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News Clips –
July 30 – August 6, 2004 STATE Poor, minority youths
narrow gap By Tracy Dell'Angela
and Ana Beatriz Cholo, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter
Grace Aduroja contributed to this report, Standardized test scores
for The statewide scores
released Thursday reversed some small losses last year and contributed
to a rise in many subjects and grades over the six years the Illinois
Standard Achievement Test has been given. Most encouraging, the
results showed a marked narrowing of the achievement gap between poor
and minority students and their wealthier white counterparts. Educators celebrated
numbers that suggest their hard-fought efforts to improve performance
among their most vulnerable students are finally starting to pay off--especially
among Latino grade-school students, most of whom are now passing reading
and math tests. "This is music
to our ears," said State schools Supt.
Robert Schiller said the results are a direct result of the federal
reform, which forced schools to be accountable for the achievement of
specific groups of students--black, Latino, special-education, low-income
and those with limited English skills. At least part of the
gains for Latino children, however, reflect a change in testing policy
that allowed about 7,600 students still struggling with English to take
the adapted IMAGE test instead of the ISATs. The news was not as
good at the state's high schools, where 11th-grade test scores have
stagnated in every subject since 2001 and passing rates for the Prairie
State Achievement Exams remain 10 percent lower than those on elementary
tests. Schiller said he is
also concerned by flat scores in social studies and a softening of the
8th-grade reading scores. He said he believes middle-school tracking,
which puts struggling students in less-demanding courses, eats away
at the improvements of minority children. The final tally of schools
considered to be failing under federal law will not be available until
next month, after schools review their data, Schiller said. Widespread
errors in last year's demographic data led to six months of confusion
after 400 schools mistakenly landed on the failing list. "Our schools are
on the move ... although we have a long way to go," Schiller said.
"It doesn't matter if [students] are black, Latino or low-income;
our schools are making a difference in their lives." The No Child Left Behind
reforms demand better results from low-achieving students and force
schools to pour more resources into educating them. These changes may have
paid off for the state's youngest Latino children, who improved over
four years in every grade and in every subject on the ISATs. For Latino 5th graders,
the percentage passing math tests jumped a whopping 26 percentage points--from
41 to 67 percent meeting or exceeding standards. Achievement gap narrows Even as white students
showed incremental improvement on that test, the gap between white and
Latino children who met or exceeded standards shrank from 37 percent
in 2001 to 15 percent in 2004. In 4th-grade science,
59 percent of Latino pupils passed, up from 48 percent the year before,
with the achievement gap narrowing from a 41 percent difference to 23
percent in five years. Administrators from
districts with the largest populations of Latino students--from They said the state's
decision to allow students in the fourth and fifth year of bilingual
programs to take IMAGE instead of the harder ISATs also boosted scores. In "All of us have
been working like crazy. We did after-school programs, summer school
... a variety of interventions," she said, adding that she puts
strong teachers in the testing grades. She said the relaxed rules for
English learners helped level the playing field and close the achievement
gap. "The ISAT is not
an appropriate test for English language learners," she said. Shelly Leonard, a principal
at Garfield Elementary in Seeking parental help "We are asking
parents to donate one hour a month in their children's classroom,"
Leonard said. "It's telling the child that the parents value what
they're doing." That kind of parental
connection is rare in the high schools, where educators have been wringing
their hands for years over dismal exam scores but can't seem to boost
performance or narrow the achievement gap. Schiller said stagnation
isn't surprising, given the difference between the state's standards
and what high school students are taught. In some schools, students
can advance to 11th grade without taking algebra or geometry--yet these
subjects are crucial to passing the state's math exam. At Some students skeptical Sica said she is not
a fan of the exam, and neither are the students. Motivating them to
take it seriously is difficult, she said. "The kids are invested
in the ACT [college entrance exam], but the PSAE for them is like nothing,"
Sica said. "It doesn't do anything for their grades. It doesn't
do anything for them to get into college." State Sen. Miguel del
Valle, a Chicago Democrat who has pushed schools to improve academic
opportunities for minority children, welcomed the promising scores but
warned that the problems facing high-poverty schools remain daunting.
He said these schools still don't have enough top-notch teachers, although
he has seen an improvement in how much teachers demand from their minority
students. "Expectations are
higher today because of all the testing we do," he said. "It's
helped create a climate where teachers go into a classroom and know
that these kids can achieve." Hispanic students lead gains in reading, math BY ROSALIND ROSSI, Sun-Times
Education Reporter, Almost every grade showed
statewide gains this year in reading and math -- the two subjects under
increased pressure due to the new federal No Child Left Behind law,
new data released Thursday showed. To a large degree, Hispanics
fueled the increases, posting generally bigger gains than blacks or
whites on state tests taken in April. "We are particularly
encouraged not only at how well our students are doing, but to the extent
that the achievement gap . . . is narrowing,'' state Education Supt.
Robert Schiller said in releasing preliminary results of the Illinois
Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement
Exams (PSAE). However, Schiller said
he was disappointed with paltry high school results and concerned that
social science scores were down in two of three grades tested, just
as state budget cutbacks are triggering the discontinuation of next
year's state social science and writing tests. "I just hope that
schools will put an emphasis on an area that is not showing growth,''
Schiller said. But, he cautioned, "The reality is, in tough fiscal
times, what you measure is what you get.'' The increased pressure
of the No Child Left Behind law, Schiller theorized, was a "contributing
factor'' to this year's gains, along with a statewide call for schools
to match their curriculum to the learning standards that are tested
on ISAT elementary-grade tests and PSAE high school ones. For the last two years
under the federal law, schools have faced sanctions if their reading
and math scores didn't hit a certain level both schoolwide and among
a subgroups of students, ranging from blacks and Hispanics to special
education and low-income ones. Preliminary results
showed that across But generally, the trend
was sweeping upward from last year among all races. Some Hispanic gains
were huge, such as a jump of 11.7 percentage points in fifth-grade math
and of 10.7 points in fourth-grade science. Statewide, among 18
tests taken, the only downturn was in 11th-grade math, which dipped
fractionally, and in fourth- and seventh-grade social science. "I can't remember
a year when there's been so many gains,'' said Barbara Radner, director
of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education and member of a state
No Child Left Behind task force. "The only place where we seem
to be slipping is social studies, and they are dumping [tests in] it." "No Child Left
Behind tells schools to do a better job or we'll shut you down,'' said
Radner, who has been an NCLB critic. "They got the message.'' However, John Easton,
co-director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research, was less ready
to credit the federal law. He noted that state
math scores have been going up steadily for years, long before NCLB.
And, he said, in "I don't think
the spotlight of No Child Left Behind is meaningless, but I would be
much less willing to attribute one year of improvements to a law where
there is no reason to believe there's a direct cause for improvements,''
Easton said. Chicago Public Schools
CEO Arne Duncan said "The fact that
the state is up and the achievement gap is closing is music to my ears,''
But statewide, the achievement
gap was still a reality, with only 39 percent of African-American students
passing state tests in the critical subject of third-grade reading,
compared with 46 percent of low-income students, 56 percent of Hispanic
ones and 77 percent of whites. Taking the long view,
over the last four to six years, Schiller said he was concerned that
high school scores were mostly flat and that the pace of growth in some
middle-grade subjects was "soft.'' In middle grades, Schiller said,
more schools may be allowing students to choose watered-down versions
of some classes, and some kids who are routed into lower-level skill
groups may not face enough rigor. In other news, the state
board released final data on more than 800 schools that asked for verification
of whether they met adequate yearly progress under the federal law last
year. A total of 1,239 schools failed to do so, or 32.4 percent, down
from the 1,688, or 43 percent, originally estimated in November. In
most cases, schools' coding errors involving subgroups of students had
led to initially inaccurate school counts that took $300,000 and six
months to straighten out, officials said. Illinois school results positive By CARRIE WATTERS, Rockford
Register Star, 7/30/04 ROCKFORD -- Illinois
students are performing better on state tests, including minorities
who are narrowing the gap between them and their white peers, according
to 2004 results released Thursday by the State Board of Education. The reality is, Illinois
school personnel will have to take a deep breath and work harder to
meet or keep meeting goals set under the No Child Left Behind Act. The
federal law forces schools to improve or face sanctions. By 2014, 100 percent
of students are expected to meet the expectations outlined by individual
states. Districts are judged
on overall performance and the performance of such individual groups
as Hispanic, black and low-income students. Individual results were
sent to districts this week. Local officials have until Aug. 21 to protest
any errors. In coming weeks, the state will announce which schools did
not make adequate progress in 2004. If a school fails to improve over
three consecutive years, it must offer students the option to transfer
to a better school. A district's full report
details are shared on report cards issued in the fall. Belvidere Superintendent
Don Schlomann got his first look at his district's results on Wednesday.
Belvidere followed the statewide trend of improvement and outpaced statewide
results in eighth-grade reading and math. Schlomann hasn't yet
reviewed minority-student performance but said he expects improvement.
He said the district has tweaked programs for Hispanic students and,
in general, everyone is more aware of the glaring gap. "It's just
like everything else. You pay attention to what you measure." The growing district
in Boone County has a 20 percent Hispanic population. Schlomann said the district
has moved away from focusing just on language skills for non-English
speakers to a bilingual approach that teaches language in English and
content in Spanish. Statewide, math and
reading scores increased for black students, but the biggest jump was
among Hispanic students. "All students can
learn at significantly higher levels," state Superintendent Robert
Schiller said in a teleconference. "It makes no difference whether
they're Latino, white, black or low-income. Our schools are making a
difference in their lives dramatically." The gap between fifth-grade
Hispanic and white students narrowed by 10.5 percent in math and nearly
10 percent in reading. That translates to fewer
than six in 10 Hispanic fifth-graders meeting math standards, compared
with seven in 10 white fifth-graders. In reading, fewer than
four in 10 Hispanic fifth-graders meet reading standards, compared with
six in 10 white fifth-graders. The gap between black
and white students remains strong despite progress this year. Black
students narrowed the gap between them and their white peers by 4 percent
in third-grade math. Still, that translates
to black third-graders performing half as well as their white counterparts.
Four in 10 black students meet third-grade math standards, compared
with nearly eight in 10 white students. Rockford Superintendent
Dennis Thompson said that gap would be even more stark if test data
separated black females from black males. Thompson said the alarming
lag in black males' performance is a top concern. Thompson and Schlomann
say local schools must be sure their curriculum is in line with what
the state expects students to know on standardized tests each spring.
Teachers in Belvidere
spent much of the past school year looking at what topics are taught
and when. "You don't want students taking the test and then teaching
something they needed to know the next month," Schlomann said.
Thompson has repeatedly
talked in recent weeks of Rockford's "curriculum problem."
He says state standards are vague and Rockford teachers are uncertain
where to focus. Martha Hayes, chief
instructional officer, has created specific curriculum goals for math,
science and reading. Hayes will present a full report on the district's
curriculum to the board Aug. 10. Teachers will be told
what to teach, and they decide how to convey the information, Thompson
said. Clear expectations of what to teach is how students do better
on state tests. A glitch in Rockford
because of an agreement with the teachers union is that administrators
cannot require teachers to refer to state standards on their lesson
plans unless a committee of teachers agrees. That leaves administrators
few tools for ensuring that standards make it into the classroom. Around the state, Schiller
said, districts are "on the move." Districts will need
to be ready for the climb ahead. Schools must have 40 percent of their
students pass reading and math standards to make adequate progress and
avoid sanctions. No Child Left Behind
is a catalyst for that mark to climb steeply to be at the 100 percent
passage mark in 2014. Next year, 47.5 percent
of students must pass the state tests for schools to avoid sanctions.
That leaps to 77.5 percent
in 2010. Partial funding OK'd for state scholarships Daily Southtown Editorial,
July 30, 2004 As part of the long-delayed
state budget agreement, the General Assembly persuaded Gov. Rod Blagojevich
to retain partial funding for the prestigious Golden Apple scholarship
program. Blagojevich had proposed
scrapping the entire program in order to save about $4 million next
year. The governor wanted to end the program immediately, which would
have eliminated the $5,000 annual scholarships for about 400 college
students. In the final budget
plan, the lawmakers and the governor agreed to cut funding for the Golden
Apple program from $3.8 million to $2.9 million. Meanwhile, Blagojevich
signed into law last week a bill creating the "Grow Your Own Teacher
Act," which is supposed to accomplish some of the same goals as
the Golden Apple program. Both are aimed at training new teachers who
are committed to working in schools where most students are from low-income
families or score below average on standardized tests. The Golden Apple
scholars are required to make a five-year commitment to teach at such
a school. The new program is designed to train teacher aides or community
residents to teach at schools where they currently work or volunteer
their time. One of the biggest problems
at poorly performing schools is keeping teachers after they get some
experience. The Golden Apple program was designed specifically to address
that problem. As we've said before,
we found it peculiar that the governor wanted to eliminate a program
that had a good and improving record. Over the past seven years, 94
percent of the Golden Apple scholars had completed their degrees, and
89 percent of them stayed in teaching for at least five years. We're glad to hear that
most of the funding for the program will be retained, but we think the
Golden Apple scholarships are money well invested. Expanding the program
would have made better public-policy sense. Teacher
standards ease amid reforms States roll back licensing
rules Diane Rado, Chicago
Tribune A landmark federal law
designed to raise standards for teachers may be having the opposite
effect, as Illinois and at least a dozen other states have rolled back
teacher licensing requirements. A little-noticed Illinois
law, signed this summer, eliminated mandatory exams for most out-of-state
teachers coming here and weakened requirements for novice teachers trying
to upgrade their licenses. At least a half-dozen
other states have relaxed rules for out-of-state teachers in the last
year. Since 2002 Virginia, Maryland and New Hampshire have made it easier
for teachers to pass a basic-skills test. Pennsylvania gave up on requiring
a new test for middle school teachers when too many of them flunked. Education officials
say they are simply reducing red tape and addressing teacher shortages.
In some states, including Illinois, officials insist standards have
not been lowered, despite the reduced requirements. But as pressure bears
down from the federal government to put a "highly qualified"
teacher in every classroom--a mandate of the landmark No Child Left
Behind reforms--the relaxed rules are making it easier for states to
meet the letter of the law, if not always the spirit. Along with the better
known provisions of No Child Left Behind related to testing and student
choice, the federal legislation requires all English, math, science
and other core academic teachers to be "highly qualified"
by spring 2006. But the law left it
up to states to set the standards for who is highly qualified, using
their own certification processes. "I think what we're
seeing is the fallout of No Child Left Behind, where the pressure is
on to have a highly qualified teacher," said Roy Einreinhofer,
executive director of the National Association of State Directors of
Teacher Education and Certification. "Right now it is a matter
of getting a warm body that has passed every standard into the classroom." The federal law says
that teachers must hold a bachelor's degree from a four-year institution,
be fully certified and demonstrate competency in subject areas through
rigorous testing or extensive college work. By that standard, schools
have a long way to go. A rough estimate by the U.S. Department of Education
last year showed only 54 percent of the nation's middle and high school
teachers were highly qualified during the 1999-2000 school year, the
last for which nationwide data were available. The Illinois State Board
of Education last year determined that 76 percent of teachers in Illinois
were highly qualified. That success was amplified by the fact that Illinois
had created some of the more stringent requirements for teacher certification
in recent years. Illinois' standards
high In 2001 the state raised
standards on its basic-skills test, requiring teachers to achieve a
college-sophomore level composite score to pass the test. Most basic-skills
tests in other states are at the 10th- or 11th-grade level. Because Illinois has
higher standards, it required out-of-state teachers to take the basic-skills
test here, even if they had passed tests in their state. But the law that took
effect July 1 eliminates the basic-skills test requirement for the vast
majority of out-of-state teachers, as well as a subject-area testing
requirement. The change was nestled
inside a bill described as "teacher insurance legislation"
when Gov. Rod Blagojevich quietly signed it at the end of June. Also included in the
bill were other changes to teacher certification programs that were
quietly negotiated this spring by state schools Supt. Robert Schiller,
key lawmakers, the state's teacher unions and several other groups. The new law eases the
requirements new teachers must complete by their fourth year. One of
the options for a "standard certificate" was attaining a master's
degree; now a teacher can meet that requirement with 12 semester-hours
of graduate study. Another option, taking part in a two-year mentoring
program, was replaced with one year of mentoring by a veteran teacher,
at least until 2007. Schiller acknowledged
that a two-year mentoring program would be better, but districts can't
afford it. "The state has
not ponied up any money for the mentoring and that's the reality,"
he said. Overall, however, Schiller
said he did not consider the new law a lowering of standards. Pennsylvania is another
state struggling to find the right balance between establishing high
standards and getting enough teachers certified. Pennsylvania had been
praised by the federal government for raising standards for college-level
teacher training in 1999. And in 2002, state officials adopted the federal
call for rigorous testing, requiring most middle school teachers to
demonstrate expertise in their subject areas. But after many teachers
failed, including about half of Philadelphia's 7th- and 8th-grade teachers,
state education officials designed a program that will allow teachers
to be considered highly qualified this fall without taking a test. That made the teachers
happy, said Kevin Corcoran, who oversees certification for the Pennsylvania
Education Department. "They've been teaching
for so long that they feel that it's sort of an insult to require them
to take a test," he said. Still, Philadelphia
officials under former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas say they want
teachers to continue taking the test "because folks are now thinking
this is watering down the requirements," said Tomas Hanna, the
city's chief teacher recruiter. Similarly, federal officials
applauded Virginia for setting the highest standard in the country for
passing the required Praxis basic-skills tests in reading, writing and
math. But now the state is
considering lowering the passing score for those tests, in part because
of teacher complaints, said Thomas Elliott, who oversees Virginia teacher
licensing. Since April 2002, Virginia
has allowed teachers to pass the tests with a "composite"
score across all three exams rather than requiring a passing score for
each test. The scoring method can be the difference between passing
and flunking for teachers who are weak in a particular subject. Maryland started using
the composite method in July 2002. New Hampshire, Florida, Georgia,
Nevada, West Virginia and Missouri reduced the requirements for teachers
moving from out of state. And while changes in Illinois teacher certification
went almost unnoticed, North Carolina's decision in January to eliminate
subject-area testing for many out-of-state teachers sparked public controversy. A top federal education
official was reluctant to judge the changes states are making. The state actions "might
be a way to make the standards more fair," said Ray Simon, assistant
secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department
of Education. "We don't want standards lowered, but we do want
fair standards and we want the best teacher in front of every child
in the United States." Risk of lowering bar But a 2002 report by
the U.S. Department of Education warned, "There is a risk, though,
that states could meet the letter of the No Child Left Behind Act and
keep their academic standards for future teachers quite low." "Some might even
be tempted to lower the academic bar (if that is possible) out of fear
of impending teacher shortages," the report continued. "This
would be an enormous mistake, with disastrous consequences for children." Some state certification
officials say No Child Left Behind is partly to blame for weakened standards
because its requirements are not always as strict as state rules. For example, West Virginia
officials are reconsidering a requirement that reading teachers working
mostly with poor children attain a master's degree. The federal law
would allow those teachers to be called highly qualified with a bachelor's
degree, and lawmakers are loath to impose any additional requirements
that would cost the state extra money. No Child Left Behind
also encourages alternate routes to licensing that allow professionals
with special expertise -- such as chemists or physicists -- to move
into the classroom. But a new online certification
program paid for in part by the U.S. Department of Education has alarmed
some educators. The American Board for
Certification Excellence in Washington gives "Passport to Teaching"
certification to candidates who pay $500, pass the computer exam, hold
a bachelor's degree and pass a criminal background check. The program would circumvent
requirements for teacher training and classroom experience and is designed
for nationwide recognition without regard to states' individual requirements. "That's considered,
among people in our profession, pretty shaky," said Mike Lucas,
director of educator preparation at the Missouri Department of Education. Officials in Pennsylvania,
Idaho and Florida have approved use of the computer exam, and New Hampshire
education officials voted in June to accept it as well. Randy Thompson, a former
Idaho education official who recently joined the American Board for
Certification of Teacher Excellence as a vice president, said the group's
testing is rigorous. He said criticism of the program is coming from
"existing groups who have a vested interest in the certification
process they control." Students
will pay while the state saves Edwardsville Intelligencer
Illinois state politicians
have, once again, proven that there is no link between a campaign promise
and a legislative vote. We say that because
we seriously doubt any politician ever conducted an anti-education campaign.
So, assuming that our
elected officials are strong supporters of kids and schools, we have
to wonder why they would cut state writing and social studies exams.
As part of the $45.5
billion state budget approved last weekend, legislators agreed to save
$6.3 million by cutting the two state tests. That, then, means Illinois
students will only be tested in reading, math and science. Those are
the only subjects mandated by President Bush's No Child Left Behind
program. We've gone on record
before as saying we believe too much attention is paid to standardized
tests and their scores. Politicians, in their
effort to be supporters of education, have demanded accountability.
And that means test scores. A pretty sharp focus
is placed not only on the subjects students will be tested on, but on
preparing those students for the tests themselves. We know, already, that
grammar isn't emphasized the way it once was. Why? It's not part of
a standardized test. Sure, we could kid ourselves
and say our schools will still offer the same amount of instruction
in reading and social studies as they have in the past, but we know
that's not likely to happen. We have to agree with
Urbana principal Becky McCabe who said the emphasis on writing and social
studies will wane. "I hate to say
this, but you treasure what you measure," McCabe told the Associated
Press. Remember, politicians
want accountability and that means test scores. In a perfect world,
a basic, yet broad, curriculum would be taught and we would judge our
schools not on standardized test scores but on what their students are
doing five years after graduation. We can't have our way
and the schools, unfortunately, don't have the money to have theirs.
Property taxes only
foot so much of the bill and then we become dependent on the state.
Some of us were lucky.
We were taught the Three Rs -- reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic. With last weekend's
budget cut, students will eventually be limited to just two. Web site sheds new light on schools Zhanda Malone, Edwardsville
Intelligencer, 8/02/2004 The Illinois State Board
of Education unveiled a new area of its Web site Thursday, providing
parents and educators a place to review their school's updated school
status. The new Web site addition
follows a six-month data verification process of 2003 State Assessment
data. More than 800 schools
applied for verification, and of that amount 720 schools did make changes.
In the end, 448 schools saw their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status
change for the better. The verification process also decreased initial
estimates of 1,688 schools failing to make AYP in 2003 to 1,239. "This was an arduous
process," State Superintendent of Education Robert Schiller said.
"Last year, we saw the stakes raised because the No Child Left
Behind Act required that schools make Adequate Yearly Progress in each
student subgroup. Unfortunately, many of the numbers didn't add up and
the ramifications could have continued for years to come if the schools
didn't check that their data reflected all of their students being both
tested and correctly represented." The process began in
January and ended this last month, when the Illinois State Board of
Education sent schools their final AYP status and revised the AYP page
from their report card. ISBE held off on releasing the Web site, until
all affected schools had time to review their revised AYP information.
Several of those schools
have contacted the ISBE wanting to make addition corrections to the
2003 assessment information, but the information is now final. Schools
that did participate in the data verification process signed assurances
that the information was accurate, and that no further revisions would
be permitted. Updated Report Cards for the 720 schools will not be available
until the 2003 Report cards are completed this fall. The process to
date has cost $300,000. "I think it's fair
to say that there have been growing pains along the way," Schiller
said. "But with high standards under NCLB there is greater accountability
and we have to make sure that the information that schools submit is
correct." The Illinois State Board
of Eduction conducted workshops statewide to ensure that all schools
file assessment information properly. In 2003, many schools did not
have their enrollment information match their test participation data
and consequently say their AYP status was negatively affected. "We are currently
working with districts as they continue to review their 2004 assessment
information, and will do what we can to make sure that this does not
happen again next year." Writing, social studies need continued emphasis Rockford Register Star
Editorial, 8/3/04 There's an old saying
about character being doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Well, starting next
year nobody will be looking over the shoulders of Illinois' public school
districts to make sure that they are doing the right thing in teaching
writing and social studies. The Illinois State Board
of Education will no longer test children in those areas because of
budget constraints. The state will continue to test kids and rate districts
based on performance in math, reading and science. Testing in those
three areas is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Considering the punitive
measures that are built into the federal law for districts that don't
perform, it's easy to see why the state pulled the plug on testing in
the other subjects. There will be a natural
temptation for local districts to concentrate their efforts on the tested
subjects to boost those scores. We hope they don't.
Writing and the ability to communicate are essential to success in any
field young people choose to enter. So is an understanding of the world
and our place in it. Imagine a curriculum without history, government,
economics, geography, cultures, current events, holidays, religions,
languages, archaeology. It is impossible to imagine a curriculum that
does not teach children how to put their thoughts together in a coherent,
meaningful way. Of course, districts
will continue to teach writing and social studies because standards
are built into state and local curriculum. These subjects won't go out
the window, but let us not lower the bar. Districts need to keep
pushing for better student performance in writing and social studies,
just as they will in the measured areas. Meanwhile, efforts to
improve student performance seem to be working statewide. According
to test results the state board released Thursday, scores are up and
minority students are narrowing the gap between themselves and white
students. No local scores have
been released yet, but we hope the statewide gains are mirrored in the
Rock River Valley. The state results this
year showed gains in writing and a slight decrease in social studies
scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Next year, nobody
will be looking. Mandatory school attendance hiked to 17 to curb dropouts By Diane Rado, Tribune
staff reporter, August 4, 2004 For the first time since
the early 1900s, Illinois has extended the number of years students
must attend school--to age 17 instead of 16--as part of a package of
new laws aimed at reducing dropout rates, particularly for minority
students. Gov. Rod Blagojevich
signed the new compulsory-school-attendance law and other dropout-prevention
legislation Tuesday, including new truancy-enforcement measures and
a better system to track students who drop out. "The dropout rate
in Illinois is alarming," the governor said in a written statement.
"By signing these new laws, we will hold schools more accountable
to their struggling students, hopefully leading to more students staying
in school." A 2003 analysis of state
data showed that more than 25 percent of black male students dropped
out of Chicago public high schools in 2001-2002, and the city's overall
dropout rate was 17.6 percent. Critics say the problem
had been exacerbated by state law, which allowed high schools to "disenroll"
students age 16 or older if they had dropped out and couldn't be expected
to graduate by their 21st birthday. The new law, effective Jan. 1, prohibits
that practice until the student is at least 17. "No school will
be able to turn away a kid, because he's legally required to be there,"
said William Leavy, executive director of the Greater West Town Community
Development Project, a non-profit group that did the 2003 dropout analysis. Sen. Miguel del Valle
(D-Chicago), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, sponsored the
compulsory-school legislation and other dropout-prevention measures. "I think that for
too long, it has been just too easy for schools to say to students who
had attendance problems or were doing poorly academically or fell behind
in their freshman year ..., `You're 16 now, you can always go do something
else,'" del Valle said Tuesday. Under the new law, a
student will have to stay in school until at least 17, even if it's
an alternative program rather than a traditional classroom. The law
outlines acceptable alternatives, called "graduation incentives,"
such as job training or adult-education courses. "What this law
says is that you cannot give up on these students. They have to be in
some kind of program," del Valle said. Changing the compulsory
attendance age to 17 is significant in itself, state education officials
said, because Illinois law has allowed students to drop out at 16 since
at least 1923, and possibly earlier. The compulsory age was increased
to 16 sometime between 1906 and 1923. State Schools Supt.
Robert Schiller said it was time for a change. "What's good for
the early 20th Century is not what's good for the 21st Century,"
he said. Illinois should even consider changing the required starting
age for school, which is currently 7, he said. Twenty-eight states
or jurisdictions still allow students to drop out at 16. Nine allow
it at 17, and another 17 states have made it 18, according to the Education
Commission of the States, which tracks education policy issues across
the country. The group's figures include the District of Columbia and
U.S. territories. Under the new Illinois
laws, state education officials will be required to set up a more accurate
system of tracking students and calculating dropout rates. For example,
to ensure that students who transfer between schools are not counted
as dropouts, a process will be set up for the students' new school or
district to notify the previous school of the transfer. The new laws also require
chronically truant students to do 20 to 40 hours of community service,
following a hearing and several notices to the student's parent or guardian.
Under truancy laws in effect, whoever has custody or control over a
student is responsible for ensuring he or she is in school, and in the
worst cases they can be prosecuted for not complying with the law. Another measure signed
into law Tuesday requires most high-school students to take the state's
Prairie State Achievement Examination in order to receive their diplomas.
The test for juniors includes the ACT college entrance exam. The Tribune reported
late last year that some schools have been restricting some low-performing
students from taking the test--an effort, critics said, to boost school
test scores. The new law does not require students to pass the test,
only to take it. Final-year school bonuses should be halted in Illinois Pantagraph Editorial,
8/4/04 We often hear school
board members complaining about states demanding things of them without
providing the money. But seldom do we hear
about the growing unfunded mandate many school districts are placing
on taxpayers. The issue involves up
to 20 percent increases many districts, including those in Bloomington-Normal,
are giving their teachers in their final year of teaching. The pay increase
comes from the districts' pockets. But a one-year, 20 percent increase
for a teacher with at least 10 years of service results in approximately
a 5 percent increase in that teacher's pension for life, a cost shared
by all taxpayers. As a result, John Bauman,
executive director of the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, said
the state's portion of teachers' pension funding has been growing in
recent years. "The cost has been greater than we expected. We'll
be watching it." Bauman said the final-year
boosts are fairly recent developments. He said they began in the northern
part of the state for school superintendents. The trend flowed south
through the state for administrators and then began anew in the north
with teachers in large school districts . "Now it's migrating south
again," said Bauman. "I can't say it is everywhere, but we're
seeing it more and more in smaller districts." Bauman said the final-year
boosts are now creeping into teacher contracts. Teachers pay 9 percent
of their salaries into the TRS. State taxes are supposed to match that
amount. However, the state's share was about 13 percent in fiscal year
2003 and would have been close to 15 percent this fiscal year if not
for extra income from the state's $10 billion, 30-year pension bond
issue. Even with money from that bond issue, the state's share of teachers'
pensions was 11.76 percent, Bauman said. Teacher pensions are
based on the highest four years of their final 10 years. Therefore,
a 20 percent boost the final year means about a 5 percent annual pension
increase for a lifetime. The average pension
for the 64,700 teachers on retirement at the end of fiscal year 2003
was $32,000 a year. For teachers who retired during fiscal year 2003,
the average pension was $42,000, according to Bauman. Teachers do not
receive Social Security pensions from their teaching jobs. There are two reasons
school boards usually cite for giving the final-year bonuses: 1. As
an incentive to teachers near retirement to go ahead and retire, which
often means the school districts wind up not replacing the teacher or
hiring a new teacher for much less money. 2. To correct past under-compensation. The reasoning is hard
to argue, but local generosity should not cost taxpayers throughout
the state. What the school boards
are doing is passing future liabilities off on the Teachers Retirement
System, which has to be subsidized by state taxes. If legislators don't
want to interfere with local boards' generosity to their administrators
and teachers, the least lawmakers should do is amend the law to say
such bonuses will not count toward pensions. Schools
to get more state bucks Sara Loeb, Winchester
Sun It's not a lot more
money, but north suburban school districts will see a slight hike in
state funding during the 2004-05 fiscal year. Most local school districts
receive less than 5 percent of their total revenue from state aid. But administrators said
they're grateful Illinois legislators provided more money to fund grants
for state-mandated special education programs, as well as bilingual
and transportation programs. "We had expected
to get hit some, so it was a pleasant surprise to have the paperwork
come out and show we had an increase," said Tim Metling, business
manager for Northbrook's School District 28. Metling's district saw
an increase of about $57,000 in state funding, bringing total state
aid to just over $1 million for the 2004-05 fiscal year. That's about
2 percent of the district's $27.1 million budget. Extra money split The $43 billion Illinois
state budget approved July 24 increases education funding by $389 million.
That's more than many school district officials expected but less than
the $610 million increase proposed in February by Robert Schiller, Illinois
superintendent of education. Schiller also recommended
that the General Assembly restore $19 million for gifted education grants,
but no money is in the budget for those programs. After wrangling for
nearly two months beyond their constitutional deadline, lawmakers settled
on a $237 million increase in general state aid, hiking per-pupil spending
by $154, according to estimates by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The bulk of the new
money will go to reimburse districts for state-required programs at
an average of 96.6 percent of total costs for special education staff
and private tuition, as well as general transportation and vocational
programs. State grants for early
childhood education will receive an additional $29.6 million in funding
for the 2004-05 fiscal year. Slighted areas But funding for reading
improvement programs will drop by about $3.1 million statewide, while
technology subsidies are expected to fall by $5.7 million. And no grants will be
made for programs for gifted students. The per-pupil spending
increase doesn't necessarily translate to more money for students in
school districts with relatively high property values. General state
aid is allocated on a sliding scale, based on a district's enrollment,
total equalized assessed valuation and percentage of low-income students.
State aid falls Some local districts
will actually see their general state aid drop slightly for the coming
fiscal year. But "hold harmless" funds from the state will
bridge the gap to keep districts from actually receiving less money
than they did the previous year, said Karen Craven, Illinois State Board
of Education spokeswoman. During budget negotiations,
Northbrook/Glenview School District 30 Superintendent Harry Rossi appeared
at two press conferences with his urban and rural peers to urge legislators
to divide the overall funding increase for education between general
aid and grants, so affluent as well as less well-heeled districts would
stand to benefit. "The best news
that came out of it for suburban schools is that all of the money didn't
go into general state aid," Rossi said Tuesday. "We would
have hoped to have gotten more, but all in all, given the very, very
contentious environment under which this (budget negotiations) took
place, we came out as well as we could have." Rossi credited local
legislators -- including Illinois State Reps. Elaine Nekritz, D-57th,
of Northbrook and Beth Coulson, R-17th, of Glenview, and state Sen.
Susan Garrett, D-29th, of Lake Forest, for urging that some grants be
funded, even though Gov. Rod Blagojevich was pushing to dedicate all
new money for education to state aid. Rossi's district is
expecting to receive $24,411 more in grant money than it did during
the 2003-04 fiscal year. Several administrators
said their main concern was that the state continue funding grants for
programs with increasing costs. "As long as it
stays where it is, and doesn't get any worse, we're satisfied,"
said Craig Schilling, assistant superintendent for business affairs
in Glenbrook High School District 225. Schilling noted that
while his district will receive $282,579 more in total state funds,
including $166,587 in additional grant money, the district's costs are
also on the rise. Special education expenses, for example, are expected
to increase by about 9 percent over what was budgeted for the 2003-04
fiscal year. Teachers chart course
for holistic charter school Virginia Gerst, Chicago
Tribune A year before Mayor
Richard Daley announced his Renaissance 2010 plan to improve Chicago's
educational system, two young teachers, Allison Slade and Katie Graves,
were hammering out details of their own program to boost academic achievement. Slade, 28, and Graves,
30, are the founders of Namaste, a charter school that takes a holistic
approach to education by focusing on physical exercise and diet along
with the ABCs. It opens Aug. 30 at 3540 S. Hermitage Ave. in Chicago's
McKinley Park neighborhood. "It's been amazing
to watch them," says Brian Hays, an associate attorney at Lord,
Bissell and Brook and president of the Namaste board. "They've
taken an idea they talked about sitting around in a coffee shop and
turned it into professional organization." In just three months,
Slade and Graves formulated a detailed plan for their school, recruited
a board of directors, nailed down a location, prepared a proposal, and
made a presentation to the Chicago Board of Education's seven-member
evaluation team. They so impressed the
group that Namaste (pronounced na-ma-STAY) was one of only two schools--out
of 25 applicants--granted charters for 2004-2005. (The Chicago Mathematics
and Science Academy Charter School was the other.) Charter schools are
independent public schools organized by outside organizations but monitored
by the school district in which they are chartered. They must comply
with the same state-mandated regulations as traditional public schools
and their students take the same standardized tests, but charter schools
have the flexibility to emphasize specific areas of learning and to
offer alternative scheduling of the school day and year. Tuition is
free. "We were up against
some very organized groups: large non-profit organizations, existing
schools--people that had a real infrastructure and multimillion-dollar
endowments," Slade said during breakfast recently at a Lincoln
Park coffee shop. Slade is a Northbrook
native and graduate of Glenbrook North High School and Washington University
in St. Louis. Graves grew up in Mt. Prospect and is an alumna of Prospect
High School and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. They met in 1993 in
Houston, where they were volunteers in Teach for America, an organization
that recruits recent college graduates to work in disadvantaged school
systems. They reconnected in Chicago after both finished their two-year
stints. "Katie recruited
me for her volleyball team," recalled Slade, who was studying for
a master's degree in education policy at the University of Chicago as
a McCormick Tribune Fellow and working full time for the university's
Center for School Improvement (now the Center for Urban School Improvement). "We would have
dinner together with other teacher friends and the topic of conversation
most frequently would come back to what was missing from our schools,"
said Graves, a 1st-grade teacher at Fairview Elementary School in Mt.
Prospect at the time. "Being young, excited, and committed to kids
and education, we thought we could bring together some better ideas
and programs to make a difference." Slade, Graves and C.
Allison Jack, another Teach for America veteran who has since joined
the Namaste board, met at the end of June 2003 in the kitchen of Jack's
North Side apartment to put their ideas in writing. They drafted a proposal
outlining their mission in a single night. Health, fitness and
nutrition Based on their classroom
experience, and drawing on research that shows that healthy, active
students perform better, they agreed that many of the problems in the
Chicago Public Schools are rooted in sugar-loaded diets and a lack of
physical exercise during the school day. Their dream school integrated
health, physical fitness, and nutrition into a rigorous academic curriculum
and called for on-going teacher training and strong parental involvement.
They called it Namaste, a Hindi greeting that translates into "my
inner light salutes your inner light." Slade, who described
herself as "decisive, quick-thinking and determined to move ahead
despite obstacles," would be Namaste's principal and director of
instruction. Graves, ("a processor" who "takes time to
look at a situation and evaluate it from different angles," said
Slade), was named director of operations, in charge of scheduling, materials,
and purchasing. The proposal was easy.
The charter school application was not. It contained a daunting 69 questions.
"You have to articulate literally everything you have in place,
and are going to have in place," Slade said. "It was overwhelming." It also was due back
at the Board of Education by Oct. 10. Realizing they needed
help, the women spent July and August recruiting a board of directors.
They called friends. They called friends of friends. "Everyone
you meet has a connection you can use," Slade said. "We looked for
different skill sets," she explained. "We had a core of educators,
but we also needed people in the law, finance, real estate, public relations,
and fundraising." Few rejected their requests
for help. "The passion that
they have for educating children comes across and garners confidence
with both potential board members and funders," said board president
Hays, another Teach for America veteran who first worked with Slade
and Graves coordinating training seminars for Teach for America recruits
in Chicago. "I knew their school would be great, and I wanted to
be involved." The group met Saturday
mornings in members' homes to refine the curriculum, set policies, and
discuss challenges such as finding a rental site for their school. "People
who own buildings are skeptical of people with no [business] background,"
Slade said. Slade, at home in Chicago,
and Graves, in Massachusetts completing her master's degree in school
leadership at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, spoke by telephone
for two hours every Sunday night. One minute under deadline They decided that the
coeducational school would open initially with two kindergarten and
two 1st-grade classes, and add kindergartens each year until Namaste
reaches its desired K through 8 configuration. Breakfast and lunch would
be served, and the school day would last for 6 1/2 hours to provide
time for physical activity. Because studies show that students tend
to lose knowledge over the summer months, Namaste would run year-round,
with one month off in every three. Cultural enrichment programs would
be offered during vacations. The document was due
at 5 p.m. They turned in their 350-page proposal at 4:59 p.m. Two months and two public
hearings later, Namaste had its charter. "They had clear
plans and a depth of detail," says Kathleen Clarke, accountability
coordinator for Chicago Public Schools Charter Schools Office and a
member of the evaluation team that said yes to Namaste and no to groups
from the YMCA, the Boys Choir of Harlem, and the Little Black Pearl
Workshop, among others. "And they were just a great group, very
engaged, very articulate and very inspiring as well." With Graves in Cambridge
until mid-June to complete her master's degree, Slade took on the task
of recruiting students to fill the classrooms. She attended neighborhood
meetings, posted notices on the library bulletin boards, and approached
parents in playgrounds. "She literally
stood on street corners to recruit kids," said Cathy Calhoun, a
member of the Namaste board of directors and president of Weber Shandwick
Chicago, a public relations agency. Slade's efforts paid
off. By the end of June, all 90 places in the two kindergarten and two
1st-grade classes were filled. Graves and Slade are
now at work raising money. To supplement funds the school receives from
the Chicago Public Schools system and the State of Illinois, Namaste
must come up with $200,000 by April 1 to meet its $902,000 budget. They
also are busy hiring a staff, which will include five classroom teachers
and a full-time physical education instructor/social worker, and supervising
architects to ensure that renovations to the former Our Lady of Good
Counsel Catholic School will be completed on time. They have come a long
way since that initial kitchen planning session in June 2003. "Anything is possible,"
Slade said. "If you are completely dedicated to something, you
can make it work and you will find amazing support. "We still have
a ton of roadblocks, but we have kids, we have teachers, we have a building,
and we have families who are interested. We're going to have a school." Schools to rally neighborhoods for high-attendance opening
day BY KATE N. GROSSMAN,
Sun-Times Education Reporter, August 6, 2004
For the first time,
Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan and volunteers will go door-to-door
in areas with low attendance rates to urge parents to get their kids
to school for the first day of class, Duncan announced Thursday. At a time when CPS is
contemplating more budget cuts or layoffs on top of 1,600 already announced,
Duncan's annual back-to-school campaign is as much about money as it
as about getting the year off to a good start. Each 1 percent attendance
increase brings in $20 million more in state money. "There are few
budget areas where we can control our fate -- and this is one of them,"
Duncan said at an event at Pilsen's Perez School. "We can't afford
to leave that money on the table." CPS officials are still
working on this year's budget -- it was delayed because the state was
late in passing its budget. They hope to vote on it at a board meeting
Aug. 25. The attendance rate
isn't tied to the first day of school, it's the average of the district's
best three months. But those months are usually September, October and
November, Duncan said. School starts Sept. 7. This year's campaign
will include block parties and festivals across the city and a Get in
Shape for School health expo Saturday at Navy Pier where students can
get free shots, physicals, dental, vision and hearing screenings. There also will be tours
of three new schools and a Rock for Reading festival, sponsored by the
Chicago Sun-Times. Religious leaders have already been asked to urge
their congregants to get their children back to school. NBA stars Antoine Walker
and Shawn Marion and the Chicago Fire's Orlando Perez are featured in
public service announcements. First-day attendance
rates have been on the rise the last four years, with an all-time high
of 89 percent last year. The uptick started in
2001, the year CPS switched back to a post-Labor Day opening. In 2000,
only 76 percent of students showed up. =========================================================================== NATIONAL AP, 7/29/04 INDIANAPOLIS — Low-carb
diets such as Atkins and South Beach are changing the contents of grocery
stores and the orders at fast-food restaurants. But in school lunch
lines — and at the meeting of the American School Food Service Association
this week — bread isn't a bad word. School lunch menus are
dictated by recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The department is the creator of the Food Guide Pyramid, which is under
review but still recommends six to 11 servings of breads and grain,
an amount discouraged by some low-carb diets. Although food service
administrators are looking for choices that are healthier than potato
nuggets and fish sticks, low-carb options aren't common in schools.
Some doctors say such
diets aren't appropriate for growing children and active teenagers,
but as America's struggle with childhood obesity continues, schools
might be fielding more requests from parents to add low-carb options.
Dr. Mary Vernon, a member
of the Atkins Physicians Council, has several teenage patients on the
Atkins diet. Dr. Vernon, who practices
in Kansas and is vice president of the American Society of Bariatric
Physicians, said she would like to see more low-carb options — such
as nuts and cheeses — available on school a la carte menus or in vending
machines. She also would like students going through school lunch lines
to be able to request second helpings of protein. Although Dr. Vernon
prefers her clients to snack on fresh, whole fruit, she said low-carb
candy bars are better than the regular variety because they contain
less sugar. Her clients bring low-carb options to school, tucked away
in lockers and backpacks, because they aren't available in vending machines.
Of hundreds of vendor
exhibits at the American School Food Service Association conference,
few, if any, mention carbohydrates. But vendors promoting healthier
foods — including fresh fruit, raisins, turkey and yogurt — dotted the
Indiana Convention Center and were quick to point out nutritional information.
Dietitian Dayle Hayes
of Billings, Mont., warns against putting children on low-carb diets.
She said that parents
in some school districts have requested bunless hamburgers on a la carte
menus and that school officials who lose weight on Atkins might think
it is wise to incorporate low-carb alternatives without realizing that
such diets may not be healthy for growing children. She said huge portions
and lack of exercise are the real causes of American obesity, not an
occasional cookie or snack. Although demand for
healthy foods has increased, low-carb items aren't offered or even requested
in most schools, said Marcia Smith, a past president of the school food
association. Miss Smith said low-carb
foods could pop up on a la carte menus if parents start asking for it,
but she doesn't predict a change in the lunch line anytime soon. Survey: More teens fear going to school Fears of violence up
while violent incidents down AP, July 29, 2004 ATLANTA, Georgia --
The number of U.S. teenagers skipping school for fear of getting hurt
climbed over the past decade, even though violence in schools actually
declined, the government said Thursday. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention attributed the increase in part to a rise in
schoolyard threats and lingering fear from the Columbine High School
massacre in 1999 and other school shootings in the 1990s. More than one out of
every 20 high school students -- 5.4 percent -- skipped at least one
day of school because of safety concerns in 2003, according to the CDC
survey. That is up from 4.4 percent in 1993. At the same time, CDC
statistics indicate an overall drop in school violence over the past
decade. The percentage of students
who said they had been in a fight in the preceding year dropped from
42.5 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2003. Only a little more than
6 percent of students said they had carried a weapon onto school grounds
in 2003, down from 11.8 percent in 1993. The CDC said students
may be reluctant to go to school because of a "heightened sense
of vulnerability" tied to the school shootings of the 1990s. Also, one in 11 students
surveyed in 2003 said they were threatened with or injured by a weapon
on school property in the preceding year. That was up from about one
in 14 students threatened or injured in 1993. The CDC surveyed more
than 10,000 public and private high school students nationwide. CDC warns of gaps in child vaccinations By Maggie Fox, REUTERS,
July 30, 2004 WASHINGTON – U.S. immunization
rates have hit a record high but one-fifth of American children are
not receiving all the vaccinations they need, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said yesterday. "Among U.S. children
aged 19 to 35 months, estimated coverage with recommended vaccines was
greater in 2003 than in 2002 and represented all-time highs," the
CDC said in its report. However, holes remain
in coverage in some areas, especially some big cities, the CDC said.
"A substantial
number of children in the United States still aren't adequately protected
from vaccine-preventable diseases," CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding
told a news conference. "The suffering
or death of even one individual from a vaccine-preventable disease is
an unnecessary human tragedy," she said. The CDC found that 79.4
percent of children had received the full series of recommended vaccines
in 2003, compared with 74.8 percent in 2002. Four million children
are born in the United States each year, and start their vaccines right
away with a dose to protect them against hepatitis B. Over the next three
years they are supposed to be given a series of vaccines protecting
against a variety of diseases. "In 2003, as in
previous years, urban areas reported lower immunization rates than states,
mostly due to large concentrations of lower socioeconomically displaced
persons," the CDC said. In Boston, nearly 89
percent of children were fully vaccinated while in Houston 69 percent
were. Vendors, PTOs worried as schools banish fast food They say the rule will
hurt sales and fund raising By JO ANN ZUÑIGA, Houston
Chronicle, 7/29/04 When school opens across
the state next month, Chick-fil-A, Pizza Hut and other popular fast
food vendors will no longer be in the cafeterias. Besides limiting fat
content and portion sizes, the state's new nutritional guidelines hope
to make it harder for students to buy fast food by keeping it out of
reach during meal times. That change is prompting
protests by not only the food vendors but some Parent-Teacher Organizations
that relied on fast food sales as major fund-raisers. "It's a real unfortunate
incident. We're a big community supporter and for many years have worked
with PTOs, coaching staff and principals to raise money for their schools,"
said Chick-fil-A area marketing director Tina Boaz. Lamar and Bellaire high
schools and Johnston and Pershing middle schools are just some of the
dozens of schools across the Houston area that stand to lose extra income,
parents said. In the past, the PTOs
bought the sandwiches at a discount from Chick-fil-A and others. Then
they sold them to students at regular cost, using the proceeds to fund
school projects. Last year, Pershing
Middle School's PTO made $20,000 in food sales from Chick-fil-A, Pizza
Hut and Quiznos, according to PTO President Cathie Bach. "We used those
funds for new band instruments, some athletic uniforms and a whole new
computer lab," Bach said. This summer, she's been
on the phone with other PTO members about finding "healthier"
fund-raising alternatives. Under the new guidelines,
vendors will be able to maintain a limited presence at some schools
if their products meet the new fat and sugar standards. But the food
must be served outside the cafeteria. And in middle schools, it can
be sold only after school. Chick-fil-A operator
Jesse Chaluh used to provide food to several schools. "When it comes
to catering, the schools are very important to our sales," said
Chaluh, estimating such sales made up 80 percent of his catering business
at his Meyerland location and 40 percent at his West University restaurant. He said his restaurant
business offered kids an option: "The school cafeteria takes its
sweet time taking care of these children," Chaluh said. "They
walk away either hungry or late to class." The restaurateur has
calculated ways he could reduce fat content, perhaps by selling four
chicken nuggets in a pack instead of six. A spokesman for the
Texas Department of Agriculture said his department is aware of concerns
from both parents and fast food vendors upset by the policy change. "We've been talking
to just about everybody," said Allen Spelce, who added that PTAs
and PTOs were involved in writing the new policy. He said the goal remains
getting kids to eat healthier foods. "They need to find
alternative fund-raising ideas," he said. "We're encouraging
them not to sell fatty foods." Adriana Villarreal,
a spokeswoman for the Houston Independent School District, said the
district was suggesting fund-raising alternatives "like selling
arts and crafts." House bill would slash ed-tech funding From eSchool News staff
and wire service reports, August 2, 2004 As House Republicans
and Democrats trade salvos over the federal budget in an election year,
advocates of educational technology are rallying supporters to stave
off what could amount to a 13-percent cut in technology-specific education
funding in 2005. Amid heated arguments
about the size of the education budget and whether it's adequate to
meet states' and school systems' needs, the House Appropriations Committee
on July 14 issued its markup of the 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education spending bill. Though the bill would provide a $2 billion
increase in overall education funding from the U.S. government, it would
slash the Educational Technology State Grant program--the main source
of federal dollars for states to implement school technology projects--by
$91 million and would eliminate two other ed-tech programs altogether.
The state block-grant
program would receive $605 million in 2005 under the House proposal,
down from $696 million in 2004. The Star Schools program, which received
$20.5 million in 2004 to help underserved schools deploy advanced telecommunications
services, and the Community Technology Centers (CTC) program, which
got $10 million this year to provide federally subsidized computer centers
for students in low-income areas, both would be eliminated. However, the House bill
does include $30 million for a new program to help states build better
solutions for tracking and managing student data. CTC and Star Schools
have been on the chopping block for the last four years, as the Bush
administration has adopted the goal of consolidating federal education
programs that are considered "duplicative." In each year,
the Senate has voted to preserve these programs, and they ultimately
have survived. But this marks the first time lawmakers in either the
House or the Senate have proposed cutting the Ed Tech State Grant program,
which serves as the core funding mechanism for school technology initiatives
at the local and national level. Keith Krueger, chief
executive officer of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), called
the proposed $91 million cut "a serious hit on the major educational
technology programs created under NCLB [the No Child Left Behind Act]."
Among its other requirements,
NCLB requires students to be technologically proficient by the eighth
grade. It also has prompted states and school systems to invest huge
sums of money in sophisticated data tracking, analysis, and reporting
software to ensure that all students are achieving at target levels.
Krueger called the state
ed-tech grant program "a major source of funding for many states
and districts." He added, "We're never going to [meet] the
requirements of NCLB if we don't stop nipping away at [these programs]."
The press contact for
the House Appropriations Committee did not return telephone calls from
an eSchool News reporter seeking comment. Overall, the House bill
would provide $57.7 billion in funding for U.S. Department of Education
programs. Special Education Grants ($11.1 billion) and Title I ($13.4
billion) each would receive a $1 billion increase, and the Math and
Science Partnerships program--which aims to increase the number of teachers
who are trained in these disciplines--would get a $120-million boost,
to $269 million. The Senate Appropriations
Committee has not taken up its version of the education spending bill
yet but is expected to do so in September. Jordan Cross, manager
of advocacy for the Council of Chief State School Officers, called the
new $30 million data infrastructure program for states "a great
foot in the door," but he said the proposed measure wouldn't begin
to meet the needs of all states. The Hawaii Department of Education
alone is about $30 million behind in implementing NCLB, according to
an independent analysis. As for the proposed
cuts to the state block-grant program, CoSN's Krueger said they only
serve to emphasize a decline in educational technology leadership at
the federal level. Last year, Congress
voted to kill the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3)
program, which at its peak provided $150 million to help train pre-service
teachers how to integrate technology into their instruction. The Bush
administration, which had been pushing the move to eliminate PT3, said
the program was unnecessary because the federal government already provides
nearly $3 billion to improve teacher quality. Krueger said cutting
the state block-grant program, however, would contradict what the administration
has asserted in the past. Over the course of the last several budget
cycles, education officials have attempted to downplay cuts to technology-specific
programs by playing up their support of the larger block grant, which
was supposed to give schools more flexibility in how they chose to spend
their technology dollars under the law. "We think this
is the line in the sand," said Krueger, who encouraged educators
and other stakeholders to speak up by attending public meetings, contacting
their Congressional representatives, and otherwise making their voices
heard. "The cement is
not yet hard," Krueger said. Ed-tech advocates still have time
to convince Congress that these funds are essential to meeting the goals
of NCLB. CoSN is recruiting school
stakeholders to sign up for its Ed Tech Action Network, an online advocacy
campaign to build support for technology funding in schools. Krueger
said the organization also will hold a special lobbying day Sept. 9
in Washington, D.C., to push for more ed-tech funding. Alaska Agrees to Let Disabled Have Help on a School Exam
By GREG WINTER, New
York Times, August 3, 2004 Disabled high school
students in Alaska will gain broad accommodations, including the use
of dictionaries and computerized spell-checkers, on the state's standardized
mandatory graduation exam under a legal settlement announced yesterday.
The agreement, which
requires court approval, would conclude one of several legal challenges
to the high school exit exams that have been adopted in some form by
about half the states. While the exams have
been embraced as a way of ensuring that students master the basics of
a high school education before getting a diploma, they have also come
under legal attack from parents and advocates for disabled students
who say the tests make it nearly impossible for those with disabilities
to graduate. To avoid penalizing
students with physical or learning disabilities, Alaskan officials said
they would allow for a variety of accommodations during testing, like
the selective use of word processors or calculators, as deemed appropriate
by experts. Tests may also be read aloud to some students, and severely
disabled students may be able to graduate without ever passing the exam,
should their other work be deemed adequate by experts. Gregg D. Renkes, Alaska's
attorney general, said the settlement allowed the state to continue
pushing for accountability in its schools while treating disabled students
fairly. "Let no one be
confused,'' Mr. Renkes said. "That is one of the highest goals.
The settlement is all about doing what's right for the kids." The plaintiffs in the
case, which was filed on behalf of disabled students this spring, also
described the settlement as unusually far-reaching, establishing a breadth
of accommodations that few other state's exams can match. "This is the most
constructive resolution that has ever been reached in a case of this
nature," said Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for Disability
Rights Advocates, which has also successfully challenged proposed exit
exams in California and Oregon. "It is a win-win for everyone."
Though both sides described
the negotiations as amicable, they also acknowledged that the settlement
would be difficult to carry out. Some of the accommodations
are controversial, like reading out loud a test that is supposed to
measure one's reading ability. "Not everybody
likes every part of the settlement," said Roger Sampson, Alaska's
commissioner of education and early development. "But I think they
clearly understand the benefits." Shortage of top execs
could hurt student achievement By Christine MacDonald,
Detroit News, 8/3/04 A superintendent shortage
in Michigan is forcing school districts to hire top leaders with less
experience and pay them more, experts say. If the trend continues,
educators fear a lack of experienced leadership could hurt efforts to
raise student achievement at a time when education standards are toughening.
This summer, 49 school
districts statewide lost superintendents, almost double last year’s
number. And the shortage, blamed primarily on retirement and job stress,
is likely to worsen, said Mike Flanagan, executive director of the Michigan
Association of School Administrators. In Oakland County alone,
at least five of the 28 school district superintendents are expected
to retire or step down by next summer, including those in Farmington,
Southfield and Novi. The stress of budget
cutting is one of the reasons James Edoff, 57, decided to retire this
summer after 13 years as leader of Fitzgerald Public Schools in Warren.
“I cannot continue to
go through another year of reducing staff and cutting programs for kids,”
Edoff said. He had to lay off 53
staffers last year to help trim $2.7 million from the district’s $30
million budget and had to cut another $1.8 million this year. Some of
his employees who lost their jobs had to take their children out of
college, he said. “It takes a personal
toll,” Edoff said. Experts say more school
leaders are reaching retirement age and deciding not to stay on or are
quitting as districts face critical funding cuts and intense scrutiny
on improving student achievement. Those issues also are discouraging
others from moving up into the position. In years past, job openings
for superintendents attracted 40 to 50 candidates but now are drawing
around 15, according to search groups. And some say many of those candidates
don’t have the administrative background typically brought to the high-level
job. School officials are
quick to say they still have quality applicants, just fewer of them.
But they admit that could change if the shortage continues. “There is going to be
a real leadership vacuum for a few years,” Flanagan said. “There’s just
not enough people in the pipeline.” Jobs open The problem is seen
nationally as well. Jobs remain open in large school districts, such
as Washington, D.C., where officials have searched for a leader since
the district’s chief resigned in November. In 2000, more than 80
percent of superintendents nationally said they were at retirement age
or soon would be leaving their jobs, according to a survey by Bruce
S. Cooper, a professor of education administration at New York’s Fordham
University. Flanagan said he is
seeing Michigan superintendents stepping down as soon as they reach
retirement age, sometimes moving on to teach at universities or go into
consulting. As a result, a growing
number of educators are bypassing time spent as a central office administrator
and jumping straight from building principal to superintendent, Flanagan
said. “Putting people in that
aren’t as experienced, you aren’t going to have gains in student achievement,”
said Flanagan, who was a superintendent for 12 years. More money To attract experienced
leaders, and keep them, many districts are offering more money, experts
say. Michigan superintendent
salaries went up 26 percent in five years, according to data from the
Michigan Association of School Boards. In 1998, superintendents at schools
with more than 10,000 students averaged a salary of $111,000. In 2003,
it was $140,000. The larger the district,
the more money leaders tend to make. In Detroit, for example, Chief
Executive Officer Kenneth Burnley makes $244,000 to oversee the 148,000-student
school district. Nationwide, some districts
are paying exorbitant salaries to lure top leaders. The new Miami-Dade County
school superintendent will make close to $480,000 in salary, bonuses
and benefits in his first year, according to the Miami Herald. Some say there’s an
upshot to the shortage in that it will create opportunity to get more
women and minorities in what’s traditionally been a white male-dominated
position. “In the old days, these
old white guys squatted on these jobs for 25 years,” Cooper said. In 2003, 14 percent
of superintendents nationwide were female, double that of 1992, according
to the American Association of School Administrators. In 2000, 5.1 percent
were minorities, compared with 3.9 percent in 1992. Some districts are looking
outside education to lure candidates to the job that requires overseeing
everything from finances to test scores. Benton Harbor’s superintendent,
Paula Dawning, for example, was a vice president at AT&T before
she was hired to lead the district in 2002. “Some of the superintendents
who supposedly know about (raising) achievement aren’t doing it,” said
Jim Sandy, executive director for the Michigan Business Leaders for
Education Excellence. “Why not take a look” outside education? Less interest? Some educators are concerned
that teachers and lower-level administrators are becoming less interested
in moving into top district spots. “The best and brightest
in increasing numbers are saying ‘no thanks’ to those jobs,” said Tim
Quinn, president of the Michigan Leadership Institute, which does searches
for school districts. “If the trend continues, nobody is going to want
this job.” Edoff said he’s talked
with his staffers about moving up, but many have told him they would
rather not. He believes they’re considering the climate: heavy pressure
to produce under the new federal No Child Left Behind law without the
resources to do it. “It almost becomes an
insurmountable challenge,” Edoff said. “They want to rise to the challenge,
but it is so easy to fail for reasons you have no control over.” Because of the shortage
of job candidates, Farmington is starting its search for a superintendent
early and is planning to sell the district’s strong points to attract
more people. Its superintendent, Robert Maxfield, will retire at the
end of the school year. “So much is expected
from a person serving as a superintendent that it becomes more and more
difficult to find that unique person to do the job,” said board member
Priscilla Brouillette. Barbara Lott, who took
over as Woodhaven-Brownstown’s superintendent in July, said mentoring
programs and other workshops are crucial to preparing new leaders. “What you are asking
people to do is get into the frying pan full blast,” said Lott, who
was previously the district’s assistant superintendent. “I thought long
and hard about it.” Schools' top job loses its luster Many don't want stress
of being superintendent; educators fear shortage BY TERESA MASK AND NATE
TRELA, DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS, 8/2/04
Gayle Green spent 13
years working her way up in the Willow Run Community Schools in Ypsilanti
before becoming superintendent in 1997. Five years later, she
-- like other Michigan superintendents -- was desperate to move down,
even though it meant moving out. "I loved the district,
I loved the people, and I loved the kids. I hated the job," said
Green, now an assistant superintendent with the Macomb Intermediate
School District. "All of a sudden, I was dismantling programs I
had built. I had to cut the budget three consecutive years, and I couldn't
do it again. "It dawned on me
that I wasn't doing any of the things that brought me to education in
the first place." Educators across the
state echo Green's sentiments, as school districts find it increasingly
difficult to convince educators to become superintendents -- let alone
stay in the jobs once they get there. In Michigan and throughout
the country, educators are concerned about what some call a shortage
of candidates because many who would qualify for school districts' top
job call the task unappealing. Vickie Markavitch, president
of the Superintendency Institute of America, has heard the arguments
about the time commitment and stress related to the job. "Some say the compensation
level is too low for the degree of responsibility," said Markavitch,
who also is superintendent of the Oakland Intermediate School District.
"And some say that when teachers see the rigors their administrators
have to face day-to-day, they choose to stay away from the front-office
job." The move to second-tier
administrative positions is more appealing, some say. Patricia Salemi, for
instance, was excited when she made the move from teaching to developing
curriculum, but when she was tapped as the interim superintendent for
East Detroit Public Schools in Eastpointe, she made it clear that she
didn't want the job permanently. Salemi said she didn't
need the stress. Many are leaving job Michigan lost nearly
60 superintendents in the 2003-2004 school year -- about double the
number who left the top post last school year, said Lisa Rentz, a spokeswoman
from the Michigan Association of School Administrators. The salary for
Michigan superintendents ranges from about $60,000 to $200,000. This school year, 49
are retiring; seven -- including Steve Johnson from Madison Public Schools
in Madison Heights have resigned. Johnson resigned amid a controversy
about whether he had a doctorate degree and from which university it
came. Another three left the
state, she said. Educators expect the
number of departures to grow -- 78 percent of the state's 567 superintendents
are eligible to retire, according to statistics from the Michigan Association
of School Boards. In Wayne County, Oscar
Brown retired in July from Crestwood Community Schools in Dearborn Heights,
after 37 years in education. Since January 2003,
seven of the 21 school districts in Macomb County have changed superintendents
or have prepared to replace them. Four Oakland County superintendents
have announced the 2004-2005 school year will be their last. Another
-- Cecil Rice from Southfield Public Schools -- is going on short-term
disability. The Oakland County projection
comes close to the total number of metro Detroit superintendents who
retired this year. Not everyone is conceding
defeat, however. Former Dearborn Public
Schools Superintendent Thomas McLennan, now a consultant for superintendent
searches in Michigan, is optimistic about the number of people interested
in leadership. He noted that 26 candidates applied for a recent superintendent
post in East Detroit Public Schools in Eastpointe. "I'm not discounting
the fact that districts are having trouble finding people. But there
are people out there willing to do this," said McLennan. To combat
a potential superintendent shortage, several administrative leadership
programs have popped up nationwide. Tom Quinn, president
of the Michigan Leadership Institute, said potential superintendents
are trained on how to handle the job. Some districts shell
out tens of thousands of dollars for outside firms to help find a new
superintendent, but others develop their own leaders. Fitzgerald Public Schools
in Warren has hired only from within since the state began requiring
school districts to have superintendents in the 1930s. "We bring up our
assistant superintendents, looking at them as possible superintendents
some day, and it's worked well for us," said Jack Kennedy, president
of the Fitzgerald School Board. Like many teachers-turned-administrators,
Green said she misses regular interaction with students. "People would say
to me that instead of 800 kids, I had 3,300 kids. But it's not the same,
not the same at all. The 3,300 kids, I can visit. The 800 kids I had
as a principal were mine. I never got over seeing 'my' kids on a daily
basis." But the top job isn't
all doom and gloom. Emmett Lippe who will
retire in June, said he has no complaints about being superintendent
of the Novi Community School District since 1992. "I have really
loved being a school superintendent. I hear all these people complaining,
and I can't identify at all," he said, adding that it's simply
time for him to move on. Salemi said sitting
at the district's top spot forced her to get involved with facilities
issues and parental complaints. "I'm out of my
comfort level," she said. "But the more you do those things,
the more comfortable you become." After much soul-searching,
she made an eleventh-hour decision to stay in the job if a great replacement
couldn't be found. Apparently, one was.
The board agreed to
hire Bruce Kefgen from the top post at Bentley Community Schools in
Burton -- leaving open another superintendent vacancy in Michigan. One in Four Kentucky Schools Fail "No Child Left
Behind" Test AP, 8/4/04 FRANKFORT, Ky. - Figures
released today in Frankfort indicate a quarter of Kentucky public schools
are failing to make "adequate yearly progress." That's the government's
term for the minimum improvement schools and districts are expected
to show over the course of a year. Failure has consequences
for schools that get federal funding. Consequences include a transfer
option for students. The Department
of Education today reported preliminary data. It says there'll be a
final report in October when complete test scores are in. The preliminary report
shows 286 of eleven-hundred-76 schools are lagging. That's 24 percent. Forty percent of schools
failed last year. Only a third of those schools received federal funding
and thus were subject to consequences. Preliminary 2004 AYP
results are based on the Kentucky Core Content tests' (KCCT) multiple-choice
items in reading and mathematics. A final report, based on complete
KCCT results, including open-response items, will be published in October
2004. "Since this is
preliminary data, I would encourage schools, districts, parents and
citizens to use caution when comparing 2004 results to those of 2003,"
said Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit . "Changes in
the implementation of NCLB from 2003 to 2004 cannot be evaluated until
the final data is available. Even though the preliminary data looks
promising, it is possible that the status of schools or districts could
change when final data is released in October." According to the early
data, 890 Kentucky public schools met 100 percent of their NCLB goals
for AYP, while 286 schools did not. Schools that are funded by the federal
Title I program, which provides funds to ensure that disadvantaged children
receive opportunities for high-quality educational services, will be
subject to consequences if they do not make AYP in the same content
area for two or more consecutive years. Statewide, preliminary data
show that 111 Title I schools are in Tier 1 of consequences; 12 Title
I schools are in Tier 2; and 7 Title I schools are in Tier 3. Consequences
for the tiers are: Tier 1 (2 years not making AYP) - Notify parents
- Implement School Choice - Write or revise School Plan Tier 2 (3 years
not making AYP) - Notify parents - Continue School Choice - Revise School
Plan - Offer Supplemental Services Tier 3 (4 years not making AYP) -
Notify parents - Continue School Choice - Revise School Plan - Continue
Supplemental Services - Implement Corrective Action In Kentucky, 882
of the 1,205 schools participating in the state's assessment and accountability
system are funded by Title I. All of the state's 176 school districts
-- with the exception of Anchorage Independent -- receive some Title
I funding. NOTE: Because some schools
are designated as "joint" schools for accountability purposes,
the combined numbers of those making AYP and those not making AYP only
reach 1,176. "One of the major
concerns I have about the preliminary data is in the area of consequences,"
said Wilhoit. "If preliminary AYP decisions result in NCLB consequences
at the school or district level, such as the requirement to offer school
choice, then parents must be given the option of school choice, even
though the final AYP decisions might indicate that the school had reached
its goal. The opposite is also
problematic -- if the early AYP decision indicates that the school or
district made its AYP goal, but the final data indicate the contrary,
then the NCLB sanctions are to be applied immediately, although the
school year has already begun. This will only be an
issue this year, however, since changes in the state's testing window
and discussions with our testing contractor will enable earlier data
collection next year." School districts also are held to the requirements
of AYP under NCLB. Of Kentucky's 176 school districts, 109 -- 61.9 percent
-- met 100 percent of their target goals. For NCLB requirements, school
districts are gauged on the total student population. This can mean
that, even if every school within a district makes AYP, the district
may not because of the total size of subpopulations and their performance.
Signed into law in January
2002, NCLB requires states to provide information on schools' and districts'
progress toward proficiency by 2014. Each state uses its own standards
and assessments to make the annual determinations. Kentucky used data
from the 2003 and 2004 administration of the Commonwealth Accountability
Testing System (CATS) to provide preliminary 2004 AYP information for
its schools and districts. The state also adopted a graduation rate
formula for its high schools, as required by NCLB. Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) is the term used in NCLB to refer to the minimum improvement required
of each school and district over the course of one year. It is measured at the
school and district levels by: - measuring growth in the percentage
of students scoring proficient or above in reading and mathematics.
- assessing improvement on one "other academic indicator."
- testing at least 95 percent of enrolled students and student subpopulations
of sufficient size. NCLB mandates that schools and districts be held
accountable for the progress of subgroups -- minority students, low-income
students, students with disabilities, students with limited-English
proficiency (LEP) -- in reading and mathematics testing in grades 3
through 8 and at least once in each subject in grades 10-12 and rates
of participation in testing. Schools also are held
accountable for other academic indicators -- for elementary and middle
schools, that indicator is the CATS accountability index; for high schools,
the indicator is the graduation rate. If the school, district or one
or more subgroups of sufficient size in the school or district do not
make progress toward goals in reading and mathematics or achieve the
95 percent participation rate or if schools and districts do not show
improvement on the other academic indicators, the school or district
may be considered by the U.S. Department of Education to be in need
of improvement. If schools or districts
that receive federal Title I funds do not make AYP in the same content
area for two consecutive years, they face federal consequences, which
include offering school choice and revising school improvement plans.
Each Kentucky school and district has a specific number of NCLB goals
to meet in order to make AYP. Each grade level -- elementary, middle,
high and combined -- has a unique Annual Measurable Objective (AMO)
for reading and mathematics that schools and districts must reach in
order to achieve AYP. A school or district that does not meet the predetermined
AMOs in reading or mathematics can be in "safe harbor" and
considered to have met the AMOs if these criteria are satisfied: - reducing
the percentage of total students or subpopulation (whichever group did
not meet the reading or mathematics AMO) that score below proficient
by 10 percent - students in the same population or subpopulation(s)
meet the criteria for demonstrating improvement on the CATS academic
index The number of goals varies depending on the sizes of subpopulations
in each school and district. Subpopulation data is reportable only if
it meets a minimum group size of 10 students per grade where NCLB-required
assessments are administered and 60 students in those grades combined,
or the subpopulation makes up at least 15 percent of the total student
enrollment in accountable grades. The maximum number of goals is 25.
For school districts, the number of goals to meet ranges from 6 to 25,
with only two of the state's most diverse school districts -- Jefferson
and Fayette -- required to meet all 25 goals to make AYP. For individual
schools, the number of goals to be met ranges from 4 to 20. Of the 286
schools that did not make AYP, 247 made 80 percent or more of their
goals. Statewide, 84 percent of the 25 target goals were met. Parents seek peace of
mind, academic control By Ben Feller, The Associated
Press, August 4, 2004 WASHINGTON — Almost
1.1 million students were home-schooled last year, their numbers pushed
higher by parents frustrated over school conditions and wanting to include
morality and religion with the English and math. The estimated figure
of students taught at home has grown 29 percent since 1999, according
to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education
Department. In surveys, parents
offered two main reasons for choosing home schooling: 31 percent cited
concerns about the environment of regular schools, and 30 percent wanted
the flexibility to teach religious or moral lessons. Third, at 16 percent,
was dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools. "There's potential
for massive growth," said Ian Slatter, spokesman for the National
Center for Home Education, which promotes home schooling and tracks
laws that govern it. "Home schooling
is just getting started," he said. "We've gotten through the
barriers of questioning the academic ability of home schools, now that
we have a sizable number of graduates who are not socially isolated
or awkward — they are good, high-quality citizens. We're getting that
mainstream recognition and challenging the way education has been done." In perspective, the
1.1 million home-schooled students accounts for a small part — 2.2 percent
— of the school-age population in the United States, young people aged
five through 17. Slatter said the new
figures accurately reflect the growth of home schooling but underestimate
the number of children involved; his group says it is 2 million. In the government's
view, home schooling means students who spend at least part of their
education at home and no more than 25 hours a week in public or private
schools. Overall, more than four out of five home-schooled students
spend no time at traditional schools. A separate federal report
showed a rising number of teenagers are skipping school for fear of
getting hurt, even though reported school violence is down. That sense of anxiety
— fueled by terrorism warnings, high-profile school shootings and a
desire to keep children out of harm's way — probably has helped home
schooling grow, said Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the
National Association of School Psychologists. Home schooling presents
several questions that must be considered, he said. Among them: Do parents
with no formal training as teachers know how to handle a variety of
subjects or to tailor instruction for children of different ages? Do
students get the same materials they would have at schools, from books
to science labs? Are families with two working parents prepared to go
to a single income so that one parent can teach at home? Also, Feinberg said,
parents must consider whether their children will emerge from home schooling
with limited exposure to other children and various cultures. More federal
research is needed to help resolve such questions about home schooling,
he said. "At some point,
children are going to have to interact with the rest of the world,"
he said. "If they haven't had the opportunity to build their emotional
muscles so they have that capacity to interact, how effective are they
going to be outside their cloistered environment?" New Rules Threaten Some Charter Schools Ten close, others fear
shutdown as state law bars sponsorship by faraway districts. By Erika Hayasaki, Los
Angeles Times Staff Writer, 8/4/04 At least 10 California
charter schools have been shut and nearly 100 others are scrambling
to avoid closure under a new state law that bans campuses from being
operated by out-of-town sponsors, who are sometimes hundreds of miles
away. The restrictions were
put in place earlier this year after several high-profile investigations
of charter schools that were sponsored by far-flung public school districts.
Over the last decade, several districts had authorized multiple charters
for campuses outside their boundaries to gain some of the state revenue
earmarked for charter schools. The state's largest
charter organization, Victorville-based California Charter Academy,
is the target of a California Department of Education probe into alleged
misuse of funds and now faces added pressure from the law that bans
long-distance sponsors. Under the auspices of mainly small public school
districts in San Bernardino and Orange counties, it has operated more
than 60 campuses that enroll between 7,000 to 10,000 students in California. Last week, partly in
response to the new law and other financial troubles, California Charter
Academy ended a contract with the Snowline Joint Unified School District
in San Bernardino County. The contract had authorized five small schools,
including ones in Bakersfield and Century City. A letter this week notified
the 700 students in those schools to enroll elsewhere, said Snowline
district Supt. Art Golden. Additional California Charter Academy closings
could occur later this week, Golden said. Separate from the California
Charter Academy chain, about 3,000 additional students who are enrolled
in two dozen other campuses that are authorized by long-distance districts
will be affected over the next three years. Two in South Los Angeles
closed last semester, and many face imminent closure if their local
school districts do not adopt them. Charter schools are
financed by state taxes and are exempted from numerous state education
regulations. But they must be authorized by local school districts,
counties or the state. State officials said the law was needed because
many of the small districts with long-distance charters did not adequately
monitor them. Marta Reyes, a charter
school official at the state Department of Education, said those districts
"did not have the capacity to do oversight and work to make sure
kids were performing well. After all, the money that comes to these
public schools was supposed to benefit children." Caprice Young, president
of the California Charter Schools Assn., an advocacy group for charter
schools in California, said the law is needed for the few schools that
have problems. But, she said, the state created a "sledgehammer"
solution that will force many well-functioning schools through too many
bureaucratic hurdles to survive. Her organization is
supporting a bill that would allow colleges and universities to authorize
charter schools. "What's needed," she said, "are responsible
authorizers, organizations that take the job seriously." Meanwhile, many students,
parents and school staff members are worried. "We're on a week-to-week
basis," said Charlotte Austin-Jordan, principal of a 300-student
campus in Los Angeles. "I'm so scared. These kids really, really
need this program. None of these kids did well in regular schools." Austin-Jordan started
the school for troubled students four years ago after she had lost a
daughter, son and nephew to street violence. It is part of the California
Charter Academy chain and was authorized by the Oro Grande Elementary
School District in San Bernardino County. Now she is considering applying
to the Los Angeles Unified School District for a charter. She is wary
of enrolling more students amid such uncertainty. The campus, Save Our
Future, is in a warehouse near downtown Los Angeles with a rainbow painted
on a front sign. Most students enrolled
there because they were kicked out of or were flunking at regular campuses.
Some are on probation. "I like this school,
because I feel like I really can make it here," said Ruben Mojica,
16, a former gangbanger who was kicked out of school. At Save Our Future,
staff helped him seek jobs and avoid fights. If the school closes, Mojica
said, "a lot of students will end up failing or dropping out."
Assembly Bill 1994,
which is sponsored by Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes (D-Fresno), requires
charter schools to comply with fiscal and academic reforms, including
the ban on long-distance authorization. It was prompted in part
by scandals such as the one in the Fresno Unified School District, which
began opening schools across the state in 1999. Some of those campuses
taught Islam, failed to do criminal background checks on employees,
violated fire safety codes or exaggerated attendance. The district revoked
its charter, and some of the campuses were closed. In March, California
Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell launched an investigation
into California Charter Academy. A state charter school advisory panel
had alleged that the organization was charging some of its campuses
millions of dollars in administrative fees and was inadequately overseeing
the schools. California Charter Academy
is facing pressure from several sides, and some educators believe that
it may shut all of its state operations. The state has withheld
funding for some California Charter Academy schools that opened after
Reyes' bill had taken effect. Another law that bans reimbursement for
charter students age 19 and older pushed the organization this week
to cut ties with Orange Unified School District, which sponsored seven
campuses in Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties that served
1,260 students. Those campuses are being closed. Patricia Mark, president
of the California Charter Academy, did not return calls for comment.
Teachers and administrators at some of the affected campuses could not
be located. Kenneth Larson, superintendent
of the Oro Grande Elementary School District, which also had partnered
with California Charter Academy, sponsors 24 schools. "I perceive that
a number of the sites will close," he said, "and I'm sorry
for that because the great majority of these students are attending
those schools because they want to. They, perhaps, have not been successful
in other public school settings and are going to charter schools as
an alternative." Most schools have up
to three years to seek charter approval from the district in which they
are located, said Keith Edwards of the California Department of Education.
Already, he said, applications from some of the affected schools are
arriving at districts. The Westwood Unified
School District, an hour north of Chico, has more than a dozen charter
schools across the state — with most in Southern California — under
the name "Westwood Charter School." Westwood Supt. Henry
Bietz said most of his schools took students who had failed or been
rejected elsewhere and taught them in small groups or one on one. This
year, the district closed five sites, partly in response to the new
state rules. "We have about
1,000 kids who want to continue receiving the services we provide them,"
Bietz said. "Where do they go?" Westwood had criticized
the 100-student Jah's World school in South Los Angeles for not turning
in student records on time and not requiring students to take the California
High School Exit Exam. The ban on long-distance oversight pushed the
school to close at the end of the spring semester. Westwood charter officials
recommended that the displaced students enroll in another district charter
school nearby, Spark Community Outreach Program for Empowerment, or
SCOPE. But the closure caused
a community uproar because many students didn't want to attend SCOPE.
They worried about crossing gang territory lines and endangering themselves.
Then, a few months later, the 120-student SCOPE campus closed. Most of the displaced
students from Jah's World have been directed to enroll in a continuation
program run by the Inglewood Unified School District, Bietz said. SCOPE
students are expected to transfer to public schools in Los Angeles,
Inglewood and elsewhere. No Child
Left Behind" Keeps Many From Being Successful PR Web The No Child Left Behind
Act is supposed to ensure that all children are successful learners.
But as long as kids are required to learn material they are not ready
for or that is being taught in a way that is counter to their learning
styles, more and more students will continue to be left behind. The No Child Left Behind
Act is supposed to ensure that all children are successful learners.
So what's the problem? Intention of the No
Child Left Behind Act: Make sure all kids learn. Problem: All kids are
being required to learn the same things at the same time in the same
way. The requirements for each grade level are getting stricter and
testing is being emphasized more and more. Results: Because children
learn differently and are at different developmental stages, "one-size-fits-all"
education does not work. Kids feel more and more pressure from teachers
and parents to learn material they are either not ready for or that
is being taught in a way that is counter to their learning styles. Then
they are tested on material they were not able to learn. These kids
are being set up for failure—and so are their teachers! Solution: 1. Teach reading, writing,
and other skills at appropriate developmental stages. Most kids are
not ready for reading or writing until they are 8 or 9 years old—forcing
them before they are ready then labeling them with a learning disability
label is not only counterproductive but damaging to these children. 2. Teach the way kids
learn. In any classroom, 50% to 60% of all students are hands-on/movement
learners; another 20% are picture learners. Textbooks and traditional
testing don't work for the majority of students! America's Learning-Success™
Coaches, Victoria Kindle Hodson and Mariaemma Willis want to make sure
that ALL kids are successful learners. Here is what they have to say: "There is no reason
why all students can't learn effectively. We know too much from brain
research NOT to apply the strategies that help ALL kids learn, not just
a handful in each classroom. The present strategies—strict grade level
requirements and more and more testing—aren't working. It's time to
start focusing on each child's learning success, rather than school
and district testing success. This is the only way to truly ensure that
no child is left behind." $500 billion spent on education By George Archibald,
Washington Times, 8/5/04 The Bush administration
has issued a booklet declaring that U.S. taxpayers spent more than $500
billion for public schools in the 2003-04 school year, after months
of attacks by Democrats and teachers unions who say that federal requirements
for school improvement are underfunded. State and local spending
for kindergarten through 12th grade education more than doubled since
1990, while federal taxpayers' share rose by more than a third to $41.1
billion, or 8.2 percent of total spending in President Bush's fiscal
2004 budget, according to the booklet being distributed across the country
by officials of the Education Department. Total public-school
spending was $501.3 billion, according to the eight-page publication
titled "10 Facts About K-12 Education Funding," which rejects
claims of the National Education Association (NEA) in a pending lawsuit
that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is an unfunded federal mandate.
"There are no federal
education 'mandates.' Every federal education law is conditioned on
a state's decision to accept federal program funds," the publication
states. "Any state that does not want to abide by these requirements
need not accept the federal grant money." The No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB) reauthorized the $25 billion Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, whose Title I program this year provided $12.4 billion to local
districts to improve academic achievement in high-poverty schools. "The law's express
purpose is to close the achievement gap through accountability, research-based
instruction, flexibility and options for parents so that no child is
left behind," the booklet says. At last month's NEA
convention, the nation's largest teachers union launched a national
grass-roots campaign to rally public opposition to NCLB and Mr. Bush's
re-election. Susan Aspey, spokeswoman
for Education Secretary Rod Paige, said the department initially printed
about 20,000 copies of the booklet at a cost of about $8,400. "We did it because
we had a lot of questions about education funding, both here in D.C.
as well as when our folks traveled the country," she said. This week, 16 department
officials are attending conferences and awarding grants in 15 states.
Criticism of the Bush
administration's spending levels for education programs has been a staple
of Democratic rhetoric since the enactment of NCLB. Rep. George Miller of
California, ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce
Committee and a supporter of the law, says the administration and Republican
majority in Congress should spend an additional $27 billion to fully
fund NCLB, while the NEA calls for an additional $81 billion. Rep. John A. Boehner,
Ohio Republican and committee chairman, says Title I spending has increased
$3.6 billion, or 42 percent, since January 2002. "We are pumping
gas into a flooded engine," he said. "The federal government
has increased federal education spending so rapidly that many states
haven't even been able to spend down the money we appropriated for them
two years ago." At the beginning of
this year, according to a House committee report, states were "sitting
on $5.75 billion in federal education funding, including nearly $2 billion
in Title I aid from fiscal years 2000 through 2002." Political fighting over
the size of federal school-funding increases has drawn strong criticism
from conservative education-policy analysts. "Despite the huge
infusion of federal cash and the near tripling of overall per-pupil
funding since 1965, national academic performance has not improved,"
said Neal McCluskey of the libertarian Cato Institute. "Math and reading
scores have stagnated, graduation rates have flat-lined, and researchers
have shown numerous billion-dollar federal programs to be failures,"
Mr. McCluskey wrote in a Cato report last month titled "A Lesson
in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go?" NCLB report delayed for state’s schools By NOREEN GILLESPIE
, Associated Press Writer, 08/06/2004 HARTFORD -- The state
Department of Education says its annual report detailing how elementary
and middle schools are faring under the federal No Child Left Behind
law will be delayed, in large part because of scoring errors on last
year’s Connecticut Mastery Tests. The department has asked
federal education officials for an extension of their August deadline.
Connecticut’s report will be ready before the end of October, associate
commissioner Frances Rabinowitz wrote in a July 26 letter to Raymond
Simon, assistant secretary for the federal department’s office of elementary
and secondary education. The state uses results
from the Connecticut Mastery Tests, which are given to fourth, sixth
and eighth graders, to gauge how elementary and middle schools are performing. The results are normally
released in January, but scoring errors made by contractor CTB/McGraw
Hill delayed complete delivery of the test results to the state until
June. "Given the scoring
difficulties with our new test contractors as well as the new flexibility
in NCLB requirements, we will need this extended timeline," Rabinowitz
wrote. The annual state report
identifies which schools are having trouble meeting the requirements
of the federal education reform law. Schools can be placed on the list
for deficiencies in math and reading, or inadequate participation on
the tests. Schools that repeatedly
fail to meet the law’s requirements can face sanctions such as loss
of federal funding. They can also be required to offer extra services
such as tutoring, or offer students the chance to attend another school. Federal officials are
working with the state, though a final decision on the extension had
not been made, Jo Ann Webb, the U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman,
said Thursday. "They had a really
bad problem with the contractor, and we have been talking with them
and working on it," she said. Last year, 149 elementary
and middle schools were placed on a list for not making enough progress
toward meeting the law’s requirements. Just under half of the state’s
high schools also made the list. The report on high schools,
which is based on the results of the Connecticut Academic Performance
Test, is expected to be ready on time, the department said. In a report released
by the nonpartisan Education Commission of the States last month, Connecticut
was identified as one of five states -- along with New York, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania and Kentucky -- that had met or was on track to meeting
all of the law’s requirements. Report: States lag on teacher quality By Corey Murray, Assistant
Editor, eSchool News, August 6, 2004 More than two and a
half years since President Bush signed the landmark No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB), only a handful of states--Connecticut, Kentucky, New York,
Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania--are on track to fully implementing the law,
according to a report from the Education Commission of the States (ECS).
Though most states have
raised the bar in terms of student achievement, the Denver-based nonprofit
says few are keeping pace in terms of improving teacher quality, among
other demands. Billed as the most comprehensive
measure of where states stand in meeting the requirements of NCLB, "ECS
Report to the Nation: State Implementation of the No Child Left Behind
Act" derives its findings from ECS's one-of-a-kind national database,
built with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education
(ED). The study was released
just as the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the
2005 education budget. Critics of the legislation, including proponents
of educational technology, lambasted the bill for failing to provide
states with enough money to implement the law's many requirements (see
"House bill would slash ed-tech funding"). The report compares
state progress from March 2003 through March 2004. It focuses on states'
progress related to seven major categories of the law: standards and
assessment, adequate yearly progress (AYP), school improvement, supplemental
services, safe schools, report cards, and teacher quality. "There has been
and continues to be a great deal of discussion around NCLB on many levels,"
said Ted Sanders, president of ECS. "But this is the first chance
the nation has had to view the issues in terms of what states are actually
doing." Despite the fact that
just five states are on task to meet every major aspect of the law,
Kathy Christie, vice president of the ECS clearinghouse, said a majority
of states have demonstrated remarkable progress since the bill was inked
in 2001. "States are taking
NCLB very seriously, and we think the way they have evolved is very
encouraging," Christie said. The landmark legislation
requires every state and the District of Columbia to collect and report
data on individual student performance, including mandatory testing
in reading and math for all students in grades 3-8. Schools that fail to
demonstrate AYP for two consecutive years are labeled "in need
of improvement" and must give students the option of transferring
to a better-performing school. Schools that fail to meet AYP standards
for three years in a row must offer tutoring services to students whose
parents request them, and the sanctions get progressively worse as schools
on the "needs improvement" list continue to fall short of
the law's goals. Education leaders, for
the most part, have praised the law for its good intentions but have
protested its ballooning costs. In many cases, critics say, the law
has pushed state and local coffers to the brink. According to the report,
all 50 states had met or were partially on track toward meeting half
of the 40 key requirements of NCLB, an 11-percent increase over March
2003. What's more, all but two states and the District of Columbia had
met or were partially on track to meet at least 75 percent of the requirements--an
impressive 109-percent increase over the progress achieved one year
ago, the report said. When it comes to technology,
states have adopted several innovative approaches to collecting and
using student data as required under the law. Pennsylvania, Tennessee,
and Ohio all have enacted policies that encourage schools to integrate
assessment systems designed to collect data and "generate reports"
to help meet the demands of the law, according to the report. In Utah, new legislation
allows districts to have tests administered and scored electronically
"to accelerate the review of test scores and their usefulness to
parents and educators," the report said. In Virginia, a law was
enacted requiring the state education department to create a web site
enabling educators to suggest improvement to the state's Standards of
Learning. In fact, according to
the survey, all 50 states are at least partially on their way to constructing
a plan for disaggregating student data. And 46 states either have or
are in the process of developing statewide accountability plans to measure
how close students are to reaching prescribed benchmarks. Though the law doesn't
require states to integrate large-scale student information systems
to sort and collect student data, Christie said nearly all states have
invested in some type of technology to help monitor their progress.
Without a good data infrastructure, she said, keeping track of all the
provisions would be difficult. U.S. Secretary of Education
Rod Paige was encouraged by the strides schools have made. "The
commission's analysis shows that states have indeed made considerable
progress implementing No Child Left Behind, particularly in the areas
of standards, assessments, and accountability," Paige said in a
statement. But the outlook is less
rosy when it comes to other aspects of the law, especially in terms
of teacher quality. According to the survey,
few states are on track to implementing high-quality professional development
for all teachers. Further, only 10 states are in a position to ensure
that both new and veteran teachers are qualified to teach in their dedicated
subject areas, and fewer than half are on track to making sure that
scientifically based technical assistance is provided to low-performing
schools. It's also notable that,
despite widespread willingness to beef up statewide data infrastructures,
just 19 states are thus far fully capable of providing report cards
as defined by the provisions of NCLB--although 31 states are at least
partially on track. ECS's Christie attributed
some of the sluggishness to the timing of the report. When NCLB first
was unveiled, she said, states primarily were focused on making sure
the student assessment and data management pieces were in place. Now
that the majority of those elements are intact, she added, states are
beginning to turn their attention to other aspects of the law. Kentucky, for instance,
employed its Education Professional Standards Board to develop an innovative
web tool that invited teachers to take a step-by-step assessment to
determine whether they meet the state's definition of "highly qualified,"
according to the report. Other states, such as
Iowa and Kansas, have linked their respective university programs to
their K-12 academic standards to ensure that all new teachers enter
the classroom with their qualifications already in order. ECS makes a few recommendations
that states and the federal government might want to consider in an
effort to speed up NCLB compliance. Educators and other
stakeholders first must embrace NCLB as a civil-rights issue, the report
said. The goal, according to Christie, is to ensure equity across all
student groups, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or disability.
Under the law, all students are required to perform at or above grade
level by the 2013-14 school year, which means that every student must
be held to the same high standards--no matter what. The same goes for performance
growth, she said. Too often, educators become focused solely on improving
the status of low-performing students. Though the law requires that
traditional underachievers begin to show noticeable gains, it doesn't
make excuses for average and above-average learners. All students must
continue to excel to avoid being left behind, Christie said. ECS also has asked the
federal government to consider reassessing its definition of AYP. As
it stands, Christie said, the current definition is too vague and does
not account for the fact that states use different benchmarks to gauge
success. Rather, ECS would prefer that ED use some sort of statistical
model to define AYP. This would help standardize the definition and
ensure that schools aren't unfairly lumped into the "needs improvement"
category, she said. What's more, the report
suggests that states look for ways to strengthen their requirements
for highly qualified teachers. Though most states have requirements
in place to ensure that all new hires are highly qualified, Christie
said, questions remain about the types of evaluations used to give veteran
teachers that distinction. "We need to make
sure there are no trap doors for [veteran teachers] to fall through,"
she said, adding that the majority of states are not as vigilant as
they should be in terms of monitoring professional development. Finally, school systems
need to continue to build state and local capacity to handle the many
demands of NCLB, the report said. Amid thinning staffs and constricting
budgets, schools must look for the most efficient means of handling
data and implementing change. Even at that, however,
reaching the promise of NCLB won't be easy, according to ECS. "It will be far
easier [for states] to meet the requirements of the law than to meet
its goals," Christie said. Whether states do their part to comply
or not, she said, the real test is translating those efforts into improved
student achievement. "That's where the rubber really hits the road,"
she added. Battle over Texas sex-ed textbooks Second-largest buyer
could influence rest of U.S. Reuters, August 5, 2004 DALLAS -- The lesson
for Texas teens is that the only safe sex is no sex, and that may be
a lesson that heads nationwide. Texas educators are
debating what will be taught in new sexual education textbooks for its
high school students. The 15-member Texas Board of Education is considering
and will likely approve four books, all of which extol the virtues of
abstinence. Three make no mention of contraceptives at all while one
makes passing reference to condoms. Critics are crying foul,
saying that a lesson of abstinence alone is dangerous because it could
lead to more teen pregnancies and more teens becoming infected with
sexually transmitted diseases. The battle in Texas
has national implications because the state is the second-biggest market
for textbooks in the United States. Books approved by the state's school
board are typically marketed nationally. According to Centers
for Disease Control figures, Texas has been among the top five states
in the country for teenage pregnancies for several years. When he was governor
of Texas, George W. Bush pushed for an abstinence-based sexual education
curriculum. He raised his concerns to a national level when he said
in this year's State of the Union address: "We will double federal
funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life:
Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually
transmitted diseases." National surveys indicate
that a wide majority of parents support a strong abstinence message
to teens in sexual education. The Texas Freedom Network,
a group that regularly battles social and religious conservatives in
the state, along with Planned Parenthood and others are asking the board
not to approve the four textbooks under consideration. Book tells teens rest
prevents STDs They say the books are
lacking. For example, one textbook under review advises that a good
way a teen-ager can prevent a sexually transmitted disease is to get
plenty of rest so he or she can have a clear head about sex and choose
abstinence. "The key thing
here is that the textbooks do not contain a trace of information about
family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases other
than through abstinence," said Dan Quinn, a spokesman for the Texas
Freedom Network. Critics want the board
to ask the publishers to revise the books to include more information
on contraceptives, but the board is expected to approve the books without
changes since officials say discussion of contraceptives in their teachers'
supplements is enough to meet state curriculum requirements "There are other
contraceptive methods in addition to abstinence and you are just not
going to find it in these textbooks," Quinn said. He charged the
textbook publishers have engaged in self-censorship to appease social
conservatives in the state at the expense of the health of Texas teen-agers. The board will meet
in September to discuss the books and will vote on whether to approve
them in November. If approved, the texts are likely to appear in classrooms
in August 2005 -- where they could be the standard text for about 10
years. Local school districts
are not required to use one of the new books but they receive state
funding to buy them if they do. The publishers of the
books are Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Glencoe/McGraw Hill and Thomson
Delmar Learning. Some of the books currently
in use in the state have more information about contraceptives than
the books up for consideration, but once the new books are approved,
they will for the most part replace all the current texts. Board at center of religious
and political battles The education board
has been at the center of many political and religious battles over
the years including a recent proposal by evangelical Christian groups
to have the state's textbooks include items debunking evolution. Despite opposition,
the sex education textbooks under consideration are likely to get approval.
State Education Agency officials said mention of condoms and contraceptives
in the teacher's editions or in supplements to the books enable them
to meet Texas curriculum standards. Texas standards require
sexual education books to "analyze the effectiveness of barrier
protection and other contraceptive methods, including the prevention
of sexually transmitted diseases, keeping in mind the effectiveness
of remaining abstinent until marriage." Richard Blake, a spokesman
for Holt, Rinehart and Winston said his company offers a supplement
for students that goes into comprehensive detail about forms of contraceptives. The supplement for students
is free with the purchase of the textbooks. It is excluded from the
main text in order to offer flexibility and meet the needs of school
boards across the United States that have differing views on how to
treat a subject many see as highly sensitive. "Teachers and educators
across the country, and not just in Texas, have told us they wanted
it this way," Blake said.
Illinois State Board of Education |
