The Every Student Succeeds Act may have kept annual testing as a federal requirement. But it also aims to help states cut down on the number of assessments their students must take by giving districts the chance to use a nationally-recognized college entrance exam, instead of the regular state test, for accountability purposes.
When the law passed back in 2015, some superintendents hailed the change, saying it would mean one less test for many 11th graders, who would already be preparing for the SAT or ACT. Assessment experts, on the other hand, worried the change would make student progress a lot harder to track.
Now, more than two years after the law passed, it appears that only two states—North Dakota and Oklahoma—have immediate plans to offer their districts a choice of tests. Policymakers in at least two other states—Georgia and Florida—are thinking through the issue. Arizona and Oregon could also be in the mix.
That’s not exactly a mad dash to take advantage of the flexibility.
Offering a choice of tests can be a tall order for state education officials, said Julie Woods, a senior policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States. They have to figure out how to pay for the college entrance exams, design a process for districts to apply for the flexibility, and find a way to compare student scores on the state test to scores on the SAT, ACT, or another test.
That’s “potentially a lot more work than states are currently doing,” Woods said. “States have to decide what the payoff is for them…”
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The U.S. Department of Education is almost done critiquing states’ Every Student Succeeds Act plans. In fact, Idaho, which received a letter from the department on Dec. 27, is the second to last state to get a response. (The lone state still waiting: South Carolina, which turned in its plan late for weather related reasons).
Like the other thirty-two states that have gotten feedback so far this winter, Idaho has a long list of things to work on. For instance:
Idaho is planning to create a “minority children” subgroup that combines six different groups of students. Civil rights groups say that combining subgroups that way masks achievement gaps. And the department says they are an ESSA no-no if states try to use those “super subgroups” on their own for accountability.
Idaho doesn’t have a clear method of measuring English proficiency and incorporating it into its accountability system. That’s not Kosher under ESSA, the department says. (Florida has a similar issue.)
Idaho needs to be more specific about how it will identify schools where subgroups of students are consistently low-performing.
Quick refresher: Sixteen states and the District of Columbia turned in ESSA plans in the spring. So far, all of them have been approved, except Colorado. The other 34 states submitted plans this fall. And all of them have gotten feedback, except of course, the Palmetto State. You can read all of the feedback letters here. Nearly every state had a lot to improve.
By Charlene Crowell, (Communications Deputy Director, Center for Responsible Lending)
AMSTERDAM NEWS — Mounting student debt is a nagging problem for most families these days. As the cost of higher education rises, borrowing to cover those costs often becomes a family concern across multiple generations including the student, parents, and even grandparents or other relatives.
Today’s 21st Century jobs usually demand higher education and specialized skills to earn one’s way into the middle class. In households where educational loans are inevitable, it becomes an important family decision to determine which institutions are actually worth the debt incurred. Equally important is the institution’s likelihood of its students graduating.
Higher education institutions that do not provide its students and graduates with requisite skills and knowledge become money pits that lead to deeper debt and likely loan defaults.
New research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) analyzed student debt on a state-by-state basis. An interactive map of CRL’s findings reveal on a state basis each of the 50 states’ total undergraduate population, for-profit enrollment, and the top for-profit schools by enrollment for both four-year and two-year institutions.
Entitled “The State of For-Profit Colleges,” the report concludes that investing in a for-profit education is almost always a risky proposition. Undergraduate borrowing by state showed that the percentage of students that borrow from the federal government generally ranged between 40 to 60 percent for public colleges, compared to 50 to 80 percent at for-profit institutions.
Additionally, both public and private, not-for-profit institutions, on average, lead to better results at a lower cost of debt, better earnings following graduation, and the fewest loan defaults.
“In many cases, for-profit students are nontraditional students, making sacrifices and struggling to manage family and work obligations to make better lives for their families,” noted Robin Howarth, a CRL senior researcher. “For-profit colleges target them with aggressive marketing, persuading them to invest heavily in futures that will never come to pass.”
CRL also found that women and Blacks suffer disparate impacts, particularly at for-profit institutions, where they are disproportionately enrolled in most states.
For example, enrollment at Mississippi’s for-profit colleges was 78 percent female and nearly 66 percent Black. Other states with high Black enrollment at for-profits included Georgia (57 percent), Louisiana (55 percent), Maryland (58 percent) and North Carolina (54 percent).
Focus group interviews further substantiated these figures, and recounted poignant, real life experiences.
Brianna, a 31-year-old Black female completed a Medical Assistant (MA) certificate at the now-defunct Everest University. Once she completed her MA certificate and passed the certification test, she found she could only find a job in her field of study that paid $12 per hour, much less than the $35,000-$45,000 salary that Everest told her would be her starting salary as a medical assistant.
She was also left with $21,000 in student debt. As a result, she has struggled since matriculation with low credit scores and cramped housing conditions for herself and three children. For her, public schools, according to Brianna, are “better in the long run” due to their lower cost despite having more requirements for attendance.
DALLAS POST TRIBUNE — Ada L. Williams, a dedicated public servant to the Dallas Community, passed away on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at the age of 84. She had been a Professional Registered Parliamentarian in the State of Texas since 1978.
Mrs. Williams was the current sitting Board Chairman of the Credit Union of Texas and had held that position since December of 1996. She was elected and served as Parliamentarian of the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees from 1988 through her retirement in 2002 where she served numerous Superintendents.
Because of her significant contributions to the Dallas Public Schools, the auditorium of the DISD Administration Building is named the Ada L. Williams Auditorium in her honor. Ada Williams served DISD as Director of Employee Relations during her career there. Former Texas Governor, Mark White, appointed Ada Williams to the State of Texas Credit Union Commission where she served a six-year term.
Mrs. Williams served as President of the Texas State Association of Parliamentarians. She immensely enjoyed her work helping a diverse array of organizations with matters of parliamentary law. Throughout her life and within the last week, she volunteered her services as a proctor for those taking the registered parliamentary exams.
She became a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District in 1955, where she taught math, science and music. She went on to serve as President of the Classroom Teachers of Dallas for four years. She was President and Parliamentarian of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International; Parliamentarian of the Dallas Retired Teachers Association. Mrs. Williams became the National Parliamentarian of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in 1979. She served 10 National Presidents as National Parliamentarian and in 2015 the organization named her National Parliamentarian Emeritus.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Williams was proudly serving as Trustee at the St. Paul African American Episcopal Church. She was also on the Board of Directors of the Maureen F. Bailey Cultural Foundation. Other organizational affiliations include: Texas Reading Association, National Association of Parliamentarians, Golden Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority with 65 uninterrupted years of service; YWCA Life Member; Dallas Arthritis Foundation. She received the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, highest award – The Sojourner Truth Award.
Mrs. Williams held a Bachelors Degree from Huston-Tillotson College where she was Miss Huston-Tillotson. She also received a Master of Arts Degree in Education from the University of North Texas. She was a proud product of the DISD schools: a graduate of Lincoln High School and N.W. Harlee Elementary School.
They came for the technology. And they stayed for the furniture.
In an instructional technology site visit organized by the National School Boards Association in November, 96 visitors from across the state and nation spent two days in the East Irondequoit Central School District. When the tours were over, some participants couldn’t stop talking about the variety of chairs – J-shaped scoops, cylindrical stools, oval ottomans, bean-bag chairs and movable foam benches.
“It’s just like the business world, where we’re seeing comfy chairs and flexible seating,” explained Nicole Charles, a fifth-grade teacher in the Rochester-area district.
“Kids can’t collaborate with each other when they are sitting in rows and desks,” said Superintendent Susan Allen.
In East Irondequoit, classrooms are busy – and often noisy. Instead of everyone listening to the teacher at the front of the room, individuals and groups are doing their own things. Students are interacting, both electronically and face-to-face, as they react to each other’s work.
Yes, there can be issues with control of the classroom. But East Irondequoit teachers told visitors that they just establish ground rules and expect students to follow them. When intermediate school teacher Jason DeJohn wants eyes on him, he says, “iPads flat on the desk.”
“The advantages have outweighed the craziness they brought,” said another teacher, Katie Van Eps.
With support from the University of Rochester (see On Board, June 12, 2017), East Irondequoit has become a champion of the idea that classroom technology can be used to tap into teachers’ creativity.
The NSBA site visit lent legitimacy to the 3,200-student district’s efforts to chart a path toward a style of teaching that district leaders and University of Rochester professors think all school districts will embrace, eventually. They call it “digitally rich teaching.”
The pedagogical concept is that once you put an internet-connected device in the hands of every student (called a 1:1 learning program), teachers will find new ways to teach that require students to use those devices in self-directed ways.
In a keynote address, Michael Fullan, the former dean of education at the University of Toronto, said the new paradigm is the teacher is a “lead learner” who is guiding students on independent paths of internet-aided discovery.
All participants received a copy of a 99-page book co-authored by Fullan called The Power of Unstoppable Momentum: Key Drivers to Revolutionize Your District. In its conclusion, the book states: “We know one thing for sure – you cannot buy your way into the future by adding technology … Pedagogy and culture drive change, and technology accelerates it – if you get the sequence right.”
The big lift is changing school culture, according to another speaker, Stephen Mauney, superintendent of the Mooresville Grade School District in North Carolina, which claims its implementation of a 1:1 learning program has led to boosting its high school graduation rate from 77 percent to 97 percent over 10 years.
“If it’s all top-down, the culture won’t change,” Mauney said.
East Irondequoit’s strategy has been to invite teachers to apply to take part in technological pilots, according to Joseph Sutorius, the district’s chief information officer. This has yielded a corps of teachers who are eager to try new things, then teach others, he said.
To get buy-in from everyone, including school board members, district officials have emphasized what Superintendent Allen calls the “social equity standpoint.” A former state Superintendent of the Year, she sees technology-enhanced teaching and learning as the best strategy to bridge the achievement gap between the economic haves and have-nots.
In a closing break-out session, district leaders were asked how confident they are that the initiatives on display during the site visit will result in higher student achievement after, say, 10 years.
“Our trajectory is sky high, in my opinion,” said Mary Grow, assistant superintendent for instruction. “I’m convinced in 10 years we’ll be a school to watch, no doubt.”
–Eric Randall is the Editor-in-Chief of the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA)
Public education in America needs reform—and badly. There is an abundance of data showing the underperformance of our nation’s public schools. For example, the results of a major cross-national test, the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment, placed American students 30th in math and 19th in science out of all 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an organization of the largest advanced economies. And the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress administered by the U.S. Department of Education found that a mere 40 percent of 4th graders, 33 percent of 8th graders, and 25 percent of 12th graders were “proficient” or “advanced” in math.
That’s not to say that all public schools are bad—quite the contrary. However, ineffective education tends to center in large, urban areas. When was the last time you heard someone say they wished they could move to Detroit to send their kids to that city’s public schools? It’s a pointed question—but the answer would be just the same if you said Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, or Philadelphia. This is not a single state or a single school’s problem—it is a systematic problem for the entire country.
Consider this sad reality: Our nation produces technology so advanced that I could use the phone in my pocket—which is already three generations old—to take a video of you and email it to someone in London, but at the same time we can’t seem to teach a 4th grader to read in Detroit. Does this make sense? Why have we allowed this state of affairs to arise?
Read the full story here: May require an Education Week subscription.
Gary Wolfram is the William Simon Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
Frigid temperatures in the Baltimore area over the last several days combined with a lack of heat in several Baltimore City Public School buildings has compelled the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU), to call for the closure of city schools, until the heating issues can be resolved.
On Jan. 3, a hand delivered letter was sent from Marietta English, president of the BTU, to Sonja Santelises, BCPS CEO.
“The past 36 hours have been quite difficult for our membership and the children they teach,” reads the letter sent by English.
“Our educators have been forced to endure teaching in classrooms with dangerously low temperatures, instructing students who have been forced to try to learn bundled up in coats, hats and gloves. Trying to provide a stable learning environment in these extreme conditions is unfair and inhumane, to say the least.”
Four schools were closed Jan. 3 due to lack of heat: Calverton Elementary/Middle School, Elementary/Middle Alternative Program, KIPP Harmony Academy and Lakeland Elementary/Middle School. Two other schools, Frederick Douglass High School and Cecil Elementary School, were forced to close early.
“I do realize that you and your staff are managing the best you can to rectify the issue in this record-breaking cold weather, however, doing so on the backs of our members and the children of Baltimore City is unacceptable,” state English. “Additionally, your expectation that our members and the children that they teach endure endure bursting boilers, drafty windows, frigid temperatures in classrooms, and risk getting sick in these “less than ideal” conditions, is utterly ridiculous,” English added.
Perhaps complicating the issue further, the National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory, (one to three inches of snow), in effect from 10 p.m. Jan. 3, to 11 a.m., Jan. 4, which could cause the school closures the BTU is calling for.
The Birmingham Times — Freedom School is a six-week enrichment program in June to address the summer slide in school-aged students. Summer slide is the tendency for children, particularly those from low-income families, to lose the achievement gains they made during the previous school year over the summer.
“If you can imagine a low-income child, once the summer starts, if their parents don’t have the means or the time to expose them to anything that will continue the educational process that was started in the school year, then what happens is the summer slide,” said Van Moody, lead pastor at The Worship Center.
The Children’s Defense Fund is a nonprofit organization that focuses on child advocacy and research. It was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman.
The program is free for families, and the goal is to build “empowered, literate and forward-thinking children who will gain the confidence to make an impact in their families and communities,” Moody said.
Students will reinforce skills learned during the school year with a focus on literacy and reading comprehension during the programs, which is geared toward low-income families, Moody said.
A child can lose half a grade level every summer if affected by the summer slide, Moody said.
He provided another example: “If you take a child from kindergarten through fifth grade, and each summer they lose half a grade level … by the time they get to fifth grade, they’re 2 ½ to 3 years behind their middle-income contemporaries. It gets worse as they continue to grow,” he said.
Literacy is a focus because it’s the foundation of all education, “particularly for kids; everything builds on literacy,” Moody said. “There are a number of summer programs and programs that take the (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) STEM approach, and different disciplines, but one of the things about Freedom Schools, and one of the reasons I think they’ve had the kind of success they’ve had, is the focus on the foundational building blocks. If we can increase the literacy rate of kids, then everything becomes easier for them.”
A Day at a Freedom School
Along with literacy, reading is a component of the first half of the day in Freedom Schools where someone from the community visits. “We’ll invite the mayor, superintendent, business leaders . . . to read to them in a session called Harambe, when we bring all the students together before they break into their individual classes.”
Students can take home the books read during the day to build their personal library.
Charles A. Smith Photography
“The books are specifically picked out and chosen for their specific ages and demographics,” Moody said. “Depending on a normal school year, students may have to read the classics, or books that don’t really connect to their reality . . . the books are profound, but they are intentionally designed for low-income kids.”
The second part of the day is dedicated to different activities and interests, he said.
“Kids will be exposed to things like Chess Club and field trips to the McWane Science Center, and things that are a little bit in the scope of traditional summer programs but it’s a great balance,” he said.
The program is usually for kindergarten through high school, but in its first year, it will be available for first through fifth grade. “We want to build some success with that and build additional grade levels,” Moody said.
The program is funded by The Worship Center in its first year, but Moody said he hopes more community will be involved in the upcoming years.
“Our ultimate design is not to have just one Freedom School in the city, but we want to have multiple Freedom Schools available throughout the city. When you look at the hurdles that are in front of the public school system, we know that 50
kids, which is the max capacity of one Freedom School, are really just a drop in the bucket, compared to the need in the city.”
This year featured a new president, a new education secretary, and the first year schools began shifting to the Every Student Succeeds Act. It’s been a busy year for us, and to cap it off, we’re highlighting the 10 blog posts we wrote that got the most readership in 2017. Here we go, from the post with the 10th-most views to the post with the most views:
President Donald Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail in 2016 that he wanted to end the Common Core State Standards. So when U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said this to a TV news anchor in April, she was channeling Trump’s stated desire. But DeVos’ statement wasn’t accurate, since more than three dozen states still use the content standards. The Every Student Succeeds Act also prohibits DeVos from getting involved in states’ decisions about standards.
Along with promoting school choice, one of DeVos’ big goals this year has been to restrain the federal government’s role in education when it comes to regulations, as well as the size and scope of the U.S. Department of Education. It doesn’t look like her push to significantly slash the department’s budget has the support of Congress, but DeVos has been trying to trim the department’s staffing levels recently.
Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union (HCFCU) is excited to announce its 2018 Scholarship Program will be accepting applications starting January 2, 2018.
Eight deserving Hawaii Islanders will each receive $2,500, totaling $20,000 given in scholarships, to help support their transition to higher education. HCFCU has provided scholarships to Hawaii Island students for more than 32 years.
Each scholarship is named after an HCFCU volunteer or manager who made important contributions to the organization.
Five of the scholarships — Peter Hirata Scholarship, Albert Akana Scholarship, Katsumasa Tomita Scholarship, Frank Ishii Scholarship, and Mitsugi Inaba scholarship — are awarded to students based on need, academic achievement, career goals, and extracurricular activities.
The John Y. Iwane scholarship will be awarded to a high school senior that meets all the criteria mentioned above with plans to enter an agriculture-related field of study.
The Michael Asam Scholarship will be awarded to a senior who actively participates in an HCFCU sponsored Student Credit Union as a teller or as a Student Credit Union Board member.
The Yasunori Deguchi Scholarship will be awarded to a post-graduate on Hawaii Island, currently attending college or going back to college.
Eligibility Requirements
HCFCU’s Scholarships are open to our Hawaii Island communities. You do not have to be a member of Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union. You must meet at least one of the following requirements to be eligible to apply.
Graduating senior from any Island of Hawaii high school and planning to attend a post-secondary college or four-year college during next school year as a full-time student(post-secondary college, vocational, technical – with a minimum two-year curriculum); or
A posthigh school graduate on Hawaii Island who is either currently attending, or going back to, a post-secondary college or four-year college as a full-time student (post-secondary college, vocational, technical – with a minimum two-year curriculum).
Submission Requirements
The following is required in order to complete your application.
Academic Record
Non-Academic/Extra-Curricular Activities
Career Goals & Educational Plans
Financial Need -Verified EFC signed off by counselor. FAFSA will need to be completed. (not required for post-graduates returning to college)
Interested applicants may fill out an application online at HCFCU’s website, www.hicommfcu.com. The online application streamlines the process and allows the applicants to save their work and complete it at a later date.
Applications and all required information must be received by April 2, 2018 to be considered.
Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit, federally insured financial institution owned by its 40,000 members. HCFCU’s branches are located in Honokaa, Kailua-Kona, Kaloko, Kealakekua and Kohala, along with Student Credit Unions in Kealakehe, Kohala and Konawaena High Schools. In 2018, HCFCU will open its first-ever branch in East Hawaii in Hilo. In addition to complete checking and savings services,
HCFCU provides service-minded financial professionals to help facilitate mortgage, land, construction, small business, educational, personal and auto loans; drive up tellers; credit and debit cards with rewards; online and mobile banking; investment services and youth programs. HCFCU also supports numerous Hawaii Island non-profit organizations and community events. Membership in Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union is open to all Hawaii Island residents.
They came for the technology. And they stayed for the furniture.
By Sean Yoes Baltimore AFRO Editor
By Ariel Worthy
