Today’s Top Picks:

Note: ENR is doing the patriotic thing and taking the rest of the week off to paint his basement. At least that’s what his wife tells him is the patriotic thing to do. The roundup will return on Monday.

Nolan Karras, a member of the “Education First PAC,” likes what he saw in the primary elections.
http://goo.gl/xe8mH (KCPW)

Cedar Ridge Elementary teacher Ruth King gets some kudos on Huffington Post.
http://goo.gl/aMaOj (HuffPo)

4th Circuit Court rules that you can give credit for release time religious instruction, under some circumstances.
http://goo.gl/Eda1T (Spartanburg, SC, paper)
and http://goo.gl/y8vFd (USAT)
or a copy of the ruling
http://goo.gl/Ss0D1

New federal report looks at the performance of American Indian students.
http://goo.gl/APO6L (AP)
and http://goo.gl/6TPVU (Ed Week)
or a copy of the report
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

And because it wouldn’t be the Fourth of July without a mention of Thomas Jefferson, here’s a mention in education context.
http://goo.gl/asdAW (CNN)

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

“Education First PAC” Calls Legislative Primaries a Victory for Public, Higher Ed

Two Rivers Adult Education class of 2012 holds graduation day

Class teaches Utahns to build bicycles by hand
Granite District, Bicycle Collective partner to teach Utahns how to build bikes.

Utah’s Strong Broadband Infrastructure Attracts Businesses

OPINION & COMMENTARY

Utah gets a pass
Replacing NCLB with new system

Testing, Testing

Gallup: confidence in public schools is dropping

Teacher Bashing

Mitt and Barack can hold hands
Romney and Obama have tons of common ground on education reform; we should build on it

Valedictorians: Who needs them?
A commencement kerfuffle at Eagle Rock High School serves as a reminder that schools might want to rethink the tradition of selecting a top student.

Timed Tests and the Development of Math Anxiety

How to get kids reading and writing over the summer

NATION

Federal appeals court upholds ruling on Spartanburg School District 7′s religious ed classes

Biden Says Teachers ‘Under Full Blown Assault’ from Romney

Native American students trail in math, reading

SD merit-pay plan for teachers goes to public vote

Career test for kindergarteners in the works

Why school districts keep superintendent searches secret

Alan Alda’s ‘Flame Challenge’ Illuminates Importance of Communicating Science

More Than 1 in 4 Teens Have ‘Sexted’: Study

Arizona cyberbullying guidelines expanded
Schools add Web focus, save money

Aspen Ideas Fest: New Orleans mayor discusses education reform

In ‘his’ blog, Jefferson lays out his visionary thoughts on education

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UTAH NEWS
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“Education First PAC” Calls Legislative Primaries a Victory for Public, Higher Ed

Organizers of a political action committee called Education First say last week’s primary election results in the Utah Legislature are a good sign for public and higher education in Utah. Nolan Karras, a member of the State Board of Regents and former Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, is co-chair of the PAC, which was organized in late 2011.
“We have felt like there has been some anti-public education, if you will, atmosphere at the legislature. We think that’s moderating and I think there’s a lot of good people up there that we can now have a vigorous debate with,” he says.
Karras says the PAC doesn’t have a “litmus test” that candidates have to pass, but wants to help meet the governor’s goal of having two-thirds of Utah adults obtain a college degree or certificate by 2020.
He says with a few exceptions, the PAC focused primarily on open seats this election cycle, rather than trying to oust incumbents from the legislature.
http://goo.gl/xe8mH (KCPW)

Two Rivers Adult Education class of 2012 holds graduation day

ROY — Graduation day was a little late but extra special for members of the Two Rivers Adult Education class of 2012.
Moms, dads and spouses beamed with pride as their students walked across the stage at Roy High School to shake hands with Weber School District officials handing out diplomas. Babies cried for their gowned parents, some of whom waved to toddlers from the stage. One student carried her baby with her, drawing applause.
“Some of them quit school because they just couldn’t do it anymore,” said Sharilyn Gerber, a Weber School District board member who teaches adult education in the Ogden School District. “Some got discouraged with school, or they got a job and didn’t think they needed school because they were making minimum wage.
“For the young girls, sometimes it’s pregnancy. For some of the older students, they want to be an example for their kids, or not having graduated is emotional baggage they carry with them. They’re a dropout, and they think they’re a failure.”
http://goo.gl/75jv4 (OSE)

Class teaches Utahns to build bicycles by hand
Granite District, Bicycle Collective partner to teach Utahns how to build bikes.

Taylorsville • Drew Shetrone already has nearly half a dozen bicycles.
So why did he shell out $1,000 to spend a month building another by hand?
“It’s just awesome to think you’re riding something you built,” said the 35-year-old Holladay man. “It’s just completely custom to you.”
Shetrone is part of a small class that may be the only one of its kind in the state: bicycle frame building at Taylorsville High this summer. The course, which is wrapping up, was offered as part of the Granite School District’s community education program in cooperation with the Bicycle Collective.
http://goo.gl/FcseJ (SLT)

Utah’s Strong Broadband Infrastructure Attracts Businesses
Utah Pulse

Secure Customer Relations, Inc., formerly of Clovis, CA, moved its entire operation to Utah this month, creating approximately 98 new jobs in the Provo area. The high-speed fibre optic infrastructure in Provo is one of the factors that helped the company select Utah as its new home, according to a report in the The Business Journal.
“We move a lot of data and need high capacity,” CEO Carter Beck told the Journal last week. His company specializes in appointment setting, client prospecting and other functions on behalf of the insurance industry.
The relocation of companies like Secure Customer Relations, Inc. to Utah reaffirms the conclusions of a Utah Broadband Advisory Council Report released last week by the Utah Broadband Project and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) — that Utah is attracting businesses due to the state’s exceptional level of high-speed internet access and communications infrastructure.
…
Another partnership involves Utah’s broadband service providers and the Utah Education Network (UEN). These partners have worked together to obtain discounted rates for broadband connectivity to over 1,000 schools, colleges and libraries — most with gigabit-speed connections.
http://goo.gl/XRwD5

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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Utah gets a pass
Replacing NCLB with new system
Salt Lake Tribune editorial

Utah and other states have long complained, argued and protested the federal No Child Left Behind education-reform law, former President George W. Bush’s signature domestic policy achievement.
So, after much cajoling, educators and legislators in the Beehive State finally have what they asked for: a pass from the U.S. Department of Education. But, as the saying goes: Be careful what you ask for. Sometimes, what you thought you wanted turns out to be something you weren’t prepared for.
Utah should be prepared to do its own measurements of students’ progress. It will have to, since the Adequate Yearly Progress standards of NCLB have been eliminated for Utah. Schools here can ignore the federal mandate that 100 percent of students — no matter their race, ethnicity, income level, proficiency in English or disability — reach grade level in reading and math by 2014. That was the unrealistic goal of NCLB, under which AYP was measured and penalties dished out for failure.
But the waiver granted to Utah and 23 other states doesn’t absolve the state of meeting standards.
http://goo.gl/nzl1Y

Testing, Testing
Salt Lake City Weekly commentary by columnist Katharine Biele

If you’re an educator — or a legislator — maybe you get it. But the public is just bewildered by all the assessment tools we have for K-12 students. Let’s see: The state just got a waiver on some parts of No Child Left Behind, meaning no more Adequate Yearly Progress, but a new Utah Comprehensive Accountability System. Of course, conservatives think it’s an evil plot to make them accept the Common Core — a federal plan to create educational standards, which states can opt into. Because there is no trust of the feds here, the Legislature — the one that believes in less government — has created a host of its own assessment tools: Utah Performance Assessment System for Students, Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, Core Curriculum criterion-referenced test … well, you get the idea.
http://goo.gl/D4qYI

Gallup: confidence in public schools is dropping
Deseret News commentary by columnist Mary McConnell

I meant to post this news when it first came out, but my Alaska adventure intervened. This year’s Gallup poll of public confidence in various institutions revealed that:
http://goo.gl/92WYw

Teacher Bashing
Huffington Post commentary by William E. White, Royce R. & Kathryn M. Baker Vice President Productions, Publications, and Learning Ventures for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

I am fed up with teacher-bashing. Politicians, civil servants, pundits, cartoonists, businessmen, the media — they all line up to take a shot. Everyone is willing to belittle teachers. But these same critics are not willing to step forward and do the job themselves and, for the most part, neither do they provide any real, substantive suggestions for improving education. In fact, truth be told, most of the critics are not good enough or strong enough to do the job.
I am not a teacher. I am the first to admit that I couldn’t teach in the classroom. I am not good enough. I am not dedicated enough. Teachers are the hardest-working people I know, and I know a lot of them. I’ve been working with teachers for more than 25 years, and it pains me to hear critics discounting the rigors of the teaching profession.
It’s summertime. The schools have sent students home and closed their doors. Most teachers are only compensated for 10 months of work, but all across this country, teachers are still working at internships, in workshops, in libraries, and museums to improve their skills, increase their content knowledge, and become better teachers.
More than 600 teachers, for example, will attend workshop and institute programs at Colonial Williamsburg this summer. They come to learn more about the American Revolution and this nation’s founders and founding ideals. They come to experience daily life in colonial America and see how ordinary people made and can still make a difference. They collaborate with each other to explore new ways of making American history stories exciting and engaging for the students in their classrooms. Teachers attend these workshops and continuing education experiences — many times at their own expense — because they are committed to their students, to parents, and to their communities.
…
There’s also Ruth King of Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Utah, Mike Warner of East Bakersfield High School in California, Kristie Barbee of Waltrip High School in Texas, India Meissel of Lakeland High School in Virginia, Jodi Mundy at Kenneth R. Olson Middle School in New Jersey — all of whom work long hours and go above and beyond to bring engaging, challenging, and inspiring lessons into their classrooms. We work with hundreds of great, dedicated teachers every single year.
http://goo.gl/aMaOj

Mitt and Barack can hold hands
Romney and Obama have tons of common ground on education reform; we should build on it
New York Daily News op-ed by Richard Whitmire, co-author, with Gaston Caperton, of “The Achievable Dream: College Board Lessons on Creating Great Schools. ”

Tourists making their way to the Washington Monument last month may have come across 857 neatly arranged student desks — a symbol of the number of students who drop out every hour of every school day.
The startling array was courtesy of the College Board, which wants President Obama and Mitt Romney to start debating fixes to the nation’s beleaguered public school system.
Yes, education needs discussing. But guess what? These two candidates are already on the same page.
http://goo.gl/B45PQ

Valedictorians: Who needs them?
A commencement kerfuffle at Eagle Rock High School serves as a reminder that schools might want to rethink the tradition of selecting a top student.
Los Angeles Times editorial

The difference in grade-point average between the valedictorian and the runner-up salutatorian at Eagle Rock High School this year was small but significant — a full five hundredths of a point, the difference between a 4.5 and a 4.55. Yet the parents of the second-ranked student are outraged, writing to top officials and threatening (what else?) a lawsuit. The mother of Stanford-bound Elisha Marquez complains that her daughter’s “sleepless nights” of study were “for nothing,” and her father characterizes her second-place finish this way: “You don’t want your kid to be a loser.”
The parents aren’t winning any sympathy from online commenters — or from us — for such silliness. Yet this latest commencement kerfuffle serves as a reminder that schools might want to rethink the tradition of selecting a valedictorian, at least as it’s customarily done. We don’t say this because parents complain — parents will always complain — or to spare the tender feelings of students who try hard but don’t make it to the apex. It’s simply that there’s less genuine meaning these days to holding the No. 1 spot.
That’s because of the proliferation of Advanced Placement and honors courses that bump up students’ grade-point averages at most schools, a change that’s commonly gamed to maximize GPA.
http://goo.gl/dafnZ

Timed Tests and the Development of Math Anxiety
Education Week op-ed by Jo Boaler, professor of mathematics education at Stanford University

Mathematics education is in crisis: A third of all schoolchildren end up in remedial math courses, and the level of interest in the subject is at an all-time low. This is a result, in part, of schools in the United States heading down a fast-moving track in which the purpose of math has been reduced to the ranking of children and their schools. Math has become a performance subject. Children of all ages are more likely to tell you that the reason for learning math is to show whether they “get it” instead of whether they appreciate the beauty of the subject or the way it piques their interest. The damage starts early in this country, with school districts requiring young children to take timed math tests from the age of 5. This is despite research that has shown that timed tests are the direct cause of the early onset of math anxiety.
Timed math tests have been popular in the United States for years. Unfortunately, some of the wording in the Common Core State Standards may point to an increased use of timed tests. From the 2nd grade on, the common standards give math “fluency” as a goal. Many test writers, teachers, and administrators erroneously equate fluency with timed testing.
It is critical that we take a moment to review the emerging evidence on the impact of timed testing and the ways in which it transforms children’s brains, leading to an inevitable path of math anxiety and low math achievement.
http://goo.gl/NyuF1

How to get kids reading and writing over the summer
Washington Post commentary by Anindita Basu Sempere, executive director of TheWritingFaculty.com.

The summer reading lists provided by schools and libraries have two purposes: to foster a love of reading and to keep students intellectually engaged over summer. These book lists span genres and styles, from classics to nonfiction and from poetry to paranormal fiction. Given the variety, students can usually find a book that at least sounds interesting to them.
Unfortunately most students fall out of the habit of writing during summer vacation unless they are given assignments. Students become better writers through practice, and summer provides an opportunity for them to write without the external pressure of grades and testing. One option is to enroll students in a camp or enrichment program with a writing component. Another possibility is to create writing exercises to accompany assigned summer reading.
The following set of exercises builds the critical reading and writing skills that students develop in school by encouraging them to write for themselves. As with a summer reading list, students have options so that they can find an entry point into writing that appeals to them
http://goo.gl/9o0OH

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Federal appeals court upholds ruling on Spartanburg School District 7′s religious ed classes
Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Spartanburg School District 7′s policy regarding off-campus religious education classes is in compliance with the First Amendment.
The ruling was the latest development in a three-year legal dispute between the district and the plaintiffs-appellants — two Spartanburg School District 7 parents, a Spartanburg High School graduate and the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation.
Friday’s decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upholds an April 2011 ruling by a federal district court judge. Plaintiffs-appellants in the case said Monday that they plan to challenge the decision.
http://goo.gl/Eda1T

http://goo.gl/y8vFd (USAT)

A copy of the ruling
http://goo.gl/Ss0D1

Biden Says Teachers ‘Under Full Blown Assault’ from Romney
ABC

WASHINGTON — Seeking to mobilize support for the November election, Vice President Joe Biden today warned the nation’s public school teachers that they are “under full blown assault” from Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
“Gov. Romney and his allies in the Congress, their plan for public education in America is to let the states use Title One dollars to boost enrollment in private schools,” Biden told a crowd of more than 15,000 delegates at the National Education Association convention in Washington.
“I’m not looking for boos,” he told the crowd, which was reacting to mention of Romney. “I think we should just have a straight honest to God talk about the difference between … how President Obama and I view education and how our Republican colleagues today view it.”
http://goo.gl/0ry1K

Native American students trail in math, reading
Associated Press

Native American students continue to trail their peers in math and reading proficiency.
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Indian Education Study released Tuesday found Native American students scored 19 points lower on average in reading in fourth grade.
Results from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Process also found significant gaps for Native American fourth- and eighth-grade students in math.
The achievement gap in math was larger than in 2005. The scores of Native American students did not change significantly, but those of non-Native American students increased.
Reading scores were about the same as they were in 2009.
http://goo.gl/APO6L

http://goo.gl/6TPVU (Ed Week)

A copy of the report
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

SD merit-pay plan for teachers goes to public vote
Associated Press via Rapid City (SD) Journal

South Dakota voters will decide the fate of Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to give bonuses to top teachers, phase out tenure and recruit candidates for critical teaching jobs, Secretary of State Jason Gant said Monday.
Gant said the state’s main teachers union, the South Dakota Education Association, has submitted enough petition signatures to refer the measure to a public vote in the November election. The law will be suspended from taking effect pending the outcome of the public vote.
The South Dakota Education Association turned in more than 30,000 petition signatures two weeks ago, and the secretary of state’s office has been checking to make sure enough valid signatures were submitted to put the measure on the ballot. A sample of the petition signatures indicated more than 25,000 were valid, far more than the 15,855 needed to refer it to a public vote.
Daugaard has said the measure will improve student achievement, but teachers argued it would instead hurt the quality of education because teachers might stop collaborating to help students as they compete for bonus money. Teachers also said the law ignores the need to boost general state aid to school districts.
The bill, which was modified by lawmakers to give school districts a bigger say in some programs, was one of Daugaard’s key proposals during this year’s legislative session. The Democratic minority opposed the Republican governor’s bill, which passed by a narrow margin.
http://goo.gl/XHGjf

Career test for kindergarteners in the works
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A new digital tool to test academic and behavioral skills will target students starting in kindergarten.
ACT, the organization that developed the ACT college-entrance exam, will start testing the tool in the fall. It will be available to schools starting in 2014.The tool tracks students’ career interests, academic performance and progress toward goals. It’s designed to follow students from kindergarten through high school.
Jon Erickson, president of ACT’s education division, said the goal is to identify and address gaps in skills needed for college and the workforce. The assessment combines traditional testing with teacher-led projects to generate an instant, digital score.
http://goo.gl/y9yiK

http://goo.gl/lcLMu (Ed Week)

Why school districts keep superintendent searches secret
Arlington Heights (IL) Daily Herald

On a single March night in DuPage County, one superintendent arrived — and another announced his departure — in a cloud of secrecy at two of the state’s largest school districts.
When the dust settled, residents and taxpayers in both Glenbard High School District 87 and Naperville Unit District 203 were left scratching their heads about what exactly had happened and why. And, in what has become accepted fashion in many Illinois school districts, neither their elected representatives nor their appointed administrators seemed to feel any obligation to tell them.
The two districts provide prime examples of the secrecy surrounding the comings and goings of many top school administrators who oversee the education of thousands of children and millions of dollars in local tax money.
Advocates for transparency in government say the selection of school superintendents should be handled as openly as possible, giving the community a chance to provide input in the selection process and an opportunity to meet and vet the finalists before the school board makes its final decision.
Many school officials, though, argue such so-called “sunshine” requirements ultimately would damage their ability to recruit and perhaps keep the best qualified people.
http://goo.gl/6jiCU

Alan Alda’s ‘Flame Challenge’ Illuminates Importance of Communicating Science
NewsHour

Clarity, specificity and humor are among the best tools for making kids grasp even simple questions like “What is a flame?” Science correspondent Miles O’Brien talks to actor Alan Alda and scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson about the need to explain science concepts to the public.
http://goo.gl/776vP

More Than 1 in 4 Teens Have ‘Sexted’: Study
HealthDay

A new survey of hundreds of high school students in the Houston area finds that 28 percent have “sexted” — sent a naked photo of themselves through email or cell-phone texting. And more than half said they’d been asked to send someone else a naked photo.
Boys were more likely than girls to ask for naked photos, and girls were more likely to be asked to send a photo, the survey found.
Touted as the most advanced research on sexting in the United States, the survey does have limitations: The group of students surveyed had a higher rate of ethnic minorities than in American public schools overall, and only those whose parents agreed were allowed to answer the questions.
Still, the findings suggest that sexting, the practice of sending explicit material or information via texting, “is a fairly prevalent behavior among teens,” said study lead author Jeff R. Temple, a psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. “And teens who engage in sexting behaviors may be more likely to have had sex. In other words, sexting may be a fairly reliable indicator of sexual behaviors.”
http://goo.gl/3dRQb

Arizona cyberbullying guidelines expanded
Schools add Web focus, save money
(Phoenix) Arizona Republic

School districts in Arizona must teach cyberbullying awareness, monitor online chats and keep tabs on social media in schools starting this week as part of a beefed-up Children’s Internet Protection Act.
With the school year still a month away for most districts, several school boards have made changes to their decades-old policies and get discounts of as much as 90 percent on their telecommunication bills.
http://goo.gl/ZquMw

Aspen Ideas Fest: New Orleans mayor discusses education reform
Aspen (CO) Times

ASPEN — Education reform in New Orleans, once considered an impossible scenario, has now taken root with the influx of charter schools since Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Monday.
Landrieu, who was elected mayor of Louisiana’s most famous city in 2010, spoke about education and other issues during a discussion with Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
http://goo.gl/qXwpj

In ‘his’ blog, Jefferson lays out his visionary thoughts on education
CNN

Scholar, inventor, statesman, author of the Declaration of Independence … blogger?
Only in recent years has the third president of the United States added that achievement to his many credits.
To mark the 250th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s completion of studies at the College of William and Mary, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation decided it was time to take his views on education into the blogosphere.
“We have our own Thomas Jefferson, Bill Barker, who’s been interpreting Jefferson for more than 20 years,” said Robyn Eoff, director of the Internet for Colonial Williamsburg. Barker gives visitors a chance to hear from and see this multitalented Founding Father.
Eoff told CNN that Jefferson is “so popular with visitors that we decided to put up his quotes.”
The foundation launched its first Thomas Jefferson blog ahead of the 2008 presidential election. Back then, Jefferson “blogged” about all things political. This summer, the focus of Jefferson’s Blog is education.
http://goo.gl/asdAW

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