Achievement Gap Club

"Every other Wednesday morning at T.R. Smedberg Middle School in south Sacramento, about 30 seventh- and eighth-grade students meet to talk about something that confounds educators: the achievement gap."

It makes sense, but yet it's revolutionary- ask the students who make up the statistics what can be done lessen the achievement gap.

At the first meeting more than two years ago the school principal Keven MacDonald came in with six binders of research and threw them on the floor, and said to the students, "These experts don't have the answers. The gap has existed for 50 years. Why don't you tell me what we need to do?"

Read more about the club here.

Legislative Test

The Washington Post editorial page urges Maryland legislatures not to water down the state’s high school exit exam requirement, noting that “Maryland lawmakers historically have left education policy to the state board.” The situation is a reminder of what happens when high standards meet political realities, and suggests that legislators are the biggest impediment to education reform, or, at the very least, strong accountability.

Making the Law Work

“Once again, Margaret Spellings is doing the right thing for schools by bending, if not actually breaking, the law. The No Child Left Behind Act was so poorly conceived that occasionally the secretary of Education has to disobey it to make it work,” writes the LA Times editorial page in response to the Secretary’s new differentiated accountability proposal.

Wick to the Rescue

Ohio State Board Member Carl Wick comes to the defense of state school superintendent Susan Zelman, who Buckeye Governor Ted Strickland is trying to oust.

 

An excerpt from Wick’s letter: “You made brutally critical comments about Dr. Susan Zelman yesterday to the Cincinnati Enquirer. This greatly disturbs me. This approach is not dignified, virtuous or professional.

 

Having said this, the State Board of Education, made up of an assortment of Ohio citizens, many of which voted for you including some Rs serving on the board, supports Dr. Zelman. Her last appraisal had 100% board support. There are good reasons for this support. Can we all be wrong?

 

We know Dr. Zelman has shortcomings, which we all have, but she has been the single catalyst in improving and moving Ohio public education forward. Ohio was in the middle of the states but is now ranked 7th. May I ask, “How do you think we got there?”

Advantage - Welburn

Brenda Welburn’s “good point” regarding recent attempts by governors to oust their chief state school officers.

Chairman of Massachusetts State Board Appointed Secretary of Education

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced his selection of Paul Reville as the new Secretary of Education, the cabinet-level position created by legislation passed this past January. Mr. Reville currently serves as the chairman of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, appointed by Governor Patrick in August 2006. As the first Secretary of Education since 1996, Reville will have oversight over the departments of Early Education and Care; Elementary and Secondary Education, and Higher Education. “I am honored to assume the role of Secretary for a Governor who is deeply committed to making schools more effective instruments of building equity, excellence and opportunity for all students in the Commonwealth,” commented Reville, who will take office on July 1st.

Healthy School Lunches Radio Show

Back Porch with Dave and Bob (an Internet talk radio show at grapevineradio.com) will have a one hour show this Friday March 7th at 2pm MST focused solely on Healthy School Lunches.  Their guests include Amie Hamlin of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food and Chef Seth Bixby Daugherty, Founder of Real Food Initiatives.

Idaho Governor to Make Governance Changes

Idaho “’Gov. C.L. "Butch’ Otter said Monday he plans to make changes to the State Board of Education,” reports the Times-News.

Spellings and State Boards

This is the second state board of education meeting in a week Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has attended. One more and it will officially be a trend. http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2008/02/02212008.html

Texas State Board Member Pat Hardy gets the endorsement of the Star Telegram in the upcoming Republican primary.

 

Children, Poverty and Learning

“Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain,” says the American Association for the Advancement of Science by way of the Financial Times.

School Lunch Meat Recalled

143 million pounds of meat are being recalled – some which was consumed in the school lunch program - because of a slaughterhouse’s use of sick cows. “Agriculture officials said there was little health risk from the recalled meat because…much of the meat had already been eaten,” reports the NY Times.

 

No Knee Jerk Reaction

The conventional wisdom regarding ACL injuries in youths – that they rarely occur - is all wrong according to this NY Times article. In fact, diagnoses are on the rise thanks to MRIs and the increased risk of year-round sports competition. And girls are more susceptible (8x more susceptible) to the injury than boys. The results have big implications for a child’s growth and development, to say nothing of their future participation in athletic activities.

 

Tough Times in West Virginia

Marc Tucker, author of Tough Times, Tough Choices – is trying to convince the West Virginia State Board of Education to adopt some of the dramatic recommendations in that report. Among them: allowing high school students to forego their last two years of school if they pass a graduation test, raising teacher salaries above $100,000, and having school boards transfer most educational services to private vendors.

California State Board Member Reappointed

“James Aschwanden, 53, was reappointed Thursday to the state Board of Education by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Aschwanden has served on the board since 2006 and has served as executive director of the California Agricultural Teachers Association since 2003,” reports the Record.

Action in Jackson

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is in Mississippi today to meet with the State Board of Education and other school leaders.

KY Commissioner Withdraws Request for More Time

“Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud today withdrew his request for additional time off.

Draud had asked the Kentucky Board of Education for 20 days of annual leave each year, instead of the 12 days to which he was entitled as a state government employee, and a one-time bonus of 30 sick leave days. Both were given to him by the state board yesterday…

 

Draud’s request, and the school board’s unanimous vote that granted him the extra days, raised questions from some, including [Governor] Beshear, as the state wrestles with a budget shortfall.

‘I question the appearance this creates during this time of financial crisis,’ Beshear said yesterday. ‘I trust that the state board took that into consideration before making its decision,’” reports the Courier-Journal.

Positive Press for Michigan State Board

“The [Michigan] state Board of Education should seek permission from the federal government to allow students in alternative high schools and dropout recovery programs an extra year to graduate,” says this Grand Rapids editorial. “The state Board of Education has a compelling case to present to the federal government. Board members should make the case, and in so doing be able to make Michigan's schools better.”

 

Education Curriculum War Avoided in Texas

“A potential fight over a rewrite of the state's English and reading curriculum fizzled Wednesday with the State Board of Education simply agreeing to improve an existing proposal instead of junking it,” reports the Houston Chronicle.

State Board Endorseement in Texas

Texas State Board Member Mary Helen Berlanga gets the re-election endorsement of her local paper.

 

Writes the Caller-Times, “We say the voters have been lucky because Berlanga has been a voice of reason on a 15-member board that has been, off and on, riven by ideologues with their own agenda. She has been a steady influence for professionalism in education. Without Berlanga on the board, along with those members who are allied to her side, you can be sure there would have been much mischief made with public education in Texas…

 

Berlanga for more than two decades has been a steady influence for the mainstream education professionals and classroom teachers. She pushed to keep spelling textbooks in the elementary grades. She has opposed efforts to politicize the Texas Education Agency as well as the State Board of Education. Her continued presence on the board could be critical as ideologues seek to gain an advantage and control what schoolchildren are taught in Texas classrooms.”