Report Round-Up

Principals' Approaches to Developing Teacher Quality: Constraints and Opportunities in Hiring, Assigning, Evaluating, and Developing Teachers by Center for American Progress. This report finds that principals play a key role in improving teacher quality, and policymakers need to address four critical areas in helping principals boost that quality.

Research Update 5: STEM Out-of-School Time Programs for Girls from the Harvard Family Research Project at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. According to this study, out-of-school time programs that focus on getting girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math may play an important role in bolstering the number of women in traditionally male-dominated fields.

Arts education in America: What the declines mean for arts participation from the National Endowment for the Arts. This report finds that fewer American children are getting access to arts education, whether at school or elsewhere, and the decline is particularly severe for minority students.

Morning Announcements: February 22, 2011

The House votes to cut education programs ranging from STEM to Literacy, Education Week reports.

President Obama recently made a trip to the West Coast to push his education and high-tech agenda, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Denver Post reports that nearly every state is cutting its budget and many experts agree that governors are also using budget issues to push policy changes.

State education officials have ordered the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools to immediately implement a plan that balances the district's books by closing half its schools, according to the Associated Press. 

eSchool News Spotlights 10 Superintendents “Who Are Exemplary Ed-Tech Leaders”

Yesterday, eSchool News released its list of winners for the 2011 Tech-Savvy Superintendents. The awards “recognize senior school district executives from around the nation who best exemplify outstanding leadership and vision in using technology to advance their district’s educational goals.” Listed below are some of the winners’ educational accomplishments as described by eSchoolNews reporters. Click here to read the full story. And if you are interested in learning more about digital learning, visit the Alliance’s web site. 

Equipping Students and Classrooms with the Tools Necessary for Online Learning:
Matt Akin, Piedmont City Schools, Alabama
“In September, Piedmont became one of the first school districts in Alabama to, in Akin’s words, “engage in a bona fide one-to-one laptop initiative that provides a computer for students’ use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for all students in grades four through twelve.” With the help of a federal technology grant, the district acquired 800 MacBooks through a lease-purchase agreement. As a result, the project—called MPower Piedmont—has put a computer in 500 homes that never had one before…But Akin didn’t stop there. Realizing that 65 percent of his students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, he worried that wireless access might not be available to them at home. So he worked with local businesses and churches to bridge the digital gap. As a result, two of Piedmont’s three fast food restaurants now offer free Wi-Fi access. Additionally, churches are now offering free wireless access and supervision of students.”

Developing a Funding Model that Supports Technology:
Michael A. Davino, Springfield Public Schools, New Jersey
“In developing Springfield’s 21st Century Technology plan, Davino designed a unique funding model that supports technology through a per-pupil allocation, ensuring that all students have access to the most innovative technology the district can support. School district business is streamlined through the use of SchoolDude.com for online work orders, and the school board is moving toward ‘paperless’ meetings and business.” design program.”

Report Round-Up

How Many Schools and Districts Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress?  Four-Year Trends by the Center on Education Policy. This report analyizes the  trends over four years in the number of schools and school districts that did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in raising student achievement under the No Child Left Behind Act.

State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps from the Center on Education Policy.  This report analyzes state student achievement trend and gap data for states and the District of Columbia in math and reading for grades 4, 8, and high school.  The data is analyzed by student race, ethnicity, income, and gender from as early as 2002 through 2009 for states with three or more years of comparable testing results.

Hear Us Out: High School Students in Two Cities Talk about Going to College by Center for Youth Voice.  According to this study, students do not get the college-going help they need from schools until far too late in the game; instead parents and guardians largely step in to fill that role.

Morning Announcements: December 6, 2010

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focuses on how to best educate future educators and profiles a student at Alverno College, a small women's college on Milwaukee's south side that has been widely cited as a national model for training teachers.

The Associated Press writes about the states that lost the Race to the Top competition and how they are left wondering what to do with ambitious reform plans they planned to fund with the money.

Today Michelle Rhee announced she is starting Students First, an advocacy group that will draw on the grassroots power of teachers, parents, and pupils. Rhee also published an op-ed in Newsweek explaining what she learned during her tenure as chancellor of DC public schools. On a related note, the Wall Street Journal published a piece by Joel Klein explaining what he learned as chancellor of New York public schools.

Morning Announcements: November 8, 2010

A story in Education Daily explains how although a bipartisan compromise on an ESEA reauthorization bill next year will be difficult, it could provide political benefits for both parties. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance, is quoted as saying, “I'm somewhat bullish that education can be an issue in which both parties can come together. Unlike 1994, when Republicans did not know how to be in the majority, and Democrats didn't know how to be in the minority, folks have learned how to switch. Both sides have had training. Presumptive House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House Republican leadership team are much more ready to hit the ground running. 2011 can be in education what welfare reform was in 1994.”

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Jim Simons, a mathematician and retired founder of Renaissance Technologies, writes, “Whatever is happening during high school, the result is that too few of our kids who go on to college are prepared or inspired to major in math, science or engineering, the bedrock of the new economy.”

The New York Times reports on the rising number of college applications that selective schools receive and asks when is enough enough?

Morning Announcements: November 2, 2010

The Harvard Review examines how U.S. high schools can help students be prepared to succeed in college: “As Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and the former governor of West Virginia, told the HPR, college preparedness boils down to the Three A’s: academic preparation, attitude, and assets. Wise defines the first as basic reading, writing, researching, and critical thinking skills; the second means appreciating the importance of college; the third means ensuring an adequate college funding plan. While Wise considers all the A’s to be prerequisites for higher education, most public policy has only focused on the first.”

Nearly 40 percent of Arkansas' 1,075 public schools have failed to meet minimum achievement requirements on state exams for at least two years according to the Northwest Arkansas Times.

The Individual and Collective Incentives for Improving Science and Math Education

An editorial in yesterday’s New York Times paints a grim picture of our international standing in math and science education. According to the piece, the National Academies finds that the United States ranks 27th out of 29 wealthy countries in the proportion of college students with degrees in science in engineering and the World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th out of 133 developed and developing nations in quality of math and science instruction. The editorial board concludes by calling for Congress to expand funding for programs that support high-caliber math and science students in college in return for their commitment to teach in needy districts.

The Wall Street Journal also reported Monday that the starting pay of liberal arts majors generally clocks in well below that of graduates in math and science fields. As the chart to the right (courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and PayScale.com) shows the average pay for engineering majors’ first full time job is $56,000 while the average pay for English majors’ first full-time job is $34,000 – the difference of $22,000 a year is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

So not only is there a need for more science and math majors in order for the United States to stay economically competitive but there is also a financial incentive for individuals to pursue these career paths. President Obama has recognized the importance of attracting and educating children in these fields, most recently last Monday at the White House Science fair.  At the event, Obama spoke to students, teachers and business leaders about the importance of improving education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). See below for an excerpt from his speech:

Morning Announcements: October 27, 2010

The Oregonian editorial board calls for the State Board of Education to join 40 other states in embracing the common core state standards and to raise the testing bar in the state’s K-8 and high school math programs.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes about a National Academies study that has received much less attention that it deserves. The report recommend 10 actions the federal government could take to enhance science and technology so America could successfully compete in the 21st century. For the Alliance’s summary of the report, see this article in Straight A’s.

Last week, the New York City school system announced that it would release the ratings for nearly 12 thousand teachers based on student test scores. If the ratings are released to the public despite a pending teachers union lawsuit, the city could get slapped with suits by hundreds of teachers who have called a union hotline to report errors, according to the New York Daily News.

Morning Announcements: October 5, 2010

In the Science section of the New York Times, reporter Natalie Angier picks a bone with “the odious and increasingly pervasive term ‘STEM education.’”

In the New Yorker, Joel Klein responds to a story written last week by Nicholas Lemann on how things aren’t so bad in American public education. Robert Rothman, policy fellow at the Alliance, also thought Lemann’s story required a response and posted his thoughts on Lemann’s story here last week.

A special report in eSchoolNews discusses the student learning possibilities available in an interactive math classroom, writing, “technology can breathe life into abstract concepts.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation that would allow school districts to water down requirements for foreign language and art education in high schools, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

In Indiana, the state Department of Education is touting a new "parents pledge" it hopes will increase parent involvement in schools.