[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — April 21, 2015

[Art Snyder]

 ?April 21, 2015 - In This Issue:
That ESEA reauthorization: Don't celebrate yet
Great teachers need great principals
Narrow the focus of Title IIA
Another thing bonus pay won't fix
NOLA in the (unionized) charter vanguard
Don't let restorative justice fail
What undocumented students add
TFA's dwindling recruitment
BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
BRIEFLY NOTED
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
 That ESEA reauthorization: Don't celebrate yet
The bipartisan rewrite of the ESEA that the Senate education committee unanimously approved will join a crush of legislative priorities awaiting debate on the chamber's floor and could draw intense partisan sparring, writes Lauren Camera for Education Week. The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 maintains major policies from NCLB, among these annual testing and requiring disaggregated data for subgroups of students. It also significantly diverges from its predecessor, scrapping adequate yearly progress and allowing for state-created accountability systems. Yet even if the bill moves to debate, it could look radically different after senators add amendments that reshape the measure to their liking. Chief among these will be a proposal from Republicans that Title I dollars follow students to public or private schools of their choice, and a proposal from Democrats that strengthens accountability by requiring states to identify their poorest-performing schools. Another major policy issue will be how to address bullying, particularly in regard to LGBT students. But even getting the bill to the floor may prove challenging. The current legislative backlog includes an anti-human-trafficking bill, the nomination of Loretta Lynch for U.S. attorney general, a congressional response to the Iran nuclear-deal framework, and a vote on the fiscal 2016 budget. More
 Great teachers need great principals
Though politicians and reformers have fixated on teacher performance, many overlook a key element for student achievement -- principals, writes Will Miller of the Wallace Foundation in The New York Times. Currently, great principals rarely work where they're needed most: in low-income schools. A generation ago, good principals were efficient managers who oversaw budgets, bus schedules, and discipline. Today's principals must focus on teaching quality. Most begin as teachers and earn master's degrees in educational administration, but university principal-training programs are often inadequate. New principals are frequently thrown into tough jobs with little assistance from districts, quitting within three to four years before they can turn things around, less than the five to seven years recommended by the Wallace Foundation's study of school leadership. As lawmakers debate reauthorization of the ESEA, they should make principal training a priority. Federal policy should improve preparation and mentoring of principals, and require equitable distribution of those who are effective. States should toughen principal-training accreditation and principal-licensing requirements. Universities should selectively admit outstanding candidates to programs, and districts should groom school leaders through proper training, matching principal strengths to school needs. Great teachers are essential, but not enough. They must be led and developed by great principals. More
 Narrow the focus of Title IIA
A new report from the American Institutes of Research argues that in reauthorizing the ESEA, Congress must reengineer Title IIA to focus strictly on the continuous performance improvement of staff and schools. Title IIA sends $2.5 billion per year to all states and nearly all districts to "(1) increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools; and (2) hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement." Currently, state, district, and school leaders can use funds on a long list of permissible activities (including tenure reform, student loan forgiveness, and educator bonuses), though most districts spend Title IIA dollars on professional development and class-size reduction. Research shows that teacher professional development, as defined in the law and pursued across the country, has had disappointing impacts on teacher practice and student learning. Thirteen years after introduction and some $30 billion later, Title IIA has not had the effect on teacher and principal quality or student achievement once hoped. The report recommends that Congress redefine "professional development," focusing Title IIA strictly on continuous performance improvement, and keep implementation flexible. More
 Another thing bonus pay won't fix
A National Education Policy Center (NEPC) review of a report from Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab finds the report misreads or ignores well-established evidence on class size, teacher assessment, pay, and job satisfaction in its proposal to pay bonuses to the "best" teachers in a district for teaching more students. The report proposes paying the top 25 percent of teachers bonuses for accepting up to three more students in their classes; the drawback of larger classes would, the report asserts, be offset by the benefit of more students enrolled with effective teachers. Yet the report projects outcomes based on data about average class sizes, which obscures the experience of thousands of teachers and students in already overcrowded classrooms. Further, the proposed bonus system ignores evidence that teacher salaries overall are too low to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of talented faculty, especially for high-needs schools. The NEPC reviewer characterizes the report as one of many responses to the criticism that "single-salary" pay scales under-compensate great teachers and over-compensate inept ones. But, "rather than a practical response to known issues with single-salary pay scales, the proposal appears to be primarily a scheme to reduce the teaching force," the reviewer concludes. "The report is superficial and misleading, and the plan it proposes has no value as a nationwide model." More
 NOLA in the (unionized) charter vanguard
Three weeks ago, the United Teachers of New Orleans, AFT's local affiliate, secured its first collective-bargaining contract in a decade at Benjamin Franklin High School. The union has not had collective bargaining in the city since the Recovery School District took over most city schools. The Orleans Parish School Board unanimously approved a 25-page contract for the highly rated charter high school, which requires students to test in for admission. Franklin's teachers started organizing a year ago after staff noticed salary discrepancies. Another school, Morris Jeff Community, has also now voted to unionize. Supporters of charter unionization point out that contracts negotiated with charters can be tailored to individual schools, as opposed to district-wide contracts that bind dozens of schools in a single agreement. However, tailor-made contracts, which can take months of negotiating, also place the financial burden for negotiation solely on each school. Currently, the American Federation of Teachers has collective bargaining contracts with 213 charters. The National Education Association is said to represent hundreds more. Since Louisiana is a right-to-work state, workers in unionized workplaces cannot be compelled to join or pay dues, even when benefiting from collective-bargaining agreements. More
 Don't let restorative justice fail
Recently, pressure has mounted to decrease, if not eliminate, suspensions in public schools, writes New York City teacher Ruben Brosbe in BRIGHT. The correlation between suspensions, dropouts, and incarcerations -- particularly for black and Latino youth -- has been deemed a school-to-prison pipeline. Restorative justice has gained favor as a corrective to the zero-tolerance policies of the 1990s. Within a restorative framework, misbehaving students participate in a community circle, collaborative negotiation, peer mediation, or a formal restorative conference. New York City has announced School Climate Reforms intended to promote "dignity and fairness" in schools, with an accompanying $1.2 million to expand restorative practices. Yet restorative justice requires intensive training for all school staff, including guidance counselors and school safety officers. The city plans to introduce restorative approaches to a hundred New York City schools by September 2015, but the experience of a few city schools now successfully using the practice shows that implementation is lengthy, with bumps and setbacks alongside success. At this point, the city has only trained teachers for community circles, which don't address cursing, fighting or bullying; teachers have received little continued education even in this. If teachers are charged with using restorative justice in place of suspensions but aren't given tools to do so, the promise of restorative justice will be squandered. More
 What undocumented students add
While certain public-school teachers might want to avoid the challenges of educating undocumented students, California teacher Andrew Simmons does not. Simmons writes in The Atlantic that good educators teach whatever kids show up -- regardless of behavior, academic skills, or language proficiencies, and whether they're in the country legally or not. Simmons views undocumented students as assets to his classroom and school community: They often have first- or second-hand experience with state-sanctioned persecution, civil wars, and life under leadership unaccountable to taxed constituents -- powerful themes in U.S. History and World Civilization classes. Their experience is also not monolithic. He's taught undocumented students who have no memories of their birth countries and little command of Spanish; he's also taught recent arrivals who struggle to learn English alongside algebra and U.S. history. He's taught students who enjoy soccer and indie rock, and those who listen to corridos and obsess over American football. The potential for exchange that undocumented students present is the kind of experience only integrated public schools can deliver. Classrooms can be forums for the honest, uncomfortable, revealing conversations that adults don't make time for in their public lives. Every student has important insights to share. More
 TFA's dwindling recruitment
Teach for America (TFA) now grapples with too few recruits, reports Brandis Friedman for the PBS News Hour. As of December 2014, TFA had 20,000 applications for its incoming corps, a decline from 2013. If recruitment continues at this pace, TFA will fall short by 25 percent of what its school partners nationally have said they need. TFA's Chicago Director Josh Anderson blames several factors for a tougher recruiting environment on elite college campuses, where the organization finds many applicants. Among these is a concern that teaching is underpaid. "In this post-recession moment, we're seeing, especially for top talent on college campuses, greater and greater competition," Anderson explains. TFA contends the problem isn't solely its own, pointing to a national fall-off in graduates desiring to become teachers. Some of this is clearly due to the highly politicized climate of modern-day teaching. But TFA's critics argue the organization has also brought its recruitment issues upon itself. "When your larger message is, you only need five weeks to become a teacher, it demeans, it reduces, it oversimplifies what it is that teachers ought to be doing and what they do," says Eleni Katsarou of the University of Illinois at Chicago. "In that way, I think they have contributed to making [teaching] less than what it actually is." More
 BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
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Si por standardized testing
A new poll finds that a majority of Latino voters -- 55 percent -- said mandatory exams improve public education in California by gauging student progress and providing teachers with vital information. More
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Tepid about tenure
The California Teachers Association is expressing concern over results of a poll that indicates California voters are critical of current job protections provided to public school educators.?More
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Funny how that works
Recent infusions of state aid, and the prospect of more to come, have -- not surprisingly -- improved the financial stability of California's school districts.?More
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Drought conditions
The precipitous decline in young people entering the teaching profession in California is now a 10-year trend, and cause for state officials to worry that the blame can't all be placed on a recession hangover.?More
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Fiasco without end
Los Angeles Unified has told Apple, Inc. that it will not spend a dime more on the Pearson software installed on its iPads, and is seeking a multimillion-dollar refund from the technology giant.?More
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Super ambivalent
San Diego Schools Chief Cindy Marten reluctantly kicked off the testing season with a letter to parents that downplays the significance of the first formal assessment of California's Common Core academic standards -- with information on opting out.?More

 BRIEFLY NOTED?
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Penny wise
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching a national effort to advance financial education in schools K-12. More
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Stiff sanctions
Three former top administrators were given maximum 20-year sentences in the Atlanta school cheating case, with seven years to be served in prison, 13 on probation, and fines of $25,000 to be paid by each. More
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Zero-sum
Participation in New Jersey's school-choice program has grown by a factor of nine since Gov. Chris Christie made it permanent in 2010, but its funding deprives other state education programs.?More
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No dice
A proposal that would make it easier for Tennessee parents to convert struggling public schools into charters has failed this legislative session.?More
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So much for enrichment
Ohio school board officials have formally killed Ohio's "five of eight rule," eliminating the requirement that districts hire art, music, and physical education teachers in certain ratios.?More
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Glitchy
A problem with a computer server is stopping Smarter Balanced Common Core testing in Nevada, Montana, and North Dakota after a previous technical issue delayed it last month, officials said.?More
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A Smarter move
Following technical problems with its administration of the Smarter Balanced tests, the Montana education department has announced that Smarter Balanced testing will be optional for districts this spring.?More
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Problematic
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Chicago Schools CEO, has stepped aside pending the outcome of a federal probe of a no-bid, $20.5 million principal-training contract for the Chicago Public Schools.?More
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Vindication
Roughly 51,600 city families signed up for New York City prekindergarten programs in the first three weeks of enrollment.?More

 
 GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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Microsoft: DigiGirlz High Tech Camp
Microsoft DigiGirlz High Tech Camp for girls works to dispel stereotypes of the high-tech industry. During the camp session, the girls listen to executive speakers, participate in technology tours and demonstrations, network, and learn through hands-on experience in workshops. This year camps will take place at various dates throughout the summer in Stonybrook, NY; Charlotte, NC; Fargo, ND; Redmond, WA; Las Colinas, TX; and St. Louis, MO.? Maximum award: free attendance to camp. Eligibility: girls grades 9-11 in the 2015-2016 school year, and at least age 13 at time of application, with some location exceptions. Deadline: varies by location. More
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National Weather Association: Sol Hirsch Teacher Grants
National Weather Association Sol Hirsch Teacher Grants improve students' education in meteorology. Teachers selected will be able to use the funds to take an accredited course in atmospheric sciences, attend a relevant workshop or conference, or purchase scientific materials or equipment for the classroom. Maximum award: $750. Eligibility: K-12 teachers. Deadline: June 1, 2015. More
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FFVF: Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education
The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education to honor outstanding educators who excite a commitment in their students to the free enterprise system and unleash the entrepreneurial skills of their students at the elementary, junior high school, high school and college level. Maximum award: $15,000. Eligibility: teachers at schools (K-12), colleges, and universities. Deadline: November 1, 2015. More


Quote of the Week:?
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"I am for protecting teachers. I'm for protecting resources. But I'm not for something that's not been thought out and talked out. For [New York State United Teachers Union] to arbitrarily say 'opt out' and not evaluate or deal with any of the consequences ... that is something I could not support. We could lose federal funding." -- The Reverend Al. Sharpton, against widespread opting-out from New York state tests. More

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