by William Celis — December 04, 2006

There is a disconnect between the scholarship about immigrant children and the media that report it. Reasons abound for the uneven coverage in print and broadcast outlets, and this commentary explores the reasons why: From tainted research to uneven journalism, the American public is often left in the dark about the contributions and impact of immigrant children on the nation's public schools.

Pity the typical American who sits down these days to read, listen, or view a report about immigrants and public education. When they have finished digesting the news, they are likely to be left with a report that is incomplete or lacks context, if the immigrant experience in schools is even covered. Journalists, always easy targets, are only partly to blame for the muddle of voices we hear.

"We're overwhelmed in North Carolina trying to pay for the people who aren’t supposed to be here," Ron Woodard, director of N.C. Listen, a group in Cary that advocates greater restriction of immigration, recently told the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer. "Why are we having to spend money on people who are here illegally?"1

The News & Observer, a well-regarded newspaper, never bothers to answer the question, which would have been easy enough to do. Public schools in North Carolina and elsewhere pay for the education of immigrant kids, whether here legally or illegally, because they are required to do so under federal law. The Plyler vs. Doe decision, a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, rarely cited in education stories about immigrant children, overturned a Texas law that allowed the state to withhold funds from any school district that enrolled illegal immigrant children.2 In its opinion, the Court said the state law violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment because “the Texas statute imposes a lifetime hardship on a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status.” The 5-4 decision arguably altered the face of public education as much as Brown vs. Board of Education.

Context, among other anchors of good journalism, has been lost in the sometimes ill-focused coverage about immigration and education, leaving many Americans with blurry notions about what, if anything, immigrant children are entitled to, how much their educations cost, who they are, how they learn, and what they have contributed.3 Some of these stories are admittedly difficult to cover because there are only estimates for the number of illegal immigrant children in the nation’s schools, generating more coverage that is less than precise. The Raleigh news report, for example, asserts that it costs more to educate immigrant children because of special education materials they need, but KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, reports that it costs substantially no more to educate immigrant children in city schools than it does American-born children.4 Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

Meanwhile, Community of Peace Academy Charter School in St. Paul, Minn., would be happy for any coverage. The 600-student charter school, one of the oldest in the nation, has tried without success to interest local media to write about its successes and challenges in educating the children of Hmong immigrants. Or reporting how the school earns a sterling bond rating from Standard & Poors. Or writing about the accolades the school has won from the U.S. and Minnesota’s Department of Education.5

“There is a lot of available information about schools and charter schools in particular,” says Dr. Nancy Healy, the school’s instructional facilitator. “It’s hard. There’s a lot to learn, but I’d like journalists to ask. They just don’t ask.”

With the obvious overlooked, it is no surprise that nuance is also lost. There’s little understanding or recognition in coverage that not all immigrant children are recent arrivals; they may represent the second or third generation in the U.S, but they may still view the U.S. through the eyes of an immigrant and may still need services, and that has enormous implications in how immigrant children are educated, said Jill Kerper Mora, an associate professor of teacher education at San Diego State University, who studies immigrant students and their English language acquisition. Few stories explore those issues, she says.6 Scholars and education school professors who track immigrant populations and children and their impact on schools know and understand the court rulings and the nuance of the still-unfolding immigrant story. So do many journalists. Where the breakdown occurs between researchers and journalists is another story, and much of it can be tied to the quality of research.

In these politically polarized times, a report stripped of ideological taint is a rare document indeed. Charter schools, test scores, and the federal No Child Left Behind legislation are favorite targets of think tanks, foundations, and other groups whose political leanings often drive the findings of a study. Look for immigrant children to join the list. The dearth of straightforward research leaves the education journalist trying to discern a report’s scholarly worth, sometimes on deadline. These reports will sometimes get the ink or air time they don’t deserve, but journalists are better at spotting the agenda-driven study.

One former Florida newspaper editor spiked several education stories because he couldn’t tell whether the studies and reports upon which the articles were based were suspect. “When I was in the journalism business, I tried scrupulously to paint as fair a picture as I could and often killed stories because I perceived a slant or bias,” Mark Pudlow wrote me via email. “But I often wasn't equipped to recognize the bias, which I understand is one of the biggest challenges facing journalists today.”7

Framing stories around sturdy data isn’t the only challenge. In the media’s continuing downsizing and realignment—sending more resources, for example, to their online ventures—print and broadcast outlets have pushed veteran reporters and editors into early retirements, layoffs, and buyouts. The resulting hemorrhaging has resulted in fewer journalists doing more work, even as news holes in newspapers shrink because of declining advertising revenue. Specialists aren’t created overnight, and the impact of downsizing and realignment has been fewer and shorter stories at a time when domestic issues, particularly education, and now immigrants’ impact on schools, have become increasingly complex.

Combine that with the fact that the beat itself is still considered “soft” by some newsroom managers and less important, say, than covering politics, city hall, or business. A decade ago, when I was an education correspondent at the New York Times, a colleague met with a top editor at the paper to plan her next move. When she mentioned education reporting as a possibility, my colleague was aghast at the editor’s response.

“We don’t care about education,” he said.

That misguided attitude is changing, thankfully. More editors recognize, as they should, that the education beat is a key newsroom crossroad because to write about education also means writing about immigration, race and class, business, taxes, crime, housing and health. Few beats in the newsroom have the potential to cover as much terrain or more important stories. The Education Writers Association, whose members are increasingly seasoned journalists, has long called for a break-down-the-walls approach to education coverage by removing the increasingly meaningless barriers between newsroom beats and encouraging editors and reporters to approach education coverage broadly.8 The Dallas Morning News, for example, produced a multi-part series in 2004 about the redevelopment of South Dallas, long a heavily minority and economically impoverished section of the city. Central to the paper’s series, updated in 2005, was a package of stories about public schools, the impact of more tax revenue for schools, and the public schools’ significance as community anchors in a new South Dallas.9

Similarly, the Oregonian produced a lengthy series in 2004 about high schools in that state, offering readers a thorough and thoughtful examination about what’s good and bad about the Oregon high school in the new century. The series, which the paper tracked with updates in 2005, looked at family life, community violence, poverty, and a host of other issues that young people bring with them to school.10 More recently, the paper dispatched a reporter and photographer to cover the immigration story in Guatemala for a forthcoming package of stories. Education is expected to be a prominent theme.

More contextual journalism is possible, even on deadline and even during the current downsizing. But journalists could use help from education policy experts, state education officials, and professors at schools of education. They can assist by guiding reporters—the veteran and greenhorn alike—in discerning the good research from the bad, helping journalists avoid the studies whose underpinnings lean to the left or to the right, with little regard to historical context or contemporary realities. Journalists can also help themselves by asking researchers whether their studies were peer reviewed, whose money supported the research, and whether the academic, researcher, or think tank has discernable political leanings.

Katrina’s demolition of New Orleans helped generate discussions in newsrooms—even in journalism schools—about the need to improve the coverage of race and class. Perhaps immigrant children and their impact on schools will do the same for public education, always at the center of important readjustments. Backed by unassailable research, and supported by editors who extend education equal footing with “prestige” beats, journalists can’t fail in recording one of our era’s most important stories.



Notes

1. Schools Bear Burden of Immigration, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Feb. 27, 2006. http://www.newsobserver.com/1155/story/412207.html

2. Plyler vs. Doe. U.S. Supreme Court brief.
http://www.tourolaw.edu/PATCH/Plyler/

3. Plyler vs. Doe, 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding undocumented children and youth.http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/PlylerVDoeSummary.html. Immigrant students and their rights. What schools are obligated to provide immigrant students, from the Washington state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. http://www.k12.wa.us/MigrantBilingual/ImmigrantRights.aspx. Celis, William, “Forgotten History of Immigration.” Education Week, Oct. 4, 2006. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/10/04/06celis.h26.html

4. Immigrant education report. KHOU-TV, Houston, Texas, Oct. 12, 2006. http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou061012_ac_immigranteducation.2ffd1081.html

5. Dr. Nancy Healy, telephone interview, Nov. 17, 2006. Dr. Healy is instructional facilitator at Community of Peace Academy Charter School in St. Paul, Minn.

6. Jung Zhang, U.S. newspaper coverage of immigration in 2004: A Content Analysis, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. https://txspace.tamu.edu/bitstream/1969.1/2464/1/etd-tamu-2005A-STJR-Zhang.pdf. Dr. Jill Kerper Mora, associate professor of teacher education, San Diego State University, San Diego, Ca., telephone interview, Nov. 17, 2006. Prof. Mora’s web page outlining reporting about test scores of limited English students: http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/Prop227/celdt.htm

7. Mark Pudlow, former Florida newspaper editor, email conversation. Nov. 14, 2006.

8. Lisa Walker, executive director, Education Writers Association, telephone interview, Nov. 20, 2006. Education Writers Association. www.ewa.org. See web site for compilation of award-winning education coverage.

9. “Dallas at the Tipping Point.” The Dallas Morning News 2004 series on rebuilding South Dallas. http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2005/tippingpoint/tpmain.html

10.“Fixing High Schools” The Oregonian 2004 series about high school reform. http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf?/education/fixingschools.frame

Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record, Date Published: December 04, 2006
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=12862

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:39 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Web Posted: 01/28/2007 02:13 AM CST

Jeanne Russell and Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News
Last year, the School of Science and Technology, a college-prep charter school, was alone among San Antonio middle schools when it earned the top rating of exemplary in the Texas public school accountability system.
Under a less rigorous, alternative assessment system, the San Antonio campus of the Eagle Academy charter chain repeatedly earned the rating of unacceptable and, in recent years, averted closure through a settlement with the Texas Education Agency.

Ten years into the charter school movement, the Texas experiment, like those under way around the country, is a confusing mix of extremes, and hardly the transformative educational experience reformers predicted.

About 60 percent of the state's 313 charter campuses are performing well enough, say observers such as Jonas Chartock, CEO of the Charter School Policy Institute, an Austin-based think tank that supports the charter movement. At either end are the successes, like the School of Science and Technology, which represent about 20 percent of the total, and struggling campuses like San Antonio's Eagle Academy, which represent another roughly 20 percent.

Troubled schools continue to provide fodder for critics who say charters — independent schools free of many regulations and paid for with taxpayer money — are doing students and parents a disservice.

On the Web
For more information on Texas charter schools, including assessments of individual campuses, go to: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/
Among the critics are some of the charter movement's most vehement boosters, who fear that low-performing charters are jeopardizing the push for a taxpayer-funded alternative to traditional public schools. In Texas, these critics are moving for airtight regulation for the first time.

Express-News Multimedia

(Jerry Lara/Express-News)
Barbara Macumba, 13, works on her essay at the School of Science and Technology. Macumba took 4th place in the Computer & Math category of the Texas Science Fair with her "Efficient Keyboards" entry.

(Jerry Lara/Express-News)
Katherine Schlagal, 14, checks out her classmates during physical education class at the School of Science and Technology.
Slide Show: A look at charter schools

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Senate education committee, and Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, plan to introduce legislation in the next few weeks that would automatically shut down charter schools rated academically unacceptable two years in a row and reward those that consistently do well. The Legislature has talked tough before, but Shapiro said she wants loopholes closed, and Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said he supports her efforts.

"What we've done over the years is granted a lot of charters in the hopes that they would all be good, but that hasn't been the case," Shapiro said. "We can't just turn away and hope that they'll be better. We need some standards. The good charters want this. They want high standards."

Charter schools were sold to taxpayers as an exit plan for students trapped in failing public schools. However, the bulk of research shows that students fare similarly in both settings, with the slight advantage going to traditional public schools, said Henry Levin, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University's Teachers College.

Nor does the balance of research generally support the notion that bad public schools have improved in response to competition, though at least one Texas study reported improved performance in some urban districts.

"Certainly, if you go back 10 years, charter advocates were talking about revolutionary changes. That just hasn't happened. Anyone who makes that argument is smoking something," Levin said.

"Do they provide competition? The answers are still out," he continued. "Do they provide parents with meaningful choices? In some cases, yes."

Enforcing tougher rules


The nation's approximately 4,000 charter schools serve about 1 million children in 40 states and Washington, D.C. — less than 2 percent of the nation's 60 million schoolchildren. In Texas, 70,904 students, less than 2 percent of the state's 4.5 million children in public schools, attended charter schools last year. Of the $12.6 billion Texas spent to operate public schools, $536 million, or about 4 percent, went to charters. There is no reliable total available for how much U.S. taxpayers have spent so far on charters nationally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics in Washington.
Advocates say continued support for the still burgeoning charter experiment depends on results. Only by weeding out the weakest links can the movement succeed, they say.

"Probably in the range of 20 percent should be shut down altogether, either for chronic underperforming, not serving kids, or not having the ability to manage the books," said Chartock, who believes Texas has "some charter schools that are the best in the country."

In Texas, efforts to police charter schools have been spotty, at best. In 2001, House Bill 1 gave the Texas Education Agency the power to close a charter school after two low-performing years. However, closure was not automatic, and it remained difficult to revoke a school's charter, meaning the operator could open other campuses. Moreover, a change in the state's accountability system raised questions about how to count consecutive years.

Last year's school finance bill further tightened the rules.

Under the current rules, state education officials singled out low-performing charters, including four Eagle campuses, for possible closure. Following state pressure, Career Plus Learning Academy in San Antonio closed last year. The Lewisville-based Eagle chain, however, negotiated a settlement to keep its campuses open based on success elsewhere, though it did close two campuses and reopen them under new management.

Shapiro's proposed bill would make the closure of a charter school after two years on the academically unacceptable list automatic, removing intermediate steps that have slowed enforcement and helped spur courtroom battles. It would also set an absolute standard that a minimum of 25 percent of a school's students must pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests in reading and math. If a school misses that mark two years in a row, it would have to shut its doors.

"We'll set a standard and they need to meet that standard in order to maintain a charter," Shapiro said.

The bill would also reward the best charter schools — those ranked recognized or exemplary by the state two out of three years — with money for bricks and mortar.

Currently, Texas charters, some of which operate out of storefront rentals or warehouses, get the same amount of money per student as Texas public schools, but no money for facilities.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, supports Shapiro's bill, but has reservations about rewarding charter schools with money for buildings.

"We have schools in Bexar County and in South Texas that need money for facilities," Van de Putte said. "I'm a little uncomfortable with providing money for facilities for charters when our districts are in need."

Ultimately, Van de Putte called the bill a "positive piece of legislation" and said the money for facilities won't hold up her vote, as long as lawmakers put enough aside for poor districts that need it. Charter advocates outside the Legislature hope this carrot and stick approach might allow the state's most successful charter brands, most of which are not in San Antonio, to expand rapidly.

Many of the 43 local charter schools cater to students at risk of dropping out. Last year, two local charter schools earned the state's top ratings; one closed, and most continued to lag traditional public schools on test scores.

Schools established for the toughest-to-educate students may never post stellar TAKS scores even though many are doing tremendous work, Eissler said.

"You have to look at the makeup of charter schools," he said. "Some of them have as their market kids that have just dropped out."

Such charter schools argue that many of their students come to them far behind grade level. The students may make incredible progress from one year to the next while still not passing the state's test.

Shapiro's spokeswoman, Jennifer Ransom Rice, said there has been discussion of adding a caveat to the proposed bill that would allow such schools to prove that students are making considerable progress, even if their TAKS scores are sub par, thus saving themselves from closure. Rice said even if that measure is added to the bill, however, it would likely be a one-time-only second chance.

Eissler, a former school board member who supports charter schools, said closer scrutiny of charters is long overdue. "They do some good things. They push the envelope in certain areas," he said. "But it's a matter of spotlighting. They've been operating under the radar until now."

A school on the edge


Eagle Academy leaders attribute last year's low rating to a portion of the accountability system that counts how many students graduate in four years. Because students often arrive at Eagle's San Antonio campus as juniors or seniors, yet lag several years in school, this can be a hard standard to meet, school leaders said.
About 15 percent of Texas charter schools, like Eagle, specifically appeal to students who have fallen behind in credits, according to an analysis by the Charter School Policy Institute. After appealing to TEA last year, arguing that one student had been erroneously counted, the school was upgraded to acceptable. Under the state's alternative assessment system, a school can win either a rating of academically acceptable or unacceptable. Under the standard accountability system, most Texas public schools can earn one of four ratings: exemplary, recognized, academically acceptable and academically unacceptable.

Principal Linda Eichman readily acknowledges that Eagle Academy, in a strip mall on Fredericksburg Road, was in disarray when she took over. After she physically cleaned up the school and gave more authority to teachers, things improved. Enrollment has almost doubled this year to about 250 students. In the days leading up to the holiday break, some classes bulged at close to 40, a number Eichman sought to reduce by adding teachers.

She is concerned that more stringent oversight, like the kind Shapiro is proposing, could disproportionately hurt schools like the Eagle Academy, which reaches out to kids who are far behind.

"What bothers me is when you get a school like this one, which is a really good school, we're getting a bad rap all based on TAKS," she said. "If you shut down the ones that are not making progress, where are those kids going to go?"

Students sometimes sleep in class, and many listen to music as they complete worksheets or work on the computer, but the halls are orderly and teachers remain focused on whether they can complete the assignments necessary for credit in a particular class.

"We've gotten a reputation that we do work with kids here and that we care," Eichman said.

In 1998, the state of Texas granted the Eagle Academies of Texas chain charters to open 15 schools across the state, making it the state's largest chain of charter schools. The chain has weathered poor test scores, a critical state audit, and news reports challenging its payments to the for-profit Planagement Group, a management group with close ties to Eagle founders. Though it closed three campuses, the chain has grown overall, with 16 campuses across the state.

In recent years, the chain has severed its ties with Planagement, boosted its test scores, hired more credentialed teachers and principals, and adopted a new math curriculum. Eichman, who formerly worked for the TEA's office of school improvement, said she took the job because she believed the parent company was committed to cleaning up the school. She also felt as though the teachers, most of whom come through alternative certification programs, were dedicated to troubled youth.

"The question I asked was: 'How many teachers are staying?'" she said. "The answer was: 'All but one.'"

Eagle students, many of whom are behind in coursework or have lost credits due to absences, pursue credits by working individually or in small groups. Teachers monitor rather than lecture, and students are not grouped by subject but loosely organized by grade level, or their nearness to graduation. Students aren't penalized if they arrive late; they typically stay for about four hours, and the school works to accommodate their schedules. It offers limited electives and no physical education or sports.

That works for Kristal Treviño, 18, Amanda Castañeda, 17, and Genita Zertuche, 18. The girls have made it to Mario Rodriguez's room, a sought-after spot, as it signals they have completed nearly all graduation requirements. All three girls are studying to pass the science exit exam, and all three describe frustrations with large schools that made it hard to clear the bureaucratic hurdles needed to catch up after missing school.

Castañeda missed school for the first time her sophomore year, when she had an appendectomy. Then she lost ground when she traveled to South Carolina because her father died.

Treviño fell behind after giving birth to a daughter her junior year, and though wanting to stay in school, accumulated absences when her daughter was sick.

"I don't think I would be in school at all," she said. "I think it's better for me to be with my daughter when she's sick. I probably would have stayed home, just for a year."

Zertuche, an epileptic, fell behind after a bad seizure, and felt like her school wouldn't accommodate her short need to use a wheelchair.

"Public schools do everything they can within their means," Eichman said. "The larger high schools could not possibly reach this group of kids."

A modern charter


The Eagle Academy couldn't feel more different from the School of Science and Technology, a small, college-focused middle school, which attracted students from some of the area's top schools when it opened in 2005.
In a sixth-grade science class at the school, located off Loop 410, groups of two and three students huddle around beakers and timers as they test how the temperature of water affects the speed at which Alka Seltzer dissolves.

"My parents didn't want me to go to a (traditional) public school," said Orlando Benesh, 11. "They liked this school because it was small."

Aseem Panwar, 11, said he was attracted to the school's science focus because he hopes, one day, to be an astronaut.

"All of my friends wanted to come here," he added.

Parents offered similar reasons for choosing the school, citing its narrow academic focus and small size — about 330 students compared with 886 at Garner Middle School in the North East Independent School District, the nearest traditional public middle school.

"There were two things I liked," said Jaime Jurado, parent of a seventh-grader. "The desire for academic excellence, and the uniforms and character education."

The school is loosely affiliated with the Houston-based chain of Harmony Schools, which also focuses on science education and opened an elementary campus in San Antonio this year. Principal Mark Namver came from Harmony's Austin campus, and has relied on Harmony for teacher training and some materials.

It opened with sixth through eighth grades and added ninth grade this year, and about 160 of last year's 210 students returned.

"We don't have only smart kids here," Namver said, attributing the school's exceptional test scores in its first year to "hard work, individual attention and the school atmosphere."

Aside from its size and the fact that it is in a former furniture store, the School of Science and Technology feels like a traditional school, with a smattering of unique offerings such as the required character education classes, a Turkish language elective and an emphasis on its annual science fair. The school offers physical education but does not field competitive sports teams. In return, though, students gain a sense of intimacy. Teachers here, for example, open the school on weekends for students to prepare for the science fair, and do at least one home visit a year, said Assistant Principal Bulent Dogan.

"They (parents) say: 'For the first time in my life, a teacher is coming to visit my child in my home,'" Dogan said.

Like the School of Science and Technology, the state's most effective charter schools, a group that includes Harmony, the KIPP schools, the Houston-based YES Prep and the Rio Grande Valley-based IDEA Academy, are all small, college-preparatory schools.

What makes these schools successful, observers say, is an intense focus on college, and in many cases extended days, extended years and contracts and close relationships with parents. Many, though not the School of Science and Technology, which serves only 40 percent low-income students, have gained national attention because they have dramatically narrowed the gap between haves and have-nots.

The college-prep schools differ from schools like Eagle in that they demand much from parents and students, and are unlikely to draw a student like Treviño, who has fallen behind and is raising a child. It's the high-performing college-prep schools targeting low-income kids that Chartock hopes might grow to serve 10 percent of the state's children.

Paul Kelleher, chairman of the Trinity University department of education, is skeptical. The high-profile charter successes may attract a special type of parent and student, making them hard to replicate, Kelleher said, adding that charters may offer the greatest value as laboratories for new ideas.

"It seems to be that charters are a niche," he said, "maybe an important one."


jeanner@express-news.net

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA012807.01A.charters_mature.1bee008.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 1:18 PM 0 comments Links to this post

The story hit in 29 papers across the state! -Angela 

More voice concerns about tax rebate idea
(San Antonio Express-News © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:45AM (Article ID 139377157)

education as top priorities. A lot of those competing needs are left unmet because Texas is one of the lowest-taxing states in the union, said F. Scott McCown of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a group that advocates for programs for lower-income people. "For example, recent deaths have shown (Child Protective Services)


Payday loan worth price you pay?
(Lubbock Avalanche-Journal © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372072)

ans per year - and exorbitant interest rates (often higher than 500 percent APR), payday lending products drain more than $280 million in earnings from Texas workers each year, warns the non-partisan Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. Moreover, the CPPP adds, repeated and indiscriminate borrowing pitch many payday loan customers into an endless cycle of debt. Across the country,


Rebates not seen as a top priority
(Houston Chronicle © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 7:30AM (Article ID 139393052)

me look at all the competing needs," she said. Opposing viewsA lot of those competing needs are left unmet, since Texas is one of the lowest-taxing states in the union, said F. Scott McCown of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a group that advocates programs for lower-income people. "For example, recent deaths have shown (Child Protective Services) caseworkers must watch over far m


Dropout problem plagues state
(Corpus Christi Caller-Times © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 4:39AM (Article ID 139383207)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the past 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Dropout rate a crisis for state, experts say
(Houston Chronicle © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 7:30AM (Article ID 139393053)

rt is needed. "I want to focus on programs at your high-risk schools," he said. "How do we keep those at-risk kids in school? We'll be looking at that this session. This is a priority of mine." Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count an effort to track the status of children ticked off myriad ways people with high school diplomas fare better in life than those without. While it w


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Abilene Reporter-News © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 5:10AM (Article ID 139388042)

Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Amarillo Globe-News © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139371796)

her at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost revenu


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Austin American-Statesman © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372652)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Brazoria County Facts © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139371991)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Corpus Christi KRIS (NBC) 6 © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139356332)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Denton Record-Chronicle © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139353742)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(El Paso Times © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139364458)

rcher at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost revenue


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139353600)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Ft. Worth KTVT (CBS) 11 © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139353590)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Galveston Daily News © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372259)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Longview News © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354091)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Lufkin Daily News © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354046)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Marshal News Messenger © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354066)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354141)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139364684)

rcher at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost revenue


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(San Antonio Express-News © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354378)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


Experts, Lawmakers Struggle with High School Dropouts in Texas
(San Antonio WOAI (NBC) © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139360465)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Waco Tribune-Herald © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354289)

ice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost re


Experts, lawmakers struggle with high school dropouts in Texas
(Wichita Times Record © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372166)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


LAWMAKERS TACKLING HIGH DROPOUT RATE
(Tyler Morning Telegraph © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:45AM (Article ID 139377218)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


One In Three Texas Students Doesn't Graduate
(Houston KPRC (NBC) 2 © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139354002)

Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost rev


One-third of students in Texas don't graduate
(Houston Chronicle © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 7:02AM (Article ID 139356006)

at Rice. Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Texas high school dropout rate high
(Lubbock Avalanche-Journal © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372104)

Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Texas high school dropout rate high
(Lubbock KJTV (FOX) 34 © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:25AM (Article ID 139372389)

Dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $730 billion in lost reve


Texas stuggles with dropout 'crisis'
(Dallas Morning News © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139360225)

ikely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $


Texas stuggles with dropout 'crisis'
(Dallas WFAA (ABC) 8 © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139360224)

ikely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $


Texas stuggles with dropout 'crisis'
(Denton Record-Chronicle © 01/29/2007)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 2:49AM (Article ID 139360191)

ikely to live in poverty, have health problems and end up in jail, Coppola said. Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages. The 2.5 million dropouts over the last 20 years represent $


More voice concerns about tax rebate idea
(San Antonio Express-News © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 3:45AM (Article ID 139377157)

services and higher education as top priorities. A lot of those competing needs are left unmet because Texas is one of the lowest-taxing states in the union, said F. Scott McCown of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a group that advocates for programs for lower-income people. "For example, recent deaths have shown (Chi


Rebates not seen as a top priority
(Houston Chronicle © 01/29/2007) (Registration Required)
Indexed Jan 29 2007 7:30AM (Article ID 139393052)

, and at the same time look at all the competing needs," she said. Opposing viewsA lot of those competing needs are left unmet, since Texas is one of the lowest-taxing states in the union, said F. Scott McCown of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a group that advocates programs for lower-income people. "For example, recent deaths have shown (Child Protective Services) caseworkers m


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posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:57 PM 0 comments Links to this post

In another post, I'll list the newspapers that covered the dropout conference at the capitol last week.

Angela

Jan. 29, 2007, 11:32AM

Dropout rate a crisis for state, experts say
Some estimates show half of all students in urban high schools quit

By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau


Texas schools lose one student every four minutes. Other data:

25 - 35% of Texas students leave school

50% of students in urban areas drop out

50% of Texas dropouts are black or Hispanic

76% HISD graduation rate for the class of 2005

Source: Texas Public School Attrition Study for 2005-2006 by the Intercultural Development Research Association; Houston Independent School District; Rice University's Center for Education

AUSTIN — At least half of all high school students in the state's urban school districts are dropping out of school, creating a crisis that state leaders are not doing enough to address, some education experts say.

Statewide, each graduating class has at least 120,000 fewer students than started high school, with more than 2.5 million students dropping out during the past 20 years, according to the San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Center.

"We really need to raise the alarm on dropouts. The general public thinks that, maybe, there's about a 5 percent dropout rate in Texas — maybe a 20 percent dropout rate in the worst urban schools," said Robert Sanborn, president and chief executive of Houston-based Children At Risk, a research and advocacy group for youths.

Researchers generally agree that Texas' statewide dropout rate hovers around 33 percent, which is about 20 points higher than official statistics compiled by the Texas Education Agency.

The dropout rate is highest for blacks, Hispanics and low-income students — currently about 60 percent, said Eileen Coppola, a researcher at Rice University's Center for Education. "In our major urban districts, we can safely say that it's 50 percent."

"If you live in a city like Dallas or Houston, and half of your kids are not finishing high school, it's a social crisis, because we know that those kids will likely live in poverty, be much more likely to go to jail, and they will have more health problems," Coppola said.


Houston's numbers

The Houston Independent School District reported a 76 percent graduation rate for the class of 2005. The graduation rate is the percentage of freshmen who start high school and finish four years later.
HISD spokesman Terry Abbott has said the district follows state guidelines for reporting its rates, but district officials also have said that the percentage of students who wind up getting a diploma could be as low as 60 percent because some don't even begin high school.

State leaders and lawmakers for years have acknowledged the dropout problem, but critics complain that few resources have been invested to fix it.

"Today is like Groundhog Day. Here we are again. We're going to beat this dead horse one more time, redefine the problem — and then what? I'm not really sure," Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, said during a legislative briefing on the issue last week.

State leaders are aware of the high numbers but focus most of their attention on property tax cuts and other issues, Noriega and others said.

"A consistent dropout rate of 30 to 40 percent becomes, in effect, the state's de facto public policy," Noriega said.

"If our graduation rates in the state are 60 percent, that's our public policy as a state," he said. "We as Texans accept that graduation rate, apparently. That's what we do because that's what it is.

"Public policy is not what we say it is. It's not what is written. It's what's actual," he said.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst strongly disagrees with assertions that state leaders aren't doing enough to reduce dropout rates.

But he agrees dropout rates in some urban and border school districts run as high as 60 percent.

"We have a huge problem," he said.


Prevention initiatives

That's why he and Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, insisted last year on giving all school districts $275 per high school student for dropout-prevention and college-readiness programs.
But the so-called High School Allotment Program is "not targeted for communities with the greatest need," said Albert Cortez, a director at the Intercultural Development and Research Association.

Dewhurst said he agrees that a more targeted effort is needed.

"I want to focus on programs at your high-risk schools," he said. "How do we keep those at-risk kids in school? We'll be looking at that this session. This is a priority of mine."

Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count — an effort to track the status of children — ticked off myriad ways people with high school diplomas fare better in life than those without.

While it would cost at least $1.7 billion to keep those dropouts in four years of school, she said, the long-term costs for society are much more staggering.

"The 2.5 million students, twice the population of San Antonio, who have dropped out of school in the past 20 years represent $730 billion in lost revenue and costs for the state of Texas," she said, citing an Intercultural Development Research Association report.

Sanborn from Children At Risk said, "There's no defense — period — in terms of how we are allowing these many kids to drop out of school."

If the current trend line is not altered, average household incomes in Texas will decline, according to State Demographer Steve Murdock.

"It's easy to point figures and accuse state leaders of negligence," Shapiro said. "I am open to suggestions all day long. This is a huge public policy issue for me, and I want to make a difference."

Like Dewhurst, Shapiro believes the state's dropout problem is much higher than statistics compiled by the TEA.

Agency officials said they are addressing the concern that the numbers could be low.

"We're working aggressively on many fronts to address the dropout problem," TEA spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said. "We are changing the definition of a dropout, as we were directed to do by the Texas Legislature, and that will increase the official Texas dropout number."

The agency has implemented programs at both the secondary and elementary school levels designed to help students become more successful so they don't consider dropping out, she said.

gscharrer@express-news.net

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4506492.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:53 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Bush Proposes Adding Private School Vouchers to 'No Child' Law
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 25, 2007; A16

The Bush administration yesterday unveiled an education plan that would allow poor students at chronically failing public schools to use federal vouchers to attend private and religious schools, angering Democrats who vowed to fight the measure.

The private school vouchers, which on average would be worth $4,000, were among a series of proposals presented yesterday that President Bush hopes will be included in the reauthorization of his signature education initiative, No Child Left Behind.

In a conference call with reporters, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the initiatives were necessary to help students in the nation's 1,800 most persistently under-performing schools.

"How do we answer the question: What do we do for kids trapped in schools that continue to under-perform?" she said. "Is the promise of No Child Left Behind real?"

Democrats in Congress assailed the plan -- which also would allow low-performing schools to override union contracts or become charter schools despite state laws limiting their creation -- and expressed concern that the politically charged proposals could delay the reauthorization, which is scheduled for this year.

"Ideological proposals like private school vouchers and attacks on collective-bargaining agreements won't help this reauthorization move forward on shared, bipartisan goals," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The plan also includes measures that enjoy bipartisan support. It addresses one of the most persistent criticisms of No Child Left Behind: that schools that meet state testing goals overall but fail in a small category must provide all students in the school with free tutoring or the option to transfer to another school. Under the president's proposal, only students in the categories that failed would receive those options.

The initiative also would hold schools accountable for test scores in science starting in 2008 (the current program holds schools accountable only in reading and math). It also would for the first time require states to publicize their performance on a national test that states are already required to administer.

Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, attacked the administration's proposal to allow some school administrators to override labor contracts to push out bad teachers and attract better ones.

"The No Child Left Behind law was designed to close the achievement gap, not to strip collective-bargaining agreements," he said.

The president's plan also would allow mayors to take over chronically failing schools and for those schools to transform themselves into charter schools, even if that would violate a state law capping the number of charter schools.

It was the private school voucher proposal, modeled on a plan implemented in the District in 2004, that seemed to anger some Democrats. The program in the Distict provides $7,500 vouchers, known in the administration as scholarships, to about 1,800 students, from kindergartners to high school seniors, attending 58 private schools.

"We have seen that the sky doesn't fall when kids go to private schools with public money," said Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, who was briefed on the plan in advance by White House staff. "So school choice is not nearly as scary as some congressmen have led us to believe."

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, called the voucher proposal a "bad idea" that was unlikely to gain traction in Congress. "Private school vouchers, which would divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools that need them, have been rejected in the past and nothing has changed to make them acceptable now," he said in a statement.

Spellings insisted that the administration will try to push through even those proposals likely to face stiff resistance in Congress. "I plan to fight hard for the whole kit and caboodle," she said.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401982.html

Labels: Vouchers

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:34 PM 0 comments Links to this post

This is one of the more stirring, inspirational pieces of writing that I've read in a long time. It's by Bill Moyers who eloquently articulates what our heart and soul is as a nation.

Moyers critiques the neo-liberal notion of freedom as reducible to a private value. He says that we basically need to rescue the concept of freedom from the right wing which has distorted it for its own narrow, economistic purposes. Freedom, Moyers, explains is essentially a social idea, which explains why the worship for the free market “fails as a compelling idea in terms of the moral reasoning of freedom itself.”

Moreover, we as a nation have a long ennobling history—however flawed by horrible and challeging contradictions like slavery, racism, exclusionary processes, etc.—that equates freedom to social justice.

A must-read. Thank you, Bill! Yes, you should run for president! -Angela


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070122/moyers

Labels: Inspirational

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:42 AM 1 comments Links to this post

This piece lays out the view that federal law punishes diversity, meaning that high-poverty and high-minority districts where many children are ill-prepared for school, lack family support, and schools are under-funded are especially negatively impacted by the law's demands that all students perform at grade level in reading and math by 2014. ELL & special education youth are other concerns. -Angela

Educators feeling left behind
Changes requested on 5th anniversary of 'No Child' statute

Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Angela Townsend
Plain Dealer Reporter
While the Bush administration touted the merits of No Child Left Behind on its fifth anniversary Monday, national and local educators called for changes in what they say is a flawed law.

No Child Left Behind won bipartisan backing when Congress passed it in 2002, and it's up for renewal this year.

The main goal is to have all students perform at grade level in reading and math by 2014.

That's admirable, educators say, but difficult to accomplish when financial constraints, uneven interpretations and an overemphasis on testing come with the package.

"There are too many people and too many school systems that are labeled as failing," National Education Association President Reg Weaver said Monday.

Instead of widespread sanctions, "let's figure out what's wrong and how we can help these people."

Schools that get federal aid but do not make enough progress must provide tutoring, allow students to transfer or initiate other reforms such as changing the staff.

The law's financial impact has been hard to quantify, but the cost includes teacher training, new textbooks and additional staffing. High-poverty districts like Cleveland, where many children are ill-prepared for school and lack family support, are especially challenged by the law's demands.

"Given the right resources, all problems can be adequately addressed," Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders said. "But to expect a level of achievement to occur given that level of inequity. . . ?

"They basically say to you, 'Make it work,' but they don't give you the resources needed to make it work."

In a meeting on Monday with congressional leaders, President Bush pushed for the law's reauthorization but was noncommittal on their request for more money to help schools meet its requirements.

Paul Yocum, superintendent of the Cardinal district in Geauga County, echoed Sanders' complaints about the lack of money.

"We're not against upping the standards for our students," he said. "But when we're in a time of financial difficulty . . . it falls back on property owners - our voters."

Rick Buckosh, superintendent of the Clearview schools in Lorain County, said he has had to add remediation courses - not an easy thing to do when the district is laying off teachers.

Under No Child Left Behind, some veteran teachers are being told that they are not "highly qualified" to do their jobs.

Karen Vince, a special-education intervention specialist at Nordonia High School in Summit County, is one of 400 educators whose comments are included in a new NEA publication about the law.

"I've taught for 33 years, the majority of that in special education," said Vince, who this year has a class of 13 cognitively disabled students.

But holding the right license wasn't enough under the federal law. Two years ago, Vince's district sent her to four weeks of summer classes and one weekend workshop for coursework that transformed her into "highly qualified."

What did she learn?

"Basically, how to use the content standards book and some skills that are not applicable to what I teach," she said. "I had to take algebra . . . and I'm teaching my kids how to tell time."

Lawmakers outlined more concerns for U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings during Monday's meeting. They included: how to test special education and limited-English-speaking students; a desire to give schools credit for progress even when they fall short of annual targets; and the need to give students access to high-quality free tutoring.

Patti Picard, curriculum director for Hudson schools in Summit County, sees value in the law's clear standards, which have helped school districts set academic priorities, she said.

At the same time, such a strong emphasis on standardized testing is disconcerting, she added.

"When something like No Child Left Behind focuses so closely on a test score, it does affect the kind of teaching that you do," Picard said. "It becomes kind of a forced march."

She hopes legislators listen to the people who best know the challenges of teaching youngsters. Otherwise, she said, "I'm afraid that we're going to create a culture of people who have lost their zest for love of learning."

Information from the Associated Press was included in this story.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
atownsend@plaind.com, 216-999-3894

© 2007 The Plain Dealer© 2007 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.
http://www.cleveland.com/education/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/116833546448420.xml&coll=2

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 4:52 PM 0 comments Links to this post

More children learn more than one language
1/10/2007 8:06 AM ET

By Beth Walton, USA TODAY

Azure Warrenfeltz is fluent in Japanese and Spanish. She also can understand bits of French, German, Arabic and Italian, and she soon hopes to learn some Mandarin Chinese.
Azure is 4 years old.

"I'm smarter than my father. He can only speak one language. Muchas gracias!" she says playfully.

In today's globalized world, Azure is one of many young American children whose parents insist her education include foreign languages.

"It's such a global environment now, you never know what you might need," says Azure's mother, Julie Warrenfeltz, who started schooling her daughter in foreign languages when she was 6 weeks old. "I wanted to make sure she had every tool and every benefit at her disposal.

"She couldn't hold a violin, she couldn't stand upright, but I wanted her to do something," says Warrenfeltz, owner of Petite Ambassadors Language School in Jacksonville.

Not only is learning a foreign language easier for children than it is for adults, but children who are exposed to other languages also do better in school, score higher on standardized tests, are better problem solvers and are more open to diversity, says François Thibaut, who runs The Language Workshop for Children, which has nine schools around the East Coast. Thibaut is a pioneer in foreign languages for babies and children and is the author of Professor Toto, an award-winning home-based foreign-language curriculum for parents and children.

"When I started 35 years ago, very few people believed in this idea. Teaching kids who are 6 months seemed crazy," Thibaut says.

Today, Thibaut says, his schools can't keep up with the demand for classes; about 1,000 students are enrolled and even more are on waiting lists. The schools even get requests from expectant parents wanting to reserve a space for when their child is born, he says.

The schools serve students 6 months to 9 years old and offer courses in Spanish, French, Italian and, new this year, Chinese, which Thibaut says is becoming the most requested class.

"More and more people are aware of the importance of teaching another language to their child because we are in a global world," he says.

Language study for children is based on immersion, he says. Kids sing songs and play games to help develop language comprehension skills. "This is a natural way of learning language."

When children start learning languages at birth, they have the capacity to learn many languages at once without getting confused — because, as the brain develops, so too does the ability to separate one language from another.

Warrenfeltz says that sometimes when Azure was younger, she would mix up vocabulary words, using the shortest word no matter what the language. But by age 3, everything fell into place.

The word for "elephant" was too long and hard to pronounce in English, so at age 2, Azure would just say Zo, the Japanese word for the animal.

"It was clear to her what the objects were, but it was just so hard to enunciate, she would just pick the words that were the easiest," Warrenfeltz says.

Warrenfeltz's school takes students as young as 6 weeks in a course called Baby Boot Camp, which combines foreign language with strength training, balance and coordination exercises. She, too, has seen the demand for language classes grow in the past few years.

One of the reasons Anna Lynn and Stephan Oppenheimer of New York enrolled their daughter, Mireille, in Thibaut's language classes when she was 6 months old was to help her understand diversity and learn how to see things from different perspectives. They also hoped the language lessons would help their daughter appreciate her heritage; her grandmother is French.

"We both believe that could be a great gift to give our child," Anna Lynn says. "As Americans, we don't typically study other languages, and that can make us narrower in our perspective."

Warrenfeltz's two younger children, Indigo, 2, and Raymond, 1, also are learning foreign languages.

"It's amazing; you never know what is going to come out of their mouths," she says. "You'll see them walking down the road counting in Chinese or pointing to things in Arabic.

"I would hope that they would become ambassadors to Japan and all those wonderful things," but whatever Azure decides to do, languages will be an asset, Warrenfeltz says. "I'm just providing an opportunity so they can do whatever they want, wherever they want. They won't be bound by language."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-09-language-children_x.htm

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:33 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Jan. 4, 2007, 10:17AM
Extra effort in classroom pays off
International Baccalaureate puts participants on college fast track

By ERICKA MELLON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

On many Saturday afternoons, Harrison Collie, a varsity baseball player at Houston's Lamar High School, turns down invitations to work out, play ball or grab lunch with friends.

The 17-year-old plans to graduate in May with the prestigious International Baccalaureate diploma. And that means he has spent countless weekends at home, reading novels and writing essays (he recently compared, in his words, "the portrayal of the heroic figure" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone).

A senior, Collie has applied to several elite colleges out of state, as well as the University of Texas at Austin.

If he ends up at UT, or at any other Texas public school, he'll get an extra perk — thanks to a new law that rewards high school students for taking rigorous courses.

"I used to have kids ask me all the time, 'Why am I doing all this? Why am I banging my head against the wall? What's in it for me?' " said Jon Mallam, who has coordinated the IB program at Lamar High School for seven years. "So now, there is an incentive for them."


Debuted last year

Last year's batch of seniors was the first in Texas to benefit from the law, which requires public colleges to grant entering freshmen at least 24 semester credit hours if they complete the IB diploma program and score well on the related tests. The hours would boost most of them to near-sophomore status.
The law has helped standardize, and in some cases elevate, the number of credits colleges award IB graduates, according to Karen Phillips, executive director of the nonprofit Texas IB Schools, which pushed the legislation.

Under pressure to better prepare students for college, a growing number of U.S. schools and states are embracing the IB program, with its global standards, community-service mandate and near-rejection of multiple-choice exams.

Texas has 40 elementary, middle and high schools with the IB program — compared with about half that many five years ago, Phillips said. Worldwide, IB has authorized more than 1,900 schools, each of which survived a stringent application process that took about two years.


Lamar leads state

Lamar, in the Houston Independent School District, had 66 students graduate with an IB diploma in the Class of 2006 — the most in the state, according to Mallam. They were honored at a ceremony Tuesday at the Westin Galleria Houston.
"I'm still waiting for that magic day when we have 100 kids who get that IB diploma, and I don't think that's too far off in the future," Mallam said.

Not all the Lamar graduates go on to public colleges in Texas, but Florida and Colorado have similar credit-granting laws, and other states are considering them, said Bob Poole, of IB North America.

Southern Methodist University claims to be one of the country's first colleges to begin a comprehensive scholarship program for IB diploma recipients. Students can receive $4,000 to $12,000 a year based on their test scores.

"We've always encouraged our applicants to really challenge themselves as far as their coursework in high school. And (IB) is a program that really steps up the caliber of the high school curriculum," said Joseph Davis, an admissions counselor at SMU.

"I feel like I'm more prepared for college than I would be with any other program," said Asasia Carter, another IB-diploma candidate at Lamar.


Support for both

The IB program and the College Board's Advanced Placement program are often mentioned in the same breath by those promoting readiness for college.
President Bush, through his American Competitiveness Initiative, has expressed support for both. He has proposed spending $122 million to increase the number of math and science AP and IB tests taken and passed by low-income students.

Representatives of each program insist they aren't in competition. Students can earn college credit for passing both groups' tests, though IB requires extra work, including community service and a research paper, if students want the full diploma.

Of Houston ISD's 300 or so schools, only six offer the IB program: Bellaire and Lamar high schools; Lanier Middle School; and River Oaks, Roberts and Twain elementary schools.

Some elementary schools in HISD's central region also are mulling over the idea of applying, according to district spokeswoman Lisa Bunse.

Klein and Spring Branch each have one high school with the IB curriculum.

Linda Garner, who coordinates Klein's program, said the state law mandating college credit came just in time to help her students save money on tuition. She advises seniors to seek out visiting college recruiters whose schools offer extra perks to IB graduates.

"I told them, when you go to college night, you ask them, 'What do you do for IB students?' And if they don't do much for IB students, then you walk away and go to someone that does."

ericka.mellon@chron.com

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:14 PM 0 comments Links to this post

According to the Quorum Report, ATPE parents and teacher prefer Multiple Criteria. Might they mean State Rep. Dora Olivo's bills.-Angela

Legislative Update
1-12-07 ATPE releases TAKS study

ATPE held a press conference at the Texas State Capitol Thursday to release the findings of a study commissioned by ATPE that examines the perceptions of teachers and parents regarding the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.

The key findings of the study are:

• The TAKS does not provide an accurate assessment of a student’s academic level.
• The TAKS has resulted in a narrowing of the curriculum.
• Teachers are being forced to teach to the test rather than to the broader curriculum.
• The TAKS creates undue anxiety and stress on students, especially at the elementary-school level.

The study also includes ATPE’s recommendations for devising a system that reduces the high-stakes nature of the current accountability system and allows teachers to diagnose students’ knowledge base and that assesses their ability to acquire and apply learning through formative assessments and demonstrate skills and knowledge on a summative assessment.

Even before the session began Jan. 9, there was discussion among education and legislative circles regarding the need to revise the current accountability system. ATPE will work to encourage the Legislature to include meaningful input from educators when making decisions on this issue.

For more information, contact ATPE Governmental Relations.

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:01 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Below is UT Arlington Professor Roberto Calderon’s analysis (in Spanish) --"Futuro latino esta aquí" [meaning, "The Future of Latinos is Here"] that suggests strongly that Burka would do well to not limit his analysis to South Texas and to consider north Texas. You can’t fully understand the Latino vote in Texas with a focus on South Texas. Geoeconomic and geopolitical trends that link Mexico and the U.S. at the “belly button,” as Calderon states, also need to be taken into consideration. Also as the recent massive mobilizations suggest and the electoral ousting of Republican candidates, north Texas—Dallas, in particular— is where a whole lot of the action is.

Burka’s "cultural analysis" regarding low voter turnout is also lacking if not antiquated and stereotypical. Widely researched crucial predictors of political participation across time and space—income, education, and age—merit mention.

I am aware that there is quite a bit of evidence which shows that Latino citizens vote similar to Anglos and African-Americans after taking sociodemographic factors into account (e.g., Campbell et al, 1960; Verba and Nie, 1972; Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980) —although one study (Cassel 2002) found this to be especially to be true in presidential, rather than mid-term elections. Calvo and Rosenstone (1989) contradict all the other evidence, however, finding that even after taking into account social and demographic factors —at least with respect to the 1984 presidential elections—Latinos were less likely to vote.

The bulk of this research suggests, however, that Latinos are not apathetic and that they do vote at levels that are commensurate with their age and class background. Latinos’ relative youth as a population together lower levels of education and income is what impacts voter participation. Stated differently (politically), if you want to disenfranchise the Latino community, you under-educate or you mis-educate. There’s a lot to know here.
-Angela

References

Calvo, M. A. and S. J. Rosentone (1989). Hispanic Political Participation. San Antonio, TX: Southwest Voter Research Institute.

Campbell, A. P. Converse, W. Miller, and D. Stokes. (1960). THE AMERICAN VOTER, NY: Wiley.

Cassel, Carol A. (2002) Hispanic Turnout: Estimates from Validated Voting Data, Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 2002), pp. 391-408

Verba, S. and N. H. Nie. (1972) Pparticipation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.


__________________________________________________________________
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2007-01-01/btl.php?click_code=96f0d4eaad48345cb56a3cfefb7dbca2

Texas Monthly (January 2007)
BEHIND THE LINES

Minority Report
By Paul Burka

Argue all you want about the level of Hispanic turnout in the 2006 elections, but one thing is certain: Demographic inevitability alone won’t save the Democrats.

THE DAY OF RECKONING IS COMING. It could occur as soon as 2010, more likely by 2014, or perhaps as late as 2022, but nothing can prevent the moment when demographics takes over and the sleeping giant of Texas politics-the Hispanic vote-awakes at last and restores the Democratic party to its rightful hegemony.

Or at least that’s the dream. The stuff the dream is made of can be found in the projections of Texas’s population by state demographer Steve Murdock, at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Assuming that net immigration continues at the pace established in the last decade of the twentieth century, Hispanics will constitute 59.2 percent of the state’s population in 2040, Anglos but 23.9 percent. Long before then, Texas will be a Democratic stronghold again.

Or will it? Both the numbers and the anecdotal evidence suggest that Republicans are doing increasingly well with Hispanic voters here-so well, in fact, that the Democratic dream may be turning into a nightmare. This ought not to come as a surprise. The Hispanic population has become economically diverse. Even in South Texas, which lags behind the rest of the state economically, an upper middle class is emerging. But more than economics is involved. South Texas Democratic politics remains mired in the ways of the past-clan warfare, boss rule, and petty (and not-so-petty) corruption-and the Republican party has been the beneficiary.

The division of the Hispanic vote between the two major parties is one of the most crucial-and most disputed-statistics in Texas electoral politics. The William C. Velasquez Institute, in San Antonio, has long been regarded as the most authoritative source for how Hispanics are voting. But its exit polling of the recent gubernatorial race, based on 440 respondents in 32 selected precincts across the state, is simply not credible: Chris Bell, 39.5 percent; Carole Keeton Strayhorn, 28.6 percent; Kinky Friedman, 14.3 percent; and Rick Perry, 13.9 percent. Perry campaigned vigorously in South Texas. He had the support of eleven mayors (presumably Democratic, although the office is nonpartisan). Democratic sheriffs appeared in his TV ads on border security. A Dallas Morning News poll a few days before the election showed him getting 37 percent of the Hispanic vote. His actual performance in the big South Texas counties suggests that he did considerably better than the 13.9 percent in the Velasquez Institute’s exit poll. Perry got more votes in Cameron County than Bell did (the margin was only a few dozen votes, but he carried the county). He got approximately four thousand more votes than Bell in Nueces County. He lost Hidalgo County to Bell but still received 33.5 percent of the vote to Bell’s 42.67 percent. El Paso was even closer: Bell, 36.2 percent; Perry, 33.04 percent. Even in Webb County, Tony Sanchez’s home base, where Bell beat Perry by a two-to-one margin, Perry had 25 percent of the vote.

Granted, this is not a scientific analysis: There is no way to know how many Hispanics were represented in Perry’s total votes in these counties. But we do know from 2004 population estimates that Hispanics outnumber Anglos by approximately seven to one in Cameron County and by nine to one in Hidalgo County. To be competitive, Perry had to get a lot of Hispanic votes-a lot more than 13.9 percent.

The Velasquez Institute was not alone in doing exit polling in Texas. CNN and the Associated Press, among other national organizations, collaborated on far-more-extensive exit polling-2,090 respondents statewide. Their findings were considerably different from the Velasquez Institute’s: Bell, 41 percent; Perry, 31 percent; Strayhorn, 18 percent; and Friedman, 9 percent. What might account for the considerable variation? In 2004, when the Velasquez Institute gave George W. Bush a lower percentage of the Hispanic vote than most other polling organizations, critics suggested that the culprit might have been an unduly heavy reliance on inner-city precincts, which could have missed the move of upwardly mobile Hispanics to more-affluent areas, where, the theory goes, they are more likely to vote Republican.

Two questions emerge as crucial in the battle for the Hispanic vote in Texas: How do Hispanics vote, and why don’t they vote in greater numbers? Nationally, the increase in Hispanic voting is startling. The pollster John Zogby wrote recently that Hispanics constituted “5 percent of 95 million voters in 1996, 6 percent of 105 million voters in 2000, and 8.5 percent of 122 million voters in 2004.” Projecting to 2008, Zogby says, “With a highly competitive election and a heavy voter registration drive, we could be looking at an electorate that includes a Hispanic component amounting to 10 percent of 130 million voters.”

Imagine what might have happened in Texas had Hispanic participation grown by 65 percent over the past three election cycles. But it hasn’t. Mike Baselice, a well-regarded Republican pollster, says that the portion of the voting electorate that is Hispanic increases by roughly half of a percentage point every two years: for example, from 16.5 percent of the electorate in 2002 to 17 percent in 2004. At that rate, it will take sixteen years for the Hispanic vote to become a quarter of the electorate. And this was a lost year: Compared with the 2002 gubernatorial election, when Tony Sanchez headed the Democratic ticket, turnout in South Texas was dismal. Maverick County had a 15 percent turnout of registered voters, the lowest in the state, down from 26.5 percent in 2002. In Hidalgo County, the turnout dropped by a third; at 17 percent, it too was one of the lowest in the state. In Webb, the turnout was only 18 percent.

The low participation rate, particularly in traditional barrios, has been the subject of considerable discussion on the Internet. “What’s up with the decreasing Hispanic voter turnout [in Nueces County]?” asked a writer for the South Texas Chisme blog. “Blockwalkers were falling all over each other in the west-side precincts. Many of the low performing neighborhoods had 4 or 5 visits to each door.” But Republicans won three high-profile races in Nueces: county judge, sheriff, and court of appeals judge. Some of the explanations offered are obvious (the absence of a big name at the top of the Democratic ticket, strong Republican candidates at the local level), and others are familiar concerns (the perception in South Texas that the Democratic party took the border for granted when it was in power and still does, the grinding effect of poverty, which leads people to believe that voting benefits only the politicians, not the voters).

History and culture play a role as well. I learned a great deal about the history of Hispanic political involvement from the late Ruben Munguia, who, in addition to being Henry Cisneros’s uncle and political tutor, was one of a group of small-business owners who, in the years after World War II, first gave San Antonio’s West Side a voice in the affairs of the city. Munguia’s father was a printer in Mexico who came to San Antonio in the twenties when the successful Mexican Revolution turned left. “In Mexico,” Munguia once told me, “the government never did anything for you, it only did things to you.” That culture was transplanted to Texas, where the patrón system evolved, in which local political bosses exchanged favors (such as paying for funerals or arranging for a job) for votes. Straight-ticket Democratic votes. This was palanca (lever) politics: Vote Democrat and shut your eyes to what was going on. It was enforced by politiqueras, political workers (mostly female) who were, and still are, paid to get out the vote. Politics often took the form of a battle of clans in which power was an end in itself. Take over a county, a city, or a school board and you gained control of patronage: The “outs” got fired and the “ins” got hired. And so it went, decade after decade.

Democratic state representative Aaron Peña, of Edinburg, took on the subject of low Hispanic turnout in his blog, A Capitol Blog. “I am frequently asked why incumbent Court of Appeals judge Fred Hinojosa lost his race to [Republican] Rose Vela out of Corpus Christi,” he wrote. Peña mentioned the respect accorded the Vela name in South Texas and the growing number of Hispanics in the middle and upper middle classes. But he condemned “the sad legacy of South Texas boss or strongman politics which relied heavily on patrón-managed turnout rather than the advocacy of ideas.”

I called Peña to ask his opinion of the Velasquez Institute’s finding that Perry received only 13.9 percent of the Hispanic vote statewide. “That can’t be right,” he said. “Republicans are gaining ground. There has been a dramatic change in my lifetime of an educated middle and upper middle class, a tremendous growth in wealth. The banks are Hispanic friendly. There’s more capital available. This area is not hostile to Republicans. City leaders responded to Perry. Most Hispanics are socially conservative when it comes to gay marriage, respect for the military, and, if you’re older, abortion.” But Peña also assigns part of the blame for Hinojosa’s loss to “the historic neglect of the region by the state and national Democratic party.” There were no Democratic signs up, he said, but Perry and comptroller candidate Susan Combs went to Hidalgo County and put up signs. Even the politiqueras are no longer reliably Democratic; they’ll sell their services to the highest bidder.

Democrats are going to have to clean up their act or they are going to lose more and more races in South Texas. The older people who have lived under the patrón system all their lives are dying out. Younger, upwardly mobile Hispanics will not put up with it. The old ways will not go peacefully, but they will go. If Democrats ever hope to dominate this state again, they are going to have to recruit and elect clean candidates like Juan Garcia, a former Navy pilot and graduate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, who defeated an incumbent Republican in a legislative race in Corpus Christi. They are going to have to base their appeals to voters on issues, not party loyalty. Otherwise, Republicans will have every bit as much claim to the Hispanic vote as Democrats do.

Peña ended his blog post with “Only time will tell.” He might well have added: “And time is running out.”


Links referenced within this article

Paul Burka
http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/issues/authors/paulburka.php
_______________________________________________________________
Futuro latino esta aquí

Roberto R. Calderón

Por si acaso nadie se había dado cuenta el 2006 borró toda duda de que el futuro de esta región, al igual que la del resto del estado y el país depende (y dependerá más con el tiempo), de la comunidad mexicana/latina para su propio bienestar.

Claro quedó con la movilización de abril pasado, sin precedentes en esta región, que la fuerza de la comunidad latina es y será contundente. Todos estaríamos más pobres sino fuera por las contribuciones de nuestra comunidad.

Además, Latinoamérica también sería mucho más pobre sin las remesas que contribuye la comunidad latina radicada en Estados Unidos. Para mediados del siglo 21 se anticipa que habrá alrededor de 100 millones de latinos en Estados Unidos. Esta cifra representará una cuarta parte de la población del país. Es decir, lo latino está aquí para quedarse. Lo mexicano también, no faltaba más.

Difícil sería querer borrar la proximidad de un país del otro como pretende hacer el llamado muro del odio que promulgó la mayoría saliente republicana en el Congreso de EU.

Aunque deberíamos decir que tal acción también contó con la complicidad demócrata, menos 83 cogresistas que votaron en contra.Para la comunidad latina este peligroso desdén del partido Demócrata avisa cautela para con un partido u otro. También cabe decir que la falla moral y política de los congresos correspondientes de México y otros países latinoamericanos en relación a la condición reprimida que viven sus connacionales aquí en el norte, fue y sigue siendo notable.

Primero son las inversiones del capital extranjero y sólo después el bien de sus connacionales. En la mayor parte de estos países el capital enviado por los inmigrantes supera el capital invertido por Estados Unidos, Europa o Asia en conjunto. ¿Por qué entonces se le extiende la alfombra roja a éstos pero no a los intereses substantivos de los connacionels emigrados?

¿De dónde nace esta disparidad geopolítica, no obstante las retóricas al contrario de los respectivos consulados y cuerpos diplomáticos?

Obviamente son estas complejas relaciones multilaterales: la del inmigrante y la relación entre su país y Estados Unidos. Si uno creyera en el dogma racista y arrogante que expide el movimiento antiinmigrante en Estados Unidos, uno pensaría que la ecuación es de un solo sentido. Es decir, los estadunidenses y su gobierno sonincapaces de cometer ningún error, ninguna fechoría, ningún atropello en la historia que justificara el movimiento de masas de mexicanos y latinomericanos hacia este país. El trasfondo del movimiento antiinmigrante lleva encima grandes razgos racistas que perciben al inmigrante como un ente menos deseable y, al fin de cuentas, incapaz de merecer su humanidad.

Su humanidad (desaparecida), se torna blanco del desprecio y explotación que se le adscribe y reparte en esta sociedad. Tan sólo está de ver el último ejemplo que fue la gran serie de redadas de la Operación Wagon Train, de las plantas de carne Swift a lo ancho y largo de seis estados hace algunas semanas, para reconocer lo poco que se le reconoce al inmigrante latino su humanidad y sus derechos laborales y políticos.

Las ganacias para el capital extranjero en Latinoamérica se multiplican porque tanto en los países de origen del inmigrante como dentro de la sociedad estadunidense, se generan condiciones óptimas para captar ganancias y divisas imposibles de lograr de cualquier otra manera.

Estados Unidos y México (y el resto de Latinoamérica) están atados del ombligo geográficamente. Podemos decir que el uno y otro coexistirán quieran o no hasta el fin de la historia. La marcha nacional de entre 3 a 5 millones de personas durante el año de 2006, empezando en enero y culminando con marchas históricas que surgieron en marzo y abril y que luego continuaron a menor escala hasta principios de septiembre, marcaron la mayor movilización cívica en la historia de Estados Unidos. Aquello de querer hacer criminales a los inmigrantes que tan sólo y buscan albergue y pan para sobrevivir, que huyen de las economías devastadas de sus países de origen, que cobró cuerpo político en algo que vino a ser conocido por su nombre popular, el Sensenbrenner Bill, o sea el H.R. 4437, detonó un eco masivo que movilizó a este autodeclarado "país de inmigrantes" como nunca antes. Y todo se hizo a pesar de los líderes electos a puestos políticos, a pesar de los medios comerciales de comunicación, a pesar de todo tipo de autoridades. El movimiento surgió del fondo de una esperanza extraordinaria que representa todo un pueblo de inmigrantes. El voto latino en el metroplex es ascendente. Diría que este es el momento en que debemos hacer religión cívica del voto electoral latino, en que todos debemos tomar seriamente el poder que ejercemos de manera individual para expresarnos políticamente de manera colectiva.

No fue accidente que el Norte de Texas y el resto del estado haya empezado a girar de nuevo hacia un dominio demócrata. El ritmo lo marca el cambio demográfico, lo marca el despertar de la comunidad latina al ejercer sus derechos cívicos y políticos. La realidad del inmigrante es que ha reconocido que estamos aquí para quedarnos no importe cuánto queramos al país de origen. Este país en el que vivimos hoy es el nuestro de aquí en adelante. Por cierto, nuestros hijos, nietos y bisnietos ya viven otra realidad y a ellos se les enterrará un día en algún futuro lejano en suelo estadunidense y no suelo del país de los padres y/o abuelos.

--
Calderón es miembro de la facultad de historia en la Universidad del Norte de Texas.

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 4:32 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Bush-Democrat alliance on education law feared

By Amy Fagan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published January 12, 2007
Advertisement

Some conservatives on Capitol Hill are worried that President Bush will cut a deal with Democrats that would not only renew his education law, but also dramatically expand it, including perhaps more requirements for the high school level.
"I am concerned, and I think a lot of conservatives are," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican.
Mr. Bush is urging Congress this year to renew one of his biggest domestic accomplishments, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law of 2002, which aims to increase student achievement through more testing and by tracking results of schools and holding them accountable. Democrats, who now control the House and Senate, are demanding some changes to the law, most notably a significant boost in funding levels.
The option of adding high school reform to this year's "to-do" list hasn't been publicly discussed lately, but Mr. Bush included the makings of such a plan in his budget proposal last year. The NCLB law focuses on grade school and requires testing just once in reading and math from grades 10 to 12. His plan from last year would have expanded high school testing to all three years.
All these factors could add up to the perfect storm of more funding and more school requirements, some Republicans worry. Mr. Flake said he sees a scenario in which Mr. Bush gives Democrats the increased funding they want in exchange for including more requirements for high school.
"Conservatives don't fear the president will work with Democrats to expand No Child Left Behind, we expect it," said Rep. Mike Pence, Indiana Republican. "It's going to be more red tape and more resources."
"It's a legitimate concern," agreed Rep. Dan Lungren, California Republican.
Republicans are basing much of their fear on what happened in 2001, when Mr. Bush teamed up with Democrats such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts to win overwhelming approval in Congress. But conservatives -- several of whom voted against the legislation as a federal intrusion into the classroom -- said the good administration ideas, such as increased funding flexibility for states, were watered down by the time the measure reached the president's desk.
Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, said education policy seems to be an issue on which Mr. Bush thinks he can work with Democrats to accomplish his goals, especially in these last two years of his presidency.
"My rationale is that the president's agenda is not going to keep him from working with the Democrats at the expense of the Republicans," Mr. King said. "The president is concerned about his legacy."
So far, Mr. Bush has praised the NCLB law and urged Congress to renew it. He has agreed to work with Congress on some changes to it, but he hasn't indicated his position on the Democrats' funding demands. The high school reform issue didn't come up in a Monday meeting between Mr. Bush and top education lawmakers -- Mr. Kennedy, the new chairman of the Senate education, panel; House education panel Chairman George Miller, California Democrat; and their Republican counterparts, Sen. Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming and Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California.
Mr. McKeon, who says it's too soon to fully expand the law in high schools, said: "I hope that it's not something they push for."
Mr. Kennedy supports working on high school reform as part of the NCLB renewal, a spokeswoman said. Mr. Miller doesn't want to simply overlay the NCLB framework onto the high school level, but he thinks high school reform is "critically important," a spokesman said.
White House spokesman Chad Colby said this week, "The administration still believes NCLB should be expanded in high schools as part of broader high school reform."
The administration will submit its 2008 budget request to Congress next month.
Mr. Lungren said conservatives should bend Mr. Bush's ear before he starts negotiating education policy with liberals such as Mr. Kennedy. But this negotiating "dance" will be a challenge, Mr. Lungren acknowledged, especially because many Republicans have spent their entire Capitol Hill careers as members of the majority party.
"We've got to be on our toes," he said.

Copyright © 2007 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-6739r.htm

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 2:44 PM 0 comments Links to this post

I'm glad to hear that the detention center is humane. This says nothing, however, of whether imprisoning families is an appropriate or humane policy. Educating the children (some of them U.S. citizens) to remains a concern. They're entitled to 7 hours of instruction by state law, but only receiving 7 hours. It's also interesting that the parents are getting parenting classes as opposed to other kinds of classes that they can or should be getting. Wonder how it was determined that this is what they "needed?" This suggests an array of needs that haven't been met. I'm left with the thought that a gilded cage is still a cage. What our immigration policies have come too.... -Angela

County officials: Detention center treating immigrants humanely
Williamson commissioners tour facility in response to residents' protests

Click-2-Listen
By Juan Castillo, Lisa Ogle
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

When protesters expressed outrage last month that an immigrant- detention center in Taylor has children in custody and charged that they are housed in prisonlike conditions with substandard care, Williamson County commissioners pledged to learn more about the T. Don Hutto Residential Center.

After touring the private facility in visits over the past two weeks, most commissioners say they are satisfied with the care for the families held there.

"I think it's a very well-run facility, and they probably are doing the best thing they possibly can," said County Judge Dan Gattis Sr., who toured the detention center with Commissioner Valerie Covey for about three hours Dec. 29. "These people were living very comfortably from what I saw."

But Commissioner Lisa Birkman, who visited the center Friday with Commissioner Ron Morrison, wanted to know whether the detention center's living quarters can be made more family-friendly, though she did not specify how that could be done.

Birkman, who taught English as a second language for 13 years, said she would ask the county's director of juvenile services to offer recommendations.

Commissioner Cynthia Long toured the jail Thursday. County spokeswoman Connie Watson said that she set up the tours to accommodate commissioners' schedules and that commissioners did not intentionally or unintentionally avoid visiting as a group, which would have required public notice.

The Austin American-Statesman requested a tour of the facility last week and is awaiting a response from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

The 512-bed T. Don Hutto Residential Center is one of only two in the country that detains unauthorized immigrant families, including children, on noncriminal charges while awaiting federal disposition of their cases. Many people held there, if not most, seek asylum in the United States and are from countries other than Mexico.

Detaining all unauthorized immigrants follows a policy implemented last year by the Department of Homeland Security.

Much of the criticism about the Taylor jail has centered on accusations that it is immoral and inhumane to imprison children, but the federal government says the T. Don Hutto facility was designed for families and is a humane way to maintain family unity while enforcing immigration laws.

Critics, however, contend that children receive better care, including a full education and access to caseworkers, when housed separately and in residential facilities designed for them.

Birkman and Covey said they understood critics' concerns but stressed the value of keeping families together.

"I have to think, 'What are the other options?' " Birkman said. "I have four children, and as a mom, if I were detained, I'd rather the kids be with me."

The Taylor jail began holding immigrant families in May under a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Williamson County selected Corrections Corporation of America to operate the facility and receives $1 per day for each inmate.

Last month, dozens of protesters held a vigil outside the jail after a 2 1/2-day, 35-mile walk from Austin. During a Commissioners Court meeting the following week, three county residents spoke out against the detention center.

Gattis and other commissioners said they found most, if not all, complaints unfounded. In separate interviews, they said they toured the cafeteria and living, classroom and medical areas, and spoke with teachers and administrators. They described good conditions, compassionate staff members and a relaxed, comfortable environment.

"They've taken a prison and softened it to be a detention center for families," Covey said.

The commissioners said adults take parenting classes, and children receive instruction in English and life skills. They said they saw children studying in classrooms and playing, with access to a library, computers, video games and television.

Critics said families complain about conditions, including health care. Frances Valdez, an attorney and clinical fellow at the University of Texas Law School Immigration Clinic who has visited clients there, said that children receive one hour of classroom instruction per day and that some family members reported becoming ill from food served there.

Commissioners said prison officials explained that children receive one hour of direct classroom instruction from state-certified teachers and then do assigned work for at least three hours.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency said a full school day includes seven hours of instruction.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said it employs state-certified teachers and certified dietitians, and the U.S. Public Health Service operates a medical area along with a mental health staff.

Birkman said prison officials explained that the usual stay at the center is 20 to 45 days. Eighty-five to 90 percent of those detained are ultimately deported, Covey said.

Gattis said commissioners would continue monitoring center operations.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

logle@statesman.com; 246-1150

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/10/10immigjail.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:09 AM 1 comments Links to this post

Educators feeling left behind
Changes requested on 5th anniversary of 'No Child' statute
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Angela Townsend
Plain Dealer Reporter
While the Bush administration touted the merits of No Child Left Behind on its fifth anniversary Monday, national and local educators called for changes in what they say is a flawed law.

No Child Left Behind won bipartisan backing when Congress passed it in 2002, and it's up for renewal this year.

The main goal is to have all students perform at grade level in reading and math by 2014.

That's admirable, educators say, but difficult to accomplish when financial constraints, uneven interpretations and an overemphasis on testing come with the package.

"There are too many people and too many school systems that are labeled as failing," National Education Association President Reg Weaver said Monday.

Instead of widespread sanctions, "let's figure out what's wrong and how we can help these people."

Schools that get federal aid but do not make enough progress must provide tutoring, allow students to transfer or initiate other reforms such as changing the staff.

The law's financial impact has been hard to quantify, but the cost includes teacher training, new textbooks and additional staffing. High-poverty districts like Cleveland, where many children are ill-prepared for school and lack family support, are especially challenged by the law's demands.

"Given the right resources, all problems can be adequately addressed," Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders said. "But to expect a level of achievement to occur given that level of inequity. . . ?

"They basically say to you, 'Make it work,' but they don't give you the resources needed to make it work."

In a meeting on Monday with congressional leaders, President Bush pushed for the law's reauthorization but was noncommittal on their request for more money to help schools meet its requirements.

Paul Yocum, superintendent of the Cardinal district in Geauga County, echoed Sanders' complaints about the lack of money.

"We're not against upping the standards for our students," he said. "But when we're in a time of financial difficulty . . . it falls back on property owners - our voters."

Rick Buckosh, superintendent of the Clearview schools in Lorain County, said he has had to add remediation courses - not an easy thing to do when the district is laying off teachers.

Under No Child Left Behind, some veteran teachers are being told that they are not "highly qualified" to do their jobs.

Karen Vince, a special-education intervention specialist at Nordonia High School in Summit County, is one of 400 educators whose comments are included in a new NEA publication about the law.

"I've taught for 33 years, the majority of that in special education," said Vince, who this year has a class of 13 cognitively disabled students.

But holding the right license wasn't enough under the federal law. Two years ago, Vince's district sent her to four weeks of summer classes and one weekend workshop for coursework that transformed her into "highly qualified."

What did she learn?

"Basically, how to use the content standards book and some skills that are not applicable to what I teach," she said. "I had to take algebra . . . and I'm teaching my kids how to tell time."

Lawmakers outlined more concerns for U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings during Monday's meeting. They included: how to test special education and limited-English-speaking students; a desire to give schools credit for progress even when they fall short of annual targets; and the need to give students access to high-quality free tutoring.

Patti Picard, curriculum director for Hudson schools in Summit County, sees value in the law's clear standards, which have helped school districts set academic priorities, she said.

At the same time, such a strong emphasis on standardized testing is disconcerting, she added.

"When something like No Child Left Behind focuses so closely on a test score, it does affect the kind of teaching that you do," Picard said. "It becomes kind of a forced march."

She hopes legislators listen to the people who best know the challenges of teaching youngsters. Otherwise, she said, "I'm afraid that we're going to create a culture of people who have lost their zest for love of learning."

Information from the Associated Press was included in this story.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

atownsend@plaind.com, 216-999-3894


© 2007 The Plain Dealer© 2007 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.

http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/116833546448420.xml&coll=2

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:51 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Education task force recommends more testing security
Random audits and system of reporting and investigating among panel's suggestions.

Friday, January 05, 2007
Schools would be subject to random audits in an effort to prevent cheating on the state's standardized tests under recommendations made Thursday to the Texas Education Agency.

The agency is expected to adopt the recommendations from the Task Force on Test Security. That panel issued the recommendations in response to an investigation commissioned by the agency that found testing irregularities at 700 campuses statewide in 2005.

Last month, 592 schools were cleared of wrongdoing. Investigations remain open at 104 campuses, and four other schools have since closed.

Four Austin schools — Dobie and Murchison middle schools and Akins and McCallum high schools — remain under investigation, as does Westwood High School in Round Rock. The state cleared eight Austin and eight Round Rock campuses, as well as schools in the Dripping Springs, Hays, Leander, Georgetown, Eanes, Lake Travis and Pflugerville districts.

Austin school district spokesman Andy Welch said that the recommendations appear to be in line with current procedures and that he did not anticipate any undue burden from implementing them.

The district conducts random checks at various schools, Welch said. "We certainly welcome the principles the task force has presented to the commissioner. We believe the integrity of the test is paramount. It's why we do the random checks. We have very intensive training for those at the campus level."

Welch said the recommendations ensuring rapid resolution of suspected violations are particularly welcome.

"We've always felt with the Caveon report that it's almost a cold case file," Welch said, referring to the 2005 investigation by Caveon Test Security. "These recommendations are designed to address problems head on."

Round Rock officials attributed test gains flagged as suspicious in Caveon's report to new programs for struggling students. Spokeswoman JoyLynn Occhiuzzi said Round Rock performs random checks on teachers and students during the exam.

"We have nothing to hide. TEA staff is always welcome in our schools," Occhiuzzi said. She added that it would be helpful if schools were given more information in a more timely manner about suspected violations. "Something that could end this type of situation quicker would be welcome."

State Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley appointed the task force in August. The panel of business and education leaders — including former Austin trustee Olga Garza — also called for an analysis system to study one-time occurrences as well as trends. The system would include quicker resolution when irregularities are suspected.

"I welcome the recommendations from the task force, and we will give strong consideration to all their suggestions," Neeley said. "Over the past several years, TEA has taken a number of steps to enhance test security, but that must be an ongoing process that is regularly refined and updated."

The task force also suggested that the agency:

•assemble a panel of educators and public representatives to review and make recommendations regarding test practices and statistical procedures in test integrity analysis;

•develop criteria for triggering on-site investigations, a standardized protocol for such investigations and criteria for referrals to the newly created inspector general;

•develop procedures to ensure rapid follow-up and resolution of suspected violations;

•facilitate confidential reporting directly to the agency;

•require districts to keep test security materials and signed security oaths for five years.

"We will do whatever it takes to make sure our students' test results are valid and reliable and our testing program above reproach," Neely said.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/05/5takscheating.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 7:26 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Check out today's Counterpunch. -Angela

January 5, 2007

Who Will Serve?
Growing the Military

By JORGE MARISCAL

In late December 2006, the Bush administration reversed its previous position and agreed to a permanent expansion of the Army and Marine Corps. In reality, the size of the two "ground services" has grown steadily since 2001 when Congress approved a temporary increase of 30,000 to the Army and authorized additional increases to the Army and Marines in 2005 and 2006. The current proposal would make these increases permanent and by 2012 achieve the objective of an active-duty Army of 542,400 and a Marine Corps of 190,000.

In their public statements, Pentagon officials claimed that finding the bodies to reach these goals would not be difficult. Increased bonuses, massive publicity campaigns, and appeals to patriotism would be enough to attract volunteers, they argued.

Lesser-known programs such as the Army GED Plus Enlistment Program in which applicants without high school diplomas are allowed to enlist while they complete a high school equivalency certificate are expected to help (interestingly, the GED Plus Enlistment Program is available only in inner city areas). The Army's recent fudging of entrance requirements to accept an increased percentage of recruits with minor criminal records may also raise enlistment numbers.

Given the prospect of a prolonged U.S. presence in Iraq, however, the Pentagon's optimistic predictions about increasing the size of the ground services by making minor adjustments to existing recruiting practices may not pan out. In anticipation of difficult days ahead for recruiters, no sooner had Bush announced his decision than conservative think tanks began to recycle proposals about recruiting foreigners into the U.S. military.

In a recent Boston Globe article, unidentified Army sources reported that Pentagon officials and Congress are investigating "the feasibility of going beyond U.S. borders to recruit soldiers and Marines." Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, Thomas Donnelly of the American Enterprise Institute, and Max Boot of the Council on Foreign relations cited historical precedents for using foreign troops. Since at least 2005 Boot has been recommending the establishment of "recruiting stations along the U.S.-Mexico border" as a way to solve the problems of military manpower and illegal immigration.

But the fact that several sources in the Globe article, including spokesmen for the Army and the Latino advocacy group National Council for La Raza (NCLR), expressed disagreement with proposals to recruit foreign nationals means that other more feasible options may begin to surface.

A likely scenario is that the Pentagon will focus on one specific sector of the undocumented population--foreign nationals raised and educated in the United States. According to the Urban Institute, every year approximately 60,000 undocumented immigrants or children of immigrants (who have lived in the United States five years or longer) graduate from U.S. high schools. By marketing the military to this group, problems associated with the recruitment of foreigners such as poor English language skills and low educational levels could be alleviated.

So far military recruiters have limited their efforts to the pursuit of citizens and permanent residents (green card holders). It is a little-known fact, however, that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 amended current legal statutes by allowing military service secretaries to waive citizenship and residency requirements "if such Secretary determines that the enlistment of such person is vital to the national interest" (U.S. Code Title 10, Chapter 31, §504: 2006).

Is the DREAM Act the Pentagon's Dream Too?

If the Pentagon were to decide to exercise its new prerogative and begin to recruit undocumented youth in order to grow the Army and Marines, the most obvious selling point would be permanent residency and eventual citizenship. This in fact is one of the little-known aspects of the DREAM Act, legislation that would grant conditional residency to most undocumented high school graduates and permanent residency in exchange for the successful completion of two years of college or two years of military service.

In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 10, 2006, Under Secretary of Defense David Chu said: "According to an April 2006 study from the National Immigration Law Center, there are an estimated 50,000 to 65,000 undocumented alien young adults who entered the U.S. at an early age and graduate from high school each year, many of whom are bright, energetic and potentially interested in military service...Provisions of S. 2611, such as the DREAM Act, would provide these young people the opportunity of serving the United States in uniform."

More recently, Lt. Col. Margaret Stock of the U.S. Army Reserve and a faculty member at West Point told a reporter that the DREAM Act could help recruiters meet their goals by providing a "highly qualified cohort of young people" without the unknown personal details that would accompany foreign recruits. "They are already going to come vetted by Homeland Security. They will already have graduated from high school," she said. "They are prime candidates."

The lure of citizenship is already a tool for recruiting green card holders, especially because of expedited naturalization procedures put in place for military personnel in 2002. In San Diego, for example, recruiters have told permanent residents "I can help you get citizenship" when in fact the military has no input into the final granting or denial of citizenship.
Although exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, roughly 20% of legal residents in the military who have applied for naturalization since late 2001 have been denied citizenship. This suggests that military service carries no guarantee that permanent residents will be granted the one benefit for which they probably enlisted and for which they may be forced to risk their life.

Other anecdotes recount recruiters threatening that the immigration status of recruits and their family would be affected should the recruit try to back out of an enlistment agreement. More devious recruiters have used the law requiring undocumented youth to register for Selective Service as a way to convince non-English speaking parents that there is obligatory military service in the United States.

The expansion of the recruiting pool to include the undocumented would be a Recruiting Command's dream and may be the only way for the Pentagon to increase the size of the Army and Marines Corps. A 2006 study by the Migration Policy Institute calculated that passage of the DREAM Act "would immediately make 360,000 unauthorized high school graduates aged 18 to 24 eligible for conditional legal status [and] that about 715,000 unauthorized youth between ages 5 and 17 would become eligible sometime in the future."

Ironically, nativist and restrictionist groups as well as anti-militarism activists will oppose the recruitment of the undocumented although for completely different reasons. Organizations such as National Council for La Raza (NCLR) that oppose the recruitment of foreigners would most likely support a vehicle for recruiting undocumented graduates from U.S. high schools. In May 2006, NCLR praised the passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (Senate Bill 2611) that included a DREAM Act provision.

While the DREAM Act may facilitate access to college for a small percentage of these undocumented students, in many cases other factors will militate against the college option. Given the difficulty undocumented youth have in affording college tuition, the pressure on them to make financial contributions to extended families, and the tendency among many to adopt uncritical forms of patriotism based on "gratitude," military not college recruiters may be the ones who benefit the most.

As one undocumented student wrote to me:

"I was brought to America [from Mexico] when I was 12. I am 21 now and I am only going to college because in the state of Illinois I pay in-state tuition despite being illegal. I would serve in the military if I was given an opportunity to do so and DIE for America if necessary. Shouldn't I be able to be legal?"

Military manpower needs, limited economic and educational opportunity, and the desire for social acceptance could transport immigrants and their children to the frontlines of future imperial misadventures such as the quagmire in Iraq.

Jorge Mariscal is a Vietnam veteran and director of the Chicano-Latino Arts and Humanities Program at the University of California, San Diego. He is a member of Project YANO (San Diego). Visit his blog at: jorgemariscal.blogspot.com/ He can be reached at: gmariscal@ucsd.edu

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:23 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Christopher Swanson of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center researched and wrote this report. Texas fares abysmally in it. The press packet offers the following about the 13 indicators: "The 13 indicators that make up the index capture key performance or attainment outcomes at various stages in a person’s lifetime or are correlated with later success. For example, in the early-childhood years, indicators include the percent of children living in families that earn a decent wage and the percent of children with at least one parent who has a postsecondary degree – factors that research shows have an impact on how well children perform in school."

-Angela

Are Texas children fated for failure?
Texas ranks lower than all but three states in offering opportunities for success, study says.

By Bob Dart
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thursday, January 04, 2007

WASHINGTON — A child born in Texas has less of a chance at achieving academic and economic success than a child born in almost any other state, an analysis released Wednesday by an educational research group found.

In its "Chance for Success Index," Texas ranked 48th among the 50 states and District of Columbia, reported the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Only Arizona, Louisiana and New Mexico were lower.

Virginia's children had the best chance to succeed of those in any state, said the report, "From Cradle to Career: Connecting American Education From Birth to Adulthood."

But the findings are not an indictment of Texas public schools, stressed Christopher Swanson, director of the research center and author of the report. Indeed, he said the state's educational system is improving rapidly and doing a good job of offsetting many factors outside the classrooms.

The study "looks at education through a broader lens," he said. "Overall, the index captures the cumulative effects of education experience from birth through adulthood and pinpoints the chance for success at each stage and for each state. We find that a child's life prospects depend greatly on where he or she lives."

Many factors are beyond the reach of the school system. To see why Texas children are behind other states, it is useful to look at the advantages enjoyed by Virginia children.

"The average child in Virginia starts out ahead of the curve," the report said. Painting a statistical family portrait, Swanson showed that Virginia children are less likely to live in a low-income home and more likely to have college-educated parents than those in other states.

Blessed with these advantages, Virginia children are then more likely to succeed in elementary school, finish high school and go to college than kids in other states. Once the students have graduated, Virginia's well-educated adult population and strong economy offer better opportunities. The educated young Virginians stay in the state, find good jobs and have children, and the cycle is repeated.

In Texas and other states deemed to offer fewer opportunities, the cycle is reversed. Children are more likely to live in poverty, speak Spanish at home and have poorly educated parents. That contributes to academic shortcomings. After reaching adulthood, young Texans find an economy with fewer opportunities for high-paying jobs, Swanson said.

The Texas education system "is actually a bright spot," he said, but it can't "solve all the problems of society."

The Chance for Success Index is based on 13 indicators at various stages in life that are correlated with future achievement. For example, research has shown that early academic success is linked to family income and parental education. Children from families that are financially well off and whose parents have postgraduate degrees do better in elementary school than those from low-income families with high school dropouts as parents — at least, statistically speaking. Then, children who do well in elementary school are more likely to succeed in high school, go to college and find successful careers.

In general, the report shows that children born in the South and Southwest have less of a chance of academic and financial success than do those born in the Northeast and north central states.

Swanson said Texas faces a huge challenge in the index because its populace contains so many immigrants from Mexico and Central America. These newcomers are likely to be poor, speak Spanish and be relatively uneducated — all factors that foretell scholastic and economic problems for their children.

In contrast, none of the top 10 states in the index — Virginia, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Vermont — is near the nation's southern border.

But immigration is only one factor. Although three of the bottom four states border Mexico, and Louisiana is nearby, the lowest 10 also include Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Nevada and South Carolina.

A state's economy, especially its ability to provide high-paying jobs for a well-educated work force, is important, Swanson said.

Increasingly, industries want to be "where the talent is," said Mary Jo Waits, director of the Pew Center for the States, an offshoot of the Pew Charitable Trusts that is charged with finding effective public policies on issues facing the states.

Talented people "are going to choose states where their chances for success and their children's chances for success are greatest" — which speaks to the importance of this study, she said.

Based in Bethesda, Md., the nonprofit Research Center for Editorial Projects in Education conducts studies on issues in education that are often published in Education Week magazine. Funding for this research project was provided by the Pew Center for the States.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/04/4success.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:47 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Dr. Ed Fuller correctly states that these reforms will do little, if anything, to remedy the serious problem our state has with teachers who do not teach in areas for which they are certified. Relying on the TAKS test as a basis for teacher evaluation is indeed already being done and is resulting in enormous teaching to the test. -Angela

Business group says reforms will help teachers
Performance of students would play larger role in judging educators.

By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, January 04, 2007

State law should require schools to fire teachers whose students repeatedly show little or no improvement after the teachers receive extra coaching, a business group said Wednesday.

That recommendation and others came from the Governor's Business Council, a group of 100 businessmen and businesswomen from around the state who periodically recommend changes in state law. Members of the council hope that lawmakers will work the recommendations into policies they will consider when their five-month session begins Tuesday.

Despite the group's name, Gov. Rick Perry does not appoint members of the business council or direct its work, Perry spokesman Robert Black said. But he said Perry's office would review the recommendations.

The group also called for extra money for teachers in low-income schools that show the most improvement and for teachers who take hard-to-fill assignments such as math, science and special education. Last year, the Legislature created a vast pay-for-performance program, much of which is still taking effect.

"We have yet to reach our goals because we have not gotten to the heart of the matter in our reform efforts," said Charles McMahen, a retired Compass Bank executive who leads the business council. "We must now focus directly on enabling our teachers to achieve excellence."

But some teachers groups responded to the business group's report by saying many of the council's goals can be met under current law.

The report said that current evaluation systems for teachers are inadequate and often reward vague concepts and fads. It calls for teacher evaluations to consider whether student performance improved.

Sandy Kress, a lawyer who led the business council's research, said performance would be measured by test scores and other factors such as graduation rates and success in Advanced Placement classes. Teacher evaluations should include reviews from principals and peers, the report says.

The report says veteran teachers who are deemed ineffective should receive extra help and coaching. If their students continue to perform poorly over three years, they should be fired, it says.

Teachers in their first three years, who are easier to fire than veterans because they get probationary contracts, should be watched more closely, the report says.

"If you had 10 teachers in your child's school and five of them were really effective, and four of them were on the path to effective and one of them was persistently ineffective, whose children would you want to be in that teacher's class? Yours?" asked Kress, who was a key adviser to President Bush on the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Jeri Stone of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association said that student performance is already a small part of the criteria that school districts use to evaluate teachers and that districts have the option of putting a greater emphasis on student performance. The council's proposal would ramp up the pressure that teachers and students face on tests, Stone said.

"It's a very small percentage of teachers who are underperforming, and principals and school districts have plenty of authority to make a change under current law," Stone said.

Ed Fuller, a University of Texas research associate who studies school staffing, said almost 43,000 Texas teachers are teaching subjects for which they are not qualified. He said he does not think the council's recommendations would affect that number significantly.

Fuller also said the state's main test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, is not a good tool for measuring student improvement.

The council also proposed that the state publish more data on students and teachers; develop new evaluations and pay incentives for principals; and rate teacher-training programs and colleges of education based on their graduates' effectiveness.

jembry@statesman.com; 445-3654

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/04/4education.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 11:55 PM 0 comments Links to this post

I'm glad that the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) made the right decision and decided to make Al Gore's AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH available to science teachers throughout the nation.

-Angela


December 21, 2006

Producer of Gore's Film to Distribute Free Copies Via Web Site

By Sean Cavanagh

A producer of former Vice President Al Gore's film about global warming has arranged to have free copies of it given to science teachers through a Web site, after a leading education group made a controversial decision not to distribute the documentary directly to its members.

Laurie David, the co-producer of "An Inconvenient Truth," said this week that the first 50,000 teachers who request the movie for use in their classrooms would be given DVD copies, on a first-come, first-served basis. Information on obtaining the movie is posted at www.participate.net, a Web site maintained by Participant Productions, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based film-production company that seeks to raise awareness of social issues.

Ms. David originally offered to give 50,000 free copies of the film to the National Science Teachers Association, an influential professional organization in Arlington, Va., if NSTA officials would agree to distribute copies to its 56,000 members. The NSTA rejected that offer, saying it would have violated the organization's policy of not distributing or endorsing products from outside groups or individuals.

That decision angered supporters of the film, who questioned whether the NSTA's stance was based on its having received funding from oil interests, including the foundations of the ExxonMobil Corp. and the Conoco Phillips Co. The fossil-fuel industry has disputed some of the statements about the assertions of human activities on climate change that are made in Mr. Gore's film.

NSTA officials denied any such motivation and offered Ms. David various alternatives for making teachers aware of the film. Officials from the teachers' association said Ms. David rejected those proposals.

A teacher who logs on to the Participant Productions site is asked to provide a nine-digit federal tax identification number for his or her school. The DVDs were made available Dec. 18, and the offer will continue until Jan. 18. Teachers will receive the materials in six to eight weeks.

"Since the film debuted, we have received hundreds of e-mails from teachers interested in using 'An Inconvenient Truth' in their classrooms to educate students about global warming," Ms. David said in a statement. "I hope it helps inspire and move a generation toward solving this urgent problem."

Ms. David's statement was released by the National Resources Defense Council, a New York City-based environmental group that was critical of the NSTA's decision not to distribute the DVD and on whose board Ms. David serves. She said the film giveaway was supported financially by Participant Productions, Paramount Vantage, a film distributor, and the Environmental Media Association, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization.

NSTA officials initially offered to put information about Mr. Gore's film on the organization's Web site, and distribute it through e-mail and printed materials—efforts that they argued would have had a broad impact. The organization also has invited the former vice president to speak at its annual meeting in March, an offer that still stands, NSTA spokeswoman Jodi Peterson said in an e-mail this week.

After learning of Ms. David's efforts to distribute the film on the Web site, the NSTA put a link to that Web address from the organization's own homepage, at www.nsta.org.

Vol. 26, Issue 18

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/12/21/18nsta_web.h26.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 11:47 PM 0 comments Links to this post

—File Photo by Emile Wamsteker for Education Week

This one got past me. it came out on Sept. 20, 2006. Worth looking at. -Angela


Prominent Teacher-Educator Assails Field, Suggests New Accrediting Body in Report
But others finding fault with Levine’s conclusions, methodology.

By Vaishali Honawar

In a new study that has already raised some hackles, a noted expert on teacher education paints the field as a troubled one in which a majority of aspiring teachers are educated in low-quality programs that do not sufficiently prepare them for the classroom.

In his 140-page report, which includes surveys of alumni, school principals, and deans of teacher-training institutions, as well as case studies of 28 programs that cover the wide spectrum of teacher education, Arthur E. Levine, the former president of Teachers College, Columbia University, describes such programs as “unruly and chaotic” Wild West towns that lack a standard approach to preparing teachers.

Universities that produce a majority of teacher graduates have lower admission standards, professors with lesser credentials, and fewer resources, and they produce graduates who are less effective in the classroom, the report asserts.

Further, the debate over whether teaching is a profession or a craft has left programs unsure about whether they should become professional schools or remain grounded in the academic world of arts and sciences.

Pointing to the proliferation of alternative teacher-preparation programs, the report warns: “There is a real danger that if we do not clean our own house, America’s university-based teacher education programs will disappear.”

Even before its official release date of Sept. 18, the report had stirred up opposition among those responsible for policing quality in teacher education with a recommendation to improve quality control through a complete redesign of the system used to accredit teacher programs.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, a Washington-based group that accredits more than half the 1,200 programs in the nation, called the report “contradictory.”

Arthur E. Wise, its president, also criticized the report’s methodology and the fact that it has not been peer-reviewed. “Many of the major points in the report are supported by anecdotes,” he said. “In a scholarly work based on fieldwork, one would expect to see richer connections drawn between the conclusions in the report and actual data that was gathered.”

Mr. Levine, who is now the president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, N.J., dismissed the criticism, saying the report drew no conclusions that did not flow from findings. Putting the report together was a lengthy and detailed process that took more than two years, he said, and included several surveys as well as the case studies, for which academics and retired or freelance education journalists conducted site visits at each school.

Mr. Levine said he used the journalists because he wanted someone who could ask hard questions and because a report based entirely on the findings of educators could appear biased. Alvin Sanoff, a former U.S. News & World Report assistant managing editor who worked on the magazine’s annual college-rankings project, served as project manager for Mr. Levine’s study.

‘Exemplary’ Programs
The report is the second in a series of four Mr. Levine is preparing on the schools of education, where the majority of school leaders, teachers, and scholars are educated. His last report was a damning assessment of the programs that prepare most of the nation’s superintendents and principals. ("Study Blasts Leadership Preparation," March 16, 2005.)
Remaking Teacher Education

In his report, Arthur E. Levine recommends a number of ways to improve the preparation of aspiring teachers.
• Transform education schools from ivory towers into professional schools focused on classroom practice.
• Focus on student achievement as the primary measure of teacher education program success.
• Rebuild teacher education programs around the skills and knowledge that promote classroom learning; make five-year teacher education programs the norm.
• Establish effective mechanisms for teacher education quality control.
• Close failing teacher education programs, strengthen promising ones, and expand excellent ones by creating incentives for outstanding students and career-changers to enter teacher education at doctoral universities.

SOURCE: “Educating School Teachers”

Mr. Levine said in an interview that despite the depressing state, he sees hope for teacher education. “The condition of teacher education is better than the conditions found in leadership programs,” he said. “There were no models in the country for school leadership.”

The report highlights four programs as “exemplary” and worthy of emulation by others—models that he says have embraced practice and practitioners, and have received the support of their universities. A quarter of the sites visited could be described as strong.

One of the exemplary programs is at Alverno College, a baccalaureate general college in Milwaukee and an open-admissions school, where entering students often come unprepared.

While the college requires entrants to the teacher school to pass tests, including the Praxis I, the faculty and staff are willing to work with highly motivated students who fail the exams the first time round. Although small, the college is one of the five top feeder institutions for the Milwaukee public schools, and its graduates are highly rated by principals. Five years after graduation, 85 percent of graduates are still teaching.

Others cited by the report as exemplary are Emporia State University in Kansas, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and Stanford University.

“Individually and collectively, [these programs] show how high the quality of teacher education can be,” the report says. “Their programs reflect the needs of today’s schools and students; and they tie the success of their programs to student learning. … They integrate and give appropriate balance to academic and clinical education.”

“What they say is, any school in the country and any type of institution can create a strong teacher education program,” Mr. Levine said.

But the overall picture he paints is not a cheerful one, of programs that teach outdated curricula and have failed to keep pace with demographics, technology, global competition, and pressures to raise student achievement.

Meanwhile, universities have exacerbated the situation by continuing to treat teacher-preparation programs as “cash cows,” leading them to set low admission and graduation standards for their students, Mr. Levine contends.

Down on NCATE
One of the report’s more controversial elements is its criticism of the low bar set by quality-control mechanisms for schools of education by states and by NCATE. The report does not discuss the only other accrediting body in the nation, the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, saying it is too new and small.

Current quality-control requirements, Mr. Levine says, are procedural rather than substantive. Calling current notions of quality “misplaced and dated,” the report recommends the creation of a new accrediting mechanism, to be named the National Council for the Accreditation of Schools of Education. The report says the most promising approach to redesigning accreditation could be for a neutral party that has worked on teacher education reform to form a blue-ribbon panel for the purpose of redesigning accreditation.

Among the flaws of NCATE, according to the report, is that elite institutions are less likely than others to seek its accreditation, with the result that “teacher education accrediting policy and standards are more likely to reflect the practices of the average or subpar programs rather than the outstanding ones.”

As an example of poor quality-control practices, the report points to an unnamed public university that it says admits and graduates poorly prepared students, has a weak curriculum, and low course quality. Despite those problems, it says, the university has received the nod from both its state and NCATE.

Sharon P. Robinson, the president of the Washington-based American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, or AACTE, a group that represents about 750 colleges of education and that is a member institution of NCATE, called the recommendation for redesigning accreditation “over the top.”

“NCATE has given every indication that it is capable of reforming and changing and implementing and embracing new ideas and innovation, so I don’t understand the evidence that would put forth such a dramatic recommendation,” she said.
In recent years, for example, the accrediting body has switched to a performance-based system for judging a program’s effectiveness.

Mr. Wise of NCATE said the report, while it criticizes his organization, also affirms the group’s standards and procedures. Moreover, he said, the nine criteria used by the report to evaluate education schools bear a strong resemblance to NCATE standards.

The NCATE president also called Mr. Levine’s criticism of universities that produce a majority of teacher graduates as having low standards and less qualified faculties as “implicit elitism.”

“We might all wish that elite institutions would produce a more significant share of America’s teachers, but given the current economics of higher education and the teaching profession, that has never occurred in the past, nor does it appear likely to happen any time in the foreseeable future,” Mr. Wise said. Teacher education, he added, has not been an important part of the mission of some top-ranked institutions.

The four programs Mr. Levine highlights as being among the best are all NCATE-accredited.

“NCATE is a lot of work, but it has been nothing but a good experience for us,” said Phil Bennett, the interim dean of the Teachers’ College at Emporia State University. NCATE guidelines have helped Emporia State adhere to the highest standards in teacher education, he said. “When you mention standards, [NCATE] is indeed the standard for us.”

Attracting Attention
Both NCATE and AACTE officials acknowledge that Mr. Levine makes some conclusions that are on target.
Mr. Wise applauded some of the report’s recommendations to improve teacher-training programs, including focusing on student achievement and transforming schools from ivory towers into professional schools focused on classroom practice. He said his group has been working assiduously over the past decade to move those goals forward.

“Art [Levine] delved into a number of areas that help us understand why our ambitions have not been realized,” said Ms. Robinson of AACTE. Among other measures, she agrees that teacher education needs to be financed better so it can be restructured as a profession, much like medicine or engineering.

Deborah Loewenberg-Ball, the dean of the school of education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said the report is important because even though programs have for a long time been in agreement that teacher education needs to be improved radically, they have been unable to find support on a national level. “A report like this can help attract the nation’s policymakers to the fact that if we want quality schools, teacher education has to be at top of our agenda,” she said.
Universities, the report says, have an obligation to evaluate the quality of their teacher education programs. It proposes that universities establish timetables of no more than five years for closing poor programs and strengthening strong ones. If universities fail to do so, states should step in.

“The focus at many universities has been more on quantity and generating dollars rather than quality,” Mr. Levine said. “Expectations are so low on the part of the central administration that they haven’t made the effort to push education schools to raise the quality of teacher education programs.”

The report also calls for rebuilding teacher education programs around the skills and knowledge that promote classroom learning, and making five-year programs the norm.

It asks states to improve funding for teacher salaries, including tying salary scales to teacher qualifications and performance to reward the best teachers and keep them in classrooms.

Vol. 26, Issue 04, Pages 1,18-19
______________________________________________
Arthur E. Levine
AGE: 58
POSITION: President, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in biology, Brandeis University; Ph.D., in sociology and higher education, State University of New York at Buffalo
PREVIOUS POSTS:
• President and professor of education, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Chairman, higher education program; chairman, Institute for Educational Management; senior lecturer, Harvard University graduate school of education
• President, Bradford College; senior fellow, Carnegie Foundation and Carnegie Council for Policy Studies in Higher Education
BOOKS:
• When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today’s College Student (with Jeanette S. Cureton);
• Beating the Odds: How the Poor Get to College (with Jana Nidiffer);
• Higher Learning in America;
• Shaping Higher Education’s Future;
• When Dreams and Heroes Died: A Portrait of Today’s College Students;
• Handbook on Undergraduate Curriculum;
• Quest for Common Learning (with Ernest Boyer);
• Opportunity in Adversity (with Janice Green);
• Why Innovation Fails
RESEARCH AREAS: Increasing access to higher education and improving equity in the schools
HONORS AND AWARDS:
• Guggenheim Fellowship;
• Carnegie Fellowship;
• American Council on Education’s “Book of the Year” award for Reform of Undergraduate Education;
• Educational Press Association’s annual award for writing (three times);
• named “One of the Most Outstanding Leaders in the Academic Community,” Change magazine, 1998;
• Academic Leadership Award, Council of Independent Colleges;
• Educator of the Year Award, Phi Delta Kappa;
• Educator of the Year Award, Urban College, Boston
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS: Board member, Blackboard Inc., DePaul University, and All Kinds of Minds; member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
SOURCES: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation; Arthur E. Levine

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/09/20/04teachprep.h26.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:49 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By Amy Fagan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 24, 2006

Education policy is in for some changes under the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
Cracking down on the student-loan industry, cutting loan interest rates, boosting the amount of government money for education and rewriting portions of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law governing elementary education are among the goals of Democrats next year.
On top of that, a few other laws must be renewed, too -- the Higher Education Act, the Head Start program for preschoolers and the Workforce Investment Act for job-training programs.
"It's a big year," said Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, a California Republican who will hand over the gavel of the House Education Committee to Rep. George Miller, California Democrat.
In the Senate, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will set education policy as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Massachusetts Democrat said recently he aims for an "important increase" in education dollars. Despite a "tight budget" environment, he said, voters in November sent a clear message that they not only want change in Iraq but also a greater emphasis placed on domestic issues.
"It seems to me the American people spoke very clearly," he said.
One of the first orders of business for Democrats will be to cut the interest rate for federally guaranteed student loans in half -- a goal House Democratic leaders said the House will tackle in its first 100 hours of operation next year.
Mr. Kennedy may include the rate-cut proposal in a broader bill that would forgive student loans after 25 years, increase the Pell Grant maximum award to $5,100 and cap federal student-loan payments at 15 percent of the borrower's monthly discretionary income.
The price tag for all of this is still in flux, but estimates for the rate-cut proposal alone could reach $50 billion, depending on whose loans are targeted for cuts, a Democratic aide said.
Mr. Kennedy recently said student loans "work well for banks but not for students."
Another priority -- especially for President Bush -- is renewing the No Child Left Behind Law of 2002, which is due to expire. Democrats helped approve the law, which requires states to hold failing elementary schools accountable and bring all students to reading and math proficiency, but they've complained that schools are struggling to comply because Congress and Mr. Bush have provided about $40 billion less than the funding levels set out in the law.
Democrats will push for more money, though Mr. Kennedy said he knows he may not close the funding gap right away. Meanwhile, both sides of the aisle are working on tweaks and changes the law may need in areas such as how teachers are measured and promoted and the way troubled schools are handled. Republican aides predicted NCLB renewal could be relatively smooth.
Mr. Kennedy, who stood next to Mr. Bush at the bill-signing ceremony in 2002, said recently he remains willing to work with the president if he is committed.
"Given the many failures of implementation by his administration and the meager commitments to education reforms in his budgets, the president has a high hurdle to cross to demonstrate that he is seriously committed to these reforms," he said.
Republican leaders said Democrats' promise of big bucks for education doesn't jibe with their loud pledges of fiscal reform.
"If they stick with what they said they want to do, they're going to be spending a significant amount, and I would think they'd have trouble finding those dollars," said outgoing Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican. "It's going to be an interesting exercise for them."

Copyright © 2007 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061223-114252-1108r.htm

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:42 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Published: December 20, 2006 / ED WEEK
Title I Money Not Reaching Students Who Need It Most, Report Says
By Michelle R. Davis
As federal funding meant to help the most disadvantaged students makes its way from the halls of the U.S. Capitol down to individual schools, the dollars intended to help poor and minority students are often diverted from the most needy students, concludes a report released today by the Education Trust.
In a new analysis of how Title I funds are distributed, the Washington-based research and advocacy organization looked at how the $12.7 billion program funnels money from the federal government to the states and to local districts. The “Funding Gaps 2006” report found that the money doesn’t end up where it could help students who need it most. This issue is critical, the report’s authors say, as educators are working toward closing the educational achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers.
“As our national education ambitions have grown bigger and bigger, we have not updated our school finance policies to reflect this new national reality,” said Goodwin Liu, a co-author of the study and a co-director of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity at the University of California at Berkeley.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for all students to reach proficiency standards by 2014.
The study’s analysis of Title I dollars shows that the formula used to dole out funds from the largest federal education program reinforces the funding gaps between the poorest and wealthiest states. The money is allocated based in part on how much each state spends per pupil on education, he said. So a state that spends more of its own money on each student will also get more federal Title I money for each student. Maryland, for example, had fewer poor children than Arkansas but received 51 percent more Title I aid per poor child, according to the report.
“If our national aspiration is to ensure that all kids achieve proficiency, the way we fund our schools doesn’t resemble that at all,” Mr. Liu said. “If we were serious about closing achievement gaps we wouldn’t be giving the least resources to the states that spend the least on them. We would give the most to them to compensate.”
That’s not a new argument, said Bruce Hunter, the chief lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators in Arlington, Va. “The question is, if the citizens of a state elect not to fund education very well, should the federal government reward that?” he said. “The last two times this question was asked, Congress answered negatively.”
Necessary First Steps
The Title I allocation formula was set up in part to reflect the reality that a dollar in New York state doesn’t go as far as a dollar in Arkansas, Mr. Liu said. However, there are now much more sophisticated ways to adjust for cost factors and when that is done, large disparities remain, he said. The report suggests reforms that include altering the Title I formula.
Concerns about funding distribution, particularly when it comes to Title I, have been raised before, said Brenda Welburn, the executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Association of State Boards of Education.
Ms. Welburn said states realize some districts have a higher percentage of disadvantaged students, but that other districts also have students who need to be served by Title I.
The report notes that the problem is not limited to federal funds. State revenue, too, is distributed inconsistently, said Ross Wiener, the policy director for the Education Trust, and a co-author of the study along with Eli Pristoop, an Education Trust data analyst who studied the distribution of state education funding over several years.
After examining 14,000 school districts in the 2003-04 school year, Mr. Wiener and Mr. Pristoop concluded that often districts with the most students living in poverty don’t get the most state education aid. After adjusting for the additional costs of educating poor students, they found that, on average, states and localities spend $908 less per student in districts educating the greatest number of minority students and $825 less per student in districts educating the most low-income students compared with what is spent in the wealthiest districts. But they also found that there are states, such as Massachusetts and Kentucky, that target more money to high-poverty districts.
“A lot of people believe that we either provide equal resources in all schools or that because of programs like Title I we actually provide more resources in high poverty schools and that’s not the case,” Mr. Wiener said. “We need to acknowledge that we haven’t done some of the first steps that could help us make more progress.”
‘People Are Frustrated’
But even within school districts, the money isn’t allocated so that it reaches the poorest students, according to co-author Marguerite Roza, a research assistant professor at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle. An analysis by Ms. Roza found that on paper it appeared that more federal, state, and local education dollars were flowing to high-poverty and high-minority schools, but a closer look at overall budgeting showed otherwise.
A prime example is teachers’ salaries, she said in an interview. Schools with many disadvantaged students often have the least experienced teachers earning the lowest salaries, resulting in a funding gap compared with schools with more experienced, higher-paid teachers.
“There’s a real commitment to closing the achievement gap, but the problem is we haven’t been able to do that and people are frustrated by our progress,” Ms. Roza said. “But you want to make sure the system itself isn’t working against the kids.”
Vol. 26

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/12/20/18edtrust_web.h26.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:40 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Good information that I just got from the Assessment Reform Network (ARN) Listserve. This report is worth checking out. -Angela

The task force mentioned below in Susan's message is one that was formed in 2005:

http://www.ourfuture.org/issues_and_campaigns/education/commbios.cfm

It released a report called "Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer: A Progressive Education Agenda for a Stronger Nation" that can be found at

http://emailimages.ctsg.com/caf/edureport_gsbf_full_report.pdf

So does this mean that Pelosi is going to re-convene this task force? If so, this might give a good sense of how the Dems will try to re-package NCLB.

Key provisions: (see http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0823governor23.html)

1) Extend the school year in low-performing schools, expand after-school programs, pay for universal preschool and full-day kindergarten and increase federal college grants.

2) Develop a uniform, but voluntary, set of nationwide student learning goals, or curriculum, for core courses.

3) Improve teacher training and offer financial incentives to entice teachers to work in high-poverty schools.

4) Link neighborhood schools with their communities and families by providing such things as social services, English classes, parenting skills classes and home visits.

Estimated cost: the plan calls for a $325 billion investment in education over the next 10 years. It would cost $39 billion annually once it is fully implemented in 2010.

Approximately $21 billion would go toward the flagship commitment of expanding and redesigning learning time, including $7.2 billion to extend the school year in low-performing districts; $3.6 billion to expand after-school programs; $8.7 billion to support universal preschool and full-day kindergarten and $8.4 billion to redesign and connect high school to affordable college study, offset by a savings of $7 billion by abolishing bank-subsidizing student loans.

Additionally, $6 billion annually would put more highly qualified teachers in classrooms; $6 billion would link schools to families and communities and $6 billion would be set aside for investments in school facilities, assistance to low-performing schools and the development of national standards and high-quality assessments.

The $39 billion annual investment would come from the federal government and would be accompanied by additional increases at the state and local levels. The proposal doesn't pinpoint a source for the additional funds but suggests that by forgoing future tax cuts, such as the elimination of the estate tax, the federal government could pay for the plan.

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:24 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By Amy Fagan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 24, 2006
Advertisement

Education policy is in for some changes under the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
Cracking down on the student-loan industry, cutting loan interest rates, boosting the amount of government money for education and rewriting portions of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law governing elementary education are among the goals of Democrats next year.
On top of that, a few other laws must be renewed, too -- the Higher Education Act, the Head Start program for preschoolers and the Workforce Investment Act for job-training programs.
"It's a big year," said Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, a California Republican who will hand over the gavel of the House Education Committee to Rep. George Miller, California Democrat.
In the Senate, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will set education policy as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Massachusetts Democrat said recently he aims for an "important increase" in education dollars. Despite a "tight budget" environment, he said, voters in November sent a clear message that they not only want change in Iraq but also a greater emphasis placed on domestic issues.
"It seems to me the American people spoke very clearly," he said.
One of the first orders of business for Democrats will be to cut the interest rate for federally guaranteed student loans in half -- a goal House Democratic leaders said the House will tackle in its first 100 hours of operation next year.
Mr. Kennedy may include the rate-cut proposal in a broader bill that would forgive student loans after 25 years, increase the Pell Grant maximum award to $5,100 and cap federal student-loan payments at 15 percent of the borrower's monthly discretionary income.
The price tag for all of this is still in flux, but estimates for the rate-cut proposal alone could reach $50 billion, depending on whose loans are targeted for cuts, a Democratic aide said.
Mr. Kennedy recently said student loans "work well for banks but not for students."
Another priority -- especially for President Bush -- is renewing the No Child Left Behind Law of 2002, which is due to expire. Democrats helped approve the law, which requires states to hold failing elementary schools accountable and bring all students to reading and math proficiency, but they've complained that schools are struggling to comply because Congress and Mr. Bush have provided about $40 billion less than the funding levels set out in the law.
Democrats will push for more money, though Mr. Kennedy said he knows he may not close the funding gap right away. Meanwhile, both sides of the aisle are working on tweaks and changes the law may need in areas such as how teachers are measured and promoted and the way troubled schools are handled. Republican aides predicted NCLB renewal could be relatively smooth.
Mr. Kennedy, who stood next to Mr. Bush at the bill-signing ceremony in 2002, said recently he remains willing to work with the president if he is committed.
"Given the many failures of implementation by his administration and the meager commitments to education reforms in his budgets, the president has a high hurdle to cross to demonstrate that he is seriously committed to these reforms," he said.
Republican leaders said Democrats' promise of big bucks for education doesn't jibe with their loud pledges of fiscal reform.
"If they stick with what they said they want to do, they're going to be spending a significant amount, and I would think they'd have trouble finding those dollars," said outgoing Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican. "It's going to be an interesting exercise for them."

Copyright © 2007 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061223-114252-1108r.htm

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:01 PM 0 comments Links to this post

From Steve Blackledge
CALPIRG Legislative Director
SteveB@calpirg.org

>Average student debt levels have more than doubled in the last
>decade and more students and their families are finding themselves
>buried under the burden of student loan debt.
>
>Last year, even as interest rates on loans skyrocketed, Congress cut
>the student loan program by $12 billion dollars. While students
>struggle with increasing debt, the private lenders are making huge
>profits and receiving billions of dollars in subsidies from the
>federal government.
>
>Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has committed to cutting student
>loan interest rates in half within the first 100 hours of the new
>Congress as it convenes in early January, but will need the support
>of the rest of Congress.
>
>Please tell your representative to put real student aid above
>subsidies to corporate lenders. Then ask your friends and family to
>help out too by forwarding this email to them.
>
>To take action, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
>http://calpirg.org/CA.asp?id=1824&id4=ES
>
>
Background
>
>A college degree is becoming a necessity in today's world, and
>students are doing whatever it takes to pay for college, including
>taking on more and more debt. Average student debt levels have more
>than doubled in the last decade, and nearly two-thirds of all
>four-year college graduates now have student loans.
>
>Last year, Congress cut the student loan program by $12 billion
>dollars, money that could have gone to lowering interest rates or
>making college more affordable. As college costs continue to swell,
>more students have to borrow to pay for their degree. A full 39% of
>student borrowers graduate with unmanageable levels of federal
>student loan debt.
>
>As more students take out larger loans, private student lenders have
>worked to increase their subsidies at the expense of students and
>taxpayers. Lenders like Sallie Mae capitalize on excessive federal
>subsidies and oppose loan reforms that could help students.
>
>We need our leaders to do more to help. Congress and the Bush
>Administration should take action to reduce the burden of student
>debt by reducing waste in the loan programs, by increasing grant aid
>and by cutting interest rates in half.
>
>Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has committed to cutting student
>loan interest rates in half within the first 100 hours of the new
>Congress as it convenes in early January, but will need the support
>of the rest of Congress.
>
>Please tell your representative to put real student aid above
>subsidies to corporate lenders. Then ask your friends and family to
>help out too by forwarding this email to them.
>
>To take action, click on this link or paste CALPIRG it into your web browser

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 8:44 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Very interesting. Texas has become more Democrat according to a recent poll. This report in today's Houston Chronicle provides more detail on the number of republican and democratic votes that House Speaker Craddick has and needs. Rep. Brian McCall (Plano) is a major contender. This poll certainly makes matters more difficult for Craddick. We'll see what happens on January 9th when the legislature reconvenes. -Angela

Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
By Bud Kennedy
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The earth shook in Austin this week, and not only because two of our Republican neighbors decided to try to bring down the overbearing West Texas tyranny in the Texas House.

Early tremors had already jolted House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland, now rejected by two of his lieutenants and challenged from inside his own party.

Then came The Poll.

Texas Democrats have pulled even with Republicans, and the state is now about half red, half blue. At least, that's according to 1,053 Texans surveyed by an independent Democratic pollster.

The poll's news announcement focused on one specific response: By 46 percent to 35 percent, respondents said Democrats "care" more about "people like me." That's a reversal from two years ago.

But most eyes went immediately to the bottom line of the poll, conducted in early December by Austin-based Montgomery & Associates:

Asked which political party they lean toward, 45 percent chose Democrat.

Only 43 percent chose Republican. If you figure in the poll's margin of error, that's a tie.

Two years ago, in the same Democratic poll, Republicans led by 55 percent to 34 percent.

Pollster Jeff Montgomery returned a phone call Friday from San Antonio, on his way to a bipartisan college football weekend watching the Texas Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl.

The poll doesn't mean Democrats are about to take back the Capitol, he said. He surveyed 1,053 adults, not specifically voters.

"Clearly, Texas is still a Republican state," he said. "But this is the first time people have even shown much interest in calling themselves Democrats."

If Craddick was already on his way out -- and it's beginning to look that way -- the poll certainly helped Plano investor Brian McCall and Waxahachie lawyer Jim Pitts give him a shove. Republicans are slipping in the Texas House under Craddick's leadership, and McCall and Pitts suggest choosing another speaker Jan. 9.

"There is an attitude change nationally that is affecting Texas," said Cal Jillson, the Southern Methodist University political science professor who correctly foresaw a Republican sweep of state offices in the November elections and also the Democratic gains in the Texas House.

"People are increasingly concerned with the results they see from the Republican majority," he said. "In Austin, those numbers are playing themselves out in the hanging of Tom Craddick. Republicans have begun to panic that the unease in the public is going to be taken out of their hide."

Craddick's leadership team has taken a pounding in the last two elections. Arlington voters soundly rejected state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, who had shaped state education policy. Two years earlier, Fort Worth voters bounced state Rep. Glenn Lewis, a Forest Hill Democrat who had lined up with Craddick on school vouchers.

Democrats picked up six Texas House seats this year and have cut Republicans' edge to 80-69, with one seat still to be decided in a special election.

The Republicans couldn't even pick up an open House seat north of Lubbock, where Craddick backed a Plainview Republican who outspent his Democratic opponent 5-to-1 but still lost.

Jillson said the Democrats' success came because voters are unhappy with President Bush, Congress and Washington.

But they're not all that happy with Austin, and particularly not with the Texas House.

"People are looking at [Gov.] Rick Perry" -- re-elected despite drawing only 39 percent of the vote -- "and even more starkly at Craddick, and they're saying, 'I don't see problem-solving. I see a fairly mean-spirited partisanship.'"

Jillson compared Craddick to the deposed U.S. House majority leader, also from Texas: "He's a two-bit Tom DeLay."

Republicans' popularity peaked in 2002 and 2004, Jillson said. The shifting Texas numbers are also affected by demographic changes, with more Texans of Hispanic descent reaching voting age, but the political shift is outpacing the shift in population, he said.

In Dallas on New Year's morning, an entire slate of Democrats will be sworn into office in a ceremony at a hotel, replacing the Republican officials and judges who used to run the Dallas County Courthouse. That was the result of the county's abrupt population change, Jillson said.

"But mostly, it's an attitude change," he said. "Out in East Texas, you're starting to see more people talk about the Democrats."

Montgomery, the Austin pollster, said his poll was not timed with the Texas House speaker's election.

"We didn't think this would have anything to do with the speaker's race," he said. "It's a Texas poll, but I think it's more about Washington."

Maybe. But it's hitting first in Austin.

By the numbers

Political parties Texans say they lean toward:


2006 2005 2004
Democrat 45.1% 37.2% 33.9%
Republican 42.6 49.2 54.7
Independent 6.4 10.5 10.2

SOURCE: Montgomery & Associates

Bud Kennedy's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 817-390-7538 bud @budkennedy.com

© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 7:57 PM 0 comments Links to this post

What the authors fail to recognize is the impact of funding equalization on Edgewood that correlated to improvement in its public schools. -Angela

Dec. 25, 2006, 6:35PM
San Antonio's proven that school vouchers work well
Edgewood experiment a clear success in all ways

By GREG FORSTER and JAY P. GREENE

As the Texas Legislature gears up for another debate over school vouchers in the coming session, naturally Texans are looking for evidence on whether vouchers work. They should look at the long-running voucher program in San Antonio. As with programs across the country, the evidence shows that vouchers work.

While Texas doesn't have a government-sponsored school choice program, San Antonio has had a voucher program funded with private contributions since 1998. It allows students in public schools in the Edgewood school district to attend private schools they otherwise couldn't afford.

Many people think that voucher programs will hurt public schools, draining them of the talent and resources they need to succeed. Others suggest that vouchers will improve public schools by exposing them to greater competition. Because most students will remain in public schools even with a voucher program, the most important empirical issue about vouchers is determining how they will affect achievement in public schools.

We conducted an analysis to determine whether Edgewood's public schools have been improving or declining since the creation of the voucher program. We compared the year-to-year changes in Edgewood's performance with those of other Texas school districts, controlling for factors such as race and income.

We found that Edgewood started producing outstanding academic improvements after the voucher program was created. What had long been an extremely troubled school district began to outperform 85 percent of Texas school districts given their demographic characteristics.

That may come as a surprise, but it shouldn't. Nationwide, there is a large body of research finding that public schools exposed to vouchers make superior test score gains, including four independent studies in Florida, two in Milwaukee, and one each in Maine and Vermont.

On top of all this, we are not aware of any empirical studies in the United States that have found that public schools get worse because of school vouchers. That's an impressive track record.

The evidence that vouchers work for the students who use them is even stronger. There have been eight studies of vouchers that used "random assignment," the scientific gold standard, to compare very similar treatment and control groups. Seven of the eight studies found that voucher students outperformed students who applied for vouchers but did not receive them. The eighth also found higher test scores for voucher students, but the result failed to achieve statistical significance.

Other questions have been raised about vouchers, such as whether they will provide adequate services to disabled students, whether they exacerbate racial segregation and whether they will undermine the teaching of civic values. In all three cases, the evidence shows that vouchers produce better results than public schools.

We conducted an empirical analysis of a voucher program for disabled students in Florida. We found that disabled students using vouchers to attend private schools received better services than they had received in their public schools. They were also bullied and assaulted much less often by their peers — a major problem for disabled students.

There have been seven studies of racial segregation in voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C., that use valid empirical methods. All seven find that the private schools participating in these programs were less racially segregated than the public schools in those cities.

Public schools assign students to schools by neighborhood, ensuring that residential segregation will be reproduced in schools; vouchers break down neighborhood barriers.

And what about the teaching of civic values? Pat Wolf of the University of Arkansas collected the results of all empirical studies that measured the civic values of public and private school students — whether they tolerated the rights of those they disliked, whether they voted, whether they volunteered, and so on. Across the board, the available studies overwhelmingly found that private school students had stronger civic values than public school students.

San Antonio students get a better education because of vouchers — including not only the students who can choose the school that works best for them thanks to vouchers, but also the students who remain in public schools and benefit from vouchers' competitive effects.

Now the only question is whether the rest of Texas wants to reap the same benefits as San Antonio.

Forster is a senior fellow at the Milton Friedman Foundation; Greene is head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. They are authors of "Education Myths" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4425646.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 7:43 PM 0 comments Links to this post

EDITORIAL BOARD--AUSTIN AM-STATESMAN

Today's editorial lays out well the state's dilemma on TAKS testing in historical perspective. In reference to students who stayed in school and passed their courses, "Eleven percent, nearly 28,000 students, of the 2006 graduating class didn't get diplomas because they flunked the TAKS. That was their sixth try at passing it."

Here is what the editorial board recommends: "The Legislature should create an alternative diploma for TAKS refugees to allow students who have repeatedly failed the exit exam to appeal their situations and satisfy requirements in other ways. They could do that, for instance, by passing certain remedial or basic courses at a community college."

The legislature should also consider passing a multiple measures system whereby students that fail are evaluated on the basis of other criteria that can compensate for poor or failing test performance. State Rep. Dora Olivo (Fort Bend) has just filed such a bill--at the exit level, as well as at the levels (3, 5, & 8) affected by social promotion. -Angela



Tuesday, January 02, 2007
They are neither high school graduates nor dropouts. Let's call them TAKS refugees.

That's what we call Texas high school students who have completed all requirements to graduate and get their diplomas, save one: passing all four portions of Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the state's exit exam. They roam from test to test trying to pass long after their classmates have collected their diplomas. Meanwhile, the futures of students who chronically flunk the exam are on hold. Without a diploma, they share dismal employment prospects with dropouts. Yet, like graduates, they stayed in school and passed their courses.

Thousands of Texas students end up in TAKS purgatory every year. In the 2005-06 school year, more than 39,000 students flunked. The only way out is by passing all sections of the TAKS that measures language arts, social studies, math and science skills. No one knows how many of those students ultimately jump that hurdle because school districts and the Texas Education Agency stop tracking them after awhile. What we do know is that the number of TAKS refugees, like compounding interest, balloons every year. Only those who continue taking the test are counted. Those who give up or pursue a GED disappear from state and local figures.

The Legislative mandate for a high stakes exit test created the dilemma. It's up to the Legislature fix the problem and this is a good time to do that.

For Texas students, exit testing is not new. The state has graduated several generations of Texans (since 1987) under the test requirement. But the test was easier and measured basic skills in fewer subjects. Sure, there was a small percentage of students who didn't pass and that was bad enough. Now the test is tougher and broader. Failures have spiked. Eleven percent, nearly 28,000 students, of the 2006 graduating class didn't get diplomas because they flunked the TAKS. That was their sixth try at passing it.

The growing numbers of TAKS failures have severe consequences for those students and for Texas.

Without a diploma, students are limited in their options for college and the work force. Those are the folks who tend to end up in minimum wage jobs, on welfare or in jail. They don't expand the tax base. They shrink it.

State higher education officials have told us we need tens of thousands more students in college and in job training to keep Texas competitive in the modern economy. That goal becomes ever more elusive if students are unable to obtain their high school diplomas.

There are several ways the Legislature can address the crisis. It starts with acknowledging the problem.

Debbie Graves Ratliffe, a TEA spokeswoman, suggested a voluntary registration system to help track those who don't pass the TAKS exit test. That would allow students to take the exam after they've left high school.

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, wants to replace the TAKS in middle and high school with an end-of-year course exam in various subjects. Shapiro is thinking about using such an exam as an exit test. Exit tests should not be used to determine graduation. Even students who graduate in the top of their class are denied diplomas if they flunk the TAKS.

The Legislature should create an alternative diploma for TAKS refugees to allow students who have repeatedly failed the exit exam to appeal their situations and satisfy requirements in other ways. They could do that, for instance, by passing certain remedial or basic courses at a community college. Legislators should take action to give the TAKS refugees academic shelter.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/01/2/2taks_edit.html

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 6:57 PM 0 comments Links to this post

This piece takes at face value the positive trend of "nudging scores." It fails to take the dropout rate into consideration and how these trends also connect to it. Relentless myopia? Willful myopia? How many children we're losing, who are "getting disappeared" should be our real focus. -Angela

December 31, 2006
Editorial
A New Year for School Reform

The No Child Left Behind Act broke new ground when it required the states to educate impoverished children up to the same standards as their affluent counterparts, in exchange for federal aid. The law did not just drop out of the sky. It represented a deliberate attempt by Congress to ratify and accelerate the school reform effort that swept the country in the early 1990’s, when the states began to embrace standards-based accountability systems that quickly showed promising results.

The achievement gains have fallen far short of what Congress hoped for when it passed the landmark federal law — and also far short of what the country needs to keep pace with its economic rivals. In addition, student performance has flattened in recent years. In many cases, that is because states that reaped all of the early, easy gains that are typically achieved by merely paying attention to a long-neglected problem failed to do the tougher work necessary to sustain their reforms.

Recent studies offer sobering news about the challenges that lie ahead. Happily, there is also encouraging news from the states that have stayed the course and continued to build rigorous, standards-based reforms.

The value of the standards movement itself was underscored this year in an analysis that was part of Education Week magazine’s annual survey of student achievement. Analyzing student performance between 1992 and 2005, the study found clear signs of progress, especially in fourth-grade math performance, which had gone up nearly two grade levels since 1992. Black and Hispanic students, by the way, showed larger gains than their white counterparts over that same period. Had the scores of white students not risen at all, the progress by black and Hispanic students would have substantially erased the white-minority achievement gap.

The news was less heartening in reading performance, which inched up only about two points over the same time period. Even so, Education Week found that reading achievement for black, Hispanic and low-income fourth graders had risen at nearly three times the national average.

Low-income students still lag far behind their affluent counterparts. But the data in a subsequent study by the Fordham Foundation shows that states that commit to rigorous standards and accountability systems can make progress in this difficult area. The bad news is that only eight states even achieved what Fordham described as “moderate progress.”

Those states are: Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington and California. In California especially, statewide reforms (and, in Los Angeles, dynamic leadership by the former superintendent, Roy Romer) are clearly having an effect. These gains are tentative and will certainly evaporate if the states lose momentum. But they show that performance for low-income students can be nudged upward if states hew to rigorous reforms.

That bad news is that too few states are actually doing that.

With the easy achievement gains already behind us, the next level of progress will require rigorous systemic change. The states, for example, will need to adopt rigorous examinations that track the federal test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, more closely. They will have to crack down on state teachers colleges that turn out poor graduates, and devise ways — including differential pay — to persuade highly qualified teachers to work in failing schools that they have historically avoided. To move forward, the country must also find new ways to support and transform failing schools, beyond labeling them failures and presuming that the stigma will inspire better performance.

These are difficult issues. But they are the ones that Congress needs to focus on as it moves toward reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/opinion/31sun2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 4:46 PM 0 comments Links to this post