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March 01, 2007
Morning Shots
Christian Science Monitor: Hard recovery for failed US schools
Under the mandates of the five-year-old NCLB, low-performing schools undergo a series of interventions. The last phase is "restructuring." After five years of not meeting targets for adequate yearly progress (AYP) on test scores, schools must plan for significant reform and implement it the following year.
But a few states, such as California, put accountability measures into place prior to NCLB. Out of 245 California schools that restructured in 2005-06, just 11 percent met AYP targets, said the new report, released Wednesday by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) in Washington. The center has also studied Michigan, another early adopter of accountability reforms.
"What we're finding is that school districts that implement a variety of changes are more likely to improve their test scores than those that implement only one change, such as changing [a school's] staff," says CEP's president and CEO Jack Jennings. It's good that NCLB is no longer allowing officials to turn a blind eye to low-performing schools, he says, but improving schools "is a very challenging task ... and we should have a little bit of humility when it comes to telling schools how to bring about changes."
AP: Proposal would allow vouchers for students with autism
Advocates hailed a proposal Wednesday to offer Texas children with autism taxpayer dollars to attend specialized schools, but critics called the legislation a voucher scheme that would siphon money out of public schools.
The bill, filed by Republican Sen. Florence Shapiro, would offer students the dollar amount equal to what would ordinarily go to the child's home school district. Students would be able to transfer to a school of the parents' choice — public or private.
"While some school districts provide ... excellent services for these autistic children, others do not even have a program in place to meet the needs of this very unique population," Shapiro said.
NYT: Hoping to Quiet Critics, Bloomberg Picks a Parent in Chief for the City’s Schools
Faced with mounting criticism from parents over recent changes in school bus routes and plans to reorganize the city school system, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg named a veteran education advocate yesterday to represent them at the Department of Education.
Martine G. Guerrier, 36, will have the title of chief family engagement officer. She was previously the communications director and Albany legislative representative for the Educational Priorities Panel, an advocacy group for New York City’s public schools. For the past three years, she also has been the Brooklyn borough president’s appointee to the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, where she most notably voted against the mayor’s plan in 2004 to hold back third graders largely on the basis of test scores.
Ms. Guerrier, who will earn $150,000 in her new post, was accompanied to the announcement by her 10-year-old son, Domenic, a fifth grader at Public School 133 in Brooklyn. She suggested that had her new post existed a few months ago, the city might have waited until September to change school bus routes.
“I don’t know that that decision would have been made in the same way had there been a parent at the table,” she said. “And I think that’s one of the great benefits of having me there.”
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Comments
I just blogged about the CS Monitor story.
The article tells us that Sobrante Park Elementary is now successful, but doesn't tell us why. The CS monitor did give us one hint. The school adopted a “scripted curriculum”.
Code word for Direct Instruction?
Posted by: rory @ parentalcation | March 1, 2007 08:59 AM
