Education News for 01-06-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Monroe school board sends treasurer complaint to state officials (Middletown Journal)

    • MONROE — The Monroe Board of Education submitted a letter of professional misconduct to the Ohio Department of Education’s office of professional conduct on Tuesday detailing the actions of former treasurer Kelley Thorpe. The 55-page document was filed by the district’s attorney, Bill Deters, and it stated that the reason why Thorpe was being reported was “the employee has engaged or may have engaged in conduct unbecoming to the teaching profession.” Read More…

  • Facebook video puts bullying in the spotlight (Journal-News)

    • ROSS TWP. — When the week began, Ross High School senior CourtneyLyn Bacher was on the brink of suicide for the years of bullying that she’s had to endure. But now, she’s a girl on a mission, determined to bring bullying to light, even if it means putting her own problems in the public light. The difference is a tearful six-minute video she made in the early hours of Tuesday and posted to her Facebook account. Read More…

  • Students learn with donated iPads (Beacon Journal)

    • GREEN - Teaching grade-schoolers to speak Mandarin might not be difficult in Asia, but in America, the challenge is daunting. But the students in J.T. Kuzior’s Green Primary School third-grade classroom are doing just that, using a computer application that helps them learn the language. Thanks to a local businessman, the nearly 1,000 students at the school in grades 1-3 are getting foreign language instructions and lessons in other subjects twice each week using the latest technology. Read More…

Local Issues

  • Clear Fork schools propose more than 100 budget fixes (News-Journal)

    • BELLVILLE - Clear Fork school board members are considering an array of proposals to bring the district's budget in line -- including cuts to programs, services and staff. Clear Fork Valley Local Schools Board of Education presented more than 100 possible ideas Thursday to raise revenues and reduce costs. The list was created with input from teachers and administrators. Board members asked the public to offer additional feedback. Read More…

  • Cleveland School Closing Due to Safety Concerns (WJW 8 FOX)

    • CLEVELAND—Almira at the Nathaniel Hawthorne School is shutting its doors because of safety concerns for students and staff, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced Thursday. "During a routine inspection of the Nathaniel Hawthorne building, the current swing-site location of Almira students and staff, a custodian noticed that two structural support beams were deteriorating. Read More…

  • Mock interviews prepare students for real world (Journal-News)

    • FAIRFIELD — Job interviews some local teens took Thursday may not have been the genuine article, but they gave the kids a taste of the “real world” regardless. Members of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce conducted mock job interviews with several students throughout the week to give Fairfield High School students an idea of what to look out for when they begin to pound the pavement looking for a real job. Read More…

  • Van Buren teachers issue second no confidence vote (Courier)

    • VAN BUREN - Teachers represented by the Van Buren Education Association told the school board Thursday that the association has adopted a vote of no confidence in Van Buren Superintendent Tim Myers. "Superintendent Myers has participated in enacting the implementation of the board of education's last, best and final offer upon members of the Van Buren Education Association, rather than negotiate a mutually agreed-upon contract," Jennifer Obenour, a Van Buren teacher, told the board. Read More…

Editorial

  • Don’t leave kids behind in ‘Race’ (Tribune Chronicle)

    • Kindergarten really isn't the beginning of a youngster's education. Children begin learning from birth, at home and through avenues other than formal education. That means some are better prepared than others to begin school. Those who enter kindergarten and first grade without adequate preparation too often fall behind classmates and never catch up. During the past decade or so, educators have come to understand their work needs to begin before kindergarten, sometimes as early as age 3 in pre-school programs. Ohio has a reasonably widespread network of such facilities, certified by the state Department of Education. Read More…

  • Schools of choice (Beacon Journal)

    • The Akron school district is making an aggressive effort to draw families back into the city school system. John Higgins, a Beacon Journal staff writer, described Thursday the recruiting campaign aimed at 6,000 homes where students have left or are likely to opt out of the district. Advocates of school choice would contend, with some justification, that the enrollment campaign in itself reflects a positive effect of competition in the school market, as the district is forced to fight harder to retain students and state funding. Read More…

Education News for 01-05-2012

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National Stories of the Day

  • Both Sides Hang Tough on Teacher Evaluations - New York Times

    • When it comes to labor issues, it is often difficult to tell what is really going on. Negotiations are often a game of chicken, with each side holding firm and acting tough — until one side pulls the brake or jumps to safety. In the case of the city’s Education Department and the United Federation of Teachers, it appears, from the outside, that both sides are determined to sail off the cliff. Read More…

Local Issues

  • Akron Public Schools try to win back students - Akron Beacon Journal

    • Leggett elementary, located a few blocks from the Summit County Jail, serves some of the poorest kids in Akron. The school boasts an “Effective” rating on the latest state report cards and a new school building, but Principal Philomena Vincente still faces competition from charter schools. Read More…

  • Dayton Schools hope to avoid $12M deficit – Dayton Daily News

    • Dayton Public School officials are trying to determine whether to put a property tax levy on the November ballot to avoid a projected $12 million deficit in 2014. The school board’s new president, Ronald Lee, said Wednesday that “later this year is a possibility” for a levy. Read More…

  • CPS cited for fire code violations – Cincinnati Enquirer

    • The Cincinnati Fire Department cited Cincinnati Public Schools for numerous safety code violations following a Dec. 26 fire at the vacant building that used to house Quebec Heights School. Fire Chief Ronald Coldiron noted in the citation that the “current condition of the premises presents a hazard to the public and safety personnel.” Read More…

Education News for 01-04-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Financial and academic changes bring uncertainty to area districts (Marion Star)

    • MARION - As area school districts look ahead, it's likely to be all about the money. Included in that is how much they can expect to get under a new school funding method expected to be released early this year. There also will be continued talk of doing more with what they have. School officials started 2011 waiting to see what state funding there would be in the future. Among changes with incoming Gov. John Kasich was the phase-out of reimbursements that school districts were receiving in place of tangible personal property tax. Read More…

Local Issues

  • Bucyrus school alters program (News-Journal)

    • BUCYRUS - Rewarding students who achieve high marks and attend class has long been practiced by area schools. One of those schools is Bucyrus High School, which has tweaked its program. In the past, top students based on grades, behavior and attendance received Gold Cards -- exempting them from taking exams. But there was a drawback to that plan. Some students had not taken any exams before heading off to college, hurting their test-taking skills. Read More…

  • Workshop to take on bullying (Dispatch)

    • Starting in February, local schools will have another tool for dealing with bullies: family Saturday school. “If you’re a bully, and we suspend you for five to 10 days, when you come back, you’re still going to be a bully,” said Rich Playko, who oversees student services for Groveport Madison schools. “We’ve done nothing to change the behavior.” The district plans to send first-time offenders to the workshop. It won’t be mandatory, but students who attend with their parents can reduce the length of their suspension. Read More…

Editorial

  • Take time to develop school plan (Tribune Chronicle)

    • Allocating funds among hundreds of school districts to ensure all provide the "thorough and efficient" education required by the state constitution is easier said than done, as Ohio Gov. John Kasich is learning. Soon after taking office, Kasich pledged to overhaul the state formula for funding public schools. By January a plan would be in place, the governor thought. He was wrong. His advisers say the January deadline was a self-imposed one that won't be met. Better to get it right than to get it on time, they add. Read More…

Where the GOP Presidential candidates stand on education

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With congress unable to pass any meaningful legislation, the executive branch has wielded ever greater power in the education policy setting realm, most notably using Race to the Top to bribe cash strapped states to compete with each other in a race to implement all manner of unproven education reforms.

No doubt then, whomever wins the voters approval this coming November to become President, will have a large impact on public education and education policy for at least the next 4 years.

So it is, that tonight is the first step in selecting the next President, the Iowa caucuses. Where members of the Iowa Republican party will select their preferred candidate to face President Obama in November. (the Democrats will select a candidate too, but President Obama is unchallenged). For how this caucus works, the Desmoines Register has a handy guide.

We thought it would be useful to provide a guide on what each of the main GOP Presidential candidates have put forth as their education agenda.

Mitt Romney

A quick look at Mitt Romney's campaign website reveals that education isn't a priority. Under his issues tab he lists only jobs, healthcare and foreign policy. We have to turn to third party reporting then to discern his intentions. A reading of various articles reveals a candidate who falls in the corporate education reform camp. More testing, teachers with less influence, pay for test results. While he once supported the abolition of the Department of Education, he has since changed that stance.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul does feature education on his campaign website.

Ron Paul works towards the elimination of the inefficient Department of Education, leaving education decisions to be made at the state, local or personal level. Parents should have the right to spend their money on the school or method of schooling they deem appropriate for their children.

It was arduous researching into Ron Paul's political positions as one quickly descends in to a carnival of the bizarre. This post sums up the problem quite well.

Rick Perry

Like Mitt Romney, Rick Perry doesn't feature education among his list of issues on his website, but he does feature some education policy on his Gubernatorial website

Education reform has been a top priority for Governor Perry during his 20 years of public service. He has worked to raise the overall quality of education in Texas by aligning the higher education standards more closely with the needs of business, balancing accountability with incentives for teacher and school performance and increasing the emphasis on core subject areas like math, reading and science.

One of the most memorable policy positions Rick Perry has put forth has been his desire to abolish the Department of Education

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum doesn't have any education policy listed on his campaign website. This seems to be an evolving theme of the Republican candidates, and one we find troubling.

Perhaps his largest contribution to education policy was the "Santorum Amendment", which Wikipedia describes as follows

The Santorum Amendment was an amendment to the 2001 education funding bill which became known as the No Child Left Behind Act, proposed by then-Republican United States Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania, which promotes the teaching of intelligent design while questioning the academic standing of evolution in U.S. public schools. Though the amendment only survives in modified form in the Bill's Conference Report and does not carry the weight of law, as one of the Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns it became a cornerstone in the intelligent design movement's "Teach the Controversy" campaign.

Santorum is another Republican who believes in a limited role in education for the Federal government.

On Friday, he said people often ask what he would do at a federal level to promote his education ideas.

"I say darn little, other than talking about it. One of the things a president can do and it's important for a president to do is lead a discussion about important things in America," Santorum said.

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich features a very lengthy policy list related to education on his campaign website. The bullet points include

  • Empower parents to pick the right school for their child.
  • Institute a Pell Grant-style system for Kindergarten through 12th Grade.

  • Require transparency and accountability about achievement.
  • Implement a “no limits” charter system.

  • Establish a pay for performance system.
  • Welcome business talent in our communities into the classroom. 
Restore American history and values into the classroom.
  • Protect the rights of home-schooled children 
Encourage states to think outside outdated boundaries of education.
  • Shrink the federal Department of Education

Those are the positions, as best as we could discern, of each of the current top tier candidates in the GOP primary as they head in to tonight's Iowa caucus. According to the reputable polling prognosticator, 538, here's the current polling state of play

Education News for 01-03-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Commission continues its work on Youngstown schools' academic recovery (Vindicator)

    • Youngstown - There’s no set time line for development of a new academic recovery plan for the city school district. “As much as I would like to have it soon, it’s more important to do it well,” said Richard Ross, chairman of the newly organized Youngstown City Schools Academic Distress Commission. Superintendent Connie Hathorn said the district will continue to work to move forward while the next version of the plan is developed. Ross was appointed to the academic distress commission in November by Stan Heffner, state superintendent of public instruction. Read More…

  • Literacy today means more than reading, writing and a high school diploma, report says (Plain Dealer)

    • CLEVELAND - Traditionally, being literate has meant being able to read and write. That definition is too narrow for today's economy, according to the Literacy Cooperative, an umbrella group helping to guide and inform many of the scattered literacy efforts in Northeast Ohio. Read More…

  • Ohio educators still waiting for funding plan (Marietta Times)

    • It may now be at least 2013 before Ohio schools have a new funding plan from Ohio Gov. John Kasich, which leaves Ohio school districts in a familiar position - waiting and wondering. A deadline of January had been set by the administration to unveil the plan but will not be met, according to his office. "We've been dealing with different funding systems for the last couple years," said Marietta City Schools Treasurer Matt Reed. Read More…

  • Ohio teachers to be watched and graded on classroom performance -- and many are OK with that (Plain Dealer)

    • CLEVELAND - Teachers across Ohio should expect a lot more criticism of their classroom work in the next few years. Their principals will be in their classrooms more. Or their assistant principals, or even outside evaluators, all watching them, taking notes and essentially grading the teachers. Read More…

  • Student transfers not just from public schools to charters (Dispatch)

    • More students moved between the Columbus City Schools and neighboring districts in recent years than transferred with charter schools, new research shows. In the past three academic years, 20,745 students spent some time at a Columbus school and some time elsewhere in Franklin County — either another district or charter school. Of those, roughly 13,000 went between Columbus and another traditional school district. Read More…

Local Issues

  • Jackson High School library goes digital (Repository)

    • JACKSON TWP. — The Jackson High School Library shifted into OverDrive this school year. “For a couple years, it’s been ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ ” explained Library/Media Specialist Christina Conti. “We’d been looking for the right platform ... and this is it.” Although it probably remains a secret to some students, the school library has gone digital. It’s the first school library in Stark County, and only the third in Ohio, Conti said, to offer students a selection of downloadable e-books — about 525 titles so far. Read More…

  • Pesticide cleared in students’ sickness (Middletown Journal)

    • TRENTON — It is unlikely that a pesticide application applied by a lawn care company on athletic fields at Edgewood Middle School caused students to become sick, according to a report by an investigator with Ohio Department of Agriculture. Laboratory analysis confirmed that Momentum FX2 was applied to the field in question on Oct. 11 by BCF Lawn and Landscape. Laboratory analysis for the active ingredient in Momentum FX2 was completed on a swab sample that was collected from the classroom window where students complained of an odor. Read More…

  • Principals’ raises resented (Dispatch)

    • Some educators at Northridge schools in Licking County are upset that a group of administrators will make more money next year after teachers gave up raises for the next two years because of the district’s financial situation. The most-recent two-year contract calls for teachers to receive no raise in their base pay and no step increases based on seniority and education because the district successfully argued that it could not afford any wage increases. Read More…

  • TPS students miss fewer days from suspensions, expulsions (Blade)

    • When Toledo Public Schools leaders pitched the move to K-8 schools, the possible impact on school discipline was near the top of the list of perceived benefits. Middle schools were havens of misbehavior. More focus could be given to individual students if officials split seventh and eighth-grade students up between neighborhood schools. Parents and students could develop better relationships with teachers and principals. Read More…

  • Literacy program benefits tutors, students (Times Recorder)

    • ZANESVILLE - Charles and Phyllis Cerney's grandchildren live out of town, but they are eager to step in as "substitute grandparents" and mentors to children who need them. "We like to read, we're interested in children and are willing to work with them," Phyllis said. "The kids work hard and they teach us a lot." For the past couple of months the retired couple has spent an hour each Tuesday at John McIntire Elementary School for a literacy-based effort to expand their minds and those of the students. Read More…

Editorial

  • A better start (Dispatch)

    • Another Ohio win in the federally funded Race to the Top education-grant challenge could boost future school performance in Ohio by giving more children a better start before they even start elementary school. The state is one of nine that will share in a $500 million pot to fund programs that prepare children for kindergarten. That means, among other things, creating higher-quality preschool programs for poor children and developing a test that more accurately assesses how ready a child is for kindergarten. Read More…

Teacher Retention: Estimating and Understanding the Effects of Financial Incentives

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There is currently much interest in improving access to high-quality teachers (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2010; Hanushek, 2007) through improved recruitment and retention. Prior research has shown that it is difficult to retain teachers, particularly in high-poverty schools (Boyd et al., 2011; Ingersoll, 2004). Although there is no one reason for this difficulty, there is some evidence to suggest teachers may leave certain schools or the profession in part because of dissatisfaction with low salaries (Ingersoll, 2001).

Thus, it is possible that by offering teachers financial incentives, whether in the form of alternative compensation systems or standalone bonuses, they would become more satisfied with their jobs and retention would increase. As of yet, however, support for this approach has not been grounded in empirical research.

Denver’s Professional Compensation System for Teachers (“ProComp”) is one of the most prominent alternative teacher compensation reforms in the nation.* Via a combination of ten financial incentives, ProComp seeks to increase student achievement by motivating teachers to improve their instructional practices and by attracting and retaining high-quality teachers to work in the district.

My research examines ProComp in terms of: 1) whether it has increased retention rates; 2) the relationship between retention and school quality (defined in terms of student test score growth); and 3) the reasons underlying these effects. I pay special attention to the effects of ProComp on schools that serve high concentrations of poor students – “Hard to Serve” (HTS) schools where teachers are eligible to receive a financial incentive to stay. The quantitative findings are discussed briefly below (I will discuss my other results in a future post).

[readon2 url="http://shankerblog.org/?p=4633"]Continue reading...[/readon2]

The full paper can is below:

TEACHER RETENTION: ESTIMATING AND UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL INCENTIVES IN DENVER