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 This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching profession.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
You say PTO, I say PTA
They may be only one letter apart, but Parent Teacher Association officials are working to stress the differences between PTAs and the PT0s—or Parent Teacher Organizations—that are increasingly replacing them. According to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, PTA membership has dropped from 12 million in the 1950s to 5.5 million today, and PTAs now make up less than 25 percent of school-parent groups. The annual PTA convention, which ended yesterday in St. Louis, included a session called "A Instead of O: How to Talk PTA to PTO," which provided attendees with early warning signs that a school is considering switching to PTOs, along with advice on how to prevent it.
Education
Race and Schools
Reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of race-conscious school-assignment plans has been swift and emotional, with the decision even becoming a focal point of Democratic presidential debates last night.
Education
Teachers Attacked
Reports of assaults against teachers seem to growing, particularly in big city schools. Sometimes they are verbal.
Education
Save the Teachers
Most parents agree that cutting teacher jobs isn’t beneficial for their kids, but Boston-area parent Scott Jones was so frustrated that he started a campaign, aptly named Save the Teachers. With schools in Georgetown, Mass., facing a budget shortfall due to the failure of a proposed property tax increase, the father of four decided to raise the money from private donors. I can’t sit back and watch the schools decay another year, watch the kids suffer, and do nothing,” Jones says. He and a handful of volunteers have raised more than $18,000 in the past month by passing out fliers, making phone calls, and sending out e-mails, with distribution help from local schools. In order to bring back the equivalent of the 7.8 full-time jobs that have been cut, more than $200,000 still needs to be raised by next month—though the district may be able to supplement Jones' funds by drawing on a new budget allotment. While some local officials question whether parents should be involved in collecting revenue for teacher salaries, the district's superintendent, Larry Borin, understands Jones' motivation: "I think the fact that Scott has put together an initiative to try to secure funds in order to restore some of the positions that are lost is terrific because ultimately that will impact what takes place in the classroom for students day in and day out."
Education
Flex Plan
In an effort to reverse the dropout rate, New Hampshire’s State Department of Education is suggesting statewide changes in its curriculum. The state released a document this week, which upends traditional classroom instruction with a more flexible approach to learning.
Education
Help Wanted
A combination of strong forces, including baby boomer retirements and increased career options for women, is creating growing teacher shortages around the nation, says a Washington Post story. Some three quarters of the country's public school teachers are women, but research indicates that the number of women who pursue teaching after college, as well as their class rankings, has declined sharply since the 1960’s. “It’s not that you don’t have some terrifically talented people going into teaching," says Richard J. Murname, a Harvard economist who has studied the teaching profession. "The issue is you don’t have enough. And many are the most likely to leave teaching, because they have lots of other opportunities.” Compounding school recruiters' difficulties is the NCLB's highly qualified teacher mandate, which has tightened requirements for entering the profession.
Education
Staying in Tune
While many school districts are cutting back on cultural programming, North Carolina’s Appalachian country is expanding its music curriculum. North Carolina’s Junior Appalachian Music program or “JAM” teaches 3rd through 8th graders traditional bluegrass and Celtic music. The program is now in nine schools with three more schools scheduled to include it this fall.
Education
Razing History?
A school that is an intregal part of American history may soon be gone. The city of Topeka, Kan., has given preliminary approval to demolish Sumner Elementary School, which was at the center of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. Citing cost concerns, City Manager Norton Bonaparte said, “We do not take this lightly. It is a historic structure.” Two groups have submitted proposals to preserve the building as a charter school or for housing, but their finances have fallen short. They have five months to turn their plans around.
Education
Fast Times at Online High
Online classes, a luxury once available only to university students, are now being used to educate gifted high school students who don’t fit in at traditional schools. Online High School, a year-old program at Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth, is giving its 30 international students—be they in California or Korea—the opportunity to receive differentiated instruction at home. Janet Keating, head of Online High, told the LA Times, "We feel that all kids need to learn at their own rate. I finally understand that we can do this." The school, which teaches 40 virtual courses in math and science, but does not offer art, language, or physical education classes, has a student government, a student newspaper, a yearbook, and a variety of clubs. This fall, officials at Stanford hope to expand the $12,000-a-year online school to include 100 students.
Education
Zero-Sum Game
Despite continuing concerns about school safety, some state lawmakers are questioning zero-tolerance policies on weapons, alcohol, and drugs in schools, saying they can unfairly punish students who have harmless intentions. “A machete is not the same as a butter knife. A water gun is not the same as a gun loaded with bullets,” says former school board member and Rhode Island Sen. Daniel Issa, who is sponsoring a bill that would allow school districts in his state to decide punishments for student violations on a case-by-case basis. Stories of the no-tolerance laws gone too far are widespread. For example, according to the Associated Press, a Rhode Island kindergartener was suspended after bringing a plastic knife to school to cut cookies. Ditto for a Utah student who gave his cousin some cold medicine. Utah recently changed its drug policy so that asthmatic students were allowed to carry inhalers. The American Bar Association, the American Psychological Association, and some parents have spoken out against zero-tolerance policy. “You’re dealing with individuals,” said Christine Duckworth, a mother of a recently graduated high school student in Rhode Island. “How can you possibly apply one law to every single person and their circumstances?”
Education
The TFA Insurgency
The appointment of Michelle Rhee, 37, as chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools is being seen as sign of the growing influence of Teach For America veterans on the education world. Referring to a "Teach for America insurgency," Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews notes that TFA alumni are acquiring a growing reputation as innovators in education leadership and policy. Among other similarities, Mathews says, organizations led by TFA veterans tend to share a skepticism of the traditional, ed-school based method of recruiting and training teachers. Nor are they particularly bashful about their objectives and accomplishments. "There is a core group of education reformers who are driving a disproportionate amount of great things going on right now," says Rhee, who taught with TFA in the early 90s and was president of the New Teachers Project. Adds one Washington policy wonk about his TFA-vet friends: "Sometimes I kid them about their apparent plans for world domination."
Education
What's Your iCUE
Does Tim Russett belong in an AP History class? If a new $10 million project sponsored by NBC News takes off, he and other prominent broadcast journalists just might become part of the curriculum.
Education
Financing Test Scores
Here's a new take on performance pay: New York City is toying with the idea of paying students cash for scoring well on standardized tests. Harvard economist Roland Fryer has concocted a program that would reward fourth-grade students on a pay scale of $5 to $25 based on their standardized test scores; seventh-grade students would stand to gain anywhere from $5 to $50. The reward plan, which would be funded by private donors, is receiving support from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and several local principals. “If we aren’t looking at everything, shame on us,” said Mayor Bloomberg, who has supported cash incentive programs for low-income parents in the past. Not everyone is on board, however. “We are troubled by additional pressure being placed on children to achieve perfection,” said Ernest Logan, president of the principals’ union. “What really matters in education is continued student progress, not perfect test scores.” Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, countered by saying that the reward would provide needed incentive to some students: “Good students get [their] motivation from somewhere—from peers, their parents, how they’re raised—but the kids who are unmotivated have a very hard time understanding that what they do today pays off decades from now.” Education Department spokeswoman Debra Wexler said that the program is “still at a preliminary stage.”
Education
Chalk It Up
Two former teachers from Austin, Texas, have taken the concept of a fictional documentary, recently used to depict the idiosyncrasies of white-collar work in “The Office,” and adapted it for the classroom. “Chalk,” a mockumentary about discouraged educators, follows new teachers as they deal with classroom etiquette, cultural issues, and stereotypes, and delves into the reason why 50 percent of new teachers reportedly quit within their first few years.