Tuesday, February 9, 2010

EdWeek Update: States Rethink Policies on National-Board Teachers

States Rethink Policies on National-Board Teachers

Both the economy and a push to measure teacher effectiveness in new ways have led states to revamp funding for the certification.

• Related story: Stimulus Reflects Push for Teacher Effectiveness

For more stories, visit Education Week's homepage.

	CURRICULUM AND LEARNING

Work Begins on 'Next Generation' of Science Standards

A panel led by the National Research Council is trying to identify "core ideas" in each of the major science disciplines.

• Curriculum Matters Blog: Is Race to Top Fueling Skepticism of Common Standards?

View more Curriculum and Learning stories from Education Week.


	MORE HEADLINES

Private Sector Competes for Share of Stimulus Pie(February 5, 2010, Education Week)

Two Types of Superintendent

(February 9, 2010, Bridging Differences Blog)

Is Stimulus Money Being Spent Equitably?

(February 9, 2010, Politics K-12 Blog)

The Politics of a Snow Day

(February 8, 2010, Web Watch Blog)

The Department's Budget 'Plan B'

(February 8, 2010, Politics K-12 Blog)

Whither Professional Development in the Budget?

(February 8, 2010, Teacher Beat Blog)


	HOT TOPICS

Colleges & Careers

A collection of the most recent articles on news and issues related to graduation rates, college access, and career training.

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	MORE MUST-READS

Education Week Articles Available to Subscribers

Study Finds Wide Achievement Gaps for Top Students

An analysis of NAEP scores suggests policymakers should consider the needs of gifted students to address a persistent “excellence gap.”(February 5, 2010)

Debate Heats Up Over Replacing AYP Metric in ESEA

The Obama administration calls for a shift toward measuring college and career readiness as it prepares proposals for revamping the law.(February 5, 2010)

Commentary

The Case for Literature

Common standards should not take the joy and power of book reading away from students, Nancie Atwell writes. (February 8, 2010)

When Policy Becomes Ideology � The Quick and the Ed

When Policy Becomes Ideology

Last week Andy and I offered some ideas on the best way to characterize the theoretical and ideological divisions in education policy. Justin Cohen followed up:

I like Andy’s “Choice/Accountability” matrix, it’s far superior to the dichotomy that both of their posts reject. I worry, though, that it conflates “choice” and school-based “autonomy.” Right now, most state laws are structured such that charter schools – which are almost always schools of choice – have more autonomy than other actors in the public system. This doesn’t have to be the case. There’s no theoretical fiat preventing all other public schools from having higher levels of school-based autonomy, it’s just that the bureaucratic, policy, and collectively-bargained constraints of most traditional systems create (surmountable!) obstacles to school-based autonomy…Kevin’s point – that KIPP’s existence is a more powerful reason for chartering than any pure market teleology – illustrates a pretty important, yet nascent, debate: is choice in public education a means or an end? If choice is an end, the pure market version of ed reform settles for a reality wherein there are winners and losers when scarce resources are allocated – that’s literally what markets do. If choice is a means, it is one part of a substantial toolkit for ensuring a higher quality education for all children. It’s a really important distinction that doesn’t get talked about enough.

I think that’s right. For example, I know a woman who founded a charter school here in DC. She has a graduate degree in management from an Ivy League university, which she could have used for all manner of self-enriching purposes. Instead, she decided to devote every waking hour to education. But going to work for the DC Public Schools wasn’t a viable option. Educating disadvantaged urban schoolchildren is difficult in the best of circumstances and DC’s circumstances were, at the time, among the worst: dysfunctional and fractured governance, crumbling facilities, a broken special education system, a bloated and

The Educated Reporter: Charters: open to whom?

Charters: open to whom?

A new study from the Civil Rights Project has gotten people talking—or should I say snickering? At National Journal, the analysts pile on, criticizing (fairly so) that the report’s main point is a heaping helping of No Duh: Schools designed as alternatives for children in overwhelmingly minority areas have student populations that are—get this!—overwhelmingly minority. How much you care depends, as Mass Insight’s Justin Cohenpoints out, on what you see as a more important end: better student outcomes or integration.

I think integration is a worthy goal in and of itself. But the resegregation the Civil Rights Project has for years been so effective in illuminating is a problem more than anything because minority children have been isolated in bad schools. Is it a problem if a good school is all-black or all-Hispanic? Interesting question—but not what concerns me the most about charter populations. I am more concerned about how many of the best charters have disproportionately low numbers of special education students and English language learners. This has been analyzed a small bit but not much, and it is not enough to say this happens; journalists need to figure out to what degree, why and so what?

Are parents of special needs children not choosing charters because they don’t offer the kind of services traditional schools do? Do charters have any incentive to take special

Pa. bill would expand overhaul of schools | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/08/2010

Pa. bill would expand overhaul of schools | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/08/2010:

Low-achieving schools could be turned into charter schools or handed over to outside management. Underperforming charters could be closed. Elected boards would be replaced by appointed ones in failing districts.

Hundreds of Pennsylvania's public schools could be affected by these measures if legislation introduced last month by State Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin) is enacted.

Piccola's Education Empowerment Act is the latest legislative attempt to improve low-scoring schools. It would replace a more limited law of the same name that expires in June.
The legislation is part of new efforts to recalibrate how states and districts overhaul struggling schools. It would not apply to the Philadelphia district or its charter schools because a 2001 state-takeover law gave the city's School Reform Commission similar powers.

The current empowerment act, an early effort at identifying the most academically and financially distressed schools and putting the worst under state control, provides extra funding to the most troubled districts. Piccola's proposal would not do that, but would focus on giving local boards more power to change how schools operate.

"We have assessments and curriculum and data systems in place. Now we need to apply these new tools to districts that are struggling," said Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee. "The opportunity to get something significant accomplished is at hand."
There's no timetable for when his proposal might get to a vote, but hearings in the Republican-controlled state Senate are already under way. While the bill has drawn criticism from the state school boards association and the largest teachers union, all sides say they are hopeful an accommodation can be reached. James Roebuck (D., Phila.), chairman of the House Education Committee, said he might introduce his own version of the bill.

Piccola said much of his proposal builds on academic gains in Philadelphia during the last decade, which he attributed to opening dozens of charters and turning schools over to education-management organizations.

But Timothy Allwein, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said, "I don't think you will find a whole lot of research that turning a school into a charter or turning it over to a management company has led to a lot of progress."

Several studies say children in Philadelphia charters and schools run by management groups scored no better on tests than those in district-run schools. Supporters contend that charters and management companies often work with the lowest-performing children and have helped them make big gains.

Jim Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, also has problems with Piccola's proposal.

On the agenda: Charters, protests and Tilden | The Education Report

On the agenda: Charters, protests and Tilden | The Education Report
On the agenda: Charters, protests and Tilden

By Katy Murphy
Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 5:58 pm in School board news, charter schools,union contract.

Oakland Unified’s hard-line charter schools office says the district should renew its contracts with two schools: Oakland School for the Arts, a middle and high school located in the renovated Fox Theater building downtown, and Berkley Maynard, one of six charters in Oakland that are run by Aspire Public Schools, a management organization.

image by Nick Bygon, flickr.com/creativecommons

Also on Wednesday’s school board agenda is a “conditional endorsement” of the March 4 Statewide Day to Defend Public Education, which will include public schools, colleges and universities.

Translation: The district will support a “teach-in” and demonstrations before and after school — as long as the actions don’t “impede student learning,” according to OUSD Spokesman Troy Flint.

Betty Olson-Jones, the teachers union president, says there is not a strike planned for March 4, but that some teachers and students plan to be out of school that day. Others, she said, will picket before school starts or, possibly, take their children on a “walking field trip” to demonstrate.

“What we’re trying to do is make it a very educational event,” she said.

Olson-Jones said the union sees the purpose of March 4 activities as twofold: to bring attention to the reduced education funding in the state, and to rally support for the Oakland teachers union, which is in the final stage of contract negotiations with the school district. (Status update: A fact-finding panel is scheduled to hold a hearing the week of Feb. 22 and could come out with a report in early March.)

The relocation of Tilden School is also on the agenda. The district

Is Stimulus Money Being Spent Equitably? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

I'm at a two-day symposium in New York City put on by the Campaign for Educational Equity that's examining whether the stimulus funds have been spent and used equitably to help improve achievement, especially among at-risk students.

Sam Dillon did a piece previewing the papers being presented, in which he focused on the funding cliff that the stimulus is creating. Since we've already written a lot about the funding cliff, I thought the more interesting part of these papers, and the symposium itself, was the warning flags being raised about some of the long-term consequences of the stimulus package.

Although I'll have a more complete story soon, here's what I'm talking about:

Since the stimulus law required roughly $48 billion in State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to be distributed through a state's primary funding formula, the "maintenance of effort" provision that required a state to maintain its own funding only applied to this formula. But this ignores the fact that in many states, there are smaller categorical funds that make up total state aid, but aren't given out to school districts by a formula. This paper, by David Sciarra

Sacramento Press / Strong Mayor: Johnson to pitch new ballot measure

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has not been deterred by two court rulings that prevent his strong mayor initiative from being placed on the June ballot. His latest strategy is to ask the City Council to place a new strong mayor proposal on the ballot.

But Johnson’s new plan, which he announced on his blog Monday afternoon, cannot include the existing strong mayor initiative. That's because Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster struck down the initiative last month, saying it broke state law.

Johnson's blog entry does not explain the components of his new proposal. He described his new plan as a "collaborative executive mayor reform package." Joaquin McPeek, Johnson's spokesman, declined to specify details Monday night. McPeek said Johnson will take questions from reporters on the proposal Tuesday.

Johnson said in his blog that he would ask the City Council on Tuesday to consider his new plan.

"The time has come to spell out in simple language a handful of points necessary to make executive mayor reform work in Sacramento," Johnson wrote.

If the City Council decides to vote on a new measure, it will need to create a new proposal in 15 days. The City Council has a Feb. 23 deadline to prepare a measure for the June ballot.

“The City Council has the ability to put their own measure on the ballot,” city spokeswoman Amy Williams said. “They are barred by Judge McMaster’s order from placing the strong mayor initiative on the ballot.”

Johnson's strong mayor goals have been stymied by two courts.

Plaintiff Bill Camp sued the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council and Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor initiative. Making major changes to a city charter through an initiative conflicts with state law, Camp argued.

Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, Feb. 9

Submitted by Erika Owens on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 09:37 Posted in Notes from the news | Permalink

Phila. schools open [today]; make up days aheadThe Inquirer
Schools are open today, but the make up days have not yet been scheduled.

Renaissance community meetings postponed The Notebook blog
With more snow forecasted for today, some and perhaps all of this week's meetings will be rescheduled.

Letters: For schools, new teacher contract is just the start Daily News
Letter from Education Voters PA Director Susan Gobreski.

Late education professor leaves long legacy The Temple News
Dr. Snelbecker will be honored with a scholarship in his name.

Elizabethan English and Education for Liberation PSU blog

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

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Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Fenty: "Don't get into my mens rea"

Mayor Adrian M.Fenty, hammered by parents and teachers for the abortive decision to open D.C. Schools on a two-hour delay Monday, was as elusive as Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee about exactly how they made the decision. Fenty, a former Howard University law student, even went Latin on my colleague Ann Marimow when she pressed him Monday afternoon.

"You take into account a myriad and a multitude of information. I don't get into my mens rea," said Fenty. "We made the right decision."

For those not up on their lawyer talk, "mens rea" refers to the mental state in which one commits a criminal act.

In any event, there's no school on Tuesday in DCPS.

Continue reading this post »

Four things every student should learn … but not every school is teaching | eSchoolNews.com

Four things every student should learn … but not every school is teaching

Education technology consultant Alan November reveals key lessons that today’s students must know in order to thrive in the Information Age

By Dennis Pierce, Editor

Schools are missing out on important opportunities if they fail to teach these lessons, says ed-tech consultant Alan November.

An awareness of the views of those in other countries, an understanding of how Google ranks the results of a web search, a knowledge of the permanence of information posted online: These are some of the lessons that every student should be learning in today’s schools, says education technology consultant Alan November—but not every middle or high school is teaching these lessons.

November was the featured speaker at a Jan. 14luncheon session during the Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando. Although the session focused on how to balance safety and learning in the digital age, during the course of the discussion November also revealed several topics that he said every member of the Net Generation should learn:

1. Global empathy.

November said he was talking with a senior executive at a global investment bank recently, and he asked the executive: What is the most important skill for today’s students to learn so they are prepared to succeed in the new global economy?

“Empathy,” the executive replied—the ability to understand and respect different points of view.

Most of today’s companies do business with customers all over the world, and several also have branches in multiple countries. Chances are good that when students enter the workforce, they’ll be working with—or doing business with—someone from another nation, with its own culture and its own unique perspective, at some point in their career.

It’s not hard to find people who are smart, the executive said. What is hard to find are employees who have to ability to empathize with, and be sensitive to the needs of, people from other countries.

Two businessmen invested big in schools race - Local/State - NewsObserver.com

RALEIGH -- Conservative businessmen Bob Luddy and Art Pope were the largest contributors in fall's Wake County school board elections, which ushered in a majority pledged to eliminate the district's diversity policy.

Final campaign finance reports show more than $340,000 in hard and soft money was spent during a contentious contest for control of North Carolina's largest school district. The majority - about $190,000 - boosted the fortunes of the four Republican-backed candidates who won.

Combined, Luddy and Pope provided $38,000 either to individual candidates or to the Wake County Republican Party's efforts in one of the most expensive campaigns in school district history. But Pope downplayed the influence he and Luddy had in the newcomers' victories.

"They were not elected by Bob Luddy or by myself," said Pope, a former Republican state legislator and head of a family-owned chain of retail stores. "They were elected by the overwhelming majority of the voters in their districts."

Wake County Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope Jr., a distant cousin of Art Pope, said campaign cash alone didn't guarantee political success in the school board race.

"As much money as you can spend, it won't help unless you have good candidates and a good issue," said Claude Pope, who has vowed to revive Republican fortunes by concentrating on local elections.

Opponents of the new school board majority said the reports show that Luddy and Art Pope, two influential critics of public education policy, are behind the new direction for Wake schools.

"It seems to confirm that Mr. Pope and Mr. Luddy played a really active role in electing the school board, and you'd think that their views would carry a lot of influence," said Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of N.C. Policy Watch, a liberal think tank.

The dividing lines

The nominally nonpartisan school board election broke largely along party lines, with most Republicans backing the four candidates who advocated neighborhood schools while many Democrats backed candidates who supported maintaining the district's diversity policy.

The winners in the four suburban districts on the ballot tapped into parental discontent about a broad range of issues: mandatory year-round schools, busing for diversity and the weekly early dismissals that detractors called "Wacky Wednesdays."

Supporters of the diversity policy didn't have any donors who provided as much money as Luddy and Art Pope.

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