"History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about." - James Baldwin

The PEN Weekly NewsBlast, published by Public Education Network, for October 10, 17, 24, 31,

A teachers union in Florida campaigns against budget cuts
Everywhere, it seems, money is tight and school budgets are hurting. But in Volusia, FL, where the head of the teachers union says its members understand that school financing is a problem, teachers have taken issue with how and where cuts are made. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Andrew Spar, the union's president, says district officials have made bad decisions, cut teachers out of the process, and stuck instructors with the brunt of this year's losses. So in a massive public-relations effort that includes e-mail, fliers, letters, and calls to parents and politicians, the union is protesting against fewer supplies, fewer courses, fewer teachers, and larger class sizes. "Teachers are tired," says Spar. "They are burnt out, overwhelmed, and overworked."
Read more at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-madteachers0308oct03,0,2542366.story

Michigan districts privatizing services to save money
Faced with declining enrollments and state-aid cuts, the school district in Southfield, MI, recently contracted with private companies to provide food, busing, and custodial services, reports Capital News Service at the Michigan State University School of Journalism. The moves are projected to save $18 million over three years but have drawn opposition from unions. They argue that the new approach cuts jobs and wages for loyal employees, and that less expensive workers with less of a stake in the community are taking their place. Statewide, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the number of Michigan school districts turning to privatization has increased every year for the last five years. "Are we glad?" asks Southfield Deputy Superintendent Ken Siver about the steps his district has taken toward privatization. "No, we're not glad. But we couldn't squeeze any more out of the budget without cutting programs."
Read more at http://blog.mlive.com/cns/2008/10/more_inroads_for_contractors_a.html

Wisconsin schools sue over retirement investments
Five Wisconsin school districts that put $200 million in borrowed dollars into complex investments to help pay retiree benefits have sued two financial institutions that oversaw the process, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. According to the suit, filed recently in a county court, the investments lost $150 million, or three-quarters of their value, since they were undertaken in 2006. The districts said they were misled and that the risks involved were misrepresented. None of the districts hired an independent financial adviser before entering the deals.
Read more at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=801240

Maryland task force recommends steps to increase number of teachers
A Maryland task force has outlined 26 actions for the state to take in the next few years to replace the numbers of teachers leaving and retiring from the state's classrooms, the Baltimore Sun reports. The recommendations, intended to produce more teachers from state colleges and provide incentives for teachers to stay on the job, include technical changes in certification standards, pay increases for teachers, and a resumption of tuition reimbursement for college students who study to be teachers and agree to work in the public schools. Some of the recommendations would need substantial state funding or a shift in policies by the Maryland State Department of Education, but the proposals are said to have been widely endorsed by education leaders.
Read more at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.teachers03oct03,0,111768.story

Cheat with technology, get caught by technology
Teachers are using new technologies such as text-matching software, webcams, biometric equipment, and testing centers with cheat-proof computers to combat widespread student cheating, says U.S. News & World Report. Where teachers and professors once struggled to keep up with the stratagems of technologically savvy students, they now have recourse to some of the very same tools used by would-be cheaters and plagiarists. "The electronic revolution cuts both ways," says economics professor Rick Lotspeich of Indiana State University, who now has a much easier time when he suspects a student has lifted a passage. "It makes plagiarism a lot easier, and checking a lot easier," he explains. Teachers are also fighting cheating by asking students to turn in outlines and drafts so that they can track student progress, or by creating more real-world assignments that point out the stupidity of cheating.
Read more at http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2008/10/03/professors-use-technology-to-fight-student-cheating.html

Achievement gap found narrowing in DC area
According to an analysis by the Washington Post, the achievement gap is shrinking between lower-income children and more affluent ones in areas near the District of Columbia. Test data from Maryland and Virginia show that the academic performance of disadvantaged children has improved in suburban DC schools since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in January 2002. Such gains are among the law's goals. "As much as I'd say I wish we didn't have to necessarily take these tests, I know it's made us better," said Angela Robinson, principal of an elementary school in Loudon County, VA. "Before NCLB was put in place, yes, we paid attention to those groups, but it was not with the same focus that we do now." Some experts have cautioned, however, that state tests are an unreliable gauge because standards vary from place to place, and they point to national test scores that show some achievement gaps unchanged.
Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100103096.html

Texas business group calls for greater college readiness
The Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce, a coalition of business and research groups, has called on state legislators and education officials to do something quickly about the inadequate skills of many students graduating from Texas high schools, the Dallas Morning News reports. The coalition wants an immediate raising of curriculum standards to reflect the knowledge and skills students need to be ready for college. The group also has called for school performance ratings to be based on the percentage of students who are on track for college or career readiness, or who are making progress and will be on track for college readiness in three years. Says Jim Windham, chairman of the Texas Institute for Education Reform: "Today, 65 percent of new jobs created in the U.S. require some college or equivalent skills. However, research shows that the vast majority of Texas students -- more than 80 percent in some cases -- fail to meet college readiness benchmarks."
Read more at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-workforce_03tex.ART.State.Edition1.27683a7.html

Rhode Island schools must teach about dating violence
In the wake of the stabbing death of 23-year-old Lindsay Ann Burke by her boyfriend in 2005, Rhode Island has instituted a law that requires all public middle schools and high schools to teach students about dating violence in their health classes, reports the Associated Press. The Lindsay Ann Burke Act mandates that discussions of abusive relationships be incorporated into the curriculum each year for students in Grades 7 through 12. One other state --Texas -- requires awareness education about dating violence, and several other states encourage it. Burke's mother, Ann Burke, a health teacher, says such instruction would have enabled her daughter to recognize the danger in her relationship earlier. "If this could happen to her, this could happen to anyone," she adds.
Read more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27035312

Policy analysts fault California's education system
California's system of public education has been criticized by a group of education researchers. Known as Policy Analysis for California Education, or PACE, the group concludes that the progress of many of California's struggling students has been overstated, the Los Angeles Times reports, and that the state provides relatively few resources per student when compared with other states. In addition, the researchers say California's resources are not always distributed fairly, and they blame the state's governance system for impeding school reform. In a publication titled "Conditions of Education in California 2008," the group also says the state has fewer teachers per student than previously, a growing number of inadequately experienced teachers, and a looming teacher shortage.
Read more at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thehomeroom/2008/10/new-report-exam.html#more
See the report at http://pace.berkeley.edu/pace_publications.html

College guidebook targets underserved students
The Center for Student Opportunity, a national nonprofit group that helps first-generation, low-income, and minority students bound for college, has released a "College Access & Opportunity Guide." The publication highlights more than 225 colleges and universities with programs for college access and retention aimed at historically underserved college-bound students. It includes material developed in collaboration with KnowHow2GO, a national college access campaign created in partnership with Lumina Foundation for Education, the American Council on Education, and the Ad Council. The Center for Student Opportunity says it plans to distribute more than 100,000 free copies of the guide, which also may be purchased online.
Read more at http://www.csopportunity.org



Final question: It's about education
It may have taken quite a while to get there, but American education ended up grabbing the spotlight when moderator Bob Schieffer posed the last question of the third and final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain the other evening. Question: "The U.S. spends more per capita than any other country on education. Yet, by every international measurement, in math and science competence, from kindergarten through the 12th grade, we trail most of the countries of the world. The implications of this are clearly obvious. Some even say it poses a threat to our national security. Do you feel that way and what do you intend to do about it?" Said Obama: "This probably has more to do with our economic future than anything, and that means it also has a national security implication, because there's never been a nation on earth that saw its economy decline and continued to maintain its primacy as a military power. So we've got to get our education system right. Now, typically, what's happened is that there's been a debate between more money or reform, and I think we need both. In some cases, we are going to have to invest." Said McCain: "Well, it's the civil rights issue of the 21st century. There's no doubt that we have achieved equal access to schools in America after a long and difficult and terrible struggle. But what is the advantage in a low-income area of sending a child to a failed school and that being your only choice? So choice and competition amongst schools is one of the key elements that's already been proven in places in like New Orleans and New York City and other places, where we have charter schools, where we take good teachers and we reward them and promote them." A transcript of the debate can be found on the Internet.
Read more at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/debate-transcri.html

Partnership seeks new federal approach for public education
Over the past decade, says the Learning First Alliance in a call to action, "the federal effort to help states and school districts improve public education has become distorted. We now have top-down micromanagement of our public schools without the support they require to succeed. What states and districts need from the federal government is the right kind of support to guarantee every child equal access to an excellent public school." To improve the situation, the alliance -- a partnership of 18 major national education associations -- has put forth six principles for "appropriate and constructive federal involvement in education." The principles are "a broad vision of student learning," "adequate funding for students in need," "shared accountability for student learning," "a comprehensive approach to supporting students and families," "support for education research and development," and "support for the education profession."
Read more at http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/resources.dyn/LFAFederalRoleFINAL.pdf

Minorities' college-enrollment gains trail population growth
Despite a big increase in the number of minority students enrolling in college in recent years, a report by the American Council on Education says, that gain has not kept pace with demographic changes. "The tradition of young adults in the United States attaining higher levels of education than previous generations appears to have stalled," the report declares, "and for far too many people of color, the percentage of young adults with some type of postsecondary degree compared with older adults has actually fallen." The report also notes that educational attainment among racial groups is widening. With respect to high school completion, it says the rate for African Americans remained "relatively flat" (at about 76 percent) over the past two decades. Hispanics, even with some improvement, continued to have the lowest rate (68 percent) among all racial and ethnic groups, while Asian Americans had the highest rate (about 91 percent).
Read the AP's account at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081009/ap_on_re_us/colleges_minorities
See a summary of the report at http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases2&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=29423

Investments in state plans for college tuition take a hit
Among those hurt by the recent turmoil in financial markets are many parents who have saved for their children's college tuition. Some people have fared better than others. In New York State's tax-free investment program, according to the Associated Press, investment results since January have ranged from a 42-percent loss for the most aggressive plans to a 2.5-percent gain with the most conservative options. "If you have a two-year-old, you've taken some hits," said John Heywood, a principal in the Vanguard Group, which manages the state's so-called 529 investment plans. But if parents of a 16-year-old have had a moderate or conservative investment approach, "they're actually ahead for the last 12 months." Many experts, noting that the plans have seen overall growth since their inception and that the invested principal remains intact, have urged anxious parents to wait out the downturn.
Read more at http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/tuesday/news/ny-bzcoll145882892oct14,0,7138680.story

Widespread harassment of LGBT students reported
In what it calls "the most comprehensive report ever" about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in middle schools and high schools, a national group known as GLSEN says about 86 percent of them reported being harassed at school during the past year, three-fifths felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and about one-third skipped a day of school in a one-month period because of feeling unsafe. The findings by GLSEN -- the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network -- come from a survey of more than 6,200 students. The organization's report was released in conjunction with an announcement that it would work with the Ad Council on a national public-education campaign against teenagers' use of anti-LGBT language.
Read more at http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2340.html
See the report at http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/glsen_attachments/file/000/001/1290-1.pdf

Thoughts from likely principal of Chicago's first gay high school
Chad Weiden, the man considered likely to become principal of Chicago's first high school for gay, lesbian, and transgender students, is the subject of a column by Mary Schmich in the Chicago Tribune. Weiden, who currently is assistant principal at Chicago's Social Justice High School, says in an interview featured in the column that the new school would not be a "gay school" per se, but would welcome all students and, in the process, help investigate what it means to be an ally for social justice. By "ally," he says, he means someone who can "collaborate with someone who is different, for a greater good." Weiden, who is gay, adds that if he had gone to such a high school himself, he would have had a model of what it meant to be a gay man, and known that a gay man could be in a committed relationship, marry, and have children.
Read more at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-10-oct10,0,2983784.column?page=1
Also see http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-gay-school-19-sep19,0,6183632.story

U.S. said to be wasting math talent
Negative attitudes about girls involved in mathematics -- whether shown through teasing, ignoring, or ostracizing them -- are depriving the nation of some of its best math talent, says Reuters in reporting on research published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. The study challenges a widely held notion that females lack exceptional math abilities. It points to test results in elementary school showing that girls do as well in math as boys do, if not better than that. But the girls' results begin to lag in middle school and the male-female gap widens greatly in high school. The study also found that most women who become math or engineering professionals in the United States were born in other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and Asia. Comments Titu Andreescu of the University of Texas at Dallas, one of the researchers who worked on the study: "Innate math aptitude is probably fairly evenly distributed throughout the world, regardless of race or gender. The huge differences observed in achievement levels are most likely due to socio-cultural attributes specific to each country."
Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2008/10/10/making_math_uncool_is_hurting_america_report_says
See the report at http://www.ams.org/notices/200810/fea-gallian.pdf

'Let's stop blaming the boy'
In an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, Peg Tyre, who has often written about boys and education, says the current achievement gap between girls and boys -- which especially affects lower-income black and Latino boys -- is caused in part by educational changes in the past 10 years. Tyre blames an emphasis on computation and language, even in preschool, and challenging curricula that may not be age-appropriate in the early grades. She also cites increased emphasis on standardized assessments and "teaching to the test," along with the disappearance of recess. Tyre maintains that some schools have taken promising corrective steps, such as making sure that classroom reading material includes the kind of action stories and nonfiction that boys seem to like, integrating movement into the classroom, and increasing tolerance for noise. "Before the school year gets any further along, let's stop blaming the boy," Tyre writes. "Instead, let's ask ourselves if the schools are engaging them -- and if not, let's figure out what we can do to create an educational system in which all our children can succeed."
Read more at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1013boysoct13,0,2793029.story

Texas district wins Broad Prize
The prestigious $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education, the largest education award for academic progress, has gone to the Brownsville Independent School District in southern Texas. The district is 98-percent Hispanic and among the poorest in the nation, notes the Associated Press. The Broad Foundation, which made the award, said Brownsville's Hispanic students showed more improvement between 2004 and 2007 in reading and math than their peers in other Texas districts -- closing the middle-school math gap between Hispanics and the state average for white students by 12 percent. The 50,000-student district enrolls about 2,000 students who arrive from Mexico every year. "Brownsville is the best kept-secret in America," said Eli Broad, the philanthropy's founder. "In the face of stark poverty, Brownsville is outpacing other large urban districts nationwide because it is smartly focusing all resources on directly supporting students and teachers." Finalists for the award were Aldine, in Houston; Broward County, FL.; Long Beach, CA, and Miami-Dade County, FL. Each will receive $250,000 for college scholarships.
Read more at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6057934.html

Educators fear possible repeal of Massachusetts income tax
A ballot referendum that eventually could eliminate the state income tax in Massachusetts is worrying educators -- especially administrators in public colleges and universities, says the website Inside Higher Ed. The referendum is being spearheaded by the Committee for Small Government, a Libertarian organization, and would reduce the state's income-tax rate from 5.3 percent to 2.65 percent in the coming year and eliminate it beginning in 2010. Proponents say that would cut $12.5 billion from the state budget and return an average of about $3,700 per taxpayer each year. Opponents, however, say the effect on higher education in the state would be devastating, slashing more than two-thirds of the $1 billion that Massachusetts allocates for state universities, colleges, and community colleges. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Chancellor Robert C. Holub says tuition and fees, currently about $10,200 a year for in-state students, probably would have to be doubled. A 2002 referendum like the one coming up received 45 percent of the votes.
Read more at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/13/massachusetts

How nonprofit groups can respond in an economic crisis
In the widespread angst over the nation's economic woes, what about the nonprofit world? How will the crisis affect philanthropy? What should nonprofit leaders do? One set of potential answers can be found in an online "Economic Q from Changing Our World, a philanthropic services company. Economic downturns are nothing new, the company notes, and experience always tells us to "start with the certainty of facts before crafting strategies ... [for] an uncertain future." That said, how bad might things get for philanthropy in the coming months? If the decline is "real," says the Q&A, the only rational approach is to "move forward." More to the point: Diversify your revenue sources, "re-examine your case for support," tell your story every day, thank donors often, start cultivating potential board members from places that may recover more quickly than others, keep seeking funds, "work with donors [and] negotiate the terms of giving," and "consider a board mini-retreat" to address issues and strategies.
Read more at http://www.changingourworld.com/site/News2?abbr=abt_&page=NewsArticle&id=6573


High dropout rate adding to economic concerns
The nation's "persistently high" high-school-dropout rate is adding to concerns about the growing economic crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to a recent study by the nonprofit America's Promise, only about 70 per cent of public high school students graduate in four years, with only 52 percent in the 50 largest cities doing so. The study says a 50-percent reduction in the number of dropouts would generate an additional $45 billion a year in tax revenue. Marguerite Kondracke, president of America's Promise, calls dropouts "our next class of nonperforming assets." Public officials also are worried about rising costs for social programs and the criminal justice system, where dropouts account for 75 percent of state prison inmates.
Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455013168452477.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Schools could benefit from layoffs in financial sector
Widespread layoffs in the financial sector could end up benefiting public schools, according to USA Today, with many former investment professionals switching to teaching, at least temporarily. The newspaper puts it this way: "Looking for a silver lining in the financial meltdown? How about this: Your child's next math teacher could be an absolute whiz." In a New York City teaching fellows program that trains career changers to work in schools, the proportion of applicants listing finance as their current job is 10 percent, compared with 6 percent in 2006. The prestigious Teach for America program, meanwhile, has seen an increase to 10 percent for trainees who majored in business. Says Tim Daly of the New Teacher Project: "These big moments ... and I think Sept. 11 was the last big moment ... cause people to look for work that has meaning to them."
Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-15-meltdown-teachers_N.htm

Brookings report seeks federal innovation office for public education
A report from the Brookings Institution calls on the federal government to "change the game" in public education by creating a federal Office of Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Department of Education. Written by Sara Mead of the New America Foundation and Andrew J. Rotherham of Education Sector, the report says such an office could "expand the boundaries of public education by scaling up successful educational entrepreneurs, seeding transformative educational innovations, and building a stronger culture to support these activities throughout the public sector." The authors cite the achievement gap between poor and minority students and their more affluent peers, along with findings that American 15-year-olds perform less well than students in 23 other countries in math and in 11 other countries in reading.
Read more at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/1016_education_mead_rotherham.aspx
See the report at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/1016_education_mead_rotherham/1016_education_mead_rotherham.pdf

Georgia backs off class-size mandate
Budgetary concerns have led state officials in Georgia to pull back from enforcing a Truth in Class Size law enacted two years ago. Back then, notes the Macon Telegraph, Gov. Sonny Perdue was threatening to withhold funding from any school districts that failed to comply with the law, which called on schools to limit class sizes to 20 students for kindergarten, 21 students for grades 1-4, and 28 students for grades 4-8. Now, however, Perdue has asked the state education board to "grant all reasonable class-size waiver requests" during the next two years. Said Superintendent Sharon Patterson of the Bibb County schools: "If we go over one student, we're expected to hire one extra teacher. It's money that is not available."
Read more at http://www.macon.com/198/story/495085.html

Latino college aspirants hurt by income squeeze, analysis shows
A growing income gap between Latino college students and their white counterparts is putting new pressure on Latinos aspiring to higher education, according to an analysis by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute. Drawing on its annual survey of college freshmen, the institute says in a report that the number of Latino males entering four-year institutions is dropping in the face of financial pressures. While the household income of Hispanic students entering college has increased by five percent since 1975, the report says, the gap between their median household income and that of whites has increased fourfold (to $32,965 in 2006). As a result, says José Luis Santos, assistant professor of education at UCLA, "adequate financial support remains critical to both college choice and persistence for Latinos." Meanwhile, the institute notes, the proportion of first-generation Latino students for whom neither parent had education beyond high school dropped from 69.6 percent in 1971 (when the proportion was 37.3 percent for non-Hispanic whites), to 38.2 percent in 2005 (compared with 13.2 percent for white students). The institute's director, Sylvia Hurtado, a co-author of the report, says Latinos are "just barely catching up to where non-Hispanics were in the 1970s, which is really scary. That means -- yes, everyone has seen some progress, but we're still in last place and we're running in place."
Read more at http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/income-gap-increases-fourfold-64370.aspx
See the UCLA report at http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/snippet.php?id=6
For another take, go to http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/16/latino

Spotlight on chronic absenteeism in NYC elementary schools
"While New York City has long struggled with attendance problems in the high schools and middle schools, problems at the elementary schools have been largely overlooked until now," says the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School in releasing a report about chronic absenteeism in the lower grades. Last year, according to the report, more than 90,000 children in grades K-5 -- more than 20 percent of enrollment -- missed at least one month of school, and the proportion approached one-third of the students in high-poverty neighborhoods. The report details how chronic absenteeism at an early age can signal "much more serious problems in a family, such as domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness, and criminal justice system involvement, all commonly associated with child welfare involvement." It calls for attacking the problem with strong partnerships involving public schools, community organizations, and other institutions, and it suggests an approach for "targeting schools with the greatest need, including a possible structure for supporting practical assessments."
Read more at http://www.newschool.edu/Milano/nycaffairs/strengthening_schools.html
See the report at http://www.newschool.edu/Milano/nycaffairs/documents/StrengtheningSchoolsOct08.pdf

Cash-for-grades program backed by Chicago's mayor
Defending a Chicago Public Schools program that pays students for their academic achievements, Mayor Richard M. Daley has rejected criticism that it amounts to "bribery," reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Daley's comments came a day after nearly $266,000 in cash rewards were distributed to 1,650 students in the city. The mayor said suburban parents often rewarded their children for good grades, so inner-city kids -- many of whom "have nothing" -- deserve similar consideration. Speaking of public school students, he added: "Some don't even have parents. They're lucky to get Christmas gifts. They're lucky they get a hug once in a while. They get it at school." Chicago's privately financed "Green for Grades" program, currently operating in 20 high schools, offers freshmen and sophomores $50 for each A they earn, $35 for each B, and $20 for each C in English, math, science, social science, and physical education in each five-week reporting period. Students get half their earnings up front, and the rest when they graduate, but any F grade disqualifies them for the marking period.
Read more at http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/1227690,report-card-pay-for-grades-101708.article

Rhode Island colleges expecting more veterans
Anticipating an influx of veterans with new G.I. benefits, Rhode Island's public colleges are taking steps to help them integrate into the student body and deal with bureaucratic problems, the Associated Press reports. Last year, about 1,220 veterans or their family members used government benefits to attend college in Rhode Island, with nearly 60 percent attending public institutions. The numbers are expected to increase next year as a result of the nation's new G.I. bill. At the University of Rhode Island, Christine Dolan, co-chair of a committee that supports student veterans, said colleges must be prepared to provide extra help to veterans, especially those who have been involved in combat. "If you've been deployed to a war zone, you're not really getting a lot of sleep," she noted, and veterans may experience difficulty in returning to a civilian routine. "That becomes a factor in their learning," said Dolan, a military spouse.
Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/10/19/ri_colleges_expecting_boost_from_new_gi_bill_1224442214

Virginia parents push for less-stringent grading system
Concerned that their schools' grading system is too strict -- the cutoff for earning an A is 93 points, instead of the more common 90 -- a group of parents in Loudon County, VA, is agitating for a more standard grading system for their district, the Washington Post reports. At issue is competition for college admissions and scholarships, with parents concerned that decision makers may not be aware of Loudon's system. Says Kathy Lague, co-founder of the parent-led group Fairgrade: "If you have an 84 in Loudoun County, you have a C. We're one of the few counties that has that." A similar drive is taking place in neighboring Fairfax County, where the cutoff point for an A is 94. Although many universities in the mid-Atlantic, where the bulk of Loudon and Fairfax students apply, are familiar with the counties' approach to grading, parents worry that schools outside the region are not. Higher grades also can affect non-academic matters, such as the cost of car insurance.
Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/18/AR2008101801738.html

Baylor ends SAT incentives
In response to widespread criticism, Baylor University has ended its practice of offering incentives for previously admitted students to retake the SAT and improve their scores, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Students were offered a $300 bookstore credit for retaking the college admissions test, and $1,000 if their scores rose 50 points or more. Baylor spokesman John Barry said the practice was aimed at distributing more aid to students by raising their SAT scores, but critics said it also appeared to be an attempt to influence national college rankings.
Read more at http://chronicle.com/news/article/5348/baylor-u-stops-offering-students-incentives-to-retake-the-sat
Also see http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/10/16/baylor_backs_off_plan_offering_perks_to_retake_sat/


Today's high school students less likely to graduate than parents were
A study by the Education Trust indicates that American students today are less likely than their parents to graduate from high school, the Associated Press reports, making the United States the only industrialized nation where that is the case. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states are required to meet graduation targets every year, but states set the targets themselves -- and they set them low. Bob Balfanz, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, explained that state and school officials -- required to improve test scores to avoid penalties -- got a break on graduation rates and seized it. "A lot of states said, 'Well, we're under a lot of pressure; let's not make this too hard on ourselves,' " Balfanz says. "They were given a loophole, and they took it." Meanwhile, lax tracking of who actually graduated was found to be masking the dropout crisis. The federal government is expected to mandate soon that states use a common tracking system, and schools will be judged not only on their overall graduation rates but also on the percentage of black and Hispanic students who graduate. Among minority students, more than one in three drops out of school.
Read more at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6074145.html
See the report at http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/6CA84103-BB12-4754-8675-17B18A8582AC/0/CountingonGraduation1008.pdf

New Jersey using multi-agency approach to raise graduation rates
In a bid to raise graduation rates, New Jersey's Gov. Jon S. Corzine has unveiled a year-long, multi-agency initiative to be called the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign, reports the New York Times. The plan, part of a national campaign by America's Promise Alliance, will be led by the state attorney general's office, with funding from Verizon, Prudential, and other businesses. Says Irene Sterling, president of the Paterson Education Fund, an advocacy group for children in the Paterson schools: "What the suburbs don't understand about their success is that it is the whole community that's making their school successful. They have a lot of involved parents, and they have parks and recreational programs. Urban students are dependent on their schools to deliver things that are delivered by others in the suburbs."
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/new-jersey/26educnj.html

College prices rise but private loans decline; tuition hikes could follow
The cost of attending college this year rose slightly faster than the Consumer Price Index's gain of 5.6 percent, the College Board reports, but while financial aid to students has been increasing overall, the number of private loans for higher education began shrinking even before the current credit crisis began. One implication, according to education experts cited by the New York Times, is that many colleges -- both public and private -- may soon be forced to raise tuition substantially. The College Board's findings are contained in two reports, "Trends in College Pricing 2008" and "Trends in Student Aid 2008." The organization said financial aid, including grants and federal loans, increased in 2007-08 by an average of 5.5 percent after an adjustment for inflation. For this school year, it said, published tuition and fees for in-state students attending public four-year institutions were up an average of 6.4 percent, to about $6,600. At public two-year colleges, the published price averaged about $2,400. In both cases, however, financial aid reduced the "sticker price" substantially -- to about $2,900 at public four-year colleges and to only about $100 at public two-year colleges. At private four year, not-for-profit institutions, the published sticker price hit $25,100, with aid reducing that to about $14,900.
Read more at http://www.collegeboard.com/press/releases/201194.html
See the college pricing report at http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/trends-in-college-pricing-2008.pdf
See the student aid report at http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/trends-in-student-aid-2008.pdf

Study casts doubt on efforts to help teachers boost kids' reading ability
The notion that professional development programs for teachers can be effective in helping children improve their reading skills does not fare especially well in a federally commissioned report by the nonprofit research company MDRC. The study looked at two different approaches to professional development in high-poverty schools -- one approach involving a teachers institute about reading principles and how children learn to read, and the other adding "in-school coaching that focused more on how to integrate this knowledge into teaching." The emphasis was on second-grade reading. After a year, the researchers reported, although both approaches were found to produce "positive impacts on teachers' knowledge of scientifically based reading instruction," neither approach led to significantly higher reading test scores for students than did "business as usual" efforts. MDRC, formerly known as the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, was created by the Ford Foundation and six federal agencies in 1974.
Read the overview at http://www.mdrc.org/publications/499/overview.html
See the full report at http://www.mdrc.org/publications/499/full.pdf

Tougher proficiency tests bring big drop in scores
No surprise here: When state officials in New Jersey introduced revisions to proficiency tests for elementary- and middle-school students this past summer, they warned that schools and parents should expect a precipitous decline in scores -- and that is what happened. In Newark, for example, nearly every elementary school saw double-digit drops in the percentage of fifth- and sixth-graders passing language-arts sections of the revised tests, according to the Newark Star-Ledger, while under the old scoring system, most schools would have seen gains. Suburban systems have been affected similarly. "When I first saw our scores, I was in shock," said Marbella Barrera, Newark's testing director. "We knew it was a different test and it would be more rigorous, but we didn't know they would be changing the standards." The changes raised the passing scores needed in both language arts and math for grades 5 to 7. Under the previous standards, in some cases students needed to answer only about one-third of questions correctly to be deemed "proficient." The office of Lucille Davy, the state education commissioner, says the changes are part of an effort to raise the rigor of educational testing at all levels.
Read more at http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/test_scores_plummet_as_state_r.html

Free online access to SAT prep material proposed for Boston students
A Boston city councilman has introduced legislation to provide free online access to SAT preparation material, according to the Boston Globe. The program would run on the website of the Boston Public Library. The councilman, Michael Flaherty, says the program could be accessed anywhere there's a computer. "We have a responsibility to make sure that students of all income levels have a real chance to attend college, as educating our youth is the key to assuring Boston's future," he said. To pay for the $45,000 program, Flaherty wants to use both city funds and private donations. His proposal comes at a time when many colleges have been placing less emphasis on SAT scores for admission. Even so, Boston's schools have set a goal of increasing combined SAT scores by an average of about 300 points, to 1,650, by 2012.
Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/27/access_to_prep_for_sat_is_urged

Teacher absences seen hurting poor kids the most
Absences by public school teachers -- which average about 9 or 10 days a year -- disproportionately affect students from low-income families, says a report by the Center for American Progress. "Students in schools serving predominantly low-income families experience teacher absence at higher rates than students in more affluent communities. Part of the achievement gap is thus due to a teacher attendance gap." That's a good reason for policy people to revisit the issue of teacher absences, the think tank maintains. It also points to other reasons: (1) "Teacher absence is expensive. With 5.3 percent of teachers absent on a given day, stipends for substitute teachers and associated administrative costs amount to $4 billion, annually"; and (2) "Teacher absence negatively affects student achievement. Researchers have found that every 10 absences lower mathematics achievement by the same amount as having a teacher with one year to two years of experience instead of a teacher with three years to five years of experience." The report recommends that the federal government require school districts to provide data on teacher absences under the No Child Left Behind law, that state legislators re-examine teachers' leave privileges, and that local policymakers experiment with incentives to reduce teacher absences.
Read more at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/10/teacher_absence.html
See the report at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/10/pdf/teacher_absence.pdf

Budget woes force Massachusetts to scale back 'Readiness Project'
Budgetary problems have prompted Massachusetts officials to scale back a far-reaching proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick aimed at providing free education from preschool through community college, the Boston Globe reports. Education Secretary Paul Reville acknowledged that the administration would seek less money from the legislature for the governor's 10-year "Readiness Project," although officials want to proceed in January with plans for free community college for some students and accelerate an expansion of universal preschool, full-day kindergarten, and longer school days or school years. The governor has charged a commission with finding new sources of revenue by mid-November, and the administration will push ahead with several cost-saving measures, such as encouraging school employees to join a statewide health insurance program and asking school districts to consolidate or to join together in providing special education programs or buying supplies. Comments Reville: "We are going to have to roll with the punches, and the economy will impose limits and constraints on how far we can go with our vision but it does not diminish the need to realize that vision. It's imperative for our children and the future of our economy." (In New York State, meanwhile, where the financial crisis has been especially severe, projected deficits for the next three years are up $20 billion, to $47 billion, according to Reuters.)
Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2008/10/27/patrick_pulling_back_on_education

School finance systems blamed for student achievement problems
An in-depth study of the relationship between students' performance and state systems of school finance has led a team of education scholars to conclude that states won't be able to educate all students to a high level unless they redesign the finance part. Indeed, a report of the five-year study, published by the Center on Reinventing Public Education, says school finance systems themselves impede student achievement. Declares the report: "Funding student learning requires more than merely adjusting funding levels, tinkering with distribution formulas, creating new programs, imposing another sanction, or singling out hot-button issues. The system itself must be transformed so that resources can better support the ambitious learning goals the public now demands." The report calls current finance systems "a haphazard collection of agendas, components, and practices that miss the connection between resources and learning."
Read more at http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/view/csr_pubs/247
See the report at http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/download/csr_files/pub_sfrp_wrkgrp_oct08.pdf

DC chancellor, union clash over plan to fire ineffective teachers
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), parent union to the Washington Teachers Union (WTU), is gearing up for a long fight over DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's plan to fire teachers who are found to be ineffective, reports the Washington Post. Under a plan that has long been on the books but has seldom been used, teachers are given about five months to improve their performance. The plan enlists helping teachers, who intervene with struggling instructors in the classroom and report to central office administrators on all assistance given to instructors. In an attempt to block widespread teacher dismissals, the WTU has announced that the AFT will join it in providing "support and strategies" to any teacher selected for the plan. The struggle can be viewed as a proxy fight over Rhee's proposal to overhaul the beleaguered system's teaching force with instructors who are willing to tie job security to student achievement and to forfeit tenure for higher salaries. The AFT is opposed to this proposal, and is concerned about the potential impact of Rhee's proposal on teacher tenure nationally.
Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102403630.html

Nevada officials wonder: Will flat federal funding be sufficient?
With many states, including Nevada, slashing their education budgets, school leaders in Nevada may have reason to be buoyed somewhat by word that important federal funding will remain stable. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Nevada had been expecting to lose federal dollars for several education initiatives, including a popular program of tutoring and mentoring for 3,000 seventh graders. But because Congress has delayed reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, the state will retain funding for that activity, as well as Title I programs, which serve the poorest students. In the present economic climate, however, directors of Title I programs fear that won't be adequate. Clark County, for example, has seen a sharp rise in the number of homeless students, which includes children living in shelters and weekly motels, and those with no regular nightly residence. The district's Title I Homeless Outreach Program for Education office identified 3,194 students this month, compared with from 1,249 the previous month. The number of homeless students doesn't usually surpass 2,500 until the end of the academic year.
Read more at http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/27/education-flat-funding-better-none