NCTAF News Digest:

A Weekly Digest of News Articles & Reports

Thursday, June 12, 2008

In this Issue:

--NCLB Watch

--Teachers Achieving "Highly Qualified" Status on the Rise

--Report: Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Advanced-Level Certification Programs

--2008 Enrollment in U.S. Expected to Set Record

--Editorial: Too Many Obstacles Block Nonteachers From Education

--Students Likely to Fail High School Exit Exam Can Be Identified as Early as 4th Grade, Study Says

--Teachers: Give us Better Tech Training, Support

Greetings,

This is the NCTAF News Digest, a timely news service provided to our partner states, commissioners, and the education policy community. This Digest is for the personal educational use of the recipient. At publication time, all links were active. Some publications may require free registration. You may wish to bookmark links for future reference.

Teachers Achieving "Highly Qualified" Status on the Rise

-Education Week; June 11, 2008

Teachers meeting the “highly qualified” standard their states set were teaching core subjects in 94 percent of the nation’s classrooms in the 2006-07 school year, but poorer schools were still less likely than their wealthier counterparts to employ them.That year, 96 percent of core-subject classes in low-poverty schools were taught by highly qualified teachers, compared with 91 percent in high-poverty schools, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which recently released the data that states are required to submit to the federal agency. In some states, the gap was glaring. In Maryland, 95 percent of elementary classes in low-poverty schools were staffed with highly qualified teachers, compared with only 66 percent in poorer schools. But the overall picture showed progress. According to the data, there was an increase of 7 percentage points in the total number of highly qualified teachers nationwide who were teaching core-subject classes since 2003-04. The “highly qualified” teacher requirement is a provision of the 6-year-old No Child Left Behind Act. All states must report annually the percentage of core-subject classes taught by highly qualified teachers and break down the numbers for classes in high-poverty and low-poverty schools. Only one state—North Dakota—met last year’s deadline to have highly qualified teachers in 100 percent of its core-subject classes.

But Amanda Farris, the deputy assistant secretary of the office of elementary and secondary education at the federal Education Department, said officials are satisfied other states are making good progress. “We are pleased to see everyone well on the way to having teachers who are highly qualified,” she said. Further, she said, states are doing a better job of reporting data. Education observers are worried, however, about the significant disparities between poorer and wealthier schools. “When we look at the high-poverty urban and rural settings, we still see a significant gap in the allocation of highly qualified teachers,” said Tom Carroll, the president of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a research and advocacy group based in Washington. Mr. Carroll called for a report on the distribution of highly qualified teachers by student demographics, including ethnicity and family-income level. “If we were to see that report, we would see a starkly different allocation of teaching quality that would leave us concerned about whether we were allocating teachers effectively to close the gap,” he added.

To view the full article, click here.

Report: Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Advanced-Level Certification Programs
-The National Research Council of the National Academies; June, 11, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Advanced certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is an effective way to identify highly skilled teachers, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council.  Students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers make greater gains on achievement tests than students taught by teachers who are not board-certified, says the report.  However, it is unclear whether the certification process itself leads to higher quality teaching."Earning NBPTS certification is a useful 'signal' that a teacher is effective in the classroom," said Milton Hakel, Ohio Board of Regents' Eminent Scholar in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Bowling Green State University, and chair of the committee that wrote the report.  "But we don't know whether the certification process itself makes teachers more effective -- as they become familiar with the standards and complete the assessment -- or if high-quality teachers are attracted to the certification process."

The report recommends further research to investigate that question, as well as to determine whether NBPTS certification is having broader effects on the educational system, beyond individual classrooms.  Studies so far suggest that many school systems are not supporting or making the best use of their board-certified teachers.

Created in 1987, the nonprofit National Board for Professional Teaching Standards developed standards for what effective teachers should know and be able to do, along with a process to evaluate whether individual teachers meet these criteria.  To earn certification, a teacher must complete six computer-based exercises and assemble a portfolio that shows how his or her teaching meets the standards. From 1993 through 2007, 99,300 teachers applied for NBPTS certification, and 63,800 earned the credential.  Overall, that means that there are three board-certified teachers for every five schools in the U.S., though participation rates vary widely by district and state.  Not surprisingly, states that provide incentives to board-certified teachers have higher numbers of teachers who pursue certification.

To view the full press release, click here.

To download the executive summary, click here.

2008 Enrollment In U.S. Expected To Set Record

-The Washington Post; June 9, 2008

Public school enrollment across the country will hit a record high this year with just under 50 million students, and the student population is becoming more diverse in large part because of growth in the Latino population, according to a new federal report. Nationwide, about 20 percent of students were Hispanic in 2006, the latest year for which figures were available for ethnic groups, up from 11 percent in the late 1980s. That trend is reflected in many Washington area schools. In Fairfax County, about 17 percent of students are Hispanic, jumping from about 4 percent two decades ago. Overall, about 43 percent of the nation's students are minorities, according to the Condition of Education, a congressionally mandated annual look at enrollment and performance trends in schools and colleges. Educators and activists, pointing to the shifting demographics, say it is becoming urgent to find ways to boost achievement of minority and low-income students, who often lag behind white and middle- to upper-income peers. "Latino students have long underperformed versus Anglo students and they are continuing to underperform," said Peter Zamora, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "When Latino students were a small percentage of the population, this maybe didn't need to be a significant concern of policymakers. But when one out of five students is Hispanic, this isn't a Latino issue, this is an American issue."

According to the report, which drew on data from local school systems, colleges and national and international exams, dropout rates among whites, blacks and Hispanics are lower than in 1972. But Hispanic and black students are still more likely than white students to fail to complete high school. The report also examined academic achievement. On a nationwide math exam, scores of fourth- and eighth-graders rose from 1990 to 2007. The achievement gap between black fourth-graders and their white peers narrowed, but it was unchanged among eighth-graders. The achievement gap between white and Hispanic students in both grades stayed about the same.  "We still just have unacceptable gaps in achievement," said Barbara Kapinus, senior policy analyst for the National Education Association. Federal officials say the No Child Left Behind law is helping schools focus on gaps as never before because it aims for all students to hit grade-level targets in reading and math. But Kapinus said too many schools and students lack the money for the latest technology and other resources. "We just feel like we're not paying attention to what kids have access to in our schools. Everybody is talking about rigor, but it's not just about rigor," Kapinus said.

To view the full article, click here.

Editorial: Too Many Obstacles Block Nonteachers From Education

-The Patriot News; June 6, 2008

Retirements are increasing from a baby boomer generation of teachers and others in the state's public education system, taking with them years of invaluable classroom experience. As many as 12,000 retirements are expected this year alone by the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System, while the Pennsylvania State Education Association says 30 percent of the state's teachers -- there were more than 123,000 in the profession as of 2005-06 -- are within five years of their normal retirement age.  Officials of several midstate school districts say colleges are producing enough capable graduates and that many are more sophisticated in technology and other modern education than prior generations. But short ages exist in key subjects such as math, language, physics and chemistry -- skills needed by employers and ones that likely are going to become even more crucial in the future. There also continues to be a lack of minorities going into teaching, an issue that urban districts in particular are finding challenging. The Harrisburg School District, for example, had a 94.7 percent minority student population last year, but only 23 percent of its teachers represented minorities.

There is much to be said for teacher training and majoring in education in terms of one's ability to be effective in the classroom. But the retirement wave on top of shortages of teachers in certain subject areas and the dearth of minorities reinforce the need to revisit federal and state certification requirements that have been tightened in recent years under the No Child Left Behind Act and Pennsylvania's Teachers for the 21st Century Initiative. Although perhaps well-intentioned, they have presented huge obstacles for nonteaching professionals looking to make a career change and who have much to offer students. Prior to No Child Left Behind, a school district would take a person with an MBA and a background conducive to teaching math, economics or business, put him or her in the classroom immediately and have the individual work toward completing a list of courses needed for teaching certification. Now, the certification must come first, meaning the applicant would likely have to bear the financial hardship of quitting his or her job while taking classes.  They do have the option of taking and passing the national teachers exam, something Mark Holman, director of human resources for the Harrisburg School District, has compared to "trying to pass the bar exam before going to law school."

To view the full article, click here.

Students Likely to Fail High School Exit Exam Can Be Identified as Early as 4th Grade, Study Says

-Los Angeles Times; June 11, 2008

As early as fourth grade, students who will be at risk of failing the high school exit exam -- a state requirement to earn a diploma -- can be identified based on grades, classroom behavior and test scores, according to a new study released Tuesday.
The findings, based on an extensive study of student achievement in San Diego schools, call into question the effectiveness of aiming significant efforts and tens of millions of dollars at struggling high school seniors and older students to help them pass the exam."From a political standpoint, such spending seems necessary. However, our results strongly suggest that these 11th-hour interventions by themselves are unlikely to yield the intended results," according to the report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Instead, the authors suggested, "moving a portion of these tutoring dollars to struggling students in earlier grades -- when the students are still in school -- could be a wise choice. An ounce of prevention could indeed be worth a pound of cure." Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara), who wrote legislation that provides more than $72 million annually for two years to tutor seniors who couldn't pass the exam, said it would be unfair to reduce support for older students to pay for increased support for younger ones. "I suppose they should sit down with the parents of these kids who are looking at failing the [exit] exam and persuade these parents that they don't need the money," Nava said. "Inherent in the conclusion of the report is that education needs help at all levels. We shouldn't be put in a position where we are pitting the outcomes of seniors against the future of preschoolers. That makes no sense." State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said school districts ought to have greater flexibility in how they spend such funds. "We need to have comprehensive intervention and not wait till 12th grade," he said.

To view the full article, click here.

To view the report, click here.

Teachers: Give us Better Tech Training, Support

-eSchoolNews.com; June 11, 2008

After more than decade of investment in school technology, educators say they still don't feel adequately prepared to integrate instructional software into their classrooms and aren't getting the technical support they need to fully impact student achievement, according to a joint study by the nation's two largest teacher unions.  Released June 10 by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the study--called Access, Adequacy, and Equity in Education Technology--examines the state of educational technology resources and support in public schools across the country, as reported by classroom teachers and instructional assistants. Although they often have access to computers and the internet in their classrooms, many teachers don't feel adequately prepared to use technology to enhance their lessons, the report suggests. What's more, many teachers in urban schools say they have insufficient or outdated equipment and software. "Teachers and students should have the same level of technology in schools that is being used outside of schools. How can we expect our teachers to provide kids with the education they need to join today's high-tech workforce without the necessary equipment and training?" asked NEA President Reg Weaver.

The report shows that most educators use technology for administrative tasks, but substantially fewer use it for instruction. Although most educators believe that technology is essential to teaching and learning, they are less likely to use technology when the technology is outdated and has not been maintained.  Educators also say they would like better support and technical assistance for using both software and hardware, especially in urban schools. "When you see the overall condition of many of our schools and the support they receive, it is really not surprising that so many schools are lagging in technology," said AFT President Edward J. McElroy. "This is just one more indicator that policy makers need to set a much higher value on supporting our public schools and our students."More than half of the educators surveyed said they had no more than two computers available for students' use in their classroom--and fewer than half mentioned their classroom as the main location where students work on computers for class assignments. Elementary-level teachers have more computers inside their classroom for student use, but they are less likely to be satisfied with the software for their students and are less likely to have high-speed internet access in their classroom, according to the study. Although three out of five educators said their districts require them to take part in technology training, respondents indicated their training has been more effective for non-instructional tasks, such as how to use the internet for research and how to use administrative software. Only 46 percent of educators believe they were adequately trained to integrate technology into their instruction.

To view the full article, click here.