Monday
December 29, 2008
by desertjim
After years of being ignored by the Bush administration, advocates of early childhood education are anticipating a change for the better from the incoming Obama administration. President-elect Obama has pledged $10 billion for early childhood education. That money would be the largest federal initiative for educating young children since Head Start begain in 1965. When asked whether the current recession would force a scaling back in the pledge, transition spokeswoman Jen Pdaki said, “We simply cannot afford to sideline key priorities like education.”
Given that research shows the value of early childhood education, it is good to see that the new administration will be directing resources where they can do the most good. Noble Prize winning economist James J. Heckman has reported that, “Enriched pre-kindergarten programs available to disadvantaged children on a voluntary basis, coupled with home visitation programs, have a strong record of pormoting achievement for disadvantaged children, improving their labor market outcomes and reducing involvement in crime. Such programs are likely to generate substantial savings to society and to promote higher economic growth...” His research also indicated that ability gaps between disadvantaged and other children open up early, before schooling typically begins at age five.
Recently, eight national institutions, including National-Louis University, the National Head Start Association and the Aspire Institute issued a call for the reinvention of higher education programs for early childhood teachers and other professionals working with children from birth to age five. In their announcement, they point out that research has continually shown that, in order for children to have exceptional, high quality early care and education, they must have teachers and staff with specialized knowledge and skill. It would make sense for some of the billions of dollars pledged for early childhood education to go to the institutions that will train the needed early childhood educators.
President-elect Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been a strong advocate for early childhood education. That speaks well for growth in Head Start and related programs.
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Friday
December 26, 2008
by desertjim
President-elect Obama’s proposed economic stimulus package includes money for school construction and to expand broadband access for schools. The president-elect himself has said, “It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption...here in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have a chance to get online.” He has pledged a sweeping effort to modernize school buildings and equip classrooms with computers as part of the economic stimulus plan. So, it can reasonably be expected that the $500 billion economic recovery bill will include billions in grants for school modernization, computer linkups and renovation.
However, some school officials are lobbying lawmakers to include more money for education in the package . They hope that the stimulus bill will include money for special education, teacher training and grants for other educational needs. Edward R. Kealy, executive director of the lobbying group Committee for Education Funding says that over the long term, education is one of the best places for federal dollars because, “It actually has the strongest possibility of being able to pay back.” Since the main intent of the stimulus package is to create 3 million new jobs, it is not clear that such attempts to direct money to existing programs will be successful.
There are lots of questions to be answered at this point. How will individual public schools obtain their share of the stimulus money? How will the money be allocated, who will be eligible and will there be competition for grants? Details will become clearer when Congress returns to work after the holiday break. It behooves the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers to keep an eye on the process and offer teacher input to the writing of the final bill.
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Wednesday
December 24, 2008
by desertjim
Almost 30,000 United States public schools failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) this year. This was a 28 percent yearly increase of schools failing to meet the testing standards under the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB). Critics say that an increasing number of schools to be labelled as failing is inevitable. Those critics say the law has set unrealistic requirements, including the demand that all students be proficient in math and reading by the 2013-14 school year.
As far back as 2003, the National Education Association was pointing out that AYP rules caused many good schools to be listed as failures. In that year, for example, Ridgewood High School in New Jersey was placed on the early warning list because 3 students (who had left the school) did not take the required test. Despite the fact that Ridgewood High boasted an average SAT score of 1174 (the national average in 2003 was 1026) they were placed on the early-warning list. In Florida, Gulfport Elementary received a $40,000 bonus check from Governor Jeb Bush because of its academic excellence. However, that same year, NCLB test reported that the school had failed to meet AYP requirements.
The American Federation of Teachers points out that AYP does not in fact measure the yearly progress of the same students over time. Not surprisingly, the evidence shows that whether or not a school makes AYP does not necessaily depend on its effectiveness or the presence or absence or size of achievement gaps. The union predicts that almost all schools will have failed AYP by 2014 and points out that no other nation has been, or is close to, meeting the kind of standard that has been set by NCLB.
The superintendent of the Mat-Su school district in Arkansas recently felt compelled to write a letter to the parents explaining that the schools in his district that failed to meet AYP were not bad schools. He points out in the letter that many of his “failing” schools met 30 of the 31 target measurements this year but were still downgraded under NCLB rules.
NCLB has set standards and developed rules that will make it almost impossible for public schools to meet AYP requirements in future years. Whether this was the intended result of NCLB or not, major changes must be made as soon as possible. Arne Duncan, as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, has been no fan of NCLB’s requirements . Perhaps his tenure as Secretary of Education will include the revision or removal of NCLB high-stakes testing as the be-all and end-all of educational measurement.
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Wednesday
December 17, 2008
Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit heard arguments challenging the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) as an unfunded mandate.
Tuesday
December 16, 2008
The next Secretary of Education will be Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.
Wednesday
December 10, 2008
The most recent results of the quadrennial Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study have been released. US fourth and eighth graders showed no improvement in science of the last test. American fourth graders did improve in mathematics.
