August 31, 2006
New Orleans charters and disaster recovery
The upcoming issue of Education Next includes a fascinating article on the charter school explosion in post-Katrina New Orleans. It's not out just yet, but I can share a few tidbits.
Continue reading "New Orleans charters and disaster recovery" »
Posted by Ryan Boots at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Education News for Thursday, August 31
Education chief says law is close to perfect - Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Wednesday that the No Child Left Behind Act is close to perfect and needs little change as its first major update draws near.
Mass. charter schools get a leg up in testing scores - Massachusetts charter school students are performing as well as, or better than, their counterparts in regular public schools, in contrast to a recent national study, according to a state report released yesterday.
Women aren't good in math... or are they? - Strange but true: Women score much lower on math tests if they are first asked unrelated questions about gender issues.
$3 billion plan for struggling CA schools revealed - A sweeping $3 billion agreement to give hundreds of low-performing schools smaller classes, more qualified teachers and additional counselors was revealed yesterday by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Teachers Association.
No cure-all seen in Baltimore bonus for principals - Experts and educators are divided on whether the money would result in better schools.
AZ GOP candidates debate what it means to be conservative - The only candidate to support the ballot initiative which will raise the cigarette tax to pay for more children's programs, Hershberger, 57, says he is working to provide a safe and healthy environment for children while providing a quality education.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
Why Hide SAT Data? - Yesterday The College Board published the SAT scores for the Graduation Class of 2006. However, it refused to publish any statistics regarding the 49 grammar/usage questions even though this part of the Writing test is worth around 70% of the Writing score.
For Villaraigosa, Opportunity and Daunting Challenges - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa faces a formidable challenge in trying to reform the Los Angeles Unified School District. But the legislative deal that gives him partial control of the school system also provides him with an opportunity.
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August 30, 2006
The AFTies and eduresearch
John at AFT responded to yesterday's post in the comment thread. I'd like to address that here, because I also see a connection to Jay Mathews's new column.
Continue reading "The AFTies and eduresearch" »
Posted by Ryan Boots at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)California edunews
As part of his cease-fire with the California Teachers Association, Arnold has agreed to set aside $2.9 billion over the next seven years for the state's 500 lowest-performing schools in order to lower class sizes. But how would the money be spent? That's still up in the air, which has various educrats disgruntled:
The California Association of School Business Officials opposes the measure on the grounds that the money should be available to all school districts, not just those with troubled schools. And the group says there might not be enough available classrooms and teachers to reduce class sizes rapidly.
"We're school business officers," said Sandy Silberstein, director of government relations at CASBO. "Our job is to make it pencil out and work on the ground. And we see a long list of implementation problems."
The California School Boards Association does not officially oppose the measure, but it "has concerns," said Rick Pratt, a spokesman for the group.
The organization agrees that the money should go to the poorest-performing schools in the state, but believes districts should be able to spend the funds on more than class-size reduction. Currently, the measure would allow only 15 percent of the money to go for other needs such as health programs.
"There are out-of-school factors that influence the ability of kids to benefit from smaller classes," Pratt said. "There are health issues, hearing and vision problems that go undetected. ..."
So in the waning days (hours, really) of the legislative session, they're proposing to spend around $5.8 million per school with no real plan of how to get there? And various and sundry agencies are swarming around demanding the money be spent differently? I don't suppose this is much different than most other states, but with an annual education budget of around $55 billion, I guess California is just on a different level.
Posted by Ryan Boots at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Education News for Wednesday, August 30
National Education Foundation to provide $400 million in online scholarships to disadvantaged U.S. high schools - CyberLearning has over 3,000 courses including courses that lead to business skills, IT certifications and high-paying jobs. It also has a complete digital literacy curriculum for teachers and students leading to an international (IC3) certification.
SAT reading and math scores show a significant decline - The drop confirmed earlier reports from puzzled college officials that they were seeing lower scores from applicants.
Why we're losing ground - Efforts to reform our public education system received a blow recently when a federal court reopened a challenge to the testing procedure the State of New York requires as part of the certification process for new teachers.
Upon further reflection, a few random thoughts - Dear teachers and students, dear principals and counselors, as the new school year begins, let us reflect. Let us reflect on our reflections about reflecting.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
Privaticizing New Orleans' schools - Opinion: After seeing how public education is being drastically altered there, she said she feared that very system would spread.
40 Percent of NH Schools Don't Make Grade -New Hampshire released revised test results for elementary, middle and high schools, and an unhealthy minority are not making the grade under No Child Left Behind.
Performance data driving education now - James Turner is flooded by so much data on schools and kids that he is reminded of the ancient mariner who was stuck on a windless sea, surrounded by undrinkable salt water.
Utah's school funding paradox questioned - Stephen Kroes, executive director of the Utah Foundation, said his group aimed to gather many perspectives, ensuring that conservative voices such as Utah Taxpayer Association and Parents for Choice in Education would be heard, along with representatives of the education community like the Utah Education Association.
Ed Week: CA lawmakers grant LA mayor partial control over school system - (subscription required) The plan would give him considerable sway over the hiring of the superintendent, but falls short of the strong mayoral control in cities like New York City and Chicago.
Ed Week: In every core class, a qualified teacher - (subscription required) A year from now, every academic class must be headed by what is considered to be a “highly qualified” teacher. Federal officials say the vast majority of states are well on their way to that goal. Others, however, are skeptical the resources are there.
Ed Week: NCLB reauthorization hearing tackles flexibility, standards - (subscription required) The key House subcommittee studying the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act held its first field hearing here this week in what is normally a federal courtroom.
Ed Week: NCES calls for sticking to the stats - (subscription required) In discussing a new federal study on charter schools last week, the commissioner of statistics for the U.S. Department of Education reiterated that his office should not be initiating analyses such as that one and a recent comparison of public and private schools, both of which he believes rely too much on subjective judgments.
Ed Week: Reanalysis of NAEP scores finds charter schools lagging - The average reading score for the 150 charter schools examined, taking into account a range of background characteristics of students and schools, was 4.2 percentage points lower than in a pool of more than 6,700 regular public schools...
August 29, 2006
An Open Letter to Richard Ruelas (Matthew Ladner)
Your recent column on the corporate tuition tax credit contained an important misconception that I would like to address.
Continue reading "An Open Letter to Richard Ruelas (Matthew Ladner)" »
Posted by Featured Guest at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Sorry, PFAW--no witches here
Andrew Coulson, no supporter of our New Jersey lawsuit, goes after People for the American Way for the group's witch hunt press release slamming Alliance president Clint Bolick.
Now that's a signing bonus
You a principal? Looking to make some dough? A Democratic gubernatorial candidate has got a deal for you:
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley today will propose paying signing bonuses of $200,000 -- believed to be the largest of their kind in the nation -- to principals hired to lead dozens of Maryland's lowest-performing schools.
The hefty bonuses, designed to lure seasoned educators from across the state and country to jurisdictions including Prince George's County, are included in a package of "new ideas" on education that the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful plans to present this afternoon.
While I'm definitely all about merit pay, I'm a bit doubtful on this idea--the whole concept behind merit pay is increasing compensation after improvement is seen, not merely to get warm bodies into open slots. Matt Johnston is similarly skeptical, but has a few suggestions to make the proposal work.
Detroit teachers vs. reality
Interesting story on the Detroit teachers strike currently in progress. Not unlike their cousins over in the UAW, they don't quite see that black hole at the end of the tunnel:
Detroit Public Schools officials fear the teacher strike that began Monday may exacerbate budget problems in the district, which already is projecting a 9,300-student decline this school year after last year's loss of nearly 11,000.
Knee-deep in debt, the district can't afford to lose more students to charter schools and neighboring districts, which costs Detroit about $7,450 per student in state funding.
At the end of the first day of the teacher walkout, a Wayne County judge on Monday ordered negotiators for both sides to bargain until 7 p.m. today in hopes of ending the standoff that some say could further cripple the district.
"If we don't have the revenues, then we can't keep the number of employees we have," Detroit Public Schools spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo said. "If we are planning for 119,000 students and we have 112,000 students then we have to lay off employees. That's why a strike is so damaging."[snip]
In recent years, charter schools and neighboring school districts have drawn thousands of students away from Detroit. Collectively, the city's 41 charter schools saw enrollment grow 23 percent over last year to 23,753 students.
Parents, however, may have difficulty finding options with many charters now at full capacity and enrollment periods at some neighboring districts already closed.
I've written elsewhere about the response of school districts to the loss of students (and therefore revenue) to school choice. Unions don't see things the same way, though.
We get love from the AFTies
The AFTies have showered attention upon Edspresso lately, especially by blogrollling us. To show some appreciation, let me respond to a couple of recent mentions.
First off, John looks at this post and declares that I want readers to believe "that an objective, informed journalist visited a school and found that the federal school voucher program helped the school do great things". Actually, I don't think Gary Andres is objective, which is why I called him a columnist, not a reporter.
John then examined this post on the D.C. program, in which I quoted from a study on the program. John looks at this passage from the study...
"The most uncertain results for African Americans came from Washington, D.C. As can be seen in Table 4, no significant differences were observed in year one, a large impact was observed after two years, but no impact was observed at the end of year three."
...and finds me guilty of "monkey business".
Strangely enough, John doesn't list where the quote is found (gotta scroll down--it's at the bottom of page 11). And he also left out the rest of the paragraph, which helps explain the disparity:
First, because only 29 percent of the students in the evaluation continued to use the voucher after three years (as compared to 70 percent in New York City), third-year estimations are quite imprecise. Second, the voucher experiment in D.C. was contaminated by the inauguration of a charter-school initiative that gave families more choice than those available in New York City; indeed, 17 percent of the treatment group and 24 percent of the control groups attended charter schools in the third year of the evaluation. Finally the differences in the third-year results might be attributed to the more established private sector in New York City than in Washington, D.C. Catholic schools, the major provider of private education in the two cities, are better endowed and historically more rooted in the northern port city, whose Catholic, immigrant population dates back to the early Nineteenth Century.
In other words, the experimental and control groups were contaminated. However, for a similar experimental study of the D.C. program, go here. Key graph:
In some ways, the most striking results in terms of trends over time concern African-Americans in D.C. After one year, no significant differences were observed for African-American students as a group, but older and younger students experienced significant differences. While younger students may have benefited slightly from the voucher program after one year, the older students who switched to private schools scored significantly lower than their public- school peers after one year. By the end of the second year, however, these students seemed to have overcome the initial challenges of changing schools. Both younger and older African-American students who switched from public to private schools posted positive and significant gains. On the combined reading and math tests, younger students in private schools scored 9.3 percentile points higher than those who remained in public schools. Older African-American students in private schools scored 10.3 percentile points higher.
So I'm happy to clarify these matters. And I really do appreciate the linkage. Keep that sweet traffic coming--maybe we'll find more allies!
Education News for Tuesday, August 29
L.A. mayor's school plan passes Senate, but legal battles loom - The state Senate on Monday voted to grant Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unprecedented powers over the city's troubled schools, even as critics blasted the plan as unconstitutional and the mayor acknowledged that legal battles might prevent him from taking control any time soon.
Mayor Flexes Muscle With School Board - With legislative passage of his bid for greater control of the Los Angeles Unified School District all but certain, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa warned the school board Monday against hiring a superintendent without his approval, saying that he would fire anyone who wasn't a "change agent."
Roadblocks won’t deter charter school - Opinion: When the history of education reform in Georgia is written, the valiant struggle of parents determined to have an alternative to Atlanta public schools should be noted, for it is an example of the persistence required of pioneers and reformers.
GOP candidate, black leaders discuss achievement gap - Karen Floyd, the GOP nominee for state education superintendent, said Monday that making classroom learning more relevant to students will help close the achievement gap between black and white students in South Carolina.
Utah teacher wins surprise national award - In a surprise announcement by Secretary of Education Senior Adviser Norma Garza, the Rees Elementary School teacher was named Utah's No Child Left Behind 2006 American Star of Teaching.
The tools needed to teach - Schools order new books and other learning tools for teachers every year. But teachers say they could not run an effective class without paying for additional items themselves.
Bush education reforms falter (registration required) - Analysis: President George Bush's education reform package, the No Child Left Behind Act constitutes a significant ideological exception to the general thrust of his domestic policy agenda, and a major extension of federal regulatory power. Yet the Act's implementation has been increasingly problematic.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
NYT Editorial: Exploding the charter school myth (Sun) - A federal study showing that fourth graders in charter schools score worse in reading and math than their public school counterparts should cause some soul-searching in Congress.
Michigan K-16 proposal would swing $565 million more to education - A 100-word summary of a ballot proposal to give inflationary increases to schools, community colleges and universities also will include a price tag of $565 million.
Wisconsin lags in learning standards - new study comes down hard on Wisconsin for not setting stronger academic standards - ranking it 46th of the 50 states and giving it an overall "D-" grade.
NCLB: 35% of AZ schools deemed not cutting it - One in three Arizona public schools will fall short of a key student-achievement measure that can subject schools to improvement orders under the federal No Child Left Behind law, the state Department of Education said Monday.
Posted by Daily News at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Faces of School Choice: A Public School Teacher Learns the Politics of School Choice (Lynette Estrada)
This is the first in a recurring feature of articles looking at parents, teachers and students who have been personally impacted by school choice. -ed.
I am a public schoolteacher who exercises school choice. I am also a citizen who learned a lesson in politics this spring, when I tried--with the help of other parents--to save school choice programs in my home state of Florida.
Heroics and Entrepreneurialism (Andrew Pass)
When was the last time that you met a hero? When was the last time that you behaved heroically? Have you ever behaved differently than the norm because you thought it was the right way to go? Do you know any teachers who have taught their students how to be heroes?
Let me introduce you to a hero. His name is Nicholas Winton.
Continue reading "Heroics and Entrepreneurialism (Andrew Pass)" »
Posted by Featured Guest at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)A Breakthrough Year for School Choice (Dan Lips and Evan Feinberg)
As American students prepare for school, millions of families are benefiting from an opportunity that once would have been unimaginable to them-the power to choose their children’s school. Political trends suggest that even more parents will enjoy that same opportunity in the years ahead. That’s a major win for parents.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Content Area Literacy (Or: It's Still About Race) (Jeff Silva-Brown)
During the teaching credential program it went by the name "Content Area Literacy". For the last two years, elements were brought up at our school in a program called "Reading Apprenticeship". Last summer, it was in all the classes that I needed to complete to acquire my CLAD. Well, I guess that it wouldn't be California if we didn't rehash the information yet again. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the continuing focus on English Language Learners (ELL).
Continue reading "Content Area Literacy (Or: It's Still About Race) (Jeff Silva-Brown)" »
Posted by Featured Guest at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)When Unaccountable Courts Meet Dysfunctional Schools (Frederick M. Hess)
Last year, Columbia University formally abandoned intellectual neutrality and embraced political activism in a remarkable fashion. The university announced a Campaign for Educational Equity that aims, in its first year, to raise $12 million to engage in “action research” and advocacy on behalf of “educational equity.” This development should alarm anyone who believes that “no taxation without representation” is a bedrock American principle.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)August 28, 2006
Diana Schemo vs. the NYT?
The WSJ and NYT are as far apart as you can probably imagine on the NCES charter school study. This snippet from the Times caught my eye (emphasis added):
One advantage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was the wave of education studies it started. They offer hope that Congress will look at the record when it considers reauthorizing the law next year. If it does, lawmakers will back away from the part of the act that offers charter schools as a cure-all. They should instead home in on the all-important but largely neglected issue of teacher training and preparation — which trumps everything when it comes to improving student achievement.
These studies argue for a more nuanced federal policy that does not just advocate wholesale charter conversion but instead defines and supports successful models only. Beyond that, Congress needs to grasp the obvious, which is that the quality of the teacher corps is more crucial to school reform than anything else. The original law required states to provide highly qualified teachers in core subject areas by this year. But the Education Department simply failed to enforce the rule, partly because of back-channel interference by lawmakers who talked like ardent reformers while covering up for state officials clinging to the bad old status quo.
Four years later, the national teacher corps is still in a shambles. Until Congress changes that, everything else will amount to little more than tinkering at the margins.
But two weeks ago, NYT columnist Diana Schemo said it's all a matter of poverty. (More here.) I guess she didn't get the memo!
Enabling the Detroit teachers strike work stoppage
In this week's Communiqué, Mike Antonucci reports that the Detroit Federation of Teachers is going on strike, but is likewise doing backflips to avoid calling it a strike, which is prohibited under state law.
It also appears Bloomberg News is doing its part with this story (free registration required): "Detroit Teachers Vote Not to Report to Work."
Posted by Ryan Boots at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)Gender and education
Andersen Junior High in Chandler, Arizona is experimenting with single-sex classes:
In the last school year, the junior high began separating its physical education classes by gender, which [principal Jim Anderson] said worked well to prevent discipline problems and push students farther athletically.
"The physical education teachers loved it, and we've really noticed some significant improvement there with participation by both boys and girls. We have fewer students not dressing down; their energy levels are higher; and we've had fewer discipline problems. It's just working out a whole lot better." he said.
This year, Mr. Anderson is hoping to bring similar success to some "pilot" classes in math, science and social studies - something no other school in the Chandler Unified School District, and few schools in the nation, have attempted.
"Research has found that, academically, boys will do a little bit better" in the program, the principal said. "But what they're also finding is that you have significantly fewer discipline referrals from boys because they don't have girls to show off for and compete for. And the girls focus much better, they take off and really soar, because they're not held back by those boys who are distracting them all the time."
And no, this isn't foisted upon people: there's a parental tripwire in place.
Although the program is not voluntary for students, they can return to mixed-gender classes with their parents' permission.
"We've only ended up moving two or three boys after the kids complained to their parents, the parents called me and I didn't want to fight with them," Mr. Anderson said with a laugh. "If I have a kid with parents who question it or don't want it, I'm not forcing them to do it. I'm moving those kids out."
And now a new study says same-gender teachers are better as well:
For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.
That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University. His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal published by the Hoover Institution.
Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the way in which he reached them.
But Dee says his research supports his point, that gender matters when it comes to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex hurts a student's academic progress.
Of course, the study involved co-ed classes, so it isn't exactly compatible with what's being done at Andersen. And obviously it would take a ridiculous amount of political muscle to bring about complete same-gender classes (i.e. all-girl classes being taught exclusively by women, and only men teaching all-boy classes). But if parents don't mind, is it worth a try?
Posted by Ryan Boots at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)eBay bounces the homeschoolers
If you're a homeschooling parent looking for good textbooks, don't bother with eBay:
A new policy by Internet trading behemoth eBay that bans homeschool teachers' texts from its auctions is prompting a tirade of complaints from the company's faithful customers.
"Really the homeschooling community is a huge participant in eBay when you get to thinking about it," said one customer who was identified as ''angels*wings'' on an eBay blog. "We buy textbooks naturally but we also purchase items like microscopes, slides, globes, maps, manipulatives, educational games, reading books, supplies for our classrooms … stickers, idea books, folders, sheet protectors, school supplies, software, educational movies, models, post cards … the list is enormous."
The policy, which is inclusive of all teachers' texts, was made known recently as those who were auctioning various books watched as their postings were deleted.
eBay's policy is here. A little more detail is here:
As you may know, eBay does not permit items that are illegal, dangerous, offensive, or potentially infringing. Additionally, eBay has just recently made the decision to prohibit the sale of Teacher's Editions of textbooks and solutions manuals that are intended solely for use by teachers. Since eBay strives to be a level-playing field, all Teacher's Edition textbooks, manuals and guides will be covered under this policy. Unfortunately, home schooling Teacher's Editions are not exempt from this policy and this policy will apply to all grade levels.
At this time, eBay has used it discretion to prohibit such items because they often contain special answer keys, exams, teaching tips, and guides that are to be solely utilized by the instructors of such courses. Multiple organizations and publishers have also voiced their concern to us over such books that may only be purchased through educational institutions by teachers.
Meanwhile, eBay apparently has no plans to stop selling pornography. No matter--if eBay is willing to pass on selling to homeschoolers (who are, after all, teachers), Cobranchi points out that a number of competitors are more than happy to fill the void.
Public school choice and the border jumpers
In a lengthy editorial, the San Francisco Chronicle(!) approves public school choice:
The idea is not as outlandish as it might seem. Several states allow children to enroll in districts other than their own. For example, the Metco program in Boston, which has been operating for 40 years, places more than 3,300 of its students in 30 suburban school districts, which receive financial help from the state. The program has been an unqualified success: Unlike students attending the regular Boston public schools, the vast majority of Metco students graduate from school and go on to college.
The longer-term solution is to upgrade all of Oakland schools. In the meantime, the state must set up a system that allows Oakland parents to send their children to neighboring districts where there is space available. They should be able to do so without deception -- and without affecting the quality of the education already being offered there.
No student should have to lie or cheat to get a good education.
The editorial goes on to describe what many parents are driven to do in order to get their kids out of decaying schools: lie about where they live. Which is what upper-class Greenwich, Connecticut has been grappling with lately:
Students from bordering communities like Port Chester, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn., keep striving to land seats in Greenwich classrooms. Who can blame them? Just as Mexicans sneak into California because that’s where the better jobs are, students sneak into Greenwich because that’s where the better schools are.
Greenwich, one of America’s wealthiest towns, has not yet surrounded itself with a chain-link fence and National Guard troops. But it has its own version of a border patrol. A private eye, the kind who might be expected to snoop around motels, has been hired to check out tips of juvenile border crossings. Tattletale parents will report that they’ve spied a student crossing the Mill Street bridge from Port Chester or spotted another being dropped off by a car with New York license plates. The gumshoe, camera in hand, might shadow the third grader to his home.
There are some pretty obvious limitations in the comparison of sneaking into neighboring school districts to illegal immigration, but consider at least two parallels. First off, much like border jumpers crossing into Arizona and California, these parents simply want improved opportunities for their children. And just as lasting reform south of the border is the long-term key to immigration woes, a lot of parents will stop smuggling their kids into Greenwich as soon as they have decent schools in their own neighborhoods.
Secondly, the characterization of these out-of-district parents as "thieves" by some Greenwich residents says quite a bit about the attitude of many in the upper class. Since K-12 education quality is presently tied to real estate values--making the main form of school choice the moving van--many in the middle and upper classes tend to be pretty indifferent to the situation of low-income children. Simply falling back on the assertion that low-income parents already have the freedom to send their children to private schools smacks of a "let them eat cake" attitude.
Much like Pat Buchanan in the immigration debate, many in the upper class are isolationists when it comes to educational reform. For the good of the nation as a whole, that needs to change.
Education News for Monday, Aug. 28
NCLB has altered the face of education - Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
Diversity vs. quality education - Candidates for the Hillsborough County School Board tackle thorny issues of race in the classroom from starkly different viewpoints.
School takeover plan opposed - Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who heads the state Legislature's black caucus, said Sunday that he opposes Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to gain substantial authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
Editorial: Give Oakland students a real choice - Transfers: Parents shouldn't have to lie to get a better education for their kids.
In schools across the U.S., the melting pot overflows - Some 55 million youngsters are enrolling for classes in the nation’s schools this fall, making this the largest group of students in America’s history and, in ethnic terms, the most dazzlingly diverse since waves of European immigrants washed through the public schools a century ago.
CA minority students support exit exam - Most African American, Asian American and Latino parents support the California High School Exit Exam and believe the main function of the public education system should be to prepare their children for college.
When schools silence God talk - With schools opening around the country, it's unfortunate that many principals and school boards are not educated on the meaning of the Establishment Clause — which can be violated, for example, if a principal asks a priest, rabbi or minister to speak at commencement exercises, thereby officially favoring that form of religion, or any specific form of religion.
Parents: Be involved in child's education - Experienced teachers head back to school with more than lesson plans. They're in a unique position to impart good advice to parents as well.
AZ GOP primary opponents square off on education - The Republican candidates for state Senate in District 26 have contrasting views on education and disagree about whether aligning with the GOP leadership in Phoenix is best for Southern Arizona.
Stealth students test tolerance of the affluent - SAD to say, but suburban schools also have a problem with illegal immigrants, only theirs are pint-size and most are American citizens.
UPDATE:
Not for rich kids only - If the words "private school" make you think of a Harry Potter-like boarding school and uniformed tykes streaming out of buildings to the sound of peeling church bells, you're in for a surprise.
Posted by Daily News at 05:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
August 25, 2006
August 21-25: David Ritchey vs. Kevin Carey on Teacher Certification
All who wish to teach must receive some form of credentialing or certification before they can begin their careers. Is the practice helping to improve student achievement?
David Ritchey is Executive Director of the Association of Teacher Educators. Kevin Carey is Research and Policy Manager for Education Sector.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (3)All eyes on the Crescent City
With New Orleans pretty much a charter school free-for-all, the city is getting lots of attention. CBS ran a recent story on the reopening of schools in New Orleans. This recent NYT story looks at the problems parents are having with the new arrangement. And I think this illustrates rather effectively that New Orleans can only go up from here:
One in four Houston Independent School District students displaced by Hurricane Katrina failed to make enough academic progress to be promoted to the next grade this school year — a far higher rate than their classmates and an indicator of the massive challenges still facing area schools.
About 700 of the 2,900 Katrina students returning to HISD this year were held back, including 41 percent of high school sophomores and 52 percent of juniors. That 24 percent retention rate was among the highest in the area, according to retention rates released by some local school systems.
"These kids have worked hard, but many of them were not prepared for the rigorous Texas standards," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said.
Though HISD officials said they couldn't provide a retention rate for non-displaced students this year, state records show that 5 percent of elementary and middle schoolers were retained in HISD in 2004-05, compared with 18.6 percent of displaced elementary and middle school students this year.
Surrounding districts also reported high retention rates, including 23 percent in Tomball, 17 percent in Aldine and 13 percent in Katy.
HISD may have issues, but it was a major step up for kids from New Orleans schools. Which might be just one reason (albeit a relatively minor one) that some Katrina evacuees are loath to return.
Charter schools: lots of different flavors
In discussing this week's NCES charter study brouhaha, the Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent editorial board makes a point rarely seen in the MSM (hat tip: Charter Blog):
But even then, there are limited conclusions that can be drawn. That's because charter schools are not only different from public schools, they're different from each other.
Some charter schools are run by public school districts, as is the case in our area. But some, in other areas of the state and nation, are run by colleges or private entities. That's a difference that should be explored.
As well, some are targeted to at-risk kids, so test scores might naturally be lower. Some are targeted to gifted kids, so you'd expect test scores to be higher. In other charter schools that are open to all students, you could speculate that their parents would be more involved and, thus, their students were performing better even before they got to the school.
Each charter school should be judged separately, based on what its mission is supposed to be. If its students aren't learning enough, compared to other schools, it should be judged a failure.
But across-the-board comparisons of public schools vs. charter schools using meaningless measures don't prove anything — about either side.
As the Charter Blog pointed out in comparison to restaurants, equating all schools in the same category is foolhardy. Some charter schools are five-star French restaurants, and others are ramshackle dives. Moreover, as customization and differentiation continue to develop (consider this new charter school for the gifted in Nevada), such wide-ranging comparisons that involve across-the-board equating of charters are kind of useless, especially from a policy standpoint. Which means that more direct evaluations, such as randomized control-group studies that compare choice students to their counterparts as stated earlier in reference to the previous NCES public/private study, provide a much clearer comparison. (The Center for Education Reform also responds to the report.)
Education News for Friday, Aug. 25
Bush adminstration opposes integration plans - The Bush administration has urged the Supreme Court to strike down voluntary school integration programs across the nation that exclude some students because of their race.
Study finds tuition tax breaks helps poor least - College tuition tax credits are benefiting wealthier U S taxpayers more than the poorest, a federal study concluded , based on tax records, in the first analysis of the nine-year-old program.
LAUSD takeover plan bill stalls - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school-takeover legislation hit a wall of resistance Thursday and supporters called off a Senate vote as they scrambled to muster support.
An unknown school reform: the four-day week - Public schools are perhaps the most reform-resistant of all institutions. One reason is that, as some studies have shown, individual educators tend to be unusually conservative (small c), tradition-bound and averse to change.
Users guide to computing graduation rates - The first volume of this report examines the existing measures of high school completion and the newly proposed proxy measures.
Check back later for more education news.
UDPATE:
English learner fines are dropped in AZ - A federal appeals court gave legislative leaders and the state schools chief a major victory Thursday by wiping out $21 million in fines the state faced in a case involving the fate of 160,000 students who struggle to learn English.
Richardson unveils ideas on education - Gov. Bill Richardson wants $22 million more to fix New Mexico schools, and he's toying with cash bonuses to coax the best teachers into the neediest schools.
Children at 121 CT schools eligible for transfers under NCLB rules - Students attending 121 elementary and middle schools statewide are eligible to transfer elsewhere because their neighborhood school is failing to make the grade, according to a state report released Thursday.
WSJ: New Orleans banks on charter schools post-Katrina - More than half of 53 public schools expected to be open in New Orleans by early September -- 31 schools -- will be run independently under state and local charters issued to a dozen different organizations.
Dan Lips: Why American public schools need a healthy dose of competition - The back-to-school shopping season is upon us. Amer- icans are expected to spend more than $17 billion, or $527 per child, preparing for the school year.
UPDATE:
Latino pastors from Texas sign school choice resolution - More than 270 Hispanic Texas pastors from the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian leaders met yesterday in Houston to witness the signing of a school choice resolution.
Ed Week: With an unusually hands-on role, state feels its way in New Orleans - (subscription requried) A year after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans, the state of Louisiana finds itself in the highly unusual position of essentially starting from scratch—and directly operating—a batch of public schools in the city.
Evacuees in area schools being held back at high rates - One in four Houston Independent School District students displaced by Hurricane Katrina failed to make enough academic progress to be promoted to the next grade this school year.
Agassi Prep offers kids of Las Vegas a reason to learn - This was an evolution of seeing people's needs, and sticking a lot of band-aids on problems, trying to figure out how to get ahead of the curve, then using education as the tool, as the vehicle, for children making better choices for themselves...
Orange calls education his #1 priority in DC - Vincent B. Orange Sr. says that, as D.C. mayor, he would measure the success of his administration by how well the public school system performs.
Posted by Daily News at 05:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
August 24, 2006
California exit exam: minorities like it
Turns out minority support for the California exit exam is pretty solid. Takes a bit of digging to get to the numbers, but in spite of lagging passing rates, "80 percent of Latino parents and 68 percent of African American parents said in the New America Media poll that they supported the exit exam." Also, the anecdotal evidence really adds some color to the story:
Elisa Gonzalez is a bilingual parent liaison at Luther Burbank High School in south Sacramento and has spent the summer conducting home visits to students who have failed the exit exam.
Every parent she's encountered has stood behind the exam -- even those whose children have already failed it one time, she said.
"When we explain that it's about basic math and basic English -- at about 10th grade (level) -- they really support that," Gonzalez said.
A response by an exit exam critic is worth examining:
Mike Chavez, a spokesman for Californians for Justice, a liberal advocacy group that opposes the exit exam, said he was not surprised by the poll results. But he noted that support for the exit exam was coupled with a feeling among many ethnic minority parents that schools are not adequately preparing their children for careers.
Two points. First off, Chavez's observation is correct in connection with Asian and African-American parents; but according to page 6 of the poll, most Latino parents rate California schools as excellent or good (7 percent and 58 percent, respectively). I think much of that can be chalked up to differences in perspective (in comparison to the education systems many Latinos experienced in their countries of origin, most American public schools are indeed an improvement), but there's no denying that public schools do enjoy quite a bit of support in among Latinos.
Secondly, as the judge ruled last month, it's a bit hard to criticize an exit exam that demands little and gives students six tries to pass. While California public schools are in dire need of systemic reform, the high school diploma really should mean something.
Education News for Thursday, August 24
Where's school voucher 'success' in Washington, D.C.? - Letter to the editor from congresswoman representing Washington D.C., questioning the effectiveness of vouchers.
Weighing school choices - Why are few parents in Tennessee taking advantage of the school transfer option under No Child Left Behind?
54,000 Calif. students in exam danger - California educators have warned 54,000 incoming high school seniors are at risk of failing the state`s high school exit exam and being denied diplomas.
The Power Agenda - If the takeover of LAUSD isn't about power, why can’t the mayor and his allies stop bringing it up?
No Child Left Behind remains flawed - Editorial: If you’re a parent wondering about the performance of your child’s school, it’s best to remember that recently released test results say as much about the flaws of the federal No Child Left Behind law as they do about school quality.
Minority parents support exit exam - Most African American, Asian American and Latino parents support the California High School Exit Exam and believe the main function of the public education system should be to prepare their children for college, according to a study released Wednesday.
Students Face New Learning Standards - Students returning to school Monday will get the first taste of the D.C. school system's new science and social studies learning standards, which are aimed at immediately introducing more rigor into the classroom and ultimately new textbooks, standardized tests and even upgraded science labs.
School choice can involve sacrifices - South Carolina pupils are willing to travel farther for better education.
Romer gives final welcome to new academic year in L.A. - Giving his sixth - and last - back-to-school speech, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District on Wednesday urged nearly 2,000 administrators to ignore the turmoil surrounding district reform and to focus instead on improving student achievement.
Federal No Child Left Behind Act is the one flunking - Opinion: A Michigan State University professor criticizes the education law.
All intellects are not created equal - Opinion: No Child Left Behind, yearly progress and the difference between fact and fiction.
Demand for preschool widens — as does ethnic gap - Despite representing a large and rapidly growing segment of the nation's population, Hispanic children are least likely to participate in preschool, studies show.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
Longer days can help narrow education gap - Second in a two-part series looking at all-day kindergarten.
Lessons on way direct from Mexico - School lessons from Mexico are coming soon to Palm Beach County classrooms.
Hands-on, high-tech - A report on a pre-engineering curriculum program for Wisconsin high schools.
Do Charter Schools Make the Grade? - NPR report on the recent NCES charter school study (audio only--no transcript).
Smearing Schools that Work - Opinion: Edward McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) claimed the recent NCES study on charter schools "provides further evidence against unchecked expansion of the charter school experiment." But his hackneyed sound-bite gets it wrong.
Posted by Daily News at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Responding to Eleanor Holmes Norton
Norton, the D.C. delegate to the U.S. House, had this to say on the D.C. voucher program:
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings claimed an administration "success" with publicly funded private school vouchers in Washington, D.C. There is no factual basis for her claim. Neither the administration nor Congress has produced a shred of evidence that the D.C. vouchers increase student academic performance (" Opportunity for all children," Opposing view, Education quality debate, Aug. 14).
Astonishingly, despite $56 million, no hearings or studies concerning the academic performance of the voucher students have occurred.
It takes some pretty tortured logic to make this assertion correct. Strictly speaking, it's factually accurate that there are no studies of the publicly-funded voucher program passed by Congress in 2004. The big reason for this is that it generally takes about four years after the implementation of a school choice program for measurable differences in performance to occur. In other words, the jury is still out.
However, here's where Norton is forced to walk a rhetorical tightrope. Privately funded vouchers have existed in D.C. since 1993, so there has been more than enough time to detect any benefit from school choice programs in D.C. And as it happens, this 2002 study which involves the D.C. choice program reports that African-American choice students produced better grades than their public school counterparts; their families were much more satisfied with their new schools; and the new educational environment was a vast improvement over what they had seen in public schools.
Again, Norton is technically accurate. But to arrive at that conclusion she has to carefully disregard 13 years of voucher history in D.C. I also like this line:
Despite the large number of public charter schools in the District, Congress used its plenary power to impose the school vouchers here.
So there should be some limit to the options parents should have?
August 23, 2006
Finding allies in the most unexpected places
As it turns out, some AFTies really are in favor of choice (hat tip to Eduwonk)!
Is it just me or is there something pathetic about having to offer teachers housing subsidies so that they can live near the schools where they teach? I mean, I realize that a "district's gotta do what a district's gotta do" to attract and retain teachers, but I think I fall more on the side of Nevada's Clark County Education Association president who is quoted in this Ed Week article on the topic as saying,
Anything that helps teachers get housing is good, but it will not solve the long-term problem. If we hire 2,000 new teachers every year, we cannot build 2,000 new homes each year.
The real solution--higher salaries--is a familiar one, yet more difficult to achieve for a variety of reasons. But wouldn't any self-respecting economist say, give the money directly to the teachers and let them decide how they want to spend it (and where they want to live)? (emphasis added)
My initial reaction was: We have a new ally! For the American Federation of Teachers has decreed that issuing quantities of money directly to individuals--vouchers--is permissible in certain cases! Hallelujah! But before I was able to get a response out the door, the post was updated as follows:
Update: My attempt to adopt the mindset of your average economist has prompted Eduwonk to conclude I am a secret voucher supporter. Fear not! Although I was a Catholic school teacher, I think parents should pay for the private education of their children, not the government.
To which I respond with the following. Teachers and parents alike want to get into the best schools possible, which are generally in areas with higher costs of living. Teachers and parents have a hard time finding affordable housing near those schools. Funnily enough, it sounds like a case is being made for vouchers for low-income kids!
It's that time of year--PDK's annual poll (plus a challenge)
On one hand, it's hard to find anything new to say about the new Phi Delta Kappa poll. As pointed out by the poll author, Lowell Rose, the wording of the main question regarding school choice hasn't changed since the 1990s:
"Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?"
As Friedman Foundation executive director Robert Enlow's explained in 2004, his organization ran the same poll with a slightly different version of the question,
"Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose any school, public or private, to attend using public funds?"
The change is really very slight. Did it make a difference in the results?
The Friedman Foundation question netted support from 63 percent of Americans. The PDK question resulted in support from 41 percent. By changing only a few words, but keeping the meaning the same, support rose over 20 percent.
Also of interest is a second question in the PDK poll that asks respondents at which type of school they would use a voucher that covered the full cost of tuition. Amazingly, 57 percent of Americans would select a private or parochial school, compared to only 38 percent who would select a public school. To summarize, one question shows that only 42 percent support vouchers, but another shows that if 57 percent had a voucher they'd choose a nonpublic school.
Whether or not it proves bias, it does show that the PDK numbers should not be taken at face value.
Interesting how the alteration of a relatively tiny phrase will change the response. For new commentary responding to the latest poll, the Washington Times examines Friedman's results and adds this:
The truth is school choice and voucher programs are popular with the public, no matter what PDK tells us every year. In 2005 alone, 38 states introduced school choice bills; 11 states saw progress on school choice bills in either legislative chamber; and six states either passed a school-choice program or expanded a pre-existing one. Meanwhile, the District's voucher program experience, begun in 2004, is nothing less than a resounding success.
All of which makes this year's PDK/Gallup survey the obvious outlier. Keep that in mind when the press trumpets PDK's findings as somehow conclusive.
But Enlow wasn't the first one to cast doubt on PDK's annual ritual. In 2002, Terry Moe explained why PDK changed the question:
From the 1970s until 1991, PDK measured voucher support with a survey item that defined vouchers as a government-funded program allowing parents to choose among public, private, and parochial schools. After support rose to 50 percent (with 39 percent opposed) in 1991, PDK abruptly dropped this item in favor of a new one. The new question read: “Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?” This question, first asked in 1993, gave results that were strikingly more negative: only 24 percent expressed support (see Figure 1). Indeed, it indicated that even private school parents were opposed to vouchers, a result no expert would be prepared to believe.
Why such different “facts”? Research has long shown that most Americans are poorly informed about public policy and don’t have well-developed views on most issues. Recent polls have shown the same for vouchers. This does not mean that Americans can’t connect the voucher issue to their own values and beliefs. But it does mean that, because they come to any survey with little information, they will be quite sensitive to information contained within the survey itself, especially to the specific wording of questions and the order in which they are asked. This information determines how the issue is “framed.” And the framing, in turn, influences which (of many possible) values and beliefs get activated in people’s minds, and thus how people respond.
In other words, they used a pretty close version of Friedman's question. But when it became obvious that public opinion was shifting, it was clearly time to change the question--and in a way, change the subject. One suggests some sort of illicit subsidy exclusively to private schools; the other correctly and appropriately reflects giving parents some options, which is pretty much the American way.
Let's also address what the American people--indeed, what some reporters--don't understand. Here's a treatment of the poll in yesterday's Indianapolis Star.
Public support for sending children to private schools at taxpayer expense has eroded nationally at a time when more states have paved the way for vouchers, according to a poll by a national teachers organization in Indiana that already has been dismissed by opponents as political.
About 36 percent of Americans polled by Gallup and Phi Delta Kappa International, a teacher organization in Bloomington, backed the voucher concept this year. The number plunged from nearly 1 in 2 Americans who supported vouchers in 2002.
Sixty percent of the 1,000 poll participants this year said they oppose vouchers, up slightly from last year.
The story actually stays reasonably balanced, even including quotes from Enlow and Friedman spokesman Robert Fanger. But it doesn't do much in terms of actually informing the reader on what the poll said. None of the poll's internals, least of all the wording of the questions, are included. The expanded version that the Star ran in print today is a bit better in that it shows more specific results, but the actual questions are still omitted.
Stories like the first one--which is what most Americans will end up reading about this--are the journalistic equivalent of a Twinkie: lightweight, lacking in substance, and overall not very good for you. And correspondingly, they don't do readers any favors. If more specifics on the poll aren't reported (which is likely to occur), it's up to the reader to Google the poll, go over the responses, and look closely at the questions for slant (especially push polling, which is what this poll amounts to, albeit in a much more subtle fashion). In short, most people don't have the background in media research methods, much less the time on their hands, to eventually see to see this for the propaganda it is. And I suggest school choice opponents like PDK are capitalizing on that.
But here's the thing: these concerns are hardly new. As referenced above, the Friedman Foundation has been complaining about this for years. There was even some discussion internally to approach PDK about these concerns, but I opted not to because it turns out that Terry Moe has already been here.
I challenge Dr. Lowell C. Rose, poll director for Phi Delta Kappa, to publicly respond. You know the complaints--you've been hearing them for years. I invite you to take the opportunity to substantially respond to the charges of push polling and biased questioning laid out in this post. The comment thread is open.
Posted by Ryan Boots at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Recommended reading
Having returned to finish up his last year at the University of Arizona, former Alliance intern Stan Molever has an excellent column in the school newspaper:
Our return to the university this year follows a summer of school-choice victories in the state Legislature. The newly passed legislation is touted by those favoring more local and parental control in educational decisions as the most important step forward for underprivileged students in Arizona history. Following the success of the 10-year-old individual tax-credit program, Governor Napolitano signed into law two new voucher programs - one for students with disabilities and one for children in foster care - and a new corporate tax-credit program that will allow corporations, in addition to individuals, to make tax-deductible donations to state-approved, nonprofit school tuition organizations, or STOs, which in turn distribute scholarships to students throughout the state.
Yet instead of celebrating this increase in educational freedom and the serious blow it dealt to the government monopoly on education, well-intentioned but underinformed critics continue to make two very impassioned but flawed arguments against school choice.
Check it out.
Posted by Ryan Boots at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Education News for Wednesday, August 23
Study of test scores finds charter schools lagging - Fourth graders in traditional public schools did significantly better in reading and math than comparable children attending charter schools, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Education Department.
Voucher support weaker, poll finds - Public support for sending children to private schools at taxpayer expense has eroded at a time when more states have paved the way for vouchers, says a poll by an international professional educators' group.
Reformers argue over school size - What do experts see as the pros and cons of breaking down large high schools or building new ones that are much smaller than those we see today?
So, you wanna fix education? - Opinion: Instead of celebrating Arizona's increase in educational freedom and the serious blow it dealt to the government monopoly on education, well-intentioned but underinformed critics continue to make two very impassioned but flawed arguments against school choice.
Charter Schools Lag, Study Finds - The new National Center for Education Statistics study appeared to provide little new ammunition for either side and little guidance for people trying to judge their schools.
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
Ed Week: Bush administration opposes voluntary use of race in K-12 schools - (subscription required) The Bush administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down school assignment plans that use race to help determine which students may enroll in specific public schools.
AZ governor proposes dropout age of 18 - Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano wants Arizona teenagers to stay in school until they are 18 or until they graduate as one of the key ways to modernize and revamp the state's educational system.
USA Today: Charter schools fail to top their public peers - Independently run, publicly financed charter schools perform no better than comparable public schools, long-awaited federal data suggested Tuesday.
Posted by Daily News at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
August 22, 2006
NCES redux
Of course, the hotly anticipated edunews of the week is the new NCES study on charter schools. Education Week's take is here (subscription required), the National Alliance of Charter Schools responds here, and Eduwonk put together a handy primer last week. Earlier today I had the opportunity to sit in on a brief NCES conference call involving Mark Schneider, commissioner of NCES, and Morgan Brown, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Innovation and Improvement within USDOE.
A newcomer to this scene might think the decision to hold a conference call after doing a press conference was a bit of overkill. But after all the media hoopla from a few weeks ago over the previous NCES study on private schools, it was probably a smart move to make: Schneider himself said he was expecting a firestorm with the new study.
Since the few press quotes from these folks--particularly Schneider--are generally behind a subscription firewall, here's the gist of Schneider's remarks (he did most of the talking):
- The study uses 2003 NAEP data, which due to the speedy evolution and growth of charter schools is pretty old data. (Example: they had to oversample charter schools several times to get sufficient data with which to participate--and even then they only had 150 charter schools compared to more than 6,700 regular public schools.)
- Schneider candidly said that the sample overall suffered from some serious deficiencies. Example: half the schools involved in the study were less than five years old, which is the time it generally takes for choice schools to produce results. (Also, charter school authorizers are getting much more proactive about closing charter schools that don't produce results. Which compels me to ask: If school choice opponents are so pleased to see poorly performing charter schools close, why don't they likewise demand the closure of poorly performing regular public schools? But I digress...)
- This is probably the big point: Schneider himself said that his agency, the National Center for Education Statistics, really has no business getting involved in this sort of study. "NCES is a government statistical agency," he said, which amounts to collecting and disseminating information. It's the