[Ohiogift] Public Education NewsBlast — May 5, 2015

[Art Snyder]

  May 05, 2015 - In This Issue:
Bold moves in Motor City
Segregation starts early
Another departure from the Bloomberg blueprint
Big Ed means business
But is it worth a dime?
Choate, Groton, and Buffalo?
The benefits of closures
From 'juvenile delinquent' to 'opportunity youth'
BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
BRIEFLY NOTED
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
 Bold moves in Motor City
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has unveiled a plan to divide control of the Detroit Public Schools (DPS), placing most power in a new City of Detroit Education District that would operate alongside the DPS, reports Andrew Ujifusa for Education Week. The Education District would oversee school operations and be governed by a seven-member board of gubernatorial and mayoral appointees, though elections could eventually determine board membership. The DPS and its elected board and manager would retain a single responsibility: paying off DPS's $483 million debt. Both the Education District and the current DPS would be monitored by a Financial Review Commission to "ensure coordination and continuity, and that financial strength is restored and maintained." The plan also creates a Detroit Education Commission, again staffed by appointees, which will hire an education manager to run both traditional and charter schools in the city. A "universal choice" system will allow families to choose charter or traditional public schools through a process called Kids in Detroit Schools (KIDS). DPS is currently run by an emergency manager appointed by Snyder, Darnell Earley. He would continue to manage DPS, but would have no role in the new Education District. Snyder's plan drew immediate criticism from the Detroit Federation of Teachers. More
 Segregation starts early
A new report from the Century Foundation finds troubling racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in preschool classrooms across America. Demographic data reveal that children from low-SES (socioeconomic status) families and Hispanic children are less likely than high-SES and non-Hispanic children to be enrolled in center-based early childhood programs. Low-income children are most likely to attend low-quality preschools, and most children in public preschools attend classrooms segregated by family income, race, and/or ethnicity. Research on classroom composition and peer effects in early childhood suggests that segregating children limits learning, yet most preschool policy effectively reinforces segregating tendencies. A survey of 14 leading early-learning organization position statements found that none articulated a specific commitment to economic and racial integration in preschools. The report recommends policymakers create an "equity" set-aside in current federal early education funding, parallel to the concept of "quality" set-asides in Head Start and Child Care Development. National early-childhood organizations must pursue the reduction of segregation in preschool classrooms as part of a critical commitment to serve all children equitably. Finally, lawmakers must increase allocations for Head Start that allow the option of enrolling up to 10 percent of children from families with incomes above the poverty line but without jeopardizing services to low-income children. More
 Another departure from the Bloomberg blueprint
A decade after the New York City Department of Education split a large, struggling middle school into two smaller ones, it's merging them again, reports Kate Taylor for The New York Times. Since the two Brooklyn schools split, M.S. 354 -- under Principal Monique Campbell -- has far outpaced M.S. 334 downstairs. Last year, 42 percent of M.S. 354 students passed state math tests, compared with just one percent at M.S. 334. Seventeen percent of students at M.S. 354 passed reading tests, compared with three percent at M.S. 334. (Citywide, 29 percent of middle school students passed math tests, and 27 percent passed reading tests.) The recombined school will be led by Principal Campbell. Chancellor Carmen Fariña says the action does not retreat from the small-schools philosophy of the Bloomberg administration. She's visited many small schools doing great work, she said. The critical factor in merging schools is whether one school has an exceptional principal who can run both. When a struggling school combines with an effective one, it raises morale for teachers in the weaker school. Asked why she didn't close M.S. 334 and put a charter in its place, Fariña said: "We have the expertise right at our doorstep. Here you have Monique Campbell, who is doing a fabulous job. To me it wouldn't have made sense to do anything else." More
 Big Ed means business
A new analysis shows the four corporations dominating the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions lobbying state and federal officials to influence policies around mandated student assessments and the $2 billion annual testing business, reports Valerie Strauss for The Washington Post. The Center for Media and Democracy finds Pearson Education, ETS, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill collectively spent over $20 million lobbying states and Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2014. Of the four, only Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has signed the Student Privacy Pledge, an initiative to safeguard student privacy. Pearson and ETS actually lobbied against privacy protection for student data. The testing companies have liberally hired former government officials, as well. A 2013 report by the Texas State Auditor found that 11 "former employees who worked on student assessment" had gone to work for Pearson, for instance. All four testing companies have donated generously to the Foundation for Excellence in Education, founded by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, with Pearson writing checks totaling $125,000 between 2012 and 2014. In the past six months, Pearson shares have seen a dramatic upsurge of 15.5 percent, with a current market capitalization of $17.9 billion. More
 But is it worth a dime?
For 2015, venture funding for education technology is expected to hit $2 billion, a big jump from $385 million in 2009, reports Mark Koba for Fortune. It's a good business to be in: "There's a high profit margin, with no warehouses and not much cost except for research and development," explains Bob Sun of online site First in Math. But many question ed tech's value, a major concern being access: Lack of it heightens disparities between rich and poor schools, putting low-income students at even greater disadvantage around familiarity, use, and comfort with the technologies. Add to this the expense of maintaining quality content for new devices. To keep up, districts have issued bonds to raise money for ed tech, but devices can reach obsolescence before bond issues mature. And critics have long cited student privacy issues. Moreover, many of these technologies don't immediately share data with teachers on student performance, which is where they could help most. Some see increased testing -- monitoring student learning and rating teacher performances -- as ed-tech's inevitable outgrowth. "We need to modernize our system, but a huge amount of testing is another strike against education technology, and not really the best use of the process," says Paul McGowan of the Center for Innovative Technology. More
 Choate, Groton, and... Buffalo?
Buffalo's chronically struggling school system is considering public boarding schools to focus round-the-clock on students and remove them from the daunting problems of poverty, reports Carolyn Thompson for the Associated Press. Supporters of the idea feel it's a necessary step to get certain students into an atmosphere conducive learning, well worth the estimated $25,000 per student per year. Buffalo school board member Carl Paladino envisions a city boarding school where students as young as first or second grade are assured meals, uniforms, after-school tutoring, and enrichment activities. Currently, just 53 percent of Buffalo students graduate in four years; both English and math proficiency fall 20 points below New York state average. Eighty percent of Buffalo students meet federal guidelines for free and reduced-price lunch. In the United States, about 115,000 students currently board at private schools, but the idea of public boarding schools is relatively new. The Washington, D.C.-based SEED Foundation opened its first public boarding school for poor and academically at-risk students in 1998, following with a school in Baltimore in 2008 and one in Miami in 2014. A fourth school is slated to open in Ohio at the request of that state's Department of Education. The idea has been discussed in cities that include Detroit and Niagara Falls, but the high price of implementation is a consistent obstacle. More
 The benefits of closures
A new study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute shows that counter to prevailing wisdom, children displaced by school closure make significant academic gains on state math and reading exams afterward. The research analyzed 120 closed district-run schools and 78 closed charter schools in Ohio, directly affecting 22,722 students who were disproportionately low-income, low-achieving, and minority in grades 3-8. Three years afterward, students who'd attended a closed district school gained 49 additional days of learning in reading and 34 additional days in math; students who'd attended a closed charter gained 46 additional days in math. Students who attended a higher-quality school after closure made even greater strides. Three years after closure, displaced students who transferred to a higher-quality school gained 69 additional days of learning in reading and 63 additional days in math; students who had attended a closed charter gained 58 additional days of learning in reading and 88 additional days in math. Estimated gains are based upon a 180-day school year and are benchmarked against gains that displaced students would have likely made had they continued to attend their closed school. The authors used data from the Ohio Department of Education and applied empirical methods to gauge impact of closure on student academic achievement. More
 From 'juvenile delinquent' to 'opportunity youth'
An estimated 5.5 million young people in the United States aged 16 to 24 are neither in school nor working, reports Anya Kamenetz for NPR. Terms describing this group have fluctuated over decades, with each generation's preferred term reflecting economic, social, cultural, and educational assumptions about framing the issue, and with embedded arguments about blame and solutions. Going back to the 1940s, the prevailing term (according to a Google book search) was "juvenile delinquent," encompassing kids who broke the law, "wayward pregnant girls," or youth who were homeless. The next to hit prominence was "drop out," a concept nonsensical through the early 20th century since so few graduated from high school, but which caught a flurry of national concern in the early 1970s. Then "at-risk youth" gained currency after 1983's A Nation At Risk, which cautioned that America was threatened by a "rising tide of mediocrity" within its school systems. "At risk" suggests prevention and intervention through social services, tutoring, and related programs. In opposition, "superpredator," coined by John J. Dilulio, Jr. in the 1990s, anticipated a generation of homicidal thugs without conscience, "in black inner-city neighborhoods," the result of drugs, child abuse, and other "moral poverty." The latest term is "opportunity youth," a phrase so new it doesn't register on a Google book search. John Bridgeland of Civic Enterprises used the term in a 2012 report to describe the "extraordinary untapped potential" he saw. "Opportunity" also reflects social costs to the economy and society measured in lost wages and increased social services -- $93 billion per year. More
 BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA
 
Now hiring
After years of pink slips and layoffs, California districts have emerged from the recession with plans to hire 21,500 teachers for the 2015-16 academic year at a pace not seen in a decade, according to new data. More
 
Present!
Already a key reporting requirement of California's accountability system, attendance rates could also become one of three measures used by federal officials to gauge school performance in the state. More
 
Scant numbers
Even as the number of Latinos in California rises to nearly four in ten residents, only 12 percent of Latinos in the state have earned a bachelor's degree. More
 
Paying now instead of paying later
Programs aimed at keeping California kids in school and out of the so-called "prison pipeline" would receive a big boost under a bill that lays groundwork for use of millions of dollars in prisoner-release savings. More
 
One small problem
The new UTLA contract adds $171 million to the LAUSD's $7.27 billion annual budget, opening a $140 million hole that will grow to $419 in 2016-2017 fiscal year. More

 BRIEFLY NOTED 
 
Plain lousy
Results from the 2014 NAEP show only 27 percent of eighth-grade students scored at or above proficient in geography, 23 percent in civics, and 18 percent in U.S. history. More
 
Relenting
Admitting he was "not comfortable" with the seven-year terms he had handed down two weeks earlier, the judge in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case called three former administrators back to his courtroom to cut their prison terms to three years each. More
 
Bestowing Promise
The Obama administration has announced six urban areas (including Ferguson, Missouri), one rural region, and one tribal community to be "Promise Zones," where federal agencies will work closely with local leaders to attack poverty. More
 
Ain't broke
As the Colorado legislature prepares for floor debate on key testing bills, two former governors urged lawmakers not to tinker too much with standards and assessments. More
 
Huge sigh of relief
The Miami-Dade district has eliminated all but 10 of 300 end-of-year tests previously required under state law. More
 
No foolin around
Any New Jersey school that fails to have 95 percent of its students take the PARCC exams will be placed on a corrective action plan, and schools with especially high opt-out rates could have state funding withheld, state Education Commissioner David Hespe has announced. More
 
That would be a 'no'
Colorado schools could face financial or other consequences after the U.S. Department of Education rejected the state's request for a waiver to federal education law so it could give a break to districts with large numbers of students opting out of state tests. More
 
Can they text in homework?
Every Alabama school system would be required to establish a policy to offer some level of virtual school for high school students by the 2016-2017 academic year under a bill lawmakers have passed. More
 
Among other benefits
Reducing diesel air pollution from school buses could lead to 14 million fewer student absences each year in the United States, according to new research. More
 
Pricey
New York City will cut its first checks to city charters paying for their own space -- an outlay that could stretch to $10 million this school year, based on charter enrollment figures. More
 
Comity
New Jersey Democrats in the state legislature and education Commissioner David Hespe have agreed how scores from PARCC exam will factor into some teachers' evaluations for the 2015-16 school year, though lawmakers haven't yet translated the agreement into official state policy. More
 
New conduit
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is poised to expand its grantmaking in the area of teacher preparation. More

 
 GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

 
 
Lincoln Financial Group: Lincoln's Legacy Award
Through the Lincoln's Legacy Award, the Lincoln Financial Group recognizes and invests in nonprofit organizations whose principles and programs advance Abraham Lincoln's legacy of freedom and opportunity through programs that support education achievement. Maximum award: $50,000. Eligibility: 501(c)(3) public charities based in the U.S. with annual operating expenses of a minimum of $750,000 and running educational support programs that impact increased high school graduation rates and college preparedness through mentoring, tutoring, technology skills training, and college-readiness programs. Deadline: May 15, 2015. More
 
CEE: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Teaching Champion Award
The Council for Economic Education (CEE) Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Teaching Champion Award promotes economic education at the K-12 level by recognizing and honoring teachers who effectively deliver this important content in and out of their classrooms and achieve results. Awardees are those who instill in students an understanding of economics and the tools to make informed and responsible decisions that they will carry with them as they grow into successful and productive adults. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: K-12 certified teacher in one of 12 New York State counties (New York, Kings, Bronx, Richmond, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, and Dutchess), eight New Jersey counties (Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Union, Morris, Monmouth), or two Connecticut counties (Fairfield and New Haven). Deadline: June 15, 2015. More
 
Best Buy Foundation: Youth Technology Program
Best Buy seeks nonprofit partners to create hands-on learning opportunities for underserved teens to engage them in experimenting and interacting with the latest technologies to build 21st-century skills. The overall goal is to provide youth with access to new technologies and help them become interested and fluent in digital learning while developing skills to help better prepare them for future education and career success. Programs can encompass audio production (including music mixing & recording); coding/3D printing; computer Maintenance and Repair; digital photography/graphic design; filmmaking & videography; Maker Faires/hack-a-thons; mobile & game app development; programming; robotics; and web site design. Maximum award: $200,000. Eligibility: 501(c)(3) out-of-school programs with a fundamental commitment to youth ages 13-18, operating within 25 miles of a Best Buy store or other Best Buy center of operations. Deadline: November 1, 2015. More


Quote of the Week: 
 
"I watched the mayor Monday night. It seemed like she wasn't from Baltimore, had no connection to the people. She just didn't care. She was talking about the rioters when she said, 'These thugs...' That's when I thought to myself, these people aren't thugs. These are people I know, my age, people I grew up with, my friends. Most of the people are good people. I see more good criminals than good cops, more bad cops than bad criminals. I may not know everybody involved, nor was I involved, but I do know these people are not thugs." - Liam, Baltimore high school student. More

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