January 8, 2009: Elementary School Uses Formula To Boost Performance

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January 8, 2009: Elementary School Uses " Formula " To Boost

Performance

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Customized Briefing for THERESA CAVANAUGHJanuary 8, 2009

Leading the News

In the Classroom

On the Job

Special Needs

Safety & Security

Also in the News

NEA in the News

Leading the News

California Governor Proposes Cutting Five Days From School Calendar.

The Los Angeles Times (1/8, Mehta) reports that California Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger's ® proposal " to shorten the school year by five days is "

estimated to the state about $1.1 billion. State Supt. of Public Instruction

Jack O'Connell said the proposal would be especially " devastating " for

" 'low-income students and students of color'...because affluent districts

are more likely to be able to pay for the five days themselves while poorer

districts will be forced to eliminate those teaching days. " Many educators

and parents also do not support the idea of eliminating instruction time.

Teachers " say they barely have enough time to fit the state's academic

standards into the existing 180-day calendar. " Some parents, meanwhile,

" said that it was an economic issue for them " because they would have to

place their children in childcare for the eliminated five days.

In the Classroom

Program Teaches Florida Students Scientific Methods Through Environmental

Exploration.

The St. sburg Times (1/8, ) reports that " the outdoor classroom

offers a unique opportunity to learn -- especially when it comes to subjects

like science. " Chasco Middle School in Port Richey is piloting the Learning

In Florida's Environment (LIFE) " program that, depending on funding, will

continue to be implemented for some Chasco Middle students over the next 3.5

years. " LIFE is " a collaboration between the Department of Environmental

Protection and the Pasco County School District, " and is being administered

in 12 " school districts throughout Florida. " It is geared toward

" underprivileged or underserved schools. " Throughout the school year,

students in the LIFE program attend " three field trips to conduct on-site

experiments at Werner Boyce Park and the Pasco Schools' Energy and Marine

Center in Port Richey. " They " learn scientific methods and field skills

while exploring. "

Educators Consider How Best To Teach Middle School-Aged Students.

Delaware's The News Journal (1/7, Price) reported that " as graduation

requirements continue to rise and test scores continue to plunge, educators

across the country are rethinking middle school and how best to teach

adolescents at a transitional and volatile age. " Ideas for reform include

" reducing the number of teachers that each student has...adding special

periods dedicated to organizational and study skill, " and " showing students

the relevance of their education by connecting it to real-world situations. "

Meanwhile, " some educators suggest middle school should be done away with

altogether. " To that end, The Red Clay Consolidated School District in

Delaware is expanding wine Springs School both elementary and middle

school grades. wine principal Cooke " said the model offers

students nine years of continuity and a sense of community. 'It's the same

building, the same program and many of the same staff,' he said. 'And those

additional years help us get to know the students better.' "

Long-Term Substitutes In Ohio Must Meet Subject-Area Qualifications.

The Granville (OH) Sentinel (1/7, ) reported that this year at

Granville Middle School, " three teachers are approved for long-term leaves

of absence of several weeks -- an unusually high number. " School

" administrators say they are addressing that challenge to ensure instruction

quality does not decline. " The school has a designated mentor for long-term

substitutes, and " other teachers and the staff members on leave all "

cooperate to make sure that new long-term substitutes make a smooth

transition into teaching. The substitutes " must have knowledge of the

curriculum and the building Understanding by Design, a framework for

improving student achievement by designing lessons with the end in mind. " In

addition, state regulations require " that long-term subs have certain

credentials, including qualification to teach in the absent teacher's

subject area. "

Students At High School In New Jersey Take Grandparents To Class.

The Holmdel (NJ) Independent (1/8) reports on Grandparents Day at Keyport

High School last month. Grandparents Day is an annual event at the school

that gives seniors " a chance to introduce their grandparents to the

environment of their high school. They show them the technical programs and

advanced academic classes. " This year, 30 grandparents took part in the

occasion. In the morning, " grandparents ate breakfast with their

grandchildren in the school cafeteria. Afterward, 12-graders gave their

grandparents a tour of the school and took them to classes. "

On the Job

Elementary School In land Relies On " Formula " To Boost Student

Performance.

In the Washington Post's (1/8, B1) Potomac Confidential column, Marc Fisher

writes that eight years ago at Broad Acres Elementary School In Silver

Spring, MD, " test scores were so low that the state threatened to take the

place over. " In order to avoid a state takeover, Montgomery County

Superintendent Jerry Weast and Principal Jody Leleck " negotiated with the

teachers union to add extra hours to the workweek for extra pay. " Now, test

results at Broad Acres show that educators' efforts are paying off.

Eighty-one percent of students at the school " met reading proficiency

standards this year, up from 47 percent in 2003. " According to Fisher, the

" formula " teachers and staff at Broad Acres use to boost student performance

includes faculty meetings " every Wednesday for hours of mentoring and

brainstorming, creating plans for each child who is falling behind, " and

classrooms where " bilingual or special education teachers " work with small

groups of students " on computation or reading aloud. " The school also has a

mental health team that examines family situations " that may lie behind...

classroom outburst. "

Fewer Educators In D.C. Teaching Out Of Licensed Area of Expertise.

The Washington Post (1/8, B1, Turque) reports, " Nearly 800 D.C. public

school instructors are teaching classes outside their licensed area of

expertise. " While that number is less " than in previous years, " it is " still

far more than in other school systems in the region, and a violation of the

federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires 'highly qualified'

educators in each classroom. " Because the District faces " staffing

shortages...and competition with wealthier school systems over hiring, " it

sometimes uses " teachers outside their areas of certification. " And

according to school officials, " the total also reflects the large number of

new teachers who have a grace period to seek licenses. " Meanwhile, " school

officials expect the number to continue to decline " as Schools Chancellor

A. Rhee seeks to get rid of " a significant portion of the

District's 4,000-member teaching corps. "

Head Of land District Proposes Cutting School Fees, Virginia Districts

Chief Seeks Increase.

The Washington Post (1/8, B1, De Vise, Birnbaum) reports, " Course fees

charged for workbooks, art supplies, and other items would be cut by more

than half in Montgomery County (MD) schools under a proposal Superintendent

Jerry D. Weast announced yesterday to ease the burden on parents. " Last

fall, " parents rebelled...against course fees. " According to Weast, " the new

rules would eliminate 60 percent of middle school fees and 70 percent of

high school fees. " Meanwhile, Loudoun County (VA) Superintendent Edgar B.

Hatrick III is proposing " to raise fees for students to park cars and play

sports to ease the burden on the school system's $758 million budget. "

Currently, Loudoun " is among a few in the region that charge few or no fees

for courses, " but they do " charge for gym uniforms, and parking. " Hatrick

proposes increasing the student parking fee from $25 per year to $150. And

" for the first time, students would be charged $50 apiece to participate on

sports teams " under the proposal.

College Board Will No Longer Offer AP Italian. The Washington Post

(1/8, A3, De Vise) reports, " The College Board is planning to cut its

Advanced Placement Italian program in the 2009-10 academic year, despite a

yearlong effort by Italian American organizations to save the underfunded

course. " The Italian Language Foundation, which " raised more than $650,000

in commitments...could not secure additional funds from the Italian

government. " On Tuesday, " College Board officials confirmed...that the

effort to save AP Italian had failed. " The Post points out, " About 2,000

students took the AP Italian test in May, ranking it among the least popular

AP offerings. "

New Rules Will Require That Chicago Teachers Be Certified To Teach In

Subject Area.

The Medill News (1/8, Dosemagen) reports, " A new Chicago schools initiative

will not only send teachers back to class, it will make them pay-perhaps

thousands of dollars. " Starting in 2010, " sixth- through eighth-grade

teachers [must] be specialized in the courses they teach as a way to

increase education standards in schools. " Teachers who teach in a subject

area for which they are not qualified will have the option of either

teaching " at a lower grade level where specialization is not required or "

going " back to school. "

Special Needs

Forty Percent Of English Language Learners In Hawaii Fail To Gain English

Proficiency, Report Shows.

The Honolulu Advertiser (1/8, Moreno) reports that according to the Quality

Counts 2009 report by " the nonprofit Editorial Progress in Education, which

publishes Education Week, " 40 percent of English language learners (ELL) in

Hawaii " are failing to make progress toward English proficiency. " According

to s Wiegand, state specialist for the English Language Learner

program, more than 75 languages are spoken by the roughly 17,000 students in

Hawaii's ELL program. " 'That makes providing bilingual support very

difficult,' he said. " The Honolulu Advertiser notes that " Ilocano and

Tagalog are the most commonly spoken second languages in Hawai'i's schools. "

Safety & Security

Parents Protest Plans To Erect Cell Phone Tower At Middle School In Florida.

The St. sburg Times (1/8) reports that at several people attended a

community meeting in Tampa on Wednesday to protest " the controversial plan

to erect a 100-foot cell phone tower at " Middle School. Last year,

" parents learned of the school's " plan to bring in the tower, and " since

then, they have circulated petitions and collected more than 900 signatures

in opposition to. " Among parents' chief concerns is that " the cellular phone

industry is still too new to have sufficient epidemiological data to assure

anyone of the safety of these towers, " according to Kocher, who spoke

at Wednesday's meeting. But engineer countered that argument,

saying, " The measurements at the proposed tower site were less than one

percent of the (Federal Communications) Commission's uncontrolled

environment standards. There is no risk. " According to principal

Hoskinson, with the tower, " would stand to make $36,000 per

year and a total of $432,000 over the course of a 10-year lease. "

Also in the News

UT President Suggests Changing " Top 10 Percent Rule " To Give University More

Control Over Admissions.

The Dallas Morning News /AP (1/8) reports that Powers, president of

the University of Texas at Austin (UT), " said a record 81 percent of the

Texas freshmen entering the university this fall gained admission through

the so-called 'top 10 percent rule.' " The rule guarantees UT admission " to

students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class. "

Powers is concerned that if the state Legislature does not change the " top

10 percent rule " in " its upcoming 2009 session, " UT " soon would have no room

to admit any Texas student who does not meet that standard. " He " suggested

that one solution would be to adopt a more 'aggressive' program allowing

students to transfer to the university from community colleges. "

D.C. Schools Chief Proposes Changes To Discipline Policy.

On its website, MSNBC (1/8) reports, " D.C. Schools Chancellor Rhee

has scheduled a series of public meetings to discuss possible changes to

student discipline policies. " Rhee, who " considers out-of-school suspensions

to be ineffective, " proposes that students serve suspensions in school,

instead. Rhee sent a letter home to parents recently, outlining " the general

plan for changing the discipline policy. " The proposal emphasizes

disciplinary actions that are " just and appropriate to students'

infractions, " that " minimize disruption to instruction, " and are

" instruction-based. "

NEA in the News

Labor Union Leaders Seeking Unification.

The New York Times (1/8, A15, Greenhouse) reports that " the presidents of 12

of the nation's largest labor unions called Wednesday for reuniting the

American labor movement, which split apart three and a half years ago when

seven unions left the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and formed a rival federation. " The

announcement comes " after the transition team for President-elect Barack

Obama signaled that it would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather

than a fractured one that often had two competing voices. " Those who

attended the meeting on Wednesday " included Andy Stern, president of the

Service Employees union, who led the walkout in 2005. " The Times also

pointed out, " One somewhat surprising attendee was Dennis Van Roekel,

president of the National Education Association (NEA), which, with 3.2

million members, is the nation's largest labor union, but has traditionally

remained outside any larger labor federations. "

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