This report from the National Center for Education Statistics in the
Institute of Education Sciences summarizes the performance of U.S.
fourth-grade students on the Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 assessment, comparing their scores with
their peers internationally.

On average, U.S. fourth-graders scored higher than their peers
worldwide, with average scores higher than the PIRLS scale average
(540 vs. 500), and a greater percentage of U.S. students reaching
each achievement benchmark compared to the international median
percentage.

PIRLS is led by the International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement (IEA) and has been administered twice, in
2001 and 2006. The United States participated in both years. In
2006, 45 education systems participated, including 38 countries, 5
Canadian provinces, and the separate English- and French-speaking
education systems in Belgium.

The average score for U.S. students was:

* higher than the average score in 22 education systems

* lower than 10 education systems and>
* not significantly different from 12 education systems.

In 2001, the U.S. scored higher than 23 education systems, lower
than 3 education systems, and not significantly different from 8
education systems. Note that since 2001, several countries, as well
as subnational education systems, have been added to the overall
PIRLS participation.

Compared to 2001, the average score for U.S. students in 2006 was
not significantly different overall. On the 2006 assessment, the
average score for U.S. students in reading for literary experience
was 4 points higher than their average score in reading to acquire
and use information. In 2001, the difference was 17 points.

Other findings include the following:

* 12 percent of U.S. students reached the advanced benchmark,
compared to the international median of 7 percent.

> * 47 percent of U.S. students met the high benchmark, compared to
> the international median of 41 percent.

> * 82 percent of U.S. students met the intermediate benchmark,
> compared to the international median of 76 percent.

> * Average scores for girls on the combined reading literacy scale
> were higher than average scores for boys in 43 of the 45
> participating education systems, including the United States.

> To download, view and print the publication as a PDF file, please
> visit:
> http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008017

> For more information on PIRLS, visit http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/index.asp .

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008017

Labels: college testing, international comparisons, PIRLS

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 1:17 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Joseph and I go back a long way. He won't mind me saying that he is "Rodrigo" in Chapter 3 of Subtractive Schooling." His story always touches me so—and it still does. It's so nice to see him grow up to continue being the wonderful, kind, smart, and giving human being that I knew when he was a teenager, surviving difficult circumstances in Houston's East End. His life and story are a continuing inspiration to me. -Angela



Nov. 26, 2007, 10:47PM
Goodfellows generosity taught professor as a boy
He remembers books for his home library, pogo stick, working puzzles

By THE GOODFELLOWS EDITOR

Joseph Rodriguez grew up in Houston's east end in the 1970s. His family was bilingual and working class.

The youngest of four children, Rodriguez was the son of a pipe fitter and a homemaker.

"My parents worked hard to provide the things that we needed; there simply wasn't money for much, if anything extra," he said.

But each holiday season his mother would encourage him, his brother and two sisters to write letters to Santa — in both English and Spanish. And, each year, a colorful postcard would arrive in the mail, inviting the family to pick up their holiday toys.

As a child, Rodriguez never really thought about where the toys came from, never realized that the family budget didn't allow for "extras."

"However, as I grew older I realized that the toys came from a community of Santa's helpers working behind the scenes very humbly, very low-key," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez and his siblings are four of the millions who have been served in the 95-year-old Goodfellows program, which Rodriguez now proudly promotes, including financially.

Goodfellows, which benefits needy children ages 2 through 10, is funded by contributions from the public. All the money collected is used to buy gifts. The Houston Chronicle pays other costs.

The director of the University of Houston's Language Acquisition Center, Department of Hispanic Studies and Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Rodriguez lauded the toys given by the program.

"The toys are all age-appropriate and promote learning. I remember receiving books that allowed me to begin my home library, and a pogo stick," Rodriguez said, adding that he truly appreciated the effectiveness of the toys while in graduate school and studying how play impacts child development.

Western-themed toys fueled his imagination and daydreams of life as a cowboy on the open range.

The professor also said he has cherished memories of the entire family sitting on the floor, working puzzles.

"That was the impressive thing — the toys taught problem-solving and allowed us to work together as a family," he said.

Rodriguez, the founder of the East End Education Project, said he has "worked in the schools and seen the need" for the Goodfellows program.

He added that his siblings also promote the program.

"My eldest sister publicizes Goodfellows at her church, at school," he said.

"Goodfellows gives hope to many families, helps them bring joy to children who otherwise wouldn't have as much," he said.

Recent contributors include:

Raymond M. Castillo, $25; Alyssa, Jordan & James McClure, $100; Michael Sorgenfrei, $150; Peggy J. Price, $25; Robert Holly, $100; Nancy Ballard, $20; George & Darlene Hirasaki, $100; Richard Scalzitti, $100.

John Watts, $200; Michael Colescott, $50; Wes and Marilyn Payton, $200; Alex Borrego, $40; Stuart Scarborough, $100; Lloyd & Beverly Battiste, $25; Mr. & Mrs. Norman Johnson, $50; Fred Soland, $100; Darla Dale Brown, $25; Dorsey Jones, $50; Charlotte King, $25; E. P. Cervantes, $25; Dr. & Mrs. Stanley R. Hamilton, $100; Robert L. Schwarz, $200; Russell Nordstrom, $50;

Houston Book Land Inc., $100; Peter & Nora Dorflinger, $500; Harvey Petter, $50; Thomas & Kathy Bacon, $15; Le Roy Krennerich, $25; David & Debbie Grogg, $200; Jean B. Cobb, $10; Ed and Fran Smith, $50; James & Karen Henderson, $100; Suzanne Mitchell, $100; Charles & Lou Ann Champ, $100; Marsha Montemayor, $400; Anita Handley, $200; Keith Bloom, $25; Ken & Marie Olive, $50; Polly Lee, $50; Allen K. Grady, $350.

Charles Schmitz, $50; Boots & Adelle Roberts, $25; R. G. Edwards, $100; Elinor Dixon, $50; Philip Dreessen, $100; June R. Chommie, $25; Pat Whitman, $25; Joan Galfione, $50; Ray & Jerry Davis, $100; Robert Elliott, $200; Franklin Newman, $25; Charles N. Grichar, $50; Mary Elizabeth & Thomas Dawson, $100; Norman & Elizabeth Bock, $50; David Angus, $15; W. Alan Smith, $50; David & Carol Willis, $250; Jennifer & Stephen Harper, $25; Virginia Sisson, $100; Trisha Hillman, $1,000.

Edward & Sharon Belcher, $150; Omar & Joan Bitar, $100; Marian W. Brown, $20; Mr. and Mrs. W. Gary Littlepage, $500; Leroy & Judy McMillin, $25; Nancy & Art Shelton, $100; D. P. Dampf, $25; Claudia Riedlinger, $100; Fairbanks Car Repair, $100; Gerald Kraynik, $150; Best Plumbing, $500; Claudia & Bob Fisher, $100; Diana & Dennis Litt, $20; Jon & Lesley Boultinghouse, $20; Ray & June Thompson, $100. Benjamin Torres, $25; John Green, $150; James & Diane Tidwell, $100; anonymous $910.

WANT TO GIVE?

Checks for tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to Goodfellows, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, TX, 77210-4260, or made online at www.chron.com/goodfellows.

Here is how to apply for Christmas presents from Goodfellows:
Contact us: Write to Goodfellows, care of the Houston Chronicle, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, TX, 77210-4260, or e-mail goodfellows@chron.com. List a street address (no post office boxes, please), including ZIP code, and the names and ages of the children ages 2 through 10. Include a daytime telephone number, if available. Applications must be in Goodfellows' hands no later than 5 p.m. Dec. 11. If applicants wish to do so, they may include a brief description of the problems that prompted them to contact Goodfellows.
Collecting gifts: Families will be notified by mail with information about when and where to pick up gifts.

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:14 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Great to have someone like Dr. Stephen Krashen keeping track of these things. There's so much alarmist stuff out there and it's hard to sift through it all. -Angela

Where's evidence U.S. 'reading less'?
USA Today, letters
Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus, University of
Southern California - Los Angeles
Nov. 27, 2007

There is very little evidence to support USA TODAY's
claim that Americans are reading less for pleasure
("Americans close the book on recreational reading,"
Life, Nov. 19).

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) report
claimed that reading was declining the most for 13-
and 17-year-olds.

The report quotes the Pew Research Center, which found
that in 2006 only 38% of adults said they read a book
the previous day. The NEA report fails to note that in
2002, Pew found that 34% of adults read a book the
previous day.

Also, when all kinds of reading are considered, such
as magazines, newspapers and material posted on the
Internet, young people report reading about an hour a
day, according to a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation
report.

American writers have been complaining about the
decline of literacy since 1874, when more than half of
Harvard's candidates flunked an entrance exam. There
was no clear evidence of a decline then, and there
isn't any now.


Comment added by S Krashen to USA Website,
usatoday.com
In checking the 2002 Pew report, I discovered that in
1994, only 31% of adults said they read a book the
previous day. This is more evidence that the trend
since 1994 is up, not down, more reading, not less.
Read a book yesterday:
1991: 31%
1995: 35%
2000: 35%
2006: 38%

Labels: Reading levels

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:12 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Ryan Holeywell | McAllen Monitor
November 19, 2007

WESLACO — A local high school has been removed from a much-publicized list released last month labeling 23 Rio Grande Valley schools as “dropout factories.”

Since the list’s release, 15 schools from across the nation have been retracted, including Weslaco East High School.

The nationwide study, compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers, cited schools with poor retention rates, comparing freshmen enrollment to senior enrollment at the schools.

The study surmised that comparing freshmen enrollment to senior enrollment three years later was a good way of determining whether students were dropping out, since districts count and report dropouts differently. Critics said that method was an oversimplification of the issue.

In fall 2000, Weslaco East High School opened as the district’s campus for freshmen and sophomores, while Weslaco High School housed juniors and seniors.

Two years later, Weslaco East began the transition to a four-year high school, welcoming classes of juniors and seniors, with Weslaco High School taking back some freshmen and sophomores.

The timing of the transition created the appearance that many Weslaco East students had dropped out before reaching their senior year. In actuality, they had just transferred to the other campus.

“Nobody wants that title on your school,” said Weslaco East Principal Sue Peterson. “It’s extremely demoralizing.”

Peterson said the school contacted Johns Hopkins the day the study was released, and the correction was made about a week and a half later.

“I think it was a clear-cut case of it not being on (the list) justly,” said Mary Maushard, spokeswoman for the Center for Social Organization of Schools, which released the study. “That’s not something the researchers could know from just looking at the numbers.”

Maushard said despite the corrections, the study is still overwhelmingly accurate. The subtractions from the list are just a small fraction of the 1,700 schools originally on the list.

Despite Weslaco East’s removal, Peterson said the school doesn’t take the dropout issue lightly.

“We are fully aware that we do not have 100 percent of our students graduating from high school and take full responsibility for this issue,” she said.

Labels: dropout factories

posted by Patricia Lopez at 1:24 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Las Cruces Sun-News.com
By The Associated Press
11/19/2007

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) Gabriela Dominguez wraps her arms around her cousins Adrian and Angel, encouraging them to study hard so they don't end up on Albuquerque's long list of dropouts.

The boys hug and kiss her back, even though she'll be "on their case" this afternoon at Washington Middle School about homework and grades.

The two 13-year-olds look up to 17-year-old Dominguez, who not only is their cousin but their mentor in ENLACE Los Companeros, a corps of volunteers who tutor and support families and children in seven Albuquerque middle and high schools.

The program started nearly seven years ago in hopes of boosting high school graduation rates in areas where dropout rates historically have been high.

The first ENLACE class of 215 seniors is on track to graduate in May.

Through the work of tutors such as Dominguez, ENLACE has startling results to report: 97 percent of the original group of midschoolers are expected to receive diplomas from Albuquerque, West Mesa and Valley high schools.

That is a phenomenal rate compared with districtwide longitudinal studies that indicate about 50 percent of ninth-graders will graduate from high school.

"We have a special dynamic, a special relationship" with the seniors who
Advertisement
started in the program as sixth-graders, said Antonio Gonzales, a former ENLACE mentor who keeps close tabs on the Albuquerque High group. "We've been able to grow together."

Many of the ENLACE seniors will be the first in their families to get a high school diploma and enroll in college.

ENLACE takes its name from Engaging Latino American Communities for Education, a partnership of the University of New Mexico and Albuquerque Public Schools to reduce the dropout rate, improve the graduation rate and get more students into college.

"ENLACE is one of the cheapest and best dropout prevention programs that our state has right now," Washington principal Cynthia Challberg-Hale said.

"What we are doing is actually working."

ENLACE officials said the program costs $128 per student per year.

In addition to Washington, ENLACE serves students at Garfield and Truman middle schools and four high schools, Albuquerque, West Mesa, Valley and Highland.

The Washington program serves 45 students with college and high school tutors and mentors. Not surprisingly, there's a waiting list at Washington for ENLACE tutoring and support, Challberg-Hale said.

Demographics for Washington would indicate a high dropout rate, but ENLACE students are succeeding despite poverty, language and other barriers in their lives, she said.

Of the original ENLACE students at Washington, 25 received intensive services, and only three of those dropped out, Gonzales said. One joined a gang and became a father; another got pregnant and didn't return to school; the third had to leave school to work to support herself, he said.

Gonzales, now the Albuquerque High activities director, was among the mentors in 2000 who helped recruit senior Dominguez into ENLACE Los Companeros when she was a sixth-grader at Washington.

Dominguez has come full circle at the school. She now tutors ENLACE students at Washington twice a week for high school elective credit.

"I think all of this is going to help me," Dominguez said. "I want to go into teaching and counseling."

Dominguez describes herself as a Mexican immigrant who struggled to learn English during third grade, her first year in the United States.

"I was 9 and afraid to go to school because I didn't speak English," she said.

In ENLACE, she found other Spanish-speakers who shared her fears, but the mentors helped them gain confidence, enjoy school and become bilingual, she said.

They were her support system outside of school, too. At age 16, when she was told she had cancer and had a tumor removed, she cried, though not because she was sick. "I didn't want to miss school," she said.

As an ENLACE mentor, she hopes Washington students will follow her example and appreciate ENLACE.

"We stayed together as a family," she said of her senior classmates.

"We are really close to our mentors, and we really trusted them, like they were our parents or our big brothers. But we had fun with them, and they made us do our homework."

She tutors as she was tutored.

"We're doing pretty much the same thing our mentors did for us," she said. "It's my turn to help."

Besides help with homework, mentors plan parties and field trips for the students. They also refer families in need for counseling and other social services.

At Albuquerque High, many of the ENLACE students are members of the Student Council, which Gonzales sponsors. Others are on the soccer team he coaches or serve as his office assistants.

Gonzales said he has mixed emotions about their day of separation in May when they graduate.

"I can't tell you how much these kids meant to me. This group will be special forever.

"These kids have done extremely well. When they were in middle school, I didn't think some of them would be here," he said.

Labels: Dropouts

posted by Patricia Lopez at 1:18 AM 1 comments Links to this post

Interesting article/testimony. A quote that stood out to me: "Programs don't change kids, relationships do." -Patricia


By Glenda S. Jenkins | Florida News-Leader
November 19, 2007

No one knew how to help him learn, so they asked him to leave school.

"I thought I was dumb. And they said the reason I was in so much trouble was I couldn't handle the work," he said. Later Bill Milliken discovered, "I learn differently, like a lot of kids do."

After receiving intervention from a caring volunteer, Milliken returned to school. The former "at risk" student has advised three U.S. presidents as an advocate for students who struggle academically as he once did. He founded Communities in Schools, the largest dropout prevention organization in the nation.

"I never thought I'd make it out of anywhere," he said. "It's a miracle. Nobody could have planned this thing."

Milliken spoke Tuesday during a Communities in Schools fundraiser at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. He recently published the book, The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic!

"We're losing a third of our kids and half that third are minorities," he said about students who fail to graduate with their class. "And half of them will never have a job in their lifetime, because you just aren't going to do it in today's global economy.

"I think it's the biggest justice issue in America," Milliken said. "Not only is it morally a huge issue. But economically it's a huge issue. And the combination of the two, we're going to be a second-rate nation," he said.

"When you have more male adults in prison than in jobs, you've got a huge problem. It's wrong," Milliken said. "Kids who get an education are going to be the haves and the kids who don't aren't. So it's that clear-cut."

The book outlines nine principles for giving students, particularly those in jeopardy of dropping out, the opportunity to focus on learning. The first principle, "Programs don't change kids, relationships do," is by far the most important, he said.

The foundation for that principle likely came from Milliken's personal experience. Milliken grew up when no educational alternatives existed to help a student behind in school.


His teachers were unable to identify or adapt to his learning style, "So I acted out," he said. "Instead of hurting myself, I hurt other people."

After he left high school, a volunteer from Young Life, a non-denominational Christian outreach program for students, came into his blue collar Pittsburgh neighborhood. "And I saw for the first time an adult who walked their talk . . . He loved us into change," he said. "It was through that, I committed my life. He got me back in school within three months.

"We can't ask our teachers to take on kids that . . . come into school angry, (without) basic needs met," Milliken said. "We can't ask our teachers to be mother, father, sister, brother, social worker."

Fewer than 2,000 schools in America are producing half of the dropouts, he said, referencing a recent study identifying such schools as "dropout factories."

"What that means to me is it's a solvable issue because we can concentrate on those," Milliken said. "All kids can learn. They'll go to the heights if you give them the resources."

Labels: Dropouts

posted by Patricia Lopez at 1:07 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Survey shows district at or above statewide average
By GARY LONG | The Brownsville Herald
November 18, 2007

Brownsville students scored higher on the TAKS than their counterparts in other school districts on the U.S.-Mexico border and close to the statewide average, according to research findings released earlier this month by the San Antonio-based Regional Educational Laboratory-Southwest.

The research report “La Frontera: Student Achievement in Texas Border and Non-Border Districts” analyzes Texas Education Agency data in an effort to show differences in student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test between border and non-border districts.

It also reports how border and non-border districts differ in location, student demographics, teacher data and community economics.

The purpose is to provide policymakers with “a data-driven profile along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas,” an area the report defines as “La Frontera.”

“It’s a descriptive reporting out of the facts,” Kathy Shapley, senior researcher at REL-Southwest, said of the report. “It provides a high-level overview of the facts regarding border and non-border schools.”

The report uses the TEA data warehouse for the 2005-06 school year, which shows that students in the state’s 63 border school districts, those within 20 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, passed the TAKS in reading or English language arts and mathematics at a lower rate than their counterparts in Texas’ 908 non-border districts and 62 margin districts, those between 20 and 100 miles from the border.

“At each of the grade levels studied, students in the border region have lower pass rates ... than students in other regions,” the report’s summary says. “This is not surprising considering the unique regional characteristics summarized in this study and existing knowledge about factors related to student achievement. Academic achievement is a cumulative function of family, community, and school experiences. Research suggests that larger districts with lower family socioeconomic status levels and less experienced teachers — the profile associated with the La Frontera region — tend to have lower student achievement.”

However, TEA figures provided by the Brownsville Independent School District for its students show them passing the TAKS at a rate close to the statewide average and above the passing rates for border districts reported by the survey.

Raul Vasquez, BISD administrator for assessment, research and evaluation, said BISD’s scores show that “the capacity of students to learn is just as good on the border as it is anywhere else in Texas.

“There’s this misconception that if you’re on the border you’re going to have problems, that the farther you are from the border, the better off you are,” Vasquez said.

“This town sits right here next to Mexico, and yet the scores show that in almost all cases we’re at or above the state standard,” he said.

The report gives average percentage passing figures in third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades.

In third grade, 84.5 percent of border students passed the the reading or English language arts portion of the TAKS administered in spring 2006, compared to 87.4 percent in margin districts, 89.3 percent in nonborder districts and 88.9 percent statewide.

In math, the figure was 74.8 percent passing for the border, 76.2 percent in margin districts, 81.6 percent in nonborder districts and an 80.8 percent statewide average.

By comparison, 93.8 percent of BISD third-graders passed the reading/English language arts and 78.2 percent passed the math portion of the TAKS.

By the 11th grade, the figure was 84.2 percent for the border in reading/English language arts compared to to 87.1 percent for margin districts, 89.1 percent for non-border districts and 88.5 statewide. For BISD, the passing rate was 85.3 percent.

In math, the 11th-grade figure was 72.1 percent passing for the border, 76.1 percent in margin districts, 79.8 percent in nonborder districts and a 79.1 percent statewide average. BISD’s passing rate was 76 percent.

The survey also found that despite perceptions to the contrary, average base teacher salaries are somewhat higher along the border across all experience categories.

“This is significant because (earlier data) indicated that the leaders in border districts thought that their region offered uncompetitive salaries that posed a barrier to teacher recruitment,” the report stated.

The survey shows a $32,084 average annual salary for new teachers in the border districts, compared to $29,444 in margin districts, $29,458 in nonborder districts and a statewide average of $29,623.

BISD’s teacher salary schedule for the current school year begins at $38,000 annually for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience and rises based on experience and education to peak at $60,470 for a teacher with 27 years of experience and a doctoral degree.

Teacher salaries may have been lower on the border at one time but that’s certainly not the case now, said Susan Fox, BISD’S assistant superintendent for human resources.

“We’ve just finished our fall recruiting drive and we’ve gotten to where we do it like the chamber of commerce does recruiting businesses,” Fox said.

“Like the beach? Come and teach” is the slogan.

Fox said BISD employs a large number of Hispanic teachers, a predictable finding reported by the survey for all border districts.

The education schools at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas-Pan American supply most of those teachers, who work mainly in the primary grades where a large number of students are still learning English.

The survey reports a 15 percent turnover rate for teachers in border districts, 18.1 percent for margin districts, 16.4 percent for nonborder districts and a statewide average of 16.4 percent.

Fox said BISD’s teacher turnover rate was 6 percent for the year reported in the survey, 2005-06.

Labels: border, Comparative Stuff, TAKS

posted by Patricia Lopez at 12:51 AM 0 comments Links to this post

NY Times Editorial
November 20, 2007

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 created a far-sighted partnership between the federal government and the states that agreed to remake often barbaric juvenile justice systems in exchange for federal aid. Unfortunately, those gains have been steadily rolled back since the 1990s when states began sending ever larger numbers of juveniles to adult jails — where they face a high risk of being battered, raped or pushed to suicide. The act is due to be reauthorized this year, and Congress needs to use that opportunity to reverse this destructive trend.

As incredible as it seems, many states regard a child as young as 10 as competent to stand trial in juvenile court. More than 40 states regard children as young as 14 as “of age” and old enough to stand trial in adult court. The scope of the problem is laid out in a new report entitled Jailing Juveniles from the Campaign for Youth Justice, an advocacy group based in Washington. Statistics are notoriously hard to get, but perhaps as many as 150,000 young people under the age of 18 are incarcerated in adult jails in any given year.

As many as half of the young people who are transferred to the adult system are never convicted as adults. Many are never convicted at all. By the time the process has run its course, however, one in five of these young people will have spent more than six months in adult jails.

Some jails try to protect young inmates by placing them in isolation, where they are locked in small cells for 23 hours a day. This worsens mental disorders. The study says that young people are 36 times more likely to commit suicide in an adult jail than in a juvenile facility. Young people who survive adult jail too often return home as damaged and dangerous people. Studies show that they are far more likely to commit violent crimes — and to end up back inside — than those who are handled through the juvenile courts.

The rush to criminalize children has set the country on a dangerous path. Congress must now reshape the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act so that it provides the states with the money and the expertise they need to develop more enlightened juvenile justice policies. For starters, it should rewrite the law to prohibit the confinement of children in adult jails.

Labels: editorial, incarceration rates

posted by Patricia Lopez at 12:32 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Focus on a state racial gap ignores some of the nation's worst overall test scores.
By John Rogers and Jeannie Oakes
LA Times
November 20, 2007

State schools Supt. Jack O'Connell hosted a summit in Sacramento last week of 4,000 educators, policymakers and experts. He asked them to confront California's "racial achievement gap" -- the persistently lower test scores of California's African American and Latino public school students compared with their white and Asian peers. In 125 packed sessions, participants probed causes of the gap and offered strategies to close it. O'Connell asked them to "honestly and courageously face this pernicious problem," and for two days, the capital was abuzz with ideas, energy and even some hope.

Strikingly, the state's other "achievement gap" was barely mentioned at the summit; this is the gap between California and the rest of the nation.

The most recent results from the National Assessment of Education Progress test (popularly known as "the nation's report card") place California's fourth- and eighth-graders below those in nearly every other state in math and reading achievement. (Although California's math scores have improved over the last decade, so have the scores in the rest of the country.)

This national achievement gap affects students across the state regardless of their race. If we don't address both the racial and national achievement gaps, it's hard to imagine solving either one

For example, for years, people have been describing and lamenting California's general decline in education. We've all heard it. Test scores of California's Latino and African American students are, on average, among the lowest in the country. However, white students don't do well either, and by a wide margin: California's white eighth-graders score below white eighth-graders in every state but West Virginia and Nevada on the NAEP reading test.

In other subjects and at other grades, California's white students score below white students in most other states.

Is there a problem with California's white students? Do they or their parents care less about education than white students in Connecticut or Iowa? No one asks these questions about white students. Yet many people have no qualms about offering "culture" or "family background" as the main reason for the underperformance of Latino and African American students.

In a report released this month by UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, we offer a different explanation, one that covers the learning problems of minority students and white students, which we call the "opportunity gap." What this means is that California is significantly behind most other states in providing fundamental learning opportunities, period. Conditions here are bad for all students on average, no matter their race or ethnicity, and on top of that, they are worse for African American and Latino students. Yet these are problems that are readily identified and fixable.

On average, California middle and high school teachers are responsible for almost 50% more students than teachers across the nation. California has a critical shortage of well-trained math teachers even as it expects students to meet math curriculum standards that are among the highest in the country. And when students are struggling, they are unlikely to get help. Public high school students lack sufficient access to counselors -- on average, there is one counselor for every 556 students, the lowest ratio in the nation. Our middle school students have even less access to counselors, with one for every 753 students.

In addition, middle and high schools enrolling the highest proportion of Latino and African American students are far more likely to be overcrowded or lack college prep courses than majority white and Asian schools. Middle schools serving more than 90% Latino and African American students are 22 times more likely than majority white and Asian schools to experience a severe shortage of qualified teachers.

California's educational standards were designed to produce a highly educated workforce for a technology-based economy and a well-informed citizenry. But achieving these standards is not a simple matter of motivating teachers, students and parents to "try harder." California has not invested in its schools at a level commensurate with its standards, and our core educational infrastructure is incapable of providing the opportunities these goals demand.

Truly closing the racial achievement gap and the national achievement gap will require directing new resources to those students who are most deprived of fundamental learning opportunities.

John Rogers and Jeannie Oakes are the co-directors of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access.

Labels: achievement gap, California

posted by Patricia Lopez at 12:26 AM 0 comments Links to this post

The following are links and articles discussing NAFTA, migration and US-Mexico politics. -Patricia

Speech by David Bacon at the international conference on the North American Free Trade Agreement organized by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
October 23, 2007
Minneapolis, MN

This speech seeks to answer these and other questions about the relationship between the economic policies promoted by the U.S. in Mexico and other developing countries, and the second-class status of migrants in the U.S.

click here to watch video


For more articles and images on immigration and trade, click here


See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
Click Here

For David Bacon, Photographs and Stories click here

Labels: Mexico

posted by Patricia Lopez at 11:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Great article by Dr. Acevedo that helps paint a picture of the circumstances and realities of far too many Texans. -Patricia

Sun, Nov. 18, 2007
By BALTAZAR ARISPE y ACEVEDO Jr.
Special to the Star-Telegram

The Rio Grande Valley comprises the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy -- roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined.

These four counties make up one of the most economically and socially disenfranchised regions in not only Texas but the whole United States. Former Texas Comptroller John Sharpe said in 1998: "If South Texas was the fifty-first state, it would rank last in all social indices."

It also is my area of research.

It is a region ignored by both Washington and Austin, an incubator that provides a regressive environment for its population -- 90 percent of which are Mexican-Americans who are related by one or two degrees of sanguinity from relatives in Mexico.

The population also is one that, according to regional scholars such as Chad Richardson and Rosalva Resendiz of the University of Texas-Pan American, uses Spanish as the primary language in its social, cultural, political and economic interactions.

This reliance on Spanish might be a curse and a blessing to this population -- a curse in that it curtails the ability to fully benefit from educational development and economic resources in the region, and a blessing in that it provides for a connectivity that reinforces cultural and linguistic heritage along a border that runs more than 750 miles from Brownsville to El Paso.

The challenges are similar to those that Douglas J. Besharov of the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy addressed at a macro level for Hispanic immigrants in the United States in a recent article in The New York Times headlined "The Rio Grande Rises."

Besharov focused on the economic development of the immigrant Hispanic community but never intended to touch base with the region between northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

According to the Intercultural Development Research Association, there is a cumulative 46 percent dropout rate in the region's public schools; 62 percent of children have no health insurance and might have even more limited access to health resources as a result of the president's veto of the SCHIP legislation. A continuing economic impediment is that the region's median income is, on average, 35 percent below the median of $37,000 for the balance of Texas as reported by the Texas comptroller's office.

All of this activity falls within an inordinate demographic growth that is, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, at a minimum of 13 percent above the national rate. And the bureau also reported a 34 percent cumulative poverty rate for the region in its American Community Survey of 2002.

Something is out of balance here, and it requires the attention of government in Washington and Austin.

The area is bedeviled by a misguided and ill-advised immigration policy. The region resembles a martial state. Of 13,000 border agents (the "Greenies," as they are called here), 85 percent are assigned to posts along the U.S. border with Mexico, and the balance to the Canadian border and other ports of entry.

Additionally, there are plans to build a wall to separate and protect the region's Mexican-Americans from a mirror-image population on the south side of the Rio Grande.

Of course, none of the Homeland Security policy wunderkinder seem to recall that the only potential terrorist entries to the United States that the American people know about were via the Canadian border.

Did the Great Wall of China keep out the Mongol invaders? Did the Berlin Wall keep communism intact? Are such barriers in Israel engendering good will between the Jewish and Arab communities?

Another continuing and debilitating situation is the erosion of the environment and physical infrastructure brought on by the expanded land traffic resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

What are some possible policy actions to be considered?

First, the policy brokers in Washington and Austin need to make better use of mid-decade census data and stop relying on the old 2000 census data to guide their thinking. That is akin to keeping a milk carton in your refrigerator way past the expiration date.

Second, it is time to realize that the future of Texas, as noted by state demographer Steven Murdock, is linked to the continued development of the educational and economic capacity and welfare of its Mexican-American community.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this population is on average seven to eight years younger than the majority population and will account for 60 percent of all public school enrollments in Texas by the fall of 2008.

It is not difficult to discern that this group will represent the majority of Texas' employees, military personnel, taxpayers and Social Security contributors. The continued regression of this population, as a result of inadequate knowledge capital, will hurt the greater society and its continued welfare.

The corresponding challenge to the majority stakeholders is how to maximize the potential of Mexican-Americans to be fully engaged in the state's economy.

Further, the Rio Grande Valley is the nexus for the balance of our nation's Latin American foreign policy. If we cannot devise a reasonable immigration policy, where will we ground our relationships with the balance of the Western Hemisphere?

The Rio Grande will indeed rise as more stress is placed on this region as it attempts to respond to its challenges while swimming against the bad policy streams that originate in Washington and Austin.

This region links the futures of the United States and Mexico -- but it cannot and will not fulfill its potential in its current state of disenfranchisement.

Baltazar Arispe y Acevedo Jr., Ph.D., is a professor of educational administration and research director of the Center for Applied Research in Education in the College of Education at the University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg.

Labels: Region 1

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:15 PM 0 comments Links to this post

"In nearly all of the states studied, students did noticeably worse on federal tests than on state tests." What the editors/authors of this piece fail to consider is the more systemic impacts of tests. What's created here are testing systems that narrow curriculum and marginalize students. Another improved test within this same system will likely yield similar results due to systemic impacts. -Angela

Editorial
Test and Switch / November 26, 2007

Congress hoped that if it required the states to give annual tests in return for federal education aid, state politicians would be encouraged — or at least embarrassed — into improving dismal schools and closing the achievement gap between rich and poor children.

That’s not how things have worked out. Many states have gamed the system — and misled voters — devising weak tests, setting low passing scores or changing tests from year to year to prevent accurate comparisons over time. The charade will continue, and children will continue to be shortchanged, until the country develops a rigorous national test keyed to national standards.

This problem is highlighted in a recent study by Policy Analysis for California Education, a research center run by Stanford University and the University of California, that analyzed the testing practices of a dozen states between 1992 and 2006. States that performed swimmingly on their own weak math and reading tests tended to score dismally on the more rigorous federal National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as NAEP.

In nearly all of the states studied, students did noticeably worse on federal tests than on state tests. In Oklahoma, the gap in scores was a shocking 60 percentage points in math and 51 percentage points in reading. In Texas, that gap was 52 percentage points in math and 56 points in reading. The state that came closest to the federal standard was Massachusetts, where there was a modest 1 percent gap in math and 10 percent gap in reading.

New York was not included in this study. But the same issue emerged here earlier this month when NAEP scores for the state’s students turned out to be strikingly lower than scores achieved on the state-level test.

Advocates of the mediocre status quo will oppose any requirement for a national test. Congress could get the process started by instructing the NAEP board, an independent body created by the federal government, to create a rigorous, high-quality test and offer it to the states free — if they use federal scoring standards. Congress might push things further if it published a list of states that still insisted on using their own weaker tests. Americans need an accurate picture of how this country’s students are doing.


Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Labels: high-stakes testing, NAEP

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 8:38 PM 1 comments Links to this post

This is worthwhile reading. -Angela

College Admissions as Conspiracy Theory
By GARY M. LAVERGNE

We in higher education have struggled to uphold a social contract that
requires us to serve the public good when, at the same time, our success
is often measured by the number and qualifications of the applicants
that
we exclude. We will never escape that conundrum because the demand for
access to our best institutions is far greater than the supply. With
growing frequency, reports that analyze admissions practices are
highlighting the inequities inherent in selectively dispensing precious
seats in the classrooms of elite colleges and universities.

Four books about access to higher education have recently been released,
and each has much to say about what is wrong with college admissions.
They
all successfully support their themes and are worth the read, especially
for those not familiar with the grave sociological impact of admissions
practices.

Peter Schmidt's Color and Money (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) does just
what
its subtitle says: It describes "how rich white kids are winning the war
over college affirmative action." It offers refreshing honesty, a
disregard for political correctness, and the effective writing of an
experienced and skilled reporter. (Schmidt wrote Color and Money while
on
leave from The Chronicle.) He is at his best during his provocative
overview of affirmative action and the debates that led to the Supreme
Court's 2003 decisions in cases involving the University of Michigan.

Most disturbing is his declaration that, "unable to come up with solid
evidence to back its claims that affirmative action yielded educational
benefits, the higher-education establishment settled on an alternate
plan:
It would make such assertions anyway, and use spin, exaggeration, and a
false sense of certainty in its assertions to pull the wool over the
justices' eyes." Schmidt doesn't specifically identify who he means by
the
"higher-education establishment," but if an individual or identifiable
group did such a thing, it raises important legal and ethical questions.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor depended on studies that demonstrated the
importance of diversity in higher education to declare unambiguously
that
educational benefits were "not theoretical but real." For institutions
that reinstated race-conscious admissions and used educational benefits
as
justification, Schmidt's claim is an astonishing one.

Elsewhere Schmidt offers glimpses into the unintended tragic
consequences
of preferences: One-fifth of all students who borrow money to attend
eventually drop out, leaving college as failures and in debt. Presuming
those students met some criteria of financial need, they are the people
all four authors strenuously argue should have greater access. Being an
advocate for the underprivileged is a laudable goal, but when giving
preferences, institutions should take great care not to do harm.

Schmidt also does a memorable job of pointing out the ironies:
Affirmative
action was saved in Michigan by representatives of the establishment
capitalist giants like General Motors, and admirals and generals in the
armed forces who filed amicus briefs in support of it as an admissions
policy. There is much more, but the book's message is that working-class
students, of all races, are shut out.

The Power of Privilege (Stanford University Press, 2007), by Joseph A.
Soares, an associate professor of sociology at Wake Forest University,
is
an excellent "sociological account" of a highly selective institutional
gatekeeper: Yale University. The premise of Power of Privilege is that
Yale and other Ivies and elite colleges and universities promote a
meritocratic myth, but in fact are places that embrace and sustain
privilege and affluence.

Soares's history of Yale admissions is tragically amusing. He chronicles
an embarrassing past that includes Yale's enthusiasm for the early SAT
as
a tool of eugenics and the college's participation, until 1968, in the
Ivy
League practice of taking nude pictures of freshmen men to study the
relationship between body type and ability.

Of all the authors, Soares is the best at explaining the statistical
applications of the numerical measures used in the admissions process
and
why a student's ACT or SAT scores are not good predictors of his or her
predicted freshman GPA at the most-competitive colleges. Students
applying
to those institutions are self-selected, largely through very high SAT
scores. Because of the restricted pool of applicants, such colleges
don't
need statistical equations to determine who gets in; they can safely
place
a great deal of weight on intangibles like personal characteristics
because all applicants are highly qualified academically.

Soares is also good at applying Pierre Bourdieu's theory of "elite
reproduction," or the idea that human capital (what individuals do to
improve themselves) is earned while cultural capital (the accouterments
of
privilege) is a gift as important as money and property. Cultural
capital
includes access to contacts that complement a person's educational
experiences; by way of clich, "It's not what you know, it's who you
know."
Soares argues that "elite colleges and their alumni families are
partners
in an association for the reproduction of educational privilege."

In Tearing Down the Gates (University of California Press, 2007), Peter
Sacks, an author and essayist, also applies Bourdieu's concept of
cultural
capital. Sacks argues that injustice, educational and otherwise, is
directly the result of a social-class divide. Unlike the other books,
Tearing Down the Gates uses the stories of real students facing
different
challenges common to their social and economic backgrounds.

He begins with a withering attack on the exclusionary nature of
high-school honors courses and segregated classes for the gifted and
talented, which he considers proxies for the affluent. Sacks views such
segregation as a sinister "alliance of equals." Similarly, in higher
education, he sees "enrollment management" as conspiracy of a
"prestige-driven nature." Undoubtedly, that is news to admissions
offices,
which spend a great deal of time, energy, and money reaching out to poor
and minority students who have a reasonable chance of success at their
institutions.

Sacks is more on target with his discussion of early-decision schemes,
the
winners of whom are students unconcerned about the availability of
financial assistance and who have access to sophisticated and astute
guidance offices. He also does well lambasting of the U.S. News & World
Report rankings of colleges and universities, which he maintains are
merely a measure of selectivity not educational excellence of any kind.
(Schmidt did the same in Color and Money and was equally effective.)

Sacks closes with an impassioned plea for readers to stop dwelling on
race
and gender in favor of embracing the more palatable issue of class
differences a powerful idea affluent right-wingers derisively call
"class
warfare." He urges middle-class and low-income people both white and
minority to form a new coalition demanding greater access to higher
education.

John Aubrey Douglass's The Conditions for Admission (Stanford University
Press, 2007) begins with a good history of the University of California
system. Particularly memorable is his discussion of practices like the
indefensible attempts by California universities to rank their feeder
high
schools, which led to large-scale protests once the rankings were
leaked.
Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher
Education at the University of California at Berkeley, is also
insightful
when he confronts feel-good terms like "disadvantaged" and
"underrepresented" that defy precise definition. Like Schmidt's,
Douglass's commentary on affirmative action is not always politically
correct: "The advocates of affirmative action ... often manipulated the
concept of the social contract as solely a matter of race and racial
representation."

Toward the end of his book, Douglass gets to the heart of the issue: The
"politicization" of admissions is the natural outcome of increasing
demand
for a scarce public good. In 2004, Berkeley received 38,000
applications,
more than 20,000 from students with GPA's in required courses of 4.0 or
higher, for an entering class of about 4,800. Every year selective and
flagship institutions deny admission to thousands of highly qualified
applicants, while college-bound Americans defy economic theory: Rising
tuition and fees have not lessened the demand, desire, or passion for
admission to those elite and flagship campuses. The point of the book is
that our popular belief in the social contract that America has with its
colleges, that such institutions exist for the public good, is imperiled
by dwindling government support.

The four authors do a good job, from each of their perspectives,
describing the inequities in the admissions process. But a glaring
omission in all the books is the lack of any example or discussion of
the
effect of successful parenting, sacrifice, and instilling in children
the
value of an education and the courage to persevere. I could not help but
think of my own experience: a Louisiana Cajun from a poor rural
household
headed by a father with only a seventh-grade education and a mother who
went no further than ninth grade. Both of my parents spoke better French
than English. They could not contribute a nickel toward my college
education. I married right out of college and greeted my bride with a
National Defense Student Loan debt (a precursor to the Perkins Loan).

Since then we've had four children, each of whom worked 20 to 30 hours a
week while attending flagships as full-time students. Within the next
two
years, our family will have paid for six undergraduate and three
graduate
diplomas all as a family with our collective earned income. Except for
one son's earned GI benefits, we never asked for or received a dime's
worth of scholarships, grants, or loans.

So it irks me to read four books telling me that my children are
"privileged" or that I'm part of an "alliance of equals" oppressing the
poor. In these books my children are "privileged" because my wife and I
stayed married, have good jobs, paid attention to what our children did,
bought them books, got involved in their schools, and shared the
benefits
of an education we earned all of which resulted in our kids' not being
poor and not getting Pell Grants (which apparently makes them rich). I
don't remember seeing any distinction drawn between a "privileged"
family
like mine and one with five generations of Yale graduates in its
lineage.

One also wonders why it is such an outrage to these authors that poor
students don't do as well on standardized tests as their affluent peers
especially when, in different ways, each book expertly documents the
undeniable inequality of opportunity the underprivileged face from birth
to the college-admissions process. Poor students are far less likely to
go
to good schools, they are taught by fewer certified teachers, they have
fewer AP courses available, they have outdated textbooks, they are more
likely to be malnourished and in poor health, they are more likely to
face
violence, and their parents are far less likely to be educated. Aren't
disparate test scores evidence of inequality rather than inequality
itself?

In these books we also learn that the performance, persistence, and
graduation rates of underprivileged students are not as high as those of
other students, and, of course, that is tragic and unacceptable. The
authors did not delve deeply enough into whether those differential
rates
were consistent with the ACT and SAT scores submitted by those students.
Most likely, they would have discovered what many admissions officers
already know: Test scores are useful, but in the real world of college
admissions, trying to predict someone's freshman-year GPA is an
extraordinarily difficult task, and no independent variable is so good
that it can be used just by itself. Yet much of the criticism I've seen
of
test scores, in these books and in general, assumes that scores are all
that matter in admissions decisions.

In an August issue of the American Sociological Review, Sigal Alon of
Tel
Aviv University and Marta Tienda of Princeton University argue that the
ideal of equal opportunity can be best served if test scores are
considered in admissions decisions but interpreted using an applicant's
background information. Of course, that's true. I know of no admissions
process that has ever used a test score as a sole criterion for
acceptance, nor have I known anyone in admissions who has ever advocated
such a policy.

Those in charge of the ACT and SAT have always been candid about how,
for
most institutions, the high-school record, whether GPA or class rank, is
the best predictor of freshman-year GPA. Yet even the high-school record
by itself performs only slightly better than test scores. To date, I
have
not seen a usable prediction model that consistently accounts for a
greater variance in the freshman-year GPA than the combination of those
two independent variables, and that is how they are commonly used.
Skewering the ACT and SAT is cheap and easy because no one likes tests
not even those who get high scores. Finding a standardized, usable, and
more valid and reliable replacement is the hard part.

Readers should not assume that I am a shill for the testing
organizations.
I am a former employee of both ACT Inc. and the College Board, and I
have
no illusions about what their priorities are. In these books, not all of
what the authors say about college-admissions testing is off-base.
Sacks's
and Douglass's coverage of the events surrounding the now infamous 2001
speech by then-president of the University of California, Richard C.
Atkinson, calling for an end to the use of the SAT reasoning test,
should
be read by everyone in secondary and higher education. Like Atkinson,
Sacks and Douglass advance the argument that admissions testing should
reflect what a student can do with what he or she has been taught.

I repeat: Soares, Sacks, Schmidt, and Douglass produced four very good
books. At the same time, while much of their focus is on class
differences, a discussion of Bill Cosby's controversial views about
causes
for the troubled condition of young black America, or Juan Williams's
devastating indictment of black leadership and a "culture of failure" in
his book Enough (Crown Publishers, 2006), or the writings of Shelby
Steele
and John H. McWhorter about "white guilt" and going "beyond the crisis
in
black America" could have added controversial but important insights.

Does the single-parent birth rate in the different social classes
explain
differences in college-going rates better than admissions policies do?
Or
the crime rates of poor neighborhoods? Or the incarceration rates? Or
the
high-school-graduation rates? And what of those in the lower
socioeconomic
classes who do get in and are successful? Are they different? If so,
how?
Where are they from? Do they go to church? How much time did they spend
studying while in high school? Listening to music? Watching television?
Were they raised by both parents? Moreover, other than Soares's
comparison
of Yale and some European institutions after World War II and Sacks's
chapter about "gate-crashers," there is little memorable discussion or
elaboration of admissions routines that actually do what the authors
advocate.

I return to the two issues I started with. First, is the issue of access
to highly selective colleges really one of injustice, or does it have to
do with capacity? Harvard denies about 50 percent of the applicants who
present perfect SAT scores. As Douglass points out, in America,
expansion
and growth of junior and community colleges is encouraged and expected
so
as to assure space for all who want to attend. Yet the state support
that
would be necessary to increase the number of elite campuses appears to
be
unthinkable.

While quoting the late Christopher Lasch, a prominent social historian,
Schmidt reminded us that both sides of the affirmative-action debate are
so focused on the question of who gains access to highly selective
institutions that they fail to see how much we would all benefit if such
a
learning experience was made available to all. Admittedly, prestige and
those "qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which
make for greatness," first described in Sweatt v. Painter (1950) and
reinforced by Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
and
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), cannot be created out of thin air. But
maybe
we can increase our capacity to satisfy the reasonable demands of highly
qualified students. We must move away from the debate about "who gets
in"
to one about how to provide elite-like quality to many more. All sides
of
the access argument can easily present thousands of highly qualified
students who could succeed in the environment of a demanding, highly
selective university.

At the same time, too many people, on all sides affix too much of their
self-worth on whether they get into their first-choice college. I have
seen applicants and their parents collapse with grief after an
unsuccessful appeal of an admission decision. We must ask ourselves why
are those who are not getting in so crushed? The groups those families
represent evidently feel no other institution can sustain their dreams.
Is
it because there is a real gulf between the educational experience
offered
by the highly selective compared with all other institutions, or have
these people spent too much time reading U.S News and World Report
rankings and books about elite colleges only to become convinced that
only
a few institutions are worthy of attending? I wish I knew.

Second, and while this does not neatly apply to the books reviewed here,
in this debate we should treat each other with respect and not descend
into demagoguery: All parents, even the rich ones, want what is best for
their children. The parents considered "privileged" in these books
aren't
spending their time forming alliances to oppress others. What are they
supposed to do? Not use what they have, nor do what they can, to achieve
what is best for their children? Not long ago Sacks wrote in The
Chronicle
Review that "there are no easy answers or obvious villains." I wish all
four of those authors had spent a little more energy saying that.

The authors are right: Compared with the general population, elite
colleges are overpopulated with affluent young people, but it is
undeniable that such students are qualified to be there and are
successfully earning diplomas. We need more acceptable alternatives for
all who have demonstrated they can perform at such a high academic level
at a probable cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. Instead, with
each
legislative session we watch general appropriations increasingly account
for a lower portion of total revenue that supports our institutions.

But I refuse to despair. Right now I am writing a book about the 1950
Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter. In 1946, Heman Sweatt entered the
room across the hall from the office that I now occupy in the University
of Texas Tower and became the first African-American student to submit
an
application to the university's law school. Almost immediately the Texas
attorney general announced that "Heman Sweatt will never darken the
halls
of the University of Texas."

Every time I think about what access to higher education was back then
compared with what it is now, I marvel at how far we've come. I've had
faculty members and administrators tell me that we've made "no progress"
since Brown v. Board of Education, and I wonder how anyone can possibly
believe that. Today I know of no selective institution, and certainly no
public flagship, that does not have elaborate recruiting and outreach
efforts that encompass the kind of schools Heman Sweatt came from. I
wish
at least one of those authors had conceded that, even if the results are
disappointing.

Every day at 7 a.m., I walk through the shade of UT-Austin's Battle Oaks
toward the Main Building and Tower, satisfied that inside are good
people
trying to do what is right. I can't think of a single college where the
same is not true. And every day I see thousands of "privileged" students
sent to our campus by their once-underprivileged parents. It wasn't easy
for many of them to get there. They don't deserve a guilt trip. For
millions of us, social mobility is alive and well in capitalist America.

Or maybe I'm just a reflection of what Patrick Henry said in his famous
"Liberty or Death" speech in 1775: "It is natural to man to indulge in
the
illusions of hope."

Gary M. Lavergne is director of admissions research and policy analysis
at the University of Texas at Austin.


http://chronicle.com
Section: The Chronicle Review
Volume 54, Issue 11, Page B10

Labels: college admissions

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:15 PM 1 comments Links to this post

A juggling act on No Child Left Behind
Democrats, Republicans and teachers see flaws in Calif.'s Rep. Miller's proposal to renew the 2001 education law. He's not giving up.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 30, 2007

WASHINGTON — Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) has never been one to back away from a brawl -- he once warned an adversary that if he wanted to fight, it was going to take a while, so he'd better bring lunch. But as Miller pushes to renew the landmark education law known as No Child Left Behind, he faces so many fights that the fate of the bill is increasingly in doubt.

As chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Miller is sparring with Republicans who see his proposed changes as an unacceptable watering down of the law's core standards.

Teachers object to his proposal to link pay to performance.

Even his fellow Democrats -- particularly freshmen who campaigned against it and members of the Congressional Black Caucus -- are giving him a hard time, largely for not doing enough to soften the law's most rigid requirements.

Some critics of the law say the emphasis on math and English testing has squeezed teaching time for history, science and other subjects. Others say that the law is too strict and punishes schools that are doing a fairly good job.

"People have a very strong sense that the No Child Left Behind Act is not fair, that it is not flexible and that it is not funded," Miller said in a recent speech. "And they are not wrong. The question is what we are going to do next."

The 2001 law, President Bush's hallmark domestic achievement, is supposed to be renewed every five years, although it remains in effect even if lawmakers fail to do that.

Democrats pledged to rewrite it this year, but time is short and political tensions are high. Congress plans to adjourn for the year in a few weeks. And some Democrats are loath to give Bush a victory on No Child Left Behind when he refused to compromise on the Iraq war.

The administration has also made clear it wants just minimal changes.

No Child Left Behind was designed to end what the president called the "soft bigotry of low expectations" by forcing schools to track data on low-income and minority students and holding the schools accountable if those pupils did not do well. Schools also have to show that all students are making adequate yearly progress in math and English, or face tough sanctions.

Miller drafted 1,036 pages of proposed changes with the committee's lead Republican, Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of Santa Clarita. But as Miller has tweaked that proposal to appeal to Democrats and teachers, he has lost Republicans.

The balance he seeks is between those who think the law's standards are too rigid and those who want them as tightly defined as possible.

A 33-year veteran of the House, Miller is known for his pragmatism, his ability to make a deal and his close ties to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), all of which may help him find an answer in the few weeks he has left.

"We're certainly not in full agreement," Miller said, mentioning talks with committee Republicans. "Not between my caucus and their caucus, not between Mr. McKeon and myself. Whether we can reach an agreement remains to be seen. We're pushing as hard as we can."

McKeon said he was hopeful that he and Miller could reach a compromise, but he expressed concern "that some provisions in the draft would weaken accountability, allowing schools to mask a lack of achievement in the fundamentals of reading and math and obscure the information provided to schools and communities."

For Miller, who has made children a focus of his career and has long advocated greater teacher accountability, working on the first No Child Left Behind bill was a natural cause. A staunch liberal, he was an odd partner for Bush, but they worked closely enough for the president to dub the burly former football player "Big George."

In the five years since Miller and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) helped write and pass No Child Left Behind, they complain, the administration has never fully funded the law in a way that would help schools meet their additional burdens. Republicans counter that few laws are fully funded.

The law has frustrated some parents and teachers who dislike its effect in local schools.

Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has told Miller that his draft continues to overemphasize standardized tests.

The cost, Wynn says, includes "extraordinary pressure placed on students and the loss of important instruction in music, art and other elements of a well-rounded education."

Some critics say that too many schools are sanctioned under the law. Schools that fail to meet goals for three years must offer students free tutoring or the chance to switch schools. After five years of failure, the law mandates, a school must be restructured with a new staff or new leadership or be converted to a charter school.

Miller's draft bill would broaden measurements of students and schools -- for instance, letting states measure how much students improve over a year and not just whether they meet the bar set by No Child Left Behind.

Miller also wants to expand the standards by which schools are judged beyond math and English scores -- a shift McKeon strongly opposes. Under Miller's proposal, up to 15% of an elementary school's evaluation could be based on assessments of history, science, and civics and government classes. For high schools, rates for graduation, dropouts, attendance and college enrollment could be considered too.

Some of the strictest sanctions would be relaxed under Miller's bill. For example, it would loosen a rule that puts an otherwise successful school on probation if a small group within it -- such as learning-disabled children -- fails to meet the standards.

The draft would also change the way English-language learners are evaluated, allowing them to be tested in their native language for up to five years instead of the current three years, and permitting a two-year extension for some. Republicans say this would mean a child who spoke no English could enter the public school system in fifth grade and graduate from high school without ever being evaluated in English.

Teachers unions have objected to Miller's proposal to allow high-needs school districts to give $10,000 bonuses to outstanding teachers and up to $12,500 for teachers of math, science, special education and other subjects that are short of instructors. Criteria for the awards would be developed with input from the unions.

Critics of the unions say teachers are trying to avoid accountability. The unions say Miller's plan -- which McKeon backs -- is not workable.

"You can be a better teacher than I am, but based on conditions that you have to work in, it makes it much more difficult for you to do the same job," said National Education Assn. President Reginald Weaver. "Plus, paying teachers based on student performance hasn't really made a difference in how students achieve."

In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are in talks about the bill, and Kennedy hopes to begin formal discussions in the education committee in the next few weeks.

Miller, meanwhile, continues to search for a compromise that can win enough support to pass the House.

"We would be wrong to waver when it comes to the existing goals and standards of the No Child Left Behind law," he said. "We would also be wrong if we failed to respond to the serious concerns with the law raised by people who sincerely care about America's educational future."

nicole.gaouette@latimes.com

Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

Labels: NCLB reauthorization

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 1:43 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Number of low-income schools 'needing improvement' rose in 26 states
By LEDYARD KING / November 14, 2007
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — About one-fifth of schools in the nation's poorest communities were flagged as poor performers last year, and more are expected to make the list as a 2014 performance deadline approaches under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The number of high-poverty, or Title I schools identified as "needing improvement" last year rose in 26 states and the District of Columbia, according to federal education statistics recently obtained by Gannett News Service.

Experts predict thousands more schools nationwide will stumble unless Congress changes the law's emphasis on test score proficiency as the sole way to measure a school's worth. No Child Left Behind requires every student — whether low-income, disabled or non-English speaking — to pass grade-level math and reading tests by 2014.

School officials say that's an impossible standard to meet because children vary in ability and background and there always will be some who struggle. Without greater flexibility to measure student growth, thousands more schools will be labeled as failing even if 99 percent of the kids at each school score well on standardized tests, they say.

"If we allow that to happen, we'll have a revolt in our nation," said schools Superintendent Jack Dale in Fairfax County, Va.

Signed by President Bush in 2002, the No Child Left Behind law requires states to test students on math and reading in grades three through eight and once in high school.

Schools not only have to meet overall achievement goals set by their state, they also must show that students in certain subgroups — those who are black, enrolled in special education classes or non-English-speaking, for example — are making adequate progress. If enough students in any subgroup don't score at grade level for two consecutive years, the school gets flagged.

There are more than 51,000 high-poverty — or Title I — schools in the country. According to the Education Department statistics, about 10,700 of those schools, or 21 percent, failed to meet the No Child Left Behind standard last year. That's up about 8 percent from the year before.

Students at schools that have not made adequate progress for at least two consecutive years are permitted to transfer to a better school. If a school falls short for at least three years in a row, students there qualify for free after-school tutoring.

Some Title I schools face closure or removal of staff if student scores don't improve over time.

In three states — Florida, Hawaii and Nevada — more than half the Title I schools were identified as below standard last year, according to the federal education statistics.

But experts say that doesn't mean those schools are inferior to schools in other states. It may simply mean those states hold schools to a higher standard.

Differences in state standards and the huge diversity in student populations make it difficult to compare states based on percentages of schools that miss the mark, said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a Washington-based think tank.

"The simple answer is to go to national standards and national tests, but the solution to one problem creates other problems," he said. "And the problem with national standards is: Who sets the standards?"

Congress is considering proposals to soften sanctions imposed on schools that miss the mark for one or two student groups.

How schools fall short

A school can miss making "adequate yearly progress" if:

Its students, as a whole, fall short of targets on state math and reading tests.
Individual subsets of students fall short. Those subsets consist of students who, for example, are low-income, don't speak English as a first language, have disabilities or belong to a distinct racial or ethnic group.
More than 5 percent of students eligible to take the tests fail to do so.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/GPG0101/711140703/1207/GPGnews

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:51 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Here's a suggestion on alternative forms of assessment from the perspective of a teacher - the people who actually know the students we code as numbers. A quote that stuck out to me while reading: "Education has a long red-pen tradition of how we measure achievement." -Patricia

By Susan Graham | Teacher Magazine
November 18, 2007
This is a Test, This Is Only a Test….

Or is it an assessment?

Assessing and testing issues are on my mind a lot lately. They’ve been hot topics at school, on the Web, in Education Week and around the dinner table at our two-teacher home.

But this brain dump is not brought on by first-quarter grades and the parent conferences we are having tonight at my middle school. You may think that I’m going to talk about No Child Left Behind , but I’m not. Nor is this about the recent release of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards assessment scores, or the new “Trial Urban District Assessment” results from NAEP - the Nation's Report Card. It’s more big-picture than any of that.

Testing and assessment are terms we throw around a lot in education. We have a love/hate relationship with them. But are TEST and ASSESSMENT interchangeable terms and tools?

Well, you’ll have to take my test.

Type TEST and then right-click to find a synonym. Microsoft Word will offer you: examination, experiment, check, analysis, trial, assessment and ordeal. So TEST and ASSESSMENT mean the same thing.

Now try this: Type ASSESSMENT and right-click. The synonyms offered are: appraisal, estimation, measurement, judgment, review, consideration, or opinion. TEST isn’t an option. So ASSESSMENT and TEST don't mean the same thing.

Trick question? No. The problem is that too many people are trying to dress up some pretty dull graduate school reports and policy white papers by using the MS Word thesaurus to find synonyms. While a TEST may be a form of ASSESSMENT, an ASSESSMENT is more than just a TEST. They are two different words that may, on occasion, be correctly interchanged. Here is how I see it:

A TEST measures what the test designer chooses to find out about what the test taker knows. Testing is negative in that it identifies what is not known about a definable body of content. It tells what has been mastered, where there are gaps, and can be analyzed to identify patterns for improved instruction. The underlying assumption, of course, is that the test maker knows what is critical information and has the authority to determine the correct answers.

An ASSESSMENT is a more complex process that attempts to capture what the assessment taker knows or can do. It is a positive model that tries to determine how effective the assessed person is at identifying critical information and communicating a justification of how and why his response addresses the question. The assessor is not empowered to impose his interpretation of what the assessment-taker implied or meant but did not state. An assessment is not about what is wrong; it is about (and only about) what the assessment taker sees as right. While it gives more power and control to the assessment taker, it also demands more. The primary responsibility lies with the person taking the assessment.

Education has a long red-pen tradition of how we measure achievement. What most of us remember of our own school assessment process was the opportunity to demonstrate what we did or did not remember about what we were asked to learn. It was safer. It was faster. And it was more defensible. It required less from both parties. Determining real achievement is more complex. It involves more risk on both sides. As the assessment-taker, I am taking the risk that I can demonstrate my achievement effectively. As the assessment-creator, I am going out on a limb and saying that I can can recognize your achievement if you demonstrate it effectively.

This same discussion about tests and assessments that my science-teacher husband and I have at the dinner table is taking place at policy tables as well. In a recent Education Week commentary, Accountability Tests’ Instructional Insensitivity: The Time Bomb Ticketh, assessment expert James Popham describes the current testing process as an accountability time bomb because it is instructionally insensitive.

How could American educators let themselves get into a situation in which the tests being used to evaluate their instruction are unable to distinguish between effective and ineffective teaching? The answer, though simple, is nonetheless disquieting. Most American educators simply don’t know that their state’s NCLB tests are instructionally insensitive. Educators, and the public in general, assume that because such tests are “achievement tests,” they accurately measure how much students have learned in schools. That’s just not true.

Dr. Popham is right, in part. Testing as an assessment of student achievement is inaccurate. But I would argue that Dr. Popham is also wrong about one thing. He has made an inaccurate assumption that teachers don’t get it. Teachers deal with living, breathing children who are our nation's favorite test subjects, and we are very sensitive to the limitations of trying to capture 200 days of learning with a single multiple-choice, end- of-course test. We get it! But whenever we point out this abuse of good assessment practice, we are accused of being unwilling to be held accountable because we are (a) lazy; (b) well intended but incompetent; and/or (c) unwilling to believe all children can learn.

I respectfully point out that Dr. Popham's biography indicates that he has been out of the K-12 classroom for more than 30 years. While testing, rather than assessing, may have been standard procedure during his years in the high school classroom, things have changed in most schools. Just as cybermetrics and learning theory have evolved, teachers' practices have also evolved to include multiple measures in differentiated formats. Many teachers know what good assessment looks like -- and we practice it. The fact that -- when accountability time comes around -- we are not judged by "instructionally sensitive" tools dismays us, but it is not our fault.

As professionals, our hands have been tied by decision making processes that, to a great extent, have excluded practicing classroom teachers from the conversation on accountability. I'll make an offer: Invite me to the policy table and I'll be more than happy to describe ways in which we and our students might be more fairly and accurately assessed. In return, I'll invite you to my dinner table, where we can continue the conversation over pie and coffee.

Susan Graham has taught family and consumer science (formerly "home ec") for 25 years. She is a National Board-certified teacher, a former regional Virginia teacher of the year, and a Fellow of the Teacher Leaders Network. She invites readers to pull a chair up to her virtual table as she offers her voice-of-experience perspective on teaching today, with a special focus on teacher leadership and continuous professional growth.

Labels: achievement, teachers

posted by Patricia Lopez at 7:43 AM 1 comments Links to this post

Interesting negative correlataion between reading and test scores. The "reading at-risk" crisis mentioned here is a good way to frame what we've been seeing for years: Declining test scores by the middle-school years. -Angela

November 19, 2007
Study Links Drop in Test Scores to a Decline in Time Spent Reading

By MOTOKO RICH
Harry Potter, James Patterson and Oprah Winfrey’s book club aside, Americans — particularly young Americans — appear to be reading less for fun, and as that happens, their reading test scores are declining. At the same time, performance in other academic disciplines like math and science is dipping for students whose access to books is limited, and employers are rating workers deficient in basic writing skills.

That is the message of a new report being released today by the National Endowment for the Arts, based on an analysis of data from about two dozen studies from the federal Education and Labor Departments and the Census Bureau as well as other academic, foundation and business surveys. After its 2004 report, “Reading at Risk,” which found that fewer than half of Americans over 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry, the endowment sought to collect more comprehensive data to build a picture of the role of all reading, including nonfiction.

In his preface to the new 99-page report Dana Gioia, chairman of the endowment, described the data as “simple, consistent and alarming.”

Among the findings is that although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors. These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people as they progress from elementary to high school, a drop that appears to continue once they enter college. The data also showed that students who read for fun nearly every day performed better on reading tests than those who reported reading never or hardly at all.

The study also examined results from reading tests administered to adults and found a similar trend: The percentage of adults who are proficient in reading prose has fallen at the same time that the proportion of people who read regularly for pleasure has declined.

Three years ago “Reading at Risk,” which was based on a study by the Census Bureau in 2002, provoked a debate among academics, publishers and others, some of whom argued that the report defined reading too narrowly by focusing on fiction, poetry and drama. Others argued that there had not been as much of a decline in reading as the report suggested.

This time the endowment did not limit its analysis to so-called literary reading. It selected studies that asked questions about “reading for fun” or “time spent reading for pleasure,” saying that this could refer to a range of reading materials.

“It’s no longer reasonable to debate whether the problem exists,” said Sunil Iyengar, director of research and analysis for the endowment. “Let’s not nitpick or wrangle over to what extent is reading in decline.”

In an interview Mr. Gioia said that the statistics could not explain why reading had declined, but he pointed to several commonly accepted culprits, including the proliferation of digital diversions on the Internet and other gadgets, and the failure of schools and colleges to develop a culture of daily reading habits. In addition, Mr. Gioia said, “we live in a society where the media does not recognize, celebrate or discuss reading, literature and authors.”

In seeking to detail the consequences of a decline in reading, the study showed that reading appeared to correlate with other academic achievement. In examining the average 2005 math scores of 12th graders who lived in homes with fewer than 10 books, an analysis of federal Education Department statistics found that those students scored much lower than those who lived in homes with more than 100 books. Although some of those results could be attributed to income gaps, Mr. Iyengar noted that students who lived in homes with more than 100 books but whose parents only completed high school scored higher on math tests than those students whose parents held college degrees (and were therefore likely to earn higher incomes) but who lived in homes with fewer than 10 books.

The new report also looked at data from the workplace, including a survey that showed nearly three-quarters of employers who were polled rated “reading comprehension” as “very important” for workers with two-year college degrees, and nearly 90 percent of employers said so for graduates of four-year colleges. Better reading skills were also correlated with higher income.

In an analysis of Education Department statistics looking at eight weekly income brackets, the data showed that 7 percent of full-time workers who scored at levels deemed “below basic” on reading tests earned $850 to $1,149 a week, the fourth-highest income bracket, while 20 percent of workers who had scored at reading levels deemed “proficient” earned such wages.

The new report is likely to provoke as much debate as the previous one. Stephen Krashen, a professor emeritus of education at the University of Southern California, said that based on his analysis of other data, reading was not on the decline. He added that the endowment appeared to be exaggerating the decline in reading scores and said that according to federal education statistics, the bulk of decreases in 12th-grade reading scores had occurred in the early 1990s, and that compared with 1994 average reading scores in 2005 were only one point lower.

Timothy Shanahan, past president of the International Reading Association and a professor of urban education and reading at the University of Illinois at Chicago, suggested that the endowment’s report was not nuanced enough. “I don’t disagree with the N.E.A.’s notion that reading is important, but I’m not as quick to discount the reading that I think young people are really doing,” he said, referring to reading on the Internet. He added, “I don’t think the solutions are as simple as a report like this might be encouraging folks to think they might be.”


Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Labels: reading at risk, test score declines

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

It's great to see California coming together! I hope the "joint use facilities" initiative mentioned provides a level of priority to programs and services specifically serving the communities and people many of the facilities are in. -Patricia

California Mayors' Education Roundtable
Policy Statement

November 16, 2007

Mayors from many of California's largest cities have formed the California Mayors' Education Roundtable with the purpose of addressing education and youth- related issues that confront our cities and the state.The Roundtable has been made possible with support from The James Irvine Foundation.

Mayors are held responsible for the health, safety, economy, and education of their cities whether or not they have legal authority or responsibility for these areas. The time is appropriate for mayors to join with the leaders of education systems in their cities and the state to help improve the lives of the children.

We have come together because the educational needs of our children and youth are not being adequately met.Meeting the educational and social needs of our children and youth is more than just a school issue. Mayors need to take an active role in state and local conversations as new policies, programs, and practices are discussed and developed.

The current conversation about improving education has not addressed the broader issues that affect our youth, and their attendance and performance in school. From our perspective, the focus has been too narrow to successfully improve education in our cities and the state.The vision for education in this state must be expanded beyond a goal of improving test scores of children in K-12 to increasing educational attainment, and providing integrated and comprehensive support for youth.

We need to examine the policy barriers-legislation, rules, guidelines and practices-that prevent flexibility in the use of state and local funds to address the needs of our children and youth; increase the capacity of cities to address their needs; link funds and programs across agencies and authorities; and encourage partnerships, joint ventures, and working relationships between and among agencies and organizations.

Some of the strategies we plan to investigate and address include:

* Integrating policies, programs, practices and funding for education, health care, workforce development, social and human services, out-of-school time, and community initiatives including joint use facilities;

* Creating more flexible funding streams that reflect the changes in policy and practice, by not only utilizing the old smokestack solutions of categorical funding to address problems;

* Providing adequate, transparent and flexible funding to address the developmental needs of all children and youth, and the resources and services that affect their development; and

* Enabling mayors to implement comprehensive youth support programs and systems in conjunction with school and county services to address the social and safety problems confronting our urban centers.

We therefore call for reframing the vision for educational and school improvement in ways that acknowledge that if students are to be successful in education and the workplace a more comprehensive set of policies, programs, services and practices need to be put into place.Our focus at the Mayors' Roundtable will be to work together within and across cities as well as with state leaders to achieve these goals.

Signed by the following California Mayors:

* Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates
* Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox
* Fresno Mayor Alan Autry
* Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster
* Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
* Modesto Mayor Jim Ridenour
* Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums
* Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard
* Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge
* Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo
* San Bernardino Mayor Patrick Morris
* San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
* Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido
* Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum

Labels: California

posted by Patricia Lopez at 3:42 AM 0 comments Links to this post

These achievement gaps persist despite years--decades--of standardized testing. If we concede that testing has become the reform, then we must begin to question it. -Angela

Published Online: November 13, 2007
Top-Achieving Nations Beat U.S. States in Math and Science
By Sean Cavanagh


Students in the highest-performing U.S. states rank well below their peers in the world’s top-achieving countries in mathematics and science skill, according to a new study that judges American youths on an international scale.
The study, published Nov. 14 by the American Institutes for Research, compares the performance of 8th graders in individual American states not against each other, but against students in top-performing foreign nations, such as Japan and South Korea, as well as against children in recent lower-scoring ones, such as Bulgaria, Jordan, and Romania.
The analysis found that, on the one hand, most American states are performing as well as, or better than, most foreign nations in the study in math and science.
But it also concludes that even students in states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, and North Dakota, which have scored well on recent U.S. exams, do not match students in top-performing foreign countries. Read on here.

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 8:12 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Nov. 12, 2007, 9:06PM
School board member wants curriculum to include more Hispanics

© 2007 The Associated Press

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A Texas State Board of Education member said Monday that upcoming revisions to the state's core public school curriculum must include lessons on historical contributions made by Hispanics, women and American Indians.

When the curriculum, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, was last revised in 1997, board member Mary Helen Berlanga said she was told that significant contributions made by Hispanics would be included in textbooks used by the schools. But 10 years later, the history segment that Texas fourth graders and 11th graders study doesn't mention Hispanics, she said.

"Each subject area has its own TEKS and contributions by Hispanics, women, Native Americans and other minorities must be included for the TEKS to be accurate," Berlanga said in a story for Tuesday's editions of The Brownsville Herald. "We're trying to prevent what happened in the past from happening again."

Julio Noboa, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, said the history of numerous important Hispanics are omitted from textbooks used by Texas students. His examples included United Farmworkers of America founder Cesar Chavez, Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project leader William C. Velasquez and former San Antonio Mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, now president of the television network Univision.

"Not once is any Latino mentioned by name," Noboa said. "Not Latino, not Hispanic, not Mexican, not Mexican-American or any other term referring to Hispanics."

Labels: curriculum

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 7:42 PM 1 comments Links to this post

By: Peter Schmidt | The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 11, 2007

Black and Hispanic college freshmen perform better academically if their entering class includes substantial numbers of other students from their high school, according to findings presented by researchers in Washington over the weekend at a conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

The researchers — Marta Tienda, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, and Jason M. Fletcher, an assistant professor of public health at Yale University — took data from the University of Texas at Austin and examined what happened to the achievement of minority students there after the flagship campus established a scholarship program aimed at increasing enrollments from low-income high schools that it had drawn few students from before.

The researchers were primarily interested in how college freshmen benefit from having substantial peer networks. Unable to research and map out the peer networks of each student at UT-Austin, they decided as a proxy to calculate the number, and racial and ethnic makeup, of students coming to the university from each high school.

One of the researchers’ initial observations was how much race- and ethnicity-based variation existed in peer networks, largely as a result of the high level of segregation in Texas’ public high schools. For example, the average white freshman entered UT-Austin alongside more than 30 students from his or her high-school class, 23 of whom were white, but the average black student entering the university did so alongside fewer than 20 students from his or her high school, only one of whom was black.

The researchers found that black students who watched just one additional black student from their high school enroll alongside them had first-semester grade-point averages that, on average, were 0.13 points higher than they would have been otherwise. Hispanic students experienced similar benefits from enrolling alongside Hispanic students from their own high school, and reaped some benefit from having a large network of fellow graduates of their high school of any race or ethnicity.

Ms. Tienda and Mr. Fletcher have not yet published their paper discussing their findings. Ms. Tienda says that in the five months since they wrote it, she and other researchers have looked at other colleges and universities and come up with similar results.

Labels: higher education

posted by Patricia Lopez at 11:26 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Together with the previous post, it's clear that teacher quality in math and science teachers is key. The rub is that few math and science graduates become teachers because they have access to other higher paying jobs and careers.

While on the subject, check out the report titled, An American Imperative discussed this week at the National Press Club by the Business Higher Education Forum.

The report recommends more mentoring and preparation time for first-year teachers in order to deal with low teacher retention. A sure-to-be controversial measure is changing licensure standards. Currently, they are based on professional development coursework. A report recommendation is that all states create databases that link teacher quality to student achievement. This needs to be done very carefully because a perverse incentive to NOT teach academically challenged children could ensue.

The report also recommends financial incentives—like scholarships, loan forgiveness programs, bonuses, housing subsidies, and differential teacher pay. Individuals, it is presumed, would find working in high-demand subjects were higher pay attached to this opportunity. Similarly, such incentives could exist for those willing to work in high-poverty schools where shortages are acute.

Hmmm. Experience would take a back seat to different pay scales. How to cope with teacher morale when such differences exist?

I'm glad that this report came out but I hope that it sparks a national debate that is guided by what the research on teacher quality says. Finally, check out this EdWeek article titled, Doubts Cast on Math, Science Teaching Lures by Sean Cavanagh for a critical take on teacher incentive pay. For example, working conditions--woefully understudied, matter, too. Unfortunately, most of the compliance data that states collect is not sensitive to good measurement of teacher quality and so putting the cart (policy) before the horse (evidence) is another likely possibility. I also hope that the needs of English language learners are not an afterthought like they usually are despite their high rate of growth in our public school systems.

-Angela



Texas study finds 39 model high schools in math, science
Common traits include larger class sizes, more certified teachers

09:31 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A select group of Texas high schools – including eight in the Dallas area – is chalking up impressive results in math and science by utilizing slightly larger classes and paying teachers in those subjects more money than other teachers, according to a report released Wednesday.

The study by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, examined scores on several major tests – the TAKS, ACT, SAT and Advanced Placement exams – to come up with 39 high schools that have been largely successful in teaching math and science to their students.

Many of the schools have a large percentage of low-income students and enrollments range from rural and small (148 pupils) to urban and very large (4,872 pupils).

Researchers for the foundation, which is influential with state Republican leaders, conducted the study to identify the "best practices" that the high schools have in common so they can be shared with other schools.

Citing lackluster math and science performance in Texas high schools, the report said it is fortunate that "a number of Texas high schools are shining examples of places where students are achieving success in math and science."

Using standardized test and college entrance exam data from the Texas Education Agency, researchers noted that the 39 schools not only scored well in math and science, but also demonstrated "significant gains" over time. A total of 28 campuses were cited for math achievement and 29 for science achievement – including 18 that did well in both subjects.

Jamie Story, lead researcher, said the test score results also were adjusted for student body demographics, percentage of limited English-speaking students and geographic location. One of the "best practice" high schools has a student body that is nearly 85 percent low income.

Two Dallas high schools on the list – Carter and Wilson – have student bodies that are about 55 percent low income. Turner High School in Carrollton, also on the list, is 56 percent low income.

Among the common characteristics of the 39 best practice schools are:

•Class size – all had slightly larger classes in math and science – about 10 percent more students – than the average high school class in those subjects. That translated into an extra two to three students per class.

•Teacher pay – Math and science teachers at best practice schools typically earned about $3,000 a year more than other teachers at their schools. School districts paid those supplements using incentive pay or special stipend programs.

•Teacher certification – all had a high percentage of teachers certified in math and science. Only 3.8 percent of math teachers were teaching out of their field – compared with 14.3 percent statewide – and only 1 percent of science teachers were out of field – compared with 28 percent statewide.

•Spending per student – The best practice schools annually spent an average of $994 per student less than the state average – cited in the study as $7,229. The schools also spent more of their funds on instruction (68.4 percent) than the statewide average (57.8 percent).

•TAKS preparation – time spent preparing for the annual Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills was about half that of the average school in Texas. Best practice schools also targeted TAKS preparation to low-performing students.

The foundation also made a series of recommendations that researchers said can be implemented by school districts under current law. They included greater use of stipends to pay math and science teachers, and new district policies that reduce the amount of class time spent on TAKS preparation.

Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association said the finding that most of the schools have a high percentage of certified math and science teachers may be the most critical of all the best practices cited in the report.

"It all starts with having certified math and science teachers," he said.

Labels: best practices, teacher incentive pay, teacher quality

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:26 AM 0 comments Links to this post

This makes sense to me . -Angela

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007
(07-26) 11:10 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Students who had more math courses in high school did better in all types of science once they got to college, researchers say.

On the other hand, while high school courses in biology, chemistry or physics improved college performance in each of the individual sciences, taking a high school course in one science didn't result in better college performance in the others.

Philip M. Sadler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Robert H. Tai of the University of Virginia surveyed 8,474 students taking introductory science courses at 63 U.S. colleges and universities. Their findings are reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Science educators debate the effect of the order in which students take science courses. Since the 1890s biology has tended to come first, followed by chemistry and then physics.

Some educators argue that physics should be taught earlier because it will help students understand the other two science areas; others say having chemistry first will help in learning biology.

But in this study neither was the case.

Using a scale of 0-to-100 points, Sadler and Tai found that every year of high school math a student took added 1.86 points to their grade in college chemistry. Taking chemistry in high school added 1.72 points to the college grade, but taking biology or physics in high school had no significant impact on the college chemistry grade.

Likewise, students taking college biology got a 1.84 point boost for each year of high school math. Taking high school biology got them an extra 1.35 points, but high school chemistry and physics had no significant effect.

And for physics, each year of high school math added 1.28 points, high school physics gave a 1.32 point boost, while high school biology and chemistry had no impact.

"I was surprised," Sadler said in a telephone interview. "I had a very open mind about whether this kind of early preparation would pay off."

"The most important thing for high school science teachers is to make sure there is lots of math in whatever science course they teach," Sadler said. "Math is so important in college science."

The paper does note that other variables not measured in their study may also have an impact, such as a student's interest in a particular subject and their parents' occupations.

Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, welcomed the paper as a source of new data for making decisions on science teaching.

"The correlation with math makes sense," he said.

But Wheeler, who was not part of the research group, cautioned that a correlation isn't necessarily the same as cause and effect.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

___

On the Net:

Science:

www.sciencemag.org

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/26/national/w111044D35.DTL



© 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.

Labels: math and science

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 10:23 AM 0 comments Links to this post

This makes sense. MORE education about these issues means MORE and BETTER protection and decision-making. Growing up, I remember how it was always the good girls that got in trouble. So many of our children already "know" about such things as having sex, but more through fragmented and incomplete, mostly t.v.- and movie-based information rather than through a deliberate consideration of sexual behavior, sexuality, choices, and options. Plus, as suggested here, it's not either/or, but rather both/and. Kids can and should get the abstinence message, but in itself and to the exclusion of more comprehensive info, this is no substitute for in-depth information which in the end, makes adults more realistic and thus credible to them anyway. I've got a teenager of my own. Can't pull any wool over her eyes so it makes sense to lay it all out in a thoughtful, credible, and loving manner. -Angela

Teens have sex despite abstinence education, study says
By H. Josef Hebert

Associated Press writer

10:10 AM CST, November 7, 2007

WASHINGTON

Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.

"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded.

The report, which was based on a review of research into teen sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."

"Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect," said the report.

A spending bill before Congress for the Department of Health and Human Services would provide $141 million in assistance for community-based, abstinence-only sex education programs, $4 million more than what President Bush had requested.

The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiation of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.

None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.

Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."

The sponsors of the study praised Kirby for his "thorough research" and for being "fair and evenhanded," but they also acknowledged that ETR Associates developed and markets several of the sex education curricula reviewed in the report. Several of the previous studies that were reviewed also were written by Kirby.

The report noted that there continues to be "too high levels of sexual risk-taking among teens" with 47 percent of all high schools students reporting having sex at least once and 63 percent saying they have engaged in sex by the spring semester of their senior year.

"Many teenagers do not use contraceptives carefully and consistently," said the report. About 40 of every 1,000 girls age 15 to 19 gave birth in 2005, the last year for which data was available, the report said.

AP-WS-11-06-07 1946ESTƒo

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Labels: sexual behavior, sexuality, teenage pregnancy

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:26 AM 0 comments Links to this post

"The report's findings validate the argument that the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for the nonprofit law firm Public Advocates." The truth of the matter, is that analyses ALWAYS reveal these same kinds of inequities, but they're cast as measuring how much students have learned. This level of clarity and frankness is a necessary step toward constructive policy making. Portfolio-based evaluation is recommended. Improving these schools through better funding and improving teacher quality would also be advisable. In addition, a formative assessment approach that is also "value-added," measuring the amount of student progress would also be an important step to take.

-Angela

Calif. Exit Exam Boosts Dropout Numbers
By JULIET WILLIAMS – 3 days ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year seniors were required to pass an exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education.
The analysis found that 24,000 high school seniors dropped out in 2006, about 10,000 more than just four years earlier.
The information could give ammunition to lawmakers and others who have criticized the exam, as well as those who have lobbied for alternative assessments.

The firm that prepared the report, Human Resources Research Organization of Alexandria, Va., made several recommendations to the board, including a suggestion that California explore other ways for high school seniors to demonstrate proficiency. In Massachusetts and Washington state, for example, students can be judged on a portfolio of their high school work.

Jack O'Connell, superintendent of public instruction, has consistently opposed such an option. His chief deputy, Gavin Payne, told the board that the superintendent thought all but one of the recommendations were "extremely good."

The report's findings validate the argument that the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for the nonprofit law firm Public Advocates. That applies mostly to poor and minority students, she said.

Public Advocates sued the state over the exam and sought alternatives.

The report also highlights California's persistent achievement gap and found an even more worrisome problem: Students who are black, Hispanic, poor or learning English did even worse when they were in schools with high concentrations of similar students.

That poses a challenge for policymakers trying to address the achievement gap, since the vast majority of underachieving students are concentrated in such schools.

Most students are able to pass the exam in time for graduation, although critics note that as graduation day approaches more students drop out of school and stop being counted.

In the class of 2007, for example, 93 percent of the senior class had passed the test by last May.

Students begin taking the test during their sophomore year and have multiple chances to pass the exam, which measures English, math and algebra skills.

The most recent exit exam results showed that more than 88 percent of black and Hispanic students passed the test, with both groups increasing their success rates but still lagging behind whites and Asians.

Hosted by
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gx2YCZRJOnrb1SDugGrWkmGUZ2eQD8SP8LVG3

Labels: assessment, Dropouts, formative assessment

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:18 AM 1 comments Links to this post

How creative, and coincidental in that just two days ago my 10 year-old cousin was sharing the math rhymes her and her friends developed to help on their upcoming CSTs. Access to technology is a wonderful thing! -Patricia

By STELLA M. CHÁVEZ / The Dallas Morning News
schavez@dallasnews.com
November 5, 2007

A fifth-grade girl sits in class singing her new favorite song. She and her classmates listen on their iPod headsets, bobbing their heads and moving to the beat.

"States of matter. Aren't they cool?" the kids sing. "States of matter ... ."

No, this isn't the latest hit by Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers.

Crystal Chavez, their teacher, is belting out a rock song about solids, liquids and gases.

Ms. Chavez is one of 18 employees at Grand Prairie's Ervin C. Whitt Elementary School – including the principal and librarian – using iPods to teach kids about subjects they might otherwise find boring.

iPods in the classroom became trendy several years ago when Duke University began giving them to incoming freshmen.

Now, they're spreading to school districts around the country. Advocates say they help engage students in learning and keep them tech savvy.

The devices have also been popular on college campuses where professors record lectures on iTunes.

"This is tech generation. So, when we think of instructing students, we have to think of different ways of teaching," said Whitt's principal, Alisha Crumley. "To get their attention in class, we have to keep up."

Ms. Chavez created her latest hit using GarageBand, Apple's software that allows users to record, edit and mix their own song.

"My kids are jamming out to science," she said. "It's so much more fun than taking notes in a book. Come TAKS time, they're going to be singing that song."

Ms. Chavez said her next song might be a takeoff on Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." She'll call it "I Love Rocks and Solids."

The iPods have only been in use at the school a couple of weeks, but student reviews have been glowing so far.

"I think it's awesome because it's easier to learn," said Kayleigh Guthrie, age 10. "I learned how the particles move and that gas can be anywhere."

Cesar Amador, 11, said he's learned about the country's history.

"It's fun work," he said.

The school district purchased a total of 321 video iPods at a cost of $73,114. The district paid for the gadgets using a combination of its state technology allotment and a Title I federal grant. Title I money is calculated based on the number of free and reduced lunches at a school.

Whitt is the first school in Grand Prairie to use iPods.

In 2005, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district became one of the first in the area to distribute iPods to five of its schools. Today, the Carrollton district has about 4,000 iPods. About 80 percent of the campuses at the elementary level have them. Middle school and high school students use them too.

Many of the teachers use the iPods to help teach kids English as a Second Language or another foreign language.

Andrew Berning, chief technology officer for Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, said teachers have also learned podcasting, the term used when creating a digital media file that is distributed over the Internet. Teachers, parents or students can listen to the podcasts, or teachers can listen to podcasts produced by educators in other parts of the country.

In Grand Prairie, teachers are still getting the hang of the iPods, but they are not short on ideas.

Recently, the music, art and physical education teachers teamed up for a lesson about planets using hula hoops. With a camcorder, they recorded planets, designed by the art teacher, rotating around the hoops. The music teacher edited the video that students later watched on their iPods.

In her class, music teacher Karen Becker instructs her students to scroll through their iPod's playlist to find the second grade's list of songs.

Students walk around the classroom as they listen to a slow song. Next, a song with an upbeat tempo plays. Some of the kids strut around; others show off a few dance moves.

"Part of the curriculum is deciphering between fast and slow," said Ms. Becker. "This gives us a way to decipher tempo. I think it just opens up different doors [to teaching]."

In a fifth-grade class, students have produced a historical podcast about the American Revolution. Students listen to their classmates talk about historical figures as images of the figures pop up on the iPod screen.

In a first-grade classroom, students learn about the changing seasons. After a discussion about the subject, they watch a video on their iPods. The video shows leaves falling from trees and the earth orbiting the sun.

Kids are allowed to take their iPods home, so they can revisit the lessons and share them with parents.

Teacher Kathy Hasty said one student described this new responsibility as taking the teacher home with them.

The students must return the music players the next day. Parents sign an agreement that states the value of the iPod and that they will replace it in case of damage or loss.

Only about half of the school's teachers have signed up to use the iPods, but other teachers have expressed an interest after seeing the kids' response.

"Our world is changing, and this what our kids know," said Ms. Hasty. "They were born into this age and we, as teachers, have to design our work differently."

The Grand Prairie school district purchased a total of: 321 video iPods at a cost of $73,114.

The Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, one of the first in the area to embrace iPods in the classroom, today has about: 4,000 iPods.

Labels: technology, testing

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post

In Houston, debate gives way to confrontation of illegal immigrants, their supporters

By JAMES PINKERTON | Houston Chronicle
Nov. 6, 2007

It's become a Saturday morning ritual on a street corner in Spring.

Two dozen U.S. Border Watch volunteers, some wearing combat boots and military-style garb, face off with Hispanic day laborers and a half-dozen of their supporters.

"Stop the hate! Stop the fear! Immigrants are welcome here!" boomed a woman's voice recently over a portable loudspeaker.

"Thou Shall not Steal America," reads a sign waved by a member of Border Watch, a group based in Spring.

A similar scene has unfolded over the past months at the busy intersection of Steubner-Airline and Wimbelton Estates Drive in northwest Harris County. The day laborers, many of them undocumented, gather each morning in the Speedo gas station parking lot.

And nearly every Saturday morning since September, dozens of Border Watch members have attempted to drive them away. They chant slogans, wave signs and film employers who pick up immigrants for work.

Far from the halls of Congress and the front lines of the Southwest border, the divisive immigration debate is being played out in local neighborhoods, including the Houston area. A number of groups have upped the ante by moving from debate to confrontation, attempting to take immigration duties into their own hands.

Since the Minuteman group staged a border surveillance operation in Arizona in 2005, more than 250 new anti-immigrant groups have formed, said Mark Potok, director of Southern Poverty Law Center's intelligence project, which monitors such organizations.

"There's been a prairie fire in the last couple of years — these groups have really exploded," Potok said.

In April, the center listed 144 "Nativist Extremist" organizations that go beyond debate and target individuals, Potok said. There are 13 immigration-related activist groups in Texas, and Border Watch was among three in the Houston area.

"The most significant danger posed by these groups is the poisoning of the democratic debate" about immigration levels, Potok said. Instead, the groups have turned "the discussion into a diatribe about how Mexicans are destroying our culture, bringing diseases to our country and killing dozens of Americans every day," he said.

'It's about being illegal'

The president of Border Watch, Curtis S. Collier, said his members don't have a racist agenda. Their goal is simple: Expel the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.

"To be racist, you have to target someone because of their race," Collier said. ''We don't care who you are. If you're here illegally we want you to go home. It's not about being brown-skinned, it's about being illegal."

Doris Meissner, who headed the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Clinton era, said groups such as Border Watch have proliferated due to frustration over the government's inability to control illegal immigration. And while Meissner characterized the groups as "spot outbreaks," she considers them a threat.

"They are dangerous because they do border on vigilante activity," said Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

But groups lobbying for limited immigration see the growing activism differently.

Dan Stein, president of the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, said the explosive growth of immigration as a domestic issue — fueled in part by the Internet — and the formation of activist groups was triggered by the Bush administration's failure to crack down on illegal immigration. "It is a truly magnificent populist action, in a way we haven't seen in decades," he said.

They keep close watch

Border Watch was co-founded by Collier, a 47-year-old Spring resident who spent eight years as a U.S. Army policeman before opening a small pest control company. He claims 1,628 members nationwide, with chapters in El Paso, San Antonio and Arkansas. Twice a year, Border Watch tracks illegal immigrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border

Collier, who speaks about border security at events across Texas, repeats claims that 25 Americans citizens are killed each day by undocumented immigrants. Islamic terrorists are slipping across the Southwest border, he says, camouflaged as illegal immigrants.

"There have been reports of Spanish-speaking schools popping up in the Middle East and teaching people in that part of the world to speak Spanish so they can blend in easily," Collier said.

Potok, with the poverty center, said those claims are common to this new breed of anti-illegal immigration activists. ''These are the paranoid fantasies of people with difficulty handling reality," he said.

Border Watch monitors some of what Collier said are 57 day labor sites in the Houston area.

"We do day labor observations ... workplace investigations, undercover operations," Collier said. ''Like, we'll go to day labor sites and pose as employers to figure out if they're here illegally and what their wages are going for."

He has even posted a video on YouTube documenting one of his "investigations."

So when church leaders in the Spring area proposed a center for day workers who use Stuebner-Airline as a gathering place, Collier and his group pounced.

"All hell broke out," recalled pastor Franklin Moore, part of a local-interfaith group working to establish a center.

"All we wanted to do was get a place for day laborers to be safe, to get out of the sun and rain, to get a drink and go to the bathroom," Moore said.

Border Watch volunteers marched on the Chamber of Commerce, and scores of members dominated a September meeting on the proposed center.

After weeks of Saturday demonstrations by Border Watch volunteers, several pro-immigrant organizations have shown up to support the day laborers. One recent Saturday, the two sides again faced off yards apart at the entrance to the Speedo convenience store. Two police cruisers were parked nearby to keep protesters apart.

Facing off on one corner

"Border Watch has been out here for several weeks harassing the day laborers, and we're out here to oppose the racism and harassment," said David Michael Smith, a professor at the College of the Mainland in Texas City. He has helped sponsor protests by the International Socialist Organization and the Progressive Workers Organizing Committee, among others.

Smith's wife, Rona, an elementary school counselor, used a loudspeaker to lead chants. About a dozen day laborers, with nothing to do since only two employers appeared all morning, held up protest signs. ''Racists! Fascists! Hey, hey, Border Watch go away!" Rona chanted.

Collier stood at the head of the Border Watch volunteers and unsuccessfully challenged Smith and his wife to debate. "David, you and Rona look alone over there," he chided.

Soon after the protest began, sheriff's deputies had to intervene when neighbors upset with the noise confronted Rona. With the loudspeaker turned off, confrontations continued.

"You are the real traitors of the country, you are dividing the country. All these people are here to work," shouted Cristobal Hinojosa, with Mexicans in Action, who approached Border Watch volunteers.

The demonstration ended shortly before noon. Moore, the pastor, said both sets of protesters have hurt efforts to find a safe place for day laborers. "It's gotten so convoluted, I don't know how to fix it," he said.

Labels: immigration, racism

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:14 PM 1 comments Links to this post

No Child Left Behind imposes serious consequences on schools for low test scores, but regarding dropout rates -- where students are literally left behind -- it barely does anything.

Sean Gonsalves | AlterNet
November 6, 2007

The education industry has been abuzz with talk of "dropout factories" in the wake of a recent Johns Hopkins University study that says 12 percent of the nation's high schools have less than 60 percent of its students who start as freshmen and make it to their senior year.

The findings are not too surprising -- students were dropping out at about the same rate a decade ago. But, the attention being given so-called "dropout factories" is important because it underscores a glaring hole in No Child Left Behind law, just as Congress and the White House are wrangling over whether to reauthorize the five-year-old legislation.

"The current law imposes serious consequences on schools that report low scores on math and reading tests, such as having to replace teachers or principals, but it lacks the same kind of teeth when it comes to graduation rates," the AP reports.

The social costs of students not completing high school are steep. Bill Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told the United Way of Greater Los Angeles last week, "each year's cohort of dropouts costs us $325 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes. Dropouts are eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than high school graduates. Only a quarter of dropouts vote. The figure for high school graduates is half, and it's three quarters for college graduates."

Counting the cost, Gates is convinced "that solving the high school crisis" is America's "most pressing moral obligation and our most urgent domestic policy priority."

Even as a high school drop-out myself, it's hard to disagree with that, though, as a footnote, a longitudinal study published in the Education Statistics Quarterly indicates "63 percent (of students) who drop out of high school at least once go on to earn a high school diploma or alternative credential within several years, and 43 percent enroll in a postsecondary institution."

Why "dropout?" The fine folks at Gates family foundation actually bothered to survey students about why they chose to leave high school. Nearly half (47 percent) said they left because "classes were not interesting."

Nearly seven in ten -- 69 percent -- said they were "not motivated" or "inspired to work hard," even though two-thirds said they would've worked harder if more was demanded of them.

Many students gave personal reasons for leaving school with 32 percent citing a need for a job or a way to make money; 26 percent said they had kids to support; and another 22 percent said they dropped out to care for a family member.

And check this out: 35 percent said "failing in school" was a major factor for dropping out and 45 percent said they started high school "poorly prepared by their earlier schooling."

The survey ends with a sober observation: "As complex as these individual circumstances may be, for almost all young people, dropping out of high school is not a sudden act, but a gradual process of disengagement; attendance patterns are a clear early sign."

Speaking at a "Dropout Forum" sponsored by the Alliance for Education, Gates Foundation education director Steven Seleznow shared an important insight from the survey. Seleznow said that while making students repeat a grade "makes everybody feel like we've got really tough standards, by and large it destroys the spirit of a student; destroys their inspiration, motivation. And in many cases, if you look at these dropouts, repeating a grade was a big indicator in their decision-making later in high school."

Again, on a purely pragmatic policy level, one of several problems with NCLB is that it punishes schools for low test scores but doesn't effectively address graduation rates. Can't you see the "unintended consequences" coming? As the pressure to avoid being punished for low test scores increases, so too does the pressure to discourage underperforming students to drop out of school.

Testing? All the research I've seen has confirmed what my children have taught me: self-motivated learning is the key to unlocking academic achievement; not coming up with more sophisticated ways of doling out carrots and sticks.

The question isn't: how do we raise test scores? Question is: how do we create schools, not factories, that encourage and enhance students' natural will to learn -- starting long before high school, even before pre-school begins?

Pop quiz: What's more biologically basic than sexual desire? The will to learn. And what's the Latin root for "education?" Educare, which means "to lead out from within."

Sean Gonsalves is a Cape Cod Times staff reporter and a syndicated columnist.

Labels: dropout factories

posted by Patricia Lopez at 8:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post

UTeach program recruits math and science majors and gets them in classrooms early.

By Laura Heinauer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, November 05, 2007

Not being all that far removed from grade school themselves, Stephanie Gorss, 19, and Taylor Bethke, 20, two students in a model University of Texas teacher training program, didn't have a tough time coming up with a list of ways to make first-period math at O. Henry Middle School fun.

Pass out dry erase boards to write on instead of paper.

Give lots of positive reinforcement, including heavy use of the word "awesome."

Make paper airplanes.

"I love math. I think it's fun," said Bethke, a math major. "And for me, what has made it even more enjoyable is sparking that interest in kids."

Such words are music to the ears of many who are concerned about the shortage of math and science teachers in the U.S. In the 10 years since the UTeach program began preparing secondary math and science teachers for the classroom, it is revolutionizing how many new math and science teachers will be taught.

"I think we've solved a couple of the problems that have plagued many attempts to prepare teachers for a long time," said Michael Marder, co-director of the UTeach program.

A 2005 report, called Rising above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, focuses on the need in the U.S. for scientists, engineers and other technically skilled workers to remain competitive in the global marketplace. It specifically mentions UTeach as a model program and recommends that colleges use teaching programs that produce math and science majors with teacher certification — a major departure from how most teachers graduate from college.

In the UTeach program, none of the students are education majors, but rather they major in another field, often in the College of Natural Sciences.

Early recruiting of top natural sciences majors is key. UTeach students have SAT scores that are above the average for the College of Natural Sciences and have higher grade-point averages.

The students are given early and continued field experience. Typical education majors wouldn't visit a classroom until the end of their college career; UTeach students are put in front of a class as freshmen.

"We've come up with a revolutionary idea. And that's that you shouldn't teach if you don't like kids," Marder said.

By comparison, the popular Teach for America program recruits students from all majors and asks participants to commit to two years. But UTeach students leave expecting teaching to be a long-term career.

Since UTeach's inception, the university has doubled the number of math and science teachers that it produces, Marder said.

UTeach teachers also appear to stay in the classroom longer, he said. According to information collected from graduates, about 70 percent of UTeach students are still in the classroom five years after they enter the profession, compared with about 50 percent of teachers nationally.

Because of those numbers, many education experts — particularly those concerned about the country's global competitiveness in math and science — have taken notice.

Already, UTeach-influenced programs have been put in place at Louisiana State University and in California.

And this month, more than 10 unspecified colleges and universities around the country will announce that they are replicating the UTeach program at their campuses, using part of a $125 million grant from Exxon Mobil Corp. They agreed to create programs that basically mirror the UT model.

"It's going to revolutionize things with regards to math and science teacher preparation at these universities," said Tracy LaQuey Parker, director of the UTeach Institute.

O. Henry Principal Peter Price said UTeach teachers stand out because of their deep disciplinary grounding. "They're math and science majors taking very advanced classes, so these students really know the content."

In Bethke and Gorss' class at O. Henry, a chorus of "yessss" and "sweeeet" arose from sixth-graders thrilled with having permission to make paper airplanes.

"Just like there are many ways to fold an airplane," Bethke said, "there are many ways to simplify a fraction."

lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694

Labels: teachers

posted by Patricia Lopez at 5:44 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Carlos Guerra | Express-News
11/03/2007

Writing about Texas' high dropout rates — and about how inadequate school funding contributes to Texas' big share of this national crisis — always packs my mailbox with messages that echo familiar themes.

And so it was Thursday after a column about a national dropout study conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

Those without a high school diploma will be doomed to a life of poverty because they are likely to be stuck in low-wage jobs with few if any benefits, the researchers pointed out.

That makes sense. As our economy is turned from one based on manufacturing to one based on knowledge and technology, educational attainment and earnings are becoming more closely correlated.

Researchers found that nationally, 40 percent of ninth- or 10th-graders were not enrolled during their senior year in one-fifth of the nation's high schools.

There were such schools in various parts of virtually all states, but these "dropout factories" were most concentrated in the cores of large cities.

And just 15 states — Texas among them — account for 80 percent of these schools, where "graduation is not the norm." There are 182 such high schools in Texas, and 15 of them are in San Antonio.

Generally, they also tend to have high enrollments of poor and minority students.

But the researchers also found other schools with similarly high concentrations that were exceptions. They attributed this to their having adequate resources that were being judiciously expended, highly motivated teachers and cultures of high expectations.

For years, demographers have warned that Texas is headed for a steep economic decline because Latinos and blacks are rapidly outpacing Anglos in population growth. If we do not dramatically improve minorities' graduation rates, they warn, it will result in a major decline in earnings, the ripples of which will be felt by the business sector and government, both of whose revenues will plunge.

Such improvements won't happen, I have pointed out, unless we invest more money on our public education system.

"You don't solve problems by throwing money at them," many readers responded. Several also mentioned "Taj Mahal administrative office buildings" and high-dollar junkets taken by educators and school board members to meetings in exotic locales. Others also wrote about the wastefulness of having so many school districts, since each has its own high-dollar administrative structure.

Still others recalled various scandals involving district officials and administrators.

Fair enough. Education money has been wasted in the past, and school districts have not been immune to corruption or from empire builders.

But let's keep things in perspective and remember that we know that some things do work.

Good teachers are critical, but they are also in high demand.

We also know that smaller classes and schools are also better than larger ones, especially for students who aren't English-proficient, or are poor or have other special needs.

Money must be spent judiciously. But all those things that do work will require more money. It's that simple.

The U.S. Census Bureau's latest "Public School Finances" details educational spending in 2005. Of the $427.2 billion spent nationally, 60.5 percent was spent on instruction and only 7.4 percent was spent on administration. The rest went for support services, such as operations and maintenance, pupil transportation, and instructional staff support.

Only 9.1 percent of the revenue was federal money, while 47 percent was from state governments and 43.9 was local.

But there was a huge disparity in how much states spent per pupil. Utah spent only $5,257 while New York spent $14,119. Nationally, the average was $8,701, but Texas spent $7,267.

Only 12 states spent less.

Are we getting what we are paying for, or paying for something we aren't getting?

Labels: dropout factories, school finance

posted by Patricia Lopez at 4:25 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Here's another response to the article: "1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'" Quite different in response than the previous post. -Patricia

Ryan Holeywell and Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez
November 1, 2007 - 10:30PM

McALLEN — Nearly two dozen Rio Grande Valley high schools were labeled “dropout factories” by a national study citing them for having substantially fewer seniors enrolled than freshmen — considered by some to be a telltale sign of dropout problems.

The study, released earlier this week, was commissioned by The Associated Press and conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Social Organization of Schools.

It analyzed “promotion power” — a comparison of the size of a school’s freshmen class to its senior class three years later. The study’s author said he understood the term “dropout factory” might sound strong, but noted the problem is serious.

The promotion power statistic is a way to approximate how many freshmen left the school by their senior years. Schools were labeled “dropout factories” if, over three years, the size of the senior class averaged 60 percent or less of the freshman class from three years earlier.

Sofia Valdez, an education professor at the University of Texas-Pan American and member of Grupo Poder, the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo schools watchdog organization, said the study underscores an issue of which most educators are well aware.

“It’s a complex problem with many stakeholders,” Valdez said. “It’s not just the parents. It’s not just the schools. It’s not just the community.”

‘Disheartening’

The Texas Education Agency and some local school districts, however, said the study’s figures don’t tell the whole story.

Debbie Graves Ratcliffe, TEA’s director of communications, acknowledges that Texas, with a graduation rate of just 61 percent, does have a problem with students dropping out of school. Almost 18 percent of the state’s 1,040 high schools were tagged with the “dropout factory” designation in the Johns Hopkins study.

But Ratcliffe said the numbers don’t take into account Texas students’ high mobility rate. About 17 to 19 percent of students are considered transient, meaning they transfer to another school system within the state or out of state, she said.

Some Valley school officials said the report also contradicts feedback they have received from state and federal education officials who study more precise data than the Johns Hopkins report did.

Harlingen schools Superintendent Linda Wade said the report is misleading because it does not track individual students, unlike data the district sends to the state. Harlingen High School and Harlingen High School South were both named in the report.

The most recent data Wade has shows more than 88 percent of students either finished in four years or continued at the district to pursue a degree after four years, she said.

“It gives a false image to the public of what’s going on in our schools, and it’s disheartening to those of us who work in the schools,” she said.

McAllen Superintendent Yolanda Chapa agreed.

“It makes it seem as though our primary function is producing dropouts. We have many outstanding students who go through our system; they graduate and go on to greater things.”

However, she said the district realizes there is a problem and is working on increase its graduation rate.

“We have implemented many programs designed to curb our dropout population,” she said.

'Kind of unfair'

All five Brownsville high schools made the list.

Raul Vasquez, administrator for assessment, research and evaluation at the district, said district officials have figured a more precise drop-out rate that is closer to 14 percent.

On Thursday, Vasquez said he had not looked at the study. But that when district officials figure their drop-out rate, they consider who moves, finishes high school elsewhere, even who dies before graduating — all factors the Johns Hopkins study didn’t consider.

Mary Maushard, a spokeswoman for the center that conducted the study, said that argument doesn’t necessarily explain the problem with dropouts in the Valley, especially since the area is rapidly growing.

Craig Verley, a spokesman for the Mission school district, of which Veterans Memorial High School was ranked on the list, noted the Valley is home to a significant migrant laborer population. He reiterated that the study was “kind of unfair” since it didn’t examine why students left school.

He said the district focuses on enrolling dropouts at the beginning of the school year and is now focusing on improving the teacher-to-student ratio in ninth grade, which is critical to a student’s success.

PSJA Superintendent Daniel King said comparing enrollment figures of freshmen to seniors isn’t a perfect way to study dropouts, largely because of a statistical anomaly that artificially inflates the size of a freshman class. Students who enter high school and don’t advance are classified as freshmen, regardless of their age.

But he said he didn’t want to make excuses, either.

“I think we have to admit we have a problem,” King said, noting his district has created programs to try to re-enroll dropouts through partnership programs with South Texas College.

Simply a guideline

Officials at South Texas Independent School District — the state’s only all-magnet school district and widely respected for its students’ academic performance — took issue with the inclusion of two of their high schools on the list.

“They used a very simplistic methodology,” said Andi Atkinson, the district’s marketing specialist.

The district’s Science Academy of South Texas (Sci Tech) and South Texas Business, Education & Technology Academy (BETA) were listed in the university’s report. Figures Atkinson provided showed most of the losses were due to students returning to home districts, moving or entering private school.

Maushard, of Johns Hopkins, said the study strictly focused on enrollment figures because, unlike graduation rates, all districts compile those figures in the same consistent manner.

The study identified specific schools so policymakers and administrators would know where to focus their efforts, she said.
____
Monitor Staff Writer Jennifer L. Berghom contributed to this report.
____
Ryan Holeywell covers PSJA and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.
____

Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at (512) 323-0622.

Labels: dropout factories

posted by Patricia Lopez at 3:59 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By White House | Daily EdNews
11/1/2007

mplementing a proposal from his 2008 budget plan, President George W. Bush on Sept. 27 signed into law the largest increase in federal student aid since the GI Bill of 1944. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 increases funding for the Federal Pell Grant Program by $11.4 billion over the next five years, raising the maximum annual award to $5,400 by 2012. Unlike loans, Pell grants do not have to be repaid. More than 5 million low-income students receive this federal financial aid annually.

"Pell grants send an important message to students in need: If you work hard, and you stay in school, and you make the right choices, the federal government is going to stand with you," said President Bush.

The legislation also makes it easier to repay loans, by:

· Capping loan payments so that borrowers would not have to devote more than 15 percent of their discretionary income to repaying Stafford student loans. Starting July 1, 2009, this applies to both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, regardless of when the loans were taken out. After 25 years, any remaining balances will be cancelled.

· Forgiving loans for borrowers working in public-sector jobs—such as those held by members of the military, law enforcement agents, firefighters, nurses, librarians and early childhood teachers—after 10 years of service and loan repayment. Furthermore, students serving in the National Reserve who are called to address a national crisis will be able to defer loan payments for up to 13 months at the end of their service.

In addition, the bill may provide tuition assistance of up to $4,000 per year—for a total of $16,000—to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching certain subjects, such as science and math, in low-income public schools for at least four years.

Labels: higher education

posted by Patricia Lopez at 3:12 PM 0 comments Links to this post

I question if communities really are giving up on these youths, or if those communities are left with little, if any, support or means to devise solutions. Sometimes the solution at the local level is to increase policing in these communities, creating yet another layer of problems often left unaddressed. I'm sure those who are members of these communities are familiar with this. -Patricia

The Associated Press | The Houston Chronicle
Nov. 1, 2007


MART, Texas — Juvenile felons sentenced to the Texas Youth Commission at ages 10 to 13 tend to serve longer terms than their older counterparts, according to a newspaper review of agency records.

For the past three years, offenders who start their sentences at ages 10 to 13 have served an average of 34 months. That's 15 months longer than the average term for inmates sentenced at ages 14 to 17, according to the review by the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.

Inmates arriving at ages 16 and 17 served terms averaging no more than 18 months. Those who started at age 10, the youngest possible, served an average of five years, according to the records. Some of the older offenders were released because they turned 21, the former mandatory age of release.

Critics blame the longer terms on the difficulty for younger children of completing the system's resocialization program required for release.

"It's so difficult for the smaller kids," said Will Harrell, TYC's youth advocate. "They're supposed to come up with a life story. How much of a life story can you articulate at 11 years of age? They don't have the cognitive abilities."

Commission officials said new reforms will make it easier for inmates to secure their release after serving their minimum sentence.

"The burden of proof is now on us to show why this offender should remain in custody," spokesman Tim Savoy said.

Also, the commission is changing its treatment approach in a way that will distinguish between younger and older offenders. A new program aimed at 10- to 13-year-olds is part of an agency overhaul mandated by state leaders in response to a sex abuse scandal.

The agency plans to confine the younger boys, who make up a relatively small part of the overall inmate population, in a single facility, away from the older inmates. The agency is taking bids from private contractors for "a safe residential setting" for boys ages 10 to 13.

Robert E. Morris, a pediatrics professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, said young offenders shouldn't be separated from their families, almost regardless of the crime.

"You do need your folks more at such a young age," said Morris, a leading national expert on adolescent offenders. "Most kids would do better to just go home and perhaps be monitored by a probation officer," with services provided to their families.

Forrest Novy, TYC's director of special education, said it would be good to place the youngest offenders in community-based programs close to home, but those communities have often given up on the offenders. And the correctional system needs to centralize services.

"The downside is they're so far from home," Novy said.

Novy said it will take months to implement the new treatment program for young offenders.

The agency will start rolling out a new resocialization program for all offenders, called CoNEXTions, in December.

Labels: incarceration rates

posted by Patricia Lopez at 2:42 PM 0 comments Links to this post

The following is a response to an earlier article: "1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'," which you can also access from this blog. It's unfortunate to see the language used in this response, and for parent's "lack of support" being targeted as the cause of student dropout rates. -Patricia

By Chris Lykins | The Gazette-Enterprise

Published November 2, 2007
A national study that branded 1,700 schools in this country as “dropout factories” got a lot of attention from the media this week.

It got a lot of attention here as well, because Seguin High School made the list.

The designation did not sit well with superintendent Irene Garza who said the study ignores students who move to other schools as well as students pulled out for homeschooling or those who go into an alternative program for a GED.

Garza’s not alone. Those criticisms have been common all across the country.

Beyond the study’s numbers — which are so far removed from the Texas Education Agency’s dropout statistics as to render them almost laughable — is the use of mechanical and inflammatory language.

Factory? As if these children are robots, identical mechanisms wheeled in as blameless, perfect creations only to be dented, distorted and destroyed by an educational assembly line.

If there is a “dropout factory” you won’t find it behind the walls of Seguin High School — or any other school in the country.

You’ll find it at home.

If you want to blame the nation’s education system, there are plenty of valid reasons.

It has produced borderline functionally-illiterate students who don’t know where the Pacific Ocean is, can’t balance their own checkbooks and think that Louis Armstrong landed on the moon.

That’s all fair game.

However, over the last few decades it’s become increasingly easy to just heap all of society’s ills at the feet of school districts.

Teen pregnancy, drug abuse, violence and obesity aren’t things created by schools, they are created at home and shipped off every day to become the school district’s problem.

A school district never got a girl pregnant, beat someone to a pulp or drove a group of friends to the lake to get high.

The public education system is not there to be a babysitter, a surrogate parent or a warden, it is there to try and provide the children with the necessary tools and education to become successful adults.

They can’t do it alone — and too often they are being asked to.

The most successful schools are those that have parents involved at every level — and most importantly — parents that support the school’s efforts.

There is nothing more damaging than having a parent constantly undercutting a school.

“Well, I don’t think the teacher likes him” — while ignoring the fact that the kid is a royal pain when he’s at home. What makes you think he’s different from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.?

“Well, if they would spend more time with her she wouldn’t be behind” — while ignoring the fact that she spends two hours on the phone every night talking about the color of lip gloss she plans on wearing tomorrow instead of doing her homework.

Are there bad teachers? Yes.

There are also bad garbage men, bad waiters and waitresses, bad doctors, bad police officers and bad presidents.

If there is a “dropout factory,” it starts in the living rooms and dining rooms of the community’s homes — not in the classrooms at any high school.

It’s time for parents and the rest of us who deal with children on a regular basis to stop making excuses for their failings by blaming our failings on someone else.

It’s time to close the factory.

Chris Lykins is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise.

Labels: dropout factories, Parent Involvement

posted by Patricia Lopez at 2:25 PM 0 comments Links to this post

In Image: Fifth grade student Melinda Guzman, second from left, talks about her reading with teacher Laurie Humphrey, right, as her mother Yoli Guzman, left, and student teacher Rebecca Anshell, center, look, during a parent-teacher conference held at Halecrest Elementary School in Chula Vista, Calif. Monday, Oct. 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD | Associated Press
Nov 1, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's that time of year when moms and dads across the country are squeezing into uncomfortable kid-sized chairs to discuss with teachers whether their children are off to a good start at school. In some places, the conference comes with a wrinkle: The children sit in.

Marguerite Izzo, who teaches fifth grade in Malverne, N.Y., said including students makes kids more accountable for their work and behavior, and ensures that things do not get lost in translation.

"People get different stories," she said. "This alleviates all of that."

Joyce Epstein, director of the Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, agrees.

"These are good directions in conferencing because it really lets people know this is not a game of telephone," Epstein said.

The trend is a response to research showing that parents are more likely to attend a conference if their child also has to come, and to studies showing that students benefit from setting goals, she said.

Karen Ernst, a mother of three in Palatine, Ill., likes the new approach. But she says it is important to prepare kids and let them know what is expected. "They can get very shy," said Ernst, whose children range in age from 12 to 17.

Ernst talks with her children before a conference and explains that no one else will be in the room so they do not have to worry about privacy. She reminds them that the session is a rare opportunity for personal attention.

"They never get that moment with their teachers' ear ... without three other kids wanting her ear too," she said.

Being prepared for a parent-teacher conference is important regardless of whether children are included, said Columbia University Teachers College professor Frances Schoonmaker.

Parents without ready questions could lose out on a chance to gain valuable information, Schoonmaker said. Similarly, she said, parents should share information about their kids with the teacher.

"It's this idea that I have a piece of the puzzle and you have a piece the puzzle. Now, how can we work together?" she said.

Schoonmaker urges parents to refrain from becoming defensive and to think of conferences as opportunities.

"When they work, they are absolutely valuable," she said. "When they don't work, everybody is absolutely frustrated."

Kathy Ely, whose daughter is a freshman in high school, said she prepares by talking with her daughter first.

"I'll say to my daughter, 'I'm going next week, are there any things that are bothering you?'" said Ely, of Silver Spring, Md.

Ely said when there are no obvious problems, she tries to ask questions that might reveal new information. "There's always something to talk about and you shouldn't just approach it like, well, good grades — nothing to deal with."

Laurie Humphrey, an elementary school teacher in Chula Vista, Calif., sends letters home ahead of conferences to let parents know what will be addressed. She said that helps make sure parents are prepared.

Humphrey advises parents to ask whether their child is working at the proper grade level and whether they can see any test results. It also is important to ask how a child fits in socially, even if teachers are sometimes less comfortable talking about that.

She said parents should not be caught off guard if they get tough questions from teachers. She asks whether parents read to their children or read in front of children to show that it is a worthwhile activity.

"Sometimes they'll laugh, and say, 'I really don't,' Humphrey said. She said that kind of conversation, though sometimes awkward, can lead to important changes.

Not all teachers have the skills or confidence to do that; many can get nervous at conference time.

"I honestly think it's the part of the profession that teachers tiptoe around because you're never sure how to approach a parent, especially if the news isn't that good," said Rosalind LaRocque, assistant director of the educational issues department at the American Federation of Teachers.

Despite that, educators appear to be working to strengthen parent-teacher conferences by trying new things such as letting students come along. Schools also are increasingly offering baby-sitting during conferences, providing flexible scheduling and making translators available. More than a dozen states let employers know they are expected to allow their workers to attend conferences.

Regular conferences are more common in the early grades than in secondary schools. Typically they take place in the fall and spring, or around report card time.

Humphrey, interviewed recently by phone as she was getting ready for conferences, said she thinks conferences at the start of the year are especially important.

"Building a relationship with the parents from the first day of school is something I really try hard to work at," she said, adding that it can be a challenge to affect a student's learning process. "It's even more difficult without the parents buying in."


Johns Hopkins Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/center.htm

Labels: Parent Involvement

posted by Patricia Lopez at 2:11 PM 0 comments Links to this post

I think information on the fallen number of students who took the TAKS over time within these schools might give more insight on the "significant gains" indicated. -Patricia

Common traits include larger class sizes, more certified teachers

TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
October 31, 2007

AUSTIN – A select group of Texas high schools – including eight in the Dallas area – is chalking up impressive results in math and science by utilizing slightly larger classes and paying teachers in those subjects more money than other teachers, according to a report released Wednesday.

The study by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, examined scores on several major tests – the TAKS, ACT, SAT and Advanced Placement exams – to come up with 39 high schools that have been largely successful in teaching math and science to their students.

Many of the schools have a large percentage of low-income students and enrollments range from rural and small (148 pupils) to urban and very large (4,872 pupils).

Researchers for the foundation, which is influential with state Republican leaders, conducted the study to identify the "best practices" that the high schools have in common so they can be shared with other schools.

Citing lackluster math and science performance in Texas high schools, the report said it is fortunate that "a number of Texas high schools are shining examples of places where students are achieving success in math and science."

Using standardized test and college entrance exam data from the Texas Education Agency, researchers noted that the 39 schools not only scored well in math and science, but also demonstrated "significant gains" over time. A total of 28 campuses were cited for math achievement and 29 for science achievement – including 18 that did well in both subjects.

Jamie Story, lead researcher, said the test score results also were adjusted for student body demographics, percentage of limited English-speaking students and geographic location. One of the "best practice" high schools has a student body that is nearly 85 percent low income.

Two Dallas high schools on the list – Carter and Wilson – have student bodies that are about 55 percent low income. Turner High School in Carrollton, also on the list, is 56 percent low income.

Among the common characteristics of the 39 best practice schools are:

•Class size – all had slightly larger classes in math and science – about 10 percent more students – than the average high school class in those subjects. That translated into an extra two to three students per class.

•Teacher pay – Math and science teachers at best practice schools typically earned about $3,000 a year more than other teachers at their schools. School districts paid those supplements using incentive pay or special stipend programs.

•Teacher certification – all had a high percentage of teachers certified in math and science. Only 3.8 percent of math teachers were teaching out of their field – compared with 14.3 percent statewide – and only 1 percent of science teachers were out of field – compared with 28 percent statewide.

•Spending per student – The best practice schools annually spent an average of $994 per student less than the state average – cited in the study as $7,229. The schools also spent more of their funds on instruction (68.4 percent) than the statewide average (57.8 percent).

•TAKS preparation – time spent preparing for the annual Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills was about half that of the average school in Texas. Best practice schools also targeted TAKS preparation to low-performing students.

The foundation also made a series of recommendations that researchers said can be implemented by school districts under current law. They included greater use of stipends to pay math and science teachers, and new district policies that reduce the amount of class time spent on TAKS preparation.

Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association said the finding that most of the schools have a high percentage of certified math and science teachers may be the most critical of all the best practices cited in the report.

"It all starts with having certified math and science teachers," he said.

BEST PRACTICE HIGH SCHOOLS, DALLAS AREA
School, District, Subject
Carter, Dallas, Math
Science & Engineering, Dallas, Math
Wilson, Dallas, Science
Creekview, Carrollton-FB, Math
Turner, Carrollton-FB, Math and Science
Berkner, Richardson, Science
Richardson, Richardson, Math and Science
Lewisville, Lewisville, Math

*Based on test scores on TAKS, ACT, SAT and AP exams
SOURCE: Texas Public Policy Foundation

Labels: TAKS

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:37 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
SF Gate.com
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

(11-07) 18:12 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year seniors were required to pass the state's exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education.

California's high school graduation rate also fell by about 4 percent from the previous year.

The analysis found that 24,000 high school seniors dropped out in 2006, about 10,000 more than just four years earlier.

The information could give ammunition to lawmakers and others who have criticized the exam, as well as those who have lobbied for alternative assessments.

The firm that prepared the report, Human Resources Research Organization of Alexandria, Va., made seven recommendations to the board, including a suggestion that California explore other ways for high school seniors to demonstrate proficiency. In Massachusetts and Washington state, for example, students can be judged on a portfolio of their high school work.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell has consistently opposed such an option. His chief deputy, Gavin Payne, told the board that the superintendent thought all but one of the recommendations was "extremely good."

The report's findings validate the position of exit exam opponents who say the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for Public Advocates. That applies mostly to poor and minority students, she said.

The San Francisco-based law firm has sued the state over the exam and sought alternatives.

"As a moral and constitutional matter, before every student can be required to pass the state's new hurdle, the state and its schools must first ensure that ... all of those students have had an opportunity to learn what is tested," she told the board.

The report also highlighted California's persistent achievement gap and found an even more worrisome problem: Students who are black, Hispanic, poor or learning English did even worse when they were in schools with high concentrations of similar students.

That poses a challenge for policymakers trying to address the achievement gap, since the vast majority of underachieving students are concentrated in such schools.

O'Connell has said he is determined to narrow that divide and is hosting an "Achievement Gap Summit" of education leaders next week in Sacramento.

Most students are able to pass the exam in time for graduation, although critics note that as graduation day approaches more students drop out of school and stop being counted.

In the class of 2007, for example, 93 percent of the senior class had passed the test by last May. Students begin taking the test during their sophomore year and have multiple chances to pass the exam, which measures ninth-grade English and ninth-grade math and algebra skills.

To settle a class-action lawsuit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation last month in which the state agreed to provide two more years of remedial tutoring to high school students who can't pass the exam.

The 2007-08 state budget includes $72.4 million for supplemental instruction and $188 million for after-school and summer tutoring to help students pass.

He vetoed a bill that would have forced O'Connell to come up with alternative graduation requirements for students who are proficient but can't pass the exam. The governor said O'Connell already has that authority under existing state law.

The most recent exit exam results showed that more than 88 percent of black and Hispanic students passed the test, with both groups increasing their success rates but still lagging behind whites and Asians.

The report presented to the board on Wednesday is compiled annually as part of the law that established the exit exam. It also included some demographic information about the state's senior class, including the finding that California's schools fail many students who arrive at school knowing very little English.

"Many students are still classified as English-learners after as many as 10 years of education in this country," the report said.

Among the other recommendations:

• The state should do a better job tracking the students who don't pass the exam in time to graduate and don't keep taking it, as a way to see what happens to them. The state has said it does not have sufficient data systems to do this.

• School districts should consider moving more students with disabilities into regular classrooms so they have more exposure to the material tested on the exit exam and a greater opportunity to pass it.

Labels: California, Dropouts

posted by Patricia Lopez at 5:08 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Byrne's commentary about Utah voters is very offensive and says more about him than it says about anyone or anything else. Americans, over and over again, manifest support for public schools (and improving them). Could ALL Americans have low IQs as he suggest? If so, is he not an American? Also, his hostility to the addition of new students is also telling as many of the new Utah students happen to be Mexican immigrants at increasing rates. Could this be covert racism under the cloak of expanding opportunity? Just some thoughts.... -Angela

Vouchers go down in crushing defeat
Vouchers' money man says Utahns 'don't care enough about their kids'

By Glen Warchol / The Salt Lake Tribune

Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor Tuesday, defeating what would have been the nation's most comprehensive education voucher program in a referendum blowout.
"Tonight, with the eyes of the nation upon us, Utah has rejected this flawed voucher law," said Kim Campbell, president of the Utah Education Association. "We believe this sends a clear message. It sends a message that Utahns believe in, and support, public schools."
More than 60 percent of voters were rejecting vouchers, with about 95 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. The referendum failed in every county, including the conservative bastion of Utah County.
Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne - who bankrolled the voucher effort - called the referendum a "statewide IQ test" that Utahns failed.
"They don't care enough about their kids. They care an awful lot about this system, this bureaucracy, but they don't care enough about their kids to think outside the box," Byrne said.
Doug Holmes, a key voucher advocate and contributor, said, "We started hugely in the hole and it's always been the case. The unions have done this in four different states, where they take the strategy of confusion to the people."
But Holmes said, "You don't run away from something because the odds are stacked against you."
Utah's voucher program, supported by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Republican legislative leaders, attracted national attention because it would have provided tax-funded subsidies to any student, rich or poor, to enroll in a private school.
The law passed by a single vote in the Legislature, but voucher opponents, led by the Utah Education Association teachers' union, gathered 124,000 signatures to force it into a voter referendum.
The resulting public opinion campaign included thousands of TV and radio spots and burned through $8.5 million for a program the state estimated would cost $5.5 million in its first year.
The tidal wave of cash changed few minds, however. As far back as January - before the Legislature approved the voucher program - a Tribune poll showed voters opposing vouchers 57 percent to 33 percent.
Had it passed, the plan would have offered tax-supported subsidies of $500 to $3,000 - depending on family income - for each newly enrolled private school student. It would have been the country's broadest voucher program because it would have had no income ceiling - all Utah students would be eligible as the program phased in over 13 years. By the end of the phase in, the program was projected to cost taxpayers $430 million.
Most of the opposition's $4.4 million came from the National Education Association and state teachers' unions from Florida to Alaska. Voucher supporters countered with more than $4 million, nearly three-quarters of that from Byrne and his family. Byrne says vouchers are the only way America's "broken" public education system can stay competitive with other industrialized nations.
"What's got to happen and it might take Utah five to 10 years to understand," Byrne said, "they are at the bottom of the heap [educationally] and the heap is at the bottom of the international heap."
He shrugged off the fortune he poured into the referendum, saying he leads a fairly modest life as far as CEOs go. "The fortune that I'm making is all going toward educating lower income and especially African-American and Hispanic kids," Byrne said. "So this is not a terribly big deal to me."
Supporters argued the program would help Utah absorb a tide of 150,000 children expected over the next 10 years by diverting students into private academies.
The clash quickly became superheated, with voucher opponents warning the program would bleed needed money from the public system, which already ranks last in the nation for per pupil spending and teacher pay. In television and radio spots, they hammered home a message that the program had "too many loopholes and unknowns."
Supporters fired back, connecting their opposition to liberal icons such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy and out-of-state unions. Meanwhile, other media thrusts implied that good Mormons should support vouchers.
Both sides, at one point, embraced the governor, who Byrne blasted Tuesday for his lukewarm backing.
"When he asked for my support [for governor] he told me he is going to be the voucher governor. Not only was it his No. 1 priority, it was what he was going to be all about," Byrne said. "He did, I think, a very tepid job, and then when the polls came out on the referendum, he was pretty much missing in action."
Byrne said the referendum defeat may have killed vouchers in Utah, but "There are other freedom oriented groups in other states - African-Americans in South Carolina are interested in it."
---
* Lisa Schencker and Robert Gehrke contributed to this report.

http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_7392263

Labels: Utah, Vouchers

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:22 PM 0 comments Links to this post

I recommend checking out the website for the Commission for a College Ready Texas. I hope that this conversation gets opened up more broadly to include various sectors of the community. The Texas Center for Education Policy at UT had just such a conversation that was statewide and inclusive. Check out our report, too. -Angela

Texas high school grads less prepared for college than others in U.S., panel says
Remediation often needed; panel to urge higher standards
08:25 AM CST on Tuesday, November 6, 2007

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Texas high school graduates are far less prepared for college-level courses than their counterparts across the nation – with nearly half of college freshmen in Texas needing remediation – according to a state panel appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

The Commission for a College Ready Texas, which was charged with finding ways to better prepare students for college, also said in a draft report released Monday that the state's curriculum standards are too flimsy, and that a passing score on the state's high school graduation test gives no assurance that a student is ready for college.

Further, the panel said that Texas schools need to quit allowing students to blow off their senior year of high school, arguing that valuable time is wasted when students should be acquiring more of the skills and knowledge they need for college and workplace success.

"We have a big hill to climb in Texas," said Austin lawyer Sandy Kress, chairman of the commission and former education adviser to President Bush. "We want our kids to come out of high school ready for college and a good job, but we have a long way to go to reach that goal."

Mr. Kress, former president of the Dallas school board, said the current curriculum in the public schools doesn't provide for many of the skills considered necessary in college.

"The curriculum has to be stronger, and the standards have to be more rigorous," he said. "While we've made some academic gains in our elementary schools over the last decade, we have not seen gains in our secondary schools."

The commission was appointed by Mr. Perry earlier this year to make recommendations to the State Board of Education and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Among the recommendations will be new, college-oriented curriculum standards for English, math, science and social studies courses taught in the public schools.

Commission members – including business, civic and education leaders from across the state – are scheduled to finalize their recommendations at a meeting in Austin on Wednesday.

The panel's report spells out problems that Texas faces in trying to improve the college readiness of its high school graduates.

"A variety of data confirm that high school graduates across the United States are ill-prepared for the rigors of college coursework, and Texas students fare even worse than their counterparts nationally," the report said.

"The vast majority of Texas public school graduates who intend to acquire post-secondary certification or a degree are less prepared to succeed than most of their peers throughout the nation."

College readiness was defined as having "the core knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the first year of education after high school without the need for remedial or developmental education."

By that definition, Texas is not making the grade, according to the report.

Data cited by the commission indicated that 50 percent of college freshmen in Texas are enrolled in remedial or developmental classes, compared with 28 percent across the U.S.

In addition, the study noted that only 18 percent of Texas students who took the ACT – one of the leading college entrance exams – met college readiness benchmarks in English, math, science and social studies. The percentages were even smaller for black and Hispanic students.

The report also said the passing standard on the high school graduation exam, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, is so low that it masks the academic weaknesses of many students who actually lack the skills to do well in freshman courses in college.

Regarding the tendency of many high school students to breeze through their senior year, the report said: "Students, faculty, counselors and administrators can no longer view the senior year in high school as a let-down or 'marking-time' interval.

"Academic intensity must continue through 12th grade if students are to obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for college and workplace success."

Labels: college readiness

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 1:20 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By Onto Aporia
From the October 29, 2007 issue of The Indypendent

What is a border? First off, it’s war. Literally, the border is a relic of the Mexican-American War of 1848, when America “bought” half of Mexico’s territory (about 500,000- square miles) at gunpoint. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo still stands, marking the Rio Grande as the “line” which “separates” us from them. The border is a monument without a museum, doused with techno-media and military machines in order to revive its symbolism with a vengeance. Yet the war never really ended, only moving underground, in shadows, in stealth. Bodies still pile up at the edges, and governments still negotiate new treaties (trade agreements) all the time.

Through such agreements, the border becomes a form of property. It is enclosure, forming the body proper of the country, its outline, its image in the sand. Once this illusion becomes solidified in the minds of the citizens, its defense becomes unquestionable. Who wouldn’t want to defend their property? The border becomes the consensual hallucination of an imagined community of “citizens” who share nothing but a relationship to what’s “outside.” We’re not them, they say, those are ‘aliens’. If to be an alien means to embody the subversion of their entire system of property, then by all means indict us! Property does not make the border possible, but on the contrary, the border makes all property possible. And with that, capital as well.

Property, we know, is theft. And theft, capture and control are the main functions of any state. Besides cops, prisons, and government buildings, the border is the closest thing you’ll get to the material manifestation of the state in all its naked force. The collusion between capitalists, militarists, racist libertarians and “pluralist” democrats to “contain the state of emergency”, i.e., the loss of their profit, is blatant at every border site. Every “border zone” is chaos, and so the state tries to covers it up with a thousand bureaucracies, rules and technologies. The state tries to organize the chaos from above, but we all know how that goes: more resistance from below.

To contain resistance, the border becomes a prison. With 17 federal detention centers, hundreds of county ones and thousands of private ones, the border escapes its geography and encroaches inland. By the fall of 2007 the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) will spend an estimated $1 billion per year to detain more than 27,500 immigrants. ICE operates eight Service Processing Centers and seven contract detention facilities. Additionally, immigration detainees are being held in local jails and private prisons across the United States.

To guard this mobile prison, they need police. But how can the border also be a police force? By militarizing itself, and distributing the mindset of militarization to everyone it can. Everyone becomes a border guard, with ICE being just the last step in the long chain of control. Neighbors, colleagues, workers, friends — no one is safe. With a little help from the fear-mongering media, the virus of the bordermind sets in and spreads. Migrants — living in hiding, working in backrooms — are killed coming in and killed getting out.

DECONSTRUCTING ALL BORDERS

How do we escape from this long border war? Where they have ideology, we must have Imagination. In some sense, we know the border is an imagined act, albeit an enforced one. To overcome this, we must imagine as well, and we must enforce our imaginations too. A world without borders is not a dream, it is how you live. Some say that migrants are the most victimized social class in the world. Others say that the global movement of migrants is the largest social movement in the world. Both are exaggerations, yet both are somewhat true.

Resistance doesn’t begin at the fence because the border doesn’t begin there either. Borders are massive investments, they are literally their own economies, and every economy, in the end, is based on debt, credit and the faith that everything will be paid back in full. Resisting the border means breaking that faith, that credit in the ideology of exclusion. This resistance is as layered as the border itself, and hence is inconsistent, contradictory and unpredictable.

From underground railroads to class solidarity, lobbying to strikes, boycotts to riots, childcare to legal defense, noborder camps to farmworker rights, the resistance is as open as the air. There is no “resistance” itself, only resistances which could link up to tear down, break away and immunize the border regime wherever it emerges.

This article was excerpted from a longer version published in the New York Rat, Issue #8, May 2007.

Labels: border

posted by Patricia Lopez at 1:50 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Want to let everybody know about a non-profit, called One Economy Corporation (www.one-economy.com ) whose mission is to help low-income people use technology to connect with information, both in their daily lives and in times of need. We manage a self help web portal called the Beehive (/www.thebeehive.org).

In response to the recent fires in southern California, the Beehive will be featuring an online resource called Southern California Wildfire Resource Center (www.SoCalHelp.org), beginning on November 5. This resource will be dedicated to helping the lower income and Spanish speaking communities rebuilding their lives after the fires. Online California residents can find also information about:

Temporary housing
Financial assistance
Finding the right job
Staying healthy

Labels: advertisement

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 9:25 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Dontike Miller, 23, works on math problems at the YouthBuild Public Charter School's GED program in Washington, Thursday Oct. 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)


This is a really tragic situation. I quote: "Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma. For Hispanic and black students, the proportion drops to about half." Also check out a state-by-state look at dropouts based on John Hopkins Professor Balfanz's national analysis of dropout factories.

-Angela



1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'
Federal Government Puts New Focus on High Schools; Boosting Graduation Rates Top Goal

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON


It's a nickname no principal could be proud of: "Dropout Factory," a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That dubious distinction applies to more than one in 10 high schools across America.

"If you're born in a neighborhood or town where the only high school is one where graduation is not the norm, how is this living in the land of equal opportunity?" asks Bob Balfanz, the researcher at Johns Hopkins University who defines such a school as a "dropout factory."

There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That's 12 percent of all such schools, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, Balfanz says. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row 2004, 2005 and 2006 to make sure local events like plant closures weren't to blame for the low retention rates.

The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services.

Utah, which has low poverty rates and fewer minorities than most states, is the only state without a dropout factory. Florida and South Carolina have the highest percentages. About half of high schools in those states classify as dropout factories.

"Part of the problem we've had here is we live in a state that culturally and traditionally has not valued a high school education," said Jim Foster, a spokesman for South Carolina's Department of Education. He noted that South Carolina residents once could get good jobs in textile mills without a high school degree, but that those jobs are now much harder to come by.

Federal lawmakers haven't focused much attention on the problem. The No Child Left Behind education law, for example, pays much more attention to educating younger students. But that appears to be changing.

House and Senate proposals to renew the five-year-old No Child law would give high schools more federal money and put more pressure on them to improve, and the Bush administration supports the idea.

The current law imposes serious consequences on schools that report low scores on math and reading tests, such as having to replace teachers or principals, but it lacks the same kind of teeth when it comes to graduation rates.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma. For Hispanic and black students, the proportion drops to about half.

The legislative proposals would:

Make sure schools report their graduation rates by racial, ethnic and other subgroups and are judged on those. That's to ensure schools aren't just graduating white students in high numbers, but also are working to ensure minority students get diplomas.

Get states to build data systems to keep track of students throughout their school years and more accurately measure graduation and dropout rates.

Ensure states count graduation rates in a uniform way. States have used a variety of formulas, including counting the percentage of entering seniors who get a diploma. That measurement ignores the fact that kids who drop out typically do so before their senior year.

Create strong progress goals for graduation rates and impose sanctions on schools that miss them. Most states currently lack meaningful goals, according to The Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for poor and minority children.

The current law requires testing in reading and math once in high school, and those tests take on added importance because of serious consequences for a school that fails. Critics say that creates a perverse incentive for schools to encourage kids to drop out before they bring down a school's scores.

"The vast majority of educators do not want to push out kids, but the pressures to raise test scores above all else are intense," said Bethany Little, vice president for policy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group focused on high schools. "To know if a high school is doing its job, we need to consider test scores and graduation rates equally."

Little said some students pushed out of high schools are encouraged to enroll in programs that prepare them to take the GED exam. People who pass that test get certificates indicating they have high-school level academic skills. But the research shows getting a GED doesn't lead to the kind of job or college success associated with a regular diploma.

Loretta Singletary, 17, enrolled in a GED program after dropping out of a Washington, D.C., high school that she describes as huge, chaotic and violent. "Girls got jumped, boys got jumped, teachers (were) fighting and hitting students," she said.

She said teachers had low expectations for students, which led to dull classes. "They were teaching me stuff I already knew ... basic nouns, simple adjectives."

Singletary said she loved science but wasn't offered it and her complaints to administrators went unanswered. "I was interested in experiments," she said. "I didn't have science in 9th or 10th grade."

A GED classmate of Singletary's is 23-year-old Dontike Miller, who attended and left two D.C. high schools on the dropout factory list. Miller was brought up by a single mother who used drugs, and he said teachers and counselors seemed oblivious to what was going on in his life.

He would have liked for someone to sit him down and say: "You really need to go to class. We're going to work with you. We're going to help you," Miller said. Instead, "I had nobody."

Teachers and administrators at Baltimore Talent Development High School, where 90 percent of kids are on track toward graduating on time, are working hard to make sure students don't have an experience like Miller's.

The school, which sits in the middle of a high-crime, impoverished neighborhood two miles west of downtown Baltimore, was founded by Balfanz and others four years ago as a laboratory for getting kids out on time with a diploma and ready for college.

Teachers, students and administrators at the school know each other well.

"I know teachers that have knocked on people's doors. They want us to succeed," 12th-grader Jasmine Coleman said during a lunchtime chat in the cafeteria.

Fellow senior Victoria Haynes says she likes the way the school organizes teachers in teams of four, each assigned to a group of 75 students. The teachers work across subject areas; English and math teachers, for example, collaborate on lessons and discuss individual students' needs.

"They all concentrate on what's best for us together," Haynes said. "It's very family-oriented. We feel really close to them."

Teachers, too, say it works.

"I know the students a lot better, because I know the teachers who teach them," said 10th-grade English teacher Jenni Williams. "Everyone's on the same page, so it's not like you're alone in your mission."

That mission can be daunting. The majority of students who enter Baltimore Talent Development in 9th grade are reading at a 5th or 6th grade level.

To get caught up, students have 80-minute lessons in reading and math, instead of the typical 45 minutes. They also get additional time with specialists if needed.

The fact that youths are entering high schools with such poor literacy skills raises questions about how much catch-up work high schools can be expected to do, say some high-school principals.

"We're at the end of the process," says Mel Riddile, principal of T.C. Williams High School, a large public school in Alexandria, Va., which is not on the dropout factory list. "People don't walk into 9th grade and suddenly have a reading problem."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Labels: dropout factories, Dropouts

posted by Dr. Angela Valenzuela at 12:18 PM 0 comments Links to this post

For Immediate Release Contacts: Javier Dominguez & Elisavet Garcia (202) 833-6130

October 26, 2007

Washington, DC The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization proudly endorses H.R. 37, a resolution sponsored by Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA) that honors Dolores Huerta’s enduring dedication for fair and safe working conditions for farm workers and their families.

“This bill fittingly entrusts that all workers deserve fair and safe working conditions,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales. “Dolores Huerta demonstrates a fearless commitment to fight for safe and healthy working conditions for all farm workers. In addition, she has also been a strong advocate for the rights of women and children. We applaud Congresswoman Solis for her noble sponsorship of this bill.”

Dolores Huerta’s contributions to the betterment of the Latino community are invaluable. Along with Cesar Chavez and many other Latino activists, she improved the lives of millions of farm workers by empowering them to fight for their rights. She was a cofounder to the National Farm Workers Association, a precursor to the United Farm Workers.

To date, fifty-five representatives have signed on to co-sponsor the resolution. LULAC urges Congress to pass this resolution and commemorate the courageous contributions of Dolores Huerta and farm workers of the United States.

The League of the United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

Labels: labor rights

posted by Patricia Lopez at 11:48 PM 0 comments Links to this post

By Amanda Martinez, New American Media
October 26, 2007

The relief efforts in the Southern California fires have been praised as effective, but they've missed a population that has long been in the shadows: undocumented workers living along San Diego's hillsides and canyons. These men, who represent some of the most essential workers in one of the biggest local industries, have slipped through the cracks in the county's relief and evacuation efforts - so much so that Mexican government officials are filling in the gaps.

"The Mexican Consulate are the ones who have led the relief effort to the farm workers in the canyons," says Eddie Preciado, director of La Posada de Guadalupe, the only homeless shelter for male farm workers in San Diego County. He says the consulate has organized partnerships with groups like his in order to conduct searches and provide supplies to the canyon dwellers.

Immigrant advocacy groups are uncertain how these workers are surviving. They say the fires have left the workers scattered and unaccounted for. Evacuation orders have closed off access to these communities, making it very difficult for support teams to assess the population's needs and nearly impossible to determine how many living quarters have been destroyed in the fires.

The farm workers are hard to reach physically, living in the remote areas of the canyon, but they are also linguistically isolated. Many are members of Mexico's indigenous Mixtec and Zapotec communities and do not speak English or Spanish.

"Indigenous Mexicans who speak languages such as Mixteco are at high risk of being in danger because they don't understand warnings being given in English or Spanish and they are not likely to trust people unless they are approached speaking their language," says photojournalist David Bacon, who has documented farm worker communities in rural California.

It has been estimated that there are more than 1,600 agricultural workers and day laborers living in the area in makeshift settlements, according to the Regional Task Force on the Homeless in San Diego. This is probably a low estimate of those affected by the fires because it is impossible to know exactly how many workers live this way. Described as "rural homeless," they scrape by without electricity, a water supply, or sanitation systems in order to be close to the farms where they work.

These workers make up an essential agricultural labor force in San Diego County, which is one of the top agricultural producers in California and ranks second in the nation in its number of farms, according to the Regional Task Force on the Homeless.

Yet despite the industry's reliance on these laborers, they could be left out of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s relief aid because, without papers, they have very limited access to FEMA funds.

Konane Martinez of the National Latino Research Center anticipates that documentation will be a requirement for most federal government agencies providing relief in the area. As a result, Martinez is collaborating with 18 different organizations to collect money and resources for displaced farm workers looking for aid once the fires subside.

"I don't think anyone will be turned away from immediate assistance," says Dorothy Johnson, an attorney with California Legal Rural Assistance, which provides farm workers with legal support. And though no one has reported being denied help, many undocumented immigrants are not seeking aid because they do not know which rescue workers they can trust. Many see the risk of deportation as more dangerous than the fires themselves.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they avoided firefighters," says Bacon, adding that many undocumented workers are wary of law enforcement for fear of being detained or deported.

"Many of these workers have experienced intense situations of danger just to get into the United States," and earn money to send to their families back home, explains Bacon. They are willing to endure very harsh conditions, he says, to avoid being caught by Border Patrol or ICE agents.

The Spanish-language publication Enlace, in San Diego, reported on Monday that some farm workers have chosen to remain in the canyons despite warnings to evacuate because they do not want to leave.

Meanwhile some who do are not being allowed to leave. "Some farmers are not following evacuation orders and have kept workers in the fields despite orders being given to evacuate," says Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee.

But if they stay they should know that, as Ramirez explains, "the atmosphere conditions are not safe to be working in." His organization has been sending volunteers into the fields to supply farm workers with eye drops, facemasks and goggles.

Apparently unconcerned that the use of Border Patrol agents might discourage undocumented residents from seeking help, the San Diego County Office of Emergency Management called on the U.S. Border Patrol to help with the emergency relief efforts. Matthew Johnson says about 300 agents are now "watching for looters, monitoring affected neighborhoods and safety control" during the fire relief efforts.

Some agents were working alongside local police when six undocumented immigrants were arrested Wednesday outside of Qualcomm Stadium, one of the main fire relief sites.

Those arrested were reportedly seen stealing relief supplies consisting of fold-up cots and bottles of water from Qualcomm. Police Sgt. Jesse Cesena told the San Diego Union-Tribune that "they were stealing from the people in need." The police turned the immigrants over to Border Patrol agents.

Although they are busy with local relief efforts, Johnson says the Border Patrol is still watching the border. Since the start of the fires, he says, they have apprehended 200 immigrants trying to cross into the United States.

Ironically, Dr. Leo Estrada, professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, believes the undocumented workers shouldn't worry. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) won't be conducting raids anytime soon, he says.

In fact, he predicts, immigrant workers will be needed in reconstruction efforts after the fire. More than 410,000 acres of land have burned, and clean-up efforts will be critical. "With more than 1000 homes being demolished," he notes, "contractors will be looking to immigrant labor forces to demolish, cart away, and rebuild houses."

"We saw it New Orleans," says Estrada. Undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America were among the largest groups employed in rebuilding the city after Hurricane Katrina.

"At the time of reconstruction, nobody bothered them. It will be interesting to see," says Estrada. "They will be bringing back a labor force they have been trying to get rid of."

Photo by David Bacon

Labels: racism

posted by Patricia Lopez at 11:04 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Board Member Picked for Ombudsman, Praised for Commitment

By David Nakamura
Washington Post
Friday, October 26, 2007

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has selected a longtime school activist who serves on the D.C. State Board of Education to become the city's first public education ombudsman, a critical role in Fenty's plan to improve the troubled system.

Tonya Vidal Kinlow, 46, whose children have attended D.C. public schools, would be responsible for investigating and responding to complaints from parents and school employees, Fenty (D) said yesterday at a news conference.

Kinlow is "well regarded in the community, cognizant of education issues locally and nationally and brings a fervor and passion for reform," Fenty said at Leckie Elementary School in Southwest Washington.

Kinlow's appointment is subject to confirmation by the D.C. Council. If confirmed, she would start in December and be paid about $135,000 a year. She would be based in the city government building at 441 Fourth Street NW.

As part of his takeover of the 49,000-student school system, Fenty promised to appoint an ombudsman with the power to help parents resolve complaints, in part because the school board's role was being diminished. The mayor took months to fill the job.

Kinlow is vice president for government relations at the D.C. Hospital Association and was appointed by Fenty in the spring to serve as vice president of the new D.C. State Board of Education. She had previously served as an elected school board member, and she is the vice chairman of DC Voice, a school advocacy group.

Kinlow said she intends to resign from the hospital association and the school board. As ombudsman, she would be responsible for issuing monthly reports and suggesting policy changes to Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. She would have the authority to investigate all aspects of the system, Fenty said, including instruction and facilities. When parents file complaints, she will determine the validity of the complaints and respond.

Kinlow said she would act without fear of retribution from the mayor or chancellor.

"How I will maintain my independence is to just tell the truth," she said. "I asked the mayor to at least let me tell what I'm seeing: 'You are the one who will make the final decision, but I've got to lay out the picture of what the problem is.' "

Jeff Smith, director of DC Voice and a former D.C. school board member, said Kinlow knows firsthand the frustration of parents.

"She can be very aggressive for a positive cause, whatever she's trying to advance," Smith said. "She always sat at the table as a parent. . . . That led her to be so involved."

Of Fenty's five top education appointees, Kinlow is the only African American. She lives in Ward 8 and is among a handful of mayoral appointees who live east of the Anacostia River. Fenty has been criticized for not having more African Americans or more residents of the eastern part of the city among his top-ranking officials.

To select an ombudsman, Fenty aides said, they considered 80 resumes during a national search and brought in a half-dozen candidates for interviews. Kinlow did not initially apply. But when Robert C. Bobb, the school board president and a member of the ombudsman search committee, was unable to attend one interview session, Kinlow filled in for him.

Rhee, Bobb and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor A. Reinoso said they were so impressed by Kinlow's performance -- the questions she asked and the report she later gave to Bobb -- that they asked her to apply.

"She's a quiet revolutionary," Bobb said.

Labels: Parent Involvement

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:28 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Universities' cost big reason for more rapid growth at community colleges

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE | Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2007

Texas community colleges grew twice as rapidly as the state's public universities this fall, continuing an enrollment shift that coincides with rising tuition costs, according to preliminary numbers released Thursday.

The state's Higher Education Coordinating Board attributed 60 percent of the new enrollment to community colleges. Overall, 1,225,817 students are attending classes statewide, or 24,421 more than last year — a 2 percent increase.

The growth of community colleges has outpaced that of the four-year schools since the Legislature allowed public universities to set their own tuition rates four years ago.

"There is no question that cost is a factor," said Raymund Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner. "But it's not strictly an issue of economics. It's also, where is the best fit?"

Increasingly, that's community colleges, which now enroll 48 percent of students statewide while public universities enroll 41 percent.

More Texas students attended public universities than two-year schools until the middle 1990s.

The coordinating board projects that as much as 70 percent of Texas' higher education enrollment will be at community colleges by 2015.

The strains already can be seen throughout the fast-growing North Harris Montgomery Community College District. At Cy-Fair College, the district's five-year-old campus in the northwest suburbs, enrollment soared 10 percent to 11,826 students this fall.

Montgomery College, in The Woodlands, has seen its enrollment increase by 8 percent to 8,810 students. To handle the surge, the campus has added portable classrooms and used storage space for faculty offices.

"Everyone would rather go to a university," said Garrett Anderson, who plans to transfer from Montgomery College to a four-year school next year. "But you can do your basics here for a fraction of the cost."

The cost of attending the state's public universities has increased steadily since the Legislature deregulated tuition. Texans now pay an average of $6,437 a year at the four-year schools, compared with $6,185 nationally.

Meanwhile, Texas community colleges charge $1,695 on average, which is less than those in all but three other states and well below the national average.

Before tuition deregulation, Brazosport College charged about a third the average published price of the state's public universities. It's now about a fifth the cost, said Millicent Valek, the college's president.

"Most families in Texas are being priced out of higher education," said Valek, who also chairs the Texas Association of Community Colleges. "Beginning at a community college is becoming more and more common."

Hispanic students now account for more than half the new college students statewide.

A recent national report found that highly qualified Hispanic students often give cost, proximity to home and campus atmosphere priority over prestige in choosing their schools. Thus, they typically enroll first at community colleges.

Natalia Castillo, a 20-year-old Colombia native, said she chose Houston Community College to sharpen her English skills before pursuing an advertising degree elsewhere.

"I'm happy with my education," Castillo said. "HCC is a good school."

Its enrollment, however, declined 3 percent to 36,032 students this fall. This week, HCC launched a new marketing campaign and pledged to become the nation's "most relevant community college" by adding more academic programs, among other improvements.

According to 12th-day fall figures, enrollment increased at Prairie View A&M University, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. The University of Houston held at 34,540 students.

Texas Southern University, in Houston, saw enrollment decrease by 10 percent, most of any state public university, according to the coordinating board's figures. But school officials acknowledged a 15 percent drop. Many students left after the 12th day.

matthew.tresaugue@chron.com

Labels: higher education

posted by Patricia Lopez at 10:12 AM 0 comments Links to this post