Student Data Tracking Model Used To Improve Academic Success

In an article on its website, PBS NewsHour (12/7, Fritz) profiles Broadmoor Middle School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which three years ago, had major discipline and academic problems. Administrators at the school implemented "a data-driven model known as Diplomas Now...to target students who were showing early signs of dropping out. Traditional models use testing to track student performance in the classroom. Under the Diplomas Now model, tardiness, unexcused absences, and misbehavior are also charted and flagged as problems that could lead to larger issues later in a student's life." The piece quotes Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University, who founded the program, saying, "We can really map where the schools and where the kids are. It's almost like insider trading for the social good."

Writer Argues For Competency-Based Common Core Assessments

In a blog posting for Forbes (12/6), Michael Horn writes that education policy observers are "nervous" about "whether states will stick with the Common Core state standards once the Common Core assessments arrive in the 2014-15 school year." Horn supports the concept of the Common Core "in part because of the innovation their adoption could seed through the creation of a common market. Having common standards across the country could begin to reward content providers that target the long tail of learners because they would help to aggregate demand across the country, as opposed to what happens today where those providers that tailor their offerings to different and idiosyncratic state standards, for example, are rewarded." Horn continues to lay out an argument that competency-based assessments could be crafted into Common Core assessments, reducing the need for "end-of-the-line" assessments and strengthening academic performance.

Some States Implementing Fragmented School Choice Programs

Reuters (12/6, Simon) reports that Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White and his counterparts in Michigan, Arizona, and Utah are implementing a new education model in which students are allowed to create custom curricula chosen from a range of options offered by public schools and private firms, all of it funded by taxpayer money. Reuters notes that some educators find the system alarming in that it may result in less funding for public schools.

NCES Study Shows Many Students Lack Basic Vocabulary Skills

USA Today (12/6, Toppo) reports that according to a new study from ED's National Center for Education Statistics, "US schoolchildren may not improve their reading skills until they have a better grasp of basic vocabulary." The study "looks at the vocabulary skills of students nationwide and finds that they closely track students' reading comprehension levels. ... The findings represent the first time that the federal government has analyzed vocabulary in isolation, and the results show that students have a long way to go: The average fourth-grader scored 218 points in 2011, essentially unchanged from 2009. The average eighth-grader scored 265, also unchanged from 2009. Twelfth-graders' results for 2009 averaged 296 points, but the test wasn't repeated in 2011." The piece notes that the data comes from the NAEP.

 

The Christian Science Monitor (12/6, Khadaroo) reports that it is the first time that NAEP data has been used to assess students' vocabularies in this manner, noting that the "results show that students' vocabulary knowledge tracks closely with their overall reading ability." The piece quotes NCES Commissioner Jack Buckley saying, "About half of the variation in reading comprehension [on the main test] can be associated with variation in vocabulary." The Monitor adds that the report "also hints that schools and parents have a long way to go to ensure that their children can precisely understand the kinds of texts they will encounter in an academic context."

 

The Huffington Post (12/6, Resmovits) reports that education experts find the results "troubling - but not unexpected," adding that "average performance on the US Education Department's national exams was mostly stagnant at low levels between 2009 and 2011, and the highest performers lost ground during that time." The Post explains that it is "the first time the results of a separate scale for vocabulary questions on the national reading comprehension test have been released."

 

The Wall Street Journal (12/7, Banchero, Subscription Publication) also covers this story, noting that Margaret McKeown of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh expressed concern about the results, but not surprise. The piece quotes her saying, "There is very little vocabulary done in any classroom at any age. There is quite a bit of research about vocabulary and the best ways to teach it. Unfortunately we are not seeing that go into the classrooms as much as we would like."

Study: Least Experienced Los Angeles Teachers Often Placed With Neediest Students

The Los Angeles Times (11/19, Watanabe) reports that according to a new study from the Strategic Data Project, which is associated with Harvard University's Center for Education Policy Research, "inexperienced teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District are disproportionately more likely to be assigned to lower-performing math students, perpetuating the achievement gap. The study also found that L.A. Unified teachers 'vary substantially' in their effectiveness, with top teachers able to give students the equivalent of eight additional months of learning in a year compared with weaker instructors."

Writer Warns Of Lack Of Social Studies Focus Under Common Core

Marc Brasof of the National Constitution Center writes at the Philadelphia Public Schools Notebook (11/15) about the gradual decline in social studies instruction in US schools in recent decades, concurrent with an increase in classroom time devoted to math and English. The piece attributes this shift to No Child Left Behind's focus on those two subjects, adding, "This is an important lesson to consider when states, responsible for establishing learning standards for public schools, are now agreeing to implement the new national curriculum standards known as the Common Core. ... Although some scholars have found that the arguments in support of Common Core are flawed, more troubling is the quality of these standards in terms of history and civic education."

Some Schools Dropping Cursive Writing Under Common Core

The Joplin (MO) Globe (11/17, Younker) reports that cursive handwriting "is slowly losing ground in elementary school curricula as technology invades the classroom. The Common Core Standards, a set of national education standards that have been adopted by most states, including Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, do not specifically require that cursive handwriting be taught in classrooms." The piece notes that the Common Core Standards "include keyboarding skills," but not cursive writing. "Locally, most districts include cursive, but many administrators say that the specific skill of writing in cursive is declining in importance in a digital era, when students are more tech-savvy than their predecessors and may prefer a computer keyboard to a pencil and paper."

Groups Aiming To Include ELL Students In Common Core Assessments

Lesli A. Maxwell writes at the Education Week (11/15, Maxwell) "Learning the Language" blog that as the release of new Common Core Standards-linked assessments nears, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers--the two groups which are crafting the assessments--"are ramping up efforts to ensure English-learners and students with disabilities won't be left behind. An overview of the testing accessibility and accommodation work underway" by the groups "was a major feature of an event in Washington yesterday that focused on the common-core standards and English-language learners. The American Federation of Teachers organized the panel, the second such event that the national teachers' union has held on how the new standards will impact ELLs and their teachers."

Ohio Districts Spending Millions On Common Core PD

The Pulse Journal (11/15, Poturalski) reports that Ohio districts "are spending millions of dollars annually on professional development" for teachers related to the Common Core Standards, "and several school districts have staff members dedicated to facilitate training. ... The updated curriculum - with coinciding new instructional practices - has been the primary focus of professional development in local school districts over the past two years, according to officials. The federal government now requires that 10% of Title I funds for under-performing schools be allocated to professional development. Each school district has a professional development committee and an individual plan for each teacher, as required by law, said Keith Millard, director of secondary programs for Hamilton City Schools."

Report: High School Dropouts Blame Parental Disengagement, Teen Pregnancy

US News & World Report (11/15, Sheehy) reports in its "High School Notes" blog that according to a new report from Everest College and research firm Harris Interactive, "a lack of parental support and the challenges of teen pregnancy are among the primary factors driving students to leave high school before earning their diploma." The report showed that 23% "of high school dropouts surveyed cited lack of support and encouragement from their parents as the reason they quit school," while 21% cited having their own child as a reason. "With nearly 1.3 million students leaving high school each year, the dropout crisis is 'equivalent to a permanent recession,' and siphons close to a trillion dollars from the national economy, Tony Miller, deputy secretary of the US Department of Education, said during a panel discussion in May."

Kansas Districts Reject Notion Of Science Grades Without Instruction

The Topeka Capital-Journal (11/14, Llopis) reports that though a recent survey found that many Kansas elementary school teachers felt so pressured to improve math and reading scores that they provided no science instruction at all--though they nevertheless reported grades for their students. However, "districts in the Topeka area said Wednesday that wasn't the case locally. ... The national No Child Left Behind Act has long drawn criticism from educators who say it pressures schools to spend less time on subjects like science and social studies in favor of math and reading."

ED: California District's Non-Union-Endorsed RTTT Application Denied

The Glendale (CA) News Press (11/16, Corrigan) reports, "Glendale's Hail Mary pass in the $400-million Race to the Top federal grant program has been called by the officials: Incomplete." The piece notes that tough the district could not garner the support of the local teachers union, it applied for the grant anyway "in a last ditch hope that it may be considered anyway, but federal officials on Thursday said it would be a futile effort." The piece quotes Assistant Secretary Peter Cunningham saying in an email, "We require the union signature because this challenging work cannot be done at the district level unless everyone is committed and working together." The paper adds, "Glendale Teachers Assn. President Tami Carlson refused to sign the grant application because the district could not promise it wouldn't lay off teachers to combat its $15-million structural deficit later this year." The piece notes that Los Angeles also submitted an application which lacked a union signature.

Cincinnati Teacher Part Of "Flipped Classroom" Movement.

The Cincinnati Enquirer (11/14, Amos) reports on the use of flipped lessons--in which students do "homework" assignments in class and receive lectures at home online--at Wyoming Middle School in Cincinnati, Ohio, profiling history teacher James Zoller, who sometimes uses the practice. "Two chemistry teachers in Woodland Park, Colo., began 'flipping' their classrooms in 2007, to help students who were missing classes because of sports. The teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, wrote a nationally-known book offering their experiences and advice. Today, teachers around the world are trying it, according to the website FlippedLearning.org."

Texas Witness Testifies Larger Class Sizes Bring More Dropouts

The Dallas Morning News (11/14, Stutz) reports that as testimony in the Texas school finance lawsuit continues, Clive Belfield, an economist at New York's Queens College, testifies that "larger classes typically trigger higher dropout rates and wind up costing more in the long run with less educated workers who pay less in taxes." Moreover, Belfield "said there are several steps school districts can take to increase their graduation rates, but most involve spending more money, and there has been resistance to funding increases in Texas and other states. Over the long term, he said, raising teacher pay, reducing class sizes and funding other improvements has a direct impact on how many students will graduate from high school - and he offered several examples of the return Texas could expect if it were to finance such upgrades."

State Officials Say Only 31% Of California Students Are Physically Fit

In its "L.A. Now" blog, the Los Angeles Times (11/16, Castellanos) reports that "for the second year in a row, California students have tested relatively low in a series of statewide physical fitness tests, the state Department of Education announced Thursday." In a statement, State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson indicated that approximately 31% of students got healthy scores in all six of the tested areas. He remarked, "When we can call fewer than one out of three of our kids physically fit, we know we have a tremendous public health challenge on our hands." Out of the roughly 1.3 million students in the fifth, seventh, and ninth grades that were tested, "only 31% were able to score in what state officials call a 'healthy fitness zone.'"