Web Watch
Teacher’s look at education news from around the Web. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching profession.
Education
Teach us. Please.
In the wake of the vast teacher shortages sweeping the country, states are digging in to recruit. To fill vacancies, many are reaching beyond their state lines and others are offering enticing incentive packages. One Washington, DC suburb hopes to lure teachers with student appeals.
Education
NCLB and the Teacher Shortage
Low salaries aren’t the only obstacles when it comes to filling teacher vacancies. According to an Arizona Republic story, the No Child Left Behind “highly qualified” requirement could be contributing to local and national teacher shortages. To be eligible for hire, teachers must now have a bachelor’s degree, a state certification or license, and a proven knowledge of their subject. For most, a major in their subject, an advanced certification from the state, or a graduate degree satisfies the “proven knowledge” prerequisite. With NCLB under review, some school leaders and politicians argue that these requirements don’t reflect effective teaching and actually prevent talented teachers from reaching the classroom.
Education
British Curriculum Revamped
The British school curriculum is getting a makeover. An attempt to translate traditional academics into practical skills is at the heart of the overhaul. Now, citizenship courses will involve a discussion of British values; language courses will include Mandarin and Urdu; and a new course will cover “personal, social, health, and economic well-being.” World history curriculum is also facing a revamp; names like Churchill, Hitler, and Stalin will be noticeably absent.
Education
Obesity and Education
A new study suggests that obesity—or more particularly body image—may be an education issue as well as a health issue. Research from the University of Texas at Austin finds that obese girls are half as likely to go to college than their thinner female peers. Assistant Professor Robert Crosnoe, who conducted the study, says that, in comparison with boys, obese girls are more likely to suffer from a poor body image, which can have a detrimental effect on their educational goals. The study, which tracked 11,000 American adolescents, found that the link between obesity and lower college enrollment was more pronounced among non-white girls and those who attended schools where obesity is uncommon. "How students fit in with or stand out from their peers at school is of the utmost importance to their educational pathways,” Crosnoe said in an article from the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
Reading & Literacy
Reading Magic?
With Friday’s midnight release date of the final Harry Potter book looming, the world’s abuzz with talk of the main character’s fate—did J.K. Rowling kill him off? Another pressing question—perhaps one more relevant to teachers—is swirling around Rowling’s popular series: Has the book popularized reading for hundreds of millions of children, particularly hard-to-reach teens, the way many experts say it has?
Education
Electing Out
Elective courses have run the gamut of importance. Once a core part of a student’s course load, then used as a way to boost a GPA, electives are now, in some school districts, being eliminated from GPAs entirely. A Texas school district will vote Monday to determine whether or not to include elective courses in students' GPAs. The reason? Overachieving students are avoiding taking classes that don’t receive as many points toward a weighted GPA. Under the proposed plan, elective grades would be shown on a transcript, but only the four core subjects and two years of a foreign language would be used to calculate a student’s GPA. "It breaks my heart if a student says, 'I'm not going to take band because it will hurt me,'" said T.J. Theisen, a district assistant superintendent. "Then you know you've got to step back and say, 'We really need to think this through.'" Darrell Muncy, a principal in another Texas school district that is already using the new scoring system, found that no-credit electives have helped alleviate student pressure without undermining performance.
Education
Housing Incentives
San Francisco, which has one of the country’s priciest real estate markets, is looking to join cities like New York City, Washington, DC, and Chicago by providing housing incentives to lure and retain teachers. Between the fall of 2005 and the summer of 2007, the city lost 16 percent of its teaching force.
Education
A Painful Reminder
Officials at Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools are replacing a precursory lesson to the reading of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. An essay and a poem that were used to prepare students for a discussion of the “N-word,” which appears in Lee’s novel, are being scrapped after a ninth grade African American student complained.
Education
School's Out for Summer?
Extending the academic year by hours, days or months is a question that school districts have been floating for a while. For many, the cost of extending the year must be weighed against the learning benefits.
Education
Turning to Teachers
Unhappy with a new curriculum developed by an outside firm, Pittsburgh's school district is diverting money from the company’s contact to hire district teachers and academic coaches as curriculum writers this year. Under the plan, some $2.4 million from the district's $8.4 million contract with Kaplan K12 Learning Services will be divvied up among the teacher-curriculum writers, teachers who provide feedback, and University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning, which will provide resources and services to the writers. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, teachers could make $16,000 to $22,000 per course for designing the curriculum—in addition to their regular pay.
Education
Don't Hurry Math
Pennsylvania is learning the hard way that modernizing math instruction does not always further comprehension. The state’s students are faltering in math placement tests, in spite of demonstrating achievement elsewhere. As a result, colleges and universities are having to rewrite textbooks and add remedial courses so their students can catch-up on math concepts and skills.
Education
A New Yardstick
As the debate over evaluating test scores continues, many schools across the country are shifting their method of evaluating student progress. More than two dozen states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, and Ohio, are looking to a new way of analyzing test scores, called a “growth model,” which assesses individual student's progress as they advance from grade to grade instead of comparing them to the previous year’s class.
Education
Obama and Merit Pay
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama told members of the nation's largest teachers union this week that he supports the idea of merit pay for educators.
Education
Teaching Unplugged
A school district in Michigan is considering a “pay to plug” program that would require teachers and school employees who use desk lamps, small fans, and mini-fridges to pay a fee. The program, designed to lessen the strain on the system’s shrinking budget, could save Chippewa Valley Public Schools at least $25,000, according to school officials. The plan, similar to one implemented in Grosse Pointe Public Schools, is part of an energy-saving initiative, which, according to business manager Chris Fenton, also includes making sure computers and lights are turned off. “If you take all of those pieces, they all add up and you can get to $100,000 pretty quick, and now you're looking at the cost of a couple of teachers,” said Fenton. Doug Pratt of the Michigan Education Association countered, saying pinching pennies won’t thwart budget cuts. “I have no problem talking about energy conservation, but when we're talking about school districts telling teachers they can't bring a fan from home into the classroom to help make the learning environment more livable for students, that really shows the financial situation of the state,” he said.