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The Right Test Preparation Materials
School-Level Administrators Exhibit Strong Influence on Teacher Professional Development, According to National Survey Superintendents, principals and teachers indicate school-based sources of funding and influence on teacher professional development, according to a PBS TeacherLine report released by Hezel Associates, a nationally recognized education research firm. The report conveys findings from a national study of approximately 1,400 teachers, principals and superintendents. Most notably, results indicate principals and assistant principals assume significant responsibility with regard to planning and implementing teacher professional development in their schools. Researchers also uncovered several conflicting beliefs among the groups surveyed. Further study findings indicate an intricate relationship among contexts, activities and decisions surrounding teacher professional development at school and district levels. Organization and Initiation Principals are more likely than superintendents to believe they or their assistant principals are responsible for organizing and initiating teacher professional development (49 percent and 31 percent, respectively). Conversely, superintendents are more likely than principals to perceive the responsibility as that of the district or educational service agency (42 percent and 36 percent, respectively). Teachers’ beliefs on this issue are in line with those of district superintendents rather than school principals. These perceptual discrepancies between school-level and district-level administrators, and the people they direct, may be one outcome of the shift to greater school control of teacher professional development. Principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of school control of professional development are even stronger in larger schools. On the other hand, in poorer schools, as measured by the proportion of students qualifying for free or reduced price lunch, the district is perceived to exert more control. Influence Superintendents and principals do tend to agree that school-level factors strongly influence district planning for teacher professional development. Superintendents and principals both rated school improvement plans among the most highly influential factors governing district decision making (67 percent and 64 percent, respectively). Both also rated school principals/assistants as highly influential in district decision making (69 percent and 62 percent). Given the menu of options, teachers identified several school-based entities that influence their choice of professional development activities. They are strongly influenced by their school principal or assistant school principal (89 percent) and by their school improvement plan (78 percent). District and state entities were rated as less influential. Resource Allocation When it comes to funding teacher professional development, teachers indicate that districts are the main source of financial support. Yet, a sizeable proportion of school-level administrators have primary responsibility when it comes to selecting external services and materials to purchase for their teachers’ professional development, according to principals and superintendents (36 percent and 28 percent, respectively). By the same token, 38 percent of teachers report school-based sources of funding for their PD activities. Together, these findings suggest a fair amount of discretionary authority at the school level to select and purchase materials and services specific to their needs. To see report: http://www.hezel.com/PBSTeacherLine2005-2006_report.pdf Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools As many as 40 percent of newer charter school teachers end up leaving for other jobs, a new study concludes. The report, “Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools,” by Gary Miron and Brooks Applegate, of the Western Michigan University Evaluation Center, was released by the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University and by the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In the past, research has focused on why teachers seek charter school jobs, but the equally important question of teacher attrition in charter schools has been largely unexamined. “High attrition consumes resources of schools that must regularly provide pre- and in-service training to new teachers; it impedes schools’ efforts to build professional learning communities and positive and stable school cultures; and it is likely to undermine the legitimacy of the schools in the eyes of parents,” the authors note. The new research from Miron and Applegate is based on their analyses of data collected in surveys of charter school employees from around the country conducted from 1997 to 2006. Attrition rates fluctuate from year to year and state to state, but typically as many as one in five or one in four charter school teachers leave each year—approximately double the typical public school attrition rate, which is around 11 percent. In addition to being younger and less experienced, the researchers found that teachers who quit charter schools were more likely to be uncertified. Teachers with higher levels of formal education were more likely to stay. Attrition among inexperienced and younger teachers may be particularly critical for charter schools, because the percentage of charter-school teachers under 30 (37 percent) is more than three times that of traditional public schools (11 percent). Teachers who reported less satisfaction with their charter school’s mission, its ability to achieve that mission, or its administration and governance also were more likely to leave. “It appeared that teachers who were not satisfied were leaving or were being asked to leave,” Miron and Applegate report. Attrition rates were highest among upper grade teachers, especially in grades 6, 7, 10, and 11, the researchers found. Charter school teachers who have remained have told surveyors they were “generally optimistic about their schools” but many still reported feeling insecure in their jobs, the researchers found. Meanwhile, attrition rates “suggest substantive frustration with working conditions and dissatisfaction with salaries, benefits, administration, and governance.” Based on their findings Miron and Applegate recommend that supporters of charter schools “would be well-advised to focus on reducing high turnover, especially for new teachers in charter schools.” They also recommend that charter schools:
“The large numbers of teachers who are ‘voting with their feet’ suggest substantive frustration with working conditions and dissatisfaction with salaries, benefits, administration, and governance,” the researchers conclude. “The high attrition rates for teachers in charter schools constitute one of the greatest obstacles that will need to be overcome if the charter school reform is to deliver as promised.” Find the report, “Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools” on the web at: Key Component of NCLB Lacks Research Support New policy brief describes ill-informed decision-making for Supplemental Education Services provisions. Supplemental Education Services, a key component of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, has been adopted and implemented without any systematic research or scrutiny, notwithstanding potential problems that call out for investigation, according to a new report from the Education Policy Research Unit and the Education and the Public Interest Center. The policy brief, “Supplemental Education Services under NCLB: Emerging Evidence and Policy Issues,” is by professor Patricia Burch of the University of Wisconsin- Madison. The brief examines the supplemental education services (SES) provision of NCLB, which requires school districts to pay the cost of after-school tutoring services for eligible students attending schools that have failed to meet mandated Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks three years in a row. Those schools must set aside up to 20 percent of their Title I funds to pay for tutoring services provided by state-approved operators. These operators are a mixture of for-profit or non-profit, public or private firms. The report finds that SES programs have low participation rates and offer limited services for English Language Learners and special education students. It also finds that states and school districts lack the capacity to offer significant monitoring or accountability for SES programs—in stark contrast to the NCLB law’s strict accountability measures applied to the schools themselves. But the key finding of this report is essentially a non-finding: the overwhelming absence of evidence to support (or refute) the wisdom of the SES policy. The report states, “existing research offers little information about specific conditions that support positive outcomes” from supplemental education services provided under the law. “To make well informed decisions in the future, policy makers will require additional empirical evidence.” The report recommends policy makers redesign NCLB to commission federally funded evaluations that assess the effects of SES on student achievement and the access of at-risk students to SES programs; it also offers concrete recommendations for amending NCLB to assist local school districts and state education agencies in administering SES programs. Burch also recommends that policy makers examine and reconsider “NCLB’s apparent tension between the high-stakes accountability imposed on schools and the more limited measures for holding SES providers accountable for their contributions to student achievement. Find the report, “Supplemental Education Services under NCLB: Emerging Evidence and Policy Issues,” on the web at: http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/documents/EPSL-0705-232-EPRU.pdfMilitary Children’s Needs Often Unmet; School Environment Key to Solution Johns Hopkins Researchers Document Successful Strategies for Engaging Children in School Children from military families, and other children who often move from school to school, are at risk both socially and academically if school leaders and teachers don’t take proactive steps to ensure their well-being, according to a new report released today. As families move frequently around the country, transient children have an overwhelming burden placed on them as they try to adjust to constantly changing social and academic environments, the report says. The stress this creates can cause them to feel a lack of community and a disconnection from their schools. The impact that this can have on their development can be dramatic, according to Robert Blum, M.D., Ph.D., William H. Gates Sr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Blum is the primary author of the new report, Enhancing School Environment: Strategies That Work, and principal investigator on the Military Child Initiative, supported by the Department of Defense. The report, and an accompanying DVD, examine the impact that the school environment has on children, and the report offers recommendations for how educators and administrators can create environments that benefit all children in school. The DVD highlights several schools across the country that have put steps in place to create a supportive environment. “Many of our schools are failing to support transient students, such as children of military families, who simply fall through the cracks,” Blum said. “When students feel a part of their school community they get better grades, show up for class, and stay in school. We’ve developed steps schools can take to create an environment to support them that can make a world of difference for these children.” Studies show that there are lower dropout rates and less class cutting among students in more communal climates. Because academic achievement is directly proportionate to exposure to the learning environment, school climate is a key ingredient in academic success. But school climate affects more than just academic performance; it also influences the emotions and behavior of students, the report says. When students feel a sense of community and belonging, they are less likely to experience emotional distress or to engage in destructive behavior such as drinking or using drugs. Instead, they are inclined to enjoy the learning process and are more likely to trust and respect teachers, and show concern for others around them. As part of the research, Blum conducted “focus groups” and interviews around the country with military children and parents, along with teachers and school administrators, to accompany the report. Military children had this to say: “I wish teachers would understand the challenge of starting over, because that’s what we do; we start over everywhere we go.” “I switched schools in December. I was failing all of my classes and I’m an honor roll student---I don’t fail classes. My teachers thought I was being disrespectful, but I was just miserable.” In the focus groups, children whose parents were deployed overseas said that changing schools year after year often leaves them feeling “alone” and “like an outsider.” They said they need their teachers’ support to listen to their worries and concerns. One student said, “It helps more than people know.” The report offers steps to take to create a positive environment of support:
The Military Child Initiative plans to disseminate the report and DVD to school leaders across the country. “Military families value education. DoD wants to ensure that our military children are warmly received, challenged academically and that transitions to new schools are seamless as they move from one military community to the next. There are excellent practices being employed in schools across the nation. We want to be sure that those good ideas spread,” says Leslye A. Arsht, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, U.S. Department of Defense. The Department of Defense Military Community and Family Policy Office supported the research. The Military Child Initiative aims to improve educational environments for highly mobile and vulnerable young people, with a special focus on children and families in the military. It is a collaborative project of the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships in the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA). The Military Child Initiative provides national, state and local education agencies, as well as schools, parents and health, child welfare, juvenile justice and educational professionals with information, tools and services that enhance school success. For more information about the Military Child Initiative, go to http://www.jhsph.edu/mci/. To see full report: Military Base Schools Boost Student Achievement by Supporting Whole Family The Pentagon is not the first place to which policy makers look for ideas on increasing parental involvement in education, but they should, according to Vanderbilt University education researcher Claire Smrekar. Smrekar has found that the high academic achievement of students at Department of Defense Education Activity schools has its roots in an approach to education that supports the whole family. “While some of the elements that lead to these schools’ success are unique to the general structure, safety and discipline of life on a military base, the schools’ approach to putting themselves at the center of family life and reacting to community stressors can and should be replicated outside of the military,” Smrekar said. “What we found could provide a roadmap for public education systems, even in the era of No Child Left Behind,” she wrote in a report of her findings. Smrekar found that teachers, counselors and administrators at military base schools follow a model that places the schools at the center of family life and takes into account the stresses and changes affecting their students’ families, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The schools maintain high academic benchmarks and are generally small in size, ensuring that no child is overlooked. Specifically:
The new findings are a follow-up to a 2001 report by Smrekar and her colleagues at the Peabody Center for Education Policy at Vanderbilt commissioned by the now-defunct National Education Goals Panel, which identified several administrative, strategic, budgetary and programmatic factors leading to high student achievement in military base schools. “The missing piece in the 2001 report was the role that parents, the neighborhoods and military culture play in these students’ success,” Smrekar said. “To understand these issues, we interviewed parents and examined other social factors on military bases.” Smrekar found that in contrast to the popular image of the close-knit military community, enlisted soldiers’ housing areas are shabby, transitory, subject to crime and lacking the social support of officers’ living areas. The school is the primary place where neighbors in enlisted housing interact. “Most enlisted members and their spouses reported that if they knew any parents on post, they knew them best from interaction at their children’s school,” Smrekar wrote. “Indeed, more than any other place or program on post, the schools emerged as the most critical institutional support and social sanctuary for families.” Smrekar conducted the new study at one elementary and one middle school at Fort Campbell, Ky. She interviewed parents with children in the schools who included military truck rivers, Black Hawk helicopter pilots, aviation technicians, truck mechanics, military police officers, drill sergeants, tank and armored vehicle drivers, platoon leaders and commanders, as well as their spouses. “We found that parents structured and enforced quiet time and space for homework and reinforced the high academic standards at home that are set by teachers at school,” Smrekar said. “Much of the parental involvement takes place in the home.” Over 102,600 students are currently enrolled in Department of Defense Education Activity schools in the United States and abroad. The students’ parents or caregivers are military personnel who live on military bases. Approximately 40 percent of the DoDEA enrollees are African American or Hispanic. The new report, “The Social Context of Success: School, Neighborhood and Family Structures that Support High Academic Achievement in DoDEA Schools,” was prepared for the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy. Smrekar is an associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. The report is available for $7 on the Teachers College Record Web site: The Key to NCLB Success: Getting it Right From the Start Access to quality pre-kindergarten (PK) programs varies widely among and within states. While PK enrollment is growing, large disparities in access and quality threaten to undermine the capacity of early childhood education to close achievement gaps. Research shows that at-risk children can catch up to their non-disadvantaged peers by participating in high quality PK programs that are linked to K-3 structures. However, fewer than half of children ages 3 and 4 engage in some type of early childhood education—before quality is taken into account. Standards and instruction must be aligned from PK through Grade 3 to maximize the advantages of preschool. Achievement gains from preschool "fade out" over time if not followed with a high quality, aligned elementary school program. For PK to be most successful, it is best followed with a high-quality elementary school education that draws on the teaching and learning that provided in the PK classroom. The federal government and states currently are involved in expanding access to preschool, but coordination is limited and standards are uneven. The main federal investment in early education is through the Head Start program, but Head Start services reach less than half of eligible children. School districts can also use No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) Title I program funds for pre-kindergarten programs, but most districts choose to target limited funds on elementary grades. State-funded PK programs operate in 38 states, but there is little alignment of program characteristics or teacher entry standards across states. RECOMMENDATIONS 1) Dedicate current NCLB Title V funding to a new "2020 Early Education Grant" program. The federal government should restructure current Title V block grant funds instead as matching grants to states to expand access to high-quality PK programs and aligned PK teacher and curricular standards with elementary grades.
2) Require all PK classrooms to have a lead teacher with "highly qualified early educator" status. Similar to NCLB’s teacher quality requirement, lead PK teachers should hold a bachelor’s degree and evidence competence in early childhood education. A differentiated staffing approach would allow lesser-credentialed teachers to serve as assistant teachers. Over time, Head Start should align their teacher standards with these new requirements. In addition, Title II of the Higher Education Act should be revised to create an incentive for colleges of education to develop integrated PK-3 teacher preparation and certification programs. 3) Increase flexibility for schools districts to use existing NCLB Title I funding for early intervention in grades PK-3, and direct all new NCLB Title I funds to PK-3 initiatives. All Title I schools, not just those high poverty schools with schoolwide programs, should be allowed to use Title I funds for early intervention strategies, not just for those students who have qualified as at-risk. New Title I funding should specifically be dedicated to expanding and improving early education instead of distributed diffusely among a variety of activities. Not only would this save money in the long term by focusing on prevention rather than more costly remediation, it would target Title I program evaluations on a single, research-proven strategy and thus bolster the case for increased future Title I funding. The full text of this report is available here: Study Examines Characteristics of Female High School Students Who Report Steroid Use Steroid use among teen girls is not limited to those involved in competitive athletics and is associated with a cluster of other health-harming behaviors, including smoking and taking diet pills, according to results of a national survey published in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7 percent of ninth-grade girls reported ever using anabolic steroids, according to background information in the article. During the 1990s, three national surveys indicated dramatic increases in the prevalence of teen girls using steroids. Previous analyses of female steroid use have focused on older women and found an association with competitive athletics and bodybuilding. Diane L. Elliot, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and colleagues assessed anabolic steroid use among teen girls using a nationally representative sample of U.S. high schools completed in 2003. A total of 7,544 female students in grades nine through 12 completed the survey, which included questions about sports participation as well as steroids, ecstasy use and other illegal or unhealthy behaviors. A total of 5.3 percent of the participants reported prior or ongoing steroid use. “Participating in team sports was negatively related to anabolic steroid use, such that those who were members of sports teams were less likely to self-report prior or ongoing anabolic steroid use,” the authors write. “Adolescent girls reporting anabolic steroid use had significantly more other health-harming behaviors,” they continue. “They were much more likely to use other unhealthy substances, including past 30-day use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.” Young female steroid users were also more likely to:
More than two-thirds of the teen girls surveyed reported trying to change their weight. However, those who used steroids were more likely to turn to extreme weight-loss techniques, including vomiting and laxative use. “Anabolic steroids are body-shaping agents and cause a loss in body fat and an increase in lean tissue; therefore, their association with unhealthy weight loss practices was not surprising,” the authors write. The findings highlight important associations among girls who use steroids, the authors conclude. “Across all grades, these seem to be troubled adolescent girls with co-occurring health-compromising activities in the domains of substance use, sexual behavior, violence and mental health,” they conclude. “High-risk adolescent girls seem to have received less attention than adolescent boys, perhaps reflecting that their actions are less socially, albeit perhaps more personally, destructive. Anabolic steroid use is another marker for high-risk adolescent girls, and further study is needed to develop effective interventions for this population.”Benefits of School-based Fitness Programs Fade After Summer A study of 17 middle school students suggests that physical fitness gains made by obese children who participated in a lifestyle-focused physical education class during the school year were lost after the three-month summer break, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Children increasingly live in an environment with reduced amounts of physical activity coupled with easy access to calories, according to background information in the article. This can result in obesity, poor cardiovascular fitness, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension. “Improvements seen during the nine-month school-year intervention in cardiovascular fitness, fasting insulin levels and body composition were lost during the three-month summer break,” the authors write. During the break, average fitness level as measured by maximum oxygen consumption—the amount of oxygen the body can use, with higher levels indicating better fitness—decreased by 3.2 milliliters per kilogram per minute. Percentage of body fat increased by an average of 1.3 percent, and fasting insulin levels also increased. “Developing and evaluating interventions to influence students’ opportunities for healthful choices has been a focus of school-based health promotion research, including nutrition programs and physical education,” the authors write. “However, when interventions occur in a school-based setting, and are confined to the school year, an inherent question is one of sustainability.” The children were not given any instructions regarding exercise over the summer, creating three months of unsupervised activity, the authors note. “These data show that in children, efforts to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and other morbidities of insulin resistance should include exercise intervention in a sustained manner to improve cardiovascular fitness throughout the year, not just during the school year,” they conclude.How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools? Some Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland Case Studies Track Effects of Exams on Classroom Behavior in Two Anonymous Districts A new report tracking the local implementation of state high school exit exams – now required for graduation in 19 states – reveals a first look at how the tests are changing behavior of students, teachers and administrators in America’s high schools. As part of its multi-year national study of state exit examination policies intended to help policymakers and the public better understand the impact of the tests, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) conducted case studies tracking local implementation of exit tests in two anonymous school districts – one each in Maryland and Virginia. Virginia currently requires students to pass an exam to graduate. Maryland is currently phasing in this requirement. “This report is the first to provide some perspective on how these exams have changed the high school experience for students and have changed schools,” says Jack Jennings, president and CEO of CEP. “With so many students taking these exams, it is critical that policymakers understand the impact that these reforms have at the local level.” Based on extensive confidential interviews with students, teachers and administrators in each district, the report – How have High School Exams Changed Our Schools? Some Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland – finds that the exams have had a “noticeable impact,” leading to significant changes in instructional content and methods, allocation of resources, staffing patterns, and school climate. Benefits of the exams – which will be mandatory for roughly seven in ten high school students nationwide by 2009, including eight in ten minority students – include greater focus on student performance, increased teacher cooperation (including special education teachers), and closer ties between instruction and curriculum, according to the report. Drawbacks include a decreased emphasis on higher-level skills, less time for subjects not covered on the exams, and a push to cover more content with less depth. Other key findings include the following:
In August, the Center will release its annual national report on the status of high school exit exams across the nation. The 2005 report will include a special focus on the exams’ impact on English language learners, who represent one of the fastest-growing populations of students affected by the exams. The report, How have High School Exams Changed Our Schools? Some Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland, can be found online at http://www.cep-dc.org/highschoolexit/change. Has Student Achievement Increased Since No Child Left Behind? Since 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has spurred far-reaching changes in elementary and secondary education, all aimed at accomplishing the same fundamental goal—to improve students’ academic achievement. As the Congress prepares to reauthorize the Act, two related questions matter most:
To answer these questions, the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, conducted the most comprehensive study of trends in state test scores since NCLB took effect. to do a complete analysis of test score trends in reading and math before and after 2002. Based on the data that states did provide, CEP reached five main conclusions:
The study that produced these conclusions had several unique features, designed to address the limitations of past research on achievement since 2002. We went to great lengths to gather the most current results on state reading and mathematics tests from all 50 states and to have all states verify the accuracy of their data. Within each state, we limited our analyses to test results that were truly comparable from year to year—in other words, that had not been affected by such factors as the adoption of new tests or changes in the test score students must reach to be considered proficient. We also compared trends before and after 2002 to see whether the pace of improvement has sped up or slowed down since NCLB took effect.” To see the full report: To see related article: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=213616 The state profiles include information that the Center on Education Policy (CEP) and the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) were able to obtain from states by the deadline for phase I of CEP's study of test score trends before and after enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). To access state profiles: National Evaluation of Early Reading First: Final Report to Congress The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 created the Early Reading First (ERF) program to provide funding to preschools, particularly those that serve children from low-income families, to support the development of children's language and literacy skills. NCLB mandated that the Department conduct an independent evaluation of the ERF program to assess the impact of the program on both children's literacy skills as well as the instructional content and practices in preschool classrooms. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study found that the program had a positive impact on children's print and letter knowledge, but not on phonological awareness or oral language. The program had positive impacts on aspects of the classroom environment and teacher practices that are intended to support the development of language and literacy skills. To see report: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20074007.asp Changes in Instructional Hours in Four Subjects by Public School Teachers of Grades 1 Through 4 This Statistics in Brief uses data from five administrations of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to examine the distribution of weekly instructional hours by regular, full-time first- through fourth-grade teachers of self-contained classrooms in four subjects; English (including reading and language arts), mathematics (arithmetic), social studies (including history), and science. Results show that combined teacher instructional time in the four subjects has increased between 1987-88 and 2003-04. However, examining each subject shows that this increase is largely due to an overall increase in the amount of instruction in English and mathematics. In the two most recent administrations, 1999-2000 and 2003-04, weekly teacher instructional hours in English increased while instructional time in mathematics, social studies, and science decreased. Despite the fluctuations in hours of instruction, total instructional time in the four subjects as a percentage of the student school week did not change significantly between 1987-88 and 2003-04; it was about 67 percent of the school week in each year. To see report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007305 Maryland Assistant Professor of Education Jennifer Turner’s Annual List of Great Summer Reading Picture Books (These books are great for reading with someone.) David gets in trouble (Scholastic, 2002)
by David Shannon I love Saturdays y Domingos (Aladdin Publishers, 2004)
by Alma Flor Ada Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China (Puffin Books, 1982)
Retold by Ai-Ling Louie I'm Dirty (HarperCollins, 2006)
Kate & Jim McMullan Aunt Flossie's Hats (and crab cakes later) (Clarion Books, 2001)
Elizabeth F. Howard & James Ransome Easy Chapter Books/Nonfiction Spiderman 3: Meet the Heroes and the Villains (HarperCollins Books, 2007)
Adapted by Harry Lime A Wasp is not a Bee (Scholastic, 1995)
by Marilyn Singer Cam Jansen series (Puffin books, various years)
by David Adler Young Adult Fiction The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963 (Laurel Leaf, 2000)
by Christopher Paul Curtis Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Arthur A. Levine Books, July 2007)
by J. K. Rowling Esperanza Rising (Blue Sky Press, 2002, reprint edition)
by Pam Munoz Ryan Mapping 2005 State Proficiency Standards onto the NAEP Scale This report presents the results of applying a methodology for mapping state proficiency standards in reading and mathematics onto the appropriate NAEP scale, employing data from the 2004–05 academic year. The mapping exercise was carried out for both grades 4 and 8. For each of the four subject and grade combinations, the NAEP score equivalents to the states’ proficiency standards vary widely, spanning a range of 60 to 80 NAEP score points. Although there is an essential ambiguity in any attempt to place state standards on a common scale, the ranking of the NAEP score equivalents to the states’ proficiency standards offers an indicator of the relative stringency of those standards. The results show a strong negative correlation between the proportions of students meeting the states’ proficiency standards and the NAEP score equivalents to those standards. There is, at best, a weak relationship between the NAEP score equivalents for the state proficiency standard and the states’ average scores on NAEP. Finally, most of the NAEP score equivalents fall below the cut-point corresponding to the NAEP Proficient standard, and many fall below the cut-point corresponding to the NAEP Basic standard. To see report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007482 Data Suggest States Satisfy No Child Law by Expecting Less of Students …The 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law was designed to raise education standards across the country by punishing schools that fail to make all kids proficient in math and reading. But the law allows each state to chart its own course in meeting those objectives. The result, according to a Gannett News Service analysis of test scores, is that many states have taken the safe route, keeping standards low and fooling parents into believing their kids are prepared for college and work… Critics say states are more worried about creating the appearance of academic progress than in raising standards. "Ironically, No Child reforms may have the exact opposite effect they were intended to have," said Bruce Fuller, an education and public policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley. The GNS analysis found that relying on state test scores to judge students' performance is misleading. For example, 89% of Mississippi fourth-graders passed the state's reading test in 2005, but only 18% passed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. That gap of 71 percentage points was the widest in the nation. Massachusetts had one of the smallest gaps, with 50% of fourth-graders passing the state reading test and 44% passing the NAEP test. The national test is taken only by a small percentage of students in each state and often includes questions on material that schools haven't covered yet. Fuller's research indicates the gap between state test scores and NAEP scores has actually widened in many states since the federal law took effect…. States and some independent experts say comparing scores on the federal and state tests isn't valid. The national exam, they say, was never designed to compare standards from state to state. It's administered only to a sample of students, each of whom takes only a portion of the test. And teachers and students are far more focused on the state tests because those tests determine whether their schools make adequate progress and, in some cases, whether seniors receive a diploma. In Maryland, 58% of fourth-graders passed the state reading test in 2003, compared with 32% who passed NAEP. Two years later, 82% passed the state test while the percentage scoring proficient on NAEP stayed the same. "If it doesn't count for kids, they're not going to take it seriously," said Dixie Stack, director of curriculum at the Maryland Department of Education. Some states are taking the issue seriously. In 2005, Tennessee reported the largest difference in the nation between eighth-grade student scores on the state's math and reading tests and scores on NAEP. The state looked at its standards and found them largely in line with NAEP standards, said Rachel Woods, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. But the Tennessee tests focused on a multiple-choice format as opposed to NAEP, which demands more essay responses. Now, Tennessee is rewriting its tests and increasing requirements for high school graduation. That will almost certainly lower the number of kids scoring in the proficient range and increase the number of schools flagged as poor performers, Woods said… To see full report: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-06-06-schools-main_N.htm Southern States Lead the Nation in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs Participation in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs is growing in Southern (SREB) states. SREB's Challenge to Lead Goals for Education recognize AP courses and the IB curriculum as specific ways that states can engage high school students in more advanced course work. This report addresses the continued momentum of SREB states in access to and achievement in these programs, especially for traditionally underserved student groups. It also offers suggestions for states interested in strengthening their programs. To see the full report: http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/07E05_Adv_placement.pdf How Are Southern (SREB) States Doing? Virginia was the only SREB state with an average score in 2006 that topped the national average for its dominant test. Six ACT states — Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia, and four SAT states — Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia—kept pace or gained ground on the national average for their dominant test. Two ACT states — Alabama and Mississippi—and one SAT state — Florida—increased the percentage of high school seniors tested by at least 10 percentage points. When compared with national average ACT and SAT scores, the improvement in SREB states also is significant. In 1997, none of the SREB states surpassed the national average score for its dominant test. In 2006, one SREB state, Virginia, surpassed the national average, and eight other SREB states — Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia — narrowed their gaps with the nation. In all but three SREB states, the percentages of graduating seniors taking the dominant test increased. Most remarkably, scores improved at the same time that the percentages of students taking the tests increased in eight SREB states — Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. To see full report, with state by state figures: http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/07E02_ACT_and_SAT_Test_Scores.pdf A study of more than 900 primary school children taught using a system known as Linguistic Phonics found they made more progress than those who were not. Pupils reading skills advanced by several months more than expected. The Linguistic Phonics approach is a systematic and applied program that differs from traditional phonics programs in a number of ways. Rather than asking children to look at letters and tell what sound the letter makes, it begins from what children already bring with them to school, the sounds of their oral language, and progresses to a stage where children marry sounds with the written word. Implicit in the approach is the notion that children can learn to make associations between their spoken language (native speech sounds which are already embedded from around the age of one), and the written language. To achieve this aim, it adopts the approach that ‘the most effective phonics instruction teaches children to identify phonemes in spoken language first, and then to understand how these are represented by letters and letter combinations (graphemes). Based on this approach, the teacher explicitly, quickly and accurately teaches the skills and knowledge needed to decode, and provides learning experiences to apply these skills in meaningful contexts, through problem-solving, investigative activities, in the context of a rounded literacy experience. As with synthetic phonics programs, the key phonological skills are segmenting individual sounds and blending the sounds together to form words, but the emphasis is on children learning these basic skills in the context of working with whole words, and being able to manipulate phonemes by adding, omitting or substituting a phoneme in order to make a new word. As with any good phonics program, the key for both children and teachers is enjoyment. Enjoyment of sounds and of words and their meanings is an indispensable part of building confidence and achieving success. The Linguistic Phonics approach has four key principles, which underlie the English writing system: - sounds are represented by letters; - sounds can be represented by more than one letter; - some sounds can be represented in a variety of ways (e.g. go, snow, boat, cone); - some spellings can represent more than one sound (cow, snow). To see full report: http://www.stran.ac.uk/news/LPAReportFull2006.pdf See related article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6731899.stm How Far Behind in Math and Reading are English Language Learners? The fast-growing number of students designated as English language learners are among the farthest behind in reading and math, according to an analysis that is based on standardized test scores. About 51% of 8th grade ELL students trail whites in reading and math, meaning that the scores for one out of every two will have to improve for the group to achieve parity. In the 4th grade, 47% of ELL students are behind in math and 35% are behind in reading when compared with their white counterparts. Read the report: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=76 See related article: Principals Who Learn: Asking the Right Questions, Seeking the Best Solutions The way a principal thinks influences every decision he or she makes, and new literature on leadership, learning communities, and systems thinking is helping principals continually develop their thinking skills. This new book from ASCD describes how a number of practicing principals are using these ideas to enrich their thinking and positively transform their schools. Chapter 8. Little Things Mean a Lot: From Isolated Details to Connected Leverage Points Turning the Tables in Chemistry What do glowing veggies have to do with a career in science" It just so happens that electrified pickles swimming in metal ions are one example of the type of undergraduate chemistry class demonstration that helps make a future in science a bright possibility, rather than a total turn-off, for many students. In a commentary in this month’s Nature Chemical Biology, Brandeis University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor Irving Epstein outlines a gathering storm clouding the future of U.S. science and prescribes a series of strategies to help avert a looming national crisis. Epstein says the continued success of U.S. science is seriously threatened by the fact that increasing numbers of undergraduates, particularly the disadvantaged, are writing off a career in science. Why? Many students find introductory science, and chemistry in particular, both difficult and dull the way it is conventionally taught at the college level, discouraging many potential scientists before they ever have the chance to get hooked on science. “Anyone who teaches an introductory science course at one of this country’s elite universities is familiar with the sea of white faces he or she encounters, and the tendency of that ocean to whiten even more as the semester progresses and as one moves up the ladder of courses,” writes Epstein, who last year won $1 million from HHMI to revamp introductory chemistry at Brandeis with an eye to luring—and retaining—more students in science, particularly disadvantaged ones. “We need to ask ourselves why science is unattractive to so many students, particularly (but by no means exclusively), to underrepresented minority students,” writes Epstein. He believes that conventional science teaching and passive learning are primary culprits, because they rely too heavily on lecturing as well as unrelated and unexciting laboratory experiments. Epstein proposes a variety of strategies aimed at capturing the imaginations of potential scientists, all of which maximize interaction among undergraduates, teachers, material, yes, even dill pickles, and contemporary technology, such as video games. The overall goal, says Epstein, is to bring the thrill of discovery and learning back into the science classroom. But beyond that, Epstein’s HHMI project involves recruiting and retaining disadvantaged students in collaboration with the Posse Foundation, an organization that selects and trains “posses” of inner-city students to succeed in college. The students are chosen for their academic and leadership abilities. Epstein’s plan is to create a “science posse” at Brandeis each year that will build on the existing Posse program’s strengths but add features tailored specifically to science, such as a two-week pre-Brandeis “boot camp,” paid lab jobs, and academic support. “If we can succeed in making chemistry more appealing to students by reawakening their instinctive curiosity about the world, and attract and retain more disadvantaged students in chemistry, the impact will be felt well beyond a single discipline, a single university, and a single nation,” says Epstein. Across Canada with Multicultural Picture Books Readers of all ages can take a trip across Canada this summer without leaving the living room or paying for so much as a half-tank of gas, says Thompson Rivers University education professor Lynne Wiltse, who shares her top-10 picks of Canada’s best multicultural picture books. Picking only 10 books was a challenge, says Dr. Wiltse, explaining that she selected her favourites from a set of 60 Canadian picture books of realistic fiction with some kind of a cultural focus identified by a national study involving six researchers from across Canada. “We looked at culture in a broader sense than just ethnic diversity,” explains Wiltse. “Diversity also includes such aspects as disability and sexual orientation, even geography,” she adds, pointing out that one of her picks is The Mummer’s Song, a book about the almost-endangered centuries-old Newfoundland tradition, while another, The Moccasin Goalie, is a beautifully illustrated book about a young prairie boy with a crippled leg and foot who manages to play hockey despite the fact that he cannot wear skates. The researchers’ focus was on how pre-service teachers respond to issues of national identity, ideology and representation as presented in contemporary multicultural Canadian picture books, and on the development of culturally sensitive curriculum and pedagogy for a diverse student population. “One of the aspects of the study was based on the fact that those involved in teacher education programs are predominantly mono-cultural (white middle class), while student populations are increasingly multicultural,” says Wiltse. “We wanted to know how multicultural books can help student teachers prepare for teaching culturally diverse classes. “Children have powerful responses to picture books because of the content, and because of the artwork,” explains Wiltse. “It’s about the value of the visual.” And visual they are. “Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, about a little Inuit girl growing up in the Arctic, has beautiful artwork,” explains Wiltse, “while Share the Sky, in which a Chinese girl shares her knowledge of kites with her Canadian classmates, is filled with gorgeous watercolours.” Although all the books in the study were published in 1990 or later, some have an historical focus aimed at helping children from all backgrounds understand Canada’s roots, like Shi-shi-etko, a pre-1960 aboriginal history for younger children which won the Aboriginal picture book of the year award, Flags, a book of powerfully coloured pictures about WWII Japanese internment told from a child’s point of view, Ghost Train, a story of the building of Canada’s railways that won the 1996 Governor General’s Award for children’s literature, and Josepha: A Prairie Boy’s Story, about the difficulties encountered by a young immigrant boy from Eastern Europe in 1900. “Every time I read Josepha, my heart-strings just get pulled,” says Wiltse. “It’s exquisitely written, almost like poetry.” Two books on language round out Wiltse’s top-10: Caribou Song, written in English and Cree, is the first book in a trilogy written by Thomson Highway entitled “Songs of the North Wind,” while the enchantingly illustrated M is for Maple: A Canadian Alphabet is, says Wiltse, “not about teaching letters, but of learning about Canada. It’s a great book for lessons. “One of my teacher candidates used it as a teaching tool for a Grade 6 class, having students act out letter pages as still tableaux and having their classmates guess which letter and aspect of Canada they were representing.” Sticking to only ten titles was a major challenge for Wiltse, so, like any good teacher who throws some bonus questions onto a quiz, she can’t help adding three more picks to the pile. “If I could add a few more titles, they’d be A Coyote Columbus Story, an irreverent version of the Columbus story where Coyote is a ‘she,’ A Man Called Raven, about traditional Aboriginal culture in a contemporary setting, and No Two Snowflakes, a book with Christmas-card-perfect illustrations in which a Canadian girl tries to explain snowflakes to her African pen pal,” says Wiltse. Wiltse, whose doctoral dissertation on cultural and linguistic diversity in an inner-city school, completed in 2004, received a qualitative dissertation research award in 2005 and was published as a book, has taught language, literacy and children’s literature at Thompson Rivers University since 2002. Before coming to TRU, she obtained a master’s degree in international/intercultural education, and taught aboriginal students in reserve schools in Anahim Lake, Alert Bay, and Port Alberni, British Columbia. She received a TRU Teaching Excellence Award this past spring and has just received a major research grant to investigate the potential of third space theory to improve literacy learning for inner-city minority language learners in a school-university-community research collaboration. Thompson Rivers University is a primarily undergraduate, teaching-focused public post-secondary institution located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, offering trades, technology and career certificates and diplomas, and baccalaureate, post-baccalaureate and master's degrees through face-to-face and distance learning formats. Works Cited 2007 Educational Technology Trends For the past four years, in conjunction with The Metiri Group, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has conducted a state-by-state survey and created the National Trends report. The report is intended to inform national policymakers on the progress of state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) in achieving NCLB II D goals, as well as to provide SEAs and LEAs with current information on the strategies and tactics other states and school districts are using to get results. To see full report: To see a related, State Funding Report: To see individual state reports: http://states2.metiri.com/ Standards-Based Accountability Under No Child Left Behind Experiences of Teachers and Administrators in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania Since 2001-2002, standards-based accountability (SBA) provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) have shaped the work of public school teachers and administrators in the United States. NCLB requires each state to develop content and achievement standards in several subjects, administer tests to measure students’ progress toward these standards, develop targets for performance on these tests, and impose a series of interventions on schools and districts that do not meet the targets. Many states had such systems in place before NCLB took effect, but, since 2001-2002, every state in the United States has had to develop and implement an SBA system that met the requirements of the law, and its provisions have affected every public school and district in the nation. This book sheds light on how accountability policies have influenced attitudes and been translated into actions at the district, school, and classroom levels in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, with a focus on mathematics and science. SBA is leading to an increased emphasis on student achievement, and many educators laud this focus, but a single-minded emphasis on student proficiency on tests has some potentially negative consequences such as narrowing curriculum and declining staff morale. To see full report: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2007/RAND_MG589.pdf Sleep Slide-Rule Improves Children's Understanding of the Importance of Sleep Over the past decade, children have been going to bed later and sleeping less. This can be attributed, in part, to a lack of awareness in the community concerning sleep need in children and how the amount of sleep a child should get each night is dependent on one’s age. The Sleep-Side Rule is found to be an effective classroom tool that improves children’s understanding of the relationship between age and sleep need, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). The study, conducted by Kurt Lushington, PhD, of the University of South Australia, was based on a demonstration Sleep Slide-Rule unit manufactured for use in the classroom. It consisted of a top bar to indicate bedtime, a movable center rule with a key to indicate sleep need for the age bands three-to-five years, five-to-12 years, and 12-18 years, and a bottom bar displaying the appropriate wake-up time range according to age. The aid was used as part of a lesson plan on sleep in a group of nine-to-11-year-olds. Responses from teachers and children indicated that the Sleep Slide-Rule concept was instructive and functional. Examples of responses include the following:
Dr. Lushington points out that better sleep not only equals better learning, but also better health. "Children sleep less than they did 20 years ago and substantially less than 50 years ago. We know sleep is important for health and learning, but the importance of sleep and how to maintain healthy sleep habits has disappeared from our consciousness," said Lushington. "We teach our children about diet, exercise, drugs and much else about health, but little about the importance of a health-related behavior that takes up one-third or more of our children’s lives, namely, sleep." Dr. Lushington notes that "doing" is a good way for children to learn, and that the Sleep Slide-Rule makes physical the inter-relationship between bedtime, sleep need and wake-up time. "Children are great advocates for healthy living. If they are taught the importance of sleep, and the parents are included as well, they will make the changes for themselves." Experts recommend that children in pre-school sleep between 11-13 hours a night, and school-aged children between 10-11 hours of sleep a night. Children with Sleep Disorder Symptoms Are More Likely to Have Trouble Academically Students with symptoms of sleep disorders are more likely to receive bad grades in classes such as math, reading and writing than peers without symptoms of sleep disorders, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). The study, authored by Alyssa Bachmann, of Chappaqua Public Schools in New York, was focused on the parents of 218 second and third graders, who completed Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students – Child Form, a brief screening tool validated for use in the schools. According to the results, students with reported symptoms of sleep disorders received significantly worse grades than students without symptoms of sleep disorders. Specifically, there were differences in math, reading and writing grades. "This study, which identified the relationship between the prevalence of symptoms of sleep disorders and academic performance in second and third graders, found that screening students at school with a validated school-based instrument may identify students to be referred for appropriate medical and/or behavioral treatment," said Bachmann. Combining Brain Scans and Behavioral Tests Aids Early Identification of At-risk Readers Taken together, functional brain scans and tests of reading skills strongly predict which children will have ongoing reading problems. What’s more, the two methods work better together than either one alone, according to new research in the June issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Neuroscientists at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon universities think this double-barreled diagnostic can help identify at-risk readers as early as possible. That way, schools can step in before those children fail to learn to read or develop poor reading habits that might interfere with remediation, such as relying on memory for words rather than sounding out new ones. Early identification and systematic intervention can very often turn likely non-readers into readers, according to the study authors. This study of 73 Pittsburgh-area children of ages 8 to 12, all identified as struggling readers, ran for a school year. At the start of the year, the researchers administered standard tests of early literacy skills, including word identification, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, efficiency, and phonological processing – this last a critical measure of how well children process the sounds of letters and letter combinations. The researchers also used functional MRIs (fMRIs) to depict how the children’s brains’ worked when they had to read two words and say whether they rhymed, a test of phonological awareness. To make the fMRI results more sensitive to differences among children, the authors further analyzed the images using a method called “voxel-based morphometry” that uses the density of the brain’s white and grey matter to zero in on activation patterns in specific parts of key brain regions. At the end of the school year, the team, led by Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD, of the Stanford University School of Medicine, tested the children’s ability to decode text using the Word Attack subtest of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, a standardized measure of decoding. Hoeft’s team then determined which test method (either or both) predicted reading skill more strongly. The model combining the behavioral and neuroimaging measures predicted future decoding significantly better than either of those methods alone. The behavioral predictors alone accounted for 65 percent of the variance in end-of-year performance, which means they could tell future good from poor readers nearly two out of three times. Brain imaging (a composite of the fMRI and voxel analysis scores) accounted for 57 percent of the later variance, thus accurately predicting more than half the time whether they would still have problems reading after a year of regular instruction. Both figures are respectable. However, together they explained an impressive 81 percent of the variance. In other words, the combined tests were able to predict the children’s future decoding skill more than four out of five times. Although MRIs might not be suitable as widespread screening instruments, they might be considered for use in children showing early reading problems, especially to differentiate children who have a true language disorder from those who simply need time to mature. Hoeft points out that the cost of a brain scan might compare favorably to the expense of hiring trained personnel to run full batteries of neuropsychological testing, the more common mode of problem identification. Conceivably, she adds, if researchers can run a similar but very large study assigning children to different remedial reading programs, sometime in the future they may be able to determine which programs will work best for which children through understanding both their reading behavior and their specific patterns of brain activation. Article: “Prediction of Children’s Reading Skills Using Behavioral, Functional, and Structural Neuroimaging Measures;” is available here: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Says Education In the U.S. Needs Improvement “A country’s ability to compete in an ever more integrated world economy crucially depends on a highly educated workforce. It is thus a matter of concern that US students are outperformed in international tests by their peers in many other countries. It is also a concern that many students seem underprepared for work and higher education. Although large achievement gaps persist between population groups, performance is broadly unsatisfactory, including affluent and academically successful students, and hence appears to reflect above all system-level weaknesses. Available evidence does not unambiguously establish the reasons for this. This Survey focuses on one partial explanation, the role played by academic standards, curriculum and examinations, which are undemanding by international comparison. These weaknesses appear to be linked to the combination of the highly decentralised character of education delivery and the lack of central steering related to learning objectives and assessment. Other factors thought to be related to student achievement, including teaching quality and school choice, are not discussed in this Survey. While responsibility for education lies primarily with states and local authorities, the federal government can play a role by making financial support conditional on the achievement of certain objectives. Federal legislation – the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 – calls for annual testing and greater accountability. In particular, it requires states to establish clear contents standards and thresholds for adequate yearly progress against which performance can be assessed. Preliminary indications, including assessments of educational observers and international experience, are consistent with it raising school performance and narrowing achievement gaps. The No Child Left Behind Act is in general well conceived and should be re-authorised. But it could be strengthened. For instance, it would be desirable to extend the legislative framework of standards, assessment and accountability through high school. Although the federal government cannot set standards, it could strengthen incentives for states to adopt more challenging standards. Indeed, standards by which performance and yearly progress is evaluated are very low in some states. States and school districts need to implement more challenging curricula and levels of performance. Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate provide models of standards that could be adopted more widely. As tests are often focusing on the wrong things, states need to align tests more closely with curriculum and expected levels of performance. Moreover, No Child Left Behind should require the states to implement curriculum-based external exit exams.” This report, and a chart showing US performance falling behind that of Japan, Canada, Germany and France, and ahead of only Italy, in Math and Reading (Of the 29 countries in the organization, the United States ranked 24th in the mathematics portion of the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, in 2003) can be found at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/56/40/38665203.pdf Dropping Out of School Is a Process, Not an Event, Study Says It takes more than a day to drop out of school. It also takes more than a day to prevent it. A new study of the best research on dropout prevention shows that a single event rarely causes a child to drop out of school. Dropping out almost always is the result of a long process of disengagement that sometimes begins before the child enrolls in kindergarten. Just as the reasons can be multiple, so are the solutions, according to a new study sponsored by Communities In Schools Inc. (CIS) and conducted with the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University. The study, Dropout Risk Factors and Exemplary Programs, finds that dropping out of school is related to a variety of factors in four domains: individual, family, school and community. The study focused on individual and family factors. “There is no single risk factor that can accurately predict if a student will drop out, but there are 25 significant risk factors in the individual and family domains,” said Jay Smink, executive director of the NDPC. “The more risk factors that become evident for a student, the greater the likelihood that student will eventually drop out of school.” Many of the risk factors start in elementary school, some before. That is an important finding, according to contributing author Dan Linton, director of research and evaluation for CIS. Approximately half of the 3,000-plus sites where CIS operates are elementary schools. "Children of low socioeconomic status are particularly at risk, and if you add low achievement, poor attendance and being too old for the grade, the risk increases dramatically and the student will not likely graduate,” Smink said. “You can take those four factors to the bank.” Some of the risk factors don’t sound so obvious. Students who work a lot of hours, have a large number of siblings or too many interests outside of school are at increased risk, according to the study. So are students whose families don’t talk much about school. The good news, according to Linton, is that there are effective programs for battling America’s dropout challenge. "CIS connects students to programs and services to help them successfully stay in school, learn and prepare for life. A key goal of the study was to identify programs found to be highly effective in addressing the risk factors. This initial research identified 50 programs that CIS affiliates may incorporate into their offerings,” Linton said. Many of the programs reflect 15 successful strategies identified by the NDPC in previous research. The list of programs is posted with the entire Dropout Risk Factors and Exemplary Programs report at both the NDPC and CIS Web sites. The study was completed by Cathy Hammond, research associate for the NDPC/Network, with contributions from Smink and Sam Drew of NPDC/Network and Linton of CIS. The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network, established at Clemson University in 1986, is a national resource for sharing solutions for student success through its clearinghouse function, active research projects, publications and professional development activities. Communities In Schools is the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, working in more than 3,200 K-12 public schools. Founded in 1977, CIS is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Nearly 1 million young people every year receive direct services through more than 200 CIS local affiliates in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Between 80 and 90 percent of the tracked students show improvement in academic achievement, attendance, behavior and promotion to the next grade level. To see full report: More Than 1.2 Million Students Will Not Graduate in 2007 Detailed Graduation Data Available for Every U.S. District and State Today’s high school graduates enter a world in which they’ll need at least some college to gain access to decent-paying careers, according to a report released by Education Week. And those without even a high school diploma will face increasingly bleak labor-market prospects. The report, Diplomas Count: Ready for What? Preparing for College, Careers, and Life After High School, draws on two national databases to examine the distribution of jobs nationally and within each state, and the relationship between education and pay levels. The report also includes the latest analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center of graduation rates nationwide, finding that an estimated 1.23 million students, or about 30 percent of the class of 2007, will fail to graduate with their peers. Native American, Hispanic, and African-American students are among the groups with the lowest graduation rates. In addition, a new analysis conducted for the report finds a strong relationship between educational attainment and earnings. “At both national and state levels, our research shows that a high school diploma alone is not sufficient for students to access the jobs that will provide a real future and to thrive in our economy,” said EPE Research Center Director Christopher B. Swanson, who conducted the analysis. By combining information from a U.S. Department of Labor database that classifies jobs into five “zones,” defined by education, training, and experience requirements, with data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the analysis shows the proportion of adults nationally and in each state who hold occupations in the various job zones, their median earnings, and their average education levels. More often than not, young people will need to complete at least some college to earn a decent wage, according to the analysis. Fewer than one in 10 employees in Job Zone 3 or higher have less than a high school diploma. In Job Zone 3, for which the median income is $35,672 annually, 37 percent of workers have some college education and another 26 percent have a bachelor’s degree. For jobs in Zone 5, which require the most extensive preparation, median income reaches $59,113 and more than three-quarters of workers hold a bachelor’s degree. In contrast, at the bottom end of the job-zone classifications, where workers with a high school education or less are concentrated, the median annual income is $12,638. Gap Between Labor-Market Findings, Graduation Rates Swanson’s analysis of high school graduation rates, using a method he’s developed known as the Cumulative Promotion Index, or CPI, shows that despite the increasing importance of education in the labor market, only about 70 percent of U.S. 9th graders make it to graduation four years later. That figure drops to 46 percent for black males and 52 percent for Hispanic males. About six in 10 black and Hispanic females earn a diploma within four years of entering high school. While graduation rates for Asian, Hispanic, and black students improved slightly from 2003 to 2004, the most recent data available, rates dipped slightly for white students and Native Americans. As in past years, more than one-third of the students lost from the high school pipeline failed to make the transition from 9th to 10th grade. The report also examines graduation rates for the nation’s 50 largest school systems. As in the past, the Detroit district has the lowest graduation rate, just below 25 percent, and is one of 10 major urban districts that graduate less than half their students. This year’s analyses also show a severe mismatch between local labor markets and students’ education levels in many urban areas. For example, while 15.7 percent of the labor market in the District of Columbia occupies Job Zone 5—in which more than nine in 10 workers have at least some college and more than three-quarters have a bachelor’s degree—most of those jobs are inaccessible to Washington’s public school students, more than four in 10 of whom fail to earn a diploma within four years. A Road Map to State Graduation Policies To provide context for high school graduation rates, Diplomas Count examines state policies in three key areas: definitions of college and workforce readiness, high school completion credentials offered, and exit exams. Among the findings: College and Work Readiness: Eleven states define what students should know and be able to do to be prepared for credit-bearing courses in college, and 14 states are working on a definition. Twentyone states have a definition of work readiness, and 10 are working on one. Approaches to defining readiness fall into four major categories: standards, skills, coursework, and assessments. Advanced Diplomas: Twenty-four states award advanced diplomas or some type of formal recognition to students who exceed standard graduation requirements. But while all of those states award honors for accomplishments in core academic subjects, only eight also provide recognition for accomplishments in a career or technical program. Exit Exams: Twenty-two states require exit exams for the class of 2007 and three states—Maryland, Oklahoma, and Washington—plan to do so for future graduating classes. The number of states basing exit exams on standards at the 10th grade level or higher has increased from six in 2002 to 18 in 2007. To see full report: http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/06/12/index.html Special Web-Only Features Available at Edweek.org EdWeek Maps, a powerful new online mapping service, enables users to zoom in on each of the nation’s schools and districts, click a button, and produce a standardized report that compares district, state, and national figures at maps.edweek.org. “State Graduation Briefs” for every state feature detailed, state-specific data on graduation rates, how states calculate graduation rates, definitions of college and work readiness, and policies related to high school graduation requirements. To see state reports visit Diplomas Count at www.edweek.org/go/dc07 The EPE Research Center has also published three online-only policy briefs: ·“What It Takes to Graduate for the Class of 2006-07” provides 50-state data on graduation policies in four broad categories: course taking requirements, exit exams, completion credentials, and mandatory-attendance age. To see brief: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/06/07/40policy1.h26.html “High School Assessments, 2006-07” examines statewide testing for general education students in grades 9-12 during the 2006-07 school year, including end-of-course tests, exit exams, and college-admissions tests. To see brief: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/06/07/40policy3.h26.html ·“Graduation Rates Under NCLB” looks at how states are carrying out federal requirements for calculating and reporting graduation rates under the No Child Left Behind Act and determining whether schools have made adequate progress. To see brief: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/06/07/40policy2.h26.html Disadvantaged Children Up to a Year Behind by the Age of Three Many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to a year behind more privileged youngsters educationally by the age of three, a UK-wide study has found. Vocabulary scores achieved by more than 12,000 children revealed that the sons and daughters of graduates were 10 months ahead of those with the least-educated parents. A second “school readiness” assessment measuring understanding of colours, letters, numbers, sizes and shapes that was given to more than 11,500 three-year-olds found an even wider gap – 12 months – between the two groups. The equivalent gaps for children in families living above and below the poverty line used by the researchers were five months for vocabulary and 10 months for school readiness. The assessments were conducted on behalf of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, which is based at the Institute of Education, University of London. They form part of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), which is tracking more than 15,500 children born in 2000-2. The assessments also highlighted marked ethnic differences. A quarter of the Black Caribbean and Black African children who took the school readiness assessment were delayed in their development, compared with only 4 per cent of White children. Bangladeshi and Pakistani three-year-olds recorded relatively low scores on both tests. Their vocabulary scores were, on average, well below those normally expected for two-and-a-half-year olds, even though non-English speakers were not included in the assessments. Bangladeshi children’s school readiness scores were about a year behind those of White youngsters and Pakistani children did only slightly better. Dr Kirstine Hansen, research director of the MCS, emphasised, however, that the assessments might not be a fair indicator of minority ethnic children’s current or future ability. “Before drawing firm conclusions we will need to investigate the circumstances in which the assessments were done, allowing for whether children lived in homes where English was not the main language spoken. There may also be cultural differences in children’s readiness to attempt such tasks or engage with an unfamiliar visitor. However, it is fair to comment that teachers need to be aware that many – but by no means all -- Bangladeshi and Pakistani children may do poorly on similar assessments.” To see full report: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2007/06/11/MCS2.pdf Welsh Children in Bilingual Families Doing Well Children in Welsh-English bilingual families appear to be rising to the challenge of mastering two languages before they reach school. A study that compared three-year-olds brought up in Welsh-English bilingual and English-only homes found almost no difference in their English vocabulary and “school readiness” assessments. Professor Heather Joshi, director of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), said: “If anything, the average scores were higher in the Welsh-speaking homes, but not significantly so.” The researchers gauged the children’s vocabulary by showing them a series of everyday items and asking them to name them. The school readiness assessment measured their understanding of colours, numbers, counting, sizes, shapes, letters and comparisons. The assessments revealed that the average vocabulary score for three-year-olds in Wales was slightly below the UK average but the top 10 per cent of youngsters in Wales did as well as the top 10 per cent in England. The school readiness results in Wales were similar to England’s but below the UK average. “Concerns have been expressed that having to cope with two languages could be a challenge for very young children but we are pleased to report there was no evidence of this,” said Professor Joshi. “The dual language context in Wales is clearly different from the one we find in other parts of the UK where bilingual children in immigrant communities face difficulties in learning English.” The study, which is being conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education, University of London, is tracking the development of more than 15,500 children in the UK who were born between 2000 and 2002. The assessments of vocabulary and school readiness involved nearly 1,900 children in Wales. About one tenth of the children’s families reported speaking some, or only, Welsh at home. A slightly lower proportion of children with serious behaviour problems was found in the Welsh-speaking homes than in the English-only homes. Among the study’s other findings are that:
The researchers also note that differences within countries -- between socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups -- were more significant than differences between countries. Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten is Better Preparing Children for Kindergarten Children who participated in the Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education program performed better on the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) – a screening instrument given to children within the first 30 days of kindergarten – than children who did not participate in the program. Further, children who attended the VPK program less than 85 percent of the time still scored higher on the FLKRS screening measures than children who had no exposure to the program. The FLKRS includes selected measures from the Early Childhood Observation System™ (ECHOS™) and the first two measures of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills™ (DIBELS™) – those measuring Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency. Children attending the full VPK program, or even a portion of a program, generally outperformed those who did not on each of these three measures. ECHOS™ – Fifty-two percent of VPK completers (those attending a minimum of 85 percent of the program) were "Consistently Demonstrating" what he or she should know and be able to do at the beginning of kindergarten. Only 40 percent of non-VPK children were "Consistently Demonstrating" and 45 percent of children with some VPK were "Consistently Demonstrating." DIBELS™: Letter Naming Fluency – Letter Naming Fluency measures a student's proficiency in naming uppercase and lowercase letters. Eighty-two percent of VPK completers were "Above Average" or "Low Risk," which means the student was performing at or above grade level in this measure. Sixty-five percent of non-VPK children were "Above Average" or "Low Risk" and 71 percent of children with some VPK were "Above Average" or "Low Risk." DIBELS™: Initial Sound Fluency – Initial Sound Fluency measures a student's ability to recognize the beginning sound(s) in a spoken word. Seventy percent of VPK completers were "Above Average" or "Low Risk;" whereas, 62 percent of non-VPK children fell into this same category. Sixty-four percent of children with some VPK were "Above Average" or "Low Risk." "T | ||
