[ECP] K-12 Newsletters

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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:09:00 -0500

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[ECP] Educational CyberPlayGround K-12 Newsletter

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Brain Power Building new theories about the preschool brain
For much of the past century, educators and scientists believed that children
could not learn math before the age of five because their brains simply were
not ready, according to The New York Times. Recent research has overturned this
assumption, along with other conventional wisdom about the acquisition of
geometry, reading, language, and self-control skills in class. The findings
from a branch of research called cognitive neuroscience are helping to clarify
when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts. Teaching of
basic academic skills, once based in tradition and guesswork, is now giving way
to approaches based on cognitive science. In several cities including Boston,
Washington, D.C., and Nashville, schools are experimenting with curricula to
cultivate math skills in preschoolers. In others, teachers are using techniques
developed by brain scientists to help children overcome dyslexia. And schools
in a dozen states have begun to use a program intended to accelerate the
development of young students' frontal lobes, improving self-control in class.
"Teaching is an ancient craft, and yet we really have had no idea how it
affected the developing brain," said Kurt Fischer, director of the Mind, Brain,
and Education program at Harvard. "Well, that is beginning to change, and for
the first time we are seeing the fields of brain science and education work
together."
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/health.html

An overlooked pathway to employment and career cultivation
The after-school workforce lacks a well-accepted system of formal instruction,
curriculum for preparation, and system for crediting workers for training,
perhaps because many positions are part-time and low-wage. A new policy brief
from The After-School Corporation (TASC) posits that the after-school field
could be part of a national strategy to boost employment and create new career
paths. For example, men of color are active in the after-school workforce but
under-represented among certified teachers. After-school jobs are frequently
based in communities where meaningful work can be hard to find. Many of these
jobs carry few specific experience or education requirements, making the field
an accessible entry point into the workforce. After-school workers often live
in the neighborhoods where they work and invest their wages back into these
communities. Given the chance to earn college credits and develop
professionally, after-school educators can be powerful role models for young
people in their programs. The corporation proposes that leaders in after-school
and workforce development collaborate to create a system that clearly
articulates the path from part-time entry-level work through core occupations
in after-school. Workers should be able to earn recognized credentials and
higher wages through systems that link on-the-job training and credit-bearing
courses. This system will both enhance the quality of programs and help trained
workers build careers in after-school and important related fields like
teaching.
See the brief: http://www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/2818/

In search of a redesign for teacher college accreditation
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has
convened a panel on Clinical Preparation, Partnerships, and Improved Student
Learning to look at scalable ways to improve in-the-classroom training, Inside
Higher Ed reports. The panel will also examine ways to strengthen relationships
between districts and the colleges and universities that prepare their
teachers. The NCATE accredits more than 600 colleges and programs nationally
that graduate two-thirds of new teachers, and the panel's recommendations will
form the basis for revisions to the council's accreditation standards. NCATE is
undertaking what its president James Cibulka called a "redesign and
transformation" aimed at making teaching a more respected profession, with
heightened preparation standards. The panel, he said, will "identify what the
best practices are in strong clinical preparation and in preparing teachers to
more effectively teach diverse learners." After this week's sessions, the panel
will meet again in April before issuing a final report, a timeline Cibulka said
is accelerated because change is badly needed and the national environment is
"ripe for change." Among the ideas under consideration: career-long
professional development, and the restructuring and rebranding of teaching as a
practice-based profession like medicine or nursing, with an induction period
akin to a doctor's residency.
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/05/teachers
Related:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/05/18ncate.h29.html?tkn=OYBF19jttoWeajyBnvYHNthv7uqjoAlRWamq

TFA service not necessarily a lifelong commitment
A new study has found that the dedication of Teach for America (TFA)
participants to improving society at large does not necessarily extend beyond
their service in the program, The New York Times reports. In areas like voting,
charitable giving, and civic engagement, graduates of the program lag behind
those who were accepted but declined and those who dropped out before
completing their two years, according to research from Stanford University. The
reasons for lower rates of civic involvement include not only exhaustion and
burnout, but also disillusionment with TFA's approach to educational inequity,
among other factors. "There's been a very clear and somewhat naïve consensus
among educators, policy folks, and scholars that youth activism invariably has
these kinds of [lifelong civic] effects," said Professor Doug McAdam, the
study's author. "But we've got to be much more attentive to differences across
these experiences, and not simply assume that if you give a kid some youth
service experience it will change them." Teach for America is nearing its 20th
anniversary. Of its 17,000 alumni, 63 percent remain in the field of education,
31 percent in the classroom. The study was conducted at the behest of TFA
founder Wendy Kopp, who disagrees with its findings.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/education/04teach.html

LAUSD teachers compete with charter operators
A plan to let outside charter groups bid for control of dozens of struggling
and new campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has spurred
a new set of competitors, reports The Los Angeles Times. Groups of teachers
from inside the system are seeking to participate in a reform strategy that
would have private charter operators setting a standard for a district widely
seen as dysfunctional. While the union itself, United Teachers Los Angeles, is
trying to block outside takeovers through litigation, rank-and-file teachers --
with the blessing of the union and in some cases the district -- are planning
to compete with the charters. But these teachers, many in a bid to take over
their own schools that have been deemed "failing," worry their home-grown
proposals might not fare well against operators with track records, in-house
data analysts, legal support, and public relations professionals. Proposals
will be reviewed internally and externally, including by parents and, at high
school level, students. Superintendent Ramon Cortines will make a single
recommendation for each school to the Board of Education, which has final say.
Cortines applauds the teachers' initiative but urged groups to "show some sort
of evidence or I will not recommend them -- evidence of some academic
improvement, evidence that they have been dealing with English language
learners, evidence that special education students are being taken care of,
evidence that parents are involved."
Read more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers2-2010jan02,0,688903,print.story
Related:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-utla22-2009dec22,0,4251620.story

Second study finds gains in NYC charter students
A new study from a group that had earlier issued a critical report on outcomes
for charters nationally finds that within New York City, students at 49
charters made bigger learning gains in math and reading than their regular
public school counterparts, reports the blog Gotham Schools. For the period
from school years 2003-04 to 2008-09, the Center for Research on Education
Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University matched data from 20,000 charter
students in grades 3-8 to an identical number of students with comparable
scores at district schools. Fifty-one percent of the charter group had higher
math scores than district schools, 33 percent were no different, and 16 percent
had lower scores. On reading tests, 29 percent had higher scores, 59 percent
showed no difference, and 12 percent had lower scores. Charter supporters
highlighted that this is the second report to reach the same conclusions, but
with different methodologies. Charter opponents point out that charters admit
fewer students not fluent in English or with severe learning disabilities. "I
am surprised that the charters don't do better, given their many advantages,"
said New York University's Diane Ravitch. "We know they have only 111 of the
city's 51,000 homeless students. We know they have longer hours and their
teachers work 50 hours a week or so. We know their sponsors add millions so
they can have smaller classes and better facilities."
http://gothamschools.org/2010/01/05/stanford-study-shows-many-city-charters-besting-district-schools/
Related:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/05/18charter.h29.html?tkn=XXBFRGB4j8w%2FOSniw9HBVbY0HNqagc8mAMyd

AVID for success
Six schools across the country, including one in Baltimore, are participating
in the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Center's
African-American Male Initiative, a national college-preparatory program for
black males capable of challenging work but needing additional resources to
reach their potential, reports The Baltimore Sun. As part of the initiative,
each school recruited 25 black male students and was required to recruit black
male tutors and teachers as well. The consistent presence of an adult black
male is crucial to the success of the program and its students, say observers,
and James Martin, a program teacher at Woodlawn High in Baltimore, agrees. The
ability to relate to his students has fostered an environment that enables
"man-to-young-man talks" during class, he explained. "Our relationship is more
personal. Just it being all males, we're a more family-oriented class, because
everything we talk about is as a whole. There's nothing that's really
secretive." The five other schools participating are in Arlington, Tex.;
Fresno, Calif.; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and New York City. Woodlawn and Las
Vegas' Mojave High School are the only ones piloting a gender-based classroom;
the others have created mentorships to build relationships between students and
a role-model adult.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.aami02jan02,0,6344418.story

Duncan's Chicago legacy under scrutiny
Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Chicago
from 2003-2009 show that the city is "nowhere near the head of the pack in
urban school improvement," writes The Washington Post. This period was during
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's tenure as schools chief, and he frequently
cites its successes to underscore ideas he is pushing in national public
education. True, the federal test is just one measure of Duncan's record, and
other metrics show advances on various fronts, but "Chicago is not the story of
an education miracle," said Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham
Institute. Finn added, however, that Chicago is "the story of a large urban
system that has made some gains and has made some promising structural
changes." From 2001-08, Duncan fired staff, hired turnaround specialists, and
shut down schools. He spearheaded a back-to-basics curriculum, encouraged
dozens of charter schools, and experimented with performance pay. State and
federal test scores and graduation rates rose on his watch, and the school
system, which is the nation's third largest, became a laboratory for
innovation. Yet questions have arisen this year about the extent of Duncan's
accomplishments. "There's been this rhetoric about dramatic gains, dramatic
success, that we have to replicate this model because of its dramatic success,"
said Julie Woestehoff of the advocacy group Parents United for Responsible
Education. "And here in Chicago, we're looking at these schools and going, 'Uh
. . . '"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/28/AR2009122802368.html

Rhee victorious, but at what cost?
Chancellor Michelle Rhee has definitely had an impact on the D.C. public
schools, but are her efforts improving them, asked PBS's NewsHour. One solid
piece of evidence is the district's results on the National Assessment of
Educational Progress, in which D.C. was one of only five school systems that
showed significant gains in both fourth and eighth grade math on results that
came out this fall. On the other hand, among personnel, strife is up and morale
is down. Her most salient effects on the city and nation have been that merit
pay is now a frequent part of discussions about public education, teacher
tenure is under more rigorous examination, and charter schools are fixed in the
public consciousness. Still, other superintendents such as Andres Alonso in
Baltimore and Robert Bennett in Denver (before he became U.S. senator) have
achieved remarkable things under the radar, without the furor and alienation,
the NewsHour notes. Rhee has paid a price for what she has accomplished; she
has won on a number of issues, but debate is ongoing and contentious, and if
she falls, she will fall hard.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec09/dcschools2_12-25.html
Related:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec09/dcschools1_12-25.html
Related: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec09/dc_12-22.html

Chance squandered to eliminate low performers
An investigation by The Los Angeles Times has found that the Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD) routinely grants tenure to all new teachers
after cursory or nonexistent reviews. Once teachers have been evaluated and
gained permanent status, they are almost never fired for performance alone.
This two-year probationary period when teachers can be fired at will is a
"singular opportunity" to weed out poor teachers, one that LAUSD "all but
squanders," writes The Times, based on interviews with more than 75 teachers
and administrators, analyses of district data covering the last several years,
and internal and independent studies. The paper found that fewer than two
percent of new teachers are denied tenure, and the reviews "are so lacking
rigor as to be meaningless," in the view of instructors. School administrators
are required to conduct only a single, pre-announced classroom visit per year,
and half of these last 30 minutes or less. Principals are rarely held
responsible for how they perform reviews. The district's evaluation of teachers
does not take into account whether students are learning, and principals are
not required to consider testing data, student work, or grades. Like other
districts in California, LAUSD essentially ignores a state law that since the
1970s has required districts to weigh pupil progress in assessing teachers and
administrators.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/education/la-me-teacher-tenure20-2009dec20,0,3320623,print.story

Subtle stereotypes with unsubtle effects
Former astronaut Dr. Sally K. Ride is serving as a visible emissary for
President Obama's push to improve science and math education by engaging all
genders and ethnicities.
http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/math-tech-and-the-women-who-dont-love-them/

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