[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — December 2, 2014

[Gifted and Talented in Ohio Discussion List]

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           ?                December 2, 2014 - In This Issue:
       A two-generation approach to lift kids out of poverty
  Early childhood teachers: critical and underpaid
  Further analysis of the teaching profession
  Student reading is too little and too easy
  As 'no-excuses' ages, a reassessment
  Educating recent arrivals
  When tests actually aid learning
  Two cheers for technology
  BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
  BRIEFLY NOTED
  GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
                                            A two-generation approach to lift kids out of poverty
The latest Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation makes the case for creating opportunity for families by addressing needs of parents and children simultaneously, and connecting low-income families with early childhood education, job training, and other tools to achieve financial stability and break the cycle of poverty. Low-income families today face a number of challenges: parents have inflexible, low-paying, unpredictable jobs; lack access to high-quality, flexible, reliable early child care and education; and grapple with stress at home. Nearly half -- 45 percent -- of American families with children age 8 and under are low-income, and many lack essential tools to achieve financial stability. Agencies that help families often work in isolation. The report recommends three components to the two-generational approach. First, provide parents with multiple pathways to get family-supporting jobs and achieve financial stability -- an extra $3,000 annually for families during a child's earliest years could translate into an increase of more than 15 percent in what that same child earns as an adult. Second, ensure access to high-quality early childhood education and enriching elementary school experiences. Third, equip parents to better support their children socially and emotionally and to advocate for their kids' education. The report also offers a range of data related to families with young children, broken down by state. More
 Early childhood teachers: critical and underpaid
A new report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, a follow-up of a report 25 years earlier, finds that despite a two-fold increase in costs to parents for early childhood services since 1997, childcare workers have had no increase in real earnings. As was true in 1989, childcare workers earn less than adults who take care of animals, and barely more than fast-food cooks. Many early childhood teachers who earn degrees, often while working full time, seldom find their earnings aligned with their qualifications. It also finds that over the last 17 years, the share of Head Start teachers with an associate or bachelor's degree has increased by 61 percent, and the share of assistant teachers with a degree has increased by 24 percent. In addition to examining trends in center-based teachers' education, wages, and turnover, the report includes new evidence examining economic insecurity and use of public benefits among this predominantly female, ethnically diverse workforce. The report also appraises state and national efforts to improve early childhood teaching jobs, and offers recommendations aimed at reinvigorating a national conversation about the status and working conditions of the more than two million teaching staff who work in our nation's early-care and -education settings. More
Further analysis of the teaching profession
In a review of books by Dana Goldstein, Elizabeth Green, and Garret Keizer, Jonathan Zimmerman in The New York Review of Books writes that the recent shift to "accountability" for teachers has done nothing to alter the tedious, anti-intellectual practices of American teaching. If anything, commitment to "academic" goals has made teaching less academic and more routinized. When teachers were hired for an inborn ability to "nurture," many derided or disregarded teachers' intellectual capacities. Now our system is so firmly tied to scholastic achievement -- as defined by standardized tests -- that no serious scholar would want to teach in it. As for Teach for America, Zimmerman asks us to imagine if an Ivy League student started Nurses for America, giving highly qualified recruits a quick five-to-seven-week training and sending them into hospitals to draw blood, administer vaccinations, and monitor life-support machines. Every teaching discipline -- history, math, English composition, etc. -- has its own "episteme" or system of knowledge: a distinct way of asking questions, gathering evidence, and generating answers. Unless you understand how a discipline works, you can't help anyone else understand it, either. Most of our teachers don't possess a deep working knowledge of any discipline.?More
Student reading is too little and too easy
A new report from Renaissance Learning finds that American students are reading more nonfiction, but not as much as the Common Core recommends, and read texts?far less challenging than needed to prepare for college or careers, reports Amanda Paulson for The Christian Science Monitor. Renaissance Learning tracks reading habits of 10 million students at all grade levels through its Accelerated Reader program. For the past five years, its report has listed the top fiction and nonfiction books by grade. The latest report also analyzes complexity of reading material and how much is read. Students who spend at least 30 minutes per day reading independently at a level where they can understand at least 85 percent of what they read experience the most growth in reading. Only a quarter of students in Renaissance's study read that often, and nearly half read for less than 15 minutes per day. Students' reading amount peaks in sixth grade, when they read about 436,000 words per year, then falls to the low 300,000s by the end of high school. At the end of high school, the average complexity of books is 5.2 on the ATOS scale -- far from the Common Core recommendation of between 9.7 and 14.1 -- and lower than the complexity of the average New York Times article (10.6) or college textbook (13.8).?More
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Report:
As 'no-excuses' ages, a reassessment
Concern is growing that the stern, regimented, no-excuses approach of some urban charters is leading to a flagrant form of two-tiered education and a rise in racially skewed suspension and expulsion rates for low-level misbehaviors, writes Sarah Carr in The Atlantic Magazine. Examining policies at work in New Orleans, Carr says many students and families come to appreciate the intense no-excuses structure, but only if they also come to trust the mostly young educators who enforce it. And as school leaders in New Orleans have discovered, forging trust is far harder than teaching someone to say thank you and follow a taped line in the hallway. As a decade of reform post-Katrina has ushered students into the secondary grades, New Orleans schools have been at the forefront of extending regimented discipline to the high-school level, with mixed results. If mutely regimented middle-school students turn into rowdy bus riders a few years later, what does this say about no-excuses in practice? Older students will test boundaries, to be sure, yet the no-excuses culture is meant to be cumulative, its overarching goal not exacting obedience for obedience's sake, or mere short-term gains in test scores. Its point is to develop self-control in students en route to graduation, since in college, the ability to think critically and navigate coursework independently counts for much more than reflexive compliance. More
     Educating recent arrivals
Schools across the country are enrolling large numbers of newly arrived Central American students (largely from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), and grappling with how best to serve them, reports Lillian Mongeau for Univision.com. Many arrivals have had little formal schooling, and stopped attending school after sixth grade, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is screening for whether arrivals have left war-like conditions that could qualify them for international protection as refugees (58 percent have). A full introduction to all requirements of attending school, along with continued support and understanding, will help with this massive influx, says Mary Beth Klotz of the National Association of School Psychologists. So will trauma-informed instruction taking new students' background into account. And teachers should keep in mind that even students who have been here some time still may not be fully settled. In addition to offering services for learning English, Klotz said there are three key goals schools can adopt: providing teachers with training to teach traumatized children, providing mental health care services, and working closely with trusted interpreters during conversations with families. Putting all those services in place will take time, and the sheer number of new students can overwhelm any school's resources. More
When tests actually aid learning
Tests should work for the student, not the other way around, writes Benedict Carey in The New York Times. In an experiment, University of Texas psychologists replaced the final exam for 900 students in their psych course with short quizzes that students took at the beginning of each class. These student did significantly better than a comparison class, both in grades and on a larger test that included 17 questions appearing in both the quizzes and the comparison class's midterm. Quizzes especially benefitted those from low-performing high schools who didn't realize how far behind they were. In another study, cognitive scientist Doug Rohrer changed the math homework of middle school students, giving two types of assignments: concentrated drills on a single thing, or mixed practice, blending certain skills with other types of problems. At the end of the term on a surprise test, students solved 72 percent of problems they'd studied in mixed sets, compared with 38 percent of those from homework-as-usual sets. This strategy of mixed problem-sets is distinct from end-of-unit reviews because it's self-guided and continual. It mimics a test in a crucial way, by forcing students to distinguish between problem types and decide which strategy is appropriate. Testing in all its permutations convinces the brain that particular knowledge important, and varying testing strategies can improve retention. More
Two cheers for technology
A new policy brief from the National Education Policy Center finds little evidence that marrying digital technology to education has changed schooling for the better. One problem is the absence of a clear model for what actually constitutes computer-based "personalized instruction"; proponents apply the term to a range of approaches to teaching that rely heavily on online or other digital resources. The highest potential for computer-aided benefits resides principally with so-called blended instruction, which employs traditional classroom teaching in close alignment with elements that can be delivered via computer. Yet blended learning done well is more expensive than traditional education -- undermining the frequent claim that computerized instruction can help achieve significant fiscal savings. The brief recommends that policymakers invest in technology incrementally, and view skeptically claims for computerized learning that overstep what can be concluded from available research. They should also clearly distinguish among the key features of technologies so that research and discussions can revolve around shared ideas and concretely defined practices. Much more research is needed in the K-12 context, and developers of educational technologies should work with researchers and teachers in testing and validating software and hardware tools. Crucially, school administrators must ensure that substantial professional development for teachers accompanies any technology introduced. More
          BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
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Moving ahead
The California Board of Education, as expected, has voted to move ahead in the spring with the new Smarter Balanced tests on the Common Core State Standards while leaving open, for now, the decision on what to do with the test results. More
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Rosy outlook
California's minimum funding guarantee to schools would grow from $63.2 billion in 2014-15 to $74.5 billion by 2019-20 under a new revenue forecast released by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office. More
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Troubling expansion
The number of homeless children in California rose last year, according to a new report, especially in hard-hit Southern California. More
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Hamstrung
A two-year pay hike totaling 6.64 percent and a controversial teacher evaluation system are major points of contention that continue to prevent the Los Angeles Unified School District and representatives of its 35,000-member teachers union from reaching a new contract. More
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Travelin' man
Former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy traveled more than 100,000 miles last school year, equivalent to circling the globe four times, according to a KPCC analysis of credit card records. More
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And... they're back
Three months after the former superintendent axed a controversial contract with Apple and Pearson, interim Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines is planning to spend $22 million in bond money under that same contract to buy more than 20,000 iPads for standardized tests in the spring. More
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The biggest losers
California high schools with high-poverty students lose?nearly?two?weeks of learning time annually because of teacher absences, testing, emergency lockdowns, and other disruptions compared with their more affluent peers in other schools, according to a new?UCLA study. More
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Promising move
A coalition led by Los Angeles Trade-Technical College has finalized an application seeking to make South Los Angeles a "Promise Zone," a designation that would give the area an edge when applying for up to $500 million in federal funding for anti-poverty programs. More
          BRIEFLY NOTED?
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Tightening ship
The Department of Education has announced preliminary rules requiring states to develop rating systems for teacher-preparation programs to track a range of measures, including job placement and retention rates of graduates, as well as academic performance of graduates' students. More
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Easing up
The Obama administration's new immigration plan will temporarily remove the threat of deportation for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or legal residents who have been in the U.S. for at least five years. More
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Proof needed
The Department of Education is letting states apply to renew their waivers from NCLB for three and in some cases four more years, but they'll have to do more to show they're turning around low-performing schools and closing student achievement gaps. More
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Unlikely to face resistance
President Barack Obama has called on local school officials to help meet his goal of bringing high-speed Internet to virtually every American student within a few years to help them compete with counterparts in countries who already use technology to help them learn. More
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Back in the saddle (or something)
Three months after Oklahoma lost its waiver from key provisions of NCLB, the Obama administration has given it back for the rest of the school year. More
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Revolt
Thousands of Denver-area high school seniors are refusing to take Colorado state standardized tests, saying they're a distraction as they work to get into college, and a waste of time and money. More
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We see their point
Colorado state government and school districts spend up to $78 million a year on testing, and some kind of standardized testing takes place during every week of the school year, according to a new study. More
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Making time
Twenty-one schools across the country are adding another 300 hours to their academic year as part of an expanded-learning initiative to help close the opportunity gap. More
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On-time high
South Carolina's on-time high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, with more than 80 percent of students graduating within four years, new report cards show. More
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Slender returns
Despite the lure of an extra $20,000, Delaware's bonus program for teachers attracted only nine highly rated educators to low-scoring schools in its third year, though many more who already work at such schools took smaller bonuses to stay there. More
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Higher bar
New York State saw a significant drop in the number of candidates who passed teacher certification tests last year as tougher exams were introduced. More
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Spreading the news
The Walton Family Foundation has awarded a $1.2 million grant to the Urban League of Greater New Orleans to help the organization expand its efforts to help parents evaluate their children's education options. More
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In case we needed more proof
A new University of Minnesota study has found that children who attend all-day preschool are far more prepared for kindergarten than students who go to part-day programs. More
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Major bust
The New York City Department of Education is ending a $95 million computer program that tracks students and their academic performance. More
          
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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USDA: Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award
Each year the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Agriculture in the Classroom Consortium recognizes five exceptional teachers by presenting them with the Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award. This competitive program recognizes a select group of teachers for their successful efforts in teaching agricultural concepts in their curriculum. Maximum award: $500; up to $1,500 for travel-related expenses to the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference. Eligibility: pre-K-12 teachers. Deadline: January 15, 2015. More
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Google: Code-In
Google Code-In is a contest to introduce pre-university students to the many kinds of contributions that make open source software development possible. The contest provides "bite sized" tasks for participating students to complete during the seven-week contest, including tasks related to writing or refactoring code; tasks related to creating/editing documents and helping others learn more; outreach/research related to community management, outreach/marketing or studying problems and recommending solutions; tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality; and tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction. Maximum award: trip to Google's Mountain View, California? headquarters in June 2015. Eligibility: students aged 13-17. Deadline: January 19, 2015. More
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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 "The Three Branches and You." 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, 2015. More
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Toyota Dream Car Art Contest?
Artwork submissions for the 9th Toyota Dream Car Contest are now being accepted by Toyota Financial Services (TFS) now through Saturday, December 13, 2014! From the artwork submissions received, nine U.S. winners will be selected by TFS during the National Contest judging during February and March 2015. The artwork by these nine winners, along with winners from more than 80 other countries, will be forwarded to Japan in late March 2015 for consideration in the World Contest, the winners for the latter to be announced in August 2015. Presented annually, the global competition is designed to inspire creativity in youth and encourage their interest in cars. More
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Quote of the Week:
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"For those states choosing a path other than Common Core, I say this: Aim even higher, be bolder, raise standards and ask more of our students and the system," former Governor of Florida and potential 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush, in a speech that sought common ground with opponents to the Common Core. More

 

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