Afternoon Announcements: June 20, 2012

It's Wednesday, and it is very hot here in Washington, D.C. Why not cool down and read some of today's education news?

In an effort to get the presidential candidates to focus more on reforming education, the College Board yesterday set up 857 desks on the National Mall to represent the number of students who drop out each hour of every school day. The news on the "Don't Forget Ed!" Campaign comes from the Associated Press.

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Morning Announcements: May 11, 2012

Happy Friday and Happy (early) Mother’s Day to all the moms out there who work tirelessly each and every day to raise this nation’s next generation of leaders…(and keep educators employed). Here are your top education news stories to hold you over for the weekend.

From the New York Times: Depending on how you spin it, the newest government reports on science and eight-grade learners can either be a sign of hope or a disappointment. While eighth graders made modest gains in national science testing, with Hispanics and blacks narrowing the gap between their white and Asian peers, they still lag behind their international counterparts. 7 out of 10 eight graders are still not considered “proficient”.

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Intel Science Talent Search Offers Hope and Inspiration

On March 13, I attended the Intel Science Talent Search Awards Gala Program in Washington, DC honoring the forty high school finalists from across the nation. I've been to a lot of gala award banquets over the past decades; few have offered the hope and inspiration of this one.

The reception was in a large room where the sides were lined with the finalists standing beside a brief poster listing their entry. Every important topic seemed to be represented with an articulate student confidently explaining repeatedly what his or her project was about. Much of the science and technology future of our nation was on display.

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In State of the Union Address, Obama Stresses Education, Calls for Mandatory School Attendance Until Age 18

During his State of the Union address on January 24, President Obama stressed the importance of education in driving the U.S. economy and called on states to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

"When students aren't allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma," Obama said. 

Although he did not directly mention a revamp of the No Child Left Behind Act, he did discuss more flexibility for states and changes to testing.

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Stats That Stick: September 28, 2011

States with little to no mention of the American civil rights movement: 35
A new study from the Southern Poverty Law Center has  found ignorance  by American students of the basic history of the civil rights movement has not changed — in fact, it has worsened, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The report says that states’ academic standards for public schools are one major cause of the problem, according to the New York Times. The report assigns letter grades to each state based on how extensively its academic standards address the civil rights movement. Thirty-five states got an F because their standards require little or no mention of the movement, it says. Read Entire Post

Report Round-Up

A new study by University of Michigan economist Brian Jacob finds that when given the authority, principals make dismissal decisions that put a premium on teacher effectiveness and student achievement. The report, Principled Principals, finds that principals are more likely to dismiss teachers who received poor evaluations in prior years; who are frequently absent; and at the elementary level, who had demonstrated less effectiveness in raising student achievement in prior years than their peers who were not dismissed. Teachers who were given a rating of "satisfactory" in the prior academic year were 22.1 percentage points more likely to be dismissed than teachers in the same school who were given the highest rating, "superior." Teachers rated "excellent" were 4.3 percentage points more likely to be dismissed than those rated "superior."

A new report from the National Research Council presents a new framework for K-12 science education that identifies the key scientific ideas and practices all students should learn by the end of high school. The framework will serve as the foundation for new K-12 science education standards, to replace those issued more than a decade ago. The report, Framework for K-12 Science Education, identifies three dimensions that convey the disciplinary core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: cross-cutting concepts that unify the study of science and engineering through their common application across these fields; scientific and engineering practices; and core ideas in four disciplinary areas: physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues; be careful consumers of scientific and technological information; and have the skills to enter the careers of their choice.

From RAND Corporation, What New York City's Experiment with Schoolwide Performance Bonuses Tells Us About Pay for Performance, finds that, although implemented fairly and smoothly, the voluntary program that provided financial rewards to educators in high-needs elementary, middle, K-8, and high school in New York City, did not improve student achievement or overall school performance and did not affect teachers' reported attitudes and behaviors. Given these findings, the researchers went on to examine potential explanations for the lack of effects and to identify implications for pay-for-performance policies in general.

 

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Planting Cut Flowers or: U.S. History: American Students' Worst Subject

"Trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers."

Those were the words of former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, as relayed by historian and author David McCullough in June 2005 testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development.

McCullough's testimony was part of a hearing entitled "U.S. History: Our Worst Subject." Judging by the various results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, U.S. history continues to be American students' worst subject.

As shown in the graph to the left, the percentage of eighth- and twelfth-grade students who scored at our above proficient on the most recent Nation's Report Cards in history (2010), math (2009), reading (2009), and science (2009) continues to be extremely low. However, the results for U.S. history are even more discouraging. According to the results released earlier this month, only 17 percent of eighth-graders and 12 percent of twelfth-graders scored at or above proficient.

Why are American students performing so poorly in U.S. history? Has the focus on math and reading left high school seniors lacking in the knowledge and skills critical to the responsibilities of citizenship? What actions can be taken to improve results on the U.S. history and civics assessments?

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Stats That Stick: June 29, 2011

Sixteen of the 20 occupations with the largest projected growth in the next decade require STEM-related (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills. (National Research Council of the National Academies)

There were about 4,700 fewer teachers and 600 fewer administrators in New Jersey’s public schools this year compared to the year before. (Associated Press/Star Ledger (Newark))

Preliminary findings from a report due out later this summer show that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased at a faster rate in the past decade than any other major racial group, 43 percent, to 18.5 million people in 2010. However, the group remains one of the most diverse in the country, including 48 different ethnic groups who speak 380 different languages. Although Asian Americans as a whole are typically among the highest performers, subgroups of these students, including students from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, do struggle academically but are often overlooked in racial averages. (Education Week)

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Report Round-Up

Roadmap for Ensuring America’s Future from Edexcelencia. This report is a tool for stimulating and facilitating dialogue in communities across the nation about action needed to increase college degree attainment generally, and Latino degree attainment specifically.

Principals’ Approaches to Developing Teacher Quality from the Center for American Progress. This report is focused on principal leadership and based on in-depth interviews with 30 principals in two states.

Acceptable Use Policies in a Web 2.0 & Mobile Era: A Guide for School Districts from the Consortium for School Networking. This guide was designed to help school district leaders develop Internet usage policies that prevent students from accessing harmful content.

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers from MetLife. This survey examines the priority that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers, what being college- and career-ready entails, and the implications of this goal for teaching.

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Straight A's: Reports on CR, FY 2012 Budget, Lowest-Performing High Schools, and Science NAEP

Here's a quick summary of the articles in the March 14 issue of Straight A's, the Alliance's biweekly newsletter.

Click on a title below to access the complete article or download a printer-friendly version of the entire newsletter at: http://www.all4ed.org/files/Volume11No5.pdf.

WAITING GAME CONTINUES FOR FY 2011 APPROPRIATIONS: Short-Term Spending Measure Averts Government Shutdown, Postpones Decisions on Larger Spending Cuts; Senate Likely to Hold Key Votes on March 8: Unable to come to an agreement on final Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 spending levels prior to the expiration of the short-term continuing resolution (CR) that was keeping the government funded until March 4, Congress passed another short-term CR that will cut $4 billion from the federal budget while buying time for House and Senate leaders to reach a compromise that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. 

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