Education News Roundup: July 26, 2012

Today’s Top Picks:

Provo’s Imagine Learning is one of the presenters at the ALEC conference.
http://goo.gl/7S5h1 (SLT)

Davis District hosting 28 Korean TAs.
http://goo.gl/gj7lM (SLT)

Secretary Duncan urges balanced cuts in federal budget.
http://goo.gl/Wf1OV (AP)
and http://goo.gl/YXEBt (Ed Week)

Stateline asks how many choices there really are in education choice.
http://goo.gl/CW6H3 (Stateline)

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

Conservative group shrugs off charges of corporate cronyism Politics » American Legislative Exchange Council and backers say they won’t be intimidated by threats.

Korean visitors offer Utah kids new experience as school starts Education » Davis School District will host 28 South Korean students acting as teaching assistants during the next month.

Students add a splash of color to North Davis Prep » An outdoor mosaic mural, large painting inside blend cultures of the school.

radKIDS program teaches children self defense moves

Camp teaches girls to be ‘eSmart’

Report: Utah children living in poverty increases by 45 percent State’s ranking slips in annual KIDS COUNT Data Book

Beacon Elementary science program wins Kennecott video contest

Operation Homefront collecting school supplies for military families

Ogden District offices burgled twice in one weekend

OPINION & COMMENTARY

Candidates need to address children’s issues

Anti-ALEC Protest and Rally for Public Education Thursday

Lessons for Utah from Iowa: Fight for control of education

How academic standards disappear

The Curriculum Reformation
New national standards prod schools to return to content-based education.

Waivers aren’t watering down ‘No Child Left Behind’ law

iTunes U Now Lets Teachers Invite Students to Lesson Plans

‘Parent Trigger’ Goes to the Big Screen

AIDS Conference, New Documentary Raise Questions About Sex Ed.

The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools

NATION

Education secretary urges balanced budget cuts

Choices Often Limited in ‘School Choice’ Programs

LePage says Maine students looked down upon, unveils new education initiatives

Bias Probe Hits San Mateo District
Spurred by a Discrimination Complaint, Education Department Investigates School System’s Treatment of Chinese Students

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UTAH NEWS
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Conservative group shrugs off charges of corporate cronyism
Politics » American Legislative Exchange Council and backers say they won’t be intimidated by threats.

The American Legislative Exchange Council has found itself in the crosshairs of a national campaign from critics, but lawmakers attending the annual conference in Salt Lake City this week say they won’t be intimidated by threats from liberal groups.
“I know you’re being attacked by a lot of these leftist groups in your states. I know you are,” Ron Scheberle, ALEC’s executive director told lawmakers during lunch Wednesday before turning to the group’s corporate sponsors. “Thank you. Thank you for standing with us. I know you’ve been attacked a lot — extortion threats and letters. But those who are here today are standing strong.”
Twenty-five corporate sponsors have abandoned ALEC in recent months amid the public scrutiny, fueled by groups like Common Cause, the Center for Media and Democracy and others.
…
Inside the hotel Wednesday, legislators and private-sector members met in a series of subcommittees to discuss and refine ALEC’s model legislation. Afternoon sessions looked at how to curb frivolous lawsuits and control Medicaid costs.
In one session, Imagine Learning, a Provo-based company that makes educational software that Utah schools have bought to help non-English speakers, boasted of the success of its software in teaching special-needs students.
http://goo.gl/7S5h1 (SLT)

Korean visitors offer Utah kids new experience as school starts
Education » Davis School District will host 28 South Korean students acting as teaching assistants during the next month.

North Salt Lake • You Hyun Shin watched throngs of children hang off a jungle gym at Foxboro Elementary School on Wednesday with an amused expression.
The senior at Korea University in Seoul had her share of first-day jitters when she stepped into a fourth-grade classroom to spend a month as a teaching assistant. She’ll share lessons about her culture and the differences between Korean and American schools with 29 students.
She started her new teaching role by helping students in Merilee Herrick’s classroom fill out worksheets about themselves as year-round school got under way in Davis School District.
But Shin was thrown for a loop momentarily when kids filed out of school and bolted for the playground during a morning recess.
“We don’t have recess time [in Korea]. I’m a little bit surprised,” she said, as her students bounced basketballs on a court and took turns riding a merry-go-round. “It’s really cool.”
http://goo.gl/gj7lM (SLT)

Students add a splash of color to North Davis Prep
North Davis Prep » An outdoor mosaic mural, large painting inside blend cultures of the school.

When students return this fall to North Davis Preparatory Academy, a Spanish-immersion middle school in Layton, they will be greeted with artwork and lots of color.
The school has two new pieces of art — a mosaic mural outside and large acrylic painting inside — that were unveiled on May 25, the last day of the school year.
The mosaic mural, which now makes up the building’s facade, was an idea presented by teacher Chantal Esquivias from Spain who thought the school’s entrance could use a face lift.
http://goo.gl/BjTtV (SLT)

radKIDS program teaches children self defense moves

LAYTON — There was such a high demand for the radKIDS program — which took place during the school year for Layton City’s elementary students — that the Layton City Police Department decided to move the national program to 10 of Layton City’s 12 elementary schools this summer.
The department plans to finish the remaining two programs when school begins in the fall.
The summer schedule allowed the department’s resource officers to reach out to 500 kids, ages 8 to 12 — double the number of students reached during the regular school year.
http://goo.gl/l9Phw (OSE)

Camp teaches girls to be ‘eSmart’

ST. GEORGE — Washington County seventh- and eighth-grade girls took notes on tips for tracking down a serial arsonist Wednesday before putting their class learning to the test by creating an investigative profile on the criminal suspect.
Not that the girls are the latest recruits by local law enforcement detectives, but if they want to have a bright future in any number of possible science-supported careers, now is the time to involve them in learning about the benefits of a college education, eSmart camp director Gloria Prahl said Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s not just classes,” Prahl said of the eSmart experience, which is being conducted this week on the Dixie State College campus.
http://goo.gl/l5IT8 (SGS)

Report: Utah children living in poverty increases by 45 percent
State’s ranking slips in annual KIDS COUNT Data Book

ST. GEORGE — Utah’s children are generally still better off than most of their peers, but increasing poverty rates and below-average education are contributing to a drop in the state’s rankings when it comes to health, education and family life, according to a new national report released Wednesday on child well-being.
The 2012 edition of the KIDS COUNT Data Book ranked Utah’s children 11th in the country for overall well-being, after the state finished seventh last year and fourth in 2010.
This year’s edition has been revamped to include 16 indicators instead of 10, so direct comparisons are difficult, but that Utah has seen a consistent drop in ranking is still not a good sign, said Terry Haven, KIDS COUNT director for Voices for Utah Children, a Salt Lake City-based advocacy group.
http://goo.gl/HilUN (SGS)

http://goo.gl/2RdeL (KSL)

http://goo.gl/t4x8c (KSTU)

Beacon Elementary science program wins Kennecott video contest

SALT LAKE CITY — Beacon Heights Elementary School has been awarded $5,000 from Kennecott Utah Copper for its teacher-created video “Science Plants the Seeds,” the Salt Lake City School District announced Wednesday.
The video was the winner of Kennecott’s 2012 Sustainable Development Community Video Contest, which showcased the efforts of Kennecott’s community partners to promote sustainability within their organizations.
http://goo.gl/Wzm2K (DN)

Operation Homefront collecting school supplies for military families

OGDEN — The “collection phase” of the 6th annual Back-to-School Brigade program by Operation Homefront has begun, as the national nonprofit group works to meet the needs of the many military families living in the shadow of Hill Air Fore Base.
There are more than 2,000 school-aged children from military families living in Davis and Weber counties alone, said Judy Maughan, Hill Air Force Base school liaison officer.
http://goo.gl/IT8V1 (OSE)

Ogden District offices burgled twice in one weekend

OGDEN — The Ogden School District has fallen victim to burglars – twice in the same weekend. Police are trying to get to the bottom of the caper.
The suspects seemed to be determined to get in, and they did. They hit the same vulnerable spot to gain access in two different break-ins. After the second break-in, they got away with a ton of loot.
http://goo.gl/u8m9P (KSL)

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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Candidates need to address children’s issues
Salt Lake Tribune commentary by columnist Peg McEntee

The statistics are deeply troubling: In 2010, 22 percent of American children were living in poverty. There were 700,000 cases of child abuse or neglect, and 23 percent of all kids were living in homes that couldn’t always provide enough food for a healthy, active life.
Voices for Utah Children is mounting a campaign this season — making sure every candidate for federal office and the governorship is aware of those numbers and making children’s health and well-being a part of their runs for office.
Voices also is asking reporters to make sure they factor children’s issues into their coverage, said Voices President Karen Crompton.
http://goo.gl/33GgX

Anti-ALEC Protest and Rally for Public Education Thursday
Salt Lake City Weekly commentary by columnist Eric Peterson

The American Legislative Exchange Council has descended upon Salt Lake City for its annual meeting, and the nonprofit that secretly feeds lawmakers biz-friendly bills is being harried by local activists at every stop. Thursday activists are picketing ALEC for efforts to dismantle public education.
Utah is no stranger to the voucher debate after the 2007 Legislature approved by one vote a voucher’s bill that was later rejected by Utah voters. Now, ALEC has come to town, and with the conservative nonprofit come plenty of businesses eager to see voucher efforts make a comeback.
Conservative magazine The Nation reported how ALEC has pushed voucher programs in numerous states across the country, including Utah, going back to 2007, oftentimes to the detriment of special-needs students, such as students with disabilities. One report suggests that as recently as this spring, ALEC bills blitzed through the Louisiana Legislature, expanding charter-school authority, beefing up voucher programs and changing teacher-tenure policies.
If you’ve got concerns about corporations developing secretive education-related bills, then join the rally Thursday outside of an ALEC reception at the Utah Museum of Natural History.
http://goo.gl/EG7Ef

Lessons for Utah from Iowa: Fight for control of education
Deseret News op-ed by Lindsey M. Burke, Senior Education Policy Analyst at Heritage Foundation

After the Berlin Wall fell in the late 1980s, central planning was all but discredited throughout the world. The exception, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) notes, was in Washington, D.C., “where every bureaucracy has, since that time, doubled down to insist that central planning be done out of Washington with one-size-fits-all solutions.”
That central planning approach is visible in the Obama administration’s push for national standards and tests, and through its efforts to craft an executive branch re-write of No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, by offering strings-attached waivers to states. Most recently, the administration made NCLB waivers all but contingent on a state adopting the Common Core standards, creating another strong incentive for states to relinquish control of the content taught in local schools.
The waivers, which release states from some of the most onerous provisions of NCLB, have been offered only to those states that agree to implement the White House’s preferred education policies. When combined with the administration’s push for national standards and tests, the waivers represent one of the quickest ways states can abandon citizen ownership of education.
http://goo.gl/uqrNy

How academic standards disappear
Washington Post commentary by columnist Jay Mathews

A literature professor at a Washington-area college wasn’t surprised by my column last week on the terrible quality of college essays purchased on the Internet. She had suffered from the output of the paper mills and told me a story illustrating how bogus work sells even when it is bad.
One of her students wanted to raise his grade with extra-credit work. Because he had not understood a 19th-century novel that was key to her course, she said, she suggested that he “read a particular journal article and write a short summary/review of the author’s analysis.”
She thought this would be a plagiarism-proof assignment. She may have been right about that, but the essay she received had other flaws.
“It was clear to me that the writer of the submitted paper had read no more than two or three pages of the article, and although it was well-written, it did not really answer the assignment,” she said. “I suspected that the paper was custom-ordered and custom-written.”
Plagiarism checks, such as turnitin.com, detected nothing similar. What could she do? I will reveal her solution, and what it led to, in a moment. Many professors and teachers have found the general level of high school and college writing so low that efforts to maintain academic standards sometimes seem foolishly naive.
http://goo.gl/qJdRX

The Curriculum Reformation
New national standards prod schools to return to content-based education.
City Journal commentary by Sol Stern, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute

The biggest new thing in American public education these days is a two-volume, 230-page, written-by-committee document called the Common Core State Standards. Forty-five states have pledged to the federal government that they will adopt the standards—which specify the math and English skills that students must attain in each grade from kindergarten to the end of high school—within the next several years. Some of these states genuinely believe that doing so will make more of their students ready for college and careers. Others are on board primarily because the Obama administration has enticed them with billions of dollars from its Race to the Top competition, part of the administration’s economic-stimulus program. Within the school-reform community, the standards have set off a virtual civil war. It pits those who believe that America desperately needs national standards to catch up to its international competitors against those who think that the administration, by imposing the standards on the states, is guilty of an unwise, or even illegal, power grab.
No matter how the debate over national standards plays out—and it may never be resolved—one undeniably positive development has resulted from all this. For the first time in almost half a century, education administrators and policymakers around the country are seriously discussing the role of a content-based curriculum in raising student achievement. And that means long-overdue recognition of the ideas of E. D. Hirsch, one of America’s greatest but also most neglected education reformers.
http://goo.gl/BIlJz

Waivers aren’t watering down ‘No Child Left Behind’ law
Washington Post letter from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan

The Washington Post Michael Gerson’s July 20 column, “ ‘No Child’ is being left behind” [Washington Forum], missed the mark on several points.
In designing the waiver process authorized by Congress under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, our goals were clear: Protect children, set a high bar and provide as much as flexibility as possible. Today, 32 states and the District have accountability systems that capture more children at risk than does NCLB. States also agreed to adopt college- and career-ready standards in exchange for waivers, so Mr. Gerson was wrong to say that the “payoff” to states is “lower standards.” NCLB prompted some states to lower standards to meet performance targets.
Mr. Gerson was also wrong to suggest that the “bargain” between the administration and states includes “merit pay” or “greater use of charter schools.” While we support high-quality charter schools and provide funding to districts to build compensation models linked in part to student growth, neither policy is linked to waivers.
http://goo.gl/3glXn

iTunes U Now Lets Teachers Invite Students to Lesson Plans
Mashable commentary by columnist Kate Freeman

Apple’s online educational catalog, iTunes U, updated its app and website on Wednesday by adding enhanced features to make it even more convenient for students and educators.
Now, educators have the ability to distribute courses privately and invite students to take them. Any teacher can signup to offer courses via iTunes U.
http://goo.gl/NymR5

‘Parent Trigger’ Goes to the Big Screen
Education Week commentary by columnist Sean Cavanagh

Over the past few years, “parent-trigger” laws have been touted in school districts and statehouses as bold, even radical strategies for fixing struggling schools, though the policies have also proved divisive, giving rise to lawsuits and political rancor. This fall, the trigger concept will be judged in a very different forum, with its own standards for success: the box office.
On Sept. 28, the movie “Won’t Back Down,” a fictional account of frustrated parents seeking to transform a school in Pittsburgh, will open in theaters around the country. The trailer to the film (see the clip below) says that it is “inspired by actual events,” leading to speculation that it will closely mirror real-life examples of parents attempting to use trigger policies to take control of low-performing schools in Compton and Adelanto, Calif.
The movie, distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Walden Media, stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a parent and Viola Davis as a teacher who work together to marshal support in the community for a petition to overhaul the school and resuscitate it academically.
But that storyline has stirred fears among critics of parent-trigger laws that “Won’t Back Down” will extol those policies, ignore their shortcomings, and cast blame for schools’ struggles primarily on teachers.
http://goo.gl/UgpFG

AIDS Conference, New Documentary Raise Questions About Sex Ed.
Education Week commentary by columnist Nirvi Shah

In Ms. Morris’ health education class in Greenville, Miss., a lesson on sexually transmitted diseases is almost comic.
And Ms. Morris seems to know it.
She can’t say the words condom or contraceptive to explain how the spread of an STD, including HIV/AIDS, might be prevented, much less to prevent pregnancy.
In the new film “deepsouth”, Ms. Morris soldiers on, using cups of candy, and sharing them among students, to demonstrate the spread of an STD.
The documentary, which premiered Tuesday night in Washington, coinciding with the 2012 International AIDS conference, spent only a moment on the role of sex education in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS. The film is more about the social issues related to the illness, the rates of which are high in the rural South, although much of the U.S. fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS has been overseas.
But education’s role is critical in the prevention of their spread, film director Lisa Biagiotti said.
http://goo.gl/pra4M

The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools
Education Finance and Policy analysis by Celeste K. Carruthers, Department of Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Do charter schools draw good teachers from traditional, mainstream public schools? Using a thirteen-year panel of North Carolina public schoolteachers, I find that less qualified and less effective teachers move to charter schools, particularly if they move to urban schools, low-performing schools, or schools with higher shares of nonwhite students. It is unclear whether these findings reflect lower demand for teachers’ credentials and value added or resource constraints unique to charter schools, but the inability to recruit teachers who are at least as effective as those in traditional public schools will likely hinder charter student achievement.
http://goo.gl/JLgxx

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Education secretary urges balanced budget cuts
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Services would have to be slashed for more than 1.8 million disadvantaged students and thousands of teachers and aides would lose their jobs when automatic budget cuts kick in, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday.
He urged Congress to find an alternative deficit-reduction plan that won’t undermine the department’s ability to serve students in high-poverty schools and improve schools with high dropout rates.
Duncan said the automatic cuts, referred to by many in Washington as sequestration, also would adversely impact financial aid programs for college students.
http://goo.gl/Wf1OV

http://goo.gl/YXEBt (Ed Week)

Choices Often Limited in ‘School Choice’ Programs
Stateline

Students in South Bend, Indiana, enter a Catholic school they attend using a state voucher. (AP)Students at Cincinnati’s lowest-performing schools can use the state’s EdChoice scholarship, worth up to $5,000, to attend any one of 53 private schools in the city.
But those 53 schools represent less than a fifth of all the private schools in Cincinnati, and many of the city’s top academic schools aren’t on the list.
That isn’t uncommon. In fact, Cincinnati students who receive the EdChoice scholarship have more options than students in other Ohio cities. Statewide, fewer than one in 10 private schools participate in EdChoice or the similar Cleveland Scholarship program, according to data from Ohio’s Department of Education.
Scholarship tax credit and voucher programs, like EdChoice, are growing rapidly across the country. Louisiana created both a statewide voucher program and a scholarship tax credit program this year. Virginia, New Hampshire and Oklahoma also recently created scholarship tax credit programs.
But a Stateline analysis found that many private schools choose not to participate in these “school choice” programs. Many are wary of government regulations, especially standardized test requirements. Others are concerned about the possible impact on their educational mission, among other things.
http://goo.gl/CW6H3

LePage says Maine students looked down upon, unveils new education initiatives
Bangor (ME) Daily News

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage touted a recent Harvard University study Wednesday that he says proves Maine’s education system is “failing,” “dismal” and “stagnant,” and that Maine students are looked down upon when they go to other states for school or work.
At a press conference at the State House, LePage and Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen provided a general outline of a new education reform initiative — which they called the “ABC Plan” — with the promise that more detailed proposals are coming in the weeks and months ahead and will be ready for the next legislative session.
Among the proposals LePage says he intends to champion are holding low-performing schools accountable for their failures, perhaps by having state government take schools over in the most extreme cases where other interventions fail, and requiring any high school whose students require remedial coursework in college to pay for those courses. He also vowed to bring back a school choice bill that failed in the last legislative session.
“I don’t care where you go in this country. If you come from Maine you’re looked down upon,” said LePage. “Twenty years ago if you came from Maine, they couldn’t wait to get you into their school.”
http://goo.gl/AdjRs

Bias Probe Hits San Mateo District
Spurred by a Discrimination Complaint, Education Department Investigates School System’s Treatment of Chinese Students
Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether Chinese students in San Mateo Union High School District were illegally transferred from a high-performing high school to a lower-performing one because of their race.
In an inquiry spurred by a discrimination complaint, a Department of Education spokesman says the agency is looking into the allegation that the district holds Chinese students to “different standards of demonstrating residency or guardianship than students of other races” and nationalities, prompting the transfers of the students to a different school. The spokesman declined to elaborate.
The San Mateo Union High School District, which encompasses six towns including San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame and San Mateo, denies it has engaged in any discrimination. “There’s nothing there,” says Kirk Black, an associate superintendent, who says the district has faced “frivolous claims of discrimination before.”
http://goo.gl/wehox

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CALENDAR
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USOE Calendar
http://tinyurl.com/5x9oh9

UEN News
http://www.uen.org

August 3:
Utah State Board of Education meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Agenda.aspx

August 9:
Utah State Charter School Board meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://1.usa.gov/Axtt5K

August 14:
Executive Appropriations Interim Committee meeting
1 p.m., 445 State Capitol
http://goo.gl/E0hoC

August 15:
Education Interim Committee meeting
2 p.m.
http://goo.gl/8WODJ

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