More schools to face law's consequences

May 20, 6:26 AM (ET)
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pink slips for principals and teachers. School-funded tutoring for poor kids. Schools are increasingly looking at those kind of consequences for failing to raise math and reading scores.

The federal No Child Left Behind law says that by the 2013-14 school year all students must pass state tests in these subjects.

About half of the states have steady annual goals for increasing the percentage of students passing, or working at their proper grade level. But the other half set the bar very low early on, and starting about now expect big annual achievement gains, according to a report being released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy.

Educators liken the latter strategy to a balloon payment mortgage, in which home owners have a final payment that is much larger than previous ones.

It's unlikely that states that took that approach can make the kind of gains expected, said Jack Jennings, the center's president.

Schools that don't hit testing benchmarks for two years or longer face consequences that become increasingly stiff each year - from having to transport children to higher-performing schools and paying for tutoring to replacing staff thought to be a part of a school's problems.

Nearly 11,000 schools, or a little more than 10 percent of all public schools - from elementary to high school - have missed their state-set progress goals and are taking corrective steps, according to the Education Department.

That number has been rising slowly and is expected to grow at a faster clip over the next few years.

Read more HERE

Honors Courses Give Way To AP Rigor

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 19, 2008; Page B01

Honors classes, once the pinnacle of pre-collegiate study, are gradually being eliminated at some of the region's top high schools, on the theory that the burgeoning Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs have rendered them obsolete.

In the fall, Rockville High School will be the first campus in Montgomery County not to offer honors English as an option for seniors. School systems in Fairfax and Loudoun counties have scaled back their honors programs in recent years. Prince William County schools have abandoned the honors label altogether.

The decline of honors courses mirrors the expansion of AP and IB, nationally recognized programs that present high school students with college-level work. In many area schools, those programs have effectively replaced honors as the top college-preparatory track. At least one area high school, Bell Multicultural in the District, now requires students to take at least two AP courses and the corresponding end-of-year exams.

Read more HERE

6 Montgomery Schools Among Nation's Top 100

Newsweek's list of the Top 100 Public High Schools in the country is out and, for the first time ever, a local district has the distinction of the most schools on the list.

Montgomery County boasts six schools in the top 100, but many schools in the D.C. area received high marks.

Parents told News 4's Michael Flynn that how schools are rated is important to them.

"It's the reason we chose this area, absolutely," one parent said.

Montgomery's six top high schools include Richard Montgomery with a ranking at 32, Thomas S. Wootten at 59, Bethesda-Chevy Chase at 63, Walt Whitman at 68, Walter Johnson at 75 and Winston Churchill at 96. All of the county's high schools made Newsweek's top 1,000.

Schools superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast called the distinction "a big payback for our citizens and taxpayers."

Four Fairfax high schools made the list with Langley doing best with a ranking of 55, followed by W.T. Woodson at 73, Lake Braddock at 93 and Mclean at 97. In Falls Church, George Mason ranked at 58.

Read more HERE

Notes from Board Meeting, 5/13/08

The Board Meeting from Tuesday, May 13th will be broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

This meeting didn't follow the originally scheduled agenda because the Board of Education had to recess mid-meeting due to a short notice to present the Budget to the Commissioners at their meeting.

4:30 - Recognition

ACTION - Budget

• Presentation of Supt. 09 Budget; BOE Proposed Operating Budget Book

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Wise

Unanimous - PASSED

REPORT- Educational Facilities Master Plan

• Report presented

REPORT - New High School Cost Reduction Alternatives

• Carrington, Pedersen, Abell served on a committee with Mr. Wineland to propose cuts to the new high school
• Bailey - pg. 1 #12 - 1 door as opposed to two on classrooms
• Wineland - not a safety concern. Schools currently have 1 door
• Bailey - pg. 2 #8 ceramic tile in bathrooms; hygiene
• Wineland - Smooth service with ease in cleaning. Painting cinder block wall create a smooth surface. Same sanitary concerns can be addresses with the painted cinder block
• Pedersen - Many things considered. Safety and well being as well as cut costs
• Wise - Redesign 4-story building. Design fees included
• Wineland - No...do not have estimate at this time
• Wineland - # thrown out by commissioners is not reachable
• Abell - Accept committees document
• Wineland - # of students x 150 per student x 215 sq ft per bldg or 240 sq ft per site = cost according to the state formula
• Wineland - state did not reject the high school. delayed approval due to site issues and they have been corrected.
• Wise - where did the misinformation come from?
• Wineland - don't know

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Wise
Unanimous - PASSED

REPORT - Superintendent Update

• one of few systems completely wireless
• asked to speak at the State Educational Technology Directors Association Education Forum
• telepresence demonstration in Columbia including digital classroom
• HSA's at the end of May. 88.4% have passed; 209 students have not passed
• Schools closed on Monday due to county road closures. Letter sent to Grasmick requesting excused for one day.
• Levilee named Maryland National Distinguished Principal
• Graduations
• Shah - Which schools are first for telepresence
• Richmond - All six
• Shah - How many units per school
• Richmond - one room per school; like a lab; distance learning; AP courses

REPORT - EACC Update

• Budget; thank you for including the supplementary budget
• Pellicore report shows commissioners have funds for budget and supplements

REPORT - 09-10 Calendar

• Hettel - Survey being sent out; Action item in June
• Abell - Survey results before June meeting
• Hettel - yes

REPORT - Stethem Center Career and Cooperative Education Program

• See presentation; fantastic program

REPORT - Out of County Tuition Fees

• Abell - Outside Maryland vs. Maryland counties discount
• Balides - state picks up the difference for in state tuition

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

• Bailey - Summer Academy - Remedial vs. Enrichment
• Carrington - Dir. C.C. Public Library add her to agenda
• Sept. 4th What Counts - names submitted
• Abell - Remind again that Policy 9336 & 8000 need to be updated

ACTION - Minutes from 4/8/08; 4/28/08

Motion to accept by Carrington; Second by Wise
Unanimous - PASSED

ACTION - Personnel

Motion to accept by Wise; Second by Pedersen
Unanimous - PASSED

ACTION - Textbooks - Advanced Placement English Language & Composition ; Health ; Marketing and Web Design

Motion to accept by Wise; Second by Pedersen
Unanimous - PASSED

Discipline's cost

Tens of thousands of students are being suspended in Maryland for relatively minor infractions each year, the result of zero-tolerance discipline policies that critics say are harming some of the most vulnerable children.

One in 11 students in the state was suspended last year - enough to fill every seat in Anne Arundel County's public schools. The rates were much higher for African-Americans, special-education students and boys - who were twice as likely as girls to be sent home.

"What we see is that suspension and expulsion are overused and actually push kids who need education the most out of school," said Jane Sundius at the Open Society Institute, a nonprofit that has studied suspensions and expulsions in Baltimore schools .

The rate of suspensions in Maryland has risen over the past 15 years, as school systems responded with stricter discipline codes to rising violence in their communities and the fear fanned by the shooting deaths at Columbine High School in 1999. Many administrators believe a no-nonsense approach to misbehavior is needed to keep schools safe and ensure a good environment for learning.

Read more HERE

Reminder: Board Meeting, 5/13/08

Just wanted to remind everyone there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, May 13th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

MEETING TIMES!!

12:00 - Executive Session
1:00 - Board Meeting begins
4:30 - Recognition
6:00 - Public Forum (Must sign-up prior to 6:00)

Reports

• Superintendent - Report
• Board Members Updates - (no report available)
• EACC - Update (no report available)
• Deputy Supt. - Oral Report on Graduation
• Supporting Services Report - CIP Update; APFO School Numbers; Educational Facilities Master Plan; New High School Initiatives (no report available)
• Human Resources - 09-10 Calendar
• Instruction Report - Stetham Center Career and Cooperative Education Program; Textbook: Career and Technology
• Financial Update - Out of County Tuition Fees
• Student Board Member - (no report available)

ACTION ITEMS

• Budget - Presentation of Supt. 09 Budget; BOE Proposed Operating Budget Book
• Minutes from 4/8/08; 4/28/08
• Personnel
• Textbooks - Advanced Placement English Language & Composition ; Health ; Marketing and Web Design

Test Scores Suggest Success In Middle School Instruction

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008; Page SM05

Middle schools, forever castigated as the weak link in public education, have made steady progress on Maryland's standardized test, and well over half of the students at the top campuses in the state's Washington suburbs have earned the highest rating on the exam.

An analysis of 2007 Maryland School Assessment scores for suburban middle schools finds ample evidence of improvement, with some schools posting dramatic gains and comparatively few losing ground. The results defy conventional wisdom, which portrays middle schools as laggards in the field of school reform.

At Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac, 71 percent of students who took the MSA last spring scored at the highest of three performance levels, advanced, and 25 percent scored in the middle level, proficient. In 2006, by contrast, at no middle school in the eight-county region did more than 63 percent of students score advanced on the MSA.

The numbers of students scoring proficient and advanced on the MSA are added to measure "proficiency," the standard by which schools are judged under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The lowest-scoring level, basic, does not count toward proficiency.



Read more HERE

New York’s Coveted Public Schools Face Pupil Jam

Boy does this sopund familiar!

BY ELISSA GOOTMAN
Published: May 9, 2008

Of all the draws of 200 Chambers Street, a luxury TriBeCa condo with floor-to-ceiling windows and a swimming pool, Sherry Hsiung was particularly attracted by Public School 234, the celebrated elementary school next door.

But when Dr. Hsiung, a dermatologist, tried to register her son for kindergarten last month, she was shocked to hear that because of a surge in applications, he would be placed on a hold list, and could not be guaranteed a seat. Instead, he could be assigned to an elementary school elsewhere in District 2, which stretches to the Upper East Side. “I’m totally at a loss,” she said. “This is a public school.”

Parents consider it a sacred tenet of city life: If you move into a good elementary school’s zone, your children can go to the school. But Lower Manhattan’s population has experienced a post-Sept. 11 baby and building boom, and the highly regarded schools in the neighborhood — P.S. 234 and P.S. 89, in Battery Park City — are faced with a glut of children and nowhere to put them. Some three dozen children are already on the waiting lists for these schools, an unusual predicament that has surprised parents, setting off an avalanche of outrage on playgrounds, at meetings and on the Internet.

Read more HERE

Turmoil Racks Teachers Union

National Group Intervenes Amid Officers' Battle, Recall Drive

By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008; Page B04

The Washington Teachers' Union is facing a management crisis involving infighting between the president and vice president, an intervention by its parent organization and a recall drive targeting all the officers.

Five years after being placed in receivership by the American Federation of Teachers, after the embezzlement of millions of dollars in teachers' dues by then-President Barbara Bullock, the union is grappling with a host of internal and external pressures that threaten the viability of the organization, leaders say. Last week, at the request of the union's board, the national union dispatched a representative to work full time in the office to assess the operation and then devise and help implement a plan for fixing the problems.

Turmoil in the 4,200-member Washington union is surfacing at a pivotal time: The organization is grappling with the coming displacement of hundreds of teachers through Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's plans to close 23 schools and reorganize 27 others as well as her efforts to weaken long-standing job protections under a contract being negotiated. Meanwhile, membership has been eroding steadily, with fewer teachers needed to accommodate a rapidly shrinking enrollment.

Read more HERE

An Initiative on Reading Is Rated Ineffective

By SAM DILLON
Published: May 2, 2008

President Bush’s $1 billion a year initiative to teach reading to low-income children has not helped improve their reading comprehension, according to a Department of Education report released on Thursday.

The program, known as Reading First, drew on some of Mr. Bush’s educational experiences as Texas governor, and at his insistence Congress included it in the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that passed by bipartisan majorities in 2001. It has been a subject of dispute almost ever since, however, with the Bush administration and some state officials characterizing the program as beneficial for young students, and Congressional Democrats and federal investigators criticizing conflict of interest among its top advisers.

“Reading First did not improve students’ reading comprehension,” concluded the report, which was mandated by Congress and carried out by the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences. “The program did not increase the percentages of students in grades one, two or three whose reading comprehension scores were at or above grade level.”

Read more HERE

Board Benchmarks - Passed up again

UPDATE: The board chairman has once again passed up my request to serve on a board sub-group. The members serving on this group are Pedersen, Cook, and Bailey

----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the recent work session the board reviewed the benchmarks approved in 2005 (see below). It was decided to remove Benchmark # . The remaining benchmarks will be reviewed, reworded, updated by a yet to be determined sub-committee. I have requested to serve on this committee. Please provide your feedback.

Benchmark #1
"Charles County Public Schools SAT participation rate and average scores will increase annually for each school. Participation is optional. (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #2
“Charles County Public Schools will rank in the top ten of the 22 school systems according to the Washington Post Index Formula for Advanced Placement. At least 81 percent of AP course enrollment will take the AP exam. (2004 CCPS is 81 percent) The average score will increase. (2004 CCPS average score is 2.24) (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #3
"Charles County Public School graduates receiving Scholars recognition at graduation will increase annually by at least 1 percent at each school." (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #4
"The Superintendent shall continue to hire and retain highly qualified (trained/expertise in the class subject), competent, and dynamic teachers. The percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers will increase annually. (2004=51 percent or 3,484 of 6,838 classes.) The percentage of teachers receiving a Highly Effective or Outstanding on their evaluation in the area of Teaching Power will increase annually." (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #5
"The Superintendent shall continue to implement the standard for student behavior as contained in the Student Code of Conduct. In addition, no school in the Charles County Public School system will be classified as persistently dangerous by the state standard. (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #6 (REMOVED)
“The Superintendent shall continue to aggressively seek ways to decrease the percentage of student enrollment above core capacity in each Charles County public school annually."

Benchmark #7
"The Superintendent shall create and administer to parents a school satisfaction survey, including but not limited to family involvement, communication, and overall satisfaction, upon completion of the state survey. The results of this survey will improve annually. (See Maryland Parent Advisory Council Preliminary Recommendations)" (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #8
"Charles County Public Schools will exceed the High School Assessment state averages, in order to achieve Maryland State Department of Education graduation mandates. The classes involved are Algebra I, Biology, Government, and English II." (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #9
"Charles County Public School system will comply with the federally mandated No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements by exceeding the state performance in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the 20 mandatory reporting areas and in the number of schools making AYP. No school will be in program improvement." (Approved October 11, 2005)

Benchmark #10
"Charles County Public Schools will increase the number of courses utilizing technology support as a major component for the instructional program and increase the number of courses offered in distance learning annually." (Approved October 11, 2005)

Post Legislative Wrap-Up Session with Delegation

The Board of Education will be meeting with the Charles County Delegation on Thursday, May 8th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm for a post legislative wrap-up session. This meeting is open to the public, however, if you cannot attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Graduation Information

Board members participate in graduations as part of the academic procession, and along with the Superintendent confer diplomas to the graduating class. If anyone has a particular board member whom you would like to personally present the diploma to your student, please send your request to that board member by May 14th.

Notes from Board Meeting, 4/28/08

The Board Meeting from Monday, April 28th will be broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

6:00 - Public Forum

• Male - President of AFSME - commissioner funded budget; commisisoners don't need to hoard money; support building new schools; Charles has more trailers than any other county; heard Richmond was upset about commissioners not funding new schools; gas prices and minimum wage employees
• Female - MSTA and EACC rep; Releaseed Pellicore report to chairman of the board; commissioners bduget hiding money; 52.4% of what? designating previously undesignated funds; wants BOE to ask for what they need and not ask commissioners what they are willing to give; advocates for system on budget

Superintendent's Budget - Jim Richmond and Paul Balides

• Requests $300.5M = $18.4M increase; County funding figures has changed 4 times over the last year so he cannot guarantee a balanced budget
• No major new programs
• current programs maintained
• new funds requested for compensation
• Finish Neal & 12th grade at North Point will be handled with transfers
• Fully funding technology and materials of instruction
• No increase in staffing for enrollment increases
• Combining summer activities into some buildings and work schedule for summer 7:30 - 3:30 to conserve energy
• Balides-Supplemental request budget will move forward with budget requests but may notbe funded. Budget is NOT balanced because we still don't have a number for county funding
• Wise - Mandatory transportation cost - 22 replacement buses?
• Balides - Not buying buses - contractors buy and recovery formula used for maintenance, fuel, benefots, etc. Part of contract
• Wise - state formula or ours?
• Balides - negotiated by system. consistent around region and other systems
• Wise - Mandatory replacement?
• Wineland - Yes, every 13 years
• Pedersen - Synopsis from Parent Advisory Council on budget
• Balides - Concerns include overcrowding; teachers and funding thereof; programs; intervention and summer programs; raising lunch prices again
• Cook - Gifted identification and Summer academy?
• Estep - streamlined costs by combining locations and reduced costs of meals. Increased pupil/teacher ratio by 3-4 students. No programs cut or limited.
• Bailey - 3% administrative - compare to other systems in the region
• Balides - Charles is 8th in the state
• Bailey - supplemental budget in priority order? where is lacrosse?
• Yes prioirty order; lacrosse included under school administration (next to last item)
• Pedersen - Operating cost per pupil, ranking in state?
• Balides - 2005 we're 22nd
• Carrington - how much difference in the actual numbers?
• Balides - 05 Montgomery was 1st at $12,500; PG was 10th at $9,400; Charles was 22nd at $8,700
• Pedersen - projected students for next year?
• Cunningham - Neal just under 500 but can house 640
• Pedersen - questions the 500; thinks we'll open above capacity
• Cunningham - If that happens the room is there
• Pedersen - But the teachers are not
• Cunningham - We will move them from under enrolled schools

Board Benchmarks

• Bailey requested Board Retreat item be discussed first; consensus was yes.
• Abell - How does the Chairman want these addressed?
• Carrington - thought we were doing one by one
• Wade - not going into detail, statistics, or results tonight, only deciding if we want to keep the benchmark. No rewording tonight either.
• #1 SAT - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #2 AP - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #3 Scholars - Carrington = No; Remaining members yes; PASSED
• #4 Highly Qualified Teachers - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #5 Dangerous Schools - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #6 Core Capacity - REMOVE; Abell = No; Remaining members yes; PASSED
• #7 Survey parents - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #8 HSA's - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #9 NCLB - Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• #10 Distance Learning; Unanimous to keep; PASSED
• Abell - recommended a committee be formed; to include staff on updating and rewording the benchmarks
• Abell - requested to serve on this committee since she is the only board member not currently serving on a committee

Board Priorities Retreat Summary prepared by Kitty Blumsack of MABE

• Pedersen - requests Superintendents response to priorities and budget
• Richmond - Maintain programs; if population (students) increases drastically, more than projected, budget will suffer. Highest priority is staff compensation and cost of living. Cancerned about effects over the next 2-3 years. Will fund safety issues and the "need to have's"
• Abell - What is going to happen with this list?
• Wade - working with Richmond to accomplish list, goals to work towards
• Abell - adopting as goals?
• wade - No, just an interst list
• Pedersen - Shoudl we put in personal preference order?
• Abell - consensus; mail to Ms. Stubblefield for compilation
• Carrington - aren't they already in order by Ms. Blumsack
• Abell - No
• Pedersen - Re-number keeping in mind to be optimistic with the current financial situation
• Cook - Then what? are we actually going to act on these?
• Abell - Sned your list in to Ms. Stubblefield during the next week for action at the next meeting

Action Items

• Approval of contract award for C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School FDK addition
• Bailey - lengthy discussion

Wise motioned; 2nd by Pedersen to accept the Superintendents Recommendation
to award to the low bid, John Mattingly
Unanimous

Maintenance

• Wade - BOE member requests board approves relocateables
• Bailey - Approved addition at Barnhart; request commissioner approval, but odd that we didn't vote on $2M trailers at North Point
• Wineland - history of relocateables never brought before the board. Committee reviews and considered daily operations

Bailey motioned; 2nd by Abell for the board to approve
all budget items pertaining to the CIP
Unanimous

When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web

Public Profiles Raise Questions of Propriety and Privacy

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2008; Page A01

It's almost like Googling someone: Log on to Facebook. Join the Washington, D.C., network. Search the Web site for your favorite school system. And then watch the public profiles of 20-something teachers unfurl like gift wrap on the screen, revealing a sense of humor that can be overtly sarcastic or unintentionally unprofessional -- or both.

One Montgomery County special education teacher displayed a poster that depicts talking sperm and invokes a slang term for oral sex. One woman who identified herself as a Prince William County kindergarten teacher posted a satiric shampoo commercial with a half-naked man having an orgasm in the shower. A D.C. public schools educator offered this tip on her page: "Teaching in DCPS -- Lesson #1: Don't smoke crack while pregnant."

Just to be clear, these are not teenagers, the typical Internet scofflaws and sources of ceaseless discussion about cyber-bullying, sexual predators and so on. These are adults, many in their 20s, who are behaving, for the most part, like young adults.

Read more HERE

Changes approved at 9 failing schools statewide

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Teachers will have to reapply for their jobs at eight schools in the state, and the principal is retiring from a ninth school, state school officials decided on Tuesday.

Teachers must reapply for their jobs at three Baltimore County and five Prince George's County schools. The Baltimore County schools are Woodlawn High, Lansdowne Middle and Southwest Academy.

The principal of Edgewood Middle School in Harford County will be succeeded by someone who has undergone New Leaders for New Schools, a national principal training program.
...
"A study by the Center on Education Policy last year showed that Maryland's efforts to turn around its worst schools usually fail. "
...
Read more HERE

REMINDER: Board Work Session, 4/28/08

REMINDER...there is a Board Work Session Monday, April 28th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

6:00 - Public Forum

On the Agenda

• Superintendent's Budget
• Board Benchmarks
• Board Priorities Retreat Summary prepared by Kitty Blumsack of MABE

Action Items

• Approval of contract award for C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School FDK addition - NOT AVAILABLE

Public Hearing on Budget

Interesting...

Just a little blurp I received in an email that I thought I would share.


"...Howard has just approved a design for the renovation of Mount Hebron High School, (1964), capacity 1,332, at an estimated cost of $57 million. Over a year ago, estimates to replace the school ran about $80 million. "

EACC Uncovers the Truth with County Funds

It's no secret...the EACC hired an independent fiscal consultant, RJ Pellicoro Associates, to perform an audit on county funding. The results...personally I wasn't shocked, it is exactly what we (members of the board of education) have been saying for years. However, the public will be shocked and now there is PROOF.

The below was in an email sent out by the EACC (teachers union) today.

The incredible shrinking budget

This year, the BOE was told they were getting $12 Million in new money (over last year’s allocation) from the County Commissioners. That was October.

By January, the Commissioners had revised that number down to $10 million.

Now, in April, they are saying it’s only going to be $8 Million.
Every week, there seems to be less for public education.

But wait, you say – isn’t that because the county’s estimates are going down, and aren’t those estimates based on SOLID EVIDENCE? Well let’s see –

According to our fiscal analyst, RJ Pellicoro and Associates, for the last three years, the revenue projections (at 52.4% to the Board of Education) have been off by
$13.3 Million (2005),
$20.9 Million (2006), and
$5.9 Million (2007).

That totals $40.1 million dollars that the Board of Education should have gotten, but didn’t, during those three years. And incidentally, that would be enough to give every employee in the system a 20% raise. We would certainly be able to compete for teachers then, wouldn’t we? Do you know how many textbooks, computers, additional staffing, and temporary classrooms you can buy for $40 Million?

So – if you haven’t written already, write (commissioner@charlescounty.org) or call (301-870-3000) the County Commissioners – tell them we can’t rely on their estimates – the history is not good. If they want to give the board less, they just revise a number – no problem!

They have a substantial fund balance if the revenues are indeed low. They need to give the Board of Education the $12 million in new money – at least – that they promised, and STOP shrinking the Board’s allocation.
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And then this letter was sent to the Indy and the Post....

Dear Editor:

As President of the Education Association of Charles County, representing almost 1900 educators in the Charles County Public schools, I would appreciate an opportunity to tell our parents and citizens the truth regarding education funding in this county.

It is a common misconception that public schools receive roughly half of every dollar of revenue the county takes in. For example, a misleading ad from the “League of Maryland Homeowners” printed in the Maryland Independent March 26th states “the Board of Education already receives 52 cents out of every dollar of county taxes.” The formula this ad references was an agreement made almost ten years ago between the commissioners and the Board of Education – an agreement whereby the Board would get 52.4% of county revenue. This 52.4% figure is regularly bandied about as a given, particularly during campaigns for public office. But in fact, the Board of Education has not received 52.4% of the county’s revenue in many years.

EACC has hired an independent fiscal consultant, RJ Pellicoro Associates, a firm that has 20 years experience in analyzing the budgets of public agencies. All of the documents used by our analyst (the county audit, its bond prospectus, etc.) are, of course, public record and can be obtained by any citizen.

The Pellicoro report clearly shows funding from the county declining. For example, it states that “from FY 2002 to FY 2008, the % of total General Fund Expenditures and Transfers appropriated to the BOE declined from 50.4% to 44.8%, a decrease of 5.6 percentage points.” The loss of 5.6% represents a loss of $16.8 million to our public schools this year.

The reason for the shrinking percent is that the county has underestimated its revenue consistently for the last several years, and the public schools’ allocation was based on the inaccurate projections, not the actual revenue. Basically, when more money is received than projected, the county does not revise its funding to the Board of Education to bring the allocation in line with 52.4% of actual revenues.

Looking ahead, the county budget projections for the upcoming school year continue to be revised downward. Just since March, they have dropped their revenue estimates by $3 million – a loss of $1.5 Million to the Board of Education in less than a month. The more the revenue projections go down, the less the Board of Education gets. This is how we ended up with less than 52.4% over the last several years. We can’t continue to be penalized by low- ball estimates. If there is a genuine shortfall this year, the county has the means to raise revenue and a fund balance to offset any optimistic projections that don’t materialize.

As it is, our public school spending is hardly commensurate with our wealth. In 2005, Charles County ranked 7th in median household income in the state ($88,350) of Maryland. But it ranked 22nd out of 24 in per pupil expenditure. We are not keeping pace with other counties.

Charles County is opening new schools almost every year, but no additional revenue is allotted for one-time opening costs. Thus, the Board has to take this money from its (already reduced) operating budget. These are funds that could be used for competitive teacher salaries, lower class sizes, and better instructional materials.

Our county continues to grow, and the reputation of our excellent school system attracts more and more students. At the same time, we are facing a critical teacher shortage in this state, and we need funding to attract and retain qualified educators to meet this need. The CPI (inflation rate) as of March 2008 is 4.7% Housing prices in this county are out of reach for most new teachers. Many of them leave the area and some even leave the profession to be able to afford to own a home and provide for their families.

All of our commissioners and Board of Education members have publicly stated their commitment to excellent public schools, and in general they have tried to live up to that commitment. But the measure of their dedication will show in how they act in tough times, not when budgets are flush.

The county budget hearing is currently scheduled for Wednesday, May 14th at the county building. The Board of Education has its own budget work session scheduled for this Monday, April 28th at 6 p.m. at the Starkey Administrative Building. Parents, educators, and other citizens need to let the commissioners know they expect adequate funding of public schools (email - commissioner@charlescounty.org), and they need to tell the elected Board of Education members to accurately represent the needs of our students in their budget request. Our children are counting on us.

Sincerely,
Bill Fisher
President
EACC

Board is Meeting Today, 4/21/08

The Board of Education will be meeting TODAY, 4/21/08, in executive session (closed to the public)at the Starkey building to discuss the new high school.

Thomas Stone High School Biology Rap

This is fantastic!!

I wish more teachers would have FUN with teaching.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS NEEDED

WHAT COUNTS?

The Board of Education will be hosting a forum entitled "What Counts?" tentatively scheduled on Thursday, September 4th. This forum will include roundtable discussions to gather input from our community. Attendance and participation at this forum is by invitation only. Each board member has been asked to submit a list of 15 names by May 2nd as invitees.

If you are interested in being one of my 15 invitees to this event, please EMAIL ME as soon as possible, with your name and mailing address.

In the Mainstream but Isolated

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 17, 2008; Page B01

Victoria Miresso cannot button a shirt, match a sock or tell one school bus from another. Yet at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown, she is expected to function much like any other sixth-grader, coping with class changes, algebra quizzes and lunchroom bullies.

Victoria's parents say she is a victim of inclusion: a trend, in Montgomery County and across the nation, toward shutting down traditional special education classes and placing special-needs students in regular classrooms at neighborhood schools.

Read more HERE

Notes from Board Meeting, 4/8/08

The Board Meeting from Tuesday, April 8th will be broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Superintendent Report

• Budget not being presented today - financial challenges. All depts. & principals ask to go through budget for cuts of non-essentials. All out-of-state travel ceased. All outside staff development and food purchases ceased.
• New HS architect is working for cuts including costs for a green school and pool. More at work session on 4/28
• Davis dedication
• Neal & Levilee is preparing ...mascot choosing
• MSA began last week
• upcoming activities
• Thanks to student leadership & Mr. Pete Mahon.

Board Members Updates

• Cook - NSBA conference - Ethical Literacy Session; Internet Cyber Safety
• Carrington - Congratulations Stodderts Celebration of the Arts
• Abell - NSBA conference, notes aren't prepared yet but some on website. MABE nominations due 5/30/08; MABE budget meetings 6/26 & 7/21
• Wise - NSBA...Sidney Portier: Handling Media Inquiries with Nerves of Steel; Can you Hear Me now?; Cyber Bullying; Wants to submit one of our programs for Magna Awards
• Pedersen - Fantastic first time conference; Use & Listening Tools; English Language Learners; School Board Financial Literacy
• Wade - Charles Willis Award - due 7/3

EACC Update

• Bus to visit with legislators
• hired R.J. Pellicore Associates to review the county's budget. Full report still being compiled
• School not receiving 52.4%. BOE based on projections not actual
• See EACC Report for eye opening details
• Teacher compensation #1 priority; teacher shortage
• will join Board at commissioners meeting in May
• Bailey - Will final report be available to the public?
• Fisher - IT will be available to the Board
• Bailey - Will you give a copy to the commissioners
• Fisher - We'll see how we need to use.

Student Board Member Report

• Jessica Mundy read Shah's report; he's away at a college interview
• Student meeting and elections on Friday at 11:30 at LaPlata HS

Supporting Services Report CIP Update

• Neal on schedule
• Somers ahead of schedule
• Requested a transfer of $2M from projects that came in under budget to purchase two 8 classroom modular units for North Point. Always planned for those units. Approved.
• Architects working to reduce cost of new HS
• Pedersen - requests for description of units for duplex
• Wineland - relocateables come in classroom singles (1), duplex (2), quads (8). The quads are more cost efficient. One door at each end - center hallway - 4 classes on each side.
• Wise - Duplex at Lackey?
• Wineland - Yes
• Wise - Electrical still there; same spot as previous relocateables?
• Wineland - same spot; no electrical there; will need to be done
• Bailey - Questions regarding costs
• Wineland - $1.7M is cost of units; remaining $300K is for installation sidewalks, etc.
• Wade - How Many relocateables
• Wineland - 248 units next year; less expensive to buy a new one than move an old one

Instruction Report - New Textbooks

• Advanced Placement English Language & Composition - $56.25 need 600
• Health - Uses the term STI instead of STD; has new food pyramid; last purchased Health books in 1994. Comes with a video
• Marketing and Web Design - Marketing $60.50 need 50;
• Web Design course requires two books $49.50 & $52.50 & one optional $37.50
• Books will be on display for 30 days at Lackey; Stone; and Starkey
• (side note - I have personally reviewed all books and like them; let me know what you think)

Human Resources - 09-10 Calendar - Oral Report

• This was an oral report; Actual report will be presented to the Board at the May meeting
• Abell - Spring break before Easter as opposed to after
• Hettel - arranged around MSA testing. Good Friday and Easter Monday are mandatory holidays per state law.
• Hettel - First MD teachers fair in Baltimore at the Sheraton. 1300 interested applicants at fair. Charles County spoke to about 175 people. Long line. Interviewed 40 people. Grasmick there
• Cook - Diverse group?
• Hettel - racially and gender diverse; good things happening in Charles County
• Carrington - States they were from
• Hettel - MD - PG & Baltimore & Anne Arundel County & new MD grads
• Wise - Area of interests?
• Hettel - Math, Science & Special Ed

Legislative Update - Oral Report

• Session is over
• Attendance Age 17 - Unresolved...will come back next session
• Student Bullying Bills ...HB199 passed, combination of multiple bills
• Public Labor Relations Board - Unresolved...next session
• P.E. Bills - amended to a task force
• Disabled Athletes - Passed; regulations coming from the state
• HSA - Unresolved; thinks we'll see changes at the state level with new state board
• tax credits for donation to scholarships
• notification to parents to opt out of NCLB military recruitments - Passed
• Wise - Disabled sports bill clarification
• Schwartz - Howard County case - female wheelchair track runner; changes in COMAR forthcoming
• Bailey - Boast bill vote count
• Schwartz - Senate 30-17 House Died
• Carrington - Sports bill unfunded mandate
• Schwartz - yes

Unfinished Business

• Pedersen - Number of students identified and removed for attending out of zone/county this year
• Staff response was 77

New Business

Future Agenda Items

• Pedersen - Communication issue with commissioners. They stated they were unaware of our APFO vote during a televised session
• Abell - Didn't we discuss this with them at the retreat we had, and gave them the vote of unanimous?
• Wise - Yes and the press was present. Suggests Wade send out a letter and call Commissioner Cooper
• Abell - Consensus or motion
• Wade - Consensus

UNANIMOUS

Recognition

Public Forum (Must sign-up prior to 6:30)

• Female - Lacross...4/2 article in Post. Team sport of MD. Fastest growing sport. Charles & PG only two counties. Only SMAC county not participating. Other counties had to go out of area. Parents happy to provide own gear. Coaches and buses only expense. Concern of effect on other sports not an issue. Kids already not participating in school sports because they are traveling out of town to play. Scholarships available.
• Male - Drivers Ed in after school with CSM excluding private companies. Instructors required to have a license and instructors license. Instructors must have a physical and background check every two years $150. Taxpayers will have to pay for CSM or CCPS teachers. Consider cost factor if the wheels not broke don't fix it. Less parent involvement in schools.
• Male - Athletic event attended with children and could not enter because of the smell of marijuana. Our Drug Free school zone is a joke. HSA's- reject Bridge Plan; make graduates pass. HSA's - if they don't pass no participation in extracurricular activities or athletics. On January 6, 2006 the Board passed to approve early entrance into Kindergarten, he's been calling for three years and still hasn't gotten a response. Black children progress on standardized test is appalling. Why are they so far behind? And he is disgraced that he is the only black parent here to speak for public forum.
• Male - Lacrosse; post article; coach of lacrosse team in Mechanicsville; no Charles club teams after 8th grade. Please fund a Varsity Team. Look at other funding sources.

Action Items

• Minutes from 3/11/08
• Personnel

All action items were unanimously approved by the board.

Mr. Bailey was not present for this portion of the meeting.

Reverse the teen dropout trend

By Colin Powell and Alma Powell
April 9, 2008

When nearly one-third of our students fail to complete high school — and when many of those who do graduate are not fully prepared for college and the workforce — it isn't just an education issue. It's an issue of national security. As a country, that's how we must think of it.

In the time it takes to read these paragraphs, another U.S. teenager will drop out of high school: 1.2 million students per year, nearly 7,000 students per school day, one student every 26 seconds drops out. For young people of color, the statistics are even more startling. Nearly half of African-American and Native-American students will not graduate with their class, while less than six in 10 Hispanic students will.

We say we have a dropout crisis. Looking at these figures, and the impact they have on our young people, our families and our country, we have more than a crisis. We're facing a catastrophe.

Read more HERE

A Graduation Shortcut for Student Short Credits

I personally don't agree with this, let me know what you think.

By ELISSA GOOTMAN and SHARONA COUTTS
Published: April 11, 2008

Dennis Bunyan showed up for his first-semester senior English class at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem so rarely that, as he put it, “I basically didn’t attend.”

But despite his sustained absence, Mr. Bunyan got the credit he needed to graduate last June by completing just three essay assignments, which he said took about 10 hours.

“I’m grateful for it, but it also just seems kind of, you know, outrageous,” Mr. Bunyan said. “There’s no way three essays can possibly cover a semester of work.”

Mr. Bunyan was able to graduate through what is known as credit recovery — letting those who lack credits make them up by means other than retaking a class or attending traditional summer school. Although his principal said the makeup assignments were as rigorous as regular course work, Mr. Bunyan’s English teacher, Charan Morris, was so troubled that she boycotted the graduation ceremony, writing in an e-mail message to students that she believed some were “being pushed through the system regardless of whether they have done the work to earn their diploma.”

Read more HERE

Federal grant allows for HIV education in state classrooms

Jennifer Raley
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND - The Maryland State Department of Education received a $1.38 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for HIV prevention education and the Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

"I'm very pleased that MSDE is working with us on this," said Lorelee Farrell, director of health and family life at the Allegany County Board of Education. "Kids need to have this type of information. They have to learn that they play a huge role in determining their future. Life just doesn't happen; it's about choices."

During the first year of the grant, MSDE will conduct an inventory of the prevention programs to determine if improvements are needed. In addition to professional development, training and Web-based technology, the grant will be used to develop a strategic plan for guidance and direction of prevention activities.

In May, Farrell will learn more about what programs will be available in Allegany County as a result of the grant.

Read more HERE

Va. 8th-Graders Edge Peers in Writing

By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2008; Page B06

U.S. eighth-graders and high school seniors showed stronger writing skills last year than their counterparts did five years earlier, a federal report says, and eighth-graders in Virginia public schools continued to beat the national average.

The writing assessment, part of a federally financed series of findings known as the Nation's Report Card, aims to get a handle on how well students across the country can craft essays, letters and stories.

Virginia's public school eighth-graders edged their peers elsewhere in writing scores made public yesterday, earning an average of 157 on a 300-point scale, compared with the national average of 154. The state also exceeded the national average for that measure in 2002 and 1998.

Maryland and the District did not participate in the writing test last year. There were no state-by-state results for 12th-graders.

Read more HERE

U.S. to Require States to Use a Single School Dropout Formula

By SAM DILLON
Published: April 1, 2008
New York Times

Moving to sweep away the tangle of inaccurate state data that has obscured the severity of the nation’s high school dropout crisis, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will require all states to use one federal formula to calculate graduation and dropout rates, Bush administration officials said on Monday.

The requirement would be one of the most far-reaching regulatory actions taken by any education secretary, experts said, because it would affect the official statistics issued by all 50 states and each of the nation’s 14,000 public high schools.

Ms. Spellings will announce her action at a so-called dropout prevention summit in Washington on Tuesday, the officials said. The summit is organized by a group beginning a national campaign intended to reduce dropout rates.

“In the coming weeks, I will take administrative steps to ensure that all states use the same formula to calculate how many students graduate from high school on time — and how many drop out,” Ms. Spellings said in remarks prepared for delivery on Tuesday and made available to The New York Times.

Read more HERE

'Safe Harbor' Offers Shelter From Strict 'No Child' Targets

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 7, 2008; Page B01

Hundreds of schools in Maryland, Virginia and the District were judged to have made adequate progress last year under the No Child Left Behind Act even though they failed to meet performance targets for all groups of historically underperforming students, the requirement at the heart of the law.

The schools -- 153 in Maryland, 100 in Virginia and 11 in the District -- satisfied the law under a "safe harbor" provision. It forgives a school for low test scores from one or more subgroups if those students show yearly improvement and if the school scores well on the whole.

The extent to which schools rely on the provision illustrates the challenge posed by the No Child Left Behind law, which requires that poor and minority students meet the same performance goals as the overall school population, with the target rising by a few points each year. In Maryland, where students are being tested this week, schools must raise proficiency rates by five points in reading and seven points in math this year to demonstrate adequate progress. Testing begins April 22 in the District and in May for most Northern Virginia schools.

Read more HERE

REMINDER: Board Meeting 4/8/08

Just wanted to remind everyone there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, April 8th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

NEW MEETING TIMES!!

12:00 - Executive Session
1:00 - Board Meeting begins

The remainder of the meeting immediately follows Public Forum

Reports

• Superintendent - Report
• Board Members Updates
• EACC - Update
• Student Board Member - Report
• Supporting Services Report - CIP Update
• Instruction Report - New Textbooks-Advanced Placement English Language & Composition, Health, Marketing and Web Design
• Human Resources - 09-10 Calendar - Oral Report
• Legislative Update - (report not available yet)
• Budget Report - Presentation of Supt. 09 Budget

4:30 - Recognition

6:30 - Public Forum (Must sign-up prior to 6:30)

Action Items

• Minutes from 3/11/08
• Personnel

Class Schedulers Think Outside the Blocks

By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; Page B01

In most public high schools in the Washington area, classes last as long as 90 minutes apiece and course lineups for each student alternate every day under the block-scheduling innovation that took root a decade ago. Campuses often use color coding to remind students where to go. Fairfax High School, for one, has "blue days" and "gray days."

But some schools are switching back to the old routine of 45-minute daily classes as educators and researchers question whether the new approach has led to higher achievement.

Block scheduling aims to maximize time for in-depth teaching and opportunities for students to meet graduation requirements. Usually the schedules mean four courses one day and four others the next, although sometimes courses alternate in fall and spring.

Read more HERE

'Crisis' graduation gap found between cities, suburbs

By Greg Toppo
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The likelihood that a ninth-grader in one of the nation's biggest cities will clutch a diploma four years later amounts to a coin toss — not much better than a 50-50 chance, new research finds.
Cross into the suburbs, and the odds improve dramatically.

The findings, which are being released today, look closely for the first time at the gap in high school graduation rates between public schools in the 50 biggest cities and the suburbs that surround them. Among the alarming disparities: In 12 cities, the gap exceeds 25 percentage points. Of those cities, nine are in the Northeast or Midwest.

The study was commissioned by America's Promise Alliance, a group of foundations, advocacy and non-profit organizations, and corporate and religious groups focusing on children's education, safety and health. It was founded by former general Colin Powell and is headed by his wife, Alma. The alliance plans a series of dropout-prevention summits in each state over the next two years.


GRADUATION RATES: 50 largest cities

Read more HERE

NSBA Conference: Blogging School District Leaders

I had the distinct pleasure of helping present this session to a standing room only yesterday. (Some were even turned away at the door due to room capacity) The interest of among attendees was astounding and I'm looking forward to hearing from board members across the nation that will soon be starting blogs of their own.
The session ran very smoothly with plenty of time for questions and answers.

Consultant and freelance writer Craig Colgan, whose blog Municipalist discusses blogging issues, began the session with a wonderful overview. School board member Brian Wheeler, SchoolMatters, spoke next about this powerful tool. I spoke last about my journey through design, implementation, and adversity about my blog. Everyone was encouraged to use blogs as another way to communicate with parents.

NSBA Conference - Making Meetings Matter

Blogging from the NSBA conference in Orlando.

I had the pleasure of attending one of the Early Bird sessions called Making Meetings Matter. The presenters were from the Illinois Association of School Boards and it was very informative with wonderful attendee participation and discussion. Here's some of the highlights...

Ingredients of a Successful Meeting
1. A focus on board work
2. Effective participation by individual members
3. Effective leadership by the presiding officer
4. Efficient procedures for transacting routine business
5. Well-understood rules of order
6. Legal compliance
7. Good record keeping, both minutes and policies
8. A mutually supportive relationship with the superintendent
9. Procedures for policy making and other board functions
10. Public participation that is orderly, democratic and constructive


Legal Requirements
-Legal references and resources (school board association, district attorney, policy, laws)
-Email among board members shall be limited to (1) disseminating information, and (2) messages not involving deliberation, debate, or decision making.

Planning (agenda and time management)

Conduct (set policy)
-Individual board member behaviors can contribute to or inhibit a successful board meeting.

Evaluate (self evaluation)

High School For Charles Put on Hold

A decision by the Maryland Board of Public Works not to approve funding for a planned new high school in Charles County throws into question the Charles school system's ability to keep pace with years of rapid growth that left every existing county high school overcrowded.

Charles public schools officials have instructed architects from the SHW Group, the Reston-based firm that designed three county schools, to stop work on plans for the school, which had been slated to open in 2011 with a price tag of about $97 million. The County Commissioners, who have urged the Board of Education for months to cut costs on the project, told Superintendent James E. Richmond last week that the high school should be placed on hold indefinitely.

According to the funding formula that governs school construction, the state government would be responsible for about $42 million of the cost of the school as originally planned.

Read more HERE

Md. School Superintendents Push for Changes to No Child Left Behind Law

ANNAPOLIS (March 26, 2008) - Maryland school superintendents met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon on Wednesday, asking him to consider changes to the No Child Left Behind law for disadvantaged students.

"Special education students, English language learners and our poverty students -- those are the issues most of us are grappling with," said Kevin Maxwell, superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, at a roundtable discussion with 13 county superintendents, Maryland Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and other state education officials.

Maryland schools placed in the top three states nationwide in an Education Week survey this year and showed an upward trend in several key performance measures since 2002. Yet Maryland still has a way to go before all children pass basic math and reading proficiency tests by 2014, the absence of which may trigger state takeovers of schools or reduced federal funding.

Read more HERE

Nearly All Area AP Teachers Get Passing Grades in Audit

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; Page B01

When the College Board announced last year that every high school Advanced Placement teacher would have to prove he or she was actually teaching a college-level course, there was widespread fear the process would purge worthy teachers from the program, weeding out good courses along with the bad.

They needn't have worried. In the first quality-control audit of the AP program, no AP teacher or course was rejected in the Fairfax, Montgomery, Prince George's or District school systems, according to area education officials. Of the 146,671 AP courses submitted for review nationwide, 136,853, or 93 percent, were approved.

Read more HERE

States’ Data Obscure How Few Finish High School

JACKSON, Miss. — When it comes to high school graduation rates, Mississippi keeps two sets of books.

One team of statisticians working at the state education headquarters here recently calculated the official graduation rate at a respectable 87 percent, which Mississippi reported to Washington. But in another office piled with computer printouts, a second team of number crunchers came up with a different rate: a more sobering 63 percent.

The state schools superintendent, Hank Bounds, says the lower rate is more accurate and uses it in a campaign to combat a dropout crisis.

“We were losing about 13,000 dropouts a year, but publishing reports that said we had graduation rate percentages in the mid-80s,” Mr. Bounds said. “Mathematically, that just doesn’t work out.”

Read more HERE

State urged to drop exit test

By Kristen Wyatt
March 17, 2008

ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Maryland families are urging state lawmakers to change or repeal legislation that will require exit exams for high-school seniors to receive a diploma.

"It started as a whisper, and now it's growing into a roar," said Delegate Justin D. Ross, Prince George's Democrat. "People are very concerned about these tests."

The class of 2009 will be the first to take the Maryland High School Assessment exams in algebra, biology, English and government. And those who don't pass will not receive a diploma.

The requirements were established in 2000, when Maryland joined a national trend of requiring exit exams. The premise was that diplomas will become a guarantee that students know certain things. But with the pass-to-graduate deadline looming — and no lesser diploma or attendance certificate for students who don't pass despite several attempts — legislators are hearing more calls to modify or drop the exam requirements.

Read more HERE

Smaller Classes Don't Close Learning Gap, Study Finds

By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; Page B02

For 20 years, a large study of class size in Tennessee, known as Project STAR, has raised hopes that reducing the number of children in inner-city classrooms to 17 or fewer would yield significant increases in achievement. It was by far the most authoritative finding in favor of reducing class size and was generally considered one of the most important educational studies of its time.

But a Northwestern University researcher, looking closely at the same data on thousands of students from kindergarten through third grade in 79 schools, has concluded that high achievers benefited more from the small classes than low achievers. Since low-income students in urban neighborhoods have lower achievement, on average, than students from more affluent families, the finding in the March issue of Elementary School Journal contradicts assumptions that class size reduction might have a significant effect on the gap between rich and poor students.



Read more HERE

Notes from Board Meeting, 3/11/08

This meeting wil be re-broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6:00 pm, Fridays at 9:00 am and Saturdays/Sundays at 2:00 pm.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Superintendent - Report

• Science fair and Spelling Bee
• Read Across America
• Senior Citizens Prom
• Middle School Transition Dinners
• Math Challenges, History Fair, music competitions, art show, DI
• Japan Bunkyo University partnership
• SAT?ACT podcast
• New high school

Board Members - MABE Presentation

• Carrington - Black Saga competition at Indian Head. two teams going to state
• Carrington - First Tech Challenger - invite middle schools next year
• Wise - Stone playing at Comcast center
• Cook - Spelling Bee kudos
• Pedersen - Legislative update - Letter from Board to say "yes" to public school funding; no cuts to Gov. budget
• Bullying bills - NO
• Labor relations - NO
• Physical education mandates - NO
• disabled students in athletics - NO
• HSA Bills - NO
• Richmond - state supt. meeting report on bridge to excellence act
• Abell - MABE nominating committee

EACC - Update (Report not available yet)

• Teacher shortage Task force
• wants $60,000 starting salary with quick climb to $100,000
• BOE to pay $75,000 to fully fund 5 students to U of MD
• Sabbaticals - pay teachers to go back to school to become certified in critical areas
• Make some teaching jobs 12 months
• offer free daycare and affordable housing
• tuition reimbursement
• DOES NOT support differentiated pay or bonuses for shortage areas

Student Board Member - (report not available yet)

• Recruiting and electing of officers for next year
• Senior citizens prom
• MASE convention

Deputy Superintendent - Pupil Personnel Workers

• See Report

Instruction Report - Capturing Kids Hearts Report; Presentation

• Implemented at Stone
• Flippen Group
• Training program for staff
• Very good
• Abell requests implementation and training for all staff

Supporting Services Report - CIP Update

• Everything on schedule and running smoothly

Legislative Update - (report not available yet)

Wise motioned; Pedersen seconded to send a letter to Gov. in support of educational funding

Bailey amended; Abell seconded to receive a draft via fax for approval

Yes = Abell, Bailey, Cook, Pedersen; No = Carrington, Wade, Wise

AMENDMENT PASSED

Motion with amendment

Yes = All

PASSED

NEW BUSINESS

• Abell move public forum to 6:00

Unanimous

• Task Form Committee Report submitted
• Abell - requests placement on Board Docs
• Bailey - Considers this an internal memo, not to be made public
• Abell - documents presented during public session are public documents
• Will be placed on Board Docs

6:30 - Public Forum (Must sign-up prior to 6:30)

• None

Action Items

• Minutes from 2/19/08 & 2/25/08
• Personnel
• Worker's Compensation Rule; Action

All board members voted unanimously for all action items.

Panel Proposes Streamlining Math

American students’ math achievement is “at a mediocre level” compared with that of their peers worldwide, according to a new report by a federal panel. The panel said that math curriculums from preschool to eighth grade should be streamlined to focus on key skills — the handling of whole numbers and fractions, and certain aspects of geometry and measurement — to prepare students to learn algebra.

“The sharp falloff in mathematics achievement in the U.S. begins as students reach late middle school, where, for more and more students, algebra course work begins,” said the report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, appointed two years ago by President Bush. “Students who complete Algebra II are more than twice as likely to graduate from college, compared to students with less mathematical preparation.”

Read more HERE

Hovering Parents Bully Teachers

Please let me know what you think about this article....

By John-John Williams IV Sun reporter
March 4, 2008

Carroll County school officials told a grandmother to stop coming to her grandchild's class after she spent two weeks studying the teacher. A Baltimore County teacher recalls being threatened physically by a parent who happened to be a boxer.

And in Howard County, overbearing parents are becoming such a concern that more than half the teachers surveyed say they have experienced "harassing behavior."

For the past two years, 60 percent of the teachers responding to a job satisfaction survey conducted by the Howard County Education Association reported that they have been subjected to harassment. Last year's survey specifically identified parents as the offenders in 60 percent of the cases. This year's survey, to be released in the coming weeks, will report similar results, said Ann DeLacy, the HCEA president.

Read more HERE

Should We Put the Brakes on Advanced Placement Growth?

Duh! Isn't this what we've been saying?

By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; 4:47 AM

Patrick Mattimore -- lawyer, teacher and freelance journalist -- is one of the most insightful writers about schools I know. So when he published a piece in Education Week criticizing the rapid growth in Advanced Placement courses in the country, I read it carefully and asked him to discuss it with me in this column. Mattimore is not only an astute judge of AP policy, but until recently, he was an AP Psychology teacher in San Francisco. He knows the territory like few others, and unlike many people in the debate over how to use AP, he has accomplished the rare feat of changing his mind after discovering facts at odds with his views.

His March 5 Ed Week commentary points out that if you look at all high school graduates, the percentage taking and passing AP exams is increasing. But if you look at the percentage of exams with passing grades -- 3 or above on the 5-point tests -- that is declining in many subjects. To Mattimore, this means the program is growing too fast -- a 10 percent jump every year in the number of exams taken. He says the rapid expansion ought to be reined in until school systems improve instruction in lower grades so students are better prepared for the rigors of AP.

Read more HERE

Next Question: Can Students Be Paid to Excel?

New York Times
By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: March 5, 2008

The fourth graders squirmed in their seats, waiting for their prizes. In a few minutes, they would learn how much money they had earned for their scores on recent reading and math exams. Some would receive nearly $50 for acing the standardized tests, a small fortune for many at this school, P.S. 188 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

When the rewards were handed out, Jazmin Roman was eager to celebrate her $39.72. She whispered to her friend Abigail Ortega, “How much did you get?” Abigail mouthed a barely audible answer: $36.87. Edgar Berlanga pumped his fist in the air to celebrate his $34.50.

The children were unaware that their teacher, Ruth Lopez, also stood to gain financially from their achievement. If students show marked improvement on state tests during the school year, each teacher at Public School 188 could receive a bonus of as much as $3,000.

Read more HERE

Teaching Change

New York Times
By ANDREW J. ROTHERHAM
Published: March 10, 2008

WHEN teachers at two Denver public schools demanded more control over their work days, they ran into opposition from a seemingly odd place: their union. The teachers wanted to be able to make decisions about how time was used, hiring and even pay. But this ran afoul of the teachers’ contract. After a fight, last month the union backed down — but not before the episode put a spotlight on the biggest challenge and opportunity facing teachers’ unions today.

While laws like No Child Left Behind take the rhetorical punches for being a straitjacket on schools, it is actually union contracts that have the greatest effect over what teachers can and cannot do. These contracts can cover everything from big-ticket items like pay and health care coverage to the amount of time that teachers can spend on various activities.

Quote of the Day

"I would much rather put a phenomenal, great teacher in a field with 30 kids and nothing else than take the mediocre teacher and give them half the number of students and give them all the technology in the world."
ZEKE M. VANDERHOEK, 31, who is starting a charter school that will pay teachers $125,000 a year.

Read More HERE