Going Small: Progress and Challenges of Philadelphia’s Small High Schools

Research for Action

WHAT'S NEW

NEW RELEASE! Going Small: Progress and Challenges of Philadelphia’s Small High Schools examines Philadelphia's experience with small high schools and finds that “going small” is a promising strategy for fostering student success, especially for students who face the most signficant challenges. However, it cautions that size alone will not produce better schools. The report identifies the resources and supports that are needed to make small schools successful.
Download the full report, the executive summary, and the Press release. This multiple-year study was supported by Carnegie Corporation.

Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia is a new Research for Action report that offers insights into how districts might capitalize on interim assessments to promote teacher learning and improve student achievement.
Download the full report or the executive summary

Urban School District Central Offices and the Implementation of New Small Autonomous Schools Initiatives

VUE 22: Honig Excerpt

New small autonomous schools initiatives have spread to urban districts nationwide. While their designs vary, these initiatives generally aim to convert large public high schools into multiple, smaller, more autonomous schools and to create new small autonomous public schools of various types. Initiative advocates argue, in part, that the sheer diversity of students in urban districts – and, arguably, other mid-sized to large districts – increases the urgency to reinvent schools into newer, smaller, more autonomous units that are more rigorous, caring, and responsive to individual students.

In turn, district central offices would expand student learning districtwide if they helped schools build their capacity for making key decisions about how to support their students, rather than mainly directed schools’ decisions. Such forms of district central office support depart starkly from traditional central office roles as regulators of or non-participants in reform efforts. What, more specifically, do urban school district central offices do when they enable the implementation of new small autonomous schools initiatives?

Educational research has shed little light on this question. For example, many studies of new small autonomous schools initiatives focus on school-level outcomes and implementation processes

Op-Ed Contributors - Smart Child Left Behind - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributors - Smart Child Left Behind - NYTimes.com:

"This comes as quite a surprise, as ever since the law was enacted in 2002, analysts and educators have worried that gifted pupils would be the ones left behind. While the law puts extraordinary pressure on schools to lift the performance of low-achieving students, it includes no incentives to accelerate the progress of high achievers.

Yet the new study, by the independent Center on Education Policy, showed that more students are reaching the “advanced” level on state tests now than in 2002. This led the authors to conclude that there is little evidence that high-achieving students have been shortchanged.

If only that were so. But like many miracle-drug claims, this conclusion is deeply flawed, for several reasons."

Local retired teachers stay active, involved :: The Fallbrook Village News

Local retired teachers stay active, involved :: The Fallbrook Village News:

"Board members of the CalRTA Division 81 (Fallbrook chapter) prepare invitations for a ‘Stay at Home Tea,’ which encourages participants to relax and home with a cup of tea and mail in a donation to support the teacher grant program. Board members shown include (seated, from left) Jewell Ford, Jean Whiteside, President Sandra Bell, Bobbie Smith, (standing) Sherry Ludwig, Laura Choate, Sally Whitlock, Lucile Reeder, Arlene Sharpe, Ruth Watto, Gigi Halladay and Joyce Brittain. (Not shown by actively participating: Lenora Sears.)"

School officials going to court for breaking pledge not to pray - Salt Lake Tribune

School officials going to court for breaking pledge not to pray - Salt Lake Tribune:

"Stevenson had alleged that the settlement not only prohibited employee-led prayer, but also kept employees from 'promoting, advancing, aiding, facilitating, endorsing or causing religious prayers or devotionals during school-sponsored events.'

Staver said the banquet was privately funded and argued the court order infringes on the right to free speech of the school employees and their spouses.
'Nobody who has any clue about constitutional law,' Staver said, 'would allow a court order of this magnitude.'"

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Chula Vista Teachers Protest Schwarzenegger Visit

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Chula Vista Teachers Protest Schwarzenegger Visit:

"'What we are saying is, 'Let's slow down,'' Groth said as he left the Chula Vista school. 'Changing the laws at the state would affect all districts. We're talking about local control. Local school boards would not have that control -- it would be dictated by Washington, D.C.'

Look for more debates like this in San Diego and around the state. This is going to be the issue to watch as California vies for more stimulus money. Will the federal pressure win out?"

Schwarzenegger gives case for reform at charter school

Schwarzenegger gives case for reform at charter school:

"We are asking the governor and the Legislature to slow down. Let's have parents, let's have teachers, let's have educators, let's have the public have some input as to how we will apply for the money,” said Jim Groth, a CTA board member who taught in Chula Vista schools for 35 years. Groth said Schwarzenegger's “rush to reform” isn't necessary to qualify for the federal funds because the state can apply for the money as late as next spring. He said tying test scores to teacher pay, promotions and evaluation doesn't account for factors outside of a teacher's control, such as attendance, school environment and demographics."

Sharpton, Gingrich, Duncan to talk school reform | ajc.com

Sharpton, Gingrich, Duncan to talk school reform ajc.com:

"Sharpton kicks off his participation with the tour Friday at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, where he is scheduled to broadcast a live chat at 3:30 p.m. with Duncan and Gingrich on his nationally syndicated radio show during the National Action Network Summer Conference, a meeting of his civil rights group.

Concerned with the inequalities in schools in urban versus suburban areas, Sharpton said that he has been collaborating with Gingrich, whom had he described as his “polar opposite” until they sat with Obama in May to discuss the state of public education."

Pressure-cooker kindergarten - The Boston Globe

Pressure-cooker kindergarten - The Boston Globe:

"Pressure? This is kindergarten, the happy land of building blocks and singalongs. But increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging. If children don’t meet certain requirements, they are deemed “not proficient.” Frequently, children are screened for “kindergarten readiness” even before school begins, and some are labeled inadequate before they walk through the door."

Time to scrap No Child Left Behind : The Sammamish Review – News, Sports, Classifieds in Sammamish, WA

Time to scrap No Child Left Behind : The Sammamish Review – News, Sports, Classifieds in Sammamish, WA:

"It was a lovely idea. When No Child Left Behind was passed into law, the plan was simple — make sure every student in America gets a good education by holding school districts to ever-tougher standards.

But in practice, No Child Left Behind has not delivered, and has caused more trouble than it’s worth. As a result, Sammamish schools may pay a high price for it a few years down the road.

In some ways, the program actually succeeded. By highlighting problems that hadn’t before been quantified, it has allowed schools across the country to better focus their resources.
The law’s end goal — that 100 percent of America’s students graduate with a set of basic skills and can pass a test to prove it — is laudable, but unrealistic.

It doesn’t require a degree in statistics and educational testing to understand why. If everyone passes a test, all it really means is that the test is too easy to be an adequate measure of skills. No test should expect all students to pass, without regard to their ability to learn."

AP NewsBreak: Wisconsin to phase out student tests -- chicagotribune.com

AP NewsBreak: Wisconsin to phase out student tests -- chicagotribune.com:

"MADISON, Wis. - A 17-year-old statewide test used to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law will be replaced with a broader approach to judging how well Wisconsin students are performing, state superintendent Tony Evers said Thursday.

Education leaders heralded the move as a step toward more accountability. It may also help put Wisconsin in a better position to compete with other states for $4.35 billion in federal education stimulus money under the government's 'Race to the Top' reform program."

California to move young offenders out of largest, harshest youth prison - San Jose Mercury News

California to move young offenders out of largest, harshest youth prison - San Jose Mercury News:


"The woeful conditions inside the California youth prisons, and their questionable public safety value, were highlighted in a 2004 Mercury News series. The series included reports from Stark and the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione, which will soon assume the dubious title of the state's most violent youth prison.

Warner insists state custody will always be needed for the most serious and violent offenders, who typically suffer from severe mental illnesses, childhood trauma and addictions — those deemed too difficult for counties to handle. But due to falling crime rates and far fewer state commitments, the youth prison population has plunged in recent years — from 5,500 in 2004 to the current 1,680.

Warner said closing Stark allowed him to cut costs systemwide that have shot up to a record-breaking $250,000 per ward, per year. In addition to the expense of overhauling mental health, education and treatment programs, until recently the system was bloated with more than 4,300 staff overseeing 2,000 offenders statewide."

In education reform, some states race from the bottom

In education reform, some states race from the bottom:

"“California will take whatever money it can get,” said Brian Edward, a policy analyst for EdSource, a California education watchdog.

California was one of five states ranked least likely to compete for the money, according to a report released this August by the New Teacher Project. The group, which supports initiatives to train teachers and measure their performance, also rated Nevada, Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania as ineligible because state laws and revised stimulus requests disqualify them from the federal competition.

To qualify, states must show reformed education laws fitting four federal priorities: standardized curriculum; building new student data systems; linking teacher performance to test scores, and raising the number of charter schools."

Truancy study urges more parent involvement | LahontanValleyNews.com

Truancy study urges more parent involvement LahontanValleyNews.com:

"“Studies have shown parent involvement is the strongest predictor in student success,” said Jessica Homer, truancy attendance care manager.

Homer said 32 percent of parents reported not attending parent teacher conferences, which is common with older students.

“At the high school level it is just as important, if not more important, as it is in elementary school,” Homer said.

Homer said 60 percent said they do not use PowerSchool, a Web site where parents track students' attendance, grades, disciplinary actions and more. It can be accessed from home or from Churchill County High School and Junior High School.

“Every parent has access to that from the Internet anywhere,” Homer said. “It is such a good tool. If parents can stay on top of those things, they can stay away from court.”"

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » SF Chronicle, LA Times Spread Phony Tax Hysteria

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » SF Chronicle, LA Times Spread Phony Tax Hysteria:

"Our state is in a fiscal crisis, Republicans refuse to let us pass a single tax increase whatsoever, we don’t tax oil companies for their profits, and the legislature just passed a budget that makes $15 billion in dreadful cuts to education and health care, and $11 billion in reckless borrowing. Yet, both papers are alarmed that – due to a technicality in state law – your taxes may go up another $40 this year. California’s income tax brackets get adjusted annually to account for the Consumer Price Index, and it means this year some incomes will fall into a higher tax bracket."

Sacramento Press / City Council studying proposal for independent budget analyst

Sacramento Press / City Council studying proposal for independent budget analyst:

"The independent budget analyst is separate from the strong mayor proposal because the budget analyst office would be developed through an ordinance, Fehr explained in a phone interview. The strong mayor format cannot be set up through an ordinance because the city’s governance structure is established in the city charter, he noted. The city charter must be changed in order for Sacramento’s mayor to gain new powers.

Fehr wrote that the independent budget analyst office could be paid for in two pieces: $370,000 would come from the city’s general fund, while $130,000 would come from special funds. The position could also lead to future savings for the city, according to Fehr."

Susan Goodkin and David G. Gold: In focus on proficiency, bright kids lose - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Susan Goodkin and David G. Gold: In focus on proficiency, bright kids lose - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"Many students scoring 'advanced' on grade-level material could progress much further with instruction geared to their needs. Instead, with teachers pressured by the No Child Left Behind Act to aim instruction at below-proficiency students, advanced learners are forced to sit through repetitive rote lessons on material they long ago mastered. Frustrated and bored, many bright students will act up, tune out and, as research shows, eventually even drop out in alarming numbers. Ignoring these students shortchanges them and California's future."

Letters to the editor - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Letters to the editor - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

Librarians help guide students

"As valuable as the Internet can be, it is also riddled with inaccurate and unreliable information. In addition to supplying valid print resources, a credentialed school librarian provides essential guidance in navigating the Web, instructing students in effective search strategies, Internet evaluation and research methodology. Without librarians, students will be left to wander cyberspace on their own."

Police Department hired for Natomas school security - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Police Department hired for Natomas school security - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Natomas Unified school board members voted Wednesday night to renew the district's contract with the Sacramento Police Department for security at its two high schools.

'Monday morning we will have resource officers back on high school campuses,' said Heidi Van Zant, district spokeswoman.
The district had started its school year earlier this month without security due to budget cuts."

Retiring Natomas superintendent had faced teacher no-confidence vote - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Retiring Natomas superintendent had faced teacher no-confidence vote - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"The Natomas Teachers Association had been planning to take a no-confidence vote next Thursday to express displeasure with district Superintendent Steve Farrar.
Teachers won't get the chance."