Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast
"Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit."
********************************************************
EXAMINING THE CALL FOR UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN
Good preschools have much to offer, but should they be universal? Some
research suggests otherwise. Children's Defense Fund estimates that
state-sponsored prekindergarten programs currently serve some 750,000
kids. These programs carry an annual price tag of $1.7 billion.
Per-capita
costs for universal preschool are likely to rise as programs improve in
quality and as better trained and newly accredited teachers receive
higher
pay. The Committee for Economic Development (CED), a group of blue-chip
stock corporations that supports "preschool for all," says $4,000 to
$5,000 is "a rough starting point" for a child attending a part-day,
part-year program. If all eligible children attended publicly funded
prekindergarten, CED officials say, annual costs could run as high as
$41.5 billion. Some politicians and early childhood advocates might
like
to provide prekindergarten programs for all of the nation's 8.3 million
3-
and 4-year-olds. But current budget deficits appear to be dampening
state
governors' and legislators' enthusiasm for universal preschool.
According
to Susan Black, considerable evidence shows that impoverished kids --
compared to those from middle- and upper-income families -- gain the
most
from preschool. Benefits for well-off children are questionable,
however,
and that raises an important question: Should universal
prekindergartens
be offered to all preschoolers regardless of their family's
socioeconomic
status? Or should it be provided only to the most needy children?
http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html
HELPING CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS SUCCEED
The majority of students with emotional problems sit undetected in
general
education classrooms. What can a teacher do to help these youngsters
learn? According to Martin Henley and Nicholas Long, teachers and
caregivers should first be aware of and sensitive to warning signs of
developing emotional problems. Second, they should use the following
strategies to help students overcome their emotional barriers to
learning:
(1) Make learning relevant; (2) Help students establish positive peer
relationships; (3) Teach behavior management skills; (4) Identify and
deal
with depression; (5) Support activities that foster feelings of
competence, strengthen social relationships, and bolster self-efficacy;
(6) Help students cope with stress; and (7) Instill hope. More than
anything else, troubled youth need to know their lives can improve.
When
teachers provide a refuge from the "bad" in a student's life, they
inspire
hope and help students see that the past is not necessarily a prelude
to
the future. More information and a graph outlining warning signs for
emotion problems can be found at:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/class_lead/200311/henley.html
NO SOCIAL PROBLEM LEFT BEHIND
If the politicians who enacted the No Child Left Behind law really
believed it would accomplish the noble goal expressed in its title,
then
they clearly do not understand the daunting challenges facing our
public-education system and they should not be making education policy,
writes Ron Wolk, a Public Education Network board member. No Child Left
Behind is designed to force schools that enroll disproportionate
numbers
of poor, minority and non-English-speaking students to make every one
of
them proficient. But it's pure folly to expect schools to accomplish
this
as long as we tolerate the widespread poverty and racism that almost
guarantee that such students will be at risk of academic failure. This
is
not to say that society's problems must all be solved before our
schools
can succeed with poor, minority and immigrant students. There is no
doubt
that too many of the country's public schools are failing because of
the
way they are organized and the way that they do business, especially
those
serving the neediest students. We urgently need to change our public
schools -- to make them smaller and more diverse in their offerings; to
focus more on the child, and personalize education; to anchor them in
the
real world and make them more relevant to the needs, interests and
talents
of the students; and to make them more flexible. No Child Left Behind,
with its punitive provisions and overemphasis on standardized testing,
does none of these things. It is likely to do more harm than good.
There
are, however, some provisions of No Child Left Behind that could help
improve schools, such as programs to improve teacher quality and
provide
opportunities for professional development; increased choice for
students
in low-performing schools; and emphasis on improving reading
instruction.
But even these provisions have been compromised because the president
and
the Congress weren't committed enough to provide the necessary funding
to
implement them. Where No Child Left Behind will ultimately take us is
unclear. At worst, it may lead to chaos and even less public confidence
in
public education. At best, it may fade away, because it cannot be
implemented. Meanwhile, if the federal enforcers keep tightening the
noose, the majority of schools are likely to be on the endangered list.
http://www.publiceducation.org/papersopeds-wolk_102203.asp
2003 LEGISLATIVE SESSION DOMINATED BY BUDGET CUTS, ACCOUNTABILITY
The two dominant education issues of the past state legislative
sessions
were funding cuts to address persistent budget woes and improving
school
accountability. Readers most likely have had enough of the state budget
headlines, but fiscal problems did indeed seriously impact education.
As a
result, in the area of school finance alone over 200 meaningful changes
were enacted in 2003. Kathy Christie, in the recent issue of "State
Education Leader" from Education Commission of the States, highlights
the
work of state legislatures in the policy areas of: accountability;
teaching quality; student health and safety; high school reform; and
student citizenship.
http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/48/35/4835.htm
PARENT NIGHTS FOCUS ON TEST TAKING SKILLS
As students, teachers, and schools face increasing pressure to improve
student performance on standardized tests, involving parents as a
critical
"fourth partner" in improvement efforts makes more than just good sense
--
it improves student learning. Last spring, Armstrong Middle School in
Starkville, Mississippi implemented a new parent program that provides
a
good model of how schools can involve parents in student learning in a
way
that is consistent with these findings. This story shares the details.
http://www.takingaim.org/aboutaim/feature_parent_night.htm
HOMELESS KIDS FIND HAVEN IN SCHOOL OUTREACH EFFORTS
The McKinney-Vento Act demands that kids with no fixed address -- those
who live in shelters, safe houses or in a relative's home -- get the
extra
attention needed to keep them from dropping out of school. School
officials laud the act for trying to help previously overlooked kids
succeed in school. But the law also is driving up the number of
reported
homeless kids in Colorado and putting more pressure on strained school
budgets to find and educate those children. "It's tough," said Liz
Murphy,
homeless liaison for Denver Public Schools. "We want to do much more."
But
the district is faced with a population of homeless students that has
grown 31 percent in one year, while there was an increase of only
$2,000
in federal funds to teach them, Murphy said. About $353,200 in federal
funds was distributed to roughly 13 school districts this year for
homeless education, a boost of more than $11,000 from last year. But
the
number of homeless youths in Colorado grew from 4,103 in October 2002
to
5,963 in May 2003, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
In
this article, Monte Whaley and George Merritt describe the problem and
also ask, "Who are the homeless?"
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1737270,00.html
E-MAIL: AN ESSENTIAL PART OF A TEACHERS ROUTINE
E-mail correspondence represents a revolution in school-home
communication. From a quick message about a student's progress to
newsletters, surveys and grades, more school districts are turning to
e-mail in their quest to broaden the channels of communication with
parents and the community. Students also are getting into the act,
writes
Tom Quinn, using e-mail not only to ask questions of teachers but also
to
send and receive tests and homework. The uptick in e-mail use at
schools,
along with innovative spinoffs such as software programs that
automatically send home completed assignments and attendance reports,
reflects e-mail's growing prominence in American culture. A decade ago,
about 2 percent of the U.S. population regularly used e-mail. Today,
the
number stands at 54 percent, according to the International Data Corp.
But
as schools move ahead with technological programs that feature
increased
use of e-mail, the so-called digital divide remains. In Oregon school
districts such as Beaverton, 71 percent of students last year reported
having access to the Internet at home. For Portland Public Schools, the
figure was 61 percent. The number drops to 53 percent in Oregon City.
Although many parents who don't have Internet access at home can log on
at
work, educators say the long-standing practice of mailing home paper
newsletters and grades is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Likewise,
they
say, the impersonal nature of e-mail makes it unlikely to replace
telephone phone calls or face-to-face visits when significant problems
arise.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/106786447286451.xml
THE TRAINING OF IDIOTS
In Ancient Greece, the word "idiot" referred to an individual who took
no
interest in public affairs, in the life of the "polis." According to J.
Martin Rochester, in this provocative commentary, it is debatable which
is
more alarming, the fact that young people are disengaged from politics
or
that they are ill informed about it. These conditions would seem
interrelated: the less concerned one is about politics, the less likely
one is to take the time to become informed; and the less informed one
is,
the less one's sense of political efficacy and inclination to "get
involved." Less is decidedly not more when it comes to what passes
today
for social studies education in the United States, the field that is
entrusted with primary responsibility for developing in American youth
their earliest habits of mind about their political system. The purpose
of
this essay is to explore how the social studies profession may be
contributing to the spread of "idiocy" and to suggest what can be done
to
cultivate a more enlightened and more engaged citizenry.
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=317#905
ROADMAP TO ACHIEVEMENT FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Every day, twenty million diverse, rapidly changing 10- to 15-year-olds
enrolled in our nations middle schools are making critical and complex
life choices. They are forming the attitudes, values, and habits of
mind
that will largely direct their behavior as adults. They deserve schools
that support them fully during this key phase of life. For middle
schools
to be successful, the schools organization, curriculum, pedagogy, and
programs must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs, and
interests of young adolescents. This concept is at the heart of a new
report from National Middle School Association which outlines 14 key
characteristics of successful schools for young adolescents: (1)
Educators
who value working with this age group and are prepared to do so; (2)
Courageous, collaborative leadership; (3) A shared vision that guides
decisions; (4) An inviting, supportive, and safe environment; (5) High
expectations for every member of the learning community; (6) Students
and
teachers engaged in active learning; (7) An adult advocate for every
student; (8) School-initiated family and community partnerships; (9)
Curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory;
(10) Multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to their
diversity; (11) Assessment and evaluation programs that promote quality
learning; (12) Organizational structures that support meaningful
relationships and learning; (13) School-wide efforts and policies that
foster health, wellness, and safety; and (14) Multifaceted guidance and
support services.
http://www.nmsa.org/
THE NEW HEROES OF TEACHING
Identifying a few excellent teachers and hoping others will copy their
methods has not improved teaching in the average American classroom.
Teaching, as most students experience it, has not changed for decades.
Why? Because the average classroom is not affected much by what the few
celebrity teachers do. To make a dent in the learning experiences for
most
students, educators must find a way to improve the quality of
instruction
in the average classroom. Even slight improvements in the average
classroom, accumulated over time, would have a more profound effect on
students around the country than recruiting a hundred more Escalantes
into
the classroom, according to a commentary by James Hiebert, Ronald
Gallimore, and James W. Stigler. In their thinking, to achieve small
and
continuing improvements in the average classroom requires a major shift
in
educators' thinking -- from teachers to teaching. Rather than focusing
only on evaluating the quality of teachers, the educational community
must
begin examining the quality of teaching. What kinds of methods are
teachers using now and how could these methods be improved? Tackling
this
deep-seated problem begins with opening the classroom door. The process
starts by learning to analyze the details of ordinary classroom
instruction, with all its warts and foibles, and then learning to see
more
effective ways of teaching. But to do this, to even begin down this
path,
teachers must be willing to open their doors. They must be willing to
allow others to use their lessons as data that can be examined and
discussed over and over.
http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=10hiebert.h23
ARE PORTABLE CLASSROOMS UNHEALTHY?
Nationwide, 36 percent of schools use portable, or relocatable,
classrooms. Commonly used to alleviate overcrowding in schools,
portables
are built to be a temporary solution to a permanent problem. With many
districts scrambling to replace older portables, while at the same time
accommodating the need for newer models and classroom space, demand can
barely keep up with supply, and schools are shouldering the burden. The
result is a mixture of old and new scattered on the outskirts of school
campuses, and the environmental complaints that come with each. As
portable classrooms age, they begin to deteriorate, showing signs of
poor
maintenance, such as mold and mildew. Formaldehyde, mold, and other
harmful pollutants persist in the indoor air, affecting the health of
both
teachers and students. Teacher and student complaints about poor indoor
air quality are nothing new to school districts, but most districts are
ill-equipped to handle environmental health concerns. In the American
school system where there is no system in place to protect childrens
environmental health, writes Whitney Webber, schools are forced to
weigh
the pros and cons of portable classrooms. While portables may be
cheaper,
easier to procure than traditional classrooms, and lessen the impact of
increased enrollments, they can also pose a safety hazard, are occupied
far beyond their intended use, have high maintenance costs, and can be
isolating for students and staff. With most schools opting to use
portables despite their shortcomings, it appears that portables will
continue to alter the school landscape for some time to come.
http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=657
CIVIL SOCIETY & SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY: A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH
A new report from the Center for Economic and Social Rights and New
York
University Institute for Education and Social Policy argues that
although
the right to education is recognized internationally as a universal
human
right, "hundreds of thousands of New York City schoolchildren are
routinely denied their right to an education by the poor quality of the
schooling they receive." The authors maintain that one of the main
reasons
for this is the lack of structures ensuring that the school system can
be
held accountable for its failures by its primary "stakeholders," --
parents, children and the larger community. While the recent Children
First reforms aim, in part, to increase parental participation, they
"fail
to approach the question from a human rights perspective...parents are
not
given adequate power or guaranteed a welcoming environment with the
necessary resources and technical support to make participation
meaningful
and hold school officials accountable." The report demonstrates that
the
situation here contrasts strikingly with many countries across the
world,
including some that have far fewer resources such as the Philippines
and
Bangladesh.
http://www.cesr.org/PROGRAMS/us%20program/educationreport.htm
STATE POLICIES FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS DATABASE
A new Education Commission of the States database contains information
about policies in the 40 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
that
have enacted charter school laws. From the database, you can do several
things: (1) Generate profiles of the charter school policies in
individual
states; (2) Compare specific types of charter school policies across
several states; (3) View reports on issues such as school or student
preference, authorizers/sponsors, funding, waivers, facilities and
more.
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/educationIssues/CharterSchools/CHDB_intro.asp
EXPECTATIONS AND STUDENT OUTCOMES
It is clear that educators and the general public are very interested
in
the power of expectations to affect student outcomes. Every study
retrieved for this analysis, which sought to identify the critical
components in effective schools, included high expectations for student
learning among the essential variables identified. The presence of high
expectations is cited at or near the top of each investigator's list of
essential elements, along with such related factors as strong
administrative leadership, a safe and orderly environment, schoolwide
focus on basic skill acquisition above all other goals, and frequent
monitoring of student progress. Low-achieving schools, meanwhile, are
usually found to lack several of these elements. Staff members in these
schools generally view their students as being quite limited in their
learning ability and do not see themselves as responsible for finding
ways
to raise those students' academic performance. Low achievement levels
are
usually attributed to student characteristics rather than the school's
managerial and instructional practices. This study from Northwest
Regional
Education Lab's "School Improvement Research Series" asks, "How
widespread
is the practice of teachers' communicating differential expectations to
students they perceive as having greater or lesser learning potential?"
It
also includes recommendations from Kathleen Cotton on how to "improve
the
ways teachers form expectations and communicate them, especially to
students they perceive as having limited potential."
http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/4/cu7.html
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES FOUND IN WHAT YOUTH OF COLOR NEED TO
SUCCEED
African American, American Indian, Asian American, Latino/Latina,
White,
and multiracial youth all benefit similarly from experiencing more
positive relationships, opportunities, and internal strengths (known as
developmental assets) in their lives, regardless of their socioeconomic
status, according to new Search Institute research. At the same time,
they
do not all experience developmental assets in the same way. At the core
of
a new study are Search Institute's framework of 40 developmental
assets,
which are building blocks of healthy development that, when present,
help
young people grow up successfully. The report reveals that
developmental
assets protect youth from all racial/ethnic groups studied (African
American, American Indian, Asian American, Latino, White, and
multiracial)
from engaging in 10 different high-risk behaviors, including violence,
alcohol use, and illicit drug use. For example, across all
racial/ethnic
groups studied, youth with few assets are at least three times as
likely
to engage in problem alcohol use as those with many assets. At the same
time, developmental assets do not necessarily work in the same ways for
all youth. For example, constructive-use-of-time assets seem more
strongly
correlated with school success for American Indian and Asian youth than
for other groups. These findings suggest that these positive building
blocks may work differently for different groups of youth.
http://www.search-institute.org/research/Insights
EASING STUDENTS TRANSITION INTO COLLEGE
An increasing national focus on the need for high academic standards,
coupled with the growing importance of obtaining a postsecondary
degree,
has led to the expansion of programs that allow high school students to
take college-level classes and earn college credit while still in high
school. Proponents of credit-based transition programs contend that
they
smooth the transition into postsecondary education by providing
students
with the academic and social skills necessary for college success.
Proponents also argue that although credit-based transition programs
have
typically targeted academically proficient and high-achieving students,
a
broader subset of high school students may benefit from participation.
Are
these contentions valid? Do credit-based transition programs live up to
their promise and help middle- and low-achieving students enter and
succeed in college? Despite their rapid growth and popularity, little
is
known about these programs, their impact on participants, and the
reason
why they might promote college access and success. A new report from
the
Community College Research Center (CCRC), Teachers College, Columbia
University, outlines what is known about these programs, what we still
need to find out, and what practitioners and policymakers seeking to
smooth the transition from high school to college for all students can
learn from those programs already in existence.
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/ccrc
|---------------GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION--------------|
"Tellabs Foundation"
The Tellabs Foundation supports education programs with a particular
focus
on local and national programs and curricula for engineering, science,
mathematics and technology. The Foundation has chosen to focus its
grant-making on direct grants to eligible 501(c)(3) organizations,
generally in the amount of $10,000 and above. Application deadline:
ongoing.
http://www.tellabs.com/news/tfg.shtml
"The Corporation for National and Community Service"
The Corporation for National and Community Service ("the Corporation")
announces the availability of approximately $4,000,000 to award Next
Generation Grants to eligible nonprofit organizations. The purpose of
these grants is to foster the next generation of national service
organizations by providing seed money to help new and start-up
organizations, and established organizations proposing new projects or
programs, plan and implement new service programs that have the
potential
of becoming national in scope. These funds are available under
authority
provided in Public Law 108-7, the Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal
year 2003. Application deadline: November 17, 2003.
http://www.nationalservice.org/news/pr/102003.html
"Teacher Resources for Classroom Funding"
GrantsAlert.com has compiled a list of national and regional classroom
funding opportunities for teachers. As time permits, more grants and
resources will be added over the next coming days and weeks.
http://www.grantsalert.com/education.cfm?id=12&m=1
"Grantionary"
The Grantionary is a list of grant-related terms and their definitions.
http://www.eduplace.com/grants/help/grantionary.html
"GrantsAlert"
GrantsAlert is a website that helps nonprofits, especially those
involved
in education, secure the funds they need to continue their important
work.
http://www.grantsalert.com/
"Grant Writing Tips"
SchoolGrants has compiled an excellent set of grant writing tips for
those
that need help in developing grant proposals.
http://www.schoolgrants.org/tips.htm
"FastWEB"
FastWEB is the largest online scholarship search available, with
600,000
scholarships representing over one billion in scholarship dollars. It
provides students with accurate, regularly updated information on
scholarships, grants, and fellowships suited to their goals and
qualifications, all at no cost to the student. Students should be
advised
that FastWEB collects and sells student information (such as name,
address, e-mail address, date of birth, gender, and country of
citizenship) collected through their site.
http://www.fastweb.com/
"Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)"
More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make
hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier
to
find. The result of that work is the FREE website.
http://www.ed.gov/free/
"Fundsnet Online Services"
A comprehensive website dedicated to providing nonprofit organizations,
colleges, and Universities with information on financial resources
available on the Internet.
http://www.fundsnetservices.com/
"eSchool News School Funding Center"
Information on up-to-the-minute grant programs, funding sources, and
technology funding.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/funding/
"Philanthropy News Digest"
Philanthropy News Digest, a weekly news service of the Foundation
Center,
is a compendium, in digest form, of philanthropy-related articles and
features culled from print and electronic media outlets nationwide.
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/
"School Grants"
A collection of resources and tips to help K-12 educators apply for and
obtain special grants for a variety of projects.
http://www.schoolgrants.org
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Our brief acquaintance with the twenty-first century already indicates
that all our institutions -- public, private, and nonprofit -- need to
reexamine the role they play in the broad processes of strengthening
democracy, encouraging civic engagement, and building better
communities.
Given the range of challenges we face, it is no longer enough for each
of
us to exist and work in our separate silos, doing our own work and
leaving
the public agenda to others. We must find ways to transform the concept
of
public purpose, the definition of the public good, and the
determination
of the public agenda."
-Christopher Gates, "The Civic Landscape," National Civic Review, vol.
92,
no. 1, Spring 2003
===========PEN NewsBlast==========
The PEN Weekly NewsBlast is a free e-mail newsletter featuring school
reform and school fundraising resources. The PEN NewsBlast is the
property
of the Public Education Network, a national association of 86 local
education funds working to improve public school quality in low-income
communities nationwide.
There are currently 47,280 subscribers to the PEN Weekly NewsBlast.
Please
forward this e-mail to anyone who enjoys free updates on education news
and grant alerts. Some links in the PEN Weekly NewsBlast change or
expire
on a daily or weekly basis. Some links may also require local website
registration.
Your e-mail address is safe with the NewsBlast. It is our firm policy
never to rent, loan, or sell our subscriber list to any other
organizations, groups, or individuals.
**UPDATE OR ADD A NEWSBLAST SUBSCRIPTION**
PEN wants you to get each weekly issue of the NewsBlast at your
preferred
e-mail address. We also welcome new subscribers. Please notify us if
your
e-mail address is about to change. Send your name and new e-mail
address
to PEN@PublicEducation.org. Be sure to let us know your old e-mail
address
so we can unsubscribe it. If you know anyone who is interested in
receiving the NewsBlast, please forward this e-mail to them and ask
them
to e-mail us and put "subscribe" in the subject field or visit:
http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp
To view past issues of the PEN Weekly NewsBlast, visit:
http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast-past.asp
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://www.publiceducation.org/cgi-bin/newsblastsubscribe/subscribe.asp
If you would like an article or news about your local education fund,
public school, or school reform organization featured in a future issue
of
PEN Weekly NewsBlast, send a note to HSchaffer@PublicEducation.org
Andrew Smith is a regular contributor to the PEN Weekly NewsBlast.
Howie Schaffer
Media Director
Public Education Network
601 Thirteenth Street, NW #900N
Washington, DC 20005
PEN@PublicEducation.org
---
You are currently subscribed to newsblast as: SCTANRVP@yahoo.com
For subscription changes please visit:
http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp
|