November 2007

Copyright
© 2007
Queue, Inc.

Staying Back to Move Forward: Impact of Test-Based Grade Retention on Florida Students

An analysis of the impact of a promotion and retention policy in Florida public schools adds to the limited research on test-based promotion and suggests its value to students. A study by University of Arkansas researchers Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters showed that when students who didn’t pass the state accountability test repeated third grade, “they learned at a faster rate than if they had been promoted.”

“Third grade is seen as a pivotal year because if students don’t learn the foundations, such as reading, they have great difficulty learning in future grades,” Greene said. “Traditionally the view of educators has been that retaining students stigmatizes them so that they give up, but this evidence suggests that students may be more harmed if they are pushed into the next grade for which they are not prepared.”

Greene and Winters analyzed two years of data showing student test scores and progress, with results that held true through two methods of data analysis. In an article in a recent issue of Education Finance and Policy, published by MIT Press, the researchers concluded that their study provided evidence that “Florida’s policy has substantially improved the academic proficiency of the lowest-performing students in the state.”

Because the data from Florida schools allowed Greene and Winters to track individual performance on tests, they were able to compare students who were retained with students who were promoted. The researchers found that students who were retained did slightly better than socially promoted students in reading in the first year after retention and substantially better in the second year.

“That the impact of the policy for reading scores grows after two years is consistent with the idea that retained students will continue to gain ground in reading relative to promoted students in later years as academic material becomes more difficult,” the researchers wrote.

In fact, the researchers found that students who had been retained demonstrated higher academic skills when they entered fifth grade than the promoted students did upon leaving fifth grade.

Nationally, more than 17 percent of public school students are required to show a level of academic preparation on a standardized test to be promoted to the next grade. In the past, decisions about promotion and retention were subjective, resulting from consultation among teachers, administrators and parents. As a result, it was difficult for researchers to pull together comparable data or arrive at useful conclusions.

“The existence of more objective retention policies across the nation now provides researchers with an opportunity to create more meaningful groups with which to compare retained students than were available to researchers previously,” Greene and Winters wrote.

They suggest that education researchers should focus on the data available from objective retention policies “to reopen the empirical discovery of the effect of grade retention.”

Greene and Winters point to the need for further study to understand the longer-term effects of Florida’s retention policy, such as the probability that a student who repeated the third grade would go on to graduate from high school. They also note that test-based retention policies in other grades could have different effects. For example, it is possible that the negative effect on self-esteem could increase in the later grades, “as students become more attached to their peers.”

Greene holds an endowed chair and is head of the department of education reform in the College of Education and Health Professions, University of Arkansas. Winters is a University of Arkansas Doctoral Academy Fellow in economics.

Full paper: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/edfp.2007.2.4.319

University of Florida Study: School District Size Often Determines Fate of Zero Tolerance

      The size of the school district often determines whether students are punished under zero tolerance policies and given another chance for an education, a new University of Florida study finds.

       In Florida, larger school districts are more likely than smaller ones to have mandatory expulsion policies for students who bring guns to schools and to impose mandatory suspension for the possession of knives and drugs, as well as bullying, said Brian Schoonover, who completed the research for his doctoral dissertation in education at UF.

       "Children are increasingly being sent to judges and jails for offenses that traditionally were dealt with in the principal's office and after-school detentions," said Schoonover, who is scheduled to present his findings Tuesday at the National Conference for Safe Schools and Communities in Washington, D.C. "Thirty years ago it would have been unusual to see a child handcuffed by a police officer. Today it is part of a growing trend that is commonly referred to as the 'schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track' or the 'school-to-prison pipeline.' "

       Perhaps the biggest disparity between the different sized districts is that more than half of the state's small districts - 53 percent - have no alternative educational setting for students who are expelled, compared to only 3 percent of large districts, Schoonover said.

       "These are children who are no longer being given the opportunity to continue their education," he said. "When these kids get kicked out of school and have nowhere to go, they are at risk for breaking into homes and vandalizing neighborhoods while people are at work."

       A mandatory 365-day expulsion is required under zero tolerance policies that became effective with 1994 passage of the federal Gun-Free Schools Act, Schoonover said. Because Florida school districts respect each other's expulsions, expelled students have no classroom to attend unless their parents can afford to send them to a private school that will take them, he said.

       Parents generally support zero tolerance policies as a way to rid schools of students who bring guns, knives and drugs to class, until the time their child is caught committing an offense, which may be unintentional, he said.

       Currently, all 50 states have zero tolerance policies mentioned in their state laws, but Texas is the only state that requires schools to investigate intent before expelling a student from school for a violation, Schoonover said. "Zero tolerance policies, originally meant to keep guns out of schools, have evolved into a series of broad, all-encompassing policies that in extreme cases expel students as young as 5 years old for having temper tantrums or bringing a toy ax to their classroom Halloween party," he said.

       Of the 26,990 school-related referrals to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice during the 2004-05 school year, 76 percent were for misdemeanor offenses such as disorderly conduct, trespassing or assault and battery, which includes fights, he said.

       It raises the question of whether students, some of whom are quite young, are best disciplined by youth resource officers who take them to detention centers or principals and teachers who instruct them how to change their behavior at school, he said.

       Schoonover analyzed student conduct codes from Florida's 67 county public school districts, classifying the 33 districts with more than 15,000 students as large and the 34 with fewer than 15,000 students as small.

       He found that all of Florida's large districts had mandatory expulsion policies for possession of a gun, compared with 85 percent of small districts. Differences were more pronounced for knives, with 88 percent of large districts having mandatory suspension policies, compared with 47 percent of small districts.

       Next to guns, policies citing drugs were the most common, with 88 percent of large districts and 74 percent of small districts having mandatory suspension. Bullying was far less common, with only 27 percent of large districts and 15 percent of small districts requiring suspension for students who engage in such behavior, he said.

       "As a researcher and a parent, I am anxious for schools to revise their codes of conduct to make them more useful in helping schools to deal with and change inappropriate behavior, rather than abandoning these students to the possibility of even worse behavior in our communities," said Reece L. Peterson, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln special education professor who directed the "Safe and Responsive Schools" federal violence prevention project.

In Florida, the Ninth Largest Rural Student Population in the Country Overlooked

Rural schools in Florida serve an impoverished and diverse student population—the ninth largest rural student population in the country at over 338,000. Yet these students are less than 14% of the total student population of Florida, and they are not likely to be the center of attention for policymakers in the state. Rural children, schools, and communities in predominantly non-rural states are all too likely to be overlooked. So it is no surprise that these realities help rank Florida 11th in the U.S. in need of rural education attention and improvement, according to multiple criteria used in the 2007 edition of Why Rural Matters, the fourth report in a biennial research series from the Rural School and Community Trust. The reports provide essential information on the condition of rural education in the 50 states. Florida’s rural student population is diverse, and faces relatively high socioeconomic circumstances, with the sixth largest minority student population (over 104,000) and almost 50% of students eligible for subsidized meals. The state’s rural schools and districts are larger than all but two other states, rural per pupil instructional spending is the 11th lowest in the U.S., and fewer than 64% of the state’s rural students earn a high school diploma in four years—the seventh worst graduation rate in the country.

A biennial report issued by the Rural School and Community Trust uncovered new trends and challenges facing rural educators. Overall, enrollment in rural schools is up by 15%—a reversal of the year-over-year declines these communities have seen. While overall enrollment is on the rise the most startling data revealed in the new report, Why Rural Matters 2007, is the 55% increase in rural minority students, with some states experiencing increases of over 100%.

Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth also serves as a reminder that many rural schools continue to face a number of challenges, including high poverty levels, low student achievement, low teacher salaries and uneven distribution of Title I funds.

 In Why Rural Matters 2007, the Rural Trust uses the Rural Education Priority Gauge to assess and rank the overall performance of rural schools in all states. Based on an in-depth analysis comprised of 23 equally weighted indicators, the report prioritizes the needs of rural schools using five gauges: (1) importance of rural education, (2) socioeconomic challenges, (3) student diversity, (4) policy context, and (5) educational outcomes. The higher the ranking on a gauge, the more important, or the more urgent rural education matters are in that state. While no single state appeared at the top of each list, Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona, and North Carolina all scored the highest in at least four gauges.

By applying the Rural Education Priority Gauge, the report cites that the priority states where rural schools produce the worst student achievement outcomes also face an uphill battle to reverse that trend.

Most priority states serve student populations with the severest socio-economic challenges—especially high poverty levels—and they operate with less money than rural schools in other states. Those states are located in four rural education regions: the Southwest (Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas), the Southeast (North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia), the Mid-South Delta (Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana), and Appalachia (Kentucky and Tennessee).

Specific findings and trends discussed in Why Rural Matters 2007 include:

• Poorer and more diverse rural communities generate the lowest NAEP scores in the country. The 12 states with the lowest average NAEP scores also have high socioeconomic challenges and high student diversity (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia).
• Rural graduation rates are below 70% in ten states, most of which are in the Southeast: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. South Carolina leads the nation with the lowest rate at 55%. Some states with the highest overall graduation rates—Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Utah, Wyoming—also had the largest “graduation gaps” between white and minority students, with the graduation rate for minorities between 50-60%.
• Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers is an acute challenge for rural schools. Teacher salaries are lowest in the 13 states through the nation’s heartland (North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Nebraska, Tennessee, Montana, Louisiana, Iowa, and Kansas).
• Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, enrollment in schools located in communities of fewer than 2,500 increased by 1,339,000 (or 15%). Enrollment for schools in communities of greater than 2,500 decreased by over 738,000 students—a 2% decrease—during the same time period. While declining enrollment remains a significant factor in some rural school districts, this represents a reversal of fortunes for rural schools overall.
• The population of rural English Language Learner (ELL) students is also sizable and growing. Rural ELL enrollment in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent decades, more than doubling in the 15-year period between 1989-90 and 2004-05—a rate of increase more than seven times higher than the rate of increase for total student enrollment.
• Southern states have the lowest per pupil instructional expenditures. Nearly 50% of all ELL students live in rural communities in this region where states are ill-equipped to serve these students and where school face some of the most severe socioeconomic challenges.

In the report, the Rural Trust offers some policy considerations to help improve the outlook for rural education, including:

• Keep schools small. Research shows there are academic benefits for students attending small schools in small districts. Congress and state legislators should find ways to replicate advantages of large-scale systems without losing the intimacy, accountability, and cost-effective educational strategy of small schools.
• Concentrate resources in high poverty areas. The cost of teaching low-income children rises disproportionately as the poverty rate increases; more student support per pupil in schools with high poverty rates is needed.
• Maximize rural school effectiveness and efficiency with technology. Distance learning has been proven to be effective in meeting needs of rural communities. Additional financial and policy assistance is needed to develop and maintain adequate technology infrastructure, interlocal cooperation, and program coordination to support distance learning among clusters of schools.

The 2007 edition of Why Rural Matters is the fourth report in a biennial research series from the Rural School and Community Trust, but it is not a longitudinal study. Rather it is a snapshot of rural education using a changing set of indicators that reveal the complexity and diversity of rural education. The reports provide essential information on the condition of rural education in the 50 states.

The full text is available at
http://www.ruraledu.org/site/apps/nl/content.asp?c=beJMIZOCIrH&b=3508831&ct=4537855

Report: Unflattering Pre-K Spotlight on Sunshine State Lawmakers

Florida only state in nation to decrease funding for early childhood education

The decision by Florida legislators to decrease pre-kindergarten funding despite a constitutional mandate is criticized in “Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2008,” an annual report released by Pre-K Now, a public education and advocacy organization. The report documents state-level support for pre-kindergarten and shows that Florida is isolating itself from the historic national movement in support of early education.

“Five years ago, voters mandated high-quality pre-k. Instead, legislators decided that increasing the quality of early learning opportunities was just not a priority,” said Libby Doggett, executive director for Pre-K Now. “The state’s per-child spending still remains among the lowest in the nation and the quality of the program is severely lacking.”

Florida lawmakers reduced the state’s pre-k budget by $14 million, distinguishing it as the only state to decrease pre-k funding since FY06. Thirty-six states – including eight which anticipate enrollment-based budget growth – increased funding for pre-k, a number that breaks last year’s record of 34, and far exceeds the FY05 record of 15. A total of more than 528 million new dollars will allow at least 88,000 more children to attend pre-k. Seven states are now providing or phasing in pre-k for all children and three states moved to fully fund pre-k for all eligible at-risk children.

Additional report findings include:

1. A lower-than-projected enrollment rate let legislators justify a $14 million decrease in funding;
2. Florida’s VPK decrease jeopardizes the quality and availability of instruction for 106,000 4-year-olds;
3. Nationally, a total of $4.8 billion state dollars will be spent in FY08—a $2 billion dollar increase in just three years;
4. Iowa and Pennsylvania had the highest increases at 241 and 135 percent, respectively; and
5. Ten states still do not have pre-k programs, resulting in more than 500,000 children without access to quality, state-funded pre-k settings that have been proven to help all children.

A PDF of the report can be accessed at: www.preknow.org/documents/legislativereport_Sept2007.pdf

Reading Across the Nation

Reading Across the Nation is designed as a resource for policymakers and professionals who are working to optimize the early language and literacy experiences of young children. By presenting “reading snapshots” for each state, with comparative rankings on literacy indicators, this chartbook will be a useful tool for policy makers and program planners as they consider how to make investments in the early years to enhance literacy and language development. The charts provide detailed state by state information about whether parents are meeting the basic recommendation of daily reading aloud to their children.

Data on frequency of reading to young children are from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2003), in which families of a nationally representative sample of children were interviewed by telephone about early childhood routines (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). For each state, data are also presented on fourth grade reading performance from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (2005). Reach Out and Read (ROR) National Center data (2007) and US census data (2000) are used to derive proportions of young children ages 0-5 years in each state who are served by ROR, both in the general population and for those families living in or near poverty. Data are also presented on the ratio of young children to libraries for each state.

The Problem: Children entering school not ready to learn

Up to one-third of American children enter kindergarten lacking at least some of the skills needed for a successful learning experience. For too many children, the preschool years have left them without the language skills necessary for literacy acquisition. When children are poor readers by the end of first grade, they are likely to remain so in fourth grade. Interventions in the early years that promote language development are powerful, cost-effective routes to improved school performance. The National Research Council’s Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children stated that most reading difficulties can be prevented by promoting language and literacy development. Snow CE, Burns S, Griffin P (Eds) (1998) 

The Solution: Parents reading aloud

Parents reading frequently to their children provide language and literacy skills that help children learn to read. Helping children to prepare for the challenge of learning to read before school entry is better than helping them catch up later. Reading aloud is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading. Early language skills, the foundation for later reading ability, are based primarily on language exposure and human interaction – parents and other adults talking to young children. The more words parents use when speaking to an eight-month-old infant, the greater the size of the child’s vocabulary at age three. Many children from low-income families hear fewer.

Florida Report:
http://healthychild.ucla.edu/ROR/States/Florida.pdf

Florida Teachers Named to USA Today's 2007 All-USA Teacher Teams

Four Florida teachers have been named to the 2007 All-USA Teacher Teams, a teacher recognition program by USA Today. The teachers are Nancy Berry of Liza Jackson Preparatory School in Fort Walton Beach, Jill Putney of Tradewinds Elementary in Coconut Creek, William Yucuis of Lyman High in Longwood and Gayle Sols Zavala of Gove Elementary in Belle Glade.

Each October, USA Today honors 20 individuals and instructional teams as representatives of outstanding K-12 educators nationwide. The All-USA Teacher Team was selected by a panel of judges from nominees across the country. Educators were nominated by school administrators, parents, students, colleagues or family members. Teachers were then asked to describe their schools' and students' needs, and how they go about meeting those needs. All-USA Team members will receive trophies and share $2,500 with their respective schools, with each teacher receiving $500.

Polly Burkhart of Jewett Academy in Winter Haven and Fran Squires of Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey, received honorable mentions.

Criteria for the All-USA Teacher Team were developed in coordination with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Middle School Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the National Education Association.

For more information about USA Today's All-USA Teacher Teams, visit http://www.allstars.usatoday.com.

Nancy Berry
Liza Jackson Preparatory School
Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
First grade
29th year full-time teaching (plus five as a principal)
Nominated by: Dawn Fisher, parent of former students
She:

• Welcomes charter school kids from diverse backgrounds and learning styles to "Berryland USA: A Place Where Children Love to Learn," a classroom that's alive with hermit crabs and oysters, uncaged caterpillars, chrysalises and butterflies.
• Accepts students unconditionally and treats them as if they are smart to make learning a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Calls on imaginary characters Georgie the Manners Elf to correct behavior and Mikey the Eagle to encourage eye contact without nagging or embarrassment.
• Reassures kids that she made mistakes as a child to coax them to read, write, organize thoughts and make decisions at a higher level.
• Uses singing, moving, reading, experiencing, applying and writing to reach all types of learners.
• Individualizes spelling lists from words kids misspell.
• "I don't teach to a test," she says. "I teach to life. Children's lives depend on what I'm doing. It must be done positively."
• "It's not just the one or two who she needs to go the extra mile with," says assistant principal Julie Jenzen. "It's every one. There is nothing she won't do to make sure her children get everything they can from their first-grade experience."

Jill Putney
Tradewinds Elementary
Coconut Creek, Fla.
Fourth and fifth grade, looping
13th year full-time teaching
Nominated by: Erin Gaylor, colleague
She:

• Stresses environmental action with "Tradewinds Turtle Troopers" and "Butterfly Brigade." Students clean roads and beaches, conserve water, champion recycling. They persuaded a coastal community to go dark for sea turtles so hatchlings won't head for street-lit roads instead of the moonlit ocean and got retailers to add plastic-bag warnings of dangers to animals.
• "If you let them take the wheel, you'll be surprised where they'll go."
• Creates a Living Museum where costumed students play presidents or famous African-Americans in a school where just nine percent of students are black.
• Has her 22 students inventory their likes, dislikes, hobbies and interests and uses it to tweak her teaching for the two years she has each class: "When you find out what motivates them, that's half the battle," she says.
• Blogged for students during her Japan Fulbright trip, motivating students to stage an Asian festival upon her return.
• Brought in $6,500 in grants over five years at Tradewinds.
• Favors hands-on learning: making pottery, studying Native Americans, shaking water-filled cylinders with rocks, clay, soil or sand to research how sediment deposits for science. "Hands-on learning is the way," she says. "If it's not hands-on, it's not happening here."

William Yucuis
Lyman High
Longwood, Fla.
Aerospace engineering, grades 9-12
13th year full-time teaching
Nominated by: Joan Shalls, guidance counselor
He:

• Served as an Air Force pilot and Air Force Academy instructor and was hired away from a middle-school math department in 2002 to develop Lyman's four-year magnet aerospace engineering program.
• Builds academic, teamwork and communication skills by having student groups work on aerospace problems such as building and testing paper, straw-powered, balsa wood and foam rockets, and presenting written and oral reports.
• Calmly leads a class calculating and charting the rocket-flight results, first by hand, then with a graphing calculator. "If results match perfectly, you probably ... what?" he asks. "Copied off our calculator," the class says in unison.
• Had students collaborate with computer and electrical engineering classes on a post-traumatic-stress syndrome project, which they presented internationally last year.
• "He takes the time, he gives time," says Nicole Morales, 17. "I have calculus, and I come to him when I have problems."
• Develops homegrown talent for Kennedy Space Center and aerospace firms but never pushes kids into careers, advising: "Do something you enjoy that you can be good at." That's why he's a teacher.

Gayle Sols Zavala
Gove Elementary
Belle Glade, Fla.
Special education, grades 1-6
12th year full-time teaching
Nominated by: Ellen Smith, colleague
She:

• Transforms special-ed students into entrepreneurs to boost academic and social skills; students have sold pickles, cared for school plants and created vases from recycled glass jars for Mother's Day.
• Takes students from rural, agricultural Belle Glade, where about one-third of 15,233 residents live in poverty, to live theater and posh locales, such as an equestrian center and a Palm Beach-area shopping mall.
• Tailors lessons to varying ages and skills, aided by learning centers labeled with words and pictures throughout her classroom.
• Won $10,000 in grants to create a school garden, compile a multicultural community cookbook and purchase books and a comfy classroom reading rug, among many other things.
• Includes even the most severely disabled students in activities, giving non-verbal children in plays "speaking" parts via electronic communication devices and using battery- and switch-powered props for performers with limited mobility.
• Started at Gove in 1985 as a speech pathologist.
• Finds novel ways to get disabled students into the community, often with regular-ed peers: adaptive plays, puppet shows, bowling sessions. Says principal Anne Turner: "The connection our regular-ed students have with the students with disabilities is so strong here. The message it sends is that we all should be appreciated for what we have and who we are."

Broward County Joins Big Read: Local Libraries Fight Decline in Literary Reading

For centuries, reading has been one of mankind’s favorite hobbies. In 21st century America, however, fewer than half of adults read literature, according to the most recent data from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). That number includes a decline of 10 percentage points, or 20 million readers, in the last two decades alone. And while that number is only shrinking further as the popularity of electronic media grows, Broward County announced plans to help reverse the trend.

The county is one of 200 communities nationwide that is participating in The Big Read, a NEA program to promote literary reading. As part of local efforts, its Florida Center for the Book at Broward County Library is hosting reading programs and distributing more than 3,500 free books at dozens of county libraries throughout the month of November.

“Our goal is to help restore reading to its essential place in American culture,” said Eileen McNally, executive director of the Florida Center for the Book. “Reversing the existing trend is not going to be easy; we first must place books in the hands of all age groups.”

According to the NEA’s oft-cited “Reading at Risk” survey, the decline in literary reading correlates closely with increased Internet usage, video game playing and television watching, especially among young adults. In the study, electronic spending accounted for 24 percent of total recreational spending, while spending on books accounted for just 5.6 percent.
“Of course, a decline in reading has significant implications for society,” McNally said. “It translates into poor performance in both the classroom and the workplace and impacts civic participation in everything from voting and volunteer work to cultural events and athletics.”

The sense of urgency by reading advocates and Big Read participants is in response to feedback from both the business community as well as educational organizations, which have noted a decline not only in reading, but also in writing.

For more information on Broward County’s Big Read, visit www.broward.org/library/bigread.htm
Miami-Dade County Schools Winner of  Award for Urban School Board Excellence
Miami-Dade County Schools has been selected as winners of the annual award for Urban School Board Excellence.  This prestigious annual award recognizes big city school districts that are making progress in educating children, and acting as a role model for other urban districts.

The Miami-Dade school board was recognized for its ability to build public trust and support for the school district.  The judges also noted how the school board focused attention on the need to involve parents in raising academic achievement of their children. The district created the Parent Academy, which is geared to giving students a more stable home life, which, in turn, will improve their chances of succeeding in school.

Previous winners of the Award for Urban School Board Excellence include Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida.