Massachusetts School Participates In Tablet Literacy Pilot

The Daily Hampshire (MA) Gazette (7/29) reports, "Students at Center/Pepin elementary school will be piloting new reading technology this fall," noting that Amherst-based Pioneer Valley Books, which "provides books for children learning to read," is developing a book app for iPads, and "will be delivering six iPads to the school preloaded with the 'Who Can Read?' book reader application. Each book is illustrated and features audio so that a student can choose to hear it read aloud or turn the audio off as they develop their own reading skills. The book reader, which came out in May, also features a trademark animated owl that helps students follow instructions."

Colorado Program Uses Comic Books To Promote Literacy

The Denver Post (7/29, Moore) reports on a literacy program that uses comic books and graphic novels to promote reading in Denver, Colorado. The piece profiles Comic Book Classroom founder Charlie LaGreca, noting that his teams go to schools and use comic books to teach vocabulary, narrative structure, character, and other literary concepts.

Arizona Passes "Move On When Reading" Third Grade Promotion Law

The East Valley Tribune (7/29, Reese) reports that beginning in spring 2013, Arizona third graders will not be promoted further until they "show they can read," noting that "lawmakers passed legislation - dubbed 'move on when reading' - in 2010 that requires them to demonstrate proficiency on the reading portion of Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards in spring 2013." The piece notes that students will be classified in four ranges, the lowest of which will be held back.

Chicago Announces Thousands Of Added Full-Day Kindergarten Seats

The Chicago (IL) News Cooperative (7/29, Vevea) reports that Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced this week that the district "plans to add thousands of full-day kindergarten slots along with more seats at magnet and charter schools for the upcoming school year." Noting that the 6,000 kindergarten slots will be added to schools with large at-risk student concentrations at a cost of $15 million, the article explains, "all CPS schools have an all-day kindergarten option. In some areas, principals use discretionary funding or parents cobble together the money themselves to pay for the program."

 

WFLD-TV Chicago, IL (7/29) also covers this story, noting that Brizard announced that "$5 million will go to expanding magnet schools, and $15 million is being earmarked to double the number of students in all-day kindergarten. The money comes from cuts that have been made to the central office."

New York Teacher Sues City Alleging Improper Termination

The AP (8/2) reports that 80-year-old kindergarten teacher Lillie Leon alleges that she was terminated from her job with the New York City Schools after "school administrators made her job unworkable by assigning her to a room that forced her to shepherd her entire kindergarten class to a distant bathroom on a bad knee, then engineered her firing after she complained." She charges the district with ageism camouflaged by its claim that she was "insubordinate."

Pennsylvania District Reinstates Teacher Suspended For Blog Critical Of Students

The AP (8/4) reports that a Pennsylvania English teacher who was suspended after making disparaging remarks about her students on her blog "was reinstated because she has a legal right to her job, but dozens of students have already asked to be kept out of her classes, school officials said Wednesday." Central Bucks East High School Principal Abe Lucabaugh said that such requests will be honored, adding that teacher Natalie Munroe "'has sacrificed her respect, her professionalism, and her ethical standing as an educator, role model and mentor for students.'"

More States Report AYP Results

Media reports in several states which have released reports on schools and districts' AYP results continue today.

Alabama Districts Report Mixed AYP Progress.The Tuscaloosa (AL) News (8/4, Smith) reports that 38 of the 58 West Alabama schools outside Tuscaloosa County made AYP this year, with three districts doing "particularly well: Every school in the Perry, Fayette and Pickens counties school systems made AYP, even as AYP's minimum standards rose steeply last year." However, though ever school in Pickens County made AYP, "the system as a whole failed AYP requirements."

Paper: NCLB Brought Improvements, But Should Be Improved.The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (8/4) editorializes, "Despite its many critics, the No Child Left Behind program and its emphasis on schools making 'adequate yearly progress' have spurred significant improvements in public education" in Alabama and elsewhere, but is hitting "the 'Lake Wobegon effect.' The program needs to be modified if it is going to continue to be useful." The piece praises NCLB's mandate that all subgroups be targeted for improvements, but complains that the "steadily increasing bar leading to the requirement that all students meet standards by 2014 has been compared to public radio host Garrison Keillor's fictional Minnesota home of Lake Wobegon, a town where 'all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.'"

Little Progress Seen In Colorado Assessments.The Colorado Springs Gazette (8/4, McGraw, Iodice) reports that according to Colorado Department of Education data released Wednesday, "Thousands of Colorado students are behind in school and most are unlikely to ever catch up." The piece notes that some 100,000 Colorado students-over 20%-are not expected to become proficient in math or writing by the time they graduate.

Rising Oregon Standards Blamed For Rising Failure Rate.
KVAL-TV Eugene, OR (8/4, Adams) reports that Oregon's NCLB "test standards are going up," but "on the flip side, that means more Oregon schools are falling short of the mark - and some Lane County superintendents are frustrated." The piece notes that as the standards rose, school AYP fell from 71% to 54% over the past year.

Fewer Las Vegas Schools Make AYP.The Las Vegas Review-Journal (8/4, Milliard) reports that the number of the 363 schools in Clarke County, Nevada, that made AYP this year fell to 139, down from last year's figure of 151. The year before, 190 schools made AYP. The piece notes that Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez complained that the rising standards associated with NCLB make it difficult for schools that are already lagging behind to catch up.

Facebook, Time Warner Partnering To Combat Bullying

The AP (7/13, Liedtke) reports that social networking site Facebook and Time Warner are partnering "to use their clout to raise awareness about bullying and encourage more people to report the abuses when they see them. Facebook's participation reflects a growing recognition that its online social network consisting of more than 750 million people has become an outlet for harassment as well as friendship." The campaign "will be waged on the Internet, on TV and radio and several major US magazines. It's being billed as 'Stop Bullying: Speak Up,' a theme that Time Warner's Cartoon Network has been trumpeting since last year."

California Murder Trial Casts Light On Anti-Gay Bullying

NPR (7/13, Kahn) reports that the trial of Brandon McInerney in Southern California for "killing a gay classmate is bringing national attention to the problem of gay bullying. Prosecutors in Southern California say the defendant murdered 15-year-old Lawrence King out of his hatred of homosexuals, but defense attorneys say their client snapped after being repeatedly harassed by the openly gay teen." The piece notes that the gay community has focused on the case to draw attention to anti-gay bullying.

Observers Cite "Sea Change" For Teachers From Recent Legislation

Education Week (7/13, Heitin) reports on the spate of state legislature passed this year having "a notable impact on teachers. Building on the momentum from the previous two years, in which lawmakers began aggressively pursuing teacher-related reforms, about a dozen states passed laws since January that curb or otherwise modify teacher tenure, teacher evaluations, last-in-first-out policies, and collective bargaining." The piece quotes Jennifer Dounay Zinth of the Denver-based Education Commission of the States calling the legislative wave "a 'sea change'" and notes that "at least a dozen" states passed laws "altering teachers' conditions of employment. Actions affected collective bargaining, seniority, evaluations, and tenure, among other policies. In some categories without checkmarks, similar legislation by that state may have taken effect in previous years. And some states' actions on tenure, seniority, and evaluation could ultimately have an influence on collective bargaining."

Pennsylvania District Expands ESL Summer Enrichment Program

The Scranton (PA) Times Tribune (7/13, Hall) reports that as the immigrant population has expanded in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area, the district "is operating an English as a Second Language summer camp" for the first time in a number of years. "About 150 kindergarten through fifth-grade students are enrolled in the five-week program." The Times Tribune notes that some 8% of the district's students are enrolled in ESL classes. "During the five-week program, which is funded through federal grants, students receive breakfast and lunch, work on reading and writing skills and attend field trips on Fridays."

Atlanta Cheating Scandal Highlights Debate Over High-Stakes Testing

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/11, Sarrio) reports on the impact that the Atlanta cheating scandal is having on the debate over high-stakes testing, noting that some observers predict that the focus on standardized testing may "trigger similar episodes in the years ahead." State officials said that the Atlanta cheating scandal is largely attributable to "pressure to meet testing targets," and has "tarnished Atlanta's Cinderella story of school reform. This comes as Georgia and states across the country are working on new strategies to retain, pay and promote teachers and principals based -- in large part -- on how much growth students show on standardized tests." However, Education Secretary Arne Duncan "said the Atlanta situation was 'deeply disturbing,' but he disagrees with people who say a greater emphasis on testing will cause more cheating. Students need to be evaluated, he said, and what leads to great test scores is great teaching." This article is accompanied by a Q&A with Duncan about the scandal.

 

ED Official Expresses Concern About Cheating Allegations.FOX News (7/11) quotes ED's Justin Hamilton saying that "the department is 'concerned' about the wave of investigations and allegations regarding cheating on standardized tests in several school systems, but stressed that most schools are 'doing the right thing.'" Fox alludes to the DC and Atlanta investigations, noting that Hamilton, "while declining to comment specifically on the D.C. probe, said Sunday that it's important investigators get 'to the bottom' of the cheating claims. 'People want to have confidence in that process,' he told FoxNews.com. 'It's clear that the real crime here is that these kids are being cheated out of the world-class education they deserve.'" This article notes Education Secretary Arne Duncan's recent warning to state officials that districts should increase vigilance about systemic cheating.

New Indiana Curriculum Eliminates Cursive Writing Instruction

The Indianapolis Star (7/11, Elliott) reports that the new school curriculum approved by Indiana officials eliminates cursive handwriting instruction in favor of mandatory keyboarding classes. "The national move away from cursive is being fueled by the Common Core curriculum," which includes keyboarding but not cursive. The piece notes that the move is controversial.

 

Meanwhile, CNN(7/11) reports that "handwriting experts and educators worry that Indiana's choice to stop teaching cursive in schools could negatively affect a child's ability to learn," quoting Paul Sullivan, principal of St. Francis Xavier Elementary School in Burbank, California, "The fluidity of cursive allows, I think, for gains in spelling and a better tie to what they are reading and comprehending through stories and such and through literature."

Tennessee Districts Implementing Single-Gender Classrooms

The Tennessean (7/11, Hubbard) reports on a number of statistics showing boys trailing girls academically in Tennessee, adding, that according to Middle Tennessee State University professor Martin Kennedy, "too many boys are already mentally checked out of school by the seventh grade." The piece notes that in the past, "single-gender schools in Nashville have been reserved for the religious or wealthy," but "Kennedy, who grew up with 10 brothers and graduated from asingle-gender Catholic high school, wanted to give that choice for public school parents. Boys Prep will open in fall 2012, the city's first all-boys public charter school."

New York Charter Schools Said To Reject Problem Students

The New York Times (7/11, Winerip, Subscription Publication) reports on the experience of a New York mother who was encouraged to remove her young son from the Harlem Success Academy 3 charter school because he was disruptive. The boy is "thriving" in his new school, and his mother now says "she felt her son had been done an injustice." Her "story raises perhaps the most critical question in the debate about charter schools: do they cherry-pick students, if not by gaming the admissions process, then by counseling out children who might be more expensive or difficult to educate - and who could bring down their test scores, graduation rates and safety records?"