Jay Mathews writes in his “Class Struggle” column in the Washington Post (12/12) about the controversy between Education Secretary Arne Duncan and education officials in California over the state’s transition to Common Core-aligned standardized testing, noting that Duncan “had warned that California would be shortchanging students and their families if it held to its plan not to report school test averages next year.” Mathews writes that notwithstanding Duncan’s comments, parents who reached out to him “said Duncan was wrong.” Mathews writes that he suggested in a recent column that schools be given “a year’s respite from reporting state test results, while teachers adjusted to the new Common Core,” and that many parents agreed with him.
Strauss: Media Reports Show Education Reform Decisions Being Made In Secret
Valerie Strauss writes at the Washington Post (12/12) “Answer Sheet” blog that a series of recent media reports indicate that “education reform policy around the country is increasingly being made in secret or without public input,” often financed with “private philanthropic money.” Strauss cites media reports saying they show that school reformers and policymakers are pushing “their reform agenda to expand charter schools and vouchers in an effort to step up the privatization of public education.”
Budget Deal Would Reverse Sequestration Education Cuts
Alyson Klein writes at the Education Week (12/12) “Politics K-12” blog that under the bipartisan budget plan announced by congressional negotiators on Tuesday, districts “would get some relief” from Federal budget sequestration, noting that the measure “would roll back most of the so-called sequester cuts for the next two years.” She explains that the move would restore some 87% of the discretionary spending, a broad category that includes education programs....
Schools Seek Creative Ways To Encourage Student Activity
NPR (12/11, Singh) reports in its “Health” blog that according to an NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health survey, many parents “reported that their kids aren’t getting nearly as much time in phys ed classes as is recommended.” In the face of budget and academic pressures that have caused schools to drastically cut recess and physical education classes, “parents and educators are starting to ‘think beyond the gym walls,’ and come up with ways to fit in exercise before or after school.” Teachers are also experimenting with integrating physical activity into core curriculum lessons.
Survey: California Parents Want Stake In Spending New Education Funding
Karla Scoon Reid writes at the Education Week (12/10) “K-12 Parents and the Public” blog that a new survey from EdSource indicates that while most parents in California “have little knowledge about the state’s new funding law,” most “want to assist with local plans to determine how those education dollars are spent.” The piece notes that districts are required to involve parents in “planning and implementation” of the new school funding formula.
Districts Buying Technology For Common Core Testing
KQED-FM San Francisco (12/4, Korbey) reports in its “Mind/Shift” blog that a recent Pioneer Institute report found that transition to Common Core will cost school districts “approximately $16 billion over seven years.” A major portion of that is “technology required for Common Core-aligned testing.” That is because both the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC) must be taken on digital devices. The article says that many districts are acquiring and deploying technology without adequately considering future needs or possible uses for the devices beyond Common Core test taking.
LA Times Says California Should Require Detailed School Spending Plans
The Los Angeles Times (12/2) editorializes that draft regulations for California Gov. Jerry Brown’s new formula for funding public schools should require schools to submit plans concentrating spending on disadvantaged students in order to win approval for funding. Under Brown’s plan, schools will receive an additional 20% in funding for each low-income or non-fluent student. If the state does not take some measures to ensure the money is spent on programs to help these disadvantaged students it will allow schools to spend the extra funding on other things that may be of less benefit.
ED Yet To Approve California Testing Changes
Southern California Public Radio (11/28) reports that ED has not yet said whether it will approve California’s new plans regarding shifting to Common Core-aligned tests while jettisoning the state’s traditional assessments. The piece quotes an email from ED’s Cameron French saying, “The Department of Education continues to have conversations with California officials on student assessments. Once the request is received, we will review the application as we would any state and respond accordingly.” The article notes that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has “threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funds” because the state originally planned to allow districts to test in either Math or English and not both subjects.
California Grants Aim To Boost Arts Education
The Los Angeles Times (11/27, Boehm) reports that the California Arts Council is using a “one-time, $2-million funding windfall” to finance a number of projects “involving arts education and community improvement through the arts.” The Times reports that the group is hoping to leverage “early success stories from the new programs” to develop new revenue streams.
California Agrees To Give Both Common Core Tests
Southern California Public Radio (11/21) reports that the California Department of Education says it is “backing down” from plans to only require districts to give a single Common Core-aligned test this spring, and will now require both the math and English test....
ED Launches Teacher Recruitment Initiative
The New York Times (11/21, Rich, Subscription Publication) reports that ED, in an effort to counter perceptions that teaching is not a desirable career, is partnering with Microsoft, State Farm, the Ad Council, Teach For America, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers to launch “a public service campaign...aimed at recruiting a new generation of classroom educators.” The Times reports that the program, dubbed “Teach,” is intended for “young, high-achieving college graduates,” especially in STEM fields. The campaign, the Times reports, portrays teaching as “creative, invigorating and meaningful.” The AP (11/21, Hefling) also covers this story.
More Coverage Of California Common Core Test Reversal
The Los Angeles Times (11/21, Blume) reports that California officials have announced that despite a plan--codified in a recently signed law--to abandon the state’s STAR assessment and to allow districts to supplant it with either the math or the English portion of Common Core-aligned assessments, the state will now require “nearly all California students” to take both tests.
California Decides Not To Participate In Data Surve
EdSource Today (11/20, Fensterweld) reports that California has declined to participate in Data Quality Campaign’s yearly survey, which seeks to track states’ progress in 10 actions “deemed essential to help parents, teachers and policymakers make informed decisions to improve student achievement.” California is the only state to decline this year. Patricia de Cos, deputy executive director of the State Board of Education, “indicated that the data survey was not a priority,” noting that California’s “new system for funding schools requires an accountability plan and focuses on eight priority areas for improving student outcomes.” California does have a data collection system, CALPADS, but it “has lagged behind other states in integrating the data and then providing it in useful forms.” Easy access to data helps school districts “tell how graduates do after they graduate,” and can be used to help prevent drop-outs.
GoldieBlox Encourages Girls To Become Engineers
The New York Times (11/20) “Bits” blog reported on a video that has been viewed more than six million times since it was posted earlier this week on YouTube. The video is an ad for GoldieBlox, a start-up “that sells games and books to encourage girls to become engineers.” In the ad, three young girls “grab a tool kit, goggles and hard hats and set to work building a machine that sends pink teacups and baby dolls flying through the house.”
Advocates: Strong Start Bill Highlights Needed California Program Improvements
The AP (11/20, Mongeau) reports that California early childhood education advocates say that the Federal Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which supports President Obama’s calls for a “new federal grant program for states wishing to create or expand their public preschool programs,” draws attention to the need “to beef up early education programs” in the state.
Future Of Improving Teacher Quality Questioned
In National Review’s (11/19, Salam) The Agenda, Reihan Salam comments on several articles that indicate a stronger teacher pool is here to stay. He first quotes from a report by Dan Goldhaber and Joe Walch which shows that 2008 graduates who went into education “had higher average SAT scores than their peers who entered other occupations.” Salam then moves to Neerav Kingsland’s suggestion that “structural changes in the economy might lead to substantial increases in the quality of the teacher talent pool.” Salam then notes that more can still be done to draw top teaching talent, quoting a Jacob Vigdor analysis of teacher compensation which argued the best way to attract top teachers would be that “rapid early gains in effectiveness would be rewarded with substantial salary increases over the first few years on the job.”
Many Teachers Want To Advance, But Stay In Classroom Role
The Atlantic (11/19, Riggs) reports on the dilemma faced by teachers who wish to advance their careers, but do not want to become administrators, which would take them out of the classroom. The piece cites a MetLife survey this year which found that “nearly 25 percent of teachers were interested in a hybrid role of teaching and some sort of leadership position,” and that 84% have little or no interest in being a principal. The article describes the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education Master Teacher Program, which “tried to develop teacher leaders.”
Despite Shootings, Schools Increasingly Safe
USA Today (11/18, Toppo) reports that in the 11 months since the Sandy Hook shootings, “another school attack or safety scare seems to unfold almost weekly.” It would be “easy to conclude that school has never been a more dangerous place, but for the USA’s 55 million K-12 students and 3.7 million teachers, statistics tell another story: Despite two decades of high-profile shootings, school increasingly has become a safer place.”
California Educators, Businesses Look To Boost STEM Programs
On its website, KPBS-TV San Diego (11/18, Adler) reported a two-day STEM conference that started yesterday is drawing education, business and philanthropy leaders to Sacramento. They are looking at how to expand STEM programs in California schools. California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said, “There are tens of thousands of jobs in engineering and science — in this state, today — that are unfilled, that employers cannot find the talent to do the inventing, to do the improvements in technology that will make for a better life and a strong economy.”
Teacher Deaths Focus Attention On Student-On-Teacher Violence
The AP (11/17) reports that experts say that “the phenomenon of student-on-teacher violence is too often ignored,” noting that the recent deaths of teachers in Nevada and Massachusetts at the hands of students have “brought the issue to the forefront.” The AP reports that a task force on “classroom violence directed at teachers” chaired by Dr. Dorothy Espelage of the University of Illinois found “that little has been done to try to understand or prevent such incidents.” The piece notes that National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel says that “more attention and resources should be directed at diagnosing and treating mental health issues and training educators in classroom management and safety.”