Education News: April 09, 2009

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending April 09, 2009.

Report Suggests Looming Teacher Shortage Due to Retirement
(New York Times, April 7, 2009)  A recent report by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a nonprofit research advocacy group, predicts that over the next four years over a third of the nations teachers could retire.  This would deprive many classrooms of much-needed qualified teachers as well as strain tax-financed retirement systems.  Exacerbating the problem is a high attrition rate among rookie teachers, with a third of them leaving the profession within five years.  The report claims that new teachers are being driven away by low pay and poor working conditions, and veterans are leaving because obsolete retirement plans encourage them to leave the workforce early.  By restructuring to create learning teams where experienced veterans help mentor rookie educators, many of the problems could be alleviated.  Some feel that the recession could help offset the shortage as the profession’s relative security and good benefits can be very attractive to those looking for jobs.

Rhee Works with Teachers to Overhaul Teacher Evaluations
(Washington Post, April 7, 2009)  While D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee remains stalemated with the Washington Teachers' Union over salary and job security issues, she has made progress on the overhaul of the teacher evaluation system, though it is currently not part of the bargaining agreement.  Rhee and her chief "human capital" assistant, Jason Kamras, have worked for months to expand the evaluation system to include classroom observations and conferences, and methods to track how students' standardized test scores grow over time.  The school system has had complete control over teacher evaluations since awarded authority by Congress in the mid-1990s, but the union has requested say in the matter in their most recent contract proposal.  Instead of including them, however, Rhee invited teachers to a series of focus groups to add their input in reshaping the system.

Study Suggests Boston’s “English Only” Rule has Caused Students to Struggle
(Boston Globe, April 7, 2009)  A recent report claims that students not fluent in English have struggled in Boston since voters passed a law six years ago which decided that all classes would be taught in English.  Most alarmingly, it found that students who are still learning to read or write in English are twice as likely to dropout.  The report was conducted by the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the Center for Collaborative Education.  Boston appears ill-equipped to serve its nonnative English speakers, who make up about 38% of the district's 56,000 students.  The district is failing to identify hundreds of students who require special instruction and to provide parents with sufficient information for program selection.  The report did not comment on whether or not the law is appropriate, but rather on solutions to help Boston conform to the law.

Federal Funds May Aid Expansion of State-Financed Pre-K State Education
(New York Times, April 8, 2009)  For the past decade, public education has expanded drastically but quietly as dozens of states began offering free pre-kindergarten offerings.  From 2002 to 2008, state spending on pre-kindergarten nearly doubled to $4.6 billion, as enrollment increased to 1.1 million.  Due to the recession, however, nine states have already announced cuts to state-run pre-K programs, which has supporters worried.  Luckily, at President Obama’s request, Congress has significantly increased federal funding to pre-K programs.  This includes more than $4 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start programs and for grants to states to support child care for low-income families.

Notre Dame Priests Object to President Obama Speaking at Commencement
(USA Today, April 8, 2009) Ten priests in the Roman Catholic order that helps run the University of Notre Dame, the Congregation of the Holy Cross, signed an open letter Wednesday asking the school to reconsider having President Obama deliver this year's commencement address.  Many Catholics object to Obama’s stances on abortion and stem cell research, as they are at odds with those of the church, and the priests did not see it fitting for him to speak at the University’s commencement and receive an honorary diploma.

Chicago Online Charter School is Right in Line with Reform Efforts and NCLB
(Chicago Tribune, April 8, 2009)  The Chicago Virtual Charter School, which opened in 2006, is the city’s only online public school for kindergarten through high school.  It has become a viable alternative to traditional public schools for parents who believe that their child learns at a different pace than that of regular schools.  Principal Bruce Law said that last year the school met the standard of “adequate yearly progress” which was mandated under NCLB.  Overall, 30% of Illinois schools did not meat that standard.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan, whose use of funds will help shape the American education system, was an early backer of the school when he was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools.  Online schools, which have been around for ten years and exist in forty-four states, raise questions regarding their quality of education, home-based structure and funding criteria.  Currently, there is a pending suit against the Chicago Board of Education by the Chicago Teachers Union, claiming that the virtual school violates state law and, therefore, should not receive public funds.  The school’s supporters believe that school districts simply don’t like losing funds to the online school.  Students receive desktop computer and printer on loan, textbooks, supplies for art and science projects, math tools and more and attend classes in a leased room once or twice a week, depending on grade level, while working through lessons at home.

New D.C. Ad Campaign to Spread Positive News About Schools
(Washington Post, April 9, 2009)  A new ad campaign launched by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee titled "Rediscover DCPS,” features positive advertisements about D.C. public schools.  The campaign aims to inspire confidence in the school system which ranks among the bottom in test scores nationwide and whose enrollment has dropped from 80,000 to 45,000 over the last thirty years.  School officials hope that the campaign will persuade parents to remove their children from expensive private schools and enroll them in public schools.  The $9,000 campaign makes a particular push for special education students.