From: neweekly@list.nea.org
Date: Fri Dec 13 2002 - 14:51:58 PST
National Education Weekly December 13, 2002 Vol. 1 No. 9 News from NEW: Performance pay doesn't work. That's the conclusion of a report issued by Florida's Council for Education Policy, Research and Improvement. Curiously, Governor Jeb Bush, a strong supporter of performance pay for teachers, appointed several council members. Numerous performance-pay problems are detailed in the report, with the council urging the state to scrap performance pay for teachers because the programs have been "difficult to design, difficult to ensure fairness and difficult to fund over time." PLEASE NOTE: NEW will take a winter holiday beginning December 20. We will return on January 17. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! COMMUNITIES 1. CUSTOM-MADE LEARNING: Washington State Schools Experiment with Individual Learning Plans 2. THANKS FOR SHARING: Delaware Models of Excellence Program Features Effective Communication Among Educators STATES 3. KINDERGARTEN COP: Maryland Patrols Preschool Opportunities for All Students 4. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT: Performance-Based Tests Move to the Head of the Class in New Jersey THE NATION 5. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LOCAL CONTROL OF SCHOOLS?: ESEA Regulations Overwhelm State Education Officials RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICE 6. SI SE PUEDE!: Hispanic Immigrants Show They Can Reach High Education Levels 7. READING MATTERS: Review Seeks Best Practices for Struggling Readers 8. TOLD YA: Study Says Advantaged Youngsters Come to School Better Prepared WEEKLY FEATURE 9. COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS: NEA President Reg Weaver Trumpets Good News About Public Education COMMUNITIES 1. CUSTOM-MADE LEARNING: Schools in the state of Washington are experimenting with individual education programs. No, not the IEPs associated with special-needs students, but individualized plans for all students. The plans are part of a larger effort to mold education to fit the student, rather than forcing the student to fit the education. Several other states, including Maryland, Vermont and Virginia, have adopted similar personalized education plans for regular-education students. Typically the plans call for a meeting of the minds of parents, teacher and student to hammer out goals for the year and ways to achieve each goal. While the IEPs for special-education students are "notorious for devouring special-education teachers' time," the personalized plans developed in Washington for all students are less burdensome. (Seattle Times, 12/10) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/ 2. THANKS FOR SHARING: Teachers talking to teachers - and others - about their secrets for successfully improving student achievement is the highlight of a forum held as part of Delaware Lt. Governor John C. Carney Jr.'s Models of Excellence in Education program. Educators from six Delaware programs will present their school models at a Delaware State University forum. One of Carney's goals is to use the forum to foster more cooperation among the state's 19 school districts. "We'd like to get teachers to talk more to one another, sharing experiences and sharing things that work," he said. http://www.state.de.us/ltgov/news-excellence.htm STATES 3. KINDERGARTEN COP: A Maryland alliance of state and local government leaders has joined forces with education advocacy and service organizations to guarantee that all children up to age 5 have access to quality early childhood care and education programs. The Leadership in Action Program also wants to ensure that personnel working in these programs are adequately trained and that parents of young children are successful in being their child's first teacher. The goal is that by the 2006-2007 school year, 75 percent of all kindergartners will have developed the learning and social skills to be fully ready for school. The plan will be submitted to the General Assembly in February for approval and funding. (Baltimore Sun, 12/9) http://www.sunspot.net/bal-md.ready09dec09.story 4. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT: While most student testing programs are moving to standardized testing, New Jersey is bucking the trend by instituting a hybrid student testing program that incorporates both standardized and performance-based assessments. The state's five-year plan calls for teams of local teachers to devise performance-based assessments to be used statewide by 2008. The new assessments may include student projects, competitions, problem-solving tasks and demonstrations, written assignments and other performance-based material to be woven into the testing package. Nine pilot districts will launch the new program in January. Eventually, the experiment will lead to the development of performance-based assessment programs in all areas of the state's Core Curriculum Content Standards, starting with math, language arts and science. The pilot project is co-sponsored by the state's major education organizations and preeminent business leaders. (New Jersey Department of Education) http://www.state.nj.us/njded/news/1115create.htm THE NATION 5. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LOCAL CONTROL OF SCHOOLS?: State education officials spent Thanksgiving holidays buried in a heap of education regulations - the 400-page rule that the Department of Education released late November to clarify President Bush's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. "If states follow the strict letter of the law, every school in the country will be considered 'low-performing' within five years," said Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators. David Shreve of the National Conference of State Legislatures, told Stateline.org that the regulations cast a net so wide and the requirements are so stringent that some 70 percent of all schools will be considered failing. One reason a high number of schools may fail is that under the law, schools must show students steady academic improvement in several categories such as race/ethnicity, English proficiency, disability, economic background, gender and migrant status. Another complication is that some states may be required to send updates on school plans back to their legislatures for changes before submitting their annual reports by the Jan. 31 deadline, but many legislative bodies are not scheduled to convene before January. (Stateline.org, 12/9) http://stateline.org/story.do?storyId=275753 http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/finrule/2002-4/120202a.html RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICE 6. SI SE PUEDE!: Hispanic immigrant education levels have skyrocketed over the last 30 years, although a gap continues to exist between the immigrants and native-born U.S. residents, according to a new report. One reason for the gap is that many Hispanic families cannot afford college costs. Other reasons: In some Hispanic families, children work regularly and attend school sporadically, while undocumented students find it near impossible to secure financial aid. The report, issued by the Pew Hispanic Center, also noted a difference in education levels based on a Latino immigrant's home country. Immigrants from Mexico and Central America apparently have less income and thus may have a lower level of educational achievement in the U.S., while South American immigrants, who must travel a greater distance at greater expense, tend to attain a higher level of education. Despite the disparities and education gap, adult Latino immigrant achievement has improved significantly over the past 30 years, says Pew Center director, Roberto Suro. http://www.pewhispanic.org/index.jsp 7. READING MATTERS: Strategies and programs that help struggling readers break the code are the focus of a research project set to begin next year. The project, funded in part by the San Francisco-based Haan Foundation for Children, will review six commercial reading programs to determine which are effective in enabling struggling readers to close the reading gap with their peers. Dubbed Power4Kids, the study will track more than 500 children in each of the selected programs, as they are taught for 70 minutes each school day for up to six months. "The study will provide scientifically valid comparisons of the effectiveness among major interventions currently in use," said Joseph K. Torgesen, a professor of psychology and the director of the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University, in Tallahassee. (Education Week, 12/4) http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=14research.h22&keywords=reading%20research 8. TOLD YA: A recent Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study gives a nod of approval to what teachers and parents already knew: Family income makes a difference in the academic achievement of youngsters in early childhood programs. "Before even entering kindergarten, the average cognitive scores of children [in the highest socio-economic group] are 60 percent above the scores of the lowest group," warns the report, titled "Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences as Children Begin School." The study, using data from a U.S. Department of Education survey of more than 16,000 children entering kindergarten, finds that children from the wealthiest fifth of U.S. families own far more books, are far more likely to be read to and visit museums and libraries than their lower-income classmates. (EPI, September 2002) http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases/02/09/pr020923starting.pdf WEEKLY FEATURE 9. COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS: Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, is trumpeting the good news about public schools nationwide. In an editorial for the Washington Post, Weaver discusses the "quiet revolution in achievement" underway in our schools: * The proportion of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders reaching the two highest levels of achievement in reading has increased steadily since 1992 and hit the highest point ever in the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests. * Math scores have increased for all age groups on NAEP tests, and the proportion of students reaching the highest two levels of achievement in math has doubled for grade four, increased 80 percent for grade eight, and risen 41 percent for grade twelve. * More students are taking tougher courses than ever before: The percentage of students who completed a core academic curriculum of four years of English and three years each of mathematics, science, and social studies has increased fourfold since 1982. * Average SAT scores continue to rise. Verbal SAT scores have increased six points since 1990, while math SAT scores have risen 22 points since 1980 and 13 points since 1990." Yet, Weaver stands firm that "as public educators, we are not satisfied. We know that our students can and will do even better when class sizes are reduced, qualified and certified teachers are recruited and retained, schools are adequately and equitably funded, and parental involvement is increased." For Weaver, "public education is the great equalizer." He writes: "In our public schools, it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from; it doesn't matter the color of your skin or your religion, if you are rich or poor, or even if you can't speak English. Public schools will accept you-and the teachers and staff will educate you." Weaver concludes: "So while we can count our blessings, we will not rest until every child attends a public school as good as our very best public schools." (Washington Post, 12/15) http://www.nea.org/columns/rw021215.html -Barbara Pape, Editor ***FACT OF THE WEEK*** Florida: Public Schools' AP Course Offerings Shine Eighty-four percent (84%) of Florida's public high schools offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses, through which students can earn college credit. Just 31 percent of Florida's private high schools offer these advanced courses. (Education Week, Quality Counts 2002) http://www.nea.org/goodnews/fl01.html The administrator of this list is Admin (owner-neweekly@list.nea.org). --------------------------------------- Subscribe In order to join a listserv mailing list, send an E-mail message to Lyris@list.nea.org. Leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the message put subscribe neweekly OR Send an email message to join- neweekly@list.nea.org To receive a copy of the Acceptable Use Policy for this list send a blank email to list-aup@list.nea.org Comments or Suggestions? Send e-mail message to NEWeekly-feedback@list.nea.org. 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