- “September 11th candle lighting ceremony” by Matt Coats/CC/flickr
Today’s Top Picks:
SITLA finds itself in tar sands controversy.
http://goo.gl/VoFJy (DN)
Utah PTA leaders offer some inside information on the history of Utah’s most recent sex ed bill.
http://goo.gl/EYdz6 (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/VvynK (Chrony)
Pleasant Grove OKs advertising on schools.
http://goo.gl/evhFh (PDH)
Utah students remember 9/11.
http://goo.gl/V1eQG (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/zxAWY (KSTU)
Latest OECD report on education is out.
http://goo.gl/JXpH8 (WSJ)
and http://goo.gl/sbKWe (Ed Week)
or a copy of the report
http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.htm
Yes, it’s true. ENR was utterly unable to do 10 pull ups back in the day (or even yesterday, for that matter). But perhaps his grandchildren won’t have to line up in class to fail at the same thing.
http://goo.gl/5goS2 (Ed Week)
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH
Conflict heats up over tar sands mining in Utah
Sex ed debate becomes lesson for future Utah leaders Utah PTA leaders talk to U. students about evolution of sex-education legislation and veto.
Pleasant Grove allows schools to sell advertising space
Parent calls ‘fowl’ on Chick-fil-A partnership with Draper school Elementary » Chicken chain to provide birthday meals, sponsor spirit nights.
Children flock to free reading, math tutoring in Lehi
Utah students honor 9/11 victims on 11th anniversary
Utah common core sparks concern
It’s ‘Broadway or Bust’ for pair of Utah teens Television » Peter Lambert and Malia Morely are part of a cast of 60 youngsters performing on PBS documentary.
Community activist to pedal for Hispanic awareness for college education
Thousands of Utah school kids will see ‘Bully’
Documentary » Film center to bring bullied teen to SLC to speak.
Hebrew charter school founder looks to ‘Mormon model’
Utah governor partners with business leaders on STEM education
Timpview High School coach’s teaching license suspended
Skyline-Olympus merger? District puts rumors to rest
Volunteers wanted to ‘Stuff the Bus’ for low-income Utah students
Head Lice Appearing on Utah School Children State health officials are warning parents to be on the lookout for the tiny bugs — and to take action quickly if they are detected.
Salt Lake City Kicks off Idle Free Month
Silver Hills students learn race-car safety
Skipping even a few days of school can affect grades dramatically
Back-to-school morning routine cultivates happy parents as much as happy students
OPINION & COMMENTARY
Better scores
Utah can only do so much with less
Chicago reminding us why charters are so imperative
What’s at stake in the Chicago teacher strike?
Ogden School District board should be re-elected
Syracuse High doing a ridiculous job educating kids
Chicago’s Teaching Moment
Can Mayor Rahm hold out against the union? Calling Mr. Obama.
In Chicago, It’s a Mess, All Right
Sectoral Shifts in the U.S. Labor Market
If Rich Parents Can’t Choose Schools Well, How Can Anybody?
Presidential Physical Fitness Test to Be Replaced After 2012-13
Academic Achievement of Legal Immigrants’ Children:
The Roles of Parents’ Pre- and Postmigration Characteristics in Origin-Group Differences
NATION
U.S. Students Struggle More Than Global Peers to Top Parents.
Chicago kids, teachers brace for Day 2 of strike
In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege
Teacher strike in Chicago hometown may be headache for Obama
Romney: Chicago teachers turning backs on students
Californians Face Rival Ballot Initiatives That Would Raise Taxes and Aid Schools
State education report calls for sweeping reforms in teacher evaluation
Nevadans weigh ‘parent trigger’ idea, empowering parents to reform failing schools
The Envelope, Please
Students from Across the Country (and Abroad) Blog Their College Searches
From the Halls of Worrall Elementary School, News by Students with Asperger’s
Reaching for Restorative Justice Programs in Public Schools Since embracing restorative justice programs, San Francisco schools have seen a drop in school violence and improved behavior in class.
U.S. Department of Education Awards More Than $9.8 Million to Fund Centers for Parents of Students with Disabilities
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UTAH NEWS
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Conflict heats up over tar sands mining in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY — Critics passionately opposed to energy projects in the Uintah Basin have yet to form long human chains or lock themselves to heavy equipment to stall work, but the landowner isn’t taking any chances.
The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration — owner of two potential oil shale mining sites in Utah — served notice Monday that any disruption or “field trips” to property where active or experimental drilling permits have been issued will result in criminal penalties.
A growing anti-tar sands movement is galvanizing protests on the national front lines over large projects like the Keystone LX pipeline and is gaining momentum in Utah because of pending projects in the state’s oil rich zone.
Groups that included the Utah Tar Sands Resistance and Peaceful Uprising visited the site of PR Spring mine, straddling the borders of Uintah and Grand counties, a few weeks ago and plan future visits in a public education campaign.
Kevin Carter, executive director of the School and Institutional Trusts Lands Administration, which owns the property and is leasing it for resource extraction, said security officers at the PR Spring site spotted trespassers at the mining site. He said that same weekend, Red Leaf Resources in Uintah County noted evidence of a break-in at its mine.
http://goo.gl/VoFJy (DN)
Sex ed debate becomes lesson for future Utah leaders Utah PTA leaders talk to U. students about evolution of sex-education legislation and veto.
For months, it inspired anger, shock and debate. It was one of the few political issues that truly spread this year from the Capitol to the hearts and minds of nearly every Utahn.
And now, nearly six months after Gov. Gary Herbert vetoed a controversial sex-education bill, it has become a lesson for the political leaders of tomorrow.
About two dozen University of Utah students gathered Monday at the U.’s Hinckley Institute of Politics to hear leaders from the Utah Parent Teacher Association describe the evolution of HB363, a bill that would have scaled back sex education in the state. HB363, sponsored by Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, would have prohibited schools from discussing contraception and would have allowed school districts to drop sex education entirely if they so chose.
The Utah PTA, along with other groups, actively opposed the bill this past session, claiming it would hurt children to deny them potentially life-changing information and take away parental choice. Those who supported the bill, including the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, argued that districts should have a choice in whether to offer the class, and the best way to protect teens would be to promote abstinence-only.
On Monday, Liz Zentner, Utah PTA president-elect, and Dawn Davies, PTA legislative vice president, described what was going on behind the scenes politically as the bill moved through the Legislature.
http://goo.gl/EYdz6 (SLT)
http://goo.gl/VvynK (Chrony)
Pleasant Grove allows schools to sell advertising space
PLEASANT GROVE — The leaders of Pleasant Grove have OK’d display banners advertising businesses on fences for charter and other public schools.
Displaying banners is a way for schools to raise money by selling the advertising space. The change in the city’s code came about after a request from John Hancock Charter School.
Julie Gazaway, Parent Teacher Organization member for the school, told city council members that this is one way to help raise money for the school. The idea is that businesses pay the school’s PTO in exchange for allowing advertising banners to be hung on the school’s fence, which faces 100 East. City Attorney Tina Petersen said that there were some concerns about the possible changes.
http://goo.gl/evhFh (PDH)
Parent calls ‘fowl’ on Chick-fil-A partnership with Draper school Elementary » Chicken chain to provide birthday meals, sponsor spirit nights.
The announcement in Dewey’s Diary, the newsletter for Draper Elementary, seemed innocent enough: a local Chick-fil-A franchise owner plans to sponsor a school spirit night and provide catering for students celebrating birthdays during the school year.
But after a summer in which purchasing a chicken sandwich from the Georgia-based fast-food chain became emblematic of one’s position on gay marriage, some Draper Elementary parents are questioning whether the partnership with Chick-fil-A could be construed as demeaning to children from gay and lesbian families.
Peter Pedersen, father of a first-grader and a fourth-grader at Draper Elementary, said he was taken aback by an email from school principal Kenna Sorensen explaining the program.
http://goo.gl/z6CAI (SLT)
http://goo.gl/c2keA (MUR)
Children flock to free reading, math tutoring in Lehi
LEHI — Hundreds of youngsters are getting a head-start on reading this fall — for free — at Lehi’s city-owned Rippy Literacy Center.
“My kids all learned to read from these guys,” said Kandice Gardner, mother of six, three of whom have been at the center to get reading tutoring. “We read to them at home, but these guys do all the hard work. The kids are top readers going into elementary school, but it wasn’t because of me.”
Gardner’s 4-year-old daughter Kierra was among the kids attending the first day of autumn semester at the center on Monday. Kierra said that she “colored shapes.”
There are 200 students enrolled at the center now, from Lehi, American Fork, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.
http://goo.gl/DahQ6 (PDH)
Utah students honor 9/11 victims on 11th anniversary
Hundreds of students across Utah paid a somber tribute on Tuesday to the memory of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
At Wasatch Elementary School in Clearfield, children watched as a special flag was presented to commemorate a new school building at 270 East Center Street.
The flag, displayed in a shadow case, previously flew over the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Capitol and at Hill Air Force Base.
http://goo.gl/V1eQG (SLT)
http://goo.gl/zxAWY (KSTU)
Utah common core sparks concern
The implementation of the new Utah Common Core has raised questions and concerns in parents across the state.
Celeste Merrill, a mother of four from Provo, said that ever since the change to the Common Core, her daughters’ school has started putting more emphasis on standardized testing.
“I like the idea of having a standardized test,” said Merrill. “But, I don’t love how it’s so hard core that the teachers are driven by the test.”
The belief behind the Common Core is to outline a set of standards for teachers to ensure a set of skills and knowledge that students will have by the time of graduation.
http://goo.gl/astB3 (Universe)
It’s ‘Broadway or Bust’ for pair of Utah teens Television » Peter Lambert and Malia Morely are part of a cast of 60 youngsters performing on PBS documentary.
Take 60 extremely talented, highly motivated teenagers and send them to New York City. Put them through a weeklong theatrical boot camp and give the best among them National High School Musical Theater Awards.
The drama will create itself, right?
Yes — and no. Because these kids — including a pair from Utah — aren’t exactly the back-stabbing, reality TV types. Although they did end up as the stars of the three-part PBS reality show “Broadway or Bust.”
“It was more about what it’s like to work on Broadway than it was a competition,” said Peter Lambert, who earlier this year graduated from Alta High, and won the prize as the top male performer at the Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards in March (which are staged by Logan’s Utah Festival Opera and Music Theatre). “We all became family.”
“The best part of the experience by far was how close we got,” agreed Malia Morely, Utah’s top female performer and recent Hillcrest High grad. “To be on the stage with them was like you were with your family. It was crazy.”
http://goo.gl/M63rn (SLT)
Community activist to pedal for Hispanic awareness for college education
OGDEN — Riding a tandem bike, community activist Dean Curtis and his wife plan to pedal across the Wasatch Front.
The journey began at Weber State University on Monday and will end at Utah Valley University in Orem on Thursday.
Along the way, Curtis will meet with schools, delivering DVDs and materials to help get more Hispanic students on the path to college. The event is timed to coincide with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
http://goo.gl/AxOXD (OSE)
http://goo.gl/3bLJe (Hispanic Business)
Thousands of Utah school kids will see ‘Bully’
Documentary » Film center to bring bullied teen to SLC to speak.
The filmmakers behind the startling documentary “Bully” are in the midst of a campaign to get it seen by a million American kids — and Utah is about to add 12,500 to that number.
The Utah Film Center will show the film to students in the Salt Lake City and Park City school districts. And interest has been higher than anticipated.
http://goo.gl/RXL23 (SLT)
http://goo.gl/EUW0n (KUTV)
Hebrew charter school founder looks to ‘Mormon model’
High school freshman Hayden Mankovitz comes home every day from his Plantation, Fla., school “bubbling over” to share what he’s been learning about his family’s cultural heritage, according to his mom, Maxine Mankovitz.
Hayden is taking part in an experiment launched this fall in Plantation, Fla. He goes to a public charter high school that teaches in Hebrew. The school also offers a “release-time” program in which he can leave the campus and get religious instruction with a rabbi during the school day.
Mankovitz is thrilled so far. She sees the program as filling a gap in their family’s Jewish awareness. “We haven’t had too much Hebrew or Jewish background in my home,” she said.
“Our spirit was always there but we hadn’t had much chance to get much education, and we hadn’t belonged for many years to a synagogue,” Mankovitz added. “It’s just astonishing that is offered to him.”
Based on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seminary programs — where high school students go off campus to a neighboring building for religious instruction during the school day — the Florida experiment aims to help Jewish students and families rediscover and transmit pieces of a fading cultural heritage.
http://goo.gl/QqXLQ (DN)
Utah governor partners with business leaders on STEM education
Utah joins a growing number of states focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in order to train America’s future workforce. Utah Governor Gary Herbert has joined with a local business group Prosperity 2020 to establish greater Salt Lake as a top ten area in the nation for technology jobs and business. The partnership will also have a focus on increasing STEM education statewide in order to create a local, skilled labor force.
The Governor is planning a focused statewide effort to make Salt Lake and the surrounding area, a technology and science hub. Prosperity 2020 is a group founded and supported by local business leaders and the local Chamber of Commerce and will aid in the effort. The governor announced that he has launched an unprecedented statewide planning process to identify and build on current successes and create greater collaboration in Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.
http://goo.gl/mdfRU (CivSource)
Timpview High School coach’s teaching license suspended
Former Timpview High football coach Louis Wong could return to teaching and coaching in as soon as 18 months after resigning amid allegations of financial mismanagement.
The Utah State Board of Education voted on Friday to suspend Wong’s teaching license for 18 months after hearing a recommendation from the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission that his license be suspended for one year. The recommendation followed a June hearing in which Wong answered questions that were raised by financial investigations by the Utah State Office of Education and the Provo District.
Wong was initially fired by the district, but agreed to drop his grievance against the Provo School District in exchange for being allowed to resign effective May 2012.
http://goo.gl/F5Nb1 (DN)
http://goo.gl/4jqNO (KSL)
Skyline-Olympus merger? District puts rumors to rest
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s the talk of the campus and the Millcreek community – rumors of a possible merge of arch rivals Skyline and Olympus high schools.
“There’s no justification to that rumor whatsoever,” said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley. “We’re committed to the Skyline community, to the Millcreek community, for generations to come.”
http://goo.gl/JUSHo (KSL)
Volunteers wanted to ‘Stuff the Bus’ for low-income Utah students
School is already under way for Utah students, but there are hundreds of children who still need a helping hand with school supplies for the coming year.
The United Way of Salt Lake is seeking volunteer to help fill backpacks with schools supplies for the organizations “Stuff the Bus” campaign, which provides more than 5,000 children in Davis, Salt Lake and Summit counties with essential items for school.
http://goo.gl/NjaqQ (SLT)
Head Lice Appearing on Utah School Children State health officials are warning parents to be on the lookout for the tiny bugs — and to take action quickly if they are detected.
It’s an unpleasant health problem — and one few like to discuss. But school nurses in several Utah districts say, the new school year has brought more cases of head lice into state classrooms than normal.
Utah Dr. Cindy Gellner says, the tiny bugs appear as minute white spots on kids’ scalps or in their hair. Lice can often be mistaken for dandruff — except the bugs won’t shake out the way dandruff normally does.
http://goo.gl/Czt3d (KNRS)
Salt Lake City Kicks off Idle Free Month
Salt Lake City officials announced the beginning of idle free awareness Month this morning. Mayor Ralph Becker kicked off the event by talking to elementary school students in Rose Park about the importance of turning off a car when parked for more than a few seconds.
City leaders explained to 4th, 5th and 6th graders at Rose Park Elementary that Idling a vehicle increases dependence on oil, reduces the fuel economy of a car, costs more money and produces harmful pollutants. Mayor Ralph Becker offered tips on how they can help their parents minimize those effects.
http://goo.gl/zfCof (KUER)
Silver Hills students learn race-car safety
Drivers from the Rocky Mountain Raceways brought their race cars to Silver Hills Elementary in Kearns on Monday. Students got a close look at the unique machines during the event sponsored by the school’s Parent Teacher Association.
http://goo.gl/w4aQS (SLT)
Skipping even a few days of school can affect grades dramatically
It seems obvious that students can’t benefit from school unless they show up there. Nonetheless, kids across the nation are often unaware that skipping even a few days of school can affect grades dramatically and even decrease their odds of graduating, according to Get Schooled’s new report on school truancy.
The report, drawn from interviews with more than 500 school-skipping teens in 25 cities, reveals that more than 80 percent of students who skip school once a week believe it is unlikely they will fall behind in class. Get Schooled said an attitude adjustment is order.
http://goo.gl/mjza8 (DN)
Back-to-school morning routine cultivates happy parents as much as happy students
As the daily back-to-school routine brings about the chaos of the morning rush to get out the door this fall, mothers are offering advice to each other.
“In my household, there is a vast difference between school mornings that go smoothly and those that involve nagging, missed buses and tears. It’s the difference between heaven and hell,” Christine Carter, sociologist and author of “Raising Happiness,” wrote at the Huffington Post.
Carter suggests making checklists for each person in the household. Finishing the dishes needed for lunches the night before and laying out tomorrow’s clothes the night before can eliminate that extra time needed at the last second.
http://goo.gl/mBk4t (DN)
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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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Better scores
Utah can only do so much with less
Salt Lake Tribune editorial
Just imagine what Utah schoolchildren and teachers could do if they had anywhere near the resources of their peers in other states.
Results of last year’s standardized language arts and science tests show Utah students clawing their way up, despite ranking far behind other states in financial commitment to public education. Utah is below all states and the District of Columbia in per-pupil spending. Despite that tepid government support, higher percentages of Utah students last spring received scores high enough to rate them “proficient” in those two subjects on the Criterion Referenced Tests than in the previous year. Math scores were unchanged overall.
And, most important, minority students gained proficiency in math, language arts and science.
However, while improvement is worth celebrating, it’s important to note that the gap between Latino and white students remains anywhere from 20 to 33 percentage points in each of the three subjects.
http://goo.gl/sYJnm
Chicago reminding us why charters are so imperative Commentary by Charter Solutions President Lincoln Fillmore
And also reminding us why unions are so opposed to charters. Dispersing control of education more widely among parents and independently run schools diminishes the clout of central planners and of unions ability to shut down entire systems to wring concessions out of cash-strapped education systems.
Chicago’s teachers union is currently on strike over matters that have nothing to do with students and everything to do with a power struggle over who gets to have the say in how dollars are spent in public schools. Chicago Rahm Emmanuel calls the issues “minor.”
http://goo.gl/9cUji
What’s at stake in the Chicago teacher strike?
Deseret News commentary by columnist Mary McConnell
In my last post I talked about the dog that didn’t bark in California: the legislature’s decision to back away from a bill, supported by the teachers’ unions, that would have subjected teacher evaluations to collective bargaining. Los Angeles is now moving forward with plans to include test scores as one element of teacher evaluations . . . as California law requires, and has required for many years.
This event, or non-event, didn’t grab a lot of headlines outside California. Chicago’s teacher strike is big news. Lots of issues divide Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the teachers’ unions, including an inevitable pay dispute arising from the city’s effort to lengthen some of the nation’s shortest class days at a time when the city is very, very short of money.
But according to the mayor, at least, teacher evaluations are the biggest sticking point.
http://goo.gl/LVNcP
Ogden School District board should be re-elected
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Lisa Bradshaw
I have been a resident of Ogden for 45 years. I have always been supportive of the community, the schools and the efforts that people make to make this great city a better place to live. For some time, there have been people that have been critical of the education of students in Ogden School District and blaming the school system for the reason that people have not wanted to live in Ogden.
They may have had reason in the past, but watching the Ogden School Board, the Ogden School District Administration, and the teachers over the past couple of years, has been more than encouraging. They have taken responsibility and are turning the district around. As I read about test score improvement at Dee and Madison Elementary Schools and the new junior high honors program, I know they are making efforts at all schools. But seeing what has happened at the high schools has impressed me even more.
http://goo.gl/t8JkU
Syracuse High doing a ridiculous job educating kids
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Matt Jameson
As a retired military member who has experienced sending my kids to schools around the country, also with my experience growing up, I need to finally vent about this school. Syracuse High School is only interested in sports, popularity, and status. This reigns true from the students, all the way through to the faculty. Schoolwork is secondary. One daughter has already graduated and the other is a senior (3.8 GPA college prep) this year, and for both, the school has been too lenient on grading and has put too much emphasis on working them through the system. There are no books to take home and study, assignments are not related to the material, there is no direction on what to study for tests, too much extra credit allowed to raise a grade, there is grading on huge curves, and so on.
This does not teach critical thinking skills needed for college and the real world. Syracuse, needs to stop worrying about status, sports, and popularity and start worrying about producing intelligent, respectful, well-prepared young people equipped for the next stage in life.
One of the biggest problems is they do not do a good job preparing them for the ACT. My daughter, with the 3.8 GPA, received a 14 on her first try! How does that happen when she is in college prep courses?
http://goo.gl/UwJUC
Chicago’s Teaching Moment
Can Mayor Rahm hold out against the union? Calling Mr. Obama.
Wall Street Journal editorial
Has Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker? If he hasn’t, we’d be glad to mediate a call. Chicago teachers went on strike Monday for the first time in 25 years, and Mr. Emanuel can help the cause of education reform nationwide if he shows some Walker-like gumption.
On Sunday night, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis promised that her 25,000 members would walk the picket line until they have a “fair contract,” and she called the battle an “education justice fight.” Nice to know they’re thinking of the kids at the start of the school year.
Middle-class parents and two-earner households scrambling for child care may not sympathize. According to the union’s own figures, the average Chicago public school teacher makes $71,000 a year in salary, and that’s before pensions and benefits generally worth $15,000 or more a year. Senior teachers make much more. That’s not a bad deal compared to the median household income of $47,000 for a Chicago worker in the private economy.
Ditto working conditions.
http://goo.gl/FA7q4
In Chicago, It’s a Mess, All Right
New York Times commentary by columnist JOE NOCERA
“This is going to be a hot, buttery mess.”
So said Karen Lewis, the fiery president of the Chicago Teachers Union, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel named a new chief executive of the city’s sprawling school system, the third largest in the nation.
It was April 2011. The new man was Jean-Claude Brizard, who had cut his teeth working with one of the country’s best-known school reformers, Joel Klein in New York City, before becoming superintendent of schools in Rochester. There he promoted charter schools and merit pay, pushed for performance standards — and so infuriated the teachers’ union that it overwhelmingly gave him a vote of no confidence two months before he left for Chicago.
In naming Brizard, Emanuel was sending a clear signal: He was going to push the same kind of aggressive reform agenda as Mayor Michael Bloomberg had in New York.
http://goo.gl/o21xS
Sectoral Shifts in the U.S. Labor Market Slate commentary by columnist Matthew Yglesias
Here’s a little chart I whipped up showing how the American labor market has transformed over the past five years. Everything is indexed to the recession low point, so this doesn’t capture the change in the absolute size of these four sectors but they’re all pretty big.
I picked these four because they illustrate the four totally different trajectories that are out there. In the health care sector, it’s as if the recession never happened. When nominal incomes and nominal spending fall, it seems that citizens of technologically advanced wealthy democracy simply don’t cut back on health care services. That’s the fixed point, and it’s other stuff that gets squeezed. Then there’s manufacturing, where you can see that the much-ballyhooed “manufacturing recovery” is a real thing but also very much a political construct more than an economic one. Obama took over at the tail end of a truly epic collapse in manufacturing performance, so a rebound that’s left us well below where we started looks good if you just blame Bush for the collapse.
Then there’s food services—waitresses, cooks, bartenders, and busboys. This is the sector that’s displaying a proper recession/recovery trajectory. Lots of job losses during the downturn, but a nice bounceback and there are now more people working in restaurants and bars than at any time in American history. Which is good because there are also more people living in America than at any time in American histroy.
Last the teachers. Employment of teachers held up decently during the recession, which is what you expect from government workers. But there’s been a years-long slow bleed that’s very unusual.
http://goo.gl/0HXLi
If Rich Parents Can’t Choose Schools Well, How Can Anybody?
Scholastic commentary by columnist Paul Bruno
Is the willingness of wealthy parents to spend gobs of money on elite private schools evidence that we should be spending more on traditional public schools? RiShawn Biddle doesn’t think so and gives several reasons to justify his skepticism. In the process, though, he ends up seriously undercutting the case for school choice and more-intensive data gathering.
I’m as doubtful as Biddle that the high tuition at elite private schools is justified by school quality per se; it wouldn’t take a high-quality school to enroll a bunch of kids from extremely wealthy families and then get them off to college. Still, on Biddle’s own account this is tantamount to saying that rich parents are largely insensitive to school quality and, moreover, that when rich parents exercise school choice, they do so poorly. And this is despite the fact that the wealthiest parents are probably better informed than their less affluent counterparts.
And note that it doesn’t really help to say, as he does, that the lack of “high quality” (i.e., testing) data on the elite schools makes rich parents less informed. After all, such information is available for many other schools they might choose, and yet many parents apparently choose to ignore it. This doesn’t point to the need for more testing data so much as is points to the fact that reformers care about such data more than parents do.
http://goo.gl/9Fk7e
Presidential Physical Fitness Test to Be Replaced After 2012-13 Education Week commentary by columnist Bryan Toporek
Gym class could become less traumatizing for some K-12 students under a new national initiative announced today.
If you’re like me, you remember having to endure the Presidential Physical Fitness Test back in the day, which tested students in curl-ups, pull-ups, a timed shuttle run, an endurance run/walk, and the sit-and-reach.
If you’re like me, being faced with the prospect of 40 push-ups, 10 pull-ups, and a 6:30 mile run for a Presidential Physical Fitness Award as a 14-year-old was about as appealing as a daily trip to the principal’s office. (Let’s be honest: I’d be lucky to hit those benchmarks now, 10 years later.)
Starting next school year, the test will become a thing of the past. It’s being replaced by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP), a “health-related, criterion-based assessment” which resulted from a partnership between the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, the Amateur Athletic Union, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD), Cooper Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The departure from the test, part of the President’s Challenge, signals a move away from measuring students’ performance and puts more emphasis on assessing students’ health, according to the PYFP’s website.
http://goo.gl/5goS2
Academic Achievement of Legal Immigrants’ Children:
The Roles of Parents’ Pre- and Postmigration Characteristics in Origin-Group Differences Child Development analysis by Suet-ling Pong, Nancy S. Landale
Using data from the New Immigrant Survey, a study based on a nationally representative sample of legal immigrants, the present study extends prior research on the academic outcomes of immigrants’ children by examining the roles of pre- and postmigration parental characteristics and the home environment. An analysis of 2,147 children aged 6–12 shows that parents’ premigration education is more strongly associated with children’s academic achievement than any other pre- or postmigration attribute. Premigration parental attributes account for the test score disadvantage of Mexican-origin children of legal immigrants, relative to their non-Latino counterparts. The findings reveal continuities and discontinuities in parental socioeconomic status and demonstrate that what parents bring to the United States and their experiences after arrival influence children’s academic achievement.
http://goo.gl/OQtdZ
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NATIONAL NEWS
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U.S. Students Struggle More Than Global Peers to Top Parents.
Wall Street Journal
Receiving a better education than one’s parents sounds like a tenet of the American Dream, but it’s a reality more commonly achieved in other developed nations.
The U.S. ranked fourth-worst among 29 developed countries for children obtaining a higher level of education than their parents, according to a report released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In the U.S. only 21.6% of those 25 to 34 years old achieved a higher level of education than their parents. That compares to an OECD average of 36.8%.
The study found that even Americans with the lowest level of education had a poor chance of seeing their children achieve higher levels.
http://goo.gl/JXpH8
http://goo.gl/sbKWe (Ed Week)
A copy of the report
http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.htm
Chicago kids, teachers brace for Day 2 of strike Associated Press
CHICAGO — Rose Davis wasn’t about to let her two young grandchildren walk alone through one of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods, even though they were going to a school kept open for students who needed a safe haven while teachers walked the picket line.
So Davis, who has a painful diabetic condition that affects nerves in her legs, walked with them Monday the six blocks to Benjamin E. Mays Elementary Academy in Englewood – about five blocks farther than the school they normally attend – where they ate breakfast and lunch, read books, worked on computers and played games. She went back four hours later to escort them home.
“They had to go out of their home zone, and you never know what gang violence is going on on the other side of the zone,” said Davis, 47, who said she will continue making the difficult trek until teachers return to the classroom.
But Davis and other parents and caregivers who scrambled Monday to figure out what to do with more than 350,000 idle children must do it all again Tuesday – and perhaps longer – after the teachers union and district failed to reach a settlement to end the first strike in the city’s schools in a quarter century.
http://goo.gl/ywgFC
In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege New York Times
The high-stakes strike by 26,000 public school teachers in Chicago is only the latest episode in which the nation’s teachers’ unions have been thrown on the defensive in the face of demands for far-reaching changes.
In community after community — even in major cities with strong pro-union traditions, like Los Angeles and Philadelphia — teachers’ unions have faced a push for concessions, whether it is to scrap tenure protections or to rely heavily on student test results to determine who gets a raise and who gets fired.
And now comes this high-profile showdown in President Obama’s own hometown, a labor stronghold. Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic mayor and Mr. Obama’s former chief of staff, is demanding a raft of concessions that are anathema to union leaders and their members. At the same time, with many teachers and their unions already viewed unfavorably by many Americans, the union is taking a gamble by engaging in a battle over changes that some education advocates believe are needed to improve the nation’s schools.
The battle underlines just how much teachers’ unions, which have provided sizable donations and many grass-roots volunteers to countless Democratic campaigns, have been thrown back on their heels in recent years.
http://goo.gl/HOQ0M
http://goo.gl/3QJJW (Reuters)
Teacher strike in Chicago hometown may be headache for Obama Reuters
CHICAGO – The Chicago teachers’ strike is putting President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in a bind, pitting unions loyal to him against officials with ties to the White House.
The Obama camp needs to be careful not to upset the unions, which it needs for campaign funds and to do ground work leading up to the November 6 election, while not alienating independent voters who are worried about the Democrats being too close to powerful labor groups.
While not directly involved, Obama is associated in many minds with local politics in his hometown, where one of his current cabinet members, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, formerly oversaw the schools and now endorses the changes that have angered teachers.
And Mayor Rahm Emanuel is a former Obama chief of staff.
http://goo.gl/Oq2Jd
Romney: Chicago teachers turning backs on students Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday that striking Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and that President Barack Obama is rooting for the absent educators. Obama’s top spokesman said the president has not taken sides but is urging both the teachers and the city to settle quickly.
Chicago’s mayor, Obama ally Rahm Emanuel, called Romney’s statement “lip service” as the contract dispute in the nation’s third-largest school system inserted itself into the hard-fought presidential campaign.
Romney said he chooses to side with the parents and students, echoing his oft-repeated campaign speech claim that teachers’ unions are out for themselves.
http://goo.gl/QRPK4
Californians Face Rival Ballot Initiatives That Would Raise Taxes and Aid Schools New York Times
LOS ANGELES — First came a competing save-our-schools ballot initiative, backed by a wealthy lawyer who proved more persistent than Gov. Jerry Brown had hoped. Then came a summer of minor financial embarrassments that handed Mr. Brown’s opponents a narrative to use against him.
Now comes a nagging question: Against that backdrop, is Mr. Brown’s $8-billion-a-year proposed tax increase in trouble?
On Nov. 6, California voters will face their usual thicket of ballot measures, 11 in all this time around, ranging from a further crackdown on human trafficking to the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food. But the most prominent by far is a budget-easing measure being pushed by Mr. Brown, who wants voters to approve tax increases to head off even more cuts to the state’s already decimated education system — a loss would automatically set off about $5.5 billion in cuts from public schools and $500 million from the state’s public colleges.
http://goo.gl/IIBRq
State education report calls for sweeping reforms in teacher evaluation Los Angeles Daily News
LONG BEACH – The California Department of Education on Monday released a comprehensive new report calling for sweeping reforms in the way teachers are recruited, trained, mentored and evaluated.
The 90-page report, called “Greatness by Design: Supporting Outstanding Teaching to Sustain a Golden State,” is the state’s most comprehensive look at the teaching profession in more than a decade, said State Superintendent Tom Torlakson.
Torlakson said the report charts a path towards better-quality education for all of California’s children. The recommendations in the report could lead to policy changes at the school district and state levels.
http://goo.gl/Hu3xe
A copy of the report
http://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/greatnessfinal.pdf
Nevadans weigh ‘parent trigger’ idea, empowering parents to reform failing schools Las Vegas Sun
Fed-up parents who wish to turn around their child’s failing school may soon be able to pressure school boards to action, according to a new policy being considered by Nevada lawmakers and touted by an upcoming Hollywood movie.
The nonprofit Parent Revolution — which has lobbied for the passage of the controversial “parent trigger” law in several states — has submitted a bill draft request to state Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas.
The proposed bill would allow parents and teachers to petition school district officials to execute one of several federal recipes for school improvement, including replacing the principal and half the staff, closing the school or converting it into a charter school.
This push to implement the “parent trigger” law in Nevada will likely be bolstered by the film “Won’t Back Down,” premiering Sept. 28. The movie, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, was prescreened to education reform advocates in Las Vegas on Monday night.
http://goo.gl/VSXnq
The Envelope, Please
Students from Across the Country (and Abroad) Blog Their College Searches New York Times
Nothing can quite convey the roller coaster of emotions of applying to college — bewilderment, elation, dejection, hope, fear — as powerfully as the voices of the applicants themselves. And so, as in years past, The Choice blog has selected eight high school seniors to tell their stories throughout the new school year as part of the latest installment of a first-person series we call “The Envelope, Please.”
As their predecessors in the series have, they will invite Choice visitors into their college application process through blog posts and videos, beginning today and continuing through May. To give readers time and space to get to know them, we will introduce one writer in the series a day, each morning through Sept. 17. Their submissions will then appear frequently throughout the school year.
http://goo.gl/l4rvL
From the Halls of Worrall Elementary School, News by Students with Asperger’s NewsHour
News has an agenda at Worrall Elementary School in Broomall, Pa., where students with Asperger’s syndrome ‘go live’ in their own broadcast each year. Their teachers say it’s one of the best ways for students to learn to speak clearly, work together, build confidence, and gain fame all at once.
http://goo.gl/p0qFT
Reaching for Restorative Justice Programs in Public Schools Since embracing restorative justice programs, San Francisco schools have seen a drop in school violence and improved behavior in class.
Utne Reader
Instead of being kicked out for fighting, stealing, talking back, or other disruptive behavior, public school students in San Francisco are being asked to listen to each other, write letters of apology, work out solutions with the help of parents and educators, or engage in community service. All these practices fall under the umbrella of “restorative justice”—asking wrongdoers to make amends before resorting to punishment.
Restorative justice programs launched in 2009 when the San Francisco Board of Education passed a resolution for schools to find alternatives to suspension and expulsion. In the previous seven years, suspensions in San Francisco spiked by 152 percent, to a total of 4,341—mostly among African Americans, who despite being one-tenth of the district made up half of suspensions and more than half of expulsions.
This disparity fed larger social inequalities: Two decades of national studies have found that expelled or suspended students are vastly more likely to drop out of school or end up in jail than those who face other kinds of consequences for their actions.
“My first act as a school board member was to push a student out of his school,” recalled Jane Kim, a former community organizer who as a member of the Board of Education needed to approve all expulsions.
“That’s not what I expected to do,” she said, especially when it seemed to exacerbate the social inequalities she had pledged to fight in her position.
http://goo.gl/sZ4xL
U.S. Department of Education Awards More Than $9.8 Million to Fund Centers for Parents of Students with Disabilities U.S. Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of more than $9.8 million in grants to 16 states to operate 25 Parent Training and Information (PTI) Centers for parents of students with disabilities. The Department also awarded $1.1 million to provide funding for 11 Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) in nine states and Puerto Rico.
With the new grants, the Department now funds 101 information centers for parents of children and youth with disabilities. Every state has at least one PTI that assists parents as they work to ensure their children receive a free, appropriate public education as guaranteed by federal law. In addition, CPRCs provide services to underserved parents of children with disabilities in targeted communities throughout the country.
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The following is a list of the grants the Department announced for Parent Training and Information Centers, and Community Parent Resource Centers. The award amounts and contact information for local project directors are included.
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•UT — Utah Parent Center, Helen Post, helenp@utahparentcenter.org, $246,148 http://goo.gl/WQe7x
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CALENDAR
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USOE Calendar
http://tinyurl.com/5x9oh9
UEN News
http://www.uen.org
September 13:
Utah State Charter School Board meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://1.usa.gov/Axtt5K
September 18:
Executive Appropriations Interim Committee meeting
1 p.m., 445 State Capitol
http://goo.gl/E0hoC
September 19:
Education Interim Committee meeting
2 p.m., 30 House Building
http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2012&Com=INTEDU
October 5:
Utah State Board of Education meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Agenda.aspx
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