The Los Angeles Times (5/29, McGreevy) reports that state senators in California on Tuesday approved a ballot measure that would ask voters “to repeal a ban on bilingual education in the state, saying children in other countries are successfully learning multiple languages.” The Times reports that the measure, which would appear on the November 2016 ballot, “divided Republicans, with Senate GOP leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar supporting the measure for giving school districts local control ‘so innovation can take place.’ But eight other Republicans, including Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber, voted against the bill, saying it would worsen the state’s high drop-out rate, which is partly caused by a large number of students being unable to read and understand English.”
Study: At-Risk Students Struggle To Get Back On Track
Education Week (5/29, Adams) reports on a new study from ACT Inc. which found that at-risk students who are “far off track” are usually unable to reverse their academic performance within four years. According to Education Week, ACT Inc. “examined the progress of students from certain demographic groups, including students from low-income families, those with disabilities, African-American and Hispanic students, and English-language learners. Testing students from these backgrounds who were identified as below grade level in 4th and 8th grades, and again in 8th and 12th grades, researchers found they were generally not able to get back on track, as measured by ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks.”
Study: Parent Involvement Leads To Adequate Yearly Progress For Schools
Education Week (5/28, Yettick) reports on the results of the US Department of Education-designed study into the association between Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and parent involvement. The article notes that the study, which looked into “a nationally representative sample of 7,380 urban, suburban, and rural schools” and was published in December in the School Effectiveness and School Improvement journal, discovered “that schools in which principals report higher rates of parent involvement are more likely to make AYP.” The study also found that with such involvement, the schools were also less likely to turn into “low-performing schools,” which would then be required by law to make “mandatory changes.” Nevertheless, notes the piece, the involvement metric only “considered parent-participation rates in activities such as conferences with back-to-school nights and parent-teacher conferences.”
Elementary Schools Acting To Curb Formation Of Exclusive Cliques Among Young Students
The Wall Street Journal (5/27, Reddy, Subscription Publication) reports that according to teachers and psychologists, children are creating cliques at increasingly younger ages, through which they are acting to exclude others. The Journal points out that as a result, elementary schools are taking measures to curb that behavior, including the development of programs targeting ways to end those tendencies.
California Elementary Students Embrace Common Core Math
NPR’s Morning Edition (5/27) broadcast a segment on how students at a California elementary school are adapting to the Common Core Standards. The piece describes the students as not being intimidated by new methods for solving two-digit multiplication problems, and attempts to portray the new methods. The piece concludes that though many adults “struggle” with the new methods, “these kids seem surprisingly eager and willing to embrace something new.” A transcript of this segment can be seen here. (5/28, Bess)
California Elementary Students Embrace Common Core Math
NPR’s Morning Edition (5/27) broadcast a segment on how students at a California elementary school are adapting to the Common Core Standards. The piece describes the students as not being intimidated by new methods for solving two-digit multiplication problems, and attempts to portray the new methods. The piece concludes that though many adults “struggle” with the new methods, “these kids seem surprisingly eager and willing to embrace something new.” A transcript of this segment can be seen here. (5/28, Bess)
California Democrats Scale Back Universal Pre-K Proposal
Reuters (5/23, Bernstein) reports on the new proposal by California Democrats for universal pre-kindergarten, which represents a retreat from the ambitious $2.5 billion plan they had originally set forth, amid opposition from Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Instead of that plan, notes the piece, they have proposed a $1.3 billion preschool plan, under which families that earn less than twice the Federal poverty level would be able to enroll their 4-year-olds. The article points out that the new plan comes as universal pre-K programs continue to gain in popularity across the US.
Columnist: Developing Games Helps Provide Education To Children
In his National Journal (5/23, Subscription Publication) column, Brian Resnick writes that “the ability to adapt...is perhaps the most essential skill today’s students need to master for the 21-st century economy.” One example of that, says Resnick, is encouraging students to develop “their own games, with their own rules,” the goal of which “is not to develop specific skills but improve the ability to think creatively.” Resnick discusses several such learning platforms for children, adding that they “continue in the spirit of building blocks, Legos, and finger paints – toys that encourage creation,” while also offering “an education.”
Census Bureau: Funding For Public Schools Drops For First Time Since 1977
The Wall Street Journal (5/23, Porter, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a study released by the US Census Bureau Thursday, for the first time since 1977, when the bureau began collecting data, public elementary and secondary schools had their funding reduced during fiscal 2012. The article points out that such funding fell by $4.9 billion during that year.
California Teachers’ Pension Bailout Would Hit School Budgets
The Los Angeles Times (5/22, Blume, Megerian) reports California officials and educators say that “a plan to bail out the retirement fund for teachers” could cause “difficult cutbacks” at public schools and may not eliminate the pension deficit if investments fall below expectations. Under the plan, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s $74-billion shortfall would be addressed by raising school districts’ pension contribution to 9.5% of payroll from the current 8.25%, a trend that would continue until it hit 19.1% after seven years. Meanwhile, the system of school funding has changes, so that “school districts will receive additional money for students who are low-income, struggling to learn English or in foster care.”
Education Expert Urges Patience On Common Core
In an op-ed in USA Today (5/22), Math for America President John Ewing writes that the debate over the Common Core Standards “has gotten out of hand,” accusing both sides of the issue of “polarized” and rancorous debate that fails to address the actual content of the standards with any accuracy. He calls on parties to withdraw and seek “some common truths about the Common Core.” Ewing discuses the confusion over the difference between standards and curriculum, and asserts that the standards are “quite simply, a set of guidelines” that “form a framework on which a curriculum can be built.” Ewing counts as the Common Core’s “two greatest weaknesses” its requirement that elementary school teachers have “considerable mathematical expertise” and the standards’ susceptibility to political manipulation. Ewing concludes that since the standards “provide a framework for a 13-year curriculum grades,” they will take that long to fully implement, and it will take 13 years to implement. Students who see a single year of a curriculum based on that framework in high school will be missing many of the assumed prerequisites, and urges patience.
Columnist: Tutor-Based Math App “Much Better” Than Alternatives
In his column for The New York Times (5/20, Subscription Publication), Kenneth Chang writes about Tabtor, “an expensive iPad math-teaching app for kindergartners through sixth graders.” Chang says that although the app “does not look particularly different” from the plethora of other offerings on the market, it’s different in that “it comes with a human being,” who looks at all the work done on the problems in order to determine the reasons for reaching wrong answers. Chang says that Tabtor is “much better than other options, including websites that offer plenty of practice problems but no feedback or guidance.”
Commentary: California Schools Not Ready For Common Core Testing
In commentary for EdSource Today (5/20), Doug McRae, a retired educational measurement specialist, writes that California schools are not technologically ready to administer Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests, arguing that the earliest feasible date would be spring 2017. McRae writes that before the state can implement computer-based Common Core assessments, “Common Core instruction must be implemented for all students the entire school year before tests are implemented in the spring,” and “technology, including human support, needs to be available for all schools.”
Schools Increase Demand For Tablets
In a front-page story, the Washington Post (5/18, Chandler, Tsukayama) reports on the proliferation of tablet computers in US classrooms, describing their use in instruction and exploring how “the advent of lower-cost tablet computers” accelerated the one-to-one computing that had begun with laptops a decade ago. The piece notes that industry experts project that US schools will purchase 3.5 million tablets this year. The piece also notes that online Common Core testing is increasing the push for schools to buy tablets, and reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan sees “the scaling up of classroom technology as a much bigger opportunity to rethink schools, to untether them from a calendar designed in an agrarian era, a bell schedule that tells students when and where to go, and a teacher in the middle of the classroom who is considered the source of all knowledge.”
California Superintendent Race Turning Into Test On Future Of Education
The Sacramento (CA) Bee (5/19) reports that although the California superintendent of public instruction position has traditionally been “safely Democratic,” and thus a positive indication for incumbent Tom Torlakson, ex-charter schools executive Marshall Tuck is gaining from considerable support “from advocates of educational change, the private sector and newspaper editorial boards.” Consequently, says the piece, this “has given a jolt to the race in the midst of a relatively quiet 2014 election season.” The Bee points out that the race has emerged as a “potential proxy” of the direction of education as a whole, in which “has pitted school unions against wealthy education advocates pushing for changes opposed by teachers.”
The Los Angeles Times (5/20, Blume) offers a similar report, also noting that the race “has become a window into differing, and influential, visions for public schools.”
iPad Proliferation, Malware Cause California Districts To Struggle With Bandwidth Capacity
The Palm Springs (CA) Desert Sun (5/16, Kelman) reports that California’s Coachella Valley Unified School District “has handed out so many iPads this year that the schools have begun draining Internet bandwidth from neighboring districts, causing slowdowns and crashes” in numerous area schools. The article notes that the iPads “and a widespread malware infection have caused Internet consumption in the district to skyrocket to nearly three times as much as Palm Springs Unified or Desert Sands Unified districts.”
Parents Struggle With Common Core Elementary Math
The AP (5/14, Rubinkam) reports on the frustration expressed by parents of elementary school students over Common Core math instruction that includes unfamiliar terms and concepts. The article notes that the Common Core Standards “for elementary math emphasize that kids should not only be able to solve arithmetic problems using the tried-and-true methods their parents learned, but understand how numbers relate to each other,” but notes that this is a “radically different approach than many parents are accustomed to.” The AP (5/16) publishes a sidebar including a number of examples of “unfamiliar terms on...elementary-school math homework” under the Common Core Standards.
“Character” Education Growing In Popularity Around Country
The Deseret (UT) News (5/14, Shepard) reports on the rising trend of teaching students “character,” which has gained popularity since Paul Tough published his book, “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character.” The article points out the ways in which such education, which stresses character over I.Q., is being used in certain institutions across the country.
Report Says Recreational Reading Among Children, Teens Declining
The Christian Science Monitor (5/13, Brown) reports that Common Sense Media on Monday released a report which found that teens and children are reading for fun less than in previous years. According to the report, “the proportion who say they ‘never’ or ‘hardly ever’ read for fun has gone from 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds in 1984 to 22 percent and 27 percent respectively today.” The Monitor points out that the report highlighted a growing gap in reading proficiency between white students and black and Hispanic students, citing National Center for Education Statistics data which said that “Only 18 percent of black and 20 percent of Hispanic fourth graders are rated as ‘proficient’ in reading, compared with 46 percent of whites.”
Child-Advocacy Group Says More Research Needed On Digital Reading. Education Week (5/13, Herold) reports that a new study from child-advocacy group Common Sense Media contends that additional research is needed on “the impact of digital technology on children’s reading.” The report, entitled “Children, Teens, and Reading,” claims that the increasing use of digital devices has caused “a major disruption” in the way teens and children read as well as what they read and when. According to Education Week, the group is calling for additional research on e-reading in several areas, including how they are used, how they affect the amount children read, and its impact on literacy.
California Gov., Lawmakers Agree To Divert Money From Reserve To General Spending Funds
EdSource Today (5/13, Fensterwald) reports that California Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers agreed to a proposal last week that would reduce the funding the governor had initially requested for a K-12 and community college reserve fund and instead “would divert more money annually into a rainy day fund for general spending.” The article points out that the Legislature may vote on the agreement as soon as this week. In addition, notes the piece, the new proposal may serve to placate “some of the education leaders who opposed the idea of an education reserve, saying it implied that, even in good revenue years, spending for schools is sufficient.”