Education News Roundup: Aug. 6, 2012

By Mark Peterson, on August 6th, 2012

“Bluestar Ink August 2012 Desktop Calendar” by Emily.bluestar/CC/flickr

Today’s Top Picks:

Utah leaves the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.
http://goo.gl/XRHPE (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/sYKCJ (DN)

CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit talks with the State Board about the Common Core.
http://goo.gl/5DBiQ (KCPW)

State Board discusses who should have access to classroom-level student data.
http://goo.gl/RaAIf (SLT)

Trib profiles Innovations High.
http://goo.gl/kN7bh (SLT)

Secretary Duncan gives AP a back-to-school interview.
http://goo.gl/UWL7G (AP)

More schools are adding days to the school calendar.
http://goo.gl/nk0lx (NYT)

ACLU files suit in California over the imposition of school fees.
http://goo.gl/3703A (LAT)

Target offering money for votes (and it’s not even anything illegal).
http://goo.gl/61eul (St. Paul PP)
or on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/target

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

Utah drops out of consortium developing Common Core tests Education » While membership gave state a voice, critics feared federal intrusion.

Board of Ed Meets with Common Core Sponsor

State ed leaders: Share teacher data with parents Education » But board decides against making individual teacher performance information available to the general public.

New Utah high school blends multiple approaches to learning Education » New Utah school blends multiple approaches to learning.

Future engineers compete in ‘cool’ challenges this summer

Utah schools considering an end to cursive writing

Teacher travels to Arctic with National Geographic team

Nearly 50 Chinese foreign exchange students perform in musical

Audit finds unequal spending on Utah inmate education

Man accused of sex abuse worked at school for troubled youth

Back-to-school shoppers spending more

Library to assist school transition

New charter school plans open houses

Sky View students restoring ‘SV’ lettering on hillside

High school football: UHSAA grants waivers to 3 gridders

School supplies needed for drive

Help fill backpacks for area children

Foundation, volunteers help Davis kids buy school clothes

OPINION & COMMENTARY

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Strategic land exchanges benefit rural economies, Utah schoolchildren and the environment

Investing in the kids

Better than Common Core

Helping kids set school year goals

Making Utah education exceptional – better tests (and maybe more of them?)

Innovations–the charter that’s not

Spend money on schools instead of lawsuits

The literacy gap: Not many books cater to boys

Carrots and Sticks for School Systems

Researchers: Cyberbullying Not as Widespread, Common as Believed

Evaluating teachers is not so easy
ANNE G. FAIGEN, a novelist who was a high school teacher, knows from experience that assessing classroom performance is indeed complicated

The big education investment the government is passing up

NATION

Duncan on reform and back to school

To Increase Learning Time, Some Schools Add Days to Academic Year

Study: K-3 Plus Boosts Student Scores

Lawsuit, bill aim to keep K-12 education free in California Legislation and an ACLU lawsuit tackle the increasing use of fees at public schools, a trend that is unfair to low-income students and increases disparities.

Common Core Standards will transform how math is taught in Alabama schools

Pilot Program Targets Gifted Rural Students

In Preparing Texas Students for College, a Struggle

Christie to Sign Tenure Bill

State schools superintendent resigns amid ethics fallout

Underperforming Natrona County teachers no longer get raises

Illinois to Spend More on Pensions Than on Education

Department Awards $11 Million in Grants to Support Charter School Facilities

Lenovo Targets Dell Share of Government, Education Sales

Alabama schools chief Tommy Bice urged to pull plug on Channel One

Anti-bullying ad campaign targets parents

Target using Facebook vote to decide which schools to donate to

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UTAH NEWS
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Utah drops out of consortium developing Common Core tests Education » While membership gave state a voice, critics feared federal intrusion.

The state school board decided to withdraw Friday from a consortium of states working to develop tests based on new Common Core academic standards, after months of pressure from some conservatives.
The change doesn’t necessarily mean Utah can’t still adopt the tests if it wishes, but it will no longer have a strong voice in their development.
Mainly, the move appeared to be a way to quiet some of the controversy surrounding the standards and help Utah move forward in choosing new tests from among a number of options, including the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, from which Utah withdrew Friday.
Pulling out of the consortium will allow Utah to choose new tests based on the Common Core without prior associations with any one group, which could be seen as a conflict of interest, some argued.
http://goo.gl/XRHPE (SLT)

http://goo.gl/sYKCJ (DN)

Board of Ed Meets with Common Core Sponsor

Although supporters of the Common Core Standards say they’re raising the bar for education, controversy still remains here in Utah, as state leaders fight the perception that the initiative is a product of the federal government. Adopted by the Beehive State and 45 others, the standards focus on math and language arts. Today, the State Board of Education met with a sponsor of the Common Core to discuss some of the challenges and benefits educators are experiencing.
http://goo.gl/5DBiQ (KCPW)

State ed leaders: Share teacher data with parents Education » But board decides against making individual teacher performance information available to the general public.

Parents may soon be able to learn how their children’s individual teachers rate when it comes to student achievement.
But the general public will not be given access to that information.
The Utah state school board jumped this week into what’s become a national debate over whether individual teacher performance data should be released publicly. The board voted 9-6 on Friday to encourage school principals to share classroom-level achievement data with parents who ask for it. But the data will not be posted publicly, meaning nonparents will not have access to it, and parents will not likely be able to see that information for schools other than their own.
http://goo.gl/RaAIf (SLT)

New Utah high school blends multiple approaches to learning Education » New Utah school blends multiple approaches to learning.

The high school of the future might look something like this.
The school day has no beginning and no end. Classes go year-round. Students can learn in a variety of ways, including in traditional classrooms, through digital textbooks, at a community college and/or at a career and technical education center. Teachers and parents can track students’ daily work and progress online.
That school of the future is opening this month in Salt Lake City in the form of Innovations High. Local and national experts say the approach may be one of the first of its kind in the country — a regular public school that allows students to build their own schedules, cherry-picking classes from Salt Lake Community College, the district’s career and technical center, the district’s traditional high schools, and the school’s own face-to-face classes, which will be taught using digital textbooks through which students can move at their own speeds, on and off-campus.
http://goo.gl/kN7bh (SLT)

Future engineers compete in ‘cool’ challenges this summer

WEST JORDAN, Utah – Students in West Jordan spent some time inside this week learning about science at the Jordan Applied Technology Center Summer Camp.
Participants built rocket launchers, did egg drops and made racing remote-control bugs.
http://goo.gl/E7fwL (KSTU)

Utah schools considering an end to cursive writing

SALT LAKE CITY – Is cursive becoming obsolete because of texting and keyboards? Utah state education officials are discussing whether teachers should continue teaching the skill.
Utah dropped cursive from its core curriculum in 2010 when it agreed to standardize these guidelines with several other states in the Nation. Apparently the states agreed together to drop the skill from the list of required skills for students to learn.
Now the discussion is whether to required teachers to teach the skill.
http://goo.gl/IC9Vr (KTVX)

http://goo.gl/4OmYZ (KNRS)

Teacher travels to Arctic with National Geographic team

A Pleasant Grove man can speak from experience when teaching his Oak Canyon Junior High School students about the Arctic.
Doug Andersen recently returned from the trip to the secluded area. He and two teachers from other areas of the country were chosen from among thousands of applicants to travel with the National Geographic Society Lindblad Expeditions to Arctic Svalbard, 600 miles of the North Pole.
http://goo.gl/cjGrS (PDH)

Nearly 50 Chinese foreign exchange students perform in musical

On Saturday night, almost 50 Chinese foreign exchange students performed in an original musical entitled “A Play on Words.” The students were a part of the International Arts Exchange, a performing arts summer camp held in Spanish Fork, Cedar City and Sacramento. From July 19 to Saturday, the Chinese students stayed with host families in the Spanish Fork area and rehearsed the play as a kinesthetic method of learning English.
The International Arts Exchange is a program within its mother company, ESL Arts Advantage, owned by Mindy B. Young of Cedar City. Young also is the executive director of the Spanish Fork Camp and has a master’s in theater directing from the University of Utah. She came up with the idea when she taught ESL students in a regular classroom and a theater class. Young observed that the students picked up English more quickly when they engaged in song and dance instead of in the typical ESL classroom.
http://goo.gl/Qaup1 (PDH)

Audit finds unequal spending on Utah inmate education

SALT LAKE CITY — A newly released audit has found the state is spending more on inmate education programs than on traditional adult education clients.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the audit of the Utah State Office of Education shows there is little data on how academic achievement boosts job prospects or reduces recidivism rates.
http://goo.gl/lOcdq (OSE)

http://goo.gl/8Vh8Q (KSL)

Man accused of sex abuse worked at school for troubled youth

ST. GEORGE — Diarra Niccole Fields, who was arrested Thursday on several counts of sexual abuse of a child, is being accused of inappropriate relationships with Red Rock Canyon School students, where he worked as a staffer.
Fields, 27, of St. George, was arrested Thursday on charges of two counts of forcible sex abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, forcible sodomy and sodomy of a child and was booked in Purgatory Correctional Facility on $80,000 bail.
Capt. Kyle Whitehead, St. George Police Department, said Fields is a former employee of Red Rock Canyon School, a youth residential treatment center for troubled children ages 12-18 located in St. George.
http://goo.gl/g3kYX (SGS)

Back-to-school shoppers spending more

ST. GEORGE — Parents and guardians planned to spend an average of $688.62 on each kindergarten through 12th-grade student heading back to school this year, with shoppers planning to invest more in technology and trying to make up for the past few years when their kids went without some things during the down economy.
Spending is up by an average of $88 per student this year, and back-to-school sales are expected to exceed $83 billion nationwide, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Foundation and BIGinsight. Spending by college students and their families is also on the rise, with the NRF’s back-to-college survey indicating that spending would average $907.22 per student, up from $808.71 last year.
http://goo.gl/Y6oTS (SGS)

Library to assist school transition

OGDEN — The Weber County Library system wants to prepare elementary school children for their junior high days.
At the “Junior High Survival” program, students starting junior high this fall will learn about gang awareness, how to deal with peer pressure, locker strategies and what library resources are available to them, according to a news release from the library system.
http://goo.gl/gurtc (OSE)

New charter school plans open houses

SOUTH WEBER — HighMark Charter School, a new Davis County charter school, will host public open houses today, Thursday and Aug. 14.
http://goo.gl/YZfeG (OSE)

Sky View students restoring ‘SV’ lettering on hillside

The “SV Hill” in Smithfield is about halfway toward getting its “SV” back, thanks it appears to the efforts of prominent Cache Valley developer Dell Loy Hansen.
Members of the Sky View High School student government enlisted help from the Bobcat football team Friday to begin reconstructing the iconic hillside lettering.
http://goo.gl/NiF6e (LHJ)

High school football: UHSAA grants waivers to 3 gridders

MIDVALE — Three football players were granted hardship waivers by a hearing panel for the Utah High School Activities Association on Friday afternoon.
Sesi and Sima Salt were allowed to transfer from Brighton to East, which is their home boundary school, because the panel found that the boys would never have left their home school were it not for undue influence. The family asked for a waiver because they said finding a ride to Brighton had become an unbearable burden. The boys transferred back to East nine months ago.
http://goo.gl/mJNuX (DN)

School supplies needed for drive

The annual Backpack Bonzana drive is seeking school supplies for Northern Utah children who can’t afford to purchase them.
Donation items sought by Aug. 15 include backpacks, pencils, pens, highlighters, erasers, crayons, rulers, paper and other school supplies.
http://goo.gl/zYPbF (OSE)

Help fill backpacks for area children

ST. GEORGE – Volunteers are requested to assist with the filling of hundreds of backpacks with school supplies as part of the Backpacks for Kids program.
http://goo.gl/xHfmm (SGS)

Foundation, volunteers help Davis kids buy school clothes

LAYTON — Back-to-school shopping took on new meaning Friday as 130 students lined up at 6 a.m. in front of the Kohl’s department store to be treated to a shopping spree.
The students were awarded the gift by the Davis Education Foundation.
http://goo.gl/a5ggM (OSE)

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner editorial

Thumbs down: To the end of The Weekly Reader magazine, which we have fond memories of reading in classrooms as children. It used to be a common sight in schools but its circulation had declined to under 1 million in recent years.
http://goo.gl/HtoKp

Strategic land exchanges benefit rural economies, Utah schoolchildren and the environment Deseret News op-ed by Michael O. Leavitt

This summer, amid lots of other discussion about Western land use policy, Utah School & Institutional Trust Lands (SITLA) is quietly marking the 14th anniversary of the National Parks/Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Land Exchange, which was the biggest U.S. land transaction since the Louisiana Purchase. Utah just hit the $300 million mark in revenues the exchange has created for the Permanent School Fund and other state and local coffers.
The success of the National Parks/Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Land Exchange reminds us that we can all agree on some land-use opportunities right in front of us.
A glimpse at the statewide ownership map of Utah, overlaid by proposed wilderness, quickly illuminates our public land-management challenges. Utah is one of three Western states granted four sections of land in every township by Congress at statehood, with revenues going to Utah schoolchildren.
It created a confusing checkerboard of federal and state land ownership, particularly in rural parts of the state. The mix of high-stakes opportunities for natural resource exploration and world-renowned scenic landscapes is unparalleled. No wonder Utah is ground zero in the entire West for state-federal management conflict.
http://goo.gl/6Nvfy

Investing in the kids
Salt Lake Tribune op-ed by Tracy S. Gruber and Terry Haven (Tracy S. Gruber is policy analyst for Voices for Utah Children. Terry Haven is director of KIDS COUNT, Voices for Utah Children.)

Every summer, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases its KIDS COUNT Data Book, a report providing a glimpse of what is happening to children throughout the nation and in each state.
The 2012 Utah data, released last week, is our “canary in a coal mine.” It is our warning sign that the needs of children must be made a priority if we want to ensure that today’s children become tomorrow’s productive adults.
Although the data reveals some improvement in child well-being, Utah ranked 11th nationally, the worst ranking in the 23-year history of the publication.
This falling rank indicates that children’s issues need to be elevated in our political discourse and debate during this election season.
…
Our worst national ranking was in education, where we ranked 27th. Access to quality education at an early age provides low-income children the opportunity to succeed as adults. The data book reveals that too few attend pre-school, third-graders are not reading at grade level and too many are not graduating from high school, a necessary step toward success.
http://goo.gl/mzZnc

Better than Common Core
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner op-ed by Lynn Stoddard, co-founder of the Educating for Greatness Alliance

Several veteran educators, parents and I have been working for years to develop “Educating for Human Greatness,” a different education concept, that we believe is better than “Common Core.” It is based on the idea that every person is born to be unique and different from all others for a good reason. Every person has unlimited potential and reason for existing to be a special contributor to society. We are not meant to be common in knowledge and skills.
“Educating for Human Greatness” focuses on individual human development. “Curriculum” is used, not as a goal or end, but as a “means” of helping students grow in human powers. Seven key powers have been identified so far:
http://goo.gl/xAwhV

Helping kids set school year goals
Deseret News commentary by columnists Linda & Richard Eyre

Goal-setting can be a powerful experience for kids, and the beginning of the school year is a great time to start.
But watching parents trying to get their children to set goals often makes us smile — because, frankly, our attempts as well-meaning parents are often laughable. The parent says, “Hey, you want to set some goals for the school year?”
http://goo.gl/BSR5h

Making Utah education exceptional – better tests (and maybe more of them?) Deseret News commentary by columnist Mary McConnell

Several readers sent me copies of a recent article in City Journal, entitled “The Massachusetts Exception.” They wanted me to share the article’s central conclusion (see especially the portion of the quotation in bold):
http://goo.gl/wrewR

Innovations–the charter that’s not
Commentary by Charter Solutions President Lincoln Fillmore

When I read about Innovations High School, it sounded like a charter. Even its name seems like a charter school. But it’s not. Innovations is a Salt Lake District high school program that allows students to tailor their educational approach to their individual needs.
Why? The district explains it like this:
http://goo.gl/n13jv

Spend money on schools instead of lawsuits Deseret News letter from Dede Carpenter

LaVarr Webb’s recent defense of Gov. Herbert’s federal land grab — including 22 lawsuits against the United States — is wrong (“Interest groups affecting legislation and Utah lands,” July 29).
Utah’s public lands are not the reason Utahns ranked dead last in funding schools. We actually have more private land per person than over half of our fellow states, and there is no correlation between states’ per-pupil funding and the availability of non-federal land within their borders. Our problem rests with our Legislature’s choices, which seem to favor the energy industry over our kids.
http://goo.gl/FpXuu

The literacy gap: Not many books cater to boys Deseret News letter from Davis Underwood

In response to Mercedes White’s article entitled, “Reading Boys,” I too express concern for the gap in boys’ literacy skills and wish that this was not so (July 28). I understand that a lot of it can be attributed to the audience; there is a catering to a young female audience far more than there is for boys. I see its influence translated into the media as these novels for girls become the basis for hit TV shows or blockbuster movies. Most boys don’t have an interest for teen drama.
I know that when I was younger, I did not have much interest for books at all. I did have some struggle learning to read, but when I could, there were few books to grab my interest. I remember my mother reading me the Harry Potter books before I read them on my own. Like the boys mentioned in the article, I would have a hard time sitting still, actively listening to the story. I suggest that perhaps with age and maturity, an interest can develop.
http://goo.gl/AC1sS

Carrots and Sticks for School Systems
New York Times editorial

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been pushing the states to create rigorous teacher evaluation systems that not only judge teachers by how well their students perform but also — when the results are in — reward good teachers while easing chronic low performers out of the system. More than half the states have agreed to adopt new evaluation systems in exchange for competitive grants from the federal Race to the Top program or greater flexibility under the No Child Left Behind law.
These incentives are long overdue. As things stand now, according to a study by the New Teacher Project, a Brooklyn-based policy group, many school managers make no distinction between high-performing and low-performing teachers. The result is that poor teachers stick around while good teachers go elsewhere or leave the profession, frustrated because they are not promoted, rewarded with better pay, or even simply acknowledged.
That clearly needs to change if the new evaluation systems are to have any impact on the quality of the teacher corps.
http://goo.gl/rhYot

Researchers: Cyberbullying Not as Widespread, Common as Believed Education Week commentary by columnist Nirvi Shah

While parents may spend more time worrying about their kids being terrorized by text, tweet, Facebook, or Formspring, new research suggests that cyberbullying “is a low-prevalence phenomenon, which has not increased over time and has not created many ‘new’ victims and bullies, that is, children and youth who are not also involved in some form of traditional bullying.”
The research, presented here this week at the American Psychological Association convention, involved 450,490 students in 1,349 American schools surveyed between 2007 and 2010 and another 9,000 Norwegian students at 41 schools. It was intended to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about cyberbullying.
The study, by longtime bullying researcher Dan Olweus of the University of Bergen, Norway, found that while, on average, 18 percent of American students said they had been verbally bullied; those who said they had been cyberbullied was about 4.5 percent.
http://goo.gl/8nl88

A copy of the paper
http://goo.gl/ZaV5j

Evaluating teachers is not so easy
ANNE G. FAIGEN, a novelist who was a high school teacher, knows from experience that assessing classroom performance is indeed complicated Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed by Anne G. Faigen, author of “Out of Turns”

In a conversation about the intractable problems of the Middle East, one of David Grossman’s characters in his compelling novel, “To the End of the Land,” says, “Who could possibly come up with a new, decisive argument that hasn’t been heard?” An equal sense of frustration must lurk in the efforts to construct a reasonable, fair way to assess the performances of public school teachers.
I have no “Eureka!” solution for unknotting the academic tangle, but I do, because of a long career as a classroom teacher in a large, diverse high school, have some insights that may help to explain why establishing a set of standards for judging teachers is so complicated.
http://goo.gl/sWHPF

The big education investment the government is passing up Washington Post commentary by columnist Dylan Matthews

Ever since the Census ended, government employment has been on a consistent decline, with 9,000 jobs lost in July alone. As a report from Adam Looney and Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project points out, these cuts could have major ramifications years in the future.
Take teachers. Research from Raj Chetty of Harvard and his co-authors estimates that a 33 percent reduction in class size leads to an increase in students’ lifetime earnings of about $4,421 for every year the reduction takes place. But the number of teachers in public classrooms has plummeted by 220,000 between 2009 and 2011, which translates into a 5.9 percent increase in class size. That will result, Looney and Greenstone estimate, in a $49.3 billion loss in lifetime earnings for every year this class size increase lasts – or an almost $100 billion loss between 2009 and 2011 alone. The actual budget savings from these teacher cuts is only $11.8 billion per year.
Spending on teachers, then, has a return on investment of about 318 percent. It’s hard to think of a private sector investment with that kind of bang for the buck.
http://goo.gl/4cxKw

A copy of the paper
http://goo.gl/VJD6Y

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Duncan on reform and back to school
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A more well-rounded curriculum with less focus on a single test. Higher academic standards and more difficult classwork. Continued cuts to extracurricular and other activities because of the tough economy.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says those are some of the changes and challenges that children could notice as they start the new school year.
http://goo.gl/UWL7G

To Increase Learning Time, Some Schools Add Days to Academic Year New York Times

PHOENIX — It was the last Sunday in July, and Bethany and Garvin Phillips were pulling price tags off brand-new backpacks and stuffing them with binders and pencils.
While other children around the country readied for beach vacations or the last weeks of summer camp, Bethany, 11, and Garvin, 9, were preparing for the first day of the new school year at Griffith Elementary, just six weeks after the start of their summer vacation.
Griffith, one of five schools in the Balsz Elementary School District here, is one of a handful of public schools across the country that has lengthened the school year in an effort to increase learning time.
A typical public school calendar is 180 days, but the Balsz district, where 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, is in session for 200 days, adding about a month to the academic year.
According to the National Center on Time and Learning, a nonprofit research group in Boston, about 170 schools — more than 140 of them charter schools — across the country have extended their calendars in recent years to 190 days or longer.
http://goo.gl/nk0lx

Study: K-3 Plus Boosts Student Scores
Albuquerque (NM) Journal

A program that extends the school year for low-income students is getting positive results, and researchers say it could be a cost-effective alternative to mandatory retention policies advocated by Gov. Susana Martinez.
A report by the Legislative Finance Committee’s research staff examined data on about 26,000 New Mexico students who finished third grade in 2011. They looked at a number of questions related to early literacy, and one key finding was that students enrolled in the “K-3 Plus” program had higher test scores in reading, writing and math than students with similar demographics who were not enrolled. They also found positive results for students who took state-funded preschool.
The K-3 Plus program gives parents of kindergartners through third-graders the option of signing up their kids for an extra five weeks of classes before school starts.
http://goo.gl/cWg7H

SACRAMENTO — Not every proposed law is historic or sweeping. Some merely are pretty good ideas — perhaps even important for a low-income kid.
One such bill is among the hundreds awaiting action as the Legislature heads into its final month. The measure’s goal is to stop schools from socking students with illegal fees.
Fees for sports and field trips and textbooks and art, for example.
They’re being charged despite a guarantee in the California Constitution of a free K-12 education.
http://goo.gl/3703A

Common Core Standards will transform how math is taught in Alabama schools Mobile (AL) Press-Register

MOBILE, Alabama — Math instruction is going to be different this year in local schools, as Alabama is one of 45 states to have adopted the Common Core Standards.
State officials said the approach, which is being labeled here as Alabama’s College and Career Standards, involves a more common sense, relevant way of teaching that will better prepare students for college or the workforce.
Students will be asked to reach “rigorous, yet attainable” academic goals each year, according to the state. Parents will get specific information about what their children should be learning each year, so they’ll know all along if they are on track to graduate.
And if a student moves from one state to another, he’ll be learning basically the same things, officials said.
Alabama will transition in 2013-14 to the Common Core in reading/language arts, which will address other areas of the curriculum such as science and social studies.
http://goo.gl/8OrDP

Pilot Program Targets Gifted Rural Students Education Week

Rural advocates have long been concerned about what they see as limited attention and research given to academically adept students in America’s rural schools, compared with their gifted and talented peers in urban settings. Even one of the country’s premiere institutions for serving the most advanced students—the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, in Baltimore — has devoted relatively little attention to rural, high-performing youths in its 33-year history.
The center is starting to address that issue with Rural Connections, a scholarship program launched this summer allowing a handful of low-income, rural students to attend the center’s existing three-week residential program designed to provide academic enrichment.
“We’ve paid less attention to rural education where the problems can be different, but we still have kids who qualify for and need our services,” said Elaine Tuttle Hansen, the executive director of the Center for Talented Youth, which overall serves about 10,000 high-achieving students in its multisite summer residential program annually. “It really adds a component to our overall access priorities.”
http://goo.gl/2aWlv

In Preparing Texas Students for College, a Struggle Texas Tribune

The short answer to whether most Texas students leave public schools prepared for college? No.
Less than one in two students met the state’s “college readiness” standards in math and verbal skills on ACT, SAT and TAKS scores in 2010. Though average SAT scores in both verbal and math dropped between 2007 and 2010 — a trend that state education officials have attributed to an increase in students taking the test — more students in the same period of time have met the state’s standards for college ready graduates, largely because of improvements on their state standardized tests and the ACT.
But that increase is only a slim silver lining in what appears to be a large storm cloud.
http://goo.gl/VhIAV

Christie to Sign Tenure Bill
Wall Street Journal

Gov. Chris Christie is expected to sign a bill Monday that would provide a sweeping overhaul of the tenure system for New Jersey public school teachers, according to two officials with knowledge of the matter.
Under the landmark legislation, all public school teachers would have to achieve favorable yearly reviews to maintain tenure and they would be evaluated by a number of measures that include student testing. A teacher could be fired after two poor reviews.
The bill would streamline the arbitration process for teachers appealing dismissal, and tenure would be granted for new teachers after four years on the job instead of the current three years.
http://goo.gl/0gaHb

http://goo.gl/pJP4D (Newark S-L)

State schools superintendent resigns amid ethics fallout Columbus (OH) Dispatch

Ohio schools Superintendent Stan Heffner announced this afternoon that he will resign his post amid a swirl of allegations of misconduct and ethics violations.
In a statement from Heffner just released by the state Department of Education, Heffner said “(b)ecause I don’t want opponents of reform to be able to twist mistakes I’ve made into roadblocks to Ohio’s reform efforts, I’m stepping aside to deny them even the chance of doing that.”
Heffner also said that “(u)nder the State Board of Education’s succession plan, starting at 5:00 pm on Friday, August 10, Michael Sawyers, Deputy Superintendent, will begin leading the Department of Education until the Board names a new state superintendent.”
Heffner said he will retire after 38 years as an educator.
On Thursday, state Inspector General Randall L. Meyer released results of a year-long probe that showed that Heffner lobbied lawmakers on legislation likely to benefit a standardized-testing firm with which he, at the time, had accepted a job. Meyer also said Heffner used his state-issued cellphone and email to land a new job and directed his executive assistants at the Department of Education to handle his personal affairs on state time.
http://goo.gl/alS0r

Underperforming Natrona County teachers no longer get raises Casper (WY) Star-Tribune

Teachers who fail to meet minimum standards in job evaluations by the end of this school year will no longer move up on the Natrona County School District pay schedule.
Previously, teachers received regular raises based on years of service, according to NCSD Superintendent Joel Dvorak. The change is part of a statewide accountability movement and applies to all district employees.
Natrona County school board trustee Steve Degenfelder proposed the change in a committee meeting last spring, and the board approved this consequence for the lowest performers as part of the budget in July. The move is a way to bring accountability to underperforming teachers, district officials said.
http://goo.gl/hJ825

Illinois to Spend More on Pensions Than on Education FOXBusiness

The state of Illinois faces at least $83 billion in unfunded liability between its five pension systems, and is on track to spend more on its government pensions than on education by 2016, a new study released by Governor Pat Quinn’s office says.
The state budget office conducted the study based on a “district-by-district analysis” if the state does not enact comprehensive pension reform, the governor said in a statement. Governor Quinn released the study a few days after calling a special session dedicated to pension reform on August 17.
Illinois faces severe underfunding in its pension system. It reported a funded ratio of 43.4%, way below the 80% considered healthy. Based on fiscal 2010 data, Illinois had the lowest funded ratio of any state, according to a June 2012 report by the Pew Center on the States.
http://goo.gl/pMGiy

Department Awards $11 Million in Grants to Support Charter School Facilities U.S. Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced today three grants totaling $11 million awarded to a nonprofit organization, a State entity, and a consortium of nonprofits that are working across the country to help charter schools obtain facilities through purchase, lease, and donation under the Credit Enhancement for Charter Schools Facilities Program (Credit Enhancement). One of several grants under the Office of Innovation and Improvement’s Charter Schools Program, the Credit Enhancement program helps to improve educational options for students and parents by targeting funds to areas with the greatest need for public school choice.
Under the Credit Enhancement program, awardees may use grants to leverage funds to help charter schools construct and renovate school facilities, guarantee and insure leases for property, and identify potential lending sources for charter school facilities.
http://goo.gl/AvRPO

Lenovo Targets Dell Share of Government, Education Sales Bloomberg

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, is targeting Dell Inc.’s share of sales to U.S. schools and governments to keep growing after boosting its North American corporate business.
Lenovo can achieve “hyper-growth” of more than 20 percent a year in computer sales to elementary and secondary schools as well as local, state and federal government agencies, Thomas Looney, vice president and general manager for Lenovo North America, said in an interview at his office in Morrisville, North Carolina.
The company closed the gap to almost pull even with market leader Hewlett-Packard Co. in global shipments in the second quarter, while Dell dropped to fourth from third a year earlier, researcher Gartner Inc. said last month. Lenovo’s thrust into the government and education markets, which account for more than a quarter of Dell’s revenue, follows an Aug. 1 announcement that it will resell machines made by EMC Corp., replacing a partnership EMC had with Dell.
http://goo.gl/T3mLt

Alabama schools chief Tommy Bice urged to pull plug on Channel One Birmingham (AL) News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A Boston-based nonprofit group is asking Alabama school Superintendent Tommy Bice to suspend the use of Channel One programming in Alabama schools, reopening a debate over whether the 12-minute broadcast aimed at teens is appropriate.
The group, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, asserts that the Channel One television news program — shown in more than 300 Alabama schools — has limited educational value, its commercials are nothing more than plugs for the latest movie or movie star, and the Channel One website promotes other websites with inappropriate and even sexual content.
Channel One is a television news program — along with commercials — targeted toward teenagers. It is offered to schools, along with the hardware and television equipment to receive it, if they agree to show a daily 12-minute program that includes news, feature stories and two minutes of commercials.
http://goo.gl/NfcUx

Anti-bullying ad campaign targets parents Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A new ad campaign will urge parents to teach their kids to speak up if they witness school bullying.
The Ad Council and the Free to Be Foundation are teaming up for the long-term campaign. Television, print and web ads will start running in October.
http://goo.gl/XuNws

Target using Facebook vote to decide which schools to donate to St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press

Target is giving away $2.5 million to schools, and if you want some for your school, you’ll need to vote.
The Minneapolis-based discounter unveiled a Facebook voting promotion last week that will award any K-12 school a $25 Target gift card for every 25 Facebook votes the school receives. Any Facebook user can vote — but only once each week — and the campaign is scheduled to run through Sept. 8.
“Since launching it last Thursday, more than 300,000 people have already gone in and voted for the school of their choice,” Jenna Reck, spokeswoman for Target Corp., said Thursday, Aug. 2.
http://goo.gl/61eul

On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/target

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

UEN News
http://www.uen.org

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

September 6-7:
Utah State Board of Education meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Agenda.aspx

Education News Roundup: June 11, 2012

Education News Roundup: Aug. 3, 2012

Education News Roundup: Aug. 16, 2012

Education News Roundup: Sept. 7, 2012