Arizona Still Grappling With Balance on Mandated ELL
Instruction
By Mary Ann Zehr
Arizona education officials are giving school districts some
room to diverge from a mandate that all English-language
learners be taught specific English skills in classrooms
separate from other students for four hours a day.
Even so, the state is still pushing ahead with its overall
requirement that districts provide intensive—and
separate—instruction of English skills for those students,
despite criticism from experts who say there is little evidence
to support that approach.
“The proposed four hours of instruction do not have a rigorous
research basis,” Deborah Short, a researcher with the
Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics, said in an
e-mail. “There are no experimental or quasi-experimental studies
that show this type of instruction helps students learn English
better or faster.”
But John A. Stollar, the associate superintendent for
accountability for the Arizona Department of Education, argues
that the four-hour model adopted in the wake of legislation
earlier this year is research-based.
“It really comes from the classic research that says the more
time you spend on something in education, the more students
learn,” he said.
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Schools official seeks post-Labor Day start
The Arizona Republic
SCOTTSDALE - If one Scottsdale school board member had his way,
Arizona students wouldn't have started school until this week.
Board member Dieter Schaefer recently resurrected the idea of
crusading for a statewide school calendar that starts after
Labor Day.
The idea is that starting school after the hottest part of the
year would cut utility costs.
The Scottsdale Unified School District "has an obligation to
move forward in an area that needs leadership," Schaefer said at
the latest school board meeting, where board members were
discussing their legislative priorities.
The district's Assistant Superintendent for Operations David
Peterson said he has the utility companies running the numbers
to see whether it is cheaper to start school in September and by
how much. Peterson said he expects to get the reports back in
about a month.
For years Superintendent John Baracy has said starting school
after Labor Day makes sense.
"Attendance will be higher after Labor Day," Baracy said. "I
have seen that attendance pattern."
When Baracy took Scottsdale Unified's helm four years ago, he
pushed for a later start date. A late August start date saw a
jump in first week attendance.
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Tough lessons for charter school
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/01/2008 09:53:26 PM PDT
The realization of two sisters' long-held dreams of opening a
charter school in Carson has remained, for now, just out of
reach.
Faced with delayed state funding and a makeshift campus in a
community church that they found out - too late - wouldn't be
approved as a school, Stephany Glover and Lisa Edwards have come
close to giving up on their plans to open Legacy Charter High
School this fall.
"We've already cried," Edwards said. "This has been completely
out of our control."
The pair had wanted to open a campus that would offer hip-hop
music and video production classes in addition to a traditional
education. The school would have been an alternative to local
campuses such as crowded Carson High School, which last year
ranked in the bottom tenth of similar schools academically and
was reported earlier this summer to have an estimated 26.1
percent dropout rate.
Fifty-five freshmen were set to enroll at Legacy, but the
sisters have reluctantly told parents to look elsewhere in case
they are unable to open by a state-mandated deadline of Sept.
30.
When the proposed school went before the board of the Los
Angeles Unified School District in March, the hip-hop element of
the school's curriculum was the target of some tough questions.
But the charter was nonetheless approved.
It was not the first try for the sisters, who have previously
been denied charters by Centinela Valley Union High School
District and Inglewood Unified School District.
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Three Minutes Is All It Takes: LAUSD Partners With GOT
MILK? in Breakfast Initiative
Last update: 12:01 p.m. EDT Sept. 2, 2008
SAN CLEMENTE, CA, Sep 02, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) --
Medical experts have been saying it for years: breakfast is the
most important meal of the day. While this statement might be
familiar to most people, it's a saying that kids and teens
increasingly take for granted. During an informal survey at
Marshall High School in Los Angeles, for example, some students
say they just don't want to wake-up early to prepare breakfast.
Others say they would rather hang out with friends before school
than line-up in the cafeteria. But nutritionists say school-age
children are especially at risk when they skip breakfast.
Studies have shown that skipping breakfast puts them at an
academic disadvantage because they do not have the nourishment
necessary to perform well in school. These kids could have
shorter attention spans and lower test scores. To remind kids
and parents of the breakfast-performance connection, GOT MILK?
is teaming-up with the Food Services Branch of the Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD), its Food Services Deputy
Director David Binkle and Executive Chef Mark Baida, to get the
message out about starting the day with a quick, nutritious
breakfast.
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Nevada Schools Report Released
Posted on 02 September 2008 by rmp001
A detailed “report card” on Nevada’s public schools shows a
slight increase in the student dropout rate and a slight decline
in the graduation rate, state schools chief Keith Rheault said
Monday.
In releasing the accountability report on K-12 schools, Rheault
also said Nevada “continues to significantly reduce” the
percentage of core academic classes that aren’t being taught by
highly qualified teachers.
Rheault said the 4.8 percent dropout rate “remains near the
historic low of 4.6 percent achieved last year.” He added that
the graduation rate of 67.4 percent is down only a tenth of 1
percent from last year.
The study also shows that over a three-year period, the percent
of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers has dropped
by nearly 24 percent in math and about 23 percent in science.
“We’re in the top 10 as far as reporting school information and
the number of categories that we report on,” Rheault said.
“We’re one of the better states in terms of detailed information
on tests, teachers, you name it.”
Rheault said the information may not always be the best news,
but “the data are all there for people who want to know more
about the schools that their sons or daughters attend, and that
was the intent of the report card.”
The document’s release follows a report earlier this month on
Nevada’s 654 public elementary and secondary schools and
programs that showed an increase over last year’s total of
schools that got low marks.
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School Trustee says Nevada needs "truth in taxing"
Staff Report • September 3, 2008
With schools facing severe budget cuts due reduced revenue
available from the state, one Lyon County School Trustee is
calling for revision of how the state funds education to ensure
a steady supply.
Trustee James Huckaby said he'd learned a few things regarding
funding and taxes from attending the recent State School Boards
Association meeting, with one being that the "Nevada Legislature
needs truth in taxing" when it comes to education.
Huckaby said now money taxed for education can go to the highway
fund, for example. "Nearly half of the tax goes to other areas."
Related to this, the school board member said, "We need to have
a fully-funded program in Nevada."
He added that the Legislature mandates that education be fully
funded, but that doesn't happen.
MORE
|
Australia
Tas govt denies responsibility for cyber bullying
The Tasmanian government says it is not
responsible for the cyber bullying of a teenage boy suffering
hearing loss after waiting three years for an operation.
Jeremy Brewer, 15, of Hobart, should have had surgery on a
perforated eardrum more than three years ago, his doctor Graeme
Alexander says.
The developmentally delayed teenager's hearing and speech has
deteriorated and he is now almost deaf.
His mother Vanessa Brewer says her son is failing Year 10 and
has become the target of bullies at school.
"He has a lot of problems at school with kids, he was actually
put on YouTube as a retard and a mute, a Year 10 kid that can't
speak properly," Ms Brewer told News Ltd.
Health Minister Lara Giddings today said Jeremy's development
had been delayed by two or three years due to an administrative
mistake delaying his surgery at Royal Hobart Hospital.
Ms Giddings said Jeremy's bullying was "absolutely disgraceful"
but it was not the hospital's fault.
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Australia School bullying claims another
teenager’s life
13/08/2008 10:04:00 AM. | Amie Meehan
There are calls for principals to have the power to expel
bullies at school, after yet another teenager took his life.
15-year-old Alex Wildman and Tim Winkler both committed suicide
after being repeatedly tormented at school.
Both boys were from Kadina High School, in Lismore – Tim’s
family is calling for more action against bullies before more
lives are destroyed.
Shadow Education Minister Andrew Stoner says more must be done
to protect our kids.
“Principals should be given greater powers to suspend or expel
bullies, and there should be more school councilors on the
ground.”
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