November 2009 Archives

Only a handful of Florida school districts are ensuring that African-American history is adequately covered in the classroom, a state-funded task force argues.

Members of that study group, the Florida Task Force on African American History tell the Orlando Sentinel that it's a significant—and possibly illegal—omission.

In 1994, Florida approved a law, supported by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, that required that schools teach black history "and the contributions of African Americans to society," according to the article. Only eight of Florida's 67 school districts have met the task force's standards for including African-American studies into the curriculum. Too often, task force members say, schools merely discuss African-American contributions in isolation, such as during Black History Month in February, rather than blending it into the curriculum. Administrators in some of the districts criticized by the study group say the accusations are off the mark.

A few of the districts that have met the task force's "exemplary" standards for covering African-American history are among the state's most populated: Pinellas, in the St. Petersburg area, and Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, in South Florida. Are districts and states in other parts of the country more successful in presenting African-American history topics in a seamless way? Or are Florida officials more successful than they're given credit for?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Texas educators have produced another draft of the revised social studies standards for grades K-12. Various critics have been scrutinizing the standards to see whether they include historical figures who they deem important.

Some reviewers of an earlier draft objected, for instance, that students were required to learn about Cesar Chavez, the well-known organizer for farmworkers' rights. The Texas board of education, however, has said that Chavez will remain on the list of historical figures students must learn about.

And Hispanic legislative leaders contend that their ethnicity is underrepresented in the historical figures teachers must address.

In the standards, if a historical figure is introduced with the word "including," he or she must be covered. If the historical figure is introduced by "such as," the mention is meant to give teachers examples of people they can highlight in their lessons, but those examples are not required.

The Texas Education Agency has produced a document that shows which historical figures are being recommended for deletion from the social studies standards and which are being recommended for addition.

Sigmund Freud, for example, is up for deletion under "psychology." Cesar Chavez is up for addition under "U.S. history." The draft recommends that Theodore Roosevelt be moved from the "including" list in U.S. history to the "such as" list. But the draft recommends that he be added to the "including" category for "government."

In other words, it would be optional for teachers to talk about Theodore Roosevelt in U.S. history class but required that he be discussed in government.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Some readers may already be aware of a battle unfolding in Washington state over tough new graduation requirements in math, science, speaking, and writing. State schools Superintendent Randy Dorn has proposed delaying the implementation of the mandate, which has rankled Gov. Chris Gregoire and members of the state school board. But while the story carries a Washington state dateline, it reflects a fight that has played out with what seems like increasing frequency in state capitals around the country in recent years.

Dorn is arguing that the state's students simply aren't ready for the new requirements, that current course requirements don't match the test schedules, and that the mandates need to be phased in more slowly. Here's a sample of his argument, from an op-ed in the Spokesman-Review:

Our new math and science learning standards won't be tested until spring 2011 (math) and spring 2012 (science). That's when the class of 2013, the first to be required to pass all four state exams, is in their 10th and 11th grade years, respectively. Courts have consistently ruled that students must have ample opportunity to learn the skills and knowledge that are being assessed. I'm no lawyer, but assessing new standards when the class of 2013 is already two or three years into high school doesn't seem like ample time.

One intriguing feature of what Dorn is proposing is that he wants to create a two-tiered system in math—one for students who score "proficient" on state tests, the other for students scoring "basic." Students who score basic could still graduate with a regular diploma, if they complete a fourth year of high school math. "I encourage you to ask any educator what's harder," Dorn writes in the editorial, "to pass the state math exam or to earn a fourth math credit. That's not lowering standards."

Gregoire, and members of the state board, seem to be saying that enough is enough, and the state can't afford to put off stricter requirements if it wants to raise student performance and prepare them for the world after high school graduation. The governor also argues that Washington parents share her point of view. I'm not sure about that one. It's one thing to support the idea of higher standards in the abstract; it's another to think parents support having their sons or daughters denied a traditional diploma because they can't pass a test.

More broadly, the Washington debate carries echoes of the fight over tougher algebra requirements in California, and, for that matter, in Louisiana, as my colleague Erik Robelen reported recently. Some state officials demand higher standards, while those charged with administering those requirements, in this case Dorn, see big failure rates (a "train wreck," as the superintendent puts it) on the horizon.

If you've followed these debates in other states, here's your chance to offer your own policy solution. Would Dorn's proposal compromise state standards, or simply set them at a realistic level.

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An advocate of civics education in K-12 schools is worried that an unfavorable federal audit of spending by the Center for Civic Education could reduce the amount of federal funding for civics programs. An audit by the U.S. Department of Education's inspector general found that a sizable share of spending by the center was not permitted under federal regulations or couldn't be properly documented.

"I am concerned," writes Peter Levine, the director of research and the director of CIRCLE, in a blog post, "that the fallout from this news may damage federal support for civic education, which is already very weak." CIRCLE stands for the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Levine characterizes funding for civics education as "minuscule."

He said he hopes that the center is ultimately vindicated and "the charges turn out to be inaccurate or merely technical." At the same time, he notes, he has argued against the center's receiving such a large share of the funding that the federal investment provides for civics.

Whatever happens with the center, Levine says, the federal government needs to increase funding for civics education.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

From Guest Blogger Elizabeth Rich

There's debate brewing within the National Council of Teachers of English over the organization's support of the "LEARN Act," the proposed reading legislation that would replace three federal programs including Reading First.

I returned this week from NCTE's annual convention in Philadelphia, where LEARN was a hot topic of conversation, along with giving teachers and students the power to lead instruction. There was a 400-page program, and more than 6,000 educators in attendance.

Teachers repeatedly expressed their dislike for standardized assessments and instructional scripts, and the subject of phonics elicited groans. Of the pending reading legislation and the reauthorization of ESEA, some educators I spoke to worried aloud if the Obama administration would live up to its promise of education reform. Would instruction look any different from what they feel they've already endured under the Bush administration? (See Mary Ann Zehr's recent article on NCLB's lack in reading gains.)

NCTE's own position on the legislation was published on its Ning two days before the convention started. Signed by Executive Director Kent Williamson and Barbara Cambridge, the director of NCTE's Washington office, it elicited a swift and harsh response from some.

I caught up with Rick Meyer (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque), Ken and Yetta Goodman (University of Arizona) and Bess Altwerger (Towson University) following their session "Reviving Reading in a Post-NCLB World." Brian Cambourne, Australian literacy researcher, later joined us. They are some of the most outspoken about the proposed reading legislation, but not the only ones.

The educators form a group called Center for Language and Thinking, and are longtime advocates of whole language. For those who know them, it won't come as a surprise to hear that they have a host of concerns about the Obama administration's education agenda, including the LEARN Act.

They see the administration as disregarding the need for a complex and nuanced education system that should accommodate all learners, one that gives teachers room to teach. They don't see enough attention being paid to 21st-century skills or new literacies. They are concerned with what they perceive to be punitive and standardized assessments, narrowly devised curriculum standards, the state of professional development, the control over teachers and students, and the corporate CEO model for school management. "It is not knowledge-based," said Meyer. "It's old wine in new bottles."

I later caught up with Kent Williamson to get his sense of where the administration is headed on reform and the reaction to NCTE's collaboration on the reading bill. (Comments on NCTE's Ning with regard to its position on LEARN suggest that the organization sold its soul to the devil in exchange for a seat at the table.)

Williamson expressed concern over some of the same issues that the Center for Language and Thinking group discussed, but he says he is more optimistic. Williamson defended the bill's position on reading, particularly the criticism that it is Reading First in sheep's clothing. On the Ning, he and Cambridge wrote, "Features and methods mentioned within the legislation are defined and contextualized in a different way than in Reading First." In person, he told me that he is concerned about "the reading-panel formula of the 1990s that has been shoehorned into this bill." He said, "All I can say is that there are attempts to broaden that out."

"It's in process. It's a negotiation. I don't want to impugn anyone's motives for disagreeing with us, for holding us to definitions of reading that are partially featured in that bill," he said. But he added, "Most people know that NCTE wants profound change."

Following the convention, I reached Barbara Cambridge by phone from her D.C. office. Like Williamson, she sees the legislation in a positive light with greater agency for teachers, a deeper discussion of professional development and the instructional role of literacy coaches, the inclusion of adolescent literacy and developmental learning, and the focus on aligning reading with writing.

Cambridge believes the pushback on NCTE's position and role in the legislation is from a small group of people. She said NCTE has received more than 2,000 letters of support for the bill from its members, as well as the American Library Assocation. Of the opposition, Cambridge said, "I don't discount what they say in terms of their worry. If you look at the definition of reading, that's what makes people worry. What people are not concentrating on is the stem that leads up to it—how it is developmentally appropriate."

A final note:

One of the teachers who has recently joined the national conversation on reading and student agency is Texas teacher Donalyn Miller, whose blog I shared from NCTE. Miller's book, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, published in March by Education Week Press and Jossey-Bass, has created quite a buzz. Brian Cambourne told me he is using the book in his ed classes, and several teachers and presenters said it's been life-changing to read it. Miller was fan-swarmed on more than one occasion at the convention. She has become something of a rock star in our stable of writers and bloggers.

Elizabeth is the online editor of Teacher Magazine, EdWeek's sister publication.

Posted by Elizabeth Rich at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The idea that species evolve predates the work of Charles Darwin, and it has influenced many areas of science other than biology since his era. An online resource, "Evolution of Evolution: 150 Years on Darwin's On the Origin of Species," created by the National Science Foundation, offers an interactive exploration of evolution, Darwin's groundbreaking work on the theory, and its reach across the sciences. It could be a valuable resource for teachers and students.

The NSF created the site to commemorate the 1859 publication of Species. It includes interactive features, interviews with scientists, as well as essays and other features that can be seen in text form, such as this timeline, which puts evolution in the context of other landmark scientific discoveries, from the 16th Century through today.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The University of Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State University will attempt to replicate the "UTeach" model for training math and science teachers on their campuses.

The two universities are merely the latest additions to a nationwide effort to spawn UTeach-style programs at higher education institutions. The initial effort to replicate the program has been led by the National Math and Science Initiative, a Dallas-based nonprofit working with millions of dollars from ExxonMobil's foundation and other philanthropies. But this one is being funded by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the Tennessee Department of Education. UTeach has been replicated on several campuses nationwide. Here's another teacher-training program launched in the UTeach prototype at the University of Kansas.

For those who don't know, UTeach is a teacher-training program at the University of Texas at Austin that places a heavy emphasis on recruitment of math and science majors, partnerships between colleges of arts and science and colleges of education on curriculum, and early exposure to classroom teaching.

WHOOPS: I've corrected this item to say the Tennessee effort is being funded by the THEC and the TDOE, not the National Math and Science Initiative, which has financially backed other UTeach models.

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Lessons about feasts, past and present, are likely in many American classrooms this week. Some may even include samplings of Thanksgiving staples like turkey and stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie.

While the historical narratives about the Pilgrims are an important part of the curriculum, the folks at the United Nations World Food Program are hoping that current-day issues related to hunger around the world will also get some time in the school day.

Earlier this year the WFP unveiled an online tool for instilling lessons about global food resources and the problems wrought by shortages. The site includes lesson plans and activities, blogs, videos, interactive games, and other resources for introducing the topic of hunger into the curriculum.

The project overall aims to inform and educate children about the world's resources and the unequal distribution of wealth and materials across the globe. It also hopes to motivate students to take action in their communities and come up with ideas that help solve the problem.

Now the Rome-based organization has launched an international video competition to tap into those ideas to create the "edgiest, most provocative" messages that spread the word about the impact of hunger around the world. The Hunger Bytes program is accepting submissions of short videos through Dec. 31. Teachers are encouraged to send in student videos. Here are last year's finalists, courtesy of the WFP:

Finalists will be featured on a playlist of videos on the WFP's YouTube channel and the five most popular among viewers will be judged by a panel of prominent film professionals. The winning video will be produced by panel members.

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Over at Politics K-12, my colleague Michele McNeil blogs about how an audit by the Education Department's Inspector General has drawn attention to some problems in the two grant programs of the Center for Civic Education. The programs, We the People and Cooperative Civic Education and Economic Education Exchange Program, seek to foster civic education in K-12 schools.

The audit found that some spending by the programs wasn't allowed by federal regulations and some couldn't be supported by the right documentation.

Back in August, I wrote for Education Week about how administrators of the Center for Civic Education were hoping that the U.S. Congress would provide funding to back the center's K-12 programs, even though President Obama had proposed in his 2010 budget to slash it.

Given the unfavorable audit, I wonder what the chances are now of the survival of the programs.

The Center for Civic Education gives away 11,000 classroom sets of books about the Constitution each year. It also hosts a competition each year for students to participate in simulated congressional hearings.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The Obama administration announced that it has rustled up all kinds of support, financial and otherwise, for its "Educate to Innovate" effort, which could be described as an aggressive public awareness campaign for "STEM" (science, technology, engineering, and math) studies. The president, in his remarks, cast the project as a follow-up to a speech he made earlier this year at the National Academies, in which he called on scientists to, in a manner of speaking, get out of labs and get into schools, so they can tell students directly what it is they do, and why we should care about it.

Every participating corporation and foundation had its own take on the White House effort, and their role in it. Here are a couple of my own observations:

Obama and his team seem convinced that in order to get students interested in "STEM," we need to talk about those subjects in a different way. While Obama, like many elected officials these days, bemoaned the United States' so-so performance on international tests, most of what he said wasn't about test performance, teacher shortages, or the other measurables that get endlessly discussed. Mostly, he talked about the power of science—to spark invention, to create jobs, to bring about changes in areas in medicine, the environment, but above all, to make sense of the world:

"[I]t goes beyond the facts in a biology textbook or the questions on an algebra quiz. It's about the ability to understand our world: to harness and train that human capacity to solve problems and think critically, a set of skills that informs the decisions we make throughout our lives. So, yes, improving education in math and science is about producing engineers and researchers and scientists and innovators who are going to help transform our economy and our lives for the better. But it's also about something more. ... It's about expanding opportunity for all Americans in a world where an education is the key to success. It's about an informed citizenry in an era where many of the problems we face as a nation are, at root, scientific problems. And it's about the power of science to not only unlock new discoveries, but to unlock in the minds of our young people a sense of promise, a sense that with some hard work -- with effort -- they have the potential to achieve extraordinary things."

See a video of the White House event, below.

In a statement that went with Obama's remarks, the administration continued on its theme, saying that boosting "STEM literacy," was one of the goals of the project—which means giving students the ability to "think critically in science, math, engineering, and technology," among other objectives.

The president sought to bolster the overall case for STEM with examples from his recent trip to Asia, recalling how, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said his top challenge in ed policy was coping with parents who constantly demanded more of the education system. In China, Obama said the mayor of Shanghai told him they don't have problems recruiting teachers because the pay scales are comparable to those of doctors. One could take issue with the president's selective use of international test results (he alludes to poor U.S. scores on PISA, but our TIMSS performance is better, and some say the overall picture is better than many American politicians seem to want to admit). And China's education system has many well-documented problems, particularly the lack of access to education in across much of the population.

That aside, another aspect of the White House effort worth noting: It attempts to get students interested in STEM by reaching them where they live—namely, in the world of television and technology. A number of the public-private partnerships focus on using educational programming, online tools, social networking, and video games to increase students' awareness of math and science studies and fields, from an early age.

What aspects of "Educate to Innovate" do you find appealing, and where do you think it could be improved?

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Mathematica Policy Research was awarded a contract this week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study the effectiveness of sex education programs in preventing teenage pregnancy.

The topic is timely because lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are in the midst of deciding how much money to authorize for sex education—and for what kinds of approaches—in health care reform legislation, which I just wrote about for Education Week. The health care legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives authorizes funding only for "comprehensive" sex education programs, which urge youngsters to delay sexual activity and aim to reduce the number of partners they have, but do not focus on abstinence. Such programs have a strong goal of increasing the use of contraceptives among teenagers.

The health care reform bill proposed by Democratic senators this week includes funding both for comprehensive sex education programs and for abstinence-based programs, which may discuss contraceptives but only in a context of how teenagers should abstain from sex.

The contract landed by Mathematica is an eight-year random assignment evaluation that is intended to document evidence on effective ways to reduce teen nonmarital sexual activity, pregnancy, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

A panel of health experts appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released an analysis of studies on different approaches to sex education. It found that comprehensive programs that teach about contraceptives and safer sexual practices help to reduce teenagers' risky sexual behavior and decrease the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The panel didn't find evidence that abstinence-based programs are effective in doing the same.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Before he leaves office, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has ordered a study of the low minority representation in the state's programs for gifted students.

The governor points to data showing that while African-American students make up 26 percent of the state's student population, only 17 percent of students in gifted education programs are black. Latinos account for nine percent of the student population, but only five percent of gifted students, he noted.

"[I]t's critical we assess any disproportionate barriers to enrollment so we can ensure students of all backgrounds have the opportunity to participate," Kaine said in a statement.

The study will be conducted by the Regional Education Laboratory Appalachia, a federally funded research center, and should be complete by the Spring of next year. That's after Kaine, a Democrat who is term-limited, leaves office. He will be succeeded by Republican Bob McDonnell, who won the gubernatorial race this month.

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Paul Barton, the former director of the policy-information center at the Educational Testing Service, takes issue with the draft common standards in written comments on the document.

Barton says the draft standards for college and career readiness seem "to be an extension of the current conventional wisdom seen in a number of arenas that there is a one-size-fits-all approach to public education, particularly at the high school level, and that all students need to acquire the same kind and level of knowledge for life after high school." Barton, who now works as an education consultant, argues that this approach is "deaf to the differentiation of student interests, motivations, learning styles, and the greatly differentiated labor market they will enter, as well as the differentiated structure of postsecondary education, and the need to make a start on cutting the dropout rate."

His observations in some ways echo the concerns of Stanford University scholar Mike Kirst, whose work Barton cites in his paper. Overall, Barton questions the wisdom of starting the standards effort with a focus on the end of the K-12 pipeline—as opposed to elementary grades—an approach that he describes as an effort to "bring uniformity to a wildly differentiated secondary school system."

I'm offering just a brief synopsis. Once you've read the essay, let me know if you agree with Barton's analysis.

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Researchers evaluating New Mexico's preK program recommend that it be expanded because it has had a favorable impact on participants' learning. The preK classrooms in the program were particularly strong in "teaching and interactions," the researchers concluded, which takes into account general supervision, the use of language to develop reasoning, and interactions between staff and children and among children.

Children in the program improved significantly in language, literacy, and math compared with children who did not, according to data from the first three years of the program. The evaluation estimates that the rate of return to the state for every dollar invested is $5. It found that for each of the first three years of the program, participants scored significantly higher than their counterparts in early literacy and math skills. But children's language skills showed significant improvement only in the first two of the first three years of the program, which was established in 2005.

The researchers, who are from the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, say that expanding the program is warranted. But they also made some recommendations for improvement. They said, for example, that support for early language and literacy is "fair" in the program, while support for early math skills is "poor." They recommended increasing opportunities for teacher training and ensuring that every lead teacher in the preK program have at least a bachelor's degree with specialized training in preschool education.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

A new book seeks to offer a "nuanced, balanced" examination of why women lag behind men in their representation in certain math and science fields. Yet by its very nature, the volume, The Science on Women and Science, is bound to ignite some impassioned chatter.

The book is a collection of essays by scholars who come at the topic in different ways and reach starkly different conclusions. Some argue that research suggests that gender biases are the overriding factor in males outnumbering females in physical science, engineering, and math. Others dispute that idea, quite strongly.

The volume is edited by Christina Hoff Sommers, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who's written for years about claims of gender bias in math/science. Noted social scientist Charles Murray contributes an essay, as do Harvard University scholars Elizabeth Spelke and Katherine Ellison, and many others. In her introduction, Sommers presents the book as a fairer look at the issue than what was presented in a 2007 report by the National Academy of Sciences, which found that bias, as opposed to intrinsic ability, was a strong factor in discouraging women to enter math and science fields. "There are sensible and fair-minded scientists on all sides," she writes. "They should be free to argue without being intimidated, silenced, or compared to racists."

Some of the essayists, like Spelke and Ellison, argue that research shows that men and women have the same intrinsic cognitive abilities and motivation for math and science careers. They say there's also no evidence that market forces are going to correct those imbalances, as some suggest, so higher education institutions would have to act for change to occur. The evidence shows that gender stereotypes are having an impact on leading women away from math and science fields, the authors explain.

But others, like authors Jerre Levy and Doreen Kimura, have a different take. They argue that the "fundamental claim" of the Academies report that men outnumber women in certain math and science fields because of social barriers against females has "no scientific foundation." They say research has shown a connection between genetic and hormonal differences between males and females, which affect behavior and choice of occupation. They write:

"Although the magnitude of average sex differences in certain cognitive abilities has declined in the last forty years, none of these differences has disappeared or is likely to disappear. However, even if there were no cognitive sex differences in average mathematical or spatial ability, there would still be more males than females at the upper end of intellectual talent due to greater male variance. In consequence, there would still be more males than females who meet even minimum standards to be academic engineers, physical scientists, or mathematicians, and many more men than women with exceptionally high levels of talent."

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The co-founder of Wikipedia has launched a Web site designed to offer free access to thousands of education-related videos for students ages 3-18.

Larry Sanger, who helped create Wikipedia and has since left the organization, says the new site, www.watchknow.org, will allow students and teachers to sort through a library of online videos by content, and pick out what they need. Topics range from math and science to history. The site is meant to house and organize videos that are free and available online, yet which most people don't know how to find.

The site was launched in October. So far it offers 11,000 videos in 2,000 categories. The contributions have come from National Geographic and Google Videos, among many other sources.

Sanger describes it as "YouTube meets Wikipedia." He adds in a statement: "WatchKnow.org links together content from traditional sites, and also allows users of the site to improve the organization of the video categories, which makes finding the video you need much easier."

I suppose there's no more appropriate way to sum up Sanger's background than by sending you to this page. His bio says he left Wikipedia seven years and has since been critical of the online encyclopedia. Wikis have become popular in K-12 classrooms over the years, despite educators' and others' worries about who is writing and controlling the content, and how it can be verified.

The project is funded the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, whose officials hope to have more than 50,000 videos on the site by the end of 2010. What will this site contribute, if anything, to the nation's classrooms?

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Over at School Law, Mark Walsh reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear appeals about the removal of a book from school library shelves in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

The school board's decision to remove the book was struck down by a federal court, but a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the school board didn't violate the First Amendment by removing the book.

Mark writes that a father in the Miami-Dade County, Fla., school district protested that his daughter's elementary school had the book. He contended the book ignored the realities of the Communist regime under leader Fidel Castro.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

These are tough times to be looking for work as a teacher.

Unless, it seems, you're hoping to become a math teacher.

That's the conclusion of a recent report, which finds that nationwide demand for teachers has fallen in all 60 fields examined over the past year. Only one subject area—math teaching—was found to be in "considerable demand," according to the latest version of an annual report released by the American Association for Employment in Education (subscription required). In recent years, more than a dozen subjects have had serious shortages, but not this year. Interesting that the demand for math teachers outpaces even that of other, traditionally high-need subjects like special education.

Districts are struggling to avoid layoffs and cuts in the dismal economy. And teachers who have jobs, even those who are on the cusp of retirement, are staying put, the report suggests. The job losses have come despite the huge infusion of federal funds around the country. This story in the Associated Press gives the picture on the ground in school systems in Kansas and Texas, where one school district had 5,000 applicants for 300 teaching jobs. Many teachers who were thinking of getting certified in one subject may be going back for more training in others, hoping to bolster their credentials, the story notes.

The report sums up the hiring scene this way:

"In 2009, job opportunities for educators dwindled dramatically, reflecting the steepest one-year decline in the past 29 years. This .28 point decline in opportunities coincided with the sharp decline in the U.S. economy. It appears that even with the promise of government stimulus funds and what seems to be an ending of the current economic downturn, education employers have reduced staff and are hesitant to hire in this uncertain market. It also appears that educators nearing retirement are hesitant to retire because of the tenuous nature of future health-care benefits coupled with a significant decline in the value of their retirement nest eggs.

The job prospects for newly graduated and unemployed educators is more challenging and likely will remain in this status until well after an economic recovery. This being said, there are still educator positions available, but perhaps not in the geographic area or desired position type. The high-need areas in special education, math, and some science reflect a lessening demand, but jobs are still available. Significant regional variations are reflected in the data."

All this is not to say that the job market for math and science teachers is going gangbusters. As my colleague Stephen Sawchuk reported recently, there are a lot more applicants, some of them entering the field through alternative certification, and a limited number of positions. One thing that employment reports cannot tell us (at least I haven't seen it) is what happens to the quality of instruction in a tough economy? If districts can afford to be choosy, and the best candidates are in demand, do test scores and student learning improve? Or would there always too many other factors in play to make a conclusion about that?

What's the hiring situation like in your state or district, and how are schools of education, and job candidates, responding?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has formed a committee to revise its standards for what an ideal library media specialist should know and be able to do. Already, more than 2,100 teachers nationwide have gotten National Board certification in the field of library media.

I'm familiar with the National Board, but it is news to me that the board applies its outstanding educator label to librarians as well as classroom teachers.

The committee to revise the existing standards includes a librarian from a private school, Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore., and from a university "ischool," the iSchool at Drexel University in Philadelphia, as well as from a number of public schools or districts.

The National Board expects to have a draft of the standards ready for public comment in late January, and the final standards are expected to be implemented later in 2010.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Can vocational education be revamped to boost literacy among struggling readers? The Association for Career and Technical Education believes that it can, and the organization highlights state efforts in Florida, Kentucky, and Maine as examples.

The programs serve students of different ages, but all of them attempt to build literacy skills within the context of hands-on classroom activities and job-related skills. One example cited in the association's issue brief is Florida's effort to combine remedial reading lessons with different types of academic content and workforce training. In the case of one high school, that means blending reading lessons within digital design.

Have a look. Could these approaches help struggling readers in your district?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

If ever you needed a reminder of why state and national officials are wary of attempting to dictate the curriculum in local schools, consider the experience of a single South Dakota district. Creating a uniform curriculum is not as easy as it seems.

Officials in the Rapid City school system settled on an approach to math teaching in 2002 that was built on an "inquiry"-based approach to the subject. (In general, this refers to teachers encouraging students to develop their own problem-solving approaches and reasoning skills, even as educators provide them with direction and help.) The South Dakota district had received a PRIME grant—Promoting Reflective Inquiry in Mathematics Education—from the National Science Foundation. It was designed to increase student achievement in math, boost the performance of Native Americans, and improve classroom instruction. Test scores rose, and the approach won the support of many teachers, administrators, and parents, according to this detailed story in the Rapid City Journal.

Yet as the article explains, individual school administrators have considerable leeway in choosing which instructional approaches are used in their schools, and some aren't fans of the PRIME approach. Some teachers and parents also have fought it. The resulting inconsistency in teaching approaches from school to school has created frustration in the community, the story says.

The story touches on many of the tangled issues that emerge as a district attempts to implement a new curriculum, particularly in math. First there's the divide between those who like the approach and those who don't—perhaps because the methods are a departure from the way they were taught. The district has to consider what textbooks to purchase, and where its approach meets state standards, which in South Dakota are about to be revised, according to the story. And when local school officials look for definitive research on which curricular approaches are most effective, they find that not a lot of research exists.

Inevitably, many readers will see this story as evidence for or against a particular math curriculum. I'll attempt to put that issue aside for the moment and focus on the point of the article itself. If a district settles on a math curriculum, how long does it take to implement it, and what factors will ensure that it takes hold? I've had school administrators tell me that having a consistent curriculum across schools is crucial, in that it helps ensure that students cover the necessary content, particularly in districts and states where students bounce from school to school. Do you agree?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Calculus is a major stumbling block for incoming college freshmen. When students flunk or flail in that math class, it costs them time and money, in addition to the expense it brings to universities, which have to devote resources to remediation.

Now a new program at the Texas A&M University, "Retention Through Remediation," seeks to help incoming freshman clear the calculus hurdle—while allowing them to work from home, online.

It works this way: Exiting high school seniors will take a test to assess their math skills, and then be assigned individualized courses of study, which they will do from home using online tools. Participating students get access to online videos, homework, and quizzes. They will also receive help from "highly skilled tutors," math teachers from around Texas, who will communicate with them through various means, according to the university.

A post-test will determine if students are ready to move on to a college calculus course. If they're not, they can enroll in calculus and attend a "Just in Time" program, working once a week during the regular semester with a live tutor.

There will be a fee for the Retention Through Remediation program, but university officials predict the cost will be much lower than on-campus summer programs, which typically serve only 20 or 30 students and require on-site housing and other expenses.

The program, which is funded through a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, is scheduled to begin next year. There are plans to expand it to other schools around the country, A&M officials say.

G. Donald Allen, a math professor who helped create the program, assigns some hard cost estimates for students who don't make it in calculus. A student who can't pass calculus and delays his overall education by a semester costs his family $10,000. The price-tag for a two-semester delay can be $20,000, he estimates.

Not to mention the loss for the university, and for society, which might see a student discouraged from pursuing a job that requires math or science.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Over the years, I've heard of many enterprising teachers who've sought to build students' science skills while also teaching them about the world of entrepreneurship. When I read about a teenager named Adarsha Shivakumar, I came away thinking he could teach a course on the subject.

Shivakumar, whose family hails from India, is a sophomore at the College Preparatory School in Oakland, Calif. During his periodic trips to his grandparents' farm in the southern part of India, he grew increasingly frustrated by the prevailing poverty, the disappearance of trees from the landscape, and the overall environmental degradation. Much of the tree loss in the region, he found, stems from tobacco farming, which requires a lot of firewood for the heating and curing of tobacco leaves. That process also generates a lot of pollution.

So Shivakumar started looking for alternatives. He heard of Jatropha curcas, a small shrub, and saw a possible solution. While you can't eat Jatropha seeds, they produce biodiesel fuel, which is already in use in India. The plant can also be produced in little soil, with little water and fertilizer, and it can prevent erosion.

The teenager has partnered with various organizations in India to distribute Jatropha seedlings there and help farmer grow and sell the crop on their own, and give them an alternative to tobacco farming. Shivakumar has invested in the project in more ways than one: He used prize money from a spelling bee he won in California to buy seedlings from a biotech company and distribute them to women's self-help groups who have helped promote the project.

I learned of Shivakumar's work from his first-person account in Imagine magazine, a publication of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Last week, I wrote about the center's efforts to connect students with research scientists through live events, including one focused on swine flu and other pandemics, and through other Web tools.

Here's a link to Shivakumar's story, which students and teachers can look to for inspiration, ideas for science projects, or both.

Photo courtesy of Adarsha Shivakumar for Imagine magazine.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

When the proposed Race to the Top Fund regulations were released early this year, they gave a competitive advantage to states that agreed to band together to create common standards. The problem was that the guidelines set more aggressive deadlines than many states were planning to meet, through the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

The final regs offer new language that attempts to give states a bit more leeway on standards. A preamble to the regs states:

"In response to comments indicating that some states would have difficulty meeting a June 2010 deadline for adopting a new set of common, kindergarten-to-grade-12 (K-12) standards, this notice extends the deadline for adopting standards as far as possible, while still allowing the department to comply with the statutory requirement to obligate all Race to the Top funds by September 30, 2010. As set forth in criterion (B)(1)(ii), the new deadline for adopting a set of common K-12 standards is August 2, 2010. States that cannot adopt a common set of K-12 standards by this date will be evaluated based on the extent to which they demonstrate commitment and progress toward adoption of such standards by a later date in 2010 (see criterion (B)(1) and Appendix B). Evidence supporting the state's adoption claims will include a description of the legal process in the State for adopting standards, and the state's plan, current progress against that plan, and timeframe for adoption.

[R]egarding the development and adoption of common, high-quality standards and assessments, the term 'significant number of states' has been further explained in the scoring rubric that will be used by reviewers to judge the Race to the Top applications (see Appendix B). The rubric clarifies that, on this aspect of the criterion, a state will earn "high" points if its consortium includes a majority of the states in the country; it will earn "medium" or "low" points if its consortium includes one-half or fewer of the states in the country."

So the document also appears to encourage more states to join a large coalition, rather than banding together in smaller groups of states to form shared standards and tests.

In a statement, Raymond C. Sheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association, said the department "took seriously the comments submitted by states. We appreciate their willingness to provide flexibility as states move toward the adoption of common core state standards."

States' schedules for adopting agreed-upon standards under the "Common Core" process are likely to vary a great deal, an NGA official explained recently. Will the new regulations do anything to smooth the path toward common standards and assessments?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Academic scholars, teachers, state officials, school administrators, and at least one librarian fill the ranks of the newly announced "work groups," for developing K-12 standards in English-language arts and math, the organizers of the project announced today.

The two teams will have the duty of completing the second phase of common state standards. The first phase was the drafting of college- and career-readiness standards, a draft of which was released a few months ago. The standards project, as many EdWeek readers know, is being guided by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, as part of an effort dubbed the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The goal is to bring more uniformity and consistency—and higher expectations—to the nation's classrooms, though many obstacles remain before the standards would actually take effect.

A complete list of the members is provided in the link at the top, but in English-language arts, the names include Michael Kamil of Stanford University; Tracy Robertson, an English coordinator with the Virginia Department of Education; Timothy Shanahan of the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Laura McGiffert Slover of Achieve, among many others. For all the librarians out there, one of your own made the list: Steve Delvecchio, of Seattle.

In math, we find Deborah Loewenberg Ball of the University of Michigan; Francis "Skip" Fennell, former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, who is a professor at McDaniel College in Maryland; Roger Howe of Yale University; Susan Wygant, a math specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education; James Madden of Louisiana State University; Vern Williams of Longfellow Middle School in Fairfax County, Va.; and Hung-Hsi Wu, of the University of California, Berkeley. Ball, Fennell, Williams, and Wu all served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, which dealt extensively with elementary and middle grades math and preparing students for algebra. Fennell was also a player in putting together NCTM's "Curriculum Focal Points," which a couple years ago called for a more orderly approach to teaching math at those grade levels.

Some members of the work groups, observant readers will notice, also served on the college-and career-readiness document. As CCSSO/NGA have described this process, the work groups, behind closed doors, are producing the draft standards documents. (Last week, Dane Linn of NGA indicated that the K-12 group has been going about its business for a while now.) Their work is reviewed by "feedback" groups, who have been named previously and will remain the same. And finally, "validation" teams provide a final look before they are sent to state officials for approval. As my colleague Mary Ann Zehr has noted, a few validators are also members of the feedback groups, leading some to say that more separation of powers is needed.

In their announcement, NGA/CCSSO officials also said that another advisory group has been formed to provide guidance on the project. Members of this group include experts from Achieve, the ACT, the College Board, the National Association of State Boards of Education (whose members would eventually be presented with the finished product) and the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

Once you've had a look at work teams, give me your thoughts. Is there one field that is over-represented, or ignored, or did they get the right mix?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Like a lot of my colleagues here at EdWeek, I get carpet-bombed with all manner of educational video-game products sent by mail and e-mail, most of which purport to boost students' skills in math and science through the power of technology. It's rarer to come across a game that seeks to build students' historical knowledge through the kind of interactive, 3-D features that dominate the video-game market today. But a new video game called Conspiracy Code attempts to do just that.

The game challenges students to stop an organization called "The Conspiracy" from "erasing the past to shape the future." Game-players, acting through two protagonists, attempt to overcome the historical revisionists through a series of clues, each of which presents a history lesson, according to this column in the Orlando Sentinel.

The game is already being used in the Florida Virtual School with 10th grade students. Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas, who took the game on a trial run, cites a couple concerns about it, such as the way it presents material in "itemized" fashion, rather than in more of a narrative manner, but he also sees a lot to like. Conspiracy Code seems to require, or at least strongly encourage a lot of interaction between students and teachers, judging from the trailer. Students and teachers can interact through an "intuitive Web-based interface," as well as through e-mail, instant message, phone calls, and other means.

A question for history teachers after you've seen the trailer (you can also download a demo): Do you think the game has the potential to improve students' grasp of history? In particular, could it help you reach those who are tuning out the subject?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

No, not those standards...while all the attention these days seems to be focused on the development of common standards in language arts and math for 48 states, a pair of subject-matter groups released its own set of academic benchmarks today.

The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association unveiled Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing. A sequel to a 1994 document, it defines assessment more broadly than some might think—as "a set of practices, which might or might not involve tests," said Peter Johnston, chair of a task force that worked on the standards, in a statement on the release. "Our intent is to provide guidance for those who are making decisions about assessment practices in the language arts—from classroom teachers to superintendents and secretaries of education."

Have a look and tell me if you think the document provides the sort of guidance that schools need.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Math and science teachers in Michigan will be eligible for stipends to pay for their master's degree training if they commit to working in high-need schools, thanks to a new project backed with millions of dollars in philanthropic support.

That undertaking, organized through the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, will devote $16.7 million over a five-year period to teacher training. It is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Teachers will receive stipends of $30,000 to complete a master's degree in education and commit to teaching for three to five years in disadvantaged schools. As many as 240 teachers are expected to receive stipends during that time period. College seniors, recent graduates, and career-changers are eligible.

The goal of the program is not only to improve K-12 teaching, but also to revamp teacher education at the university level. Michigan universities that take part in the program are each expected to chip in $500,000 of their own funding and redesign their programs by establishing a "collaborative relationship" between their schools of arts and sciences (typically home to math and science majors) and their schools of education. Many university officials and researchers have shown an increased interest in narrowing the traditionally standoffish point of view between those two academic programs. As it now stands, many math and science majors leave campus without ever having considered teaching. And those that do teach are uncertain how to apply the math and science skills they've learned in a classroom setting. The Woodrow Wilson program is not the only one to take an interest in closing this divide. The UTeach program also seeks to build better relations between different academic programs. A major initiative is under way to replicate the UTeach approach on campuses nationwide.

Even before its Michigan effort gets started, the Woodrow Wilson fellowship program had already been operating a math- and science-stipend program in Indiana. Four universities in that state are taking part. That project is being independently evaluated by the Urban Institute, a research institution in Washington, according to the Wilson program.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Last week I wrote about a study that drew some intriguing conclusions about the state of the "pipeline" of students entering math and science studies and fields. The analysis, by Hal Salzman of Rutgers University and Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University, found that the flow of students from K-12 schools to the workforce appears to be quite strong, contrary to the assertions of many policymakers today.

To the extent that students are leaving the pipeline, the authors found, they tend to be high-achieving students. In other words, young people don't seem to be fleeing those fields because of lack of ability, but because of other factors—such as that they don't find those jobs attractive for whatever reason.

Now, an organization that represents businesses, research universities, and foundations, who have a major interest in maintaining the "STEM" pipeline, is offering a critique of the study's methodology and conclusions. The Business-Higher Education Forum, in a paper made available to its members, says the loss of high-performing students in STEM was more likely explained by the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000—not by college or businesses not doing enough to keep them.

"Students rationally voted with their feet as jobs vanished from an imploding sector of the economy," the BHEF says. Recent data, they say, shows an upswing of interest in engineering and computer science studies in recent years.

The BHEF, in examining the data in the Salzman/Lowell study, also asserts that it judges STEM in isolation, and people in other studies/careers tend to abandon those interests at similar rates. But a broader issue the study doesn't address, says BHEF Executive Director Brian Fitzgerald, is that STEM-related talents, particularly in technology, are increasingly demanded by businesses that, strictly speaking, have not been considered "STEM"-oriented in the past. He cites the growing need for STEM talent in the insurance industry, as one example. The business reps the BHEF works with talk often about the shift away from a manufacturing economy, and how important science- and math-related skills are becoming in their workplaces. The study doesn't account for that, he says.

"Across fields, more will be demanded," Fitzgerald told me. "Every major corporate sector is undergoing a shift, with technology at its core."

I contacted Salzman, who responded to BHEF's points. He acknowledges that the dot-com bust may have affected students' career choices, but says that ultimately proves the study's point: that STEM choices are market-driven. "I'm not sure [the pipeline is] 'broken,' if students choose to leave a field that is in decline," he wrote in an e-mail.

Salzman also says that, contrary to the BHEF's critique, the authors are not saying that top-achieving students avoiding STEM simply because companies aren't making those jobs attractive enough. The key point is that students are responding to what they know of job market conditions— and that it's not a matter of them not being academically gifted enough.

For instance, Salzman, who has studied labor markets extensively, says his research has shown that mid-level and senior engineering workers voice satisfaction with their careers, overall, but are concerned it won't be a good or stable a job in the future.

"The decline in retention from college to first job might also be due to loss of interest in STEM careers, but alternatively, top STEM majors may be responding to market forces and incentives," Salzman said by e-mail. "We tried to be very clear that there are number of possible explanations, and that the key point is that enrollments are sensitive to market conditions. This, then, would be entirely consistent with the [BHEF's point about dot-coms]. ... In fact, in terms of IT, we make that very case in a couple of earlier papers."

He also says when he and Lowell have written on this topic in the past on a similar theme, they've asked critics to provide data backing up the claim that demand for STEM jobs outstrips the supply of qualified talent. No such data has emerged, he said.

I'll invite readers to offer their own analysis of this debate, which—no matter what you come down—surely reflects one of the most important education-meets-labor market questions out there today.

Update: More on students having slipped out of the STEM pipeline, possibly on their way to Wall Street, from Lowell and Salzman, in a new EdWeek commentary.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Today, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, introduced a literacy bill into the U.S. Congress that would provide $2.35 billion in funding for literacy programs from kindergarten to 12th grade. The bill would replace federal reading programs such as Reading First and Striving Readers. A summary from Murray's office says that at least 10 percent of the bill's funding would go to early-childhood education, at least 40 percent would go to students in grades K-5, and at least 40 percent would be spent on students in grades 6-12. If the bill were passed and fully funded, it would give a substantial boost to adolescent literacy programs.

The federal government's only reading program that focuses on adolescents, Striving Readers, is financed with $35 million for the current fiscal year.

A spokesman for Murray said that a similar literacy bill (see a summary) is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives within the next two days.

I wrote about a draft of the literacy bill this summer. At that point, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, who had co-sponsored the Striving Readers legislation with Murray, was expected to be a sponsor as well. But the press release I received today about the introduction of the bill in Congress doesn't list him as having endorsed the bill. It doesn't name any Republicans as sponsors.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 1:44 PM | Permalink | 17 Comments | Recommend

Those of you who've been wondering when the next round of common, multistate standards would appear may want to clear some time in mid-December. That's when the first draft of K-12 standards are likely to be unveiled, says one of the officials leading that process.

Dane Linn of the National Governors Association, one of two organizations guiding the Common Core State Standards Initiative, said at a forum on Wednesday that committees have been working on the K-12 document for a while now and a draft should be ready by the middle of next month. The K-12 document, as many readers know, is part two of the multistate standards project. Part one was the unveiling of draft college and career-readiness standards, back in September.

Officials from the NGA and Council of Chief State School Officers also expect to have members of a "validation" committee review the K-12 and end-of-high school documents at the same time, and have them approved by February, Linn added.

Linn was speaking on a panel on national standards hosted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, in Washington. Joining him at the event, which was moderated by Chester Finn, Fordham's president, were Sheila Byrd Carmichael, an education policy consultant; Stephen Wilson, a professor of mathematics at Johns Hopkins University; and Sandy Kress, who was a senior adviser to George W. Bush and involved in the crafting of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Linn also said his team has surveyed the state officials they work with about how soon they might adopt common standards, once those documents are complete. Of 41 states that responded, 16 predicted that work could be done in one to six months, Linn said; 15 said it could take 6-12 months; 10 others indicated it would take 12 months or more.

What remains unclear is how the states' schedules for adopting common standards will mesh with the Race to the Top guidelines, which seem to set a more aggressive timeline for state action, as my colleague Michele McNeil noted in a recent story.

The Obama administration has proposed giving a competitive advantage to states applying for $4 billion in federal Race to the Top funding if they adopt common standards. It has also offered $350 million in competitive federal aid to states to craft common assessments based on common standards. Finn asked the NGA official if he expected that all states would adopt one common test, or if consortia or groups of states would band together to create their own assessments. Linn said Common Core officials had been talking with state leaders about the "pros and cons," of each approach and he expected a clearer picture to emerge in the next month or so.

Kress, during his opening remarks, argued that the standards won't mean much unless states agree to revamp teacher training and instructional materials to make the effort worthwhile. They'll also need good tests that measure what the standards call for and set high passing thresholds, he said. Without all that, standards amount to a "leaky bucket," Kress said, quoting from a recent paper by Russ Whitehurst, of the Brookings Institution. He also said the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, before rewarding states with federal funding for common standards, should make sure they're taking steps "to actually implement them, and effectively so."

"I say unless a state can can show it's doing all of these things," Kress said of standards, "what good are they?"

Want to hear more? Fordham's event was streamed live, and a recording should be available soon at the institute's site.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:30 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

Many scientists have a lot to say. Unfortunately, a large swath of the public at large has trouble understanding what it is they're talking about.

This is a problem, many scientists agree, not just because important scientific facts and ideas are misunderstood, or because those topics end up getting ignored in the public sphere. The language barrier also makes it difficult for the public, including K-12 students, to grasp why science is important at all, and how it affects their lives.

In reporting a story recently, I was directed to an online resource that seeks to help scientists overcome these barriers. It's called "Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers," and it's run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the most prestigious scientific organizations in the world.

The site, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, includes how-to tips for scientists to conduct interviews. It also houses online "webinars," ideas for coming up with public outreach opportunities, and a list of workshops to help scientists. For members of the working media, looking at these resources often has the added benefit of cluing us in to how the rest of humanity regards us (in some cases with fear and suspicion). But on the AAAS site, the authors try to anticipate scientists' struggles to explain their work to reporters and offer them practical tips. Here's a sample from the site:

"The phone rings, you answer. It's a reporter from the New York Times. She quickly explains that she's writing a story under deadline and another scientist she spoke to gave her your name. What should you do?

1. Hang up in fear.
2. Ask what the story is about and the deadline, and then arrange with the reporter a better time to talk, keeping in mind his or her deadline.
3. Say 'sure,' answer her first question, and then discuss in great detail your most recent published discovery for the next 30 minutes, interrupting the rest of the reporter's questions."

The correct answer, the site explains, is #2. This approach will give the scientist time to think through how he or she plans to explain a topic, the authors say. Other, more detailed advice for interviews is also included.

I often hear scientists talk about how difficult it is to explain the rules and language of science to lay audiences. Their frustration level was especially high during the spate of fights over evolution and intelligent design in schools a few years ago, when many scientific experts sought to describe the kinds of questions science can answer, and those that it can't. If you're a K-12 teacher or student, what tips could you give scientists on how they can explain their work in clear and lively terms?

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress has proposed new policies that would overhaul the rules for how English-language learners and students with disabilities are tested on that exam. The goal is to bring more uniformity and clarity to those policies, which have drawn a lot of complaints over the years. Some say NAEP scores are skewed by states and cities excluding and accommodating very different portions of their test-takers.

Next Monday, Nov. 9, at 9:30 a.m., interested parties will be able to give their opinions on the issue. The National Assessment Governing Board will hold a public hearing on the topic in Washington, D.C. (An earlier hearing was held in Los Angeles.) Public testimony will be allowed, as will the submission of written comments.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

It might not be as opaque as a Kremlin shake-up, but knowing the exact reasons for the ouster of China's education minister is something of a guessing game, with national leaders saying little publicly about the reasons for his removal. Zhou Li was relieved of his post by the standing committee of the National People's Congress and replaced by his deputy, Yuan Guiren, according to news reports.

American leaders, of course, have looked with curiosity and more than a little bit of anxiety in recent years at China's rapid economic expansion and the improvements in its schools. But China Daily, a government-run publication, says that there was widespread dissatisfaction, at least in political circles, with the rate of progress. The article describes Zhou as "unpopular." It also notes that he was the former mayor of the city of Wuhan, where the university has been roiled by a bribery scandal. Zhou, however, has never been implicated in that matter, the story says.

The New York Times notes that Zhou served at a time when demand for education at all levels, including universities, was dramatically increasing in China, and that the nation has struggled to keep up. Low literacy and lack of access to education also remain major problems. At the very least, the removal of Zhou is a reminder of the enormous pressure China faces to meet the needs of its student population and create schools and universities capable of producing more qualified workers.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Literacy instruction "pops up on every corridor" at Buckhorn High School in New Market, Ala., writes my colleague Catherine Gewertz in an article published at edweek.org this week.

The article includes many examples of how teachers at that school are helping students to improve their literacy skills while also learning academic content.

Posted by Mary Ann Zehr at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In the wake of a recent release of uninspiring test scores and a federal study showing that states lowered their "proficiency" standards, there's been a lot of tough and in some ways surprising analysis being put forward recently about math instruction in this country. Here's a sample:

—In The Baltimore Sun, a college physics professor and parent says schools are rushing students through overly difficult material, rather than ensuring that they are taught rigorous math through "age-appropriate concepts and techniques." Joseph Ganem describes his teenage daughter's struggles with high school trigonometry material that he says is at a level appropriate for upper-level college physics students. Many students, he says, are lost when they get to college-level math because they have been fed math processes but lack a solid understanding of math. "Learning techniques without understanding them," Ganem writes, "does no good in preparing students for college, where emphasis is on understanding, not memorization and computational prowess."

—The Des Moines Register looks beyond Iowa's overall state scores to examine how students are faring, by achievement level, when compared to those students' peers in other states. The paper's editorialists are troubled by the fact that Iowa has far fewer students scoring at the "advanced" level than top-performing states, particularly Massachusetts. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are also lagging behind those from more affluent backgrounds.

—A recent examination of states' tendency to set very divergent, and in many cases very low "proficiency" standards has a lot people asking hard questions of state officials. This story in the Chicago Sun-Times about that state's proficiency standards is one example.

—And on a different note, a new survey reveals just how lost many parents are when it comes to helping their children with math and science homework. Many mothers and fathers, it turns out, find it easier to talk about the perils of illegal drug use than about math and science content. The Orlando Sentinel sums up an Intel survey on parents' math and science knowledge, or lack of it.

Posted by Sean Cavanagh at 9:47 AM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend