Curriculum Matters

In "Hooked on Phonies," Mother Jones magazine takes on the well-worn tale of Reading First and the alleged cronyism in the federal effort to improve reading instruction. The article is in the Sept./Oct. issue of the independent, liberal magazine. It chronicles the unlikely success of the K-2 reading program Voyager Learning and its founder, Randy Best.

The story is mostly a rehash of what's already been reported in Ed Week and other publications, like Best's relationships with and contributions to key politicians, including President Bush, and his hiring of former school administrators. But there are a few interesting new twists and insights.

The most intriguing comment comes from G. Reid Lyon, the former chief of the child development and behavior branch at NICHD and an architect of the Reading First legislation. There had been a lot made of New York City's adoption of Voyager after a group of prominent researchers, at Lyon's request, offered a critical analysis of the balanced literacy program that was prescribed throughout the vast district. The article also recaps the career paths of several reading experts who were hired by Best to design the program, then went on advise the Ed Department on Reading First implementation and to direct the Reading First technical assistance centers. Background is here and here.

Lyon went to work for Best as a research director for a teacher education program, which, according to the article, has run into accreditation issues. Now on his own, Lyon shares some revelations about some of the decisions made under Reading First.

"Many programs, including Voyager, were probably adopted on the basis of relationships, rather than effectiveness data," Mother Jones quotes Lyon as saying. "I thought all this money would be great; it would get into schools. But money makes barracudas out of people. It's an amazing thing."

Cindy Cupp, the fiery independent publisher whose complaints to federal officials—as well as those of the Success for All Foundation's Bob Slavin—sparked a series of investigations into the $1 billion-a-year program, sent me her reaction to the piece:

"I have been a reading teacher for 39 years. Reading First had the potential to be the most significant program to improve reading instruction in the United States," she wrote in an email as she was packing up to leave her house on Georgia's coast to get ahead of Hurricane Hanna. "There are laws in place that should have protected us against what happened in the Reading First program. I still find it hard to believe that the solution is to take the federal funds away from the children and to do nothing to bring charges against those that have caused the problems."

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For more than a year now, Richard Simmons, the flamboyant fitness guru, has been pushing for a bill that addresses the need for more physical education in schools. Most recently, he took his case to the Hill this summer, speaking to the House Education and Labor Committee.

Under discussion at the hearing was the Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids—or FIT Kids—Act, which, as described in this Ed Week column, would require states and districts to report on the amount and quality of physical education they offer their students.

Simmons might get more support for his cause in a new study in the Summer 2008 edition of the journal American Secondary Education. Derrick Mears, an assistant professor of teacher education in the department of physical education, health, and recreation at Western Washington University, found in his study of 361 high school students that mandating more physical education "may have a positive impact on increasing physical activity levels of young adults."

I doubt that officials in Beijing have read the study, but perhaps they were inspired by China's showing in the Olympics last month when they instituted a new requirement for daily PE classes for primary and middle school students beginning this year. This China Daily story suggests that the move by city education officials is aimed at combatting a growing obesity problem among young people in Beijing.

That's a problem we usually associate with American children, but apparently their peers in China are catching up. According to the article, about 14 percent of Beijing residents ages 7 to 22 have weight problems. It doesn't say what constitutes a problem, but the figure is slightly lower than what is estimated for young people in the U.S.

I wonder if Simmons will have an easier time making his case if he can point to China—a competitor often perceived as doing a better job in schooling its children—as tackling the issue more aggressively than we are.

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's funny how school improvement ideas around the globe often sound similar themes.

As part of Australia's "education revolution," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a plan to require school report cards as a condition for receiving federal funding, according to this recent article in The Australian.

Rudd, who was elected in November, has also promised to appoint a board to craft a national curriculum, an effort that has been pushed in Australia for decades. The call for national academic standards here in the U.S. has also gained new traction recently.

Believe it or not, the plan to put a national curriculum in place throughout the commonwealth by 2011 has fueled fierce debate.

Sound familiar?

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you've got a strong interest in school policy and testing (seems likely if you're reading this blog), you might consider making a bid for one of the soon-to-be-open spots on the National Assessment Governing Board.

NAGB, as it is known in Washington, sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. That gives the governing board an outsized influence on testing nationwide since many states look to NAEP, "the nation's report card," in trying to craft their own exams in various subjects.

While NAGB members are appointed by the secretary of education, it's an independent board, designed to go about its business without political interference of any kind. The board is made up of members from many different backgrounds who serve four-year terms. When one member's term is up, the board seeks to replace that individual with someone from the same professional background or interest area.

For 2009, the governing board is seeking five new members: an elementary school principal; two members of the general public, or parents; a state legislator from the Democratic Party; and a testing and measurement expert.

The current NAGB members who are scheduled to leave next summer are Gregory Cizek, a professor from the University of North Carolina; Cynthia Nava, a Democratic state legislator from New Mexico; Robin C. Hall, a principal from Atlanta; Alan J. Friedman, a science consultant from New York; and James S. Lanich, the president of California Business for Education Excellence.

Organizations and individuals can nominate people for consideration as board members. Interested parties can call (202) 357-7504, and read more about the process and the board itself here. The deadline is Sept. 30 of this year. Nominations can be submitted to Mary Crovo, Deputy Executive Director, the National Assessment Governing Board, 800 North Capitol St., Suite 825, Washington, DC, 20002-4233.

The board conducts quarterly meetings around the country, and the tone of those discussions, at least as long as I've been covering them, is unfailingly collegial.

In addition to having an interest in testing, it helps to have thick skin. It's not unusual for the governing board's policies—on test content and policies such as those for dealing with limited-English students and those with disabilities—to be criticized by researchers and elected officials.

But that's as much a measure of the importance of the board's work as anything else.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If they are looking for an inspiring and compelling speaker to promote the cause of public education at the conventions, organizers should put Dalton Sherman on the next plane to Denver or St. Paul.

Here the 5th grader at the Charles Rice Learning Center gets thousands of Dallas teachers on their feet and psyched up for a new school year:

This kid is awesome!

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It may have been a bit depressing following the Fordham Institute's "Education Olympics" or Bob Wise's video commentary comparing the nation's fixation with the Beijing Olympics and athletic excellence with the inadequate attention given students' academic performance. But there was at least one shining achievement.

I almost missed it by assuming that all the posts would reflect dismally on U.S. schools and students (and because of the temporary jolt I got from seeing Mike Petrilli with red, white, and blue face paint for his final broadcast).

The top finish came not in math or science or even literacy, but civics. U.S. students took first on the CivEd Civic Skills test, "which measures the abilities of a country’s students to distinguish fact from opinion, interpret political cartoons, and comprehend political messages."

So for those who are counting, the U.S. won 110 medals in Beijing, but just one here at home, by Fordham's tally anyway.

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another documentary filled with history, emotion, and visual splendor ran on PBS this week, this one about the photographers who documented "the face of Depression-era America." For Frank Baker that means another chance to help teachers use media resources for their lessons.

The longtime educator and media literacy consultant has created a teachers' guide for using the film, "Documenting The Face of America", in the classroom. It includes background, readings, preview and review questions for students, links to national standards in several subjects, and suggested assignments.

Baker, who's become somewhat of a guru on media literacy education for his efforts to prepare students for a media-driven world, has a number of suggestions for using documentaries—from An Inconvenient Truth to Ken Burns' different series on the Civil War, baseball, and jazz—to draw students into a lesson.

There are too many resources on his website to count, but they include topics such as teaching about the Olympics, the role of the media in presidential politics, and helping kids "see through media peddled culture of celebrity."

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Democrats have descended on the Mile High City this week for their party's national convention (Ed Week coverage galore here and from our home page). One of the headliners will be former Vice President Al Gore, who is expected to speak the final night of the event, around the same time as presumptive nominee Barack Obama.

Gore is certain to carry a strong pro-environment message to the podium. But whatever your political views, if you're listing speakers who've made a mark on what gets taught in the classroom over the past few years, you'd probably be hard-pressed not to at least include Gore's name.

There's little doubt that his film, "An Inconvenient Truth," has brought public attention to climate change, and it's shaped discussions in classrooms, too. As I've written, some teachers have used his documentary in their presentations of science and energy issues, and presumably, as an invitation to support or counter Gore's conclusions. Some educators have said they've struggled to find reliable and age-appropriate curricular material on climate change. Many textbooks still don't say much about it.

Efforts to talk about climate change—and to discuss possible links between human activity and global warming—can create a backlash, too. In the above-mentioned article, I noted that parents in at least one school district, in Washington state, initially fought efforts to show Gore's film in class, viewing it as too political. I was reminded of this today, when I noticed the recent editorial in an Iowa newspaper: "Core Curriculum? It's More LIke Gore Curriculum."

(The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released last year, says evidence of global warming, and resultant sea and ocean temperatures and rising sea levels is "unequivocal." It also says "there is very high confidence that the net effect of human activities" over the last few hundred years has been one of warming.

Gore also has many backers, of course, in the classroom and outside it. For that viewpoint, look no further than the editorial pages of the very same Iowa newspaper, where "The Energy Challenge Has Been Issued," as stated by another op-ed.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

In the No Child Left Behind era, it's hardly unusual to see teachers "restructured" out their jobs—basically, fired or reassigned as part of the major changes that the law allows administrators to make at continually poor-performing schools.

But not many of those teachers have as devoted a lobby as Art Siebens.

Siebens, who until recently worked as a science teacher at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in the District of Columbia, lost his job as part of what has been described as a school restructuring effort under NCLB. He had taught biology, anatomy, and physiology at the school for 18 years and is a "remarkable, dedicated, and inspiring" educator, according to a description posted on a Web site created by his supporters, many of them parents. In particular, they point to Siebens' skill in helping students master Advanced Placement science material. (A high percentage of his students ended up scoring at least a 3 on the AP's 3-5 point scale, his followers attest.)

Siebens' interests stretch from the pedagogical to the musical. He's written and recorded at least 30 songs aimed at helping students master biology concepts, according to the Web site. (You can check out "Bio-Rhythms I, II and III" here.) Wilson is located in an affluent neighborhood in northwest D.C., though it serves students from a diverse socioeconomic and racial profile. Students in a recent incoming class hail from at least 70 different schools, and its population includes students originally from 85 countries, the school's Web site says.

Siebens' backers argue that his case is an example of a No Child Left Behind-driven overhaul gone awry. While it's hard to know all the factors that go into any personnel decision, at the very least the situation reflects the deep discords that often emerge during school restructuring, when administrators make decisions that at least some of the community of parents and students vehemently oppose. How is the teacher being judged? By test scores? By the ability to motivate students? By some other standard? Are they being judged fairly and objectively?

The principal at Wilson, Peter Cahall, did not return a call late last week about the matter, and an employee at the school later referred my questions to the D.C.'s district administration. A spokeswoman for Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, Mafara Hobson, told me that the decision to remove Siebens from Wilson High was "made at the school level, with the support of the chancellor," and declined further comment, saying it was a personnel matter. In her first year on the job, the hard-charging Rhee has shown a willingness to remove or reassign school employees whose performance she deems unsatisfactory, for which she's drawn both praise and flak.

Siebens' lawyer, Beth Slavet, said he has been assigned to a different school, but that he still hopes to return to Woodrow Wilson.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

After-school and informal science education programs have become a fixture in school districts around the country. It's easy to see why. They offer a way to introduce students to the natural world in a fun and pressure-free (free of tests, for example) environment.

But how can educators and parents judge the strengths and shortcomings of those programs? And how can researchers evaluate them in a consistent way?

A new study, prepared for the Noyce Foundation, attempts to provide some answers to those questions. It recommends the development of specific criteria for judging informal science programs, in areas such as student engagement and students' acquisition of science content knowledge and reasoning skills. It recommends the creation of an online database with tools for evaluating programs, which could be used by evaluators and updated continuously. It also suggests the creation of quantitative tools to assess the progress of students taking part in afterschool and informal science.

The authors of the study, which was released by the Program in Education, Afterschool & Resiliency at Harvard University and McLean Hospital, say they are seeking comments on the document. You can send them to pear@mclean.harvard.edu, with "Science Assessment in Out-of-School Time" in the subject heading.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)