IASP News: Topics in Education
Below are
some articles, etc. dealing with education across the nation. Click
on the logo to go to the Indiana Assocication of School Principals website. Thanks to Steve Heck for these articles and links.
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SCHOOLS
CAN'T BE RATED LIKE LAUNDRY DETERGENT
MOST VOUCHER SCHOOLS ARE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
PARENTS WAIT IN COLD TO REGISTER THEIR KIDS FOR PUBLIC
SCHOOL
FLORIDA'S LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT GETS FAILING GRADE
FROM PRINCIPALS
MANY SCHOOLS BUILT NEAR TOXIC SITES
STUDENTS AND SCHOOL CELL PHONE RULES
BUILDING CIVIC CAPACITY: THE POLITICS OF REFORMING
URBAN SCHOOLS
OUTSTANDING TEACHER SKILLS LINKED TO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
TUNNEL VISION & TEACHER TRAINING
EDUCATION EXPERTS DIG IN ON TEST DATA
HIGH SCHOOL AT ATTENTION
TOP TEN EDUCATION QUOTES OF 2001
TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO GIVE THE MAN WHAT HE WANTS
SCHOOLS CAN'T BE RATED LIKE LAUNDRY DETERGENT
In America, you can't be too rich, too thin or have too much data. But according to author and activist Alfie Kohn, the new fad of reducing schools to numbers isn't as sensible as it may seem. According to this brief article, testing is expensive, invites misleading comparisons, and equates improvements in student learning too closely with increased standardized test scores.
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MOST VOUCHER SCHOOLS ARE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
Virtually all Cleveland children who receive taxpayer-supported vouchers this school year use them to pay for tuition at religious schools, according to a new study. All but 25 of 4,202 voucher students--99.4 percent--attend a religious school, according to an analysis of the latest state figures. In 1996--the program's first year--about 77 percent attended religious schools. Voucher foes want to bring those figures to the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears arguments on it Feb. 20. Both sides describe the case as a potential landmark decision in church-state law. A ruling is expected in June. Some activists argue that the Cleveland program--the first to permit public dollars to go for a religious education--is unconstitutional because it is a public subsidy of religion and that the only real choice parents have is to send their child to a religious school.
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PARENTS WAIT IN COLD TO REGISTER THEIR KIDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL
Two dozen parents stood in line outside the District's only public bilingual elementary school yesterday afternoon--six days before the school was to begin accepting applications to enroll children who live outside the neighborhood. Several of the parents wore ski hats and parkas, and some had rented minivans so they would have a place to sleep. The campout at J.F. Oyster Bilingual Elementary has become an annual ritual, each year sparking complaints from parents and activists who say that the first-come, first-served system is unfair to those who cannot wait in line because of jobs and family obligations.
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FLORIDA'S LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT GETS FAILING GRADE
FROM PRINCIPALS
Miami-Dade County public school principals overwhelmingly believe the district is riddled by cronyism, incompetence and political interference from the School Board, according to a new survey of more than 320 administrators. Superintendent Merrett Stierheim called the numbers ``explosive." Eighty-four percent of principals believe the system does not ``weed out bad or marginal employees." Eighty-seven percent think ``promotions have been influenced by cronyism/nepotism.'' Sixty-nine percent think teacher hiring has been similarly tainted. Seventy-nine percent do not think ``decisions concerning the selection of administrative positions are based on the qualifications and competencies of the individual." And, revealing a pervasive sense of low morale, 79 percent said the district does not communicate ``openly and honestly with its employees,'' and 70 percent said they do not ``trust the district to behave with fairness and integrity in dealing with staff.''
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MANY SCHOOLS BUILT NEAR TOXIC SITES
Hundreds of thousands of children throughout the country are attending schools that were built on or near toxic waste sites, putting them at increased risk of developing asthma, cancer, learning disorders and other diseases linked to environmental pollutants, according to a new study. The report found that most states and public school systems lack environmental standards for selecting school construction sites. Instead, school projects are regulated only by local land-use laws, which the report called haphazard when it comes to evaluating environmental hazards. Consequently, the report said, many cash-strapped systems have opted to build on relatively cheap land on or near toxic waste sites.
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STUDENTS AND SCHOOL CELL PHONE RULES
Students finish their exams, step outside and pull out their cell phones to call for a ride home. "Put them away! Put them away!" an administrator shouts as a half-dozen students quickly turn off their phones and stash them in their backpacks and pockets. Cell phones are now allowed at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in suburban Chicago and a growing number of schools nationwide--but only sometimes. Many students say rules about when they can use cell phones are confusing and inconsistent.
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BUILDING CIVIC CAPACITY: THE POLITICS OF REFORMING URBAN SCHOOLS
The authors of this interesting new book argue that urban education is in urgent need of reform and that, although there have been plenty of innovative and even promising attempts to improve conditions, most have been doomed. The reason for this, they agree, lies in the failure of our major cities to develop their "civic capacity"--the ability to build and maintain a broad social and political coalition across all sectors of the urban community in pursuit of a common goal. Conservative pundit, Chester E. Finn, Jr., argues in the linked review that broad consensus and civic participation are good ideas, but that real educational improvement will require communities to do more than build vague notions of consensus.
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OUTSTANDING TEACHER SKILLS LINKED TO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Student achievement in reading, writing and English is higher among middle and high school students in response to skills their teachers possess. Researcher Judith Langer of the University at Albany, State University of New York and her team compared student performance in 25 schools, some of which demonstrated higher literacy achievement levels than their demographically comparable counterparts. After evaluating 88 classes in Florida, New York, California and Texas over a period of two years each, the SUNY researchers show that students who achieve at a higher level of
literacy than might be expected, benefit from their teachers' skills in classroom instruction. Read about six approaches that contribute to achievement, regardless of a school's characteristics or demographics.
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TUNNEL VISION & TEACHER TRAINING
Let's be frank: America's best and brightest are not lining up to teach in the public schools, particularly not our most needy public schools. Rather than finding ways to make the profession more attractive--including easing bureaucratic barriers--policymakers seem determined to make entry more frustrating. According to a new report by Frederick Hess: If more people apply for teaching jobs, the competition for those jobs increases and so, eventually, will the quality of applicants.
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EDUCATION EXPERTS DIG IN ON TEST DATA
The recently approved federal education law that requires an unprecedented amount of testing in U.S. schools leaves educators with a dilemma. How do they interpret the data fairly and in a way that sheds light on how a teacher's effectiveness impacts student achievement? The answer, say two experts is to take a nontraditional approach to evaluating test data called "value-added assessment." The tool generally allows educators to analyze individual student scores over a period of time, paying close attention to the amount of growth in their test scores. That growth is important because while a school's raw scores may be low, its staff may be doing a good job of taking students who come to them at low achievement levels and moving them forward.
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In Chicago and across the country, educators are taking a controversial new step. Their aim: to bring order to dangerous, unruly public schools and coherence to chaotic lives. The experiment: military rule. Does the military model lead to quality learning, discipline, and self-respect? Or does it lead kids into the military and away from college?
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TOP TEN EDUCATION QUOTES OF 2001
This year, Education Intelligence Agency chose their best "Quotes of the Week" and ranked them. The winner was Gay Campbell, the director of communications of the Everett School District in Washington State. Ms. Campbell asked attendees of the National School Public Relations Association conference in Minneapolis on July 10 to list a school district's natural allies when trying to pass a levy. When one participant responded with "parents," Ms. Campbell disagreed, saying that one should never assume their support. "Parents are some of the worst enemies we have," said Ms. Campbell, ensuring her place at the top of the list.
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TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO GIVE THE MAN WHAT HE WANTS
"I want my kids to do well on our state test," teacher Ellen Berg writes. "I do not want my kids to do well on the test for me, their school, or the district, but for themselves. They are so beaten down under the opinions of people who have no understanding of the challenges they face, who believe they are lazy, stupid, or criminals." But as Ellen reviews some of her students' test results, she remarks: "I am frustrated because my students showed they understood the text completely, yet most of them did poorly on the assessment simply because they did not answer in a particular way. Now I am faced with spending valuable class time teaching them how to smile and nod and give 'the man' what he wants..."
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