July 2007
No. 21

Copyright
© 2007 AICE

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Few Children Walk or Bike Even Short Distances to School

Nationwide, more than a third of children live within a mile of their schools, yet only half of those students regularly bike or walk to class, a new study concludes.

By taking a bus or car to school, “the majority of young people are missing an opportunity to increase daily physical activity by being active travelers,” said Sarah Martin, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study appears online and in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Among those least likely to bike or walk to school are students living in the South and in rural areas. Parents with a college education are also more likely to put the kids in the car or on the bus for short trips than those who have a high school diploma, Martin and fellow researchers found.

The findings offer a surprising bit of news for families with low incomes and less education, which tend to be among the most underserved groups when it comes to health disparities, “since active travel helps children achieve higher levels of physical activity,” Martin said of the study run by Program Evaluation Across the Nation Using Technology (PEANUT©), a Web-based network of research analysts nationwide. The reasons why children in urban areas might walk or ride their bikes to school are complex, the researchers say. For instance, city schools are more likely to be located within residential or mixed-use areas, making it easier to find walking and biking routes.

City dwellers also might not own cars, for reasons of convenience or expense. For the same reason, parents with advanced degrees could be more likely to afford at least one car and might drop off their child as they head to work.

James Sallis, Ph.D., a physical activity researcher at San Diego State University, recently completed his own study of walking to school. He and his colleagues found that suburban parents were more likely to drive their children to school to keep them safe from traffic and other dangers.

“This is ironic, because many families move to the suburbs because they are perceived as safer for kids. Many suburban schools are built on busy, high speed roads to facilitate access by car and those roads also make it unsafe to walk,” he said.

Martin and colleagues studied a nationally representative sample of more than 7,000 children ages 9 to 15 and their parents. They found that almost 35 percent of these children lived within a mile of their schools. Children ages 11 to 13 were more likely to bike or walk than 9-year-olds, they found.

Extracurriculars Boost High School Graduation Rates

“If you want to improve a child's odds of graduation and going to college — especially disadvantaged youth -- encourage and engage them in extracurricular activities,” said Dr. Jason M. Smith, assistant professor of sociology at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

“Consistent research data over the last 30 or so years shows that involvement in extracurricular activities helps in lowering the high school dropout rate, raises grades and gives students better odds of graduating from high school and attending college,” said Smith. “Extracurriculars have many positive effects on students, so research is now turning to understanding how and why extracurriculars have these effects.”

He notes that extracurriculars integrate students into their schools, surround them with achievement-oriented peers and adults, and give them skills and habits that improve their educational performance. He also notes that teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and acts of delinquency are behaviors that are often associated with school failure, but which are also decreased through extracurricular participation.
Smith, recently submitted the chapter “Between the Lines, On the Stage, and In the Club: Additional Ways Students Find to Overcome Disadvantage Through School,” to Child Poverty in America Today.

The publication is a four-volume set that reveals, analyzes, and assesses the effects of an inadequate family income on American children. Child Poverty, is the result of a 2004 study by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations. The study reported that a large number of American families are currently faring poorly in their struggle to provide for themselves. “The set covers a lot of ground, so if someone really wants to understand the scope of child poverty in this country, this would be an excellent resource.”

Smith said data analyzed from the most recent National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) of over 12,000 high school students show a remarkable level of consistency: Across the board high school graduation rates and rates of attendance in postsecondary education are nearly always higher for those who participated in extracurricular activities than for those who do not participate at all. Smith focused specifically on kids in "high poverty schools," where at least half the students are on free or reduced-price lunch.

He found that in these schools white students not involved in extracurricular activities graduate 70 percent of the time, while the graduation rate for those participating in activities is more than 87 percent. For black students, who don’t engage in extracurricular activities, the graduation rate is about 62 percent; but for those who do participate in extracurriculars, the graduation rate is near 79 percent. The rate for hispanic students not involved in activities is nearly 75 percent with about 82 percent of participants graduating.

Smith noted that for the various categories of activities, the graduation rates of all races participating in extracurricular activities were all measurably higher than non-participants. “The desire to play a sport, or be involved in the school play, or participate in a particular school club with one’s friends may motivate a student to stay in school to continue those activities.”

He said while educators agree extracurricular activities are now considered a must for a well-rounded education, school systems across the country are now faced with a new dilemma — they can no longer afford to offer free activities to students.

“This is actually a problem I try to address in the chapter,” said Smith. “These activities were free at my high school. ... Whether it was baseball or band, anyone could participate and the cost was paid by the school system.”

Smith noted there were few exceptions, such as student paying for their own sports shoes or renting band instruments.

“I find this pay-to-play situation to be very problematic, and another instance of how social class is such a salient factor in America,” he said. “We like to think we broke free of the social class systems of Europe, and that we are a purely egalitarian and meritocratic society. The fact is the socioeconomic status (SES) a person is born into is probably the single most important factor in determining all sorts of outcomes.

“The problem to me starts with how schools are funded in this country — primarily through local property taxes,” Smith said. “This creates a wildly inequitable funding situation across school districts, one that has been ruled unconstitutional in several states, including my native state of Ohio.

“How this applies to extracurriculars is that when an increase in funding is needed and not obtained (through a failed tax increase, for example), the first thing to be cut is these types of activities, or school officials adopt a pay-to-play policy,” Smith explained. “Who is this going to affect disproportionately? More than anyone else it is likely to be lower SES kids who attend schools in poorer areas with the most frequent funding shortages.”

Smith added, even if students attend schools in more middle-income areas, the pay-to-play policy leaves parents and kids in a situation where they cannot afford to participate.

The educational research is clear, he said, “Extracurricular activities play an important role in integrating students into their school, keeping them enrolled as opposed to dropping out. Extracurricular programs clearly have benefits for students in high-poverty schools; policymakers must endeavor to preserve these benefits,” Smith said.

A former high school teacher, Smith earned his doctorate in sociology and demography, specializing in the sociology of education from Pennsylvania State University. He has a minor concentration in quantitative methods.

Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children

America's true competitive edge in a globalizing economy is not its technical prowess but its creativity, its imagination, its inventiveness. And those attributes are best inculcated not by skill-drill or STEM-centered curricula but through liberal arts and sciences, liberally defined. Thus argues a new Fordham volume, edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Diane Ravitch, which also explores what policymakers and educators can to do sustain liberal learning and sketches an unlovely future if we fail. Download it here.:

Extensive Research Supports Policies for Improving Reading and Writing in America's Middle and High Schools

According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, research on the importance of and strategies for improving literacy among the nation’s secondary school students has reached a level of compelling consensus that confidently justifies changes in federal policy. 

The Alliance’s new policy brief, Federal Support for Adolescent Literacy: A Solid Investment, notes that the federal investment in developing high-level reading and writing skills in younger students has diminishing returns unless literacy instruction is continued throughout the K-12 educational continuum.  The brief argues for support and expansion of federal programs such as the Striving Readers Act, which could provide high-quality reading and writing instruction for millions of students in grades 4-12, but which currently operates in only eight districts across the nation.

 “If policymakers are waiting for convincing research in order to commit to supporting middle and high school students, then the wait is over,” says Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.  “There’s overwhelming evidence that reading and writing abilities weaken as students move through a school system that does not continue to teach them.  Without these skills, their risk of dropping out increases dramatically. Federal support, especially as part of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, must recognize and address this crisis.  Research shows us the way -- now is the time for federal policymakers to lead us down the road to reform.”

In 2003, with the publication of Adolescents and Literacy, the Alliance for Excellent Education demonstrated that sufficient research existed to guide efforts to improve the reading and writing skills of America’s older students.  The Alliance’s Reading Next report, published in 2004, laid out the essential elements that should be considered as adolescent literacy programs are developed and implemented in schools. Since that time, additional reports from the Alliance and other organizations have documented emerging research that provides even more guidance to educators and policymakers regarding how to support effective interventions for struggling adolescents.

The Alliance’s new brief lays out a set of strategic policy recommendations that include:

• Encourage schools, districts, and states to articulate clear, comprehensive, actionable plans for improving literacy instruction
• Invest in tools that help schools identify struggling readers and appropriately adjust instruction in grades 4-12
• Invest in ongoing professional development programs designed to help all middle and high school teachers provide effective reading and writing instruction in their subject area
• Support and invest in accountability systems that give teachers strong incentives to provide effective reading and writing instruction
• Invest in ongoing research on and evaluation of strategies to improve adolescent literacy

Federal Support for Adolescent Literacy: A Solid Investment is available at:
http://www.all4ed.org/publications/FedAdLit.pdf

Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy is available at:
http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ReadingNext/index.html

For more information about adolescent literacy, please visit:
http://www.all4ed.org/adolescent_literacy/index.html

The Nation's Middle and High School Students Ignored by No Child Left Behind, According to New Policy Brief from Alliance for Excellent Education

Congress is currently considering changes in major federal education law; as part of the process, they must recognize that the pressing needs of the nation’s 14.3 million high school students, including the 30 percent who do not graduate on time with a regular diploma, are not being met by the existing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Federal neglect of secondary schools is described in a new policy brief, In Need of Improvement: NCLB and High Schools, from the Alliance for Excellent Education.

“While well-intentioned,” states Bob Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, “the current NCLB simply does not address the dropout problem and permits far too many students to finish high school without adequate preparation for college or the modern workforce.” Nationally, 30 percent of high school students entering ninth grade do not graduate within four years.

While the existing NCLB focuses on improving outcomes for students in kindergarten through 8th grade, In Need of Improvement: NCLB and High Schools points outthat high schools do not receive the attention and investment needed to support their students’ continuing academic success. The nation’s high school students are shortchanged by the existing NCLB because:

1. only a small percentage of high school students are actually covered by federal Title I funding, leaving far too many high schools without the requirements or resources to implement improvement strategies.
   
2. NCLB holds schools accountable for test scores, but does not effectively hold high schools accountable for whether their students actually graduate.
   
3. 71 percent of the nation’s eighth graders read below a proficient level, yet there is no federal effort to improve reading and comprehension in middle and high school as there is in grades K-3.
   
4. the limited tools NCLB provides to improve low-performing schools reflect neither research nor best practice and are not effective for high school reform.

Wise continues, “The present NCLB does not effectively reach high schools, and too many children are being left behind by the ninth grade. With the law up for renewal this year, this is the time to build on the ideals of ‘no child left behind’ and pass legislation that will lead the nation toward ‘every child a graduate.’”

Instead of what the brief calls “shortsighted proposals” that merely extend testing requirements to high schools or simply reserve portions of current funding streams for high schools, the Alliance calls on Congress to reauthorize NCLB with a “a systemic solution that reflects all that is known about improving high schools from research and best practice.”

According to Wise, “Research and best practice have demonstrated that there is no excuse for failing to address the needs of our high school students. NCLB reauthorization must include provisions to improve the calculation of graduation rates, invest in data systems, support educators, drive meaningful accountability linked to high school improvement, and ensure the necessary resources and capacity to provide an excellent education for every student. Some of these issues are addressed in existing proposals from Members of Congress, including the Striving Readers Act of 2007 (S. 958 and H.R. 2289) and the Graduation Promise Act (S. 1185).”

In Need of Improvement: NCLB and High Schools is available at: http://www.all4ed.org/publications/NCLB_HighSchools.pdf.

Nutrition Education Failing

The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education - fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well.

But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat - or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.

The results have been disappointing, to say the least:

• Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn't like the taste.
• In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and chips.
• In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even think they are, but they're not.

The studies don't tell Leticia Jenkins anything she doesn't know. She's one of the bravest teachers in America - not because she gave her seventh and eighth graders 30 sharp knives to chop tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and limes for a lesson on salsa and nutrition, but because she understands the futility of what she is trying to do.

"Oh, it's so hard, because at the end of the day sometimes I take a moment, I think gosh, I did all this and we still see them across the street picking up the doughnuts and the coffee drinks," she said…

To see full article: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/04/ap3884241.html

High School Math Failing to Make the College Grade

…''Many bright students are hurried through algebra and trigonometry courses on their way toward statistics and calculus,'' said Marie Wilde, chairwoman of the mathematical and information sciences program at Cedar Crest College in Allentown.

''They arrive at college without the critical skills they should have spent much more time developing, rather than jumping prematurely into what has traditionally been considered college-level work.''

Experts say the problem can be found at all levels of higher education -- from students going to community college for associate degrees to those studying to be engineers.

Northampton Community College, finding that students were struggling with pre-algebra courses, added a low-level basic mathematics course and arithmetic course to its offerings for the fall 2007 semester.

''We had to,'' said Mardi McGuire-Closson, dean of students. ''Students who struggle in math are more likely to drop out. Math pushes their panic button.''

Oftentimes, students face the repercussions of a weak foundation in math when they sign up for a college math course.

…Earlier this year, parents complained to Palisades officials that their children were floundering in college calculus.

They even got Wilde, the Cedar Crest professor, to write a letter supporting their contention that integrated math was hurting students.

As a result, the district will offer a parallel traditional math program in the fall, said Assistant Superintendent Marilyn Miller...

See complete article:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5math.5909897jul05,0,582856.story?coll=all-news-hed

Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills Over the Lifecourse

Young children differ substantially in their language and literacy skills when they enter school at age 5, in large measure due to their exposure to language and their interactions with parents and siblings (Hart and Risley, 1995). During the primary school years, the rate of acquiring literacy skills continues to vary considerably. Family experiences continue to play a prominent role, but the quality of schooling contributes also. The transition from "learning-to-read' to "reading-to-learn", which for most children should occur during the second or third grade, is critical, as children who fail to make this transition tend to be poor readers throughout their school career, and are prone to leaving secondary school before graduating. Different groups of people leave the educational system at different points, and have much different skill levels.

Adults from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to lose literacy skills later in life. This fact raises concerns about the quality of education for these individuals and about their ability to compete in a labor market that rewards literacy skill to a high degree.

To see full report:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/89-552-MIE/89-552-MIE2007016.pdf

Greening America's Schools

Capital E's report finds that building "green" would save an average school $100,000 each year - enough to hire two new additional full-time teachers. The report breaks new ground by demonstrating that green schools - schools designed to be energy efficient, healthy and environmentally friendly -- are extremely cost-effective. Total financial benefits from green schools outweigh the costs 20 to 1. With over $35 billion dollars projected to be spent in 2007 on K-12 construction, the conclusions of this report have far-reaching implications for future school design.

The report was sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Institute of Architects, the American Lung Association, the Federation of American Scientists and the US Green Building Council.

To read report:

http://www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F11233.pdf

Recruiting More Male Teachers Will Not Help Close the Gap Between Boys' and Girls' Educational Achievement, Government Researchers Say

Ministers plan to increase the number of men in the classroom as part of plans to help boys get better grades.

But a report released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families suggested the approach was "simplistic" and could back-fire.

Using more boy-friendly teaching styles was also unlikely to help, it added.

The report - Gender and Education: The Evidence on Pupils in England - was a review of previous research into the fact that girls consistently out-perform boys.

To read the complete article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6276568.stm

To read the report: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RTP01-07.pdf

28% of Alabama HS Grads in College Need Remediation

The latest data reported to the Commission on Higher Education from the State Department of Education indicated 37,392 graduates from Alabama public high schools.  Of that number, 21, 118 enrolled in Alabama public higher education institutions.  From that number, 5985 enrolled in math or English remediation in fall 2006. 

To read complete report http://www.ache.state.al.us/Abstract0607/
Student%20Database/FA%202006%20-%20High%20School%20Report.pdf

Information Underload: Florida's Flawed Special-Ed Voucher Program

Students with disabilities have long had the right, under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to attend private schools at public expense if the public schools in their community are unable to provide them with appropriate special educational services. But less than 1 percent of students with disabilities have such private placements, in part because these placements can be costly, complicated, and time-consuming to obtain under the existing law.

Florida's popular McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program seeks to tilt the balance in these students’ favor. The program provides parents with an alternative to expensive legal proceedings and complicated bureaucracy—a voucher that they can use at a public or private school of their choice. Florida's legislature approved the program in 1999 and named it after a then-state senator, John McKay, who is also the father of a special-needs child.

Today, about 17,900 of Florida's estimated 402,000 students with disabilities, or a little more than 4 percent, receive McKay vouchers. They attend 802 private schools at a total cost of nearly $108 million. That's up from just under 1,000 students, 100 private schools, and $6 million in costs during the program's 2000–01 debut as a statewide initiative. The program is now the nation’s second largest private school voucher initiative of any sort in terms of student participation, ranking only behind Milwaukee's 17-year-old school experiment with vouchers for low-income youngsters. And school choice advocates promote the McKay program as a model for other states and the federal government. Arizona, Ohio, Utah, and, most recently, Georgia have all passed similar legislation. Currently, six other states are weighing whether to follow suit.

But despite its growing popularity, the McKay program has not yet proven that it works as either an adequate school-choice or special-education reform measure. Unlike with Florida’s other school choice options, the state collects very little information from schools and students participating in the McKay program. McKay students do not have to take the annual state tests administered to public school students, and McKay schools are not required to report any information on student outcomes—which goes against the national trend toward standards and accountability in public education. Thus, it is virtually impossible to say whether special-needs children using McKay vouchers to attend private schools are faring better, worse, or about the same as they had in their old public schools. It is also difficult to determine whether the McKay program is improving existing special-education services, since, unlike public schools, McKay schools are not required to provide these services at all.
Expanding school options for all students, those with disabilities and those without, is a worthy objective. But McKay's lack of accountability requirements and its minimal quality and service expectations make McKay a seriously flawed program. Under the current structure of the program, taxpayers have almost no knowledge of how their money is being spent, and neither taxpayers nor parents have access to solid information about the performance of different McKay schools. For parents, the stakes are very high, as they are required to give up their due process rights under IDEA if they choose to participate in the McKay program. Parents, taxpayers, and the state's special-needs children deserve better.

Please download the full report:
http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/McKay_Vouchers.pdf

Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness

This report highlights different strategies being taken by 50 teacher education programs to train mathematics and science teachers. It is prepared by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). AACTE is a national voluntary association of higher education institutions and other organizations and is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality preparation and continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders in order to enhance PK-12 student learning. The almost 800 institutions holding AACTE membership include private, state, and municipal colleges and universities.

To see report:
http://www.aacte.org/Governmental_Relations/AACTE_STEM_Directory2007.pdf

Beyond the Battle Lines: Lessons From New York’s Charter Caps Fight

Beyond the Battle Lines: Lessons From New York’s Charter Caps Fight explores the politics of an—ultimately successful—effort to raise the cap and expand the number of charter schools in New York State. Author Lisa M. Stulberg explores the pros and cons of charter caps and how they play out in local communities. The report examines lessons from New York’s experience, and provides policy considerations relevant to the growing number of states in which charter schools are reaching their legislated limit.

The paper tracks the politics of New York’s charter schools from 1998 through the spring of 2007. New York charter school and charter caps politics have been highly partisan and, at times, quite brutal. But as this report makes clear, nuanced discussions and sophisticated policies are what will ultimately benefit both districts and charter schools nationwide. The observations and proposals in Beyond the Battle Lines will help policymakers understand the political dynamics and arguments in play in many states, and the specific recommendations will help to create more productive charter cap policies.

Please download the full report:
http://www.ncsrp.org/cs/csr/download/csr_files/battlelines_webjun07.pdf

2006-07 MEAPS Show Charters Closing Academic Gap

This collection of charter performance data from the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA) finds that the average scores of the state’s charters exceeded the average scores of their host districts on 23 of 27 state tests in 2006-07.