Education News Roundup: Oct. 25, 2012

Today’s Top Picks:

Special ed moves center stage in the Matheson-Love debate.
http://goo.gl/C5t9m (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/ZWjEq (DN)
and http://goo.gl/OxzqC (KUTV)
and http://goo.gl/MiKO9 (KSTU)
and http://goo.gl/BCYSE (KCPW)
and http://goo.gl/tMzHq (KUER)
and http://goo.gl/KcmVd (MUR)

The heat is on (whoa, ’80s flashback there to Glen Frey and “Beverly Hills Cop”) in the Canyons District race.
http://goo.gl/j6fXB (DN)
and http://goo.gl/nklW9 (KSL)

Mark Bouchard discusses Gov. Herbert’s education plans.
http://goo.gl/kaxC1 (SLT)

“The governance of high school sports might be the most egregious example of unchecked power and government condescension in a free society.” – Sutherland’s Paul Mero
http://goo.gl/tq5z6 (Sutherland Institute)

Federal audit of charter school funding finds some issues.
http://goo.gl/QsPde (AP)
or a copy of the audit
http://goo.gl/uj4hE

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

Matheson says Love would cut special ed; Love says he should be ashamed Elections » Both campaigns appear to be targeting women voters.

Anonymous automated call shakes up Canyons School Board race

Davis Schools Seat 1 candidates: We can succeed without breaking the bank

District 3 candidates put student priorities at front

Alpine District closes popular space center — for now School district is exploring options, but some are worried about uncertain future of the program.

Freedom Elementary principal receives national award

Utah gets a D grade on reproductive health Health » Nonprofit gave grades of B- or higher to only 12 states.

Who Is Fethullah Gülen?
Controversial Muslim preacher, feared Turkish intriguer—and “inspirer” of the largest charter school network in America

Parents of teens killed in traffic accidents tell their stories “We remember” » Campaign meant to educate teen drivers.

Mom Confronts Bully, Banned From Son’s School

Teens honor friend killed in Salt Lake crosswalk

Gunnison Girl Hit by Car While Walking to School

State launches ‘smart schools’ brought about by Layton lawmakers’ bill

School board approves middle school boundaries in Eagle Mountain

Lakeridge Jr. High to get makeover from investment bankers

Murray resident urges recycling as school district bulldozes homes Murray School District » As 22 homes fall, woman warns against waste.

DSC bid to buy East Elementary advances
Dixie Sunbowl could also figure in equation

Mascots motivate Whitesides students to stay drug-free

UHSAA releases long-awaited written rulings for East, Timpview

Schools close, power goes out and roads close as snow falls

Art on Wheels

Teaching moments: How to make Parent-Teacher conferences better

Which Utah high school students are struggling the most?

Check out which high school is the smartest in the state

Public welcome at free honors music recitals

Desert Hills has concert tonight

American Heritage School puts on ‘Sound of Music’

OPINION & COMMENTARY

Guv’s business plan for education

FERPA not meant to hide investigations from public

UHSAA’s tyrannical, unelected quasi-bureaucrats

2 Sense: How do businesses feel about Common Core?

School board positions about kids, not politics

Herbert will wrestle control of lands from feds

Prep football games are mostly for students

Who Has Confidence In U.S. Schools?

Cheering for Jesus
Liberals should accept the display of biblical banners at a Texas high school; it jibes with their love of free speech. But conservatives need to explain why they chip away at other campus expression.

What if Texas cheerleaders wave banners with Koran verses?

States Must Tread Cautiously on Evaluations of Special Ed. Teachers

‘This Is Like Middle School’: Kids Analyze the Election

Measuring Quality From Inputs to Outcomes:
Creating Student Learning Performance Metrics and Quality Assurance for Online Schools

NATION

Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax

With time running out, teachers push pro-Obama message in swing states

Calif. Laws Shift Gears on Algebra, Textbooks

Settlement voided; teacher layoff process to go to trial

Mississippi town sued over ‘school-to-prison pipeline’

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UTAH NEWS
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Matheson says Love would cut special ed; Love says he should be ashamed Elections » Both campaigns appear to be targeting women voters.

Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson said Wednesday that if Mia Love had her way, she would wipe out federal special education funding, leaving disabled children and their families to fend for themselves.
Utah schools are receiving more than $103 million this year in federal funds to educate about 65,000 special needs students. Nationally, the federal government spent about $11.5 billion on special education in 2011.
“Elections matter and the people we put in office. It matters in making decisions that make a difference,” Matheson said at a press conference. “To suggest that somehow Utah can make do without this, go talk to the people who run these special ed programs in our schools. … It’s not feasible, it’s not realistic and it’s an uninformed position on the part of my opponent.”
Love fired back that Matheson was using untrue attacks to distract from the real issues.
“I think Jim Matheson should be ashamed of himself,” Love said. “I think for him to take these kids and try to use them for political gain, it just shows his lack of leadership and lack of ability to talk about his own record.”
http://goo.gl/C5t9m (SLT)

http://goo.gl/ZWjEq (DN)

http://goo.gl/OxzqC (KUTV)

http://goo.gl/MiKO9 (KSTU)

http://goo.gl/BCYSE (KCPW)

http://goo.gl/tMzHq (KUER)

http://goo.gl/KcmVd (MUR)

Anonymous automated call shakes up Canyons School Board race

SANDY — Local school board elections usually don’t generate much political heat, but the race for the Precinct 7 seat on the Canyons Board of Education has taken a contentious and mysterious turn.
Draper-area residents this week have been receiving an automated phone message that paints an unflattering picture of Canyons School Board candidate Chad Iverson. In the message, an unidentified woman describes Iverson’s campaign as “funded by the labor union” and implies that Iverson opposes a code of ethics that would remove convicted felons from the school board, if elected.
“We don’t want to turn our schools over to the union or allow convicted felons to serve on our school board,” the message states. “Ask Chad Iverson to stop being controlled by the union, reject their endorsement, refund their campaign money and support a much-needed code of ethics for our Canyons School District.”
But the message, Iverson said, is “outlandish” and false. Tuesday night, after hearing the message, Iverson released a statement calling on his opponent, incumbent Paul McCarty, to “disavow these last-minute, anonymous, slanderous attacks.”
http://goo.gl/j6fXB (DN)

http://goo.gl/nklW9 (KSL)

Davis Schools Seat 1 candidates: We can succeed without breaking the bank

The Davis School District has seen numerous budget cuts in recent years, and candidates running for Seat 1 have plans to make sure wise choices are made with the upcoming budget.
http://goo.gl/oXpQD (OSE)

District 3 candidates put student priorities at front

ST. GEORGE — Washington County School Board District Three candidates Debra Zockoll and Aaron Randall both say students’ and teachers’ needs are at the forefront of their agendas.
http://goo.gl/s7dNo (SGS)

Alpine District closes popular space center — for now School district is exploring options, but some are worried about uncertain future of the program.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Utah students have commanded starships, traveled to distant planets and negotiated with alien leaders from within the walls of The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center.
For the time being, however, the popular Utah field-trip destination in Pleasant Grove will stay empty and silent.
The Alpine School District closed the center in August due to safety concerns — namely electrical problems discovered by a state fire marshal conducting a routine inspection, said Rhonda Bromley, district spokeswoman. With repairs expected to cost about $700,000, Bromley said the district decided this month not to reopen the center in its current location. Instead, a district committee is exploring options for opening a new space center.
Bromley said the space program will continue, but it’s unclear exactly when and where it will operate.
http://goo.gl/RwuRA (SLT)

Freedom Elementary principal receives national award

HIGHLAND — When Freedom Elementary School principal Jim Melville accepted his award for National Distinguished Principal this month in Washington, D.C., he thanked Alpine School District for the varied leadership opportunities that he has had in his career. The awards honored one public school principal from each state, five from private schools and two from India and Peru.
Melville’s experience as a principal includes leading a rural school with 72 students, to a Title I school, to a Spanish immersion school, to extended-day Freedom Elementary School with 1,210 students.
His focus at Freedom has been on technology.
http://goo.gl/FJq0d (PDH)

Utah gets a D grade on reproductive health Health » Nonprofit gave grades of B- or higher to only 12 states.

A new report card on reproductive health gives Utah poor marks for its pregnancy prevention efforts, affordability and access to family planning services and abortion — but full points for effectiveness.
The Population Institute, an international nonprofit that promotes family planning, gave Utah an overall grade of D and the nation a C-. California, Oregon and Washington received the only A grades. Points were broken down into these categories:
Effectiveness: Of Utah’s total pregnancies, 38 percent are unintended, also below the federal goal of 44 percent.
Prevention: Utah mandates sex education — a requirement some lawmakers tried to change earlier this year — and HIV education. But it uses an abstinence-only model, an approach the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is less effective. The nonprofit gave Utah mixed marks for access to emergency contraception.
http://goo.gl/Kqinm (SLT)

Who Is Fethullah Gülen?
Controversial Muslim preacher, feared Turkish intriguer—and “inspirer” of the largest charter school network in America

With the American economy in shambles, Europe imploding, and the Middle East in chaos, convincing Americans that they should pay attention to a Turkish preacher named Fethullah Gülen is an exceedingly hard sell. Many Americans have never heard of him, and if they have, he sounds like the least of their worries. According to his website, he is an “authoritative mainstream Turkish Muslim scholar, thinker, author, poet, opinion leader and educational activist who supports interfaith and intercultural dialogue, science, democracy and spirituality and opposes violence and turning religion into a political ideology.” The website adds that “by some estimates, several hundred educational organizations such as K–12 schools, universities, and language schools have been established around the world inspired by Fethullah Gülen.” The site notes, too, that Gülen was “the first Muslim scholar to publicly condemn the attacks of 9/11.” It also celebrates his modesty.
Yet there is a bit more to the story. Gülen is a powerful business figure in Turkey and—to put it mildly—a controversial one. He is also an increasingly influential businessman globally. There are somewhere between 3 million and 6 million Gülen followers—or, to use the term they prefer, people who are “inspired” by him. Sources vary widely in their estimates of the worth of the institutions “inspired” by Gülen, which exist in every populated continent, but those based on American court records have ranged from $20 billion to $50 billion. Most interesting, from the American point of view, is that Gülen lives in Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. He is, among other things, a major player in the world of American charter schools—though he claims to have no power over them; they’re just greatly inspired, he says.
Even if it were only for these reasons, you might want to know more about Gülen, especially because the few commentators who do write about him generally mischaracterize him, whether they call him a “radical Islamist” or a “liberal Muslim.” The truth is much more complicated—to the extent that anyone understands it.
…
Gülen has used his time in America to become the largest operator—or perhaps merely inspirer—of charter schools in the United States. Sharon Higgens, who founded the organization Parents Across America, believes that there are now 135 Gülen-inspired charter schools in the country, enrolling some 45,000 students. That would make the Gülen network larger than KIPP—the runner-up, with 109 schools. The schools, in 25 states, have anodyne names: Horizon Science Academy, Pioneer Charter School of Science, Beehive Science and Technology Academy. Thousands of Turkish nationals, almost all of them male, have come to America on H-1B visas specifically to teach in them. The schools focus on math and science, and their students often do well enough on standardized tests. The administrators say that they have no official ties to Gülen, and Gülen denies any connection to the schools. But federal forms required of nonprofits show that virtually all the schools have opened or operate with the aid of Gülen-inspired groups—local nonprofits that promote Turkish culture. The Ohio-based Horizon Science Academy of Springfield, for example, cosigned a five-year building lease with Chicago’s Niagara Foundation, which explicitly promotes Gülen’s philosophy of “tolerance, dialogue and peace.”
The FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education have been investigating the hiring practices of some of these schools, as the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer have reported—particularly the replacement of certified American teachers with uncertified Turkish ones who get higher salaries than the Americans did, using visas that are supposed to be reserved for highly skilled workers who fill needs unmet by the American workforce. The schools claim, according to an article written by Higgens in the Washington Post, that they are unable to find qualified teachers in America—which seems implausible, given that we’re in the depths of the worst economic downturn in postwar memory, and given that some of these new arrivals have come to teach English, which often they speak poorly, or English as a second language, which often they need themselves. They have also been hired as gym teachers, accountants, janitors, caterers, painters, construction workers, human-resources managers, public-relations specialists, and—of all things—lawyers.
…
Utah’s Beehive Science and Technology Academy, another Gülen-inspired charter, was $337,000 in debt, according to a financial probe by the Utah Schools Charter Board. The Deseret News tried to figure out where all this taxpayer money had gone. “In a time of teacher layoffs, Beehive has recruited a high percentage of teachers from overseas, mainly Turkey,” the newspaper reported. “Many of these teachers had little or no teaching experience before they came to the United States. Some of them are still not certified to teach in Utah. The school spent more than $53,000 on immigration fees for foreigners in five years. During the same time, administrators spent less than $100,000 on textbooks, according to state records.” Reports have also claimed that the school board was almost entirely Turkish.
http://goo.gl/WXijq (City Journal)

Parents of teens killed in traffic accidents tell their stories “We remember” » Campaign meant to educate teen drivers.

Sandy • Erin Worland’s heart sank when she heard the sirens shortly after her 13-year-old son left for school. But she told herself not to worry.
“I prayed so hard that it wasn’t him,” she said. Then she saw Collin’s blue-and-black shoes near the pool of blood in the crosswalk.
She ran to him, saying “I need you to pull through.” But the boy had been fatally hit by a 19-year-old driver, who was high on marijuana.
Collin died a year ago on Nov. 2, and there’s still a cloud over the Worland family’s lives, she said: “There’s the sense of happiness just disappearing … things just aren’t as they should be.”
Worland agreed to tell her story Wednesday as part of “We remember every day,” a state effort to encourage teens to be careful drivers. The event brought together several grieving Utah parents, as well as emergency responders.
http://goo.gl/zFzT6 (SLT)

Mom Confronts Bully, Banned From Son’s School

A Sandy mother has been told to stay away from her son’s elementary school.
She says she was sticking up for her child after an alleged bullying incident at Quail Hollow Elementary in Sandy.
Apparently, she took matters into her own hands and approached a kid in the hallway of this school who she says was bullying her son.
She received a letter from the Canyons School District saying that if she wants to come on property she has to be escorted at all times.
http://goo.gl/2kNTc (KUTV)

http://goo.gl/QWF3r (KTVX)

Teens honor friend killed in Salt Lake crosswalk

SALT LAKE CITY — Around 100 people braved the chilly weather Wednesday night to pay tribute to a teenage boy who died in an accident on his way to school.
They gathered around an impromptu vigil near the intersection of 600 North at 900 West, where 14-year-old Edwin Cardoso was hit by a truck when he was crossing the street.
http://goo.gl/K5yis (KSL)

http://goo.gl/pXdG4 (KNRS)

Gunnison Girl Hit by Car While Walking to School

A 5 year old Gunnison girl was hit by a Chevy pickup-truck on her way to school this morning (Wednesday). The girl and another child were attempting to cross the street at 200 North in Gunnison. There was a school bus stopped on the street, which was blocking the girls from the view of oncoming traffic. As the girls began crossing the street, 61 year old Allen Dyreng of Gunnison struck one of the girls as she darted in front of his vehicle. The current condition of the girl is unknown at this time, drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the accident.
http://goo.gl/p4Qpk (MUR)

State launches ‘smart schools’ brought about by Layton lawmakers’ bill

SALT LAKE CITY – Gov. Herbert along with representatives from GOED, State Superintendent Martell Menlove, principals from North Sevier High School and Gunnison Valley Elementary, and iSchool Campus executives, launched two of the first public Smart Schools in Utah.
The Smart School Technology Program encourages the deployment of whole-school technology in Utah’s public schools. During today’s event, each student and teacher in the participating schools received an iPad to facilitate 21st century learning. The technology program will help the students develop the critical digital and technology skills needed to compete and thrive in a global digitally driven economy.
Based on SB 248, sponsored by Republicans Sen. Jerry Stevenson and Rep. Stephen Handy, both of Layton, the Smart School Technology Program provides the following deployment features in each school: wireless infrastructure, flat screen TVs with device mirroring technology, MacBook computers in every classroom, an Apple iPad for every student and teacher, internet security, software and professional development for teachers, administrators and school technology offices. Of the 40 schools that applied, three were selected by GOED: North Sevier High School, Gunnison Valley Elementary, and Dixon Middle School in Provo, set to launch next month.
http://goo.gl/qzMxy (OSE)

http://goo.gl/8JFML (Utah Pulse)

School board approves middle school boundaries in Eagle Mountain

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — In a decision that balanced community concerns with student enrollment numbers, the Alpine School District Board of Education approved the boundaries for the new Eagle Mountain middle school Tuesday night.
The school board adopted the same proposed boundary map that has been presented in a series of public meetings. According to ASD spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley, the boundary runs east and west along the border between Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs and diverts from city borders along Porters Crossing.
http://goo.gl/8puh6 (PDH)

Lakeridge Jr. High to get makeover from investment bankers

OREM — What do investment firm employees, college art students and tulips have in common? They will all converge this weekend to help make over Lakeridge Jr. High in Orem.
Volunteers will spruce up the school’s drama classroom and work with students to paint murals in the gym and add motivational quotes to walls throughout the school. More than 75 volunteers are expected to participate. Work also will include an outdoor makeover, adding perennial bulbs to the landscape.
The event, being called School Transformation Day, marks the second year of investment in this school by Fidelity Investments. In March 2011, 60 students got a $20,000 musical gift when Fidelity presented 19 new instruments — two violins, 10 violas, five cellos and two string basses. The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation participated. More than 50 Fidelity volunteers renovated the school’s music room with new paint, supplies and decor. Now, the school’s drama room and gym will get the star treatment.
http://goo.gl/ZXoS1 (PDH)

Murray resident urges recycling as school district bulldozes homes Murray School District » As 22 homes fall, woman warns against waste.

One Murray resident hopes to preserve remnants from the past as the neighborhood in which she grew up prepares for demolition.
For 33 years, Pam Williams lived with her mother in a red-brick house at 5410 Hillside Drive, one of 22 homes near 5300 South and 200 East that will be cleared in February to make way for construction of the new Hillcrest Junior High School.
Williams’ sister sold the home after their mother’s death in 1999, and Williams relocated to a Murray condominium. Now, the homes are owned by the school district and several are occupied by renters who must vacate early next year.
Before bulldozers arrive, Williams hopes to salvage rose bushes and other landscaping that she and her mother tended together. She also urges the Murray School District to responsibly recycle bricks and other usable materials from the massive demolition site.
http://goo.gl/n1uSQ (SLT)

DSC bid to buy East Elementary advances
Dixie Sunbowl could also figure in equation

ST. GEORGE — Dixie State College’s plans to purchase East Elementary appear to be a step closer to reality following a vote Wednesday by the state Building Board on its priorities for legislative funding requests.
DSC officials asked the state’s higher education policy makers in September to back their plan to buy the 8-acre property and building across the street from the college’s campus.
Although Dixie State’s proposal initially ranked low in comparison to other public education institutions seeking the regents’ support, it remained in sixth position on the state Division of Facilities Construction and Management’s priorities list Wednesday. The agency’s director said the school is likely to win budget approval in January.
http://goo.gl/MNSQs (SGS)

Mascots motivate Whitesides students to stay drug-free

LAYTON — As mascots from local sports teams, high schools, community organizations and businesses funneled through the halls and past students at Whitesides Elementary School, the excitement — and volume level — of the students continued to rise.
Fourth-grader Sami Knecht, 9, said the parade was something she would never forget.
“I know that if anybody asks us to buy drugs, (adults) will always be there for us,” Sami said of the event the school’s PTA organized to highlight Red Ribbon Week.
http://goo.gl/tLT1o (OSE)

UHSAA releases long-awaited written rulings for East, Timpview

Since last Friday, upset administrators and coaches have been demanding the Utah High School Activities Association give them rationale for why rulings on East and Timpview seemed to be inconsistent.
Much of that rationale has been floating through the press in the last few days, but finally all parties have something on paper from the association itself.
The UHSAA released written decisions on both the East and Timpview sanctions, which were issued after it was discovered both had played ineligible players this season. Timpview, among other sanctions, was required to forfeit all games in which it had used an ineligible player. East, with other more serious sanctions, was required to forfeit 6 out 7 of its wins with ineligible players.
The two rulings, issued by the same panel on the same day, had many football observers wound up or at least confused.
http://goo.gl/XtLMX (SLT)

http://goo.gl/836xo (DN)

Schools close, power goes out and roads close as snow falls

MOUNTAIN GREEN, Utah – The Morgan County school district has closed both Mountain Green Elementary School as well as the Morgan Elementary School because of the amount of snow the towns have received. Other schools in the Morgan School District remain open.
http://goo.gl/DUwMO (KTVX)

http://goo.gl/xVLW4 (KSTU)

http://goo.gl/KY6a9 (DN)

Art on Wheels

SANDY — Project Art Truck visited Blessed Sacrament Catholic School on Oct. 9. All students had the opportunity to visit the exhibit, which was housed in a large box truck.
The Art Truck is recognized as the best educational program in the State of Utah that brings exciting and accessible contemporary art directly to schools along the Wasatch Front.
http://goo.gl/f0VXv (IC)

Teaching moments: How to make Parent-Teacher conferences better

SALT LAKE CITY — As a veteran teacher and a mom, Elaine Endo has mastered the tricky calculations on both sides of the parent-teacher conference equation. Her dual experience helps her turn testy parent-teacher conferences, which are underway throughout the state over the next few weeks, into positive, productive experiences.
Endo is a second grade French immersion teacher at Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake. She has taught school for 36 years.
During past conferences, it has sometimes been Endo’s duty to tell parents that their child is under-performing or acting up at school. As the mother of two adult daughters, she knows well the parental urge to protect and defend one’s child, so she proceeds with care.
http://goo.gl/yTyG2 (DN)

Which Utah high school students are struggling the most?

Here is a look at the lowest-scoring high schools in Utah, according to the state’s criterion-referenced tests, or CRT. The CRT tests gauge student performance and shows which schools are performing better than others in scores. The rankings are based on the percentages of students who have passed the 2012 CRT tests proficiently. The Deseret News averaged language arts, math and science scores together weighed by total students tested in each category to get an overall percentage. Only schools with 150 students or more are included in the list. Schools dealing with special needs students have been excluded from the list. Click here to see the best-scoring high schools in Utah for 2012. The data for this list can be found on the Utah State Office of Education website.
http://goo.gl/Tg4Rj (DN)

Check out which high school is the smartest in the state

Here is a look at the best-scoring high schools in Utah for the 2011 to 2012 academic year, according to the state’s criterion-referenced tests, or CRT. The CRT tests gauge student performance and shows which schools are performing better than others in scores. The rankings are based on the percentages of students who have passed CRT tests proficiently. The Deseret News averaged language arts, math and science scores together weighed by total students tested in each category to get an overall percentage. Only schools with 150 students or more are included in the list. The data for this list can be found on the Utah State Office of Education website. The following schools have been excluded because of inconclusive data or other circumstances: Itineris Early College High Jordan Valley School East Shore High Youth Educational Support School http://goo.gl/JZurj (DN)

Public welcome at free honors music recitals

OGDEN — Weber State University on Friday and Saturday will host the Utah Music Teachers Association honors recitals.
The event is free and open to the public. The 68 students performing represent the Top 20 percent of students from each area and age division.
http://goo.gl/bWvRn (OSE)

Desert Hills has concert tonight

ST. GEORGE – The Desert Hills Middle School and High School bands will present a joint concert at 7 p.m. today in thee Eccles Fine Arts Center on the Dixie State College Campus, 155 S. 700 East.
The concert is free and open to the public.
http://goo.gl/0BVwe (SGS)

American Heritage School puts on ‘Sound of Music’

The hills in north Utah County will be alive with “The Sound of Music” this weekend as American Heritage School presents the classic musical of the same name.
http://goo.gl/uQpG2 (PDH)

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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Guv’s business plan for education
Salt Lake Tribune op-ed by Mark Bouchard, senior managing director of CBRE and a member of the governor’s Education Excellence Commission

Utah’s economy is one of the strongest in the nation as we shake off the effects of the Great Recession. Our state unemployment rate is dropping and our growth is back to our historical, pre-recession rate. Continuing our growth and building a strong economy for the decades to come requires the development of a world-class workforce.
To make a real difference in education, we must think like a business. I oversee operations in a multi-state region for a Fortune 400 company with a global reach. My business experience has taught me we need a vision, a strategy to make it happen and the resources to implement the strategy. You cannot remove any of these elements from the equation and expect to be successful. The vision drives the strategy, and the strategy drives the investment.
Gov. Gary Herbert has set the vision: to build a strong economy by ensuring we have a well-educated workforce. He has established clear goals: 66 percent of all Utah adults must earn a college degree or skilled trade certificate by the end of the decade; 90 percent of our 3rd, 6th and 8th grade students must be proficient in reading and mathematics; and 90 percent of our high school students must take the ACT exams to ensure they are prepared for post-secondary education.
http://goo.gl/kaxC1

FERPA not meant to hide investigations from public Salt Lake Tribune commentary by columnist Donald Meyers

A law that was meant to protect students’ grades from prying eyes is becoming an invisibility cloak Harry Potter would envy.
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, was originally intended to ensure only parents and students had access to academic records, such as report cards and transcripts. But in recent years, FERPA has been used to shield documents that would ordinarily be public, such as parking tickets issued to student athletes, meeting minutes, investigations into academic dishonesty in collegiate athletics, and settlements of lawsuits against school districts.
All one has to do to invoke the magic cloak is to put a student’s name on a document, and it suddenly becomes a protected document, with school officials warning that the document’s release would cost the institution all its federal funding.
FERPA was invoked during a recent State Records Committee hearing, when the Granite School District attempted to use it to keep The Salt Lake Tribune from obtaining records about teacher misconduct. Reporter Bill Oram had filed a Government Records Access and Management Act request for documents related to the district’s investigation of Cottonwood High head football coach Josh Lyman.
http://goo.gl/fOCyb

UHSAA’s tyrannical, unelected quasi-bureaucrats Sutherland Institute commentary by Institute President Paul Mero

When a professional athlete moves from one team to another nobody cries foul, even if the fans are disappointed about the player leaving. It’s the same thing in amateur sports. If a college athlete chooses to transfer to another school to play football, he’s allowed to go. Few people fault anyone trying to better their situation. It’s reasonable and it’s expected.
But when it comes to high school sports in Utah, a student athlete is expected to do just the opposite. In high school sports every kid is expected to stay put, endure any awful circumstance, place the edicts of the school system above personal concerns and patiently submit to school authorities who insist they know more about a child’s happiness than the child’s parents.
The governance of high school sports might be the most egregious example of unchecked power and government condescension in a free society.
http://goo.gl/tq5z6

2 Sense: How do businesses feel about Common Core?
(Provo) Daily Herald commentary by columnists Val Hale and Donna Milakovic

Val Hale and Donna Milakovic(0) CommentsThere has been a lot of debate about the implementation of the Common Core in Utah. How does the business community feel about Common Core?
http://goo.gl/9Sro0

School board positions about kids, not politics
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Richard M. Heath

Something disturbing has surfaced in the Davis County School Board races in Precincts 1, 2, and 4. Members of the Davis County Republican Party leadership and one member of the Utah State Republican Party Central Committee are attempting to partisanize these non-partisan elections. The framers of our State Constitution had a good reason for school board positions to be non-partisan: political ideologies are not always pertinent to serving our school children. Why ignore principles of our State Constitution to get certain candidates elected? The following tactics have been employed:
http://goo.gl/xOnuP

Herbert will wrestle control of lands from feds
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Amy Martin

No matter how much the liberal Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) tries to convince Utahns there is something wrong with Utahns asking the federal government to live up to its commitments, we cannot be fooled.
I’m supporting Governor Gary Herbert, not only in this election, but in his determination to wrestle control of public lands from the federal government.
…
Utah’s potential is now at a screeching halt because nearly two-thirds of the state’s land mass is controlled by the federal government. Our economic potential and educational resources are hindered because we do not have control over the land outlined in our state territory.
I’m proud to support a governor who will fight for the people of his state, including the students who would most benefit from the additional funds that come from responsibly developing our lands.
http://goo.gl/VRlBj

Prep football games are mostly for students
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Richard Poll

This is in reply to the letter of Oct. 6, “Some students’ behavior appalling at game.”
If I may speak for the “Ridge” (Northridge High School), we thank you for your support of our football program, although we assume this was the only game you went to this season, thus you are probably very unfamiliar with us at NHS.
If you don’t like the students, don’t sit with them. Football games are for the students, and we limit them to a certain area so that they may enjoy the game in their own way, and the non-student fans have the rest of the stadium to enjoy the game however they might.
http://goo.gl/WqPmR

Who Has Confidence In U.S. Schools?
Albert Shanker Insitute commentary by senior fellow Matthew Di Carlo

For many years, national survey and polling data have shown that Americans tend to like their own local schools, but are considerably less sanguine about the nation’s education system as a whole. This somewhat paradoxical finding – in which most people seem to think the problem is with “other people’s schools” – is difficult to interpret, especially since it seems to vary a bit when people are given basic information about schools, such as funding levels.
In any case, I couldn’t resist taking a very quick, superficial look at how people’s views of education vary by important characteristics, such as age and education. I used the General Social Survey (pooled 2006-2010), which queries respondents about their confidence in education, asking them to specify whether they have “hardly any,” “only some” or “a great deal” of confidence in the system.*
This question doesn’t differentiate explicitly between respondents’ local schools and the system as a whole, and respondents may consider different factors when assessing their confidence, but I think it’s a decent measure of their disposition toward the education system.
http://goo.gl/1T10V

Cheering for Jesus
Liberals should accept the display of biblical banners at a Texas high school; it jibes with their love of free speech. But conservatives need to explain why they chip away at other campus expression.
Los Angeles Times op-ed by Jonathan Zimmerman, author of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory”

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Fight bad speech with more speech. I don’t approve of what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
That’s what my fellow liberals say — unless the speech in question is religious. Then there’s a problem.
Witness the recent dust-up in Kountze, Texas, where school district officials had barred cheerleaders from displaying Bible verses on banners at their football games. A judge granted a temporary injunction Thursday to the cheerleaders, letting them display the banners until a full court hearing in June.
The injunction triggered celebrations in Kountze but outrage from liberal organizations, which invoked America’s venerable tradition of church-state separation. The banners are part of a school-sponsored activity, liberals argued, so they violate the 1st Amendment’s ban on government endorsement of religion.
But I think they’ve got this one wrong. The 1st Amendment also guarantees the free expression of religion, as well as freedom of speech writ large. Instead of trying to censor the cheerleaders, liberals should be rallying to their defense.
http://goo.gl/oulfr

What if Texas cheerleaders wave banners with Koran verses?
Washington Post commentary by columnist Valerie Strauss

In Texas, it is now apparently considered freedom of speech — rather than a violation of the separation of church and state — for cheerleaders at a public high school to display to football game crowds banners with Bible verses written on them.
A district court judge said that the cheerleaders at Kountze High School in East Texas did not have to put down their banners while the issue is contested in court.
The Kountze Independent School District had said it was forbidden for religious-themed banners to be displayed at a school function, but the cheerleaders couldn’t take the Constitution for an answer, so their families went to court, saying their freedom of speech had been violated.
http://goo.gl/VDeok

States Must Tread Cautiously on Evaluations of Special Ed. Teachers
Education Week commentary by columnist Nirvi Shah

With school reform efforts combining with federal incentives to encourage more districts and states to change how they evaluate teachers, the Council for Exceptional Children today shared recommendations and views for how to evaluate special education teachers.
Federal initiatives including waivers from No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top not only have pressed for new evaluation systems, they push for teacher ratings to include student performance as a unit of measure.
However, special education teachers’ work may differ sharply from school to school, the CEC notes. They may co-teach, work with students one on one, act as consultants to other classroom teachers.
http://goo.gl/0rvlO

‘This Is Like Middle School’: Kids Analyze the Election
The Atlantic commentary by columnist Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

The Fine Brothers have racked up almost half a billion video views on YouTube with hit series like Kids React. The premise is simple: sit a handful of precocious, adorable kids down and collect their thoughts on everything from the Olympics to Nyan Cat (remixed). They also produce Elders React and Teens React. Their latest, Kids React to Election 2012, is going viral thanks to some funny — and sometimes surprisingly sharp — observations.
“It’s like they’re five year olds fighting over a toy, except the toy is America!” says one junior pundit, exasperated. Big Bird was a polarizing topic; most kids supported Sesame Street but a young Romney fan acknowledged, “If Mitt Romney’s going to create a lot of jobs and help us get our economy back, I think PBS is a small sacrifice that we should take.” Interestingly, most of the girls said they would like to be president one day, but the boys did not. “You might be assassinated!” “It’s too hard! Even rappers make more money than the president, that’s what I can’t understand!” And who would they vote for? One little girl says “both!”
http://goo.gl/Wbb3K

Measuring Quality From Inputs to Outcomes:
Creating Student Learning Performance Metrics and Quality Assurance for Online Schools
International Association for K-12 Online Learning analysis by Susan Patrick, David Edwards, Matthew Wicks, and John Watson

How are policy makers and education leaders thinking about evaluating education based on outcomes?
This section explores the building blocks of outcomes-based performance metrics. In writing this report, our research has unearthed five core performance metrics that are the foundation for the discussion of measuring student learning based on outcomes. These five performance metrics are proficiency, individual student growth, graduation rates, college and career readiness, and closing the achievement gap.
Proficiency measures provide the most commonly reported data. In some states, other performance indicators have been suggested for quality assurance rather than collected systematically from schools.
In order to consider quality assurance in the context of online learning, we first describe these measures of student learning outcomes as each has advantages and shortcomings, but together they paint a more accurate picture of student outcomes. It is important to note that definitions of these measures vary from state to state.
The subsequent sections of this report provide recommendations for how multiple measures of student outcomes should be implemented for full-time online schools and individual online courses. Outcomes measures are discussed in more detail below, and in some cases additional information is provided in the appendices.
http://goo.gl/BrKPx

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — An audit of the U.S. Department of Education’s division overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in charter school funding has criticized the office for failing to properly monitor how states spend the money.
The report released in late September by the department’s Office of the Inspector General also singled out state education departments in California, Florida and Arizona for lax monitoring of what charter schools do with the funds and whether their expenditures comply with federal regulations.
The education department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement spent $940 million from 2008 to 2011 on charter schools, which are autonomously operated public schools. Most of the money is funneled through state education departments, although some is given directly to charter schools.
http://goo.gl/QsPde

A copy of the audit
http://goo.gl/uj4hE

With time running out, teachers push pro-Obama message in swing states
Hechinger Report

In the swing states of Ohio and Florida, it’s crunch time for teachers unions, which in the final days of the campaign are getting out the vote for President Obama in droves — even though they disapprove of some of his policies.
“The arguments have been made,” American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten said as she mingled with fellow union members in Cincinnati last weekend and talked up the importance of the election. “This trip is about mobilizing and getting out the vote.”
Weingarten is urging members in both states to donate time to Obama’s reelection campaign by join canvassing and phone banking efforts. The AFT, along with the larger National Education Association (NEA), has organized pro-Obama events across the country for months. With just about two weeks to go until Election Day, Weingarten’s bus tours in Ohio and Florida are an attempt to rally teachers for a final push.
The traditionally strong relationship between teachers unions and Democrats has been strained in recent months.
http://goo.gl/G2yaD

Calif. Laws Shift Gears on Algebra, Textbooks
Education Week

New laws in California have set the state on a course for some potentially significant changes to the curriculum, including a measure that revisits the matter of teaching Algebra 1 in 8th grade and another that revamps the state’s textbook-adoption process and hands districts greater leeway in choosing instructional materials.
The algebra-related legislation, in particular, has been the subject of considerable debate. State officials say it aims to help clear up confusion among school districts about state expectations in the 8th grade with the Common Core State Standards, but critics contend that it will effectively end the state’s long-standing embrace of Algebra 1 at that grade level.
At issue are additions the state made before adopting the common core, essentially approving two sets of 8th grade math standards.
http://goo.gl/c2D8p

Settlement voided; teacher layoff process to go to trial
Los Angeles Times

The state Supreme Court has declined to reinstate a settlement that allowed local officials to shield schools from having disproportionate numbers of teachers laid off during a budget crisis. The voided settlement had allowed exceptions to rules stating that less-experienced teachers must be let go first.
The apparent result is that seniority will, once again, be the basis for layoffs in the Los Angeles Unified School District pending further litigation. In the meantime, district officials and allied attorneys said they are exploring options to keep the intent of the settlement in force.
With the settlement officially vacated, the original litigation is now on track to go to trial. New settlement negotiations also are possible.
http://goo.gl/KTpei

Mississippi town sued over ‘school-to-prison pipeline’
CNN

Washington — Federal civil rights lawyers filed suit Wednesday against Meridian, Mississippi, and other defendants for operating what the government calls a school-to-prison pipeline in which students are denied basic constitutional rights, sent to court and incarcerated for minor school infractions.
The lawsuit says children who talk back to teachers, violate dress codes and commit other minor infractions are handcuffed and sent to a youth court where they are denied their rights.
It’s the first time a jurisdiction has been charged under a law designed to protect the due process rights of juveniles in such circumstances.
http://goo.gl/dnl0Q

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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

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