Education Research Report

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/

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.

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 deal with the problem. However, it is important not to spend too much time dealing with the issue," stressed Ms. Feingold who explained that the more the child thinks about his disability and how it will affect his life, the more anxious he becomes." As a result of the anxiety, the information processing systems become overloaded and the result is a decline in academic achievement."

She adds that the results contradict the currently accepted theory that parents should be as involved as possible with their child's learning disabilities, revealing that exposing a child to repeated clinical evaluations and different treatment methods causes exaggerated mental activity, which actually disrupts and harms the chances of academic success.

Study Links Children's Sleep Problems to School Problems, Especially in African Americans

A new study led by researchers at Auburn University shows that African-American children and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds fare worse than their counterparts when their sleep is disrupted.

The study offers one of the first demonstrations that the relationship between children’s performance and sleep may differ among children of different backgrounds.
“The results build on a small but growing literature demonstrating that poorer sleep in children is associated with lower performance on school-related tests,” said Joseph A. Buckhalt, lead author of the study.

“The findings are consistent with the idea that health-related disparities between different groups of American children have important consequences. In the context of these disparities, children are not at equal risk for cognitive difficulties when sleep is disrupted.”

Published in the January/February 2007 issue of the journal Child Development, the study looked at 166 8- and 9-year-old African-American and European-American children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. The children’s sleep habits were measured through wristwatch-sized activity monitors worn during sleep for one week, sleep diaries of bedtimes and wake-up times, and reports of sleep quality and sleep-related problems such as sleepiness during the day. The children were given individual cognitive tests measuring a range of mental functions related to school achievement.

When children’s socioeconomic status was taken into consideration, African-American and European-American children’s performance on cognitive tests was similar when they slept well, the study found. But when sleep was disrupted, African-American children’s performance was worse. Similarly, children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds performed similarly on tests when they slept well and their sleep schedules were consistent. But when their sleep was disrupted, children from higher-income homes did better than children from lower-income homes. The study does not address why African-American children and youngsters from lower-income homes may be more vulnerable to the effects of sleep disruption.

Poll Finds That American High School Students Do Not Understand Climate Change Issues

It's an inconvenient truth that would make Al Gore shudder: Despite an increasing emphasis at school and in the media on the causes and effects of global climate change, most American high school students don't adequately understand the issue, according to a national telephone survey of 900 students.

Even in a year when Gore's global-warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," is nominated for an Oscar, the average high school student believes climate change has no consequences for them in their lifetime, according to the survey. The average high school student fails a quiz on the causes and consequences of climate change.

Conducted by Hamilton College economist Julio Videras and his students in partnership with Zogby International, the national phone survey of 900, randomly selected high school students also indicates that home life influences students' "pro-environment" behavior much more strongly than school.

And whether they rely on science class or the media for information, students have the same level of knowledge about the issue, says Videras. "There's no difference in what students know about climate change regardless of where they get their information," he says. "Schools don't seem to be teaching many specifics about climate change."

In addition to a limited understanding of the science behind climate change, most students don't see themselves at risk: Only 28 percent believe it's very likely that climate change will affect them personally in their lifetimes. Despite these findings, 70 percent think the U.S. should start reducing emissions of pollutants contributing to climate change rather than wait for more evidence about the benefits of reducing greenhouse gases.

Yet only 20 percent say a candidate's position on climate change would strongly influence whether they would vote for the candidate.

"Most of the students polled aren't doing much in the way of pro-environment behavior," says Videras. "Their behavior is related more to how much they talk about it at home and among their friends, rather than whether it's taught in school."

Those who discuss environmental issues informally, with friends and family, are 16 percent more likely to believe the U.S. should mandate the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Other findings include:

- While only 28 percent of students surveyed believe they are personally affected by climate change in their lifetime, African-American students are 12 percent more likely than those in any other ethnic or racial background that climate change will personally affect them.

- Students who are not affiliated with any religious denomination know more about climate change, and are 13 percent more likely to believe the U.S. should reduce greenhouse gases.

- Discussing environmental issues in school doesn't affect students' pro-environment actions; but those who discuss the environment with their friends, informally, are more likely to practice pro-environment behavior, know more about the causes and consequences of climate change, and are 16 percent more likely to believe the U.S. should mandate the reduction of greenhouse gases.

- African-American students answer correctly fewer questions about climate change than students of other races or ethnicities. This difference holds after controlling for additional characteristics such as parents' education, gender, and political preference, among others.

- High-school students who think it is very likely that they will experience the effects of climate change in their lives are 17 percent more likely to state the U.S. should start reduce greenhouse gasses now than their counterparts. However, how students perceive climate change risks is uncorrelated with their efforts to engage in pro-environment behaviors.

- Although 66 percent of the high school students in the sample agree that humans have the right to modify the natural environment, above two-thirds of the respondents think that the earth's resources are limited and mankind is severely abusing the environment.

- Almost 83 percent of the respondents strongly agree with the statement that we must consider the impact that our actions will have for the welfare of future generations versus 70 percent who strongly agree with the statement that we must consider how our actions influence the well-being of people living in other countries. Although there is no systematic difference in pro-environment efforts based on concern for future generations, those who claim to care about people in other countries engage in more pro-environment behaviors then their counterparts.

Videras and his students collaborated with Zogby to conduct the telephone poll in November 2006. Hamilton College's Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center and Blue Moon Fund funded the poll, which has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.4 percent.

The entire poll can be viewed at: http://www.hamilton.edu/news/polls/Climate/index.html

School Interventions Proven to Raise High School Graduation Rates

• Perry Pre-School, the oft-chronicled pre-K program in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Perry provides children with 1.8 years of a center-based program for 2.5 hours per weekday, offering a child-to-teach ratio of 5:1; home visits; and group meetings of parents. The researchers estimate that, implemented on a broad scale, Perry’s benefit-to-cost ratio would be 2.31 to 1, and that it would create an additional 19 new high school graduates per 100 students.

• Class-size reduction. This approach – based on the parameters of Project Star, a four-year, randomized field trial in Tennessee – would include four years of schooling (from kindergarten through third grade) with class size reduced from 25 to 15. The researchers estimate that, implemented on a broad scale, class-size reduction along these lines would achieve a benefit-to-cost ratio of 1.46 to 1, and that it would create an additional 11 new high school graduates per 100 students.

• First Things First, a comprehensive school reform of small learning communities that includes dedicated teachers, family advocates and instructional improvement. FTF would achieve an estimated benefit-to-cost ratio of 3.54 to 1 and create an additional 16 high school graduates per 100 students.

• Chicago Child-Parent Center Program. A center-based preschool program with parental involvement, outreach and health/nutrition services, based in public schools. This approach would achieve an estimated benefit-to-cost ratio of 3.09 to 1 and create an additional 11 high school graduates per 100 students.

• Teacher salary increase of 10 percent for all years K-12. This approach would achieve an estimated benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.55 to 1 and create an additional five high school graduates per 100 students.

What Danger Lurks in the School Cafeteria?

New CSPI Report Finds School Districts Lagging in Food Safety

Conditions in America’s school cafeterias could trigger potentially disastrous outbreaks of food poisoning at any time, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which ranks food service operations in a new report.

Most of the 29 million meals served in the nation’s school cafeterias each day are nutritious and safe, but some school districts and governments aren’t inspecting school cafeterias frequently enough or are using out-of-date food safety standards, leaving students at risk of food poisoning. Younger children in particular face a higher risk of complications from infections caused by E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and other potentially deadly foodborne pathogens.

In “Making the Grade,” CSPI analyzed inspection reports from high school cafeterias in 20 jurisdictions across the country and then rated those jurisdictions on the rigor of food-safety inspections, frequency of inspections, and ease of access to the results of cafeteria inspections. Some inspection reports documented unacceptable conditions such as roaches, both dead and alive; rodent droppings; and improper food storage and handling techniques.

“Cities, counties, and school districts shouldn’t wait until a major outbreak of Hepatitis A, E. coli, or Salmonella forces them to update their food codes and ramp up inspections,” said Ken Kelly, food safety attorney for CSPI and lead author of the report. “Regrettably, many school cafeterias may be just one meal away from an outbreak.”

Of the 20 jurisdictions evaluated, Hartford, Conn., received the lowest score, 37 out of a possible 100. Hartford had the highest number of critical violations, including multiple cases of dirty equipment and utensils, inadequate hand-washing facilities, and poor personnel hygiene. Hartford also had infrequent inspections (on average, one per year, violating the federal requirements for two inspections), poor access to inspection reports, and a weak food code. Other jurisdictions with failing scores include the District of Columbia, with the lowest inspection frequency; Rhode Island; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Hillsborough (includes Tampa) and Dade (includes Miami) counties in Florida. Montgomery County, Md., barely passed, as it has the most outdated food code.

Fort Worth, Texas, had the best food safety score, with a score of 80 out of 100. Other top performers overall were King County, Wash. (includes Seattle); Houston; and Denver, Colo. Fort Worth; Maricopa County, Ariz. (includes Phoenix); Farmington Valley Health District, Conn.; Fulton County, Ga. (includes Atlanta); Hillsborough County; and Minneapolis scored well in inspection frequency (even though it failed overall). Maricopa County and Virginia also earned top scores for access to inspection information.

CSPI’s Outbreak Alert! database has documented more than 11,000 cases of foodborne illnesses associated with schools between 1990 and 2004. Just one outbreak can have devastating consequences on the health of students, productivity in the classroom, and even on school district’s finances. In 2003, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld a $4.6 million verdict against a school district after 11 children were sickened from E. coli linked to ground beef in tacos

The most common pathogens responsible for school outbreaks include E. coli, Clostridium perfringens, Norovirus, and Salmonella, according to CSPI’s database. Infections from Norovirus and Hepatitis A are often linked to infected food handlers and other critical violations in school cafeterias. Salmonella, which is common on raw poultry, can spread to fresh produce if those foods are stored too closely together. If not cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, hamburgers and other foods containing ground beef can harbor E. coli.

To protect school children from food poisoning, CSPI recommends the following measures:

State and local governments should adopt up-to-date safety standards and receive adequate funding to ensure compliance with federal inspection regulations outlined in the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
Schools should request timely inspections, employ certified food handlers, and use the best food safety procedures.
Parents should monitor conditions in their child’s cafeteria and advocate for optimal food safety policies.

CSPI’s complete report, “Making the Grade,” is on the web at www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/makingthegrade.pdf.

High Level of Food-Borne Illnesses Reported in High School Cafeterias

National Pest Management Association Advises Better Pest Control Practices

In response to recently released data on food borne illness outbreaks in American high schools, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) advises better pest control practices to protect against pest-related food contamination.

In 20 jurisdictions across the country, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) reported unacceptable conditions in high school cafeterias. These conditions included the presence of roaches, both dead and alive, rodent droppings and improper food storage and handling techniques.

“The pests, such as rodents and roaches, highlighted in CSPI’s inspections are major threats to food safety and consumer health,” said Cindy Mannes, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association. “As an industry, we advise schools to partner with a licensed pest professional in implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program to help prevent pest related health and property threats. NPMA encourages IPM as a responsible pest control approach for protecting students and faculty.”

Integrated Pest Management involves common sense and sound solutions for treating and controlling pests, which incorporate three steps – inspection, identification and treatment. Treatment options vary from sealing cracks and removing food and water sources to pesticide treatments when necessary.
NPMA offers the following pest-proofing and inspection tips for schools:

Seal up cracks and holes outside of the facility.
Keep food sealed and stored properly, particularly in kitchens and cafeterias.
Clean high-volume areas daily where crumbs and trash are more likely to build up.
Dispose of garbage regularly and store in sealed containers.
Keep crawl spaces ventilated and dry.
Look for rodent droppings and gnawing marks in food sources, which indicate a pest problem.
Call a qualified pest professional for additional advice and treatment.

“Regular pest control service treatments by a licensed and trained pest control professional are the best way to protect against pest related infestations, property damage and food contamination,” advises Mannes.

Autism Highest in New Jersey

Prevalence of the Autism Spectrum Disorders in Multiple Areas of the United States, Surveillance Years 2000 and 2002

A Report from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network

What is the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network?

The ADDM Network is a group of programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine the prevalence of the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in United States communities. Its goals are:

The average ASD prevalence was 6.7 per 1,000 for 8-year-olds in 2000 and 6.6 per 1,000 8-year-olds in 2002 in several areas of the United States. That’s about 1 in 150 children in these communities. Most ADDM Network sites found 5.2 to 7.6 per 1,000 eight-year-old children with ASDs in 2002. The prevalence was much lower (3.3 per 1,000) in Alabama and higher (10.6 per 1,000) in New Jersey in 2002. Prevalence stayed the same from 2000 to 2002 in four of the six sites with data for both years. It rose slightly in Georgia and significantly in West Virginia, indicating the need for tracking prevalence over time.

More information about the 2000 surveillance year

Approximately 4.5 percent of U.S. eight-year-old children (i.e., children born in 1992) from six states - Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and West Virginia. A total of 1,252 eight-year olds were identified as having an ASD.
Six sites collected data: Arizona (one county including metro Phoenix), Georgia (five counties in metro Atlanta), Maryland (four counties plus Baltimore City), New Jersey (four counties including the city of Newark), South Carolina (23 counties in the Coastal and PeeDee regions), and West Virginia (entire state).
Prevalence of ASDs among eight-year-old children ranged from 4.5 per 1,000 (West Virginia) to 9.9 per 1,000 (New Jersey) with the other four sites from 5.5 to 6.5 children with ASD per 1,000 eight-year-old children. (Average across all six sites was 6.7 per 1,000 children.)
ASD prevalence was higher among boys than among girls, ranging from three to more than five boys for every girl with ASD.

Boys: 6.6 per 1,000 (West Virginia) to 14.6 per 1,000 (New Jersey)
Girls: 2.0 per 1,000 (Georgia) to 4.2 per 1,000 (New Jersey)

ASD prevalence among white non-Hispanic children ranged from 4.5 per 1,000 (West Virginia) to 11.0 per 1,000 (New Jersey). For black non-Hispanic children, ASD prevalence ranged from 5.3 per 1,000 (Georgia) to 10.6 per 1,000 (New Jersey).
The median age of earliest ASD diagnosis ranged from four years, four months (New Jersey and West Virginia) to four years, eight months (Georgia). But, for 69 –88 percent of children with an ASD, concerns about the child’s development had been recorded before three years of age.

More information about the 2002 surveillance year

Approximately 10 percent of U.S. eight-year-old children (i.e., children born in 1994), from 14 states - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A total of 2,685 eight-year-olds were identified as having an ASD.
Fourteen sites collected data: Alabama (32 counties), Arizona (one county including metro Phoenix), Arkansas (entire state), Colorado (two counties in metro Denver), Georgia (five counties in metro Atlanta), Maryland (four counties plus Baltimore City), Missouri (five counties in metro St. Louis), New Jersey (four counties including the city of Newark), North Carolina (eight central counties), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County), South Carolina (23 counties in the Coastal and PeeDee regions), Utah (three counties around metro Salt Lake City), West Virginia (entire state), Wisconsin (10 counties in the southeast including Milwaukee)
ASD prevalence among eight-year-old children was 3.3 per 1,000 (Alabama) to 10.6 per 1,000 (New Jersey). But, 12 of the 14 sites had a closer range of 5.2 to 7.6 per 1,000 children (average across all 14 sties was 6.6 per 1,000 eight-year-old children).
In 2002, four sites (Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) relied on information from health sources. On average, the prevalence was lower in those sites than in the other 10 sites that combined information from health and education sources. In both study years, many ASD cases were found through education sources alone.
ASD prevalence was higher among boys than among girls, ranging from more than three to more than six boys for every girl with ASD.

Boys: 5.0 per 1,000 (Alabama) to 16.8 per 1,000 (New Jersey)
Girls: 1.4 per 1,000 (Alabama) to 4.0 per 1,000 (New Jersey)

ASD prevalence among white non-Hispanic children ranged from 3.3 per 1,000 (Alabama) to 12.5 per 1,000 (New Jersey). For black non-Hispanic children, ASD prevalence ranged from 3.4 per 1,000 (Alabama) to 7.7 per 1,000 (New Jersey). Among Hispanic children, it ranged from 0.3 per 1,000 (Wisconsin) to 9.7 per 1,000 (New Jersey).
The median age of earliest ASD diagnosis ranged from four years, one month (Utah) to five years, six months (Alabama). But for 51–91 percent of children with an ASD, developmental concerns had been recorded before three years of age.

To see complete report:
The ADDM Network’s first two ASD prevalence reports were released in the February 9, 2007, issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summaries (www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_ss.html).

The College Board Announces States' Results in the 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation

A Larger Percentage of High School Graduates Achieve High AP® Standards

Two New Studies Confirm Relationship Between AP and College Success

States that Lead the Way in AP Performance: NY, MD, UT, VA, CA, MA, FL, CT, NC, and CO

Almost 15 percent of public school graduates from the class of 2006 achieved during their high school years an AP® Exam grade of 3 or better (the score predictive of college success). This achievement represents a significant improvement since the class of 2000, when just 10 percent of public school graduates were achieving this result. The College Board, the not-for-profit membership association that administers the AP Program, released the third annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, which also showed that since 2000, all 50 states and the District of Columbia achieved an increase in the percentage of high school graduates that had earned an exam grade of 3 or higher on the college-level AP Exams.

The Report also highlights new independent research, which bolsters previous research findings that students who participate in AP have significantly better college grades and college graduation rates than academically and economically similar students who did not take the demanding courses and exams.

"Educators, administrators, and policymakers deserve tremendous credit for enabling a wider segment of our nation's youth than ever before to achieve success on an AP Exam," said College Board President Gaston Caperton. "After comparing students with similar academic and economic profiles, these new studies show that the students who also succeed on an AP Exam are better prepared for the rigors of college, and more likely to obtain a bachelor's degree. Because of such findings, we must do more to ensure that every student receives adequate preparation for rigorous courses like AP and those they will experience in college.

Schools need to start preparing students as early as middle school so they are equipped to take on the challenges of AP courses once they get to high school."

Of the estimated 2.7 million students who graduated from U.S. public schools in 2006, 406,000 (14.8 percent) earned an AP Exam grade of 3 or higher on one or more AP Exams while in high school. This is up from 14.1 percent for the of 2005 and 10.2 percent for the of 2000.

New York, Maryland, Utah, Virginia, and California all saw more than 20 percent of their students graduate having earned an AP Exam grade of 3 or better. Massachusetts, Florida, and Connecticut are close to achieving this goal. AP achievements for each state's class of 2000 and class of 2006 are detailed in the report. (See 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, Table 1, page 7.)

With 75 percent of U.S. high school graduates entering college, it is clear that entrance to college is becoming more accessible. But high college dropout rates and the fact that about half of all college freshmen are taking at least one remedial course demonstrate that secondary schools need to do more than just help students gain admission to college.

"If we are to succeed in democratizing what really matters—completion of a college degree—the gap between high school graduation standards and freshman college course requirements must be eliminated," said Caperton.

New Research on AP and College Success

The Report highlights two new research studies from the state of Texas.

A new study conducted by University of Texas researchers Leslie Keng and Barbara Dodd finds that students who placed out of introductory college courses as a result of successful AP Exam grades earned higher college GPAs and took more credit hours in the subject area of their exam than non-AP students. The study followed four cohorts of entering freshmen (1998–2001) at the University of Texas at Austin and accounted for differences in the ability levels of the AP and non-AP students by matching high school rank and college admission test scores. (See 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, Figures 2 and 3, pages 12–13.)

Another new study by Texas researchers Linda Hargrove, Donn Godin, and Barbara Dodd followed five cohorts of students (1998–2002) who enrolled at any Texas public higher education institution after graduating from a Texas public high school. The study provides an extensive comparison of students' performances on several college outcomes—including first- and fourth-year grade point averages and four-year graduation status—in relation to the various types of AP and non-AP experiences they had in high school, aggregated across all AP subject areas. Results showed that students who had taken one or more AP courses and exams and students who had taken one or more AP courses but no exam significantly outperformed non-AP participants on all college outcomes in all years, after statistically controlling for SAT® score and economic status. (See 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, Figure 4, page 13.)

Equity Gaps in AP

There has been increased diversity in AP classrooms, especially for Latino students. However, African American and American Indian/Alaska Native students remain significantly underrepresented in AP classrooms. In public schools nationwide, African American students make up 13.7 percent of the student population, but only 6.9 percent of AP Exam takers, and American Indian/Alaska Native make up 1.1 percent of the student population, but only 0.6 percent of the AP examinee population. (See 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, Figure 1, page 9.)

Latino students are well represented in AP classrooms nationally in public schools—they represent 14 percent of the student population and 14 percent of AP Examinees. However, Latino students remain underrepresented in AP programs in many states.

Despite the strides that have been made by educators to provide traditionally underrepresented students with AP courses, lower performances on AP Exams indicate that often these teachers and students are not receiving adequate preparation for the rigors of an AP course. As a result, traditionally underrepresented students currently demonstrate significantly lower performances on AP Exams. (See 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, Appendix B, pages 84–87 for AP Exam grades by race/ethnicity for each subject area.)

"Florida is one state that has dramatically expanded AP participation and improved performance among Latino students," said Caperton. "In Florida, the percentage of AP students who are Latino actually exceeds the percentage of students that are Latino in the population."

Florida has used state funding to provide teacher professional development, and uses PSAT/NMSQT® scores to identify and encourage "diamond in the rough" students to try the challenge of an AP course. The state also rewards schools and teachers for each additional student they help to achieve a score of 3 or higher on an AP Exam.

New Developments in the AP Program

The 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation highlights some of the newest developments in the AP Program. These include:

The AP Course Audit

The College Board has implemented an AP Course Audit designed to ensure that each course labeled "AP" provides students with the content knowledge and resources needed for them to have a successful college-level experience while still in high school. The AP Course Audit was created at the request of secondary school and college members of the College Board who sought a means for the College Board to provide teachers and administrators with clear guidelines on curricular and resource requirements that must be in place for AP courses; and to help colleges and universities better interpret secondary school courses marked "AP" on students' transcripts.

More information about the AP Course Audit can be found at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit.

Chinese Language and Culture Initiatives

To address the gaps between the desire to offer Chinese language courses and the current capabilities in U.S. schools, the College Board and China's Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) formed a historic partnership and developed a five-year plan to support the growth of Chinese language instruction in U.S. schools and to build a solid foundation for the AP Chinese program. More information about programs offered through the initiative to serve schools, teachers, and students can be found at www.collegeboard.com/k12chinese.

AP Courses and Exams in Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese Language and Culture

The 2006-07 school year saw the launch of the first AP courses in Chinese and Japanese. The introduction of these two new AP courses is an important step in the commitment by the College Board to further multiculturalism and multilingualism in secondary school education. When announcing these new AP courses, College Board President Gaston Caperton stated, "World events make it ever more obvious that a broad knowledge and understanding of other languages and cultures is essential for our young people." These new AP courses were designed by task forces comprised of renowned college faculty and master secondary school teachers of Chinese and Japanese.

Celebrating Exemplary AP High Schools

Part II of the 2007 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation uses data from all schools participating in AP nationwide to identify schools currently leading in AP participation and performance. This year California, Florida, New York, and Texas have the most schools (public and independent) cited in the Report. Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, are each cited five times in the Report, more than any other school in the country.

Part II also includes feedback on student learning from past AP Exams so AP teachers and administrators can revise and refocus their syllabi to address weaknesses or deficiencies in their curricula.

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program® enables students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school. Thirty-seven courses in 22 subject areas are offered. Based on their performance on rigorous AP Exams, all of which require students to craft written responses to open-ended questions that are scored by current college faculty and AP consultants, students can earn credit, advanced placement, or both for college. More than 3,600 colleges and universities around the world recognize AP for credit, placement, and/or admissions decisions, including more than 90 percent of U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities.

Leading the Nation

States with the greatest percentage of graduating public school seniors having scored 3 or higher on an AP Exam while in high school:

New York (22.7%)
Maryland (22.0%)
Utah (20.8%)
Virginia (20.7%)
California (20.1%)
Massachusetts (19.8%)
Florida (19.6%)
Connecticut (19.4%)
North Carolina (18.0%)
Colorado (17.9%)

The Most Improvement in One Year

States with the greatest 2005 to 2006 increase in the percentage of graduating public school seniors having scored 3 or higher on an AP Exam while in high school: Arkansas, New Hampshire, Delaware, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia

The Most Improvement Since 2000

States with the greatest 2000 to 2006 increase percentage of graduating public school seniors having scored 3 or higher on an AP Exam while in high school: Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Washington, Florida

Eliminating Equity Gaps

Alabama, Alaska, the District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia have each achieved the significant milestone of seeing Latino student representation in U.S. public schools in AP courses outpace the Latino student population.

California and Texas, states with large Latino populations in U.S. public schools, are within reach of this goal.

To see the full report: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/2007/2007_ap-report-nation.pdf

ETS's America's Perfect Storm Report Has Converging Forces Threatening Our Future

Three powerful forces — inadequate literacy skills among large segments of the population, the continuing evolution of the economy and the nation’s job structure, and an ongoing shift in the demographic profile of the nation, powered by the highest immigration rates in almost a century — are creating a “perfect storm” that could have dire consequences for our nation, according to a report by Educational Testing Service.

“America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future,” a report by ETS’s Policy Information Center, warns that America is in the midst of a perfect storm that, if unaddressed, will continue to feed on itself, further dividing us socially and economically, jeopardizing American competitiveness and threatening our democratic institutions. In the report, authors Irwin Kirsch and Kentaro Yamamoto of ETS, Henry Braun of Boston College and Andrew Sum of Northeastern University contend that the convergence of the three forces has serious implications for future generations and could turn the American dream into an American tragedy.

“America’s Perfect Storm is a wake-up call with implications for education, business, policymakers and every parent and child,” says ETS President and CEO Kurt Landgraf. “It describes forces at play in society that will affect all of us in the near future. The American dream is the idea that everyone has the opportunity to make a living, provide for a family, and raise children who will be better educated and better off. If we fail to act now on the warnings sounded in this report, the next generation of children will be worse off than their parents for the first time in our country’s history. The American dream could turn into an American tragedy for many.”

The report also offers hope that if we act now and develop new policies that will increase literacy skills across the population, we can reduce the impact of the storm, help our nation grow together, and retain our leading role in the world.

“America’s Perfect Storm describes brilliantly the major challenges facing American workers and our economy as the result of an education system that fails to educate our young people, an increasingly technological global economy, and major demographic shifts in our population,” says Arthur J. Rothkopf, Senior Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Unless we act aggressively and promptly to reform our public education system, the standard of living of U.S. workers will decline, and the U.S. economy will become far less competitive.”

One of the major forces contributing to America’s perfect storm is inadequate literacy skills among large segments of the population. “Individuals are expected to take more responsibility for managing various aspects of their own lives, such as planning for retirement, navigating the health care system, and managing their careers,” Kirsch says. “Yet half of adults lack the reading and math skills to use these systems effectively and, therefore, will face challenges fulfilling their roles as parents, citizens and workers. Perhaps of greater concern is the fact that this problem is not limited to adults. Our high school graduation rate, at 70 percent, is far behind that of other countries, and our students lag behind many of our trading partners in reading, math and science.”

The second force is a dramatically changing economy, driven by technological innovation and globalization. “The economy itself is experiencing seismic changes, resulting in new sources of wealth, new patterns of international trade, and a shift in the balance of capital over labor,” Braun says. “These changes are causing a profound restructuring of the U.S. workplace, with a larger proportion of job growth occurring in higher-level occupations that require a college education, such as management, professional, technical, and executive-level sales. The wage gap is widening between the most- and least-skilled workers; men with bachelor’s degrees can expect to earn almost twice as much over their lifetimes as those without.”

The third force contributing to America’s “perfect storm” is sweeping demographic changes. “Half of the U.S. population growth into the next decade is expected to come from new immigrants, which will have a dramatic impact on the composition of the workforce, as well as on the general population,” Kirsch says. “While immigrants come from diverse backgrounds with varying levels of education, we should recognize that 34 percent of new immigrants arrive without a high school diploma, and of those, 80 percent cannot speak English well, if at all.”

Although each of these forces is powerful in its own right, it is their interaction over time that can have momentous consequences. “Our nation has a choice to make,” Sum says. “If we continue on our present course, we will gradually lose ground to other countries and, in the process, become more divided socially and economically. Or we can invest in policies that will help us to grow together, policies that will result in better opportunities for all Americans.”

Download the full report, “America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future,” for free at: http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/AmericasPerfectStorm.pdf

Purchase copies for $15 (prepaid) by writing to the Policy Information Center, ETS, MS 19-R, Rosedale Road, Princeton, NJ 08541-0001; by calling (609) 734-5949; or by sending an e-mail to pic@ets.org.

High School to College and Careers: Aligning State Policies 2007

States need to develop college-readiness standards that high school students are expected to meet before graduation, says a new Southern Regional Education Board report.

The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps government and education leaders in its 16 member states work together to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. Member states include: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

High School to College and Careers: Aligning State Policies 2007 calls for the 16 SREB states to develop clear college-readiness academic standards for high school students, to rework high school tests to measure the standards, and to train teachers to use the standards in classrooms. The effort is aimed at curbing the number of students who must take remedial courses in college and improving high school and college graduation rates.

“College readiness is one of the most important but overlooked issues in education today,” said SREB President Dave Spence, a former senior higher education official in California, Florida and Georgia.

“ACT Inc. estimates that as many as four in five college freshmen aren’t ready for college-level course work in English, math and science. We must help more students make their way to higher levels of education if we are to see the economic and social progress that all of our states need.”

The new report details high school graduation requirements and tests for all 16 SREB states, allowing for easy state-to-state comparisons, and outlines programs and scholarships these states have implemented to promote smooth transitions and higher graduation rates.

Programs and requirements for a student's transition from high school to college and career vary considerably among SREB states. Differing state policies govern many key areas of college readiness, including: the courses and tests required in high school, early outreach, joint enrollment programs, college admission and placement standards, colleges' reports to high schools about their graduates' performance, and state financial aid. This update to the 2005 and 2002 reports provides a one-page summary of each state's policies in these areas.

View This Publication: http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/06E20_Aligning_2007.pdf

Recommendations for Improving the Teacher Quality Provisions of the No Child Left Behind and Higher Education Acts

As part of its comprehensive, multiyear study of state and local implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy hosted two meetings last fall with leaders from nearly two dozen education organizations in Washington, D.C. to address potential improvements to the teacher provisions of NCLB.

The recommendations that received the broadest support during the two roundtable sessions are included in Principles for Reauthorizing the Teacher Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Higher Education Act, which is intended to offer policymakers a set of principles to consider as they undertake reauthorization efforts; they include:

Encourage states to develop methods to measure teacher effectiveness which could be incorporated into teacher certification and licensure systems for veteran teachers; and refine the NCLB definition of a highly qualified teacher to address the unique circumstances of certain kinds of teachers, such as special education teachers and teachers in rural areas who teach multiple subjects;
Support a comprehensive approach to recruiting and retaining teachers in high-need schools by offering financial incentives, high-quality residency programs, improved professional development and working conditions; and

Provide resources to states to develop and implement comprehensive data systems that can help to better understand which conditions contribute to teacher and student success and how to support teachers.

To see the full report: http://www.cep-dc.org/nclb/tqp/CEP%20Teacher%20Quality%20Principles.pdf

Increasing Accountability for Teacher Preparation Programs

All 16 Southern Regional Education Board member states have an accountability system for their teacher preparation programs, but a new report from SREB recommends that colleges and universities — not just their schools of education — should be accountable for producing quality teachers.

Only six SREB states (Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas) currently hold entire institutions responsible for producing these graduates, according to the report, Increasing Accountability for Teacher Preparation Programs.

“Other states should establish similar policies,” said Lynn Cornett, SREB senior vice president. “Education leaders must continue to push for university-wide accountability, higher teacher performance criteria and more research into what makes a teacher preparation program effective.”

The need for states to ensure that teacher preparation programs produce quality teachers for all students has long been critical, the report asserts, but the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, requiring a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom, has raised the stakes for most states even higher.

Among the recent improvements in some states, Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina now require on-the-job evaluations of beginning teachers as part of each state’s accountability system. Louisiana has the broadest range of accountability measures in place for teacher preparation programs, and by 2009 the state will examine the student achievement in every new teacher’s classroom as part of the program. Florida now requires graduates to demonstrate all 12 of the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, according to the report.

In the past five years alone, many SREB states also have nearly doubled the number of teaching licenses issued to persons who completed nontraditional, or “alternative,” teacher programs, especially in subject-shortage areas such as mathematics and science. Kentucky and Texas have more than tripled their numbers. Maryland is developing a system for assessing alternative teacher preparation programs.

“The explosion of alternative programs means that each state must make sure that these programs are held to the same high standards as traditional programs,” Cornett said.

For more information about your state’s accountability system for teacher preparation, see the full report, including state-by-state details, at http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/06E18_Increasing_Accountability.pdf

The Effect of Schools of Choice on Parental Involvement

Public schools of choice appear to have no effect on increasing parent participation in activities or meetings (as compared to traditional public schools), but they do provide a statistically and substantively significant boost to parents’ hours spent volunteering. Private secular schools appear to decrease parental attendance at meetings and activities while there is some evidence that they increase the amount of volunteer time by a magnitude similar to public schools of choice. Private religious schools markedly decrease the participation of parents (as measured in both attendance at events and meetings and hours spent volunteering) relative to those in traditional public schools.

To see the full report: http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP133.pdf

Many States' Academic Standards Appear Low, SREB Report Finds

A new report by the Southern Regional Education Board shows that state academic standards for the early and middle grades need to be raised in many states across the South and beyond.

The SREB report compares the percentages of students performing at the Basic and Proficient achievement levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress with the percentages meeting state standards on state tests. For the report, low standards are indicated when more students meet state standards (by more than 5 percentage points) in reading, mathematics and science on state tests than meet the NAEP Basic level on the national tests.

By that measure, SREB’s 16 member states are making progress in getting their standards right in some grades and subjects, particularly fourth-grade reading. But state standards for eighth-grade mathematics, for example, appear to be low in seven SREB states: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Nearly all SREB states have academic standards that are not rigorous enough in one or more subjects, the report shows. For example, Florida appears to have high standards in fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics but not in fourth-grade reading. South Carolina is the only SREB state that appears to have set standards high in reading, mathematics and science in the elementary and middle grades.

SREB states were among the first in the nation to set comprehensive state standards for K-12 schools, but “getting those standards right and keeping them right may be the most important task facing public education today,” asserts the report, Getting State Standards Right in the Early and Middle Grades.

“High standards are critical to helping all public school graduates develop the knowledge and skills they need to become productive members of the work force and to prepare for college,” said Dave Spence, the president of SREB.

To see the full report: http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/GettingStateStandardsRight.asp

New Report Focuses on How Public Schools Have Promoted the Common Good in the United States

Public education plays a vital role in America’s democratic society, and the public spirited missions of public schools remain essential today, according to a new report by the Washington-D.C. based Center on Education Policy. The report, Why We Still Need Public Schools: Public Education for the Common Good, highlights the history and importance of public education in the United States, dating back to its establishment as a necessary institution for the young republic and Horace Mann’s efforts to promote a common school for all. The report focuses on:

How and why the U.S. system of public education came into being;
The six core public missions that public schools have been expected to fulfill, such as unifying a diverse population, preparing people for democratic citizenship, and ensuring equal opportunities for all children; and
Why these missions are relevant today and why the nation must maintain them while pursuing reforms to help all schools live up to these core ideals.

The report is available on the Web at: http://www.cep-dc.org/PublicSchoolFacts/why/whywestillneedpublicschools.pdf

Lessons from the London Challenge

The London Challenge is a five-year initiative to improve underachieving secondary schools in the London (England) region. The Challenge was implemented to speed up the improvement of these schools as a complement to a nationwide drive for better education. This approach stems from research studies such as those completed by David Hargreaves and Michael Fullan. The Challenge follows Hargreaves’ assertion that one of the keys to success in school improvement is the development of a network between teachers to share and build on their innovations and knowledge. It also considers Fullan’s emphasis on the importance of transformation across the entire education system.

The Challenge aims to transform secondary schools across London and break the link between social and economic deprivation and low educational outcomes.

The report is available on the Web at: http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/LondonChallenge/LONDON%20CHALLENGE%20FINAL.pdf

Commentary: http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/LondonChallenge/London%20Challenge-Alan%20Ruby%20FINAL.pdf

http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/LondonChallenge/Commentary%20on%20Rachel%20Shatten%20Graham%20Down%20FINAL.pdf

10 Strategies for Improving High School Graduation Rates and Student Achievement

This report contains 10 best practices for improving high school graduation rates and student achievement. The practices include setting up a state accountability system; getting middle grades students ready for high school; strengthening the transition from the middle grades to ninth grade; requiring that all high school students complete a solid academic core; having high school students take additional academic courses beyond the required core; creating partnerships with employers and colleges to provide students access to high-quality career/technical studies; requiring schools to develop an extra-help system; getting students to make full use of the senior year; providing additional support for the lowest-performing high schools in the state; and developing teams of district and state leaders to help low-performing high schools.

To see the full report: http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/2006Pubs/06V65TenStrategiesGraduationRates.asp

Looking for Leadership Assessing the Case for Mayoral Control of Urban School Systems

Today, a number of large cities— including Chicago, Boston, and New York—have school boards appointed by the mayor where they once had elected boards. Supporters of mayoral control contend that this gives urban districts the focused, energetic leadership they need to enact tough reforms. They regard mayoral control as a way to overcome the dysfunctional school boards that have been a legacy of the early 20th century Progressive school reforms.

Boston is a model of how this can work when done well. Boston’s mayor was given control of the school board in 1991 and a few years later tapped Thomas Payzant, a former San Diego superintendent, to run the system. In 2006, Payzant concluded a heralded 11-year run as the district claimed the Broad Prize for Urban Education. Consistent mayoral support from the stolid Tom Menino throughout Payzant’s tenure gave him the time he needed to right a troubled district.

A similar success story may be unfolding in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was given control of the New York City school board in 2002. While they have not proceeded without controversy, Bloomberg’s policies have generally received high marks. It is too early to judge the success of the Bloomberg-Klein reforms, but it is clear that they have moved New York past the confusion and petty turmoil that currently bedevils Saint Louis.

What the Research Says

Unfortunately, the research is largely indeterminant and there exist very few rigorous empirical studies on the effects of mayoral control. Just one study, a 2003 analysis by Kenneth Wong and Francis Shen, has examined multiple districts and reported quantifiable benefits associated with mayoral control. The researchers found mayoral control to be linked to increases in student achievement, especially in the elementary grades. They alsofound positive effects on financial and administrative management. Given their small sample size and the unavoidable selection bias inherent in the sample, the findings should be treated with due caution.

In 2005, Wong and Shen conducted another analysis, examining finances and staffing in the nation’s 100 largest urban school districts. They reported that mayoral takeovers did not deliver the promised boost in financial stability and concluded that “no general consensus is emerging about the overall effectiveness of mayoral takeover.”

The handful of systematic studies that preceded Wong and Shen’s efforts reported equally ambiguous results. A 1967 study examined 67 large cities to determine how the structure of school districts effects educational outcomes and found “no significant differences in educational outcomes between school systems with elected and appointed boards.” A 1978 study of elected school boards did not find any compelling evidence that elected school boards are more responsive to public demands.

A 1997 case study of mayoral control in Chicago found some evidence that appointed officials were “less accountable to particular constituencies and… therefore, better able to put system-wide concerns above constituency demands.” But the research made clear that this may have been due to Chicago’s unusually strong and engaged mayor.

Weighing the Pros and Cons

Most of the scholarly research on the merits of appointed school boards has focused on theoretical considerations and anecdotal evidence. Critics of elected boards contend that a lack of attention and electoral involvement makes it difficult for voters to hold their representatives even loosely accountable. This voter apathy, in turn, can enable well-organized interest groups, such as public employee unions, to exert disproportionate influence. Elected boards have also been blamed for a lack of coherence and continuity, a lack of discipline, and a tendency to micromanage. And finally, elected school boards operate in isolation from the city’s political and civic leadership, cutting them off from valuable sources of political capital to pursue needed reforms.

On the other hand, scholars raise several important concerns about appointed boards. Appointed boards tend to be less transparent than elected boards, and minority voices are more likely to be silenced or marginalized. There is also a risk that politically savvy mayors and their appointed boards may eventually settle into comfortable accommodations with special interest groups. Mayors themselves can also be a problem if they politicize school boards in self-serving ways or neglect education in favor of other issues.

Washington, D.C., provides a cautionary tale. In 2000, the D.C. school board was amended to include four mayoral appointees and five members elected by the public. This “hybrid” model was hailed as a superior alternative to straight mayoral control. Today, the hybrid design is widely regarded as ineffectual.

In fact, former mayor Anthony Williams, after pushing for the plan, eventually derided his partial authority over the school board as “trying to drive a car with one pedal.”

To see the full report: http://showmeinstitute.org/smi_study_7.pdf

Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the 2004–05 Teacher Follow-up Survey

Selected Findings

• Of the 3,214,900 public school teachers who were teaching during the 2003–04 school year, 84 percent remained at the same school (“stayers”), 8 percent moved to a different school (“movers”), and 8 percent left the profession (“leavers”) during the following year. Among private school teachers, 81 percent were
stayers, 6 percent were movers, and 14 percent were leavers.

• Among public school teachers younger than age 30, about 15 percent moved to another school, while 9 percent left teaching. Among private school teachers in
the same age category, 12 percent were movers and 20 percent were leavers.

• Thirty-eight percent of public and 33 percent of private school movers rated the opportunity for a better teaching assignment as very important or extremely
important in their decision to change schools. Additionally, 46 percent of private school teacher movers rated better salary or benefits as a very important or
extremely important reason in their decision to change schools.

• Twenty-five percent of public and 30 percent of private school leavers rated pursuing a position other than that of a K–12 teacher as very important or
extremely important in their decision to leave K–12 teaching. Additionally, 31 percent of public school leavers rated retiring and 25 percent of private school
leavers rated pregnancy and child caring as very important or extremely important in their decision to leave K–12 teaching.

• Twenty-nine percent of public school teacher leavers were working in a position in the field of education, but not as a regular K–12 classroom teacher, while 12
percent of public school teacher leavers were working in an occupation outside the field of education.

• Fifty-five percent of public school teachers who left teaching but continued to work in the field of education reported that they had more control over their own
work in their new position than in teaching, while 65 percent of public school leavers who worked outside the field of education felt that their workload in their
new position was more manageable and that they were better able to balance their personal and work life.

• Of the private school teacher leavers who were either working in the field of education (but not teaching) or were working outside the field of education, 51
percent reported that the workload in their new position was more manageable than in teaching.

To see the full report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/2007307.pdf

Flexible Leadership: The Key to Successful Early Childhood Education and Care

There is no single style of adult leadership that is suitable for all types of nursery, day care provision, or kindergarten, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

The research, led by Professor Carol Aubrey of the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick involved a team of researchers looking into the qualities of leadership that made for the most effective care and education for three to five-year-olds. The research was based on 12 case studies and aimed to analyse what leadership meant, both to leaders and staff working in early childhood education. The project sought to establish what were the essential components and characteristics of effective leadership and also sought to provide those working with pre-school children a guide to best practice.

Key findings included:

That the most successful early childhood leaders were those who created a 'participative culture' and gave their staff the opportunity to exert ’bottom-up’ influence on their own professional practice.
That effective leadership involved adopting different forms of leadership in order to provide different services and to achieve greater clarity of professional roles.
That even the best possible models of early childhood leadership are constrained by internal institutional factors and governmental or local authority regulations.
The researchers spoke both to staff working in early childhood units and those carrying out leadership roles. Staff - who were mainly female and under forty - were observed to be good at two-way interactive teamwork and also showed great enthusiasm to take part in leadership training programmes.

Commenting on the findings Professor Aubrey said: "Our study has uncovered the need for greater application of models of leadership that are not hierarchical, that distribute responsibility and acknowledge the wide range of skills available in a multi-professional team. But it is also important to recognise that a level of maturity within the organisation has to be achieved before this can be effective.

"In addition, there is strong argument for embedding early childhood leadership training in initial training qualifications. This should continue through the career cycle, including training opportunities for those not currently working in children’s centres and thus ineligible for the new National Professional Qualification for Integrated Centre Leadership."

Aiding Poor Readers

When Samantha Urban began fifth grade, reading was still a halting, baffling chore for her.

"I could sound out the words," the Moon Middle School student recalled. "But I'd have to stop after each one. I'd kind of get lost."

It made for many tense nights doing homework, said her mother, Michelle.

"She'd say, 'Reading just doesn't click, Mum. I just can't get it. Why can't I get it?' and her top would be ready to blow," Samantha's mother said.

Then, Samantha was selected to be one of about 770 children in Allegheny County to participate in an intensive, experimental reading program called Power4Kids. For nine months, they got an hour a day of small-group reading intervention from specially trained teachers, using one of four well-regarded commercial reading curriculums.

Today, the eighth-grader is doing much better, and this year, she stopped taking special education classes in reading…

But overall, the results of the study disappointed its leaders.

Even though most of the Power4Kids third- and fifth-graders did better than a control group that didn't receive the special instruction, they didn't come close to closing the gap with good, mainstream readers in the same schools.

The third-graders in the study were able to close about two-thirds of the gap in word identification skills, but showed few gains in reading comprehension. The fifth-graders made even less progress…

Power4Kids had been touted as the first large-scale, school-based comparison of remedial reading programs in the nation. It was led by Joseph Torgeson, director of the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University.

The good news, he said, is that Power4Kids proved that these remedial programs can have a big impact on the ability of children to decode accurately the sound and meaning of individual words.

What was much harder, he said, was getting most of the children to read fluently enough to make major progress in comprehending sentences and paragraphs.
That's a particular challenge for children who have dyslexia, a brain abnormality that makes it hard for them to figure out the sounds of words.

"The thing we don't have any demonstration of at all," Dr. Torgeson said, "is if you take kids who are really far behind in reading, and you give them a strong dose of intervention, whether over the long term they'll be able to sustain those gains."

The Full Power4Kids Report - March 2006 : http://www.haan4kids.org/power4kids/CTRG%20Exec%20Sum.pdf)

Does that mean there is little hope for poor readers?

Not at all, he and other experts say, but parents, legislators and school officials need to come to grips with how much time and effort it will take to turn subpar readers into good ones.

"It will mean the bloody hardest, most painful changes in the way we're doing business in school systems that you can imagine," said Paul Worthington, director of research and development for Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, one of the most respected remedial reading programs.

Lindamood-Bell has 40 centers in the United States and one in London, and has contracts to work with 38 school districts in nine states, including two in Eastern Pennsylvania.

It also has one striking success story.

The Pueblo, Colo., school district has incorporated the Lindamood-Bell system into every grade from kindergarten through high school, Dr. Worthington said, and has gone from being one of the worst-performing districts in state assessment tests to one of the best.

To accomplish that, though, every reading teacher in the district took a full year of training, Lindamood-Bell kept a mentor on site for the first year of the program, and even then, it took seven years to turn the scores around.

That has taught him that "if you're going to get involved in a serious school reform initiative, it's going to take a minimum of four to five years to turn any school into a robust learning environment..."

Dr. Torgeson pointed to the Reading First initiative that is part of that law, which is pouring $1 billion a year into K-3 reading programs in more than 5,000 schools around the country.

He also noted that "there is just an enormous amount that's been learned about reading over the past 20 years."

The trouble, he said, is that "most people don't know about it."

The reading instruction that takes place in most schools is particularly poor at helping children with dyslexia, he said, because they often need many hours of phonetically-based remedial work….

Marcel Just, a brain researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, said he would love to see a special school for reading-disabled children in Pittsburgh, similar to the renowned Landmark School in Prides Crossing, Mass.

Robert Broudo, the Landmark School's headmaster, said the school selects students with strong intellectual ability, even if they have serious reading deficits.
It then gives them concentrated help with their reading difficulties, he said, including one-on-one tutoring each day and grouping students by reading ability in each of their classes.

The results? About 90 percent of Landmark's graduates go on to college, and all of them passed Massachusetts' state graduation exam last year, compared with 65 percent of special education students elsewhere in the state….

To read the complete article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07043/761405-298.stm

Opportunity Lost?

Impact of Thornton on At Risk Student Funding, Services & Achievement

….Nearly $500 million in funding justified as needed by at risk students and allocated based on at risk student counts has apparently resulted in no increase in services for these students. This raises issues of credibility and means that at risk students are not receiving additional tutoring, summer school and other necessary supports.

Where Did the Money Go? Rather than spending the additional money on new services for at risk students, school districts folded the Thornton at risk funding into their general operating budgets and used it for various expenses, including heating schools, eliminating deficits, providing health benefits and paying for salary increases. This occurred even though districts received a large infusion of other funding through Thornton to improve general instruction for all students.

There is nothing surprising or disturbing that Thornton at risk funds paid for salaries, since education spending is always overwhelmingly on salaries; the concern is that money designated for at risk students did not pay for salaries to provide targeted interventions for at risk students.

Legislative Intent: While Thornton gives school districts increased spending flexibility, it also requires the State Superintendent to verify that school districts are implementing strategies to improve the achievement of at risk students both overall and relative to other students. The law gives the Superintendent the authority to withhold funding from districts that fail to identify these strategies. The law requires districts to submit master plans and annual master plan updates, along with financial reports, which the State Superintendent must review and approve based on an assessment of “whether the plan will have the effect of improving student achievement...”

To read the complete report: http://www.acy.org/IssueBriefs/Opportunity%20Lost.pdf

Fourth-Grade Slump

Terri Bollinger, principal at the Ridge Central elementary school, has noticed a troubling trend. Her third graders are doing incredibly well. Most of them meet or exceed Illinois state reading standards. But her fifth graders aren't showing the same kind of improvement—and in 2005, their reading scores even dropped a little. Bollinger thinks she knows why. For complicated reasons, some kids lose their mojo when they get to fourth grade…

What's causing it? Some say fourth graders get distracted by videogames, organized sports and after-school activities.

Others worry that kids are burning out. No Child Left Behind has created an intense push to teach kids the fundamentals of reading. "We kill them with tests in third grade. By fourth grade, they're tired," says Gina Defalco, a fourth-grade teacher in Fredericksburg, Va.

For a lot of kids, fourth grade is a turning point. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, known as the Nation's Report Card, American kids' reading scores are improving in the early years of elementary school. After fourth grade, test scores are flat…

Kids read less as they get older, too. In a 2006 survey by Scholastic Inc., 40 percent of kids between the ages of 5 and 8 read every day. At fourth grade, though, that rate declined to 29 percent.

Maturity can be an issue, too. Between third and fourth grade, kids go from learning to read to reading to learn. Textbooks get more difficult—instead of reading about Dot and Spot, fourth graders read about the solar system. To keep up, 9-year-olds have to be able to decode words, comprehend sentences and make inferences about what paragraphs mean. If they can't, they get frustrated fast.

Elise Holston, principal of the Kempton Elementary School in Spring Valley, Calif., found that her school's fourth-grade slump started in third grade. On statewide tests, 26 percent of Kempton's second graders were proficient or advanced in reading. A year later, that rate dropped to 15 percent. So this year, Holston's third and fourth graders adopted a new reading program. Kids learn about the Everglades from a textbook, but there's also a short video so kids who were struggling can keep up.

Testing may be contributing to the slump in subtle, curricular ways. At every level of schooling, says Jeffrey Wilhelm, a reading expert from Boise State University, "kids need to use a wide range of reading materials—nonfiction and expository writing—and lots of vocabulary words." But in an effort to "teach to the test," many schools are replacing social studies and science with reading instruction in the early years, and that hurts kids. Without this critical base, many kids aren't equipped to do the abstract thinking and learning required of them as they move on.

Back at Ridge Central, Bollinger has her own slump-busting strategy, and it looks a little like a bribe. Six hundred minutes of reading equals a free trip to a local amusement park. It was an offer that fourth grader Brian Widmer couldn't refuse. He still loves computers and hockey, but he's recently discovered the joys of the "Captain Underpants" books…

To read the complete article, please go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17083398/site/newsweek/

Faculty Bias: Science or Propaganda?

AFT Releases Report Evaluating Existing Research on One of the Most Controversial Issues in American Higher Education

The American Federation of Teachers today released a report titled "The 'Faculty Bias' Studies: Science or Propaganda?" The report finds that the most frequently cited research on alleged political bias in college faculty is severely flawed in its methodology and makes sweeping assumptions that invalidate its "findings."

"Objective research is essential, and clearly, that is not what we find in the studies analyzed in this report," said AFT President Edward J. McElroy. "It doesn’t matter if you are conservative or liberal. Bad research and inaccurate characterizations are a disservice to academia and to the students who are its central concern."

William Scheuerman, an AFT vice president who heads up the AFT's Higher Education program and policy council, added "Higher education professionals teach. They don’t preach. They are committed to academic freedom and to the free exchange of ideas in the classroom." Scheuerman, who has testified on the issue before various state legislatures, added that most researchers understand how flawed the studies reviewed in the AFT's report truly are. Nonetheless, the inaccuracies of such research are often presented and accepted as fact. "The AFT believes that accuracy and scientific integrity matter, and that the public has a right to know when research falls short of the mark."

The report, which uses objective scientific criteria to evaluate studies on so-called "faculty bias" and its impact on the American higher education system, was written by Dr. John Lee. Lee is president of JBL Associates and has more than 25 years of bipartisan work experience in the fields of post-secondary education policy and quantitative/ qualitative research. In the report, Lee notes that "Passing off personal opinion as fact is not science; it is the antithesis of what serious researchers try to do."

The "Faculty Bias" Studies: Science or Propaganda? was sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers on behalf of Free Exchange on Campus. To download a copy of the report, go to www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/FacultyBiasStudies.pdf.

The Horizon Report

The annual Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a research oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education. The 2007 Horizon Report is the fourth edition in this annual series. Again this year, as in years past, the report reflects an ongoing collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program.

As it does each year, the Horizon Advisory Board again reviewed key trends in the practice of teaching, learning, and creativity, and ranked those it considered most important for campuses to watch. Trends were identified through a careful analysis of interviews, articles, papers, and published research. The six trends below emerged as most likely to have a significant impact in education in the next five years. They are presented in priority order as ranked by the Advisory Board.

The environment of higher education is changing rapidly. Costs are rising, budgets are shrinking, and the demand for new services is growing. Student enrollments are declining. There is an increasing need for distance education, with pressure coming not only from nontraditional students seeking flexible options, but from administrative directives to cut costs. The “shape” of the average student is changing, too; more students are working and commuting than ever before, and the residential, full-time student is not necessarily the model for today’s typical student. Higher education faces competition from the for-profit educational sector and an increasing demand by students for instant access and interactive experiences.

Increasing globalization is changing the way we work, collaborate, and communicate. China, India, and other southeast Asian nations continue to develop skilled researchers and thinkers who contribute significantly to the global body of knowledge and whose work fuels much innovation. Additionally, globalization of communication, entertainment, and information provides students with wider perspectives and resources than ever before, placing them in a new and continually changing learning space.

Information literacy increasingly should not be considered a given. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the information literacy skills of new students are not improving as the post-1993 Internet boomlet enters college. At the same time, in a sea of user-created content, collaborative work, and instant access to information of varying quality, the skills of critical thinking, research, and evaluation are increasingly required to make sense of the world.

Academic review and faculty rewards are increasingly out of sync with new forms of scholarship. The trends toward digital expressions of scholarship and more interdisciplinary and collaborative work continue to move away from the standards of traditional peer-reviewed paper publication. New forms of peer review are emerging, but existing academic practices of specialization and long-honored notions of academic status are persistent barriers to the adoption of new approaches. Given the pace of change, the academy will grow more out of step with how scholarship is actually conducted until constraints imposed by traditional tenure and promotion processes are eased.

The notions of collective intelligence and mass amateurization are pushing the boundaries of scholarship. Amateur scholars are weighing in on scholarly debates with reasoned if not always expert opinions, and websites like the Wikipedia have caused the very notion of what an expert is to be reconsidered. Hobbyists and enthusiasts are engaged in data collection and field studies that are making real contributions in a great many fields at the same time that they are encouraging debate on what constitutes scholarly work—and who should be doing it. Still to be resolved is the question of how compatible the consensus sapientum and the wisdom of the academy will be.

Students’ views of what is and what is not technology are increasingly different from those of faculty. From small, flexible software tools to ubiquitous portable devices and instant access, students today experience technology very differently than faculty do, and the gap between students’ view of technology and that of faculty is growing rapidly. Mobile phones, to name just one example, are very different tools to students than to faculty; rather than being mere tools for voice communication, these devices store music, movies, and photos, keep students in touch with their friends by text and voice, and provide access to the wider world of the Internet at any time.

To read the full report: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf

To read a related article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6870&page=1

Frozen Assets: How Rethinking Teacher Contracts Could Free Billions for School Reform

A new report from Education Sector examines eight commonly-used provisions in teacher contracts that, according to research, have a weak relationship with student achievement. The report estimates how much money these requirements cost a typical school district and examines how these "frozen assets" might be put to better use. The analysis estimates that nearly one out of every five dollars in a typical district budget is locked up by the eight provisions. That translates to roughly $77 billion in annual public school spending nationally.

The report does not advocate lower public-school spending, or even less aggregate spending on teachers. To the contrary, there is a need to provide some school districts, particularly those that serve disadvantaged students, with larger overall amounts of money. But policymakers must make hard choices in allocating existing resources. "Frozen Assets" analyzes these trade-offs and suggests how existing public education resources could potentially be used more effectively

Marguerite Roza, the report author and an Education Sector nonresident senior fellow, says, "Both teachers and students would benefit if resources were put to better use. Financing school improvement is an enormous challenge and policymakers must look carefully at how existing resources are allocated.”

For example, money spent on seniority-based raises and generous health plans for senior-level teachers might be better used to raise minimum salaries to recruit younger, highly-qualified teachers. Or resources spent meeting mandatory class-size targets might be better used to hire teachers to provide after-school tutoring to low-performing children.

The eight common contract provisions that the report examines include: increases in teacher salaries based on years of experience; increases in teacher salaries based on educational credentials; professional development days; paid sick and personal days; class-size limitations; use of teachers' aides; and health insurance and retirement benefits.

To read the report: http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/FrozenAssets.pdf

Statement by Antonia Cortese Executive Vice President, American Federation of Teachers, on Education Sector’s Report on Teacher Union Contracts

The Education Sector’s report is a misguided attempt to cast certain teacher union contract provisions as obstacles to improving public education. While “Frozen Assets” makes an effort to calculate the costs associated with these provisions, it provides no evidence to suggest that they hinder education reform, and fails to offer solutions for the problems facing our schools.

“Frozen Assets” is on thin ice for its sweeping—and often inaccurate—assertion that many contract provisions are a waste of education funds. This report flunks both Economics and Research 101, based on the number of misleading generalizations and erroneous information it contains. For instance, the report lists teacher retirement packages as a common contract provision when, in fact, retirement systems are governed by state law, not negotiated in collective bargaining agreements.

The report actually challenges solid research, classroom practices and common sense, which have proven the effectiveness of reduced class sizes—especially for low-income students—and the importance of attracting and retaining quality teachers by providing financial incentives to experienced, credentialed educators. Contract provisions that address these issues are critical for teacher retention.

Collective bargaining agreements are collaborations between teachers unions and school district officials. There is an ample body of sound evidence documenting the positive impact many of these contract provisions have on education. The Harvard Education Review, for example, found that student achievement is higher in districts that have collective bargaining contracts. Schools can only be improved if educators, district officials and politicians work together to develop real solutions instead of making unions scapegoats for every problem.

The Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind

The Commission on No Child Left Behind was established to move beyond the often heated and uninformed rhetoric about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and examine the evidence about the law’s effects through a dispassionate, bipartisan process.

The Co-Chairs are former governors, one a Republican, one a Democrat. The Commission’s remaining membership comprises 13 members who represent the full spectrum of interests in this law, including K–12 and higher education, school and school-system governance, civil rights and business. Although we came to the table from a variety of perspectives, we were united from the outset in our firm commitment to the goals of the law: to harness the power of standards, accountability and student options, so that every child becomes proficient in core subjects, and to eliminate the achievement gaps that have left too many students behind.

Their report, released February 13, 2007, is the product of one year of data gathering, discussions with those all over the country who live with the law every day, and our own deliberations. The report is being submitted to the President and Congress in the hope that it will inform their deliberations about the upcoming reauthorization of NCLB.

Full Report: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/atf/cf/%7BDEB6F227-659B-4EC8-8F84-8DF23CA704F5%7D/NCLB_Book.pdf

Print Version, Excerpts: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.938015/k.40DA/Commission_on_No_Child_Left_Behind.htm

Frequently Asked Questions About the Commission on No Child Left Behind’s Recommendations

TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS

Q: If teachers are unable to achieve Highly Qualified Effective Status, what happens? The Commission recommends those teachers not be allowed to teach in high-poverty schools. But what about non-Title I schools?

A: The Commission’s recommendations require that teachers who, after receiving extensive high-quality professional development, still have not achieved its new standard of effectiveness not be allowed to teach in Title I schools. This recommendation will help ensure that the neediest children are taught by effective teachers. The Commission does not address whether those teachers should be allowed to teach in a non-Title I school.

ASSESSMENTS

Q: We’ve heard over and over that there is too much emphasis on testing and that NCLB is forcing teachers to “teach to the test.” Yet the Commission is suggesting more tests with the formative assessment recommendation. Won’t there be even more backlash against these tests?

A: The formative assessments we recommend, and in some instances require, are very different from the current tests required in grades 3 to 8. Unlike those tests, formative assessments are not high stakes—in other words, there are no consequences to them. They are diagnostic in nature. They help teachers and parents understand on an ongoing basis how well students are doing and provide details on where students are struggling. Teachers can then better target interventions to the specific areas on which students need more help. High-quality formative assessments are designed to help students perform better on the end-of-the-year exams used for accountability purposes. Parents and teachers will no longer have to wonder throughout the year how well their children might do on the year-end assessments. Children will feel more confident that they are ready for those exams, decreasing anxiety and improving performance. We think teachers, students and parents will benefit from the information provided by these assessments.

100 PERCENT PROFICIENCY BY 2013–14

Q: Does the Commission recommend sticking with NCLB’s existing requirement for 100 percent proficiency by 2013–14?

A: Yes. The Commission believes it is important to maintain this goal and this timeline. The law currently acknowledges the need to give appropriate flexibility by allowing the use of N-sizes and confidence intervals to ensure that proficiency for subgroups is determined in a fair way that protects student privacy. We recommend that these be tightened, so that they are not abused. The Commission also recommends the use of growth models that give schools credit for students who are on track to proficiency within three years. We believe NCLB should not back away from the notion that all children need to be prepared to succeed and enjoy the opportunities that a quality education brings. We must stick to the timeline for achieving that goal in order for it to have any meaning.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Q: Is the Commission recommending growth models for all states?

A: The Commission recommends giving states the option to include student achievement growth in their adequate yearly progress (AYP) calculations. We believe that every school should be held accountable for the achievement of all of its students. However, the current system is a fairly blunt instrument; it fails to recognize the significant progress some schools are making in raising student achievement despite substantial odds. Our recommendations seek to ensure the AYP system is accurate and fair, and that schools remain accountable for moving all students to proficiency.

PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE

Q: The Commission’s recommendations require schools that make AYP to make available a number equal to 10 percent of their seats for transfers from schools in which students are eligible for public school choice. What happens when these schools are already at capacity?

A: Under the Commission’s recommendations, districts must annually audit the space available for public school choice. If the audit shows that a school that made AYP does not have the physical space to accommodate the required percentage of transfer students, that school is responsible for accommodating only the maximum number shown to be practical in the audit. If a district is unable to accommodate all of its requests for public school choice, the district must offer supplemental educational services to eligible students.

MONEY FOR NCLB IMPLEMENTATION

Q: Does the Commission make any recommendations regarding the appropriate funding level for NCLB?

A: No. The Commission’s mission was to assess strengths and weaknesses in the statue and its implementation. It was not our role to determine necessary levels of funding. While the Commission recognizes that discussions of funding are important and that reform does take resources, we believe that determining what levels are sufficient to accomplish NCLB’s goals is best left to the Congressional process.

ENFORCEMENT

Q: What remedies are available to citizens under the Commission’s enforcement recommendations?

A: The chief enforcement agents for NCLB have been the U.S. Department of Education and the states. Unfortunately, some of NCLB’s key provisions, especially those that directly affect parents and students, suffer from a lack of strong implementation. We recommend that states and the U.S. Department of Education set up an administrative complaint process for parents and concerned citizens to seek better and fuller implementation of the law. If this process fails to address the cause of the complaint, individuals would have the ability to take their case to state court. The remedy would be to require the implementation of the provision in question, not financial damages.

MODEL NATIONAL STANDARDS

Q: Does the Commission’s recommendation for the creation of model national standards subvert NCLB’s current focus on local control?

A: No. The Commission believes that there is a great need for states to raise the bar of expectations to ensure that all children are prepared for success after high school. Our proposal calls for the creation of model national standards and tests to reflect that high level of expectation. However, our proposal allows states to choose from three options: (1) adopt the model national standards and tests as their own, (2) build their own assessment based on the model national standards or (3) keep their existing standards and tests. States choosing options 2 or 3 would have the quality and rigor of their standards compared to the national model in a report issued annually by the U.S. Secretary of Education. While the Commission believes it is important that the adoption of model national standards is voluntary, we also believe that the public deserves to know whether their schools are truly preparing students for future success.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Q: Under the Commission’s recommendations, would all teachers be required to obtain an endorsement for teacher certification for providing instruction to English language learners?

A: The Commission’s recommendations require teachers who spend more than 25 percent of their teaching time teaching English language learners to obtain a state-developed endorsement for providing instruction to English language learners (a credential 25 states now issue). We believe that this will help ensure that those who teach English language learners receive the training and support they need to help their students achieve.

Q: How does the Commission's recommendation for alternative assessments for English language learners impact the current law regarding this topic?

A: The Commission’s recommendation encourages states to develop and implement valid and reliable assessments for English language learners. Unfortunately, too often English language learners are not assessed using the most valid and reliable assessments. States are already permitted to develop and implement these assessments under current law, and the Commission's recommendation is intended to supplement this authority.

Key Recommendations

These fact sheets summarize five key recommendations of the Commission, the rationale behind them and how they will change current law:

Accountability Recommendations: Accelerating Progress and Closing Achievement Gaps Through Improved Accountability
Data Recommendations: Driving Progress Through Reliable, Accurate Data
High School Recommendations: Ensuring High Schools Prepare Students for College and the Workplace
School Improvement and Student Options Recommendations: Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Effective School Improvement and Student Options
Standards Recommendations: High Standards for Every Student in Every State
Teacher and Principal Recommendations: Effective Teachers for All Students, Effective Principals for All Communities

Profiles

These profiles are an in-depth look at several districts and schools around the country. On the Front Lines: How No Child Left Behind is Affecting Schools:

A Profile of the Yough School District, Herminie, Pennsylvania
A Profile of Washington Middle School, Albuquerque, New Mexico
A Profile of Don Pedro Albizu Campos - P.S. 161, New York, New York
A Profile of Belt Public Schools, Belt, Montana

Statement by Edward J. McElroy, President, American Federation of Teachers, on the Aspen Institute's Commission on No Child Left Behind

The "Highly Qualified and Effective Teachers" recommendation in the commission's report should be a nonstarter for the congressional committees dealing with reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

If we have learned anything in the years since NCLB was enacted, it is that teachers and paraprofessionals working in classrooms are the ones who know best what works and what does not. Our members have had five years of experience with NCLB, and they know now that the law’s school accountability mechanism, the "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) formula, is not a useful tool in distinguishing between good schools and schools in need of help. How, then, can we ask teachers to accept another unproven accountability formula when five years of living with NCLB has demonstrated that fundamentally flawed, ideology-driven, top-down proposals don't work?

The AFT also is troubled by several of the report's other recommendations for NCLB, including its failure to call for more support for struggling schools and its lack of a comprehensive fix for AYP.

This report is just one of several from similar commissions and organizations, including the AFT, that have issued recommendations for NCLB's reauthorization. The AFT's recommendations, which resulted from town hall meetings with our members and careful deliberations with the leaders of AFT locals, can be found at:
http://www.aft.org/topics/nclb/downloads/LGIRrecommend.pdf

Putting Arizona Education Reform to the Test: School Choice and Early Education Expansion

This report compares the results of two major education reform strategies implemented in Arizona: public school early childhood education and school choice.
The study examines test score data from Pima County elementary schools to evaluate the relative efficacy of preschool and school choice strategies.

Data show that students in schools with all-day kindergarten programs have higher third-grade test scores but there is no impact on fifth-grade scores. A more positive result is shown for school choice. Public schools facing significant competition for students, whether through public or private options, demonstrate significant test score gains.

The author claims that these findings illustrate that expansion of early childhood education is an expensive strategy with only temporary academic benefits. School choice offers more efficient use of resources and delivers long-term improvements in academic achievement.

To see full report: http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Files/Multimedia/EarlyEdvSchoolChoice.pdf

Kids Recognize Need to Learn More About Health

But New Poll on HealthAmerica® and HealthAssurance® Website Finds Older Kids Less Likely to Follow What They’re Taught

A new KidsPoll found that 80 percent of the kids surveyed said there is “a lot” or “some” they can do to grow up to be healthy adults. The majority of 1,178 kids ages 9 to 13 polled (78 percent) said that most of what they hear about health is “very” or “sort of” easy to understand. However, older kids said they were less likely to follow what they’re taught about health.

The KidsPoll found that:

64 percent of 9-year-olds surveyed said they are “very interested” in learning about health versus 19 percent of 13-year-olds.
77 percent of 9-year-olds surveyed said they follow what they’re taught “all the time” or “most of the time” versus 43 percent of 13-year-olds.

Surprisingly, children’s declining interest in learning about health comes at a time when most kids are going through puberty and experiencing major changes in their bodies – changes that one might think would result in an increased interest in health. Additionally, this is an age when school-based health education typically receives more emphasis as a separate topic area.

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, understand, and use basic health information. Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of an individual’s health status than age, income, employment status, education level, or racial/ethnic group, according to Partnership for Clear Health Communication. The Institute of Medicine estimates that low health literacy is costing the U.S. health care system more than $58 billion annually and that nearly 1 in 2 adults do not understand basic health information. Adult health literacy is beginning to receive considerable attention, but until this poll, very little has been done to understand the topic among children.

“Adults have trouble following the health advice they get,” said Josh Bennett, M.D., vice president of quality and cost management at HealthAmerica and HealthAssurance. “It's hard for kids, too, to eat fruits and vegetables or to remember a bike helmet every time. But the more kids learn about health and start taking these steps on their own, the healthier they will be.”

What do these findings suggest for health professionals, teachers, and parents? Kids should be engaged in learning about age-appropriate health issues throughout their school years. Educational programs also need to include ways to motivate kids to adopt healthy behaviors. HealthAmerica’s KidsHealth website includes thousands of medically reviewed articles, animations, quizzes, and age appropriate news for three distinct audiences – parents, kids, and teens.

Where are kids getting most of their information about health? Forty percent (40 percent) of kids surveyed said “school.” “A doctor or nurse” was the second-most common answer given (29 percent), and “parents” was a distant third (12 percent). However, when asked where they would go first if they had an important health question, most kids said “a parent” (31 percent). This suggests that parents may not be assuming as important a role as they could.

Where do kids say they’re most likely to get the wrong information about health? The runaway winners were “TV” and “friends,” each cited by 36 percent of kids polled.

Teacher Compensation in Charter and Private Schools

Across the country, states and districts are struggling to attract, support, and retain high-quality teachers in the classroom. The limitations of the traditional salary schedule in attracting and keeping good teachers have prompted many policymakers to search for alternative methods of compensation. In a new report, the Center for American Progress examines teacher compensation policies in charter and private schools for lessons to help traditional public schools more effectively draw and keep high-quality teachers.

Charter and private schools make much greater use of pay innovations than traditional public schools, and there is some recent evidence that they have