Public Education Network  November 14, 2008


Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation releases ambitious new education giving plans
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced its intention to refocus its
education giving strategy on four core issues, according to The Seattle Times:
double the number of low-income students who complete a college or post-high
school degree, identify and pay higher salaries for good teaching, help average
teachers get better, and create more accurate tests and a national set of learning
standards for high schools. The new initiative will increase the amount that the
foundation -- already the biggest giver in U.S. education -- spends each year to
improve the nation's schools. Foundation officials are not yet saying how much
the foundation plans to give, but it spent $4 billion on education in the past eight
years -- half on scholarships and half on its work to improve high schools.


What do we know about the outcomes at KIPP schools?
With its reputation for high standards, highly committed teachers and longer
school days, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) has been widely hailed
as a model for urban education. A new policy brief from the Great Lakes Center --
“What Do We Know About the Outcomes of KIPP Schools?” -- concludes that
available evidence indicates that KIPP is indeed providing good opportunities
for students but it also warns that some claims are exaggerated; the current
evidence incomplete and policymakers should proceed with cautious optimism.
Among the positive findings of the report are that students who enter and stay
in KIPP schools -- most of whom are minorities and many of whom have done
poorly in prior schools -- tend to perform better than comparable students in
traditional public schools, and this performance does not seem due to selective
admissions. On the other hand, student turnover appears selective, with
lower-performing students continuing to perform poorly at KIPP and being
more likely to leave. Teacher enthusiasm at KIPP is high, but so are the
demands and burnout, leading to “an unrelieved pressure to find and train
new people." And although KIPP’s extended-day policy has attracted a lot
of attention, no hard evidence has linked this policy to the schools’ success.
press release: http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Henig_KIPP.htm
See the report: http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Henig_Kipp.pdf

Generation “O”: Politics holds new role in high school classrooms
Across the country, the day after the election, high school teachers discussed
results with a cohort of students who differ from those of the past few decades,
according to USA TODAY. Current high school students are said to be more politically
engaged and civic-minded than recent predecessors, but they are also better informed,
more cynical about government, and less race-obsessed than their parents. This is
can be explained by the Internet, with its many channels for information and
opportunities such as Facebook for dialogue and political self-expression. "They
felt like they were a part of [the election] just because of the connectedness
of the back and forth," said Gil Stange, a high school economics teacher in
Towson, Md. Beyond this, they may be more engaged because for many of
them, their decisions were immediate. For the past 20 years, school districts
have pushed parents to hold off registering their children for kindergarten until
they're six years old. As a result, nearly half of the country’s high school seniors
were eligible to vote on November 4.  They heavily favored Barack Obama.


NOLA’s charters face closer supervision
New Orleans' recent rapid-fire embrace of charter schools propelled the city to the
vanguard of national education reform circles. But state and local educators are only
now working on a charter-oversight system that demands performance and allows
schools autonomy at the same time.  In a city where nearly 60 percent of the city's
public school students attend charter schools, charter oversight has been spotty,
according to The Times-Picayune. State and local educators are working to change
that by drafting a set of evaluation guidelines that both allow charters autonomy
but enable quick closing of those that fare poorly. Currently, Louisiana law calls
for a third-year evaluation of charters and for a decision after five years as to
whether a charter will be renewed. Charters must submit audited budgets and
participate in the state's standardized testing system, and have contracts with
the agencies that granted them charters, stipulating performance goals. Some
charter advocates are leery of getting further bogged down in red tape. Charter
leaders say the School Board has developed a far more detailed and, some allege,
overly bureaucratic review process than the state or the Recovery School District,
which have both done less monitoring so far. Whatever form the evaluation ultimately
takes, officials hope a more consistent process will help ensure that troubled schools
do not slip through the cracks -- giving the entire movement a black eye.


Milwaukee voucher program pressures its conventional schools
The Journal Sentinel reports that the number of Milwaukee children attending private
schools using publicly funded vouchers has exceeded 20,000 for the first time, while the
number of students in the main roster of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) elementary,
middle and high schools has fallen below 80,000 for the first time in over a decade.
Milwaukee’s voucher program is the largest and oldest urban school voucher program in
the United States. Its success, and declining enrollment in the MPS, has put financial
pressure on the district, forcing school closings and pushing the district to find new ways
to attract students and raise overall levels of achievement. Wisconsin officials estimate
that $128.8 million, approximately one tenth the MPS budget, will be paid to 127 schools
that enroll voucher students this year. Participation in the Milwaukee voucher program has
risen every year since 1998, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled it was legal
to include religious schools.


The kids are alright
In an opinion piece in The Boston Globe, Jay Mathews takes exception to the idea
that American students are falling behind the students of our nation’s competitors,
especially those in Asia. Mathews, an education reporter for The Washington Post,
spotlights the documentary “Two Million Minutes,” which compares two students from
Carmel, Ind., unfavorably with their dedicated and industrious counterparts in India
and China. The film’s message, which Mathews sums up as “Beware, the rising Third
World powers are going to eat our lunch,” is in his view overblown. The top 70 percent
of US public high schools, he writes, are still quite good compared with the rest of the
world, and graduate more excellent students than our elite universities can accommodate.
The problem lies with the bottom 30 percent of schools, which serve urban and rural
low-income children. “Not only are we denying the children who attend them the equal
education that is their right, but we are squandering almost a third of our intellectual
capital. We are beating the world economically, but with one hand tied behind our back,” Mathews writes.


Pittsburgh makes moves toward merit pay
Pittsburgh school officials are considering merit pay for high-performing teachers
who switch to low-performing schools, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Linda Lane, deputy superintendent for instruction, assessment and accountability
in the Pittsburgh Schools, is said to be exploring federal funding for the initiative,
which would shore up instruction in some of the city’s failing schools. Lane said she
intends to discuss the incentive plan with the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and
its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. As in many urban districts, under
collective bargaining agreements, teachers with seniority -- generally the most experienced
and effective instructors -- are able to transfer away from difficult schools, leaving novice
instructors to teach the most struggling students. Pittsburgh currently has a five-year,
$7.4 million grant that pays performance bonuses to principals districtwide.


Concern over math basics brings specialists to early grades
Many elementary schools are turning to math specialists or coaches to add expertise
to a teaching workforce dominated by generalists who, studies show, are vastly under-prepared
in math.  In light of widespread struggles by many students in the middle grades over math, and
with an eye toward the high-stakes tests that these same students are failing, new focus is being
turned toward the building blocks of complex math in younger grades, The Washington Post reports.
Competence in high-level math like calculus is not necessary to teach multiplication, but elementary
teachers need to understand enough algebra, geometry and probability to see how beginning skills link
to more complex ones. Many elementary-level educators lack confidence in these areas, a problem
compounded by weak math training and requirements in teacher colleges.


Texas pre-K reform program draws fire
Controversy has engulfed a Texas pre-K program that cost $80 million --
three times the normal pre-K cost per student -- to implement and has netted
its administering staff $500,000 in royalties from participating vendors and book
publishers. The Houston Chronicle reports that the Texas Early Education Model (or TEEM),
which evolved from a 2003 state law to improve pre-kindergarten coordination among
public schools, Head Start programs, and child-care centers, raises conflict-of-interest
issues for the staff at Texas’s State Center for Early Childhood Development, which administers it.

Texas’s State Center for Early Childhood Development,  is always involved with scandal.
TEEM’s proponents say that it stresses teacher training and early literacy development,
but its critics feel it’s an effort to market research and products through a variety of
commercial vendors, and that it tests, rather than educates, very young children in
anticipation of standardized assessment. "It's a very narrow perspective on how children
learn and, particularly, how they learn early literacy skills," according to Samuel Meisels,
a leading authority on the assessment of young children. The University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston, which oversees the State Center, requires disclosure by its faculty,
but has not yet released program financial records requested by the Chronicle
since third parties, the vendors and publishers, are involved.


One step toward closing the achievement gap
In a post in NCCREST’s Leadscape blog, Dr. Donna Y. Ford asks why it is that despite
their qualifications, educators have been unable to close the persistent and troubling
achievement gap between black and white students. Ford, a professor of Education
and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Special Education,
points out that this gap, which in the early grades is a one-year disparity, widens to
four years by the time black students reach high school, indicating a failure on the
part of schools and in fact an exacerbation the disadvantage that many lower-income
black students enter school with. In Dr. Ford’s opinion, the explanation may lie in the
training of teachers in this country, who are overwhelmingly white (and female).
Writes Ford, “too few courses and programs have been created and designed to
equip future and current educators/professionals with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions
to work with our nation’s increasing diversity. This increasing diversity cannot be
ignored or trivialized in any way -- especially given that over 40 percent of public
school students are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or American Indian.”





NEW GRANT & FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Terri Lynne Lokoff Childcare Foundation:
Children’s Tylenol National Child Care Teacher Awards
acknowledge the critical role of child care teachers in providing quality early care and
education. Applicants are asked to design an enhancement project for the children in
their classroom illustrating the educational, social, and emotional benefits from the
project. Maximum Award: $1,000. Eligibility: teachers of infant, toddler, or preschool
age children employed in a home, group, or center-based program that is fully compliant
with local and state regulations for operating child care programs, who have been
working in their current regulated program for a minimum of 36 months by
December 5, 2008. Deadline: December 5, 2009.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: J-Lab Institute for Interactive Journalism
New Voices grants
provide funds to seed innovative community news ventures in the United States. Maximum award: $25,000.
Eligibility: 501(c) 3 organizations and education institutions, including civic groups, community organizations,
public broadcasters, schools, colleges and universities; some preference will be given to projects from
former Knight newspaper communities. Deadline: February 12, 2009.

The American Historical Association
Beveridge Family Teaching Prize recognizes excellence and innovation in elementary,
middle school, and secondary history teaching, including career contributions and
specific initiatives. Maximum award: $1,500, plus travel expenses for group leader to
travel to annual meeting in January 2010 to accept award. Eligibility:
K-12 teachers in groups. Deadline: March 16, 2009.

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams
High School Invention Grants
foster inventiveness among high school students. InvenTeams composed of high school students, teachers and mentors are asked to collaboratively identify a problem that they want to solve, research the problem, and then develop a prototype invention as an in-class or extracurricular project. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: High school science, mathematics and technology teachers--or teams of teachers--at public, private and vocational schools; intra- and inter-school collaborations are welcome. Deadline: April 24, 2009.