Education News: July 31, 2009

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending July 31, 2009.

Effects of Unionization of Charter Schools Lead to Debate
(New York Times, July 26, 2009)  An increasing number of teachers at charter schools across the country are unionizing in an effort to control long hours, high turnover, and, at times, lower wages.  Labor organizing began seven years ago when seven charter schools in Florida decided to unionize.  Over the past year, unionization has gained momentum as more than a dozen charter schools from New York to California have organized.  That most of the nation’s 4,600 charter schools operate without unions is one of the main reasons they are so free to innovate.  It has allowed them to test various reforms such as lengthen the school day, dismiss underperforming teachers at will, and experiment with merit pay.  Unionization of charter schools raises questions about whether unions will strengthen the charter movement by stabilizing its young and transient teaching force, or weaken it by limiting the freedom that causes charters to be so effective in the first place.  Unions are not entirely new to charter schools, however, as teachers at hundreds of charter schools in Wisconsin, California and elsewhere are union members due to local laws.  Todd Ziebarth, a vice president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, anticipates that unionized charter schools will be a small part of the movement.  Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, however, believes that the labor organization of the past year is a “precursor” of things to come and has begun programs aimed at unionizing charters.  The largest teachers union, the National Education Association, currently has no national charter organizing campaign.

Thirteen D.C. Schools Plan to Launch Specialized Programs
(Washington Post, July 29, 2009)  On Tuesday, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced that thirteen public schools in Washington, D.C. will launch plans for specialized programs in science and technology, arts and languages.  The move is part of an effort to increase enrollment and stop students from transferring from traditional public schools to the District's fast-growing charter schools.  While theme-based schools are widely employed, Rhee’s proposal is different because the "catalyst schools" will remain neighborhood schools.  This means that they will be open to all eligible students without an application or other admissions requirements.  The schools were selected from a field of applicants and each developed their own proposals for specialty programs. For the first three years of the project, the schools will be funded by $6 million in grants from donors. After three years, however, the schools will be expected to pay for the programs with funds generated by increased enrollment.  Rhee also hopes to strike a partnership with the SEED Foundation, a national nonprofit group that runs urban public boarding schools.

New Budget in California Removes Exit Exam Requirement for Special-Ed Students
(San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2009)  California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new budget on Tuesday that suspended the exit exam graduation requirement for special-education students.  This means that starting with the graduating class of 2010, special-education students will no longer have to pass the test in order to graduate.  Officials do not yet know how the change will affect the tens of thousands of disabled students from the classes of 2008 and 2009 who passed all requirements, but failed the exam.  In light of the state’s immense budget deficit, democrats had proposed removing the requirement for all students.  When the governor vowed to veto any such plan, the two sides struck a compromise by only removing the requirement for special-education students.  According to H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the Department of Finance, however, the change will have virtually no fiscal impact.

Elite Teach For America Corps Might Be Taking Jobs from Older Teachers
(USA Today, July 29, 2009)  In spite of the lingering recession which has caused budget cuts and hiring slowdowns, Teach For America has continued to increase its numbers and expand to new cities.  The number of TFA teachers went from 6,200 in twenty-nine regions last year to 7,300 in thirty-five regions this year.  Baltimore Superintendent Andres Alonso has noticed greater stability amongst the teaching ranks attributing it to the reluctance to leave a secure job during the current recession.  This has caused the number of TFA teachers to double in city schools over the past two years.  When 160 new “TFAers” arrive in Baltimore next week, they will make up one quarter of new hires.  Critics, however, claim that TFA growth comes at the expense of experienced teachers who are losing their jobs, who are fired in favor of the cheaper TFA participants who are trained but still receive beginner’s salary.  Executive Director of the National Education Association adds that he believes by bringing "the least-prepared and the least-experienced teachers” into the highest-need schools, “what [TFA is] doing to poor children is malpractice."

Shrinking Budgets Lead to Spike in Class Size
(USA Today, July 29, 2009)  As the recession forces districts to layoff teachers, classrooms are expected to be more crowded when the new school year begins.  Across the country, from rural towns to big cities, many classes will have well over thirty students.  Many educators and parents worry that the increase in size will hinder learning as teachers have to focus more on keeping order and less on student achievement.  In Los Angeles, average class size is expected to increase by two students from grades four through twelve.  This means that elementary school classrooms will have twenty-four students on average, middles school classrooms will have thirty-five, and classes for juniors and seniors will have about forty-three students each.  Some experts, however, claim that class size is far less important than the quality of teacher who is leading the class.  Under this belief, it makes sense to get rid of ineffective teachers and have more students being taught by quality ones.  The recession may be forcing students to have larger classes and ineffective teachers, however, as educators are being forced into subjects that they haven’t taught for some time or sometimes ones they have never taught.

Denver Uses Public Academies to Smooth Transitions Between Schools
(Denver Post, July 27, 2009)  This summer, Denver Public Schools is offering four-hour-a-day academies for sixth- and ninth-graders to help acclimate students to new surroundings, give them basic literacy and math instruction and allow teachers to assess student skills.  The transition years are being focused on because they are believed to be some of the most pivotal in a student’s academic career.  By using $285,000 in federal stimulus money, the district is hosting academies for about 1,500 sixth-graders at ten schools.  The academies for ninth-graders are in their third year and cost about $660,000.  They have already demonstrated success as students who enrolled in the voluntary academies had better attendance rates over the school year, passed more classes and scored higher on the reading portion of the Colorado Student Assessment Program than students who did not attend the academies.  The additional class time follows a White House directive from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who said that he would like to see a longer school year.  Additionally, research has shown that long summer breaks can be detrimental to students, especially lower income ones.

California Receives Court Approval for English-Only Exams
(San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 2009)  According to the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, California is entitled to administer school achievement tests and high school exit exams in English to all students.  This includes the exams given to the nearly 1.6 million students who speak limited English.  The court’s decision rejected arguments from bilingual-education groups and nine school districts who claimed that English-only exams violate No Child Left Behind.  More specifically, they said it violated the federal law's requirement that limited-English-speaking students "be assessed in a valid and reliable manner."  In a 3-0 ruling, however, the court said that the law leaves it up to the states whether or not tests must be administered in a student’s native language.  In addition, it pointed out that the Department of Education has approved California’s testing plans since 2002, and believe that it is not the court’s place to second guess.