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November 3, 2009

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News for the Education Profession

Eye on Curriculum

Group wants authors of common standards to disclose potential conflicts
The authors of new common national academic standards are being asked by a literacy-research group to make clear any ties to commercial entities that could constitute a potential conflict of interest as the standards are being written. The Literacy Research Association wants the disclosures because of concerns about relationships between the authors and companies that stand to profit financially from the sale of curriculum-related materials and assessments. Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org) (11/4)

Struggling California high school is undergoing successful turnaround
Pasadena, Calif., school officials are seeing a notable turnaround at John Muir High School after a schoolwide reorganization into four academies. Gains on state tests over the past two years have allowed the school to exit state monitoring for low performance. While officials say there is still work to be done, other improvements at the school include fewer absences, more participation in sports and more students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses. Los Angeles Times (11/1)

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Professional Leadership

N.J. university creates urban-residency program for teachers
New Jersey's Rowan University will prepare five graduate students for teaching careers by immersing them in one year of supervised teaching at a local urban school -- creating a master's program that will be comparable to a medical residency. The program will accept candidates studying math, science or Spanish -- disciplines that traditionally graduate fewer teachers -- and will pay them a living wage of $30,000 through a federal grant for new professional-development programs. The Philadelphia Inquirer (11/2)

Educator: Create better university programs to train better teachers
Fixing the nation's schools requires that the study of education be valued at the university level, argues Susan Engel, director of the teaching program at Williams College. Programs should be highly selective and free of charge, writes Engel in this opinion piece, and should include in-depth study of a candidate's subject of choice reinforced with intense in-field mentoring and observation -- similar to that of a surgeon-in-training. The New York Times (free registration) (11/1)

Technology Solutions

Budget cuts could close Missouri virtual school at midyear
The Missouri Virtual Instruction Program, which offers courses to 1,600 students from kindergarten through high school, is in danger of closing midway through the academic year because of state budget cuts. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said the school could remain operational if parents or local districts pay the cost for students to attend. For about half of the school's students, the virtual program is their only school. Columbia Missourian/The Associated Press (11/2)

Private-school data is public domain on education Web site
An unheralded database on the Department of Education Web site is proving to be a comprehensive resource for families interested in private schools. Although not mandated, some 91% of private schools respond to survey questions about demographics, length of the school year and college-enrollment rates, among other things. Survey results are posted to the site in a searchable format that provides information that may not be otherwise available to the public. The Washington Post (11/2)

Policy Watch

Infighting endangers L.A.'s latest school reforms
An effort to allow 250 new and struggling Los Angeles schools to be run by outside management may fall victim to political infighting, thus endangering the district's goal of fixing education for its most disadvantaged students, writes the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times. Ironically, the editorial writers state, the biggest threat to the Public School Choice initiative comes from a group that stands to benefit most from the policy -- charter-school operators -- who are resisting a requirement that they give enrollment preference to students in their schools' neighborhoods. Los Angeles Times (11/2)

Election could change busing policy for schools in N.C. district
A school board election today in North Carolina's Wake County has become a referendum on school busing and integration, with the expected results set to create a majority in favor of returning the county to a system of neighborhood schools for the first time since the 1970s. According to this newspaper analysis, neighborhoods in the county have become racially diverse but are still divided by income, leaving some opponents of the possible policy change worried about the potential negative effects on schools in poorer neighborhoods. The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (11/2)

NAACP rallies against change in N.C. district busing policy: Local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People rallied in North Carolina's Wake County against an expected end to a school-busing policy based on socioeconomic diversity, which is likely to occur under a newly elected Wake County school board. NAACP officials say a return to a neighborhood-school system in Wake County would reinstitute school segregation. MyNC.com (North Carolina)/WNCN-TV (Raleigh, N.C.) (11/2)

Other News

Report: Stimulus boost saved and created 400,000 education jobs nationwide
The Washington Post (11/3)

The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)

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In the Field

First lady kicks off mentoring program for female high-school students
First lady Michelle Obama launched a leadership program that will pair female high-school students with top women in the Obama administration who will act as mentors and help develop life skills. The program began Tuesday with 20 students from the Washington, D.C., area. A similar leadership program for male high-school students is in the works. The Politico (Washington) (11/2)

Association News

Maintaining Professional-Development Momentum
After a weekend of discovery and networking at ASCD's Fall Conference, educators should maintain that momentum for their professional-development gains. ASCD knows that true change comes to schools with sustained, ongoing capacity-building professional development. ASCD has research-based models dedicated to cultivating educators into local experts in specific instructional and leadership practices. By providing a range of PD services customized for states, intermediate agencies, districts and schools, ASCD supports on-the-ground educational change efforts around the world.
- Learn more about ASCD's on-site capacity-building approach.

21st-Century Priorities -- What and How We Teach
At ASCD's recent Fall Conference, Mike Schmoker caught many in the crowd off guard with his presentation about 21st-century priorities. He warned against education's tendency to subscribe to unproven "fads" and said that schools should deliver a content-rich curriculum in which all students are encouraged to read deliberately, discuss what they've read and then write about it. A Conference Daily article summarizes the presentation and provides a snapshot of attendees' varied responses on Twitter.
- Read the article.

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K-12 School Teacher	The International Educator	Int'l Schools Worldwide
K - 12 Teachers and Administrators	International Schools Services	Worldwide
Director of Accountability	National Heritage Academies	Grand Rapids, MI
Principal- Apex	National Heritage Academies	Cleveland, OH
Associate Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction	Baltimore County Public Schools	Towson, MD - Baltimore suburb
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Founding Principal - College Prep Academy	Lighthouse Academies	Indianapolis
Executive Director	Primary Source Learning, Inc	Arlington, VA
Elementary School Principal	MEP Services	Huron Academy
High School Principal	East Lyme Public Schools	East Lyme, CT
Asst. Supt. for Sp. Ed. and Pupil/Personnel Services	East Lyme Public Schools	East Lyme, CT
Principal- Atlanta Heights	National Heritage Academies	Atlanta, GA
Principal- Capstone	National Heritage Academies	Denver, CO
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