2010-2011 through the end of the last school year. More
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          BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
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SOPIPA now law
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law the Student Online Personal Information Privacy Act (SOPIPA), a sweeping measure aimed at restricting use of students' educational data by third-party vendors and one of the most aggressive legislative attempts to date to balance the promise of digital learning technologies with concerns about the privacy and security of children's sensitive information. More
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Mixed message
Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have made kindergarten mandatory, while at the same time signing one intended to show the overwhelming boost that optional year gives kids headed to first grade. More
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Valid indicators
A biennial state survey of Californian junior high students and teachers can serve as a valid indicator of middle school climate, according to new federal analysis. More
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Needed resource
With districts working this fall to put into action their first locally created school accountability plans, the California Department of Education has rolled out a new online resource center designed to help schools change. More
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A step forward
Fewer?than 11,000 of California's 6.2 million students will likely be affected each year by a new law that limits the use of "willful defiance" as a reason to expel or suspend students, but Gov. Jerry Brown's signature on the bill signifies a growing commitment on the part of the state to find more positive approaches to disciplining students. More
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The plot thickens
Local business and civic leaders are calling on the Los Angeles Board of Education to retain Supt. John Deasy, hoping to head off potential action by a board majority that is unhappy with him. More
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Once burned
The Los Angeles school district's bond oversight panel has rejected a move by officials to spend an additional $42 million on new computers, including purchases under a controversial - and recently suspended - technology contract. More
          BRIEFLY NOTED?
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Safety zone
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to Arizona programs focused on school climate and safety. More
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Healthy majority
About two-thirds of district superintendents say states should stick with their Common Core testing consortia, while 16 percent remain on the fence over the issue, according to results from a new survey from Gallup and Education Week. More
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Seems like old times
The Russian government has cancelled?a 20-year-old exchange that sent Russian high school students to the US amid escalating tensions between the former Cold War enemies. More
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Make way for vouchers
A Kansas education official says a new tax-credit system to fund private school tuition for low-income students in the state is on track to start in January. More
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Clout
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has announced that the union is on the path to spend more in the 2014 elections than in any other cycle, including during presidential elections. More
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Rubber stamp
With almost no discussion, the Florida Board of Education has approved new rules governing the state's newest voucher program. More
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Throwdown
The National Education Association is backing a lawsuit by its New Mexico chapter against state education secretary-designate Hanna Skandera, seeking to invalidate her agency's requirements for evaluating teachers. More
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Attrition
For the first time since at least 1970, Chicago Public Schools will serve fewer than 400,000 students. More
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Beefing up security
This school year in Florida, the 300 lowest-performing elementary schools are required to add an hour of reading instruction. More
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Alternate route
Pushing against measures of teacher effectiveness they say rely too heavily on test scores, a coalition of education groups -- including the state's largest teachers union -- have outlined their own approach they said would better develop New Jersey teachers' skills. More
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No more letter grades
New York City is overhauling its system for evaluating schools, de-emphasizing test scores in favor of measures like the strength of the curriculum and the school environment, and doing away with an overall A-through-F grade for each school. More
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In search of Schools of Opportunity

The Schools of Opportunity project is now seeking applications from public high schools in Colorado and New York, and next year will expand to include schools nationwide, recognizing schools that use research-based practices to close the opportunity gaps that result in unequal opportunities to learn, in school and beyond school. More
          
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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NSTA: Shell Science Teaching Award
The Shell Science Teaching Award recognizes one outstanding classroom science teacher (K-12) who has had a positive impact on his or her students, school, and community through exemplary classroom science teaching. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: K-12 classroom science teachers. Deadline: October 17, 2014. More
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IRA: Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Award
The International Reading Association Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Award honors an outstanding elementary teacher of reading and language arts dedicated to improving teaching and learning through reflective writing about his or her teaching and learning process. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: regular classroom elementary teachers of reading and language arts grades K-6 at schools where at least 60 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch; must be IRA members. Deadline: November 15, 2014. More
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Quote of the Week:
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"Don't be mad because there are changes. Figure out why the changes are important, and then find out how you make it work for you." - First Lady Michelle Obama, in response to student grumbling over newer, healthier school lunches. More


 

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