FreeLists / networknewsletters / PEN> PEN Weekly NewsBlast for January 30, 2004

[Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Network NewsLetters - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:30:06 -0800
Subject: PEN Weekly NewsBlast for January 30, 2004
To: "PEN Weekly NewsBlast" <newsblast@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Public Education Network" <PEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
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WHY HIGH-QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION IS A PRIMARY DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGE
An educated citizenry, writes Bob Borosage, is the hallmark of America's
democracy and central to the success of its economy. Education provided a
common language and a common civic culture to the immigrants who flooded
our shores. America became the first country to require 12 years of formal
schooling. Integrating America's schools was central to the effort to end
segregation and address the challenge of equal opportunity for all. Our
commitment to education has helped to forge the broad middle class that is
the pride of America's democracy and the foundation of its prosperity.
Now, as we begin a new century, America's commitment to public education
faces staggering new challenges. With 53 million students and 3 million
teachers in 92,000 public schools (within 15,000 districts), simply
keeping what has traditionally been a locally governed nonsystem running
is hard enough. The new information age and the new global economy make
education -- and lifelong learning -- even more essential to our
prosperity. A new generation of immigrants requires the schooling vital
for assimilation of our language and civic traditions. As communication
makes the world smaller and generates a growing sophistication in
packaging and propaganda, an educated, questioning, independent-thinking
citizenry is even more vital to our democracy. Americans understand this.
They expect their leaders to make education a priority. They demand more
from their schools. And at a state and local level, parents have driven a
furious debate about schools: What constitutes an adequate education? What
standards should be required? How can schools be made accountable? Over
the past two decades, waves of reform at the local level have implanted
higher standards and provided greater resources for schools. Yet even as
public spending on schools has risen over the last two decades,
particularly at the state and local levels, the national debate about
schools has been driven by a conservative mantra: Money is not the
solution, something else is. Conservatives' ideological animus to public
institutions makes public schools -- where one in four Americans work or
learn -- a prime target. For two decades, conservatives have scorned
public investment in schools, offering up instead a menu of alternatives
to "fix" the schools: testing, phonics, English only, prayer, vouchers,
zero tolerance, phonics, ending certification of teachers. They've gone
from demanding the abolition of the Department of Education to seeking to
supplant the common public school with a "marketplace" of private
institutions, all the while opposing increased investment in schools.
Americans need to hold their public officials accountable. Providing a
high-quality public education is a task for the entire nation. Click on "A
National Task" at the link below.
http://www.prospect.org/print/special0402.html

HOME SCHOOLS VERSUS BIG BROTHER
New Jersey's child welfare system, like most state child welfare systems,
writes Michelle Malkin, is a corrupt and deadly mess. Children are lost in
the shuffle, shipped to abusive foster homes, returned to rapists and
child molesters, and left to die in closets while paperwork piles up. So
whom does the government decide to punish for the bureaucracy's abysmal
failure to protect these innocents? Home-schoolers. And what does the
government think will solve its ills? More power and paperwork. A
Democratic assemblywoman recently introduced a bill to impose annual
academic testing and annual medical exams on home-schooled students in the
Garden State. The State Board of Education would be given unprecedented
regulatory authority over home-schoolers. God forbid children be taught by
their own parents, writes Malkin, without oversight from the all-knowing,
all-caring, infallible wizards of the child welfare-public school
monopoly. A crackdown on innocent home-schooling families to cure the
incompetence of government child welfare agencies, she writes, is like a
smoker lopping off his ear to treat metastatic lung cancer. It's a bloody
wrong cure conceived by a fool who caused his own disease.
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20040115-084959-5511r.htm

FUNDING CONCERNS & INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY STALLS NCLB
The most comprehensive national study on the impact of the No Child Left
Behind Act indicates that urban districts are twice as likely to have at
least one school identified as "in need of improvement" under the law as
non-urban districts. The report also shows that states and school
districts are providing additional help to such schools to improve student
achievement, but many school leaders are concerned that federal resources
may not be enough to address significant staffing and funding challenges
created by the law. The report, "From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 2
of the No Child Left Behind Act," is the most comprehensive review of the
law to date and the first to examine all aspects of its implementation at
the federal, state, and local levels. The report was conducted by the
independent, nonpartisan Center on Education Policy (CEP), and is the
second in a series of reports that will be issued annually through 2007.
http://www.ctredpol.org/pubs/nclby2/nclb_press_26jan2004/css/nclb_press_26jan200
4.htm


STATE REPUBLICANS ASSAIL BUSH EDUCATION LAW
President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act will cost Ohio $1.4 billion more
annually than it gets from the federal government for public education, a
new study concludes, giving powerful ammunition to critics who say the law
is too burdensome.  The report, commissioned by the Republican-controlled
Ohio General Assembly, is the first to put a price tag on the broad
education measure and feeds a growing backlash that remarkably is putting
state Republicans at odds with their party's leaders in the White House
and Congress. "Like every other state, we're financially strapped," said
state Sen. Robert Gardner (R), chairman of the Ohio Senate's Education
Committee. If the law is going to work, Gardner said, "the dollars have
got to flow."  The Ohio report coincides with a blast at No Child Left
Behind by the Virginia House of Delegates, also controlled by Republicans.
By a vote of 98 to one, reports Eric Kelderman, the Virginia legislators
adopted a resolution last week calling Bush's signature domestic program
"the most sweeping federal intrusion into state and local control of
education in the history of the United States." The Virginia resolution
criticized the "very expensive mandates" of the law, which requires
statewide testing and extra services for students at low-scoring schools.
The sole dissenter was a Democrat. The Virginia Senate is considering a
similar resolution.
http://www.stateline.org/stateline/?pa=story&sa=showStoryInfo&id=347004

DEMOCRATS TRY TO LEAVE BUSH BEHIND ON EDUCATION
As the centerpiece of President Bush's first domestic priority, the
nation's new education law is an inviting target for the Democrats who
want his job. But it's also a tricky one: Some of them voted for it,
reports Ben Feller, and their party helped shape the legislation. The
leading Democratic candidates have rallied around a complaint that Bush is
enforcing the law on the cheap, holding schools accountable for big gains
without giving them enough money to succeed. They disagree, however, about
whether to overhaul, amend or back the law, differences that could affect
the presidential race and, potentially, millions of students. The top
finishers in the Iowa caucuses, Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and
John Edwards of North Carolina, voted for the No Child Left Behind Act in
2001. Both now say they see problems with it and want change, mainly in
the way student progress is measured. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut
not only voted for the law but helped write it. With an eye on his rivals,
he says maintaining support for the law is a matter of integrity.
Meanwhile, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark
have assailed aspects of the law and broadly depicted it as a
Washington-driven education failure.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2004/01/26/democrats_try_to_l
eave_bush_behind_on_education/


SPELLING MAKING A COMEBACK IN SCHOOL
Newer research by national literacy specialists suggests that, for the
most part, good spellers aren't born; they're made. And improving spelling
ability is connected to improving language skills in other areas, reports
Laura Pappano. While researchers say most of us can become better spellers
with practice, some appear more "natural" as a result of being motivated
readers, having a deeper understanding of language, or better
vocabularies. That notion that spelling may be a waste of time fits with
the popular social belief that some people are natural spellers and some
are not. That perception has for years kept middle and high school
teachers from talking too much about spelling, assuming students got
enough of the basics in elementary school. Add to the mix the introduction
of computers and spell-checking, which has its limitations. At one
Massachusetts high school, English teacher Janet Karman said, "Some
teachers feel it is more important to get the creative ideas out and not
feel so constrained about the rules of grammar, the rules of spelling."
Yet, her department expects final drafts of papers to be checked for
spelling. More than three errors, she said, means a drop of two-thirds of
a grade, such as from a B to a C-plus. A student has three days to correct
the paper, raising the grade one-third, to a B-minus. "I try to walk that
line, not wanting kids to be constrained, but knowing you lose credibility
if you can't spell, you can't speak well, you can't write well," said
Karman. John King, codirector of Roxbury Preparatory Charter School with
grades 6 to 8, said spelling matters for his students because -- like it
or not -- "people make judgments, especially about our kids who are urban
students of color." Urban minority students who misspell or misuse words
may be labeled as poorly educated or unintelligent, King said.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2004/01/25/spelling_maki
ng_a_comeback_in_school/


CHILDREN, FAMILIES & FOSTER CARE
Every year, nearly 300,000 children are abused or neglected, removed from
their homes, and placed in foster care. Generally, by the time a child
enters the foster care system, much emotional -- if not physical -- damage
has already occurred. Many children in foster care come from families
struggling with complex and interrelated problems including mental
illness, substance abuse, homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration,
and HIV/AIDS. A new report examines the plight of children in foster care.
Although foster care is a necessary lifeline for children who cannot
safely remain with their families, too often the system lets these
children down. Rather than experiencing foster care as a time of healing,
children in foster care often suffer further damage. They can become
alienated from their birth families. Many are "bumped around" from place
to place. Their foster families often don't get the supports and services
they need. Meanwhile, overburdened caseworkers are unable to provide
foster children with consistent and individualized attention. As a result,
children in foster care commonly receive inconsistent medical care and
"one-size-fits-all" service plans instead of an appropriate mix of
services tailored to their individual needs. Recent reforms in the child
welfare system are a step in the right direction, but much more could and
should be done to help children in foster care find their way to a
successful future.
http://www.futureofchildren.org/pubs-info2825/pubs-info.htm?doc_id=203959

CREATING PARTNERSHIPS, BRIDGING WORLDS:  FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
For many students, particularly students from low-income families and
students of color, a significant disconnect exists between the worlds of
school, family, and community.  A new guide helps schools and teachers
bring these diverse worlds together and recognize the assets and strengths
inherent in each.  Such efforts help schools to be more successful in
supporting and engaging students, resulting in higher student achievement.
The guide provides resources, models, and tools to help schools create a
framework for family and community engagement.  The framework, based in
part on the work of Dr. Joyce Epstein at the National Network of
Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University, consists of:  Parenting;
Communicating; Volunteering; Supporting Student Learning at Home;
Inclusive Decision Making; and Collaborating with the Community. Turning
Points is a comprehensive school reform model designed to strengthen the
academic core of middle schools and to establish challenging, caring, and
equitable learning environments that meet the needs of young adolescents.
http://www.turningpts.org/guides.htm

SCHOOLS ENLIST PARENTS & ADVOCATES TO PRESSURE LAWMAKERS
Hoping to make its legislative voice louder, the Jefferson Parish public
school system is seeking residents, especially parents, to join an
Internet-based network that will keep a watchful eye on educational issues
in the Legislature. The brainchild of School Board President Gene
Katsanis, the Legislative Relations Network will essentially be an e-mail
coalition of residents who will keep updated on school-related bills,
reports Rob Nelson. "It's a proactive way for the School Board and school
system to harness the power that parents bring to the table," said Gina
Warner, the district's lobbyist who will oversee the site. If Jefferson
parents are more informed about education issues, particularly the
system's political agenda, the district could fare better during the
legislative session, Warner said. Currently, parents have no "organized
voice," Katsanis said. Warner said interested participants must have an
e-mail address that they check daily and must promise to contact their
legislators about education-related bills. The network will only be active
from March through June, making participation a "short-term commitment,"
Warner said. During the Legislature's regular session, Jefferson will
renew its fight for legislation that would protect school systems
statewide from unfunded mandates, state orders that come without money to
finance them. It will also try to tweak the state's complex school
financing plan, claiming that Jefferson schools get shortchanged by the
formula.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/eastjefferson/index.ssf?/base/news-1/10752748671929
50.xml


WHAT THE MEDIA ARE MISSING IN REPORTING TEST SCORES
Reporters often use words like "stagnant" or "sluggish" or "static" or
"flat" to describe the achievement levels as measured by the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal government's most
important and most respected measure of U.S. schools. The NAEP (rhymes
with "tape") reading scores for students aged 9 gained only four points --
from 208 to 212 -- from 1971 to 1999, reports Jay Mathews.
Thirteen-year-olds gained only four points and 17-year-olds only three.
The change in the average verbal SAT score between 1981 and 2002 is even
less impressive. It appears to have gone nowhere. It was 504 in 1981, and
21 years later it was still 504. Pretty disappointing, huh? Not according
to education researcher and professor Gerald Bracey. When you break down
the NAEP and SAT data into ethnic subgroups, for instance, you find that
minorities have improved their averages markedly, which is exactly what
our increased spending on schools had been designed to achieve. On the
NAEP reading test, for instance, non-Hispanic white 17-year-olds had only
a small improvement. They went from 291 points to 295 points, while the
overall average went from 285 to 288 points. But African Americans in that
same period jumped 26 points, from 238 to 264, and Hispanics increased 19
points, from 252 to 271. The same thing happened with the SAT. To the
math-challenged among us, this makes no sense. How could almost every
ethnic group increase significantly while the overall average went up
barely, or not at all? Bracey explains that it is the result of a little
known statistical phenomenon that needs to be understood if we are to
understand how to analyze test score data. In Jay Mathew's view, we are,
with the new federal No Child Left Behind law, rushing into a new era in
which these test numbers will determine how we help our children learn,
and how we spend what is now the most money ever spent on public schools.
The media should heed the caution of folks like Bracey if they want an
accurate reporting of student achievement in our schools.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52280-2004Jan27.html

URBAN PRINCIPALS SAY EXPERIENCE CORPS HELPS BOOST STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Nine out of 10 urban elementary school principals surveyed by Policy
Studies Associates say that the presence of Experience Corps in their
schools substantially improves student academic performance, increases
students' readiness to learn, and positively affects students'
self-confidence and attitude toward school. Experience Corps is a national
service program for Americans over 55. Today, its 1,300 members serve as
tutors and mentors in elementary schools in 12 cities ­ Baltimore, Boston,
Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City,
Philadelphia, Port Arthur (Texas), Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, and
Washington DC. "When principals say our members play a crucial role in
their students' academic success," says Experience Corps CEO John
Gomperts, "that's music to my ears. As I travel the country, I hear
positive things from principals I meet, but it's crucial for us to know,
from independent evaluations, that Experience Corps makes a demonstrable
difference." Other highlights from the survey include: (1) 99% all
principals are satisfied with Experience Corps, with 74% of them saying
they are "extremely satisfied"; (2) 91% report that Experience Corps
provides significant support for attainment of academic standards; (3)
Three out of four principals say Experience Corps provides significant
benefits to students' classroom participation, behavior, and attendance;
(4) Nine out of 10 principals say Experience Corps has a big impact on
student attitudes toward older adults; (5) Nine out of 10 principals say
Experience Corps improves the overall school atmosphere; and (6)
Principals say Experience Corps is better than other school-based
volunteer programs in several key areas. As Mamie Keith, principal at
Franklin Elementary School in Kansas City, notes: "Experience Corps
members help me reach my goals by working one-on-one with students to
bring them up to grade level in reading. They do an excellent job in
building students' skills and confidence in reading."
http://www.experiencecorps.org/media_center/principalsreport/2004.01.26findings.
html


PRIVACY LAW USED TO END PUBLIC POSTING OF SCHOOL HONOR ROLLS
The school honor roll, a time-honored system for rewarding A students, has
become an apparent source of embarrassment for some underachievers. As a
result, all Nashville schools have stopped posting honor rolls, and some
are considering a ban on hanging good work in the hallways -- all at the
advice of school lawyers, reports Matt Gouras. After a few parents
complained their children might be ridiculed for not making the list,
Nashville school system lawyers warned that state privacy laws forbid
releasing any academic information, good or bad, without permission. Some
schools have since put a stop to academic pep rallies. Others think they
may have to cancel spelling bees. And now schools across the state may
follow Nashville's lead. Parents at most schools, though, are close to
outrage. "So far, what we've heard parents say is, 'This is crazy; spend
your time doing other things,' " said Teresa Dennis, principal at Percy
Priest Elementary School. "It does seem really silly."
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/living/education/7789636.htm

THE CYBER-LIBERTIES OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS
Facilitating the anonymous speech of others has always been a hazardous
endeavor. In the 18th century, publisher John Peter Zenger sat in prison
for eight months for printing and disseminating some unsigned articles
that attacked an unpopular governor in his newspaper, "New York Weekly
Journal." Eventually, a sympathetic jury found Zenger not guilty, and he
went on to become a veritable folk hero. As Aaron Caplan, a staff attorney
for the American Civil Liberties Union/Washington, shows in a very timely
law review article, Zenger's 21st century Internet successors have also
suffered punishment, both for hosting forums and for publishing their own
ideas online. Caplan's article, according to a review by Stephanie
Elizondo Griest, starts by describing the case of three honor-roll,
college-bound, suburban high school students who created a Web site where
their classmates could post messages. Discussions ranged from schoolwork
to politics to gossip to eating disorders to sex, and were often conducted
in "locker-room" language. Deeming the Web site a distraction from
schoolwork, school administrators persuaded the site's Internet host to
shut it down. Caplan observes that schools generally offer three main
rationales for the power to punish students for Internet speech: the
student's speech is visible from school, is about school, or has an effect
on school. Fortunately for students, this reasoning hasn't generally held
up in court. One serious strike against modern-day Zengers and their
counterparts who write on their own behalf is the widely believed notion
that adolescent Internet use is inherently dangerous. This phenomenon,
which Caplan, following sociologists in the field, calls "moral panic,"
has much historical precedence. The invention of the printing press
brought about great fear of the spread of heresy in the 15th century,
while horror and crime comic books were widely viewed as the cause of
juvenile delinquency in the early 1950s.
http://www.fepproject.org/reviews/studentwebsites.html

COURT TAKES CHARGE IN ARKANSAS SCHOOLS CASE
Expressing impatience with the Legislature's failure to improve education,
the Arkansas Supreme Court said it would appoint someone to bring the
state's school system up to constitutional standards. Meanwhile, the state
House passed a plan Friday that would consolidate some school districts.
The order came after a lawyer for the state acknowledged during a hearing
that lawmakers missed a court-imposed January 1 deadline for coming up
with ways to improve schools. The state pleaded for more time, but the
justices said they were ready to act. "We gave the state 14 months to
implement a new system and that wasn't complied with," Justice Robert
Brown said on Thursday. "It's really not even close, is it?" In the most
significant legislation passed to date, the Arkansas House on Friday
approved a bill to consolidate the administrations of 59 small school
districts. Gov. Mike Huckabee had proposed merging about 100 high schools,
and it was unclear whether he would sign the bill. It does not require
school closures, though the new, consolidated districts could choose to
close schools later. The court did not say when it would appoint a special
master, or how long the master would have to analyze the school system.
The Legislature can continue its attempts to address the issue, but the
court will decide whether they are adequate. In November 2002, the high
court said Arkansas didn't spend enough money on education and distributed
funds unevenly. It ordered changes in the $1.8 billion system and gave the
state until January 1, 2004, to put them in place.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/01/23/arkansas.schools.ap/index.html

SCALING UP FIRST THINGS FIRST
A comprehensive reform initiative that calls for changes in school
structure, instruction, and governance, First Things First aims to
increase academic achievement and student and teacher engagement in
low-performing secondary schools. This report examines the initial year of
implementation of First Things First at 12 schools in Texas, Missouri, and
Mississippi, focusing on the program's key components and the
effectiveness with which those components were put into place. The
program's basic elements - small learning communities, a family advocacy
system, and strategies for instructional improvement - were operational at
most sites by the end of the first year of implementation. Interviews with
students and teachers and survey responses indicate that small learning
communities and family advocates proved effective in fostering more
personalized relationships among teachers, students, and students'
families. Students reported that they felt more supported by their
teachers during the implementation year than they had a year earlier, but
they also reported putting less effort into their schoolwork. And, while
teachers displayed positive attitudes toward the reform during the
planning year, they exhibited less enthusiasm for it after experiencing
the difficulties involved in implementation.
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/363/overview.html

STUDENTS, TOXINS, & ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
"Some 300,000 children in the United States are poisoned by lead every
year, mostly children of color," writes Erik Ness in his devastating look
at the widespread epidemic of lead poisoning in urban school children.
"How can policymakers seemingly ignore so much science that speaks to the
very question of why some children can't learn?" asks Ness. Ness examines
lead poisoning in low-income communities and how it affects "failing
schools". In a companion essay titled "Teaching About Toxins," Milwaukee
elementary school teacher Kelley Dawson Salas shares lessons on lead
poisoning and asthma she developed with her fourth-grade class. "I wanted
them to understand asthma as a disease that targets poor people, people of
color, and people living in cities," she writes.
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/curriss.shtml

A HARDER LOOK AT AFTER SCHOOL HELP
About 8,000 schools nationwide are required by the government to provide
supplemental educational services -- a formal name for after-school
tutoring -- at no charge. The extra help is mandated by the federal No
Child Left Behind education act, writes Lisa Leigh Connors. The law states
that any school failing to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) three
years in a row must provide free tutoring when requested. It's one of the
provisions of the law that would seem to be above reproach: How could
offering extra instruction to students at poorly performing schools
possibly be less than a good idea? But some of those on the front lines
say the system has yet to prove its own worth. The results may take a
while. Since many under-performing schools are only in their first year of
offering the after-school tutoring program, it's a tad too early to hand
out progress reports. But a new report by the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI), a think tank in Washington, D.C., reveals that there are
wrinkles still to be ironed out. The report pinpoints some challenges of
supplemental services: some parents were never notified of the free
tutoring; states didn't finish their lists of approved providers until
after the school year started; and -- even though tuition is free -- some
areas have low participation rates. In addition, Congress left it up to
the states to define their own adequate yearly progress, which means
standards as to who must provide the services vary widely.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0127/p11s02-legn.html

PARENT POWER & URBAN SCHOOL REFORM
A new case study of Mothers on the Move (MOM) written by Kavitha Mediratta
and Jessica Karp, and published by the New York University Institute for
Education and Social Policy, analyses efforts to improve schooling
outcomes in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the South Bronx. It describes
a ten-year struggle to expose hidden disparities in achievement and
resources between local schools and schools in wealthier neighborhoods,
oust ineffective school district leadership and, ultimately, help the
Hunts Point schools improve. The study is based on interviews conducted
between June 2002 - 2003 of MOM members and staff, as well as with the
Chancellors and superintendent who presided during MOM's organizing. The
researchers also examined data obtained from the New York City Department
of Education regarding changes in Hunts Point and District 8 schools. The
report concludes that MOM's organizing played a pivotal role in forcing
numerous critical changes in the district. New York City Department of
Education data show that the improvements set in motion through MOM's
organizing for leadership change are beginning to bear fruit in some Hunts
Point schools. For example, fourth grade reading scores at Public School
62, where MOM began its organizing, increased by over fifty percent, from
22% meeting the state standard in 1999 to 36% meeting the standard in
2003. For more information and to obtain a copy of this report, please
contact the NYU Institute for Education and Social Policy at 212/998-5880.
http://www.nyu.edu/iesp/

HISTORY IS FUN
Will Fitzhugh observes that a large number of Social Studies educators
experience difficulty, despite their many imaginative efforts, in "making
history fun" for their students at all levels in our schools. As one prize
pupil has said, "History does not have to be made fun. It is fun." Social
Studies educators have set themselves two impossible tasks. First, they
neither ask students to read a history book, which is the way most people
get interested in history, or to write a history research paper, and
second, for ideological reasons, they try to limit the range of student
interest to current social problems in their immediate environments. To
those who would argue that reading a history book and writing a history
paper are either too hard or not very important for high school students,
someone should certainly suggest: "Try it. They'll love it!" Students are
shortchanged when they are discouraged from reading history and writing
term papers in school, and they are not only less ready to benefit from
further education, but also less likely to understand and value the
freedom and democracy that have been handed down to them as well.
http://www.educationnews.org/history-is-fun.htm

2003 STATE SPECIAL EDUCATION OUTCOMES: MARCHING ON
A new report addresses the topics of assessment participation and
performance, accommodations, out-of-level testing, alternate assessments,
universally designed assessments, computer-based assessments,
accountability, and assessment consequences in special education. States
were asked to identify emerging issues as well as their technical
assistance needs. Most state directors reported that more students with
disabilities are accessing state/district academic content standards with
increased academic expectations, and more students with disabilities are
participating in statewide assessments and included in accountability
systems. The majority of directors also reported improved performance by
students with disabilities on state assessments. In addition, nearly all
state directors reported increased participation of special educators in
training on standards and assessment, and nearly three quarters reported
increased networking between general and special educators. Some priority
issues identified by the state directors surveyed were a lack of
instructional strategies that positively impact student performance,
familiarizing special education teachers and administrators with the
standards, helping IEP teams understand access to the general education
curriculum, concerns about too many students participating in alternate
assessments, decreasing numbers of students with disabilities graduating
with a standard diploma, and an increase in dropout rates.
http://education.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/2003StateReport.htm

|---------------GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION--------------|

"Horace Mann Student Scholarship Program"
The Horace Mann Companies is offering $50,000 in scholarships for children
of public and private school employees to attend college. Students are
eligible to apply if their parent or legal guardian is a full- or
part-time (part-time is at least 20 hours per week during the academic
year) employee of a U.S. public or private school district or U.S. public
or private college or university. That includes teachers, support staff
and administrators. They also must have at least a "B" average and score
at least 23 on the ACT or 1,100 on the SAT. Application deadline: February
12, 2004.
https://www.horacemann.com/scholarship/scholarship/scholarship.jsp

"Education Is Freedom College Scholarships"
The Education is Freedom National Scholarship Program provides college
scholarships in the amount of $2000 to high school seniors that meet the
following criteria: U.S. resident for one year at time of application;
current U.S. high school senior; first-time enrollment in a full-time
undergraduate course of study at an accredited 2 or 4-year college or
university; and a GPA of 3.0 - 3.5. Application deadline: February 15,
2004.
http://www.educationisfreedom.org/

"Pathways Within Literacy Program"
The Pathways Within Literacy Program supports libraries in rural
communities and organizations that conduct family-literacy programs with
books and other education supplies. Pathways Within primarily seeks to
help prepare young children to learn to read and to motivate older
children to read regularly. Contact: Pathways Within, PO Box 1354,
Brookline, Mass. 02446; (617) 482-0324; pathwayswithin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Application deadline: March 31, 2004.

"Grantionary"
The Grantionary is a list of grant-related terms and their definitions.
http://www.eduplace.com/grants/help/grantionary.html

"GrantsAlert"
GrantsAlert is a website that helps nonprofits, especially those involved
in education, secure the funds they need to continue their important work.
http://www.grantsalert.com/

"Grant Writing Tips"
SchoolGrants has compiled an excellent set of grant writing tips for those
that need help in developing grant proposals.
http://www.schoolgrants.org/tips.htm

"FastWEB"
FastWEB is the largest online scholarship search available, with 600,000
scholarships representing over one billion in scholarship dollars. It
provides students with accurate, regularly updated information on
scholarships, grants, and fellowships suited to their goals and
qualifications, all at no cost to the student. Students should be advised
that FastWEB collects and sells student information (such as name,
address, e-mail address, date of birth, gender, and country of
citizenship) collected through their site.
http://www.fastweb.com/

"Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)"
More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make
hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to
find. The result of that work is the FREE website.
http://www.ed.gov/free/

"Fundsnet Online Services"
A comprehensive website dedicated to providing nonprofit organizations,
colleges, and Universities with information on financial resources
available on the Internet.
http://www.fundsnetservices.com/

"eSchool News School Funding Center"
Information on up-to-the-minute grant programs, funding sources, and
technology funding.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/funding/

"Philanthropy News Digest"
Philanthropy News Digest, a weekly news service of the Foundation Center,
is a compendium, in digest form, of philanthropy-related articles and
features culled from print and electronic media outlets nationwide.
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/

"School Grants"
A collection of resources and tips to help K-12 educators apply for and
obtain special grants for a variety of projects.
http://www.schoolgrants.org

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"People who come from backgrounds suffused with love, praise, and security
often have the ability to dismiss criticism out of hand; people who
don't...often devote great effort to building structures of refutation."
-Nicholas Lemann (author), "Profiles" New Yorker magazine. 05/12/2003

===========PEN NewsBlast==========
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reform and school fundraising resources. The PEN NewsBlast is the property
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Andrew Smith is a regular contributor to the PEN Weekly NewsBlast.


Howie Schaffer
Media Director
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PEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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