February 2007
No. 11
Copyright © 2007 Queue, Inc.

EDUCATION NEWS

For back issues of this newsletter, as well as current and back issues of our state newsletters and U.S. Education News, please go to: http://www.queuenews.com/

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Letter to the Editor

Response to this article: http://www.queuenews.com/NewslettersJan07/EduResrch
ReportJan07.html#gap

I wonder if you read your own material. In the article "Charter High Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap" it says in the second sentence that " Hard-earned progress has been made at the elementary school level, ...". In the same issue in the article entitled "New York State's Charter Schools Breaking Their Promise", it says in the first sentence that "Most charter schools are underperforming the traditional public schools in their districts, ..." Is this not a contradiction?

All of the data I have seen in the newspaper about charter schools supports the latter comment. Charter schools are not performing as well as public schools in Austin, TX, and maybe even in the state, even though they operate at an advantage. If the public schools only had 22 students per class, they should do even better. When my children were in elementary school, there were 32 students per class. Charter schools should perform much better than public schools, but they do not.

David Hull

Prof. David G. Hull
The University of Texas at Austin
Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
1 University Station, C0600
Austin, TX 78712-0235

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New Report Finds Shortcomings in Sex Education Curricula

A research report (PDF link below) released by the Healthy Youth Alliance finds significant shortcomings in sex education curricula in Washington's public schools. A survey of school districts statewide found that a significant number of districts do not meet all of the state guidelines in their courses for sexuality education.

Young people need accurate information in order to make healthy decisions. To be effective, public school curricula should be comprehensive and include information about both abstinence and contraception, said Judith Billings of the Governor's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, a member of the Healthy Youth Alliance.

Among the report's key findings are the following:

• A sizable proportion of districts — 29 percent — do not provide comprehensive sex education. Rather, they provide "abstinence only" curricula which say abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases; or they provide "abstinence until marriage" curricula which teach that all sexual activity outside marriage is harmful.
• In districts with restrictions on content, a sizable proportion — 30 percent — do not allow teachers to discuss condoms or contraception in class.
• 70 percent of districts responding said they purchase curriculum materials for sexuality and/or HIV/AIDS education. However, the money spent on these resources is not providing full information needed to effectively prevent STD/HIV infection in young people.

The report is based on data from a survey of 200 HIV/AIDS education and sexuality education program administrators and instructors in 125 public school districts across the state (grades 5-12). The author of the report is Alison Peters of Alison Peters Consulting, a specialist in research and polling for public policy issues.

The report was commissioned by the Healthy Youth Alliance, a coalition of organizations, agencies and individuals working to increase the number of youth in Washington who are exposed to researched, proven and effective sexual health programs. The Alliance aims to contribute to reduced rates of unintended pregnancy and STD/HIV infection in youth.

According to research by Kaiser, approximately 50 percent of all teens are sexually active in high school. One-third of sexually active teen girls become pregnant before they reach 20. Each year, four million teens nationwide contract a sexually transmitted disease. Further, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, there were more than 114,000 teen births in Washington between 1991 and 2004; these births cost taxpayers a total of $2.2 billion over that period.

Download a PDF copy of the "Sex Education in Washington Public Schools" report.

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Administrative Roadblocks to Effective Teaching

By Philip Verhalen and Sharon Owings

When students and teachers enter their classrooms, they have entered a symbiotic relationship with the administrators of their learning institution. Teachers, students, and administrators have certain expectations of each other and of the learning environment.

Teachers and students expect the administration to provide safe, appropriately supplied, well-maintained environments which have functioning lights, places to sit and work, and devices for effective communication. In general, teachers expect classrooms to be provided with basic creature comforts such as sufficient seating and/or working space, restrooms, water fountains, adequate ventilation, and heated or air conditioned air. Teachers expect to be remunerated and to have certain job benefits for the time they are outside the classroom. Students expect their teachers to have the abilities to teach their classes, and to provide opportunities for them to learn and to expand their knowledge.

Administrators expect teachers and students to respect the learning environment and to be prepared to facilitate the exchange of information that occurs in that environment. Teachers need not only mastery of the material they are presenting, but also effective methods of delivering the lessons to their students. Students are expected to be receptive to instruction, to be prepared to ask questions, to enter into dialog, or to perform required activities that expand their understanding of the lesson being taught.

Though the most immediate learning relationship is between the students and teachers, many elements of the learning process are beyond their scope, and so fall under the jurisdiction of the administration. It has become increasingly apparent that many administrative decisions and dictates are enacted not with a focus on students’ and teachers’ needs, but with a focus on cost cutting, convenience, or political astuteness. More and more veteran teachers are blatantly ignoring or defying administrative orders that block the learning process.

Assuming that student learning is the main objective of the educational process, the current system is no longer effective. Administrators, who should be in the position of supporting teachers as they guide students, are too often failing to honor their role in the relationship. We have grouped these failures in administrative responsibilities into four broad areas: Facilities, Personnel, Problem Solving, and Responsibilities. We briefly describe each area below, giving examples. Finally, we suggest some possible models for change.

Facilities

Administrators are responsible for the buildings and grounds of a campus. In some colleges, hours of operation have been shortened. On some campuses, administrative offices and student facilities are closed at noon on Fridays. Though costs to the college in terms of salary and operational expenses are reduced, students and teachers who have Friday afternoon and Saturday classes have no access to administrative facilities. Hours are being cut in libraries, in school facilities, and in janitorial services. Many times, these cuts are visible to the public; perhaps in an effort to clearly indicate that “something is being done by administration”.

Traditionally, school buildings and grounds have been the physical center of student learning, and it is generally expected that administrators are responsible for site maintenance. When budget cuts are necessary, physical sites are often the first to suffer the effects. Funding cutbacks may create reduced janitorial and grounds services, resulting in less convenient, less attractive, even less safe sites. Cuts may also trigger reduced hours for so-called “extra” services such as libraries, gyms, and student stores. Savings in these areas are immediately obvious to the public, making it obvious that the administrators are earnestly working to reduce expenditures. The cost to the student, however, is deeper than simply inconvenience. Closed libraries send a clear message that books and research are not a crucial aspect of learning. Closed gymnasiums indicate that developing physical fitness and teamwork life skills are not important enough to be included in a student’s education. Locked doors in student stores demonstrate that convenient access to supplies and materials to support student learning is not a priority. Further, poorly maintained buildings and grounds quickly progress from being merely unclean and unsightly to being unsanitary and dangerous. The message to students is unmistakable: “your health and safety are not an important part of your educational process.” It can be difficult for even the most dedicated student to remain motivated and excited about the learning process if he or she is consistently denied access to campus facilities.

In more extreme cases, facilities are completely closed and services are no longer available. In some areas, students are actually prohibited access to play yards and playing fields unless an administrator is present. Posted signs such as “No one is allowed on school property without permission from _ISD and proof of $2 million liability insurance. Violators will be prosecuted.” are no longer an anomaly. When their access to school property is shrouded in threats, students’ positive feelings about school are in jeopardy. There is ample evidence to support the idea that students’ positive thoughts about school can swiftly turn to other less threatening support systems such as gangs. Although administrators’ fears of lawsuits resulting from playground incidents are real, students should have the right to feel comfortable and welcomed at their neighborhood schools.

As a convenience to teachers, and to allow students to have 3-day weekends, some colleges are going to 4-day weeks. This configuration is an open invitation for students to feel that school is nothing more than a part time endeavor. Often this plan is not educationally sound for the students who must work the hardest to learn. Likewise, some high schools and middle schools are going to different versions of ‘block time’ scheduling: teachers teach longer classes each day, allowing students to receive the required number of minutes for a particular subject in one, rather than two semesters. In a typical block schedule, a teacher can teach 6 courses a year, 3 courses per semester, and have a longer planning time each day. In the traditional six period day, a teacher is scheduled to teach five two-semester courses per day and has a shorter planning time each day. Though the block schedule is favorable for teachers, and each teacher teaches 20 % more classes per year, students suffer, not only because they have more material that they must deal with per subject per day, but also they may be forced to wait eight months between sequential classes in Math, English, Science or Social Studies.

Personnel

Administrators are, of course, responsible for hiring, supervising, and dismissing teachers, meaning that in most cases teachers are at the mercy of their administrators. Decisions concerning a teacher’s grade assignment or class assignment may be based on expediency, convenience, or the whim of a teacher or an administrator, rather than on the needs of students or the expertise of the teacher. It is no secret that too often the most difficult classes or courses are assigned to the teacher who has the lowest seniority or least experience. Conversely, more experienced teachers, or those with more seniority are frequently rewarded by being placed in less stressful teaching situations.

hough administrators are expected to supervise their teachers with professional objectivity, stories about arbitrary administrative decisions occur with shocking regularity and frequency. A few examples illustrate some of the kinds of abuses that are most often reported.

The story of an experienced technical skills teacher is not an unusual one: When a student in the class missed more than 1/3 of the classes for the semester, took no exams, and passed no practical tests, he, not surprisingly, received a failing grade for the course. However, when annual contracts came up for review by the school board, the teacher of that class found that his contract was renewed with only a narrow margin. The reason? A member of the school board, who happened to be related to this particular student, believed that his nephew should have received a passing grade, in spite of the fact that the student had completed few, if any, of the requirements of the course.

At another institution, a math teachers’ contract was not renewed because the supervising administrator wrongly thought that the teacher didn’t relate well to students. Though the replacement math teacher has little rapport with students, she interacts well with administrators.
In yet another, larger, institution, despite student and faculty recommendations for contract renewal, an experienced science teacher’s contract was not renewed because an administrator believed that the teacher “didn’t do well from the podium.” Though the friend of the administrator who has been hired as a replacement is capable, it will take years for this inexperienced instructor to develop the expertise of the experienced teacher whose contract was not renewed.

A middle school teacher developed a successful and popular teaching program based on the individual needs of students. Since the program had been designed for the particular needs of the students in the district, other teachers in the school adopted the scheme, and in a few years it had spread through several schools in the district. When a new administrator was hired, he stated that he could not understand why parents would want their children in that kind of program. In spite of protests by teachers, students, and parents, he used a two-pronged lever to systematically eradicate the program in only two years. Teachers who had been successfully implementing the program were reassigned to other duties, and, perhaps more alarmingly, parents were deliberately misled regarding the status of the program and teaching style they had requested for their children.

In another distressing situation, acting on unsubstantiated parent complaints and reports, a newly hired administrator forced reassignments for four of twenty tenured teachers at the end of her first year. None of the teachers were given opportunity to have their cases reviewed, in spite of the fact that those were the first and only complaints about their teaching or their classroom environments. Many teachers from that school, reporting stories of deception and favoritism by the administrator, are said to be requesting transfers to other school sites in the district. Remarkably, that principal is considered to be one of the least difficult in the district, though many believe the teachers are too fearful of her retributions to complain to higher administrators or the union.

Problem Solving

Solving large and small problems that hinder effective implementation of the teaching-learning process is among the many duties of administrators. In general, decisions made by administrators to solve problems are well considered and carefully planned before they are executed. There are times, though, when some of these decisions are apparently instituted to maintain positive public appearances or to minimize inconvenience for the administrator, rather than to facilitate the teaching and learning processes.

Work hours for all staff, obligatory office hours for teachers, and mandatory parent-teacher meetings are set by administration. Too often, administrators who are making great efforts to maintain the institutions’ reputation regarding teacher hours establish these schedules: people want to see teachers (and their tax dollars) working. While it is true that some educators may abuse the open-ended hours of their profession, most teachers respect students’ and parents’ needs and make every effort to be available to help them.

In the age of identity theft and rampant cheating, administrators are making attempts to protect student data. Clearly, students deserve privacy, but there are occasions when some of the safeguards seem to be excessive and/or arbitrary. In one small elementary school district, teachers, who do not keep grades or student data on computers, are expected to change their computer passwords every 8 weeks. Any teacher who does not alter the password in a timely fashion loses access to the computer until a technician arrives to manually assign a new password. In a nearby community college, there are mandatory telephone password changes every 6 months, and mandatory accounting system password changes once a year, but, surprisingly for an institution at this level of instruction, there are neither computer password changes, nor grade system password changes.

Conclusion

Clearly administrative problems exist in learning institutions. Not every problem can be eliminated, but we believe that a few changes could make significant differences for many schools. Administrators need to have ongoing interaction with students in their institutions. Even the most local site administrators rarely interact with a classroom full of children. In spite of the fact that the typical administrator has usually begun his or her career as a classroom teacher, it doesn't seem to take long for them to: (1) forget how things operate in the classroom and move ahead without consideration for practical aspects of teaching that may lie in the way of their dictates, or (2) remember how brilliantly they themselves performed back when they were in the classroom years ago and try to recreate their own history in all the classrooms they supervise, or, worse yet, (3) hear of some "designer" program and replace existing programs. Still, it is vital for administrators to have a working knowledge of current research in education, and it is just as critical for them to be aware of various models of leadership and to recognize that different groups of teachers have different leadership needs.

Trends in Education and teaching theory and procedures appear and disappear with relentless regularity. Sometimes, old processes are completely replaced with new schemes and sometimes the new processes are implemented in addition to those already in place. In general, neither of these scenarios can provide optimum results. Surely if administrators keep abreast of research in their field, they are in the best position to judge whether the latest trend would be likely to optimize learning for the students in their institutions. In order to implement the latest scheme, successful systems are often set aside before thoughtful consideration of the wisdom of implementing the change can occur. A wise administrator will also be mindful of and responsive to the teachers’ experience, expertise, and knowledge of the students, since they are the ones who will actually be responsible for implementation of the plan.

Education administrators need to be in the classroom as part of their job description. Administrators’ prior experience as classroom teachers does not mean that they are current with what goes on in the classroom. Good teachers are in the classroom all the time and good teachers know that they must continue to improve what they do to teach their students properly or they are not doing their jobs completely or properly. Likewise, to stay up to date, administrators should have consistent and ongoing classroom exposure.

Several years, and trends, back; schools were experimenting with site-based leadership, a plan in which teachers worked together to perform administrative tasks, either with or without the assistance of a site administrator. An ideal administrator for this model is one who is sufficiently self confident to allow teachers the autonomy to make decisions. Since teachers had decision-making power regarding what and how to teach their particular population of students, thoughtful debate ensued and meaningful plans for teaching students were developed and implemented. Assuming that student learning is the main objective of the educational process, site-based management is a powerfully effective scheme that should not be neglected.

A variation of this model occurs when one senior administrator is responsible for several local sites, each of which is supervised by a junior administrator. In this situation, the local administrators generally have the dual responsibilities of teaching and administrating--an ideal situation when student learning is foremost in a teaching institute’s mission.

A perfect administrator for either of the models above would be a self-confident individual who is willing to give teachers and subordinates ample opportunities to discuss issues, to reach some kind of consensus, and who does not mind if his or her idea is not the one that is eventually selected.

Administrators in education would do well to examine the successful hierarchical leadership model that exists in the military. The Commanding Officer expects to do some of the real work. As a senior officer moves up the leadership ladder, he is expected to have a current working knowledge of all the responsibilities of all his subordinates, being able at any time to assume the role of any junior officer who works for him. Even the senior officers in a unit have to be in close contact with the junior officers. In this particular kind of mentoring leadership, though the primary focus of the instruction remains on the student, the senior personnel may be simultaneously teaching both students and junior officers. This teaching arrangement successfully operates on many levels. The junior officer is not only teaching, but is also being taught and supervised by the on-site supervisor. The senior officer is keeping his own teaching techniques current, is supervising his junior officer at first hand, and is keeping abreast of current classroom situations.

There are countless models of administration. No particular model would be correct for all learning institutions. The authors wish to encourage all educators to be aware of various kinds of administrative schemes, and to remember that administrator-teacher relationships are most successful when they are based on mutual respect. Successful relationships between teachers and administrators enable learning institutions to assume that student learning is the main objective of the educational process, and that the current system, which is no longer effective, can be modified.

Bibliography

Books

American Association of School Administrators, The Nongraded Primary: Making Schools Fit Children. Arlington, VA, 1992.

Costa, A.L., ed., Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA, 1985.

Hyerle, D., Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA, 1996.

Keene, E.O., and Zimmerman, S., Mosaic of Thought, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 1997.

Mooney, Carol Garhart, Theories of Childhood:  An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget, and  Vygotsky, Redleaf Press, St. Paul, MN, 2000.

Ohanian, S., One Size Fits Few, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 1999.

Palmer, J. A., Bresler, L, and Cooper, D.E., Eds., Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education, Routledge, New York, NY, 2001.

Potter, E. B., Nimitz, Naval Institute Press: Annapolis, Md., 1976. 

The Society for Developmental Education, Multiage Classrooms: The Ungrading of America's Schools.  Peterborough, NH: The Society for Developmental Education, 1993.

Journals

Toner, Mark, ed., neatoday, Journal of the National Educational Association, Washington, DC, volumes of the years 2000-2006.

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A New Language Barrier

Why learning a new language may make you forget your old one

Traveling abroad presents an ideal opportunity to master a foreign language. While the immersion process facilitates communication in a diverse world, people are often surprised to find they have difficulty returning to their native language. This phenomenon is referred to as first-language attrition and has University of Oregon psychologist Benjamin Levy wondering how it is possible to forget, even momentarily, words used fluently throughout one's life.

In a study appearing in the January, 2007 issue of Psychological Science, Levy and his colleague Dr. Michael Anderson discovered that people do not forget their native language simply because of less use, but that such forgetfulness reflects active inhibition of native language words that distract us while we are speaking the new language. Therefore, this forgetfulness may actually be an adaptive strategy to better learn a second language. In the study, native English speakers who had completed at least one year of college level Spanish were asked to repeatedly name objects in Spanish. The more the students were asked to repeat the Spanish words, the more difficulty they had generating the corresponding English labels for the objects. In other words, naming objects in another language inhibits the corresponding labels in the native language, making them more difficult to retrieve later.

Interestingly, the study also showed that the more fluent bilingual students were far less prone to experience these inhibitory effects. These findings suggest that native language inhibition plays a crucial role during the initial stages of second language learning. That is, when first learning a new language, we have to actively ignore our easily accessible native language words while struggling to express our thoughts in a novel tongue. As a speaker achieves bilingual fluency, native-language inhibition becomes less necessary, accounting for the better performances of fluent bilingual speakers in the study. Although the value of suppressing previously learned knowledge to learn new concepts may appear counterintuitive, Levy explains that "first-language attrition provides a striking example of how it can be adaptive to (at least temporarily) forget things one has learned."

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Universal Education Achievable and Affordable American Academy Study Finds

Educating All Children: A Global Agenda, a new book from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, examines the impact of providing high-quality education to every child in the world between the ages of 6 and 16. According to the authors, achieving universal basic and secondary education, by the middle of the 21st century, is both possible and affordable. The volume presents a cohesive picture of past, present, and future steps necessary to achieve this goal.

The Academy study concludes that achieving universal primary and secondary education is both urgently needed and well within the ability of wealthy nations to fund. Five changes are essential to achieve universal primary and secondary education by mid-century:

• Open discussions, nationally, regionally, and internationally, on what people want primary and secondary education to achieve — that is, the goals of education
  
• A commitment to improving the effectiveness and economic efficiency of education
  
• A commitment to extending high-quality secondary education to all children
  
• Recognition of the diverse character of educational systems in different countries, and adaptation of aid policies and educational assessment requirements to local contexts
  
• More funding from rich countries for education in poor countries

Although greater numbers of people are completing primary, secondary, and tertiary education than ever before, ensuring universally available high-quality schooling still faces major obstacles. In Educating All Children, leading experts discuss the current state of education and how to measure global educational progress, the history of compulsory education, political and financial obstacles to expanding education, the role of educational assessment and evaluation in developing countries, cost estimates for providing universal education (and why they differ so widely), the potential consequences of expanded global education, and the relationship between education and health.

Universal primary education has long been advocated in international forums, but the editors contend that secondary education must also be universally available. They note that many benefits of education do not accrue until students have had ten years or more of schooling and that “primary education is more attractive if high-quality secondary education beckons.”

At the current rate of progress, the international commitment to universal primary education by 2015, as expressed in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, will not be met. According to the study, by 2015, roughly 114 million children – most in the world’s poorest countries — will still not be enrolled in primary school and almost twice that number will not be receiving a secondary education.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown commented "Educating All Children: A Global Agenda is a timely reminder of the importance of universal access to education in the fight against poverty.” Stephen P. Heyneman, Professor of International Education Policy at Vanderbilt University said, “This is among the most interesting books on education and development I have read in a decade.”

Educating All Children: A Global Agenda is published by the MIT Press.

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Survey Reveals the Growing Problem of Cyber-bullying in Our Schools

A survey into teachers’ experiences of cyber-bullying has revealed that bullying by mobile phone, email or over the internet is a growing problem In England.

The survey revealed that 17 per cent of respondents have experienced this type of bullying. These incidents ranged from upsetting emails and unwelcome text messages, to silent phone calls and the malicious use of websites and internet chat rooms.

The results also showed that 53 per cent of respondents did not know whether their school has a code of conduct to address cyber-bullying, and 39 per cent said their schools did not. Of those whose schools do have a code of conduct to address this issue, 19 per cent said it is not properly enforced and 72 per cent don’t know if it is.

The cyber-bullying survey ran from November 2006 to January 2007 with 379 respondents.The survey revealed:

17 per cent of respondents have been bullied by mobile phone, email or over the internet Of those who have been bullied in this way:

• 45% received emails designed to upset or enrage them
  
• 38% received unwelcome text messages that they found upsetting
  
• 38% received silent calls
  
• 15% received threatening text messages
  
• 12% said photos were sent to them or other people which made them feel embarrassed, threatened or uncomfortable
  
• 10% read messages via an internet chat room which were designed to upset or enrage them
  
• 7% received one or more emails threatening them
  
• 7% received threatening messages via an internet chat room.

When asked who they were bullied by:

• 34% said pupils
  
• 33% did not know
  
• 31% said their manager
  
• 21% said their colleagues
• 7% said pupils' parent.

Of those who have experienced bullying or threats, it affected them in the following ways:

• 63% said it reduced their confidence and self esteem
  
• 57% said their productivity or teaching effectiveness was reduced
  
• 49% became ill or stressed but carried on working
  
• 43% said it affected their home life
  
• 20% were scared to go to work
  
• 17% took sick leave, suffering from illness and stress
  
• 8% were scared outside of work.

Regarding Codes of Conduct to address cyber-bullying:

• 9% said their school does have a Code of Conduct to address this issue
  
• 39% said their schools did not have a Code of Conduct to address cyber-bullying
  
• 53% didn’t know
  
• Of those whose schools did have a Code of Conduct, only 19% said it was properly enforced.

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Internationally Adopted Children Shed Light on How Babies Learn Language

Each year, about 40,000 children are adopted across national lines, primarily by families from North America and Western Europe. These joyful occasions mark the growth of new families and also provide the framework for a natural experiment in language development. Although most are infants and toddlers, thousands of older children are also adopted. Typically, these older children lose their birth language rapidly and become fluent speakers of their new language.

Jesse Snedeker of Harvard University believes that these older children can help us understand how infants learn their native language. Early language development follows a predictable series of milestones. Babies initially say one word at a time, and mostly use nouns ("ball") or social words ("hi"). As they grow older their sentences become longer and more complex, as verbs ("take") and grammatical words ("about") begin to appear.

These changes in the infant speech could be due to the child's increased cognitive abilities or, as Snedeker asserts, they might also simply be side effects of the learning process itself and independent of the child's age or cognitive abilities. For example, it might be easier for children to learn the meanings of nouns because they often refer to things that we can point to or look at.

To explore the role of cognitive maturation in language development, Snedeker and her colleagues tracked the acquisition of English in children who were adopted from China between 2 ½ and 6 years of age. The researchers followed the children's progress during their first year in the U.S. and compared them with infants who were learning English as a first language.

Studying internationally-adopted children was vital to this research because their language development is often out of sync with their cognitive development and maturation. Internationally adopted preschoolers begin learning one language and then move to a home in which a different language is spoken. Unlike most second language learners, they have no phrase book to consult or bilingual informants to translate what they hear. In many ways their situation is like that of infants learning their first language: they must discover the meanings of words by listening and watching what happens around them. But they differ from infants in one critical respect--they are older and thus more cognitively mature.

Snedeker found that the preschoolers went through the same stages as the infants. Early on they learned many nouns but few verbs or grammatical words. Like the infants, the preschoolers initially produced one word utterances, followed by short telegraphic sentences ("Mommy eat"). Snedeker and colleagues also found that the adopted children progressed through the stages more rapidly than the infants, which is good news because it suggests that many of these children will eventually catch up with their peers.

These findings, which appear in the January 2007 issue of Psychological Science, indicate that the stages used to characterize infant language development are not solely attributable to cognitive development and maturation. Children who are much older and more mature go through these same stages when they learn a new language via immersion in speech. Snedeker concludes that these stages are side effects of the processes children use to learn words and grammar.

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New Report Shows that High-quality Induction Can Help Keep Teachers on the Job

A broad range of people, including many who are switching careers, are becoming Chicago Public School (CPS) teachers, but the new teachers are finding their orientation to their new jobs to be an uneven experience, depending on their own backgrounds, classroom and school factors, and the kind of induction they receive, according to a new report by the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at the University of Chicago.

“The report shows that new CPS teachers who receive high-quality induction—through mentoring activities such as observation of and feedback on their teaching; guidance with regard to CPS rules, policies, and procedures; and classroom management strategies—are more likely to intend to continue teaching and report a good experience than teachers who do not receive such induction into the teaching profession,” said John Easton, CCSR Executive Director.

Easton assisted in preparing the report, Keeping New Teachers: A First Look at the Influence of Induction in the Chicago Public Schools, which was co-authored by CCSR researchers Kavita Kapadia and Vanessa Coca. It was based on surveys of teachers and CPS data from the 2004-05 school year. The researchers found that teacher background played an important role in whether teachers remained in the profession. The study reported that 27 percent of new elementary school teachers and 21 percent of new high school teachers were CPS graduates, compared with 40 percent of all elementary school teachers and 37 percent of all high school teachers. The study also found that:

• For novice elementary school teachers, being male, having prior work experience, and being a graduate of CPS are associated with reporting a good teaching experience.
• Results among novice high school teachers suggest that having a master’s degree or higher and being a graduate of CPS are associated with being less likely to remain in the profession. Just as they all have different backgrounds entering the field, not all of the new teachers have the same experience once they enter schools. The study showed:
• At the classroom level, teachers working in classrooms with a higher percentage of students with behavior problems are less likely to report a good teaching experience, to intend to continue teaching, and to plan to remain in the same school.
• At the school level, a welcoming staff and strong school leadership were associated with more positive outcomes for novice teachers.

Formal induction programs, which are intended to orient, assist, and guide beginning teachers, can improve teacher retention rates, and thus reduce costs and disruptions caused by teacher turnover, other research has found. To this end, the CPS provides formal induction programs for all new teachers.

The report finds that almost 20 percent of new teachers report that they do not participate, however. The report also finds that participation in an induction program alone does not improve the chances that teachers will remain in the profession; the quality of their induction experience matters. These factors had the most influence on retention:

• Novice elementary school teachers who received strong levels of mentoring were 25 percentage points more likely to plan to remain in the same school compared to teachers who received weak levels of mentoring. The relationship was similar for high school teachers, although not statistically significant.
• Other supports for novices—such as regularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers; participation in a network of teachers; release time to observe teaching; observation of their teaching with feedback; the principal’s encouragement, assistance, or support; and suggestions and advice from other teachers—were also linked to improvements in the three outcomes measured. High school novices who received strong levels of these supports were 50 percentage points more likely to plan to remain in their school than their colleagues who received weak levels of support. A similar pattern was present among elementary school teachers.
• The combination of mentoring and other supports made an even greater difference in keeping new teachers in their schools. Novice elementary school teachers were 48 percentage points more likely to remain in their school when they received intensive levels of mentoring and support, compared to their colleagues. The improvement for novice high school teachers was 55 percentage points.

To see the full report: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/keeping_new_teachers012407.pdf

To read a related article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-0701260274jan26,0,6299526.story?coll=chi-education-hed

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Study Explores Factors Predicting Referral to Remedial or Special Education

Preschool entry is often the first time children are compared academically and socially with peers of the same age. For this reason, preschool is often also the time when learning and behavioral disabilities are first identified. However, whether referrals to remedial or special education are based solely on cognitive disability or other factors has not been fully addressed. A new study from the Elementary School Journal explores to what extent factors such as parental education and race indicate a high likelihood of referral to remedial or special education during the first years of school.

Emily Mann (Bridgewater State College), Kathleen McCartney (Harvard University), and Jennifer Park (National Center for Education Statistics) are the first to compare remedial and special education services, with remedial services encompassing tutoring provided within a classroom setting and special education referring to placement into a separate kindergarten or first grade. Using data from 999 students, the researchers found that this differentiation affected which socioeconomic factors are associated with high- and low-levels of special education.

Specifically, the researchers found that lower maternal education and higher numbers of children in the home do not predict placement into a special education class (high level), though they do predict remedial services (low level). In addition, each additional year of maternal education was associated with an approximately 14% decrease in the likelihood of remedial services. Child birth order was also a strong indicator of remedial service placement, with second-born children associated with a 74% increase in the likelihood of referral for a low-level remedial service relative to first-born children.

Conversely, boys and children with unmarried mothers were associated only with high-level special education, and not remedial services. Gender differences were also a factor in referral to or placement in special education, with girls about a third less likely than boys to be referred for high-level special education.

Repeated periods of low income were also far more significantly related to high levels of special service placement than remedial education. Every additional period of low income in a child's life increased the odds of low-level remedial education by about 12% and increased the odds of high-level special education by about 50%.

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Small Chicago High Schools Improve Dropout Rates and Attendance, But Not Test Scores

Small high school reform in Chicago is delivering on many of its promises, including a reduction in student dropouts and improvements in attendance, but it hasn’t yet shown test score improvements, according to the first comprehensive report on the reform, prepared by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.

The report, “Small High Schools on a Larger Scale,” looks at the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative (CHSRI) from 2002 through 2005, studying both school climate and student outcomes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as several local foundations, have dedicated $26 million to the reform, which has led to the opening of almost two dozen small high schools across the city.

These new small schools are intended to range in size from 120 to 500 students and provide both teachers and students with a more personalized environment for teaching and learning. This report covers the first three years of the initiative, in which 16 schools were started.

The report found that the reform works when it comes to keeping students involved in school: 20 percent of the students enrolled in the first cohort of five new small schools dropped out by the end of their junior year, compared with 27 percent of similar students at large high schools (see p. 29 of the report). Author Joseph Kahne notes that “graduating from high school makes a huge difference in terms of employment and earnings. If the promising lower dropout rates noted in this study translate into improved graduation rates, this reform will substantively improve the lives of these students. Attendance was also better: The students in small schools spent nearly a week longer in classes than those in large schools because their absence rate was lower (25 days compared with 28 days at larger schools for juniors and 20 days for CHSRI freshmen compared with 26 days for similar students at larger schools, see p. 27).

In order for any school reform to be effective, researchers contend that students need more academic rigor. When compared with students in larger schools, this study found that juniors in the small schools felt more challenged by their teachers than did similar students in other schools. The small schools also had both juniors and freshmen more focused on goals for their lives after high school (see pp. 25-26).

Teachers in the schools also reported more collegiality, a higher level of coherence in the instructional program, and a greater interest in innovative classroom approaches (see pp. 20-21).

However, the principals were not viewed as being better instructional leaders than principals at larger schools, and teachers did not report that their professional development opportunities were any better than teachers in larger schools (see p. 21), factors than may be associated with the lack of improvement for test scores.

“We saw evidence that instruction was the same for similar students in CHSRI and non-CHSRI settings. Given that we did not see a CHSRI effect on instruction, it is not surprising that we failed to find evidence that attending a small school promoted higher test scores,” said report author Susan Sporte.

The 2005 PSAE scores for students in 9 CHSRI schools that had juniors were similar to those in the large schools. Juniors in these small schools had average test scores of 145 versus 144.6 in larger schools on the PSAE. For mathematics, the juniors had a test score of 139.4, compared with 139.2 in larger schools (see p. 29).

The authors noted that 12 of the 16 schools studied were schools created from larger schools that were on probation at the time of the conversion. The teachers in these small schools mainly came from those larger schools, and the students were largely drawn from the pool of students who would have attended those larger schools anyway. The other four schools started as new schools in some of Chicago’s less advantaged neighborhoods. On average, students in all 16 schools were more disadvantaged than the typical Chicago public school students. The average reading level tested at 228 (about sixth grade) for the small school students in the study, compared with an average of 240 for all nonselective high schools. The students also were more likely to be old for their grade, and to have experienced multiple moves during their last three years in elementary school.

To see the full report: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/p85.pdf

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Narrowing in on Educational Resources That Do Affect Student Achievement

In an era dominated by issues of school finance adequacy, it seems particularly important to provide evidence that, despite a number of claims to the contrary, educational resources are indeed positively related to improved student achievement. One of the hypotheses of this article is that expenditures per pupil must be disaggregated into more meaningful categories to discern the relationship between resources and student achievement. To explore this question, this article uses data from the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada, which reports its school expenditures using a program called InSite. This program disaggregates expenditures into 4 categories: instruction, instructional support, leadership, and operations and maintenance. The results show that expenditures for instruction and instructional support were positively related and statistically significant for the reading achievement of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in the 2002-03 school year.

To see the full report: (Purchase Required): http://www.leaonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1207/s15327930pje8104_2

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$730 Million More Needed for Education, Study Says

The sticker shock was fierce: about $100 million more a year, for seven years, to get Montana children up to state and national education standards.

That's the bottom line of a new study commissioned by the Montana Quality Education Coalition. MQEC won a 2004 court decision declaring school funding inadequate in Montana.

To see the full report: http://www.mqec.org/mqec_public/MT%20Final%20Report.pdf

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School Efficiency and Student Subgroups: Is a Good School Good for Everyone?

State and federal accountability reforms are putting considerable pressure on schools to increase the achievement of historically low-performing groups of students and to close test score gaps. In this article, the authors exploit the differences among the large number of elementary schools in New York City to examine how much schools vary in the efficiency of the education they provide to subgroups. In addition, they examine the extent to which observable school characteristics can account for the variation that exists. They find that New York City elementary schools vary in how well they educate poor students compared to nonpoor students and Asian and White students compared to Black and Hispanic students. The disparities in school efficiency measures between boys and girls are lower than for the other subgroups.

To see the full report: (Purchase Required): http://www.leaonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1207/s15327930pje8104_5

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Report Finds Merit Pay Has Positive Effects

Study of Little Rock schools in program reveals higher test scores for students, improved work environment for teachers.

A new evaluation of a teacher pay-for-performance program in Little Rock finds that it produces significant gains in student performance on standardized tests and a more positive work environment for teachers. The Achievement Challenge Pilot Project at Meadowcliff and Wakefield elementary schools offers teachers and staff bonuses that vary based on the magnitude of increases in student achievement.

Gary Ritter, who holds an endowed chair in education policy at the University of Arkansas, will present the findings of this study at a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16 at the State Capitol, Old Supreme Court Meeting Room. The full report is available at http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/Research/merit_pay.html

According to researchers in the UA department of education reform, these bonuses led to significantly greater learning gains than had been achieved by the same students prior to the program and by students at comparison schools. The introduction of merit bonuses produced an additional 3.5 normal curve equivalent points on a nationally normed math test. This gain in achievement after one year’s time is roughly equal to one-sixth of the test score gap between white and black students, on average, nationwide.

That is, if the observed benefit of the merit pay program were to compound for six years, it would close the black-white test score gap.

“As Arkansas policy-makers consider ways to recruit, retain and reward effective public school teachers, they may well consider the responses from the teachers in these Little Rock elementary schools,” said Joshua Barnett, a lead researcher of the study. “These teachers do reveal dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire to be rewarded fairly for their work.”

In the merit pay program, teachers could earn a bonus worth as much as $11,000. In 2005-06, teachers and staff at Meadowcliff were awarded bonuses totaling $200,926, while those at Wakefield received $228,300 in performance bonuses. For the 2006-07 school year, the program was expanded to include three more elementary schools: Geyer Springs, Mabelvale and Romine. The program began at Meadowcliff in 2004-05, and Wakefield was added in 2005-06.

A survey of teachers at participating and comparison schools found a more positive work environment at schools where the merit bonuses were available. In addition, teachers at schools participating in the merit pay program were not more likely to report counterproductive competition among faculty.

The study was supervised by Ritter, director of the Office for Education Policy in the department of education reform. Jay P. Greene, who holds the endowed chair in education reform, and graduate students Joshua Barnett and Marcus A. Winters also participated in the evaluation. The research team will continue to examine the program next year with a larger sample size of students and teachers to determine whether these initial benefits persist. The program is funded by the Little Rock School District, the Little Rock Public Education Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the Hussman Foundation and the Brown Family Foundation. Financial support for the evaluation was provided by the Walton Family Foundation.

“The Achievement Challenge Pilot Project merit pay system should be considered as one policy option to improve the status quo and compensate teachers, and then be subject to rigorous evaluation to continually test its effectiveness,” Ritter said.

National Education Association Response:

The National Education Association issued a preliminary response Monday, Jan. 22, to a review of the beginning of a merit pay experiment for teachers in Little Rock elementary schools:

Synopsis and Review

“Evaluation of Year One of the Achievement Challenge Pilot Project in the Little Rock Public School District” by Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Marcus A. Winters, and Jay P. Greene

The Study

This is the first installment of a multi-year study of elementary schools in the Little Rock School District that are participating in the Achievement Challenge Pilot Project (ACPP), a merit pay program. ACPP pays classroom teachers and school employees cash bonuses based on gains made by students on norm-referenced test scores for math, reading and language. The project started with funding from the Public Education Foundation of Little Rock (the Walton Family Foundation is among its donors), which continues as its major source of support. According to sources at the Arkansas Education Association, this study has the same financial backer, which raises the concern of how credible it is for the same entity that underwrites the merit pay program to be responsible for evaluating its effectiveness. Surely, an evaluation of the program could benefit from an independent analysis.

The ACPP program currently operates in five of Little Rock’s 34 elementary schools, with three of the schools beginning in 2006-07. The five schools all have high percentages of minority students and students who qualify for free and reduced lunches, as well as low academic achievement. This study encompasses two ACPP schools, one which started in 2004-05 and one that started in 2005-06. Three “comparison schools” were also included in the study.

The authors undertook two analyses:

1) a statistical analysis (fixed effects model) of changes in norm-referenced test scores for fourth and fifth graders. Due to “data limitations”, only math scores were used and only one of the two ACPP schools (along with all three comparison schools) was included in the study. 2) A survey of teachers, asking them about behaviors and attitudes related that the authors considered related to merit pay. Teachers in the two ACPP schools and three comparison schools were surveyed.

The Study’s Findings

The authors contend that:

1. Their statistical model (a “fixed-effects” model) estimated that “schools where the ACPP operated in 2005-06 showed an improvement of 3.5 normal curve equivalent points. For the average student, this gain represents an improvement of nearly 7 percentile points.”

2. The comparison of teacher surveys in the ACPP vs. non-ACPP schools suggested that that they: - were no more innovative than comparison teachers. - were no more likely to work harder than comparison teachers. - were more satisfied with their salaries than comparison teachers. - reported no more counterproductive competition than comparison teachers. - their work environment became more positive than comparison teachers. - were less likely than comparison teachers to agree that low-performing students were a “burden” in the classroom. - were more likely than comparison students to report that the academic performance of their students had improved over the past year.

Overall, the authors concluded that “while the results from this first year study suggest positive impacts of the ACPP, we believe the second year study with five schools involved in the ACPP will greatly assist in expanding on and explaining the first year findings.”

Analysis

While headline of the press release announcing the study boldly states that says the “Report Finds Merit Pay Has Positive Effects,” upon closer examination there are several reasons to question whether the reported findings live up to the hype. Overall, it is important to keep in mind that these are preliminary findings based on incomplete data from the first year of a multi-year study. At best, it is premature to be calling ACPP a success in achieving any of its stated goals. More probably, it is irresponsible to make any claims about the effectiveness of ACPP on the basis of this study.

1. Modest Effects

One of the authors described the findings as “modest” and while encouraging to those who carried out the study, they “certainly wouldn't say we're thrilled by any stretch.” (Associated Press, 1/16/07)

2. Narrow Scope

The study is very limited in its scope. Due to “data limitations,” only math scores were included in the analysis (p.6). Reading and language test scores were omitted. Further, “due to the limits of available data,” the estimates are based on students in only one of the two ACPP schools. (p.7). Thus, “even though nearly 2,000 students attend the schools involved in the evaluation, approximately 500 students were part of the student achievement evaluation.” (p.12) These data limitations alone make the results highly questionable.

It is difficult for other trained statisticians to further evaluate the results of the study of the impact of ACPP on test scores because the specifications, equations, coefficients, and significance tests are not shown in the report and are only partially and briefly discussed.

It is also worth noting that there is no discussion of each school’s status in school improvement plans under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) guidelines, which could be a very significant factor in affecting the behavior and attitudes of teachers in each of the schools. While the percentages of students rated as “proficient” in math and literacy tests were considered as criteria in selecting the comparison schools, the authors did not make clear the distinction between norm-reference tests (which were used in their analysis) and criteria-referenced tests that are used as benchmarks for determining school improvement status. Thus, according to sources at the Arkansas Education Association, a paradoxical situation exists where teachers in ACDD schools earned bonuses based on norm-referenced tests while their same schools were put on improvement plans based on the results of criteria-related tests.

3. Lack of causality

The comparison of survey data of teachers in schools with and without ACPP does not take into account any other factors that might explain differences between the two groups. While the authors conduct simple significance tests on averages for survey answers for schools in and out of the ACPP program, this alone is not sufficient to infer that these differences can be attributed to ACPP.

For example, the authors also imply that greater “satisfaction with salaries” can be attributed to the presence of merit pay while it may actually just be an effect of higher pay. It is not possible for teachers in ACPP schools to have pay deducted because of low test scores. It is only possible to receive a bonus on top of regular pay for improved test scores. Though the actual percentage of teachers receiving bonuses was not reported, it was reported that over was $200,000 in bonuses was divvied up in one ACPP school and nearly $230,000 was awarded in the other school in 2005-06. No additional pay was awarded in any of the comparison schools. Thus, any differences in pay satisfaction might be more attributable to higher pay than any incentive effect.

Setting aside this overall lack of causality, it is interesting to note that while the authors hypothesize that merit pay may “motivate current teachers to improve the performance of students through additional effort and innovation, where teachers work to learn and implement new effective teaching strategies,” their survey found no difference between the two groups of teachers in how “innovative” they were or in reporting that they worked “harder.” The authors do not discuss this apparent lack of support for key behavioral theories about why merit pay would lead to higher student achievement in the first place.

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Task Force on the Education of Maryland’s African-American Males Report

The task force was asked to evaluate Maryland’s progress in addressing persistent academic achievement problems imperiling African-American boys and men.

Recommendations include placing the most-effective teachers in the highest-need classrooms, hiring more black male teachers, reducing the number of black males in special education classes, ensuring that every public high school in the state offers advanced placement classes and that the number of black males in those classes reflects the school’s demographics.

To see the full report: http://www.maryland-k-16.usmd.edu/images/files/Task_Force_on_the_Education_of_Marylands_African_Americans.pdf

To read a related article: http://www.examiner.com/a-523386%7EReport_explores_ways_to_bridge_achievement_gap.html

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Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2006)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

…The National Academies was asked to respond to the following questions: What are the top 10 actions, in priority order, that federal policymakers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century? What strategy, with several concrete steps, could be used to implement each of those actions? The National Academies created the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century to respond to this request…

The four recommendations focus on actions in K­12 education (10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds), research (Sowing the Seeds), higher education (Best and Brightest), and economic policy (Incentives for Innovation) that are set forth in the following sections…

10,000 TEACHERS, 10 MILLION MINDS, AND K­12 SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

Recommendation A:

Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K­12 science and mathematics education. Implementation Actions The highest priority should be assigned to the following actions and programs. All should be subjected to continuing evaluation and refinement as they are implemented.

Action A-1: Annually recruit 10,000 science and mathematics teachers by awarding 4-year scholarships and thereby educating 10 million minds. Attract 10,000 of America's brightest students to the teaching profession every year, each of whom can have an impact on 1,000 students over the course of their careers. The program would award competitive 4-year scholarships for students to obtain bachelor's degrees in the physical or life sciences, engineering, or mathematics with concurrent certification as K­12 science and mathematics teachers. The merit-based scholarships would provide up to $20,000 a year for 4 years for qualified educational expenses, including tuition and fees, and require a commitment to 5 years of service in public K­12 schools.

A $10,000 annual bonus would go to participating teachers in underserved schools in inner cities and rural areas.

To provide the highest-quality education for undergraduates who want to become teachers, it would be important to award matching grants, on a one-to-one basis, of $1 million a year for up to 5 years, to as many as 100 universities and colleges to encourage them to establish integrated 4-year undergraduate programs leading to bachelor's degrees in the physical and life sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, or engineering with teacher certification. The models for this action are the UTeach at the University of Texas and California Teach at the University of California.

Action A-2: Strengthen the skills of 250,000 teachers through training and education programs at summer institutes, in master's programs, and in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) training programs. Use proven models to strengthen the skills (and compensation, which is based on education and skill level) of 250,000 current K­12 teachers.

· Summer institutes: Provide matching grants to state and regional 1- to 2-week summer institutes to upgrade the skills and state-of-the-art knowledge of as many as 50,000 practicing teachers each summer. The material covered would allow teachers to keep current with recent developments in science, mathematics, and technology and allow for the exchange of best teaching practices. The Merck Institute for Science Education is one model for this action.

· Science and mathematics master's programs: Provide grants to research universities to offer, over 5 years, 50,000 current middle school and high school science, mathematics, and technology teachers (with or without undergraduate science, mathematics, or engineering degrees) 2-year, part-time master's degree programs that focus on rigorous science and mathematics content and pedagogy. The model for this action is the University of Pennsylvania Science Teachers Institute.

· AP, IB, and pre-AP or pre-IB training: Train an additional 70,000 AP or IB and 80,000 pre-AP or pre-IB instructors to teach advanced courses in science and mathematics. Assuming satisfactory performance, teachers may receive incentive payments of $1,800 per year, as well as $100 for each student who passes an AP or exam in mathematics or science. There are two models for this program: the Advanced Placement Incentive Program and Laying the Foundation, a pre-AP program.

· K­12 curriculum materials modeled on a world-class standard: Foster high-quality teaching with world-class curricula, standards, and assessments of student learning. Convene a national panel to collect, evaluate, and develop rigorous K­12 materials that would be available free of charge as a voluntary national curriculum. The model for this action is the Project Lead the Way pre-engineering courseware.

Action A-3: Enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in science, engineering, or mathematics by increasing the number of students who pass AP and IB science and mathematics courses. Create opportunities and incentives for middle school and high school students to pursue advanced work in science and mathematics. By 2010, increase the number of students who take at least one AP or IB mathematics or science exam to 1.5 million, and set a goal of tripling the number who pass those tests to 700,000.

Student incentives for success would include 50% examination fee rebates and $100 mini- scholarships for each passing score on an AP or IB science or mathematics examination. Although it is not included among the implementation actions, the committee also finds attractive the expansion of two approaches to improving K­12 science and mathematics education that are already in use:

· Statewide specialty high schools: Specialty secondary education can foster leaders in science, technology, and mathematics. Specialty schools immerse students in high-quality science, technology, and mathematics education; serve as a mechanism to test teaching materials; provide a training ground for K­12 teachers; and provide the resources and staff for summer programs that introduce students to science and mathematics.

· Inquiry-based learning: Summer internships and research opportunities provide especially valuable laboratory experience for both middle-school and high-school students…

To read the entire report: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309100399/html

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U.S. Economy Could Gain $309 Billion if All High School Students Graduate on Time

According to Alliance for Excellent Education

If high school dropouts of the nation’s class of 2006 had instead earned their diplomas with their classmates, the U.S. economy could have benefited from an additional $309 billion in wages over these students’ lifetimes, according to conservative calculations by the Alliance for Excellent Education in its new brief, The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools, funded by MetLife Foundation.

The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was over $9,000 less than for a high school graduate. Graduating all students, therefore, increases overall earnings potential, which, in turn, benefits the nation with increased purchasing power and higher tax receipts.
The Alliance’s brief argues that dropouts drain the nation’s economy by lowering tax revenues and increasing the cost of social programs. High school graduates, on the other hand, make higher wages and live longer. They are less likely to be teen parents, commit crimes, and rely on government healthcare.

“Although there has been a very slight increase in high school graduation rates, the pace of improvement is glacial compared with the growing and urgent need to ensure all of our students are prepared for success in the 21st century,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “As Congress prepares to renew the No Child Left Behind law this year, it must address the continuing hemorrhage of wages and taxes resulting from each class of high school dropouts.”

“Measuring the impact of increased high school graduation rates in dollars and cents drives home the serious challenges we all face when students drop out,” said Sibyl Jacobson, president of MetLife Foundation.

The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools is available at http://www.all4ed.org/publications/HighCost.pdf.

The number of dropouts was determined using enrollment data for the ninth grade 2002-2003 school year (National Center for Educational Statistics, Common Core of Data: 2002) and the high school graduation rate in 2006 (Editorial Projects in Education, 2006), which was then multiplied by the $260,000 estimated lifetime earnings difference between a high school dropout and a high school graduate (Rouse, 2005).

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Whole-Language Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Primary reading programs aren't always what they claim

Amid ongoing debate about the federal Reading First program, a new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute exposes ineffective reading programs that dishonestly claim to be "scientifically-based" and thereby qualify for millions of dollars in public funds intended to help struggling children learn to read.

In the report, Whole-Language High Jinks, reading expert Louisa Moats offers advice for school officials, parents, and teachers about how to spot the fakes and identify programs that truly work.

"If this were medicine, the F.D.A. would never approve these reading nostrums as 'safe and effective,'" commented Fordham Institute president Chester E. Finn, Jr. "Tort lawyers would be bringing class action suits against their vendors. The papers would be full of allegations of fraud, misrepresentation, and actual harm done by them. Education, alas, is not nearly so rigorous. Yet with the futures of countless schoolchildren at stake (not to mention lots of money), school districts would be wise not to take claims about programs' research evidence at face value. Dr. Moats performs a valuable service by helping consumers detect the phonies."

Moats, a psychologist and widely respected authority on early reading, authored a previous Fordham report in October 2000 called Whole Language Lives On. In it, she uncovered many whole-language programs hiding behind the phrase "balanced literacy" in order to win contracts from school districts and avoid public scrutiny.

Seven years later, such programs still exist—and still try to pull the wool over educators' eyes. Worse, major school systems, including Denver, Salt Lake City, and New York City, continue to adopt them, misled by materials that "talk the talk," touting the five elements of effective reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel, but which are actually just whole-language programs in disguise.

"The failures of whole language are many—especially for the two-fifths of children who are at risk of reading failure right out of the gate," notes Moats. To ensure that a program isn't just offering platitudes, she offers a useful list of warning signs to help educators spot whole-language wolves disguised as lambs. Some key indicators that the program isn't as "scientifically-based" as it promises:

• Use of memorization and contextual guessing, instead of direct, systematic teaching for word recognition and actual comprehension;
  
• Rejection of explicit phonics, spelling, or grammar instruction;
  
• Application of the whole-language principles for English language learners.

To ensure that a reading program is based on scientific evidence of effectiveness, administrators and teachers should ask a series of probing questions about it, including these:

Does the program:

• Have valid screening measures in place to identify children at risk and provide them with early/extra instruction in word recognition, comprehension, and writing skills?
  
• Interweave multiple language components (such as speech sounds, word structure, word meaning, and sentence structure) together in the same lesson?
  
• Support reading comprehension by focusing on a deep understanding of topics and themes rather than developing a set of shortcut strategies?

"This report's findings help to explain why the federal government has to be prescriptive in its implementation of Reading First," said Michael J. Petrilli, Fordham's Vice President for National Programs and Policy. "Anyone can put the label 'scientifically-based' on the cover of their reading program. But if we want to do right by kids, we need to dig below the surface. If the policy is to fund only programs that truly work, officials at all levels need to fend off the charlatans."

The full report can be found at: http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=367

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New Study Says NYC Small High School Reforms Boost Student Performance

High Expectations, Extra Support Prepare Students for Postsecondary Success

A report examining the first group of new small high  schools in New York City that opened four years ago finds that the schools are making  significant progress with impressive graduation rates. According to “Rethinking High  School: Inaugural Graduations at New York City’s New High Schools,” these small  schools are beating the odds with graduation rates that are 20 percentage points higher  than the citywide rate.  

The average graduation rate for the sample schools was 79%, in contrast to the citywide  average of 58%. The report also found that 81% of the seniors at the new schools  applied to college, and of those who applied, 85% were accepted to two or four-year  institutions. Those rates were achieved despite the fact that over 80% of the schools’  graduates did not meet New York State standards in English and Math when they  entered ninth grade. 

The report, developed by WestEd, a non-profit education research, development and  service organization, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examined  preliminary data from 14 new small high schools that opened in September 2002 as part  of the Children First reform agenda implemented by New York City Mayor Michael R.  Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the New Century High Schools  Initiative, which is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Open Society  Institute, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

"Our research shows that these new schools are doing exactly what they set out to do,"  said Tracy Huebner, a senior research associate at WestEd and the report's principal  author. "These schools show that a culture of high expectations, rigorous academics,  and individualized attention accompanied by the appropriate supports help students to  succeed in their secondary education."

The schools surveyed also had higher attendance and ninth-grade promotion rates, two  predictors of graduation rates, according to WestEd. The most recent data available  indicate that the average attendance rate at the 14 new schools was 89% in 2004-05.  The ninth-grade promotion rate across the featured schools was 92% in the same year  and 91% in 2005-06, according to the report.

Each of the 14 schools examined had successfully created a “college-going” culture  through academic programs that emphasize the new “3 Rs” – rigor, relevance and  relationships. For example, the schools provide increased access to advanced courses,  better preparation for Regents exams, and extra support to help struggling students  catch up; connect curricula to students’ personal experiences, contemporary issues and  career opportunities; and encourage strong relationships between teachers, students  and their families to give students more individualized attention and to enable their  families to support them.

“The results in this report reflect four years of hard work and dedication on the part of the  schools’ teachers, principals and partners, as well as students and their families,” said  Robert L. Hughes, President of New Visions for Public Schools, which created, together  with the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers,  and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, the schools featured in the report as  well as many of the other new small schools in New York City. “The challenge for New  Visions and for other partners engaged in school reform is to apply the lessons learned  here across all schools, both new and old, to ensure that more students reach higher  levels of personal and academic achievement.”

To date, the New York City Department of Education, in partnership with local and  national school developers, including New Visions, the College Board, ISA, Urban  Assembly, and the Internationals Network for Public Schools, has created 197 new small  secondary schools, 47 of which will graduate classes this June.  

The WestEd researchers recommended that concrete steps be taken to “scale up” and  expand the new schools work so that it can be sustained. The report’s recommendations  include: aligning K-8 reforms with high school improvement strategies, expanding  rigorous course offerings through partnerships or online learning, addressing enrollment  and space challenges, applying the lessons of small schools to broader secondary  reform, and tracking students after graduation.

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How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid?

In this new report, Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters provide systematic data on how much public school teachers are paid, relative to other white-collar professionals. Because discussions about teacher pay rarely reference these data, the policy debate on education reform has proceeded without a clear understanding of these issues.

This report compiles information on the hourly pay of public school teachers nationally and in 66 metropolitan areas, as collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and compares the hourly income of public school teachers to those of workers in similar professions. Nationwide, the average public school teacher earned $34.06 per hour in 2005, which is 36% more per hour than the average non-sales white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker.

Full-time public school teachers work on average 36.5 hours per week, compared with 39.4 hours per week for white-collar workers, and 39.0 hours per week for professional specialty and technical workers. Nationwide, public school teachers are paid, on average, 61% more per hour than private school teachers. The authors find no relationship between higher teacher pay rates in metropolitan areas and improved high school graduation rates.

See the full report: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_50.htm

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Inclusion Practices for English Language Learners

      Doctoral student Bethany Plett has been selected as the winter 2007 recipient of the Theodore R. Sizer Dissertation Scholars Award. Presented by the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) and named for its founder and chair emeritus, the Sizer Dissertation Scholar Awards encourage a new generation of scholars to conduct research on CES schools and further an understanding of the effectiveness of innovative school practices. Award recipients receive a grant to conduct research or complete their dissertation, as well as a stipend to present their research at the CES annual conference.

       The award recipient, Bethany Plett, is completing her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University and her dissertation topic is: Inclusion of English Language Learners in Conversion Small Schools.

      "The role of research has been central to the work of CES from its inception and we are pleased to support this outstanding scholar in her efforts to inform the practices of educators," said Dr. Sizer. "With courage of conviction, clarity of purpose, and commitment to inquiry, this researcher stands to contribute to a large body of evidence that affirms students' capacity to excel when they are known well and engaged in authentic tasks."

       The Sizer Dissertation Scholar Awards were established, in part, to assess the effectiveness of the CES Common Principles, a set of pedagogical ideas laid out by Dr. Sizer in his groundbreaking work Horace's Compromise in 1984. "For more than 20 years, CES has had a lasting impact on school transformation efforts, sitting at the nexus between theory and practice," said CES executive board member Jacqueline Ancess, co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching at Columbia University's Teachers College. "In the selection of this scholar, we honor the contribution of Ted Sizer to American education."

       The following is an abstract of the award recipient's research:

Inclusion of English Language Learners in Conversion Small Schools

Abstract

       This qualitative study investigates, through interviews and observations, the tension produced by the practical challenge of teaching English language learners (ELL) in five conversion small schools. Philosophically and practically, the school programs range between providing limited inclusion of ELL students in mainstream classes to programs that strive to increase ELL mainstream inclusion. Through the theoretical lenses of reproduction and resistance theory, the results of the study examine the CES principle of equity as it applies to English language learners in small schools. The results of the study will also contribute to a set of recommendations for creating ELL programs in conversion small schools.

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New Research Supports Planned Diversity

Tactic at issue in U.S. Supreme Court case to be decided this spring.

More funding for urban schools is only half the way to fix them, according to Barry A. Gold, PhD., an expert on organizational change who is Associate Professor of Management at Pace University's Lubin School of Business and author of a just-published study of recent school finance changes in New Jersey, Still Separate And Unequal: Segregation And The Future Of Urban School Reform (Teachers College Press, 2007).

Gold's research shows that to improve educational opportunity for urban students, teachers need to teach them the same way suburban students are taught. Moreover, some form of integration is necessary.

Gold documents and analyzes the implementation of the first four years of the landmark 1998 New Jersey Supreme Court Abbott V ruling and the first three years of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. In four high-poverty, low-achievement urban elementary schools in New Jersey, these unprecedented reforms proposed to change all elements of the schools except their population characteristics two were African American and two were Latino. Hence a related but more important research question was: Can separate education be equal? According to Gold, the answer is still no.

Gold found that teaching and learning did not improve and, in many cases, became less effective. This was primarily because administrators and teachers rejected the reforms or modified them to fit their idea of appropriate education for urban students, which as they understand it is different than the kind that suits suburban students. By focusing on test scores, in a powerful example of an unintended consequence NCLB actually increased the use of ineffective teaching methods rote drill and obsessive reiteration of "the basics" that often are used in the urban education that the Abbott V mandates tried to change.

According to Gold, the lingering socio-cultural ecology of segregation, which Abbott V and NCLB did not try to alter, insidiously reproduced the less effective kind of urban education.

In June 2007, the United States Supreme Court will rule on the use of planned diversity to achieve racial balance in public schools. The January 8, 2007 edition of the NPR program "Justice Talking" (http://www.justicetalking.com/viewprogram.asp?progID=580>) is an excellent debate on the complex issues. Still Separate and Unequal: Segregation and the Future of Urban School Reform supports planned diversity to improve equality of educational opportunity, particularly under the conditions of extreme segregation that is characteristic of most metropolitan regions in the United States.

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Study Finds Academic Gains Not Superior Among Philadelphia Students Enrolled in Privately Run Public Schools

Academic improvement among students attending Philadelphia public schools managed by private operators kept pace, but did not exceed, the achievement gains of students in the rest of the district in the past four years, according to an analysis issued by the RAND Corporation and Research for Action.

While significant academic gains were made from 2002 to 2006 by students across Philadelphia, private managers who were given extra funds to run 45 elementary and middle schools did not achieve additional gains exceeding district-wide trends, according to researchers.

Researchers say that their findings have implications for other regions that are considering private management of public schools and that the effort in Philadelphia suggests the challenges of implementing private management on a large scale.

Philadelphia is the site of the largest experiment in the private management of public schools in the United States.

“The privately managed schools, on average, showed gains that were comparable to those in the rest of the district.” said Brian Gill, lead author of the report and a researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

“Schools in Philadelphia have shown strong improvement that has been reflected widely across the district,” said Jolley Christman, co-founder of Research for Action and an author of the report. “But our findings show the investment in private management of schools has not paid the expected dividends.”

Meanwhile, another group of schools that were “restructured” — remaining under district management with intensive intervention and a comparable increase in resources — showed significant gains in math in the first three years studied and in reading during the first year. In the fourth year, the additional resources for the restructured schools ended, but the schools appeared to maintain their gains in math.

Philadelphia's experiment with the private management of public schools began in 2002 when, after years of low achievement and budget crises in the School District of Philadelphia, the state of Pennsylvania launched a takeover of the 200,000-pupil district.

District management was turned over to an appointed commission, which hired a new chief executive who imposed new district-wide curricula and a system of frequent benchmark assessments.

The school district's new leaders also adopted what is known as the “diverse provider” model, turning over the management of some of the district's lowest-achieving schools to seven different private managers, who received additional per-pupil funding. Those private managers include for-profit firms such as Edison Schools (the nation's largest for-profit operator of public schools), local nonprofits and two local universities.

Since the state takeover of Philadelphia schools, the proportion of elementary and middle-school students achieving proficiency in reading and math has increased substantially.

From the 2001-2002 school year to the 2005-2006 school year, an additional 11 percent of fifth grade students reached proficiency in reading and 23 percent reached proficiency in math, according to state tests. Similarly, an additional 20 percent of eighth grade students reached proficiency in reading and 19 percent reached proficiency in math.

The four-year gains for Philadelphia's low-achieving schools (which included a majority of schools in the district) were generally on par with gains from similar low-achieving schools in the rest of the state. Philadelphia's schools out-gained comparison schools in middle-school reading.

The analysis by RAND Education and Research for Action examined the performance not only of the privately managed schools and the restructured schools, but also a group of schools dubbed the “Sweet 16.” These previously low-performing schools showed improvement prior to the state takeover. The schools were given extra per-pupil funding, but no other district intervention.

Results for the Sweet 16 were similar to those of the privately managed schools. Researchers found no significant positive or negative effects in either reading or math among the Sweet 16 schools in any of the four years studied.

Advocates of private management of public schools say the approach works best when private managers have full control of campuses and parents decide where to enroll their children — measures that were not fully implemented in Philadelphia.

The report, titled “State Takeover, School Restructuring, Private Management, and Student Achievement in Philadelphia,” is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2007/RAND_MG533.pdf.

RAND Education conducts research and analysis on a variety of topics, including school reform, educational assessment and accountability, and trends among teachers and teacher training.

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Scores on State-generated Tests Often Contradict Results on a National Test

…While international assessments confirm that American students lag behind those in several other countries in science and math, many school districts and states keep telling parents that their children, like those in Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor’s hometown of fable, are all above average.

More testing under the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act was supposed to help measure whether elementary school children are learning what they need to know. But scores on state-generated tests often contradict results on a national test. North Carolina is one of several states with glaring differences between how well it says its students are doing and the harsher verdict of independent comparisons.

The North Carolina Board of Education finally is getting the message. It has switched to a tougher math exam, and recently raised the passing scores in math for grades 3 to 8. So far it’s one of only a handful of states raising their standards.

Welcome to the era of high-stakes testing, where persistently low scores mean principals can get fired and states can take over failing schools. No Child Left Behind requires U.S. schools to make steady progress, so that by 2014 every student is proficient in math and reading. But to ensure cooperation, Congress left it up to each state to measure how well its pupils were doing.

Although the goal was transparency, results have been less than clear. While states report growing percentages of students are proficient, the verdict is considerably worse on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), an exam dubbed “the nation’s report card” that is given to a sampling of students in all 50 states.

The discrepancies in some states are alarming. In Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia, far more students rated proficient on the homegrown tests in 2005 than on the NAEP exam – about 50 percentage points higher.

When Tennessee’s education department reported a dramatic jump in state test scores in 2004-05, the Knoxville News-Sentinel headlined the results, “Schools meet Bush’s challenge.” But parents belatedly learned there was little cause for celebration. On the federally sponsored exam, only 21 percent of Tennessee eighth-graders were up to par in math and 26 percent in reading, not the 87 percent rated proficient on the state tests.

States’ idiosyncratic systems for grading schools can be equally confusing. Last fall, Oregon reported 97 percent of its more than 1,000 public schools were satisfactory or better. Only 30 schools got “low” or “unacceptable” marks. But only 70 percent of Oregon schools met the federal standard for progress.

In Florida, only 918 schools made sufficient annual progress under No Child Left Behind, yet 1,467 schools received an “A” grade and 610 received a “B” under the Florida “A-plus” school accountability system...

A new proposal from the White House at least could make it easier for the public to compare scores. Preparing for Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act this year, the Bush administration on Jan. 23 proposed – among several changes – to require states to report the proficiency rates for both their state and NAEP tests on the same report card.

Local control of public schools is a hallowed tradition in American education, and there has long been antipathy to the idea of a national test. NAEP has been around since 1969, but it tests only a cross section of students in each state. Participation is mandatory, and its existence serves as a deterrent to states’ dumbing down tests to look good and avoid costly penalties.

Some state educators say comparisons are unfair because NAEP is too rigorous and was designed to chart long-term trends, not to measure what states feel students should know.

“Our state assessment is directly designed to our state curriculum, so our teachers are able to pull from the data what they need to help our students,” said Jan Lineberger, Tennessee’s NAEP coordinator.

Differences between state and federal tests are to be expected, yet some gaps appear as wide as the Grand Canyon. Mississippi reported that at least 79 percent of its fourth-graders were at grade level in math in 2005, yet on the federal test, only 19 percent were proficient or better. 

In comparison, Massachusetts’ math test is tougher than NAEP’s. The state test rated only 41 percent of fourth-graders as proficient at math, fifth lowest in the country. But Massachusetts students were the country’s highest scorers on NAEP, with 49 percent rated proficient. Students are considered proficient on NAEP if they show competency over challenging subject matter, including how to apply it to real-world situations. 

The National Center for Education Statistics, which administers NAEP, is planning to release a study in the spring that compares states’ definition of proficiency with that of the federal test. 

If some states inflate scores, it comes at a price. Schools that mask how little their kids are learning behind inflated test scores aren’t pushed to provide transfer and tutoring options – the first sanctions under No Child Left Behind. Students also advance through school thinking they have the knowledge needed to go to college and get a decent job, only to find out too late they were never prepared. 

In California, the university system reported last year that 75 percent of high school juniors were not ready for college-level English classes. Nationwide, one-third of students entering college need remedial classes. More than a quarter who enter four-year colleges and almost half of those entering community colleges drop out before their second year...

As No Child Left Behind comes up for debate and renewal in Congress this year, much of the discussion will focus on the test gaps, and some prominent conservatives are suggesting it’s time to embrace national standards or even a national test for all students that would supplant state tests. Every other major industrialized nation employs a standardized curriculum and national tests in its schools.

William J. Bennett and Rod Paige, education secretaries under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, respectively, exhorted fellow Republicans in a commentary in The Washington Post to support national standards. The organization most actively pushing for national standards is the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank.

Tommy Thompson, the Republican former governor of Wisconsin and co-chairman of the No Child Left Behind Commission tasked with proposing changes to the law, said Congress needs to find a way to stiffen states’ spines on testing.

“I don’t think states have been quite as honest as they should be in regard to their testing and standards,” he told reporters outside the commission’s September meeting, according to news accounts.

Some states have considered softening standards. Democratic lawmakers in California pushed through a bill last year that would have lowered the state’s standards, which they called unrealistically high. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed the measure. “Redefining the level of academic achievement necessary to designate students as ‘proficient’ does not make the students proficient,” he wrote in his veto message.

But the Missouri Board of Education in 2006 lowered the cutoff scores on its grade-level tests to ensure that more students passed.

North Carolina was not alone in moving in the other direction. Georgia raised its passing scores at the same time that it adopted more rigorous standards and new, tougher tests.

In November, Minnesota released results from tougher math and reading tests that debuted in 2006. Statewide, 58 percent of students were scored proficient on the math test – down from 76 percent the previous year.

In West Virginia, Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine was only a week into the job in November 2005 when he got the news that only 26 percent of fourth-graders were proficient on NAEP math and reading tests, and that eighth-graders fared even worse. Paine said he couldn’t sleep worrying about the results. On West Virginia’s own tests, 70 percent or more of students scored at grade level. 

Paine called for an outside audit of the state’s standards and test, and both were found to be lacking. The result: substantially tougher standards and new tests that will debut in 2008.

“I dare say that our standards in little old West Virginia will probably be as rigorous and relevant as you’ll find anywhere in the country,” Paine told Stateline.org. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this the right way, set our standards high and make no concessions.”

The change in North Carolina’s end-of-grade tests is the first such adjustment since the tests began in 1993. “The Board felt that it was time to increase standards in its efforts to better prepare students for the rigors of the 21st-century competitiveness,” said Lou Fabrizio, the state’s director of accountability.

The state board ordered tougher passing grades applied retroactively to tests administered in 2006. Only 66 percent of fourth-graders passed this time, compared with 92 percent the year before …

To read the complete article, please go to: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=172668

The preceding article was excerpted from State of the States 2007, Stateline.org’s annual report on significant state policy developments and trends. To see a digital copy of this 48-page publication go here: http://archive.stateline.org/flash-data/Stateline's_State_of_the_States_2007.pdf

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New Survey: Lack of Resources, Workload Driving New Teachers Away

Nearly half of beginning teachers in a new survey by the Australian Education Union do not see themselves in the profession in ten years time, compounding concerns of growing teacher shortages in Australia.

AEU Federal President Pat Byrne said the survey of over one thousand public school teachers with one to three years experience showed that issues stemming from lack of funding were driving teachers away.

“The four top concerns for new teachers were workload, behaviour management, pay and class sizes, all issues directly related to having enough funding to adequately resource schools,” said Ms. Byrne.

“The survey showed that even new teachers who have changed professions to enter teaching do not see themselves having long term careers in the industry.”

“They are worried about job security, with around half reporting they had been unable to negotiate permanent ongoing employment, and were instead on fixed term contracts.”

“They are also worried about professional support, with over thirty percent stating professional development was a concern, and over forty percent said they had been asked to teach outside their area of expertise.”

“The Federal Government’s new IR laws also came out as a key concern and a overwhelming majority of those surveyed were not comfortable with the idea of negotiating their own pay and conditions.”

“Public schools are receiving $1 billion less per year than if 1996 funding share had been maintained.”

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CEA Review

The Connecticut Education Association has published a new review by an eminent testing expert that casts doubt on the conclusions reached in a recent report by ConnCAN. 

The lead author of the CEA-sponsored review is Dr. Peter Behuniak, an education researcher and former director of the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) program.  The ConnCAN report uses CMT data in reaching conclusions. 

"There is insufficient evidence presented to support the observations in the report (The State of Connecticut Public Education: A 2006 Report Card for Elementary and Middle Schools by ConnCAN released last fall) that state or imply superiority of one school type (i.e. magnet, charter or traditional) over the others (neighborhood and other traditional public schools)," writes Dr. Behuniak in the report that we are sharing today.  His review of the ConnCAN report includes a reanalysis of student achievement and related data cited in the ConnCAN report.

The results of the new review indicate that the achievement levels, improvement and performance gains displayed by magnet and charter schools are “approximately as varied” as those displayed by traditional schools. The review also identifies a number of other issues that readers of the ConnCAN report would be well advised to consider. Some of the more important include:

The presentation of and conclusions regarding top 10 lists of achievement gaps dealing with low income, African American, and Hispanic students are not justified due to the unavailability of data for between 60% and 77% of the schools.

The meaningful interpretation of the top 10 lists associated with performance gains and year to year improvement is significantly impaired due to the issues of student mobility, small differences in achievement among schools and districts, initial achievement status, and variation in school size.

The usefulness of the grading scales employed in the report are limited due to unevenness of the grade bands, arbitrariness in their development, and the absence of any explanation or discussion of these attributes.

"As this review demonstrates, summaries of student performance can be grouped, presented and characterized in many ways.  If one only looks at a part of the picture or looks only from one perspective, it is quite possible to form conclusions that are not actually supported by the available evidence. Conducting sound educational research often requires the examination of evidence from multiple perspectives in order to support meaningful interpretations," writes Dr. Behuniak.

Read the Review of the ConnCAN research report/charter schools: http://www.cea.org/upload/Review_of_ConnCAN_Research_Report.pdf

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50 Percent of Students Talk with Internet Strangers; 20 Percent Admit Face-to-Face Meetings

Millions of school-age children possess naive attitudes about their online safety and are engaging in a range of high-risk behaviors according to i-SAFE Inc.’s 2005–2006 National Assessment Center (NAC) report: At Risk Online: National Assessment of Youth on the Internet and the Effectiveness of i-SAFE Internet Safety Education. Based on surveys of more than 170,000 school-age American children, it found a vast majority of students are Internet users, often interacting in dangerous ways with strangers online. 

• 50 percent of high school students “talk” in chat rooms or use instant messaging (IM) with Internet strangers.*
  
• 49 percent of high school students have posted personal information on their Web pages–such as name, age, or address–that could assist a stranger to identify or locate them.**
  
• 20 percent of students in middle school as well as high school admit that they have met face to face with someone they first met on the Internet.***
  
• 38 percent of high school students sometimes hide their online activities from their parents.****
  
• 65 percent of high school students admit to unsafe, inappropriate, or illegal activities online.*****

Survey results show that girls in grades 5–12 are more likely than boys to use virtually any online communication method. For example, they are more likely to: keep a personal “blog” (32 percent versus 25 percent), have a personal Web page (37 percent versus 28 percent), chat and/or instant message (58 percent versus 47 percent), and have a personal e-mail account (68 percent versus 59 percent).

According to the NAC parent survey of more than 4,000 respondents, 93 percent of parents stated that they know “some” or “a lot” about where their children go and what they do on the Internet. Yet only 42 percent of high school students–and 62 percent of middle school students–stated that they share where they go and what they do on the Internet with their parents. Also, 81 percent of high school students consider their Internet skills to be superior to their parents, suggesting the need for Internet safety education for parents. 

Education plays a significant role in changing youth beliefs and behaviors online. Among more than 50,000 students in grades 3-12 who had unsafe online habits prior to i-SAFE training, 91 percent indicated that they would be able to make better choices about where they go and what they do on the Internet, and 88 percent indicated that they would be more careful about sharing personal information online. 

During the 2005-2006 school year, more than 2.3 million students received i-SAFE Internet safety education. Topics included cyber predators, cyber bullying (online threats, insults, or harassment), personal safety, cyber-security issues, cyber citizenship, social networking, and intellectual property theft.

*survey of 2,384 students in grades 9-12
** survey of 1,864 students in grades 9-12
*** survey of 13,351 students in grades 5-12
**** survey of 2,296 students in grades 9-12
***** survey of 3,256 students in grades 9-12

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Too Much Emphasis on Learning Disabilities May Cause Academic Setbacks

Research demonstrates that while awareness of learning disabilities helps improve academic achievement, too much attention to them may cause anxiety and a decline in achievement. The research was conducted at the Department of Learning Disabilities of the University of Haifa by Liat Feingold, under the direction of Dr. Michal Shany and Prof. Avigdor Klingman. "Until now, no one had examined whether awareness of learning disabilities is always helpful in coping with the problem or whether in certain cases it is delaying factor," explained Ms. Feingold.

Eight-five elementary school children with reading delays, the most commonly diagnosed leaning disability, participated in the study which was designed to evaluate whether self-awareness of a learning disability would improve academic achievement. Two aspects of "self-awareness" were evaluated: actual awareness of the disability and the amount of concern with it. The study showed that awareness of a learning disability resulted in improved achievement, but that continuous dealing with it caused a decline in achievement and general feelings of anxiety.

"It is important that children with reading problems know what their learning disability is, what its ramifications are and how to de