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Here’s what educators, advocates, policymakers and wonks are talking about today:
News & analysis
Civil rights officials issue more flexible rules on use of race in school assignments, admissions
According to the new guidance, school districts may use “race-neutral” approaches to make decisions about whether to admit individual students into competitive admissions schools or programs, as well as for drawing school boundary lines. Such approaches would include using students’ socioeconomic status, parental education levels, the socioeconomic status of neighborhoods and the composition of an area’s housing, such as its share of subsidized housing or rental housing. The guidance says that such race-neutral approaches are required to be used “only if they are workable.” In some cases, the guidance states, “race-neutral approaches will be unworkable because they will be ineffective to achieve the diversity that the school district seeks or to address racial isolation in the district’s schools.” (Politics K-12)
States eye tax proposals to support schools
Voters in Washington and California, two states that have made recent, deep cuts to education, could soon be asked to support tax increases that backers say will stave off more schoolhouse pain. (State EdWatch)
New York: Will Rumore blink?
For months, Phil Rumore has been steadfast in his opposition to Buffalo using the school turnaround model that requires moving half the teachers out of a building. Involuntary transfers of teachers violate the union contract, he has consistently said, and do not improve educational outcomes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the words “the 50 percent stupid solution” come out of his mouth, in reference to that particular turnaround plan. Well, my conversation with him on Thursday was a little bit different. He still used the phrase “the 50 percent stupid solution,” but for the first time in the eight months I’ve been having conversations with him about this, Rumore spoke in terms that were not black and white. (School Zone)
Rhode Island: North Providence council to consider resolution on mayoral academy proposal
The Town Council on Monday night is scheduled to consider a resolution opposing a charter school proposal sponsored by Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. The proposal calls for the new school district drawing students from Providence, Cranston, Warwick and North Providence. Achievement First, which operates similar schools in Brooklyn and Connecticut, would run the school. A similar application that called for the district to be based in Cranston and draw students from that city and Providence was rejected by state education officials in September. (ProJo)
Rhode Island: Providence selects reform plans for five failing schools
At a series of school-based meetings last week, Providence Schools Superintendent Susan Lusi shared with parents, staff and community members her recommendations for intervention models at five schools named Persistently Lowest Achieving by the R.I. Department of Education in October. Now referred to by the district as Innovation Schools, the five include Carl G. Lauro Elementary School, Pleasant View Elementary School, Gilbert Stuart Middle School, Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School and Mt. Pleasant High School. Each school must proceed with dramatic intervention under one of four allowable models outlined in federal and state regulations. “It is our hope that these Innovation schools will become the models for the rest of our district as we strive to continuously and dramatically improve learning opportunities for our children at these struggling schools,” said Lusi. “With intensive support from our district Office of Transformation and Innovation and from our lead partners, these schools will be incubators for ideas that can be replicated across the district.” (GoLocalProv)
Minnesota: Undocumented students learn a pathway to college
More than 100 students attended Minnesota’s first-ever conference for undocumented high school students seeking a college education Saturday at the University of Minnesota. The event, organized by the group Navigate, included workshops on the legal and financial steps to college. Navigate was created by an immigrant college student in 2007. The organization offers high school students a leadership program, as well as help with the financial and legal steps to college. (MPR)
Minnesota: Minneapolis teachers union approved to authorize charter schools
The Minneapolis teachers’ union has become the first in the nation to win the right to authorize charter schools. State officials have approved the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers as a charter school authorizer. Authorizers don’t run charters; they oversee the administrators and school boards that handle day-to-day operations of a charter school. Authorizers are also primary decision makers on which schools to sponsor. The Minneapolis teachers’ union has become the first in the nation to win the right to authorize charter schools. State officials have approved the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers as a charter school authorizer. Authorizers don’t run charters; they oversee the administrators and school boards that handle day-to-day operations of a charter school. Authorizers are also primary decision makers on which schools to sponsor. (MPR)
North Carolina: Lessons for children in coping with deployments
There was a time when a family was supposed to be as stoic as a Marine, but no more. In 2008-9, the military spent $6 million to train 420 school counselors and psychologists on methods for helping children affected by war. While We Wait clubs serve 3,200 students at base schools here, as well as 12,000 students from military families, who make up about half of the nearby Onslow County district. Parents are redeployed so often, there are students at Summersill Elementary in Jacksonville, N.C., who have joined the school club three times. Worries seep out. Christina Krockel, a kindergarten teacher whose husband has been deployed to Iraq four times, notices when a well-behaved girl suddenly won’t share her plastic food in the play kitchen. (New York Times)
Opinion
Where schools fall short
Millions of students attend abysmally weak school systems that leave them unprepared for college, even as more jobs require some higher education. The states have an obligation to help these students retool. More than 35 percent of students need remediation when they reach college, according to the federal government. A study by the organization that administers the ACT, the college entrance exam, finds that only a quarter of the 1.6 million 2011 high school graduates who took the exam met college-readiness benchmarks in English, reading, math and science. Some students need one or two remedial courses before they can enroll in credit-bearing college classes. Others need so much remedial work that they will exhaust state and federal student aid without ever getting a degree. This is especially troubling because many of these students have passed state exams that are supposed to certify them as ready for college. (New York Times)
The teacher quality conundrum: If they are the problem, why are kids gaining in math?
Yes, overall teaching quality would improve with a more sensible method to usher hapless teachers out of the profession. Better teacher training would help too. But in addition to these longer-term goals, policymakers ought to focus on ensuring that the unglamorous but vital work of curriculum design is done properly. The popular perception is that America’s teachers are largely ineffective compared to international peers. But the data show that when given a clear, cogent curriculum to work with, they’re a lot stronger than we think. (Daily News)