NCTAF News Digest:

A Weekly Digest of News Articles & Reports

Thursday, June 19, 2008

In this Issue:

--NCLB Watch

--Two NCTAF States Each Awarded $45K From KnowledgeWorks Foundation

--States Move Toward Uniform Graduation Rate Reporting

--Teacher Salaries: Performance Based, Incentive System for Educators

--22 Assistant Principals Are Latest to Be Fired

--Strickland Aims to Make Education More Personalized

--NCATE Revising Standards on Child-Development Preparation

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.

Two NCTAF States Each Awarded $45,000 from KnowledgeWorks Foundation;

Grant Money Opens Opportunities for South Carolina and West Virginia to Transform Education

WASHINGTON – June 17, 2008 – The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) today announced that two of its partner states have received $45,000 planning grants from KnowledgeWorks Foundation to develop initiatives that transform teaching and learning for the future.

“I applaud these states for their vision to create an education system that prepares all of our children for the uncertainties and possibilities of the emerging world,” said Richard W. Riley, a NCTAF Co-Chair and former U.S. Secretary of Education.  “And I applaud KnowledgeWorks Foundation for their support of this work.  We need leaders like these who can lead the change for American public education.”

The planning grants will support the creation of learning centers that will explore new ways of involving communities in teaching and learning and providing whole child support.

South Carolina’s Inside-Out Learning Center will serve as an incubator in developing new ways of educating the state’s children.  The concept integrates team teaching, looping, community schooling, and other innovative approaches that are all focused on improving student achievement and school performance.

“We can no longer be satisfied with incremental improvement to public education,” said Jim Rex, South Carolina’s State Superintendent of Education.  “We must take bold steps, be innovative, and challenge the status quo.”

Van Dempsey, Dean of Education at Fairmont State University, a partner in West Virginia’s initiative, underscored the importance of community engagement in learning.  “In this changing world, learning is a lifelong process,” said Dempsey.  “We will be building new connectors between communities and their schools so that education can work for all.”

“As West Virginia moves forward with the 21st Century Learning initiative, it is evident that new ways of envisioning schools, the professional roles of teachers, and connections to the community are at the center of our future success,” said Steven L. Paine, the West Virginia Superintendent of Schools.

To view the full press release, click here.

States Move Toward Uniform Graduation Rate Reporting
-USA Today; June, 16, 2008

SEATTLE (AP) — Comparing graduation rates from one state to the next or even one school to another can be as difficult as trying to help your children with their math homework: everyone has their own way of coming up with an answer. That challenge is expected to go away within the next five years, but not without more pain, aggravation and money. U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced in April proposed new rules that would require states to assign each student a unique ID number to facilitate tracking from the time a student enters 9th grade until he graduates or drops out of school. Spellings' call — which mirrors an agreement from the National Governors Association — will force every district to face up to the reality of a more scientific graduation rate, and quit hiding behind more positive estimates. Washington state assigned a unique ID to every student four years ago, so this year's senior class will be the first with four years of data, so the 2008 graduation rate will be based on the method Spellings wants to mandate for all states. State officials don't know if the new method will help or hurt Washington's steady 70% on-time graduation rate, said Joe Willhoft, director of assessment for the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. But, Willhoft adds, the point of the effort is to come up with a number that tells the truth. One of the facts covered up by graduation rate estimates is that only about one half of minorities graduate from high school, while those without a diploma face a bleak future. No Child Left Behind was supposed to focus on the inequalities in the nation's public schools, but has done little to improve graduation rates.

The federal government has offered grants to improve state education departments' data systems, which may be used to pay for a system to track students by unique IDs, said U.S. Education Department spokesman Chad Colby. The federal government gave a total of $62.2 million to 13 states in 2007 for data systems, which can cost millions. New York is also in the process of adopting the new approach, and state officials expect the more accurate numbers will be significantly lower in some cases because many schools used an index that didn't account for students who dropped out in ninth and tenth grades. This "accountability cohort" method is based on the success of students still in the class in October of 11th grade. New Mexico takes it one step further by only counting how many registered 12th graders get their diploma. New York's old method found the graduation for Rochester, N.Y., city schools was 51% for the class that began high school in 2002. The new method provides a 30% graduation rate, according to state Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn, who said the new approach is similar to Spellings proposal. Under No Child Left Behind, states may use their own methods of calculating graduation rates and set their own goals for improving them. Spellings proposal would tighten up what many feel is one of the biggest loopholes of the federal law. Education officials in most states say they've been working for years to move their own accounting from educated guesses to real math. Robert Beecham of the Nebraska Department of Education says his state was the first in the nation to adopt a transitional approach last year. He expects the statewide number won't change, but the interim formula could have more of an impact at the district level. "It's going to get really wacky," Beecham said.

To view the full article, click here.

Teacher Salaries: Performance Based, Incentive System for Educators

-The Salt Lake Tribune; June 16, 2008

Lawmakers and education leaders agree on at least one thing: It's time to rethink the way Utah pays teachers. The question is, will they agree on how to do it? Utah leaders are working to join a nationwide trend toward paying teachers based on performance in the classroom. The idea is to both ease the teacher shortage and improve instruction. It would be a huge change from the current system in which teachers are paid based on years of experience and educational backgrounds. It's a change that could affect instructional quality in Utah - for good or bad, depending on how it's done. "By providing incentives we can get teachers to focus like a laser on student achievement," said Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, who serves in both of the groups working on a new pay system. On the other hand, he said, "if we try to ram something down their throats they don't want, it will backfire." Both the legislative Education Interim Committee and a Utah State Board of Education group composed of lawmakers, education leaders and teachers are working on long-term, state plans to reform pay.  It's a concept a number of states are already using. State leaders say Utah's time for teacher pay reform has come. "Whether we are for or against it, at some point, is largely irrelevant," Larry Shumway, state associate superintendent, told one of the groups recently. "The winds are blowing." No simple solution: So far, over the course of about a month, state leaders have come up with a lot of questions. They'll spend at least another six months searching for answers. For example, should school districts reward teachers based on their students' test scores, their evaluations, or less tangible qualities such as teaching style and teamwork?  Should districts reward individual teachers or entire school staffs? How much money is enough to make a difference?

Robert Stonehill, chief program officer for Learning Point Associates which operates centers nationwide, and an expert on performance pay, said some past programs in other parts of the country have struggled for three main reasons: They were based mainly on subjective teacher evaluations by administrators; the rewards were too small to matter; or they were poorly designed and underfunded, pitting teacher against teacher. Many Utah teachers are concerned a new pay program here would create more problems than it would solve. They worry about basing pay on test scores. "You get a whole different mix of children each year," said Kevin Ball, a sixth-grade teacher at Rosamond Elementary School with 30 years of experience. "I can't think of a fair way they could try and make a pay system like that work." State leaders are still trying to decide how much of Utah's program might be based on test scores and what kind of test scores to consider. Stonehill said Utah might want to look to Minnesota's pay plan. That plan allows districts to design their own programs, and student academic achievement and progress account for only 60 percent of pay increases. Teachers get the rest of their money based on their responsibilities, professional development and other evaluations. Stonehill said some other modern pay programs, such as the one in Denver, seem to have helped schools fill hard-to-staff positions. Emily Jackson, a second-grade teacher at Sandy's Altara Elementary School, said she wouldn't want to see a pay system based on test scores because some teachers have students with highly educated, involved parents while others don't.  But Jackson, who just finished her third year of teaching, said she'd favor pay for performance based on other factors.

To view the full article, click here.

22 Assistant Principals Are Latest to Be Fired

-The Washington Post; June 19, 2008

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee fired 22 assistant principals this week, her second round of school administrative terminations, which came about a month after her dismissal of 24 principals. Rhee, who previously said some of the principals were dismissed because she differed on the direction in which they were taking the schools, offered no reason for firing the assistant principals. Although the administrative leaders work on year-to-year contracts and can be fired without cause under D.C. law, an official with the principals union said the action appears to violate the contract because many of the assistant principals were not given a required evaluation.  In March, after the D.C. Council gave Rhee the authority to reclassify hundreds of employees in the central office, she fired 98 people. Last fall, when Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) sought the reclassification, Rhee said she wanted the same authority to fire ineffective teachers. Mafara Hobson, Rhee's spokeswoman, wrote yesterday in an e-mail: "Both principals and assistant principals serve at the will of the chancellor. The decisions were made based on the chancellor's consultation with principals and instructional superintendents." Hobson said 22 of 60 assistant principals were dismissed. She declined to elaborate, citing personnel policies.

Aona Jefferson, executive vice president of the Council of School Officers, the union representing principals and assistant principals, said 46 dismissals surpass the number of administrative leaders let go during any year in the past."They were given no evaluation in some cases," an apparent violation of the contract, Jefferson said, adding that the union has filed a class-action grievance against Rhee."All persons have the right to know why they were not reappointed and on what basis were the decisions made," Jefferson said. "These appear to be random, arbitrary, political, discriminatory and personal in nature." Rhee has not responded to two requests the union made last month seeking information on the principal firings, Jefferson said. Rhee's letter, which the assistant principals received Tuesday and yesterday, said in part: "I'm writing to provide you with notice of my decision not to reappoint you to the position of assistant principal with the District of Columbia Public Schools for the 2008-09 school year. The action is effective at the close of business on June 30, 2008." The letter said the assistant principals are to perform their duties until June 30, when they will be required to vacate their offices and surrender school property to instructional superintendents.

Assistant principals have gone "beyond the call of duty and this is the thanks they get," Jefferson said.

To view the full article, click here.

Strickland Aims to Make Education More Personalized

-The Columbus Dispatch; June 18, 2008

Gov. Ted Strickland wants a more flexible and personalized system of public schools where students are encouraged to be more creative and innovative.“Because we have become scared and frightened that we have fallen behind, there has been a tendency to emphasize sameness in curriculum,” Strickland said. “We are trying to force some students into a mold, and we perhaps neglect to appreciate or understand the full array of abilities and potentials that exist within a student.” Strickland is hosting a three-day summit in Columbus starting Thursday to promote a new classroom environment, one that is more adaptable and less focused on high-stakes testing, a system he believes will help Ohio graduates succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. The Governor's Institute for Creativity & Innovation in Education will bring teachers and education advocates together to share ideas and come up with new ones. “It is an attempt … to talk about how we can have a system of education that does in fact encourage and foster creativity and innovation,” Strickland said. The governor downplayed any connection between the conference and the education plan he expects to unveil early next year, saying it was possible that ideas generated this week could be a part of his broader proposal, which is to include both funding and academic reforms.

Among Strickland's goals for the conference is to promote greater recognition of how individual students learn differently. It's a belief, he said, he shares with first lady Frances Strickland, who also is participating. “No two children are alike,” the governor said. “Every child has strengths, and our education system should emphasize an individualized approach that will make it possible for a student to have his or her strengths utilized.” Strickland supports a “personalized education program” that identifies how each student learns and what teaching methods best apply. Such an approach, he said, would empower teachers and school administrators, engage students and lead to what he sees as a more “balanced” system. “I have for a very long time felt strongly that there are certain trends in education that are leading to the homogenization of education,” he said. “I think it can be seen in some of the curriculum decisions that are being made where the arts are sometimes considered of lesser importance and where at a time we are facing an increased problem with obesity in children and ill health with the general population, we are eliminating physical education.” Strickland said he supports student assessments and testing to keep schools accountable but that they cannot be the sole emphasis of school. Lisa Zellner, spokeswoman for the Ohio Federation of Teachers union, said teachers have not had the opportunity to share ideas on a statewide level. “It's about finding new ways to give a good look and feel so it's interesting to students,” she said.

To view the full article, click here.

NCATE Revising Standards on Child-Development Preparation

-Education Week; June 13, 2008

An expert panel is drafting recommendations for how teacher colleges can craft courses and curricula so that future educators have a stronger understanding of how children develop emotionally and psychologically, from the early grades through high school. The group, which met for the first time last month, was convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, an organization that accredits schools of education. Its work is the outgrowth of a collaboration between NCATE and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, or NICHD, part of the National Institutes of Health. The panel is expected to produce recommendations on how colleges can better incorporate child-development training into their teacher education programs. It will also make suggestions on how NCATE can revise its standards for accrediting teacher colleges to meet that goal. NCATE, based in Washington, accredits about 650 teacher-training programs, which the organization estimates produce more than two-thirds of the nation’s new teachers each year. The premise underlying the panel’s work is that teachers and school administrators can have a more positive influence on student learning if they have a stronger grasp of the cognitive, psychological, physical, social, and other factors that guide students’ development—and are able to use those insights to shape classroom lessons.

But many teacher colleges struggle to prepare future educators for that work, the panelists say. A report released last year by NCATE and the NICHD found that those colleges tend to focus heavily on developing future teachers’ academic-content knowledge—an area widely regarded as crucial in teacher preparation—and relatively little on child development. Many of the courses, child-development textbooks, and materials used in teacher education classes also are not geared to the needs of K-12 educators, it concluded. ("Teacher Colleges Urged to Pay Heed to Child Development," May 2, 2007.) In addition, the child-development courses that aspiring teachers take in schools of education tend to be taught by faculty members from universities’ departments of psychology or human development, who, while having deep expertise in those fields, may not have any experience in K-12 settings, NCATE President Arthur E. Wise said in an interview. “Most mental-health professionals are being prepared to work one-on-one with clients,” he said. “Teachers need to be prepared to work one-on-many.”

To view the full article, click here.