Education News: August 21, 2009

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending August 21, 2009.

Schwarzenegger’s Reform Plan Receives Criticism from Teachers Union
(Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2009)  On Thursday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for sweeping education reforms so that California could qualify for federal school funding.  Many of the reforms, however, go beyond eligibility requirements for Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top fund, embracing President Obama’s key education reform plans.  The proposed legislation will be considered during a special session that ends by Oct. 5, in order to finish before the deadline for the first round of Race to the Top funding this winter.  Schwarzenegger’s reforms include adopting a merit pay system, abolishing the cap on the number of charter schools and requiring school districts to consider student test data when evaluating teachers.  The final piece is an important issue as federal officials believe the use of data in evaluation is prohibited under state law, which would disqualify the state from federal funding.  At the heart of the measures is an effort to require districts that want a piece of the federal funding to begin evaluating California teachers and schools using a “value-added” approach, where students are measured against themselves to evaluate the effect a teacher or school has on growth.  The powerful state teachers unions, however, immediately came out with criticism of the reform measures, calling them rushed and unnecessary.  They have long resisted the use of student performance in teacher evaluation, and are expected to fight efforts to undo the ban.  Some educators add that several of the proposals would only be symbolic changes. 

Denver Schools’ Bid for Grant from Gates May Require Waivers from State Law
(Denver Post, August 18, 2009)  On Monday, Denver board members were told that the school district likely will need to apply for waivers or seek changes to state laws if it hopes to compete for a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Denver is one of ten districts currently vying for a share of the five-year, $500 million grant, which focuses on improving teacher effectiveness.  Officials have explained part of Denver’s bid for the grant, which includes plans to change how teachers are hired, evaluated, trained and retained.  One change, for example, would be to extend the three-year time period after which teachers receive tenure as well as making the qualifications more rigorous.  Additionally, they hope to develop a more comprehensive rating system with differentiated evaluations, as opposed to the current system of simply earning a “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.”  99% of Denver Public Schools teachers earn “satisfactory” ratings.  The district also wants to aggressively recruit from specific pools of talent and expand its teacher-residency program.

Survey Finds Most NYC Principals Support New Data System
(New York Times, August 19, 2009)  A recent survey found that 60% of New York City principals support an $80 million new data system.  The report, released by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, says that supporters of the system believe it will improve teaching and learning in city schools. The new system, called the Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), is being billed as a tool that will allow educators to share ideas via blogs, pinpoint deficiencies in learning and gear instruction to each student.  It will also allow parents with internet access the ability to monitor their children’s progress.  Opponents of the new system worry that it has too many problems and isn’t worth the cost.  These complains have largely died down over the past year, however, as the city’s Department of Education has made efforts to resolve technical problems and expand access to more teachers and parents.  The survey also revealed that 56% of principals believe that their staffs have not been adequately trained, 54% reported technical problems, and 26% don’t believe it is a good use of time.  The survey was e-mailed to the city’s 1,497 principals last year, with 315 (21%) responding. Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said the surveys conducted by the city show broader support while boasting almost a 90% response rate.

Study Finds Online Learning Might Be More Effective than Classroom
(New York Times, August 19, 2009)  A recent 93-page report on online education concluded that, “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”  The report examined comparative research from 1996-2008 on online versus traditional classroom teaching.  Of ninety-nine studies used, the majority were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs, though some took place in K-12 settings.  Analysis found that performances of students who had received all or part of a course online ranked in the 59th percentile on average, a statistically significant difference.  While no one expects classroom instruction to disappear anytime soon, the use of online courses is likely to increase.  The effectiveness of online courses has increased with the introduction of web-based video, instant messaging and collaboration tools.  Online courses also enable unique learning programs that can be tailored to individual students’ needs.  The report was conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education.

Two Largest School Systems in Chicago Under Federal Investigation for Corruption
(Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2009)  Federal prosecutors have begun investigating the two largest school systems in Chicago for links between important admissions decisions and political clout.  The University of Chicago is in a similar but separate case.  A report released on Thursday by the Illinois Reform Commission claimed that unqualified students were accepted to the University‘s most elite programs as a result of a “shadow admissions process.”  According to the report, twenty-four politically-connected applicants were admitted in exchange for scholarship money.   State power brokers include disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich and convicted influence dealer Tony Rezko. Three University trustees have already resigned, and the remaining six have been given until September 11 to do so as well.  Separately, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena in late July to Chicago Public School Board President Michael Scott.  The subpoena was part of an investigation to determine if principals at the city’s nine highly-competitive high schools selected students based on clout instead of academic achievement.

California Sees No Gains in Closing Achievement Gap
(San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2009)  California’s achievement gap showed no signs of improvement in 2009, despite more students than ever finishing the school year at or above grade level.  The latest results show that 50% of all students were at least proficient in English, and 46% were proficient in math, representing gains of 4% and 3% respectively.  This was the seventh straight year that the state has made gains on standardized testing.  The problem, however, is that since 2003, the gaps between white students and black or Hispanic students have remained stagnant.  For example, African American students remain, on average, about thirty-one percentage points behind there white counterparts in English.

Startup Enables Users to Donate Unused Gift Cards to Schools
(New York Times, August 20, 2009)  A California based startup called Plastic Jungle allows owners of idle gift cards to exchange their cards for cash or credit with Amazon.com.  While the company generally takes a portion of a card’s value for each transaction, they have recently begun offering the option to donate a card’s full value to DonorsChoose.org.  DonorsChoose is an organization that allows teachers to list their specific needs in hopes of receiving funding.  The goal is to help cash-strapped consumers maintain the ability to be charitable.  Unlike donating through DonorsChoose directly, however, donating through Plastic Jungle is not yet tax deductible.  According to Plastic Jungle, US households have an average $400 in unused gift cards.