[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — October 28, 2014

[Gifted and Talented in Ohio Discussion List]

                                  ?                October 28, 2014 - In This Issue:
       Free, accessible, unsegregated, and unequal
  What price fundraising drives?
  Toward national funding reform
  The correlates of transitional success
  NYC's contested small high schools
  What does Deasy's departure signify?
  Have schools recovered in the Recovery District?
  A blueprint for continuous, informed improvement
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            Free, accessible, unsegregated, and unequal
Free, accessible, and unsegregated public education in the United States has only existed since 1965 and been predicated on the ESEA's three precedents: the promise to educate all children; the fluctuating nature of school funding; and the mandating of standardized tests, writes Lawrence Baines in Teachers College Record. Yet the federal government has never fully funded public education: It has always paid for only a fraction of special education costs -- 17 percent in 2013 -- and contributes little toward educating English Language Learners. Funds for public schools mostly come from state and local sources, with taxes on property the largest single source of revenue, and these swing wildly, especially during economic downturns. School budgeting has become short-term, tenuous, and contingent, and is widely divergent both within and across states: For instance, Arizona spent less per pupil ($6,683) in 2012 than it did in 1989, adjusting for inflation; Massachusetts spent $15,746 per pupil. This has clear effect. In recent NAEP tests of reading, Massachusetts students ranked first in the United States, Arizona students 46th. School boundary lines may seem random, but differences in quality-of-life variables -- property tax rate, crime rate, and average SAT score -- are substantial. So American public education, hewing to 1965's precedents, has created a system of schooling that favors the rich and penalizes the poor. More
 What price fundraising drives?
From bake sales to gala auctions, private groups are raising increasing amounts of money for public schools in wealthier communities, spurring inequities, writes Motoko Rich in The New York Times. A new study in Education Finance and Policy finds that nonprofits of parents and community leaders tripled in number and quadrupled dollars generated between 1995 and 2010 -- $880 million in 2010, up from $197 million in 1995. Their expansion stems from the fact that most states now have funding formulas capping or redirecting local property taxes to state coffers in an effort to equalize district funding. Communities that used to raise property taxes have found other ways to funnel money to local schools. Money raised by private groups is less than one percent of total spending on education by federal, state, and local governments; spread over all students enrolled in public schools nationally, the amount per pupil would be $28. In actuality, some communities raise four figures per student, and philanthropic fundraising is unregulated and tax-deductible for donors. Some, like Rob Reich of Stanford University, worry that the?energy parents expend fundraising for individual schools "comes at the potential expense of their political engagement on a broader basis to actually get public dollars to be enough for all kids." More
Toward national funding reform
Almost every education policy debate is in part a proxy for something else, writes Conor Williams on the New America Ed Central website. Regardless of surface appearance, school funding arguments are often implicitly about deeper theories of justice and core elements of our social contract (both articulated and unarticulated). If we believe that all students should be treated equally in a public education system, presumably we should commit equal resources to each student, regardless of background. If we believe that some students may, through no fault of their own, face crippling educational challenges because of their families' limited resources, presumably we should compensate with additional public funds that establish a baseline of equitable educational opportunity. Many politicians and education officials seem to accept the latter idea, yet funding formulas don't always fulfill that promise. There are many different ways to frame school funding and to slice up numbers, and people can usually reformulate data to confirm whatever argument they're making. So while states should definitely establish a just funding baseline for students in high-poverty schools, nearly every state has funding-formula problems that seem extraordinarily tough to reform. Williams suggests these are educational equity problems we should look to the federal government to address. More
The correlates of transitional success
The latest report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center offers high school-to-college transition rates for public, non-charter high schools across 12 categories, based on demographic and geographic characteristics. It finds, unsurprisingly, that students from higher-income, low-minority, suburban schools had the highest college enrollment (73 percent) and highest persistence rate (remaining enrolled for a second year) in 2013. Among school characteristics, school poverty level was the most consistent correlate to college enrollment rate, regardless of minority or geographic category. The highest immediate college-going rate across all low-income groups (58 percent) was lower by three percentage points than the lowest rate (61 percent) among higher-income groups. Enrollment at two-year colleges was not necessarily higher for students from low-income schools, but two-year colleges were a larger share of total first-fall enrollments for students from low-income high schools and from higher-income, high-minority schools. Regardless of high school type, persistence rates among students enrolled in private colleges and universities were higher than for public institutions, and higher in four-year institutions than in two-year. One interesting fact, noted by Jill Barshay in The Hechinger Report, is that the best 25 percent of low-income, high-minority schools sent at least 60 percent of 2013 graduates to college in fall of 2013. By contrast, the worst 25 percent of high-income schools sent fewer than 60 percent of graduates to college in the fall. More
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Related:
NYC's contested small high schools
A new report from MDRC finding New York City's small high schools are graduating and sending more students to college than larger schools?has become a proxy battle for the future of the school system, writes Geoff Decker for Chalkbeat New York. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio is a forceful critic of the school closures that made small schools possible, and the small-schools movement has lost luster nationwide. MDRC's multi-year research focused on schools that were oversubscribed and admitted students through a lottery, 105 schools. The lotteries let researchers compare outcomes for admitted students versus similar students who "lost" the lottery and attended older, larger schools -- a research structure Decker calls a "gold standard" for the field. Former Chancellor Dennis Walcott called the findings a "powerful validation" of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's district strategy, and critics of Mayor de Blasio complain his administration has yet to offer a clear vision for struggling schools. Yet because the research examined only small schools with more applicants than seats -- i.e., popular ones -- the lowest-performing small schools may not have been included, which would skew research results. And an additional 93 small schools opened from 2002 to 2008, but were omitted from the study because they were either academically selective, transfer schools, or combined middle and high schools. More

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Study:?
     What does Deasy's departure signify?
John Deasy's recent departure as L.A. schools superintendent shows how difficult it has been for big-city district leaders to push for radical change, write Teresa Watanabe and Stephen Ceasar for The Los Angeles Times. Those who have tried -- in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, D.C., Texas, and elsewhere -- have lost jobs, faced strikes, and suffered lawsuits, among other things. They've been fought by teacher unions and community activists opposing "corporate reform," since this often involves data-driven performance reviews that affect high-stakes personnel decisions. Deasy's tenure at the LAUSD lasted three and a half years, during which time he clashed with the union and struggled to maintain solid relations with some school board members. Union leaders, both local and national, say Deasy's exit is a repudiation of his policies, which his supporters sharply dispute. "The job of a good superintendent like John Deasy is to push hard for school improvement, and too often good superintendents get a lot of grief for trying," said Bruce Reed of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which supports school choice. "We still have a long way to go to give kids the equal education they deserve, and we should all be pushing harder and faster for equal opportunity. Parents don't want a go-slow approach." More
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Related:
Have schools recovered in the Recovery District?
The notion that New Orleans has the country's first all-charter system is false, since the city retains a handful of traditional schools, writes Marta Jewson for The Hechinger Report. It is, however, the first year that all schools in the state-run Recovery School District (RSD) are charter. The RSD predates Katrina, formed in 2003 to help failing schools statewide recover academically. Just five schools in New Orleans were taken over at that?time; post-Katrina, 107 of the city's schools were given to the RSD, with Orleans Parish maintaining control of the rest, all higher performing. Academic results in the RSD have been uneven, with some schools closing for dismal performance, and others posting higher scores than longtime academic leaders. If the initial goal was that the RSD turn around failing schools and hand them back to the publicly elected school board, this hasn't occurred. Neither the RSD nor the school board decides when charters revert back. A 2010 state policy change allows charters to determine whether to return to board control, and none have done so perhaps because?-- the district has lacked a superintendent for two years, and has grueling, contentious board meetings. And though the local board sued to regain oversight of recovery charters that were no longer failing, it lost, and the Louisiana Supreme Court declined its appeal. More
A blueprint for continuous, informed improvement
A new report from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and the National Center for Innovation in Education at the University of Kentucky argues for a more comprehensive and balanced system of accountability based on three pillars -- a focus on meaningful learning, adequate resources, and professional capacity -- and driven by processes for continuous evaluation and improvement. The report outlines systems of multiple indicators, School Quality Reviews, and school-improvement strategies, and recommends certain elements be put in place. These include a sophisticated curriculum and assessments that evaluate deep understanding of content, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, multiple modes of communication, and uses of new technologies. Resources must be equitably distributed, ensuring access to quality teaching, materials, and technology, and must address the needs of students who live in poverty, are new English learners, or who have special educational needs. Capacity-building for schools and educators must enable more challenging content, and evaluation and improvement models must foster collaborative changes needed to transform schools from the industrial model of the past to innovative learning systems for the future. These models must enable thoughtful risk-taking informed by continuous evaluation using multiple measures, and should be transparent, reciprocal, and adapted to local conditions. More
          BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
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In with the new
The president of the California State School Board has signaled the end of the old era of assessment, and the dawn of another. More
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No cigar
Voter support for Proposition 2, a new version of a state budget rainy-day fund, has?increased from a month ago, but is still shy of the majority backing that Gov. Jerry Brown will need to pass it.?More
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In case you're wondering
New L.A. Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines said his improvement plans for the district's most pressing problems won't involve the man who arguably knows the district best: resigned Superintendent John Deasy.?More
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Everything under control, here?
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in a brief visit to Los Angeles, met with newly installed L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines to talk about local technology problems and the state of local schools.?More
          BRIEFLY NOTED?
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Burned out
The National School Boards Association has ended its health-curriculum partnership with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co, curtailing the longstanding efforts of tobacco companies to influence what students are taught about cigarette smoking.?More
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On notice
In response to an increasing number of complaints, federal officials have reminded the nation's schools of their responsibilities to ensure that students with disabilities are not subjected to bullying.?More
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In the short term
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has succeeded in temporarily blocking the district from mandating that union members pay toward their health-care premiums.?More
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Yeah, that would have been terrible
The federal grant application that Republican Gov. Mike Pence decided not to submit would have helped send 5,700 more Indiana children to preschool programs.??More
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Indiana's loss
Montana has applied for a $40 million federal grant to increase preschool opportunities in high-needs communities.?More
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Quid pro quo
The Oklahoma State Department of Education's budget request for the 2016 fiscal year includes additional funds to cover $2,500 across-the-board salary increases for teachers in exchange for five additional instructional days.?More
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Was this the point?
The vast majority of students receiving a taxpayer-subsidized voucher to attend private school this year did not go to a Wisconsin public school last year.?More
          
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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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, 2014. More
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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 the children in their classroom, illustrating the educational, social, and emotional benefits from the project. Maximum award: $5,500. Eligibility: teachers of infant, toddler, 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 8, 2014. More
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Captain Planet Foundation: Grants for the Environment
The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects for 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 an annual operating budget of less than $3 million. Deadline: January 31, 2015. More
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Quote of the Week:
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"The problem of inner-city schools is not that the dedicated teachers who work in them have too many rights, but that the students who go to them are disadvantaged in many ways, the schools have inadequate resources, and the schools are surrounded by communities that are dangerous, lack essential services, and are largely segregated both by race and class. Taking the modest job security accorded by tenure away from teachers will address none of these problems." -- Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. More

 

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