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Spread holiday cheer: share a gift that supports public education
Is your holiday shopping list stressing you out? Do you know someone
who went to public school? Who cares about public education? Who
wants to ensure that all kids go to great public schools? Does
your aunt really need another DVD? Give her a gift that aligns with
her passion for public education! Sometimes the most thoughtful gift
you can give to someone you care about is a donation to a great
cause in their honor. Gifts to PEN fill a direct and tangible
need: keeping the NewsBlast free for all who want it, improving
college access, supporting teacher professional development, and
mobilizing the public to demand accountability from education
leaders. Each gift of $25 or more will be personally acknowledged
informing the person you designate that a gift was given in their
honor to support the work of Public Education Network.
Education prospects for the world's poor need urgent attention, UNESCO warns
UNESCO has released its annual Education for All Monitoring report,
entitled "Overcoming inequality: why governance matters." In it,
UNESCO warns that "unacceptable" national and global education
disparities are undermining efforts to achieve international
development goals. The current global financial crisis only
compounds problems due to the failure of aid donors to act on
commitments, weak domestic policies, and political indifference. The
report cites grim statistics, such as that one in three children in
developing countries (193 million in total) reaches primary school
age having had their brain development and education prospects
impaired by malnutrition, and that 75 million children of primary
school age are not in school, including just under one-third of the
relevant age group in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender enrollment gaps
remain large across Asia and Africa. "When financial systems fail,
the consequences are highly visible and governments act," commented
UNESCO's Director-General Kochiro Matsuura, adding: "When education
systems fail the consequences are less visible, but no less real.
Unequal opportunities for education fuel poverty, hunger, and child
mortality, and reduce prospects for economic growth. That is why
governments must act with a greater sense of urgency."
Poverty dramatically affects children's brains, as in stroke, study finds
Certain brain functions in some low-income nine- and ten-year-olds
show patterns equivalent to the damage from a stroke, according to a
new study to be published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,
USA TODAY reports. The study adds to a growing body of evidence that
poverty afflicts children's brains through malnutrition, stress,
illiteracy, and toxic environments. Research shows that the neural
systems of poor children develop differently from those of
middle-class children, affecting language development and "executive
function," or the ability to plan, remember details, and pay
attention in school. For the new study, researchers used an
electroencephalograph to measure brain function of 26 children while
they watched images flashing on a computer. The children pressed a
button when a tilted triangle appeared. "It is a similar pattern to
what's seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in
their prefrontal cortex," which controls higher-order thinking and
problem solving, says lead researcher Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive
psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley. "It suggests
that in these kids, prefrontal function is reduced or disrupted in
some way." Research also suggests that these effects are reversible
through intensive intervention such as focused lessons and games
that encourage children to think out loud or use executive function.
Report surveys annual status of charter schools nationwide
A new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, the
fourth annual analysis from the National Charter School Research
Project, looks at what's going on in charter schools, how well
they're doing, where they need to improve, and what can be learned
from the research on these types of public schools. Findings in
"Hopes, Fears, & Reality" include observations that, not
surprisingly, national charter school achievement is highly varied,
and that charter schools distinguish themselves from traditional
public schools in their educational strategies and offerings. The
report also finds that college-prep charters are an important new
development for inner-city students, charter schools deliver new
models for special education, and concludes that a more
sophisticated understanding of its diverse constituent demand is
needed to effectively grow the charter sector.
Getting strategic with business-high school partnerships
U.S.News & World Report has printed the transcript from a panel on
the role of businesses in high school at its first education summit,
which was sponsored by Intel and held in October. Topics under
discussion ranged from American training in science and math to
corporation-designed curricula. Said Susan Zelman, senior vice
president of education and children's content at PBS: "The reality
is that in this new economy, it's not only a knowledge-based
economy, but it's going to be a creative, innovative economy. And
so, academics alone won't do it. Our students really need the
partnerships with the business community to learn how they apply
their knowledge to the real world." Also participating in the
discussion were Anne Bryant, president of the National School Boards
Association; Geno Flores, chief academic officer of the Prince
George's County (Md.) school system; and Will Swope, corporate vice
president and general manager of Intel's corporate affairs division.
According to Will Swope," We're not educators. The government is the
educator. The teacher is the educator. We're not trying to take that
over at all. We're trying to help; we're trying to assist."
A stewardship of practice in education
An article by Jill A. Perry and David Imig in Change: The Magazine
of Higher Learning profiles the Carnegie Project on the Education
Doctorate (CPED), a program devised to remedy the common complaint
that Ed.D. degrees fail to provide leaders in K-12 and higher
education with practical knowledge and the capacity for expert
leadership. The project aims to develop professional practitioners
who are committed to the highest standards and prepared to take on
the challenges of teaching in and leading schools, serving as
administrators and clinical faculty in colleges and universities,
and leading organizations that serve education. In order to achieve
this, the project seeks to define what the article calls "stewards
of practice" should know, value, and be able to do, as well as
design the course of study and experiences that can develop this
type of practitioner.
Many Northwest region improvement plans lack crucial parental component
A new report by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory finds
that 54 percent of school improvement plans in the Northwest region
(Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington) lack parent
involvement components mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.
NCLB requires that Title I schools labeled in need of improvement
submit a school improvement plan to their state education agency
that contains specific strategies for increasing parent involvement
as a means to increasing student proficiency and bringing schools
out of improvement status. "Parent Involvement Activities in School
Improvement Plans in the Northwest Region" found that more than half
of the 308 plans examined did not include provisions to involve
parents in developing and approving school improvement plans or
include what the report deemed "effective" parent involvement
activities, nor did the schools notify parents of their improvement
status. The report also found that while 75 percent of the schools
in improvement serve English language learner students, only 33
percent of the school improvement plans included activities for
communicating with parents in a language they could understand.
Will "cash for grades" fix dismal college dropout rates?
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $13 million to
study whether paying low-income college students between $1,000 to
$4,000 to maintain a half-time schedule and a C average is
effective, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Gates-funded study
will be conducted by MDRC, a social policy and education research
institution, with the aim of reversing the dismal dropout rates for
low-income college students, particularly those in community
college. "The reasons people drop out are complex, and there's no
one thing responsible, but financial reasons are a big factor," said
Thomas Brock, head of the MDRC unit running the study. "The idea is
to create an incentive so if you stay in college and demonstrate
you're a serious student, you'll be rewarded." Right now, he said,
about half of those students break off their education before
completing a certificate or degree program. Most receive no help
with room and board costs while they are studying.
See the report at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/education/09gates.html
Michigan to intervene in Detroit Public Schools again
Just three years after returning control of its schools to Detroit,
the state of Michigan has announced that it will once again step in
and assert control, this time to manage the district's finances,
according to The Detroit News. The Michigan Department of Education
will install an emergency financial manager with the power to
negotiate contracts, hire and fire staff and close schools. The
"financial emergency" was announced by Michigan Superintendent of
Public Instruction Mike Flanagan a week after he warned that the
district had one final chance to get its finances in order and meet
the terms of an agreement crafted by a state review team. The
district submitted documents past their due dates and did not file a
deficit elimination plan as mandated by the state, prompting state
action. The decision follows months of controversy over the
district's finances, with administrators first declaring a fund
surplus, then announcing a $408 million deficit, forcing the board
to approve hundreds of layoffs and other cuts. Vendors stated they
weren't being paid, and the state to advance funds so the school
system could meet its payroll. The emergency manager appointment
would last a year, but could be renewed.
Arizona districts create exclusive tier of private-style public schools
As a means of turning around stagnant or declining enrollment,
Arizona's public school districts are creating a new system of
schools that operate more like private academies, The Arizona
Republic reports. Students must apply, get teacher recommendations,
take placement exams, and in some cases, interview for a spot. In
Arizona, students can attend any district or charter school with
available space, and parents have shown willingness to drive to
other districts to find smaller class size, better school climate,
or a specialization that matches their child's interest -- spurring
competition among districts, who stand to lose an average of $6,232
per student annually when a student opts for schooling elsewhere.
These charter schools are smaller, with greater flexibility in
salaries and staffing, which, along with an admissions policy, makes
them more academically competitive. The problem, according to
critics, is that they exacerbate an existing divide between poor and
affluent in the state. Bright but poorer kids often can't pass the
entrance requirements because neighborhood have left them poorly
prepared, and most charters don't provide busing, making it
logistically or financially impossible for some kids to attend.
"[The schools] become private schools paid for by the public for an
elite group," said Gary Orfield, a professor at UCLA. "It's
fragmenting the school system."
Merit pay program in Texas successful, within limitations
According to a two-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence
Grant program, 90 percent of the eligible schools have participated
in the voluntary merit pay initiative, writes The Dallas Morning
News. To be eligible, schools must have a high percentage of
low-income students, and must earn a recognized or exemplary state
rating, or have passing rates on the state math and reading tests
that rank in the top quarter of Texas schools. It's unclear if the
program has yielded higher student achievement, but turnover was
lower among teachers who received bonus pay than those who did not.
The main problem with the program to date has been that too few
schools were eligible to participate after an initial year because
they failed to meet the academic requirements. Teachers who
participated in programs that lasted both years were more likely to
favor the program, and in keeping with national trends, younger and
less experienced teachers more often supported merit pay. Higher
incentive pay amounts also led to greater teacher satisfaction with
the program.
BRIEFLY NOTED
When it comes to funding education, lawmakers "lie" about valuing Florida students
When Florida lawmakers say they care about the state's children, the
president of the state's school superintendent association tells
them, based on the fact that Florida pays the least per student in
the country for education, "You lie."
Making professional development respond to accountability demands
In an entry in NCCRESt's LeadScape Blog, Professor Karen Smith of
Arizona State University discusses ways to reinvigorate professional
development for teachers, which when traditionally implemented, has
almost no effect in classroom practice.
No more maneuvering around school districts to create Florida charters
A state appellate court has ruled that Florida Schools of Excellence
Commission, an agency created by the state to charter new schools,
is "facially unconstitutional," returning exclusive power to grant
charters to local school districts, many of whom sued to retain that
control.
Best education stories of 2008
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development SmartBrief Editors offer a list of reader choices for the most compelling education stories of 2008.
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