The Echo

Should Delaware adopt the Common Core Standards? 

Yes, we know, the State Board of Education WILL adopt them.  It goes without saying because DeDOE wrote it into the Race to the Top Application.  But, should they?  Now, that's a harder question. 

There is no doubt in my mind that Delaware needs to develop more rigorous standards.  We rank consistently low when our stardards are compared to those of states.  But, there's something a bit more insidious to this pending adoption.  It's an issue of state's rights, one long ago, acknowledged in D.C. when No Child Left Behind became the law of the land.

While NCLB mandated assessments, the same testing that has caused the pushdown of academic standards across the nation, it specifically did not legislate common academic standards.  Legislators in D.C. along with their USDOE designees struggled with defining where state's rights began and federal jurisdiction ended.  The question of overstep really had t do with what constituted "curriculum" because the choice of curriculum is clearly defined as a right of a state, district, or school.  It doesn't fall under federal domain, see this tidbit from the ESEA. Click the title to link back.

SEC. 9527. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.

(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State or local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.

(b) PROHIBITION ON ENDORSEMENT OF CURRICULUM- Notwithstanding any other prohibition of Federal law, no funds provided to the Department under this Act may be used by the Department to endorse, approve, or sanction any curriculum designed to be used in an elementary school or secondary school.
(c) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING FEDERAL APPROVAL OR CERTIFICATION OF STANDARDS-

(1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law, no State shall be required to have academic content or student academic achievement standards approved or certified by the Federal Government, in order to receive assistance under this Act.
(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect requirements under title I or part A of title VI

(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON BUILDING STANDARDS- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mandate national school building standards for a State, local educational agency, or school.

It's starting to look a bit like Wilmington on a bad air day - smoggy.  While I can tell you that the preference given to states willing to adopt the Common Core Standard in their Race to the Top Application subverts the rights accorded to the states in the above referenced standard, something of that nature always sounds better coming from a someone with a Ph.D.  So, I found one (which wasn't very hard, because while opponents have been shunned by mainstream media, they are there and they do have a message for policymakers, parents, and teachers alike):

Since the federal government’s legal and political authority to mandate common national standards is contested, the administration has instead applauded and encouraged the work of the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in developing proposed“common core” standards in reading and math (henceforth referred to as the NGA/CCSSO effort). The administration has also announced its intention to “require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- and career-ready standards in reading and mathematics, which may include common standards developed by a state-led consortium, as a condition for qualifying for Title I funding.”3 Likewise, the federal Race to the Top competition for funds gives an advantage to states that have a clear intention to adopt such standards.4 As the NGA/CCSSO effort is the only collaborative effort of this type and 48 states and the District of Columbia are listed as cooperating with the initiative, the NGA/CCSSO standards are poised to become the de facto national curriculum standards.

From the The "Common Core” Standards Initiative: An Effective Reform Tool?  by William J. Mathis, Ph.D, at the Univeristy of Colorado at Boulder, presented by The Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice in Lansing Michigan.  Full report can be found at http://greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Mathis_NationalStandards.pdf

What further muddies the water is that the Common Core Standards are on their way to becoming de facto national standards, but the development process was curiously short -- only one year in duration, and lacking the rich participation of many key partners. For instance, Mathis found in the course of his research that:

...the level of input from schoolbased practitioners appears to be minimal, the standards themselves have not been field tested, and it is unclear whether the tests used to measure the academic outcomes of common standards will have sufficient validity to justify the high-stakes consequences that will likely arise around their use. Accordingly, it seems improbable that the common core standards will have the positive effects on educational quality or equality being sought by proponents, particularly in light of the lack of essential capacity at the local, state and federal levels.

So let's talk about the Common Core Standards vacuum.  There's a bit of a timeline here that needs to be acknowledged.

1989 -- Mathis cites "President Bush called the first “education summit,” at which governors agreed to set national goals and pledged support for state-based reform initiatives. Educators were for the most part not represented in these two efforts. As a result, standards-making shifted from the professional sphere to a business influenced political domain."

1990 -- President Clinton signed Goals 2000, legislation based on the first education summit,  into law. "This legislation, provided states with grants to adopt content standards and established a national goals panel. Goals 2000 generated a conservative-
led backlash against the growing federal role in education as well as the specific content of some goals and standards. The tenor of the reaction can be seen in a 1995 Senate resolution, passed on a 99-1 vote, protesting the adoption of history standards, in large part because of a controversy about multiculturalism. Congress eliminated the national goals panel in 1996" (Mathis, p8)

In th ensuring years, Texas became the first state to adopt a common curriculum aligned to standards and assessments. President Bush 2, from Texas, incorporated these policies into his re-authorization of ESEA, or NCLB.  States responded by lowering their standards into order to escape the punitive elements of NCLB.

Which brings us to today -- Mathis has found that:

In April 2009, representatives from 41 states met with CCSSO and NGA representatives in Chicago and agreed to draft a set of common standards for education. Achieve, a corporation founded by the NGA following the 1996 demise of the national standards effort, was commissioned by NGA/CCSSO after the Chicago meeting to draft the new “common core” standards in reading and mathematics. The project was fast-tracked: Achieve was to have a draft by summer 2009 and grade-by-grade standards by the end of the year. Historically, the development of subject-matter standards had been the province of specialists in those subjects working in universities and in schools. By contrast, Achieve workgroups in private and the development work was conducted by persons who were not, with apparently only a single exception, K-12 educators. The work groups were staffed almost exclusively by employees of Achieve, testing companies (ACT and the College Board), and pro-accountability groups (e.g., America’s Choice, Student Achievement Partners, the Hoover Institute). Practitioners and subject matter experts complained that they were excluded from the development process. Project Director Dane Linn said this was because they were (as paraphrased by Education Week) “determined to draft standards based on the best available research about effective math and reading curricula, rather than the opinions of any single organization.”30 The internal review boards consisted predominately of college professors. Of the more than 65 people involved in the common core design and review, only one was a classroom teacher and no school administrator is listed as being a member of the groups.31 In addition to the financial support from the federal government, the Gates Foundation is a significant contributor to the common core standards effort.32 A number of confidential iterations of the standards took place between the developers and state departments of education. The first public release of a draft was on March 10, 2010.33

Bold and Red are mine to highlight areas where I see concern. 

The final standards were released June 2, 2010.  Subsequently, all states hoping to receive RTTT funds in Round 2 were required to adopt those standard by August 2, 2010.  Which brings around to my original question:  Should Delaware adopt the common core standards?

From the perspective of states' rights, I'd say that any adoption would be yielding federally-protected control to the federal government in direct defiance of the ESEA.  It's a gray area.  The Obama administration could have mandated the common core standards, if they had definitively differentiated "standard" from "curriculum."  But they didn't; likely because the ESEA doesn't grant such authority.  It would have been an overstep.  Therefore, Obama charged the task to the governors, like Delaware's own Jack Markell.  The question that remains to be answered is this:  is it legal to require a state to adopt the standards in order to attain RTTT funding? Already discussion have occurred as to whether the feds can tie Title 1 funds to the adoption of the Common Core.  Is this an opening of the door for more erosion on states' rights? 

What's a state to do?  What's a state with abyssmally low standards and falling standardized test scores to do?  Fortunately, I don't have a vote on this one.  It lays at the feet of our Delaware State Board of Education.  I just have to live with the results.

I'll leave you with recommendations that Mathis identified in his report:

• 
  

  
  

  The NGA/CCSSO common core standards initiative should be continued, but only as a low-stakes advisory and assistance tool for states and local districts for the purposes of curriculum improvement, articulation and professional development.

  The NGA/CCSSO common core standards should be subjected to extensive validation, trials and subsequent revisions before implementation. During this time, states should be encouraged to carefully examine and experiment with broad-based school-evaluation systems.

  Given the current strengths and weaknesses in testing and measurement, policymakers should not implement high-stakes accountability systems where the assessments are inadequate for such purposes

Should we choose to follow them, it may make the air a bit easier to breathe...

POSTING
The Christina Board of Education will meet in an Executive Session on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, at 6:00 at Downes Elementary School, 220 Casho Mill Road, Newark, DE, to discuss Personnel Matters. The Board will meet in Regular Session at 7:30 PM. Area residents are encouraged to attend. The agenda will include the following:

CALL TO ORDER
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Pledge of Allegiance led by Downes Elementary School students Nolan Moss, 5th Grade,
Ian Moss, 2nd Grade and Amelia Moss, Kindergarten


APPROVAL OF MINUTES
July 6, 2010 – Executive Session
July 6, 2010 – Regular Session
July 20, 2010 – Executive Session
July 27, 2010 – Board of Education Workshop
July 27, 2010 – Executive Session

State Winner Elementary Environmentalist of the Year - Nolan Moss, Downes Elementary School
Perfect Score – Standards of Excellence Award – Gauger-Cobbs Middle School Student Council

Year In Review

ACTION ITEMS

• Membership In Delaware School Boards Association
• Election Of Representative to DSBA Board Of Directors And Alternate
• Election Of Representative to DSBA Legislative Committee And Alternate
• Election Of A Board Representative To East Side Community School Steering Committee
• Policy Statement On The Transportation of Students
• Proposed Board of Education Workshop Schedule – 2010-2011
• Designation Of The Board As A Whole As The Selection Committee For The Christina Budget Oversight Committee
• Administrative Personnel Recommendations
• Renewal Of Leases – Networks Program

CONSENT AGENDA

• Personnel Recommendations
• Monthly Financial Reports
• Choice Recommendation 2010-2011
• Choice Termination Recommendation 2010-2011
• Approval Of Contracts With State Approved Title I Supplemental Education Service (SES) Providers for FY11
• Change Orders:


• Change Order #2 District Wide Pothole Blacktop Repairs & Concrete Work
• Change Order #3 District Wide Pothole Blacktop Repairs & Concrete Work 

Resolutions on Upcoming Meetings:
Resolution On Executive Session Meeting, September 14, 2010, 6:00 PM, Bayard Middle School

Items Pulled From Consent Agenda

Other District/Community Meetings, Site Visits, Training Seminars, Conferences Attended

Information Requests


Time of Posting: 1:30 pm

Round Two RTT Finalists: Some Cliff Notes from DE

Paul Herdman guest blogs on Eduwonk with advice from Delaware to Round Two Race to the Top finalists. 
Can you figure out what's missing?

Since late spring, Mr. Look has been overseeing a dramatic shakeup at Shawnee that is meant to turn around years of anemic academic achievement at the school and help fulfill U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s $3.5 billion mandate to fix the nation’s most chronically underperforming schools over the next three years. If Mr. Look doesn’t produce improved academic results in the school year that commences Aug. 17, he will lose his job at Shawnee.

“Some days, I’m feeling like I need performance-enhancing drugs to make the kinds of changes that people say will take at least three years to do,” said Mr. Look, a Louisville native who has led Shawnee since August 2008. “Well, I have one year.”

Mr. Look’s superiors in the 98,000-student Jefferson County school district—which includes the city of Louisville—have similar misgivings about what, realistically, can be delivered, especially on such a compressed timeline and using what many educators argue are unproven strategies. Six of the city’s schools, including Shawnee, are undergoing the turnaround interventions.

“We don’t disagree that something has to happen in these schools and that we’ve got a great opportunity with more urgency, funding, and potentially more-focused support,” said Joseph C. Burks Jr., an assistant superintendent who oversees the 21 high schools in the district. He is Mr. Look’s boss.

“But why not give people more than a year to start?” Mr. Burks said. “Very few people, if any, know how to turn a school around dramatically in one year. We are in desperate need of good training on how to do this.”

The most disruptive change—replacing half of Shawnee’s teaching staff—took place last spring, though those teachers who aren’t returning to the school were not fired, and most transferred to another campus in the district. The turnover in faculty was required by the federal rules of the “turnaround” model that Shawnee is using as its method for school improvement. Mr. Look recruited nearly all of the 25 teachers who will be new to Shawnee this fall. Most of them are experienced instructors. He still has few openings left to fill, though, including an instructional assistant and someone to run the school’s ROTC program.

With the teaching team mostly assembled, Mr. Look planned a retreat for them late last month to lay out the school’s priorities for the next 10 months and get the teachers fired up for the high-stakes year that awaits them. But first, they have to learn one another’s names. The entire social studies department is new to Shawnee. Five of six English teachers are new.

Roderick Pack, 28, is Shawnee’s new chairman of the social studies department... “The amount of intensity in how all of us at Shawnee care about the students and what’s at stake is really amazing and has me very optimistic about the school’s prospects,” Mr. Pack said. “At the same time, we can’t just get caught up in the monitoring that will be going on and worrying constantly about what the test scores are. That won’t work. We’ve got to really teach these students and have expectations for them beyond a score on a state test.”

MORE HERE:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/04/37kyturnaround_ep.h29.html?tkn=RSWFfDulozUJnCIQKknmKX10UKBkA1x%2F3vhu&cmp=clp-edweek

Obama supports Pa. student's anti-bullying quest


PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Most kids who get bullied don't tell a soul. Far fewer may report the harassment to their parents or teachers.

When Ziainey Stokes was teased incessantly by a couple of bullies at her West Philadelphia Catholic school, she wrote a letter to the president of the United States.

And he replied.

Buoyed by this, the soft-spoken, precocious 11-year-old is now on a mission to end bullying by creating an organization that would help others find their voice and urge adults to pay attention — starting with President Obama.

"What I wrote about (in my letter) was that the kids at my school were being bullied and how it wasn't right," Ziainey said during a recent interview in her West Philadelphia home.

"I wanted President Obama, the vice president or someone to talk to the kids at my school that it don't matter what you look like, or the color of your skin, you can't treat people bad."

No one from the West Wing has been to her school to make that presentation since her father, Rodney Smith, mailed her handwritten opus to the White House in January.

But Ziainey's mother, Zina Stokes, said that hasn't stopped her daughter from recruiting friends to join her yet-to-be-named group or from researching other anti-bullying agencies.

"She's really taken an initiative," said Stokes, "and I stand by her."

Ziainey's idea came from years of experiencing constant teasing and name-calling at the hands of her classmates at the Belmont Academy Charter School, her mother said.

At first, the then-third-grader suffered in silence.

"She wasn't telling anyone that a girl was taking her lunch," Stokes said. "She would come home hungry, and we didn't know why."

To avoid further trouble, she was transferred to Our Mother of Sorrows, a parochial school on 48th Street near Wyalusing Avenue, where things seemed to improve.

But Stokes said that the taunts started up again. "They kept telling me I have a big forehead," Ziainey said. Then they began saying that a friend of hers is gay, which he isn't, she said.

The fifth-grader's grades began to slip, and she became despondent, her mother said.

This kind of reaction is typical of students who are being bullied, said Charles Williams, director of the Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence at Drexel University, which was scheduled to host a forum on Drexel's campus to discuss violence and bullying prevention.

It's an important topic, he said, because one in three students reports being bullied. That kind of merciless hounding can lead to depression, truancy or suicide, he said.

For Ziainey, the youngest of eight children in her family, her wake-up call came after reading about a teenage girl who killed herself because she was being bullied.

"It made me feel sad," Ziainey said of the girl. "She took her life because of other kids. She didn't get shot, or nothing like that, she killed herself because of other kids bullying her."

It was then she decided to write the letter. She mailed it off in January and waited. And waited.

Finally, on March 10, it came: Signed by President Obama, the letter on White House letterhead praised the youngster for being brave enough to share her story.

"Your letter demonstrates a desire to change the culture of your classroom as well as your community," it read.

Obama receives about 65,000 letters a week, reads 10 every day and personally responds to a handful, according to the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence Web site.

"The president feels it is important to hear directly from the American people about their ideas and concerns," said White House spokeswoman Moira Mack.

"Traveling outside Washington to visit communities across the country and receiving letters from people like (Ziainey) help the president and his team stay in touch with the nation."

"He showed how he cares," Zina Stokes said. "I think even before his four years are up, when he gets done with the oil spill, something will be done with bullying in school."

In the meantime, Ziainey — who stays up-to-date with current events by regularly reading newspapers, magazines and watching local and national newscasts — will take up the anti-bullying crusade, one school at a time, she said.

"I want to go to different schools and talk to kids about staying true to yourself and help those getting bullied," she said. "I want them not to be afraid. I want to talk to the parents and teachers and get them to help the kids."

Her ambition never ceases to amaze her mother.

"For an 11-year-old, with this ambition, to do the things she's doing, is great," her mom said. "She really wants to make a change."

The school's principal, Sister Owen Patricia Bonner, agrees.

"She had a cause, an opinion about it, and she took the time and energy to write about it," she said.

"What she's doing is what a lot of kids need to do," chimed in Ziainey's sister, Nakiyyah Everett, 22. "For her to be 11 years old, she has a good head on her shoulders. She has a lot to look forward to."

Information from: Philadelphia Daily News, http://www.philly.com

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/learning-matters/index.html

Detroit Council Says No to Mayoral Control of Schools
By Chastity Pratt Dawsey & Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press (MCT)

The Detroit school board dodged a challenge to its existence Thursday when the City Council voted against placing a question on the Nov. 2 ballot asking voters whether they wanted the mayor and the council to have authority over the troubled Detroit Public Schools.

While those opposed to the ballot question claimed victory, City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown was joined by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of the Detroit Parent Network, in saying the fight is not over.

Several council members said they opposed mayoral oversight of DPS. Still, Brown, who wrote the failed ballot question, said the council next should consider presenting the state Legislature with a resolution to change DPS's governance.

REST of the Story HERE...

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/learning-matters/index.html

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/learning-matters/index.html
Learning Matters is an independent, nonprofit production company focused on education that produces reports for PBS NewsHour and documentaries for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The views expressed by Learning Matters and its founder, John Merrow, do not represent those of Editorial Projects in Education or any of its publications.

According to ABC News’ Mary Bruce Reports: Education Secretary USDOE Sec. of Education Arne Duncan has previsously said that Hurricane Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans” because it gave the city a chance to rebuild and improve its failing public schools.  Do the families of students in New Orleans agree?  Will the nation?  And what will the legal system think?  It may all play out on the public stage.

From the AP
Published Online: July 29, 2010
Suit Says La. Schools Fail Disabled Students

New Orleans

Three groups claim Louisiana's Department of Education fails to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access and are protected from discrimination.

Their complaint says more than 30 of the 80 New Orleans schools that have opened since Hurricane Katrina have violated the rights of disabled students.

State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek said he didn't know if the alleged incidents occurred, but the sort of hardships described are unacceptable. But he said he also is disappointed the groups didn't report the alleged problems until after its news conference.

"If we had been notified, we would have worked with this organization, these students and their families to resolve any deficiencies so that their physical, emotional and educational needs are met by their local districts and schools," he said.

Eden Heilman, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the schools in question are across New Orleans. Heilman's group, the Community Justice section of the Loyola Law Clinic, and the Southern Disability Law Center filed the complaint on Wednesday.

A complaint can be filed under the disability law to try to address the problem before filing suit in federal court, Heilman said. A response should take no more than 45 days, she said.

"As the five-year anniversary of Katrina approaches, we need to take stock of where we are. We're rebuilding our schools, but leaving behind our most vulnerable children," said David Finger, Assistant Clinical Professor at Loyola University Law Clinic. "The Louisiana Department of Education has a legal and moral duty to intervene."

Secretary Arne Duncan to Participate in Radio Town Hall Meeting with Nation’s Teachers


Secretary Arne Duncan will take part in a live town hall meeting with the nation’s teachers on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s POTUS public affairs channel on Thursday, July 29.

The program will air from 11:00 AM EDT-12:00 PM EDT and will feature a studio audience of teachers from a cross-section of public schools, drawing from a variety of districts, grade levels, and disciplines. Tim Farley, host of POTUS’s “The Morning Briefing,” will moderate the event.
Since his appointment in 2009, Secretary Duncan has spoken with thousands of teachers from around the United States to gather input on the Obama administration’s blueprint for K-12 education reform. As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this town hall will provide an opportunity for teachers to voice their ideas and concerns directly to the Secretary. In addition to the studio audience, listeners to the program online or via radio will be able to call in with questions and comments.

The town hall will be broadcast on channel 110 on Sirius Radio and channel 130 on XM. Nonsubscribers may access the program online and free of charge by going to www.xmradio.com and clicking on “Free Online Trial.”
Looking forward to Thursday’s event, we invite teachers to consider some of the questions that the Secretary and the studio audience and listeners will discuss — questions such as…
•What can we do to enhance the teaching profession?

•How can we do a better job of encouraging and rewarding excellent teaching?

•How can we do a better job of measuring success?

Post your comments here. We will highlight a sample of your responses during the live radio program.

http://www.ed.gov/blog/2010/07/secretary-arne-duncan-to-participate-in-radio-town-hall-meeting-with-nations-teachers/

India unveils prototype of 35 U.S. dollar laptop
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-07/24/c_13413076.htm


NEW DELHI, July 24 (Xinhua) -- India has unveiled a prototype tablet touchscreen laptop, priced at 1,500 rupees (35 U.S. dollars) , which it hopes to roll out in the market commercially next year.

Indian Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal Friday unveiled the device, which also comes with a solar-power option, as part of a push to provide high-quality education to students across the country.

The minister said it was India's answer to the 100 U.S. dollar laptops developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., local media reported.

The laptop, developed by India's top Information Technology colleges, has no hard disk, using a memory card instead, like a mobile phone, and can run on solar power.

The minister said the Indian tablet, which would run the Linux operating system, was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions next year.

"The plan is to drop the price eventually to 20 U.S. dollars and ultimately to 10 U.S. dollars," he said.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/07/27/37mct_midetroitmayor.h29.html

Published Online: July 27, 2010

Duncan: Let Voters Decide Mayor's Role With Detroit Schools
By Chastity Pratt Dawsey, Detroit Free Press (MCT)

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last year the Detroit Public Schools were ground zero for public education and the district's crises kept him up at night, but today he said the system faces a "tremendous" opportunity.


In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Duncan said he is hopeful partly due to the public discussion about giving the mayor authority over the DPS. He is encouraging Detroit and other big cities to consider this path, saying that, with broad support, it can work...

Duncan: Stability, Vision Needed


DPS faces some of the nation's most dire academic and fiscal woes, making it essential for the entire community to unite and rally behind a mayor to take charge of the schools, Duncan said today.

Duncan, who has been traversing the country advocating for mayoral oversight in the nation's largest school districts, said the work to be done to improve DPS is "so difficult and Detroit has to go so far, the system can't do it by itself."

Eliminating the school board could be the way to attract new, long-term leader and plan to DPS.

Civil Rights Groups Call for New Federal Education Agenda
By Michele McNeil on July 26, 2010 10:00 AM
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/07/civil_rights_groups_call_for_n.html?cmp=clp-edweek
Seven leading civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today to dismantle core pieces of his education agenda, arguing that his emphases on expanding charter schools, closing low-performing schools, and using competitive rather than formula funding are detrimental to low-income and minority children.

The groups, which today released their own education policy framework and created the National Opportunity to Learn campaign, want Duncan to make big changes to his draft proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

UPDATE (11:35 a.m.): The Education Department just now offered this response: "We're listening. The administration is dedicated to equity in education and we've been working very closely with the civil rights community to develop the most effective policies to close the achievement gap, turn around low performing schools, and put a good teacher in every classroom. The civil rights community has thoughtfully helped guide our thinking on these critical issues and we need their continued leadership as we move forward to overhaul NCLB."

What's even more interesting is that a big event planned to release the framework this morning in conjunction with the National Urban League's annual conference was mysteriously cancelled (or postponed, depending on whom you ask) after a lot of press releases went out last week trying to drum up interest. The official explanation is that there was a "conflict in schedules." However, I can't help but wonder if the facts that President Obama has agreed to deliver a major education reform speech at the conference on Thursday, and that Duncan is scheduled to address the conference on Wednesday, had something to do with it. Surely the Obama administration was none too pleased to see that these groups planned to criticize his education reform agenda.

In addition, the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, was listed on the press releases that went out late last week announcing the event as a supporter of the new framework, but in the framework released today, the group is conspicuously missing.

The groups that signed on to the framework want Duncan to dial back his enthusiasm for and "extensive reliance" on charter schools as a solution for turning around persistently struggling schools in urban areas. They also object to core components of his four models for turning around the nation's worst schools, saying that school closure and wholesale changes in school staff should only be used as a last resort. And they take sharp issue with the Race to the Top program, declaring that a reliance on competitive funding and hand-picking winners means the majority of low-income and minority kids, who may reside in the losing states, will not benefit from additional federal funds.

The supporting groups are: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; National Urban League; The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; National Council on Educating Black Children; Rainbow PUSH Coalition; and The Schott Foundation for Public Education.

If you think back to the 2008 campaign season, and the split that emerged on education issues within the Democratic Party, this tends to lean more towards a Broader, Bolder agenda—and group of folks—although there are elements of the Education Equality approach embedded in this document as well.

In addition to wanting Duncan to reverse course, the groups want the Department of Education to add or strengthen a few things in the ESEA blueprint, including universal access to early education for all children in all states. They want to strengthen the ability of students in low-performing schools to transfer to higher performing ones, although Duncan has been backing away from current choice provisions already embedded in the No Child Left Behind Act. And they want, among other things, for the feds to hold states and districts more accountable in how they spend and distribute money from school to school.
One thing Duncan already has agreed to do: require parental engagement as part of the school turnaround process. That's another recommendation in the civil rights groups' proposal.

Just so there's no confusion, this is from the blog of Justin Cohen, the founder of Mass Insight, not from massinciter.blogspot.com.


Engagement and Turnaround
Blaming Federal Policy

July 20, 2010
by Justin Cohen

Both Rotherham and Russo do a nice job of pointing out the problems with this weekend’s NYTimes piece on how federal turnaround policy led to the dismissal of a popular principal. It’s nice to have other folks policing the turnaround media space!

I won’t reiterate their accurate critiques, but I will amplify one. The SIG program – which is the maligned federal policy in the article – is competitive. All states have the funds, but not all LEAs have to apply for them. And even if they do apply, the LEAs don’t have to use the funds at every school.

If the changes proposed are so anathema, the district should not have applied for them at this particular school. Yes, the funds are substantial, and leaving them on the table is difficult. But the internal logic of the article falls apart in this case, because the argument anchoring the piece is that the school was making substantial improvements without the money (even though no evidence of that improvement is presented). In other words, the article suggests that the district employed the following thought process: accept no federal money and keep doing something that we think is working; or take federal money and make a school-destroying decision. Hard to stomach.

In any event, this is not a new genre, and I’m sure we’ll continue to see “federal policy destroys local school” articles. Read them critically, my friends.

Rhee to Dismiss Hundreds of Teachers for Poor Performance

By Stephen Sawchuk on July 23, 2010 11:53 AM

District of Columbia schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee plans to dismiss 302 employees, mostly for poor performance, the chancellor said this morning in an interview. They will be separated from the system as of August 13.

The results include the first full year of the district's new, rigorous teacher-evaluation system, known as IMPACT.

According to Rhee, 241 of the dismissals were of teachers who failed to meet performance standards. Most of those teachers garnered an "ineffective" rating on IMPACT. A handful of others are "excessed" teachers with a "minimally effective" rating who couldn't find new teaching positions in the district. And finally, some are being let go for licensure issues, such as not attaining "highly qualified" status under the No Child Left Behind Act, Ms. Rhee said.

The results also showed that 16 percent of the D.C. teaching corps attained the top rating on IMPACT. Those teachers will be eligible to earn performance bonuses, Ms. Rhee said.

D.C. has about 4,000 teachers in all.

MORE HERE

Gov. Tells Detroit: Let Residents Vote on Mayoral Control

By Chris Christoff, Detroit Free Press (MCT)

Lansing, Mich.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm had stern words for the Detroit City Council on Wednesday: Let city voters decide whether to give oversight of their school district to Mayor Dave Bing—a change she supports.

Otherwise, Granholm said, Detroit schools could wind up under state authority with a new governor after emergency financial manager Robert Bobb leaves next March.

On Tuesday, the City Council balked a second time at putting the question on the November ballot...

HERE FOR MORE

Back to School Barbeques to be Held August 23 and August 25!

Two free family events to welcome students, parents, and staff back to school will be held in August. On Monday, August 23 a Back to School Barbeque will be held at Keene Elementary School from 5:00- 7:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, August 25, a Back to School Barbeque will be held at Bayard Middle School. The events will feature food, activities, raffles, and performances, and will provide information about programs, and resources available at District schools.

Community partners include the City of Wilmington, Bayard PTA, Bear/Glasgow YMCA, Keene PTA, and Delaware State Police Troop II. Both events are free and open to District residents, staff, and their families. Children must be accompanied by an adult family member to attend. For more information, please call Bayard Middle School at 429-4118, or Keene Elementary School at 454-2018.

And we thought that many of DE's superintendents were overpaid...


From the State Edwatch blog
By Lesli Maxwell on July 19, 2010 12:50 PM
Lesli A. Maxwell, who reports on state policy for Education Week, covered state government, politics, and higher education in California for eight years.

News about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to cap the salaries of district superintendents spread like wildfire late last week. Christie, a Republican overseeing a recession-battered state, has aggressively gone after what he sees as excessive spending across the public sector, and schools have been among his targets.

His announcement last week to target highly-paid school administrators struck a chord in some corners and today Christie's proposal got a ringing endorsement from editorial writers at the Star-Ledger in Newark.

Christie makes $175,000, less than the salaries of 75 percent of New Jersey's local supes, according to the Star-Ledger. It seems that local boards in New Jersey have offered especially lucrative contracts to their honchos, regardless of district size or performance, according to the newspaper.

Intuitively, it seems completely out of whack for a district superintendent to make more than the CEO of an entire state. But some of this has to do with the fact that some salaries for governors were set eons ago and don't get tweaked much. No one has to use a compensation package to get the best "hire" for the governor's office; those folks self-select by running for the office. While governors and superintendents are public servants, they operate in entirely different markets.

Still, it's instructive to compare the salaries of the two positions.

In New York, Gov. David Paterson is pulling down $179,000 (last year, he took a 10 percent pay cut) as the state's chief executive, while Joel Klein, the chancellor of the New York City public schools makes $250,000.

In California, if Arnold Schwarzenegger were taking a salary (he has forgone accepting one since his net worth is valued at somewhere between $100-200 million), he'd make $175,000, while Ramon C. Cortines, the superintendent in Los Angeles Unified, pulls down $250,000 (Cortines voluntarily took a $50,000 pay cut from what his predecessor was earning in the job). In some states, you could certainly argue that being a school superintendent is a more difficult job worthy of more compensation, though I don't think that is the case currently in California and New York, where both governors have found it next to impossible to govern much of anything lately.

In a small state like Nebraska, Gov. David Heineman makes $105,000 a year. Steve Joel, the superintendent in Lincoln, one of the state's largest districts, makes $255,000 (that's his entire compensation package, not just base salary).

What do you think? Do school superintendents—who do very hard, politically bruising, often thankless work—deserve the sort of hefty, six-figure compensation deals that Christie is going after? How should we assign value to those gigs?

BlogNetNews.com quietly slipped away last week. 
Sad to say it looks like they are the've become the lastest casualty of the recession. From the Facebook page of Dave Mastio, creater of BlogNetNews.com:

The grassroots organization, Teachers' Letters to Obama, held a teach-in Tuesday night featuring educator turned Congresswoman Judy Chu and conservative education scholar turned critic, Diane Ravitch. (You can hear the recording here.) Once you load Elluminatelive, give it a few minutes for the for the dialogue to begin.

The following excerpt is from Living in Dialogue Blog by Anthony Cody.

The Education Reformers: Willfully Blind

By Anthony Cody on July 15, 2010 8:19 PM

...There is an oil and water phenomenon at work here. Our perception of the reality in our schools is so drastically different from that of the administration that the two cannot seem to coexist in the same space and time.
To be fair the paradigm of school reform we are facing did not begin with this administration. They have merely adopted it for whatever reasons. But let's be clear about what we are up against. We can offer positive solutions all day long, but until we share a common awareness of reality, we will not be heard. So what is at the heart of this disconnect?

The central claim of the "education reformers" in and out of the administration is that our schools, and in particular, teachers who hold low expectations, are the reason for the differences we see in performance between different socioeconomic groups. To bolster this, they cite research that shows that some teachers are better able to lift student performance than others. So, if we had nothing but great teachers like these, our problems would be solved. But while many of us have invested heavily in our own efforts to become more effective, and in processes such as National Board certification that offer ways to demonstrate and elevate our practice, these processes alone are not going to eradicate the inequities faced by our students.

Ironically, the administration co-opts the language of the Civil Rights Movement to proclaim education as "the civil rights issue of our generation." The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s were deeply concerned about education, but they understood very well that fighting poverty was fundamental to the health of their communities. So-called reformers have turned civil rights on its head, and no longer worry about the resegregation of schools, or the vast inequities in funding between wealthy and impoverished schools, or the widespread poverty and violence in these communities. Now these are dismissed as excuses offered by the real culprits, those teachers who set low standards and allow their students to fail, and the unions that protect them...

A Report from Delaware Liberal By nemski:


If you are a parent of a child in the Delaware public school system, yesterday you most likely received your child’s DSTP (Delaware State Testing Program) scores. Things might be fine with your child, but things are not fine across the board as a matter of fact education in Delaware is getting much worse.


http://www.delawareliberal.net/2010/07/16/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-educate/

Spoiler:  RTTT is not the answer.

Secret's Out on School Consolidation in Mississippi

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rural_education/2010/07/secrets_out_on_school_consolidation_in_mississippi.html
By Mary Schulken on July 13, 2010 4:56 PM

The facts are now out on school consolidation in rural Mississippi.

On Tuesday, local advocacy group Southern Echo posted on its web site a table and a map showing data used to recommend consolidation of 18 rural, high-poverty school districts in the state. The state commission studying consolidation and the consultant that prepared the report had kept that information secret, but Southern Echo and the non-profit MS Delta Catalyst Roundtable used the state's open records law to get the data from the state Department of Public Instruction.

That disclosure may provide additional fuel for groups such as Southern Echo that are fighting consolidation. Earlier this year, a commission appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour tentatively recommended merging rural, predominantly African-American districts in the Mississippi Delta. Then, in June, confronted with public criticism over secrecy and anger at the prospect of disbanding school districts, the commission asked for more time for its members to reach a consensus.

The consolidation debate in Mississippi began in January, when Barbour appointed a panel, the Commission on Mississippi Education Structure, to look at closing school districts in that state. Barbour has said he would like to see a reduction of the state's 152 districts to about 100, which he has said would save the state millions of dollars over time.

The table and map show the Quality Distribution Index (student performance) rankings, the enrollments, and the cost per student of central office expenses for the 2008-2009 school year for the 18 districts targeted for consolidation. The consultant's report based its projections of cost savings on that data.

From Living in Dialogue by Anthony Cody
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/07/hthe_devil_in_the_details_hard.html

After 18 years as a science teacher in inner-city Oakland, Calif., Anthony Cody now works with a team of experienced science teacher-coaches who support the many novice teachers in his school district. He is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. With education at a crossroads, he invites you to join him in a dialogue on education reform and teaching for change and deep learning. For additional information on Cody's work, visit his Web site, Teachers Lead. Or follow him on Twitter.
Also, checkout Teachers Letters to Obama at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=166176941518&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=166176941518&v=wall&ref=ts

The Devil in the Details: Hard Lessons from a Turned-around School
By Anthony Cody on July 12, 2010 2:07 PM

Congress is currently considering reauthorizing No Child Left Behind, with some modifications put forward by the Obama administration. This law was originally enacted with little input from educators, and our students and schools have paid the price. Over at Teachers' Letters to Obama, we are seeking letters from teachers expressing our firsthand understanding about what works and what does not, as a means of informing those who make policy. Los Angeles teacher Chuck Olynyk has offered such a letter.

From: Charles V. Olynyk
Social Studies teacher
Los Angeles Unified School District
stiepnik@yahoo.com

Dear President Obama, Secretary Duncan and Members of Congress:

Several members of our Teachers' Letters to Obama (TLO) group of educators recently had the honor of sharing with Secretary Duncan our concerns with the direction of federal education reform's Race to the Top initiative. I was one of them--or rather, was scheduled to be, as the conversation was cut short.

Following that, in various publications were reports of Department of Education assertions that teachers support RTTT. This claim is expressly contrary to the position statement we issued, nor does it reflect the sentiments of thousands of teachers who have reported corresponding with you, Mr. President.

Some clarification is in order.

Improvement or "turn-around" programs for struggling schools must be flexible and participatory. Teachers, students, and community members need to be involved in discussions and problem-solving. Moreover, we do not believe the current four options are adequate and recommend instead the strategies in the Strengthening Our Schools proposal now before Congress.

I will speak directly to one attempt to "improve" a struggling school.

Until June 25 of this year, I taught World History at John C. Fremont High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. While we were a school with a checkered past, (including having principals lasting an average of 23 months) we were a school on the move. Our test scores were on the rise, in fact had been for a number of years. We were not on the California list of worst schools because of said rise.

It can be attributed to dividing the 4600 students on a year-round calendar into thirteen Small Learning Communities, each with one counselor seeing to the needs of 400 students. Teachers shared the same kids. Problems could be spotted. Help could be given.

Additionally, from October through December, the Fremont faculty voted to collaborate with the Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) to strengthen the SLCs and improve instruction and support for students. At the same time, Fremont finally developed a Single Plan created by teachers, parents and students. This was the first time that teachers wrote the single plan document rather than an administrator. It was the first time that the parent advisory councils at Fremont wrote out their recommendations and these were embedded in the single plan. The plan called for clear action steps to address the key focus areas such as ELA, Math, Graduation, Parent Engagement, and Attendance.

Yet, on December 9th, 2009, Superintendent Ramon Cortines designated us for "reconstitution". That later became "restructuring.". What I do know is that the principal did not have to reapply (because it was his first year), but the entire staff was told to reapply or be moved elsewhere; they were also reassured that most would have their jobs, as long as signed and agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding, which would assign additional duties to the returning staff. Teachers were also "invited" to joined "committees" to advise the restructuring/reconfiguration of Fremont High. You will please make note that the teacher input was to be of a purely "advisory" nature. Parents were to be informed and made a part of the process, as were students.

Yet a new structure for the school was developed without teacher input. The thirteen learning communities or SLCs were to become six Academies of 500 each, and three 9th Grade Centers of 600 students, served by a single counselor. I cannot stress enough that to increase the counselors' caseloads by such percentages will prove detrimental to the students, whose education is to be improved by this folly. Add to this, in a school where the average 10th grade student misses 25-30 days out of a 162 day school year (year-round schools on our schedule have longer but fewer days than traditional schools), a block schedule, which was voted down by the faculty, is now being instituted; for those not involved in education professionally, each day missed by a student will actually impact them all the more severely.

In addition, the Superintendent said the parents and students would be informed. Yet a group of teachers were able to collect over 700 signatures of parents who lived nearby and who were not informed at all of changes at the school, nor input solicited.

Another factor has to be tossed in: while teachers were reassured by Superintendent Ramon Cortines, the Local District 7 Superintendent Dr. George McKenna III and the principal that most teachers would retain their jobs if only they were to reapply, it turns out that in order to obtain a School Improvement Grant (SIG), that Fremont could retain no more than 50% of the original faculty. Aside from the issue of just being plain underhanded, you will now have a faculty at a "struggling school" (which did not make the California worst schools list because of improvements in test scores), which has had the average teacher last less than three years and the average principal last 23 months, with 50% new staff. It should also be noted than many of the positions for Fremont, which begins the school year on July 6th, remain unfilled or will be filled by long-term substitute teachers.

Getting rid of all the teachers or even half the teachers does little to address the deeper problems. The key is to personalize the learning, to develop relationships. I keep thinking of an anthropology book called "Small Is Beautiful," by Schumaker, which can be applied to those struggling schools. Isn't this the concept behind Small Learning Communities, to personalize education, the village raising a child, to cite the West African proverb? To be able to have (besides the smaller class sizes we all long for but will probably never appear) a group of teachers sharing a group of students (at the Mont, each SLC is about 400, which works for US) so that we know the problems of the kids and are able to plan for grade-level and vertical teaming, lowering the number of students who "slip through the cracks." One of the successes we had in the use of SLCs is what I call the Legacy Effect. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and cousins learn to look forward to being in the same program, which builds success.

Extending the year won't do it, nor will an introduction of block scheduling, because these students already have a bad track record for attendance; the block schedule looks like a quick-fix to recover lost credits. Our faculty has also voted against it. So, short of reducing class sizes, I think this might be the best path. Growth and progress seem slow, but do you want to build quick and shoddy or for long-term? At this point, not only will there be a shortage of qualified teachers (isn't that what NCLB was about, to begin with?), but now I personally know juniors who have decided that they do not wish to sacrifice their educations to this grand experiment--and they have brothers and sisters... Many sophomores I know are following suit. The New Fremont will not only bleed qualified teachers, but the students we entered this profession to serve.

It is my hope that I put a human face on what is happening in the name of RTTT and school improvement. The "turn-around" program for Fremont High School has been neither flexible nor participatory. Teachers, students, and community members were not involved in discussions nor problem-solving. Let this travesty not repeat itself in other schools. Learn the lesson of Fremont High. I recommend you closely examine the strategies in the Strengthening Our Schools proposal now before Congress.

The future of our schools is in your hands.

Charles V. Olynyk
The subject of "turn-around schools" will be the focus of the Teachers' Letters to Obama teach-in next Tuesday, July 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm Pacific time, 8:30 to 10"30 pm Eastern time. We will hear from Congresswoman Judy Chu, who has introduced legislation in Congress called Strengthening Our Schools, which offers a much sounder framework for school improvement. We will also talk with Diane Ravitch, who has been a vocal critic of NCLB and its step-children, Race to the Top and the ESEA Blueprint. The registration is now full, but the recorded session will be posted soon afterwards.

What do you think of Chuck's experiences at Fremont High? How could we do a better job supporting teachers and students at struggling schools?

Detroit Council Told to Put School Control Issue on Ballot

By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press (MCT)

Detroit City Council members said Monday that they need more information about how mayoral oversight of Detroit Public Schools would operate before putting the issue on the November ballot.

Change for Better Schools has collected 30,704 signatures supporting mayoral oversight and is to present the petitions to the council today.

The group cites several reasons for pushing for the change, including the fact that the district has had four superintendents since the school board was reconstituted in 2006, DPS's 30% dropout rate and its dismal scores on national tests.


The group's plea to the City Council: Even if you don't agree with us, let the people decide... MORE HERE!

Educational Historian, Dianne Ravitch sets the record straight...


In New Book, Diane Ravitch Recants Long-Held Beliefs from Education Week on Vimeo.

From another point on the political spectrum, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, sees much to be happy about in the book, which also characterizes current attempts to tie teachers’ pay to their students’ test-score gains as “teacher bashing.“She’s open to new ideas, and when they don’t work, she has the courage to say that,” the union leader said of Ms. Ravitch.

Christina School Board Member Resigns; Board Looks for Candidates to Fill Seat


John Mackenzie, who has served on the Christina School Board for seven years, has announced he must resign his board seat because he is relocating outside the district. His current term was not scheduled to expire until 2013.
An interim board member for District C will be appointed by the school board to serve for the remainder of the year. That person will have the option to run in the 2011 election to serve the remainder of the term.
The board is seeking nominations for that person. To qualify, nominees must reside in District C.
For more information, call the board secretary at 552-2653.

Just a snippet of :
$3.5 Billion in Turnaround Aid Flowing to States
From:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/21/29turnaround.h29.html

Tanking Applications?


But Mr. Manwaring said districts that don’t want to undertake any of the turnaround approaches have a simple way of avoiding it.

“Effectively, a district that doesn’t want to participate in this can tank the application,” he said. “In most states, districts will be required to apply, but it doesn’t mean they have to apply well.”

Ms. Whalen said the federal department is willing to provide flexibility to states and districts so that they can deliver successful results in the neediest schools. One key to that, she said, is allowing states that can’t undertake turnaround strategies in all targeted schools by next fall to roll over 25 percent of the aid they receive this fiscal year to use in the next one.

“We are focused on quality, not quantity,” she said. “We’re trying to meet local needs based on what they are saying they have the capacity to do.”

Detroit Public Schools Tries Something New: A School Run by Teachers
By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press (MCT)

AND

Ex-Detroit Board President Barred From Child Contact
By Dakarai Aarons on July 7, 2010 3:52 PM

Go to Mr. John Young and Ms. Shirley Saffer in their election to the offices of President and Vice President, respectively. 

I've got a crazy day ahead of me, but if you run into your friendly neighborhood board member chaperoning a field trip at the Brandywine Zoo, be sure to say "hi!" 

It's been a while since I recapped a meeting from the perspective of a parent turned board member, so I'll get that up this evening.  Nancy, sorry to make you wait until then... But, you're right, it was a good board meeting, and I want to do it justice.  Oh, for the first time in several months, we even adjourned that same day the meeting started!

Til then, folks, try to stay cool!

Elizabeth

For More, Go Here:

Taxes are going up in the Christina School District but not as much as anticipated.

Updated at WDEL:

By LeAnne Matlach

Updated Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - 7:24am

Taxes are going up in the Christina School District but not as much as anticipated.

WDEL's LeAnne Matlach reports Audio Here

The district operating referendum approved in May increases taxes by 20 cents per $100 assessed property value but the debt service, tuition tax and match tax are being lowered by 5 and a half cents.

District CFO Bob Silbur says the reduction in some of the tax rates does not mean services to students will be cut.

The Christina School Board elected a new board president and vice president at Tuesday night's board meeting.

John Young will serve as president and Shirley Saffer vice president.

Young said the board is a unit where no one has more power than any other but he will do his part with whatever he can.

Dr. John Mackenzie announced his resignation at the meeting and Eric Anderson took the oath of office and became the boards newest member.

When a goodbye is so unexpected and sudden
when the pain seems unbearable
and the loss impossible
it is the wise heart that knows
that sometimes
it has to look back
and remember
in order to look forward
and hope

Tuesday, July 6

Board of Education
General Business Meeting
7:30 pm
Bancroft Elementary
 
Agenda
I. CALL TO ORDER

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Selection by the Bancroft Boys Choir
Pledge of Allegiance led by Jermaine Sanders, Bancroft Elementary School 5th Grader
III. OATH OF OFFICE FOR NEW SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
Mr. Eric M. Anderson Pg. 1
IV. REORGANIZATION OF CHRISTINA BOARD OF EDUCATION
A. Officer Election Process and Motion to Authorize Executive Secretary to Initiate Procedure For Pgs. 2-3
Officer Election Under 14 Delaware Code §1045
B. Executive Secretary Call for Nominations for President and Election of President
C. Elected President Call for Nominations for Vice President and Election of Vice President
D. Appointment of Superintendent as Executive Secretary
E. Election of Representative to DSBA Board of Directors and Alternate
F. Election of Representative to DSBA Legislative Committee and Alternate
G. Membership In Delaware School Boards Association Pg. 4
V. APPROVAL OF OR CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THIS EVENING’S AGENDA
VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. June 7, 2010 – Agenda Preparation Meeting Pgs. 5-7
B. June 8, 2010 – Executive Session Meeting Pg. 8
C. June 8, 2010 – Regular Session Meeting Pgs. 9-17
D. June 22, 2010 – Executive Session Meeting Pg. 18
E. June 22, 2010 – Regular Session Meeting Pgs. 19-20
VII. PUBLIC COMMENTS
VIII. CITIZENS BUDGET OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT
IX . SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
A. Report of The Community School
X. ACTION ITEMS
A. Administrative Personnel Recommendations
B. Approval of 2011 Tax Warrant and Resolution Pg. 21
C. Citizens Budget Oversight Committee
D. Renewal of Leases – Networks Program Pg. 22
E. CONSENT AGENDA
1. Personnel Recommendations Pgs. 23-26
2. Monthly Financial Report Pgs. 27-36
3. Choice Recommendation – 2010-2011 Pgs. 37-38
4. Choice Termination Recommendation – 2009-2010 Pg. 39-40
5. Bid Awards:
Bid Number Name of Bid
(a) Bid #05-10-04 District Wide Asphalt and Concrete Repairs Pgs. 41-42
(b) Bid #06-10-05 Christina High School Gym Floor Pg. 43
(c) Bid #06-10-06 Gauger-Cobbs Middle School 4.1 HVAC Unit Replacement Pg. 44
(d) Bid #CSD-2010-18 Elementary Counselors Pgs. 45-46
6. Resolutions on Upcoming Meetings:
(a) Resolution on Agenda Preparation Meeting, Monday, August 9, 2010, Pg. 47
12:00 Noon, Drew Educational Support Center
(b) Resolution on Executive Session Meeting, Tuesday, August 10, 2010, Pg. 47
6:00 PM, Downes Elementary School
F. Student Re-Admission Recommendations
G. Student Expulsion Recommendations
H. Items Pulled From Consent Agenda
XI. BOARD MEMBERS’ COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Other District/Community Meetings, Site Visits, Training Seminars, Conferences Attended
XII. ITEMS SUBMITTED BY THE BOARD
A. Information Requests
XIII. ADJOURNMENT

UPCOMING BOARD MEETING: AUGUST 10, 2010, DOWNES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Commentary
Creating 'Promise Neighborhoods': Where Are the Universities?
By Russell Olwell

When Barack Obama was on the campaign trail in 2008, one of his promises for helping America’s young people was to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone, a massive effort to bring health, social-service, and educational resources to bear on the issue of poverty in a 97-block area of Central Harlem, in New York City.

The Obama administration was not quick to fund and implement this effort, however, and educators and activists have watched as the Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation (i3) initiatives received faster launches from the U.S. Department of Education, and far more funding.

Yet just when it looked as if children’s-zone founder Geoffrey Canada’s dream might be dead at the national level, the Education Department began seeking proposals in late April for up to 20 planning grants to develop new "promise neighborhoods" addressing youth and family needs, from birth to age 21. ("Department Spells Out Rules for Promise Neighborhoods," April 30, 2010.) These relatively small grants will support efforts to study and pull together plans for such an undertaking. A later competition, with more money involved, would then supply funding for implementation grants.

In less than a month, 941 organizations filed statements of intent to enter the planning-grant competition, indicating a highly competitive race for a very limited number of awards. (The final number and list of applicants are still to be released following the June 28 deadline, but Education Department estimates show at least 339 organizations participating.) Applicants could be nonprofit agencies, or institutions of higher education, working in concert with local school districts, other community groups, and local government.

But who filed statements of intent? Did colleges and universities join the field, to champion blighted neighborhoods in the cities or rural areas where they are based?

A look at the list of filers would indicate not. While institutions of higher education would seem to be the perfect applicants for these grants, given the range of resources needed to do this sort of work, it appears that many colleges and universities, even those with some commitment to their communities, decided to sit this one out.

Of the 900-plus organizations that filed statements, more than 800 were either public school districts or local organizations. This should come as no surprise, as local residents and their organizations have a real stake in turning around their communities. And the sight of new money, any new money, for community development would bring serious interest and enthusiasm.
But there were differences in the makeup of the statements. Programs to help Native American communities, for example, were one area in which 31 percent of filers were colleges or universities, some of them tribal institutions, but many not. It would seem then that at least when it comes to issues involving Native Americans, colleges and universities seem as likely to step forward as other community groups.

Their percentage dips, though, when we look at filers focused on rural areas generally, a high priority of the planning-grant competition. Here, colleges and universities made up only 12 percent of the field. In the poorer areas of rural America, universities, extension agencies, and branch campuses can serve as well-funded institutional sources for community-development activities similar to those that make up a promise neighborhood. But relatively few universities stepped forward in this area.

It is when we look at programs focused on urban America, though, that colleges and universities seem inexplicably to recede from the picture. Among the more than 700 statements of intent in the urban competition, fewer than 100 came from institutions of higher education, the rest coming from community organizations, local schools, and nonprofits. Across the categories, colleges and universities (including community colleges) accounted for only 11 percent of this filing group, with public school systems, local nonprofits, and other local groups filling the role one might have expected higher education to take up. Over the whole planning-grant competition, only 12 percent of the intents-to-apply were from institutions of higher education.

It might be that taking on a project like this, with a short timetable and a small chance of success, might not appeal to many colleges and universities. But given the struggling economy in many urban areas, and the impact this poverty can have on the community, it is hard to see why more of these institutions did not seem poised to take leadership roles in this undertaking.

It is also hard to imagine a better source of “promise” for neighborhoods than institutions of higher education—whether they are community colleges, four-year regional institutions, or research universities. The vast majority of parents living in distressed areas view college as an important goal for their children and see education as a necessity in this new century.

While building “promise neighborhoods” might not be on every college and university agenda, and while presidents and provosts may have many pressing concerns competing for their time and energy, I would argue that nothing is of higher importance than the effort they put into building ties with their local communities, developing plans to help K-12 education and serve local youths, and improving the viability of their surrounding neighborhoods.

If higher education does not take a central role in bringing promise and hope to people who need it, other groups that may lack the resources needed to do the task well will take up that challenge instead. Wouldn’t it be better if they worked together?

Russell Olwell is a professor of history at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, where he is also the director of GEAR UP, the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs project.