PEN Weekly NewsBlast for April 15, 2005
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Subject: PEN Weekly NewsBlast for April 15, 2005
Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
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FEDERAL ROLE IN SCHOOLS BROADER THAN EVER
If President Lyndon B. Johnson were alive today, he might be a little
surprised to see what=92s become of the federal schools legislation he
signed into law 40 years ago this week. The Elementary and Secondary
Education Act has been amended and rewritten many times since April 11,
1965, the day Mr. Johnson stood before the former one-room schoolhouse in
Stonewall, Texas, he once attended to make it the law of the land. In many
ways, the middle-aged law barely resembles the infant born in the heyday
of 1960s idealism, reports Erik W. Robelen. The statute is much fatter
now, covering far more programs. The federal government, under Congress=92
2001 reauthorization of the ESEA that is better known as the No Child Left
Behind Act, has attached a lot more demands in return for federal aid,
demands that focus on testing students and holding schools accountable for
their academic progress. But the core mission espoused in the 1965 statute
-- helping disadvantaged students improve academically through the
cornerstone Title I program -- holds true. "The Great Society established
the federal role in education as an equity role, as a role of the federal
government trying to help kids who were neglected for some reason or
another in schools," said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on
Education Policy. "And that has remained as the federal role, even in the
guise of No Child Left Behind. =85 That legacy remains." Conceived as part
of President Johnson=92s War on Poverty, the original statute was focused
primarily on delivering federal aid to help level the educational playing
field for poor and minority children.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/04/13/31esea.h24.html
see also: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/04/13/31lagemann.h24.html
RESTORING THE BALANCE BETWEEN ACADEMICS & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
The American Youth Policy Forum and the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development convened policymakers, researchers, and
practitioners during 2004, producing this guide for supporting
school-based civic engagement in schools. The report's action plan
centers around seven propositions: 1) civic engagement is central to
public education; 2) the school mission should include the knowledge,
dispositions, virtues, and skills of responsible citizenship; 3) civic
knowledge and civic engagement are part of the learning "core," in
addition to reading and mathematics; 4) civic engagement improves student
engagement and academic performance, while reducing negative behaviors; 5)
education reform efforts should be realigned to support integrated
curricula; 6) a comprehensive action plan must clearly link civic
engagement with academic subjects; and 7) success with these approaches
requires collaboration between schools, families, higher education,
business, philanthropy, government and the community.
http://www.aypf.org/pubs.htm
CHARTER SCHOOL "ADVANTAGE" PROVES ILLUSORY
Last year, a widely-cited study that said charter schools do better than
traditional public schools at educating students drew praise from charter
school advocates and at the Department of Education. But a new Economic
Policy Institute shows that the charter advantage reported in last year=92s
study disappears when there are direct controls for the income and racial
differences of students. "Advantage None: Re-examining Hoxby=92s Findings of
Charter School Benefits," by economist Joydeep Roy and EPI president
Lawrence Mishel, reanalyzes the 2004 study=92s data and concludes that
Harvard researcher Caroline Hoxby reached erroneous conclusions because
she failed to factor in key socioeconomic differences between charters and
the traditional public schools they were measured against. Once factors of
poverty and race are properly weighted, as today=92s EPI study does, the
charter school advantage all but evaporates. The EPI report also shows
that charters do not have a significant positive impact in either math or
reading overall, and students in charter schools are less likely to be
minorities.
http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases/2005/04/050413_JR-charters.pdf
THE TROUBLE WITH STATE TAKEOVERS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS
NCLB's tighter linkage of federal aid to state standards and tests and its
inclusion of state takeovers as a potential sanction have focused renewed
attention on states' role in initiating and implementing school reform. In
New Jersey, persistent failure on the part of the three largest school
districts to meet state monitoring standards triggered state takeovers of
whole school systems. The state's assertion of its authority, however, was
accompanied by an inadequate commitment to the tasks involved, writes Stan
Karp. The New Jersey takeover law was passed by a state legislature
dominated by legislators from white, suburban communities. The law
authorized the state to disenfranchise the state's three largest urban
school districts, each with overwhelming black and Hispanic majorities,
and to seize control of the schools. There was no shortage of education
horror stories to justify the need for state intervention, but the state's
history of funding inequity and ineffective oversight was a shaky
foundation to build on. Although some teachers and parents hoped that
state action would finally lead to long-overdue progress, the New Jersey
interventions were decidedly hostile takeovers. Under the best of
circumstances, the authority of those in charge of urban school systems
often has dubious legitimacy in the eyes of both staff and community. NCLB
encourages New Jersey and other states to use their expanded roles in
narrow ways. It forces them to focus their oversight on monitoring flawed
and counterproductive testing systems and to use the predictable inability
of schools to measure up to inappropriate and unsupported test-score
targets as a basis for imposing dubious sanctions. Like many of the
sanctions identified in NCLB --such as the imposition of private
management on public schools or the wholesale dismissal of school staff --
traditional state takeovers have no record of success as school
improvement strategies. In fact, many of these sanctions are not education
strategies at all, but rather political strategies designed to bring a
kind of market reform to public education.
http://www.ascd.org/authors/ed_lead/el200502_karp.html
ANTI-SWEARING EFFORTS FALL ON DEAF EARS
In classrooms and hallways and on the playground, young people are using
inappropriate language more frequently than ever, teachers and principals
say. Not only is it coarsening the school climate and social discourse,
reports Valerie Strauss, some educators believe it is evidence of a
decline in language skills. Popular culture has made ugly language
acceptable and hip, and many teachers say they only expect things to get
uglier. Teachers say their principals often don't give them support on the
issue, and principals say they can't because administrators are worried
about "bigger" problems. Many parents are no help, cursing themselves or
excusing their children's outbursts, teachers say. And though many school
systems ban profanity, not much happens to most offenders. Many teachers
say they no longer bother reporting it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44779-2005Apr11.html
PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN PRACTICES IN URBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS
Over the last several decades, many organizations in the public, private
and nonprofit sectors have discovered the importance of becoming a
"learning organization," which Harvard Business School professor David
Garvin describes as "skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring
knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and
insights." These learning organizations have many of the characteristics
of a curious student. They always want to know "why?" and "how did that
happen?" They like to take things apart to see how the parts work
together. They constantly question how their actions affect the results
they observe. They regularly test basic assumptions and experiment with
new ways of doing things -- learning from their successes and failures so
they can do better the next time. It is both ironic and unfortunate that
most public school systems -- built for the express purpose of promoting
learning among students -- are not yet learning organizations. Although
many schools encourage inquiry, creative approaches, and scientific
experimentation among students, most have not yet embraced this practice
of continuous learning by their own staff at the classroom, school, or
district office level. NewSchools Venture Fund believes that making this
change in public education is crucial for attaining and sustaining better
educational outcomes for all students. As such, "Anatomy of School System
Improvement: Performance-Driven Practices in Urban School Districts" is
the first report in a three-year effort to define how educators are
beginning to embrace performance-driven practices in order to transform
public education systems into learning organizations. The report=92s authors
examine how this process of change is unfolding in 28 medium and large
urban school systems, and illuminate the major barriers and needs that
educators and school systems must overcome in order to create true
performance-driven organizations.
http://www.newschools.org/viewpoints/documents/District_Performance_Practice
s.pdf
SEVEN STUPID ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROGRAMS FOR THE GIFTED
The use of the G-word, giftedness, stirs fear in the hearts of many
educators, who are more concerned of late with basic academic mastery, as
prescribed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, than with helping the
gifted. What does one do with and for students who have already achieved
the benchmarks of the current educational standards? How can the school
system address their diverse styles and needs when it must funnel so much
time, energy, and resources into bringing all students up to a minimum
standard of proficiency? Divisive rhetoric and heated discourse have
always surrounded the identification and education of gifted students and
have led to perennial philosophical arguments over egalitarianism vs.
elitism. To some, the American dream of educating all citizens seems at
war with educating well those who benefit best from what educators have to
offer. Modifying the curriculum to enhance the growth of highly able
students is not without benefit to other students, argues Frances R.
Spielhagen & Bruce S. Cooper. It can result in vibrant curriculum
initiatives that energize the entire school community.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/04/13/31cooper.h24.html
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National Children's Folksong Repository Project
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/
An historic electronic online archive of children's folk songs.
A public folklore project built by the children of the United States
and territories.
Children pick up the Phone and SING OR CHANT (SAY) THEIR SONG. It's simple.
Children are our unknown culture makers and they get to record and
save their songs, then submit them into the database so that they
can hear themselves on the net. They collect history, and they will
make history at the same time. Contributions make them netizens.
They are doing this for the world. Using the internet and technology
allows them to record their personal knowledge. This is their contribution.
And we all know what's personal is political, so we all help to raise
future citizens who will care about the net.
Teachers can get the idea by watching the streaming video.
For More Information contact
Educational CyberPlayGround
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
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CLASSROOM LITERACY & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
A new book, edited by Sarah Robbins and Mimi Dyer, underscores the
connections between teacher professional growth and classroom reform and
tells a story of pedagogical adventures for students and teachers alike.
Each chapter presents a narrative of innovation, documenting collaboration
between classroom and community that gives immediate and obvious relevance
to the learning process. The volume also documents an important model of
professional development that has relevancy across disciplinary and grade
level lines. The volume, writes Rachel Ragland, emphasizes the role
writing can play in creating communities; the power of authentic
professional experiences and professional collaboration; the potential
inherent in cross-level, interdisciplinary study of community life; and
the need to view research as open-ended inquiry using a wide range of
methods to study diverse cultural artifacts.
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=3D11802
SCHOOL DISGRACE: HAITIAN KIDS TOLD TO "EAT LIKE ANIMALS"
At Public School 34 in Queens Village (NY), Assistant Principal Nancy
Miller's ghastly way of handling a minor scuffle between two Haitian
fourth-graders has sparked fury. According to parents and students,
Miller, who is white, chose to punish all 13 Haitian pupils in the
school's only fourth-grade bilingual class -- even though just two were
involved in a March 16 altercation. She ordered all 13 to sit on the
cafeteria floor, then made them use their fingers to eat their lunch of
chicken and rice, while all the other students watched. "In Haiti, they
treat you like animals, and I will treat you the same way here," several
students recalled Miller saying. Some of the punished fourth-graders were
so humiliated they began to cry. A few begged Miller for spoons to eat.
Her behavior has triggered a probe by the schools' office of special
investigations, as parents accused Miller of racial bias and demanded that
she and the principal be fired.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/299102p-255985c.html
CERTIFIED TEACHERS PRODUCE STRONGER STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT THAN NON-CERTIFIED
TEACHERS
In the face of recent debates about whether teacher education makes a
difference to teacher quality, a new large-scale study by Stanford
University School of Education Professor Linda Darling-Hammond and
colleagues shows that certified teachers consistently produce
significantly stronger student achievement gains than do uncertified
teachers. The results are especially important to many urban and poor
rural districts which, as a result of high teacher demand, have hired a
growing number of individuals on emergency permits or waivers who lack
formal preparation for teaching. Typically, these teachers teach
low-income and minority students in the most disadvantaged schools.
Darling-Hammond, along with Deborah Holtzman, SuJin Gatlin, and Julian
Vasquez Heilig, examined data for over 4,000 teachers and over 130,000
students from Houston, Texas, linking student characteristics and
achievement with data about their teachers' certification status,
experience, and degree levels from 1995 to 2002. The results of their
study of 4th and 5th grade students' achievement gains on six different
reading and mathematics tests over a six-year period show that students
who were taught by certified teachers consistently out-performed those who
were taught by uncertified teachers. (The study defined certified teachers
as those holding standard state certification in Texas, granted to
teachers who have completed an approved teacher education program.) The
analyses controlled for students' prior achievement and characteristics as
well as other teacher and school characteristics. The researchers also
found that alternatively certified teachers are significantly less
effective than certified teachers in most cases.
http://schoolredesign.net/srn/news/certification.html
SCIENTIFICALLY BASED RESEARCH ON EFFECTS OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT
Northwest Evaluation Association researchers released a new study that
indicates student achievement has improved since the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act was passed, but student growth has declined slightly. The
researchers define growth as the difference in scores for a single student
from one point in time to another, and achievement level as the score that
a student has at one point in time, such as a score from a standardized
test. The study also evaluated achievement gaps among ethnic groups. It
found that students with different ethnicities who had the same initial
test scores grew differently. Most noteworthy, Hispanics academically grew
less than Anglos.
http://www.nwea.org/research/nclbstudy.asp
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DIALECT SPEAKERS AND LINGUISTICS
Find Resources for African American Black Vernacular,
Creole, Patois, A pidgin is a new language which develops
in situations where speakers of different languages need to
communicate but don't share a common language.
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/Home_Linguistics.html>
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REACHING THE OLDER READER
Susan Black goes to great lengths to avoid using the word "crisis." But
when it comes to literacy, she=92s convinced the word applies. The number of
poor readers in the nation=92s schools is staggering: According to the
National Assessment of Educational Progress, 8.7 million fourth- through
12th-graders read below grade level. Eighth-graders don't fare well
either. Close to 70 percent read below the proficient level, and 25
percent fail to read at the most basic level. The literacy gap is even
wider for minority students, those with learning disabilities, and those
whose first language is not English. Almost half of African-American and
Hispanic eighth-graders, for example, read below the basic level. For both
white and minority students who struggle with reading, the problem
persists far beyond school. Most dropouts are poor readers, as are those
who end up in the nation=92s juvenile justice system. The Coalition for
Juvenile Justice reports that more than one-third of all juvenile
offenders -- median age, 15 and a half -- read below the fourth-grade
level. And, CJJ adds, 82 percent of prison inmates are school dropouts,
and a high proportion are unable to read. Statistics like these raise
doubts about schools=92 ability to meet the reading goals called for by the
No Child Left Behind Act. Some progress is being made, but the Partnership
for Reading says much more research is needed, especially to answer three
questions: 1) How should reading be taught in the upper grades? It is
still not clear whether tactics used to teach beginning reading apply to
older students as well; 2) Which early reading problems best predict
problems during adolescence? It=92s known that beginning readers require
lessons in phonemic awareness, letter and number naming, and print
awareness and that struggling adolescent readers require lessons that
improve fluency and reading comprehension. What=92s unknown are the best
strategies for teaching adolescents; 3) How can schools motivate failing
adolescents to read? Virtually no research has been done in this area.
http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html
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LITERACY FROM HOME LANGUAGE TO THE STANDARD
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Literacy/default.asp
Why don't people vote? 50% of all Americans over 65 years old
are functionally illiterate. 60% of the Urban School Children do
not graduate High School of the 40% that do they are only
reading at 4th grade level. Find out more about literacy and
approaches to improving it. Learn how to successfully bridge
from the Dialect Speakers' home language to the Standard.
******************************************************************
********************************************************************
DIALECT SPEAKERS AND LINGUISTICS
Find Resources for African American Black Vernacular,
Creole, Patois, A pidgin is a new language which develops
in situations where speakers of different languages need to
communicate but don't share a common language.
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/Home_Linguistics.html>
********************************************************************
KINDERGRIND: SCHOOLS GET TOUGHER FOR YOUNGER KIDS
Kindergarten is no longer about doing kid stuff. While the blocks, crayons
and puzzles remain part of school, these childhood staples are a side dish
on a full menu of academic activities that take youngsters far beyond the
ABCs. Today's kindergarten classrooms are stocked with books sorted by
reading level; students keep portfolios of their first attempts at
writing; and teachers assign homework in counting, addition and
subtraction. The emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic is seen
nationwide, reports Helen Gao. As kindergarten evolved from a cocoon for
social and emotional development to a rigorous classroom environment, a
national debate has emerged: How much should children be expected to learn
when they are 4, 5 and 6 years old? On one side are educators who feel
that today's curriculum -- dubbed "kindergrind" by some -- asks too much
of children. They complain that academic pressures have squeezed out the
fun. On the other side are those who believe a heightened academic focus
prepares children for high-stakes testing and global competition. They
point to a correlation between early reading development and success later
on standardized tests.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20050411-9999-1n11kinder.html
TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOLS FOR ALL YOUTH
The National High School Alliance released "A Call to Action: Transforming
High School for All Youth," a framework of six core principles and
recommended strategies for guiding leaders at all levels in the complex
process of transforming the traditional, comprehensive high school. The
Call to Action represents the collective knowledge of the National High
School Alliance=92s forty-three partner organizations and communicates. The
six core principles, cited as "inter-related and non-negotiable," are as
follows: (1) personalized learning environments; (2) academic engagement
of all students; (3) empowered educators; (4) accountable leaders; (5)
engaged community & youth; and (6) integrated systems of high standards,
curriculum, instruction, assessments and academic supports beyond the
school day.
http://www.hsalliance.org
WHAT COUNTS: DEFINING AND IMPROVING HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES
"What Counts: Defining and Improving High School Graduation Rates" takes
an in-depth look at the complex issue of high school graduation rates and
offers policy recommendations for improving graduation rate calculations
and outcomes. As more substantial research brings attention to the
lackluster data on high school graduation rates, what originally was
thought to be a fairly simple concept -- the percentage of the senior
class who actually "walked across the stage" -- has been revealed to be a
far more complex issue depending on the purpose, point of view, or the
method of calculation employed. The changing rules and confusing
methodologies coupled with limited resources have created a climate in
which principals are caught in the middle between the high-stakes world of
improved academic success for all students and being responsible for
results often influenced by factors beyond their control.
http://www.principals.org/gradrates
RETOOLING K-12 GIVING: A RESPONSE FROM PHILANTHROPY LEADERS
The new issue of Philanthropy magazine features responses from leading
education philanthropists to a previous essay by Frederick Hess on
"Retooling K-12 Giving," which critiqued the school reform programs and
strategies of selected national foundations. This online symposium, which
features responses from Dan Katzir of The Broad Foundation, Ed Kirby of
the Walton Family Foundation, Lowell Milken and Lew Solmon of the Milken
Family Foundation, and Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Corporation, can
be found at the link below. :
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2005/marapr/coverstory.htm
KEEPING MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS INVOLVED
Despite rumors to the contrary, says the Parent Academic Resources
organization, "parents can play a central role in helping their adolescent
children grow into independent learners." In this useful article (which
would make a good parent handout), PARI notes that during middle school
"many parents begin to struggle maintaining the teaching role that they
have identified with during the preschool and elementary years. As
students begin to learn more specialized subject matter, many parents lose
confidence that they can be helpful. It also doesn't help that our
children turn into adolescents who seek to increase their independence
from us in all aspects of their lives." The article introduces a model
that helps parents understand how adolescents learn "and how parents fit
into this learning process."
http://academicresources.org/learning.html
TIME TO REFOCUS ON COMPUTER SCIENCE
While the United States has been focused on teaching students to use
computers and making sure all schools are wired, the Computer Science
Teachers Association (CSTA) knows that this is only half the battle. To
truly prepare students for tomorrow=92s technology-driven world, CSTA is
working to ensure that teachers have the tools they need to get students
interested in computer science careers. The number of computer science
teachers is decreasing overall. They account for only four percent of the
teacher workforce, and that rate continues to drop, to around 30,000, high
school computer science teachers nationwide. The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics projects several computer science fields among the fastest
growing occupations over the next decade. To prepare students for careers
in the 21st Century, U.S. schools must provide students with the
opportunity to take computer science courses. CSTA will help educators and
others make the case for computer science. Computer science is at a
crossroads. A renewed focus on educational standards and accountability,
particularly in English and math, has forced many schools to cut computer
science classes and reassign teachers.
http://www.acm.org/education/k12/index.html
Howie Schaffer
Public Outreach Manager
Public Education Network
601 Thirteenth Street, NW #710S
Washington, DC 20005
PEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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