Education News for 07-13-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Senate explores limits to schools’ use of restraints (Dispatch)

WASHINGTON — Violently restraining and secluding problematic students in small, inescapable areas actually increases assaults and behavior problems, experts yesterday told a Senate committee that is considering legislation to curtail the practice. Many schools rely on seclusion and restraint to control students with behavior problems, especially minorities and those with disabilities, according to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Read more...

• Officials stress literacy — by reading to preschoolers (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — A new law requiring children to read on grade level to move past the third grade has made literacy at an early age more critical than ever for Ohio families, according to local officials. State Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, and Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly visited Creative World of Learning, a local child care center, to read with preschool students and stress the importance of literacy skills Thursday morning. Read more...

• Lisbon holding out hope for an ‘A’ (Morning Journal)

LISBON -While the school district is currently expected to receive a B on the next state report card, it could still earn an A by the time the report cards are issued next month. School Superintendent Don Thompson reported at this week's school board meeting preliminary results have the district receiving an "effective rating," or B, but they could end up with an A, or "excellent rating" once the value-added component is figured in, which has yet to be done. Read more...

Local Issues

• Pay-to-play at Frontier tabled; lunch costs to increase (Marietta Times)

NEW MATAMORAS - The Frontier Local Board of Education tabled a proposal to charge a participation fee for sports Thursday and voted to increase student lunch prices by a quarter. The agenda for the board's regular meeting Thursday included an item to approve an athletic participation fee of $25 per sport, with an annual maximum of $50 for one student and $75 for one family. The subject was broached at the June board meeting, but Superintendent Bruce Kidder and board members said Thursday they hadn't received any input from residents about the policy. Read more...

• Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board will continue with negotiations (Sun News)

In response to the July 11 announcement that the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association had taken a strike authorization vote, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board said it will continue to negotiate with the unions on a fair and equitable contract. The vote does not mean that the union is on strike or will strike. It means that if the board forces a contract on the union, the union could give a 10-day notice and then strike. As of now, the board has not forced a contract on the union. Read more...

• West Geauga School District earns award for financial reporting (News-Herald)

The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting has been awarded to the West Geauga School District by the Government Financial Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada for its comprehensive annual financial report. The award is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. Read more...

Republicans oppose critical thinking

The 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform opposes the teaching of critical thinking skills. We had to read that twice too.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

They appear to oppose critical thinking being taught so that it doesn't undermine propaganda being instilled in them, to wit...

Early Childhood Development – We believe that parents are best suited to train their children in their early development and oppose mandatory pre-school and Kindergarten. We urge Congress to repeal government sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development.

Early childhood education is crucial to the future success of students, to ppose pre-school and kindergarten is extreme to say the least.

Is Texas an anomoly, or leading the way in rightward education thinking?

you decide, their platform document is below, with the education pieces starting on page 11

2012Platform Final

Education News for 07-12-2012

Statewide Education News

• Ohio links teacher pay to test scores (CNN blog – Schools of thought)

At a time when test scores are used to determine everything from district funding to whether schools can stay open, they’re taking on even broader meaning in Ohio.
Gov. John Kasich has signed legislation that will partially link scores to what teachers are paid.
In Ohio – and many other states throughout the country – teachers have traditionally been evaluated by observers who’ve determined whether the instructors are satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Read more...

• Teachers learn ways to keep students’ attention, but are brain claims valid? (Beacon Journal)

NORTH CANTON: When Chris Biffle called out the word “Class!” Wednesday morning at Walsh University, 450 teachers and administrators yelled back, “Yes!”
“Class class?” he said.
“Yes! Yes!” they replied.
“Classity classity,” he said.
“Yessity yessity,” they chanted back.
Biffle, one of the co-founders of Southern California-based Whole Brain Teaching LLC, is leading a two-day conference at Walsh about his method. He calls the technique “Class-Yes.” Read more...

Local Issues

• Teachers detail efforts to improve academics (This Week News)

The continuous improvement plan for Herbert Mills Elementary School is expected to help improve its academic focus and create a safe and secure learning environment for students.
Principal Pamela Bertke and teachers Alisa Limbers and Jane Stephenson described the plan to Reynoldsburg Board of Education members at a meeting June 19.
"Last year we made some overall goals to improve our academic focus and increase parent engagement at Herbert Mills," Bertke said. Read more...

• Akron Public Schools cut 84 teachers (West Side Leader)

DOWNTOWN AKRON — Akron Public Schools (APS) will open with 84 fewer teachers this fall.
That’s about two-and-a-half to three teachers per school building, said Board of Education President Jason Haas.
The school board voted to make the staff reductions at its July 9 meeting in an effort to reduce its deficit. School districts are required by law to balance their budgets.
The 84 cuts were necessary even after the usual end-of-year retirements, Haas said. “These 84 are not retirements — we just can’t afford them,” he said. Read more...

Education News for 07-11-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• State schools chief gets praise, not raise (Dispatch)

After a year on the job, Ohio schools Superintendent Stan W. Heffner won’t get a raise, but the state Board of Education approves of the job he’s doing. “From his appointment as interim superintendent, Stan has led the department with professionalism, objectivity and commitment to ensuring the highest quality of education for all Ohio’s children,” board President Debe Terhar noted on Heffner’s first evaluation. The 19-member board met privately with Heffner during its annual retreat this week in Columbus. Read more...

Local Issues

• Partnership talks fail between EOPA, TPS (Blade)

There will be no collaboration on a Head Start grant application between Toledo Public Schools and the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo, which currently administers the program locally. "There will not be a formal partnership between the two organizations," states a letter from Jerome Pecko, Toledo Public Schools superintendent, to Jim Powell, EOPA chief executive officer, dated Tuesday. Mr. Powell did not return calls seeking comment. Read more...

• O-G teachers get contract, small raises (Lima News)

OTTAWA — Ottawa-Glandorf teachers will get minimal raises during the next three years, but other concessions will keep the district from suffering financially. The school board approved the three-year contract with the Ottawa-Glandorf Classroom Teachers Association on Tuesday. Teachers previously ratified the deal that was largely hammered out in one meeting. “I think the teachers came to the table with a real good understanding of where the district is at financially,” Superintendent Kevin Brinkman said. Read more...

• Grant to help feed 1,000 CPS students (Enquirer)

EAST WESTWOOD — The Walmart Foundation Tuesday donated $50,000 to a local non-profit group to combat child hunger. The money was awarded to the local Childhood Food Solutions and will fund a summer’s worth of weekly take-home food bags for 1,000 Cincinnati Public elementary school students – 600 at Roll Hill Academy in East Westwood and 400 at Ethel M. Taylor school in North Fairmount. Both have high number of students living in poverty. Read more...

• Students say school’s too easy (Dayton Daily News)

Millions of students across the country aren’t being challenged enough in the classroom, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center for American Progress. The nonpartisan research and educational institute analyzed three years’ worth of student survey data (2009-11) from the Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress. Among the findings: 37 percent of fourth-graders reported their math work was “too easy.” More than a third of high school seniors said they hardly write about what they’ve read in class. Read more...

Leading reform

Education sector has published a survey of teachers and their attitudes towards a number of issues, including their unions. Their top findings should come as little surprise to anyone who has been following the education policy debate in Ohio. Their report is titled "Trending Towards Reform", it might more appropriately be titled, "Leading Reform".

1. Teachers want the union to protect them.

Since 2007, teachers have demonstrated strong and significant increases in their support for unions. In 2007, 24 percent of union members were involved and engaged in their local union; in 2011, 38 percent were. This isn’t surprising— with layoffs looming and constant policy changes, teachers are seeking security and turning to the one place they know they can find it: the union. Eighty-one percent of teachers say that without a union, teachers would be vulnerable to school politics or administrators who abuse their power.

In Ohio, this level of engagement has been even higher, due in large part to the significant budget implemented by the Governor, and of course the roll back of SB5 which sought to all but eliminate collective bargaining for public employees.

2. But the union should also engage in reform.

Teachers want more from their unions than traditional “bread and butter” basics. For example, among teachers who say their union does not currently negotiate evaluation, 75 percent say the union should play this role. Are teachers more supportive of union involvement because they view evaluation as important and in need of overhaul? Perhaps. Or teachers may want unions more involved in the negotiation process because they are concerned about the seemingly inevitable changes that are coming to evaluation.

Our experience has been that it is because of the latter. Indeed, education associations have been deeply involved in education reform. Around half of Ohio's school districts have engaged in some form of Race to the Top which requires association support, not to mention the reforms that teachers unions in Cincinnati and of course, Cleveland have embarked upon.

3. Teacher evaluation is improving—but still not good enough.

Compared to 2007, teachers’ overall assessment of their most recent formal evaluation improved. They are more likely to say that their evaluation was useful and effective by seven percentage points, and less likely to say it was just a formality by nine. Still, 35 percent continue to describe their evaluation as “well-intentioned but not particularly helpful” to their teaching practice. While the numbers show a notable improvement over the four years, it’s clear that evaluation must improve further.

This section of the survey is perhaps the most misleading. Evaluation systems such as the one being attempted to be implemented in Ohio are not yet off the ground, so attitudes towards their acceptance are yet to be determined.

As you can see from the results above, only 16% of survey respondents had student test scores used as part of their evaluation - that number is going to climb rapidly over the next few years, and along with it, we suspect, the number of teachers reporting a fair evaluation will fall.

4. Teachers show strong support for some pay proposals.

Teachers are most in favor of pay reforms based on factors they can control, such as their school and the subject they teach. The less control teachers feel they have over performance measures, like student test scores, the less likely they will support proposals that tie pay to performance. In fact, only 35 percent favor financial incentives for teachers whose students routinely score higher than similar students on standardized tests. A much larger proportion (57 percent) support higher pay for teachers who consistently receive outstanding evaluations by their principals, indicating a pay-for-performance plan that may be more agreeable to teachers.

This is a response that corporate education reformers simply do not understand, and will no accept. Teachers are not looking for pay schemes that a Wall Street day trader would enjoy.

5. Tenure is a must—but shouldn’t prevent ineffective teachers from being dismissed.

Teachers want to keep tenure—only one-third would consider trading tenure for a $5,000 pay bonus. But they are ready and willing to make changes to tenure-related dismissal policies to ensure that tenure is not, as AFT president Randi Weingarten said, “a shield for incompetence.” Seventy-five percent of teachers think the union should play a role in simplifying the process of removing ineffective teachers instead of leaving it to district and school administrators, compared to 63 percent of teachers in 2007.

This has been said by teachers over and over again, and yet opponents of teachers and their unions continue to deny it. The charge that teachers and their unions want to protect ineffective teachers is simply false, but what they don't want is a process whereby a capricious administration can dismiss teachers without reasonable cause.

The entire survey and it's findings can be found below.

Trending Toward Reform

Education News for 07-10-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Board members focus on state audit (Blade)

Rossford school board members want to be kept in the loop. At least one wants Superintendent Bill McFarland and Treasurer James Rossler to record their meeting this week with a representative of the Ohio auditor on the subject of a performance audit of the district. At a special meeting last week, board members Beverly Koch and Jackie Brown said they wanted the nature of the audit to be decided by the board, not the administrators. Ms. Koch also said she wanted the meeting to be recorded so board members could hear what was said. Read more...

• Educators leery of third-grade requirement in state law (Times Reporter)

Area educators fear that with Ohio’s new third-grade reading guarantee, the future of 8-year-olds across the state will hinge on their performance on one test on one day. “That’s more pressure than I ever encountered in the third grade,” said Bob Fogler, superintendent of Indian Valley Local Schools in Gnadenhutten. Late last month, Gov. John Kasich signed into law Senate Bill 316. The education and workforce development legislation contains a provision that would require third-graders to be held back for as long as two years if they cannot read at grade level. Read more...

• Cincinnati Public Schools selling more schools (Enquirer)

CORRYVILLE — Cincinnati Public Schools Monday added four more closed school buildings assessed at $8.8 million to its for-sale list this summer. The seven-member school board unanimously voted to offer Central Fairmount, Kirby Road, North Fairmount and Old Shroder schools for sale. The properties join a previous list of five old schools and four pieces of land being sold: the old Bloom, Heberle, Linwood, Losantiville and George F. Sands schools and property in Millvale, Winton Hills, Mount Adams and East Price Hill. Read more...

Local Issues

• What a Mechanical Performance! Bravo! (NY Times)

CLUTCHING their scripts, Jeannette Newton and Will Russell climb onstage for a lunchtime rehearsal of a skit that will be part of New Albany High School’s end-of-year production. On cue the actors turn stage right, waiting for their co-star to make an entrance. There is a long awkward pause until a ninth grader, Mitchell Gabel, pokes his head out from backstage. “Mr. Herman,” he says, “can you come back here?” David Herman, a sturdy-looking retired Army sergeant major turned computer-science teacher, steps backstage. Read more...

• South-Western schools treasurer gets $16,000 raise (Dispatch)

After he took a pay freeze for the past three school years, South-Western schools Treasurer Hugh Garside was given a $16,000 pay raise by school board members last night. The increase, to start in August, will raise his annual base pay to $134,450, making him the third-highest-paid schools treasurer in Franklin County. According to district records, only the treasurers of Columbus and New Albany-Plain schools earned more in the 2011-12 school year. Read more...

• Dover schools to launch new Internet teaching initiative (Times Reporter)

DOVER — The Dover City School District will implement a program in the 2012-13 school year that provides middle- and high-school students with access to a new wireless network using their own technology. Students at both buildings will be able to access a filtered Internet connection for educational purposes during the school day using their own laptops, netbooks, tablets or smartphones. “Social media and mobile devices have really created both a crisis and opportunity within today’s schools,” said Karie McCrate, high school principal. Read more...

Editorial

• Outsiders (Dispatch)

Take all the worries common to being a teenager in the United States and add a deep additional layer of anxiety — being lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual — and you have some idea why the Human Rights Campaign considered it a good idea to ask LGBT teens how they’re doing. The results aren’t surprising, but are an important reminder that, in every middle school and high school, some boys and some girls are suffering because they fear their families, friends or society won’t accept who they are. Read more...

• Warren’s broken record of failure (Tribune Chronicle)

Last year, while in the first year of a three-year contract as Marietta schools superintendent, Bruce Thomas told the Warren Board of Education that his skills were better matched with Warren than Marietta. That sounded good. This year, while in the first year of a three-year contract as Warren schools superintendent, Bruce Thomas told the Lorain Board of Education that his skills were better matched with Lorain than Warren. That sounds like a broken record. Read more...

• The Opportunity Gap (NY Times)

Over the past few months, writers from Charles Murray to Timothy Noah have produced alarming work on the growing bifurcation of American society. Now the eminent Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam and his team are coming out with research that’s more horrifying. While most studies look at inequality of outcomes among adults and help us understand how America is coming apart, Putnam’s group looked at inequality of opportunities among children. They help us understand what the country will look like in the decades ahead. Read more...