Education News Roundup: Oct. 19, 2012

By Mark Peterson, on October 19th, 2012

“Register to Vote” by eatbitter/CC/flickr

Today’s Top Picks:

Trib and Hinckley Institute look at UEA issues.
http://goo.gl/yPbBD (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/RFgOr (KUER)

eSchool News takes a look at Utah’s open source experiment.
http://goo.gl/vjl0K (eSchool News)

Ed Week and Rock Center take a look at the “steroid of the library.”
http://goo.gl/esOzK (Ed Week
and http://goo.gl/sIWc3 (NBC Rock Center)

And finally, ENR will be taking up a collection for his two dumb kids, poor offspring of a state employee. Look for collection jars at the checkout stand of your neighborhood supermarket. “She found that the hippocampal region, which is important in learning and memory function, had a larger volume for subjects who were raised by parents with higher incomes.”
http://goo.gl/KCECq (WaPo)
or a copy of the study
http://goo.gl/ZRmrC

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

Union leaders urge teachers to fight for what’s right Education » UEA kicks off convention with messages of solidarity, support.

Hinckley Institute of Politics: Public Education Problems Magnified in an Election Year

State leaders: Here’s how we’re going digital State reps give describe new digital initiatives, offer words of wisdom

Utah principal named as one of the nation’s best Education » James Melville honored in D.C. for work at Freedom Elementary in Highland.

Two Provo teachers called best in the West

Peter Cooke says he would veto sex education bill if elected

Sex Education? For Parents? Utah Lawmaker Says We Need It State Senator Stuart Reid wants public educators to teach parents what they are teaching students, so additional instruction can be offered at home.

School board opponents from 2004 face another showdown Elections » Eight years ago one vote made the difference between two Salt Lake district candidates.

Lehi residents hear from district 6 school board candidates

School board candidates discuss priorities Beckstrom, Olson vie for District One spot

Sports and old middle school dominate Kane County School Board meeting

Lone Peak students learning to ‘Be The Change’ in the world

Stewart Elementary students walk, run to raise money for technology Annual event » Activity raises between $10K and $15K to buy laptops, projectors and more for classrooms.

Midvale Middle School whirling for world peace International awareness » Administrators wanted students to step outside themselves and think globally.

Helping Haiti – high school style

UHSAA decision forces Timpview football to forfeit three 2012 games

Skyline HS has at least 2 whooping cough cases

Debate fundraiser

OPINION & COMMENTARY

LDS missions
A culture change for Utah

Stansbury High stands up for student

Homeschoolers as ‘the last radicals’

Better accounting needed for schools

Put Pyfer back on state board

American Community Survey, Census 2011

Should Students “Grade Teachers”?

The White/Black Educational Gap, Stalled Progress, and the Long Term Consequences of the Emergence of Crack Cocaine Markets

NATION

Advent of ‘Smart Drugs’ Raises Safety, Ethical Concerns

National Teacher of the Year: Give Us a Career Path

Gates Foundation-funded education-reform group to close Communities for Teaching Excellence, the national organization based in L.A., plans to close next month after its board voted to shutter it and the Gates philanthropy ended financial support.

Charter schools get blanket ‘no’ from state board

Times sues L.A. Unified for teacher ratings

Committee works to shape statewide teacher evaluation system

Education reform opposition slams propositions Ads allege laws ‘treat children like widgets’

School Ruling Roils Race for Washington Governor

Judge rules for cheerleaders in Bible banner suit

The Brothers and Sisters of the 21st Century

Rising charter school enrollment seen as challenge for Catholic schools

Smucker’s Uncrustables sold to schools recalled

Does a parent’s education and income affect how a child’s brain develops?

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UTAH NEWS
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Union leaders urge teachers to fight for what’s right Education » UEA kicks off convention with messages of solidarity, support.

Utah teachers must continue to fight.
It was a message state and national teachers union leaders shared with those who attended the Utah Education Association’s (UEA) annual convention Thursday, an event that often attracts between 3,000 and 4,000 people.
Together, teachers can fight the idea that their worth can be measured solely by standardized tests; that class size doesn’t matter; and that teachers shouldn’t unionize to improve conditions for themselves and their students, National Education Association (NEA) vice president Lily Eskelsen told those gathered at Sandy’s South Towne Exposition Center.
“You cannot scare a Utah teacher,” said Eskelsen, herself a former UEA president and Utah teacher. “We have survived every bad idea, every bad reform that anyone has ever come up with. We don’t care if it’s a democrat or republican that proposes something. If it’s a good idea, we’ll take it, and if it’s a bad idea we’ll fight it.”
http://goo.gl/yPbBD (SLT)

Hinckley Institute of Politics: Public Education Problems Magnified in an Election Year

Lily Eskelsen, Vice President, National Education Association http://goo.gl/RFgOr (KUER)

State leaders: Here’s how we’re going digital State reps give describe new digital initiatives, offer words of wisdom

There’s been much recent talk about schools going all-digital–from Arne Duncan’s call to action to the backlash from educators–but implementing digital resources is no easy task. During a recent stakeholder forum, however, leaders and experts came together to address how to make this shift into a reality.
The forum, Advancing Education in the Digital Age, was part of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) 2012 Leadership Summit and highlighted SETDA’s recent report on the shift to digital instruction.
…
Tiffany Hall, coordinator of teaching and learning for the Utah State Office of Education, said her state first started thinking about the shift to digital resources when Utah adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in 2010.
“With that adoption we defined our instructional materials, integrated a math model, ensured local control, and decided to support digital and open materials,” she explained. “So far, 74 percent of all students in the state have access to a computer at home, and our goal is to have 100 percent.”
Other goals for Utah include completing four open text projects—customized curricula for science, secondary math, elementary math, and K-12 English/Language Arts. The texts are customized by teachers to align to CCSS and all are vetted and field tested before they’re pushed out.
http://goo.gl/vjl0K (eSchool News)

Utah principal named as one of the nation’s best Education » James Melville honored in D.C. for work at Freedom Elementary in Highland.

A Utah elementary school principal was honored in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as one of the nation’s outstanding elementary and middle-school principals.
James Melville, the principal at Freedom Elementary in Highland, has worked in education for 31 years and has been a principal for the majority of that time.
Among 60 principals chosen from across the nation by the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Melville was honored for his superior contributions to his school and community.
http://goo.gl/L3ziw (SLT)

Two Provo teachers called best in the West

PROVO — Denise Abbott, a health science teacher at Timpview High School, and Diane Cluff, a cooking and ProStart teacher at Provo High School, have been named winners of the Association for Career and Technical Education competition, over teachers from 16 other states and Guam.
Abbott is a physiology and medical principles teacher at Timpview High School and was awarded the CTE Teacher in Community Service of the Year. Abbott continually reminds her students that “service to others is the best work.” She says she learned this principle at an early age from her parents.
http://goo.gl/yAqgp (PDH)

Peter Cooke says he would veto sex education bill if elected

SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Stuart Reid’s plan to modify sex education in Utah could be dead on arrival depending on next month’s election.
Reid, R-Ogden, intends to introduce a bill in the next legislative session that would charge the State Office of Education with training parents on how to teach human sexuality to their children. The idea got a lukewarm reception this week from the Education Interim Committee and on Thursday, gubernatorial candidate Peter Cooke said he would veto the bill if elected.
In a prepared statement, Cooke said Utah schools should be focused on educating children and not their parents.
http://goo.gl/GR5YG (DN)

Utah State Senator Stuart Reid believes sex education should be offered in the home. And he’s convinced that would happen more often, if parents better understood what thier kids are being taught in public schools.
This week Reid has introduced legislation to an interim committee, seeking to offer parents the same curriculum their students are receiving.
Several lawmakers expressed reservations, saying the program is not really necessary.
But so far Reid does have tentative support for his bill from groups ranging from Planned Parenthood to the Utah Eagle Forum.
http://goo.gl/zpeMJ (KNRS)

School board opponents from 2004 face another showdown Elections » Eight years ago one vote made the difference between two Salt Lake district candidates.

Eight years ago Alama Uluave faced Michael Clara for a seat on the Salt Lake City School District’s school board. Uluave beat Clara by a single vote, earning him a spot representing the city’s west side neighborhoods and the designation as the board’s only minority member.
Now, the two rematch in an election that will prove who constituents think will be the best representative on the board that makes decisions affecting the district, which is home to 23,920 students.
After a redistricting process that extended two Salt Lake City school board district boundaries into the west side, four seats are up for election on Nov. 6. District 1 and District 2 (both on the west side) are on the ballot along with District 7 and newly extended District 5.
Two of the city’s seven school district boundaries were recently stretched into west-side neighborhoods as part of the redistricting mandated by the 2010 census. That means residents spanning Glendale to Rose Park now have a shot at four west-side seats, although only two will be on the ballot for this year’s election.
http://goo.gl/X7Gzt (SLT)

Lehi residents hear from district 6 school board candidates

Lehi residents got a chance Thursday to meet the two men who want to represent them in Alpine School District.
The Lehi High School PTSA sponsored a meet the candidate night so voters could get to know Scott Carlson and Vern Lindsay, who are running in district 6, which was created as a result of redistricting.
http://goo.gl/oCT3s (PDH)

School board candidates discuss priorities Beckstrom, Olson vie for District One spot

ST. GEORGE — With elections for the Washington County School District Board quickly approaching, candidates are gearing their campaigns for the final weeks by focusing on issues they would like to address if elected.
With different professional and educational backgrounds, the candidates for District One within Washington County are also campaigning with varying ideas when it comes to addressing the educational needs of students and teachers.
Candidates Jerry Olson and Barbara Beckstrom, both of Santa Clara, would represent Washington County residents in Santa Clara, Enterprise, Veyo, Dammeron Valley, Ivins and other surrounding towns.
http://goo.gl/gcB7l (SGS)

Sports and old middle school dominate Kane County School Board meeting Southern Utah News

At the October 11 meeting of the Kane County Board of Education; Kanab High School (KHS) coach Mickey Houston addressed the board in regard to a proposed realignment of schools through the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA.) He noted Kanab High School‘s demographics have changed as enrollment has dropped, such that continuing to be placed in competition with larger 2A schools has become inequitable.
He cited a letter from KHS Football Coach Bucky Orton, citing a drop in student population since 2006. He rarely has more than 45 players from which to field a team. This forces him to play younger players more than once a week, resulting in more injuries to students. A Utah State Office of Education polyptopic vector analysis submitted by District Technology Director Travis Terry, which compares similar schools, shows demographically, KHS is more similar to 1A schools than the 2A schools with which it is currently classified.
Houston expressed concern that the powerful schools up north are well represented on the UHSAA, and smaller schools like KHS and Valley High School (VHS) have less input into how realignments are made.
http://goo.gl/BwfFM

Lone Peak students learning to ‘Be The Change’ in the world

Lone Peak High School students are participating in the “Be The Change” Program is Thursday and Friday.
The program gets its name from the a Gandhi quote,”Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Faculty and students at Lone Peak High School are implementing change in the way we treat others, serve others and judge others. The Be The Change Program teaches students to understand that every student has challenges to face. Some of these challenges may not be apparent to the eye, but each individual has a cross to bear.
In the program, students learn to understand that the cheerleader that they think is perfect may have an alcoholic father. Or perhaps the star football player may come from a broken home. Maybe the quiet student who sits on the back row with his head down has a father who is out of work and an abusive mother.
Be The Change helps teachers, parents and students understand that people can work as a team to help those who may be struggling by helping instead of judging.
http://goo.gl/L57Uk (SLT)

Stewart Elementary students walk, run to raise money for technology Annual event » Activity raises between $10K and $15K to buy laptops, projectors and more for classrooms.

Centerville • The smell of cotton candy, pop corn, pizza and hot dogs set the background for Stewart Elementary school’s Tech Trek. Kids played carnival games: bean bag toss, angry bird throw, classic fish pond and a life-size chess game entertained big kids and toddlers alike. A silent auction was held in the gym, but the main event was the trek.
For 13 years students attending Stewart elementary have walked in September to raise funds for technology equipment for the school.
http://goo.gl/A2tiQ (SLT)

Midvale Middle School whirling for world peace International awareness » Administrators wanted students to step outside themselves and think globally.

Bright blue, pink, green and yellow pinwheels dotted the lawn of Midvale Middle School in celebration of International Day of Peace and as part of a project called Pinwheels for Peace.
“We are an [International Baccalaureate] world school,” said Paula Logan, principal of Midvale Middle. “We’re looking for things to help us with that idea of internationalism, realizing that we’re a part of the world.”
http://goo.gl/GT011 (SLT)

Helping Haiti – high school style

OGDEN — The faces of Emily Porter and Sabrina Wood light up when the girls talk about giving service — Emily says she loves playing the violin for local senior citizens, and Sabrina has gone as far as Mexico to help install stoves.
But next week, service will take on a whole new meaning for the two Ogden High School students, as they spend more than two weeks on a service trip to Haiti.
The two girls will be accompanying their dads, Joel Porter and Tom Wood, and about 30 others as they volunteer with the Haiti Health Initiative group.
http://goo.gl/s1J63 (OSE)

UHSAA decision forces Timpview football to forfeit three 2012 games

A decision by a Hearing Panel of five members of the Executive Committee of the Utah High School Activities Association announced Thursday morning means the 2012 Timpview football team will forfeit three games from this season due to participation by an ineligible player.
The Board of Trustees will hear any appeal Friday morning at 9:30. This is the governing body of the organization, and thus the court of last resort in this situation.
The UHSAA Hearing Panel reviewed the earlier decision of the Region 8 Board of Managers. Following that hearing, Timpview was put on probation and received letters of reprimand.
http://goo.gl/nEnok (PDH)

http://goo.gl/mwUr7 (OSE)

http://goo.gl/o0qUc (KUTV)

http://goo.gl/35G9f (KTVX)

http://goo.gl/AeFXm (KSL)

http://goo.gl/DfDC3 (KSTU)

Skyline HS has at least 2 whooping cough cases

SALT LAKE CITY – The Salt Lake Valley Health Department has confirmed two cases of pertussis at Skyline High School, prompting administrators to take action to prevent the disease from spreading.
Wednesday the health department told parents in a letter that cases were found in two students and urged parents to watch for symptoms of a possible exposure.
http://goo.gl/AuS0q (KSTU)

Debate fundraiser

Hypno Hick, a hypnotist and comedy show, will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. at Salem Hills High School, 150 N. Skyhawk Blvd. The cost for the event is $5 and all proceeds will go to the SHHS Debate Team. Come enjoy an evening of hypnosis and laughs.
http://goo.gl/eFDSn (PDH)

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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LDS missions
A culture change for Utah
Salt Lake Tribune editorial

The announcement that Latter-day Saints now are eligible to serve missions at younger ages — 18 for men and 19 for women — will change Utah culture. Admissions and scholarship policies at Utah colleges likely will have to be adjusted, graduation rates, particularly for women, might alter, and the typical age for marriage among LDS people could be affected. For young LDS Utahns and their families, this is a sea change.
It is impossible to predict all of the impacts. But government institutions, particularly public schools and universities, should seek to accommodate the new reality while maintaining a level playing field for all students.
http://goo.gl/qWT0G

Stansbury High stands up for student
Salt Lake Tribune commentary by columnist Paul Rolly

Stansbury High School was in the news lately when students were turned away from the homecoming dance because their hemlines were deemed too high. Principal Kendall Topham later apologized to the student body after parents complained.
But parents should give the administration kudos for standing firm on behalf of sophomore Marshall Lindsay, 15, a member of the golf team who was partially paralyzed in an ATV accident in 2009.
Because of his injuries, Marshall used a cart during region play to get around the course. So the Utah High School Activities Association, in all its wisdom, ruled he could not do that in the state tournament because he would have an advantage over other golfers who, by rule, must walk the course.
That was until officials at Stansbury, along with the Tooele School District and Marshall’s family, threatened legal action.
Then the UHSAA backed down, and Marshall was allowed to play.
http://goo.gl/ocDM3

Homeschoolers as ‘the last radicals’
Deseret News commentary by columnist Mary McConnell

I haven’t posted on homeschooling for awhile, although regular readers will know that I homeschooled my own children for six years (middle school, more or less.)
But I wanted to share a recent article on homeschooling that explores and explodes some popular stereotyping about homeschoolers – basically that we’re all religious nutcases and political conservatives.
http://goo.gl/CP7vQ

Better accounting needed for schools
(Provo) Daily Herald op-ed by Sandy Packard, a resident of Provo

I don’t know why the hue and cry in education always seems to be “local control,” which, translated, too often means “no control.” It seems to me that, particularly in the area of school finance, it ought to be “checks and balances” instead.
When I served on the Provo School Board, I had a very difficult time getting school-level financial information, or, in other words, information about funds collected and spent at the school level.
These funds include school fees, donations, money from fundraising, building rental fees, and purchases of tickets to athletic events and musical and dramatic performances. I was particularly interested in comparing the amount of money collected and spent by rich vs. poor schools in these categories.
Based on my experience, I would like to make a suggestion for improving accounting in this area: Create a state-wide standardized form on which individual schools must report income and expenditures. Create uniform categories on these forms for the different sources of income (donations, fees, tickets, etc.), so comparisons can be made between schools. Insure that 90% of the income fits into the designated categories — i.e., don’t have a miscellaneous category that has 50 percent of the income in it.
http://goo.gl/iTHsB

Put Pyfer back on state board
(Logan) Herald Journal letter from Jay and Jane Monson

Dear fellow citizens of Northern Utah:
One important elections race which hasn’t received a whole lot of attention these past few months is that for our representative to the Utah State Board of Education. The State Board of Education is appropriately nonpartisan. The board works closely with the governor and the State Legislature. They are the governing board for the Utah State Office of Education. The State Office determines curriculum guidelines, graduation requirements, and personnel certification and licensing among other things. Needless to say, it is very important to have our representative actively engaged in this process.
Tami Pyfer is our representative on this board. She has done a superb job representing Northern Utah.
http://goo.gl/oObPp

How to Reduce America’s Talent Deficit
At Microsoft, we have more than 6,000 open jobs in the U.S. Some 3,400 of the positions are for engineers. Schools aren’t producing graduates with the skills needed in the marketplace.
Wall Street Journal op-ed by BRAD SMITH, executive vice president and general counsel of Microsoft

Each month, when the government publishes the national jobs report, Americans pick over small movements in the headline rate of unemployment. In doing so, they largely miss a crucial aspect of the U.S. jobs crisis.
Many American companies are now creating more jobs for which they can’t find qualified applicants than jobs for which they can. Thus the economy faces a paradox: Too many Americans can’t find jobs, yet too many companies can’t fill open positions. There are too few Americans with the necessary science, technology, engineering and math skills to meet companies’ demand.
At Microsoft, we have more than 6,000 open jobs in the U.S., a 15% increase from a year ago. Some 3,400 of these positions are for engineers, software developers and researchers (a 34% increase from last year).
Other companies face the same problem. As the national unemployment rate this summer exceeded 8% for the third consecutive year, the rate in computer-related occupations was only 3.4%. Even outside of the technology sector, nearly every firm is in some way a software company given the importance of automation. So America’s skills shortage affects businesses in every industry and region.
Unfortunately the problem is likely to get even worse.
http://goo.gl/HrF27

American Community Survey, Census 2011
Fordham Institute commentary by columnist Daniela Fairchild

July brought us the annual U.S. Census Bureau Statistical Abstract (flush with data on educational attainment, staffing, finances, etc.); October washed in the latest federal school-enrollment data. Once again, private-school enrollment suffers: Battered by a harsh economic climate, private-school enrollment has eroded precipitously in recent years. Since its high-water mark in 1965, enrollment in these schools has dropped by 2.2 million; since 2005, enrollment is down 12 percent. Now just 11 percent of students attend private or parochial schools. While Census data cannot show the reasons for these declines, the causes seem to be tripartite. Catholic-school enrollment has steadily decreased over the past few decades; in New York City, Catholic enrollment fell by over 14,500 over the past five years alone. This at the same time as the charter-school market share has steadily increased (particularly drawing students away from urban Catholic schools). And finally, enrollment in early-childhood education has largely shifted from a private- to public-school phenomenon. In 1965, the vast majority of nursery-school enrollments were private; by 2011, that percentage had dropped by over 34 points. (This while public-preschool enrollment jumped from 24 percent to nearly 59 percent.) And the trends are equally jarring for Kindergarten enrollments. The proliferation of publicly funded school-choice programs may help stem this decline but those who believe private schools provide a necessary competitive mechanism will find these data sobering.
http://goo.gl/wlCqe

Should Students “Grade Teachers”?
Education Sector commentary by Craig Jerald, an education policy consultant and president of Break the Curve

“I would love to have the students grade the teachers at the end of the year as opposed to just the other way around so that teachers get feedback,” Mitt Romney told an audience at the NBC News “Education Nation” Summit in New York a few weeks ago. To a lot of education policy insiders, that seemed to be reference to the increasing use of student surveys as an additional measure for evaluating and providing feedback to teachers.
Romney’s remarks came hot on the heels of a long article headlined “Why Kids Should Grade Teachers” by Amanda Ripley in the Atlantic. DC Public Schools had granted Ripley access to observe its four-month pilot implementation of the Tripod surveys in six schools earlier this year.
The problem is that nobody anywhere is really asking students to “grade teachers,” and when journalists, pundits, and presidential candidates call it that, they risk undermining the very tool they seek to champion. As use of student surveys has spread, so too have serious misperceptions about how the surveys solicit students’ input. And that could translate into a very serious problem when it comes time to ask even more teachers to buy into the process.
http://goo.gl/91xl0

The White/Black Educational Gap, Stalled Progress, and the Long Term Consequences of the Emergence of Crack Cocaine Markets Analysis by William N. Evans (University of Notre Dame) Craig Garthwaite (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Univesity), Timothy J. Moore (George Washington University

We propose the rise of crack cocaine markets as an explanation for the end to the convergence in black-white educational outcomes beginning in the mid-1980s. After constructing a measure to date the arrival of crack markets in cities and states, we show large increases in murder and incarceration rates after these dates. Black high school graduation rates also decline, and we estimate that crack markets accounts for between 40 and 73 percent of the fall in black male high school graduation rates. We argue that the primary mechanism is reduced educational investments in response to decreased returns to schooling.
http://goo.gl/a8vfi

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Advent of ‘Smart Drugs’ Raises Safety, Ethical Concerns Education Week

New Orleans – An explosion in the variety and availability of cognitive-enhancing drugs, from prescriptions like Ritalin to commercial drinks like NeuroFuel, raises concerns for scientists and educators alike—not just over the potential for abuse, but also over what educators and researchers consider, and how they approach, normal achievement.
Evidence is still limited—but growing—that some chemicals can boost attention, memory, concentration, and other abilities related to academic performance. Researchers at the Society of Neuroscience conference here questioned whether it is safe and fair to allow healthy people to boost their brain function chemically, or use drugs to correct environmental factors like poverty or bad instruction that can lead to brain deficits similar to those that characterize medical conditions like attention-deficit disorders.
There’s no one “smart drug,” but a slew of different chemicals known as “nootropics” have been found to improve performance in different ways. Stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin activate the frontal part of the brain, tasked with concentration and decisionmaking, by regulating levels of dopamine and norepinephrine. These are two neurotransmitters, chemicals that affect how rapidly and easily brain cells can communicate.
http://goo.gl/esOzK

http://goo.gl/sIWc3 (NBC Rock Center)

National Teacher of the Year: Give Us a Career Path Education Week

Rebecca Mieliwocki, the 2012 National Teacher of the Year, is on a mission to give her profession a facelift. When she received her award in April, the 7th grade science teacher from Burbank, Calif., said she planned to use her yearlong platform to help restore “dignity and admiration to teachers.” She has also been outspoken about her support for tiered career ladders—coupled with differentiated pay—as a way to give teachers more career-advancement opportunities.
In the months since being named NTOY, Mieliwocki has had no shortage of influential audiences. She has given speeches at several large, national conferences, discussed education policy with governors, and sat down for a two-hour meeting with arguably the country’s most influential education funder, Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
We caught up with Mieliwocki recently to ask her about her visions for the teaching profession and how she sees some of the most pressing education issues playing out for teachers across the country.
http://goo.gl/hmUb0

The Gates Foundation, the country’s most influential education-policy organization, has quietly ended financial support for a national group formed to push for favored reforms, including an overhaul of teacher evaluations.
Communities for Teaching Excellence, headed by former L.A. school board member Yolie Flores, is planning to close its doors next month. Although based in Los Angeles, the group had a presence in Hillsborough County, Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; and in Pittsburgh — all locations where the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the development of new teacher-evaluation systems.
The group was formed in 2010 to influence public opinion and exert pressure on public officials to adopt sometimes controversial policies. Since then, a number of other groups have taken up a similar mission; Gates has helped fund some of those as well.
http://goo.gl/iXaER

Charter schools get blanket ‘no’ from state board Manchester (NH) Union Leader

CONCORD — Advocates for new charter schools urged the state Board of Education Wednesday to reconsider its blanket denial of all new applications, but the board did not budge.
New charter school proponents argued the board’s decision to put off any new approvals for at least three months jeopardizes the planned 2013 opening for several schools, as well as federal grant money to assist with startup costs.
Some chastised the board, saying they are ready to open next fall but face a daunting task if they have to wait until next year for approval.
http://goo.gl/9DxvD

Committee works to shape statewide teacher evaluation system Casper (WY) Star-Tribune

A statewide system of evaluating teachers should have a balance of local and state control, according to an advisory committee to the Wyoming Legislature working to develop a framework for educator evaluations.
The system of support for teachers who need to improve should be designed by districts to meet their needs, and be tailored to what the individual teachers need to learn, according to a draft of the framework.
The Legislature charged the committee with recommending an educator evaluation system as part of its work in building a statewide accountability system under the Wyoming Accountability in Education Act.
The committee is striving to make a framework districts can use to mesh with and enhance systems they may have in place, according to Sue Belish, a committee member and also a member of the Wyoming Board of Education.
http://goo.gl/5Q7gf

Times sues L.A. Unified for teacher ratings Los Angeles Times

The Times has sued the Los Angeles Unified School District to obtain its teacher ratings that are calculated using students’ standardized test scores.
The nation’s second-largest school district calculated confidential “Academic Growth Over Time” ratings for about 12,000 math and English teachers two years ago. Last year, the district issued new ratings to about 14,000 instructors that were also viewed by their principals.
The scores are based on an analysis of a student’s performance on several years of standardized tests and estimate a teacher’s role in raising or lowering student achievement.
The Times filed a California Public Records Act request for the scores and teacher names shortly after they were released, but district officials have declined to release teacher names, saying it could be an invasion of privacy.
http://goo.gl/uEKfV

Education reform opposition slams propositions Ads allege laws ‘treat children like widgets’
Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review

BOISE – The latest campaign commercial from opponents of Idaho’s education reform ballot measures focuses on Proposition 2, the teacher merit-pay measure, suggesting that Idaho’s schools superintendent wants to “treat children like widgets.”
The measure sets up a new merit-pay bonus system for Idaho teachers, allowing them to earn bonuses if their entire school shows growth in student test scores on the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. The law also allows bonuses for other student-achievement measures set by individual school districts, and next year it would cover additional bonuses for teachers who take leadership roles or hold hard-to-fill positions.
The ad says, “Every child in Idaho is unique, but Tom Luna in his Propositions 1, 2 and 3 treat children like widgets. You see, Prop 2 links teacher pay to standardized testing results of Idaho kids.”
That linkage is accurate, though backers of the measure contend it’s an incomplete description because it doesn’t include the other factors that also could lead to bonuses.
http://goo.gl/W3zDb

School Ruling Roils Race for Washington Governor Stateline

SEATTLE — With the state dramatically scaling back its funding, Superintendent Nick Brossoit has had to cut back on just about everything in the Edmonds School District. Everybody who works for the suburban Seattle district, including Brossoit, took five furlough days last year and will take another three this year. Brossoit eliminated programs for struggling students, foreign language classes and sections of advanced math and science courses. Parents helped pull weeds and trim bushes before the start of this school year, because the district halved its grounds keeping crew. Some science classrooms do not have enough lab stations or chairs for every student.
“It’s almost like being in a wartime setting,” says Brossoit, the head of a group of parents and schools that sued the state in 2007 over insufficient funding. “We’re hunkered down, waiting for air support.”
In January, Brossoit and other supporters of more state dollars for schools did get help from a higher power when the Washington Supreme Court ruled in that suit that Washington must find vast new sums of money to improve schools. The ruling, known as the McCleary decision, looms large in Washington’s hotly contested race for governor.
School funding is playing an outsized role in the Washington gubernatorial race, even as the issue is receiving scant attention in other states.
http://goo.gl/Onsfv

Judge rules for cheerleaders in Bible banner suit Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — A judge ruled Thursday that cheerleaders at an East Texas high school can display banners emblazoned with Bible verses at football games, saying the school district’s ban on the practice appears to violate the students’ free speech rights.
District Judge Steve Thomas granted an injunction requested by the Kountze High School cheerleaders allowing them to continue displaying religious-themed banners pending the outcome of a lawsuit, which is set to go to trial next June 24, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said. Thomas previously granted a temporary restraining order allowing the practice to continue.
School officials barred the cheerleaders from displaying banners with religious messages such as, “If God is for us, who can be against us,” after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. The advocacy group says the messages violate the First Amendment clause barring the government – or a publicly funded school district, in this case – from establishing or endorsing a religion.
http://goo.gl/P7VxV

http://goo.gl/08VUi (NYT)

The Brothers and Sisters of the 21st Century New York Times

TUCSON — On the Sunday night before his ninth week as a teacher, Daniel Ranschaert sat down to a communal dinner of tortilla casserole with his housemates. All eight of them had come to this desert city after finishing college in the Midwest. They share a rented home, modest paychecks and a commitment to educate the poor, the struggling and the striving in Tucson’s Catholic schools.
…
In his imperfect way, Mr. Ranschaert and his housemates — Ruby Amezquita, David Bernica, Kevin De La Montaigne, Matt Gring, Rachel Hamilton, Elizabeth Shadley, Caitlin Wrend — were filling not just an educational but a spiritual gap. Notre Dame was providing them with training in education and Catholic theology, especially the social teachings on service. They, in turn, had committed two years of their young lives.
Devoting themselves to society’s overlooked and left-behind, voluntarily accepting a wage of $1,000 a month that is roughly at the federal poverty line, living in intentional Christian households, the 1,600 teachers produced by ACE in its 19-year history have formed the 21st-century equivalent of the sisters and brothers from Catholic religious orders whose sacrifices for decades sustained the American parochial school system.
http://goo.gl/pcpSs

Rising charter school enrollment seen as challenge for Catholic schools Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — For the first time, more children are enrolled in charter schools than in Catholic schools, reported the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va., that focuses on the role of federal government in education reform, tax reform and national security.
“Our clients are going elsewhere; we have to do something different or we’re going to close down,” said Joseph Womac, executive director of the Fulcrum Foundation, an organization providing financial help to promote and support the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle.
Womac was part of a panel discussion Oct. 16 at The Catholic University of America in Washington on “Building 21st Century Catholic Learning Communities,” which is the title of a new study by the institute.
http://goo.gl/zjHo4

Smucker’s Uncrustables sold to schools recalled Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Officials have told school lunch programs across the country to check to see whether they have any Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwiches that might contain peanut butter made by a New Mexico company that is being recalled because of potential salmonella contamination.
The J.M. Smucker Co. used peanut butter that was produced by Sunland Inc. and supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in “limited production runs” of 72-count bulk packs of the sandwiches that went to schools under the National School Lunch Program, Smucker’s spokeswoman Maribeth Badertscher said in an email Thursday.
Uncrustables are pre-made peanut butter and jelly, pocket-like, circular sandwiches.
http://goo.gl/34ifC

Does a parent’s education and income affect how a child’s brain develops?
Washington Post

Among the studies showing correlations between a child’s early home environment and later brain development that were presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscientists, one stood out as particularly startling.
It was the analysis that showed a correlation between a parent’s income and education level to development in specific areas of the brain essential to learning, memory and stress processing.
The study was led by Kimberly Noble, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, in conjunction with Elizabeth Sowell, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California.
Noble and I spoke Wednesday, the day her research was presented to colleagues, about its significance and about the practical takeaways for shapers of public policy and for parents.
Noble analyzed brain images of subjects who had been raised across the socioeconomic spectrum. Their parents had between eight and 21 years of education and incomes that ranged from below poverty level to more than six times above it (or about $140,000) for a family of four.
She found that the hippocampal region, which is important in learning and memory function, had a larger volume for subjects who were raised by parents with higher incomes.
http://goo.gl/KCECq

A copy of the study
http://goo.gl/ZRmrC

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

UEN News
http://www.uen.org

November 1-2:
Utah State Board of Education meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Agenda.aspx

November 8:
Utah State Charter School Board meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://1.usa.gov/Axtt5K

November 13:
Executive Appropriations Interim Committee meeting
1 p.m., 445 State Capitol
http://www.le.utah.gov/Interim/2012/html/00002224.htm

November 14:
Education Interim Committee meeting
2 p.m., 30 House Building
http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2012&Com=INTEDU

Education News Roundup: Aug. 28, 2012

Education News Roundup: Sept. 14, 2012

Education News Roundup: Jan. 14, 2013

Education News Roundup: March 25, 2013